April 10': Our Identity Religion of Islam (Article of the Month)

User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 

I was sitting in the Mina camp (during Hajj); I had developed the habit of avoiding conversations with other people during this stay. There were two young men sitting nearby. Suddenly, they started a conversation with me; I was obliged to reply out of politeness.  I copy what transpired in this interesting conversation underneath:

Men: “You are Barelvi, are you not?” I replied, “Not really”. Men: “Then, you must be Daeobandi?” I answered, “No, I am not”. Men: “Then, you must be neutral, i.e. merely Hanafi”. I said, “No brothers, not even that!” Men: “Ok, then what are you?” I smiled, “Try to guess...” They asked, “Are you Ahl-e-Hadeeth?” Me: "No sir, I am not.” The two spoke again, after a brief discussion, “Then you must be Sha’fai, Hambali or Ma’liki!” On hearing my response in the negative, they asked while exhibiting signs of concern, “At least, you are Sunni?” I replied, “No, I am not”. At that comment, they appeared a bit distressed and said, “So, are you Shia’?” I replied, "Not them, either". They became more distraught and whispered in my ear: “You are not a Qadiani^*, are you?” I replied, “May God forgive me, what on Earth are you saying?” This irritated them even more and they said, “So, who are you and what do you believe in?” I replied, "My dear brothers, I am a simple Muslim who believes in the one God, accepts Muhammad (pbuh) as the last Prophet of God and the Qur’an as the last divine revelation that shows the path of guidance and salvation.” At this, they shrugged their shoulders and replied with a frown on their foreheads, “How is it possible? How can someone be a Muslim like that?” After saying that they got up and walked away muttering to each other but I managed to hear their last comment, which was, “Poor soul! He has gone astray!”

I pondered on the conversation afterwards to try and determine what led them to label me as lost and astray. God is my witness that I could not find anything in my statements that would suggest that I had strayed from the (right) path. I then realised that in fact, it was a religious dilemma of our society that being a Muslim alone would not suffice. Here, belonging to a sect or a group is deemed essential; one has to have an additional religious identity. This is the thinking of our present society but not of God or  the Qur'an because we read in the Qur’an that Prophets of God while leaving this world advised their children to live and die as Muslims! The companions of the Prophet (PBUH) were taught that God only addressed them with the name of ‘Muslims’ in the Qur’an and the previous divine scriptures. The most honourable Prophets of God repeatedly announced that they were the first ‘Muslims’. The only acceptable religion in the eyes of God is solely ‘Islam’, so why is it that today, people consider those people who only use the term ‘Muslim’ as their identity  as astray, off the right path and lacking a legitimate claim to religion? Surely, according to God, His Messenger and His Book, such a person is indeed, the one who is knowledgeable and aware; in fact, calling such a person astray is tantamount to being astray.

Today, Muslims lag behind in this world and have a tarnished reputation despite there being such an enormous population; the reason being that they lack unity, organisation, love, brotherhood and goodwill for each other. They have segregated themselves into small groups and factions each of which with its own beliefs and leaders. No one is willing to accept solely Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as the sole leader and the Qur’an as the sole foundation of one’s ideology and thinking.

The progress and improvement of Muslims as well as the restoration of their past glory and magnificence depends on the certainty that they need to become united and pious. They need to institute harmony and brotherhood amongst themselves. They need to make Islam, uplifting character and exemplary morals as their distinctive attributes. They should adopt the example of the way of life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and once again become an example of the plethora of blessings of Islam for the whole world. The day the Muslims become true and genuine Muslims, they will become the leaders and trend-setters of this world. Other nations of this world will proudly make them their role models but this journey is a long and difficult one. Let us begin this journey by distinguishing our selves solely, as Muslims.

^*Qadiani: A term used by some people to describe the followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadiani, who in fact, prefer to describe themselves as ‘Ahmadis’ and consider the above term as inappropriate. We have kept the original word to maintain the accuracy of the narration- Translator.

| More...