The beauty of prayer

Prayer in Islam is simply beautiful. Every time I pray I feel like I have discovered something new or I remember something within it that I hadn’t focussed on for a while. It is like you are entering a cave full of millions of precious jewels and every time you enter the cave, a different one glistens and catches your eye and you are in awe all over again of what you are seeing.

If I described every precious jewel, I would be writing a book, so I will pick out a few of the things that often manage to capture my heart when I pray. This is more of an article than a blog in length but I wanted to do the topic justice.

1.    Making Wudhu

Wudhu is the washing and purification Muslims do before they pray.

I love making Wudhu. Firstly, making Wudhu reminds me of how Allah is All-Seeing and All-Knowing. Whatever my outward actions, Allah knows everything that is in my head and my heart and He knows everything I do. For example, if you are a child and your mum tells you to wash before bed and brush your teeth, and in typical child fashion you can’t be bothered, you will do what you need to convince her you have done it with as minimal effort as possible. But with Allah, you can’t pretend you washed yourself properly before prayer while cutting some corners. This principle is something I love about being Muslim. It gives me such confidence to know that my faith in Allah and my decision to live my life to please only Him will keep me morally consistent. Knowing that He sees all that I think, feel and do, I will not be easily swayed by people or circumstances to deviate from the right path or cut some corners when it comes to doing the ‘right’ thing, because I am accountable fully and only to Him at all times.

Secondly it just feels so good to purify myself five times a day; to cleanse my soul over and over again. In the Hadith it explains how Wudhu washes away your sins. It means you approach your prayer in a state of spiritual purity so you can indulge in its beauty and renew your intention to fill your heart with the light of Allah (swt).

2.    Allahu Akbar (Takbir)

Sometimes when I pray, I get fixated on saying Allahu Akbar. Saying Allahu Akbar is known as ‘Takbir’ in Islam and means God is Greater. We say it so many times I think it is easy for it to blur into the background of our prayer. But if we bring it to the fore, it can make your prayer feel so incredibly liberating. Because you are simply stating over and over that God is Greater. He is greater than any problem, any person, anything. People sometimes mistakenly think it means ‘God is Great’, but it is so much better than that. It is the fact that whatever is going on in your life, literally anything, God is Greater than it. And so you can just hand it all to Him, let it all go, take that weight off your heart and free yourself of it because God is Greater.

3.    Remembrance of the mercy of Allah and His sustenance

One of the first things we recite in prayer and recite in every rakat is Surah Al-Fatiha. And we start with Bismillaahir-rahmaanir Rahim. Alhamdullilah Rabbil-Alamin. Ar-Rahmaanir-Rahim. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and the Sustainer of the Worlds. Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

We are told that He is our Sustainer and are therefore reminded that it is Him that we should turn to in times of need because only Allah can truly sustain us through all things . This duniya and everything in it is temporary and so if we seek things of this world to sustain us, we will inevitably be let down at some point. Yasmin Mogahed talks brilliantly on this subject and explains how through Allah you can ‘reclaim your heart’.

No doubt you can think of at least one time in your life where you relied on for something for happiness (money/people/possessions/appearance etc) and created an unhealthy attachment to it so that your happiness became dependent on it. And then it got taken away from you because it was only ever temporary, like everything in this world, and you were left in despair. So as you begin prayer you are remembering to detach from your reliance on anything or anyone in this world and stating that your sustenance  - true unfaltering sustenance – comes from the One you are about worship.
 

After this sustenance we are immediately reminded that Allah swt has told us he is Most Merciful. Indeed throughout the Quran we are told not to despair of the Mercy of Allah. "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful." (Az-Zumar 39:53). We are told to keep turning back to Allah no matter what, and in our prayer that is exactly what we are doing 5 times a day. We are turning to Allah over and over and setting ourselves free of sin through renewing our relationship with Him and His infinite mercy. In the Hadith we are told:
 

“Allah has one hundred parts of mercy, of which He sent down one between the jinn, mankind, the animals and the insects, by means of which they are compassionate and merciful to one another, and by means of which wild animals are kind to their offspring. And Allah has kept back ninety-nine parts of mercy with which to be merciful to His slaves of the Day of Resurrection.” [Muslim, al-Tawbah, 6908.]
 

