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 Illal-Lah) acceptable to Allah. It encompasses every sphere of living from social, political, and economic to personal aspects. There are only a few who believe Islam is 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 jahiliyyah in which most of us are dwelling. Our hearts and society are 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 Illal-Lah (the supreme master). He submits to Allah alone with regard to his actions and thoughts.
Rejection of false God’s is the first requirement of Iman in Allah, it includes hatred of them in heart, not helping them, boycotting everything related to them, and then voicing against them with intellect and fighting with power. One who fears Allah alone is shielded from all other fears of wealth, power, fame, family, etc. His only fear is the protection of his Iman and such is the person of whom the Taghut is fearful. The message of every Prophet was the same i.e. ‘Tawheed’- rejection of Tawghoot (false God(s)and serving to Allah alone). Tawheed is acceptance of Allah alone without associating partners with him, and accepting 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 the collective level, it consists of witness and invitation towards Allah. All guidance and goodness are rooted to Tawheed, and all kinds of sin, guilt, and misguidance are 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 doing and don’ts is what is set by Allah alone, not by the majority or any other being. so today’s concept of ‘my choice and ‘my life is all deceptive and far from the truth. One gets easily inclined toward the majority, do in such situations ‘strangers’ are those righteous people around whom evil dwells, yet they remain steadfast. 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 tortured and killed, yet the world’s second-largest religion sits silently. 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 (sworn to Allah alone) yet they love and follow the enemy of Allah. The only escape is to follow the path of the messenger (saw). Allah has created the human body and instincts ravaging inside it at their surroundings too. So who can be more suited to draft a manual for the proper functioning of this organic machine except for 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 a 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 the sunnah of correcting mistakes. The intention of correcting mistakes should be to follow the command of Allah and it should be in accordance with the knowledge of deen of Islam. Also one should remember that Allah is Al-Ghaffar and he loves the one who repents when he commits mistakes. For the production of one’s purity, the first command of Allah is to lower the sight, it is the demand of Haya and shielding of the heart against corruption.
We cannot bow our head to anyone except Allah, cannot fill our hearts with love,fear,hope qnd reverence except for Allah, show off,Kibr, 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,fuhash 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 qs 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 our sins on that day!
Today, Halal and Haram are established by society according to the whims and desire or intellect., But it is the sole authority of Allah to decide Halal and Haraam. Our homes are equipped with gratuitous things in the race of acquiring status, and our time and labor are all focused on royal food, branded clothes, and well-furnished homes, while in Muslim homes there should be satisfaction and thankfulness in fewer belongings as their real abode is not this world.
The consciousness of the immortal life of the 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 (consciousness 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 roles, nor does it belittle her in the least. Today, marriages are made troublesome by fallacious customs of baraa’t and dowry, Allah says that one of the responsibilities 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 do we feel ashamed to follow the path of the messenger? A believing woman should feel honored and proud to adorn herself in the uniform that none other than her creator, Allah himself, has prescribed for her. Pardah consists; to abide at home and not going out unnecessarily to observe purdah of Satr in the presence of mahrams, and covering the top of their heads with the outer garment when they come before non-mahrams or when they go out. Only the most obtuse and ignorant get astray when someone surrenders Islam in the name of talaq, or polygamy. Any aspect of the Islamic system cannot be neglected or doubted to the slightest extent to justify a particular individual opinion. Polygamy is not a decadent or indecent relation but a valid part of the marriage system of Islam, it is beneficial to society as a whole. And Allah’s wisdom is superior to our opinion.
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 the establishment of deen-e-Islam, 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 the only one that Islam invites, and it demands complete submission and sacrifice of wordly pleasure. Because one should never forget that death is certain, barzakhis truth, and the day of resurrection is promised by the one who knows all Allah. So, ponder over the signs of Qiyamah, be aware of Fitna-e-Dajjal, and ask yourself’ what you’ve prepared for that day?
Faheem ul Islam pursues Bachelor’s Honours Degree in Political Science at Aligarh Muslim University. He can be mailed at faheemulislam9@gmail.com
