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.

Religion and Culture

I come from Pakistan, a country where religion and culture have been amalgamated to the extent that many of the Muslims do not know what constitutes religion and what is it that forms a part of the culture. It is extremely important to distinguish between the two and set priorities. Why? Simply because Allah will judge us based upon our religion not our culture. Our cultural norms and values should remain within the limits and constraints set by religion. Sadly, it is not the case anymore. I am sure that people from other Muslim countries have encountered this as well.

If you do anything which is against cultural norms, people will scold you, ridicule and mock you. People who are susceptible to opinions of other people get caught in such a scenario. They think that following cultural norms and values, even those which are not recommended by religion is fine. The root of this thinking lies in the weakness of the concept of Tau’heed. Most of the people think that if they will not follow customs and norms which are dictated by the culture, they will lose respect and dignity in the society. It is so strange that such people do forbidden things to please other people. It does not occur to them that it is more important to please Allah, as He is the Master of the Day of Judgement. He is the one who will hold us accountable for what we do in our lives. Think about it, do you want to please Allah or people. This is a matter of prioritizing things in your life.

As the distinction between religion and culture is not clear to most of the people, this confusion is passed on to the subsequent generations. For example, people spend huge sums of money on marriages. They do this to establish respect and dignity in the society. They think that by doing so, their status will be elevated in the society. Subhan’Allah. Allah had made clear 1400 years back that the true measure of ones status is their taqwa (piety). It has nothing to do with what people think about that person. In fact, all of us know that every Prophet (peace be on all of them) was opposed vehemently by their people and many of them were murdered. Who has the most respect and dignity among the whole of mankind. It is undoubtedly all the great Prophets who carried out the mission ordained by Allah.

Islam is a way of life. A way of life that was revealed to the last and final messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him). A Deen which is complete. True respect and dignity and in fact everything that is good is from Allah and everything that is bad is the doing of our own souls. As Allah says in the Qur’an

Whatever benefit comes to you (O man!), it is from Allah, and whatever misfortune befalls you, it is from yourself, and We have sent you (O Prophet!), to mankind as a messenger; and Allah is sufficient as a witness. (Al-Nisa, 4:79)

Also,

O ye who believe! Whoso of you becometh a renegade from his religion, (know that in his stead) Allah will bring a people whom He loveth and who love Him, humble toward believers, stern toward disbelievers, striving in the way of Allah, and fearing not the blame of any blamer. Such is the grace of Allah which He giveth unto whom He will. Allah is All-Embracing, All-Knowing. (Al-Maeda, 5:54)

May Allah Guide Us All to the Straight Path.

Travel, A Muslim Perspective

As most of you know already that I come from Pakistan. I came to United States in the year 2006 as a student. I have been thinking about my experience here in the United States. As I was raised in Pakistan, it is natural for me to have a natural liking and association with my homeland. During my first visit, I felt quite sad leaving my country, but I knew that I was going for a good purpose.

There are so many things that we do in our lives which remind us of the Hereafter if we ponder. For example, when we take exams, if we have no preparation, we obviously would perform bad and then feel guilty about it. Everyone has encountered similar situations in life. I think this is a reminder from Allah about the Ultimate Exam on the Day of Judgement.

If you think deeply, we are essentially travelers in this world. As we get attached to and love our homeland because we have been raised there, in the exact same manner, we love to live in this world. When we leave our respective homelands, we feel sad and down because we are very attached to it. In a similar fashion, as we live through our lives, the association with the Duniya (world) becomes stronger. We tend to get more involved in the Duniya, even after knowing that we are all just mere travelers and all of us would have to leave this world one day.

The point I want to highlight is that we should ask ourselves this question. Given that death is a fact, do we want to be happy or sad when we leave this world? All of us, who have left their homeland know the feeling I am talking about. Amplify that feeling, make it more intense in the context of leaving this Duniya. Would not you wish to leave this world happily?

If you do, then strive for the Deen, the religion of Islam, do what Allah has ordered to do and abstain from what He has forbidden. There are great benefits in leaving your homeland for a good purpose. It makes you think about your life as a whole.

