Muslim or non-Muslim?...

************************** In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. ************************ Reflection ************************* The Declining Day (Al-'Asr) 1. By the declining day, 2. Lo! Man is in a state of loss, 3. Save those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance. **************************** "LATELY there is a move to reclassify Islam; 'Hadhari', 'Wasatiyah' (moderates) etc. Islam is complete. No 'hadhari', no moderation and no extremism. Islam is Islam (full stop)." **************************** An old friend emailed this message to me recently. I pondered over his statement, thinking about it for days. To this day I have no answer for it, but lessons from 'tazkirahs' by a few 'ustazs' at several 'masjids' which I attended recently, hopefully or God willing (insya-Allah) could 'guide' us (me especially) on the ' finer aspects' of being Muslims. ****************************** During my younger days while studying at UiTM, there was one lecturer from the Islamic Centre who was fond of checking upon students in their room hostels an hour or so before the mass Jumaah prayers; questioning each student he met, especially those who were still in their beds: "Muslim or non-Muslim?" He seem to be sarcastic but 'it was his way' to get students performed their weekly compulsory obligations as Muslims. ************************* The lecturer's provocative way 'to wake up' students 'was a dead ended one'. From what I witnessed, no students gave an answer but quickly got up, prepared themselves and headed fo the nearby masjid. In those days in UiTM, 99 percent of the students were Muslims, only a few were non-Muslims especially Christians among the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak. Alhamdulillah (all praises to Allah) no Muslim students dared to say "I am a non-Muslim" just to escape 'the Jumaah episod'. ******************************* A few days ago, an 'ustaz' during his 'tazkirah' at a masjid near my house said, Muslims must perform all their obligations including their 'solat Jumaat' (Friday prayers) because if we fail to do so then our 'hati' (hearts) would be blackened and finally Allah SWT would put a seal upon it, thus we would not be able to differenciate what was bad and what was good for us. **************************** He said by not performing 'solat Jumaat' once, our hearts would be 'marked black' and for the second time it would be blacker and for the third time in a row, our 'iman' (faith) would be lifted from us by Allah SWT; we would be living just like animals for example a cow. A cow knows only to eat and drink and to have sex; and if we follow that trait, then we would also be one. ************************** Mind you, what is good and bad to us is from Allah SWT's view and not by us. For example having a lot of money is good for us but in Allah SWT's view it would do you more harm than good. Well, Allah SWT knows well! We would prefer not not fail in our examinations but when the results are out we failed; Allah knows it is the best for us because we would do correct ourselves (muhasabah) about it. Medicines (drugs) tastes bitter but sweets taste good, but which one you would take when you are ill for example down with fever? ****************************** In short we would not be shown His straight path (Ehdinas siratal mustaqeem which means 'guide us to the straight path') which we read at least 17 times daily during our compulsory (fardu) prayers i.e., subuh, zuhur, asar, maghrib and isyak and more in our recommended (sunat) prayers such as 'tahajud' (late night prayers). For Jummah prayers, we read it twice; this prayer is compulsory only to men. ***************************** Well, all Muslim men must (wajib) perform their Friday prayers; there is no exception about it; only those who fall into certain circumstances such as those on a journey (traveller) and the very sick and old; but they too had to perfom their zuhur prayer as to all women. Performing all the compulsory prayers (fardu) falls to every Muslim; no one is exempted be him or she is sick, is in a foreign land, in the plane or in outer space! ******************************* Performing our five daily prayers is part of 'Rukun Islam' (Principles of Islam). The other 'rukun' are the declaration of faith (kalimah shahadah), to distribute zakat (obligatory charity), to fast in the month of Ramadan and to make the pilgrimage to Makkah (hajj which is done once a lifetime). ********************************** Well, Islam is Islam -- you must perform all this 'Rukun Islam' according to the way of the Prophet s.a.w. You can't do it your way, if