I would like to know what is your motivation for acting or not acting upon the teachings of Islam. If you do take the Islamic teachings seriously, why do you take it so? Is it the fear of punishment from Allah or is it the love of Allah? If you don’t act upon Islamic teachings, is it because you don’t deem Islamic laws and rules worthy enough to be followed or is it because of personal laziness? Please reply honestly?
For me it the lack of knowledge about Islam and a search for something which is the truth. Thing that bothers me is that we have so many followers in the world yet we seem so far away from the principles and guidance of the Quran. So I 'm continually searching to find out what the 'real' message is and why the muslim world seems to have abandoned the Quran in favour of hearsay and conjecture. I know there is something wrong in the way we are living Islam but i don't know what. This opens up all kinds of questions and issues which need to explored and answered but most people will not explore with an open mind yet will jump to label each other.
But ultimately I try to follow Islam because it claims to be the truth and the Quran as the word of God and lays down the challenge to prove otherwise. The book signs is alive today as it was 1400 years ago, I'm just trying to open my heart to it and live by it.
Sorry if I sound confused, but a good topic anyway.
What I can sense from your remarks is that you don't like the prevalent and traditional understanding of Islam as propagated by the scholars of today. Ok, then what's your alternative. To discuss an issue, we must start from a common denominator. We do have to live our lives islamically. Now, how that is interpreted by different people varies according to people's knowledge, past experiences, and background. You being a muslim, I believe, are entitled to your understanding. But, the Quran also mentions that we must not follow our desires in pursuing the truth. What that means is to accept things liked by me, palatable to my taste, and reject the ones I don't like. I can cover this thinking by deluding myself using words such as common sense in choosing what is right or wrong. However, the great majority of kuffar is not devoid of common sense in its modern meaning yet they don't accept the Truth. What is the determining factor then. The life of prophet Mohammad (sallalaho alayhe wasalam) as proclaimed in the Quran also. Follow him and you will follow Allah. And his life is preserved in traditions. You see that Quran is a text. Its a simple fact that you need practical example of any theory to understand it. If it stays within ideas it can't be proved. Therefore, the whole mileiu of Makkah and Medina and the lives of companions is an example of what a muslim community must be like. At individual level, you will find them following prophet (sallalaho alayhe wasalam) in minutest details. I can formulate my life according to self-derived principles based on modern-day morality but why should I when I have the best possible alternative in the life of prophet Mohammad (sallalaho alayhe wasalam). And yet, Islam is flexible enough to accomodate things with change in times if they don't border on haraam since Allah has prohibited us in His book not to exceed limits placed by Him upon us. May Allah guide us on the right path. ameen
“the whole mileiu of Makkah and Medina and the lives of companions is an example of what a muslim community must be like.”
I would like to comment this particular sentence. I have been to these wonderful places on Umrah and believe me the mileuiu of these places doesn’t have a thing to do with the peopel living there let me give u a few examples:
*arabic children of the age 10-12 running around in the masjid with their shoes on and when I ask them to remove their shoes they find pleasure in mogging me
*during abadit an arabic man comes to touches my albow and tells me that I’m supposed to wear full hijab (also cover my face). I wonder how he even noticed my face when he should be concentrating on his ibadit
I can give u several other examples but let these be enough to make my point.
Just to make it clear I simply enjoyed and found so much peace during my umrah that I wanna go there as soon as possible but I don’t have much for the arabic people !!
Islam is the most giving and loving religions of all.
But can u explain to me that how come these mullahs that tell us about Islam don’t even bother to pretend to follow their own guidelines.
Saudiarabic princes come to europe or las vegas etc etc to do some pretty haram stuff and bring home with htem diseases to their wives which can easily during a pregnancy be transferred to or crible an infant.
These same people kill/torture and abuse women claiming that women have loose characters !! pretty doublestadard hain na
I understand why muslims of today are looking for the truth when we are confronted with such behaviour from people that call them selves the perfect muslims then of course the rest of us have to seek the truth.
But the truth should be seeked within the limits of Islam !!!
Islam has given women so many rights then how come the same religion is being using against them to abuse them ???
ISLAM IS GOOD AND GIVING and that’s why those who are born muslims stay muslims and others become muslims.
