By Zia H Shah MD

The Holy Quran in Sura Takwir predicted that a time is coming, when there will be an explosion of publications and humans will be brought together as if they are a part of a close knit family.

We have all noted the fulfillment of this prophecy in the coming of age of internet, discussion forums and social media, especially Twitter.

The rich and the famous and the ordinary and the poor, everyone seems to be tweeting.

Yesterday, President Bill Clinton made his first tweet in Colbert show and among other useful ideas, blurred the boundaries between selfishness and selflessness, by suggesting that both are the same once we know, how the world operates.  He said that if we hinder progress of others, in some way we hinder ourselves, as  the world is inter-related.

In this age of information, every thing is out there, somewhere in the web.  As anyone can publish anything on the internet.

But, the issue is who gets to read it.  If the website writer is the only reader of the information, then it is as good as if it was not published and sitting in a closet.

Who is stealing the eyeballs, in the social media?  Let me tell you it is not the Muslims.

Many of the Muslim leaders are not in the social media like Twitter and even if they are, most have very few followers.  The commoners among the Muslims have a similar problem.  But, all this can be remedied easily.

The Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, was the most generous spirit, mankind has seen.  His wife Khadija was one of the wealthiest women in Mecca and she put a lot of her resources at his disposal and he spent majority of the wealth in charity.  At the peak of his mission, his income equaled almost a fifth of the national income, yet he led a very simple life style and left no inheritance.  The conclusion is self evident.  He gave it away in charity out of his love for humanity and its Creator.

My two cents to create a Muslim News Channel in Twitter are just two words or phrases, ‘generosity’ and ‘democratic values!’

The Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, was a very humble leader and a great practitioner of democratic values.  When he was sitting among his companions, an outside visitor could not tell, who the Prophet was, in the group.    At times people took Abu Bakr, a close friend of the Prophet, and later to be the first Caliph, as Muhammad.

He also taught humility.  According to a Hadith he was asked who should “begin” the salam greeting, and he said, “The one who is riding should greet the one who is walking, and the one who is walking should greet the one who is sitting, and the smaller group should greet the larger group.” (Bukhari, book of Hadith)

The greatest of the sons of Adam would eat in the same plate and share food with the jobless and the poor in the society.  He had no problem indulging the poorly dressed and possibly smelly slaves in the society, by hugging and embracing them.

If we can over come our social constraints, disregard our station in life, be it social class, educational degree, rank at job or titles to boost our egos and begin to indulge every Tom, Dick and Harry, who is tweeting something useful for the Muslims or Islam, soon we will have a Muslim News Channel in Twitter.

The Prophet Muhammad said, “When one of you joins a gathering, let him say salaam. When he wants to get up and leave, let him say salaam. The former is not more important than the latter.” (Al – Tirmidhi, book of Hadith)

How is this applicable in our age of social media?  In our day and age of Twitter, we convey peace and mingle by following suitable people, in our large Muslim family and of course, the fullest domain of our human family.

The open secret is to follow one, who is regularly tweeting and re-tweeting.

If the Muslims can grow beyond their sectarian differences and other barriers that divide our society and exercise some of the generosity of spirit, so beautifully exemplified in the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s role model, we will find that the commoners in Islam are constantly making a beautiful bouquet, in Twitter, by collecting all the fragrant flowers in the world media, about Islam, Muslim causes and the Muslim heritage.

This is an invitation to follow in Twitter, everyone you know and find important, but, also follow everyone, who may not be important, but productive, if he or she is generating frequent tweets on a variety of topics of mutual interest.

If enough Muslims follow this simple advice, soon we will have a Muslim CNN, a Muslim BBC, a Muslim Huffington Post, a Muslim Youtube, in Twitter, and yes a Muslim version of Ted talks, without spending a dime.  Just by exercising a little generosity, appreciating goodness regardless of the status or possibility of kick back, spending more time in reading and having the courage and wisdom to re-tweet, whatever we find useful.

And please do not forget to tweet, whatever you find useful in the newspapers that you read and whatever is not frivolous, make belief or gossip.

What would be so different about this Muslim News Channel in Twitter, in presence of billions of tweets being made out there in Twitter?  May I suggest that it could be an embodiment of the Quranic teachings:

You are the best people raised for the good of mankind; you enjoin what is good and forbid evil and believe in Allah. And if the People of the Book had believed, it would have surely been better for them. (Al Quran 3:111)

Yes, the common and every day Muslims can build a News Channel with just an ipad, smart phone or a laptop.  And yes this includes all those, who are retired from their jobs and spend hours on the internet browsing different newspapers.

And yes God is not shy in rewarding the smallest of our deeds!

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