The Opening...

1. In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
2. Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds
3. Most Gracious, Most Merciful
4. Master of the, Day of Judgment.
5. Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.
6. Show us the straight way.
7. The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, Those whose (portion) is not wrath and who go not astray. [Qur'an, Surah (chapter) 1 in its entirety]

Right now, my mind is busy and I can't imagine sleeping. I think about these words, the Words of God, and how much they mean to me. I can't imagine sleeping as I'm distracted by all the things I want to say to so many different people, and these Words of God move me in this moment. I need to share. Then, maybe I can sleep, inshaAllah.

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

With His name, I live. Although I'm just a simple human and I forget to begin even meaningful things in His name, it touches me each time I remember to do so consciously. I want it to remain conscious and not a habit I form and forget why I'm doing it. He allowed me another day to live and to repent for anything I wish. He allows me to breathe and talk to those close to me, learn, and he has given me ears to listen. Why don't I start with His name, the most beautiful names, more often?

Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds

To Him is only where our praise should be directed. Who else would deserve praise when He gives us the faculties in order to do things that are praiseworthy in the first place? My heart finds rest knowing He is in control, and I praise this.

Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Who knows more mercy than the one who created mercy? He has given us mercy to use in our daily lives. Are we using it? How are we using it? We are in such need of His Mercy that it humbles me to think of how I could have ever thought that I was sufficient, or merciful on my own. I become low and stingy with my mercy towards others based on my current mood or situation. This shows my fleeting ability to give the mercy He has provided me.

Master of the, Day of Judgment.

I will meet my Master, Creator, Judge, Sustainer... I will be held accountable. And in those times that I feel like not giving mercy and grace, I must remember that I will be held accountable for this; and they will be held accountable for the reason I am feeling merciless. In the end, there is both justice and mercy and while I feel wronged, and can not sleep, I can rest knowing that this world is so fleeting and insignificant in terms of time. What can I do to make this life significant? To make the next life significant... in a positive way?

Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.

Who else? Who else can guide me when I feel so wronged and alone? It is only through recognizing our Creator for who He is and acting accordingly that we can live successful lives. When we recognize Him as the Creator of all that there is, it is only to Him that we can turn to in the darkest of times.

Show us the straight way.

We need His guidance. "I was once lost, but now am found", as the Bible says. A Buddhist monk said, "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." We ask that Allah shows us what it means to be found and shows us the correct way to look at the world, ourselves, and scripture. We ask that He gives us the guidance in the way that HE wants us to live our lives and the strength and courage to do so even in opposition.

The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, Those whose (portion) is not wrath and who go not astray.

I ask Allah for specific guidance. To be of those who He has shown His Grace and to lead me to walk in their footsteps. People throughout time are not all that different. There are those who walk in the footsteps of the Prophets and Messengers (peace be upon them all) and those who tread their own path and lose the guidance and light from Allah. Please keep me from being of those who follow their own conjecture and inshaAllah (God-willing) stay with those that have the proof and guidance given by the one and only God, Allah subhana wa ta'ala (Glorious and Exalted is He)

Don't Touch Me With Your Religion

We live in a society today where everyone is free to do whatever they want, as long as it doesn't bother or interfere with another's life. This of course, can go under many interpretations. Many people would say that homosexuality isn't a big deal... but yet, they don't want to see them showing affection in public. The same goes for Muslims. Many will say that religion is a personal choice, but when it comes to women wearing the hijab (headscarf), this appears to impose on the American lifestyle or people feel it is necessary to "liberate" such women from this "oppression." The same opposition is shown when Muslims ask for breaks at work in order to pray.

The fact is, that we don't live in a rural society anymore, and we are going to step on each other's toes. We must look towards the middle path which means not accepting anything in order to not hurt anyone's feelings, nor should we distance ourselves from anyone different from ourselves. We are commanded to speak up, but we should choose our words carefully.

"Let there be a community among you who call to the good, and enjoin the right, and forbid the wrong. They are the ones who have success." [Qur'an 3:104]

And as the "different" ones, we can't hide our religion nor push it in anyone's face. Simply, we follow the guidelines of Islam in how to conduct our daily lives, and make accommodations when necessary. We can't please everyone, and it seems we are bound to upset some. How we handle that though can make the world of difference. We must be an active part in our societies and make positive difference and maybe this gap that seems so wide may become more narrow through time, education, care, and understanding.

