Wow. What a lesson in humility. And in civics and civil obedience!
I saw clips and posts online, claiming that Mustafaa Carroll of CAIR
stated that "Muslims are above the law." Knowing him personally,
I KNEW that this had to be taken out of context. But what context?
In my greatest imagination, I could not think up what this could be.
My best guess was not even close!
I called him up and he answered me personally:
He explained the full context of his statement was
1. Muslim duty to Sharia or practice INCLUDES following the law of the land.
That's a given.
I already understand this concept because Muslims are to follow the same Bible as Christians which call for "civil obedience" to authority, so that they witness to what is right, while following civil authority standards and process of secular laws and govt. They respect that if they are truly faithful and obedient to God.
2. And his statement taken out of this context was that
if Muslims are faithful in practice, those standards go ABOVE what the law requires.
They will go ABOVE AND BEYOND.
so the laws will not affect them BECAUSE THEY ARE MEETING THEM
NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE VIOLATING THEM AS THIS WAS MISCONSTRUED.
The problem I saw with his wording, is in his video he used the terms
"above the law" but THE SPIRIT of what he meant, and how he explained more clearly
over the phone, is that Muslims would go 'above and beyond' what the law requires.
He even gave me an example:
a. the law prohibits drinking while driving, but does not forbid drinking
b. by Islam, followers would not drink either!
So of course they will not break laws against drinking and driving, but go BEYOND that standard
and not drink to the point of drunkenness in the first place!
HERE IS THE VIDEO CLIP that Mustafaa sent me:
Mustafa_MediaResponse.mp4
The only argument I have with him, I sense the video still does not explain as clearly
as he did personally over the phone. Communication, especially with a topic that has
multiple levels of meaning as in this case, is much better one-on-one as a conversation
to CONFIRM the meaning is conveyed. It is VERY HARD to describe this concept
in "one blanket statement" linearly, and be sure that it is understand by different
audiences from different contexts and perspectives.
The term "above the law" means something very negative,
and my friend Mustafaa did better when explaining it as "going above and beyond"
what the law requires.
I told him I would post this correction.
If it's clear enough, please let me know.
Or tell me how to make it shorter and more effective.
And I will send it to all the media sources who reported wrong or misinterpreted
his meaning out of context, where what he is saying is BEAUTIFUL:
it is about Civil Obedience to the laws of God which include secular govt laws as the "law of the land."
Thank you for your help to make this correction.
I will post the other misinterpretations after this,
which I knew were backwards and had to be wrong,
but I never imagined that this was how it happened!
I saw clips and posts online, claiming that Mustafaa Carroll of CAIR
stated that "Muslims are above the law." Knowing him personally,
I KNEW that this had to be taken out of context. But what context?
In my greatest imagination, I could not think up what this could be.
My best guess was not even close!
I called him up and he answered me personally:
He explained the full context of his statement was
1. Muslim duty to Sharia or practice INCLUDES following the law of the land.
That's a given.
I already understand this concept because Muslims are to follow the same Bible as Christians which call for "civil obedience" to authority, so that they witness to what is right, while following civil authority standards and process of secular laws and govt. They respect that if they are truly faithful and obedient to God.
2. And his statement taken out of this context was that
if Muslims are faithful in practice, those standards go ABOVE what the law requires.
They will go ABOVE AND BEYOND.
so the laws will not affect them BECAUSE THEY ARE MEETING THEM
NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE VIOLATING THEM AS THIS WAS MISCONSTRUED.
The problem I saw with his wording, is in his video he used the terms
"above the law" but THE SPIRIT of what he meant, and how he explained more clearly
over the phone, is that Muslims would go 'above and beyond' what the law requires.
He even gave me an example:
a. the law prohibits drinking while driving, but does not forbid drinking
b. by Islam, followers would not drink either!
So of course they will not break laws against drinking and driving, but go BEYOND that standard
and not drink to the point of drunkenness in the first place!
HERE IS THE VIDEO CLIP that Mustafaa sent me:
Mustafa_MediaResponse.mp4
The only argument I have with him, I sense the video still does not explain as clearly
as he did personally over the phone. Communication, especially with a topic that has
multiple levels of meaning as in this case, is much better one-on-one as a conversation
to CONFIRM the meaning is conveyed. It is VERY HARD to describe this concept
in "one blanket statement" linearly, and be sure that it is understand by different
audiences from different contexts and perspectives.
The term "above the law" means something very negative,
and my friend Mustafaa did better when explaining it as "going above and beyond"
what the law requires.
I told him I would post this correction.
If it's clear enough, please let me know.
Or tell me how to make it shorter and more effective.
And I will send it to all the media sources who reported wrong or misinterpreted
his meaning out of context, where what he is saying is BEAUTIFUL:
it is about Civil Obedience to the laws of God which include secular govt laws as the "law of the land."
Thank you for your help to make this correction.
I will post the other misinterpretations after this,
which I knew were backwards and had to be wrong,
but I never imagined that this was how it happened!
