ISLAM]

How I became a Muslim

I would like to stress that I did not come into contact with any Muslim before I embraced Islam. I read the Qur’an first and realized that no person is perfect, Islam is perfect, and if we imitate the conduct of the Holy prophet (PBUH) we will be successful. May Allah give us guidance to follow the path of the Ummah of Muhammad (PBUH).

As human beings we are given a consciousness and a duty that has placed us at the top of creation.

Man is created to be God’s deputy on earth and it is important to realize the obligation to rid ourselves of all illusions and to make our lives a preparation for the next life, anybody who misses this chance is not likely to be given another, to be brought back again and again, because it says in the Holy Qur’an that when man is brought to account, he will say, “O lord, send us back and give us another chance. The Lord will say, if I send you back you will do the same.”

Pop star Cat Stevens

I started making music. I wanted to be a big star. All those I saw in the films and on the media took hold of me, and perhaps I thought this was my God, the goal of making money I had an uncle who had a beautiful car. Well, I said , ‘he has it made,’ he had a lot of money. The people around me influenced me to think that this world was their God.

I decided then that this was the life for me, to make a lot of money, have a ‘great life’.

Now my example were the pop stars, I started making songs, but deep down I had a feeling for humanity, a feeling that if I became rich I will help the needy (it says in the Qur’an, we make a promise, but when we make something we want to hold on to it and become greedy).

So what happened was that I became very famous, I was still a teenager, my name and photo were splashed in all the media. They made me larger than life, so I wanted to live larger than the life and the only way to do that was to be intoxicated (with liquor and drugs).

After a year of financial success and ‘high’ living, I became very ill, contracted TB and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started to think; what was to happen to me? Was I just a body and my goal in life was merely to satisfy this body?

I realized now that this calamity was a blessing given to me by Allah a chance to open my eyes, ‘why am I here, why am I in bed’, and I started looking for some of the answers. At that time there was great interest in the Eastern mysticism I began reading and the first thing I began to become aware of was death, and that the soul moves on, it does not stop.

I felt I was taking the road to bliss andhigh accomplishment I started meditating and even became a vegetarian. I now believed in ‘peace and flower power’, and this was the general trend.

But what I did believe in particular was that I was not just a body, this awareness came to me at the hospital.

I also wrote another song ‘The way to find God out.’ I became even more famous in the world of music. I really had a difficult time because I was getting rich and famous and at the same time sincerely searching for the truth.

The Qur’an

My uncle who came to London brought back a translation of the Qur’an, which he gave to me. He did not become a Muslim, but he felt something in this religion, and thought I might find something in it also.

And when I received the book, (a guidance that would explain everything to me: who I was? What was the purpose of life? What was the reality and what would be the reality, and where I came from?

I realized that this was the religion not in the sense the West understands it, not the type for only your old age. In the west whoever wishes to embrace a religion and make it his only way of life is deemed a fanatic.

I was not a fanatic; I was at first confused between the body and the soul. Then I realized that the body and the soul are not apart and you don’t have to go to the mountain to be religious; we must follow the will of God, then we can rise even higher than the angels. The first thing I wanted to do now was to be a Muslim.

I realized that everything belongs to God, that slumber does not overtake Him. He created everything. At this point I began to lose the pride in me, because hereto I had thought the reason I was here was because of my own greatness.

But I realized that I did not create myself, and the whole purpose of my being here was to submit to the teaching that has been perfected by the religion we know as Al-Islam. At this point I started discovering my faith; I felt that I was a Muslim, on reading the Qur’an. I now realized that all the Prophets sent by God brought the same message.

The Qur’an asks you to reflect and reason, and worship the One who has created everything. The Qur’an asks man to reflect upon the sun and moon and God’s creation in general. Do you realize how different the sun is from the moon? They are at varying distances from the earth, yet appear the same size to us; at times one seems to overlap the other.

Even when many of the astronauts go to space, they see the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of space; they become very religious, because they have seen the Signs of Allah.

When I read the Qur’an further, it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt that the only answer for me was the Qur’an, and God had sent it to me and, I kept it a secret. But the Qur’an also speaks on different levels. I began to understand it on another level, where the Qur’an says “Those who believe don’t take disbelieves for friends and the believer are brothers”. Thus at this point I wished to meet my Muslim brothers.

Conversation: Then I decided to journey to Jerusalem (as my brother had done). At Jerusalem, I went to the mosque and sat down. A man asked me what I wanted. I told him I was a Muslim. He asked what my name was; I told him ‘Stevens’. He was confused.

