Hasan Le Gai Eaton

The Roots of Western Culture
BY Charles Gai Eaton (Hassan Abdul Hakeem)
First published in "The Qur’anic Horizons"
January-March, 1998
http://www.tanzeem.org/resources/articles/articles/rootsofwc.htm

Almost fifty years ago two great armies faced each other in the desert on the borders of Egypt and Libya: the British, under General Montgomery, and the Germans under General Rommel. Preparing for the decisive battle which he knew must soon begin, Montgomery sat in his caravan gazing at a photograph of his opponent and reading all that he could about Rommel’s life, opinions and attitudes. Looking at the photograph, he tried to read his face and to understand what kind of mind lay behind it and what thoughts might occupy that mind. In short, he was following one of the basic maxims of all conflict: "Know your enemy" — know him, study him, try to understand him.

To describe the contemporary West as the enemy of Islam and of the Muslim Ummah may seem a little extreme. Very well, let us say rival or competitor. But, whatever word we choose, the fact remains that there is a confrontation between the secular world of Europe and America on the one hand and, on the other, the still — if only just still — religious domain which we call the Dar Al-Islam. This is nothing new, although it remained "underground" during two centuries of colonialism. It was and remains today an inevitable fact of history. If we leave aside Buddhism, which is a special case, only two religions have claimed a universal mission encompassing the whole world and have cherished the hope that all mankind might be brought under the God-given canopy of the "one true Faith" — Christianity and Islam. Only one thing has changed. Islam is confronted today, not by Western Christendom, but by Western secularism, agnosticism, and unredeemed worldliness. Where Christendom failed, the civilization which replaced it has achieved almost total success and complete dominance of the planet.

Formerly, this confrontation was between men of faith who had more in common than they could ever have acknowledged. That likeness, that shared devotion to an almighty and unseen God, no longer exists. The gulf has become infinitely wider and mutual comprehension has become far more difficult. The believer to whom the transcendent reality of God is the most compelling fact known to him cannot really understand unbelief or imagine its sterility. The unbeliever, try as he may, cannot even guess what the experience of faith is; his imagination is baffled by this strange, other-worldly phenomenon.

Nonetheless, if Muslims are to act effectively in this situation and to see it clearly and objectively, then they must understand what it is that they confront. In my experience, the Muslim, even if he lives in the West, has very little understanding of the enemy or of the true nature of the threat he faces. Certainly in Britain, the majority of Muslim immigrants still refer to the people around them as "Christians" and many think that they are in some way threatened by Christianity. Much, of course, depends upon how you define "Christianity." and no doubt most British people, when asked to name their religion on some official form, will write down "Church of England" or "Roman Catholic." But let me say this: in a long life in which I have met and known a very great number of people, I met no convinced, believing Christians until, in recent years, I found myself lecturing Christian groups on Islam. The threat to the Muslims is no longer from a rival religious faith but from a sector of the world that has lost the gift of faith and no longer knows where to seek it. In practice, this is a more dangerous threat than was represented by Christianity in the past; a more subtle and insidious threat, because it appeals to the traitor within our own breasts, the whisperer who whispers: "How can you be sure? How can you be sure that there is anything beyond this world of the senses? How can you believe in something unseen, unheard, unfelt?"

Moreover, this danger is all the greater because of the worldly success of the unbeliever. Muslims in general, like most other people in what is commonly called the "Third World," have an ambivalent attitude to the West. On the one hand there is bitterness and resentment induced by the history of colonialism and now by the brute fact of Western hegemony; on the other hand there are feelings of admiration and envy. Inherent in human nature is the readiness to be overawed by successful power, and there is no denying the dominant power of the West. This power derives in part from industrial might and technological expertise, but what is most admired is Western efficiency in getting things done.

