The book is out now.
“Critical thinkers for Islamic reform” a collection of articles from contemporary thinkers on Islam. Your friend is one of the 35 people who have contributed towards the book.
The book is available at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Thinkers-Islamic-Reform-Yuksel/dp/0979671574/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242430729&sr=1-3
I am pleased to inform you that, the book “American Islam” will be out this fall. It is everything you always wanted to know about Islam and Muslims. Much of the inspiration is drawn from Sura Kafirun. http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2008/07/sura-kafirun-un-believers.html
It is encouraging to see the moderate Muslims speak up, they make up 99% of the Muslim population. Just like all other groups, they want to get along with every one, and see that every human is cared for and do the best one can do.
Insha Allah one of these days I may get financial support from a few Muslims in forming the “Moderate Muslim Majority” to reflect the voices of Muslims for the common purpose of working towards a world of co-existence, by mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill among nations and communities. The formation is not to be against any one, but for the peace and justice for every one.
When Allah says “submit to my will”, what is the latent wisdom in it?
Perhaps we can understand that in the context of our own lives; the family we have nurtured, the work we do, the home we live in, the car we drive, the food we cook or anything we work for is very dear to us, we want that to be intact and not go helter skelter. That is God’s will – to have his creation live in peace and harmony and sustain itself – and God has given us a beautiful formula to live by; the Qur’aan, the book of guidance.
What is God’s will? To surrender to him is to become like him, when we do that, there is no more “you and I”, it is all of us, one inclusive community. One world under God.
To become like him occurs when there is no distinctions between any one of his creation, the whole creation belongs to him and he belongs to all. God wills that we live in peace and harmony and nothing but that. Islam is a beautiful religious formulas to peace, tranquility and equlibrium through justice. Our role as Muslims is to mitigate conflicts and nurture goodwill.
Mike Ghouse