This means the mercy of Allah is 99 times greater than the most mercy you have ever witnessed any human being or animal in this duniya give to another living creature. SubhanAllah.  Every time I recite Ar-Rahmaaanir Rahim my heart feels completely overwhelmed as I attempt to contemplate the level mercy that I have been given by Allah (swt).

4.    Reciting Quran – Keeping the guidance of Allah just where we need it

We recite two different Surahs in addition to Surah Al-Fatiha when we pray, and this means we have a big incentive to memorise the words of the Quran - the words of Allah swt.

Reciting Quran in our prayer means we do not deviate from this guidance and the mercy given to us by Allah because our prayers are filled with His words, not our own. And so rather than our prayers becoming all about what we want or need, it is in fact all about what He wants us to know so we may be successful in this life. It is through this, not through our desires, that we truly gain strength and help from Allah. We then save our personal requests to Allah for our duas, keeping a healthy balance in our relationship with God.

It also means that whenever we are facing a moment when we need the words of our Lord to help or guide us, we have kept this invaluable resource just where we need it, available any time, anywhere – stored safely in our memory.

5.    Sending Salaams to the Prophet (Alayhi Salaam)

It states in the Hadith that when the Ummah send their Salaams to the prophet, Allah has sent angels to gather them from us and take them to him (Alayhi Salam).

The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allah has angels who go around on earth, conveying to me the salaam of my ummah.” [Narrated by al-Nasaa’i, 1282; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb, 1664.] 

 When we perform Tashahhud – the part of the prayer performed while kneeling – we say, “Peace to you, O Prophet, and the mercy and blessings of Allah” (As Salaamu ‘alaika ayyuhan nabiyyu wa rahmatul laahi wa barakaatuh).

So, at this moment in our prayer, our salaams are being gathered by angels to take to the Prophet (alayhi salaam). Knowing this makes me smile so much every time I say these words as I imagine angels coming to me during my prayer to capture my salaams and take them to rasool-Allah!

6.    Sujood – elevating you heart and assuming a position of absolute submission and humility

I have loved this position from the first time I prayed. I remember the first time I prostrated and I just wanted to stay there because I had taken the decision to submit to Allah, and I felt like sujood epitomised the state of my heart and mind. Now, it means every time I perform sujood I am putting myself in this state of humility and submission before Allah, and remembering that I am at my best - my most peaceful and my most calm - when I fully submit to Allah.

Most of all, I love how this is the only position where your heart is higher than your head. A mind without a heart can be lethal. We see around us how people will justify and rationalise the worst of acts in their head which would simply not have been possible if their hearts had been involved in their decision making. And so keeping our hearts elevated is vital if we are going to use our minds in the right way.

This in itself is beautiful, but it is also an important lesson that we must nurture our hearts to be only for Allah swt. Allah illuminates our hearts if we seek Him, and only by following a heart illuminated by Allah are we able to be truly successful in this life. If our heart is not illuminated by Allah then it we will not be successful because what you think is your true heart may in fact be a desire that goes against the guidance of Allah. And so sujood is not just about elevating your heart above your head, but about elevating it towards Allah while in a position of submission. You must ensure that the heart you are following is only for Allah because only when your heart has submitted fully to Allah and puts Allah first will it guide your thoughts and actions successfully.

I could write so much more about the beauty of prayer however I hope this gives a taste of the things that make prayer the best part of my day :).

لماذا تهتم كثيرا بطريقة لباسي ؟

لا أعتقد أن هناك أحد يستطيع إنكار واقع أن الناس مهووسة بطريقة لباس المرأة المسلمة ، عندما يتكلم الناس عن الاسلام أول الأشياء التي يفكرون فيها هي الحجاب و/أو النقاب ، ومعظم الناس لديهم رأي به ، اكتب باللغة الانجليزية "المرأة المسلمة" في وجل وأول الاقتراحات والنتائج هي  "لباس المرأة المسلمة" ، أسباب لبس الحجاب مختلفة ومتعددة ولها أكثر من وجه ، وبسهولة استطيع تعدادها اذا أردت ذلك ولكن الأمر الذي أراه صعبا هو فكرة أن علي ذلك .

