Book & Author
Dr Ahmad H. Sakr: Understanding Islam & Muslims
By Dr Ahmed S. Khan
Chicago, IL
Dr Ahmad H. Sakr was a prominent Islamic scholar and a pioneer par excellence who served the Muslim community in North America for more than five decades by establishing mosques, schools, national, and global organizations, and building bridges of understanding across multiple cultures and religions. According to his biographical profile presented in his books, he was born in Beirut, Lebanon. After receiving his education at the American University in Beirut, he joined the University of Illinois where he earned his PhD.
While in Lebanon, he received Islamic education through tutoring from the late Grand Mufti of Lebanon as well as from several Muslim scholars from neighboring countries. In Lebanon, he served as the director of the Islamic Center of Beirut. While studying in America, he was a founding member and president of the Muslim Students Association of the USA and Canada, currently known as the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). He was also a founding member of the World Council of Mosques whose headquarters is in Makkah. Dr Sakr was the first director and representative of the Muslim World League to the UN.
Dr Sakr was a biochemist, a nutritionist and an educator by profession. He taught at several universities. In 1973, he was selected as an Outstanding Educator of America. He was also an able administrator and served in numerous capacities at various American universities, the last of which was the Acting President of the American Islamic College in Chicago. He was an expert on Halal foods and served as a board member of the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA).
In 1976-77 Dr Sakr was selected as a Community Leader: he served as the president of the Foundation for Islamic Knowledge, Director of the Islamic Education Center in Walnut, California, a member of Operation Safe Community, and a member of the Walnut Interfaith Council in California. Dr Sakr appeared on ABC's Nightline as well as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). In addition, he made numerous radio and television appearances. He also organized and coordinated many national and international conferences on various Islamic themes.
Dr Sakr was a prolific writer. He authored more than fifty books and booklets, and a plethora of articles on a wide spectrum of topics: Islam, food, health, behavior, terrorism, fundamentalism, Khutab, and orations. Dr Sakr strived hard to build bridges of understanding through commonalities with Muslims and non-Muslims. He visited the Vatican in Italy where he participated in a Dialogue with the Bishops, Cardinals, and the Pope. Dr Sakr passed away on November 23rd, 2015 (10 Safar 1437 AH) in San Gabriel Valley, California.
Dr Sakr wrote “Understanding Islam & Muslims” in 1990 during the Gulf War (Aug 2, 1990 – Feb 28, 1991) to present the principles and practices of true Islam, shake and break the stereotypes about Islam and Muslims, and showcase Muslim contributions, Islamic traits of peace, tolerance, compassion, and coexistence with other faiths in the global village — for the non-Muslim audience.
Dr Sakr dedicated the book, like his all books, to Allah SWT: “This book is dedicated to Allah Ta'ala (Almighty) for all the favors He has bestowed upon me in creating and bringing me to this world. His Love, His Mercy, His Compassion, His Forgiveness, His Graciousness, His Kindness and His Bountifulness are above any humble person like me, to be able to thank Him enough and to praise Him. O Allah! I am humbly dedicating this work to You. O Allah! Accept my humble work and help me disseminate the information to those who need it. O Allah! Make this humble work worthy of You. O Allah! Forgive my shortcomings. O Allah! Help me live as a Muslim and die as a Mu'min (Believer). O Allah! Let me be summoned on the Day of Judgment with Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), with the other Prophets, the martyrs and the noble believers. Ameen.”
The book consists of nineteen sections/chapters: 1. Introduction, 2. Terminologies, 3. Islamic Principles, 4. Practices of Islam, 5. Other Related Aspects, 6. Stereotypes, 7. Muslim Contributions, 8. Muslims in North America, 9. Contributions of American Muslims, 10. Non-Muslims, 11. This is not Islam, 12. Qur'an and Tolerance, 13. What They Say About Islam, 14. What They Say About The Qur'an, 15. What They Say About Muhammad, 16. Building A Better Future, 17. Benefits of Being A Muslim, 18. Living Together, and 19. Final Remarks.
Presenting Islam in the introduction, the author observes: “Islam is the last religion in the history of humankind, and Muslims do exceed 1.9 billion in number. While there is no coercion or compulsion in the name of Islamic religion, there are no missionary activities either. However, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. At the same time, it is a religion that has been greatly misunderstood. The number of Muslims in North America exceeds ten million. At the same time, Muslims have been misunderstood, mistreated, mislabeled, and abused. Islam is the most tolerant religion and Muslims are also instructed to be tolerant to the non-Muslims. But there is a lack of communication and a lack of effective dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims.”
