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How did the US Founding Fathers view Islam?


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Library of Congress Papers Show Tolerance and acceptance for Muslim Faith

With more than 55 million items, the Library’s Manuscript Division contains the papers of 23 presidents, from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge. In this article, Manuscript Division Chief James Hutson draws upon the papers of Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other primary documents to discuss the relationship of Islam to the new nation.

MANY MUSLIMS feel unwelcome in the United States in the aftermath of September 11, according to newspaper reports. Anecdotal evidence suggests that substantial numbers of Americans view their Muslim neighbors as an alien presence outside the limits of American life and history. While other minorities-African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans-were living within the boundaries of the present United States from the earliest days of the nation, Muslims are perceived to have had no part in the American experience.

Readers may be surprised to learn that there may have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Muslims in the United States in 1776-imported as slaves from areas of Africa where Islam flourished. Although there is no evidence that the Founders were aware of the religious convictions of their bondsmen, it is clear that the Founding Fathers thought about the relationship of Islam to the new nation and were prepared to make a place for it in the republic.

In his seminal Letter on Toleration (1689), John Locke insisted that Muslims and all others who believed in God be tolerated in England. Campaigning for religious freedom in Virginia, Jefferson followed Locke, his idol, in demanding recognition of the religious rights of the “Mahamdan,” the Jew and the “pagan.” Supporting Jefferson was his old ally, Richard Henry Lee, who had made a motion in Congress on June 7, 1776, that the American colonies declare independence. “True freedom,” Lee asserted, “embraces the Mahomitan and the Gentoo (Hindu) as well as the Christian religion.”

In his autobiography, Jefferson recounted with satisfaction that in the struggle to pass his landmark Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1786), the Virginia legislature “rejected by a great majority” an effort to limit the bill’s scope “in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan.” George Washington suggested a way for Muslims to “obtain proper relief” from a proposed Virginia bill, laying taxes to support Christian worship. On another occasion, the first president declared that he would welcome “Mohometans” to Mount Vernon if they were “good workmen” (see page 96). Officials in Massachusetts were equally insistent that their influential Constitution of 1780 afforded “the most ample liberty of conscience É to Deists, Mahometans, Jews and Christians,” a point that Chief Justice Theophilus Parsons resoundingly affirmed in 1810.

Toward Islam itself the Founding generation held differing views. An evangelical Baptist spokesman denounced “Mahomet” as a “hateful” figure who, unlike the meek and gentle Jesus, spread his religion at the point of a sword. A Presbyterian preacher in rural South Carolina dusted off Grotius’ 17th century reproach that the “religion of Mahomet originated in arms, breathes nothing but arms, is propagated by arms.” Other, more influential observers had a different view of Muslims. In 1783, the president of Yale College, Ezra Stiles, cited a study showing that “Mohammadan” morals were “far superior to the Christian.” Another New Englander believed that the “moral principles that were inculcated by their teachers had a happy tendency to render them good members of society.” The reference here, as other commentators made clear, was to Islam’s belief, which it shared with Christianity, in a “future state of rewards and punishments,” a system of celestial carrots and sticks which the Founding generation considered necessary to guarantee good social conduct.

“A Mahometan,” wrote a Boston newspaper columnist, “is excited to the practice of good morals in hopes that after the resurrection he shall enjoy the beautiful girls of paradise to all eternity; he is afraid to commit murder, adultery and theft, lest he should be cast into hell, where he must drink scalding water and the scum of the damned.” Benjamin Rush, the Pennsylvania signer of the Declaration of Independence and friend of Adams and Jefferson, applauded this feature of Islam, asserting that he had “rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mohammed inculcated upon our youth than see them grow up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles.”

That ordinary citizens shared these positive views is demonstrated by a petition of a group of citizens of Chesterfield County, Va., to the state assembly, Nov. 14, 1785: “Let Jews, Mehometans and Christians of every denomination enjoy religious libertyÉthrust them not out now by establishing the Christian religion lest thereby we become our own enemys and weaken this infant state. It is mens labour in our Manufactories, their services by sea and land that aggrandize our Country and not their creeds. Chain your citizens to the state by their Interest. Let Jews, Mehometans, and Christians of every denomination find their advantage in living under your laws.”

