Muhammed, the best of human creation, the prayers and the peace be on him is reported to have said: 

“The best of you is the one who is most useful to society.” 

Again, he said: 

“Every child is born upon the Muslim nature, and it is the circumstances that make him other than this.” 

In these two reports of the Prophet’s teaching are an emphasis on the common humanity we all share and the common obligation we all share in serving the best human life for all people. This is plain and direct.

In the interest of the Times we are living in and out of respect for honorable people who have native and civilian rights that cannot be ignored I offer these words. With respect for, and an eye on, the obligation of assistance we Muslim-Americans should be offering our society, our neighbors, our co-workers, our families and friends, our children, I offer these words. We cannot be muzzled by fear when those with whom we share responsibility for the civility of the nation in which we live can benefit from our leadership. We are no cowards. Cowardliness is sinfulness in the estimation of those obeying G’d and the Rule of Decency. Our country and the vital communities that comprise it have no use for cowardliness in any moment and especially this moment when new leadership and the opportunity for the healing in the hearts and the minds of the population stands threatened.

Allah, the Most High -Glorified and Praised is He, says in the Holy Qur’an:   

وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ لِلَّهِ ۖ فَإِنِ انْتَهَوْا فَلَا عُدْوَانَ إِلَّا عَلَى الظَّالِمِي

These words are translated into English: “And fight them until there exists no more trouble, tumult, and oppression and religion is wholly for G’d. And if they cease let there be no further hostility except upon those who insist on oppressing.”

Important structures which the human population everywhere on this earth rely upon for direction and leadership have been compromised. To repeat, traditional leadership structures have been made dust, as the Holy Qur'an says. What then stands in this time of Confusion and competing notions of what is correct and decent in leadership? The answer is those structures which respect the honor that has been conferred upon humanity by our Lord-Creator, and that recognize the dignity of the human individual in his and her access and commitments to the Truth upon which human life depends to live free and with dignity, and to serve the interest of free opportunity for all regardless of ethnicity or religion or class.

The power and inertia of the human aspiration for Truth, the physical and spiritual sciences derived from it as lessons and principles, is an immunity that G'd has built into human existence, and that will save Man in such Times as these. Facing the virus pandemic of irresponsible governance, the new leadership of mankind and in particular America, history will record, will have developed and grown from those who were challenged in these moments and rose solely upon the recognition of common human decency, even if they did not know how to recognize or call upon the One, True G’d.

“Religion wholly for G’d” is under no nation’s sins or the sins of its misdirected passions. “Religion wholly for G’d” is true Freedom, qualified by a true Justice. True justice opens to those who are responsible and take into their hearts and minds the concern to care for their fellow man. This is al-Islam. This is what we Muslim-Americans are obligated to offer. This is Islamic leadership. 

American and world citizens are presently challenged in their existence by the failure in American leadership to uphold its own claims to democratic life and principles. An assault on the Capitol of the United States by armed extremists bent on destruction and anarchy, made possible because of the reach and influence of persons occupying high offices, is a betrayal of every sacred oath that qualifies one as a citizen. It is the act of gutless treason.  

But even more important and serious than that, the influence of these offices to spoil the spiritual constitution of man has resulted in a poisoning of the human spirit everywhere on this earth. It is the sickness caused by an incessant American and world leadership feeding from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That is to say, though clearly warned against it, world and American leadership openly seeing the good in humanity and provisions of good given to humanity from the Lord-Creator, having brazenly manipulated that good for untoward purposes by and with the institutionalized, legitimized, legalized use of evil.

Evil, by way of the the abuses of government and authority in high offices, has been rationalized, enabled, and authorized with the misdirected intent to serve good. The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump insists that he intends good. This mentality is proof of the manipulation of the office itself. It is a categorical betrayal of Freedom and Justice, though made to appear as an acceptable strategy to countless millions here in America and also abroad. In this moment, to avoid and push away from what is known to be common human decency, is the clear mark of evil.

Through commitments of love to family and the natural aspirations to enjoy and safeguard a distinctly healthy and humane, human world, free of the overwhelming threats of physical and spiritual disease and in care of those infected, a new leadership must rise now. It must rise against the tyranny of arrogance, not to violently or recklessly overthrow it, but to humanize our world upon commitments to the universal Truth of human need for G'd's Help and Protection. 

In other words, and to again quote the Holy Qur'an, Allah says: 

مَا خَلْقُكُمْ وَلَا بَعْثُكُمْ إِلَّا كَنَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ

Translated: “Your creation and your resurrection are in no manner (to be understood) except as a single soul. And Allah is Seeing all and Hearing all.”

After these convulsions in human society where human life has been horribly manipulated and oppressed, the promise that man will govern himself again by healthy self-interests and a nature-supported, civilized patriotic spirit, is re-created and resurrected in him by the power of natural urges for decency, and the public and private commitments of moral leadership. What distinguishes that leadership is that it promotes the principle of recognition and defense of the humanity G'd gave us at our original creation. Within that courageous vision is clear purpose for Human Society, and in this case, America the Beautiful is saved from the tactics and schemes of bullies and extremists and oppressors to destroy it. Within that courageous vision, and the encouragement and demonstration of moral leadership, the true decency of the American people will be summoned and this will be the most important factor for ultimately saving the Republic itself. 

We stand with those, and we Pledge our Allegiance to those, who would now defend the life G’d planned for man. We are shoulder to shoulder with those who would now promote and shield that life as it is spoken of in all Scriptures, and as it is demonstrated by all sincere and devoted servants of G’d, no matter the particular faith tradition. The Islam spoken of by Muhammed the Prophet champions a sacred unity for mankind and a common destiny.

The House at Makkah -the Sacred Mosque, as the Qur’an says, is the House for all Mankind. “Religion wholly for G’d” does not recognize the mosque under the nation, or the mosque under the individual, or the mosque under the community. “Religion wholly for G’d” is the recognition that man is one human community and each individual member in it is given by natural rights the same sacred claim to all of its benefits and the security in all of its enjoyments.

This is the Rule of Decency and Civility and we Muslim-Americans commit to it now and always, in the tradition of our late teacher and a gardener for the cultivation of the correct image of Islam and Muslim life in America, W. Deen Mohammed.