Assalamualaikum everyone! :)
As promised. lol Note: This will be a very long post, the longest I've ever written :p ready??
Btw this post is inspired by the videos below, you don't see Mr. Khan and Dr. Zakir Zaik together in one seating very often. I think I left out 3 continuations of the vids, you can just check it out on Youtube :)
Parts of the interview or I guess...TV show? anyway, it debated about 'Moderate Islam'.
First of all, Islam means complete submission to the creator - whole-heartedly, fully,entirely, wholly and whatever words that can contribute to the word complete :p
Also this post is solely based on my thoughts, opinions, experiences and researches. You are free to disagree or to agree with me :) This post is purely an opinion and not to bash anyone or to say my opinion is better or right, it-is-just-a-thought.
The word Moderate Islam confuses me
Why?
Because moderate means nya urang melayu setengah jalan or of medium or average quantity. It means you're not completely submitting yourself to Islam, to Allah. And when you say you're a moderate muslim or practice Islam moderately...does it not contradict to the meaning of fully submitting?
And when people see a lady wearing her Niqab, you may see her as an extremist, a radical especially in countries where you don't see a lot of Niqabis there. You would say "Inda jua payah sampai pampan mua, it's only the hair" and you would stare until she's out of your sight but don't you think she is just being safe and doing what Allah is telling her to do?
Yes there is some debate between the scholars that women must cover the face except for her eyes..some say to cover all except for your hands and face (please remember to cover your feet too) but following the Madzhab Shafi'e, the Madzhab Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia had fully adopted and practiced is to cover everything except for your hands and face, so yes that's why you don't see Niqabis very often here but it is common in countries like Saudi :) and it is crystal clear for muslim girls to cover her hair. End quote, no objections, no argument..no nothing it's crystal clear.
..Then you see a muslim sister not wearing her hijab and when you ask, she said "I'm a moderate muslim, I remember Allah, I don't wear my religion on my sleeve, is what the inside that counts" or you see a muslim brother smoking and said the same thing.
Ok, I have a few things to say about this...
- Yes the inside counts...so does the outside - lets say you're studying overseas at a non-muslim country, if a normal person is going to compare you with the non-muslim, will the person be able to differentiate you without your hijab? no and wouldn't be awkward if a non-muslim were to ask you "If you're a muslim then where's your hijab?" personally there is nothing wrong wearing your religion on your sleeve :) be proud that you're a muslim.
- We all know it is an obligatory to wear hijab, so wear it.
- Some say smoking is not haraam, actually it is. First, this body does not belong to us, one day we will have to return everything to our creator including our body and we all know smoking is a revolting habit, all it does is harm you and we all know the effects of smoking - lung cancer. If you borrowed someone's stuff, you take extra care of it, right? and you want to make sure when you return it, it's still in a good condition. Again, this body does not belong to us, it is ours temporarily, don't you need to take care of it? and why do you think tattoo is haraam in Islam?
not convinced? watch the video below, there's a little section about smoking :)
It's either you're nonpracticing or practicing muslim, being a 'moderate muslim' it like saying you can pick and choose what you want to follow/believe and leave out the rest because it 'just doesn't suit you'....and that is just plain wrong!
you know what this is?...... it's ignorance, you just don't want to know because you know you will have to give it up or maybe to do have the knowledge, lets pick smoking as an example...
you are aware smoking is bad but you keep saying it's hard to give it up, no doubt it is but the question is are you trying? are you praying to Allah to help you quit, are you asking for his help? or you just sat there and say 'I want to quit'? to be absolutely blunt...truthfully, deep down inside you-just-don't-want-to-quit BUT once a year for 30 days for 12 hours a day you don't smoke, yes I'm talking about Ramadhan. How did you manage that? Did you ever thought of fasting in attempt to stop smoking? and if you are smoking during Ramadhan then I suggest you should re-check your Imaan.
A true believer submits him/herself fully to Allah, avoiding things they shouldn't be doing, they pray, they fast, they read the Quran instead of listening to music - they're doing all the obligatory commandments and following the sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) - that's a believer.
I'm not saying that a believer does not sin, they do after all we are all human and humans made mistakes, If we were to be free of sins than we would be angels :) a true believer commit sins but they repent to Allah and when they repent is like they have never sinned at all, see how merciful is our lord? :)
So yea, this is my take on "moderate Islam" though I personally think this word shouldn't exist at all. lol hopefully all of you made it through the end of this post. hahaha I know it's a long one :p If you have other Opinions let me know, I would love to hear about them :) Jazakallahukhairan for reading, May Allah bless you and your family.
Bye!
