Summary: Day in and day out, be it in east and west, we all are often facing various dilemmas and unexpected comments, fears and doubts specially since 9/11. it is time for muslims to come fwd and intermingle within themselves and with the other communities they live with in order to find and share the facts rather than myths; and clarify their misconceptions together. insh'Allah.


Article:
Lapse, Not Collapse! Muslims' Renaissance

Multiple & enormous works and discoveries in Scientific fields including Medicine, Astronomy, Mathematics, Architecture, you name it! and the Golden era of knowledge & skills by our Muslim ancestors during the period over 600 years ago~ and before that the final Message & revival as well as the completion of the Abrahimic Mission by Prophet Muhammad sws & his unbeatable team~ all sounds incredibly fascinating ~alhamdulillah for this; However we ought to remember that revival or Renaissance of this history is not a task of a single quick leap.

At the times when Muslims achieved all this, they were at the heights of their faith & hence character. Today's Muslims have to go through a tremendous Islamic Renaissance within themselves which itself is a task of years, perhaps at least another century or more as my friends will say, in order to become the beacons of faith & knowledge & skills again~ as a nation. individually we can still find the examples but because of the general situation of Islam & Muslims today, there are more hurdles for us than support; the baggage that has come to us and our next generations from the previous centuries' stagnancy has produced innumerable reservations like the unwanted i.d’s of 'terrorist' and 'extremist'. You take a step forward into a direction as an apparently practicing Muslim, even if keeping just the basics like fasting, just praying regularly or trying to keep your dress cuts within modesty, and these titles await you like speed breakers.

In order to achieve this & to remove these misconceptions & dilemmas, whether we call it media hoax and made-up stories or whatever, it's not only Muslims that need to be educated, rather people from all faiths have a right & duty to understand about each other and the communities that we live amongst, that what are the facts.
Without one or the other, it will be like trying to fly a bird or an aero plane on one wing.........may God help us understand this fact amen.

However there is no room for despair 'coz Lapse is not a Collapse!!