Fill out a form, write your check, get your ticket, head down to the University.
Listen to Imam such-and-such speak, hang out with friends after and relax. Rinse and repeat.
This is the paradigm for Suburban Muslims which has been put forward to the youth, and it seems to be failing miserably. Everyone knows someone who has left faith at some seminars doorstep.
The foundation of this approach is based on a few unspoken assumptions which no one questions.
I will question them.
First, they should be listed:
1) American culture is the primary definition of the way we dress, the food we enjoy, the entertainment we seek (Movies, TV, video games).
2) Islam can be understood practically as a filter of the ‘bad’ aspects of the American lifestyle out of ones life. The bad aspects are the obvious haraam (forbidden actions). It can also be an encouragement of the ‘good’ aspects of American life.
3) Since Islam is a filter of good and bad, one needs to obtain ‘ilm’ (religious knowledge) in order to learn how to behave. Studying ‘ilm’ is paramount in Islam, and most ‘ilm’ is in Arabic.
4) What is taught by people in classes at seminars and ‘events’ is a translation and summarization of what is considered ‘ilm’.
5) Your status is defined by how much of this seminar-event-based ‘ilm’ you know.
6) Your source of English-’ilm’ is infinitely better than other peoples source of English-’ilm’.
7) If you learn Arabic yourself you will one day know exactly without a doubt that #6 is true.
8) ‘Ilm’ can be expensive.
9) What defines a good Muslim is how well integrated he is with Suburban-Middle-class Society (job, wife, kids, house) plus the combination of his ‘ilm’
10) With real ‘ilm’ we can combat a Non Suburban-Capitalist-Islam. The end result of Non Suburban-Capitalist-Islam is a lifestyle absent of the luxuries and principles of Suburban Capitalist Islam, primarily #1.
11) Non Suburban-Capitalist Muslims are extremists of different sorts, and Suburban Capitalist Muslims are moderate. They are moderate because they are largely indistinguishable from n0n-Muslim Americans within the workforce, except for a beard/Hijab and some dietary requirements.
12) Isa’s (AS) return, Imam Mahdi (AS) and the Dajjal are topics of events far in the future. They are so far that they are largely understood as metaphors without meaning.
13) Islamic history is something left to be studied in a superficial manner, because most of Muslim history is filled with various mistakes and evil people. It is far more important to learn about the primary sources of ‘ilm’ and attend more seminars.
14) Actual change from a Western to an Islamic society will come from those who participate in the political and economic system and give Dawah within.
15) Most immigrants have no idea about ‘ilm’, because they have never attended these seminars. Therefore most parents are without knowledge.
I will add more later. If you have some more to add, put them in comments sections and later I will flesh all of these out.
The “Noble Edict of the Rose Chamber” was an 1839 proclamation by Ottoman Sultan Abdül Mecid I that launched the Tanzimat period of reforms and reorganization within the Ottoman Empire.
Below is the text of the edict:
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
—-
All the world knows that since the first days of the Ottoman State, the lofty principles of
the Qur’an and the rules of the Sheriat were always perfectly observed. Our mighty
Sultanate reached the highest degree of strength and power, and all its subjects [the
highest degree] of ease and prosperity. But in the last one hundred and fifty years,
because of a succession of difficulties and diverse causes, the sacred Sheriat was not
obeyed nor were the beneficent regulations followed; consequently, the former strength
and prosperity have changed into weakness and poverty. It is evident that countries not
governed by the laws of the Sheriat cannot survive.
From the very first day of our accession to the throne, our thoughts have been
devoted exclusively to the development of the empire and the promotion of the prosperity
of the people. Therefore, if the geographical position of the Ottoman provinces, the
fertility of the soil, and the aptitude and intelligence of the inhabitants are considered, it is
manifest that, by striving to find appropriate means, the desired results will, with the aid
of God, be realized within five or ten years. Thus, full of confidence in the help of the
Most High and certain of the support of our Prophet, we deem it necessary and important
from now on to introduce new legislation to achieve effective administration of the
Ottoman Government and Provinces. Thus the principles of the requisite legislation are
three:
1. The guarantees promising to our subjects perfect security for life, honor, and
property.
2. A regular system of assessing taxes
3. An equally regular system for the conscription of requisite troops and the
duration of their service.
Indeed there is nothing more precious in this world than life and honor. What
man, however much his character may be against violence, can prevent himself from
having recourse to it, and thereby injure the government and the country, if his life and
honor are endangered? If, on the contrary, he enjoys perfect security, it is clear that he
will not depart from ways of loyalty and all his actions will contribute to the welfare of
the government and of the people.
If there is an absence of security for property, everyone remains indifferent to his
state and his community; no one interests himself in the prosperity of the country,
absorbed as he is in his own troubles and worries. If, on the contrary, the individual feels
complete security about his possessions then he will become preoccupied with his own
affairs, which he will seek to expand, and his devotion and love for his state and his
community will steadily grow and will undoubtedly spur him into becoming a useful
member of society.
Tax assessment is also one of the most important matters to regulate. A state, for
the defense of its territory, manifestly needs to maintain its borders, the costs of which
can be defrayed only by taxes levied on its subjects. Although thank God, our Empire has
already been relieved of the affliction of monopolies, the harmful practice of tax-farming
[iltizam], which never yielded any fruitful results, still prevails. This amounts to
handing over the financial and political affairs of a country to the whims of an ordinary
man and perhaps to the grasp of force and oppression, for if the tax-farmer is not of good
character he will be interested only in his own profit and will behave oppressively. It is
therefore necessary that from now on every subject of the Empire should be taxed
according to his fortune and his means, and that he should be saved from any further
exaction. It is also necessary that special laws should fix and limit the expenses of our
land and sea forces.
