Submit to start

Deciding that Islam was the only religion that was right for me was nothing like an end. It was just a conclusion. A conclusion is not meant to close, what it does is rather build a solid foundation. Without a solid foundation nothing can be built. And to build is the only way to make things last. It's the way to eternity!

The end is dead, the end is death. We describe a closed road that leads to nothing as being "dead-end". If accepting Islam was supposed to be an end, I wouldn't have accepted it. I accepted it because it spoke pro-life, pro-freedom, pro-beauty, and pro-common sense.

It was just a start. It pointed me to a reliable source. A source that I can trust and ask for guidance in the journey of life. It didn't end questions. Questions are part of the journey. I wouldn't take Islam for a religion if it suppressed questions and questioning.

I am still on the road. No destination has been reached yet. I have the message of Islam as a map, a guide book that I keep handy. Without it the journey could be depressing and scary, and indeed very mysterious!

The Veil: Showing off vs. Being!

The title is not really mine, it's inspired by the final words of an American lady who converted to Islam in this video that I am showing you today. The lady is talking about the veil from a very personal level. That's an insider's look at the veil, or Hijab, in Islam. Non-Muslims might think of the veil as oppressive (that's what one American female friend told me). That's indeed a weird concept. It ignores the defintion of oppression, which implies forcing and imposing. Why would wearing the veil be oppressive when Muslim women do it by choice?! It's as free as going naked on the beach, one woman "wants" to reveal her body, while the other "wants" to protect it from the staring eyes! There should be no talking about oppression here. Seeing western women opt for the veil is even more of a proof that it's their free choice to wear the veil, because they do that when they belong to a culture that doesn't recognize or respect the veil. They don't have any other motive than their pure free desire. Watch this video, it's one account of what a western woman feels and thinks about wearing the veil. She ends her video by saying something profound about wearing the veil: it's for women who are more interested in being than in showing off!

Final note: A woman can be Muslim and not cover her hair, however a good Muslim woman would not reveal much of her body, the same way conservative women of other religions do. This post is primarily concerned by the attack of the veil as an oppressive form of religious practice. I must also say that I am categorically against covering a woman's face in the name of hijab/veil and I personally see it as an anti-islamic dress.

Eternity!

Do some people really wish to live forever? On this earth?! We know that we will die. If we are alive, this only proves that we will experience death.

“Every soul will taste of death, then to Us you will return” Quran, 29:57

“Say: The death from which you flee will surely overtake you, then you will be returned to Him who knows the unseen and the seen, and He will inform you of (the truth) of what you used to do” Quran, 62:08

We might live until we’re very old, but yet we don’t know how well we’ll be living then. If you live too long, you’ll be getting weaker and weaker. There is a limit; no matter how healthy you are, you will decline.

“It is Allah who created you in a state of weakness, then He gave you strength after weakness, then, after strength, He gave you weakness and a hoary head” Quran, 30:54

“He whom We grant long life to, We cause him to reverse in nature. Will they not understand!” Quran, 36:68

Eternity on this earth is not the aim of any wise person. This life is not even enough interesting to remain in it forever! If you live forever, you might just go insane! Death brings balance to our lives. Without it, Life will be out of balance.

Luckily, we still have the accounts of many of the teachings of Muhammad, thousands and thousands of his sayings and teachings. Once he was educating his followers, when he said: “A person’s (good) actions stop after death, except for three things”.

See, he is talking about the only eternity that a person can have on this earth. We are told in the Quran that we will be rewarded for all our good deeds, which makes sense. Muhammad wanted to point out that there are three ways for a person to keep adding to his “reward account” (the bank account of our actions, be it positive or negative!), even after this person has been buried.

Here are the three things that Muhammad mentioned:

1. When you have a righteous child who keeps praying for you after you’ve passed away.

Well, you need some knowledge to accomplish that! You need to know how to educate your children, to protect them from their own weaknesses, to give them strength, both physical and spiritual. You can only do your best, then your effort will remain after you in a living good deed of yours. For every prayer that your child will do for you, God will give you more of his gifts in your next life!