I then joined the prayer though not so successfully. Back in London, I met a sister called Nafisa. I told her I wanted to embrace Islam and she directed me to the new Regent Mosque. This was in 1977, about 1 year after I received the Quran. Now I realized that I must get rid of my pride, get rid of Satan and face one direction.

So on a Friday, after Friday prayer I went to the Imam and declared my faith (the Kalima) at his hands. You have before you someone who had achieved fame and fortune. But guidance was something that eluded me, no matter how hard I tried until I was shown the Qur’an. Now I realize I can get in direct contact with God.

But Islam removes all these barriers; the only thing that moves the believers from the disbelievers is Salat. This is the process of purification. Finally I wish to say that everything I do is for the pleasure of Allah.

Source: al-shia.org
 

Parents are precious

Observe complete respect and reverence to your father and mother, for they are the most worthy of your consideration. Imam Al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim reported that a man asked the Prophet (PBUH), “Oh Messenger of Allah, who is the most worthy of my best conduct?”

He answered: ‘Your mother! Your mother! Your mother! Then your father, then the next, and the next.’ Imam Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad and Abdul Razzaq in his Musanaf (the wording is his) reported that Hisham bin ‘Urwa recounted that his father told him that Abu Hurairah radiallahu anhu saw a man walking ahead of another. He asked him: ‘How is this man related to you?’ ‘He is my Father,’ the man answered. Abu Hurairah told him: ‘Do not walk ahead of him, do not sit until he sits, and do not call him by his name.’

According to Ibn Wahab, a student of Imam Malik bin Anas named Imam ‘Abdul Rahman bin Al-Qasim Al-’Utaqi Al-Masri (132-191 AH), said: ‘While Imam Malik was reading Al-Muwata to me he suddenly stood up for a long while, then he sat again.

He was asked why, and he answered: ‘My mother came down asking me something. Since she was standing I stood up respectfully, when she went, I sat back down.’

The revered follower Tawoos bin Kisan said: ‘It is part of the Sunnah to respect four persons: a scholar, an elder, a leader, and a father. It is considered rude that a man call his father by his name.’ At the end of his book of Malkite Fiqh Al-Kafi, Imam Bin ‘Abdul Al-Barr said: ‘Kindness to the parents is an obligatory duty and by the grace of Allah it is an easy matter.

Kindness means to be humble with them, to speak to them nicely, to look at them with love and respect, to speak in a mild tone that does not surpass theirs unless they are hard of hearing, to give them complete access to your own wealth, and to offer them the best of your food and drink.’

Children should not walk ahead of their parents, nor speak ahead of them in matters that they know are their father’s. Children should wholeheartedly avoid upsetting their parents and should seek their pleasure as much as possible. Making your parent’s life enjoyable is one of the most virtuous acts.

Children must hasten to respond to their parents’ call. If a child is praying voluntarily, he/she should shorten the prayer and respond promptly. Children should express only good words.

In return, it is the parents’ duty to make it easier for their children to be kind to them by being kind and generous to their children, but without Allah’s help people cannot become obedient, nor can they perform his commands.’You may encounter various difficulties while serving your mother and father, but do not forget that their rights are multiples of these difficulties. For this Allah said in the Qur’an:

“And Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honor.

And, out of kindness lower to them the wing of humility, and say: ‘My Lord bestows mercy on them as they cherished me in childhood.” (Surah Al Isra : Ayah 23-24)

Keep in mind that everyone likes to be the best in status, prestige and popularity, and hates to see someone better than himself or herself. Only your parents would wish that you become better than what they are. How should you treat those who prefer you to themselves and wish you better.

Islam in Central Asia

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Central Asian republics have seen a revival of Islam. The process kicked off quickly as Islam has always had deep roots in the region. Most Central Asians, when asked this question, give one answer: “Al-hamdulillah, I am.” The use of the Arabic phrase for “praise be to Allah” emphasizes the strength of their faith. The reply comes as no surprise because most of the peoples of Central Asia have historically been Muslims.

Registan Square -Samarkand

The region is profoundly Muslim while at the same time historically inclusive and tolerant. According to regional surveys, some 95 percent of the members of those historically Muslim populations consider themselves Muslim today.

I have no special knowledge of Islam, but Al-hamdulillah, I am a Muslim,” said one man in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. “Islam teaches us to avoid bad behavior, to be honest, not to be drunk, and respect human beings, to have an open mind and a soft heart. If we do not follow these rules, we are not followers of Prophet Muhammad. (PBUH)

It was the drive to spread the message of Islam the Muslims entered Central Asia .The opening of Central Asia and the implementation of Islam was completed in the eighth century ADThis brought to the region a new belief and culture that until now continues to be dominant. The early Muslims were led by a brilliant general, Qutaybah ibn Muslim, and were highly motivated by the desire to spread the Islamic ideology.

