Thursday 25 February 2010

Belief in Allah

Assalamualaikum warrahmatullahi wabarakattuh.

Im going to take a short break from the home sweet home posts ive been doing. Partly because im a little depressed about the whole kawin thing. Long story short.... lain kali saja lah. Instead, its islamic week (or the end of islamic week) in canterbury kent uni and ive been going to a few lectures about islam. Its really opened my mind to some of the issues regarding Allah the Almighty, the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W and being a good muslim.

What does it mean to be a good muslim? Rukun Islam and Rukun Iman is a good start. Always keep good morals. Do what our parents tell us to do except for syirik (setting up partners to Allah). But i think i can take it back to just one simple thing, belief in Allah the one and only creator. It is all fine and dandy to say that you are a muslim, but when push comes to shove, you need to ask yourself honestly, how much do you believe in Allah. Now I know this is a very sensitive question but this is all necessary to see how good we are as muslims. So to start, and show im not being hypocritical or anything, im going to tell you how I was a couple of years ago. Not even years maybe banarnya.

Ive been praying since my parents went on Haji when I was waiting for my O levels to come out. I have to admit, partly because I wanted good results, but also because I wanted my parents to come home safely. I think, to the best of my knowledge, I have not missed a prayer since that day when my parents left. Of course ive missed the time to pray but ive always made them up. This was especially the case in Maktab Duli as id kumpul all my prayers and do them sudah ku balik dari sekolah. Sekolah for me at that time was for dating and going to gadong. May Allah forgive me for my stupidity when I was younger. For subuh prayers, only a few months ago I started waking up to pray them properly. Lagi talur.

So if I were to count the years ive been praying, it will come up to 8 years. But when I think to myself, how many of those years did I have complete faith and confidence in Allah. I think it would have to be zero. See, being born a muslim, I take things for granted. Sembahyang because that is what a muslim is suppose to do. Puasa, bagi zakat, naik haji, all because a good muslim is suppose to do these things. But this defeats the purpose of being a muslim. We dont do it because everyone else does it and we feel obliged to do it, we do it because of our love for Allah. Not for reward, not for fear of being punished, simply and plainly for the love of our creator. Im not saying that fear and reward should not be used as a starting point, because nobody can go from being a zero to the best muslim in the world. We start to do these things we are told to avoid the hellfire and enter paradise. But as we grow older, learn more and live life, we suddenly sadar how much Allah has granted us (blessed us with) and asked for nothing in return but for us to worship him and only him. Why ask for anything else from our creator? Why must we expect a reward for everything we do when we have already been granted the best blessing we could ever be given, and that is life.

I saw alhamdullilah to all of the muslims who are trying to better themselves. There is no greater way (I think, forgive my bluntness) to please Allah than to sacrifice the joys of the dunia in order to strive to become a better muslim. What upsets me though is the muslims who take everything for granted. This is why is said we need to ask ourselves how much we believe in Allah.

If we believe in our creator, why do we continue to disobey his orders. Why do we continue begatal gatal, where clothes which shows off body parts, blatantly fornicate which each other.. not just in private tapi in public jua! Im not saying i havent done these things because unfortunately I have. It just shows that my faith was not that strong. So why do we do these things? Maybe we do not believe in Allah. Maybe we live and then we die without being held accountable for the things we have done. Maybe Charles Darwin was right and we all did evolve from monkeys. (Funny story here, i type theory of evolution in google to find out darwins first name and the wiki page comes up. It doesnt say THEORY of evolution though. Just evolution. Sitahu jua si wiki ani, tarus tarus kan shout out to the world that evolution is not a theory)

So how do we prove to ourselves that Allah exists? We can just say to ourselves that we believe but those are just the words of the ignorant. A good muslim has a duty to find the answers to these questions as you cant just follow anything blindly. So where are the answers to these questions. That is the Al-Quran. The holy book which contains the words of Allah sent down to the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. Im not sure which ayat and I apologize for just quoting blindly without giving you the verse number but there is an ayat in the Al-Quran which states that (and im paraphrasing here) 'the signs of Allah are all around you. All you have to do is look at the sun, the moon, the stars the sky and the seas and these are all the signs given to you.' (It would also help kalau ada orang with the actual ayat here, apologies again) Allah has also said to the disbelievers of the Al-Quran that if you disbelieve in what has been brought down to you, then go and create something like the Al-Quran (again, paraphrasing because im not sure of the full ayat).

I know my explanation wont be the most convincing one made to a non-believer or one with little faith, and I blame that on my ignorance. But basically the point here is that there is nobody who can make something anything close to the magnificence of the Al-Quran. Not even the smartest person in the world. Let alone when we consider the fact that the prophet (may peace be upon him) was unable to read or write. He was neither a poet or a scholar and yet he brought with him the the Al-Quran. So how can you deny this truth? Its in the Al-Quran that its words are protected and have never been altered. It has been memorized and passed down for almost 1500 years without ever changing. This is fact. It says so in the Al-Quran and you cannot deny this. The only thing which has changed after 1500 years is the narrations from the Al-Quran. This is why we have different understandings and different practices around the globe. As the Al-Quran is the most perfect form of literary work, there is of course different understandings of it.

What is important though is to almost keep the basics close to our heart. Believe in Allah. Believe in what he has granted us and that is the Al-Quran and the practices of Nabi Muhammad S.A.W. Know that there is no doubt of the existence of Allah our creator. If you still doubt, then read the Al-Quran and understand it. We have been given a brain to think. Use it. Learn something which is important in life. Maths will only get you a scholarship to again pursue more useless knowledge. We could die tomorrow without ever knowing the true bliss of being a good muslim. This is why we need to strive to better ourselves. Learn from the Prophet, may peace be upon him. We have been left his sunnah to learn from. Why continue to deny this when everyday we come closer to the only certainty in life (Death btw).

Ok sorry to go on forever. I just needed to get that off my chest.

Subahannallah.

Alhamdullillah.

Allahuakbar.

Assalamualaikum warrahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

2 comments:

  1. relieving tah abis sdh written all that down?

    the courage to reflect on and embrace past mistakes is inspiring. V much appreciated mister!

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  2. this is my first tym reading blog talking about iman. very self reflecting..so you hit the target.. that you made me think so much of my past..i was raised as a good muslim but when my parents were out of sight, i strayed..alot...im a master in covering up..all the mistakes and sins ive commited along the way now a burden for me to carry for life til hereafter..sigh...im learning to fix and mend the mess..but as muslim we believe so much not to despair from Allah's grace, something for me to hold on to and which keep myself together again.i hope i can get to learn Allah all over again and be commited to Him not for the sake of reward or punishment,for the sake of realisation that pluck the very strings of heart that im just a hamba after all......sorry to make this sounds like a corny confession..id like to read more of your writings from the perspective of a bruneian's mind and heart

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