2. A “running charity”.

This means a charity that keeps producing results. You can think of a non-profit that was established by the good will and efforts of some kind, smart and determined persons. They die, but the fruit of their work doesn’t. Say we have a scientist who invented something beneficial to mankind. In the Islamic tradition, we know that every single time that a human being benefits from this invention, the one who created it is rewarded. Every time one single person is cured thanks to the works of any who wanted to help and cure people, this person is rewarded for the good fruits of his works. While buried under the ground, every day new rewards keep adding up in his account. This is how well God rewards those who worked to benefit others!

3. Knowledge that keeps benefiting people.

This can be part of the “running charity” mentioned above. But knowledge has a very important place in the teachings of Islam, so it had to be mentioned by itself. Someone wrote a book a thousand years ago to transfer his knowledge and improve people’s life. Well, you know it. When you read that old book, and you benefit from it, God will be rewarding the writer for what his words have done for you!

Little incident in the news

I first knew about this little incident here, but then, just a few minutes ago, I came across it on CNN.

Belonging

Today I quote a few words of the prophet Muhammad. They express a very dear meaning to my heart. Those words will only please the free and the just. They cure a very dangerous human way of thinking. The good thing is that they come from the human source of Islam, the prophet Muhammad being the human who practiced Islam to perfection. His wife Aisha once said that Muhammad was a living Quran. He lived the teachings every day, in every act. Those words are serious and vital to all Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Listen to those pearls:

Muhammad said to his companions:
“Assist your brother Muslim, whether he be an oppressor or an oppressed. “But how shall we do it when he is an oppressor?! Inquired a companion. Muhammad replied, “Assisting an oppressor consists in forbidding and withholding him from oppression.”

Because if you really love your people, your country, your nation, you'd want the real good for them, and you'll protect them from their own stupidity and self-destruction. Like all we do, injustice always comes back.

Muhammad expressed the same meaning in other words:

“That person is not of us who invites others to aid him in oppression; and he is not of us who fights for his tribe in injustice; and he is not of us who dies in assisting his tribe in tyranny”

The expression: “not of us” simply means: not Muslim. I beg you, read this again: “he is not of us who fights for his tribe in injustice”. Need I say any more?

Yes, Muslim AND blonde!

Here is a brief video from Fox News. The point I want to make from this video is simple: Islam is not as alien as many in the West might think.

It's very interesting how more and more people are turning to Islam, when in fact it is the religion that has the most bad press EVER. Muslims are not the greatest media people in our world today, and those who have the media power are not, in many cases, neutral or objective as far as Islam and Muslims. Why is the religion that is the most attacked, misrepresented, criticized...etc., is the fastest growing religion in the world?! I am not giving answers in this post. I am just posing an interesting question that should be considered!

Music with no instruments

Modern Muslims didn't meet Muhammad, nor did modern Christians meet Jesus Christ. You can go on and mention all followers of all old religions and beliefs. There is no way to meet Jesus and ask him whether he was divine (according to Christian belief) or just a human messenger from God (according to Muslim belief). Prophets and messengers came with miracles that only those who have seen them could witness. Those miracles are useless as a proof for all of us who were not there. And there comes the meaning of what Islamic scholars say: the only forever valid miracle of Islam and of Muhammad is the Book; the Quran.

Today I will not go into any details other than an artistic one. I love music. But if you go into any mosque (place of worship of Muslims) you will not find any musical instrument, and you will never find one in the near or the far future. In a mosque, we can get our music from the recitation of the Quran. See the video below as an example of the music of the Quran. The language of the Book is so unique and special, and it's very common among Muslims to see people who memorize the whole Quran by heart since a very young age. It is certainly the only book of its size that is known by heart by millions all over the world. This is explained in the Quran itself, where God says that He made it easy to be read and recited. Beauty makes things easier and more accessible. I myself see any truth as inseparable from being beautiful!

"And certainly We have made the Quran easy for remembrance, but is there anyone who will mind?"
Quran, 54:17