Friday, January 29, 2010

Freedom and Justice in Islam

I feel compelled to put my thoughts down on the true definition of "freedom", especially for the youths of today, whether they come from a broken family or simply live within a secular society in this era of Fitnah.

From the Secular or Western perspective, freedom is defined as the liberating development in choosing between good and bad to an extent that some go through civil marriage instead of the prescribed solemnisation via Syariah court simply because they misinterpreted the ayat:

"There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves in Tâghût and believes in Allâh, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. And Allâh is All-Hearer, All-Knower." [Surah al-Baqarah: 256]

"Freedom" as defined by Islam is beautiful - a choice between good deed and better deed because it is unfathomable for a True Muslim to even consider an evil deed that goes against the Truth (Haq), doing this is not exercising smart choices. Truly, freedom is to act as one's real and true nature demands - that is, as one's haq and one's fitrah demands. That is why training of the soul (Tazkiyatul Nafs) is needed to enable us to discern reality and truth from falsehood and it is our ibadah that provides constant reminder of the All-Seeing.

Afternote: I could totally relate to this especially during the earlier days of my youth. Human being, by design, makes mistakes resulting in our Imaan fluctuating between a low and  high point and when it is at a low point, we feel lousy, simply because our heart and soul is not aligned to the Haq as it is supposed to. And when we increase our good deeds, it resulted in that feel-good aura. Hence, we have to perpetually ikhtiyar to counter our bad deeds with good deeds. Dowload the article Symptoms of a Weak Iman and Its Cure. May Allah protect us from the hellfire, ameen.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Tasawwur Islam - 27 Jan 2010

I discovered that Quranic Arabic is different from Classical Arabic, which explains why the people of Quraish, when hearing the wahyu, were astounded because they knew Classical Arabic but have not heard of the beautiful poetry of Quranic Arabic and many reverted to Islam because they had the conviction that the Prophet SAW, the unlettered man, was truly a Messenger from the Almighty. The language is familiar yet a new innovation, subhan Allah.

So, language is important because language plucked from one worldview and integrated in another worldview will result in confusion due to the subtle but fundamental changes in meaning of key terms resulting in a change in mindset, then deeds... ultimately a crisis in one's Islamic identity and the disintegration of the Ummah.

Afternote: Imagine, unwittingly taking perspectives from Secularism or Westerners and integrating it in a muslim's life, nauzu billahi min zaliq. So in essence, we do not islamize by integrating one knowledge to another. Rather, we islamize our mindset or worldview to see things in the Islamic perspective, the religion of truth (Haq). Realised there is a difference between 'knowledge' and 'skills', subhan Allah.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tasawwur Islam - 20 Jan 2010

Syed Naquib al-Attas defines knowledge (Ilm') as the arrival of meaning in the soul, and the soul's arrival at meaning, the recognition of the proper places of things in the order of the creation, such that it leads to the recognition of the proper places of Allah SWT in the order of being and existance. This happens only with the grace of Allah Azza wa Jall.

Interestingly, knowledge does not become education unless the recognition of proper places is actualized by acknowledgment, which necessitates action proper to its recognized place. When the Ummah collectively practice adab, justice prevails (a sign of wisdom). Profound?

In summary, adab is the spectacle of justice ('adl) as it is reflected by wisdom (hikmah). Perpetually seek knowledge to increase one's wisdom and virtue so as to avoid the corruption of knowledge which causes the disintegration of adab, resulting in the rise of the 'false leaders' in all spheres of of life, usurping the positions held by true scholars. These 'false leaders' not only do injustice to himself, to those around him, but more importantly, do injustice to Allah SWT, nauzu billahi min zaliq! So don't be zalim to yourself. Seek knowledge:

“Whoever takes a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make his path to Jannah easy for him. And the angels lower their wings over the students of knowledge (protect from any harm). And the scholar every single being that is in the sky and in the earth so much so that the ant in the hole and fish in the sea sends their blessings. The blessings of an aleem or scholar over a worshipper is like the superiority of the full moon over the stars in the sky.”
[Source: Sunnah Tirmidhi Vol. 4]

Afternote: It was due to the purity of the heart of Prophet SAW (Tasawuf) that he was able to take in the wahyu, accept, adopt and spread Islam in his lifetime. How many of us have that purity of self? Good to introspect and do a quick audit as to where we are in the scheme of things.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Back to Basics - Tawheed

I attended a talk on "The need to redefine the Islamic Education" by Ustaz Mokhtar Stork and here's what I took away from the session:

True wisdom comes from honesty, character building, discipline and seeking knowledge (which must have substance; not superficial understanding of the religion just to get you by... reflect on the true meaning of progress in Islam) in order for a morally righteous system to exist.

To attain true wisdom, Ustaz Mokhtar talked about purity of the heart and adab - look inwardly (introspect on our shortcomings and struggle towards progress at our own pace, that is the individual's jihad to the way of Islam as we are accountable for the Hereafter).

In 'redefining' Islamic education, he meant to get back to basics. He urged the Ummah to begin with Allah SWT and submit fully to the will of Allah SWT in order to attain the True Path. Having a deep and strong foundation in Tawheed is essential to one's well-being.

He also gently reminded educators to be flexible and compassionate - by offering choices to their students as not everyone have the same level of imaan and taqwa.

Narrated Anas bin Malik: "The Prophet said, "Facilitate things to people (concerning religious matters), and do not make it hard for them and give them good tidings and do not make them run away (from Islam)." [Source: Bukhari Book 1 Volume 3 Hadith 69]

At the end of the day, we have the freedom of choice as there is no compulsion in the religion. Truly, all rights bestowed upon us ultimately belong to Allah SWT and that hidayah is the sole rights of Allah SWT.