you would like to call yourself a moderate or any other names for example you only wanted to pay attention on four 'rukun', side stepping the fifth(going to Makkah to perfom hajj eventhough you have fulfill all the requirements) then your Islam is questionable. You would be already a non-Muslim if you belive in only one, two, three or four of the 'rukun'. You must belive in all five. ***************************** Here it is not just like an arithematic problem; such as 5 (rukun) minus 1 (rukun) = 4 (rukun) or 5 (rukun) minus 4 (rukun) = 1 (rukun). The problem is, if you do not believe in one rukun, then you are a 'kafir' (non-believer), 'nauzubillah min zalik' (I seek refuge from Allah from such thing). ***************************** Then performing your 'Rukun Islam' such as 'solat' (prayer) you must do it as shown by the Prophet s.a.w. For example 'solat zuhur' is perform with four 'rakaat' (or two when you are on a journey), you must perform it accordingly, you cannot choose to do it as you like such as with one 'rakaat' just to show that you are 'a moderate'. Or you perform it in six 'rakaat' just to show that your are very religious person. ************************ The same thing applies to 'Rukun Iman' (Articles of Faith in Islam) - you must belive in all the six articles. They are belive in Allah, His angels, His books, His prophets, in the Day of Judgement (Hari Kiamat) and His 'Qadha' and Qadr' (the power of doing actions good and bad comes from Allah SWT). ************************* A Muslim must belive in 'Rukun Iman' completely. He cannot have partial belief. True faith or 'iman' can be termed as 'your heart belives, you lips confess and your entire body acts towards obedience to Allah SWT'. Here, it is the same as in the case of 'Rukun Islam' -- 5 (rukun) minus 1 rukun, you are not left with 4 (four) rukun; but you are a 'kafir', 'nauzubillah min zalik'. ************************* Muslims should be very, very concerned about his/her 'akidah' (concerning Rukun Iman), and 'ibadah' (concerning Rukun Islam). Many of us think that simply bearing witness 'La illhaillaAllah' and Muhammadur Rasulullah' (the syahadah), plus performing the four fundamentals of Islam (solat, fasting, zakat and hajj) is sufficient for us to be called good practicing Muslims, and will have a great chance to be saved from Allah SWT punishments and earn his paradise. ************************* The 'syahadah' is a promise we make to Allah SWT on how to lead our daily lives. After making this promise (i.e. to submit ourselves and to obey all His Commands), we have no choice but to prove our commitment. Muslims should have no reservations in implementing all of Allah SWT commands including Hudud Law and preventing 'mungkar' (sins) as mentioned in the Qur'an (one of His books under Rukun Iman). Having reservation on any of Allah SWT's commands is a clear violation of our oath, the 'syahadah', that we will submit and obey all of Allah SWT 's commands. ************************* Some scholars even say having such an attitude will nullify our 'syahadah' and is sufficient to make a person 'kafir'. And Allah SWT has given us warning on this matter in one Quranic verse, where Allah SWT warns us not to become like the Children of Israel who disobey some of Allah SWT's commandments in the Taurah, as stated in Al-Baqarah: 85 "…Then is it only a part of the Book that ye believe in, and do ye reject the rest? But what is the reward for those among you who behave like this but disgrace in this life? And on the Day of Judgment they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty. For Allah is not unmindful of what ye do." ************************ Well, Islam is Islam. To take away 'a thing' such as hudud law from it, is in actual fact, straying away from it. It is no moderate or whatsoever you call it...perhaps our hearts are getting blacker and blacker by the day. It is getting harder and harder to clean a 'periuk' (cooking vessel) with all the 'arang' (soot and smog) and 'kerak' (crust) on its surface especially the bottom part. ************************ With a heart covered with all those 'arang' and 'kerak', how would we know what is good and what is bad? Regarding this matter we badly needed His guidance and not just according to our fancies. *************************** I am afraid, without His guidance, we would ourselves declare that we are moderates and so on without realizing we are straying away from His straight path. Hopefully all Muslims would realize, rectify and do some 'muhasabah' (correcting ourselves) before it would be too late when the Lord (Allah SWT) calls upon us. Wallahu'alam (only Allah SWT knows best).