Muslim Me

I am a Muslim... It wasn't my choice, but I was born in Syria. To be honest, I am not happy to belong to this region and religion in this time or era if we can say. Of course as a Muslim I accept whatever Allah had chosen for me. Belonging to ALSHAM and being a member of a Muslim family is a great grace from Allah SWT. I hope at the end I will be happy in the hereafter, but the test is not easy...

Unfortunately, I am a Muslim at the time when a great religion like Islam is misrepresented by Muslims. Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Takfir wal-Hijra, Houthis and some other similar groups are producing terrifying mental images of Islam for many people. Actually, Not these groups only are the problem. Even many of what so called "moderate Muslims" are not good examples of Islam. I spent more than 7 years in Japan and everyday I felt that non-Muslim Japanese are better representation of Islamic Ethics. The converted Muslim Japanese lady which we met in Japan, is more faithful to Islamic Principals comparing with many originally born as Muslims in Islamic countries. This actually motivates me to write this post as a self investigating about Islam meanings to me and how close I am to real Islam.

Islam is a verbal noun originating from the Arabic root s-l-m سلم which is the root of many words related to wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. But most of the Muslims' country are lacking safeness and peace. Today my beloved Syria is far far away of them in many regions. I tried in another post titled (World of Muslims) to give some explanation about Islam and Islam denominations nowadays. In this post I try to mention some principals of what I think it is the correct path. In my opinion, there are two main ideas any Muslim should know.

1- The only holy and divine origin source of Islam is Quran. After Quran the Sunna makes up the second primary source of Islamic theology and law. What Sunna means is the authentic verbally transmitted record of the teachings, deeds and sayings, silent permissions (or dis-approvals) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as various reports about Muhammad's companions. Any other sayings by Islamic scholars might be true and might be false. Imam Malik (May Allah have mercy upon him) said: “Everyone can has his statement accepted or rejected, except the companion of this grave (He pointed to the grave of Prophet Muhammad.

2- It is stated in Quran: "There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong." (Albaqara 256). Therefore, it is every one's responsibility to search for the reality and the right truth to follow. Faith is personal matter and every one is responsible of his own Beliefs and acts personally. Allah will test the faith of every human individually. No body else than Allah have the right to judge the faith of others. In Quran: "Then they are returned to Allah , their true Lord. Unquestionably, His is the judgement, and He is the swiftest of accountants." (Alanaam 62).

My Islam

The following points are some important points to identify what is Islam to me:

• Any one believes that there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is a messenger from Allah is considered as Muslim. I believe in this and that's why I consider myself as a Muslim.
• I am a Muslim not an Islamist. Islam is a religion. According to wikipedia, Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, sacred texts, holy places, ethics, and societal organization that relate humanity to what an anthropologist has called "an order of existence".^[1] Therefore, we should not mix between Islamic political movement or parties and Islam. Islamism (Political Islam) is political entities and people belongs to such entities should not consider themselves as the only representatives of Islam. In other words, Muslims who belong to any other political entities (even those related to non Islamic ideologies) or those who don't have any interest in politics or political activities (Like me) are still Muslims.
• It is clearly stated in Quran: "So remind, [O Muhammad]; you are only a reminder ( ) You are not over them a controller ( ) However, he who turns away and disbelieves ( ) Then Allah will punish him with the greatest punishment ( ) Indeed, to Us is their return ( ) Then indeed, upon Us is their account." (Alghashya 21 - 26). Therefore, any group, religion, sect, person, party or organization which claim that belonging to it is giving the members superiority upon others in this life is considered a false fake group by me. All people, believers and non believers. Members of one group and non members should be equal in this life. In hereafter, Allah Alone has the right to judge if a person is following the right path or not. Differentiating among people according their belief is criticized in Quran also: "And among the People of the Scripture is he who, if you entrust him with a great amount [of wealth], he will return it to you. And among them is he who, if you entrust him with a [single] silver coin, he will not return it to you unless you are constantly standing over him [demanding it]. That is because they say, "There is no blame upon us concerning the unlearned." And they speak untruth about Allah while they know [it]. (Ali_Imran 75)
• Nobody has the right to kill punish or even humiliate a non Muslim or a non believer. And similarly is applied among different opinions or schools in Islam. "Jihad" is from the Arabic word جهد j h d and it means making effort to be good and to spread the good ideas. Also it means to make effort to protect souls and wealth. Only Governments have the rights to have armies. What Isis, Qaeda or other similar groups are doing against west or even against some other Muslim people is rubbish. (More interesting readings are here and here. Most of educated Muslims agree with what is mentioned in the two articles )
• Any punishment mentioned in Quran is like any punishment mentioned in any country law or constitution. Governments and policemen are responsible to investigate, accuse and apply the punishment in case of guiltiness. Since I am not a policeman, and not even a person who studied law or "Shariaa" I don't like to discuss such matters. What is really important for me is to understand what is legal and what is not legal to try to be sure not to do any illegal things. Like this I will be sure not to deserve any punishment whatever the punishment is.
• Quran is a book of signs and life teachings. It is not a book of science. Many studies under the title "Scientific Miracles in Quran" are rubbish and waste of time. (more about this is here)
• East and West countries, Islamic and non Islamic countries all have good people and bad people. Racism, extremism, intolerance are not accepted from any person. The normal practice for searching the correct ideology and spread it is what Quran says: "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has strayed from His way, and He is most knowing of who is [rightly] guided." (an nahl 125).
• Most of the Islamic countries are not developed nowadays. This has nothing to do with religious beliefs. In fact, many Muslims are Muslims in name only. They pray, fast ... But many of the Islamic Ethics and values are not followed correctly. Corruption, cheating, irresponsibility are common in some Islamic countries. On the other hand, some Muslims individuals are very successful like Ahmed Zewail, Abdul Qadeer Khan, Naguib Mahfouz, Taha Hussein, Farouk El-Baz, Sameera Moussa, Oussama Khatib and others . It is only related to hard working. Quran states: "Whoever desires the life of this world and its adornments - We fully repay them for their deeds therein, and they therein will not be deprived." (Hud 15). Belief is judged in hereafter and in Islam working hard is part of Belief.
• I don't hate or look down to any person belong to any denomination of Islam. Actually I don't do this even for non Muslims. My duty and responsibility is to try to understand all of the others. I may read and have discussion when needed with them to guarantee that my point of view is correct. I discuss to learn and validate what I think is true. This is the first priority. Convincing others with my point of view is important but under two conditions: 1- I am 100% sure that I am right. 2- The second party is a debatable person. The second condition is really difficult is Muslim's world nowadays.

... To be continued (This post is a published draft, It is not finalized yet but I prefer to make it public to get some feed backs during writing it as a part of my self investigating process :) )