What about the died?!

Death is the first blessing. The end of suffering. Even the one who dies suffering of cancer, doesn’t ‘have’ it anymore. And what about justice? There is no easy/simple way to put it: If you don’t believe in the afterlife, this question will strip you of your faith to live with hope. It is hard to believe, so (for me atleast) what works is math/probablility. 4 scenarios:

1) You believe it exists and it doesn’t. You die hopeful and you are never disappointed since there is no emotion in/after death. (100% win)
2) You don’t believe it exists and it doesn’t. You die depressed and you are never disappointed (50% win)
3) You don’t believe it exists and it does, you lose.(0% win)
4) You believe it exists and it does, you win. (100% win)

“Do they then wait for anything other than that the angels should come to them? or that your Lord should come? or that some of the Signs of your Lord should come?! The day that some of the Signs of your Lord do come, no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before, nor earned good (by performing deeds of righteousness) through his Faith. Say: “You wait! we (too) are waiting.” [surah Al-an’am:158]

How to handle the burden of life?

I am a person who constantly gets overwhelmed, has to think at every point (engineer in training), and has time anxiety. This has progressively turned into major restlessness. So I decided to mediate for just 5 mins to see the state of my brain. It was a hard 5mins. The minute afterward, I found out that it is the burden of responsibilities that were weighting me down. Be it from friends, family, and especially myself.

It is time to change, to go back to the way I use to be when completely stressed out. Forget everything else. To focus and let go of responsibility. But who will take the burden? So I started searching Islamic scholarship and something clicked. There are several concepts that need to be internalized…(paraphrased) “This world and my life do not belong to me. I did not come into existence nor will I die by choice. So I give this responsibility to who-so-ever made this happen. Out of gratitude for being chosen, out of knowledge of my weakness, and lack of knowledge of what should be done.” We all need a release, that is a part of being human. It is about redirecting the burden to a trustworthy source and not to someone who is only thinking about themselves. As well as NOT keeping it in and letting it consume you.

“And Allah wishes to turn to you (mercifully) but those who follow (their) lusts desire that you should deviate (with) a great deviation. Allah desires that He should make light your burdens, for man is (indeed) created weak.” [An-nisa:27-28]

The problem with being religious

You will screw yourself over. It is human nature. The brain likes ease and going into auto-pilot (transferring neurotransmitters uses up about 25% of the total body glucose, and about 20% of oxygen from the bloodstream. It gets tiring). This makes those who practice religions that have a lot of laws and discipline the primary victims. In words Muslims understand, iblees will do anything to keep you off track. That is why there are so many exceptions: a good deed clears bad ones, forgiveness/mercy is supreme, keep sins private, the intention counts more, etc. Life being all shades of grey doesn’t help either. Those who want to be perfect set too high a standard and the problem is not falling short. IT IS the inability to get back up due to the negative & unforgiving thoughts along with stubbornly sticking to a process with the PERCEPTION that it MUST be done that way….That is what screws you/them over. There is no clear answer in life, the religious have to struggle just as much as the non-believer if not more, and one’s open-mindedness and willingness to change is crucial in being successful.

“He knows that (among) you are unable…so He has turned to you (in mercy). So, recite you of the Quran as much as may be easy for you. He knows that there will be some among you sick, others travelling through the land…you will certainly find it (your efforts and deeds saved) with Allah. It is better and greater in reward. And seek Forgiveness of Allah. Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most-Merciful.” [Al-muzzammil:20]

Confidence is silent

Everyone is insecure about something. Yet you will find some that you are completely drawn to and by others repulsed. I find that 3 characteristics differentiates the two.

• One group knows their insecurities and deals with them, while the others deny and unsuccessfully tries to hide it.
• One group knows what they are really good at and master them, while the others try too hard at everything else (the fat wears skinny people cloth, the short tries out for tall people sport, the not so smart tries to dress intellectually, the not so pretty tries to get with everyone).
• They stick to their principles, while the others are constantly “wishy-washy” (the fat,short, not so smart, and no so pretty will compromise just about everything to fit in and be accepted).

The first group is enlightened, on the right way. It is all a choice made internally.

“Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, and He shall requite their deceit to them…and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little.(They are) swaying between this and that, belonging neither to these nor to those, and he whom Allah lets astray, you will not find for him a way.” [An-nisa:143]

Why do the good have the most challenging lives?

Ever realized that upright ppl have the worst deaths? The most challenging lives? The largest amount of enemies/haters? While we are all born pure,after puberty all our hearts become tented. Most people choose to go with the majority (where morality isn’t a priority), while other people choose to take an ethical and moral path. Those few have (unknowingly) automatically qualified for THE reward.They have entered a different category, where everything in life becomes a test, and the weed out process begins.

So in order to purify Allah uses/gives appox. 10 methods: 4 means in this life, 4 in the grave, and 2 on judgment day.The first three methods, used in this world, are when the person acknowledges his/her bad actions and fixes themselves (i.e. repentance, etc.). But the fourth method is where life’s events create hardships without you being the cause (hence the difference between punishments and tests). This cleanses the bad that you didn’t know you did and/or strengthens you in ways that you couldn’t alone.

It is like a person trying to get a job with the best company. The boss will want to see your qualifications, have an interview with you, give you some training sessions, will put you in with the sharks to see how you will react, and will watch you very closely to see if you are worthy of this position. But when they see that they can trust you, they hire you, and y’all somehow become the closest of friends.

