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.

Importance of seeking forgiveness

One of the most underestimated acts is to seek forgiveness. Everyone commits sins but the better among them is the one who seeks forgiveness from Allah, The Forgiving. We can broadly categorize sins as intentional and unintentional. We can also categorize them as major and minor sins.

We should try our utmost to avoid intentional and major sins. Most humans are endowed with the intuition to distinguish between right and wrong. I will talk about this in some other post. The important thing is to understand that no one can completely or absolutely avoid sins. We would eventually commit sins. It is imperative to note what this statement implies.

It implies that in order to remove those sins from our records, we need to continually seek forgiveness. So, as committing sins is a regular process, seeking forgiveness should be at least as regular too. This does not mean that we should keep committing sins intentionally and then keep asking for forgiveness. Obviously enough, it is clear to those who have understanding.

The shaytaan or the devil always tries to cash in on an opportunity to make people think that they have committed so many sins which cannot be forgiven. This is where most of the people fall into the trap of the devil. One has two clear choices to make when confronted with such a situation. Either to continue doing sins and not seek forgiveness as you think they are too many or to seek forgiveness and try to avoid them as much as possible. Which one is better?

By seeking forgiveness from Allah, we affirm the fact that only Allah is capable of forgiving our sins and thus solidifying our understanding and practice of Tau’heed. I hope you understand the connection between seeking forgiveness and affirming the Unity of God, that only He is the one capable of forgiving our sins.

May Allah forgive all our sins.

Tauheed, the belief in Oneness of God and its benefits

Everyone of us encounters obstacles and difficulties in life. Whenever we are faced with a big problem we ask God to help us. We ask God because we feel that we are incapable of getting out of the problem on our own. Turning to God for help is very good but turning to God only when faced with a difficulty is not good at all. Islam teaches muslims to perfect their concept of God and the faith in God which is termed as “Tau’heed”, the oneness of God.

Muslims believe that Allah (God) is the ONLY one who should be worshipped. Mot non-muslims think that the word Allah is only used by Muslims.  I want to clarify that Allah is an arabic word and Christian Arabs use Allah to pronounce God.

Perfecting Tauheed is one of the most important things a Muslim should strive to accomplish. Perfecting Tauheed involves solidifying the concept of God and understanding that only He is the one who benefits us, helps us and gives sustenance to us. All other things are only means of facilitating His decree.

This does not mean that if somebody helps you then there is no need to thank them. Instead, it is a very good act to thank someone for their help but at the same time it is important to thank Allah. This is because the person who helped you was in fact a facilitator of Allah’s decree.

Most of the Muslims believe in Allah but they do not put their complete trust in Allah. One cannot achieve contentment and happiness unless one puts his complete trust in Allah. For example, when we get ill and go to the doctor we think that the doctor will do something which would cure us. Granted, that the doctor has the expertise and the knowledge to try to cure us, but cure is ultimately from Allah. Perfection of Tauheed demands that we should always think that Allah alone is enough for us.

Two beautiful verses (ayahs) from the third chapter of the Qur’an attest to this fact.

“Those to whom the people said: Surely men have gathered against you, therefore fear them, but this increased their faith, and they said: Allah is sufficient for us and most excellent is the Protector.  So they returned with favor from Allah and (His) grace, no evil touched them and they followed the pleasure of Allah; and Allah is the Lord of mighty grace.”(3:173-174)

This belief rids us of all the problems and difficulties we face, because we only depend on Allah for help. Its a huge relief to ask Allah for help. This is one of the fundamental reasons that I think Muslims can get rid of all of their problems if they strive to perfect their Tau’heed.

May Allah guide us all to the Right Path.