Military matters, as already pointed out, are among the most important affairs of
state, and it is the inescapable duty of all the people to provide soldiers for the defense of
the fatherland [vatan]. It is therefore necessary to frame regulations on the contingents
that each locality should furnish according to the requirement of the time, and to reduce
the term of military service to four or five years. Such legislation will put an end to the
old practices, still in force, of recruiting soldiers without consideration of the size of the
population in any locality, more conscripts being taken from some places and fewer from
others. This practice has been throwing agriculture and trade into harmful disarray.
Moreover, those who are recruited to lifetime military service suffer despair and
contribute to the depopulation of the country.
In brief, unless such regulations are promulgated, power, prosperity, security, and
peace may not be expected, and the basic principles [of the projected reforms] must be
those enumerated above.
Thus, from now on, every defendant shall be entitled to a public hearing,
according to the rules of the Sheriat, after inquiry and examination; and without the
pronouncement of a regular sentence no one may secretly or publicly put another to death
by poison or by any other means. No one shall be allowed to attack the honor of any
other person whatsoever. Every one shall possess his property of every kind and may
dispose of it freely, without let or hindrance from any person whatsoever; and the
innocent heirs of a criminal shall not be deprived of their hereditary rights as a result of
the confiscation of the property of such a criminal. The Muslim and non-Muslim subjects
of our lofty Sultanate shall, without exception, enjoy our imperial concessions. Therefore
we grant perfect security to all the populations of our Empire in their lives, their honor,
and their properties, according to the scared law.
As for the other points, decisions must betaken by majority vote. To this end, the
members of the Council of Judicial Ordinances [Mejlis-i Ahkam-i Adliyye], enlarged by
new members as may be found necessary, to whom will be joined on certain days we
shall determine our Ministers and the high officials of the Empire, will assemble for the
purpose of framing laws to regulate the security of life and property and the assessment
of taxes. Every one participating in the Council will express his ideas and give his advice
freely.
“Committee of Union and Progress”
It should be remembered that the ulema, as a class, did not form a homogeneous but a fragmented body, members of which defending somewhat contradictory theses. Many high-ranking members of the ulema strongly supported the Hamidian regime and policies implemented by the sultan for different reasons. In retrospect, however, it would not be inaccurate to comment that those who wholeheartedly supported the aforementioned regime were of a negligible quantity. This comment might seem contradictory, given the policies implemented by the sultan. The examination of a host of memoirs, pamphlets, and newspaper and journal articles published by members of ulema in exile and after the reinstatement of the constitutional regime unequivocally reveals this significant fact, however.
The idea of creating a political opposition movement was born in 1889 among military medical school students, but similar or identical ideas had entered the minds of a grater mass of people. Since there was no other influential authority apart from religion that could legitimize the opposition, the sympathizers of CUP discovered that clamorous opposition, shrouded in religious motifs, was the best way of guaranteeing the future of their movement, of legitimizing it and of delegitimizing the regime of Abdulhamid II. This became more urgent as Abdulhamid II and the palace increasingly labeled members of the opposition as ‘irreligious’ ‘traitors’, ‘intriguers’, ‘immoral’, ‘lacking in patriotism’, and ‘bandits’, this increasing tension by appealing to religious sentiments. So the ulema, who had not yet gone into action, were urged to do so through celebrations, persuasion, threats, satire and contempt.
….
It is strange that a member of the Ottoman ulema should question the legitimacy of the title of caliph of Sultan Selim I, but the real aim of this discussion is to establish an historical framework that would delegitimize the titles of caliph and sultan held by Abdulhamid II and diminish his reputation. If the author could establish that the title of caliph held by the Ottoman dynasty was an usurpation obtained by massacring thousands of Muslims then the caliphate and sultanate of Abdulhamid II would be null a pirori. Similar ideas, and the notion of the caliph as a member of the Quraysh tribe were first created as a political maneuver by English functionaries in India and developed by London newspapers in order to weaken the power and influence of the Ottoman state over the Islamic world. That such ideas questioning the legitimacy of the Ottoman caliphate were adopted after a decade by the ulema and presented as if they constituted a local and religious question illustrates the ulema’s political situation and the loss of their ability to use their own judgment to follow and interpret political developments.
The conclusion expounds on the subjects touched on in the introduction of the pamphlet. It reiterates the need to weaken absolute obedience to the caliph and, consequently to Abdulhamid II, and the need for outright disobedience; it reinterprets the verse of the Koran ordering obedience to established authorities in a way that excludes sultans and emirs and includes ‘learned mystics with the capacity of governing people’; and it includes a defence of a constitutional, even republican, regime in place of the caliphate-sultanate. It also stresses the need for consultation and to found a parliament, which is considered as a synonym for ‘a council of the Muslim community and a national council, both of which are a religious necessity’. The final ‘personal comment’ frequently points to the affinity between the ulema and the CUP opposition.
..
As in the case of Imamet ve Hilafet Risalesi, the author remains anonymous, but to increase his legitimacy, credibility, influence and also his potential threat, he is described as ‘the most virtuous scholar’. The Egyptian branch of CUP published this pamphlet twice in 1896. It must have been one of the first joint acts (or the first) by the recently formed CUP, the opposition and the ulema. The fact that – to our knowledge – it is the first pamphlet in which the CUP is mentioned by name increases its importance. The cover states that the publication was made in conformity wit hthe CUP regulations (Article 21).
The aim of this publication was to incite the ulema to revolt against the authorities, while at the same time asking the authorities to grant a constitution, and attempting to politicize the Muslim community. Its political aims were important and clear. It was successful in using cherished symbols and in playing on common sentiments in a provocative language.
(Late Ottoman society: the intellectual legacy (2005) By Elisabeth Özdalga)
the truth on 
m.a.kidwai,CME/IND.RLY.(retd.) on 
