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Things are made clear through their Opposites
“Nothing makes Truth stand out more clearly than Falsehood!” I embraced Islam 6 months after I arrived in the US, thanks to my encounter with Christianity!
I was born in India and grew up among people who worshiped many gods and goddesses- the Hindus. At every street and corner in India, you will find temples housing idols of wood, stone, ivory, even gold and silver.
I do not come from a Hindu family. My parents do not believe in God. They are atheists. They taught me there was no such thing as God. As a child, I believed whatever my parents told me. I looked up to them and believed they knew everything. I thought they were perfect. As I grew older however, I realized that my parents did not know everything. They were certainly not perfect. And they made mistakes.
At some point, several questions about life began to arise in my mind. I’m sure these questions arise in the minds of most people at some time or other:
What is the meaning and purpose of life?
Why is man faced with the predicament to choose between good and evil?
Why do people die?
What happens after death?
My parents did not have the answers to these questions.
I began to think independently and eventually, after deep contemplation and reflection I came to the conclusion that God did exist! In fact, God was the only reality!
There is order and perfection in nature which cannot possibly be the result of chance. There can be no design without a Designer, and no creation without a Creator. We human beings are products of creation, not chance, accident or evolution.
It was obvious to me that there was only one Creator. There could not be more than one since that would cause a division or split in power and consequently result in chaos and disorder. Isn’t there a saying that goes, “Too many cooks spoil the broth”? or See the quote from Quran:
“If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides Allah, there would have been ruin in both! But glory to Allah, the Rabb of the Throne: (High is He) above what they attribute to Him.” (21: 22)
So, I began to believe in God. I also believed in accountability for my actions. Our actions are the only things we can control. Nothing else besides that lies in our power. Since God created us with the freedom to choose between right and wrong, it was evident to me that it mattered a lot what I chose to do or how I chose to act. Deep down inside I knew that one day I would have to give an account for all my deeds. God has all power, and He has the ability to reward and to punish. So I greatly feared God.
I believed in God, but I did not have a religion. I used to think it didn’t matter what religion a person belonged to as long as that person was good. Now, there is something seriously wrong with that kind of thinking. Anyway, I had no understanding then, and all I cared about was finding a God-fearing man to be my husband. Being a monotheist, I was willing to marry a Christian, a Muslim or a Bahai.
I met my husband under the most peculiar circumstances. He was a Christian. And he was from America. We had known each other for only three days. But he proposed to me. I thought he was very honest and had his heart full of the fear of God. We got married. Two weeks later, he had to go back to the US. He couldn’t take me with him. It was a year and a half before I got my visa to go to the US.
America is very different from India. It took me a while to adjust to the American lifestyle. My husband was a very devout Christian. He was a member of the Worldwide Church of God. He read the Bible regularly, frequently, almost fanatically! He used to observe the Sabbath and attended the Seventh Day Adventist Church. I went to church with him several times. I also read the Bible and found a lot of things in there that supported what I believed about God. I liked the proverb “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”. I met many nice people at church. I even made some very good friends. I was particularly attached to an elderly couple. I was pretty happy with the way things were going……..until I went to California to visit my in-laws.
It was when I was traveling in the metro train, on my way to Los Angeles, that some people entered the train and passed slips of paper to the passengers. I looked at the piece of paper in my hand and read it with utter disbelief. I have carefully preserved that piece of paper. This is what it said:
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
The answer to this question is, absolutely nothing! The only requirement is to believe what God has said in His word, and He says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”. Only believe? Yes, that’s all! Believe means to trust completely in what God has said concerning salvation. What do we have to believe? That Christ died for our sins, and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day. Christ died to give us eternal life. If you desire to have eternal life make the following prayer:
Heavenly Father, I know that I am a sinner and that I have a need to be forgiven. I now receive Christ Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Thank You for having forgiven my sins. In Jesus name. Amen. John 1:12 But as many as received Him, (Jesus) to them gave He (God) power (authority) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
This little slip of paper changed my entire life! My heart was screaming that this simply could not be true! It was so evidently false that I was surprised that anyone actually believed in it! This was the beginning of my first real acquaintance with modern Christianity.