May Allah Guide Us All to the Right Path

Fear and Hope: The Right Balance

Both fear and hope play a fundamental role in our lives. None of us can deny the reality of death. Everyone one us will perish, Subhan’Allah (Glory be to Allah). Sometimes when we are involved in a serious accident, or a close call, a severe disease etc., death stares us in our faces. That is the closest we get to fearing death. Otherwise we remain totally unaware of it as if we would live in this world forever. The fear of death and the awareness that all of us would be held accountable for our deeds on the Day of Judgement ought to guide us to the Straight Path. Fearing death in the right sense is actually fearing God, because God has decreed death for all of us.

On the other hand, a lot of us fear other people more than God. There are plenty of things that we do in our lives just to please people. Either we boast off or because of fear of people talking about us we do things in a certain way. This is wrong kind of fear. We should ask ourselves, whom do we fear more? God or people?

Hope drives all of us in both normal and difficult situations. It helps us to move on and stay determined. However, hoping without action is not only wrong but foolish. It is absurd to do no preparation for an exam and then hope to get good marks. Why don’t we apply the same principle when it comes to our lives? It would definitely be extremely foolish to not prepare for the Day of Judgement and hope for Paradise.

Granted, that God is the most merciful and the most forgiving, but remember that He is also the most Just. So strive hard to seek the truth and continually seek forgiveness. Most of all, evaluate yourself. Check whether you have the right balance of fear and hope.

Allah says in the Chapter 2 of Qur’an

“ And thus We have made you a medium (just) nation that you may be the bearers of witness to the people and (that) the Messenger may be a bearer of witness to you; and We did not make that which you would have to be the qiblah but that We might distinguish him who follows the Messenger from him who turns back upon his heels, and this was surely hard except for those whom Allah has guided aright; and Allah was not going to make your faith to be fruitless; most surely Allah is Affectionate, Merciful to the people.”

Do justice to yourselves.

Notice that Chapter 2 has 286 verses and Allah is talking about “medium” in exactly the 286/2 = 143rd verse. Subhan’Allah (Glory Be to Allah)

May Allah guide us all to the Straight Path.

Behavior of Changes

I was thinking about the kinds of changes we see in our lives. Are the only ones we see, the only ones that are present? Absolutely not! Some changes are very slow and some very fast. For example, wars, coups, games, new technology etc.,  involve quick changes. On the other hand, effects of war or dispute, introduction of bad innovations into a religion, brainstorming and research on a “to be technology” take much more time.

Please note that I have broadly classified the changes as quick and time taking, however they can always be classified further.  My aim is to get people to just pay attention to this broad classification of changes. The reason being, that those changes which take a long time to impact us are usually totally ignored by us. For example, aging is one of the slow changes that happens to us. While it goes along with our lives, still most of the time we do not notice or realize it unless we see an old picture of ourselves.

Simply stated, we tend to ignore changes that take some time to enact themselves. Now this is something contradictory in all humans. When we think of collecting wealth and money we think about long term strategies but when it comes to things which can impact the society or even for that matter ourselves we adopt an indifferent attitude. I think this is one of the major reasons that stops us from thinking deeply about the purpose of our lives.

Just consider yourself and think about your life. Keep in mind the classification of changes mentioned above. If you think about “slow changes”, does that change your priorities or does it even have the potential to change your priorities in life?

Fibonacci Numbers and “Mother Nature”

Most of you would be wondering, what has “Fibonacci Numbers” got to do with this blog?! Let me give you some background information. I am studying Computer Science and I tend to relate every form of knowledge to the purpose of life. I think that any field of knowledge, for example, Biology , Computer Science, Mathematics etc., open new methods and ways to discover God and his magnanimity. So this is going to be my first post which correlates the knowledge that is already present and known with the existence of God.

First of all, what exactly are Fibonacci Numbers? Some of you who have studied mathematics should have at some stage encountered series which consist of numbers related to each other. For example, all the even numbers form an even number series. Similarly Fibonacci series goes like 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89,…. and so on. Simply stated it starts with two numbers 0 and 1. The next number in the series is calculated by adding the previous two. So by adding 0 and 1 we get 1 which is the third number. Then we add 1 and 1, and get 2 which is the third number and so on.

