The Only True Religion

In the name of Allah, (Almighty God), the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Allah says in the Qur'an,

"And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it will never be excepted of him, and in the hereafter, he will be one of the losers". (3:85)

This verse is often understood by Muslims to mean that those who are Muslims are in the right, and non-Muslims would likewise interpret this to mean that, according to The Qur'an, non-Muslims are destined for hell. Amongst ultra-conservative Muslim sects it is indeed often seen this way. It has become common place for us to see the world as Muslims vs. Kufar (disbelievers). We readily hear Muslim parents warning their children about "playing with those kufar kids" or worrying about sending their kids to "kufar schools". I once was working in a warehouse in Columbus, and on this particular day I was unloading a truck with two other men. One of them was a middle aged Somali (Muslim) man and the other was an older white American (non-Muslim) man. As the day progressed we engaged one another in conversation as most co-workers do. We weren't talking about anything of great importance really, just small talk to make the day go by faster. We all laughed and joked with each other and got along well. At one point when the non-Muslim American man was away, the Somali man said to me, "you know he's a very nice man, too bad he's a kafir (disbeliever) going to hell".
This small conversation perfectly illustrates the mentality than many of us Muslims have. We have degenerated being a believer in "laa ilaha ila Allah" into just being "part of a club". A club in which we don't eat pork, drink, we pray five times a day, and where woman cover themselves. In many masajid (mosques) around the world, material available to non-Muslims and new Muslims mainly focus on Aqeedah (creed; manners of behavior) more so than tasawwuf (spirituality; ones personal relationship with the divine).
Salafis/Wahabbis expound that the basis of their entire ideology is Tawheed or the absolute oneness of Allah (God Almighty; The Divine). However, simple understanding of this principal is not what is meant by the verse

"And I did not create man and jinn except to worship me" (51:56)

Worship is only worship when the worshipper has three things; Iman (faith and proper belief in Allah), Islam (submission to Allah's will), and Ihsan (sincerity). In a famous hadith or prophetic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said that "ihsan" is to "worship Allah as if you see Him, even when you don't see Him, but know that He sees you".

This begs the question 'what does it really mean to worship Allah as if you see Him'? Ultimately it means that in order to truly worship Allah, one must first have a very personal, one on one relationship with Allah. One must see Allah not just as an arbitrary idea that we focus our religiosity on, but Allah is a living being, THE living being that upon whom we all depend, upon whom all the universe belongs and depends, the one who is the owner of all the most beautiful of attributes, and the one who is the ONLY one truly capable of helping you or causing you harm. Allah, to the true worshipper, is one's master, true love and best friend all wrapped up into one. Without this relationship with Allah, worship is hollow. Without this relationship fasting is just starving yourself. Without this relationship Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) is just a really gruelling vacation. Without this relationship your salaah (ritual prayer) is just a really boring dance. Without this relationship recitation of the Qur'an is just singing.

So, when we focus our understanding of our religion so heavily on outward things, we must ask the question, are we really worshipping Allah, or are we worshipping our "religion"? Have we actually made the religion of Islam itself an idol besides Allah?

It is funny that in the above verse, "and anyone who seeks a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted of him..." when we translate this into English, usually we translate every word into English except the word "Islam". Why not translate that word too since it is an Arabic word. When we do it sounds like this

"And anyone who seeks a religion other than complete willful and peaceful submission and subservience to the divine, it will not be excepted of him and in the hereafter, he will be one of the losers".

When we translate the verse in this way, we can get a much different picture of what it really means.



Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many forms of religion that have risen and fallen as ways for man to explain that which he did not understand. Some peoples worshipped nature, a form of religion known as Pantheism. In this form of religion people saw "spirits" in all things around them including animals, trees, mountains and the land itself, wind, water and storms, and saw nature and the "creator" as one in the same. Primitive forms of this kind of religion are found amongst Native Americans, Australian Aboriginals, Native African tribes such as the Maasai, and ancient European cultures such as the Celts, Anglo-Saxons and Normans. Other types of religion are more religious civilizations. Entire civilizations that are built around the worship of some deity. Sometimes this deity could be something like the sun or the moon, and in others it can be a man such as the king himself such as in ancient Egypt where Egyptians worshipped the Pharaoh as a living god. People in ancient times largely believed in these things because proper understanding of science and the natural world had not come to fruition yet. Now that we do understand much about the natural world, we in the developed world know for example that it's not some magical spirit that makes the rain fall from the sky but rather we know that water evaporates off of the earth's surface, the water vapor collects in the sky in the form of clouds, and when the dew point is reached, the water liquefies and falls to earth as rain. We also know that certain stories that are the center of religious civilizations such as the Christian belief that the Earth was literally created in six days, and is only several thousand years old, is not accurate, but rather the Earth is billions of years old and was created over the course of millions of years. This disproving of age old religious traditions created in developed nations religious movements such as Secular Humanism and Atheism. Secular Humanists don't necessarily reject the existence of The Divine but reject supernatural or faith based beliefs as being the basis of morality. Atheists reject the existence of The Divine entirely, as with all other forms of the supernatural, and thus also reject such beliefs and faith as the basis of morality. Both religious traditions rely on ethics and reason as the basis of morality. Such traditions base their devotion to such ideas on the fact that it cannot be proven that God, or The Divine actually exists, and there is no physical, tangible way to test "faith". Thus, they reject faith as an archaic idea that basically only existed as a means for our ancient ancestors to mentally and emotionally deal with the natural world. However, there is one major loophole in this thinking. It is true that faith cannot really be measured nor can it be vindicated through any kind of testable fact and therefore at face value there isn't much difference between what we know as major religious traditions such as Christianity and ancient mythology such as that of the Greek gods and goddesses. However, it likewise cannot be proven in a physically tangible way that The Divine does not exist either. Therefore, Secular Humanists and Atheists also rely on some form of "faith" to justify their beliefs. We can therefore say that we as humans are hard-wired and destined to be people of faith. In reality faith is at the core of what we are because we are a rational being who contemplates our existence in the universe. As such, we will always be subject to faith as being as natural to us as eating and sleeping.

So, how do we know which path is the correct one? Well, that's the million dollar question. But, allow us to reflect on the story of Abraham (peace and blessings be upon him), as told in the Qur'an. It is said that Abraham was the son of an idol maker. His father carved wooded idols that the people of that day worshipped. Abraham abhorred this behavior as he could plainly see that these idols did not serve or protect anyone. They were just wood. His beliefs led to his eventual exile from his home. While alone at night he looked to the sky and saw a star and thought to himself "perhaps this is my god". Then, however, the star disappeared and Abraham said, "truly I don't not like a god that disappears". Then he saw the moon, and how it illuminated the land at night and again said, "perhaps this is my god". Then however the moon disappeared over the horizon and Abraham said, "truly I don't like a god that disappears". Then the next day he saw the sun and how it warmed the earth and he once again said, "perhaps this is my god". When the sun set Abraham said,

"Oh my people! Indeed I am free from all that you join as partners in worship with the truly divine! Indeed I have turned my face to He that CREATED the heavens and the earth, The Divine is and can only be ONE (infinate source of creation), and I am not of those who associate such partners in worship!".
(6:78-79)