I was completely overwhelmed with amazement to learn some of the fantastic beliefs of modern Christians. The following is a list of beliefs which made absolutely no sense to me:
1. That Jesus is God.
2. That Jesus is Lord and our Savior, who came down to earth in the form of man to die for our sins.
3. That God is three in one…….a concept called the Trinity.
None of the above beliefs are supported by the Bible! Jesus never claimed to be God. He never said that he had come to die for our sins. And you can scour the Bible from cover to cover. You will not find the word Trinity in it!.
Several questions arose in my mind about the above mentioned beliefs.
Why would God personally need to come down to earth if He has all power?
If He wants to get something done, all He needs to do is say the word and it is done! Jesus was a man. If he was God,
then how could he die?
Can God die?
Furthermore, if Jesus was really God in the flesh, who did he pray to? Did he pray to himself?!
If Jesus is God, how can we even think of God subjecting Himself to the temptation of the devil?
How can the devil offer Jesus the kingdoms of the world, if everything in the heavens and earth all belong to God?
Besides, wasn’t it God who created the devil?! If the Trinity is indeed an important article of faith, why does not Jesus preach this trinity?
It doesn’t take a lot of intelligence to understand that the Creator cannot become His creation, or part of His
creation. Even if God could become His creation, why would He want to do that?!! And if it is true that God became Jesus and did indeed die for our sins (which sounds like a very drastic step to me), then the world as we know it today should be free of sin. If it is not free of sin, then what was the point in dying for our sins? What did it accomplish?!
I was staring at first-class Falsehood. I knew it was false right to the very core.
You will not find a single flaw in God’s creation. It is perfect. It is God who has given us the power of reason and common sense. Would God ask us to believe in anything that didn’t make sense? Truth must make sense. When a detective wants to find the truth, he looks for clues, examines the evidence and uses his power of reasoning. People employ this method for all matters, except in the field of religion! This is where they abandon their reason and believe blindly in whatever they are taught!
I wondered how people could actually believe that Jesus died for their sins! I want to ask this question to you. If you were sitting for an important exam, would you believe anyone who said that you had to do absolutely nothing in order to pass that exam?! Would you believe anyone who said all you had to do was believe that your teacher himself would study for the exam and do all the hard work for you? All you needed to do was believe and that’s it!??
Well, you could believe and believe all you want, but when the results of the exam are announced, you will discover that you’ve got zero! Not only that, when your teacher learns that you had been entertaining the funny thought that he was going to do the studying for you, he would probably expel you from school and send you to the lunatic asylum to have your head examined!
In India, with its many temples, I knew people were worshiping falsehood. Hinduism, with its many gods and goddesses never made any sense to me. I always used to wonder how the Hindus knew what their gods and goddesses looked like. In America, I discovered the situation was more or less the same. The only difference was, at every street and corner, you did not find a temple, you found a church!
Christianity as it is practised in America didn’t make sense to me either! People drew pictures of Jesus as if they knew what he looked like. I’m sure the real Jesus never looked a bit the way they depict him!
I confronted my husband with my questions about Christian beliefs. He had no answers. I also asked my Christian friends. They did give me some answers, but their answers were so preposterous that I soon gave up asking them! Want to know what they told me? Frankly, I’m just dying to tell you about it!
This is what they had to say:
“No evil or sin can stand before a Perfect God. Even what to us is just the tiniest of wrong is totally intolerable to His perfection. All it takes is one sinful act. Look at Adam and Eve. They committed only one act, and a very small one at that, but that act allowed sin to enter this world. They knew that the consequences of that one act was death, but God made a promise to them that there was a way they could be redeemed from those consequences. It is that promise that the prophets wrote about. It is that promise and its fulfillment that is the underlining theme throughout the rest of the Bible. The message is that not only were the Jewish leaders who crucified Christ evil, but so were David, Lot and the others. That also includes you and me. Even the smallest evil makes us deserving of death.Just as there was nothing Adam and Eve could do to undo what they had done, there is nothing we can do to undo the evil we have done. But the same promise God made to Adam and Eve He makes to us. He only asks us to accept that promise.”
