Scripture tells us that Man early on made the mistaken choice of partaking of the forbidden fruit thereby making him disobedient to God and leading to his downfall. The opportunity or freedom to make a choice is a gift given to Man by God, which even the angels do not possess---the gift of freewill. Over time the prophets of God have continually reminded Man that the gift of freewill or freedom to make choices comes with the responsibility to exercise it correctly and also serves as a test of Man’s gratitude to God in that he should exercise it in obedience to God’s commands.
The gift of freewill grants Man freedom to make choices. As taught to Man early on, that freedom is not absolute and not without consequences.
Today we see manifold instances of Man leading his life in a manner where the freedom to do as he pleases seems to be the paramount consideration. He dresses as he pleases, eats whatever he fancies, carries on his trade however he wishes, spends his earnings however he likes and entertains himself in whatever way he desires and so on.
Man today cherishes his unrestrained freedom and will readily and quickly oppose whatever limitations are imposed upon it, unless he, in the first place chooses to agree to such limitations. In so doing, Man believes that he, and he alone, knows best what is good for him and how best to regulate his affairs.
This is exemplified in the system of government in place today where Man alone decides what is legal and what is illegal in the society he lives in. Parliament or Congress or whatever similar institution that Man has created is often vested with the power to pass whatever law it pleases, perhaps constrained only by a Constitution in place that was drawn up by some of their number. Such laws, or in some instances the Constitution, is touted as the supreme law of the land.
This is democracy at work, where the will of the majority holds sway, constrained only by convention or by a written constitution drawn up by Man. Large sectors of mankind hold to the belief that such democracy, crafted on or modified from the Westminster model, is the best form of government that can be had.
Democracy however, to the extent that it permits Man unrestrained freedom to make choices in the exercise of his freewill and to absolutely legislate and regulate his own affairs, is contrary to Islam and has resulted in disastrous consequences for Man. One needs only consider the growing instances where Man has legalized same-sex marriages to appreciate the dangers inherent in unbridled freedom and the fallacy that Man knows what is best for himself .The fact that such legislation approving same-sex marriages emanates from the so-called developed nations that supposedly have the best-educated and most capable people the world has ever had is all the more alarming.
Any attempt to curtail such licentiousness on the part of Man in exercising unrestrained freedom is often met by stern opposition and there is no shortage of those who will beat the war-drums in their battle-cry for absolute or near-absolute freedom. These “warriors” for such unbridled freedom must be reminded of the worshippers of freedom described by the poet, Kahlil Gibran.
Gibran wrote:
“At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfilment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.”
Sadly amongst these “warriors” are those that call and consider themselves muslims. Whilst considering themselves adherents of Islam, their love-affair with freedom has caused them to fail to appreciate that Islam means “submission to God”.
They should ask themselves the question:
“What do you submit to God, if not your freedom and your freewill?”
Is it not that when you subjugate your own desires to the will of God that you truly submit to Him? Is this not what fasting during Ramadhan is all about where Man overcomes the strongest physical desires that he has (the desire for food, drink and sex) and control and submit these desires to God’s commands so as to earn the good pleasure of God?
What merit is there if Man merely submits to that which is agreeable to him? Does not submission entail submitting also to that which is disagreeable to him?
As described by Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri in his "Living Islam - East & West ":
“The purification of the heart occurs degree by degree, and the way to this purification is by going against one's own personal selfish motives, desires, expectations, and so on. This is called the struggle of the self, al-jihad an-nafs. Maintaining this jihad constantly, and keeping diligently to the shari'ah (the body of Islamic law) as it has come to us, one eventually ends up being the free man who is a true slave.” (emphasis added).
Sadly, amongst Man are those who are too arrogant to become the slaves or servants of God. They forget that even Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) frequently referred to himself as the slave of God, and they cannot comprehend what is said by Shakyh Fadhalla that it is when you are a true slave of God that you are truly free.
They demand or expect that God’s commands must meet with the dictates of their sense of reason, and hence anything and everything that does not appeal to their sense of reason and logic must be rejected. In doing so they fall prey to that most subtle and dangerous form of shirk, which is the worship of one’s own mind. In this they follow the path trodden by Iblis who followed the dictates of his mind in considering himself superior to Man and thus justifying his rejection of God’s command to bow down to Adam (pbuh).
