FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is Shuraa?

So whatever thing you have been given, it is but for enjoyment of the worldly life. But what is with Allah is better and more lasting for those who have believed and upon their Lord rely, and those who avoid the major sins and immoralities, and when they are angry, they forgive,and those who have responded to their Lord and established prayer and whose affair is determined by consultation among themselves, and from what We have provided them, they spend. Al-Qur’an, 42:36-38

Shuraa is from the Qur’anic Arabic term Ash Shuraa and is also the title of the 42nd chapter of the Qur’an and means council or consultation. Shuraa is the highest form of deliberation or communications in a group setting. It is a process revealed in the Qur’an in which the group intellect is obliged in the management of its affairs to engage in respectful discussion wherein the group fully expects each person to exert their best effort, share their honest opinion, and give their full support for the final consensus reached using the Qur’an, the Life Example of Muhammed, the Prophet, Islamic and world history, and the best thereof of all for all systems of knowledge the Creator has blessed mankind to discover.

Respect for Shuraa extends to the direct process of consultation among a group as well as to other decisions that flow indirectly as through offices of leadership that are empowered to act on a matter or areas of responsibility authorized by Shuraa.

The hallmark of Shuraa is that it is expected to be continually improved upon or advanced by knowledge, such that participants seek perfection in the process of decision-making. However, the group’s ultimate reliance upon the process of Shuraa for the most efficacious outcomes is not based upon its mere intellectual exertion, but upon the firm belief that G-d Himself will reward the participants and He will effect the right outcome…even if the course of action determined initially by our limited human capacity proves to be incorrect. Thus it is only through faith in Allah (SWT), trust in the group intellect and the passage of time that a decision is proven to be correct or incorrect. Allah (SWT) thus has the ultimate power to right the course for man’s future.

What is meant by Intelligentsia?

It is He Who brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers when ye knew nothing; and He gave you hearing and sight and intelligence and affections: that ye may give thanks. Al-Qur’an, 16:78

Intelligentsia refers to the persons who make up our group intellect of intelligent and well-educated people who seek to guide the political, artistic, or social development of their society. The CWSC group intellect are a diverse community comprised of males and females, Imams and non-Imams, youth leaders to senior pioneers, Muslims and other faith volunteers.

The CWSC intelligentsia respects the G-d given potential in every volunteer irrespective of the letters that precedes or follow a person’s name, for ultimately it is not what we know, nor the label of an office occupied, or a station in life that entitles one to be part of the intelligentsia. But rather it is our willingness to share the special gifts the Creator has given to each of us for the betterment of all of us.  G-d Himself has already qualified you and me to be in this intelligentsia. Now we need only show our appreciation through service to our fellow man.

Have a question? Email us at info@cwsc.us.