How could anyone believe in such a theory!? But that is precisely what my good Christian “friends” believed. According to them, all evil, all sin is the same in the eyes of God. So the penalty for a man who steals a loaf of bread is the same as the penalty for a man who goes out and murders ten people! What kind of justice is that?! I’m thankful the law and order system in America does not treat all crime with the death penalty! Is justice here on earth better than God’s justice?
And what utter rubbish to even think that we are all deserving of death for the small sins that we commit and that we can be saved simply by believing that God died for our sins!!
Whether we believe or we don’t believe, it still doesn’t save us from Death, does it?!
If we commit a sin, it is not because of Adam and Eve! We commit a sin when we choose to do wrong or evil of our own free will. We alone are responsible for our actions. For the mistake I make, nobody else can be held accountable. That would simply not be justice! Therefore, even if somebody were to come up to me and say he or she was willing to take the burden of my sin, I would not agree to it! Since it is I who committed the sin, it is I alone who must face the consequences of that act! It just does not make sense that we should consciously make mistakes and commit sins and all kinds of crimes and put the whole burden on somebody who is totally innocent. There is no law and order system in this world where Tom commits a murder and instead of Tom, Dick is hanged for it!! If such a thing were to be done, this whole world would be upside down!
I went to the library and began to look for answers. I began to study Islam, the other monotheistic religion. I read the Qur’an. I didn’t need to look any further. I found the answers to all my questions there!
The Qur’an is very clear in its message:
1. That God (Allah) is one.
2. That He is eternal and does not die.
3. That He does not beget nor is He begotten.
4. That there is none like unto Him.
5. That every soul will be have to give account for its deeds on the Day of Judgment.
6. That no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another.
7. That Jesus was one of the messengers of God.
8. That those who believed in the Truth and did good will be rewarded with paradise.
9. That those who disbelieved and rejected the Truth will be flung into hellfire.
10. That there is no other god but Allah. He is the Lord of all the Worlds, the Creator, the All Knowing, the All Hearing.
All the questions I had about Christian beliefs were
answered. I learnt the following things from the Qur’an:
1. Jesus was not God. Neither was he son of God.
2. He was not crucified.
3. He did not die for our sins.
4. There is no such thing as the trinity.
5. All of the above is blasphemy.
6. Finally he is one of the righteous Prophets of Allah and a word of God.
In fact, I found all answers to other questions about life and death in the Qur’an. The Qur’an is the Word of Allah. There is no doubt about it. I investigated the source of the Qur’an. I studied the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). I was moved to tears reading his story.
There is no place for blind faith in Islam. God asks us to use our powers of reasoning and common sense to arrive at the Truth.
I had found the Truth. The only thing I needed to do was embrace Islam by declaring that there was no god but God (Allah), and Muhammad was the Messenger of Allah.
I could think of nothing else. I talked to my husband about Islam. We argued almost everyday about religion. My husband held even more closely to the Bible, telling me that he could not deny Christ. He didn’t take me seriously at all. He told me I could believe whatever I wanted. He had no objection if I wanted to embrace Islam.
However, there was a problem. I discovered that if I were to embrace Islam by saying the Shahadah (the muslim declaration of faith), my marriage to my husband would automatically be dissolved. A muslim woman is not permitted to marry a non-muslim or disbeliever. In Islam, a woman must obey her husband. The husband is the head of the house and the leader. So, if the husband is a Christian, how can a Muslim woman obey him?! Islam cannot occupy a secondary position in the house. Truth, not Falsehood must have the upper hand!
I had to make a choice. Either I embraced Islam (the Truth), or I continued to live with my husband like a Christian. I loved my husband dearly. I had left my country to come and live with him, and he mattered to me more than anything else in the whole world. However, I could not live with Falsehood. I knew it would be very difficult for me to practice Islam in such circumstances. So, I made up my mind to leave my husband.