What Abraham actually did, in a reasonable and rational way, was he PROVED the existence of The Divine by realizing that all things that we experience in this world and this universe is finite (with beginning and end). He realized that the finite cannot be the ultimate source of other things finite. Only something infinite can be such a source. Another way of looking at it is the phenomenon of infinite regression. If there is nothing infinite, no divine, then the process of finite creating finite, as it does through natural processes, would keep going back and back and back and back, with no beginning...infinite regression. Therefore, there MUST, rationally and reasonably speaking, be an ultimate infinite source from which all of these processes started. Like if we say life was created out of the primordial ooze, then the earth created the primordial ooze, then the earth was born of the sun, and the sun was born of the center of the galaxy, and the galaxy was formed in the big bang, and the big bang happened because the entire universe was once a very small very dense bundle of mass and it exploded, well then what created that bundle of mass? What caused it to explode? Whatever created that bundle of mass, what created it? And then what created that? So on, and so on. It is unreasonable, irrational, and physically impossible for that to be the case. Also, the infinite and divine, MUST consequently be a single force. If there were multiple forces they would simply compete and by there very nature anything that one created the other would destroy. If you have two infinitely powerful forces than one force will always be infinitely capable of annihilating anything the other does and the same visa versa. So, that infinite force, The Divine, not only must only, but CAN only be ONE.

Therefore, the only TRUE religion. Is simply the recognition of that infinitely powerful, Divine force, and recognition of this fact leads one to the only logical action which is to submit oneself to that force. Not just because one wants to, but because one recognizes that we are in that Divine infinite forces grasp whether we recognize it and submit to it or not. If we conclude that the Divine necessarily exists, and that the Divine is and can ONLY be one, then the only true religion that we can credit with being "accurate" is one that directs the rational and thinking human being back to that fact. Any form of religion that calls humans towards anything else, is quite simply....nonsense. That's not to say that there aren't valuable lessons and morals in other religions, but they are deviations nonetheless if they call human beings toward worship or veneration of anything but The Infinitely Divine. So, if the only correct path is that which leads us directly to The Infinitely Divine, then does that path exist today? If so what religion is it? I know Muslims will say ISLAM! ISLAM! (like a kindergartner saying "oooo pick me! pick meeeee!). To that I'll say this......yes and no. What? Blasphemy you say?

Like I said, any and all religion that calls people to venerate or worship anything besides The Infinitely Divine is utter nonsense; whether it's Egyptians worshipping Pharaoh as a living god, Greeks worshipping stories of Zeus, Native Americans worshipping trees, Aboriginals worshipping a mountain, Secular Humanists and Atheists worshipping themselves, Jews worshipping their rabbis and priests, Christians worshipping Jesus Christ (peace and blessings be upon him) or.....ready.....MUSLIMS WORSHIPPING THEIR IMAMS (leaders) AND THEIR RELIGIOUS SYSTEM AS A WHOLE!

This is why you see Muslims rioting in the streets when someone makes a stupid cartoon of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh)! This is why Muslims blow themselves up in mosques during Friday prayers for stupid political nonsense! This is why Muslim women are subjected behind a wall when that was NOT the practice of the prophet! This is why we care more about how long a man's beard is or how short his pants are then how sincere our own prayers are! We have in many ways become a people who worship the "idea of being Muslim". We look to our religious system with its sciences and it's rules and regulations and worship that. All the while, we have forgotten what it REALLY means to worship The Infinitely Divine. By the way the literal translation of the term "The Infinitely Divine" into the Arabic language is "Allah". This is why that infinitely divine being referred to itself with that name in the Holy Qur'an. Allah has communicated the message of His Absolute Oneness throughout human history. As the Qur'an says...

"And for every nation there was a messenger..." (10:47)

From the first man Adam, to all the prophets that we know of and those that we don't know of, Allah has communed with his creation. He has called us back time and again. Through our father Adam, through Noah and the flood, through Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, through Abraham and his gift of reason, through Moses and his gift of the Law, through David and his gift of song, through Jesus Christ the Messiah and through his mother Mary the most honored of all women, and through Muhammad the seal of prophecy to all mankind, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon them all. All of these individuals toiled their life for only one cause; one idea. To direct their people back to worship and communion with The Infinitely Divine; Allah. Not ONE of them called their people to worship them or anything BUT Allah.

So what was that verse again?

"And whosoever seeks a religion other than complete willful and peaceful submission and subservience to the Divine, it will not be excepted of him, and in the hereafter, he will be a loser"

Look into yourself; as I look into myself. Are we really sure that we are practicing Islam? Are we really sure that we are worshipping Allah and not just the idea of being Muslim? Are we really sure that the people in the church down the street aren't? Or in the synagogue across town? Or, might they actually be doing just that, submitting themselves to that Divine force, in the only way they know how?

About the People of the Book, the Christians and the Jews, Allah says in the Qur'an,

"Not all of them are alike. A party of the people of the book stand for right, they recite the verses of Allah in the wee hours of the night, prostrating themselves in prayer. The believe in Allah and the Last Day. They enjoin good and forbid evil, and they hasten in good works and they are among the righteous. And whatever good they do, nothing will be rejected of them. For Allah knows well those who are God fearing/God conscious" (3:113-115)

Remember my brothers and sisters, that the world is not all black and white. Not all non-Muslims are kufar, and likewise not all those who are called Muslims are really as such. Remember that worshipping Allah is not about our "religious system". It's not about what language we speak or where we come from. It's not even about where we worship. It's about finding that "proof" of Allah in our mind, and then seeking Allah in our heart, and seeking to commune with Allah. Close your eyes and imagine that image of "worshipping Allah as if you see Him". The next time you pray, visualize not only your master and owner, but Allah as your true love (Al Wadud) and your best friend (Al Wali) and feel his comforting embrace, for he tells us that to his servant, he is closer than our jugular vein. (50:16)

...And Allah Knows Best...

Worship God as If you See Him

In the name of Almighty God, Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. It is recorded in the Sahih al Bukhari or the most widely recognized authentic collection of prophetic sayings and traditions (aka the Hadith) that one day a man came to the prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was among his followers and asked the prophet, "What is Islam (complete, willful and peaceful submission to Almighty God)?" To which, the prophet replied, "Islam is to testify that there is nothing worthy of worship besides Almighty God alone with no partner, and that I (Muhammad) am the messenger of God (shahadah), to perform daily ritual prayer (5 times a day) in remembrance and glorification of God (salah), To give a small portion (2.5%) of one's accumulated wealth to needy as a means of purifying one's wealth (zakat), to engage in religious fasting during the holy month of Ramadan (siyam), and to make or have sincere intentions to make the great pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca at least once in one's life (hajj)." *theses are the actions that make a Muslim a Muslim*

The man then asked, "What is iman (faith)?" The prophet said, "Iman is to believe in Allah (God Almighty), to believe in his prophets (all those mentioned in the Qur'an as well as the Qur'anic notion that there were many more not mentioned; these include but are not limited to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and of course Muhammad, peace be upon them all), to believe in his books (the Torah revealed to Moses, the Zaboor or Psalms revealed to David, the Injil or Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Qur'an revealed to Muhammad), to believe in his Angels (those mentioned by name such as Gabriel but also the countless Angels not mentioned by name), to believe in the Day of Judgment (that all people will be judged for their actions in this life), and to believe in qadr (the belief that Allah knows all that is, has been, and will be). *These are the beliefs that make a Muslim a Muslim*

Then the man asked, "What is Ihsan (perfection)?" To this the prophet said, "Ihsan is to worship Allah as if you see Him, even when you don't see Him, but knowing that He always sees you".

