Introduction
As salam wale kum wa rehmutula wa barakatu, may the peace, blessing and mercy of god al-mighty be upon you, this is a simple Islamic greeting to anyone and everyone reading this. This is not any attempt to defend my religion and any attempt to brain wash anyone. This is a humble deed for Allah SWT and for my friends to understand my system of faith. please do not read this with a close mind, please understand the wisdom behind the thought and system of faith. it is impossible to pour water in an closed / upside glass, all that you pour will flow down and make the floor wet and dirty, please read this with an open mind, and this is indeed written for people with open mind, if you are hear with pre-set thought and a closed mind, i would suggest you to please move on and put your efforts may be reading about something else.
Considering the current situation with Islam and how convicts and b grade film directors are commenting about our beloved profet PBUH,it becomes necessary that we muslims who by the grace of Allah SWT understand a few things about Islam talk about it to our friends who should know and who are keen to understand this system of faith. This is my humble attempt to start writing about Islam and things that are around, of course I am no scholar in this field, I am a very normal human being, who loves the Indian cricket team (quite upset about how we were out of the WC final though), who love football, has job, like to travel and lives a completely normal life. what i am trying to say is that you don't have to give your everyday life to adapt to Islam. The challenge of Islam accepting the faith and living your normal life, and not moving away from the right path.
Let me start with the topic that i would like to write about, this is something that has been said lot of times by many people and it is really simple to understand. Yes there is a relationship between Abraham,David,Moses,Jesus and Mohammed PBU all of them, these are all profets of the one god that we all muslims, jews and christians talk about, and all these profets have spoken about the same one god. it is like light falling from the same source separated by a thin line.
To begin let me start by introducing to the five pillars of Islam, as I informed earlier I am no scholar but based on what I have read and understood about Islam this is a humble attempt to write for my friends about it.
1. The One God
1. The One God - lā ʾilāha ʾillà l-Lāh - this is the fist pillar of Islam and it is important for every muslim to understand and follow this. We muslims believe that there is no God but one, we don't associated any partners to God, there is on one before him and no one after him. If you believe the fact that there is no God but one, you are a muslim, this is it, this is the foundation of Islam and as a muslim you submit your will to the one God. The word "Allah" does not mean any special god, it refers to the same one god,it is an arabic word and has a literal meaning to the first pillar of Islam. "Al" means in arabic "The" and "La" means no, this term "Allah" means "The Only One God" and no one else and hence we muslim refer to the one god as "Allah", it is meant to be as simple as that
It is also mentioned clear in the Holy Quran, chapter no 112
Surah Ikhalaas (112)
Say: He is Allah, the One!Allah, the eternally Besought of all!
He begetteth not nor was begotten.
And there is none comparable unto Him.
the above 4 lines are as simple as it can get to define the first pillar of Islam, believe in the one god "Allah SWT" and you have accepted the first pillar of Islam
2. Salah - The Muslim Prayer
The second most important pillar of Islam is the Salah, prayer, and I am sure most of us are aware of the 5 times Salah that are obligatory duty of every muslim and are to be offered everyday. These five Salah are divided based on the time slots in every day. the Fajr(morning dawn) prayer is the first obligatory prayer of the day and needs to be offered before sunset, Zuhr(noon) this is the noon prayer, followed by Asar around afternoon, followed by Magrib(after sunset) and Ishaa(the last prayer of the day). if you have lived in close vicinity of a mosque you would have probably heard the prayer call (adan), which is simply - Hayya 'ala s-salah , come to Salah, Hayya 'ala 'l-falah , come to success.
Salah is an important aspect of Islam and is a means of constant communication with Allah SWT, it is a mix of physical and spiritual/ mind and body etc that we always read about it. For me personally like the peace and calm that i feel after offering every salad, the calm and peace of sitting in a mosque where you almost forget about what meeting you have to attend next, what utility bill you have to pay at the end of the month, how much your credit card bill is outstanding etc.
It is a discussion, that I have with my lord, thanking him for what he has given me, al-humdillah and it needs to be at a slow pace and in no hurry. There is a prescribed way of offering Salah, which is common across the globe no matter what language you speak or which country you are from.