It broke my heart to think about leaving him. I cried non-stop. But I was firm on my decision. I had no idea what was going to happen after I left him. I left it all in Allah’s Hands. I told my husband about what I was going to do. It was only when he heard what I said, that he began to take me seriously. He decided to investigate Islam. He asked me to give him some time to learn about this new religion.
At that time, the first thought in my husband’s head was that he did not want to lose me. He probably thought I was nuts then. But he continued to study and read about Islam. All his life, he had been a Christian and whatever Islam taught was very new and strange to him. On the 6th of October, 2000, I and my husband both embraced Islam. However, my husband still did not understand a lot of things. He didn’t know what was going on in his life, and probably thought his whole life had turned upside down. He embraced Islam because he didn’t want to lose me. He did read the Qur’an sometimes, but he read his Bible more. I didn’t care what he did. I was happy that I didn’t have to leave my husband, and was confident that Allah would guide him eventually.
All praises are due to Allah! My husband was in the Navy, and he had to go out to sea for 6 months. During this time, he got the opportunity to read the Qur’an from the first page to the last. He e-mailed me one day, and told me that he had been doing nothing but reading the Qur’an. He simply could not put it down! Finally, he told me that he was convinced it was the Word of God. He was now overcome with a great desire to make a declaration of his faith. When his ship reached Australia, he immediately went to the nearest mosque and told the brothers there that he wanted to say the Shahadah. The brothers told him he had already said the Shahadah with me, so he had no need to do it again. My husband then explained to them that at that time, he had no understanding. He did it for me. This time, he wanted to do it for himself. I shed tears of joy when he wrote to me and told me he said the Shahadah there in that mosque in Australia.
Of all the billions of people in this world, we are indeed thankful and utterly grateful that Allah chose to guide us to the Truth. It is the greatest honour anyone can have.
Alhamdullilahir Rabbil al Ameen!!
Trip to Hyderabad, India
Shared by: Ayesha Baig
Alhumdulilah we are back home from our trip to Hyderabad, India
I wanted to share a few experiences I had, with the grace of Allah
From the beginning of the trip Allah swt gave me the ability to do some dawah to a Christian woman who I sat next to for the last hour of our first flight. Alhumdulilah she was impressed by how calm and peaceful the kids were during the long flight. We had offered her some snacks we brought for the kids. She told me that she was missing peace in her life and was really amazed at how friendly some foreigners were. She spoke about how she had learned about different religions and how Hinduism attracted her. Alhumdulilah I was able to talk to her about Islam and how studying the Quran affected my life. She listened very attentively and became very interested in reading the Quran. I also had her listen to recitation of the Quran, she said it gave her goosebumps and she hadn’t heard anything as peaceful before. I gave her my copy of The Quran with translation and bookmarked a few verses. She was going to be in Malaysia alone for 2 weeks on a business trip, I pray that she was able to read and reflect upon it. I have her email address and will contact her InshAllah. I was a little reluctant to speak with her at first but remembered some of the stories other sisters shared in class, this helped me move forward Alhumdulilah. I really realized how thirsty so many people are for the truth, its us who have to overcome our shyness and speak to them
We attended a wedding when we got there (one without all the extra rasumat Alhumdulilah). They had a get together for the girls to put some mehndi on, I was asked to speak there . I gave a short talk about the first 2 vs of Suratul Mulk and went into a little bit of detail on the purpose of life and the conditions of amalan salih. I met a few girls who were interested in learning about the Quran in English. I gave them a CD (FQ by Sr Amina Elahi) and asked them to start classes with their college friends. I also got their contact info to tell them about different courses they can join InshAllah
With the grace of Allah I was able to start a TQ class
Our family members meet every Tuesday and play different lectures or sometimes have live speakers. I suggested that they start the Quran. I conducted the first class with Surah Al Fatihah for them to get an idea of how to play the lectures take notes etc.