After this the man went away and the prophet asked his followers who were present, "do you know who that was?" His followers said "the prophet of God knows better than us". The prophet then said, "That was the Angel Gabriel and he did that to teach you your religion".



This story teaches us, just as it did the prophets contemporaries, what being a Muslim is all about. It outlines what one must believe to be a Muslim and what one must do to be a Muslim, and this hadith is often quoted when teaching the basics of the five pillars of Islam and the six pillars of faith. However, we often don't spend as much time talking about the last part of this hadith "ihsan". The prophet said that it means to worship Allah as if you see Him, even when you don't see Him, and always knowing that He sees you. Etymologically speaking the word "ihsan" means "to perfect" or "excellence". So, in actuality, the prophet is describing here how one perfects their worship of God, i.e., by worshipping Him as if He's right there in front of you, watching you, because in reality, He is, but it's only our tiny stature in relation to Allah, and our limited sensory perception that Allah created us with that prevent us from ever actually "seeing" Allah in this life.



The word ihsan is used also throughout the Qur'an, often times coupled with the words "iman" or "islam" but also is often coupled with the word "taqwa". Allah said in the Qur'an,



"Allah is with those who have taqwa and are muhsinoon (those who have ihsan)" (Surah an Nahl: 128)



The word "taqwa" is often translated as "fear of God". It is the concept that people do good and avoid wrong action and sin, out of fear of the punishment of God. It can also be understand as having a sense of "God consciousness" or being ever aware of God's sovereignty over you and your life.



Ultimately this is the primary ingredient missing in most of our society today. Not just Muslim societies, and not just American society, but BOTH. God consciousness or "taqwa" and "ihsan" are concepts fundamental to Islam, but I believe carry over into ALL divinely revealed faith traditions (i.e. Judaism and Christianity).



The English philosopher John Locke (who was one of the primary influences on the thought of Thomas Jefferson), in speaking about Atheism in in his "Letter Concerning Toleration" (published in 1689) says, "promises, covenants, which are the oaths are the bonds of human society, can have no hold on an atheist". This of course being because atheist, necessarily, have no sense of accountability to anyone but themselves. Thus, atheists, according to Locke, can't be "tolerated" in society.

So many people only pray when others around them are praying. Many only give charity when it is socially "hip". Like when the earthquake hit Haiti. Then, everyone was giving a dollar here a dollar there, but where were they for the YEARS before that when Haiti was the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere. Many Muslims that I see on my facebook page or in the local community wave Palestinian flags and brandish red, white, green and black colors when something like the flotilla disaster happens, but where are they the rest of the time? The same is true for folks who speak so passionately about Palestine but seem to neglect to mention Somalia, or the persecution of Christians in China, or other social atrocities.

The point is that for Muslims, and for that matter Christians, Jews and other God fearing people, our entire lives revolve around the worship of Almighty God, and when we say worship we're not just talking about dogmatic rituals, we're talking about serving humanity. Muslims are commanded to serve Allah by serving creation, and Christians are obliged to love all, even the sinners for that was the way of Jesus Christ (peace and blessings be upon him). We need not do that only when it is socially savvy or "in" to do so, but we need to remember, "worship God as if you see Him, even though you don't see Him, but know that He SURELY sees you". We ALL need to live knowing that God Almighty sees us both outwardly and inwardly, and when we are along others or alone. If we all did that, this world might be a little better place.

...And Allah Knows Best...

Reflections on Tawheed (The Oneness of God)

In the name of Almighty God, Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Probably the most important part of our aqeedah or theology is the concept of tawheed, or the absolute oneness of Allah, God Almighty. It is the foremost important element of the deen or religion of Islam; more important than no drinking alcohol, more important than avoiding pork, more important than how you dress, and even more important than the daily ritual prayers which are regarded as the most important "act" that Muslims are required by Allah to do.

The original Muslims, meaning firstly the prophet Muhammad himself of course, his contemporaries who followed him (the sahaaba), the generation immediately following the sahaaba (taba'een) and the generation immediately following the taba'een (taba taba'een) are known now as they were then, as the greatest generations of Muslims, known as our righteous predecessors, or as they are commonly referred to in Arabic, the Salafi Saleh. This concept comes from the saying of the prophet himself, when he said, "the people of my generation will be the best (in religion), and then those after them, and then those after them". These Muslims not only knew the concept of tawheed very well, it was the entire essence of their being. Everything they did, said, thought and believed revolved solely around this concept.

As succeeding generations came and went, the concept of tawheed started to become lost in the practice of Islam, as more and more Muslims became more and more distant from those earliest generations. Many Muslims began to mix local custom (which largely contradicted tawheed) with elements of Islam. All of the divinely inspired faiths are unfortunately subject to this phenomenon. A prime example is how so many ancient pagan rituals of Druid Europe made their way into the common practice of Christianity such as Christmas trees and Easter bunnies. As this phenomenon began to influence Muslims, the scholars of the time realized a need to systematically teach the concept of tawheed so that as new peoples and even whole nations entered into Islam, they would have the ability to be educated on this most important of principals. After all, the first pillar of Islam is the declaration of "laa illaha ila Allah" or "there is none worthy of worship except God". So for any worship to be directed at anything besides Allah was fundamentally anti-Islam, and as such was many of the practices of Muslims of the day which included the worship of graves and the veneration of so-called "saints". In order to teach tawheed in a relatively easy to understand way, the scholars broke the concept down into three parts.

1. Tawheed ul Rubbubiyyah (The Oneness of God's Lordship).
This is the element of tawheed which recognizes that everything in existence belongs solely to Allah, and Allah ALONE has dominion and control over it. A common Qur'anic du'a (supplicatory prayer) laa hawla quwata illa billah (there is no power or might except Allah) is a dhikr, or statement of remembrance, that emphasises this element of tawheed. This is emphasised in the hadith or saying of the prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that, "if the whole universe came together to harm you, they would not be able to unless Allah has willed it, and likewise if the whole universe came together to benefit you, they would not be able to unless Allah has willed it". This element of tawheed means that anything and everything belongs to Allah; the trees, the animals, us, all of the things we've made like buildings and art and literature, and everything else belongs to Allah. The fourth pillar of Islam, zakat (giving of at least 2.5% of one's wealth to the poor) is actually an act of worship that reflects this element of tawheed. We are required to spend of our wealth on those that aren't so fortunate because doing so is a recognition that your wealth is not really YOUR wealth; it belongs to Allah. You are only entrusted with it. Those who hoard wealth, are actually committing shirk (idolatry) because they are taking their money as lord instead of Allah. They hoard wealth because they believe that the money will benefit them. Remember the above hadith, no amount of money will ever benefit you unless Allah wills it. Therefore, it's not the money that ever benefits you, it's only Allah. So, it is impossible for anyone with true faith in Allah, and true taqwa (God fearing-ness) to be stingy with money. Those that are are either very weak in faith, don't have faith in Allah at all, or are just ignorant of this most important concept of tawheed ul rubbubiyyah.