And yet admiration for these organizational skills should be tempered by caution. No race, no people, no human group can be good at everything. That is the nature of our life in the world. It is therefore always a question of priorities. If we can only be successful in a few aspects of this life, a choice has to be made. Which aspects are the more important? Those who are skilled in one field are likely to be inadequate in another, for we are very limited creatures and, if we develop one side of our nature to its fullest extent, this is usually at the expense of other aspects of the personality. If you are prepared, as Western man has been prepared, to turn your back on God (I say "God" rather than "Allah," since this is of universal application), if you are prepared to devote all your energies and all your talents to the affairs of this world and to the successful execution of these affairs, disregarding every other consideration, then you are likely to be very successful indeed. Devote every waking moment of your life to devising ways of making money and then more money and still more, you may even end up as a millionaire. The question, of course, is whether you are prepared to pay the price in spiritual impoverishment and, through blind greed, to sink below the level of the animals, whose hunger does not extend beyond that which suffices to fill their bellies.

Let me take two simple examples. As Muslims, our daily prayers interrupt our daily work. The successful businessman or civil servant in the West cannot afford to divert his attention to prayer or to anything of the sort in the course of the day. He would, as it is said, "lose out." Well, you make your choice; our lives are composed of choices. Secondly, there is the total divorce in the West between professional life and private life or personal relationships. The traditional Muslim way of conducting business — the polite greetings, the friendly questions, the serving of coffee or tea — is, from the Western point of view, time-wasting. Westerners, when they come together to do business, leave their humanity behind and keep an eye on their watches. They must conclude this business in the shortest possible time. They do not meet as persons, although the meeting of persons is something of tremendous significance in the sight of God. No. They meet only as professionals who have come to do a deal. They wear their official masks. The deal is done and they part without ever really having met. This too is part of the price paid for efficiency. Do we really wish to abrogate our humanity for the sake of some brief success?

I have no doubt that, in the course of these talks, I shall be asked: Are you suggesting that the Muslim world should always remain "backward" in comparison with the West? I am, I believe, a realist. In realistic terms we have to live in the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be. But since Muslims evince such fear of being thought "backward," there is a question I must pose in this context. What is wrong with "backwardness" when others are hastening forward to disaster? Is not a healthy old man, though "backward" in comparison with another of the same age who is sick and dying, in the better position? We must all die, but we need not rush towards that end.

However, before proceeding to discuss the roots of that powerful and, from our point of view, menacing and invasive culture, there is one further point that must be made. Do not overestimate that power! It has been said by the historians of colonialism that, until the invention of the Maxim gun (the early machine gun), in the middle years of the last century, the British Empire was held by bluff rather than by force. The white man held at bay a mob of "natives" with nothing more than a stick in his hand, perhaps because of his supreme racial self-confidence. He did not believe that they would dare to attack him, so they did not attack him. Self-confidence is the key, and, indeed, one might say that it was the key to the unprecedented success of the Muslims in the early centuries of Islam. It is the lack of this quality which may be seen as the greatest weakness of the Muslims today. It would be impossible to overstress the power of self-confidence. Look, after all, at the British, the inhabitants of a small and unimportant off-shore island, who nonetheless conquered and dominated half the world; this was no giant subduing pygmies, but a pygmy persuading giants to submit to him!

Let me offer you the example of an individual case. The newspapers in England have recently been full of stories about a Jewish businessman called Maxwell who died recently under mysterious circumstances. With no real security to offer, this man had borrowed more than a hundred million pounds from the banks. How did he do it? By sheer bluff and because of his overwhelming self-confidence. Shrewd he was and the bankers could not doubt his word because he himself was entirely free from self-doubt.

The Muslims’ lack of self-confidence may be attributed in part to the experience of colonialism, but it still endures chiefly, I think, because the West has bluffed the Muslims into accepting it at its own valuation and has succeeded in hiding its weaknesses, its vulnerability. It seems to me that this was exemplified in the early 1970s, during the so called "oil crisis." The oil producers — the Saudis in particular — had what amounted to a stranglehold on the Western world; they had very great power, which might have been put to use to their own advantage and to the advantage of the Ummah. What they lacked was the self-confidence which would have enabled them to use that power wisely and effectively. They lacked also that spirit of daring which encourages the powerful to make full use of their power. The opportunity was missed and may not come again.