Commenting on the objective of the book — to bring people closer — the author states: “This humble effort is a step forward in the right direction in bringing people closer to one another. It is only through proper communication, and correct information that people will be able to better understand one another. It is also through education that people will be able to appreciate one another in spite of their differences. Ignorance and staying uninformed are causes of many of the problems among the people of the world. One should be concerned enough to read more about others. Reading should be done through the writings of other groups about themselves. One should not read about others only from the writings of those outside the group about which they are writing. It should be from writers within their respective groups in order to get the correct information without bias or prejudice. In so doing, one will be more educated, knowledgeable, amicable, and tolerant towards others.”
Commenting about misnomers for Islam and Muslims, the author observes: “Mohammedanism and Mohammadans are two misnomers for Islam and Muslims. If these terminologies were to be accepted, one might conclude that the religion of Islam has derived its name from a mortal person, Muhammad; and Islam becomes no more than another "ism" similar to Judaism, Hinduism, Marxism, Socialism, Arabism, Nationalism, etc. One might also think wrongly that Mohammedans are worshipers of Muhammad (pbuh) or believers in him in the same way as Christians believe in Jesus. One more misinterpretation would be that Muhammad (pbuh) was the founder of Islam. All these are wrong and misleading, and so these misnomers are rejected by Islam and its followers. The true name of this religion is Islam, the root of which is Silm and Salaam, which means peace. Salaam may also mean greeting one another with peace. One of the beautiful names of God is that He is the Peace. It means more than that: Submission to One God, and to live in peace with the Creator, within one's self, with other people and with the environment. Thus, Islam is a total system of living. The followers of Islam are called Muslims. A Muslim tries to live in peace and harmony with all these segments of society, hence, a Muslim is any person anywhere in the world whose obedience, allegiance, and loyalty are to God, the Lord of the Universe. Muslims are not to be confused with Arabs. Muslims may be Arabs, Turks, Persians, Indians, Pakistanis, Malaysians, Indonesians, Europeans, Africans, Americans, and Hispanics…”
Explaining the sources of Islamic jurisprudence, the author observes: “The legal sources of Islam are based on the Qur'an and the Hadith. For their jurisprudence, Muslims rely also on the Sirah of the Prophet (pbuh), the decisions made by the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and the general consensus of the early Muslim jurists. In so doing, they will be able to know more about what is lawful (Halal), unlawful (Haram), innovative (Bid'ah), suspected (Mashbooth), or distasteful (Makrooh). If Muslims are confronted with a contemporary situation, which may not be found in any of the above sources, they will rely on analogy. However, such a type of decision making should be based on the spirit of Islamic teachings. The following is a summary of the sources of Islamic Shari' ah: 1. The Qur'an: The Holy Book of God to the worlds 2. The Hadith and Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) 3. The Sirah: Life history of the Prophet (pbuh) 4. Ijmaa': The Unanimous decisions of the early Muslims `Ulamaa' (scholars) 5. Qiyaas: Analogical reasoning 6. Isstihsaan: To choose the better between two alternatives for good reasons. 7. Masslaha Mursalah or Mutlaqah: The judge is to make his decision for the benefit of the public. 8. `Urf: Customs and habits if they are not against the teachings of Islam. 9. Isstisshaab: Agreeing to the situation as it was decided and agreed upon before. 10. 'Shar' Maa Qabl: Laws prescribed to people before Islam and also prescribed to Muslims as well. 11. Mazhab AI-Sahabah: Opinions of the Rightly Guided Companions (Khulafaa' Rashidoon) of the Prophet (pbuh).”
Commenting on the stereotypes that exist for Islam and Muslims, the author observes: “In America, there are many stereotypes and accusations against Islam and Muslims. This type of mistreatment could be due to lack of communication, misinformation, or an outlet for the frustration of the non-Muslims from their own societies and its problems…some of the old stereotypes include using terms like Muhammadanism for Islam, Mohammadans for Muslims, Arabs for Muslims, Black Muslims for Muslims…A new wave of stereotypes has spread recently against Islam and Muslims. Some of these are: fundamentalism, terrorism, hostage taking, hijacking, radicals, reactionaries, militancy, religious fanaticism, dictatorship, totalitarianism, monarchy, socialism, Arabism, nationalism, oppression towards women, etc... These led to a state of animosity against Muslims and Arabs everywhere in the world. It is incumbent that these stereotypes period and accusations be cleared away and cleaned up. Otherwise, it will be impossible to create peace, understanding, and harmony between Muslims and non-Muslims.”
