In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.
Peace and blessings be upon our Master Muhammad, the opener of what had been closed, the seal of what has preceded, who makes the Truth victorious by the Truth, the Guide to thy straight path, and bless his household as is the due of his immense position and grandeur.
Islam came as a mercy to mankind. This mercy was to humanize human beings and bring them out of jahiliya (ignorance). And it was none other than our Master Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) who was the living, walking embodiment of the Al-Qur'an that was God's mercy to us. "And We have not sent you [O Muhammad] but as a mercy to the worlds" - Quran (21:107). The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) lived a life of exemplary moral conduct. And we as Muslims should seek out this teaching so that we can become human beings and fulfill the purpose of life, "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship me" - Qur'an (51:56).
It is easy to stop finding answers to seek God. We often fall into comfortable situations in life and at some point we begin to stop pondering. Children are different, in a sense that they are in that state of fitrah where they are constantly curious about existence. Children in the state of fitrah do not question God. When facing a calamity they do not say, "O God, why did you do this to me?". This reaction is but acquired in adults who are supposed to be more knowledgeable than children. What did we lose as we grow up that caused us to fall into a vicious cycle of hopelessness and despair?
Here was a man who used death so that he would engage in "introspective perspectives" with himself. How did we end up here really? We did not choose to be born into our families, our skin colour, our language or even our gender. What is this phenomenon before us, this flesh and blood, this sensory experience, this collision of historical, psychological, spiritual experience called life? And these questions soon made me ask, "Where was I going with life?".
And this is the starting point for anyone bound on that inward path towards self-realization. It is a noble endeavor that is carried by men of wisdom, kindness, compassion and God-consciousness (taqwa). Ours is a path to free ourselves from the demonic agents prevalent in society today. It is a path of laborious study of the Sacred Texts of Islam, which once flourished in the Golden Age of Islamic Civilization. And for the modern man, it is a path towards understanding our roles as change-agents for God's work. No doubt, this is a monumental feat, undertaken only by the true believers and not the hypocrites. God will protect His religion (din) and he will not change our condition until we change ourselves. So if we see much problems in our society, we have only ourselves to blame.
In an age where television feed off our children's development, we are further introduced to foreign ideas that implant subliminal messages of the backward inferiority of Islam's tradition. We find people going to school bored, disinterested and disengaged from what they're learning in school. We see a culture of entertainment rampant where the foundations are built upon unbridled desires. We can find teenagers going amok in their schools on a blood-thirsty rampage where the one killing has no idea why he is doing so. It is simply absurd to say that these phenomena are the pride and glory of human civilization.
We need people who are heavily involved in curing the diseased state of the human condition. We need institutions that are deeply rooted in spiritual connection and intellectual development. We need leaders in government who base their decision on God-consciousness. We need a banking system free from interest (riba). We need a culture based on God as the center of their lives. We need to find ourselves amid these preposterous greed-driven mentality that disregards the harmonic balance of the rest of society. We need to bring back the madrasahs and the role it shapes in society. Central to all these changes are a buttressed lifestyle of God-consciousness.
Anyone who believes in the Prophetic teachings of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon them all), let us be steadfast on this work and repair the frail condition that is our ummah. Let us start from wherever we are, be it in schools, our workplaces, hobbies or even conversations. We are a people who believe in Allah, the Angels, the Books, the Messengers, the Last Day and the Divine Decree. Death is real and Allah is the Real (al-Haqqu). So before we die, let us set forth anyway, despite the daunting task and perhaps, a divine breeze would bring us onto a path we never imagined possible.
Salaam alaykum.
In an age where television feed off our children's development, we are further introduced to foreign ideas that implant subliminal messages of the backward inferiority of Islam's tradition. We find people going to school bored, disinterested and disengaged from what they're learning in school. We see a culture of entertainment rampant where the foundations are built upon unbridled desires. We can find teenagers going amok in their schools on a blood-thirsty rampage where the one killing has no idea why he is doing so. It is simply absurd to say that these phenomena are the pride and glory of human civilization.
We need people who are heavily involved in curing the diseased state of the human condition. We need institutions that are deeply rooted in spiritual connection and intellectual development. We need leaders in government who base their decision on God-consciousness. We need a banking system free from interest (riba). We need a culture based on God as the center of their lives. We need to find ourselves amid these preposterous greed-driven mentality that disregards the harmonic balance of the rest of society. We need to bring back the madrasahs and the role it shapes in society. Central to all these changes are a buttressed lifestyle of God-consciousness.
Anyone who believes in the Prophetic teachings of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon them all), let us be steadfast on this work and repair the frail condition that is our ummah. Let us start from wherever we are, be it in schools, our workplaces, hobbies or even conversations. We are a people who believe in Allah, the Angels, the Books, the Messengers, the Last Day and the Divine Decree. Death is real and Allah is the Real (al-Haqqu). So before we die, let us set forth anyway, despite the daunting task and perhaps, a divine breeze would bring us onto a path we never imagined possible.
Salaam alaykum.