2. tawheed ul asmaa wa sifaat (the oneness of God's names and attributes):
This element of tawheed basically means that only Allah Himself has the right to describe Himself, and we as His creation have no right apply attributes of creation to Allah and we have no right to apply attributes of Allah to anything in creation. Allah says in the Qur'an,
"All of the most beautiful names belong to Allah, so call Him by them, and leave the company of those who belie or deny his names" (Qur'an 7:180) The reference to names is referring to what we commonly know as the 99 names of Allah. The names of Allah reflect various attributes of Allah. For example one of Allah's names is Al Waduud (The All Loving). The Arabic word waduud is the generic word for love, but when we put the "Al" ahead of it, it then becomes a proper noun and means that Allah is "the all loving, the epitome of love, absolute love beyond any notion of love understood by anything in creation". The principal of tawheed ul asmaa wa sifaat indicates that you can give the name 'waduud' to things in creation but nothing in creation can be given the name "Al Waduud", because that name only belongs to Allah. It is for this reason that Muslims who are often referred to as "Wahhabis" resent that term because "Al Wahhab" is one of the names of Allah. The name of the founder of that movement was named Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab meaning "Muhammad, the son of the servant of 'The Giver of All".
In this element of tawheed we CANNOT attribute characteristics to Allah that He does not attribute to Himself. For example, some people believe that Allah, God, is present in everything; present in His creation. Some believe that all elements of creation are essentially "pieces" of Allah. This concept did creep into Muslim thought and some still believe that, but it is a blatant violation of tawheed ul asmaa wa sifaat, because Allah in His own words in the Qur'an, clearly indicates His separation from creation. The famous ayat ul kursi or "verse of the throne" indicates that when it says,
"His throne extends over the Heavens and the Earth and he feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them".
Also Allah says in Surat al Ikhlaas or "the chapter of purity"

"Say: He is Allah, the ONE. The Eternal, The Absolute. He begets not, nor is He begotten, and THERE IS NONE IN CREATION COMPARABLE TO HIM.

Likewise the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) once asked a young girl where Allah was and she pointed to the sky. Muhammad (pbuh) then indicated that she was correct.

So, to attribute the notion that Allah is "in" His creation is a violation of tawheed ul asmaa wa sifaat. The key to this element of tawheed is "don't saying anything about Allah that He did not say about Himself, and don't say anything about anything in creation that Allah reserved for Himself".

3. tawheed ul 'uluheeyyah (The Oneness of God's Worship) This element of tawheed "seals the deal" is a sense. We can often get someone to fall in line with tawheed ul rubbubiyyah by them simply understanding that there is no power in all the universe other than Allah. Also we could relatively easily get people to understand that you can't say things about Allah that he didn't say about Himself and so on. However, both of those together don't make a Muslim a believer. Allah says in the Qur'an "Invoke not, nor pray to any Deity but Allah, there is no god but Him". (Qur'an 28:88) This means that our worship cannot be directed at anything or anyone except Allah, and Allah alone. Now, when we say "worship", we often think of ritual prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, sacrificing live-stock, and things like that. However worship is defined in Islam as "any act of invocation, seeking reward or aid from a Deity". Why do Muslims pray? Because Allah orders us to do so, so we do it for fear of His punishment for not doing it. Therefore we do it in order to seek reward or to seek protection in Allah from His anger. However, what about this; why do you obey the law? By law, I'm talking here about the law of the land, established by the government. We obey the law because if we don't we can be locked up right? Wrong. As Muslims, we must obey the law of the land because Allah orders us to do so when he says, "Obey Allah, His messenger, and those in authority over you". If we obey the law strictly in order to avoid being locked up or fined, then we are actually committing an act of shirk, because at that point we are taking the government as a lord besides Allah. This is where a lot of Muslims erroneously claim that we don't have to obey American laws because they are "kafir" laws (such as the law that states a man can only have one wife). This is a grave error because as the above verse states, we are required by ALLAH to obey those in authority over us, and it makes no reference to whether they are Muslims or Kufaar or People of the Book or whatever. As long as the law doesn't prevent you from practicing an essential part of Islam, you must obey (and marrying multiple wives is not 'essential'). Thus, obedience is also worship. We cannot show allegiance or obedience to anyone but Allah because to do so would be shirk (idolatry) and a violation of tawheed ul 'uluheeyyah. However, this is one of the main reasons why being a Muslim is so compatible with being an American. The US Declaration of Independence states that, "All men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator (Allah) with certain unalienable rights and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". As such the American ideology recognizes that rights come from God, not government. In reality, without really knowing it, they stumbled upon the concept of tawheed ul 'uluheeyyah because they recognized that government doesn't give people rights, only God does, and therefore it is not the job of the government to "rule" the people (i.e. the government acting as God) but rather it is only responsible for protecting the peoples' access to those God given rights. In keeping with that the Pledge of Allegiance, which is essentially a bayyah (pledge of allegiance in Arabic/Islamic termonology) say,
"I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the republic, for which it stands, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, indivisable, with liberty and justice for all". Notice the "one nation under GOD" line. Many Muslims claim it is haraam (forbidden) to recite this but I would argue otherwise based on this line, because the pledge recognizes that the republic isn't God, but it exists under God, subserviant to God, recognizing Allah's sovereignty over it, just as the founding fathers realized that government does not exist to "play God" but it exists to protect the peoples' relationship with God (note: there have been moves by many atheist groups to remove the 'one nation under God' line from the pledge. Insha'Allah they will fail, but if they succeed then it would indeed be haraam or forbidden for a Muslim to say it; in my opinion). It is for this reason that I would argue, and Allahu 'Alim I may be wrong, that the United States, at least in it's founding principal, is the MOST Islamic country in existence today, even though it was founded mostly by non-Muslims.
Tawheed ul 'Uluheeyyah is about obeying, invoking, and putting one's trust in NONE but Allah and Allah alone, and then by doing that we also have responsibility to obey those who Allah orders us to obey like the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), our parents and those in authority over us (our government). If one finds themself unable to practice Islam while still obeying the laws of the land, remember Allah's words

"When the angels take the souls of those who died in sin, they (angels) will ask 'in what plight were you in?' and they (the sinners) will reply 'we were weak and oppressed in this land'. The angels will ask, 'was Allah's earth not spacious enough that you might move away from evil?' Such people will find there abode in Hell; what an evil refuge!" (Qur'an 4:97)

In layman's terms, "if you don't like it here....LEAVE". In some countries like Communist China, Cuba or other nations, many Muslims may indeed have difficulties practicing essential parts of Islam. Unfortunately that is the case in many Muslim majority countries such as Turkey where women are barred from wearing the hijab in public offices and schools, and in the formally Taliban occupied Afghanistan where women were barred from seeking education (which is an obligation on all Muslims). Fortunately, for us in the US, there really aren't any legal barriers to us practicing Islam, but nonetheless if a Muslim feels that they are not able to live "Islamically" here in the US, then as Allah says, they can always leave.