These people also fail to heed the lessons of the account of Prophet Musa’s encounter with Khidr where one of God’s mightiest prophets, who was taught and instructed by God, nevertheless had limitations in his understanding and knowledge.
They fail too to appreciate the example of Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) who clearly submitted his own sense of reason and desire in submitting to God by being prepared to sacrifice his own son.
It is not meant by the aforesaid that Man must discard his sense of reason absolutely. Reason, being one of the special gifts to Man by God, is certainly to be used, even in matters of submitting to God, but even “Reason” must submit to God. Thus where a command is clearly from God and from Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and is couched in clear and unequivocal terms, it is not open to Man to consider whether he may or may not obey. His freedom in the exercise of his freewill must end there. God Almighty did instruct us in the Holy Qur’an that:
“It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path.”_ _ _ (Surah 33:36)
Man must choose and decide whether he is to be the servant of God or the slave of Reason. Man must decide whether he is to continue earning the displeasure of God by partaking of the forbidden fruit.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Pictures from the forum on "Does Islam permit racial discrimination?" held on 25th July,2008 at RICOI
The panelists:From left: Dr. Amir Farid Isahak, the moderator for the event Tuan Syed Barkat Ali, Bro. Shah Kirit, Bro. Ridzwan Yap and Bro. Abdul Rahim Majid.
A cross-section of the multi-racial audience that attended the forum.
Paticipants listening attentively to the discussion.
A particpant expressing his views on the topic.
A question being posed to the panelists by a member of the audience during the Q&A session.
The discussions carry on right after the forum has ended.About 25-30 participants attended the forum which started just after 8.30pm and continued till 11pm.
The next forum is slated for 29th August, 2008 with the topic "Does a non-muslim have to convert to Islam to marry a muslim?"
RICOI plans to have similar forums on the last Friday of each month where "open discussion" on matters pertaining to Islam and Muslims will be held.
Friday, June 13, 2008
ACCIN meeting with Dato Sharizat
Sis. Hafsah (extreme left) attending on behalf of RICOI at ACCIN"S meeting on 13th June,2008 with Dato' Sharizat at the Prime Minister's Department.Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Munafiq ( Hypocrite)
Just as during the time of the Prophet (pbuh), when there were those calling themselves muslims who were in fact munafiq, we find the same true today. These are those who are so enraptured by the ways of the West and its ideals and way of life that they have abandoned or wish to abandon the deen of Islam. They prefer the ideals of the West and the unrestrained freedom that goes with it. They wish to pursue the delights and glitter of this world as they please .
They are so enamoured of the ways of the West that they lead their lives no differently from the ordinary Westerner and find it incomprehensible why Muslims should place limitations on their own freedom and why God should have a say in everything. They see Islam and its prescribed way of life as the biggest threat to their misguided values of unlimited and unrestrained freedom.
Just as the pagan Arabs of yesteryear attempted to compromise Islam and Muslims, so too today we find there are those attempting the same thing. Hence we see numerous calls to reform Islam, to make Islam progressive and to bring Islam in line with modern times. We should not be surprised at this as Allah swt. had warned us that never will they be satisfied with us until we follow their deen, or in other words their way of life.
These so-called self-termed champions and proponents of human rights and freedom envisage a system where men shall live according to the dictates of their minds and confine God to the domain of their private lives, and that too only when they choose to permit Him to do so. In this they advocate a society where secularism holds sway, where they, and they alone, decide the role and prominence that God is to play in their lives, if any.
The clash is now taking place and it is growing as these deniers of truth will never be satisfied until they can get us to follow their deen.
The West today has largely given up on religion. Their churches are empty and their people today worship materialism, unbounded freedom and unbridled sensationalism. Homosexuality, once so abhorred by them, has become acceptable. Children born out of wedlock are now openly acknowledged and displayed to the world by the 'proud' parents. Those who have involved themselves in scandals now reap millions of dollars by writing bestsellers and going on lecture tours telling the whole world of their notoriety. In short, they have lost all sense of shame.
They have literally adopted the biblical passage "Give unto God what is God's and give unto Caesar what is Caesar's" as though Caesar himself did not owe his very existence to God and as though there are facets of life that belong exclusively to Caesar and are outside the domain of God.
