“The point of Wudu (ablution) is not to wash your hands as much as to wash your heart first, not to wipe on the head as much as to wipe the evil thoughts out of the head. We, the Ummah of Iqra, would be totally doomed if we cannot think, narrow-minded and intellectually stagnant if we don’t want to think, and slaves if we don’t dare to think. Education and especially Islamic education requires critical thinking and imbuing, not just parroting. Read a book, write a book, plant letters in the soil, so that they may grow as nice words, and sail beyond the clouds carrying the values of Sayyidina Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam). The world is in need of the unconditional compassion and mercy he –sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam, came with, today more than ever. Humanity is looking for hope, for love, for opportunity. We need not shiny titles or electrifying speeches, for we have plenty of that. Rather we need to love Allah and love people, because this is the sign that we actually love ourselves. I hear people pointing this or that as trying to demonize Muslims or to make them look bad. Shifting the blame game. There is no need for anyone to demonize Muslims anymore. Look around and you will see enough Islamic sects and groups disseminating so much hate against each other enough to cover the world. We need to cover the world alright, but with love, compassion, and mercy. When Muslims hate other Muslims, promote verbal and physical violence against each other, we cannot pretend to offer non-Muslims compassion, love, and redemption. We, now more than ever, need to be tuned-up back to the values of the Qur’an and authentic Sunnah because we drifted far and away from the pure source, we need to trust Allah Ta’ala, His Book and the Prophetic Sunnah, we need to realize that no words of a religious figure can ever supersede that of Allah Ta’ala and His Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam. Beauty, tolerance, love, unconditional compassion and kindness, equality and justice, genuine caring about all human beings, are all repeated themes over and over in the Qur’an and authentic Sunnah. No fallible religious figure can ever match or offer the same unconditional compassion Allah and His Messenger offer, so always, always, always go back to basics. Check and reference, challenge, ask, and demand full answers, but with love, mercy and respect. Most “religious” people spend a lot of time talking about the evils of evil, how to hate evil, and how to fight evil. If they would only spend the same time and energy loving, and teaching people to love, the devil and all its evil would be reduced to insignificance. The mandate was never ensuring that others convert to our way, for guidance is not in our hands. Allah Ta’ala says in Surah Qasas, Ayah 56: {إِنَّكَ لاَ تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَـكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَآءُ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ}, which means: (You do not guide whoever you love, but Allah guides whomever He wants). Did you notice that love proceeded the wish for guidance?!. Love not hate, wishing well, not violence. Verbal and physical violence are not sacred, but satanic. Many if not most people who hate religions, did so not because they hate The Creator, but because the attitude of fallible humans who clothed themselves with the religion and claimed to “represent” Allah and then placed themselves after Allah, were hateful, narrow-minded, and violent people. Religious dictatorships are much worse than political dictatorships. Political dictatorships may kill and hate to achieve its own ambition, but religious dictatorships do the same; in the name of God, and with passion to hate. We don’t need a political spring and revolution as much as we need a spiritual spring and an academic revolution. For a political spring without a spiritual one leads to lots of hate and bloodshed, and this is the space where religious warlords and opportunists sanitize their greed and ambition with religious rhetoric. The victims in all this mayhem are not the innocent people only, the destruction of humanity in the conscious of the human being, but also the very core of Islamic values and principles. Islam is looking for a home. That home is the pure and loving heart of the human being. A hateful, violent, and oppressive heart can never be the home for true and complete Islam. I still remember my Sufi teacher telling when I was a young kid: Son; a loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge. A loving heart Scholars and religious figures are honored because they transmit the honorable faith. They themselves are not the faith, nor do they exclusively and comprehensively represent the faith, but they transmit (and should apply) what they learnt and understood so far from the faith. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam showed by living 13 years in Makkah- among disbelievers who were prosecuting, torturing and trying to hurt him in every possible way- that change starts at home. Be the change you want to see, therefore he started with his family and close companions. He, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam, taught us to love when others offered hate, to give when others deprive, to forgive when others sought vengeance, to give hope when others offered despair, and extend a helping hand when others extended a harming hand, and to smile when others frowned. The Ummah of Rasulul’Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam, is filled with gems, treasures, great elements, and goodness in the hearts of its people. Let’s bring them out, activate them, and practice the beautiful Sunnah, not just talk about it. Among them is to love people more than they deserve, because it was never about them, it is about you. What are you going to do? Back to basics tells us that a loving heart is the essence of the truest wisdom. Key to all?. Simple: inhale love, exhale gratitude”- Muhammad bin Yahya an-Ninowy Photo: “The point of Wudu (ablution) is not to