Obeying the command of Allah
Faheem ul Islam
They say that a fool lives to eat and a wise man eats to live. But then the question remains: for what purpose does the wise man live? Living is not an end by itself. There has to be a purpose for man to live for. So what is this purpose? Any ignorance, however great, could be forgiven except for man to be ignorant about the secret of his existence, his aim in life and what will be its outcome after death. Any person can realize the inevitability of submission and death! The only question remains to whom and why?
Islam is the only deen (way of life, constitution, will of Illah) acceptable to Allah. It encompasses every sphere of living from social, political, economical to personal aspects. There are only a few who believe Islam as a complete system while most of us have limited it to only the symbolic means of Ibaddah (following of deen-the law) and still consider themselves as a Muslim.
This narrow concept implanted in our minds is Jahilliyah in which most of us are dwelling. Our heart and society is enslaved by several ideologies like secularism, feminism, democracy, liberalism, nationalism and all sorts of neopaganism. And with them deceptive slogans of equality, freedom, tolerance, terrorism, peace. Human rights are the sheer treachery and cause of all evil. But a Muslim is bound to stand apart, he is not free to do what he wants once he has chosen Allah and his Illah (the supreme master). He submits to Allah alone with regard to his actions and thoughts.
Rejection of false gods the first requirement of Iman in Allah, it includes hatred of them in heart, not helping them, boycotting everything related to them and then to voice against them with intellect and to fight with power. One who fears Allah alone is shielded from all other fears of wealth, power, fame, family, etc.
His only fear is protection of his Iman and such is the person of whom the Taghut (falsehood) is fearful of. The message of every Prophet was same i.e. ‘Tawheed’-rejection of Tawghoot (false God(s) and serving to Allah alone).Tawheed is acceptance of Allah alone without associating partners to him, and to accept the oneness of divine names and attributes.
With Tawheed comes action and with action comes Ibadah. Ibadah is the union of obedience of Allah with love, fear, hope and reverence and at collective level it consists of witness and invitation towards Allah. All guidance and goodness is rooted to Tawheed, and all kinds of sin, guilt, and misguidance is rooted to shirk(associated partners/rivals to Allah). In today’s Era the most common form of shirk is Shir-at-Taa’a (shirk in ubudiyyat/obedience i.e. sovereignty).
Allah has called Muslim Ummah as the best Ummah among mankind because they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and they believe in Allah. The definition of right and wrong at the limits of do and don’ts is what is set by Allah alone, not by majority or any other being. So today’s concept of ‘my choice ‘and ‘my life’ is all deceptive and far from truth.
One gets easily inclined towards the majority. But those who are steadfast act as ‘strangers’ to the situation and avoid people around whom evil dwells. And for such ‘strangers’ there is glad tiding. It is a part of gratitude to love and hate for the sake of Allah, the most deserving of any kind of love is Allah alone, then the messenger and then believers.
We are living in a state of fear where Muslims are targeted for various reasons yet we do not rise to the occasion and sit silently without even bothering to teel and bring forth the real facets of Islam.
The disbelievers rejected Islam once for all, but Muslims disobey every day, after every salah. So they are the real culprit, who claim themselves on shahadah (seorn to Allah alone) yet the love and follow the enemy of Allah. The only escape is to follow the path of messenger (saw). Allah has created human body and instincts ravaging inside it at their surrounding too. so who can be more suited to draft a manual for the proper functioning of this organic machine except the creator?
We live in a society where leaving salah is trivial, telling lies is a must, listening to music is inevitable, breaking promise is joke, homosexuality is celebrated, backbiting and tale-bearing is fun and women imitating men and vice -versa is being smart, but these are some of the major sins near Allah.
Despite all these we have left one of the ‘Sunnah of messenger’ that is sunnah of correcting mistakes. The intention of correcting mistakes should be to follow the command of Allah and it should be in accordance with knowledge of Islam. Also one should remember that Allah is Al-Ghaffar and he loves the one who repents when he commits mistake.
For the protection of one’s purity the first command of Allah is to lower the sight, it is the demand of Haya and shielding of heart against corruption. We cannot bow our head to anyone except Allah, cannot fill our hearts with love, fear, hope and reverence except for Allah, show off, Kibr and hasad, cannot use our eyes for watching haram like awrah of women (physically or in movies and porn etc), for peeping secrets; cannot use our energies for any other purpose except to the will of Allah; cannot use our tongues for lying, backbiting, false accusation, deception, buttering, slandering, abusing, taste haram like wine, etc; cannot use our cheeks to please tyrants, receive haram kisses or caress and to smile to disbelievers and kins,etc; cannot use our ears to listen to haram like musical instruments, vulgar songs, backbiting, false knowledge etc.
Similarly what we earn and feed to ourselves must be free from lying, deception, interests (riba), haram work etc; must watch out our sexual relationships, rights and duties as ordained by Allah for spouses and the society formed their union, sexual perversion or transgression like LGBT, Surrogacy, adultery, rape, birth control, etc and uses our limbs only to fulfill allowed tasks keeping in mind the reckoning. Each organ will witness against our sins on that day!
Today, Halal and Haram is established by society according to the whims and desire or intellect. But it is the sole authority of Allah to decide Halaal and Haraam. Our homes are equipped with gratuitous things in the race of acquiring status, and our time and labour are all focused on royal food, branded clothes and well furnished homes, while in Muslim home there should be satisfaction and thankfulness in less belongings as their real abode is not this world.
The consciousness of the immortal life of hereafter prevents one from indulging in idle pursuits. Also Islam does not allow monkhood, so the balance is necessary keeping in mind that our means of relaxation must not involve any haram thing nor it should distract one from his obliged duties.
Islam creates a strong family bond which is primarily based on the bond of husband and wife tied with taqwa (conciousness of Allah). It commands the children to be obedient to their parents and to strengthen the ties of kinship. Every kingdom has a chief and Allah in his encompassing wisdom and absolute knowledge has chosen man for that role. The choice does not detract from the unit list of women’s role, nor does it belittle her in the least.
Todays marriages are made troublesome by fallacious customs of baraat and dowry, Allah says that one of the responsibility that messenger was sent for was to ‘relieve them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them’. There is no concept of any feast from bride’s side, however reception is encouraged within limits. So, why we feel ashamed to follow the path of messenger?
On the day of resurrection, Allah will ask about life. Then, He will ask the second question, in regards to youth, despite the fact that the period of youth is itself part of life. So, at this age of blessing where we are heading to? The period of teenage which is implanted in our minds as a time to enjoy life and permission to do fallacious deeds is nothing but a fitnah in itself.
We have forgotten the heroes of Islam who were zealous and always ready to sacrifice their lives for principles and who choose Aakhirah above this world. The only true role model is prophet Muhammad (saw),Who is an example in every sphere of our life and for all time. The true path is only one which Islam invites for, and it demands complete submission and sacrifice of wordly pleasure. Because one should never forget that death is certain, barzakhis truth, and day of resurrection is promised by the one who knows all…Allah.So, ponder over the signs of qiyamah, be aware of fitna and ask yourself ‘what have you prepared for the day’.
(The author is a student pursuing his bachelor’s degree in political science at AMU)
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