“Do men imagine that they will be left (at ease) because they say, “We believe”, and will not be tested with affliction?” [Quran 29:2]

Trying to understand Prayers… and a big headache followed.

I don’t & will probably never understand du’as (prayers). The process: how, when, and why does it get a response? it ain’t clicking. YET this one story about a man that was among the groups of Jews under prophet Musa/Moses (AS), may be the key. As I call it “the untold story of a ‘nobody’“.

There was a drought and since Musa use to communicate directly to God, he went and asked him to send down rain. Allah said ‘No. There is this one man among you who has been ungrateful/sinful. unless he changes, I will not send down rain.’ so Musa went back and communicated what Allah told him and almost immediately it started raining. Musa, a very curious person =) , went back to Allah and asked why,what, and how? Allah told him ‘ when you told them, he (the man in question) immediately recognized you were talking about him, felt very guilty, and repented (in his heart). So I fulfilled my promise and immediately sent the rain.’ Musa was so excited/proud of his people that he asked Allah to tell him who exactly the man was, so he could thank him. Allah said ‘ No. He confided in me. why would I shame him by reviling to you his name?’. maybe it is the state of the heart, when one is desperate and in need. maybe it is something the logic will never understand?

The Prophet (saws) said: “Man should call upon Allah alone to provide for all his needs, so much so that even if a shoe-lace is broken, he should pray to Allah to provide a shoe-lace, and if he needs salt, he should beseech Allah to send it to him.” -Tirmidhi

Drunk with negativity (intense analysis)

It first starts with jokes (يَسْخَرْ) that are targets towards a current group of people. so people grow up surrounded with talks like “black people are…”, “Arab people are…”, etc. As the person sees those groups acting a current way, their brain starts putting two and two together, like “Asians are the worst drivers, I swear! I know so many” as they turn into stereotypes.

Now, the next ayah talks about assumptions (اجْتَنِبُوا). The word means it is something that so natural to humans, that it is as close to you as the cloth on your body. It also means it is something you have to try even harder to constantly push away from you, regardless of how pure you think you are. The person who does not actively stop this kind of thinking, will now look at someone and has this absolute conviction just from the first look, like ” I know her type” or “I know his type”, justifying their empty assumptions with misguided information. then the final stage is (إِثْمٌ) which is mostly translated as sin. however the prophet used it interchangeable with the word “drunk”. this means that the person eventually becomes soooo deluded that all they see is the worst! like “she is so ugly”, “s/he thinks s/he is so smart”, “is he/she trying me?” “they must think I am ugly”, etc. They are so involved in their negativity that they can’ts stop thinking the worst of people and themselves. and as the Quran usually doesn’t condemn a thought process, this kind of thinking must surely lead to actionable transgressions.

Example: weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. the stereotyped group: terrorists, Muslims, and Arabs. the assumption: such a weapon exists. It was sold to the american masses as though it was the truth. these assumptions lead to multiple lose of lives. But when the truth, no weapons exist, was uncovered, it was too late.

“O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some (the least amount of) assumption is sin….” [Quran 49:12]

Would reincarnation be worth it?

A test is only a test when you are taking it while fully immersed. However seeing the answers and having a second chance invalidates the exam. ALSO regardless of how confident one is about their ability to redo life, they will do the same exact thing again, Allah says. why? so far social experiments show that people over-estimate their ability to do the right thing in any situation, but when fully immersed in an environment (put to the test), it is a WHOLE other story.

i.e. one life would give you the same results as 200 lives. it is pointless.

“When death comes to one of them, he says, “My Lord, send me back. “I will then work righteousness in everything I left.” No! It is only a (meaningless and empty) word he is saying. [Quran 23:99-100]

 

It is the little things in life

There is this hadith that says something like ‘those who have not tasted the sweetness of (iman) faith in this world, will not taste happiness in the afterlife.’ It is the idea that unless you have been to hell and back, fought for a cause, have made deep human connections…. you will NEVER understand the value of things, especially the situation of having pain, pain, pain, and then sudden happiness. The feeling of “it was worth it!” that wipes out ALL the negative emotions of the past, leaving absolutely no trace of ill feels. So when asked “if there is a merciful God, then why is there so much suffering in the world?” those who have tasted the sweetness of faith UNDERSTAND something that the masses don’t…that the present moment just passed, but the future is always coming.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The life of this world compared to the Hereafter is as if one of you were to put his finger in the ocean and take it out again then compares the water that remains on his finger to the water that remains in the ocean.” [Sahîh Muslim (2858)]

Your talents have a right over you

“…Let not the scribe refuse to write as Allah has taught him, so let him write…” (Quran 2:282)

The scribe was told to drafts an agreement/contract between two people. He was good at what he did but a current kind of fear (responsibility and accountability) was holding him back. Allah’s response to such an emotion is interesting, like ‘your talent is a gift, I choose it for you, so use it’.

why is this awesome? Because when someone is scared, the first things you show them are love/understanding, recognize their capability, and make them feel special and capable of doing anything!!!! So Allah didn’t disregard/over-look the human-side of the human by being harsh, didn’t take the refusal as a threat, but rather understood the scribe’s hesitation as a simple human emotion, fear. So he encouraged the act by complimenting.

This is a sign (an Ayah) that indicates how we should act when dealing with others and most importantly, ourselves.