But just take one look at how islam has been used to abuse all iranians for decades and it’s not so difficult to see why these iranians are so confused about what islam is. I know many iranians who follow many of the rules given by islam and call themselves muslims but still they are in a state of search for the truth because they can’t understand how this giving and loving religion could be used agains them to cause such horror.
What about the Talibans. They are locking women inside their homes treating them like paria. They don’t have the right to go out and work to be able to support themselves instead they are pushed into begging which is wrong and not approved by islam.
http://www.pak.org/gupshup/frown.gif
http://www.pak.org/gupshup/frown.gif
http://www.pak.org/gupshup/frown.gif
Hmm ups I think I got carried away there !!
But I hope that u got my point so instead of saying that people should not look for the truth u should instead see how islam has been misused which is the main reason for why people have begun to look for the truth.
I apologize for not being lucid enough in my explanation as to what I was referring to. By no means, I implied the contemporary Saudi Arabia when I referred to Islamic milieu. Actually, I was speaking of the times of Rasool Allah (Sallalaho alayhe wasalam) and the glorious caliphate that later on ensued and culminated with Ali (radhi Allah anho). I agree that the arabs of today are no match to their glorious ancestors in character and slavehood towards Allah, yet we must nevertheless respect them since their lineage goes back to our benefactors i.e. sahaba (r.a.) and Rasool Allah (sallalaho alayhe wasalam).
The truth and reality of Islam is still present in the Quran and hadith. We can even discover it if we search for it objectively without being influenced by our impulses and desires. Because a person who is infatuated by her own ideas will selectively filter the truth according to her own taste. In Islam, we don't have pick and choose which means that we can't accept or reject using our own standard of morality. These things are prescribed by Allah and Allah alone. They are present in the Quran and in the traditions of prophet alayhis salaam who never spoke of his own accord but only verbalized Allah's will. The biggest problem today is that nobody want's to follow Islam as it is and everybody wants to follow it according to their understanding which varies from person to person. The message is, however, clear. Quran is preserved so follow it according to the understanding of Rasool Allah (sallalaho alayhe wasalam)and his companions.
Today it is the socalled good maulvis the protectors of islamic word that tell us things that aren't always the truth they are the ones who have taken the first step to change the words they filter what things they like and don't like.
for axample deharti anbar log know only what these maulvis thell them and seldome are they told about womens right given to them by Allah the great and taken from them by MEN
I do understandt ur point and do agree with them but u are trying to make something which is far more complicated into something siplified. Islam is simple it is man who has made it complicated and the first ones to do so are the maulvis. How come they can't even agree on one simple thing as having EID on the same day in Pakistan ??
Excuse me for saying so but maulvis are using Islam to gain personal power very few are sincere and I do respect those who are truly sincere I know some of them and thank Allah for their exsistence so that Islam is interpreted in the right way.
ShahidaH....>>Islam is simple it is man who has made it complicated and the first ones to do so are the maulvis.<<
Indeed it is! Qura~n explicity states:
"We made for you a law, so follow it, and not the fancies of those who have no knowledge." (45:18)
Your point well taken, however, I have absolutely no respect either for the modernist Islamic interpretation by the so-called intellectuals whose only desire is to somehow harmonize Islamic teachings with the western philosophy of free social mingling of both sexes and conveniently forsaking such parts as deem incompatible with easy living in the west. This is basically what is known as "khawaish parasti" or worshipping of one's own desires, which has no place in Islam. As a nation, we the muslims are suffering from a disease known as reckless disregard to the true islamic teachings of the Quran and sunnah and the modern feminist movement that has spread its tentacles even well beyond its point of origination and is gaining widespread popularity in the name of wider social awareness within our homes in Pakistan is further undermining efforts of sincere scholars to curb this immoral and dangerous trend. Our women now believe in freedom from all limits to do as they like and stand next to men. This mania knows no bounds as it is evident by the morally decadent culture of so-called civilized western world where violence and pornography truly depicts what exreme perversity this freedom can sometimes lead to. Yes, Islam places social curbs on women more than men to preemptively strike at these social ills before they shatter the very fabric of our daily lives. To any one who is cognozant with the early Medinan social environment can understand the reality behind this whole concept. I am a firm believer in the forgotten and forsaken traditional values of Islam that seem so strange today and are laughed at by minds that are chained in a western inferiority complex. But until the Islam, that today exists in the bookshelves of libraries, does not enter in our practical lives, we will never truly realize its worth nor enjoy its fruits.