To the Westerner God has no role in the public domain. How one conducts oneself is a matter solely between one and God and no one else has a say in the matter. To them individual interests has supplanted and overcome communal interests in their private lives. This has resulted in the moral decadence of the West. Their ways are therefore different from that prescribed by Islam where there is no separation of God from one's private life and where the community's interest overrides that of the individual even in matters of how one is to conduct oneself privately.
The munafiq in adopting and worshipping the ways of the West in fact worship their own minds in that to them everything including the word of God must meet and measure up to the dictates of their minds and sense of reason. In so doing they fall prey to the most subtle form of shirk which is the worship of one's own mind and sense of logic despite the warning clearly given in the Holy Qur'an against doing so.
We see calls from amongst the deniers of truth that there should be inter-faith dialogue and a search for common ground from the teachings of the various religions to arrive at a code of conduct by which all men may live. In doing so what they are actually asking for is that we compromise Islam and our deen and that wherever and whenever Islam does not accord with that code, then Islam has to adjust to fit that code.
They quote sections from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Federal Constitution and other similar writings (as though something coined by Man can be as sacrosanct as God's word) in their arguments to change the teachings and practices of Islam. They speak of liberty and freedom (including the unspoken liberty and freedom to disobey and ignore God). They speak of human rights as the highest ideal ( as though God has no rights and as though Man's rights are not to be subject to God's rights).
Whilst we are encouraged, nay, commanded to use our logic and reason, they fail to comprehend that our logic and reason, just like our whole selves, are to submit to the will of God. It is in our total and not partial submission to His will that we become Muslims and that differentiate us from the munafiq and the kafir.
To Muslims everywhere the call therefore should be to appreciate that we are meant to be different, that we should be proud to be different, that we do not have to apologise for being different and that we are indeed to ensure we are different. Our difference should be manifested in our readiness to submit to God in totality including the submission of our minds to the commands of God and our rejection of the ungodly life lived by the West and the munafiq. We are to manifest our difference in as many ways as we can even if some are merely symbolic for they will add to our pride and strength at being Muslims.
And when we are confronted with allegations that we are not free or are backward or whatever allegations that they wish to hurl at us our answer should be:
"To you be your way and to me mine." With us is Allah swt and we have the Truth, not them.
The hypocrites should also be reminded of:
"Give tidings to the hypocrites that there is for them a painful punishment. Those who take disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do they seek with them honor [through power]? But indeed, honor belongs to Allah entirely *." [Surah al-Nisaa' 4:138-139]
Just as during the time of the Prophet (pbuh), when there were those calling themselves muslims who were in fact munafiq, we find the same true today. These are those who are so enraptured by the ways of the West and its ideals and way of life that they have abandoned or wish to abandon the deen of Islam. They prefer the ideals of the West and the unrestrained freedom that goes with it. They wish to pursue the delights and glitter of this world as they please .
They are so enamoured of the ways of the West that they lead their lives no differently from the ordinary Westerner and find it incomprehensible why Muslims should place limitations on their own freedom and why God should have a say in everything. They see Islam and its prescribed way of life as the biggest threat to their misguided values of unlimited and unrestrained freedom.
Just as the pagan Arabs of yesteryear attempted to compromise Islam and Muslims, so too today we find there are those attempting the same thing. Hence we see numerous calls to reform Islam, to make Islam progressive and to bring Islam in line with modern times. We should not be surprised at this as Allah swt. had warned us that never will they be satisfied with us until we follow their deen, or in other words their way of life.
These so-called self-termed champions and proponents of human rights and freedom envisage a system where men shall live according to the dictates of their minds and confine God to the domain of their private lives, and that too only when they choose to permit Him to do so. In this they advocate a society where secularism holds sway, where they, and they alone, decide the role and prominence that God is to play in their lives, if any.
The clash is now taking place and it is growing as these deniers of truth will never be satisfied until they can get us to follow their deen.
The West today has largely given up on religion. Their churches are empty and their people today worship materialism, unbounded freedom and unbridled sensationalism. Homosexuality, once so abhorred by them, has become acceptable. Children born out of wedlock are now openly acknowledged and displayed to the world by the 'proud' parents. Those who have involved themselves in scandals now reap millions of dollars by writing bestsellers and going on lecture tours telling the whole world of their notoriety. In short, they have lost all sense of shame.