In conclusion, tawheed is indeed the most important concept of all Islamic concepts. It is this concept that should be taught first to new Muslims. I know that it wasn't really among the first things I was taught. It should be the first thing taught because once it is engrained in the mind and heart and soul of the new Muslim, all other elements of Aqeedah (theology, doctrine, lifestyle) will fall easily into place. New Muslim sisters wont have an issue with wearing hijab if tawheed is firmly engrained in their hearts. New brothers wont have problems lowering their gaze from the "poisonous eye candy" of our modern society, and most of all, ALL Muslims will be much more united and focused on our common goals of promoting what is good and preventing evil as opposed to focusing so much on our small and petty differences. I say all this first as a reminder to myself to focus on these concepts of tawheed and to use it to work towards bettering myself and bettering my iman. Insha'Allah I hope that some of you may find some benefit or at least food for thought. And, anything that I have said that is wrong is strictly from my own flawed self, and anything in this that is good is solely from Allah the Most Glorious, and the Most High.

...Allah Knows Best...

Combating Extremism Needs to Become the Muslim Communities Top (or near top) Priority

In the name of Almighty God, Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We are bombarded on a daily basis with news stories of violence in Muslim majority countries. Whether it be the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the pirates or Al Shabaab in Somalia, Al Qaeda insurgents in Iraq, or state sponsored terrorism and political intimidation within the borders of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Of course the news media, which is anything but unbias, tends to only show Muslims doing these sorts of things and do little to show Muslims doing anything positive. For example the national news media did absolutely NO reporting on the work of groups like Islamic Relief in Haiti earthquake relief. Of course this is because fear makes for better ratings. The national news media always has to have someone to paint as the "boogie man" in order to keep people watching.

However, even though these stories of indiscriminate violence against largely innocent masses in the Muslim world aren't the whole picture, they ARE still indeed part of that picture. When faced with questions about terrorism and its relationship to Islam, we Muslims often point out the peaceful teachings of Islam; we point out that violence is only permissible in self defense according to Islam; and we point out that the VAST majority of Muslims are peaceful people and that people like those in Al Qaeda are a very small minority. While all these things are indeed true, we are still not really addressing the issue. Yes these terrorist are a small minority BUT they are a small group with BIG consequences. We can't simply ignore that and try to make it a non-issue.

When incidents of terrorism or attempted terrorism occurs in the US or the west in general, groups like ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) or CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) will always issues statements that all pretty much say the same thing; "We condemn these actions...we applaud law enforcement...we stand with all Americans against terrorism"and on and on and on. While these responses are indeed necessary, they are nothing but empty words if we don't actually do something to act on those condemnations of terrorism in order to do our part to prevent these incidents from happening in the first place.

Muslims may ask though, "well what are we really supposed to do. Of course we do condemn terrorism but what more are we supposed to do to stop it. Past incidents have shown that virtually no one who is a terrorist or terrorist in training is born and raised in that ideology. Everyone who gets rapped up in this movement gets indoctrinated or "radicalized" at some point in their life but more often than not it's when they are in their teens or early adulthood. That isn't surprising as this is when people are usually the most idealistic and the most impressionable. They usually come from more secular families, not religious ones. After all Osama bin Laden was an engineer and has no formal religious schooling whatsoever. They are usually plucked by terrorist recruiters from Muslim youth from socially, politically and economically disenfranchised backgrounds, which is basically everyone outside the ruling class in most Muslim majority countries and from poorer inner-city areas of the US and other western countries. Bear in mind that there have been Muslim converts from more upper class suburban areas of the US and western countries that have become radicalized but usually become radicalized after falling into radical Muslim groups within inner-city environments. John Walker Lindh or the "American Taliban" is an example of that. They are radicalized using a combination of two basic ideological tactics
1. Terrorist recruiters take possibly legitimate grievances that Muslims generally have against the west and the US and grossly over exaggerate them. They use the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to say that the US is murdering innocent Muslims including women and children. They use political puppets like Saddam Hussain and Hosni Mubarak to claim that the US is a political colonial power (hearkening the memories of "actual" colonialism by European nations), and they will point to things like MTV and American films and music in general to claim American cultural imperialism. That's ultimately what they paint America as; an imperialist power bent on world domination, akin to Nazism and Communism. They also utilize extreme left-wing socialist ideologies including the hatred of Capitalism and the claim that Americans are fat, greedy hoarders of wealth. By making these gross exaggerations, the newbie is left believing that America is the most evil force on Earth.
2. They have to twist Islamic scriptural doctrines from the Qur'an and the example of the prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in such a way that it can be used to justify violence against innocents. For example the Qur'an teaches that taking an innocent life is akin to killing all of humanity. So, they simply twist the facts to convince their recruits that they're not innocent. Osama Bin Laden says in a letter addressed to the American people that because the American people elect those in government, the American people are therefore part of the government, and therefore part of the aggression, and therefore legitimate targets. When recruits ask about the killing of children or other Muslims, they'll simply say they are just casualties of war and that Allah will not judge them unjustly, or they will say (about other Muslims) that's the consequence of living in the Dar ul Harb (land of war). The Qur'an is interpreted willy-nilly based on their own "interpretations" and recruits are NEVER exposed to the 1000+ years of Islamic theological scholarship on the Qur'an which overwhelming condemns all forms of physical aggression, especially against non-combatants.

Once these recruits are convinced of the evil imperialistic intentions of America, and the permissibility within Islam to commit acts of aggression against innocent people, then they are officially "radicalized", and ready for para-military training.

So how can we, the Muslim Ummah, combat these issues. Well I would break down my suggestions as such.

1. EDUCATION: This means both Islamic and secular education. We need to be ever increasing our youths access to quality Islamic education in our Islamic centers. We need to have "hip" and relevant means to keep our youth interested in being at the mosque and learning about the true tenants of Islam while socializing with other Muslim youth, thus building our community leaders of the future. We Muslims in the wealthier nations in the west also need to be financially supporting quality Islamic and secular education in the Muslim majority countries. Muslims in those countries have little to no access to quality education save a few exceptions and we who have the financial advantage in the west need to be supporting the de-radicalization of Muslim youth overseas. What we have right now is actually the exact opposite as many American mosques and Islamic centers are funded thru such entities as the Saudi embassy. Also remember it's not the job of the US government to help "build" good societies in the Muslim countries. We need to take care of our own and the American government needs to focus on economically and militarily protecting and serving the American people.

2. JUSTICE: We have to stand for justice. Allah says in the Qur'an, "O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you swerve, and if you distort justice or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that you do." [Sûrah al-Nisâ’: 135] As we can see by this verse we must strive hard to act justly, even when it is against ourselves, even if it be against the poor (we often are against the rich), even if it be against our own families. We can't protest Israel just because they're Israel and they occupy Palestinian lands. There are indeed times when Israel is the aggressor but there are also times when the Palestinians are the aggressor. When that happens we have to defend Israel, no matter how much it may pain us, just as much as we defend Palestine when they are treated unjustly. Like Allah says, follow not the lusts of your heart, lest you swerve (from doing justice). We can't respond to incidents based on emotions. We have to assess the FACTS and not the "sound bites" and "talking points" of a situation before making judgments on people; even people who we normally assume to be wrong.

