“Allah is my Lord / Islam is my life / the Qur’an is my guide / the Sunna is my practice / Jihad is my Spirit / Righteousness is my Character / Paradise is my Goal / I enjoin what is Right / I forbid what is wrong / I will fight against Oppression / and I will die to establish Islam.”
Amir Abdel Malik Ali’s new pledge of allegiance at the 2011 MSA West Conference caused quite a stir. Not only did it receive the routine, incendiary criticism from the usual suspects outside of the Muslim community, it caused many Muslims, including myself, to raise their eyebrows in concern.
Although the first lines of his pledge are definitely something we can all readily attest to, it is the very last line (“I will die to establish Islam”) that puts me into a bit of a bind. I was especially unsettled at the use of the word “establish”.
For me, such words set the stage for the dominance of one ideal over another, forcing people to accept something without giving them a choice. I believe that this detracts from the original Islamic message of tolerance and understanding – it implies pushing Islam on people who are not necessarily willing to submit to it.
Furthermore, the phrase in and of itself depicts a distressingly black and white worldview. It implies that alternative realities cannot coexist, that one must seek to erase the other.
The word “die” conveys this sense of urgency well. Only one reality is possible – if it is not achieved, then everything else is rendered futile.
The problem with this is that a world where Islam is the only thing that exists is an ideal a Muslim may dream of, but this is contrary to reality. As such, it is morally incumbent upon Muslims to get accustomed to the existence of belief systems different from their own. The phrase “die to establish Islam,” however, promotes the exact opposite.
Amir Abdel Malik Ali could have done much better by using the word “defend” in place of the word “establish.” By doing so, he would have conveyed a less vitriolic, but more encompassing message. He would have effectively managed to retain the pride in one’s own identity, without feeling the need to trample on others’.