They have literally adopted the biblical passage "Give unto God what is God's and give unto Caesar what is Caesar's" as though Caesar himself did not owe his very existence to God and as though there are facets of life that belong exclusively to Caesar and are outside the domain of God.
To the Westerner God has no role in the public domain. How one conducts oneself is a matter solely between one and God and no one else has a say in the matter. To them individual interests has supplanted and overcome communal interests in their private lives. This has resulted in the moral decadence of the West. Their ways are therefore different from that prescribed by Islam where there is no separation of God from one's private life and where the community's interest overrides that of the individual even in matters of how one is to conduct oneself privately.
The munafiq in adopting and worshipping the ways of the West in fact worship their own minds in that to them everything including the word of God must meet and measure up to the dictates of their minds and sense of reason. In so doing they fall prey to the most subtle form of shirk which is the worship of one's own mind and sense of logic despite the warning clearly given in the Holy Qur'an against doing so.
We see calls from amongst the deniers of truth that there should be inter-faith dialogue and a search for common ground from the teachings of the various religions to arrive at a code of conduct by which all men may live. In doing so what they are actually asking for is that we compromise Islam and our deen and that wherever and whenever Islam does not accord with that code, then Islam has to adjust to fit that code.
They quote sections from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Federal Constitution and other similar writings (as though something coined by Man can be as sacrosanct as God's word) in their arguments to change the teachings and practices of Islam. They speak of liberty and freedom (including the unspoken liberty and freedom to disobey and ignore God). They speak of human rights as the highest ideal ( as though God has no rights and as though Man's rights are not to be subject to God's rights).
Whilst we are encouraged, nay, commanded to use our logic and reason, they fail to comprehend that our logic and reason, just like our whole selves, are to submit to the will of God. It is in our total and not partial submission to His will that we become Muslims and that differentiate us from the munafiq and the kafir.
To Muslims everywhere the call therefore should be to appreciate that we are meant to be different, that we should be proud to be different, that we do not have to apologise for being different and that we are indeed to ensure we are different. Our difference should be manifested in our readiness to submit to God in totality including the submission of our minds to the commands of God and our rejection of the ungodly life lived by the West and the munafiq. We are to manifest our difference in as many ways as we can even if some are merely symbolic for they will add to our pride and strength at being Muslims.
And when we are confronted with allegations that we are not free or are backward or whatever allegations that they wish to hurl at us our answer should be:
"To you be your way and to me mine." With us is Allah swt and we have the Truth, not them.
The hypocrites should also be reminded of:
"Give tidings to the hypocrites that there is for them a painful punishment. Those who take disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do they seek with them honor [through power]? But indeed, honor belongs to Allah entirely *." [Surah al-Nisaa' 4:138-139]
Monday, June 9, 2008
RIYADH PROGRAMME FOR TEENS
Sister Hafsah explaining about the programme
Bro. Hisham launching the programmeThe Riyadh Programme for teens is conducted fortnightly on Saturday afternoons.
It is headed by our Exco members, Sisters Nor Hafsah and Mariam, and is open to teens.
It is an informal programme designed to allow participants to open up discussion on any topic pertaining to Islam, particularly on issues affecting teenagers.
There is no charge involved and those interested may register by calling 03-77222724.
It is headed by our Exco members, Sisters Nor Hafsah and Mariam, and is open to teens.
It is an informal programme designed to allow participants to open up discussion on any topic pertaining to Islam, particularly on issues affecting teenagers.
There is no charge involved and those interested may register by calling 03-77222724.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Sunday Classes for Children
Parents joining in the fun
The children hard at work during the craft-session
Typical scene of a class in session
Sister Mariam conducting a story-telling session with the children
SUNDAY STORY-TELLING AND CRAFT
Suitable for ages 6– 9. Children below 6 years must be accompanied by an adult.
RM5.00 per child. 15 places only.
Light refreshments provided.
29th June 2008 ( Sunday)
10.30 a.m - 11.30 a.m
36A, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur
For reservations please call Puan Mariam 017-3382836 or 03-77222724
You may bring your colour pencils, crayons or magic colours.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Gifts for Inmates of Sungai Buloh prison
Picture of Y.Bhg Dato President of RICOI and Tuan Syed Barkat Ali, Exco member of RICOI handing over gifts to prison officials of Sungai Buloh prison for its inmates in September,2007 .
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