Fibonacci numbers lie at the heart of numerous natural phenomena. They are also sometimes called the Nature’s numbering system. They are present in reproduction of bees, seed arrangement of sunflowers, sea shells, dolphins, flowers, pine-cones, pineapples, and even in human beings. I am sure I have just mentioned a few and that there are many other.

If you find this description interesting, please visit Fibonacci in Nature . After you have glanced over this page and given attention to even few of the examples given, read on.

I have seen so many documentaries which try to hide or cover up the concept of God by using the term “Mother Nature”. What is “Mother Nature”? Where did this come from? Does it exist on its own?

Whenever I come across such a compelling evidence as Fibonacci numbers in nature, I have no choice but to utter that yes indeed there is a Creator who is the Designer of all this and He is the only one capable of doing so, because of the symmetry of the design.

Ask yourselves, why do you have 8 fingers, 3 bones in each, along with 2 thumbs with 1 bone in each. Is it a mere coincidence?

I can clearly see Allah the Creator and the Designer in this, indeed He is our Lord, and there is no one else worthy of worship except Him.

The Untold Legends

I was thinking about how the young Muslim generation is so much engrossed in Hollywood movies. Granted, that there are a few good movies which eventually do not make it to the top ones just because they are too close to the truth. I have always noticed that Hollywood exaggerates a lot of legends and stories into so to speak “ultra-legends”. Take for example, the movie “300″.

There are much more true and motivational displays of valor, courage and bravery in the Islamic history. Take for instance, the Battle of Badr. Why does not any Muslim movie maker stand up and make a movie. Do we still think that by doing so we would be offending non-Muslims? I don’t think so. There are movies on Crusades for instance.

The whole point is that we as the young Muslim generation are extracting motivation from the wrong source. Our source of motivation should be the lives of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions. There is a movie about the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him), but I have not seen any movies whatsoever about any of the companions. Why is that so? I won’t accept division among Muslims as the source of this inadequacy.

I think making good movies which depict the truth is the best way to show the rest of the world the real crux of Islam. Our history is full of instances which can make anyone think about the way they are leading their lives. If you think about it, being Muslims, we have been ordained to follow the Prophet (peace be upon him). As He (peace be upon him) was a messenger, we also have the duty to deliver the message. So we certainly have to think about delivering the message in an effective manner without coercion and force.

May Allah guide us all.

Islam and the General Model of Life

Most of the people think about life as something with so many perils and hurdles in it, each one of its own kind. Granted, that there are good times but almost all of us know that mostly we have to put in effort, make a struggle and live on.

In such a situation, it helps to think about life in a more general manner. I was thinking about how we humans do almost anything, what is the real model behind it? Most of the things we do have a source of motivation to start with. As we keep doing that thing, our motivation diminishes. Eventually, we reach a point where either we would quit doing that thing or we need to refresh the motivation somehow.

We can either refresh whatever sources of motivation we currently have or find a new one. The sooner we do that, the more likely we would continue doing that thing with the same diligence and exuberance that we used to.

This fits so well with the model of life promulgated by the Qur’an. When one is always wary of the accountability of his/her deeds in the hereafter, that serves as a source of motivation to continue doing good deeds. Renewing the source of motivation is similar to praying five times a day with the intention and spirit that you are standing in front of your Lord, Who has no partners.

The way I look at it, all the religious acts are basically either short-term or long-term means of refreshing the motivation. Consider the repetition of prayers within a day, the annual arrival of the month of Ramadan, the annual obligation of paying charity (if you are eligible and fit the criteria), and the ever more frequent (or should be frequent) reminders of the Hereafter and the Day of Judgement.

What are all of these? In addition to others benefits that they have, they serve as the sources of motivation for Muslims all over the world. Moreover, most of us, Muslims and non-Muslims, follow the same model of motivation bundled with whatever we want to do.