Is it personal?

[Munni]

I have heard people often times saying that Islam is personal. That a persons following of islam is personal, etc. I would like to know just what is meant by that.

Considering that Islam has laws, Shari'ah, hadith, etc...including things such as discipline and the like(whether its practised or not), how is it personal? There are hadith, for those who try and follow or believe in, that state how one should speak out if they see something wrong being done or said, by another muslim...so where did this "personal" come in the picture? I understand that du'aa(prayer) is between one and their Lord, but the other things...i question. Sahaba would go out and spread their knowledge in different lands...and would correct others when seeing things done incorrectly, and would judge between others...

so if some of you would kindly explain what is meant by "islam is a personal thing"...please explain. Thank you!

------------------
Learn to love yourself, then learn to love one-another

[CocoNut]

Personal eh . . . take this into consideration; YOU have been mentioned in the Quran and your characteristics and personality outlined. You must be thinking WHAT THE HELL IS THIS NUTCASE TALKING ABOUT? Well, the good the bad the hypocrites the moderate and so forth are mentioned and you fit one of their descriptions, thats how personal it gets.

You question is not as clear TO ME, kindly elaborate.

------------------
Jitna Diya Sarkar Nay Mujko, Itni Meri Auqat Nahi, Yeh Saab Tumhara Karam Hai Aqa, Mujh Mein Aisi Koi Baat Nahin.


Love happens once . . .

[Munni]

Precisely, Coconut. The statement in itself is not understood by me, thus the question.

Statement being, "religion is a personal thing".

Please refer to BoSS's post in Corner Room, that might help clarify. If it doesnt, let me know.

This question is mostly for those who say the previous statement.

------------------
Learn to love yourself, then learn to love one-another

[Pristine]

Islamic rules have different facets. Some rules are applicable to the entire community, while some are personal. Some acts are punishable by the state, some are just sins for which Allah may punish the culprit on the day of judgement.

Those acts which are implemented on a community scale, are enforced by a muslim state (govt). These include, for example, zakat. A muslim cannot justify not paying zakat by saying it is something personal. However, he can claim that he will not pay zakat to the government since it is not a muslim government. In either case, he is personally responsible to pay all zakat due. This is just an example. We all know that Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) actually threatened to launch a war on those muslim tribes who refused to pay zakat after the passing away of the Prophet (PBUH).

Based on this example, it became debatable as to what are the various acts in which the islamic government can interfere in the lives of muslims. For example, the rulers of Talibaan felt it is appropriate to enforce other islamic laws by force. These included growing beard, covering up their women and so on. Saudi govt forces all men to go to mosque for prayers. Many other muslim governments do not interefer in overtly personal matters. They only encourage people to abide by islamic laws. Whether it is the right approach or not is a debate for the scholars. Most muslim states do not enforce such laws by force.

On the community side, a muslim nation is deemed to be better than all other nations by virtue of one very significant ayat. (Amr b'il marouf wa nahi an'il munkir) "For you are the people who spread good and stop people from evil", allows muslims to tell each other if they find the other is doing something wrong.

As an example, if you have a brother, and you know he is doing something wrong, you will let him know, because you care for him. If he persists in the behavior, some of you, after a while may give up and let him do what he wants. Some others will continue to nag him till he either changes his behavior or knocks you out. The same is true for the whole ummah. If we consider all of the ummah as our siblings, we will care about them the same way. How much we persist is entirely on our own personality. Islam talks about it as three states of stopping sins (1) to try and stop it with hands, (2) to try and stop it with words, (3) or to think that it is wrong in your heart <which is the weakest state of imaan>.

Quran provides a lot of guidance on how a muslim should behave. A brief (non-exhaustive) list is as follows:

Behavior

• argue in a kindly manner with those given earlier revelation, 16:125, 29:46
• avoid becoming involved in matters you know nothing of, 17:36
• avoid grave sins and shameful deeds, 53:32
• avoid guesswork about one another, 49:12
• be just in your opinions, 6:152
• community should be moderate, 2:143, 25:67
• conceit discouraged, 4:36, 57:23
• don't chide those who seek your help, 93:10
• don't consider yourself pure, 53:32
• don't deride others, 49:11, 104:1
• don't mention evil things openly, 4:148
• don't speak ill of each other, 49:12, 104:1
• don't spy on each other, 49:12
• each group given a law and way of life, 2:148, 5:48, 10:47, 10:74, 13:38, 16:36, 16:63, 16:84
• and a prophet, 10:47, 16:36
• and a way of worship, 22:67
• Allah could have made them one community, 5:48, 11:118, 16:93, 42:8
• one community under Allah, 21:92
• forgive Jews who distort the Qur'an, 5:13
• forgive non-believers, 31:15, 45:14
• forgive readily, 42:37
• maligning believers is sinful, 33:58
• men (toward women), 24:30
• peacemakers rewarded, 42:40
• rulers make decisions after consultations, 42:38
• speak justly toward those in want, if you can do nothing else, 17:28
• towards aging parents in your care, 17:23
  towards other Muslims, 33:6
• towards others, 17:26-29, 17:35, 17:53, 60:8
• towards parents, 46:15
• towards slaves, 4:36, 24:33
• treat non-belligerent non-believers with equity, 60:8
• wives of the Prophet, 33:28-34
• women (toward men), 24:31

