Where did this world come from? In the past many Muslims were killed because they believed Allah created the world out of nothing; many others were killed because they believed Allah created the world from something that existed before. At the end of the day, both believed, as I do, that the world was created by Allah. My life is too short. I may not live to see the results of scientific research as to whether there really was a Big Bang or whether there’s life in another planet. I won’t be there, anyway. When historians tell me about my country’s history they often start at BC 1,200. They say the first known (Amazigh) kingdom dates back to about BC 280. Contemporary historians say that some historical records were falsified at the demand of some rulers. They also say that several peoples/tribes simply disappeared in the wake of a severe drought or epidemic and of whom we know absolutely nothing. I am not supposed to know everything. I can’t read all the newspapers, all the magazines, all the blogs and websites, all the books and anthologies and encyclopedias of the world. I can’t read all Facebook or watch all Youtube. I can’t see all the TV stations or listen to all radio stations. Suppose the Truth was dispersed across all this plethora of sources of information, how could I piece together the story? In the Quran I read: "And whosoever believeth in Allah, He guideth his heart. And Allah is Knower of all things." (64.11) "He giveth wisdom unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he truly hath received abundant good. But none remember except men of understanding." (2.269) "As for those who strive in Us, We surely guide them to Our paths, and lo! Allah is with the good." (29.69)
When I believe in Allah and the Hereafter that means I’ll have to do things
that may require a lot of sacrifice on my part. Why should I make such
sacrifices for something I am not sure of? Allah says in the Quran: "And
when Abraham said (unto his Lord): My Lord! Show me how Thou givest life to the
dead, He said: Dost thou not believe? Abraham said: Yea, but (I ask) in order
that my heart may be at ease. (His Lord) said Take four of the
birds and cause them to incline unto thee, then place a part of them on each
hill, then call them, they will come to thee in haste, and know that Allah is
Mighty, Wise." (2.260) Also in the Quran we read: "And they say:
O thou unto whom the Reminder is revealed, lo! thou art indeed a madman ! Why
bringest thou not angels unto us, if thou art of the truthful?" (15.6-7) "And
they said: Whatever portent thou bringest wherewith to bewitch us, we shall not
put faith in thee." (7.132) Abu Sufian, the powerful man in Makkah
during the time of the Prophet (pbuh), had no doubt that Muhammad (pbuh) was a
Messenger, and that a man like him, who had never lied to a human, would never
lie on God; but Abu Sufian did not want to believe because he feared for his
social status. When he believed, finally, he became a Muslim like others, but
the Prophet (pbuh) allowed him to retain a certain importance in the community,
and his son, Mu’awiyah, later became a governor, then a caliph. The Prophet
(pbuh) said: "People are like gold and silver; those who were best
in Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic Period of Ignorance) are best in
Islam, if they have religious understanding." Allah says: "And
had We willed We could have raised him by their means (Quranic verses), but he
clung to the earth and followed his own lust. Therefor his likeness is as the
likeness of a dog: if thou attackest him he panteth with his tongue out, and if
thou leavest him he panteth with his tongue out." (7.176) "O ye who
believe! when it is said unto you, Make room! in assemblies, then make room;
Allah will make way for you (hereafter). And when it is said, Come up higher !
go up higher; Allah will exalt those who believe among you, and those who have
knowledge, to high ranks. Allah is Informed of what ye do." (58. 11) The
Prophet (pbuh) said: "I was sent to perfect good character." Islam
was not entirely new. It only came to help new believers perfect their conduct.
