Reminder: A nation that cannot tell earthenware from pearls

We are a nation that cannot distinguish earthenware from pearls, nor clay from ruby; that does not discern between the sorcery of magicians and the staff of Moses, nor between the trickery of charlatans and the miracle of Jesus, son of Mary.
We call people to the religion of God, yet cling to human schools and contrived methodologies, gripping them with our molars and supposing them to be the religion itself.
We proclaim unity, while our tongues divide people into sects and factions; we accuse our brethren of deviance and apostasy on the basis of identities we have invented and labels we have fabricated. We profess love for the Companions, yet turn from their guidance to men of later centuries, exalting their words and making them the measure of truth, as though truth revolves around them wherever they turn.
We raise the banner of zeal for the faith; yet when a dissenter opposes us, our denunciation intensifies, not for his error, but for his disagreement with us. We appeal to the sacred texts: if they accord with our desires, we cite them as proof; if they oppose us, we reinterpret them or turn away from them. We demand justice for ourselves, yet bridle at it when it extends to others, and we deem this steadfastness upon the truth.
It is not that we lack texts; rather, we lack sincerity. We have squandered the balance and then lamented the disorder of the scales; we have extinguished the lamp and then complained of the darkness. If we truly seek reform, its path is this: that we place truth above men, not men above truth; that we weigh matters with a single balance that does not incline with desire nor shift with changing allegiances. Only then shall we begin the road to reform.

(by: Dr Mohammed Akram Nadwi, Oxford, 13 Ramadan 1447)