When I talk with my fellow Muslims about the nature of Western dominance, one of my principal aims is to persuade them that this power rests upon very shaky foundations. Be that as it may, understanding on the part of the Muslims of exactly what it is they confront — what it is that threatens us — is of the utmost importance. This is why I have chosen to start this series of talks with a discussion of the roots of Western culture; very tangled, very complex roots. That is perhaps the first thing that the Muslims should understand. The origins of Muslim culture and civilization are clear and simple. They have one source, the Revelation combined with the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW) and are therefore easily identified. The roots of Western civilization lie in different lands, different cultures, different periods of history.

We must, inevitably, start with ancient Greece. We — that is to say, the children of the West — were taught at school about something described as "the Greek miracle." This "miracle" was the emergence of a people who, unlike any other people on earth, had turned their backs upon what we were told was "superstition" and discovered the supremacy of human reason, devoting themselves to rational enquiry and to philosophical speculation which left no space for the supernatural and took as its basis this world as it appears to the senses, not as it is in terms of its Divine origin. In other worlds, the Greeks — so we were told — were "advanced" in relation to all others of their time; a beacon of light in an otherwise dark age.

Now at this point I want to make a short digression which has, I think, an important bearing on the subject we are considering. As Muslims we must acknowledge that no people was ever left without a messenger bringing them the Truth, therefore no people was, in origin, without a religion reflecting the Truth in terms accessible to them. The origins of Greek culture lie out of sight, but I think it is clear that, by the time Greece became a significant factor in human history, Greek religion had degenerated into idolatry. This, after all, is the form which religious degeneration commonly takes or, at least, took in the past. And this, surely, is why Islam, as the final Revelation, is so fiercely opposed to every trace of idolatry. One feature of idolatry as we find it, for example, in classical Greece, that is to say the presence of many rather absurd "gods" often fighting among themselves, is that it is difficult for sensible people to believe in this. There is therefore a reaction against the very notion of religion or of any supernatural reality, a reaction in the direction of rationalism. This rationalism is, precisely, the "miraculous" Greek legacy so honored in the West. The Muslims, as we know, discovered this legacy in the early Abbasid period, but Islam as an integrated faith and culture, rooted in a single Revelation, was able to take from the Greek tradition what it found useful and what it could assimilate without harm to itself, and to reject the rest. In particular, it rejected the philosophical basis upon which the so-called Greek wisdom rested. The Muslims, however, handed the poisoned cup, the Greek legacy, to the Christians, to whom it proved profoundly destructive.

After Greece comes Rome, the monstrous civilization of imperial Rome. Here again, by the time ancient Rome appears as a real force in the world Roman religion, whatever it may have been in earlier times beyond the reach of history, had followed the same course as Greek religion. In other words, it had fallen into total decadence, and, if a people’s religion is decadent, then they themselves are inevitably decadent. It is therefore the sick face of Rome that has endured and that has had such a dominant influence upon the West; so dominant, for example, that I was compelled as a schoolboy to learn Latin because that was the language of the great civilization upon which we had attempted to model ourselves in our days of imperial grandeur. It is perhaps ironic that these Romans should have bequeathed to us a term very commonly used today, the term "barbarian." The British press frequently describes the Muslim way of life as "barbaric," and this always upsets Muslims. It should not upset us! Those to whom the ancient Romans referred as "barbarians" were, in every quality that really matters, their superiors; superior in virtue and in their way of life, free from the hideous corruption which characterized and ultimately destroyed the Roman Empire.

In ancient Greece and in ancient Rome therefore are planted some of the roots of contemporary Western culture. Then Christianity penetrated this world of corruption, gradually gaining ground, at first savagely persecuted but finally triumphant. Oil and water, we are told, do not mix, and there was nothing that could be acceptable to Christians in the Latin world as they found it. The slate had to be cleaned, for a religion of Jewish origin had nothing in common with what had gone before; and it was indeed wiped clean. There were elements in the Arab Jahiliyyah which could be absorbed into Islam — the Hajj is an obvious example — but there was nothing in the Roman Jahiliyyah that could be allowed to survive.

