"O you who believe! Do not make unlawful the good things which Allah hath made lawful for you, but commit no excess: for Allah does not love those given to excess." - Quran 5:87

We are by the clear designation of our sacred teachings a community of Faith and Obedience to G-d. It is well known by all other peoples of Faith that the universal Messenger of G-d, our Prophet and everlasting leader, Muhammed, upon him be prayers and peace, called to Faith in G-d.

We are therefore committed to the preservation and promotion of a universal just order and a human society of peace. This means that we cherish for ourselves and for all others with whom we share the neighborhood of earth the sacred obligation to uphold ethical principles of humane cooperation and its partner standards of common human decency.

If we are aggressed upon by roguish mentality and acts, we cite these recognitions and commitments for strict obedience, and measure our responses according to the obligations implied in their moral universality. We have no Islamic license to exceed that. We have no support from G-d or Islam to become the aggressors.

We Muslim African Americans define ourselves according to these commitments and assign ourselves the duty to promote and live up to the obligations of an order of freedom, justice and equality. We want no less for our fellow Americans and responsible citizens of all nations. Our tradition of Muslim American identity and leadership verifies this as our sacred public mandate.

The conflict in Gaza and for our brothers and sisters in Palestine under a notorious and brutal occupier is painful. No less painful is the progressive moral weaknesses displayed in Muslim world leadership. Though we have citizenship duties as Americans that require our allegiance - among them the recognition of liberty and justice for all people as a nation recognizing Divine Authority - the measure to which our national leaders inflame these tensions and provoke these weaknesses by questionable military actions in support of Israel’s war machine government against a sovereign Iranian people, we take no pride.

Our prayers to G-d, both public and private remain for the preservation of a just and peaceful order. We extend ourselves to all in this sacred recognition.