All that glitters is not gold!

By: Tahira Shaheeda

According to news reports President Obama recently considered two candidates to replace the Supreme Court judge who just resigned. Both candidates are women who have openly admitted to being lesbians..

Oprah Winfrey recently interviewed two women whose sons had just commited suicide. The children were both the target of bullying which is a growing problem in American schools.

National Geographic has aired a shocking report on prisons in America. They stated that there are 2.2. million inmates in American prisons. This is more inmates than any other country in the world. According to the report America has 25% of the world's prisoners but just 5% of the world's population. Statistics show that each year 770,000 prisoners are released from prisons and are more angry, hostile and skilled in commiting crimes than when they went in. In prison gangs rule and continue dealing drugs and killing as they did on the outside. Equally shocking is that at least one fourth of all state prison beds are occupied by the mentally ill. It is likely that the percentage is much higher.

The list goes on.

CBS news reported in 2003 that 1 in 3 children under the age of 5 will be killed by their mothers.

It is well known that the number one cause of death in pregnant women in America is homicide - committed by the father of the unborn child.

In 2006 the FBI statistics showed that there were 14,900 unjustified homicides including 502 children under the age of two.

Over 50,000 people have no health insurance or means of getting adequate health care. Addiction to prescribed medications is at an all time high and rising rapidly.

There are 665,000 registered sex offenders (primarily pedophiles and rapists) with 100,000 who should be registered but are missing. These statistics include only those who have been caught and convicted. Social workers polled feel that this is only about 25% of the actual cases that exist. Sexual offenders of the children routinely tell the child that if they tell anyone they will be killed and so will their parents. For this reason, the majority of cases go unreported. The number of teachers having sex with their underage students is also incresing.

The latest homeless statistics show that there are approximately 5 million homeless people in America. A large percentage of them are children and teens. As the economy worsens, the numbers are increasing rapidly.
Every day one turns on American television to see shocking headline stories:

Politicians admitting to commiting adultry or having homosexual relationships.

Serial killers and psychopaths who have been found to have been living in society unnoticed for years - holding women and teenage girls in their basements and using them as sexual hostages. Others kill victims one after the other. Most victims are women, who have been raped before being murdered.

The legalization of same sexed marriages is gaining legal sanction. There was a recent documentary about "transgender" doctors who make a whole medical practice working with patients who want to change their sexual orientation through surgery and other means.

Such crimes used to be mainly confined to poor areas where the "undesirables" lived. Now, they are rapidly spreading in the "nicest" neighborhoods where the criminals and their victims are often the local residents -well educated and highly paid professionals.

Not a week goes by without multilple reports of what have commonly become known as "shooters". Individuals, usually males, go into a school, a workplace or shopping area, well-armed and shooting multiple innocent victims.

Drug and alcohol abuse and gambling are huge epidemics affecting everyone from our children to our doctors. Children can buy drugs of all kinds at school as easily as they used to buy candy.

Add to that the number of people killed around the world by the American military, partiularly by the last administration. And the Muslims living here earn money and pay taxes that support the military and aid to Israel!

It is not suruprising that this is happening. The end of time is approaching and we are clearly told that such things will be increasing. America grew up from nothing but fields and trees to one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world in record short time. Anything that rises very high and fast will fall and destruct quickly as well. Like individuals, societies that are highly oriented to materialism are usually prone to spiritual decline.

What is more amazing is that anywhere one goes in the Muslim world, people are eager to come to America and are going to great lengths to obtain green cards and the almighty American passport. Surely there are many good things in the states. But everything comes as a package deal that includes the pluses and the minuses as well. As one American convert to Islam said "Living in America is like tyring to swim in a dirty swimming pool and trying to stay clean".

No matter what they tell their friends and family back home, a huge majority of Muslims come to the States and lose much of their din. By the time their children grow up, the practice of Islam usually declines even further. It's not to say that there are not pockets of Islam growing here but in general the picture is not as glowing as many people say. As one typical immigrant said "We came here 40 years ago. Our children are successful doctors and lawyers. But what good is that? In spite of all our efforts, they don't practice Islam and even oppose going to the mosque. But what can we expect? We came here looking for the American dream then found the American nightmare".

So where does the solution lie? Looking at the negatives is only a benefit if they can be addressed and solutions found. If we go to the heart of the matter it is easy to see that the solution to all problems lies in Islam. Not just in giving speeches but in actually practicintg what is readily available to us in the Qur'an and the tafsir and hadith of the Blessed Prophet and his Family.

Islam includes guidance for every aspect of or lives. One area of Islam that seems to need more emphasis in these times is encompased in the field of Social Work. Its core values are in line with Islam and include working for social and economic justice and advocating for those who are unable to do so for themselves. It provides the means to meet economic and educational needs. It also focuses on the emotinal and mental well being of all people. It provides the hands on skills to build strong individuals, marriages and families. It paves the way to strong communities whether local or worldwide.

Islam is not complicated. It is applicable to all people in all times and places. It works when it is put into practice. It is the answer to all of our spiritual and material problems. It is the key to this life and the next life.