When we think of public ventures, we think of concentrated efforts in particular realms. The problem, however, is that such efforts can only be conducted fruitfully where we’re motivated by:
- an accurate understanding of our deen,
- what it means to be a Muslim and a true believer, and
- what shar’ī objectives precisely look like.
The sharī’ah is the key to human flourishing, normative guidance that works for all people, everywhere. As an abstract concept it is not centric to a time, a place or a people. It is guidance and a collection of standards that can be applied to any context: generating/producing specific solutions, remedies, or direction that’s specifically action-guiding.
But Muslims in the West have narrowed the scope of the sharī’ah of Allah and stripped it of its relevance. What God sent as guidance in Revelation is for all of mankind. Yet we’ve created an “Immigrant Islam” defined by its minority status and foreignness (for an extended discussion on Immigrant Islam, see Sherman Jackson’s Islam and the Blackamerican). We have prioritised ethnic interests of representation (both social and political) of immigrant Muslim communities.