I have told them I can send the juz for those who are interested in memorizing InshAllah. We started TQ 2002 please let me know if you suggest otherwise. Please pray that this class will continue and bring good results InshAllah
We also took the kids to an orphanage Alhumdulilah
They saw how the orphan kids lived, were able to interact with them and give them a little something. I feel it was a good experience for all. We sometimes don’t realize the blessings Allah has given us until we see others lives.
Alhumdulilah the group that started the orphanage (they brought the kids from Gugrat in 2002) they seem to be doing a lot of practical dawah work. They sometimes listen to your cassettes and were interested in getting more. I have gotten their contact info also and will follow up with them InshAllah.
Hafsa was able to get a pen pal she will write to at the orphanage. This 12yr old girl she met is an exceptional case. Both of her parents were Hindu but after her father passed away her mom became Muslim and married a Muslim. Unfortunately he didn’t accept the daughter. Someone told them about this orphanage and she was brought here. She was very disturbed in the beginning but now is settled and doing Hifdh al Quran with her own desire and would like to become a doctor InshAllah. Alhumdulilah she is very bright and has skipped a few grades. I asked all the girls about their hobbies, they answered playing games, joking etc. but this girl said reciting Quran was her hobby. She recited Surah Ar-Rahman for us in a very beautiful voice, MashAllah. I think it will be great for Hafsa to keep in touch with her InshAllah.
I also got a chance to give out dua cards, books, cassettes etc. and tell different people about the Alhuda website Alhumdulilah
These were just a few highlights of my two week trip along with meeting a very loving family. We were all healthy for the most part Alhumdulilah and had many memorable experiences
May Allah reward you manifold in this world and the hereafter for all that you have taught me.
The Value of Knowledge
From: Farhiya Abdi
The folowing is an experience of one of Taleem al Quran English Student
Asalaamu calikum wa rehmatullahi wabarqakatuhu!
I wanted to share my experience the other day related to dawah and I am hoping that it will benefit every one in many ways.
Alhmduliallah on Thursday on my way home from school me and Sister Hamda were at the bus stop and she asked me should me quiz each other or listen to Quran. I opted for the Quran and she took out like a small tape player that played the Quran out loud; to be honest I was a little hesitant at fist I never listened to Quran out loud in public before but then I was like this is Allah words why I am I hesitant, if anyone hears it its better for them inshallah. So I took it and played it. Like a minute later a young man walked by us and he asked me how long the bus was going to take?
I told him I don’t know, and then he asked do u think I have enough time to get to the next bus stop. And I just said I don’t know but I would not take the chance, why not just wait here, he was like yaa ok. He came and stood near us, and I turned the Quran back on and make it a little louder so that he can hear too.
Shortly after that he asked me what I was listening to, and I said the Quran do you know about it? He said yes I have a copy and I am currently searching for the truth and it’s the closes thing I have to it. i became like so happy and I told him that Islam is the truth. Then he started to say the he researched all kinds of different religions and that the Quran feels like the closes thing to the truth. Then he started to talk about how his religion deceived him and was not there for him when he needed it; at that moment I wanted to say like Yaa its because its falsehood but I stopped my self because I didn’t see the point in saying bad things about it when he already knows it. so I just lesion to him. ( I think that helped a lot because he just felt comfortable that I am just listening to him)
After that we got on the bus and he came sat next to me and I just asked him so whats stoping you from accepting Islam? he said that his religion failed him so he didn’t want to find out the Islam will do the same. Also the when ever he read the quran he would read a lil bet get scared and think about it. At that moment I told him that Islam is perfect and that he should not hesitate because we don’t know how long we are going to live and that he might die with out accepting Islam and he would have nothing in front of his lord. He just started to talk about his life and how he lived in Canada for 15 years and how he had a very very hard life but every time he broke down that God helped him out of what ever situation he was in. I really felt sympathy for him at that moment like this man is so close to Islam but something is stopping him. So I told him lets say there is two men and they both die and meet there lord. one had a very hard life in this world all king of difficultys but at the same time he new his lord and was grateful to him, and the other man had everything in this world all king of things but he went in front of his lord denying him and being ungrateful, who do u think his lord will pleased with? And that knowing your lord has so much wait in front of him that he could forgive all your sins and enter you to paradise. Other wise you would be in the hell fire if you denied him.
