Coordination, Cooperation Does Not Equal Togetherness

Written by Administrator

Friday, 24 June 2005 08:13

Coordination, Cooperation Does Not Equal Togetherness

Our well read and reflective readers will agree that # in many ways # language today often does not convey purpose or meaning. Words like 'terrorism', 'insurgent', and 'freedom' have been abused # and continued to be abused # to the extent that they can be literally ignored. Meaning has to be sought over, behind, or underneath such newspeak.

Oftentimes words are used as an expedient for truths which may conjure a politically incorrect atmosphere. Sometimes true words can lead to disunity, struggle, and societal pressures. It is all too easy to use platitudes and cliché's to guarantee warm smiles and good cheer from listeners.

Whoever lives in a culture of purposeless communication has to fight hard to maintain the proper use of words; saying what you mean and meaning what you say has never been more difficult, even for Muslim Americans.

In our community, leaders and thinkers have taken 'cooperation' and 'coordination' as their parlance of Islamic progress. As long as our organizations and masajid are 'cooperating' and 'coordinating', it is of no consequence that we have scores of Muslim groups that look like they are replicating and reinventing effort.

Not to be misunderstood, cooperation and coordination are noble aims that all Islamic workers should aim to practice with other people # Muslim and non-Muslim # who are also engaged in good work. However, as Muslims we have to ask difficult questions. We have to measure our speech with the ideals the Qur'an and Sunnah espouse for us.

When our leaders proclaim that our masajid and organizations are 'cooperating' and 'coordinating' with each other, are they really admitting that our organizations aren't really together, so the best they can do is to engage in superficial shows of unity? What does it really mean to be 'together'?

In the Qur'an, Allah describes the group that He loves as forming a solid, cemented structure or wall. In other places in Islamic literature, Muslims are described as bricks that are cemented together to create a strong wall. Consider that each brick is touching at least four other bricks. There is friction between the bricks. There is pressure and stress on the bricks, each one simultaneously passing on and taking on the load. But # in Allah's divine Wisdom # the friction, pressure, and stress makes the bricks ever closer, and the wall ever stronger.

How can our masajid and organizations be really 'together', and not simply coordinating and cooperating, when each group has its own priorities and own direction? Is it the case that our leaders are avoiding the friction, pressure, and stress of uniting because any attempt at doing so might isolate some groups, or cause negative reactions in other groups? Only Muslim leaders understand the true expanse of the gaps between our groups; to the average juma' prayer attendee, most masjids look alike. When our priorities # and even our beliefs # are not harmonious, how are we ever supposed to come 'together'? Coordination and cooperation makes us feel good; coming together will force us to sacrifice and work hard, and that may be asking too much. But in the long run, we can only survive if we are … together.