I appreciate your reflections on my article and am surprised that it spurred so much thought! I am surprised there was a thought dealing with terrorism or 9/11 as the article was far removed from such issues and was focusing on an older issue – the balance between spiritual improvement and social service within the Islamic religious tradition

Just to clarify, the purpose of my article was to make clear in the minds of readers, that Islam by nature is a religion that encourages Muslims to use their spirituality to make positive change in the world and in their communities, not to be selfish and focus their energies entirely on character development and improving one’s manners alone – but actualizing that goodness by helping mankind, in whatever small ways we can.

As I stated:

“If this world is only a temporary place and we are travelers in it, the responsibility still remains to remove harm from the road of travel every day of our lives”

The heart of the article is to demonstrate that Islam encourages balance between spiritual peace and improvement of the self, and striving for improvement in social issues and in aiding the people with whom we share this world.

Thanks!

Abdul Sattar

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I think the confusion comes in when spiritual activism is tainted by ego and misunderstanding. Velcrow Ripper lays it out nicely in his article, the 11 Keys of Spiritual Activism

http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2009/08/13/the-11-keys-of-spiritual-activism/

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