في الغرب ، الآراء حول طريقة لباس المرأة المسلمة تتمحور حول فكرة أن الحجاب يرى كرمز استعباد للنساء والنقاب كنوع من الاضطهاد لها . هذا مع العلم أن غالبية النساء المسلمات في بريطانيا اللواتي يلبسن الحجاب أو النقاب يلبسونه باختيارهم الشخصي ويرونه جميلا ومتحررا .

 

لذلك ، إذا النساء اللواتي يلبسن الحجاب أو النقاب في الواقع يحبونه ونكرر القول أننا لسنا مستعبدات ولسنا مضطهدات ، لماذا اذا يهتم كثيرا الناس الذين لا يلبسونه بطريقة لبس النساء المسلمات ؟ والأهم لماذا يعتقدون أنه من العادي أن يهمشوا ويقللوا من دور المحجبات والمنقبات من خلال التكلم عنا ويمتلكون آراء تتعارض مع ما نشعر به ونريده ؟

بالتأكيد ، بعض الناس لا يحبون الحجاب لأنهم لا يحبون الإسلام ، لا يحبون الحجاب والنقاب بشكل خالص لأنه يذكرهم بوجود أناس آخرين في مجتمعهم يطبقون هذا الدين ومن باب تجاهل أن لديهم مشاعر معادية له ، لهؤلاء الناس نحتاج لتغيير جذري في طريقة عرض الاسلام في الاعلام لتعكس حقيقة هذا الدين وعلى كل مسلم أن يفعل كل ما بوسعه لإنهاء كل تجاهل عن الاسلام مع الناس الذين يتعاملون معهم بشكل يومي في الحياة اليومية .

ومع هذا الكثير من الناس يكرهونه من خلال ما يعتبرونه منظور مساواة المرأة ، الفكرة منه أن المرأة يجب أن تتحرر من تغطية نفسها ، لهؤلاء الناس أعتقد أنه سيساعدهم أن يقرأوا في كتابات إدوارد سعيد في "الاستشراق" .

الاستشراق برر للأوروبيين الاستعمار ليقوم "الغرب" بإعمار "الشرق" لأنه مختلف وذا مستوى أقل ولذا يحتاج التدخل لإنقاذه ، أعتقد أن هناك إيمان قوي في العالم الغربي أن النساء الغربيات متحررات ومتقدمات ، بينما النساء المسلمات يجب عليهن أن يغطوا أنفسهن ويعيشوا ككائنات أدنى منزلة مستعبدات بدينهن . هذا الاضطهاد يتجسد بالحجاب أو النقاب.

 

الناس الذين يحملون هذه النظرة عليهم أن يستيقظوا ويعوا أن عقليتهم هي نفسها عقلية المستعمر الذي ذهب ل"يرتقي" بالآخرين لأنه ظن أن الاختلاف هو "دونية في المستوى" . تكمن المشكل في عقلية المستعمر وليس الثقافة والعادات للذين أرادوا استعمارهم .

 

في مجتمع اليوم ، هذه العقلية تظهر نفسها في تشييء المرأة المسلمة ، البريطانيون في الطبقة المتوسطة ذوو الأعمار المتوسطة غير المسلمين من الرجال والنساء يحبون الحديث بين بعضهم عن طريقة لباس المرأة المسلمة ، يعاملوننا كأننا أشياء ولسنا أشخاص لأنه إذا اعتبرونا أشخاصا في الاساس لكان من العجيب أن يناقشوا حياتنا بدون أي اعتبار لآرائنا في الأمر كله .

 

النقطة التي أبرهنها هي أنه إذا أرادت امرأة ان تغطي نفسها وأحد ما عنده مشكلة بذلك ، ثم يصبح مشكلة عندهم بذلك ، المشكلة ليست في المرأة التي تضع الحجاب لذلك ليس عليها أن تدافع عن حقها أو تبرر اختيار ارتدائها بطريقة معينة فقط لأن رأي احدهم متحيز ومختل بأن الحجاب لا يريحه .

