Category Archives: Religiousness
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In the midst of the Dead
RIP who passed away this week, including:
my first cousin aged 14 because of dengue fever,
an old colleague who I knew by face and had never spoken to by hanging himself,
a close friend of someone I knew because of cancer and
Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple again because of cancer.
It makes you think – no – fear the reality of life, one minute you’re here and the next you’re somewhere deep down in the ground in another world, your heaven or hell, leaving behind EVERYONE and EVERYTHING you ever had.
This is nothing but a reality check for me.
What’s funny is that I was more sorry for the people left behind by the deceased, crying and whining for them to come back and it actually makes sense – you know – to be sad for the people left behind than those who have left us. Not only because their loved ones have left them behind but also because Death is inevitable and soon it’ll be our turn and we still don’t know if it’ll be a peaceful or painful experience.
Who knows who’s next.
Hypocrisy
According to Wikipedia Hypocrisy is:
“Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, ideals, thoughts, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie.”
A direct copy paste from the site obviously.
So would I be right if I were to say that it is a “state of pretending” ?? Pretty much if I believe in Wikipedia.
So would I be wrong to say that if I am deeply in love with my religion, and try to be a good faithful follower however, I am human and make ample mistakes to find myself otherwise but nonetheless ask for forgiveness at the end of it all and at the same time I don’t let go of my dreams, passions and what I would like to do in this world – Would I be a hypocrite?
I don’t think so. See we take our religion as a separate thing all together when it comes to life, so one side we have our life and fail to meet the requirements of our religion and on the other side we have a religion where we fail to move with the world and our life.
Not in my view. I am a muslim, I can die for my religion, I pray and indulge in the rememberence of Allah as and when I please and I live in this world enjoying every moment of it like I own it. I fail to understand why someone who is happy cant be religious ? Hypocrisy ?
Let this be a message for all those who don’t understand the rules revolving around this world without grounds. You live and you thank the Almighty for His blessings in your life and you show the world how you CAN be happy and achieve life as you want even if you claim to be religious.
Faith is what is inside.
The best will survive, the innocent will die and the naive will remain the bad guys.
Truth is that no one can do nothing to stop whats going on in the world, how about lets not talk about the world, lets talk about my country. Pakistan. A home to thousands of some of the best educated people and some of the most illiterate people.
A place which is known to be corrupt, probably will reach the top of the most dangerous place there is, people dying with every minute causes being, firing, bombing, killing, mugging, hunger, health, etc (endless list!)
Truth is… that there are so many people to raise voices, not like we have lost hope as of yet but eventually that’s all we ever could have done. More than half the people don’t care even if their neighbour dies and the other half just write, shout, yell and kill their voices after a while.
How about we leave the world behind, live till we can and focus on what’s more important, the life hereafter? Noo but the world has gotten too important for us hasn’t it!
Touché
Must Watch Conversions
Been a while!
Stumbled across a few of my favourite videos, although these videos are quite viral already, I thought I’ll put them up for my collection anyways!
Part # 1
Part # 2
Another:
Honestly, all you have to do is Google – conversions to Islam and hit videos! 
Our religion is not HARSH
Finding new meanings and ways to perceive matters is an art. Two days ago I had a discussion about some confusions I have about the way I practice my prayers. Its not comfortable when you wish to pray with focus but eventually small things divert your attention or disturb you.
One such disturbance was a question always hanging in front of me. Am I doing it the right way?
I know I know … you do your best and leave it aside but when you read something authentic and very different from what y0u have done all your life, you’re a bit shaken.
When I took the matter to my parents, they, like our general society failed to give me a solution by saying that “we have practiced it like our parents have practiced it, additions or alterations can become a sin, abide by the rules you have read and do not incorporate anything in your practice.”
Discouraging I know but they were right. All they had to do was say the same thing in a different way.
I found an answer to my problems from a fellow colleague which let me look at the bigger picture than the strict rules I was following.
