Radical Middle Way :: Does Islam need Reformation? --- A speech presented by Professor Tariq Ramadan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA4W7iVe85U
O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the (Prophetic) Messenger and those in authority from amongst you, then if you have a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to Allah and the (Prophetic) Messenger if you believe in Allah and the Last Day (of Jedgement). That is better and very good in the end.
Our problem is one of spirituality.
If a man comes to speak to me about
the reforms to be undertaken in the
Muslim world, about political strategies
and of great geo-strategic plans, my
first question to him would be whether
he performed the dawn prayer in its time.
-- Said Ramadan
And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me - indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided.
"The politicians cannot establish Islam: their sole aim is to gain power, by whatsoever means possible. And if some people use the name of Islam, they do so to achieve their political aims. Islamic da'wah (message) relies on tabligh (propagation of the message) and shahadah (testimony -- by observing what one preaches to others), whereas the main tool of the political parties is propaganda to achieve their aims.
The difference in the word propaganda and tabligh is not merely of semantics, but they are also world apart in their spirit. The purpose of tabligh is to disseminate the message of Allah faithfully in its true form fully and completely, while propaganda is aimed at making the movement succeed by all possible means, right or wrong. Propaganda is an art developed by modern political movements, and one of its prominent features is its indifference to all the moral obligations which the Prophets of Allah have always regarded as an imperative and a necessary condition for establishing Islam and the Islamic way of life."