3. BE POLITICALLY NEUTRAL: Many Muslim organizations in the US claim to be politically neutral but anyone with half a brain can tell that they lean far to the left. It's no coincidence that the first two Muslim US Congressmen were Democrats. I'm not saying that's a bad thing necessarily but we as a community have to be careful to not get to much in bed with either party. We tend to side with Democrats because we don't hear many Republicans saying many nice things about Muslims, but don't let that fool you. Neoconservatives may not really like Muslims, but liberals don't like religion in general, but both will use you to get votes if they can. In keeping with justice, we have hold both parties accountable for their wrongs, and give them both our support in their good. This may be dealing with strictly the American Muslim community but ultimately we are the one's who have the potential to influence the rest of the world. Both parties have the potential to only feed the fire of extremism and radicalization of Muslims. Republicans tend to enrage the Muslim world due to their arrogance, and Democrats tend to make American look weak. The answer is somewhere in between. We need to show our brothers and sisters across the oceans that we are proud American Muslims. We need to show them that America is NOT an imperialistic power bent on world domination, and that even though America has made mistakes, America is ultimately only interested in protecting its citizens and preserving justice. Barack Obama's speech in Cairo was a very good step to dispelling the "over exaggerated" claims by terrorist recruiters.
Also in this same topic, be politically active. Be as informed as you can about political issues, including those not related to Islam or Muslims, and when I say be informed I don't mean just listen to media and politician talking points and sound bites. Actually go and read legislation for yourself. Study and learn the Constitution and understand the "proper" role of government. Register to vote if your a citizen. If your not a citizen and intend to stay here indefinitely, then work towards becoming a citizen. Learn the history of this nation. Know where the things we take for granted come from. Then actually go and vote.

4. ACTION: Once we've done these things (and we have in some ways been working on these things) we need to actually take action against those who are radicalizing Muslims into terrorist behavior. The first and best action is watch where your money goes. There are many good and legitimate Islamic charities but there are indeed some in which money does get funnelled to extremists. I once read a book called "My Jihad" by Aukai Collins, a white American Muslim, who fought as a mujihadeen in Bosnia (one example of a 'legitimate' modern day Jihad) and he tells of how he actually got to Bosnia under the disguise of a worker with an Islamic charity organization and how money and weapons were funnelled through their network. While that fight was a justified one, the same channels are being used by terrorists today. We need to find, as Muslims, what those channels are and rigorously boycott them and shut them down if we can. We need to actively boycott and protest oppressive Muslim governments including and especially Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a Muslim nation that's official doctrine is that of so-called Wahhabism. This doctrine, while not in and of itself one of preaching terrorism, has many elements that can lead to that type of indoctrination. Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and his protectors from the family of Saud did engage in what they called "jihad" against the other Muslims of Arabia and the world as whole in order to establish their puritanical version of Islam. Don't get me wrong Abd al Wahhab was a great preacher of tawheed (monotheism) and a rejector of saint and grave worship, but the way in which he chose to spread his message, through violent coercion, was and is unacceptable in Islamic theology. Saudi Arabia has many official policies that are blatant violations of traditional Islamic law. Women are forced to wear niqab or a face veil in addition to the traditional khimar or head covering, they are not allow to drive, etc. Christianity, Judaism and other religions are officially banned from Saudi Arabia, including what they see as deviant practices of Islam including that of the Sufis and Shia. There are many stories of women being executed for zina (adultery) when they were in fact rapped. All of these things are blatant violations of Islamic law and represent a dumbed down, over simplified, merciless and compassion less form of Islam that traditional Muslims in more free societies need to be more actively against. Just because they are the "custodians" of the Holy Kaa'ba and the cities of Mecca and Medina doesn't make them any authority on Islam. Firstly, we should not be taking funding from the Saudi embassy for our mosques and Islamic centers. The one who pays the piper calls the tune. So if the Saudis are funding American mosques and Islamic centers then that means they also may expect some homage be paid to them as well in regards to the influence of "Wahhabi" doctrine. The same is true of countries like Egypt or Syria or Jordan as well. Likewise we should oppose and boycott Muslim majority countries that actually prevent people from practicing Islam at all like in Tunisia or even Turkey. Both countries have passed laws actually banning the hijab of Muslim women in public offices. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we distance ourselves from the people of these countries; not at all. There are plenty of good and decent Saudis including many great scholars of Islam who live there. The same is true of Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey and every other Muslim country, but what I advocate is a complete boycott and political opposition to the governments of these countries. We need to do this primarily because it is the oppression of these governments that helps to breed the disenfranchisement that leads to radicalization. Ordinary Muslims are much less likely to be radicalized when they have jobs, when they have freedom of speech and assembly, the freedom to question their government and replace them when they see fit, and when they have the freedom to learn the true tenants of Islam in the midst of the places where that history actually took place. There are many things that I might not even be thinking of but the point is we need to take economic, political and cultural steps to make oppressive Muslim governments aware that the Muslims of the "free world" will no longer tolerate their completely un-Islamic behavior and treatment of our brothers and sisters living under their thumb, and we need to call them themselves back to the true tenants of Islam.

5 BE WILLING TO DEFEND THE DEEN: Even if all the above steps are taken, and even if Islamic governments did reform their ways, and we ended the sort of disenfranchisement that was behind most radicalization, there will still be radical extremists. There were extremists and terrorists in Islams past, even when Islamic civilization was flourishing. The prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), taught that whenever someone sees evil they have a responsibility to stop it with their hand, and if they cannot to stop it with their tongue, and if they cannot do that then to at least hold hatred for it in their heart, and that that is the least of faith. Likewise he also said that it is the responsibility of every Muslim to support their brother whether they do wrong or right, and when asked how we are supposed to support our brother when they are wrong, he said, "by preventing them from doing wrong". With regards to murder, Allah says in the Qur'an,

"If anyone kills a person, UNLESS IT BE FOR MURDER OR SPREADING MISCHIEF IN THE LAND, it will be as if he killed all of humanity, and if anyone saves a life, then it will be as if he saved all of humanity. " (Qur'an 5:32)

The verse states that killing a person in unequivocally forbidden UNLESS, they are guilty of murder or "spreading mischief in the land". By "spreading mischief" in this case, it means someone oppressing others, starting war, killing innocents, etc. Therefore, by this verse, it is not forbidden, for a Muslim to kill someone who is doing those things. Now this is a very complicated issue as there is very little black/white in these issues, but generally, people like Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorist groups would fall under that category. I'm not a scholar of any kind but it seems to me that that might be a basis for a fatwa of jihad against those groups. After all, the leading killers of innocent Muslims are indeed these groups, not the American or other western military. So, what I'm saying is that true mujtahidoon might be able to look at this issue and issue an official fatwa of jihad against terrorists amongst the Muslims. In the history of Islamic civilization there were examples of Muslims having to fight other Muslims in battle in order to preserve order and prevent oppression being committed by Muslims. Now I want to make this very clear; Violence should never be resorted to as a quick fix to a complicated problem (because then we are no better than them), and all life is sacred, including the lives of these misguided young Muslims who become radicalized by evil forces within these groups. Those responsible for that misguidance need to be captured and brought to justice and exposed for what they are. For this reason Muslims need to support American and other coalition military campaigns to find, arrest, and if necessary kill the leaders of these groups. There is nothing un-Islamic in that. The sad truth is that it shouldn't be the responsibility of the Americans to do this. Muslims should have done this long ago, but unfortunately we have too many problems in the areas of faith and education to understand that responsibility. Right now the Afghan Army is fighting alongside US troops to end this radicalization. The same is true for Iraqi troops and Pakistani troops. I feel that they are the real mujihadeen in the world today because they are fighting the true oppression of the Muslims today. Likewise for this reason, American Muslims shouldn't be apprehensive about joining the US military. The American military and other government agencies need Muslims for the sake of educating troops, translating and helping bridge the cultural gap between the soldiers and those people that they come into contact with on a daily basis. Yes this may mean being put in a situation of having to fight other Muslims, but you have to bear in mind that the Muslims who US troops are fighting mostly are Muslims who are working for, supporting and protecting people who are undoubtedly vile enemies of Islam, regardless of their claimed adherence to it. Many Muslims both in the official army as well as civilian militia are volunteering to fight alongside the Americans because they recognize that threat, and they recognize that threat because they see what many of the rest of us don't; the brutality and ruthlessness of these people who's ideologies have no place in the religion of Islam.