Reflecting on the Muslim contributions to science and society, the author notes: “The early Muslims were highly educated. They contributed to modern civilization through many fields. Their major cities of enlightenment were Makkah, Madinah, Cordova, Al-Hamra, Toledo, Timbuktu, Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Fez, Tunisia City, etc. Some contributions were in the field of: 1. Language: 10,000 words in Arabic are found in the English language. 2. Arithmetic: the present English numbers and the zero are the inventions of early Muslims. 3. Algebra, logarithm and calculus. 4. Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine. 5. Geography and navigation. 6. Astronomy and the calendar using solar and lunar systems at the same time. 7. Ibn Khaldoun's economic theory is that inflation can be lowered by making more jobs available in the country. Mr Reagan, former president of the USA, quoted Ibn Khaldoun in one of his speeches in 1982. 8. Banking without interest: Islam preached the concept of sharing in the capital and in the profit rather than having a very small benefit called interest. 9. Islam eliminated the economic exploitation of the poor by the rich in a capitalistic system. 10. Islam has also eliminated dictatorship, monarchy, totalitarian systems, or feudal systems.”
The author presents some example of English words that have been derived from Arabic: Admiral (amir al-bahr), Adobe ( al-tub), Alchemy (al-kimiya'), Algebra (al-jabr), Ambar (anbar), Antimony (ithmid), Atlas (atlas), Azimuth (al-sumut), Banana (banana), Baroque (burqa), Coffee (qahwa), Cotton (qutun), Giraffe (zurafa), Jasmine (yasmin), Lemon (limun), Musk (musk), Nadir (nazir), Orange (naranj), Rice (ruzz), Safari (safara), Saffron (zafaran), Sandalwood (sandal), Sofa (suffa), Sugar (sukkar), Syrup (sharab), Zero (sifr), Zircon (azraq) and many others.
Commenting on the post-1991 Gulf war era when Muslims were wrongfully implicated and entrapped for crimes they did not commit, the author states: “We, therefore, demand from the authorities of the American government, not to associate the American Muslims with any individual act here or abroad. Similarly, we demand from the leaders of the mass media (TV, radio, print) not to intimidate the Muslims who are living peacefully as citizens of this loving country. Muslims of America have already demonstrated their loyalty and allegiance to America whether they are immigrants or native born. They also contributed to the success of the American dreams in most of the fields of science, technology, safe community, education, social structure, family values and other values.”
Referring to contributions of American Muslims, the author observes:“1. Sears Tower and the John Hancock Building in Chicago were designed by a Muslim chief architect [Dr Fazlur Rahman Khan] who had migrated to the US from the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). 2. Science and technology: Muslims in America are generally highly educated, and are involved in every field of education, science, and technology. 3. Foreign Muslim students at universities and colleges are great assets to the economic stability of academic institutions and to the local American societies and communities. 4. Muslims comprise a melting pot of all nationalities of Muslims into the Ummah of Islam in America. The rainbow of Islam is demonstrated in their various hues and shades of color. The concept of multi-culturalism is also unique in them, in theory and in practice. 5. Peace in society: Muslims are one of the most peaceful communities in America. The rate of divorce among Muslims is minimal; the rate of juvenile delinquency is minimal; and the rate of crimes is also minimal. 6. Justice and equality to all, irrespective of color, nationality, creed, ethnic background, or social status, is demonstrated by Muslims.”
Reflecting on the early history of peaceful coexistence of Muslims with Jews and Christians, the author notes: “Christians and Jews lived peacefully with Muslims. Non-Muslims flourished among Muslims. None were killed in the name of Islam. The mere presence of a large number of Christians and Jews in the Muslim world is a sign of the tolerance of Muslims to the non-Muslims. Jews fled from Spain during the Inquisition, and Muslims welcomed them in their lands. They protected them and helped them to establish themselves and they indeed flourished. During the occupation of the Middle East by the crusaders, the local Christians were treated as second class citizens by their European brethren. They could not tolerate the insults and humiliation. Therefore, they helped the Muslims rid themselves of the crusaders from that area, mainly Jerusalem and Palestine. Salahuddin (Saladdin) was able to liberate Jerusalem from the occupation of the crusaders. He was kind to the knights and their soldiers. He treated them generously, especially those who were knights.”
The author concludes the book with his final remarks: “Finally it has become imperative that people should stop accusing others. People should eliminate all prejudices and start to understand and to respect one another. It is only through understanding and communication that people will try to live in peace and harmony. All people should recognize that they are no more [longer] living in the medieval ages, but in the twenty-first century. … Understanding Islam and Muslims in the right perspective will help improve relationships, reduce friction, and build better bridges of cooperation for all.”
Understanding Islam and Muslims by Dr Ahmad H. Sakr is a valuable book to introduce Islam to non-Muslims. It is a scholarly effort by Dr Sakr to build bridges of understanding between Islam and other religions — so that all can co-exist in peace and harmony in a highly stressed global village.
(Dr Ahmed S. Khan — dr.a.s.khan@ieee.org — is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar)