I had taken my religion up as a rulebook for life but failed to keep in mind that my own religion is the most flexible there is. I remember having a debate about fundamentalism and how wrong it is when I was young. I objected that it was wrong because for me being a fundamentalist is about following the guidelines of your religion which every believer does. But then with time people have stopped looking at the sole reason for practicing their religion. They started believing that if they do-not follow them, they go to hell. Really? You are a Muslim, You are praying … You do not intend to make mistakes … and you still get punished for it? We had forgotten that our religion gives everyone a chance, Allah SWT looks into intentions and forgives as if its like compulsory to forgive every sinner seeking forgiveness. That is the beauty of our religion, where all it takes is a thought of being wrong to be forgiven and all it takes is the smallest deed of goodness to earn blessings. Why have we limited ourselves to gain the unlimited blessings from ALLAH SWT? Why are we stuck with a limited mind-frame which tells us that if a drop of water does not touch each hair on our head during ablution, our ablution is void, our salah is void and everything that follows is void until we get it right even though we intend and desire to carry out the act in the most perfect manner? That is certainly what our society tells us.
The book ‘Prayer according to the Sunnah’ which i am reading mentioned the raising of the hands during Takbir various times in Salah. I have never done that. The author goes on to narrate that one Islamic Scholar has referred to this act as an important one and whoever does not carry it out does not pray the way our last Prophet Muhammed SAW used to pray.
For me this was a sin. If I cant pray the way He SAW did, its not use of praying at all. He has introduced and shown us how to pray in front of our Lord SWT and if not carrying out a particular act voids the Salah, its a sin, or at least something that would not count our Salah, all efforts gone down the drain.
I considered it somewhat harsh.
My head on the other side kept telling to me dig deeper and find a solution which led to the discussion two days ago. The lady told me something that I wished I heard from the author or my own parents. Although her response might seem as if I have the choice of taking it easy as far as my Salah is concerned, but no, instead her response made me think I should perfect my Salah and again, have the intention to keep the bigger picture in mind, which is ‘praying to ALLAH SWT’.
She said, there are things mentioned in the Quran which are wajib ie, compulsory then there are Sunnahs ie, the way our Prophet SAW used to follow in addition to whatever is wajib. For eg, Surah Fatiha is wajib to recite in prayers but the act raising the hands during Takbir is Sunnah and we find people all over the world praying in different ways but doing the same thing ie Praying! Bowing in front if the Almighty. Simple.
Sounds like fresh air right? Makes me just wana pray and nothing else… I can raise my hands or not if i’m confused or forget to and I will still not be thrown into hell.
This clears my perception about Fundamentalism as well. Yes it is not the perfect way. According to a couple of Hadiths, Hazoor Pak SAW also made mistakes or forgot how many rakhas he prayed, proving that he is human and anyone can make a mistake but we do not punish ourselves for that and neither will Allah IA. HIS world is filled with blessings and all we have to do is ask for them instead of fearing that we will never get enough.
Now I can finally forget about those aunties who used to tell me if I dont do –something– that way or this way, it wont be accepted, as if they had been personal secretaries to God. Brings me back to something I cherish … every person Muslim or non-Muslim who believes in One God, submission to Him, the day of judgment and life after death is actually a Muslim. Absolutely Love It.
Tension; unnecessarily – everywhere
I see tension everywhere. I see stress-filled and scared people in the morning and I see tired people at night.
Sam from The Simpler Life has posted a lot of relevant blogs stating the same and how simplicity is healthy living. Read his blog titled, simplicity can save your life, etc.
Have we ever asked ourselves if whatever we are worrying about is worth it? or even if its worth it, do we have a solution? Are we inferior by our race/identity/colour? Are we satisfied in our lives? Are we sleeping well or waking up with a smile? Maybe … maybe not …
Where do we find our peace. It takes me back to the bigger Question, why have we been brought to this world in the first place? Yes this might turn into a religious post but no seriously … why?
Shouldn’t we all have a purpose?
I think we all do, in one way or another. Have we found it? Are we too busy to find it? Have we become blind towards the bigger picture? Hell yes!
Breathe, feel the air go inside and exhale … feel everything you possess in the world, feel for the world is yours and just a minor gift … greatness lies ahead and all of us should work towards it … one way or the other.
Not another Brag-about-my-Religion blog
I fell in love yet again when I heard something a coupla days ago.
Those all who believe in one God and submission to Him during this lifetime and hereafter, is a Muslim. Alhamdulillah.
(I think I have covered the jest of what was given).
So, us Muslims are not so lonely on this planet after all. Yes, there are millions of Muslims out there who just don’t know that they’re Muslims yet or might not know until they die. But All The Best =D
I do not expect everyone to understand. I was a Muslim but very far from being a Muslim and when it hit me … trust me it hit me hard. My blog is just about recording my evolution.