Narrated Muawiya: "I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "If Allah wants to do good to a person, He makes him comprehend the religion. I am just a distributor, but the grant is from Allah. (And remember) that this nation (true Muslims) will keep on following Allah's teachings strictly and they will not be harmed by anyone going on a different path till Allah's order (Day of Judgment) is established." [Source: Bukhari Book 1 Volume 3 Hadith 71]

Afterthought: From my personal observation, our elders who have deep understanding of Tawheed also have a high level of adab, which the youths of today should emulate.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Tasawwur Islam - 13 Jan 2010

What an eventful week! I’ve discovered that Sheikh Abu Ammar Yasir Qadhi is with Al Maghrib Institute. He has a series fo 29 talks dedicated on the Fundamentals of faith, providing clarity on Knowledge and Tawheed with references made to the Quran and Hadith.

View Video 1 here and I've included links till Video 12... you know where to get the rest , right? (Subhan Allah, words of wisdom!):


Video 10. Tawakul & Sabr 

What I took away from this week’s session by Sheikh Abdul Halim and Sheikh Abu Ammar Yasir Qadhi was that Allah SWT loves a person who continues to seek knowledge as reflected in Surah Taha:114, “… My Lord! Increase me in knowledge.

Especially if one acknowledges that the essence of all knowledge is the knowledge of Allah SWT (the life of the heart) because Tawheed is the only path that will provide eternal happiness as reflected in Surah Taha: 124, “But he who turned away from remembrance of Me, he will live a narrow life, and be blind to the assembly on the Day of Resurrection.

As rightly mentioned by Sheikh Abdul Halim, we need to continually progress our ibadah (personal jihad) to a higher level of ihsan (upgrade ourselves from Muslims to Mukmin to ultimately Muhsin as stated in Surah Aali Imran:191). Truly Surah At-Tin:4 states, “Surely We created man of the best stature.” Yes, we can? Insya Allah :)

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Tasawwur Islam - 6 Jan 2010

AlhamdulilLah, in this week's lesson, Sheikh Abdul Halim have shed greater clarity on Transcendent Unity of Religions. He mentioned the book "The Transcendent Unity of Religions" (TUoR) by Frithjof Schuon, a scholar and an authority on Comparative Religion and the Sophia Perennis (Perennial Wisdom).

Personally, to the less discerning, the content may sound almost similar (but not the same) and alhamdulilLah, I'm convinced that I'll be able to make a more informed decision on the fundamental differences between it and Islamic Worldview.

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas indicated in his article page 16 - the Islamic Worldview rejects the 'similarity' and the 'dissimilarity' even at the trascendent/esoteric level because man lives in his physical state or exoteric existance (not at transcendent level). And in Islam, esoteric and exoteric do not contradict each other (body and soul is never in opposition). More importantly, the concept of Oneness of God is not acknowledged by other religions except Islam (hence the discussion of Rabb, ilah, Allah). There is only one revealed religion (Adeenul Khalis) cited in the article page 18, the exclusive truth lies ultimately in Islam. In short, Muslims should reject TUoR and keep faith in the one True religion.

Note to me: I realised the need to study Comparative Study of Religions (CSoR) in order to speak with conviction about Islamic Worldview and avoid TUoR.

Friday, January 01, 2010

Truth vs. Falsehood

AlhamdulilLah wa Syukran to Sheikh Abdul Halim for sharing this with me :)

In return, I'm sharing this doa that guides us towards living our lives in the light of truth. This becomes critical in today's world where 'false leaders' are a bounty; it becomes a challenge for us to differentiate truth (haq) from falsehood (bathil).

As we continue to strive to increase our knowledge in Islam, it becomes essential for us to include in our daily prayer especially during Fajr prayer (as we start our day) so that Allah SWT protects us from these 'false leaders" - the long version of the doa can be found here.

For a start just recite (and memorise) these ayat or lines:

اللهُمَّ أَرِنَا الحَقَّ حَقّاً وَارْزُقْنَا التِبَاعَةَ وَأَرِنَا البَاطِلَ بَاطِلاً وَارْزُقْنَا
اجْتِنَابَهُ، بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ.

"Allahumma arinal-haqqa haqqan warzuqnat-tiba'ah, wa arinal-batila batilan warzuqnaj-tinabah, bi rahmatika ya arhamar-rahimeen."

"O Allah! Let us see the good as good, and bless us with following it. And show us the falsehood as falsehood, and bless us with staying away from it, with Your mercy, O Most Merciful!"

Afternote: Grams, Aunt Sofie, and mum constantly remind me that our religion is complete and RasululLah has prescribed for us a set of doa for daily living and that we should first and foremost (for the love of Allah SWT and RasululLah SAW) recite and memorise these BEFORE we start adding the rest prescribed by others. Truly, who would know what is best for us if not Allah SWT and RasululLah SAW?...
Tasawwur Islam - 30 Dec 2009

As Muslims, we believe that Adam AS is the first man who submitted to the will of Allah SWT. And this message is perennial and consistent - recognising, acknowledging and worshipping the One True and Real iLah alone.

Without associating Allah SWT with any partner, rival, or equal, nor attributing a likeness to Him, all the Prophets confirmed this truth and the final truth was brought by the last Prophet SAW as it was confirmed by all Prophets before him.

Subhan Allah, with Prophet Muhammad SAW, the revealed religion achieved utmost perfection whose original purity is preserved to this day and till the final hour.

Note to me: I feel so blessed to be born a Muslim and realised the need to know the history and spread of Islam in order to strengthen my Islamic identity.