Religion: A Way of Life or A Compartment?

Islam has been termed by Allah as the Deen, meaning that its not just a religion, it is a way of life. In effect, it means that you can literally “live Islam” if you embrace it completely. Humans today, especially Muslims, suffer from a disease I call compartmentalization of religion.

For a lot of Muslims, Islam has become a “mode” which they can switch to whenever they like and switch out of whenever it does not suit them. Does this comply with the definition of Islam being a Deen? If you, as a Muslim, believe that Islam is a way of life, then you have to accept it completely. It is important to mention the very meanings of Islam. Islam means to submit/surrender your will to Allah and attain peace from doing so. This means that your first priority is following the commands of Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) rather than following your own whims and desires.

Please reassess your concept of Islam, ask yourself if you have compartmentalized Islam? If yes, what is it that you cannot accept fully, what is that stops you from embracing it completely? As most of the Muslims are born so because of their parents being Muslim, they don’t really care much about Islam. It is something which they have inherited, not something we have made an effort to learn. The Qur’an points out unbelievers who used to follow “the religion of their forefathers”. Most of the Muslims do the same today.

As a Muslim, we should be different from unbelievers. Ask yourself, what is it that makes you different? Please note that I am not insinuating that any Muslim is an unbeliever, rather I am stressing the point that Muslims should be different. We should be different because we do not let our desires to overshadow our religious duties. We should depend only on Allah. This does not mean that if someone helps us, we should not thank them. One of the most prominent indicators of a good Muslim is that he/she is very humble.

We have to strive for everything in this life, Islam is no exception. This is the model created by Allah, the Almighty. We have to put in effort and work hard to achieve true success. As Muslims we have the dual duty of keeping ourselves on the Straight Path, and giving the message of Islam to others.

May Allah Enable Us to Embrace Islam Completely.