Four Californian Lectures

Prospects

Muslims are now fully aware of these problem. Now they are awake. Perhaps their biggest difficulty is the lack of unified leadership. Nowadays a t of war is going on among various groups of t Muslim intelligentsia here because of their having allegiance to this or that Middle Eastern country and trying to pull the Muslim umrnah in this or that direction.

However, there is a feeling that before exposing their children to the above-mentioned unhealthy environment, they must immunize them through proper religious education and training Steps have been taken in some big cities as well as some small places to establish religious schools.

Mosque is center of Islamic activities, and now there are hundreds of mosques in U.S.A. and Canada.

CONCLUDING OBSERVATION S

Muslims at present are more concerned with preserving their own religious identity. They are not paying much attention to spreading the message of Islam among non-Muslims. There are some Sufi groups who are engaged in this field. Also Islamic Information Service, an organization in Southern California, is producing since Ramadan 1985 television shows on Islam, which is heard from LA to Buffalo, (The Minaret, Summer 1987) Some conversions have been made through personal contacts. And that is how it should be. Islam was not spread by sword; it spread through noble virtues of the Prophet and the Muslims. Just an example will suffice here. The Prophet used to pass a house every day. An old lady used to stand, with the basket of garbage in hand, waiting for the Prophet to pass. When the Prophet reached near her, she threw the garbage on his head. The Prophet never admonished hen One day the routine was broken. The Prophet asked the neighbours where the old lady was; he was told she was sick.

The Prophet sought permission of the lady and entered the house. She thought he had come to take revenge. But the Prophet asked her how was she feeling and if there was anything he could do for her - nursing her, getting medicine or food for hen The woman was surprised. And she at once accepted Islam. You see, there was no theological argument or philosophical discussion. It was only the noble virtue of the Prophet which attracted people to Islam. And lastly, I will tell you another anecdote which will show you in miniature how this godless society pollutes our children's minds: A teacher in a Muslim madrasah in U.S.A. was teaching young Muslim kids on a weekend. When she narrated the above story of the Prophet, a small kid got up and fired his question: "Why didn't he sue her?"