 

في مقالة عن الخوف من الاسلام يقتبس كلام جون ملن الذي هو من اليسار المتطرف أن "الكثير من اليسار في فرنسا يعتبر الحجاب اعتداء على حقوق المرأة وانتقل هذا الموقف إلى اعتبار النساء المسلمات مضطهدات في المجتمع الفرنسي ومن ثم تم اعتبار المسلمين والعرب مصدر لهذا الاضطهاد للنساء ويتعارض مع القيم في جمهورية فرنسا ، حيث تم اعتبار الدين كمعيار للتقييم وهي عنصرية مقنعة ".

 

يجب أن لا يحصل النقاش حول لبس الحجاب أو عدم لبسه ، النقاش الحقيقي يكمن في قبول مجتمعنا لتهميش المرأة المسلمة من خلال مناقشة ما نلبس عندما لا نرغب في خوض مثل هذا النقاش .

هل المسلمون مضطهدون ؟

هناك فكرة منتشرة بين غير المسلمين أن تعليمات ومتطلبات الاسلام تمنع الحرية الشخصية وبناء على ذلك أنه دين يضطهد الانسان ، فالناس تريد أن تحررنا من ديننا لنشعر بما يسمونه "الحرية

"

بما انني أسلمت حديثا فأنا محاطة بكثير من الاصدقاء وعائلتي أيضا من غير المسلمين يشفقون علي من هذه الناحية بدرجات مختلفة ، وافهم ذلك بسبب الصورة التي ينشرها الاعلام بشدة عن الاسلام ،حيث انها ومن اكثر الاشياء التي اقلقت امي وابي بالنسبة لدخولي للاسلام هي أنه سيسلبني ارادتي الحرة وسيغير شخصيتي وهويتي الحقيقية وما انا عليه الى الشخص الذي يأمرني ديني ان اكون ، وأنا متأكدة ان هذا هو أمر يقلق منه أهل كل شخص يدخل الاسلام ، ولذلك كنت أفكر في كثير من القواعد التي نتبعها كمسلمين وكيف نشرحها لغير المسلمين وانها لا تقيد حريتنا ، أتمنى أن ما أكتبه سيساعد ليظهر منظوري للاسلام اننا نكون فيه احرارا وحسب رأيي يشعرنا بدرجة من الحرية التي يصعب جدا الوصول اليها من دون الاسلام

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القواعد التي يعتقد الناس انها تضطهدنا هي فقهنا الذي يغطي كل جوانب حياة المسلم لنعيش بطريقة تقربنا لله وصادقة للوصول لغايتنا ، يخبرنا ما هو مسموح وما هو ممنوع، وما ننصح به وما لا ننصح به ، يحتوي ايضا المعتقدات التي تخبرنا ما يجب ان نؤمن به ، الاخلاق التي يجب ان نتحلى بها لتحسين شخصنا ، وأفعالنا تجاه الاخرين لنتصرف بأفضل طريقة . من المهم فهم أن اتباع الفقه هو وسيلة للنهاية وليس هو النهاية ، هو وسيلة للحياة تسهل لنا العالم لنحصل على السلام في قلوبنا والراحة لعقولنا . في كتاب جفري لانغ "حتى الملائكة تسأل" الذي أنصح به بشدة ، يذكر حديثا ان النبي معناه أنه كلما زاد المؤمن في العبادة وفعل الخير زاد نوره ، واذا تركها يصبح قلبه صدئا لا نور فيه

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هذا الحديث يزول معناه اذا لم نعرف المعنى الحقيقي للعبادة وتركنا فهمنا للعبادة لطرقنا الخاصة لمعرفة ما هو فعل الخير ، درس القرآن والحديث بشكل مفصل من قبل الفقهاء لينتج الفقه الي يدلنا على ما يأمرنا به القرآن الكريم وما أخبرنا به الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام ، لسنا نأتي بالفقه من أنفسنا ونفهمه بالطريقة الخاطئة ، لذلك فهو ليس فقط يساعدنا ، بل هو بالتأكيد مهم جدا في حياة المسلم .