These are a few steps that I might humbly suggest as viable steps towards actually doing something, as the Muslim community, about the terrorist problem. I am no kind of scholar so don't take this as any kind of fatwa and don't think that I'm not open to other notions, ideas, or points of view. I'm not perfect and I'm open to any thoughts on the issue. Anything good in it is from Allah and anything bad or wrong is from my own flawed self.

...And Allah Knows Best...

Fitrah...The Natural State of the Human Being

In the name of Almighty God, Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We live today in a world consumed with an imaginary view of what it means to be "human". An imaginary view fueled by deviant religious traditions and cult-like beliefs as well as years of over saturation of fantasy television and film. At the heart of every religious tradition is a quest for the truth of human existence. Why are we here? What is our purpose? These are questions that have consumed all elements of human civilization since the very beginning.

The prophet Abraham (peace and blessings be upon him), forefather of the three great monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, was the subject of one of the most profound and impactful stories of enlightenment and self-realization in human history. A story of one of the greatest human beings ever to live discovering the key to human existence. The Holy Qur'an relates the story...

Thus did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth that he be one of those who have Faith with certainty. When the night covered him over with darkness he saw a star. He said: "This is my lord." But when it set, he said: "I like not those that set." When he saw the moon rising up he said: "This is my lord." But when it set he said: "Unless my Lord guides me, I shall surely be among the erring people." When he saw the sun rising up, he said: "This is my lord. This is greater." But when it set, he said: "0 my people! I am indeed free from all that you join as partners in worship with Allah. Verily, I have turned my face towards Him Who has created the heavens and the earth Hanifan (Islamic Monotheism, i.e., worshipping none but Allah Alone) and I am not of Al-Mushrikeen (those who worship others besides Allah)." Surah 6: 75-79

In this story, we see that Abraham realized that the only thing that can truly be "the Almighty" is the unseen "mover and shaker" that is behind all that can be seen and experienced by man, rather than anything that IS experienced by man. In other words, he discovered Allah.

The word Allah, actually means something a little different than the English word "God". In English, the word "god" simply means something that is worshipped. It can be anything; a statue, a painting, a tree, a rock, a person, a supernatural being, or even just an idea or even one's self. Early English speaking Christians developed the concept of the capitol letter in order to distinguish the "gods" of their ancient pagan ancestors, and the "God" of Jesus Christ (peace and blessings be upon him) and of the Hebrew Bible. The word Allah is a very ancient Semitic word, possibly predating the Arabic language itself, which means "the originator, the creator, the only thing actually worthy of worship/ the only legitimate "god"" and was the word used for the Creator by Arabic and Aramaic speaking Jews and Christians before it was used by Muslims (and still is used by Arabic speaking Jews and Christians). When the Qur'an was revealed to the prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) it was the word that the Creator Himself used to name Himself. It is for this reason that even us "English speaking Muslims" often use the word "Allah" rather than "God".

While their were prophets before him, their knowledge of Allah was not like that of Abraham. They were simply given knowledge of Allah, whereas Abraham discovered Allah through Allah's greatest gift to humanity; reason. He was able to reasonably deduce, before being given prophecy by Allah directly, the existence of Allah.

What then is our place in relation to Allah?

The Qur'an is, as we believe, the literal speech of Allah to his final prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). In it, Allah says,
"I only created jinn and man to worship Me" (Qur'an, 51:56)

This tells us more than it seems at first glance. When Allah says that He created us to worship Him, we must understand what "worship" means. It doesn't only just mean the stereotypical ideas of worship such as bowing, prostrating and invocation (although these are included), but it means obeying Allah's law (will) and serving Allah in the way He asked to be served. It means that we are created to serve Allah on His terms; NOT on OUR terms. This means that any religion created by man necessarily cannot and will not ever be accepted by Allah. Allah says in the Qur'an,
"And whoever seeks religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers" (3:85).

To clarify, the word ISLAM means "to submit to the will of Allah (God)". This does NOT refer exclusively to the religion of the followers of Muhammad (peace be upon him). Today, we as well as non-Muslims know the word ISLAM to be a proper noun referring to a specific group of people, but we must not forget that the word ISLAM is actually a verb in the Arabic language, not a noun. Therefore when Allah says this, He's referring to all human beings who recognize Allah, and strive, according to what knowledge they have, to live and worship on His terms; NOT their own. So this means that a Jew who knows nothing of Jesus Christ (p.b.u.h.) will not be judged for his ignorance nor would a Christian who doesn't know anything about Muhammad (p.b.u.h.). They will however be judged on what they DO know of the will of God. This is why Allah also says in the Qur'an,

"Surely those who believe (Muslims), and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians (don't exist today) -- whoever believes in God and the final judgment and does good (in this life), they shall have their reward from their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor shall they grieve" (2:62, 5:69, and many other verses).

In the verse, Allah mentions Jews and Christians because both of these religions were divinely revealed, meaning they originated with real Revelation from Allah (although they have deviated since then; actually not unlike many groups of Muslims as well). Then Allah also says "whoever believes in God and the final judgment and does good". The means that even an isolated jungle person who has never heard of the Bible or the Qur'an or any of these divinely inspired religions, they are still judged on what they DO know. This brings us to the issue of fitrah.

The word "fitrah" means "disposition, nature, constitution and instinct". This concept in Islamic theology refers to a persons innate sense of longing for the divine. It is a fundamental part of every human being as Allah creates us strictly for the purpose of worshipping Him.

Our ability to reason, as I mentioned, is one of our great gifts, just as Allah gives great gifts of strength, speed, invisibility, and flight to jinn. And, just like those gifts, our gift of reason is one of our greatest tests in this life. It is our ability of reason that ultimately allows some of us to deny Allah's existence entirely. This is the ultimate miss-use of that great gift. Their are other miss-uses of the gift as well that ultimately result in the many varied religious traditions that we see across the human spectrum today. That ability of reason is what allows us to start making our own terms for worshipping Allah instead of submitting ourselves to HIS terms. It is why some people make statues or trees or rocks or even people to be intermediaries between them and Allah. That's why even polytheistic religions have knowledge of Allah. The Hindus call Him "Rahman" and the Native Americans called Him "The Great Spirit". However, in these religious traditions, they create systems of worship set around certain elements of their culture and surroundings that represent to them the various attributes of Allah. It short, they set up partners with Allah. This is how idolatry works. When left unchecked eventually it can lead to rejection of Allah altogether, or even the replacement of Allah with the self (as in traditional Buddhism).