Remember - you are not God. You don't know everything. Allow for others to speak and to give their voice respect. You may learn something.

My Thoughts on the Gospels

I recently finished reading the Gospels in the Revised Standard Version Bible we have (thank you, thrift store for always having Bibles on sale!). I had read parts of the Bible and many parts in order as I had intentions on reading it cover to cover a number of times, but that was over 10 years ago now so I felt I needed to renew my knowledge of what Christians believe Jesus said. Now, I'm no expert and I still haven't gone back through my notes, highlighted passages and everything to bring it all together... so let's call this my rough draft of thoughts.

First, for those who aren't Muslim, I will explain the Muslim's belief in Jesus and the Bible. We believe that Jesus was a mighty messenger of God, one of the best sent to mankind. The books sent down from God, including the Gospel and the Torah, in its original form was the pure Word of God. We know that the original text does not exist today in its pure form and we know this from Bible scholars themselves. We believe that today's Bible that we have available has pieces of truth and wisdom, but since it has been changed by man throughout time, we do not accept the whole of it without question. With that said, we see passages that remain the same throughout time from the books of the Torah (from Moses), the Psalms (from David), and the Gospel (from Jesus, peace be upon them all) and we believe that these all point to the universal message God has sent since the beginning of time, so we point to these to illustrate what we know to be true.

Okay.... now to the meat of this!

Jesus is clear in his directive. He came to guide the lost sheep of Israel back to the worship of the One True God. He commonly shows his slavehood to God, the Father and refers to the fact that he was sent for God's purpose, not of his own. Yes, he does say that "I and the Father are one" [John 10:30], but he also refers to his disciples as one with him [John 17:22] and in fact, gives them the same power that God gave to Jesus. They are able to heal others and preach; not on their own, but through the power that Jesus gave to them through God, the Father. My question is, how come Jesus is considered divine, but the disciples are not? Especially if Jesus is considered God Himself, why would the relationship be different when the words he is using are the same?

Second, Jesus prayed to God. It doesn't make sense that Jesus would pray to himself nor that he would say "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" [Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34] He forsook himself?? Jesus continually preaches that with correct faith, his followers can do anything, including move mountains [Matthew 17:20]. Yet, when he prayed to God (himself?) to "take this cup from me" [Mark 14:36 and Luke 22:42] regarding the Jews trying to persecute him, his prayer was not answered?

As a Muslim, we believe that Jesus was saved from the torture on the cross (his prayer was answered). How? We don't know, and that's okay. In my reading of the gospels, I feel this matches closer with the Gospel account than the crucifixion story we know today.

Jesus also instructed all of his followers to keep the commandments [John 14:15 and Matthew 19:17-21] and there is no record to show that he strayed from following the commandments himself. There are points where the Jews accused him of not keeping the Sabbath, but in each instance, Jesus uses this as a time to teach what the Sabbath is really about, and to correct their actions.

Some singular points to mention:

• In John 3:16, the word "begotten" is not accurately translated. The original meaning of the Greek word "monogenes" is "unique" and is translated as such in different areas of the Bible.
  
• This could be my own misunderstanding, but I didn't believe that high priests existed at the time of Jesus (priest is a very Christian terms, and they were Jews at the time), but the high priest prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation [John 11:51-52] and it sounds as if this is a new prophesy, especially considering that previous prophecies were stated specifically throughout the Gospels. However, a Christian once pointed out to me that Isaiah 53:5 points to the atonement of sins by Jesus as a prophecy. It just doesn't make sense that someone new would be making this claim of prophecy if it was known for quite some time.
• A common response to those who say that Jesus never said to worship him is that people did worship him, and he did not stop them. Again, when we look at the meaning of the Greek word "prosekunesan" that is translated to "worship", it literally means "to kiss, like a dog licking his master's hand" and has the general meaning of "bow, crouch, crawl, kneel or prostrate." This type of reverence was common in that time, especially to a leader in the land or community.
• Lastly, the stark contrasts in varying events in the Gospel are concerning, but this is a large topic on its own.
  

