The verse

I am not a very religious person but at times I like to believe that I am close to God. Maybe the thought is the creation of my own mind or maybe it is indeed true I do not know . All I know is that Allah swt has always been there for me ,as He has been for all humans on earth . Whenever I am looking for answers that I do not have , He does not let me stay in a confused state for long .

Hazrat Ali ra said ” Whenever I want to talk to Allah,I pray and whenever I want to listen to what Allah has to say to me,then I read the Quran ” And Allah knows best.

It has often been the case that when I am pondering over things I find the answer in the Holy Quran . I usually come across ayats that fit as the solution to my problem .

So recently I started pondering over the issue of different sects in Islam . I started pondering how can people from one sect say that they are on the right path whereas rest are not . Ths pondering led to frustration and ultimately anger . I was angry how could we mess up our religion so badly that even following Quran and Sunnah was not enough for some people and that you had to be part of a sect – and that too the “right sect” to become a Muslim of the purest nature .

I didn’t want to be a second class Muslim . I too thought that I was on the right path and wanted to be a Muslim of the “purest form” .

Hence , I did a little research . I searched the internet . I learned about the basic teachings of Shia Islam and Sunni Islam . Also read a little about other sects . I read blogs , articles , used twitter to find religious people from different sects . However this added to more frustration and headache . In some articles there was hatred for others . And few were very complicated for my mind to grasp properly .

I am not too religious at this point in life , however , I still am very God fearing . The thought of being wrong scares me like anything . I have always prayed to Allah to show me the right path . Even if I did not , this prayer is a prayer by default  in Namaz in the form of Surah Fatiha

Nothing seemed to help . I gave up and thought that this might be a test . So in a frustrated state I prayed isha , prayed to God to show me the right path and prepared to sleep .

Many times the last thing I do before I go to sleep is read 2 to 3 pages of the quran wih translation and try to think over it and remember it . It is usually in these lessons that I have found relief many times in the past .

The very same night before i slept i read a couple of pages of the Quran and came across very interesting verses. The surah was surah anam and the verses were one of the last few from the surah.

I don’t like to believe that things happen as a coincidence . I like to believe that everything has order . Every person we meet is destined to teach us something . In every illness , success , hardship there is some lesson to be learned only if we ponder a little . So I like to believe that the following ayat that I came across that night in my lesson was no coincidence either . .

Here it is :

Translation : “Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects – you, [O Muhammad], are not [associated] with them in anything. Their affair is only [left] to Allah ; then He will inform them about what they used to do.”

I can’t describe what I felt the moment I read those lines. It gave me goosebumps and sent shivers down my spine. It was as if God was talking directly to me! Indeed Quran is the true guidance for mankind .

Quranic ayats are open to interpretation. The miracle of the quran is that it has been sent for all times . Always relevant . And each ayat can have several meanings.

The meaning I took from the ayat strengthened my belief in the way I was brought up and what I had always advocated ; a united Muslim nation with love for everyone and hatred for none.

The process of learning is indeed long and continues throughout life. People have a right to believe in what they think is right as long as it does not invade anyones personal space .

The way the countries in the Mideast are disintegrating , partly because of the issue of different sects, I think we have to open up to the the idea of talking about these issues openly in a healthy and friendly manner . Talking about these issues will make us comfortable about our differences and therefore prevent anyone to create differences between us .

May Allah guide us all . Ameen

The desire to achieve perfection

The other day I read an article by yasmin mogahed and found it quite interesting . It was about the imperfections of life and this world in general . I would like to share my views on the topic.

Human beings are creatures who have been put into a test in the form of being sent to this world . We have been descended from the heavens to the earth . During a mans stay on earth he longs for something that was there in the heavens – Perfection . The heaven is a  perfect place, perfect food , clothes , looks etc. This world on the other hand is imperfect. . Man will do anything to achieve or come close to that state of perfection as much as he can, because he has experienced the state of perfection in the heaven . Man strives for perfection in everything he does in this world , his occupation , his relationships , how he looks , how he dresses and so on . There is never a full stop to whatever he does , because he is never satisfied by what he gets . He wants perfection whether he realises it or not . However, he can only increase his status , or “darjaats” .

Now how I interpret “darjaat”. It is the closeness to God , or in other words closeness to achieving the state of perfection . Now when i say that man can only increase in darjaats , i mean he can only come closer to perfection . He cannot achieve it here . Now once we realize that , life becomes easier . Sometimes people work extremely hard , and although in the eyes of some they have everything one could have , yet  they don’t stop working . It is because they have the desire to get better and better than they previously were . The desire will only stop when they actually have everything one could have and that could only be possible if he were in a perfect place and in a perfect state . Or if he were in the heaven.

So the way I see it , no matter whatever you do in life , in whatever profession you are , you long for perfection . The spirit will only be satisfied if it gets closer to that state . You could get closer to it by hard work , worship, good deeds , etc . Whatever religion you belong to , the spirit wants to go back to the state it was in when it was in the heavens .Ever wondered why you feel a sense of satisfaction after  prayers , hard work or doing good things ? It is because you’re getting closer to the actual goal . The spirit feels happy !

One of the reasons why most of the people are unsatisfied with life today are because they’re neglecting what the spirit wants . They’re so indulged in the worldly life that they ignore the real goal of increasing in darjaat , closeness to perfection or closeness to God and heaven . Now let me make it clear here that mere indulging in worldly affairs should not be confused with hard work .   Hard work is a process of betterment of self . Not indulging in mere worldly affairs

So to end it all , the way I see it, man wants to go back to where he came from . If he strives for improvement not only will he feel happy and satisfy the spirit in this world , but also will get closer to the ultimate goal of acquiring that perfect state in the form of heaven . One must also realize that this world will always remain imperfect and although everyone should work as hard as they can in this world in any way possible , one must also realize that imperfections will always exist, in your relationships , your work , profession or anything you do , as long as you’re alive . So while striving for betterment  , you have to look beyond the imperfections , for they are a part and parcel of this world .