عندما أختار ان اصوم رمضان، وانا لا اشرب الكحول وألا آكل اللحم غير الحلال ، وعندما أختار أن ارتدي اللباس المحتشم ، وعندما أختار الاستيقاظ على الرابعة والنصف فجرا للصلاة ، أكون أختار أن اتبع تعاليم الدين (الفقه) ، لأنه عندما اتبعه أحس بالروعة والسعادة . أستيقظ فجرا وأبتسم لأني أعلم ان العالم نائم وهذا هو وقتي لأتقرب لخالقي ، اتحدث مع أناس اذهانها صافية كل مساء محادثات محفزة لأني أمتنع عن الكحول ، آكل اللحم الحلال وأنا سعيدة أنا حياة هذا الحيوان تم احترامها وتم ذبحه بطريقة بالكاد تؤلمه ولا تجعله يعاني ، ألبس لباسا مستورا وأدرك أن الناس الآن مجبرون أن يقيموني لذاتي ، لا لشكلي، ولا اهتم إن كان أم لم يكن مظهري كالصورة غير الكاملة للبعض لأنه حتى لو كان ، لا يعني ذلك لي شي .

 

إذا لا ، المسلمون غير مضطهدين ، نحن أحرار ، أحرار من السطحية والشكليات ، أحرار من ذلك الشعور بالفراغ الذي يعني مهما جمعت من المال سوف ترغب بالمزيد ، احرار من الحاجة لنحدد قيمتنا من خلال وظيفتنا أو مكانتنا في المجتمع ، نحن احرار من التشبه بالمشاهير في المجلات لنكون سعداء ، لدينا هذه الحرية باتباعنا لديننا ، منذ أن أصبحت مسلمة شعرت بحرية لم أعلم ابدا أني استطيع الحصول عليها ، الطريقة التي أعيش بها حياتي الآن باتباع الفقه لم تشوه هويتي ولم تأخذ مني إرادتي ، لقد جعلت مني شخصا أفضل وجعلتني أسعد ، الآن يستطيع الناس أن يروا الأفضل مني لأني أستطيع من خلال ديني أن أكسب ذلك .

البحث عن النور

 

الموضوع : مشاركة لرحلتي في البحث عن الحقيقة

رحلة في البحث عن النور

النور اسم من أسماء الله التسعة والتسعون . تشعر به من خلال الاستنارة التي تحصل في قلوبنا وتحررنا لتحقق السلام والطمأنينة اللذان يستمران ويصمدان في هذا العالم المتعب والعشوائي . عندما تحب قلوبنا ما صنعت قلوبنا لحبه ألا وهو حب ما يحب الله ، هذا الحب الراسخ يجعلنا نصمد في ما نمر به مهما كان ، وهو يقودنا لنكون الأفضل مع أنفسنا ومع الآخرين مهما يحدث حولنا .   

هذه المدونة لمشاركة رحلتي في البحث عن النور حيث أتجول في معرفتي في الإسلام ولأجد طريقي في هذه الدنيا كمسلمة جديدة . أتمنى من خلال مشاركة رحلتي أن أتمكن من مساعدة الكثير من الباحثين عن حياة مليئة بنور الله .

 

جلال الدين رومي ، شاعر صوفي مشهور ، يصف بطريقة جميلة الشخص الذي يبحث عن الحب في هذا العالم وتلك اللحظة الرائعة عندما تتحرر وتعيش فقط لحب الله ، حيث يقول في الرباعية الأولى :

كنت ميتا فأصبحت حيا / كنت باكيا فأصبحت ضاحكا 
لقد جاءت دولة الحب / وأنا أصبحت دولة راسخة 

Why do you care about the way I dress?

 

I don’t think anyone would dispute the fact that people are obsessed with how Muslim women dress. When people talk of Islam one of the first things people think about is the hijab and/or niqab, and most people have an opinion about it. Just type ‘Muslim women’ into google and the top suggestion is ‘Muslim women dress’. The reasons for wearing hijab are numerous, diverse and often multi-layered, and I could easily reel off all of the defenses of the hijab and niqab if I wanted to. But the thing that I find really difficult is the idea that I should even have to.


In the west, opinions about the way Muslim women dress usually revolve around the idea that the hijab is seen as a symbol of the subjugation of women, and the niqab to be outright oppression. This is despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslim women in the UK who wear the hijab or niqab do so out of personal choice and find it beautiful and liberating.

 

 

So, if the women who wear the hijab or niqab in fact love it and we repeatedly say that we are not subjugated nor are we oppressed, then why do people who don’t wear it continue to care so much about how Muslim women dress? And crucially, why do people think it is ok to objectify and disempower hijabis and niqabis by talking on our ‘behalf’ but holding views in direct contradiction to how we feel?


