Making Yourself Unrefuseable at the Gates of Paradise

This article is targeted for the personal development of people who believe there is Hereafter or Paradise or Judgement Day. :)

·        Praises to Allah and Salutations on the Rasul.

·        Considering the traumas on Judgement Day, the reality of our disappointing performance on earth and the strict entry criteria for the Paradise, the most important question that day will be: What can I hold onto that will earn me Allah’s Mercy. The Rasul (pbuh) said: “No one will enter Paradise except by the mercy of Allah.” The companions asked him, what about you? He (pbuh) said, “Even me!” Therefore, the question is, what can you do now that you can show Allah that you deserve His mercy?

·        Can you call attention of Allah to some of your action and thereby earning His mercy? Yes. I am reminded of the story in the hadith of the three people trapped in the cave by a huge unmoveable stone, who then had to turn towards Allah for his mercy to rescue them.

·        The Prophet said, "While three men were walking, it started raining and they took shelter (refuge) in a cave in a mountain. A big rock rolled down from the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. They said to each other, 'Think of good deeds which you did for Allah's sake only, and invoke Allah by giving reference to those deeds so that He may remove this rock from you.' One of them said, 'O Allah! I had old parents and small children and I used to graze the sheep for them. On my return to them in the evening, I used to milk (the sheep) and start providing my parents first of all before my children. One day I was delayed and came late at night and found my parents sleeping. I milked (the sheep) as usual and stood by their heads. I hated to wake them up and disliked to give milk to my children before them, although my children were weeping (because of hunger) at my feet till the day dawned. O Allah! If I did this for Your sake only, kindly remove the rock so that we could see the sky through it.' So, Allah removed the rock a little and they saw the sky. The second man said, 'O Allah! I was in love with a cousin of mine like the deepest love a man may have for a woman. I wanted to outrage her chastity but she refused unless I gave her one hundred Dinars. So, I struggled to collect that amount. And when I sat between her legs, she said, 'O Allah's slave! Be afraid of Allah and do not deflower me except rightfully (by marriage).' So, I got up. O Allah! If I did it for Your sake only, please remove the rock.' The rock shifted a little more. Then the third man said, 'O Allah! I employed a laborer for a Faraq of rice and when he finished his job and demanded his right, I presented it to him, but he refused to take it. So, I sowed the rice many times till I gathered cows and their shepherd (from the yield). (Then after some time) he came and said to me, "Fear Allah (and give me my right)." I said, "Go and take those cows and the shepherd." He said, "Be afraid of Allah! Don't mock at me."I said, "I am not mocking at you. Take (all that)." So, he took all that. O Allah! If I did that for Your sake only, please remove the rest of the rock.' So, Allah removed the rock." Source: Sahih Bukhari, Hadith # 3.526

·        What is common to these people, which gave them the opportunity to benefit from the mercy of Allah is the state of their hearts towards the people they were dealing with. The pure heart is the path to Paradise. I have spent the last few months looking into the pure heart and have come up with “The Five Dimensions of a Pure Heart.”

·        The importance of a pure and peaceful heart is emphasised by the hadith of the Man of Paradise. [If you want to see the man of Paradise, that is him leaving the Masjid… This man does not go to sleep with a heart of burden (by grievance, enmity, hatred, conflict etc, he has a peaceful heart).

·        The journey of life is the purification of man: we are sent to this world to transform ourselves. Man was created from pure substance but debased to the lowest of the low (Qur'an 95 [Surah Tinn] verses 4-5), due to the pursuance of material pleasures, which brings out the worst of us - our animalistic instinct. Returning to the state of purity is the goal in life and whoever present him or herself in this state of purity at the Gate of Paradise will no doubt be allowed entry.

·        Everyone has their Asr time (the ending stage of their life) and we will most certainly be losers except those who purifies their faith, souls, deeds and being. (Surah Asr)

·        The purpose of life is the deliverance of the trust (the gift of life) to it's owner in it's pure and peaceful state. That is the challenge and this underscore the importance of pursuing a pure heart, this is also referred to as a soul or heart at rest (nafs mutmaina [Surah Fajr – Q89]) and it's such souls that would be pleasantly and personally welcomed by Allah into His Paradise.

