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

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.

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?

Have You Ever Thought?

Have you ever thought where did we come from?

Have you ever imagined what is the Purpose of your Life?

Have you ever thought what happens to people after death?

Have you ever wondered how small you are relative to this whole Universe?

Have you ever thought how our senses limit us?

Have you ever thought if this world and life might be a simulation?

Everything created by man has a purpose. The One who created Man also has a purpose. What is that purpose? Is this life aimless? Can we just do whatever we want? People who commit crimes are punished by the responsible people in this world. Can we do something bad to anyone, die, and be free of it? Does that sound to be fair?

Why are our thoughts about life and religion so contradictory?

Why is religion just a mode which we can switch into and out of whenever we feel like?

Man is essentially a hollow being. He has to fill his self. He has to set a goal, an aim, to achieve.

What is the priority of several aims he sets for himself. What is the ultimate aim?

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.