By Gerasimos Loukatos For most of us Greek Muslims, there was a time when the words “Islam” and “Muslim” seemed so radically incompatible with our Greek identity. For those of us who refused to adhere to stereotypes and dogmatic ideas, our sincere research revealed a totally different truth about Islam and being Muslim. The universality of Islam is in that it addresses fundamental questions we all consider at some point in our life. Where do we come from, why are we here, where are we heading to? How do we choose to live our life and what are we leaving behind? People of all times, cultures and traditions have been trying to find adequate answers to these questions.
That’s why any Muslim who didn’t inherit his religion but rather studied it, he will tell you that Islam is a way of life and being Muslim is a state and not an identity or a label. We are all born with the gift of consciousness and the freedom of choice to live a conscious life or not.
Therefore, the call to the way of Islam is not by proselytism which is as prohibited in Islam as in the Greek constitution. That is where any personal conviction should not be a result of persuasion by external force but rather a conscious choice based on our free will. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was prosecuted for 13 years in Mecca for threatening the status quo of the ruling elite, because he was setting the example for people to think for themselves. He was known as Muhammad the truthful long before he was recognized as a prophet and people believed in him because his actions where coherent to his words. His praxis was in harmony with the order of creation that wants us to learn from examples. This is the root of the crisis in our society today, where we constantly hear words and see contradicting actions. Every day we are called to follow an ocean of examples around us. The question is whether we are conscious for our choices and true to ourselves or we end up not recognizing ourselves.
Also, Muslims believe Adam was the first prophet and every people had the same message delivered to them in their tongue at their time. That is why we believe to all the prophets who came before, those we know and those we don’t know. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) didn’t bring a new religion, by his own words, he was only sent to perfect noble character.
As I mentioned earlier, Islam is a universal way of life in that it speaks with universals. Oppression and injustice are universal, regardless the multiple ways they manifest in any given culture at any given time. So, is also our moral obligation to restore freedom and justice. Willingly or unwillingly, people will turn their cultural practices and beliefs into a dogma everyone else should adhere to. In the absence of understanding the universals, there is a tendency for particulars to become universal. In the absence of knowledge, ignorance prevails. So, instead of understanding and learning from different cultures, we try to impose our culture onto others, turning religions and/or ideologies to a vehicle of oppression.
Ora islam was inspired as a way to clarify the misconceptions many of us had and many of us still have, due to the lack of any serious knowledge of Islam in the Greek language. Then it will become clear why being Greek and Muslim is not a contradiction and why Muslims owe to be a benefit and not a threat to the society. It will be explained why the famous Greek free spirit is part and parcel of the tradition of Islam.
In the age we live, access to information is easy and it is as easy to reproduce it. However, access to knowledge and original thought is not as easy.
An online encyclopedia of comprehensive articles. In depth analysis of the universals of Islam, with official authorization and scientific background. Linguistic and historical analysis of terms and concepts. In conclusion, Ora Islam will be the source of knowledge vs. information, in Greek.
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