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| Doubts & Questions about
Islam
Question Few months ago I was going to Europe to see
my brother. On the plane ride I I am 36 yrs old Muslim male from xxx. I
migrated to this country in My problem is that I am always in doubts (Tashkeek)
about Islam being the best religion or the “Deen” of Allah. I want to solidify my “Iman”
and for that I say all prayers, Recite Darood Shareef like 200 times everyday.
Read Different interpretations of some minor
“Fiqh Masail” bother me a lot and I don’t feel like I have any friends who
can understand this issue. I am So this is my story in brief, I hope you
read my email and at least reply I saw your Telephone number listed on your
web site. Would that be OK if I Thank you Very much, Response: Allah Ta'ala has given us a thinking mind
for a purpose... to think, reflect, question and explore so we can have
faith with conviction. In the
Quran Allah Ta'ala asks us to think and reflect on everything.
As regards to having questions and doubts about Islam... It is a
good sign.. it encourages us to find answers to those questions.
Islam is a religion that appeals to the intellect and the heart.
It is a rational religion, not based on superstitious beliefs
without a base. It is not a
weakness in faith to have questions.
It is a sign of intelligence.
Human beings are not robots that we get programmed to saying
prayers and that is it, nor does Allah Ta'ala ask us to be like sheep..
and follow a leader without using our own mind.
Intelligence demands that we look into matters deeply and find
answers that satisfy us, because only then can we have 100% conviction.
It is unfortunate that in most Muslim
societies this responsibility is labeled as lack of faith.
This type of maturity, intelligence and commitment is what Allah
Ta'ala demands of us. This is
how we educate ourselves about Islam and God.
And this is what keeps us from being hypocritical in our faith. Allah Ta'ala also tells us that we will be
questioned if we follow any tradition just because we saw our parents do
it... which implies that we have to use our own minds to be convinced
about Islam, not just follow a tradition without verifying it.
You know how some things that are cultural are mistaken as
religious teachings... if we follow those we are harming our own faith. As adults it is our responsibility to study Islam and make a
conscious choice to follow it, how can we do it without having questions?
The Prophet (saw) used to encourage people to ask him questions...
answering questions clarifies issues and erases confusion.
The Hadith is full of questions that people brought to the Prophet
(saw). If asking questions is wrong he would have stopped them and
we might not know the answers to many issues covered in the ahadith. There are many things in the Western
culture that are excellent and commendable.
There is no harm in taking good things of any culture.
There is a hadith that after a war the ransom for prisoners of war
was that if they teach Muslims how to read and write they would be set
free. That is an example of
taking something from another culture for the advancement of the Muslims. Another example is that as Islam spread
Muslims translated scientific and other literature from Latin and Greek
into Arabic, which they later built upon.
This again benefit the Muslims although the body of knowledge that
they translated was not Islamic. So
it is wrong to say that only Islamic knowledge is what we need.
The limited, narrow minded and bigoted
Muslims make rules about such things that go against the spirit of Islam,
which is advancement and progressive development.
Such narrow minded thinking is detrimental to Muslims in the long
run. Muslims stopped growing many hundreds of
years ago and we are seeing the damage it has done to our collective
psyche. We have become so
blind that instead of embracing the good from other cultures we are
creating a fear of it and thus shackling ourselves even more so.
The Western world is way ahead in scientific development, we should
work at catching up. Human
Rights in most Islamic countries are deplorable.
Actually we are told in the Quran to 'vie with each other in doing
good' with non-Muslims instead of fighting about religious differences.
There is a verse in the Quran that tells us
that God created different cultures and peoples so we can learn from each
other. At the core all religions have the same ethics, the same
social and moral values. All religions teach respect,
responsibility, living a moral life, compassion and service to humanity.
Islam teaches this just as other religions. Muslims have lost their
focus on the inner dimensions of religion, as well as the social
dimensions. We pay a heavy price for focusing only on the externals
or rituals of religion... it cuts out the heart and spirit of religion. As regards to fear of death, being scared is natural, almost
everyone is scared whether they admit it or not.
That too is a sign of faith, I don't believe any one of us is ready
to stand in front of Allah Ta'ala and go through the final examination of
our deeds. Being afraid keeps
us more conscious of our own actions and we hopefully will make a greater
effort in doing the right thing, inshallah. As far as issues like length of beard,
etc... spending time on such nitty gritty matters can be a distraction for
most people... our efforts should be focused on doing what we can do with
ease, and pray that God guides us on matters that we are struggling with. Inshallah, He will make such issues easier to understand and
follow. The Quran and Hadith
tell us not to make our religion so difficult that we resent it and don't
want to follow it. Faith grows in stages, there is no such
thing as a perfect Muslim... so let it grow as you look for answers. There is a verse in the Quran in which a bedouin says that he
has faith and he is corrected, saying that he does not have faith as yet
but he is just following the rituals.
So having faith is a process of growth. Hope this helps. |