Dar al Islam: Islam and Muslims - Universality and Diversity

Dr. Shafi, founder of Dar al Islam, gave a "lecture" on the Universality of Islam and the Diversity of Muslims. He started with definitions of Islam and Muslims.

Islam is a religion which is based on certain fundamentals, and should not be associated with various ethnic groups or geographic regions. These fundamentals are based in the Qur'an, which has remained unchanged since the Prophet Muhammad, and the practices, i.e. the five pillars.

Muslims are those who claim to be followers of Islam. The diverse practices of Muslims provide evidence that these practices are not fundamental to Islam. Think hijab or the use of music by Indians to attract individuals to the mosque.

Islam has universal characteristics. There is the belief that there is one god who is origin of all revealed truth for all people. This god is God, Allah; there is no god, goddess, or gods. The prophets are numerous and do not have to appear in the Qur'an. Biblical prophets who agree to submit to God, like Soloman are included as well as Jesus, and others are included in so much as they do not contradict the Qur'an. This religion gains a certain degree of separation from other religions, in my opinion, because it is based on what you do and not what you believe.

While Islam retains its universal nature, Muslims display diversity all over the world.

The demographics of Muslims include Arabs of the Middle East (minus N. Africa) <6.5%, North Africa 11%, and South Asian >33% of the total world population. Most of Central Asia, after being released from Russian rule, converted back to their original faith. In Rwanda after the massacres, the total Muslim population jumped from 1 to 14% largely because of the shelter give to them by Muslims during these terrible times. Another surprising statistic is that there are more non-Arabs in the Middle East than Arabs, when you consider Iran, Israel, Turkey, Palestinians, Kurdsitans, etc.

Using the European tradition of classification by color, 50% of Muslims are black, 6% are white, and 33% are brown/other.

Rhetorical question: Is Islam the most diverse religion?

Dr. Shafi concluded by drawing a line at the use of the terms ideology and tradition in reference to Islam. We begin again with definitions. Ideology is the science of ideas. Ideas are human created. Islam is not human created, but rather revealed religion - straight from God, unchanged. Traditions are things people traditionally do. Traditions are not universal, like the fundamentals of Islam, but have diverse forms across the world. [Muslims as actual individuals with the diversity of their upbringing and environment could be viewed with traditions. Are you to getting the distinction between the terms Islam and Muslim?]

I appreciate starting with definitions. They start everyone on the same page and foster an open conversation, rather than limiting dialogue.