Overall, the Gospels are overwhelmingly the same message that Islam teaches and solidifies my faith in knowing I am following the path that God has laid down for us since the beginning of time. It is through the works of Paul that the message gets distorted to something that Jesus would say "I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' [Matthew 7:21-23]

Peace and blessings to all. This is not to throw stones at anyone personally.... it is only to share my findings when searching on my journey of faith.

Before You Judge

Before you think about others actions, think about their situations
Before you assume you know something about another person, think about what could be hidden.

What about the girl who got all the guys?
Did you ever think she was taught she was worth nothing more than that attention?

What about the guy who does steroids to stay in sports?
Did you ever think his dad only said he was proud when he did well in sports?
Did you ever think his only safe haven was at school and he stayed in sports to run away?

Did you ever think that there may be an explanation that could bring grace to your judgment?

What about the young girl who has sex with her boyfriends?
Did you ever think she wasn't ever taught there was a better way?
Did you ever think her parents expected her to do it?
Did you ever think she was only taught that this was the way to get attention?
...Where's the judgment on the guy?

What about the kid who sells drugs at school?
Did you ever think their parents were providing it?
Did you ever think it was helping to pay the mortgage?

What about the kid with bad grades?
Did you ever think they gave up because their parents told them they would fail?
Did you ever think they were working two jobs to help pay the bills?

What about the mom with kids from many different dads?
Did you ever think she loved the fathers each at some point?
Did you ever think she was trying to find her love?
... Did you ever think she was doing the best she knew how?

Even a 12 year old gets the idea of drinking away the pain... it is in the media... it is in the home.
What else did you expect?

Holidays?

Here we are... in the holiday season for most Americans, and those of us who don't celebrate the same holidays are left wondering what to do? What's more challenging is what to do with family members who do celebrate these holidays. Do we follow along with everyone as if nothing is different? Do we sit quietly during time of prayer and worship in a manner we don't follow?

Things are tough... for everyone. I've found recently that I wish to run the other direction when it comes to these holidays. Family feels it necessary to take time out of the celebration to explain to us why they believe we are wrong, why we are going to hell, or they will mention how they politely don't mention religion, but yet must tell us what else in our life is not up to their standard or another thing we are doing wrong.

Have holidays become the time to take each person to a measuring stick and verify if they are good enough or not? Time and time again it is proven that we don't measure up. Eventually will we be forbidden to come? Probably not... then we would miss out on the intense wisdom and guidance that everyone has to give in the form of criticism and critiquing. Last time I checked, I don't get paid to come to the holiday events, so I didn't realize it would be my semi-annual review on how I am living my life.

In Islam, we are taught to keep family ties and that it is a major sin to break these family ties. My question is, how far does this go? **I go forward from this thought making intention to find hadiths on what exactly is expected.** If we walk away from each family event feeling less successful as a human being, are we expected to continue putting ourselves through such trial so that they are not upset by us refusing their ultimate wisdom on our continued failures?

In the case of being preached to, should we take this same time to discuss our viewpoint on the holidays, the background and history and what we feel is the correct stance in such instances. Oh no, that would be rude, inconsiderate and downright disrespectful.

How much tolerance is necessary for family?

Does Islam condone terrorism?

Does Islam condone terrorism?

Many people will say "Yes, of course, there's verses in the Qur'an that state exactly so! And of course, there's the common known rule that any verse is abrogated by a verse revealed chronologically later!"

Simply put, the "fact" that a peaceful verse is abrogated by a later verse about is simply not true. It was not taught in the Prophet's (peace be upon him) time and there is no sound scripture or hadith (sayings of the Prophet pbuh) to back up this claim. There are Muslims that teach this in order to lead those they want to do as they wish. This is where someone reading and learning for themselves is extremely important.

The verses that people use to back up their argument that Islam is a violent religion should be understood in their context. Not only in their scriptural context but also the situational context. We have documentation that states when and how verses were revealed. That means there is a place and time for each verse to be understood correctly. The most seemingly violent verses in the Qur'an should be understood in the time they were revealed... times of war. They were being actively attacked, even after moving to another city to find peace, and Allah (God) has never told His people to not stand up for themselves. As a Muslim, I understand these verses to mean that if someone is charging at my door to kill me, I should protect myself and my family.