As I suggested earlier, the Christian of the early Middle Ages and the Muslim of the same period could have understood each other without difficulty if they had allowed themselves to do so; beyond their differences in doctrine and dogma, the fact remains that Christendom, like the Dar Al-Islam of that time, lived entirely by the light of religious faith; and yet this structure, governed by faith in God, had within it an inherent weakness. With its origins in Judaic Palestine, Christianity was in a sense a "foreign body" inserted into Western Europe, particularly in relation to the shamanistic traditions of the northern areas. It was utterly opposed to everything that had previously been thought or believed in that part of the world: a radical break with the past. The Arabs of the Jahiliyyah, on the other hand, had been in sense ready for the coming of Islam, which dawned less as a rejection of their past than as a fulfilment of what was best in their past.

This inherent weakness — this "fissure," as it has been called — became fully apparent when we, the Muslims, handed Christendom what I referred to as the "poisoned cup" of the Greek legacy. This led in due course to what is known as the "Renaissance," the "Rebirth," an event which every European child is asked to believe was one of the most glorious and fruitful events in human history. What was it that had been "reborn"? The old paganism, surely, now called humanism: the exaltation of the human above the Divine, the concept of man as a little god who inevitably realizes eventually that he has no need of a greater God. It would be difficult to exaggerate the difference between the early medieval Christian ideal of servanthood and the Renaissance ideal, typified in the titanic paintings and sculptures of Michael Angelo. The fact that these can be found in the Sistine Chapel in Rome indicates how effectively this humanistic ideal infiltrated the Christian Church, then, of course, the Catholic Church.

The adjective "Promethean" is often applied to the Renaissance ideal, and the Greek myth of Promethius has great significance if we wish to understand Western culture. It is a myth that could never conceivably have arisen or been tolerated within the sphere of Islamic thought and the Muslim imagination. Promethius stole the gift of fire from "the gods," or, let us say simply from God, from Heaven. In this way, although he was punished for his sin, he brought inestimable benefit to mankind. You will note the profound implications of this myth. The great gift was not bestowed by the Almighty upon humanity; it had to be taken from Him by force, an act of radical defiance, an act of revolt against Heaven which had not chosen to give what there was to be given. The myth of Promethius dominated the Renaissance mind and, in a sense, dominates Western culture today: God does not give, man takes.

The exclusion of the Divine and of the view of this world as totally subordinate to That which infinitely transcends it, gave rise, in due course, to an entirely secular philosophy, and the first of these "modern" philosophers was Descartes (1596-1650). To anybody who has any feeling for religion and any belief in the possibility of Revelation, the contrast between the great theologians and religious philosophers of the Middle Ages on the one hand and, on the other, the new philosophy, is astonishing. It might be compared to the contrast between a wise man and a clever child. Seen from an Islamic point of view, what could be more absurd than the ambition to spin out of an unenlightened human mind all wisdom and all understanding of the heavens and the earth? Yet this is what Descartes proposed with his Cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am), offering this as the only truth that could be known with certainty and as the basis upon which to construct other certainties. I remember someone suggesting that what Descartes should have said was Cogitor ergo sum (I am thought therefore I am); in other words, because God "thinks" me, therefore I exist.

It is from Descartes that Western culture and, above all, science, have inherited the dualistic view of the world which is contrary to Islam in root and in branch. This represents a total separation between — I will not say the spiritual, for what Descartes was talking about was solely the mental — but between, let us say the immaterial and the material, the unseen and the seen. It is precisely on the basis of this Cartesian dualism that the modern mind operates, and that is the philosophical basis for what is commonly called the "scientific method." One is bound to ask whether a method which has its origins in such a doubtful proposition can lead to the discovery of any sure truth.

In the common view and for the educational textbooks, Descartes is the first "great Western philosopher." Those who followed him might or might not make some allowance for a spiritual dimension, and their views differed from his in many respects; but the fact remains that they were still purely secular, unidimensional, excluding the possibility of knowledge through Revelation from the mental processes through which they reached their conclusions.

And so we come — a century and a half after Descartes — to the so-called "Enlightenment," indeed a strange term to apply to what was, in fact, a darkening of human intelligence and human imagination. The French "philosophes" of the 18th century of the Christian era finally cast aside the bonds of what was then described — and is still described — as superstition, that is to say the religious understanding of the world and of man’s destiny. The Renaissance had presented the image of man as self-sufficient, even as superman; the Enlightenment brought this image to its logical fulfillment, the supremacy of the human mind as the measure of all things. Man’s concepts and speculation, quite divorced from Revelation, become the arbiter of Truth. The Western mind is still dominated by that "enlightenment."

