Assignment for Tues, Oct 27

The Topic I have chosen for my practical proposal paper is over the Legislative system of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston. This is of interest to me because I am a active Muslim. The Islamic Society of Greater Houston heads the majority of masjids, otherwise known as mosques, in Greater Houston. My father is a elected voting member of the shura, which is the equivalent to congress in that every one votes on proposed issues. That being said, Politics always has a way of bringing out the bad traits of people. There are many things that are going on that would be considered un-islamic behavior, and as Muslim based organization I feel that it should be adhering to Islamic principles. As a solution to this I want to propose a shura based of sheikhs, not elected citizens. This will solve the solution in many ways. First and foremost it will rid the organization of corrupt officials and be replaced with persons that have their morals set, and have the Religion in their best interest. These Sheikhs are also the heads of their masjids, so they will have direct involvement with their local community on a daily basis, and be able to reflect their community’s best interest in the wisest and most Islamic manner when attending shura meetings. This will most be able to be solved more simply because you cannot trust politicians; however you can trust a man of god. True this may be a radical changed to the entire organizations structure. However many people in the Muslim community have felt a need for a change in the legislation and some even don’t plane trust them. This will not affect the current elected officials because the Islamic Society of Greater Houston’s shura is based of volunteer services and is non-profit. So there will be no loss to the current officials if they were to be removed. The only problems I can foresee are the sheikhs becoming corrupt themselves. The only problem with this is that it is highly unlikely to happen. Sheikhs are the role models of their community, the children, they are people that have a true understanding of the religion and are least likely to fall to the evils of politics.