The Year that was 2009

Another year has come and gone. For some it went too fast, for others perhaps not fast enough. For all though this was a year that would be remembered.

It was a year in which we were privileged to have been witnesses to history as we saw a black man enter America’s White House to become the nation’s first black president. While many would praise to the readiness of a people to accept the improbable, it can be credibly argued that given the capacity and charisma of a man whose vision was so empowering and whose words were so inspiring, America’s choice was inevitable. Although as the year came to a close he may not have delivered on much that he promised, Barrack Obama certainly captured the heart of a nation and the imagination of people all over the globe with his courage to meet, his willingness to listen and his ability to dialogue with both friends and foes.

Sadly it was a year in which the country’s economic woes continued to take their toll as foreclosures soared and unemployment climbed to new highs, while giant corporations became victims of yet more bankruptcies. It was an year in which we saw a furious debate take place across the nation in town halls and tea parties on the contentious issue of health care, whether it aught to be a right or a privilege. As the final votes came to be counted the political will of our representatives was found wanting as corporate America once again came shopping to Washington leaving us betrayed and angry. While the last word has yet to be delivered, those of us who argued for real reform with a public option, need not hold our breadth any more as the sun may have already set on that happening. What congress will dish out will likely neither cover all nor bring costs down. This was also the year when Wall Street again shocked us as we saw thousands lose millions by a swindler named Bernie Madoff who pocketed billions through a ponzi scheme before finally being thrown in jail. Some would call it investor greed, others would call it ruthless robbery, but the financial havoc that Wall Street could cause in the lives of people was again glaringly evident.

Then there was the massacre at Ft. Hood as a mad man convulsed and left a trail of terror and blood in the midst of an army base in Texas. It was also the year in which we bade farewell to Michael Jackson, our King of Pop, whose celebrated life and untimely death were both shrouded in controversy and suspicion. This was also the year in which golf’s great Tiger Woods lost his roar, as his wife clubbed him for his sexual escapades. This was also the year in which Al Qaeda’s sobering threat to penetrate our air space became apparent once again as a suicidal Nigerian attempted to blow himself up and sabotage Santa’s flight plans over the skies of Detroit.

In the Muslim world peace and security eluded as Palestine burned, Iraq smoldered, Iran ignited and Pakistan exploded. The irony and the agony was not where bombs were blasting and gunboats were firing, but where Muslims were taking to the streets to protest Muslim brutality and Mullah excesses. Once again we saw Muslims shedding Muslim blood as the ghost of unity ran for cover. Tribalism, against which Islam had come to eliminate, had once again reappeared and placed a strangle hold on the ummah’s unity. Essential freedoms which were guaranteed through Divine decrees were once again in dispute and cause for rebellion. In neighboring India, Hindu intolerance released its grasp over political power and Muslims pondered over strategies to rebuild their communities devastated by religious intolerance and government neglect.

Closer to home things were more peaceful. We took some baby steps in political participation as we descended on Springfield in busloads to make our presence known. We moved from interfaith to intrafaith, a road less traveled, as we began to explore ways to bridge the cultural divides between the immigrant and native communities. We opened a few more mosques, raised a few more minarets, and added a few more domes to the landscape of America. We distributed more turkeys and spread more holiday cheer on Thanksgiving Day. We collected more meat and donated it by the truckloads to a Food Depository on Enid ul Adha.

We saw some peace and quiet return to an embattled institution, as a court verdict settled a dispute and legitimized an election. As apathy returned and hearts remained strained, some would wonder if our experiment with democracy will ever succeed. Elsewhere the search continued to find replacement for our aging leaders as we struggled with the processes to make transitions happen without conflict and controversy.

This was also the year we found how angry our youth were, when Gallup polled them. While the reasons for that anger were not explained, questions remained on the concerns of marginalization and even radicalization. As worrisome as this polling data is, it clearly elucidates the need for a concerted effort by the moderate Muslim community to neutralize this threat. For radical Islam to be defeated, moderate Muslims will have to be creative if not combative, proactive not reactive, involved not indifferent, demanding not defensive.

Finally this was the year too when our neighbors from Indiana sent the second Muslim to the US House of Congress.

Now as the dust of 2009 settles, it is a time to reflect on the experiences of the past, the triumphs and tribulations of the days gone by and seek some wisdom from the lessons they have taught us.

Clearly change was center stage as the year began and we were all chanting for a change we can believe in, only to realize that change after all is not quite so easy to come about.

National policy does not change unless policy makers change. Policy makers do not change unless the communities who support them change. Communities who lobby for causes do not change unless the people who make up those communities change. Ultimately people do not change unless that which is in their minds and hearts can undergo change. So it is that the movement for any significant change really begins from the individual level.

That principle is one that the Quran so powerfully enunciates in Surah 13:11 Allah does not change the condition of a people unless they change that which is in their minds and hearts (nafs).

The question for us is whether we lived through 2009 day after day, hoping for change to miraculously happen, while we went about the chores of family and work, suffering little ourselves to make that change happen within us. A man can inspire us with his words, a book of divine guidance can show us the path, but the journey to take is ours to make. Neither peace nor prosperity can be ours to have till we fail to abandon traditions and practices that mock the spirit of our faith which so clearly demands the exercise of reason and reflection. Empowerment will elude us till we remain fearful of leaving the comforts of the mundane to embrace the challenges of the unfamiliar. True success and happiness can only come to us when our purpose in life rises above the gratification of self to the fulfillment of the needs of the other.

A paradigm which separates the secular from the sacred, that promotes compartments in life where what is acceptable in one is unwelcome in another, that permits us the right to believe but not the duty to behave, is a paradigm that is faulty and one that is bound to fail us regardless of intentions. A courageous and candid reflection on the paradigms we hold, to know if they are within the realm of reason, and in conformity with the laws of the divine, is perhaps the first step to take to determine if the change we seek is indeed the kind of change the Quran is calling on us to make, to better our lives for the present as well as for the future.

May Allah guide us and inspire us to understand His guidance and to do His will.

JK

Azher Quader
Executive Director
Community Builders Chicago
www.mycommunitybuilders.com