The Arrival of Islam

The new way of life brought by the Muslims spread throughout the region. The native cultures were replaced in the ensuing centuries as Islam molded the people into a single community - the Islamic ummah. During the height of the Abbasid Caliphate in the eighth and the ninth centuries, Central Asia experienced a truly golden age.

Bukhara became one of the leading centers of learning, culture, and art in the Muslim world, its magnificence rivaling contemporaneous cultural centers such as Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordoba. Some of the greatest historians, scientists and geographers in the history of Islamic culture were natives of the region, and one of the copies of the Noble Quran originally prepared in the time of Caliph Uthman is kept in Tashkent. The new Islamic spiritual and political situation in Central Asia determined a new technological and cultural progress. It marked the production of the Samarkand paper which supplanted papyrus and parchment in the Islamic countries at the end of the 10th century.

Furthermore scientists such as al-Khorezmi, Beruni, Farabi, Abu Ali ibn Sino (Avicenna) brought fame to the area all over the world, generating respect across the world, and many scientific achievements of the epoch made a great impact on the European science (it is enough to mention the astronomical tables of Samarkand astronomers from Ulughbek’s observatory). During the comparatively peaceful era of Islamic rule, culture and arts flourished in Central Asia.

Soviet rule in Central Asia

The Communist authorities of the Soviet Union (1917-1991) inherited Central Asia from the old Tsarist Empire which collapsed during the First World War. The Communists viewed Islam with hostility and suspicion and tried to replace the regions Islamic identity and loyalty, with ethnically created republics.

Islam survived under the Soviet Union as the state after the Second World War sought to bring in certain aspects of Islam and tried to incorporate them within the state?s structure. This led to a Soviet ‘official Islam’, sanctioned and acceptable to the regime and an ‘underground Islam’ which sought to keep alive pre-Soviet ideas and practices.

Creating Central Asian Republics

Central Asia was one country known as Islamic Turkmenistan until the communist revolution. Under Soviet regime it was divided into five different administrative units such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Stalin created Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in 1924,

Tajikistan in 1929 and Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in 1936. ‘The Soviets had clear political reasons, policy of divide and rule, for dividing ‘Turkistan’, into five new republics. Moscow did not desire the creation of an ‘Islamic Turkistan’ to be a singular republic within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).’

Kunya-Urgench was a major trade center on the Silk Road from the 10th-14th centuries, and the capital of Khorezm region. It was argued that - ‘Stalin drew the map of Soviet Central Asia for the purpose of reducing the prospects for regional unity. Five separate republics were formed, creating national units for ethnic communities that had yet to think of themselves as distinct nationalities. Moreover, boundaries were set to insure the presence of large irredentist populations in each republic.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Central Asian states had independence thrust upon them. They did not actively seek it. Furthermore, there no were strong nationalist movements in Central Asia seeking independence. None of the Central Asian states had a history of national existence prior to either the Soviet Union or that of the Tsarist Empire.

Hence, the primary source of loyalty of Central Asian peoples under the Soviet Union was not the Communist State. Rather, multiplicities of loyalties existed and continue to do so. These loyalties range from the clan, tribe, family, and republic and to Islam, with Islam having a powerful influence on social identity. Upon independence, Islam competed with peoples loyalties to the new states.

The resurgence of Islamic expression throughout the Soviet Union in the 1980s was the direct result of Gorbachev’s policies of Perestroika and Glasnost. Such policies relaxed the Soviet Union’s rigid authoritarianism and permitted a modicum of free expression to exist. This embryonic Islamic resurgence was felt in those areas that were traditionally deeply religious such as the Fergana Valley. For Uzbeks,

Tajiks and Kyrgyz this was an extremely important development. It showed their desire to break with the Soviet Communist ideology as well as Russian and Slavic culture and a desire to reassert their own cultural identity and belief systems. There was a great upsurge in the study of Islam and Arabic, with many Central Asian youth studying Islamic courses abroad.

However the people of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have always lived under despots. Their history is so dismal that Communism for them was a time of relative prosperity. Now, 20 years after they became independent nations, they have once again become sultanates, ruled by tyrants who maintain tight control of political and economic activity.

The elite’s of Central Asia, by and large are Soviet legacies, as are the new states. Since independence Central Asia’s former Soviet elite?s have clung to power ruthlessly. All the Central Asian regimes have reverted to the policies that the Soviet Union adopted in dealing with Islam. Each regime has sponsored a particular version of Islam which the state approves of and is non-threatening to the status quo.

Source: Khurasaan.com