·        The Five Dimensions of a Pure Heart are:

1. Everyone is Actually Human: This concept is simple and almost redundant, possibly pedantic. Yet, it is the single most important factor fueling the continuity of conflicts within a community or even amongst friends. How do you perceive people with whom you are in conflict? The moment you relegate them to the subhuman level, you have no feelings for them nor their situation. [Nazi/Jew/Palestine/Arabs/Blacks etc]

You can never have a pure and peaceful heart if you have any single human that you consider less human than you. I recently completed a volunteering arrangement with a mental health charity (MIND) and was told during my induction: "it may take time, but you will soon realised that there is no one who is not better than you in something in life, regardless of their current mental health circumstance." Allah blessed all of His creatures uniquely without discrimination with respect to faith or race, why would you want to do the discrimination? 

Treating people as object is demeaning. We may not realise this is what we do, but what if this is how others feel about our actions. Some of us know how to use Islam to take advantage of people! Use and dump. Rather we should endeavour to make people feel valued, touch people’s life everyday, you may not know what you have done. [The story of a non-Muslim woman who went out for the last ride around the city before returning home to her waiting suicide tablets and glass of water, but was touched by an act of kindness and humane treatment by a Muslim sister who told me this story just a couple of days after it happened in November 2010.]

2. Equality and Actions Beyond the Surface: Indeed we are all equal and there is absolutely no need to make a distinction between people when our desires, needs, realities are the same. Distinction is only with regards to piety and only Allah is able to make any determination in that regards, any human attempts is futile and almost certainly bound to be unjust and inept. This is why Allah warns [Surah Hujurat – Q49 verse 11] a section of humans not to mock or scorn or undermine another section of human because it is not within our remit to judge on piety, or even on who a true believer is. Only Allah knows the circumstances of each of us and He is best to judge. [Hadith: AbuHurayrah narrated: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say: There were two men among Banu Isra'il, who were striving for the same goal. One of them would commit sin and the other would strive to do his best in the world. The man who exerted himself in worship continued to see the other in sin.  He would say: Refrain from it. One day he found him in sin and said to him: Refrain from it.  He said: Leave me alone with my Lord. Have you been sent as a watchman over me?  He said: I swear by Allah, Allah will not forgive you, nor will he admit you to Paradise. Then their souls were taken back (by Allah), and they met together with the Lord of the worlds.  He (Allah) said to this man who had striven hard in worship; Had you knowledge about Me or had you power over that which I had in My hand? He said to the man who sinned: Go and enter Paradise by My mercy. He said about the other: Take him to Hell.  AbuHurayrah said: By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he spoke a word by which this world and the next world of his were destroyed.” (AbuDawud)]

Our task in this world is to worship ALLAH through service to humanity and that begins with seeing everyone as equals. Further, the service must come from the heart. What we do on the surface is only as good as the underlying inference ie intentions. Actions are judged according to intentions. Humans have unseen vibes which we send, receives and sense without our actual awareness or presence of mind. Whatever you do on the surface without the sincerity of the heart is seen, received and felt as such. We must act with and from the heart and knowing, believing and behaving that way - we are all equal. The differences we have in terms of wealth, class, social, political, moral or cultural are circumstantial, temporal, and susceptible to life's vicissitude. The Rasul (pbuh) said “Allah does not look at our physicals and actions, but He considers what is in our hearts.”

3. Simple Approach to Life's Complexities: the person who desires a pure heart is not simple minded, yet he is not overwhelmed by life's serious and complicated nature. He has developed simple and pragmatic approaches to life. Simple tasks or even communications or events in life can be extremely complex, but a few steps, make life healthy:

a) Take nothing to Heart: human actions speeches and actions can be a burden, a man of peaceful hearts would not burden his hearts with other people's baggage. People go about looking for someone to heap their baggage on. Dodge it! Don't be a victim. Learn to ignore or put things in their proper perspective.

Learn how to handle personal criticism to your own developmental advantage. My father’s statement: “Should someone accuse you of something: if you are guilty, stop it; if you are not, don’t do it. C’est finis! No quarrel, no argument” Internalise and always be ready to move on, do not dwell on the past too much.

b) Communicates: of course there are issues with people, instead of keeping quiet, moaning or suffering internally, the heart at peace seeks to communicate their issues and grievances in a way that shows and seeks mutual understanding, respect and appreciation. Once issues are clarified, leave no rooms for whispers, doubt and second guessing people’s intentions. Communication is the greatest took to seek to understand and to seek to be understood.

c) No Expectations, No Hurtful Disappointment: One of the main causes of hurt to the heart is the disappointment emanating from our expectations from others. A peaceful heart puts his complete trust only in God. People are human and they may be handicapped by circumstances unknown to us. Therefore, the strategy is to not actually be dependent on people for whatever we need and where we cannot but depend on people, the anticipation of the possibility of failure should have warranted an option B alternative and this should lessen the pains from disappointment.

The starting point therefore should be: avoid asking people for what they have. The Rasul (pbuh) responded to the question "How do I make God and people to like me at the same time?" His answer was: "Do as Allah has commanded you and He will love you for your obedience; and do not ask people for what they have and people will like you for your non-dependent.”

d) Honour Thy Words: Your mouth speaks your heart, therefore, to purify your heart and make it noble, you have got to make your words honourable. You must be true to what comes out of your mouth. You must THINK before you TALK (Hadith on silence is good, good speech is golden)

- Talk the TRUTH always: Qur'an on taqullah wa quluqawlan sadeedan.

- Fulfil your PROMISE: do not have the habit of over-promising and under-delivering. When you knowingly speak to deceive, making promise but knowing that you will not deliver on that then you have developed a character of the hypocrite, a one quarter hypocrite is not welcome to Allah's Paradise. Allah says: Lima taquuluna ma lantafaluun. (Q61:2-3)

- Control your tongue: sometime, even speaking the truth at the wrong time or in the wrong place or in a wrong way can get you into trouble. Weigh your words, be sure you understand the gravity and implication of your utterance and consider whether silence is the best option or delayed response will beat achieve the desired result. 

- When you talk, speak with respect for the person you are addressing and for their feelings. Learn to do these naturally because your non-verbal communications speak volumes more than the words you utter.

e) Free from Hate: make it a point not to have any issue with people by basically learning to ignore people. A drunk once told me on a bus in Oxford City: "People you hate live in your head and they do your head in and this destroys your relationship with people you love. Forget them, let your loved ones live in your head." This is so true; when you are filled with anger and hatred, you become negative and sad and maybe mad. It weighs on your heart, soul and wellbeing. But the liberated heart does not burden itself. If Allah has not placed on you a burden greater than you can bear (Qur'an 2 verse 286) then why burden yourself with other people's baggage?

f) Forgiveness: It is said that “Forgiveness is not something we do for other people, but we do it for ourselves to GET WELL and MOVE ON.” Ease to forgive is an attribute we must emulate from Allah for He is Ghafur Raheem. Forgiving people is a natural nutrient for liberating the soul and the mind. Also, to forgive and forget liberates from the past and prepares for the future. It is noted that “The brightest future will always be based on forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and headaches.”  Moreover, it is part of the Prophet’s advice that we must forgive people by giving excuses for their actions. We should give 70 excuses! Before you get to 10 excuse, you would have forgiven an offense against yourself.

4. A Sense of Responsibility: After seeing every human as a human being. The next level is to identify and understand the sense of duty you owe them. This is natural. If you see someone fall down, you rush to their need without a care for who they are or what they believe. That sense of duty extends beyond the need for rescue or assistance, but to actually seek their comfort and wellbeing without their need to ask. Comfort and wellbeing to live a peaceful and happy life, an extension of this is seeking their wellbeing in the hereafter, but this is secondary as the primary duty is to ensure earthly wellbeing. If you can solve their problems in his world, you stand a better chance of being listened to with regards to the issues of the hereafter.

5. Peace with all: He does not only pursue a peaceful life with other humans but with other creatures and above all with his Creator.

Peace with all of Allah’s creations: Hadith on Dogs: “Narrated by AbuHurairah: The Prophet said, "A man saw a dog eating mud from (the severity of) thirst. So, that man took a shoe (and filled it) with water and kept on pouring the water for the dog till it quenched its thirst. So Allah approved of his deed and made him to enter Paradise." And narrated Hamza bin 'Abdullah: My father said. "During the lifetime of Allah's Messenger, the dogs used to urinate, and pass through the mosques (come and go), nevertheless they never used to sprinkle water on it (urine of the dog.)” (Bukhari, Hadith #1.174)

The Prophet said when a believer dies, the trees will weep for his loss, the fishes in the ocean will mourn and the birds will pray for their souls. Will these objects (trees, fish and birds and other creatures of Allah) pray for the one who does not treat them well? They will say, “Good riddance to a bad rubbish” even if he or she is a “believer.” Those creatures will only pray for a true believer and you need to start considering which one you are. Are you at peace with not only Allah, but with other humans (Muslims and Non-Muslims including ridiculous relatives, naughty neighbours and colluding colleagues etc) and with other non-human creatures? Have you established peace with all, so that your Hereafter is free of people who will make allegations against you?

Conclusion:

Its all about us and our looking glass and our thinking hat. How do we perceive ourselves in relation to others? It is about our attitude and character development. Whether at home or at work, we need to desire peace at heart to be successful in this world and at the gates of Paradise.

Hadith: “The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: I guarantee a house in the surroundings of Paradise for a man who avoids quarrelling even if he were in the right, a house in the middle of Paradise for a man who avoids lying even if he were joking, and a house in the upper part of Paradise for a man who made his character good.” (AbuDawud)

It was Zig Ziglar who noted that people often worry about whether or not they have chosen the right person. He said, you can marry the right person and treat them bad, you end up with the wrong person and you can chose the wrong person and treat them well and end up with the right person, what matters is you being the right person and treating all people well.

© Shams O’Muyiwa, November 2010.

Qur'an Burning Threat: A RESPONSE

An American Christian Church (the Dove World Outreach Center, Gainesville, Florida) has proposed to mark the anniversary of 911 terror attach on US by burning copies of the Qur'an. The group claims that the intended demonstration is "neither an act of love nor of hate," but a warning against “the threats posed by Islam” because (as it displayed on some of its banners) “Islam is of the devil.” On the Church’s post box is a sticker which shows “Islam fans Evil” (the fan is represented by a fan logo). This group is out for one thing only: incite hatred against Islam and deliberately anger Muslims to show them as violent and deserving of world hatred. Already, some people in Britain are already up for that idea too. Social Websites are getting giddy with antagonising comments from both sides.

The Church generally and particularly the American evangelical Churches have employed various means of actively and viciously evangelising Muslims. In the first half of this century up till the 1960s, colonialism was used for force Muslims to convert to Christianity through educational and employment platforms. That tide changed in the 1970s and 80s when they used subtle financial supports and funding mechanism using Muslims’ money (uncollected bank interests in excess of billions of dollars from Muslim depositors) and aggressive direct preaching (more like direct marketing) approach.

In the last 15 years, those evangelical missionaries have shy away from some of these strategies because Muslims were able to respond with necessary tools and information to fend them off (notably the activities of Shaikh Ahmed Deedat and his South African IPCI which shipped free resource materials to hundreds of organisations replicating their methodology all over the world). The Christian missionaries have resulted to attach Islam through proxy sinister warfare –online and offline. Therefore, there has been an increase in Islamophobic attach on Islam via faceless websites, online commentators, Pro-Israeli Support, Pro-War campaigns, anti-terror responses, malicious campaign on the personality of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), etc. It should be noted that their ‘successful’ campaigns have not been without the help of some Muslims, be they apologetic liberals or manipulated extremists. They all connive to discredit Islam, Muslims and the Prophet.

It is important that we bear in mind that God is ever conscious of their activities and He has promised to protect Islam. Qur'an 9 verse 32-33 states clearly: “Fain would they extinguish Allah's light with their mouths but Allah will not allow but that His light should be perfected even though the unbelievers may detest (it). He it is who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the Religion of Truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all religion, however much the idolaters may be averse.” And Allah returns their evil to them in ways they do not understand. However much Islam is insulted, or the Prophet (peace be upon him) is caricatured, or Muslims are attached, the westerners are increasingly inquisitive about Islam and conversion rate continues to increase particularly amongst the elites or their children.

Yes, burn the Qur'an, it’s the paper that will burn; its true words are carved in the memories of the Muslims, its truth are implemented in the daily practice of the Muslims, its spirit lives in the soul of the Muslims and its mercies are engrained in the hearts of the Muslims. So burn the Qur'an if you like, because every time you malign Islam in public glare, there is a massive rush to obtain copies of the Qur'an. Bookshops usually run out of copies. The very book they seek to burn is the one that is transforming lives. I have always shown interest in the precise factor which convince reverts to accept Islam, in over 75% of all the cases I have come across, they read the whole or part of the Qur'an. Little wonder then that they want to burn it, they did their research too! By the way, I am not bitter at all because Qur'an Burners cannot hurt God; they only hurt themselves, ultimately. “Let not their conduct grieve thee, who run easily to disbelief, for verily they injure Allah not at all. It is Allah's will to assign them no portion in the Hereafter, and theirs will be an awful doom.” (Qur'an 3 verse 176)

Burning the Qur'an is not a big deal, and it has never been. Europe sank copies of the Qur'an, all books with a quote from it and all books motivated by it. They killed the Muslims in their thousands. Many were forcefully converted and baptised (they were called Moriscos) and their conversion was not enough they were summarily killed too decades later. The campaign ended eight centuries of Muslims in Spain. Where has that landed Europe? Today, Islam is Europe’s fastest growing religion (according to the BBC website). A conservative 2005 census figure puts Muslims as almost 10% of France’s population, about 6% in Netherlands, over 5% in Denmark, 4.2 in Switzerland, just over 4% in Austria and same with Belgium and 3.6% in Germany. Sweden had 3% Muslims population, while UK had 2.8; Spain had 2.3% and Italy had 1.4%. That was 6 years ago, with migration and exponential birth growth amongst Muslims in Europe, that figures above is dwarfed.

The UK Daily Telegraph published an article in 2009 wherein it stated that: “Only 3.2 per cent of Spain's population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe's Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by 2015. In Brussels, the top seven baby boys' names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.” The newspaper article further quoted: “Karoly Lorant, a Hungarian economist who wrote a paper for the European Parliament, calculates that Muslims already make up 25 per cent of the population in Marseilles and Rotterdam, 20 per cent in Malmo, 15 per cent in Brussels and Birmingham and 10 per cent in London, Paris and Copenhagen.”

Gen Michael Hayden, the CIA Director said in April 2008: “Consider Europe. The fastest-growing minority there is comprised of people who have emigrated from predominantly Muslim countries and their descendants. Not it’s hard to get exact figures—estimates vary—but most say there are about five million people of Muslim heritage in France, three million in Germany, and almost two million in the United Kingdom. Today, the total for the European Union is roughly 16 million, or about –about three percent of the population. But with a birth rate at least twice the average of ethnic Europeans, the Muslim population will continue to grow as the non-Muslim population of these states actually shrinks in the next several decades.”

Therefore, burning the Qur'an is not the problem; the challenge is how you will have to deal with the aftermath in the years and decades to come. That is what Americans should keep in mind. My own concern is the Muslims. How will Muslims react if westerners burn the Qur'an? It is an emotional torture for what you love to be treated in such ghastly manner. It may even be impossible not to be moved by it. Hearts will be hurt, tears will be secretly shed. But this is a test. These book burners are going to be a test for us all. The success or failure at that test is not dependent on them, but on us: OUR REACTION! Who will react to an injustice with another injustice? Who will want to assume that Allah is incapable of dealing with the situation and therefore must take the law into their own hands? Think! Do not fail this test. “You shall certainly be tried and tested in your possessions and in your personal selves; and YOU SHALL CERTAINLY HEAR MUCH THAT WILL GRIEVE YOU FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK before you and from the IDOL-WORSHIPPERS.  But if you persevere patiently and guard against evil then that will be a determining factor in all affairs. … Think not that those who exult in what they have brought about and love to be praised for what they have not done think not that they can escape the penalty.  For them is a penalty grievous indeed. To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and Allah has power over all things.” (Qur'an 3 verse 186-189)

Let it be known, the life of a SINGLE Muslim is weightier than any Qur'an in a Book form! Let us not do anything that will take human life away. Just as the mosque is sacred, the Qur'an is also sacred to all Muslims, but if it is defiled, let us react the same way the Prophet (peace be upon him) reacted when a Bedouin Arab defiled the Prophet’s Mosque in his presence. He admonished him engaged him in reasonable discourse. The man later commented: “and he (peace be upon him) neither cursed nor scolded nor hit [me].” Those who intend to burn the Qur'an are ignorant, yes, they may be Americans or British, of course their citizenship does not immune them from ignorance.

Well, let’s hear the views of an American Imam on the Pastor Terry Jones, whose church is organising the Qur'an Burning event. Plemon el-Amin, the imam of an Atlanta, Georgia, mosque, said that Jones' criticism of Islam is "really quite uninformed." He added, "But in America, there is the freedom to be ignorant… The only problem is in the world, many people don't understand that particular freedom. So what he is doing is like shouting fire in a theater, in a world theater, and people are upset." El-Amin said Jones has boasted of never reading the Qur'an, so "He doesn't know that he's going to burn a book that has some of the most beautiful passages about Christ Jesus throughout, as well as Moses, Abraham and all of the prophets he reads about and says he follows in the Bible." But he said the best strategy would be to ignore Jones, "like we do people on [street] corners saying the end of the world is coming."

