"The true believers are those who believe in Allah and His Messenger
and, afterward, doubt not, but strive with their wealth and their
lives for the cause of Allah. Such are the sincere."
We call ourselves believers--Muslims. Our parents are Muslims, our
grandparents are Muslims, our ancestorsembraced Islam, the adhan was
called out in our ears, we believe in Allah, but is that what really
makes us Muslims? The word"Islam" means to submit; submission to the
will of Allah, as the above ayah summarizes. A Muslim is one who
submits to Allah in His obedience. A true Muslim is one who submits
fully to Allah in obeying Him and striving for His pleasure in all
circumstances, situations, misfortunes, or good times during one's
journey through life. A Muslim is not one who has a Muslim name or one
who was born intoIslam or one who simple recited shahadah.
"It is not righteousnessto turn your faces to the east or the west,
but righteous is he who believes in Allah and the Last Day and the
angels and the books and the messengers; who spend of their wealth for
love of Him to the kinsfolk and the orphans and the needyand the
wayfarer and for those who ask and who free slaves; who observe proper
worship and pay the poor due (zakah/charity) and fulfill promises when
they make one and who are patient in times of tribulation and
adversity and times of stress. Such are the sincere. Such are the
God-fearing." (Suratul Baqarah 2:177)
We, who accepted Islam as our faith, havereceived free hidayah, free
iman, free belief, the right to follow our religion the way it
wasprescribed to us by Allah, without any interruptions or hindrances
by anyone or anything. We live in what they call a "free country."
Then why is it so hard for us to live by Islam? Why is it so hard for
us to worship Allah? Why is it so hardfor us to obey Him when we have
full knowledge of the Truth? Full knowledge of the consequences? The
truth is that Islam is not a hard religion, but we make it hard for
ourselves.
"Allah desires for you, ease. He desires not hardship for you."
(Suratul Baqarah 2:185)
The main aim of a Muslim is to attain Paradise. And we can only attain
Paradise byobeying the Creator, the Almighty, through the words of the
Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of His final Messenger, Muhammad
(sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam). Without obedience to Allah and His
Messenger, without Allah's pleasure, we will be what Allah callslosers
on the Day of Judgement.
"Who make mischief on the earth: those are they who are the losers."
(Suratul Baqarah 2:27)
"Nay, but whosoever has done evil and his sins surround him, such are
rightful owners of the fire. They will abide therein." (Suratul
Baqarah 2:81)
We are coming to a very sad day, a day thatthe Prophet (sallallahu
alaiyhi wa sallam) warned us would come when the world would come to
an end. He said, "It will be the end of this world whenthere remains
not a single soul to hymn thename of Allah and it is only by the holy
name of Allah that the system of this universeis running." Though,
there are some devout Muslims, who spend every moment of their lives
in Allah's remembrance and worship and in striving for His pleasure,
there are more of us who have forgotten Allah, the Almighty,
All-Powerful.
Unlike a lot of Muslims,we have been given the freedom of religionin
this non-Muslim country. Canada, for example, is also a non-Muslim
country, but in that country Muslims don't have thefreedom that we
have here, in America. In Canada, Muslim girls get kicked out of
school for wearing hijab, a scarf on their head! Of course, that is
discrimination and it's also totally unfair. One piece of cloth, for
somereason, offends the Canadians. Another example is the country of
Turkey. Even though Turkey is known to be a Muslim country, it also
does not allow Muslim women to wear hijab. In America,though this is a
Satanist country, it is different. We see doctors in hijab and
managers praying in their officers and no non-Muslim can stop them.
Though this is quite unusual because most of us have forgotten our
main purpose of existence.
The Sahaba (radiyallahu anhu) endured such unimaginable hardships by
the non-Muslims just to follow Islam and live Islam and teach Islam,
but they never even had one thought of renouncing Islam so that they
could be freed of the physical torments, for they knew the torments of
Allah were far worse.
Every Muslim probably knows of one of the most closest companions of
the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam), a black Abyssinian slave
called Bilal (radiyallahu anhu). He was the slave of Ummayah bin
Khalaf, the worst enemy of Islam. Therefore, Bilal'sconversion was
naturally not liked by Ummayah. This staunch enemy of Islam used to
make Bilal lie down on the burning sand of Makkah, one of the cities
of the hottest countries in the world, during midday. A massive rock
would beplaced on his chest andhe would be told by the enemies of
Allah:"Renounce Islam! Or swelter and die!" Even under these harsh
afflictions, Bilal endured the pain by saying, "Ahad! Ahad!" (i.e. The
One (Allah)! The One (Allah)!) Imagine that! This made the torturers
even more motivated and provoked to torture the servant of Allah. At
night, Bilal (radiyallahu anhu) would be whipped andwith the cuts thus
receive from the whipping, lying on the burning sand of Makkah was
even more painful, but his love and devotion to Allah was such that no
amount of pain could shake his faith. And, Alhumdulillah, he was
rewarded for his patience by receiving the blessing of, not only being
freed, but as being the first and only adhan caller for the Prophet
(sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam). He was to remain with the Prophet
(sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) at all times to call out the adhan.
