What do you do when your favorite television show is cancelled? Weep bitterly for a few minutes before taking the dog for a walk? Throw the remote control across the room? Surf the Internet looking for comfort food to console you? Maybe the frustrated fans of Legend of the Seeker did all that but then they picked themselves up off the floor, brushed off their dignity, and started lobbying ABC Studios and Disney to keep the show in production. According to a late-breaking rumor the campaign may be having an impact.

Disgruntled fans are even planning to buy an ad in Variety in the hope that a Jericho-like move will entice some network to pick up the show. With all these fan-coordinated projects under way, prospects for the show may be looking up. But some doubters suggest that the rumored meeting is just a formality to close out a done deal. Legend of the Seeker may be dead, dead, dead, and deader than dead.

Fan protests have happened before. Sometimes a show is saved and sometimes not. Legend of the Seeker has about 2 million fans according to some estimates. That is considered to be marginal in audience measurements but the show is watched online through many services like iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix. The online audience figures may not be included in the 2 million. If that is the case, then how much hope can there be for the Seeker? That’s a tough call to make, as any attempt to downplay the campaign brings almost swift and immediate rebuttal from the fan community.

Whether the campaign convinces anyone in New Zealand to stay the execution of the seasonal production is a wild guess but the longer term prospects for the show may be more compelling. Farscape fans received a 4-hour mini-series to close out their show. Firefly fans were rewarded with the movie “Serenity”. Sequels to television shows happen. So even if the show dies a quick, painful death the fans themselves may continue working for some sort of follow on production.

In the meantime, executives at Disney, ABC Studios, and SyFy have been hammered with complaints and pleas to keep the show alive. Based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, Legend of the Seeker has managed to cover about 2 out of 11 books’ plotlines with 2 seasons. In an ideal Seeker world, there would be 9 more seasons for the Seeker and his friends (even more, considering Goodkind just signed a 3-book deal with TOR Books).

In the times of yesteryear when Prophet Muhammad banded together the followers of Islam into a single economic and political group people associated their livelihoods with their tribe. Purchasing, selling, earning money was predominately transacted through the ideology that the tribe must thrive and dominate. As Islam became more important it was evident that it superceded any consideration to the needs of other entities. Islam became the new standard of economic activity. As the borders of the Muslim world increased so did its economic strength. Eventually it was the most powerful entity on the Earth.

In modern times Muslim countries live in great poverty. Even though there are a number of wealthy pockets to be found, the vast majority have a difficult time feeding their children or building necessary infrastructure improvements. Why is this so? The reasons lie in the assumption of nationalisms superiority over Islam. In Islam’s past there was no concept of country and national currency. Instead each city was viewed as a small state that lived and worked in the collective of the Muslim world. At that time the concept was revolutionary and lead to a great many economic changes. The Christian world was still squabbling and fighting wars against each other, furthering the economic drain on their local economies. They therefore, could not compete against Muslims effectively. The Muslims had a central authority that made great strides in reducing internal squabbles. Therefore, when they acted they could do so in a uniform manner.

Today the situation is reversed. The wealth countries of Europe have banded together in terms of economic treaties and military collaboration. The United Nations, the European Union and FTAA are all examples of this collaborated effort. This spirit of working together mitigates any internal structures they have by virtue of utilizing one of these larger organizations to arbitrate. The Muslim world, to its dismay, has reduced itself to internal squabbling and the active “undermining” of each other.

The only way to reverse the Muslim misfortune is to change our entire way of viewing business. Islamic principles of fairness, hard work and collective effort need to evolve. The concept of nationalism needs to be viewed as outdated and the concept of the singular “Ummah (community) should take its place. By working together the people can utilize their untapped wealth in terms of knowledge and natural resources to develop something for the betterment of all. Countries like Saudia Arabia, who desire a more secure food source, could invest in those countries with fertile soil but little capital wealth. Trade barriers between nations can be reduced to assure that easy flow of goods and money is possible. Leadership could be made accountable for the increasing the viability of not only their nation but that of their neighbors.

In essence the promotion of a singular Muslim currency and governmental body is necessary if any meaningful reform is going to take place. The structural governmental body would be much like that found under the European Union but with substantial Islamic improvements. Individual and national agendas would not be given full weight nor shall economic improvements be subject to corruption. Internal control would have to be developed that would help solve some of those problems that thrive in the Muslim world.

Murad Ali is a two time published author of “A Call to Greatness” and “An American Mecca”. He works full-time in labor relations, is developing an heirloom farm, runs a small consulting business, is working towards his PHD, and edits the Muslim Times. If you are interested in more articles written by Murad please visit www.muradenterprises.org