The Need for Certitude

My Dear Readers,

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. (May the Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you)
  

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ نَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَسَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلاَ هَادِيَ لَهُ

وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

(See end note in the first post)

Why the Need for Certitude?

For a Mo'min (believer), the whole foundation of faith must rest on (یقیں) yaqeen, or certitude. Iqbal considers lack of faith a major curse of the modern civilization.

!یقیں مثلِ خلیلؑ آتش نشینی

!یقیں اللہ مستی، خود گزینی

سُن اے تہذیبِ حاضر کے گرفتار

!غلامی سے بدتر ہے بے یقینی

(Bal-e-Jibril-088)

Yaqeen. Misl-e-Khalil Atish Nasheeni
Yaqeen, Allah Masti, Khud Guzini
 
Faith, like Abraham, sits down in the fire;
To have faith is to be drawn into God and to be oneself.

Sun, Ae Tehzeeb-e-Hazir Ke Giraftar
Ghulami Se Bad-tar Hai Be-Yaqeeni
 
Listen, you captive of modern civilization,
To lack faith is worse than slavery!

For Muslims who are ostensibly associated with such a great belief structure, they have to start by freeing themselves from the fact that they were born Muslims.  Instead we have to start asking ourselves why are we Muslim?

We must make peace with ourselves, and rest our doubts after being thoroughly satisfied that Rasoolullah ﷺ is a Prophet of Allah. Since our deen is based around that central tenet. If we doubt this very core principle of Islam, then we are truly on a shaky foundation that is about to collapse. Before we even arrive at that conclusion, however, we must be able to develop in ourselves the ability to be certain, to have certitude and faith.
Unfortunately, this is not addressed often enough, as laments Iqbal:

  يہ پيران کليسا و حرم ، اے وائے مجبوري

صلہ ان کي کد و کاوش کا ہے سينوں کي بے نوري

يقيں پيدا کر اے ناداں! يقيں سے ہاتھ آتي ہے

وہ درويشي ، کہ جس کے سامنے جھکتي ہے فغفوري

(Bal-e-Jibril-058)

Ye Peeran-e-Kalisa-o-Haram, Ae Waye Majboori!

Sila In Ki Kid-o-Kawish Ka Hai Seenon Ki Benoori

Alas! The mullah and the priest, Conduct their sermons so

That despite their efforts great, The hearts of listeners fail to glow.

Yaqeen Paida Kar Ae Nadan! Yaqeen Se Hath Ati Hai

Woh Darvaishi Ke Jis Ke Samne Jhukti Hai Faghfoori

O naïve fellow, get firm certitude, For it, upon you can bestow

Dervishhood of such lofty brand ’Fore which the mighty monarchs bow.

Jami too reminds us of the faith of Ibrahim  (عليه السلام) his magnum opus Haft Awrang, in the poem titled Yusuf(عليه السلام) and Zulaikha :

 خلیل آسا در ملک یقین زن
نوای «لا احب الافلین» زن 

Khaleel Aasa dar mulk e yaqeen zan
Nawa-e- "la uhibb al Aafileen" zan
 
Knock on the door of the kingdom of certitude like Khaleel (Friend/Title of Ibrahim (عليه السلام) )
To utter "I love not gods who set."  (referring to Ibrahim's utterance in Qur'an 6:76 below):

وَكَذَلِكَ نُرِي إِبْرَاهِيمَ مَلَكُوتَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَلِيَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُوقِنِينَ

(audio)

 6:75 And thus We gave Abraham [his first] insight into [God's] mighty dominion over the heavens and the earth - and [this] to the end that he might become one of those who are inwardly sure. -

فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ اللَّيْلُ رَأَى كَوْكَبًا قَالَ هَـذَا رَبِّي فَلَمَّا أَفَلَ قَالَ لا أُحِبُّ الآفِلِينَ

(audio)
6:76 Then, when the night overshadowed him with its darkness, he beheld a star; [and] he exclaimed, "This is my Sustainer!" -but when it went down, he said, "I love not the things that go down"

والله أعلم   
 Wa Allahu 'Alam (And Allah is the All-Knowing) 

Why am I a Muslim?

My Dear Readers,

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. (May the Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you)
  

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ نَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَسَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلاَ هَادِيَ لَهُ

وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

(See end note in the first post)

To write this blog, believing that the words of Allah are true, and that Islam is a source of good, I have to start with the first and foremost question.

Why am I a Muslim?

Given my background, I should probably write that I am born into a Muslim family, and decided to run with it.  Others fellow Muslims might offer different reasons, for example, "I chose to be a Muslim because of my loved ones". Still others might put forth a gamut of reasons. There are those who argue as to how good Islam is compared to other religions, and offer a host of logical, scientific and highly erudite arguments. All that is good in its own time and place.  My concern in this blog starts from a still much more basic level.

 Is it necessary to believe in God? 

or perhaps in other words:

Can I live my life just fine without having to believe in God?

As to the question of whether it is necessary to follow a formal religion, for those believing in God, and whether Islam is the religion of choice, is the scope of a separate, and I must say much later discussion.

If we were to ask about importance of God in our life, we must go back further and ask ourselves:

What is the purpose of our life, existence etc? Or, is there a purpose to our existence?

Perhaps one of the ways I can provide some perspective to myself, is by jotting down a couple of basic questions, and then writing a blog post about each one of them and see if it leads me to where I am right now. So here goes:

 

1. Is there a purpose to my existence, if so how can I know what it is? If not, how can I be sure?
2. Will there be life after death? If so, how can I know more about it, and how can I know that what I know is right? If not, again, how can I be sure?

والله أعلم   
 Wa Allahu 'Alam (And Allah is the All-Knowing)

Why The Good Word?

My Dear Readers,

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. (May the Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you)
  

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ نَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَسَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلاَ هَادِيَ لَهُ

وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

(See Note below)

What does Kalimatan Tayyibah mean?

The title of this blog is inspired from the following ayat of surah Ibrahim in the Qur'an (14:24):

    أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ اللّهُ مَثَلاً كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاء   

Translation from Muhammad Asad's Message of the Qur'an:


Art thou not aware how God sets forth the parable of a good word?  [It is] like a good tree, firmly rooted, [reaching out] with its branches towards the sky

Asad further states that:

In its wider meaning, the term kalimah ("word") denotes any conceptual statement or proposition. Thus, a "good word" circumscribes any proposition (or idea) that is intrinsically true and - because it implies a call to what is good in the moral sense - is ultimately beneficent and enduring; and since a call to moral righteousness is the innermost purport of every one of God's messages, the term "good word" applies to them as well. 

You can listen to the ayah here 

This blog will attempt to put forth good, pleasant and blessed words, with their reference in the original sources, which in the author's opinion highlight the true spirit of Islam, free from repugnant statements and ideas.


والله أعلم   
 Wa Allahu 'Alam (And Allah is the All-Knowing)

Note:

This post starts with the well known opening lines of at least one of Prophet Muhammad's ﷺ sermon. Al-Nasa’i ؒ reported in his Sunan al-Nasa'i: Kitaab al-Jumu’ah (Click Here) that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ud ؓ that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught us the Khutbah Haajah ........