Islam - Accept it or Reject it

[cat-woman]

I was chatting to a friend of mine who told me that the last time he read namaz was sometime in Ramzan. I was shocked and asked him why and he went on to say that Islam is a faith that one should embrace fully, or reject totally - there is no such thing as a half way point.

These words have been ringing in my head for days. So is it worthless to practise Islam to a certain extent and prioritise some teachings over others? I know a lot of people are like that, placing more importance on some aspects of Islam than others, and in that way not 'fully' practising all the tenets of Islam.

I do know that none of us is a perfect Muslim, some of us strive to be good Muslims while others feel they can get away with say reading a few namazes and not fully embracing the religion. How does one fulfill all the requirements and is it true that if you don't atleast try to be the best practising Muslim possible, it is futile to be making any effort at all?

[This message has been edited by cat-woman (edited April 15, 2001).]

[ahmadjee]

An effort towards Allah, towards perfection should always be made!!

In the time of AnHazoor (saw) we see that there were many different kind of Sahabah (ra)! Some fully devotionally following their religion while the others slack off every now & then.

Its not unusual to not fully follow one's faith! But the intent should always be for ‘Sirat-e-Mustaqeem’. And whenever we do something against our religion, we should have a feeling of guilt in our hearts!

Allah is indeed The Most Merciful!!

If your friend was justifying his unreligious nature by the argument above, then he is not being true to himself. I think its just another way for him to satisfy his conscious (Nafas)

P.s: That's my take on this, others can surely disagree & have every right to do so!


[This message has been edited by ahmadjee (edited April 15, 2001).]

[SalmanKHan_MozleM]

Praise be to Allah.

SAlamz

that is sad !!

I've experienced alot of that in my life. Specially arabs do that alot. My previous roommate didnt go to mosque with me cuz he believed that LA ILAHA ILLALA was in his heart. So it did not matter if he went to mosque or prayed at home. -- Most of the arabs now , i believe are hypocrites.

This another pakistani female i talked to, who kept on mentioning about her bf and all the big sins she does. I told her it was Haram but her reply was, which is also the reply of many muslims, :

" .... andwho cares wat we do alla is gonna bahsh all muslim who read ramaz and the quarn..... " .

now does that mean the people who wake up at mid-night cry and pray to Allah and work for the religion are the same as these people who dont pray and who do big sins ?

Heck No !!

They dont know the anger and wrath of Allah. Just heard about the mercy and forgivness.

For one sin, if its not forgiven, a person might be in hell fire for a time ( the limit only Allah knows, days,weeks,years, millions of years,trillions of years ) . We dont even want to be in Hell Fire for a second cuz the lowest punishment is the shoes of Hell Fire, which when wore will boil the brain of a person.

Islam is practiced cuz its a way of life. Let me tell you somthing about prayers. THere is a special valley in Hell Fire for those who delay their prayers on purpose and pray Qazza (if u know whaz Qazza). And dont even praying a prayer because of lazyness is a kufr according to the Saheeh HAdeeth of Prophet pbuh ( www.islam-qa.com )

I am waiting for a scholar to answer this question, so when i get it, i post it in a new thread Inshallah.

Please dont listen to ignorant people and stop practicing Islam. These are the good deeds you collect that will be the currency on the day of judgement.

Surah Baqarah, Ayah 208
"O ye who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not the footsteps of the evil one; for he is to you an avowed enemy."

Surah Burooj, Ayah 12
"YUSUFALI: Truly strong is the Grip (and Power) of thy Lord. "

Dont forget me in ur dua'z

ws'salamZ

------------------
“Those who believed (in the Oneness of Allaah — Islamic Monotheism), and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allaah verily, in the remembrance of Allaah do hearts find rest

[al-Ra’d 13:28]

[khan_sahib]

Originally posted by cat-woman:
....Islam is a faith that one should embrace fully, or reject totally - there is no such thing as a half way point....

I agree that Islam should be implemented in full rather than bits n bobs but not sure about rejecting any part of it unless u don't have enough proof of doing so. If u won't implement Islam in full then u will always have to deal with dilemmas like ABORTION as what to do if a muslim girl is raped and how can a country will cope without INTEREST and so on.

These words have been ringing in my head for days. So is it worthless to practise Islam to a certain extent and prioritise some teachings over others? I know a lot of people are like that, placing more importance on some aspects of Islam than others, and in that way not 'fully' practising all the tenets of Islam.

Prioritization is allowed and infact if u look at things like Fard, Sunnah, Makrooh and so on then u would realize that there are things which are compulsory and there is relaxation in certain parts aspects. Now, if someone comes and tell all the women to take Hijab and beat the hell out of them if they don't AND on the other hand spare few who are cultivating opium (an intoxicant) which is HARAM then obviously their priorities are not right.

I do know that none of us is a perfect Muslim, some of us strive to be good Muslims while others feel they can get away with say reading a few namazes and not fully embracing the religion. How does one fulfill all the requirements and is it true that if you don't atleast try to be the best practising Muslim possible, it is futile to be making any effort at all?

