The Medinah-Project will most probably not be continued. To access the previous website please click here. Latest photos can be seen on this page below. |
Reasons why the project failed so far: In December 2007 I sent an email to Dar al-Islam in America, who once had a similar plan to set up an Islamic village. They wrote on their website: "But even as construction continued, it became clear that a village of exemplary Muslims is not something to be engineered." I asked them for the reasons and got the following answer: "We came to understand a couple of very important issues: 1. there have to be objective conditions for a community to develop such as, or at least some of them, area job opportunities, existing business opportunities, traffic corridors & distance from major cities, for a community to be able to sprout, grow and maintain itself. 2. more importantly, Dar al Islam started in 1980 and a lot of the north american converts which were at that time attracted to the idea were short on authentic islamic knowledge and had an abundance of opinions, many of which foreign to more traditional & scholarly knowledge. that caused a variety of tensions & conflicts among the area residents. these conditions may have changed to some degree as many young muslims are now pursuing formal knowledge. There are a few residing muslim families who way back were able to work out an arrangement to purchase some property from Dar al Islam and it has not closed the door on making future similar arrangements ..." After trying to set up an Islamic village for nearly three years now and receiving numerous emails and comments from interested parties, my conclusions are very similar to Dar al-Islam! Main reason why people did not want to participate is the problem of generating some kind of income in a remote area like Sulawesi. Unfortunately I have to say that not one Muslim did even ask what could be done but many seemed to expect that everything is made ready for them and they just can move in! As if we do not follow the religion of Ibrahim who left Hajar and Ismael in the desert, trusting in Allah! And this here is not the desert but you stick something in the earth and it starts growing! Long hours of email conversations without any commitment and even getting threatening against the project! On the contrary some Non-Muslims I know from Saudi-Arabia came to know about the project, did like it very much, were willing to submit to the Shariah, came up with creative ideas and sent money immediately to buy land !!! Well, I felt ashamed I can tell! Also the Medinah-Project attracted different kinds of people with their own opinions and ideas, and I cannot really imagine how these people could have nicely fitted together and agreed to one Amir. And that looks to be one of the most serious problem: To find an Amir everybody can agree on and is willing to obey besides finding people who are willing to face hardships for the sake of the project and leave their safe haven putting their trust in Allah. As a conclusion I might say: Such a village can most probably only be built under the leadership of a charismatic person like a Sheik. Unfortunately I did not met a Sheik yet I would like to submit to. In this respect I hope that followers of Sheik Imran Hosein will be more successful. Especially South Africa looks promising as it should be more easy there for nationals to generate an income and to find cheap farm land. Finally: Like Dar al-Islam the valley does not close the door for people who would like to come and stay insyaAllah. But, to say it with the words of Dar al-Islam, "... an 'islamic village' is not on the current screen of possibilities". It is still designed to be a refuge place for the pending disaster though ... Habib, North-Sulawesi, 04.04.2009
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