In the Name of Allah the Merciful the Compassionate
Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies

Islam Denounces Violence	Islam: Legacy of Peace	Islam's Influence to the World	Wisdom (Al-Hikmah)
Qur'anic Mis-Interpreted Verses	Saladin (Salahu ad-Deen)	Muslim's Alliance	Purification (al-Tazkiyah)
Prophet Muhammad and the Lunar Dates	The Sunnah of Itqan	The Rise of Islam	Woman's Status Reform

Judeo-Christian Titles

Woman's Status Reform

1. We are all servants of God by our choice and by our acceptance of God's presence. In doing so, we have accepted the most difficult and responsible job in the world. It is not a job we do from 9:00 to 5:00 but it is a responsibility of the soul, the body and the mind in every minute of our lives.
2. In our efforts to serve God we do not expect financial rewards, fame, gratification or popularity. We all aspire for one thing and that is the acceptance by God of our efforts, actions and deeds, and ending up in heaven in the closeness of God in the hereafter. So, money, centers of power, political influence and personal gain are not our goals and aims. The rewards of this business, the business of serving God, are not measured in dollars and cents. They are measured in the number of households and lives that we serve, and that we touch by making a difference in the way they live. Our real reward is the pleasure of God.
3. We, the servants of God and our faith and belief in God, are not for sale for the highest bidder of money, political influence and/or affluence.
4. The real battle is not between religions and religious people. The real battle is not between the servants of God. The real challenge is between those who serve God and those who do not want God in their and our lives. That is why it is imperative and necessary that the servants of God never waste their most valuable resource, time, in trying to undermine and discredit each other. We need to save our energies, time and resources to stand strong against those who make violence look attractive, abuse of power and greed cool, sex and drugs the new fashion and killing a justified way of getting even. We must work with each other as members of the interfaith family. The challenge is huge. It can only be met by working with people one person at a time. That takes time and effort. That is where we should invest our time.
5. We need to bring back respect and glory to the most important institution recognized by all faiths, the institution of marriage and family. That is a huge challenge.
6. We need to make full utilization of the many houses of God that we build. It is extremely wasteful to build a huge sanctuary that is used for a few hours one day a week and is left empty the rest of the week. We need to bring life to our places of worship. It is true that our political system is built on a deep-seated belief in the separation of church and state. But, it is our responsibility and our duty to send to the state those believers and servants of God who are qualified to lead, those who are fair in their judgment because they love God and those who do not discriminate because they know that we all have been created equal. This can be done by making the houses of God the places for families to get together, to socialize, and to enjoy the meaning of having a family and of getting married. These houses of God should be used as centers to network, to discuss the problems in the neighborhoods, to question the political representatives, to debate a TV program or a movie and to discuss educational programs with the school district and/or the school principal and staff. The houses of God should be used to utilize the tremendous energy that our youths have.
7. We need to cooperate to bring back the real meaning of providing credit to a family or to a business, that needs it. We need to work hard to establish and promote an important human right. I believe that Financial Credit should become a human right. Every citizen should be able to get credit regardless how small that credit is. We need to bring to America the images painted by James Stewart and Frank Capra in the movie "It's a Wonderful life."
8. We need to actively participate in an overall renovation of the American school system. Schooling is not only a matter of teaching sciences and literary arts but it is the place to acquire moral, ethical and civic values and responsibility. We should actively promote the involvement of the family in the schooling of our children, our future.
9. We need to get together to provide the community with a solution to what I consider the most dangerous problem to America's future. That is Single Parent Children. Statistics prove beyond doubt that the majority of gang members and violent crime perpetrators come from single parent families. This is our duty. We cannot continue to be silent or lax about it. We need to find ways and means to get the unmarried men and women, single fathers and single mothers to get married as soon as possible. If America can make it to Mars, then we should make this happen.

1. A society that is built on intellectual and mental persuasion in which the mind, the most valuable gift from God, is the key to knowing and loving God. 2. A society that looks down at and bans the use of drugs, alcohol and superstition.
2. A society that does not condone gambling, speculation and greed.
3. A society that believes in the purity of the soul and body and of respecting promises.
4. A society that believes in marriage as the institution of building a family.
5. A society that believes in volunteering oneself and resources to serve God and the community. Professor Stephen Carter at Yale in his book, Civility, defines Civility as the total sum of sacrifices and voluntary actions made by individuals for the benefit of others to live together in peace and harmony.
6. A society that believes in respecting people's properties, self-dignity, and the right to live honorably.
7. A society that never hoards and never uses usury and loan sharking and abuse the services of credit cards in its financial dealings. By the way, a large portion of the profits made by many financial institutions today come from credit cards interest charged at 18% or more.
8. A society that never allows the individual to overburden himself/herself with liabilities, debts and promises that cannot be met.
9. A society that believes that all the above and more can be done not through socialism, or any other "-ism" but through the love, the decency, and the civility of serving God.