Admittedly, some people don’t like the veil because they don’t like Islam. They don’t like the hijab/niqab purely because it reminds them that there are people in their society who practice a religion which, out of ignorance, they have strong sentiments against. For those people we need radical change in the way Islam is portrayed in the media so that it reflects the truth of the religion, and for every Muslim to do their very best to dispel any ignorance about Islam with the people they come into contact with in their every day lives.


However, many people dislike it from what they would deem to be a feminist perspective. The idea that a woman needs to be set free from having to cover herself. For these people, I think it is helpful to take a look at Edward Said’s writings on ‘orientalism’.


Orientalism provided the justification for European colonialism whereby “the West” constructed “the East” as extremely different and inferior, and therefore in need of Western intervention or rescue. I think there is a strong belief in the western world that western women are more progressive and liberated, while Muslim women have to cover up and live as inferior and unequal beings, subjugated by their religion. This subjugation is visually epitomised in their hijab/niqab.

 

 

The people who hold this view need to wake up and realise that their mind-set is no different from the colonisers who went out into the world to ‘civilise’ other people – because ‘difference’ was mistaken as being ‘inferior’.  The problem lay with the mind-set of the coloniser - not the culture, customs or way of life of those they wished to colonise.

 

In today’s society, this mind-set manifests itself in the brutal objectification of Muslim women. British, middle class, middle aged, non-muslim men and women, love to have a chat amongst themselves about how Muslim women dress. They treat us as objects not subjects, because if we were genuinely seen as subjects then it would be pretty bizarre for our lives to be discussed with little, if any, acknowledgment of our opinion on the matter.

 

The point I am making is that if a woman decides to veil herself, and someone has an issue with it, then they have an issue with it. It is not the woman in the hijab who has the problem and so she should not need to continually defend her right or justify her choice to dress in a certain way, just because someone else’s prejudices mean it makes them uncomfortable. 

This excellent article on Islamaphobia quotes John Mullen of France's radical left-wing Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste who has argued that “The majority of the left in France believe that the hijab is an assault on women’s rights. This position quickly moves into the prejudice that Muslim women in France are more oppressed than non-Muslim women...Muslim and Arab men are then presented as the major source of women’s oppression and contrasted with the progressive white values of Republican France. So opposition to religious practices on the basis of progressive values can easily turn into a thinly disguised form of racism.”

 

We should not be having discussions and debates about 'wearing hijab vs not wearing hijab’, the real debate lies in whether it is ok for our society to disempower Muslim women through discussing what we choose to wear, when we have no desire for such a debate to take place.

 

 

 

 

Are Muslims oppressed?

There is a pervasive idea among non-Muslims that the rules and requirements of following Islam restrict individual freedom, and that it therefore is an oppressive religion. People want to set us free from our religion so that we may experience ‘freedom’.

As a Muslim convert, I am surrounded by non-Muslim friends and family who are sympathetic to this viewpoint to varying degrees, and I guess understandably so when you look at the mainstream media rhetoric about what Islam is. I think it is telling that one of the first concerns my parents had about me becoming Muslim was that it would take away my free will and change my identity away from who I really am to who my religion tells me I must be. And I am sure it is a concern that every parent of a convert must have. As a result, I have been thinking a lot about the rules we follow as Muslims and how we explain to non-Muslims that they do not restrict our freedom. I hope this post will help show my perspective on how Islam allows us to be free and, in my opinion, to experience a level of freedom that it is very difficult to attain without Islam.

The rules that people think oppress us are our fiqh – literally translated as the understanding or comprehension of something – and in Islam means the jurisprudence which covers every aspect of a Muslim's life so that we can live in a way that brings us close to God and true to our purpose. It tells us what is allowed and forbidden, recommended and advised against. It covers theology to tell us what we must believe, our ethics so that we can refine our character, and our actions so that we outwardly behave in the best way.

It is important to understand that following fiqh is a means to an end, it is not an end in itself. It is a way of life that facilitates us in this world so that we can have peaceful hearts and restful minds.

