VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
Volume 84, June 21, 2009 Toronto, Canada

Editors: Haja Mohideen and Azra HM Yusuf

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

Avoid Fault-finding

By: Sadullah Khan - Islamic City

As people of Faith, we have the duty of commanding good and forbidding evil. We thus engage ourselves, as social beings, in improving ourselves and working towards being instruments in improving the world we live in. Our Faith behooves us not to search for faults in others and we would do well to heed the advice of our Beloved Prophet : "Part of being a good person is minding your own business." While the purpose of commanding good and forbidding evil is to correct and restore; fault-finding inevitably leads to undermining the character of people and sometimes to destroying relationships. Prophet Muhammad said: "The worst of people are those engaged in slandering others, those who ruin relationships between dear ones who try to find fault with innocent people." The Prophet also admonished us that "when you pursue the faults of others, you corrupt them" and warned that "those who unduly pursue the shortcomings of others will have their own faults exposed."

Fault-finding is the habit of the miserable

Confucius said: "the great person calls to attention the good points in others while the miserable person calls to attention the defects in others." (Analects 12:16). That is perhaps why losers can easily say, "something is wrong" and winners usually say, "how can I correct it". Why losers say, "why don't you do this?" and winners usually say, "here is something I can do." Fault-finders normally tell others about someone's faults and rarely have the guts to face people; fitting the description of dhul-wajhayn (two-faced) which the Prophet Muhammad assigned to troublemakers and hypocrites. Fault-finders also tend to be miserable themselves, lacking self-esteem; and since they focus so much on blaming others, they become resentful; and rather than cherish people, tend to develop a desire to undermine and discredit people.

Negativity consumes a person

The negative feelings that a fault-finder harbors regarding others eventually consumes the person and this negativity eventually becomes part of the fault-finder's character. Prophet Muhammad therefore advised us "Refrain from holding bad opinions of people."

Deflecting one's own shortcomings

One of the common ways through which people deflect their own shortcomings and do not face up to their own faults is to blame others. The faults we see may well not be in what we are looking at, but rather in our looking. Prophet 'Isa/Jesus is reported to have said; "why do you look at the little speck in your brother's eye and forget the plank in your own eye". Hadrat 'Ali said: "The worst of people is the person who searches for faults in others while being blind to his own faults". Martin Luther King rightly said: "the highest form of maturity is self inquiry".

Watch your Heart, your Emotions and your Tongue

Speech is projection of thoughts and emotions; the content of speech reflects the culture of the heart, so consider carefully how you feel about others, why you feel the way you feel and what you say about people. Prophet Muhammad said: "None of your faith is correct unless your heart is upright and your heart will not be rectified until your tongue is in order". That is why Allah states in the Quran "speak what is correct, your actions will be rectified and your sins will be forgiven". Since virtually all fault-finding is conveyed verbally, we must be careful of the power of the tongue since wise people caution the fact that affliction caused by the tongue is more severe than the harm caused by the sword. The Prophet also provided a basic rule of good character when he responded to a question regarding salvation. He replied: "It is necessary for you to control your tongue and weep for your own faults". The prayer of the Prophet is the most appropriate expression for one who introspects and genuinely wishes to be a catalyst for a better world: "O Allah, forgive that which I did secretly and what I did publicly; What I did inadvertently and what I did deliberately; What I did knowingly and what I did out of ignorance". Always reflect on this advice of the Prophet : "glad tidings to the person more concerned about his own faults than bothering about the faults of others".

Islamic Counseling & Psychotherapy

Trends in Theory Development

Social Family Interfaith

Somayya Abdullah, crescentlife.com

"If counseling is to be equated with giving advice and guidance then it dates back to the beginning of time, having an array of practitioners including shamans and sangomas, friends and family, prophets, priests and soothsayers. "

Islamic counseling and psychotherapy is a discipline that is vaguely defined. Information that is available on this topic is often limited in quantity and perspective to form the theoretical basis necessary to constitute a model of intervention for Islamic Counseling. Indeed in discussions with social service practitioners this lack of a coherent Islamic counseling methodology is frequently expressed. It is not unusual to find that counseling professionals find themselves at a loss to intervene effectively with clients who adhere to an Islamic value system especially when it is at variance with their own. For the client this situation is commonly experienced as an inability on the side of the practitioner to fully understand him/her. Given that Islamic counseling is not yet in a form where its actual implementation can be monitored, it first requires guidelines that can be integrated into a theoretical framework, a purpose to which this article is directed.

Islamic counseling is not a new concept. When studying its historical location, a distinction may be made between cultural and professional modes of Islamic counseling. In the former, counseling is not an explicit exercise, but alluded to in the religio-cultural rituals of Muslim communities. In the case of the latter, we set Islamic counseling as a formal discourse, comparable with mainstream, predominantly western counseling paradigms.

Islamic Counseling

If counseling is to be equated with giving advice and guidance then it dates back to the beginning of time, having an array of practitioners including shamans and sangomas, friends and family, prophets, priests and soothsayers. Islamic counseling in a cultural mode is not an explicit process. It manifests as part of ritual healing practices. While these practices do not constitute formal counseling, it has been shown to hold the same therapeutic value as mainstream counseling approaches. This has been attested to by case studies drawn from the Negev, India and Morocco all in the psychotherapeutic validity and healing capacity of such practices.

Islamic counseling and psychotherapy from a professional perspective is of recent origin. Few scholars have addressed this area of study in a significant way, beyond assertions that Islamic counseling needs to be developed into a well structured discourse that captures the breath and spirit of Islam in helping people. These contributions are usually directed at the presence of mainstream western counseling paradigms as a dominant force in counseling and social intervention.