There’s good and bad everywhere. A non-Muslim ruler can be a thousand times
more useful to his people than a Muslim ruler to his Muslim people. Would
social justice in a non-Muslim society be different from social justice in a
Muslim society? A corrupt ruler is a corrupt ruler, a dictator is a
dictator, a drunkard is a drunkard, be they Muslim or non-Muslim. The Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) tells us the story of that prostitute who went to Paradise
because she watered a thirsty dog. He said: “Allah had once forgiven a
prostitute. She passed by a dog panting near a well. Seeing that thirst had
nearly killed him, she took off her shoe, tied it to her scarf, and drew up
some water. Allah forgave her for that.” The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) sent a
group of his companions as refugees under the protection of Abraha, a Christian
king. The Quran did not prohibit Muslim men from marrying Christian or Jewish
women. Angels are constantly rating me. In a way, my rank is raised or
lowered according to my (good or bad) actions. If I stand out with my work, as
a believer, individually or in a group, my angels will invite other angels to
see what I’m doing or listen to what I’m saying. Isn't that so beautiful?
But that’s the problem! I will not see even my angels (until the hour of
my death). So have to think in a different way when it comes to Faith. I have
to believe in al-ghayb (the Unseen). The Quran says: "Who
believe in the Unseen, and establish worship, and spend of that We have
bestowed upon them; And who believe in that which is revealed unto thee
(Muhammad) and that which was revealed before thee, and are certain of the
Hereafter. These depend on guidance from their Lord. These are the
successful." (2.3-5) My body is alive no doubt, but there’s not just my
body. I have feelings, I have thoughts, I have memories, etc. It’s a totally
different being from my physical being. My physical being, my body, can be
alive whereas my "unseen being" can be dead. Just think of Alzheimer,
for example. Faith fills up the most precious part in my body, my heart, with
something that makes me feel that my body is not just flesh and blood, but much
more important than that. It makes me feel that my body is something sacred,
something that should be clean from inside and outside. That’s why I make
ablutions to clean my body from outside and perform my prayers to clean what’s
inside.
Well, there is no Faith without belief in the Unseen (al-ghayb).
Allah could have ended the life of anyone who disobeyed Him in any way and
spared only those who obeyed Him. But Allah does not want to compel
us. He wants us to believe out of conviction. That’s why the Quran speaks
of "error" (addalal): "He said : "Verily ye and your
fathers were in plain error." (21.54) It’s like you were lost in a desert,
but if you could know the way, you would reach the place where you would be
safe. It’s like someone aboard a helicopter showing you the way. The
Prophet (pbuh) said: "Allah is more pleased with the repentance of one of
you than a man in a desolate, barren, destructive wasteland, who has his mount
carrying his provisions, his food, and his drink and what he needs with him.
Then it wanders away. So he goes to find it until he is on the brink of death.
He says: 'I will return to the place where I lost it, to die.' So he returns to
his place and his eyes become heavy (falling asleep). Then he awakens to find
his mount at his head carrying his food, drink and what he needs."
Life is like work. You get tired when you work, but at the end of your day you
take a shower and have dinner and do all the rest…happily. Except that, for
life in this world, this "tiredness" will last until you get a place
in Heaven. Allah says: "And they say: Praise be to Allah Who hath put
grief away from us. Lo! Our Lord is Forgiving, Bountiful, Who, of His grace,
hath installed us in the mansion of eternity, where toil toucheth us not nor
can weariness affect us." (35.34-35)
But life is also a feeling. Despite all my tiredness I can feel happy. Like a
mother who spends two hours close to the heat in the kitchen, but once at the
dinner table, with her husband and children, all that tiredness is forgotten!
Like a bricklayer who spends hours working in the sun, but once back home in
the evening his wife and children make him forget all the tiredness. So despite
all my trials (all my tribulations, my depravations) my Faith will make my life
enjoyable. When the Prophet (pbuh) says only : "The world is the
believer's prison and the infidel's Paradise" that doesn’t mean that my
life as a believer will be hell on earth. It only means that I’ll have to make
“sacrifices” that a non-believer would not make. The feeling that Allah is with
me will certainly alleviate my sufferings, physical or emotional, and my
sadness from time to time will only make my life more enjoyable, less boring,
eventhough boredom is not always bad. What is bad, actually, is depression, and that’s what
Faith helps a beiever to avoid. If
some people don’t become happy unless they get lots of money (or material
things), I, as a believer, can be happy with as little as a smile, a phone call
or a look at a rose in the garden.