Let's treat this fairly... there are verses in the Bible that I could use to prove it is a violent religion as well. Heck, especially if I never read the whole thing and relied on people to filter it for me, I could absolutely find verses to support this argument. Such as:

Matthew 10:33-35 (King James Version)

But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

But the fact is, as Americans, we are given the right and the freedom to read whatever books we want and therefore, we don't need to rely on people to tell us what is in a book... we can read it ourselves. So instead of coming to conclusions based on what other people say, let's make our own conclusions based on independent study and research.

For those still insistent on leaving it to others to find information for them, here's some verses from the Qur'an that touches on key points that many people either don't know, or ignore when they hear/read it:

Qur'an, Surah Al-Anaam (6)
151. Say: "Come I will rehearse what Allah hath (really) prohibited you from": join not anything with Him; Be good to your parents: kill not your children on a plea of want;― provide sustenance for you and for them;― come not nigh to shameful deeds, whether open or secret; take not life, which Allah hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus doth He command you, that ye may learn wisdom.

152. And come not nigh to the orphan's property, except to improve it, until he attain the age of full strength; give measure and weight with (full) justice;― no burden do We place on any soul, but that which it can bear;― whenever ye speak, speak justly, even if a near relative is concerned; and fulfil the Covenant of Allah: thus doth He command you, that ye may remember.

153. Verily, this is My Way leading straight: follow it: follow not (other) paths: they will scatter you about from His path: thus doth He command you, that ye may be righteous.

154. Moreover, We gave Moses the Book, completing (Our favour) to those who would do right, and explaining all things in detail,― and a guide and a mercy, that they might believe in the meeting with their Lord.

155. And this is a Book which We have revealed as a blessing: so follow it and be righteous, that ye may receive mercy:

Sumission?

What does it mean to truly submit? Are we giving up what we have and love? Are we letting go of who we are as a person? What about our personalities? Do we leave that at the door?

Being a Muslim means submitting to our Creator, in our intentions and actions.

"Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended." [Bukhari and Muslim]

Submitting first starts with the intention, and moves from there. As all converts or those who find true Islam as an adult know, each step towards making a change in your behavior is small at first... it takes a lot to make a big change. It takes more effort for one to make changes to their behavior that other people are going to notice because it means dealing with the reaction of those as well. When we are looking at the next step, we must have intention first and move towards action slowly, but surely.

As we move towards submitting further and further, there are many around us that will state that we are leaving all that we were behind. The things that defined us are now gone... but are they? Core morals and values can change and adjust through time... with or without religion. But of course, when one turns to Islam and makes changes in their life, they are found to be "blindly following" or the like. In another example, if someone changes their morals and values after having kids, they are "growing up" and "maturing." One implies a brainless decision and the other implies a growth of the human experience.

When we do not understand the growth of another, we tend to label it as regression or misguidance. Who are we to say that their journey is without knowledge or reason?

This goes for Muslims as well... too often we label those of another group (even within Islam) as one who is strayed, without really knowing anything about where their path leads them. What are their beliefs? Just because they are on a different path, we assume they are wrong. For us converts... we now believe that we were wrong at one point, right? So what would have happened if we had that attitude the entire time?

Open your mind, your ears, and close your mouth. Speaking without knowledge is an ignorant behavior, to say it lightly.


Submit to God and in doing so, submit to His way by being silent in matters that one has no knowledge of.

And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be inquired into (on the Day of Reckoning). [Qur'an 17:36]

We can submit within the shade of Islam without losing ourselves... and most of us do. We remain strong, independent individuals who are strong, active community members. We are wives and husbands who respect each other in love and faith. We do so with remembrance of God, but we still each have our own way.

To submit is simply to accept that we feel we are following the best way. This does not give us a right to be arrogant. It means we should remember our position as servants of God and act accordingly. We align ourselves with the life actions we believe to have the most benefit for us, in this life and the next... just like everyone else. Just because someone on the outside looking in sees many similarities doesn't mean we lost our "true selves".