In Jeffrey Lang’s book ‘Even Angels Ask’ which I highly recommend, he mentions a Hadith (a saying of the Prophet (saw*)) which says “the more a believer persists in worship and doing good, the clearer his heart becomes so that it is better able to receive the divine light, and if someone is negligent of these, his heart becomes rusted and incapable of receiving divine illumination.”

This Hadith is not very helpful if we don’t know what worship actually is, and are left to our own devices to work out what ‘doing good’ should be. The Quran and Hadith have been studied extensively by scholars to create fiqh so that when we live as the Quran advises us and the Prophet (saw) recommended, we are not just making it up all by ourselves and inevitably getting it wrong. So fiqh is not just helpful, it is absolutely essential for the life of a Muslim.

When I choose to fast in Ramadan, when I choose not to drink alcohol or eat non-halal meat, when I choose to dress modestly, when I choose to get up at 4.30am to pray, I choose to follow fiqh. Because when I do, I feel amazing. I wake up at 4.30am and I smile knowing that the world is asleep and this is my time to be intimate with my creator. I abstain from alcohol and I have stimulating conversation all evening with people whose minds are clear. I eat halal meat and feel happy that this animal’s life was not taken for granted, but honoured, and that it was killed in a way that limits any suffering**. I dress modestly and realise that people are now forced to value me for who I am, not how I look, and I stop caring about whether or not my body looks like unattainable airbrushed images because even if it did, it would mean nothing to me.

So no, Muslims are not oppressed. We are free. Free of superficiality, free of objectification. We are free from that empty feeling that means no matter how much money you earn you still want more. We are free of the need to define our worth by what job we have or status we hold in society. We are free from feeling like the extent to which we look like the celebrities in magazines is fundamental to our happiness. We have this freedom by following our religion. Since becoming a Muslim I have experienced a freedom that I never knew I could. The way I now live my life, following fiqh, has not compromised my identity or taken away my free will. It has made me a better person and it has made me happier. Now, people get to see the best of me because I am empowered through my religion to attain it.

 

*sallallahu alayhi wa salaam (may God's blessings and peace be with him

**With Halal meat, this is a topic I will write more about as I am aware that animal welfare of halal meat, certainly in the UK, is not as it should be. However I must emphasise that this is not a reflection of Islam, but a reflection of people following fiqh without understanding its meaning.

*This article is in reference to the lives of Muslims who are actively seeking authentic knowledge, are focussed on spiritual development, and are meaningfully implementing the principles of their faith.

A journey of seeking The Light (An-Noor)

An-Noor is one of the 99 names of Allah. It means The Light. It is through the light of Allah and the illumination of our hearts that we break free and achieve a sense of peace that stays strong and consistent through the restlessness and unpredictability of this world. When our hearts love that for which they have been intended to love, it is a love that is unfaltering and a love that gets us through anything. It allows us to be the best of ourselves, and the best to others no matter what is happening around us.  

 

This blog is to share my journey of seeking The Light as I navigate through my growing knowledge of Islam and find my way through this Duniya (world) as a new Muslim. I hope that by sharing this journey I might help the many others who are seeking to live a life filled with the light of Allah.

Rumi, a famous Sufi poet, beautifully describes the person who is seeking 'love' in this world and that exquisite moment when you break free of it and live only for the love of Allah.

I was dead

I was dead
I came alive
I was tears
I became laughter

all because of love

when it arrived
my temporal life
from then on
changed to eternal
 
love said to me
you are not
crazy enough
you don't
fit this house

I went and

became crazy
crazy enough
to be in chains

love said

you are not
intoxicated enough
you don't
fit the group

I went and

got drunk
drunk enough
to overflow
with light-headedness

love said

you are still
too clever
filled with
imagination and skepticism

I went and

became gullible
and in fright
pulled away
from it all

love said

you are a candle
attracting everyone
gathering every one
around you

I am no more

a candle spreading light
I gather no more crowds
and like smoke
I am all scattered now

love said

you are a teacher
you are a head
and for everyone
you are a leader

I am no more

not a teacher
not a leader
just a servant
to your wishes

love said

you already have
your own wings
I will not give you
more feathers

and then my heart

pulled itself apart
and filled to the brim
with a new light
overflowed with fresh life

now even the heavens

are thankful that
because of love
I have become
the giver of light      

 

Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi