A REMINDER TO ALL MUSLIMS......

Inculcate love towards one’s country

An important quality that we as Muslims need to understand and embrace is towards inculcating love to our own country and nation. We must understand that God has ordained where we are born and where we will die. Thus appreciating our place of birth, the nation that has become the means of providence of our lives, our family’s lives. This is the abode where we find a source of income, procreate and also for the world to prosper, it needs peaceful messages. This is the place, the abode where our generations and children will strive to build a better future. We must inculcate this feeling of love in ourselves and our children towards our own country.

Loving one’s country is a responsibility demanded by religion. Allah swt mention in Surah Saba’ verse 15 :

”(Your country) is a good abode and (Your God) is The Most Merciful.”

Our beloved Prophet Muhammad saw. said when he was on his Hijrah out of Medina to Mecca. He exclaims :

”There’s no land better than yours (for me) and you are dearest to me. And if not for my tribe ousting me out from you, surely i will never choose an abode other than you.” (Narrated by Tirmizi).

If we allow instability in our homeland, it will result in failure of our dreams and aspirations. Everyone is responsible towards the peace and harmony of our multi races and religions. Muslim community will have to prove that Islam is a religion and a centre of life which is surrounded by justice, peace and security throughout time and place. Respect will not be given to a particular community until that community respects other communities.

Equipped with good moral values

We Muslims must also embrace good moral qualities. In our zest to acquire greater heights in our lives, we need to emulate the Prophet’s conduct. We must be equipped with good moral qualities. Let us portray to the world our excellent qualities. Let us portray the beauty of Islam. The Prophet saw said:

”Those possessing perfect faith are those having best conduct. Those possessing good conduct are those who is best to his family, and I am best towards my family. ”

OTHER FACETS OF JIHAD....

The Muslim world today is faced with tyranny and injustice. Indeed oppression and hardship is not just limited to the Muslim world, rather many non-Muslim states are subject to oppression at the hands of the world’s leading military and economic powers. Anyone who cares can only be saddened and hurt by the pain and suffering that accompanies so many faces. Islam has allowed jihad as a means to prevent oppression, yet the Muslims have forgotten this for too long.

Islam is a religion of peace. Peace in the Islamic worldview context includes:-

a. The word Islam comes from the root word ‘salam’ which means peace and tranquility.

b. As-Salam is one of the 99 beautiful names of Allah (Asmaul- Husna).

c. Almighty Allah gives salutation of peace (salam) to Prophet Muhammad, and to all His messengers and to those entering His paradise.

d. ‘Salam’ (Peace) is the first word uttered by the Messenger of God, Prophet Muhammad when he met Allah, The Al-Mighty at Sidratul Muntaha during the Night of Ascent.

e. The concept of salam (peace) is a natural instinct in each human being.

f. Salam is obligatory in solat (prayers)

Jihad should be practiced in Islam. The question is, what kind of jihad should Muslims perform?

Application of Jihad in our daily lives

Without realizing it, each human is in a constant state of jihad, since jihad means striving with our best efforts without hoping for any forms of gratification and by avoiding things that are prohibited. This daily jihad can be classified as such:-

a) Jihad in Acquisition of Knowledge

Knowledge is the most important mission in life. Without knowledge, mankind cannot progress because everything happens with man’s effort and with Almighty Allah’s permission. Hence, knowledge is the starting point for everything. With knowledge, we can better study and thus better appreciate the beauty and perfection of Allah’s creation. However, the pursuit of beneficial knowledge is important since no education or the wrong education will create problems in the social, moral or economic spheres for the community. Hence, we constantly need to upgrade our knowledge both for the betterment of our worldly affairs and the hereafter.

b) Social Jihad

Social problems, especially those pertaining to family matters, have risen among the Muslim community. While drug abuse rates have come down in recent years, other social problems in connection with teenagers have cropped up. Divorce and teenage pregnancy rates are continue to rise and become more widespread. If divorce is identified to be the main source of these social problems, then parents should re-evaluate the values they wish to instill in their family.

c) Jihad in Economy

The work that we do every day contributes to the economy. In the Holy Quran, Allah reminds mankind to constantly strive to fulfill their worldly needs, including performing jihad to elevate their economic status. Allah’s decree in Chapter 28(Al-Qashash), verse 77 which means:-

“But seek, with the (wealth) which Allah has bestowed on thee, the Home of the Hereafter, nor forget thy portion in this world: but do thou good, as Allah has been good to thee, and seek not (occasions for) mischief in the land: for Allah loves not those who do mischief."

d) Moral Jihad

One should strive to adorn oneself with good character and a pleasant disposition, so as to be respected and loved by many.

POVERTY....

Poverty is treated as WMD (weapon of mass destruction) of modern world. Eradication of it bears very importance. The economic systems like capitalism and communism have presented a number of instruments for the alleviation of the poverty from the world. But, these extreme ideologies failed to satisfy the need of the people. Private ownership of property, laissez-faire policy of capitalism and class war, dialectical materialism, state ownership of property of communism did not touch the real cause of poverty. This situation necessitates seeking the possibilities of Islamic economics in alleviating poverty. The aim of poverty alleviation can be attained, in an Islamic Economic system through reducing the inequality. It never means attaining equality but equity and justice in the income and wealth distribution. Islam eliminates the absolute inequality which arises from unequal distribution of income, but relative inequality emerges from equitable distribution of income and wealth.

Evil of any economy is poverty. The presence of begging hands in an economy pulls that economy into decades back. Poverty amidst plenty is the challenge faced in the modern world. Impact of the poverty cannot be confined to starvation only, but poor people, apart from starvation, suffering limited income which leads to inaccessibility of good education. Every country and international organizations like World Trade Organization, World Bank and Asian Development Bank hard work to construct the countries and world on the foots of self sufficiency respectively. Mission of the World Bank is described as global poverty reduction and improvement of living standards. General Council of UN has declared October 17 as International day for the eradication of poverty. It shows how seriously they took poverty as a problem

But, it is wondering that out of 6.1 billion world population more than 1 billion are finding their livelihood in less than $1 per day and almost 3 billion on less than $2 per day. You might be provoked that 74% of total income of world is shared by the 20% of the elite class of the world. It is disheartening to know that there are countries whose national income is less $800 and mortality rate of children below five years old is about 26%. It is worrying that 110 million primary school age children are out of school and 60 % of them are girls.

KNOWLEDGE.....

To seek knowledge is a sacred duty, it is obligatory on every Muslim, male and female. The first word revealed of the Quran was "Iqra" READ! Seek knowledge! Educate yourselves! Be educated.

Surah Al-Zumr, ayah 9 reveals: "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know?" Surah Al-Baqarah, ayah 269 reveals: "Allah grants wisdom to whom He pleases and to whom wisdom is granted indeed he receives an overflowing benefit."

Muslims today are the most humiliated community in the world. And should they persist in following the same educational program as given by their colonial masters, they will not be able to recover themselves from moral and spiritual decadence.

Ibn Mas’ud (ra) reported that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: The position of only two persons is enviable; the person whom Allah swt bestowed wealth empowering him to spend it in the way of righteousness, and the person whom Allah swt gave wisdom with which he adjudges and which he teaches to others.

According to Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, Ibn Abbas (ra) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: A single scholar of religion is more formidable against shaytaan than a thousand devout persons.

Islam is our greatest gift. We have to be thankful for this gift. We have to render to Allah swt His due. Allah swt has given us so much by making us a part of the Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) so we must totally commit ourselves as followers of the Prophet (saw). We must become true Muslims.

The first and most crucial obligation on us is to acquire knowledge and secondly to practice and preach this knowledge. No man becomes truly a Muslim without knowing the meaning of Islam, because he becomes a Muslim not through birth but through knowledge. Unless we come to know the basic and necessary teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) how can we believe in him, have faith in him, act according to what he taught? It is impossible for us to be a Muslim, and at the same time live in a state of ignorance.

It is essential to understand that the greatest gift of Allah swt – for which we are so over whelmed with gratitude – depends primarily on knowledge. Without knowledge one can’t truly receive Allah’s gift of Islam. If our knowledge is little, then we will constantly run the risk of losing that magnificent gift, which we have received unless we remain vigilant in our fight against ignorance.

Knowledge is identified in Islam as worship. The acquiring of knowledge is worship, reading the Qur’an and pondering upon it is worship, travelling to gain knowledge is worship. The practice of knowledge is connected with ethics and morality – with promoting virtue and combating vice, enjoining right and forbidding wrong. This is called in the Quran: amr bil-l ma’ruuf wa nah-y ‘ani-l munkar.

Not only should we seek knowledge, but when we learn it, it becomes obligatory on us to practice it. Though we must remember that correct knowledge should come before correct action. Knowledge without action is useless because a learned person without action will be the worst of creatures on the Day of Resurrection. Also, action should not be based on blind imitation for this is not the quality of a thinking, sensible human being.

Knowledge is pursued and practiced with modesty and humility and leads to beauty and dignity, freedom and justice. The main purpose of acquiring knowledge is to bring us closer to God. It is not simply for the gratification of the mind or the senses. It is not knowledge for the sake of knowledge or science for the value of sake. Knowledge accordingly must be linked with values and goals.

One of the purposes of acquiring knowledge is to gain the good of this world, not to destroy it through wastage, arrogance and in the reckless pursuit of higher standards of material comfort. Another purpose of knowledge is to spread freedom and dignity, truth and justice. It is not to gain power and dominance for its own sake.

Obviously, what we may call the reservoir of knowledge is deep and profound. It is a vast and open field that is not limited. It is impossible for anyone to gain anything more than a fraction of what there is to know in the short span of one’s life. We must therefore decide what is most important for us to know and how to go about acquiring this knowledge.

The following ahadith shows how important and how rewarding knowledge is.

"He who acquires knowledge acquires a vast portion." AND "If anyone going on his way in search of knowledge, God will, thereby make easy for him the way to Paradise."