He just simply said that feels soo right. And then he asked me what about all the bad things that are going on in the world, all the people dieing, homeless, and so on. If God was mercefull how could that be. And alhmduliallah all that came to my head was the story of prophet Ayoub a.s. so I told him in brief and said that even the beloved of allah his messengers have to go true test and this life is not so that we can enjoy ourselves but it’s a test to see who of us will be grateful to our lord and worship only him with out any partners.
Then I started to tell him that all the messengers came with the same message which is to worship only one god and the people change it after them. And he said that he didn’t get why god had thorns on his head and he was on a cross pleading, and also he said that he had many signs that got him here today being able to be open with me and talk like this, he feels like he is being guided and that he had a purpose in life to help people, alhmduliallah I just told him that he could help ppl by telling them about the truth and I told him that I strongly urge him to not delay this and that shodon doesn’t want him to be successful. And that Islam is not a hard religion its easy you don’t have to do lots of stuff to get in it, you just have to say Ashhadu an la ilaha illa ‘llah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulu ‘llah and alhmduliallah he just repeated it after me and then I said it in English and he also repeted that alhmduliallah and Hamda also told him to add that Jesus is also his messenger he did so Alhmduliallah.
I was just extremely shocked and I looked at hamda like is this really happing alhmdulailalh then I said to him that you are a Muslim now and that you should go home and take a shower and come to my school its around here, he said he worked right across it and he seen all the muslims going there. He told me that he would come at his brake on Friday 12:30 (unfortunately he didn’t come but I pray that he is in the best of Emaan and plz make dua for him inshallah)
I was so happy that I told him that I am very happy for you and he was like I am scared of being a failyer; I was kind of surprised and alhmduliallah I just remembered surah AL-Mumenoon ayat one so I took out mu mushaf and started to read to him…it was not like any other reading I have done before walahi my heart wanted to like jump out and read it. Alhmduliallah with determination I read the Arabic( evan though I usaly have a lil difficulty doing so) and then I read each word again and told him the English meaning ( like in groups ) alhmduliallah I read up to 4 ayats then hamda nudged me to like stop there and I did. And I just told him to not worry because today he is successful. And he asked me…what about all the stuff he has done…and I told him that with Islam all your past sins are erased alhmduliallah he just said that feels so good. And alhmdulailalah we just talked about Islam till we got the subway. Allahu akbar
Reflecting on what happened later that day one thing really touched me and I could not hold back my tears. I just asked my self what if I didn’t know any of what I said. You know I didn’t say anything from my self, every thing I said was from the deen of Allah s.w.t and I either leaned at Al Huda or was reminded of if there or found out the deep meaning behind it there. I just thought like what if I was at the same spot with the same guy who was so close to Islam but I didn’t know what to tell him because I didn’t know my deen. Subhanallah we should each reflect on the value of what we are learning inshallah. And jazakullahu kheran to all the people that make it possible for us to learn are deen my Allah be pleased with you all inshallah and my Allah make it easy for all of us to convey it. Ameen!
I am sorry for it being long and for any mistake my Allah for give me and my Allah reward Hamda as well who also told him about Islam.
It happened last Friday………
(Based on a true story)
By Asma bint Shameem
The Khutbah had already started. She knew that she was late, but she wanted to attend the Jumuah prayers anyway. She quickly picked up her baby and stepped anxiously into the Masjid, looking to the right and left. After all, she had just moved to the area and didn’t know anybody.
As she sat down in the Sister’s Prayer Hall with the baby in her lap, her heart was thumping in her chest. She could feel curious eyes turn in her direction, but she stared hard at the ground, too nervous to meet their gaze and tried to concentrate on what the Imam was saying.
But her baby was nervous too. He didn’t know this new place….all these new faces. He had never been in a Masjid before. He wanted to go home.
