Assalamualaikum w.b.t and I pray may Allah always be with us. First, open your eyes. No, not that one. The other one. The one with veil. Your heart. Or rather, OUR heart. Open it now and see with it. Then witness that Allah is the sole creator, one and only God that He deserves the utmost rights about every single thing and I will elaborate further about that in the next paragraphs. Question. Is it right that we have rights? I mean, really, ours? Is it true enough?
Okay. Let us think about this. Who creates us? Well, then are you sure that you really believe Him as our creator? Him as in Allah? The one and only? Look, this is the thing. If the answer is a yes, but a not so strong yes- which means a yes with some unexplainable hesitation, that means something is wrong.
Dear all,
Ask ourselves one simple question. Why are we Muslim? Sure, I too, will answer that we were born into a Muslim family, that's why. So does that mean that we are Muslim because we have no choice? Have us no choice really? Right, now we think about it. Maybe we never did before. Maybe because we thought it is just like choosing which garments or dress to wear or what to eat or where to visit on the coming holiday. Oh dear, no it's not the same. It is not supposed to be a matter of choice, but a matter of knowledge and ignorance instead. By right, the moment you read this blog, you are all matured and wise enough to think and make decision. So why not use this chance to really investigate and study the truth? It is not wrong that we were born into Muslim families, it's a bonus instead but given the challenge, deceptions and outside factors we are facing right now, we risk losing faith in our religion and faith in Allah, unless we have reasons why we chose this path, hence the need to look for them- the truth!
Many other questions must have crossed our minds isn't it? Why must I pray? Why must I fast? And why must it be 5 times daily and compulsory in Ramadhan respectively? Why must we cover certain parts of the body and why is it so many other restrictions in our life? Why are there too many dos and don'ts in Islam? Oh life is like a prison then but why? Bear in mind that answers might not be the same for a Muslim and a non-Muslim. Why? Because for a Muslim, the answer to all the above questions is very simple. Because Allah said so, that's the answer. But from here, comes the next question. Who is Allah and why must we do things that He asks us to do in the first place? This is when the word 'rights' as appropriately as it is, should be brought in. By understanding the authority that Allah has as the sole creator, we would then understand who actually has the right to own the so-called rights that we always talk about. Human rights, seriously?
Think about this. IP. Have heard of it? Okay, it's short for Intellectual Property. Now, an analogy. I invented something, say a pair of glasses that can make you see through everything, and I call it GlaThru. And hey, no copying. I have copyrights. I have right, don't I? The IP remember? The spare parts, manual and how-to-use booklet? Hey that should all come from me. Well why is that? Simple. I invented it. I know best about it and I invented it, okay?
Fine. Come back to the main topic. Human rights. Who then should be given the right to define human rights? Isn't it not the one that creates human then? Yeah, let go off the ego, the partiality and all those inappropriate feelings, then one will admit- Allah, the creator of mankind, has the right to define what we should do and what we should not. What is prohibited and what is not. What is good and what is not. Allah creates us, so He knows best every single thing about us. Don't you think?
Now, let us pick a context of discussion that relates closely to real life occurrence. Prayer (solat) for instance. What if one day your friend gave an advice to you because you skipped prayers and decided to just study all day instead? Would you respond and say hey mind your own business please because I have right and I will do what I want to do? Err, let us put this into a correct perspective. Do you think that your friend was trying to 'conquer' your right? Are you sure? Don't you realize that if you really think about it, he or she is actually fulfilling the rights outlined by Allah that one must always remind each other as Muslims? Then whose right is that? Isn't it that of Allah?
What about proper dress for men and women? One misconception should be corrected first though. Who says that only girls must cover parts of their body? If that's so, well I'd attend lecture naked, would I? :P No it's not. Men also has to conform to the rules. But the thing is, rules are different for these two genders and Allah does so because it suits each. Allah creates us and He knows us best remember? The point here is that, how many times did we refuse to conform to Allah's rule by using an excuse that it is our right to decide? Be careful everyone, dare we challenge Him, seriously?
Last of all, let us then take a look at a larger context. Human rights, again. In some Western countries, they already legalised homosexual marriage. So what do you think? Will you accept that homosexual marriage is part of human right? How about prostitution? Human right again? Mind you, some significant number of people across the globe believe it is so. Not a surprise okay, but human rights really? Do we not think that this is the consequence when we allow men to define their own rights without referring to the guidance by God the Almighty, Allah S.W.T? Ask ourselves again, where do we come from? Are we not from a tiny sperm that fertilised with an ovum? Who are we? Feel strong do we? Think carefully..
Alright, prostitution. Guys, if you accept it as a human right, I have you this question. Would you allow your own wife to become a prostitute because it's actually her right? Or your mother? Your sister? Anyone? Ladies, you don't want your husband to enjoy the 'service' do you? Your dad? Your brother or your son? Or you yourself will you? Then why? Isn't it not a human right?
That is why, as far as a rational discussion is concern, one would admit that people have different desires and unique preference to something, and these desires might go against life norm suppose we have no guidance or refuse to follow the guidance sent down to us. Thus, we need to ask and ask the same question all over again. Knowing that we are always imperfect and flawed, what do we need? Isn't it not a guidance? The true one? Do we care about truth? Or do we just pick and choose only ones that suit us? Who are we to do so then? Well, think carefully, again..
The lesson that I hope would be understood from this post is this. We must always not take things for granted but look for truth with an open heart. In other words, don't follow or do things so easily without any proper knowledge about it and more importantly, don't ever act foolish and question One that knows better about what He asks us to do. Seek truth, and insya Allah, God willing, truth will therefore come to us. If we were asked on when to go back to follow the path of truth and our answer is 'one day,' just imagine this. Suppose Allah make us stop breathing and we (while gasping for air) ask Him when will He give us back the breathing, and he said, 'one day!' What will we do then? Think.. hard..
Thus, do as instructed. Do because Allah wants us to do so. (He surely has reasons for it and certainly it's for the good of us, and not Him, because Allah never relies on us, it's the other way around instead). Non-Muslims may need different answers, but as time crawls, more and more must-dos in Islam were proved to be parallel with Science, which by right is actually the law of Allah (Sunnatullah). These are answers they want to hear. But us, we want these answers too, but we have better reasons for everything, because we know He creates us and He owns all the rights we falsely believe is ours. Remember, we were not created but to only worship Him, Allah the Almighty, the One and Only, the All-knowing. Wallahuaklam.
Surely Allah knows best. =)
"This post as a reminder is for both you and me, because my principle is this. If one day I stray from the correct path (I sure hope not), I know I have you to correct me. ameen.."
-Ibnu Hanaffi-
