Hi everyone,
Instead of writing something myself this time, I’m posting a link to a blog that says it all far better than I can right now. This blog is by Omid Safi.
Here is a few words from his biography about who he is and why what he has to say is important.
“He is Director of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center. He is the past Chair for the Study of Islam, and the current Chair for Islamic Mysticism Group at the American Academy of Religion. In 2009, he was recognized by the University of North Carolina for mentoring minority students in 2009, and won the Sitterson Teaching Award for Professor of the Year in April of 2010.
Omid is the editor of the volume Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, which offered an understanding of Islam rooted in social justice, gender equality, and religious and ethnic pluralism. His works Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam, dealing with medieval Islamic history and politics, and Voices of Islam: Voices of Change were published 2006. His last book, Memories of Muhammad, deals with the biography and legacy of the Prophet Muhammad. He has forthcoming volumes on the famed mystic Rumi, contemporary Islamic debates in Iran, and American Islam.”
http://www.onbeing.org/blog/omid-safi-seven-thoughts-on-waking-up-in-trumps-america/9038
Here are a few quotes from the blog:
“If we love each other, we tell each other the truth. And the truth of the matter is that many of us are in incredible pain right now. Pain tinged with dreams, and legitimate fear. That fear is not equally distributed across America. That fear is concentrated among Muslims, Hispanics, African Americans, poor folks, women, gay/lesbian/trans folks, Jews, disabled folks, undocumented people…
To have heard, to literally have courage (remember that the root of the word “courage” comes from the old Latin word for heart, cor), does not mean that we are somehow immune to fear and trepidation. No, it means that we hug our babies even when our limbs are frozen in this trauma, our very souls are trembling with fear, and our hearts heavy. And that is where many of us are today.
Don’t tell me “it’s going to be OK” if you have not had to look into my frightened children’s eyes. Make it OK, work with us in making it OK, and then tell me that it is OK.
This is not the time for bravado and pretending to be unafraid. Yes, the truth of the matter is that we are afraid, and many of us are afraid for those who are more vulnerable in our midst, and for our babies. What marks us as human is not so much whether we are or are not afraid, but rather whether we allow fear to have the last word. Can we rise up, stand up, and act out of love even when fear is real and present? Can we seek hope and love, and bring them to public spaces until we call it justice?”
He goes on to detail seven reflections that all of us as human being would do well to reflect on and consider in the light of a Trump victory.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.
I will write another blog in due course, but for now, this blog captures my thoughts at this time better than anything I could say right now.