She knew her baby would be uncomfortable in the new setting, but she thought she would manage. She herself had not been very ‘practicing’ all her life, but now that she was a mother herself, she felt the importance of an Islamic upbringing. She was determined to teach her baby all about Islam right from the very beginning, but first she had to work on herself. She wanted to learn, too.
But the baby was getting restless and she could see that he had started to whimper. Yet, she hoped she could console him long enough to last through the Prayer. However, as the Imam started the recitation of the Qur’an, she was not prepared for the loud howl that her baby let out, nor the hysterically loud sobbing that accompanied it.
Oh my GOD! What a terrible noise he was making!
What could she do??!!!
She didn’t want to break her prayer!
She tried to pick him up, but he was squirming too much!
She realized that he was wailing loudly, but what could she really do? After all, he WAS a baby! I am sure they would understand, she thought to herself.
She wished that the prayer would be over quickly so that she could console her baby.
But before the Imam had hardly finished saying the ‘Salaam’, that they all jumped on her!
“WHY DON’T YOU KEEP THE BABY QUIET!”, they screamed! “DON’T YOU SEE WE ARE PRAYING?”
“Why did you come to the Masjid?” Someone muttered, grinding their teeth.
“STAY HOME, NEXT TIME!” Another one hissed.
With her head bent low, her eyes downcast, she blinked hard to fight back the tears that suddenly welled up in her eyes….she tried so hard to swallow the HUGE lump in her throat.
She thought this was the Masjid….this was the place where she and her baby would be welcome…..this was the place she wanted to be……to learn Islaam and to teach it to her child!
Without saying a single word, she hurriedly gathered her things, picked up her baby and quickly left the Masjid, WITHOUT EVEN ONCE LOOKING BACK……
Now let’s go back to another scenario……1400 years ago…..in another Masjid…..when a Bedouin enters the Masjid and begins urinating in it.
The Sahabah want to stop him, but what does the Prophet (pbuh) do???
Does he shout at him? Does he kick him out of the Masjid?
NO!
Instead, he (pbuh) calls the bedouin and gently makes him understand that the mosques are not places meant for urine and filth, but are only for the remembrance of Allah, prayer and the recitation of the Qur’an. He (pbuh) then asks one of the people to pour a bucket of water over it. (Muslim)
And what did he tell the Sahaabah? He said to them:
“You are sent to make things easy and not to make things difficult” (Bukhaari).
This illustrates for us the perfect example of how OUR behavior should have been. It shows us an unwavering principle of Islam, that is, in social life when any unpleasant incident takes place, we should keep our cool and show tolerance and patience. We should concentrate on finding a solution to the problem and not just think in terms of what punishment to hand out to the problem-maker. We should find means that would alleviate rather than aggravate the problem.
Where is our sense of tolerance and patience? When and where will we show mercy?
“He who does not show mercy to others, will not be shown mercy.” (Bukhaari)
Did the sisters forget the time when they had little babies and they cried too?
The Prophet (pbuh) understood the agony that a mother goes through at such times.
“When I enter the prayer I intend to prolong it. Then I hear the crying of a child, so I shorten it knowing the difficulty his mother will have with him crying.”
And aren’t we supposed to warmly receive a newcomer, and make them feel wanted and welcomed….especially one who is just coming back to Islam?
Isn’t being kind and tolerable, the very essence of Dawah?
“By the grace of Allah, you are gentle towards the people; if you had been stern and ill-tempered, they would have dispersed from round about you” (3:159)
Aren’t we supposed to behave courteously towards one another?
“He is a bad person in the sight of Allah who does not behave courteously and people shun his company because of his bad manners.” (Bukhaari)
SubhaanAllaah!
Was this the way to behave with the new sister?
Why weren’t we gentle and merciful to her?
Why were we not patient with the situation?
Couldn’t we have dealt with the situation better?
Were we a means of pushing her away from coming to the Masjid?
Did we push her away from Islaam itself??!!
These are some of the questions that we seriously need to ask ourselves.