There is an aspect of all this that often goes unnoticed. That is the divorce between theory and practice. The Christian philosophers had taken it for granted that knowledge and virtue must go together. Belief and action could not be separated. The philosophers of the Enlightenment were purely theorists whose personal morality and conduct had no necessary connection with their theories. This might be illustrated by the example of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, one of its principal figures. In his writings he propagated a new view of children, of their value and of the duty to treat them well. He himself was so busy theorizing about children that he could not be bothered with his own offspring. He dispatched them to an orphanage to be rid of them.

Within a few years there followed the French Revolution, which attempted to put into effect the concepts of the "philosophes." If I may again revert to the lessons I learned as a schoolboy and which other schoolboys received in the West, this, in spite of its monstrous cruelties and its destructiveness, was seen as a just revolt against an aristocracy which no longer fulfilled any useful function and against social injustice. That is a very partial view, and it misses the essential. The Revolution was above all a revolt against religion, a revolt against God in the name of a new God, or rather goddess — the "Goddess of Reason." Now reason is a tool comparable to other tools which enable us to work on the material before us and by which we maintain our lives on this earth. But rationalism as an attitude of mind — I might even say a dogma — which proclaims that reason is more than a tool, that it has within itself the means of establishing all truths. There is a curious fallacy here. We can reason only on the basis of given facts or of universally accepted assumptions. If the facts have been misunderstood and if the assumptions which have been taken for granted are false, then you may reason as carefully and meticulously as you like; you will still be wrong. Perhaps I might employ in this context the example given by the ancient Hindu sage, Shankara. Supposing — he says — that a man sitting in a dark hut puts out his hand and touches a coil of thick rope. He mistakes this for a snake, indeed it feels to him like a coiled snake. From then on he acts entirely rationally, running away or shouting for help. The fact remains that there is no snake and that the man's reasonable actions bear no relation to reality. In the same way, if one mistakes the material world for the only reality, which is the thoughtless assumption made by modern man in the West, then no amount of sound reasoning on this premise can ever lead to Truth.

The triumph of rationalism was now complete so far as the intellectual leaders in Europe and the principal formers of opinion were concerned; but, of course, in any civilization or any culture, the mass of people is slow to move and difficult to change in their basic view of the world. What finally broke the hold of religion on the minds and hearts of ordinary people was science, or rather the emergence and development of an exclusively materialistic science which reduced all reality to mathematical concepts and a blind mechanical mechanism.

The final blow however was undoubtedly Darwin’s theory of evolution, promulgated in the middle years of the last century. And yet to call this a "scientific" theory is incorrect. It was and still is more in the nature of a myth, without any secure foundation in the observed facts or in any kind of experiment. It was however a myth which explained the given facts in a way which excluded every notion of a reality beyond this world and which had — and still has — an immense appeal for minds already conditioned to a purely materialistic view of the cosmos. It was inevitable that someone should invent such a theory at that precise moment in history. Darwin happened to be the man who did so. This theory, still entirely unproven in scientific terms, dominates the contemporary mind and has reinforced a myth of human progress that was already emerging.

Let me illustrate this by a small incident which occurred some years ago when I was serving in the British Foreign Service in Trinidad. I was a guest at a diplomatic dinner. The young woman beside me was talking with a Christian priest, an Englishman, seated opposite. I was only half attending to their conversation when I heard her say something to the effect that she was not entirely convinced about human progress. The priest answered her so rudely and with such contempt that I could not resist saying to him: "She’s quite right! There is no such thing as real progress." He turned on me, his face contorted with rage, and said: "If I thought that, I would commit suicide this very night!" Since suicide is as much a sin for the Christian as it is for the Muslim, I found this a very revealing remark. I understood for the first time the extent to which faith in progress has replaced religious faith.