I can't add anything more to what u have already said yourself.

[This message has been edited by cat-woman (edited April 15, 2001).]

[aMiGo]

Kind of agree with this friend of cattys. In our religion there are certain things that are cumpolsory(hijab, namaz etc). There is no prioritizing in these, neither are these things optional. They are fard. If you dont accept this things, and say "namaz ke alawa admi aur bhi acha kaam kar sakta he" or "hijab andar se aata he" than these statements are totally in contradiction with Islamic teaching, then you are in principle rejecting the faith. Islam is not abstaining from pork only...

There isn't any pick and choose from what is fard. I beleive it is fard to go to a mosque for namaz. If your friend decides not to do so intentionally then he is rejecting/disobeying the word of Allah. That would be to reject the faith.

------------------
~Survival of the smartest~

[SalmanKhana]

salamz again...

just a short reminder. ppL might change their views of not caring about the laws of Allah and also remember His punishment and His wrath.

People as i earlier mentioned say that why should we care about what we are doing ( mainly reffering to big sins such as adultery, drinking, dealing with interest, etc) as long as we pray and read Quran, Allah will forgive us.

Lets see for instance if we are driving along a road and there is a red signal. Would we cross it? Obviously No. Or if we knew that there was a Cop's car right across the street and looking around for any violators. Would we dare to cross the red light? Heck no. Or even if we did we know we would be fined for so many thousands of dollars/dinars/rupees and imprisoned for months.

Similarly,
Do we believe in the attributes of Allah that He is the all hearing and all seeing ? He has the knowledge of everything going on.
We are not muslims if we have any doubt about any single of the 99 attributes of Allah. So lets see ourselves only, how much do we believe in them.

Also the punishment for the violators of the Laws of Allah is fixed. !!

ws'salamZ

Remember me in ur Dua'Z



------------------
˛şşą§âLmăń kHäń™»
ĐonT iMMiTăTe, iNNoVăTë ®

[SalmanKhana]

Please read this,

Surah # 82 in Holy Quran.
Translation of Surah AL-INFITAR (THE CLEAVING, BURSTING APART)

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

When the heaven becomes cleft asunder, And when the stars become dispersed, And when the seas are made to flow forth, Every soul shall know what it has sent before and held back.

O man ! what has beguiled you from your Lord, the Gracious one, Who created you, then made you complete, then made you symmetrical? Into whatever form He pleased He constituted you.

Nay! but you give the lie to the judgment day,

And most surely there are keepers over you; Honorable recorders, They know what you do.

Most surely the righteous are in bliss, And most surely the wicked are in burning fire, They shall enter it on the day of judgment. And they shall by no means be absent from it.

And what will make you realize what the day of judgement is? Again, what will make you realize what the day of judgment Is?

The day on which no soul shall control anything for (another) soul; and the
command on that day shall be entirely Allah's.

Ws'salamZ

P.S.: For the signs of the Judgement day, refer to the thread in General Forum by aleena786 ( The signs that i pasted were derived from the Saheeh Hadeeth/Quran and complied by a Scholar Shaikh Gharm-Allah El-Ghamdy )

------------------
˛şşą§âLmăń kHäń™»
ĐonT iMMiTăTe, iNNoVăTë ®

[Girl from Quraysh]

Catz, i'm supposed to be studying right now, but i really wanted to reply to this thread, so its prolly going to be short 'n sweet......umm actually knowing me probably not*rueful smile*

I do know that none of us is a perfect Muslim, some of us strive to be good Muslims while others feel they can get away with say reading a few namazes and not fully embracing the religion.

First of all, while its true that Islam is a religion that governs all aspects of your life, calling for complete submission of the individual to the will of the Almighty..and therein we find the need for acceptance.

And i guess the concept of 'rejection' arises as a reaction to the undeniable fact that when one accepts Islam as their religion, one has to accept all aspects of it.

But Catwoman, like you said above, some of are striving to become better muslims, what does that mean, that means that no one is perfect, there are things that at times seem to be beyond our grasp or understanding and making our practice of deen seem somehow incomplete. But the important thing is our intention, that we're trying the best we can, and thats what matters most, that which is in our hearts, right?

There is no such thing as a half-way point.
That may be, but in my eyes thats no reason to give up, rejecting islam on the basis that one believes one cannot fulfill all of its requirements, is giving up.
There is nothing wrong with striving, to attain perfection..or that point beyond the halfway point. That action of striving, that struggle is jihad, its part of practicing one's deen, whether its within one's self, or without, if it is one of thoughts, wants, desires, words,etc. and it only serves to enhance one's understanding and commitment to one's deen.

Giving up, rejecting something because one doesn't believe in one's capabilities is wrong or at least less than 'right'...and would be considered so in any life situation, right?