Our reaction should be measured and responsible. Just like during the life and time of Ahmed Deedat, we engaged them and defeated them on their own intellectual ground of comparative religion. The Muslims have started on this path and they have mobilised multi-religious platform to oppose the planned event. According to a report, “Other religious organizations have joined with U.S. Muslim groups to oppose the Quran-burning. The National Association of Evangelicals is urging the church to cancel the event, warning it could cause worldwide tension between the two religions, and Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu leaders in Gainesville have organized a ‘Gathering for Peace, Understanding and Hope’ the night before the scheduled Quran burning.”

The example I gave above regarding the mosque defilement during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) can be criticised as dissimilar. The Bedouin Arab did not do it intentionally; Jones and his Church are inciting hatred! Although, I am focused on the Prophet’s approach and methodology, even then, the Islamic history is not short of other relevant examples. Remember the woman who used to throw rubbish on the Prophet every morning in Makkah. That was deliberate. Yet, the Prophet never retaliated, he understood her ignorance, and was patient with her. Her activities stopped suddenly for a few days. Upon enquiry the Rasul (peace be upon him) was advised that she was ill and bedridden. At once, he went to see her and prayed for her quick recovery, she was stunned. The Prophet had no enmity towards her as a person, a non-Muslim. She was not expecting that kind of treatment, she accepted the message of Islam.  

How about the event which happened to the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he went to Taif to seek protection from Makkan persecution? What did the people of Taif do? They rejected him after pretending to listen and considered his proposal. Not only did they turn down his noble request, they then set loose the vagabonds and the innocent children of their town on him, pelting him with stones, ridiculing and chasing him out stoning him till his shoes were filled with his own blood. He did not curse them, nor pray for their destruction, rather, he (peace be upon him) prayed for their guidance to faith: “O my Lord, guide my people along the true path, as they are ignorant of the truth.”

Finally, please do not burn the Bible or Jewish Scriptures in turn, nor insult their own God or Scriptures in return. We are ordained to be civil and reasonable in all we do. Allah condemns that we insult them even if they insult us. The mantra of dialogue is contained in the Qur'an 16 verse 125: “Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knows best who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance.” 

Don’t even honour this little and unknown church with demonstration, ignore and minimise their importance. For me, I’m not signing any online petition or joining a Facebook group, they would have achieved their cheap publicity and nothing stops another church from doing same again in future! I have a right not to be offended too you know! I would not have written these two thousand two hundred words, if some Muslims would not engage in violent protests! Even if we feel offended, we have a right to seek legal remedy. Government bodies have a duty to seek greater communal peace and cohesion. Even the media have a duty to blackout the event. Why are we not seeking these remedies!

“Therefore be patient with what they say and celebrate (constantly) the praises of your Lord before the rising of the sun and before its setting; yea celebrate them for part of the hours of the night and at the sides of the day: that you may have (spiritual) joy.” (Qur'an 20 verse 130)

- Shams AbuSuad, London, UK.

http://muslimmessage.blogspot.com/

The Role of God in Football

Its the football season again, the World Cup 2010.  As humans we love one sport or another. Its absolutely fun and healthy engaging in sporting activities, even the supporters are shouting (exercising their vocal cords), jumping on their feet, raising their arms (exercising their limbs) and getting all worked up (good exercise for the heart/blood & brain/juice). Sport is healthy whether to the active participants or the passive audience.

International sport is another thing, however. Today, you have Algeria play England. Yesterday, it was the ever-praying Nigerians against Greece. South African had already played twice with their home support and the Argentines are really raining in the goals. All these countries have massive supporters. Over 12,000 English Supporters made the thousands of miles trip, coughing up thousands of pounds in expenses. This is not just a sporting event, it is real life serious issues. Flag waving, screaming, singing and fighting crowds of football fans, dare I call them - worldly worshippers.

But the issue is majority of these supporters and the players (particularly the Brazilians and Nigerians) do God in football. Some do Voodoo! Does God really play a role in Football?

God is said to not let any sincere prayer go in vain. God says He answers your prayers before you say the "Amen" at the end or before you rub your face with your prayer-cupped hands. How does he answer the prayers of two religious nations? We have seen Tunisia and Egypt play and pray. Christian nations play against each other and pray to the same God for success! How does God reach the decision of whose prayers to answer? Is this a trivial question or a theological one? Should we do God in sports or leave God alone?