Essence of Islam .. distorted by Today's Muslims ( including me)

Friday, January 21, 2011 | NabehaL at 4:59 PM |

Faith is to believe in what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.But nowadays, we have weak faith on even things we see. Islam is a complete guidance from beginning till the end of life for us. Islam's true essence is distorted by many Muslims and has been redesigned according to their comfort and thinking. Its like giving weightage to certain things and ignoring others. What difference will be then in us and in others who are not Muslims and sets things according to his own their lifestyle. Here I see two kinds of people. On one hand, there are those who think they know everything about Islam. For them, things like backbiting, gossiping, wasting money on luxuries,taking interest (which I will clear discussed in end), ignoring rights of others etc are not a big sins. But other things like watching movies, wearing unislamic dresses (whatever is in not in their culture),listening music, talking with non Muslims etc are bigger sins. What I don't understand is, how do they self evaluate things ? Are we allowed to do that? Because in our religion, small things like having good intention in heart is as important as performing hajj. I am not equalizing things but importance of deeds cannot be measured materialistically like is done now. As Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said 'Beware! verily there is a piece of flesh in body of man, which when good, the whole body is good; and when bad, the whole body is bad, and that is heart' . or another hadith in which he said, 'He will not enter hell who hath faith equal to a mustard seed in his heart and he will not enter paradise who hath a single grain of pride, equal to a mustard seed, in his heart'. How many of you have thought about that? I have seen people getting extremely proud and arrogant with this belief that they are better Muslims than others and they act like they are sure to enter 'Jannah'. And another kind is the one which act like they are just Muslims because they were born Muslim. For them, Islam is only a tag, which they have to keep till death.

Anyways, what made me write this post are some recent incidents which happened with me and made me wonder if Its really that difficult to be a Muslim. Firstly, I have many non Muslim friends. Someone I met recently (don't mind please) criticized me on talking with non Muslims.She was like its in Islam to kill non Muslims, if they don't agree on converting into Muslim. And she also said that your non Muslim friends will take you with them in Hell. I argued ( like always) put she didn't agreed. Another strange thing happened last week, when I talked with my old school friend on internet and found out a very weird trend in her family. She told me that it is compulsory to marry 4 times according to Quran. I again argued. She said, yes I know it depends on your wealth but MashAllah, my family is very wealthy. And another reason she gave was that is a chance to increase your good deeds by supporting 4 women.
Both these things made me curious and then I researched a on sayings of Prophet (PBUH) and Quran. And I want to share what I found with all of you. Please correct me where I was wrong or misinterpreted anything.

1- Prophet Muhammad said, 'Deal gently with the people, and be not harsh; cheer them and condemn them not. Ye will meet with many 'people of the Book' who will question thee, what is the key to Heaven? Reply to them (the key to Heave) is to testify to the truth of God, and to do good work. 
2- From Dr. Zakir Naik. The only religious book that says: "... then marry only once" is the Quran, the holy book of the Muslims. This injunction is not found in the Christian Bible in the Hindu Geeta, or in the Jewish holy book etc. In the Bible there are so many references to various prophets and kings who had numerous wives. Abraham had three wives, while King Solomon had seven hundred wives, etc. In the Hindu literature the various gods have hundreds of wives. Krishna had one thousand women and concubines. Similarly, the Jews used to marry more than once, till as late as the 1950s. None of these faiths regulated the number of wives a man could have at a time. Only Islam limits the wives to four. 

3- Last thing which I want to talk about is Riba (interest or usury). How many of us think before taking loans? How many of you have cars, home and are even studying on interest? Why does we ignore this point that Interest is 'highly' discouraged in Islam. The reason why I use the word 'highly' is because of the use of word 'declaration of war' which is ignored easily by us nowadays. From Quran, 'O you who believe! Be mindful of God and give up what remains of al-riba if you are believers. If you do not do so, then receive a declaration of war from God and his Messenger. But if you repent, you shall have your capital sums (ru`us al-amwal). You do not deal unjustly and you are not dealt with unjustly (2:278-279)'

The only purpose of writing this post was to share my knowledge and opinion regarding our actions. If you have any criticism please be open to it. As this is the one topic on which I want to improve in. Its not directed on anyone in particular, even I am a part of this trend of 'selective practice' of Islam . And we have to get aware of this fact its better to make yourself a better Muslim then critcizing/humiliating/pointing at other Muslims or even Non-Muslims.

JazakAllah