The Founders of this nation explicitly included Islam in their vision of the future of the republic. Freedom of religion, as they conceived it, encompassed it. Adherents of the faith were, with some exceptions, regarded as men and women who would make law-abiding, productive citizens. Far from fearing Islam, the Founders would have incorporated it into the fabric of American life.

James H. Hutson is chief of the Manuscript Division and the author of many books, including “Religion and the Founding of the American Republic,” 1998

The Library of Congress – Information Bulletin – May 2002

source : http://www.iviews.com/Articles/articles.asp?ref=IC1103-4605

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THE METHOD TO ESTABLISH KHILAFAH

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Bangsa ini Harus Segera Bertobat

Assalâmu‘alaikum wa rahmatullâhi wa barakâtuh.

Pembaca yang budiman, negeri ini seolah menjadi negeri segudang bencana; baik bencana alam maupun bencana kemanusiaan. Bencana alam ada yang bersifat alamiah karena faktor alam (seperti gempa, tsunami, dll), tetapi juga ada yang karena faktor manusia (seperti banjir, kerusakan lingkungan, pencemaran karena limbah industri, dll). Adapun bencana kemanusiaan seperti kemiskinan, kelaparan serta terjadinya banyak kasus kriminal (seperti korupsi, suap-menyuap, pembunuhan, perampokan, pemerkosaan, maraknya aborsi, penyalahgunaan narkoba, dll) adalah murni lebih disebabkan karena ulah manusia. Itu belum termasuk kezaliman para penguasa yang dengan semena-mena menerapkan berbagai UU yang justru menyengsarakan rakyat seperti UU Migas, UU SDA, UU Listrik, UU Penanaman Modal, UU BHP, dll. UU tersebut pada kenyataannya lebih untuk memenuhi nafsu segelintir para pemilik modal ketimbang berpihak pada kepentingan rakyat.

Pertanyaannya: Mengapa semua ini terjadi? Bagaimana pula seharusnya bangsa ini bersikap? Apa yang mesti dilakukan? Haruskah kita menyikapi semua ini dengan sikap pasrah dan berdiam diri karena menganggap semua itu sebagai ’takdir’?

Tentu tidak demikian. Pasalnya, harus disadari, bahwa berbagai bencana dan musibah yang selama ini terjadi lebih banyak merupakan akibat kemungkaran dan kemaksiatan yang telah merajalela di negeri ini. Semua itu tidak lain sebagai akibat bangsa ini telah lama mencampakkan syariah Allah dan malah menerapkankan hukum-hukum kufur di negeri ini.

Karena itu, momentum akhir tahun ini tampaknya bisa digunakan oleh seluruh komponen bangsa ini untuk melakukan muhâsabah, koreksi diri, sembari dengan penuh kesadaran dan kesungguhan melakukan upaya untuk mengatasi berbagai persoalan yang melanda negeri ini. Tampaknya bangsa ini harus segera bertobat dengan segera menerapkan hukum-hukum Allah SWT secara total dalam seluruh aspek kehidupan mereka. Maka dari itu, perjuangan untuk menegakan syariah Islam di negeri ini tidak boleh berhenti, bahkan harus terus ditingkatkan dan dioptimalkan. Sebab, sebagai Muslim kita yakin, bahwa hanya syariah Islamlah—dalam wadah Khilafah—yang bisa memberikan kemaslahatan bagi negeri ini, bahkan bagi seluruh alam raya ini.

Itulah di antara perkara penting yang dipaparkan dalam tema utama al-wa‘ie kali ini, selain sejumlah tema penting lainnya. Selamat membaca!

Wassalâmu‘alaikum wa rahmatullâhi wa barakâtuh.

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Ketika berbicara di televisi BBC, Perdana Menteri Inggris Gordon Brown menyerukan intervensi lebih besar dari Barat di Yaman dan menyerang tuntutan bagi kekhalifahan dunia di dunia Muslim sebagai sebuah “ideologi pembunuh” dan suatu “penyimpangan dari islam “.
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بِسْـــمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰـــنِ الرَّحِيـــم Sia-sia Saja Menggantungkan Harapan Kepada Rencana-rencana Pemerintahan Partai Keadilan dan Pembangunan (AKP)! Pemerintahan Partai Keadilan dan Pembangunan...
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