Hope it helps. Jazak Allah

[BoSS]

Munni as per your request following is my reply

One of the meanings of the word religion is :
a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

Is Religion Personal?
Yes it is, however representing a certain group of people who hold the same set of beliefs is beyond the realm of the word 'personal'. If I call myself a muslim then I have to act the way muslims are supposed to. I'm supposed to follow islam the way it is laid out in the book. On the other hand if I follow a religion which is strictly based on my beliefs then I'm not obligated to follow any book....that is strictly personal.

I hope I answered the question.
ciao
BoSS

[Shaheen]

First of all as per my belief, religion may be personal but ISLAM can't be... YES! Islam is a System (DEEN). You can not take some part of it and apply and reject the other, for instance do the rituals (as a practice defined in any "religion" like prayers, zakat etc.) but do not try to implement political system of Islam especially the legislative system... because Allah says in Quran to Bani Isreal (JEWS):

Afa tu menoona be ba'adal kitaba wa takforoona be ba'ad"?
So, do you accept a part of your book (meaning religion) and reject a part of it?

and because of this very act of them (including that they martyred many Anbiyaas), they are called by Allah as a nation which is Maghdoob-e-Alaihim (Those upon whom Allah's wrath is brought down)

Secondly,
Pristine

Though, I also feel to say a lot but brother Pristine has put everything in perspective...

I will add just two little things that may help in understanding what it means...

First of all, let me remind all of us including my self (may Allah forgive me and you for whatever wrong we have done and give us hidaya -- Aammeen) that QURAN is for our own Guidance. Having said that it is very clear to us that whatever stories (QASAS-ul-Anbiya) are told in Quran are for our guidance and therefore, we must understand what those people, upon whom apostles were sent, did wrong due to which Allah's punishment reached them.

Now with that introduction, let me remind ourselves about Ashaab-e-Sabt (People of Sabath) mentioned in Quran.... Remember it??? I am sure it is so famous that all of us do remember it.

Now what happened to them???? They were asked by Allah to do the worship of Him the whole day of sabt (saturday) and they were not allowed to do anything else... (we are given a choice on Jummah that we may work after the congregessional prayer). Now those people were fishermen. Allah tested them to see who among them follows the order given by Allah without looking any material thing. What started to happen was that during the other six days the fish used to go into the deep water becoming unreachable for poor fishermen; but, they used to come on the shore on SATURDAY... Now what happened that there arised two groups of people among them... One who were eager to catch the fish that day, and the other who thought that it is against Allah's order....

The second group of people was further divided into two subgroups:

one who thought that this is personal and they should not interfere with others but keep their ways straight... and;

the second one who not only stayed away from this but also kept doing the nahi anil munkar meaning asking people not to do it...

cutting the long story short, when the Azzaab of Allah came, only those were saved who used to do inzaar, the one who used to aked people that they were doing wrong....

The one who never said any word but were straight will surely get their rewards hereafter but they made themselves deserved for Allah's wrath...


The second thing I want to share with you and remind myself as well is that there are two types of "rights" (Huqqooq):

• Rights of Allah Huqqooqullahand
• Rights of people Huqqooq-ul-Ibbaad

Rights of Allah are those about which Allah says that HE may forgive them.... It is upto HIS mercy and wallaho ghafoorur raheem, but Rights of people will never be forgiven unless the person who was the oppressed him/herself forgive the oppresser...

We get the idea that looking these things we may not seperate these two kinds of rights...

NOW:
To know what is right, and to know what is the TRUE RELIGION and to know that what he/she is doing is right or wrong is the right of that person (clearly Haq-ul-Ibaad).... now if we don't tell this person about what is right when we think that it is his/her personal matter... think what you are doing...

Bottom line: "Amr Bil Ma'aroof wa nahi anil maunkar" is under the category of Huqqooq-ul-Ibaad that we ought to do just for the "Raza of Allah" and that is the only reason Muslims are said to be best nation (Khaira-e-Ummah) in the Surah Aalay Imran ayat 103.

Wama Alaina Illal Balagh!

------------------
You (Muslims) are the best nation ever raised among the mankind: (because) you
advocate righteousness and FORBID EVIL, and you believe in (one) GOD (ALLAH).
(Sura: Aalay-Imran; Ayat:110)
========================
***Sitaaron Pay Jo Daltay Hain Kamand!***
_______________________
Shaheen=An Eagle or A Flacon!
(And yes it's a MALE Shaheen ;-)

[Thap]

Munni,

It's personal because we will all be in our kabars alone.

We will all be judged individually...everyone has a different propensity for understanding this and will go to different lengths to ensure they do something about it.

[This message has been edited by Thap (edited November 11, 2001).]