Life is obviously not perfect. We will definitely stumble across times
of stress and panic, fear and disappointment, trials and hardships.
And these come in to our lives by the will of Allah to test our faith
and our devotion.
"We shall most certainly try you with fear and hunger and with the
loss of goods or lives or the fruits of your toil. But give (O
Muhammad) encouragement to those who patiently persevere." (Suratul
Baqarah 2:155)
Difficulties and hardships are not uncommon in this world to the
people of Allah. These are bound to come. The Prophet (sallallahu
alaiyhi wa sallam) said, "The worst trials in this world are reserved
for the Prophet (alaiyhimus-salam), then for those who are next to
them and then for those who are best of the rest." We must remember
that everything happens by the will of Allah, whether good or bad and
everything has a purpose, a reason, an aim, though we may not
understand it. We, as Allah's servants, must stay patient and firm in
our belief, our iman, and we must devote ourselves to Allah, so that
we may be successful.
"Who say when a misfortune strikes them: Lo! We are Allah's and lo!
Unto Him we are returning."(Suratul Baqarah 2:156)
"Or do you think you will enter the Garden without such trials as came
to those who passed away before you? They encounteredsuffering and
adversityand were so shaken in spirit that even the Messenger and
those who were with him cried: When will the help of Allah come?"
(Suratul Baqarah 2:214)
Our biggest trial is living in this country, a country filled with
arrogant, satanically-influenced non-Muslims. They strive to take the
believers off the path of Paradise and on to the path of Hell, which
is where they are headed.
"Hatred is revealed by the utterance of their mouths, but that
whichtheir breasts hide is greater. We have madeplain for you the
revelations, if you will understand." (Suratul Ali Imran 3:18)
"They utter with their mouths a thing which is not in their hearts.
Allah is Best Aware of what they hide." (Suratul Ali Imran 3:167)
But we keep supporting the disbelievers at the costof our own
religion, at the cost of our own souls! Allah's words are:
"Those who purchase disbelief at the price offaith, harm not Allah
atall, but their's will be a painful doom." (Suratul Ali Imran 3:177)
On the one hand, we must realize our mistakes and the fact that,
living in this country, we have falleninto the trap of Shaytaan, the
modern, un-Islamic world. We must make the effort to strengthen our
imanand we must make the effort to please Allah, not the kuffar. If we
displease Allah, whatever punishmentswe receive, either in this world
or the next, is exactly what we deserve. On the other hand, we must
realize that even though we are living in a non-Muslim country, there
is nothing to stop us from practicingIslam, the deen of Allah. We must
refrain from all things that areforbidden by Allah and undesirable in
His sight. Allah loves thosewho after committing sins, turns to Him in
repentance and amends, meaning, theydon't commit the samesins again.
We should remember our examples, the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa
sallam) and his companions (radiyallahu anhu), on how to live our
lives astrue Muslims. And we have to realize that there is a God
watching over our every move, Who hearsour every thought, Who knows
ALL that we do, whether hiddenor open, intentional or unintentional,
sinful orrewardful. He is the Supreme Being and none is worthy of
worship except Him, the True, the Almighty, the Owner, as well as the
Creator of all that isin the heavens and all that is in the earth.
Allah gives us proof of His sovereignty through miraculous signs all
over the world. For example, in Germany, there is an area in which
brancheshave grown from the soil of the earth and these branches spell
out: 'There is no god, but Allah' in Arabic and, through it, many
Germans have embraced Islam, but we shouldn't need these signs to
persuade us to keep our duty to Allah, to obey Him, which is the only
way we will be successful in the next world, which is yet to come.
May Allah give us towfique to sacrifice our worldly desires for His
pleasure so that wemay be successful. May He include us among the
muttaqeen. May Heguide us and show us the Straight Path and may He
protect us fromthe evil influences of the jinn and mankind. May Allah
guard us from the fire prepared for the hypocrites and disbelievers.
Ameen. Alhumdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
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