Evolution – I believe is even possible at an individual level.
Tears define thoughts
I might not forget how it all started … I don’t even know if it is that ‘all’ because I have made so many attempts to start it in the past.
However, I am trying to be optimistic and would like to think that this is the first and the last time I started “IT”. May Allah guide me to become a sinless Muslim and a better person overall. Ameen.
I love the metros in Dubai-UAE. Taxis were very expensive especially when I had to travel from all the way across the country to get to my work place or a mall. I always say that the metro spoiled me, and I neglected the need to have a driving license.
I am a very emotional person especially when it comes down to my feelings, my wants and my needs, not that I consider myself that selfish of a person, I am a little but if I get loads I give loads … and vice versa. A lot of people will disagree with me.
Anyways, I got up on the wrong side of the bed one morning, feeling lousy and emotionally wrecked (something I feel often) I was on my way to work. Dad, with his usual issues, couldn’t drop me because of not having a car.
The metros are very cold. The aircons are on and on full-air-blowing-speed. I hate it. No matter what big shawl I take, I am eventually freezing!
So this nice lady walks in and stands in the crowd. It is very crowded during office hours but I get on the first station and get off near the last stations so I have a seat most of the times. She has a book in her hand called “Prayer according to the Sunnah” by Prof. Muhd Zulfiqar – Darussalam. She then takes out a smaller hand-book called “Fortress of the Muslims” which I already have coincidentally and reads something from it and puts it back.
Now I am thinking, great just what I need, I am upset and right now its like I have just been reminded of the great sins I have committed.
May Allah always curtain our sins and forgive us for being sinners. May Allah clear those sins from our life. Ameen.
Anyhow, considering I am freezing and this nice lady who is reading Islamic books in front of me is standing, I get up and offer her a seat. She asks me when I have to get off but I disregard the question because I wanted the little sunlight that was pouring in after I stood up, even though I knew its not even halfway yet.
In a desperate attempt to clear my mind and curious about the Darussalam book, I ask her if I could see it. She hands it to me and I start asking her small unnecessary questions about the book. Within no time she tells me to keep it … I felt rather unwillingly. I totally understood her because fact was that the book was based on something so important that no one might want to let it go and besides that, the book seemed to be newly bought. I resisted as usual but she insisted. She wrote something down for me, a conflicting theory on a page and handed it to me.
Although many people have given/done many things for me like that and other important things too but I think I will always remember her because the timing and the randomness was perfect. MashALLAH.
Yes, I did start crying, not sobbing but a drop here and there. She saw those tears, she thought I was a student but did not ask or say too much. She must be thinking that I am a disturbed soul. Am I not? Nah there are worse out there and I have been thankful for what Allah has given to me. Well most of the times, at times I have been a whiner as well. Astagfirullah.
It has hardly been two weeks? I have that book in my hands at all times of my traveling. I peep through it and read a little further and learn a new way of how our last Prophet SAW had made our religion the easiest yet effective practicing religion ever.
Oh and I forgot to mention. She write down a link on what she had as a bookmark. A cardboard of hairpins which I still use as a bookmark. www.Kalamuallah.com > Free informative Islamic books for all. YAY!
Well, what I am trying to say since then is that I am in love … in love with the purpose of life … in love with the fact that I do not have to worry about my life since there is a greater source who will take care of me if i submit n leave it to HIM. SubhanALLAH.
I am a very worrisome person and fret about everything in my life. I am not saying it is going to be easy for me, or I will even stay like this but hope I will InshALLAH because in it I have found peace and a satisfaction about working towards the real purpose of why we have been brought to this world.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajioon. Google the translation, I am sure you will not find it to be a waste or time. You will very much agree. We all were born and we all will die sooner or later.
One question: how much have we done for the One who we shall return to?
Now I think, eat, sleep about the same question, what have I done? 24 years (technically 14) I have spent living a life in this world, have I ever thought beyond that? NO! instead I have managed to commit sins which are never forgiven!
I pray that Allah, the most gracious and the most merciful pardons me and cleans me from those sins. Ameen.
I think I have made my point clear by now.
May Allah guide us all to the right path and never let us go. Ameen.
