nyerekareem
abdur-rahman
:salam2:
i love to have dialogue with non-muslims. not because i attempt to show them the error of their beliefs, but rather having the opportunity to inform the uninformed about islam. granted, i am not a great shaykh from AL-AZHAR in Cairo, but alhamdulillah, ALLAH SWT has me growing stronger and stronger in my deen and has been increasing my knowledge, alhamdulillah.
recently a non-muslim employee of mine were having a discussion about religion. he admitted that he was very ignorant about islam. he didn’t have a negative view of islam as far as the issues of terrorism or jihad are concerned. he was of the belief that islam was too strict. islam is not a strict religion, but we do have limits set by ALLAH SWT that creation shouldn’t cross.
i tried to explain to him, that islam has a concept of servitude that is unique and really cannot be found in any other religion or way of life. we as muslims see ALLAH SWT as our master. in turn, we see ourselves as ALLAH SWT’s slaves. slaves that should be obedient to their master. everything in this world has an opposite, such as oppression is the opposite of freedom, poor is the opposite of rich, good is opposite of evil. there is only one that doesn’t have comparison, and that is ALLAH SWT. the slave ( muslims ) can never be as great as their master ALLAH SWT. the slave is aware that his master provides him his food, his shelter, everything. in his gratitude, he does all that he has to do to please his master.
so if the the master ( ALLAH SWT ) asks his slaves to take out a few minutes out of the day to give thanks to him. the slave acts, and does what he is told. if the master asks for his slaves to share with each other with alms, the slave acts and does it.
my employee never understood that because his religion has a different concept between God and Man. when we muslims do a good deed, we don’t do it for the praise of men, we do it with FISIBILLAH ( for ALLAH SWT’S SAKE ). if we aren’t doing it for him, who are we doing it for?
he didn’t understand that we all are going to be held accountable for our deeds. i always try to explain that if he had children, he would have set rules for them to follow. he agrees to this. he also admits that if they disobeyed him, he would punish them in the way he saw fit. but why? why did he have the authority to punish his children? he doesn’t really know the answer. the answer is, he was able to punish because he brought his children into this world. he has bought them clothing, food, shelter, gifts etc. so he has the right to want his children to obey him. although ALLAH SWT is not our father, he indeed is our creator, who has provided us with everything, therefore he has the right to reward or punish us as he sees fit. i really hope that my young employee was able to understand all of this. ameen
nyerekareem
i love to have dialogue with non-muslims. not because i attempt to show them the error of their beliefs, but rather having the opportunity to inform the uninformed about islam. granted, i am not a great shaykh from AL-AZHAR in Cairo, but alhamdulillah, ALLAH SWT has me growing stronger and stronger in my deen and has been increasing my knowledge, alhamdulillah.
recently a non-muslim employee of mine were having a discussion about religion. he admitted that he was very ignorant about islam. he didn’t have a negative view of islam as far as the issues of terrorism or jihad are concerned. he was of the belief that islam was too strict. islam is not a strict religion, but we do have limits set by ALLAH SWT that creation shouldn’t cross.
i tried to explain to him, that islam has a concept of servitude that is unique and really cannot be found in any other religion or way of life. we as muslims see ALLAH SWT as our master. in turn, we see ourselves as ALLAH SWT’s slaves. slaves that should be obedient to their master. everything in this world has an opposite, such as oppression is the opposite of freedom, poor is the opposite of rich, good is opposite of evil. there is only one that doesn’t have comparison, and that is ALLAH SWT. the slave ( muslims ) can never be as great as their master ALLAH SWT. the slave is aware that his master provides him his food, his shelter, everything. in his gratitude, he does all that he has to do to please his master.
so if the the master ( ALLAH SWT ) asks his slaves to take out a few minutes out of the day to give thanks to him. the slave acts, and does what he is told. if the master asks for his slaves to share with each other with alms, the slave acts and does it.
my employee never understood that because his religion has a different concept between God and Man. when we muslims do a good deed, we don’t do it for the praise of men, we do it with FISIBILLAH ( for ALLAH SWT’S SAKE ). if we aren’t doing it for him, who are we doing it for?
he didn’t understand that we all are going to be held accountable for our deeds. i always try to explain that if he had children, he would have set rules for them to follow. he agrees to this. he also admits that if they disobeyed him, he would punish them in the way he saw fit. but why? why did he have the authority to punish his children? he doesn’t really know the answer. the answer is, he was able to punish because he brought his children into this world. he has bought them clothing, food, shelter, gifts etc. so he has the right to want his children to obey him. although ALLAH SWT is not our father, he indeed is our creator, who has provided us with everything, therefore he has the right to reward or punish us as he sees fit. i really hope that my young employee was able to understand all of this. ameen
nyerekareem