Our proverbial "jungle man" who knows nothing of the Bible, the Qur'an or any divinely revealed religious scriptures or teachings, still, as all humans do, have the innate knowledge that SOMETHING beyond our physical realm and what we can experience with our senses does indeed exist, and they have the ability, through there capacity of reason, to understand the oneness or tawheed of Allah. Just as the prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) did.

We, as humanity need to get back to understanding our fitrah. It is only the return to this fundamental understanding of our existence that can save us from our social ills. However there are other elements of fitrah. All human beings are born with the fitrah of "submission to and worship of the Almighty". However we are also individually created with unique gifts and talents that make us, individually, who we are in society.

In the Muslim community, it is very common to see this scenario. You have one brother at the masjid who is...lets say....a mechanical engineer. He's a devout Muslim more or less. He makes all his prayers either right on time or within the window of time allotted for them. He fasts every day in Ramadan and whatever he must miss he makes up. He gives his required zakat. Sometimes a little more, sometimes not. He hasn't been to Hajj yet but intends to. He reads the Qur'an but not really as much as he should, and he mostly relies on listening to more qualified scholars when faced with uncertain religious-law questions. On the other hand, he is very successful in his work. He has a deep passion for what he does for a living and has for as long as he can remember, and couldn't imagine himself doing anything else.

Now, you also have another brother. This brother, masha'Allah, not only prays every one of the five fardh ul ayn prayers exactly on time but also makes every sunnah rakaat and makes countless nawafil rakaats throughout the day. Not to mention standing in Qiyam ul Layl every night for hours at a time. He not only fasts during Ramadan, not missing a single day, but also fasts every Monday and Thursday and fasts on other recommended days as well like Yawm ulAshurah. Whatever money he makes he gives most of it (save only what he absolutely needs to survive) to charity. He is seen day and night in the mosque praying and reading and reciting the Qur'an. He also spends countless hours studying tafseer and fiqh books written by the great Islamic theologians of the past, and even has memorized large portions of the Sahih ul Bukhari. He is consequently, someone who is often sought for advise on religious matters. As far as work, he isn't really skilled in any sort of field but works at a warehouse, packing boxes and often goes from one job to another due to layoffs and cut-backs. He is not concerned with this because for as long as he can remember all he's ever wanted to do with his life was devote it to the deen

Here's the question...which one of these brothers would most consider a better Muslim? Most people would consider the second of the two to be a better Muslim. Some might say the first brother as he is more likely to be taking care of his family. The real answer to that question is neither.........or maybe both. Neither one is necessarily better than the other because Allah creates us with unique inclinations to certain fields and careers in this life. In a hadith narrated by 'Abdullah bin Mus'ud, the prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him said, " a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days, and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write four things. He is ordered to write down his/her deeds, his/her livelihood (what they will do for a living/career), when and how he/she will die, and whether he/she will be happy or miserable in this life. Then the soul is breathed into him."

So as the hadith mentions, when we are but babies in the womb, we are given the fitrah, of what we will do with our lives in terms of career. This of course explains why we all have certain areas of expertise or areas of interest in which we've always been incline to or in which we've always been naturally talented. Allah, in an indirect way, also mentions this concept of the idea of "specializations" in the Qur'an. Allah says in Surah at Tawbah, verse 122...

"And it is not for the believers to go forth [to battle] all at once. For there should separate from every division of them a group [remaining] to obtain understanding in the religion and warn their people when they return to them that they might be cautious."

Thus, in this verse, Allah creates the need for some to specialize in studying the deen (religion) so that they may warn the others. All Muslims are required to seek knowledge as it is reported by Anas ibn Malik that the prophet (p.b.u.h.) said, "It is the duty of every Muslim to seek knowledge", and knowledge of the religion is the best of knowledge as the prophet (p.b.u.h.) also said, according to the narration of Mu’awiyya bin Abu Sufyan, “The one for whom Allah wills good (khayr), He grants him fiqh in the deen.”

However, the truth is that not everyone can be a mujtahid or someone who devotes their life to the study of the deen and is qualified to give fatawa (legal rulings). If everyone did this, as the second brother in the above example, then who would be the doctors, engineers, journalists, artists and so on? Some use this as an argument for following a madhab or an established school of thought. I might cautiously agree but I feel it is extremely important that Muslims avoid taqleed or taking legal rulings from scholars without knowing anything of their sources. A good scholar of Islam, in giving a ruling, will always first quote the Qur'an, then the Sunnah, then the ijma' or consensus of previous scholars and THEN give his/her opinion. If a scholar only gives their opinion without quoting the Qur'an and Sunnah and without paying homage to the scholars of the past, I personally either don't listen to that scholar at all or take their opinion with a whole lot of salt (in other words I'm very cautious about their opinion).

But, inevitably, most of us will not be mujtahidoon or scholars of Islamic law. So, we inevitably turn to people who are mujtahidoon to learn our aqeedah or the "ins and outs" of our deen. But, "that's ok". We should not look to those with more knowledge of the deen as "better Muslims" than those with less. If you are one of those Muslims with more knowledge of the deen, you should never look down on those with less knowledge as being "ignorant" or "less faithful". Also if you are one of those with less knowledge, you shouldn't feel yourself to be less of a Muslim than those who spend all their time in the masjid reading, reciting and praying, and nor should you look down on them as being backward or overly-zealous. We are all created for varied purposes in this life. By finding and fulfilling that fitrah, we who are not mujtahidoon are contributing as much to the ummah as those who are. Because, it is what Allah created us to do. A doctor contributes as much to the Ummah as a scholar of hadith does. A skilled artisan contributes as much as a skilled mufaseer, and a skilled musician or journalist contributes just as much as a skilled da'ee.


I bring this issue up because there tends to be quite an imbalance within the Muslim community in terms of what career fields you see most Muslims doing. Within mainstream Muslim communities you see an over abundance of doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc. If any of you have ever looked at the matrimonial ads in Islamic Horizons magazine you know the joke. Every single ad is a doctor, looking for another doctor, or a lawyer looking for another lawyer. This is very true of the immigrant Muslim community, and I understand why. I understand that most of those immigrants came to become doctors and engineers and such, pressure their children who are born American, to do the same, for the sake of being financially stable. Believe me I understand the importance of financial stability. However, we as the Muslim community in America, suffer severe deficiencies in media, arts, education, military and law enforcement and other "not so high paying" career fields. Those of you who are doctors ought to understand this. The prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) said, "The Muslim Ummah is like the human body, when one part of that body aches, the entire body aches". So comparatively, when a persons body gets A LOT of protein (which is a good thing) but not enough fruits and vegetables, it creates health problems due to the imbalance. We likewise as the Ummah, face problems due to imbalances in how we are not only enriching our own community, but how we are contributing to the larger American melting pot as well. We are slowly starting to see more Muslims in fields like TV and film, music (halaal that is not shake your booty, MTV stuff), journalism, literature, and also necessary fields such as the military and law enforcement, but we need to be encouraging more of it as parents, as community leaders and as brothers and sisters in Islam. May Allah guide us all towards the siraat ul mustaqeem and give us the hidayah to live in this life as a traveller....concerned for our surroundings and those we meet along the way, but always keeping an eye on our ultimate destination.

...And Allah Knows Best...