This is the best description of Salah that I have every read, this is text from the famous book "Road To Makkah" by Asad Muhammed and his conversation with Haji who responded to a question asked by Asad on why we need to bow and kneel fives times a day for prayer and does our God really expect us to do so. Haji was no offended by this question nor was protective of our religion but was the first door for Asad Muhammed to Islam
These are not my words but a text from "Road to Makkah" and a beautiful description of the muslim prayer, this is how and why we worship our lord with body and soul as this is how our lord has created us. we pray together with body and soul as God created the body and soul together, to start the prayer we turn towards Kaba, to the house of God build by Abraham knowing that all the muslims will be praying with their faces towards this Kaba and we are like one body with God as our centre of thoughts. First we stand up right and recite from the Holy Quran remembering that these are the words of God sent to mankind as mercy and that he will be steadfast and follow the straight path in life. Then we bow down holding our knees and say God is Great, reminding that there is not one who deserves to be worshipped but him and all praises are for him. Thereafter we pastorate with our forehead and nose touching the dust on the ground, as we feel that we are nothing but dust in front of him and his is our Creator and Sustainer of all. Then we lift our faces from ground remain sitting,praying that he forgives our sins and bestows his mercy and blessing on us and provides us and our parents/families with good health for us. Then we pastorate again with our foreheads touching the dust on the ground before the might and the glory of the one God that we worship. After that we remain sitting and pray that he bless our profet Muhammed PBUH who brought this message to us, like he has blessed the profets before him and then he bless us who follow the right guidance and give us what is the good in this world and what is good in the hear after. In the end we turn our heads to right and left and say may peace be and grace of God be upon you. and this is how the profet taught us to pray and has made a duty for every muslim to pray 5 times a day to remain steadfast and follow the straight path.
This is not the exact text from the book, I have added a few thoughts of my own around this but the message is the same as the book.
3. Zakath- Cleanse Your Greed
Zakath means giving back to the society, in the form of charity and sharing wealth and it is only if you can afford to give. it is based on a very simple calculation with respect to the money that you have managed to save after completing all your obligations towards family.
This is a very important aspect of Islam, if you don't oblige and pay zakath, your faith is in question. The percentage of amount that you have to give is 2.5 of what you have saved during the last year after all your finical needs are fulfilled. We have seen that lots of celebrities / business personalities are doing this which is excellent as they can share what god has given them and for a muslim it is duty to pay Zakath every year.
I would like to give reference to a verse from the Holy Quran, chapter no 102 - Piling Up
1. You are obsessed by greed for more and more
2. Until you go down to your graves.
3. Nay, but you will come to know
4. Nay, but you will come to know
5. Nay , if you but knew it with knowledge of certainty, You would indeed see the hell you are in.
6. In time, indeed, you shall see it with the eye of certainty:
7. And on that Day you will be asked what you have done with the boon of life.
This is what the Quran says about human greed, and this was something that was said 1500 years ago, and this is the situation that we face today. if we look around and analyse we see greed all over the place, looks at the corporations , the politicians , the empires and individuals and I do feel this is the hell that we are living in. We have setup goals and we work towards it and when we achieve we work towards the next goal, more tempting more promising always better than what we just achieved. Not to mention the sacrifice and means that is used to achieve these goals, the sooner we realise what hell we are in the better for us to get of out it.
And this is something that has been around mankind since 1500 years, predicting what will be the future of mankind with no moral values, such wisdom cannot be of man, indeed the Holy Quran is a word of God, the all-mighty and all-knowing
4. Ramadan- Holy Month Of Fasting
Ramadan is we all know is the holy month where it is a duty of every muslim to fast for 30 days from sunrise to sunset, offer the obligatory prayer and voluntary evening prayer. Ramadan is a month of Islamic calendar- Hijri calendar. It is a beautiful month of mercy and blessings from god and also it is important as the quran was said to be delivered first to the profet PBUH in this holy month. During fasting a muslim needs to abstain from eating / drinking and having sexual relationship with his wife from sunrise to sunset.A muslim should spend time praying, reciting the holy Quran also give charity during this month
The profet Muhammed PBUH was praying on a mountain in cave Hira, he used to always go to this mountain cave and pray and seek guidance for light and truth, when suddenly angel Gibreal appeared before him and commanded "Read!" and the profet PBUH replied "I cannot read", the angel then took hold of the profet and pressed him and released him and commanded again to the profet PBUH "Read!" again the profet PBUH replied I cannot read, the angel pressed him again and commanded the profet PBUH "Read!" this time the profet PBUH replied again "I cannot read", the angel released the profet and spoke
1. Read in the name of thy Sustainer, Who created
2. created man from a germ cell!
3. Read, and thy Sustainer is the most bountiful:
4. He who taught the use of pen,
5. Taught man what he know not
And this was how the revaluation of the Holy Quran began to the Profet Muhammed PBUH and it lasted for 23 years until the profet PBUH death in Medina when he was 63 years old.
5. Hajj - Annual Pilgrimage
Hajj is the final pillar of Islam and it is an obligation for every muslim if you can finical and physically make it to go to Makkah and perform the annual Hajj. This is a set of rituals perfumed by Abraham in the holy city of Makkah, which are to performed at the end of the month of Hajj every year. Millions of muslims from all around the world come to the holy city of Makkah every year and fulfil this last pillar of Islam to the best of their abilities