Alot of you mentioned that u've witnessed ppl who give some practices more importance/precedent, or even acknowledgment than others, although they are all considered fard. While thats not ideal, i personally don't think that one should criticize such ppl which can lead to disillusionment/despair and perhaps cause them to reject the little it is they do do. Instead one should encourage them, tell them and show them by example what it is that they are doing that is incorrect, or what it is that they can do to better themselves. Afterall they too are only trying, and one should not judge them, everyone has their own battles, and the least one can do is show compassion, encouragement and above all understanding.

Catz, more along the line of your question, Imran khan wrote an article once, it was called 'In Pakistan We Have Selective Islam'. The article is much too long to post here, so i'll post the url, and you guys plz do read it, its very good. I'll paste a short excerpt here, that parallels what your friend said to you.

Hence, it was a miracle I did not become an atheist. The only reason why I did not was the powerful religious influence wielded by my mother on me since my childhood. It was not so much out of conviction but love for her that I stayed a Muslim. However, my Islam was selective, i.e. I accepted only parts of the religion that suited me. Prayers were restricted to Eid days and occasionally on Fridays, when my father insisted on taking me with him. If there was a God I was not sure about it and certainly felt that he did not interfere with my life. All in all I was smoothly moving to becoming a Pukka Brown Sahib. After all I had the right credentials in terms of the right school, university and above all, acceptability in the English aristocracy, something that our brown sahibs would give their lives for. So what led me to do a lota (complete reversal)on the Brown Sahib culture and instead become a desi? Well it did not just happen overnight.

You can find the rest of the article here, go on...read it http://www.jannah.org/articles/imran.html


Alright hope that helped somewhat, i'm outta here

[FYI]

Originally posted by cat-woman:
I was chatting to a friend of mine who told me that the last time he read namaz was sometime in Ramzan. I was shocked and asked him why and he went on to say that Islam is a faith that one should embrace fully, or reject totally - there is no such thing as a half way point.

These words have been ringing in my head for days. So is it worthless to practise Islam to a certain extent and prioritise some teachings over others? I know a lot of people are like that, placing more importance on some aspects of Islam than others, and in that way not 'fully' practising all the tenets of Islam.

I do know that none of us is a perfect Muslim, some of us strive to be good Muslims while others feel they can get away with say reading a few namazes and not fully embracing the religion. How does one fulfill all the requirements and is it true that if you don't atleast try to be the best practising Muslim possible, it is futile to be making any effort at all?

[This message has been edited by cat-woman (edited April 15, 2001).]

CATZ,
GFQ-Thanx for sharing the Selective Islam piece by Imran Bhai

I think he is lucky to have been guided by allah subhan otalla rightfully ,but as he said he would have become brown sahib or in india we call Anglo Indian.

It is true most of us middle class & even richest ,chose to send our kids to western schools & english medium schools.Fortunately we do have ppl. like Imran bhai who realize that while we study English,study in westrn schools & colleges,our forefather s intention was not taking in Western thaught & life style hook sink & anchor ,or Stock barrel & .....The point is there comes a time when we stop & think ,where we are going.AND then we realize where we came from.& then connect the present with past while forging the future with present AND the past COMBINED together ,Otherwise we will be left with the present ANGLO part of ourself anazibullah .
I am glad we had this sobertalk among everything else

Allah hafiz

[khan_sahib]

Oh gosh, this post is nearly flooded. Thanks to GFQ for her short comments.

I agree with her comments though.

[This message has been edited by khan_sahib (edited April 17, 2001).]

[SalmanKhana]

Originally posted by khan_sahib:
Oh gosh, this post is nearly flooded. ......
[This message has been edited by khan_sahib (edited April 17, 2001).]

salamz

ofcourse bro, this is an important topic to me cuz most of the ppl i talked to have this attitude.. all cuz of ignorance.

people have many interesting excuses to do stuff we are not supposed to do (haram stuff).

The concept of Imran Khan and the selective Islam in Pakistan is true not only in Pakistan but almost all the muslim countries. Here Allah sayz in Quran...
Surah Baqarah, Ayah 208
"O ye who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not the footsteps of the evil one; for he is to you an avowed enemy."

This means we have to enter in Islam completely!!. but we dont. SOmetimse when we are very blessed by Allah, we forget his blessings and turn away from our duties and Follow the Satan-the rejected. and sumtimes when Allah tests us by taking the blessings away for a while, we start praying and crying to Allah and repenting ---

- you will see how most ppl start praying n all when someone dies in their family and do everything according to Sunnah but when it comes to marriage or any party, Sunnah is not even closed to remembered..unfortunately!! Only culture and wordly things. and that is sad !


May Allah give me Guidance and all of us too. Ameen.

------------------
˛şşą§âLmăń kHäń™»
ĐonT iMMiTăTe, iNNoVăTë ®

[cat-woman]

You guys, thankyou for replying but there is so much to read here and I will do all the reading and come back with some replies.

[FYI]

Originally posted by cat-woman:
You guys, thankyou for replying but there is so much to read here and I will do all the reading and come back with some replies.

Catz,

We are waiting for your comments.



------------------

"jo kHat main kahte they apni jaan mujhko
aaj kHat likhne main unki jaan jaati hai .....