Allah does certainly know what I want. He will only subject me to trials, He
will put me to the test in order for me to show with acts, with words, with
feelings, whether I want Him or I want myself, my ease. Do I want to serve
Allah or do I want Allah to serve me? Allah says in the Haddith Qudsi: "I
am near to the thought of My servant as he thinks about Me, and I am with him
as he remembers Me. And if he remembers Me in his heart, I also remember him in
My Heart, and if he remembers Me in assembly I remember him in assembly, better
than his (remembrance), and if he draws near Me by the span of a palm, I draw
near him by the cubit, and if he draws near Me by the cubit I draw near him by
the space (covered by) two hands. And if he walks towards Me, I rush towards
him." And in the Quran we read: "Your Lord is best aware of what is
in your minds. If ye are righteous, then lo! He was ever Forgiving unto those
who turn (unto Him)." (17.25) So I don’t care if there are around me any
people who are luckier than me. Allah says: "And covet not the thing in
which Allah hath made some of you excel others. Unto men a fortune from that
which they have earned, and unto women a fortune from that which they have
earned. (Envy not one another) but ask Allah of His bounty. Lo! Allah is ever
Knower of all things." (4.32) "He will cause you to enjoy a fair
estate until a time appointed. He giveth His bounty unto every bountiful
one." (11.3) "Is he who relieth on a clear proof from his Lord like
those for whom the evil that they do is beautified while they follow their own
lusts?" (47.14) It’s all a question of faith. What matters is not my work
or my unemployment, my being married or my being single; what matters is my
intention, my good or bad faith; what matters is what I have at heart. The
Prophet (pbuh) said: "You will not get the taste of the reality of faith
until you know that what has come to you could not miss you, and that what has
missed you could not come to you." When I lose my job Allah knows in
advance the job I’ll get afterwards and when and where and how. In the Hadith we read: "The creation of you (humans) is gathered in the form of semen in the womb
of your mother for forty days, then it becomes a clinging thing in similar
(period), then it becomes a lump of flesh like that, then Allah sends an angel
who breathes the life into it; and (the angel) is commanded to record four
things about it: Its provision, its term of life (in this world), its conduct,
and whether it will be happy or miserable. "
It’s what I feel, the way I will do what I’ll be doing (while looking for
another job, a person to marry, another home to live…) -it’s that what matters.
One of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) reported: "My father set aside
some dinars for charity and gave them to a man in the mosque. I went to that
man and took back those dinars. He said: "I had not intended you to be
given." So we went to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), and put forth the
matter before him. He said to my father: "Yazid, you have been rewarded
for what you intended." And he said to me: "Ma'n, you are entitled to
what you have taken." The Quran says: "And as for him who hoardeth,
he hoardeth only from his soul. And Allah is the Rich, and ye are the poor. And
if ye turn away He will exchange you for some other folk, and they will not be
the likes of you." (47.38) "Whoso looketh forward to the meeting with
Allah (let him know that) Allah's reckoning is surely nigh, and He is the
Hearer, the Knower. And whosoever striveth, striveth only for himself, for lo!
Allah is altogether Independent of (His) creatures." (29.5-6)
When I hear an ambulance siren, do I stop eating and drinking, even for a
second, if only for solidarity? When a funeral procession passes near me, do I
stop, if only for a second, if only for solidarity? If I stop eating and
drinking, that will not help the victim. If I stop for a second, that will not
bring the dead back to life. It's just a matter of faith. And feeling A
companion of the Prophet (pbuh) narrated: "We were with the Prophet (pbuh)
when a funeral passed and he stood up for it. When we went to carry it, we
found that it was a funeral of a Jew. We, therefore, said: Messenger of Allah,
this is the funeral of a Jew. He said: Death is a fearful event, so when you
see a funeral, stand up."
And there are, fortunately, many people in all nations, in all religions, who
want to act in good faith. If good faith does not always work with humans, with
Allah it does. "Lo! Allah loseth not the wages of the good." (9.120)