Professional counseling and psychotherapy are two separate but closely linked disciplines that are for most part treated equivalently. They are generally understood as disciplines that involve help and healing, and by which counselors interact with clients to assist them to learn about themselves, deal with their environments, and understand the roles and responsibilities inherent in these relations. The role of emotions in causing psychological and emotional disturbances is central to understanding and helping clients. Individuals are thus aided to recognize their potential, learn how to utilize this potential, and work towards removing obstacles that block full realization of their capabilities.

In professional terms, Islamic counseling would be a confluence of counseling and psychotherapy with the central tenets of Islam. This is acceptable in as far as it provides a broad purpose for Islamic counseling by linking it with an overarching intent of helping clients attain positive change in their lives. However, as counseling theories take on various philosophical positions such an analysis can become quite problematic. This is especially so given the nature and scope of Islam as a religious worldview, and debates on Islamic counseling that call for the rejection of western counseling theories. Application of Islamic principles to theories outside the realm of Islam or using concepts from mainstream counseling to inform an Islamic approach is therefore discouraged.

In such arguments it is often asserted that Western psychology is devoid of religion and foster distorted concepts of humankind that are rooted in materialism. Counseling that is based on Islam is then forwarded as a feasible alternative. Writers of such positions do simultaneously concede that western psychotherapy and psychiatry has its merits in dealing with psychological suffering and behavior modification. What is proposed then is that Muslims use the positive aspects of western counseling, integrate it with the spiritual, and develop Islamic psycho-spiritual counseling methodologies that would facilitate positive change in Muslim clients.

Exploring the Qur'an, the Sirah of the Prophet and his traditions, as well as the biographies of the Prophet's companions, will provide detailed instructions for implementing successful therapy. In the main, though, it is Sufism (tasawwuf), the mystical tradition of Islam, which is credited with providing the basis for Islamic psychology. It is forwarded as the main frame of reference from which to develop a professional Islamic counseling approach.

Middle East - Obama and Bush

Nadia Hijab, International Herald Tribune

In the days since Barack Obama's speech in Cairo last week there has been a desperate search for substance in between the lines of a great performance. Where are the policies that can change the lives of people in the Middle East hit by the wars and occupations initiated or supported by the United States?Many have read much into Obama's speech - that was part of its genius - but it contained no policy announcements. That does not mean there are no policies. The Obama administration works differently from its predecessors in at least three ways.First, it doesn't do business on the basis of public pronouncements. There will, for example, be no reprise of Bush senior's public appeal to the American people that he was "one little lonely guy" facing up to a thousand lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.At that time, the Bush administration wanted Israel to attend the Madrid peace conference in the wake of the 1990-91 Gulf war. The White House also announced its intention to tie loan guarantees to Israel to ending settlement activity. In contrast, The Obama administration looks unlikely to make any public threats.Second, the Obama administration speaks with one voice. The same tough line - settlements must stop, peace must start - is delivered by Mr. Obama; Vice President Joe Biden, who used to call himself a Zionist; Hillary Clinton, the former stridently pro-Israel junior senator from New York; Rahm Emanuel, who twice volunteered for the Israeli Army; the national security adviser, General James Jones; and the special envoy, George Mitchell.This seamless act makes it hard for right-wing pro-Israel forces to drive in a policy wedge. This is a far cry from Bush junior's administration, when Vice President Dick Cheney and the deputy national security advisor Elliot Abrams actively undermined Condoleezza Rice's efforts.Third, this is an administration that does its homework. It has studied the rise and fall of previous peace efforts, including Bill Clinton's hasty and ill-prepared convening of the Camp David summit in 2000. By contrast, weeks before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington in May, the Obama team reportedly briefed key Democrats in Congress about possible disagreements with Israel.

When Mr. Netanyahu visited Capitol Hill, expecting to be shielded from the administration, Haaretz reported that he was "stunned" by a coordinated attack against his stand on settlements. Several leading lawmakers, including Jewish ones, said they thought Mr. Netanyahu should be "very, very aware of the concerns of the administration and Congress."True, Aipac secured 329 Congressional signatures on a letter urging Mr. Obama to pursue peace as "a devoted friend to Israel." But the warnings of senior lawmakers still carry weight.Meanwhile, it is worth noting some of the policy shifts, however small. For instance, Israelis maintain that they had an understanding with the Bush administration supporting "natural growth" in the settlements. Hillary Clinton shot this down in no uncertain terms. The Obama administration, she pointed out, had been given the official records by the outgoing Bush administration, and there "is no memorialization of any informal and oral agreements. If they did occur, which, of course, people say they did, they did not become part of the official position of the United States Government."As for the 2004 Bush exchange of letters with former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that promised Israel it could have the major settlement blocs plus Jerusalem and minus the Palestinian refugees, the State Department spokesman steadfastly side-stepped a journalist's questions as to whether or not the letters were binding.So, yes, nothing has changed on the ground yet. But because of the way it works, the Obama administration has a much better chance of bringing peace to the Middle East than its predecessors. Still, before breaking out the champagne, remember that Mr. Obama works within the boundaries of the American establishment.Within those narrow confines and given the present Israeli-Palestinian power imbalance, the Palestinians are likely to secure a bare minimum of rights while Israel walks off with the rest. Unless, that is, the Palestinians can rapidly tilt the balance in their favor - or unless Israel's intransigence does it for them.

Feel free to contribute your valuable ideas, opinions and suggestions by contacting us at: hmygreat@gmail.com