It is rather funny how we actually grow up with “memorized” beliefs about God which we never internalized or “believed”; we miss the most essential part of our faith without realizing.
Have you ever sat to ponder on the reason you’re Muslim instead of an adherent of any other faith? Have you ever sat to ponder on the reason you have to pray five times daily in the name of worship? Have you ever, at any point in time, considered crossing carpets?
If you have never, I wouldn’t know if I should say congratulations or otherwise.
You see, I was in a group training last night, it was on a very common entrepreneurial skill, and it was handled by a Christian (it was offered for free by her actually). There was no mention of faith or spirituality through the length of the training, but, as we draw to the end of the stipulated month for which the training was promised to run through, she sent to us a “great gift” in form of a video where she “called” every member on the group to accept “Christ” as their personal Lord and Savior “for there is no salvation anywhere but there”.
That might not really ring a bell to many of us, but, if it does to you, ma shaa Allah. You see, a lot of things crossed my mind as I watched that video last night, and, from the many emotions that flitted through were anger and disappointment.
Allah says in the Qur’an that the disbelievers would never be pleased with us until they turn us to their way, and, we continue to confirm it in our daily experiences, yet, we see Muslims who keep disbelievers as close friends, while, a large unexpected number of believers even dote on staunch disbelievers: we ask Allah to guide us and help us to submit to the truth upon realization, Aameen.
It is not hidden to anyone how “bold” this people are in inviting unto the way they believe is right, whilst we who are upon true guidance remain “cowardly” and watch them spread the message, and worse, it causes doubt in the minds and heads of some servants of Allah, making them doubt the originality of Islam, walyazhubiLlah, before some will finally apostate.
Remember, Allah says in Q5:3, "This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion".
There are people who would remain in Islam out of fear of their families, whilst bearing no belief whatsoever in the faith they proclaim as Muslims: what is the point in praying five times daily every single waking day of your life? What is the point in being a servant when you can honourably be called a child of God? These are questions that the mind of every Muslim seeks answers to, and, it is the responsibility of every parent to ensure the answer is boldly and pleasantly engraved in their minds before they are even exposed to the world.
When you listen to this people, by Allah, and you are not rooted in your faith and conviction, the walls of your resistance will shake from the very roots. Unless you absolutely know your onions, you cannot escape the foundations of doubt and endless questioning this sort of speech will have on your soul: how many of our children are raised to know right from wrong? How many of us were told how this is different from that? How many of us were made to “understand” our faith and not just “follow” our parents in what we see them do or hear them say, even when our minds question the unquestionable?
Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam (Q3:19).
I was there too, some many years ago, through my JSS3 and part of SS1. Being the lazy person that I am, my father used to have to force us to pray Fajr Solah (the dawn prayer) before we leave home for school, and for me especially, it was always after I had gotten dressed for school. He would just ask: have you prayed? And, by Allah, we were anything else but liars, so, I would begrudgingly say “no” and get a few insults before returning inside to pray it “how I know to”. Now, these preachers came to my school and said their things, and, at the end of it, they gave bibles to everyone of us. It made sense to me that I wouldn’t have an obligation towards praying anymore after all… I started going to Church and reading my bible (without the knowledge of anybody in my family), and, I got to the point where I shouted “blood of Jesus” whenever I got scared. I started loving the simplicity in the religion: singing and dancing are fun and not work; I loved the Bible for it was written in English and I could understand without having to seek the help of an extra book (we had only one translated Qur’an in my house, and it was very big actually; not like anybody ever read the Qur’an anyway). I thought I had finally found my path and was going to live for Christ, but, as always, I had no courage to confront my family with the “truth”.
I was reading from a passage in the bible one day when my father stormed into my room, annoyed at the fact that he had been calling me for a while without getting a response… long story cut short, my bible got seized that day, and, I was warned to be careful since the Qur’an was there turning dusty with nobody paying any mind to it. “No son of my father will desert Islam and remain one of us” I got that fact clear that day, but, it only went to strengthen my resolve to pursue the “truth” against all odds, as it was promised that people will always rise against you when you stand for the truth. I prayed for the Lord’s guidance upon my family, and especially upon my father.
Hmmm… I did hide and seek Christianity for over a year, pursuing the path of the Lord and increasing my understanding of the Bible… then, came that day I almost lost my life and the truth got really clear to me…
It remains one of the worst memories I’ve got: I was going to visit a friend on my way back from school (without heading home first) when I got accosted by some guy who didn’t look anything short of normal. At first, it felt funny, but, as time went by and he wouldn’t stop blocking my way, I realized I was very much in trouble. A few people passed, but, none took interest in inquiring what was going on, much less asking him to let him go. He took out a knife and was going to do things (I used to be particularly stubborn in relating with the male species, but, on this day, I knew I stood no chance); he made me kneel first, and then he made very stupid threats as he did some more stupid things. I called on Jesus till I got tired as he only got angrier and worse, then, I knew within myself that I was just fooling myself; something was definitely not right with me calling on Jesus when I used to worship the God that sent him. I resorted to begging Allah to save my life and not let him do anything to me (I was around 15/16 at the time), and, as Allah will have it, a woman came by and went to him. Then, he eventually agreed to let me go for her sake, after several minutes of plea. God, how I sighed. He left and the woman asked me how I could anger such a notorious cultist, I could only thank her and promise to never insult any man again. Lol… I turned on my heels and headed home immediately, and, that day, I “really” prayed, I observed Solah and really felt it.
I started reading my Qur’an and was able to appreciate the real truth… not everybody gets so lucky, right? Allah could have chosen to save me then and let me continue to believe there was power in the blood of Jesus that was never even shed in the first place!
WaLlah, we need to really educate our children on their faith, they need to “know” with proofs and evidences instead of the rote style we were raised with: let them be able to answer any question the Shaytan may raise in their minds about the Almighty, about heaven, about their ‘ibaadah, about the religion in entiret; let them know their onions for real… may Allah not make us disbelieve after we have disbelieved: Aameen.
For those of us who have already grown: know, may Allah bless you, there is no doubt in the salvation of this Deen, and there is no doubt in the knowledge that only Islam connects you to the One True God and Creator, and as such, remains the only way by which you will earn His mercy and gain His pleasure. The only way to get yourself rooted is to increase yourself in the knowledge of this Deen, surround yourself with righteous people, and, never “test” waters with your faith by saying you can resist a preacher from the stray people, as the Shaytan wants nothing more than leading you away from the mercy of your Lord, and he will achieve that by no other means than by planting doubts into your mind through what goes into your ears. "And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the hereafter, he will be one of the losers." Q3:85.
May Allah guide us to the right path, the path of those whom He is pleased with and not those upon who is His anger and those who are astray: Aameen.
Baarkabaarok feekum
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