I am a Muslim, but only by name
When it comes to practising, what a shame!
I go to friends and relatives in suit and tie
It’s alright if I occasionally lie
Yes I practise, BUT when it suits me
Or more to the point, when it pleases society.
If I show my ankles, they’ll point and laugh
They’ll think it’s too short and reckon I’m daft.
If I trim my moustache and grow the beard
They’ll reckon I’m a fanatic or something weird.
If I wear the sunnah I’ll get great reward
But the Kuffaar will look down on me, that I can’t afford.
Yes I’m a Muslim, but only by name
I make excuses which I admit are rather lame.
Yes I’m a sane man and I’m on the right track
Who am I kidding, I feel like a right jack!
To hide my inferiority complex I protest it’s unimportant
Though my heart screams to tell me I’m a blatant fraudulent
The best thing is no-one can hear what’s going on inside
People think I’ve got it made and with my life I’m satisfied.
But I’m afraid this is a fable and it’s a pure deception
I have no peace of mind but this I daren’t even mention.
If I remain ignorant it’s OK, 'cos then I don’t have to practise
Yes I’m conniving and these are baseless evil tactics.
But I read the Kalima and I think I have Imaan
I can’t help my attitude - I was placed in a Kufrstaan.
Yes I’m a Muslim but only by name
And with my precious life I’m playing a foolish disastrous game
“O people! Muhammad has no sons among ye men, but verily, he is the Messenger of Allah and the last in the line of Prophets. And Allah is aware of everything.” (33:40)
“The Hour will not come … until nearly thirty “dajjals” (liars) appear, each one claiming to be a messenger from Allah.” (Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
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May Allah (SWT) forgive us all & guide us all onto the straight path and keep us steadfast on it. Ameen.
“I put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord! There is not a moving creature, but He has a grasp of its forelock. Verily, my Lord is on the straight path. (The truth)”
(11:55-56)
“…Indeed my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allaah, the Lord of the worlds” (6:162)
As only Allah (swt) is aware of everything, He knows us better than we do… Ever heard of the prostitute who went to heaven because her intention to feed a dog was sincerly because she had piety on one of Allah (swt)'s starving creation? Well there are many other stories of this kind… But I’m not saying that the people who do not practice Islam through out their lives until they see the death Angel will go straight to heaven, because evry one, at the time of death after seing the Angel of Death do bring Imaan, except that in some cases in just to late…
[This message has been edited by Paxtani Mentality (edited August 09, 2002).]
now that we have established that the writer is a "sister"
lets look at some verses, and one that you will defintely enjoy.
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I go to friends and relatives in suit and tie **
when did suit and tie become unislamic? some people just take this too far.
I mean poetic license is fine..but dunn just say crap just to rhyme.
*If I trim my moustache and grow the beard
They'll reckon I'm a fanatic or something weird. *
indeed if a "sister" has a mustache and a beard, I would think there is something weird going on too.
the rest is same ol same ol blah blah blah. self pity, whining and supposedly thought provoking stuff.
This crap is not appealing. I would rather read an article written by a person who knows what he/she is talking about and can express it well without too much drama.
Anyway, you have some interesting point about this article. The society has evolved where people are better educated and need a more dynamic discussion
There are no stupid questions…but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.
Since we don't know the author, I don't think we can break-down what she meant by the "suit and tie" line. Perhaps it was a line that rhymed with the former? Who knows. I just think we all need to try and keep ourselves in check..and not be muslims just by name. Inshallah Allah swt will show us guidance.
"O people! Muhammad has no sons among ye men, but verily, he is the Messenger of Allah and the last in the line of Prophets. And Allah is aware of everything." (33:40)
"The Hour will not come ... until nearly thirty "dajjals" (liars) appear, each one claiming to be a messenger from Allah." (Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
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[This message has been edited by Hinna (edited August 09, 2002).]
**If I wear the sunnah I’ll get great reward
But the Kuffaar will look down on me, that I can’t afford. **
IF you are a sincere muslim why you worrying about what kuffars think… If Allah is happy then v shouldnt care about anything else..if you are scared about your job.. then its bad… cuz roozi/rooti Allah daita hia..
my father has beared, arround 4 yrs back when v were planning to come to states, didnt get Visa that time.. so all my uncles they were keep insisting my dad to cut the beared cuz white mens in US embassy wouldnt really like it… so they wont give u visa though… cuz soem of the ppls i knwo they actually cut off their beard just to get US Visa(which is very shame cuz i guess once u grow your beard you shouldnt cut it.).. anyway.. my dad said the same thing.. i dun care what they think.. i dun care if they discriminate me n dun give me visa … as long as i am pleasing Allah.. i will be fine.. and he knows what is best for me..
so why we worrying about em..Kuffars are going to hell for sure.(welll.. i m no one to say this… cuz v never knwo who will pleased allah by his acts. n will go to heaven straight..)
