FROM MAULANA’S DESK
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, born in 1925, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who is well-versed in both classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines. The mission of his life has been the establishment of worldwide peace. He has received the Padma Bhushan, the Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized as one of its most influential Muslims . His books have been translated into sixteen languages and are part of university curricula in six countries. He is the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality based in New Delhi.
A SANE VOICE FROM AMERICA
AN Australian immigrant to America, Nick Adams, has written a book titled Green Card Warrior. An introductory note to this book, which appeared in The Times of India, is being quoted here in full:
Millions of immigrants hanker after a permanent residency in the United States, in a tortured pursuit often dubbed the “green card blues”. Now, President Trump has indicated what could be an easy route to it under his watch: show your merit, and possibly, be conservative!
In an unusual plug that comes at a time his aide Kellyanne Conway is still under fire for hawking his daughter’s merchandize from the White House podium, the US President on Friday endorsed on twitter, a book on the green card pursuit. “Nick Adams new book, Green Card Warrior, is a must read. The merit-based system is the way to go. Canada, Australia!” Trump wrote, days after he proposed economic criteria for immigration rather than the family-based one that is currently the primary driver.
It turns out that Adams is an Australian immigrant who struggled for nearly five years to get a US Green Card, because, he says, he was persecuted by the Obama administration for being a conservative. He writes in the book that he was eventually granted an “extraordinary ability” Green Card by the US, but it wasn’t easy.
“It was a 4.5 year battle, and cost almost fifty thousand dollars. It is an incredible tale of sabotage and juxtaposes the enormous difficulty of legal immigration with the red-carpet welcome of illegal immigration”, he says.
Now a resident of Texas, Adams runs a foundation on “American Greatness” and calls himself a conservative “culture warrior” appearing often on TV shows plugging the Trump line. It was one such appearance on Fox News channel on Friday morning that appears to have caught President Trump's eye and generated the tweet a few minutes later.
In the show, Adams maintained that “if America is going to remain the best nation on this earth, we’ve got to make sure that we bring only the best people here”.
“There has to be a cultural buy-in from those that decide to make America home. They can’t just come here and milk us. They’ve got to love the place and they got to become American”, he argued.
Incidentally, Government ethics rules barring product endorsements don’t apply to Presidents, so Adams can happily milk the bonanza.
(‘Donald Trump endorses book on Green Card pursuit via merit’, The Times of India, 6 March 2017)
The comment made by Nick Adams is appropriately applicable to American Muslims as well. The work culture that developed in America after freedom was completely merit-based. The formula of this culture was ‘compete or perish’. Those who settle in America from outside must know that this principle is considered a sacred creed. Muslim immigrants should also know that they are not an exception to this rule. They must necessarily stand up to this competition: they cannot prevent themselves from paying this price. No hue or cry can help them in this matter.
If Muslims, not only in America, but also in every country of the world, qualify on merit they will be surely successful in achieving what they set out for.
If Muslims, not only in America, but also in every country of the world, qualify on merit they will be surely successful in achieving what they set out for. However, if they want to achieve something through favour, they will not be able attain anything in this world.
Muslims must not become emotional in this matter, rather they should be realistic. They must accept reality. No other strategy will work in this regard.
This method is not only an American formula, but has been laid down by God. It has been mentioned in the Quran in these words: “He sends down water from the sky that fills riverbeds to overflowing, each according to its measure. The torrent carries along swelling foam, akin to what rises from smelted ore from which man makes ornaments and tools. God thus depicts truth and falsehood. The scum is cast away, but whatever is of use to man remains behind. God thus speaks in parables.” (13: 17)
According to the above verse of the Quran, Muslims must prove themselves a ‘giver’ community. If they become a ‘taker’ community, they will not have a respectful place anywhere in the world, in America or any other country.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
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If you challenge someone's ego, your
success is doubtful but when you challenge
someone's conscience, then your success
is guaranteed.