For some time we have seen at MPACUK a logic and truth that some dare not speak of, for fear of being denounced as some sort of heretic.
 
Yet each day Allah provides for us ever greater truths to the argument that has formed in our minds.
 
We have seen our fellow “so called practicing Muslims” follow a faith that is best nothing more then a set of rituals and rules, much like all bankrupt faiths of the world, we have become a tribe who follow the customs that our priests taught them to follow. They offer the world a faith of harsh rules and no reason.
 
We follow Islam not because we are people of justice or enlightened reason, but because of fear of being outcast from our “tribe” or the threat of hell fire, or simply that we follow what our parents have taught us to follow. We believe that if we look into our hearts they are the real reasons why many of us are Muslims.
 
This is so different from why Muslims joined Islam in the time of the Prophet PBUH. The Dawah to the first Muslims was built on the “Justice and light “of the new faith, and how it changed those that followed it into “real people”, people of “justice, compassion, sacrifice, humility, and manners”.
 
This higher state that we stepped into when becoming Muslim made us understand Allah’s true beauty, and we perceived how Great Allah is for making us better than he he does not have “taqwa”.
 
Reflect for awhile on what we have just mentioned, all of the things we mentioned are great principles, that all people regardless of faith know deep within and admire them. Islam demanded them and made them the priority in ones life. Look today and you will hardly hear practicing Muslims talk of these as the priority of their life. Rituals are Islam today, principles and ideals are not the proof of the faith but simply a nice addition to it. This is the single biggest reason for our destruction.
 
Hijab is adhered to more than Justice, the beard is a sign of a Muslim not his manners and sacrifice or his deeds.  How often have we seen people call sisters wearing Hijab “practicing”, and yet if a sister did not wear Hijab but fed the needy and helped the old, she was the most compassionate among the community and stood firm against injustice while others slept in their beds, they look at her as some flawed misguided creature not worthy of the term “practicing”. The cloth covering was what made the Muslim, not the deeds they did in their lives.
 
We are not saying that the Hijab and the beard are not important, far from it, but MPACUK are trying to make you the reader reflect how the Islam that is being taught today is devoid of reason, understanding and truth. When higher ideals are relegated then rituals no longer make sense, Hijab can be defended as a sign of modesty, but when the modest no longer create a society based on modesty, rather just place a headscarf on their head and neglect the world, the ritual and the rule becomes bankrupt of any meaning, and light Hijab once had is extinguished.
 
This is not how the Prophet PBUH taught it, nor is it how Allah revealed it. Higher principles were the only way to Allah; they were the “proof” that you were Muslim.
 
Such was the logic of such a faith it compelled people to join it. How could any person, confronted with an argument that compelled him/her to do justice, be kind to others, to sacrifice ones life for the weak and the oppressed, be modest and polite, yet firm against oppression,  say that this message was not a guiding light in the world. These are concrete reasons why people joined Islam. The rituals then supported those ideals. They were great pillars to uphold those ideals, not to replace them or sideline them.
 
“You are indeed the best community that has ever been brought forth” Holy Quran
 
Most "practicing" Muslims quote the above, they act like they are looking down on everyone because they are “believers” except they do not understand or reflect on the rest of the verse. We are the best not because we wear certain clothes or speak fluent Arabic, or even say “we believe”.
 
“You are indeed the best community that has ever been brought forth for (the good of mankind); you enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and you believe in God” Holy Quran
 
We are the best because we do good on this Earth, not for ourselves like some communities but instead Allah says for “mankind”, even if it costs us our life and our wealth. Nothing could be more logical. No principle could be higher to any rational thinking person; there could be no better reason for a person to join the fold of Islam and aspire to be a Muslim - a light to other people. It made mankind higher than they were, better than any other ideology would make them. They became walking angels in society. For they became lovers of “good”, restless when injustice occurred and each blow on the way to enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong made them realize how important the good was, and Allah loved them more, for they proved through sacrifice and pain not simple words that they were righteous.
 
When a Muslim is martyred Allah asks him/her “Ask me what you want and I will grant it”, and the Shaheed will reply “Send me back again Oh Allah so that I may fight and die again, and fight and die again in your cause”. Hadith Bukhari
 
When social justice is relegated and minor points of fiqh become the reason and justification for the faith we lose the very reason and proof that Islam is beautiful and should be followed. Many Ullema must accept that they are responsible for practicing Muslims' failure in the sphere of "al mu-amalat" (social justice).
 
We must ask ourselves if the Ullema were teaching the correct version of Islam would this (read link) have gone unchallenged by the Muslims. Read what happens when Muslim “internalize and ritualize” their faith: 
 
We really believe that MPACUK must push a truer version of Islam than is being taught in the vast majority of "Establishment" Islamic institutions. This internalized, ritualized Islam that neglects its higher ideals is the reason why Muslims abandoned mankind to starvation in the deserts of Africa to the oppression in the lands of Palestine.

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