Personally I dont care what clothes a person wears but what is in they're heart
I used to belong to a religion that thought such things were important and found that the people were incredibly self-righteous and small minded.
remember to a christian you muslims are going to hell ,and they think you are in the same position as you think the kuffar is.
but then there are some who will say just coming to a "non-muslim" country except for preaching or education is not allowed. I am certain they probably have some lame ass poems on that topic too.
Some of these people go too far, and then the basics...the essence of the religion..that is left behind..the rituals and the projections become important.
a few weeks back, in the middle of a gathering, a gentleman decided to give a lecture on prayers and reading quran to understand it..forced the parents to have their kids come and sit and listen to him. All the while he is saying this, I am wondering, prayer and reading quran and understanding it is important, but the gentleman in question is rude, is a physically abusive father and husband.
Thats just one example, there are way too many of us who may have the "look" and have jazakAllah, MashaAllah, InshaAllaha t the end of each sentence, but is that what Islam tells us to be.
I am tired of banner waving, book banging, johnny come lately mullahs who preach non stop but dont take teh time to understand the fundamentals of the religion..to be good human beings, to lead a useful life, to treat people well...
when they learn this, maybe the poems that they will write will have more substance, and less posturing.
mr fraudia, i guess one could say that the poem lacks substance, since it aims to get you guilty rather than motivated about being a muslim, but:
[quote]
Thats just one example, there are way too many of us who may have the "look" and have jazakAllah, MashaAllah, InshaAllaha t the end of each sentence, but is that what Islam tells us to be.
[/quote]
whats up with this? Surely islam tells us to be a lot more but 1) you cant tell whats in that person's heart other than what he projects of it (this you prolly have no knowledge of) and 2) what the hell is wrong with remembering Allah(SWT) in each and every sentence?!
.. surely life is nothing more than a quest for the hereafter, then why whine if someone tries to instill islam in every movement of his?
what I mean is...we should practice what we preach...
and please refer to the whole haqooq Allah vs. haqooq al ibaad topic.
thsi is not to say that haqooq Allah should not be fulfilled, but it is to say that too many of us completely ignore haqooq al ibaad.
as far as what is in a person's heart i surely cant tell, but when u know that someone who says Allah Allah all the time yet acts in a way that totally is against the essence of islam then whats the use?
I am taking this a step beyond this poem...being a msulim isn name is not enough, true, but then being a muslim in "looks" is not enough either, and way too many people are stuck on that
definitely agree with THIS point.. acting and looking like a muslim are both important. but not all poems can aim to satisfy the same thesis, this one targets the looking like a muslim factor, i'm sure there are others which emphasize on being a muslim in actions.
I agree with ya...Islam doesn't say "preach but not practice..." that would be totally absurd! To be a true muslim, you have to know your religion...true..you may not know it inside out..but it's a work in progress....
"O people! Muhammad has no sons among ye men, but verily, he is the Messenger of Allah and the last in the line of Prophets. And Allah is aware of everything." (33:40)
"The Hour will not come ... until nearly thirty "dajjals" (liars) appear, each one claiming to be a messenger from Allah." (Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
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Mr Frau... just a few words to think abt....
Suits and tie are not unislamic but they are not very Islamic either, yes Islam does tell us to be good human beings, lead useful lives etc etc but it also tells us to balance this will the worldly things and the hereafter. It's all very well making a life for urself but we must remember we are not going to live this life forever; the hereafter will come and to Allah is our return. If you woke up and smelt the coffee, you would release that there are lots of people like the person being described in the poem!
I don’t think people should take it too personally when other people are trying to tell us good, we should listen and take it in, after all there is always room for improvements, I’m sure u would agree.
I could go on… but I think I’ll stop here, I’m sure u get the message.
I think people have a misconception about certain things.
On the point of Sunnah and we should do everything our beloved prophet did.
Not everything the prophet did is a rewardable action if we were to do it eg. the prophet marrying more than four times, in that case if we were to do that we would be sinful.
The way the prophet dressed was part of civilisation at the time. The Prophet and Abu Jahal used to go to the same place to get their jalabias. So for one to wear a jalabia isn't rewardable, it's mubah. Men are told to cover their awrah so a suit and tie is just as Islamic as a jalabia as neither have anything to do with Islam but are just mubah(permissable).
Just like the prophet rode a camel today we ride a car. Not different in Islam, just different civilisation.
Definitely Muslims do do haraam but i think certain things get thrown in which are not accurate. There is nothing wrong with a Muslim wearing a suit and tie.
Some of what you wrote disturbed me… Because it is known that whatever the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did was “rewardable” and an example for us, his whole life was an example for us, every single of his actions was meant to be adopted by Muslims…
[quote]
Originally posted by spectator:
**I could go on… but I think I’ll stop here, I’m sure u get the message.
Walikum Aslaam**
[/quote]
spectator, I dont diagree that the poem describes many people that we see. The problem is that the overly dramatized approach does not work. It ends up being cheesy. I know a number of people who changed their ways not due to overly done poems like this, or the usual do this do that approach, but when someone reasoned with them, treated them like an adult who had a capacity to think.