wash your hands as much as to wash your heart first, not to wipe on the head as much as to wipe the evil thoughts out of the head. We, the Ummah of Iqra, would be totally doomed if we cannot think, narrow-minded and intellectually stagnant if we don’t want to think, and slaves if we don’t dare to think. Education and especially Islamic education requires critical thinking and imbuing, not just parroting. Read a book, write a book, plant letters in the soil, so that they may grow as nice words, and sail beyond the clouds carrying the values of Sayyidina Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam). The world is in need of the unconditional compassion and mercy he –sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam, came with, today more than ever. Humanity is looking for hope, for love, for opportunity. We need not shiny titles or electrifying speeches, for we have plenty of that. Rather we need to love Allah and love people, because this is the sign that we actually love ourselves. I hear people pointing this or that as trying to demonize Muslims or to make them look bad. Shifting the blame game. There is no need for anyone to demonize Muslims anymore. Look around and you will see enough Islamic sects and groups disseminating so much hate against each other enough to cover the world. We need to cover the world alright, but with love, compassion, and mercy. When Muslims hate other Muslims, promote verbal and physical violence against each other, we cannot pretend to offer non-Muslims compassion, love, and redemption. We, now more than ever, need to be tuned-up back to the values of the Qur’an and authentic Sunnah because we drifted far and away from the pure source, we need to trust Allah Ta’ala, His Book and the Prophetic Sunnah, we need to realize that no words of a religious figure can ever supersede that of Allah Ta’ala and His Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam. Beauty, tolerance, love, unconditional compassion and kindness, equality and justice, genuine caring about all human beings, are all repeated themes over and over in the Qur’an and authentic Sunnah. No fallible religious figure can ever match or offer the same unconditional compassion Allah and His Messenger offer, so always, always, always go back to basics. Check and reference, challenge, ask, and demand full answers, but with love, mercy and respect. Most “religious” people spend a lot of time talking about the evils of evil, how to hate evil, and how to fight evil. If they would only spend the same time and energy loving, and teaching people to love, the devil and all its evil would be reduced to insignificance. The mandate was never ensuring that others convert to our way, for guidance is not in our hands. Allah Ta’ala says in Surah Qasas, Ayah 56: {إِنَّكَ لاَ تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَـكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَآءُ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ}, which means: (You do not guide whoever you love, but Allah guides whomever He wants). Did you notice that love proceeded the wish for guidance?!. Love not hate, wishing well, not violence. Verbal and physical violence are not sacred, but satanic. Many if not most people who hate religions, did so not because they hate The Creator, but because the attitude of fallible humans who clothed themselves with the religion and claimed to “represent” Allah and then placed themselves after Allah, were hateful, narrow-minded, and violent people. Religious dictatorships are much worse than political dictatorships. Political dictatorships may kill and hate to achieve its own ambition, but religious dictatorships do the same; in the name of God, and with passion to hate. We don’t need a political spring and revolution as much as we need a spiritual spring and an academic revolution. For a political spring without a spiritual one leads to lots of hate and bloodshed, and this is the space where religious warlords and opportunists sanitize their greed and ambition with religious rhetoric. The victims in all this mayhem are not the innocent people only, the destruction of humanity in the conscious of the human being, but also the very core of Islamic values and principles. Islam is looking for a home. That home is the pure and loving heart of the human being. A hateful, violent, and oppressive heart can never be the home for true and complete Islam. I still remember my Sufi teacher telling when I was a young kid: Son; a loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge. A loving heart Scholars and religious figures are honored because they transmit the honorable faith. They themselves are not the faith, nor do they exclusively and comprehensively represent the faith, but they transmit (and should apply) what they learnt and understood so far from the faith. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam showed by living 13 years in Makkah- among disbelievers who were prosecuting, torturing and trying to hurt him in every possible way- that change starts at home. Be the change you want to see, therefore he started with his family and close companions. He, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam, taught us to love when others offered hate, to give when others deprive, to forgive when others sought vengeance, to give hope when others offered despair, and extend a helping hand when others extended a harming hand, and to smile when others frowned. The Ummah of Rasulul’Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam, is filled with gems, treasures, great elements, and goodness in the hearts of its people. Let’s bring them out, activate them, and practice the beautiful Sunnah, not just talk about it. Among them is to love people more than they deserve, because it was never about them, it is about you. What are you going to do? Back to basics tells us that a loving heart is the essence of the truest wisdom. Key to all?. Simple: inhale love, exhale gratitude”
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:58:44 +0000
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