I mention this because it seems to me that few Muslims, least of all those who constantly proclaim that Islam is a "progressive" religion, seem to grasp the full implications of the myth of progress. If it is true, at least as it is understood in Western culture, then it follows that we in our time are wiser and better than the people of earlier times and that our understanding of our religion is superior to theirs. This opens the way to radical change, bida‘ in the proper sense of the term. That is precisely what has happened to the Christian Churches, and I am frequently asked why Islam does not "evolve" in the same way. When we behave badly, as we so often do, when Muslims fight each other and accuse each other of heresy, this is assumed to be a sign, not of our decadence, but of our backwardness, and people who are well disposed to us say: "Of course, we understand. You are only in your fifteenth century. You will evolve and mature as we have done in the course of time."

Since faith in progress has become such an unquestionable dogma and since belief in any kind of afterlife has declined, the notion of paradise and, for that matter, of hell as we understand these terms has been replaced by the bleak conviction that everything will come right in the future, long after we ourselves are dead and gone. There will arise a kind of heaven on earth, though we —unfortunately! — shall not see it. Many lives have been sacrificed on the altar of this false faith. Those who are most opposed to religion always claim that, in the past, religion led to ceaseless wars. Yet I do not believe anyone has succeeded in counting how many millions of men, women and children have been slaughtered in this century in the name of progress and of "creating a better world." This false faith reached its fulfillment in Marxism-Leninism.

The fact that Marx’s theories, his pseudo-scientific theories, were already out-of-date by the early years of this century did not, as we all know, prevent a great number of intelligent and well-intentioned people from adhering to them with passionate conviction; this in itself is proof of man’s need for a total truth to which he can give total devotion. Yet in terms of this theory, when put into action, no amount of human suffering counted for anything in relation to the glorious future when the Marxist paradise on earth was achieved. Human creatures, with their private interests, their customs and their stubbornness stood in the way of the realization of this Utopian dream; but they were no longer seen as human, they were merely obstacles in the middle of the road, obstacles to be destroyed and bulldozed into mass graves. This is the way of all Utopian dreams when we try to bring them to fruition. That is why I am sometimes appalled when I meet young Muslims who dream of re-creating in our own time the perfect Islamic society as it was in Madinah in the time of the Prophet (SAW) Except at that time and then only for a very short while, there can be no perfect society in this word.

Basic human nature does not change. How could it, since the words of Allah (SWT) are not subject to change? There is within it an empty space which can only be filled by faith in God. When mankind is deprived of a transcendent object of worship, an object guaranteed by a direct revelation from above, then it will always find something in this world upon which it can focus adoration. As I have suggested, we have seen this in the fanaticism which has characterized the great political movements of our century, including Nazism. We have seen it in the ambition of Huxley, the most distinguished scientist of the 19th century, to create what he described as a "priesthood of science." For many in the West, faith in scientific truth or in what purports to be truth has the qualities which we would normally associate with religious faith.

Now, however, faith in political solutions is diminishing, as too is faith in the irrefutable truths of modern science. There is therefore a widespread hankering for religious faith in the proper sense of the term. But this does not necessarily mean a readiness to return to traditional religion; in effect Christianity since I am speaking of the Western world. Satan is not so easily diverted from his purpose. The addiction to personal freedom to the extent of ignoring all bounds and, in accordance with humanism, exalting the nafs, the ego, makes traditional religion, with its constraints and its humbling of the ego, unpalatable. It is easier, less demanding and more comfortable to invent new religions, and this is why we have, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon sector of the world, a proliferation of cults designed to assuage this hunger, though with plastic food, not real nourishment.

The cults which are often related to "New Age" religion take various forms, but they have one thing in common. They deny transcendence, or rather they ignore the possibility of a transcendent Reality. They are therefore likely to take the form of some kind of nature religion, such as belief in the "Earth Goddess," or else they borrow some elements from Buddhism, from Hindu Vedanta or even from Sufism. These borrowed elements are, so to speak, brought down to the horizontal level, that is to say the dunyawi level, and incorporated into doctrines which flatter the nafs and encourage it to roam where it will. They may also include elements of erotic mysticism, seeking in sexuality a substitute for religious experience. They have not broken free from the errors of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

The Westerner today does not know who he is or where he is going. He seeks an identity, even a religious identity, and he seeks an orientation, but the decay of traditional religion has led to a situation in which the average man or woman is astonishingly ignorant of religion as such. This is why cults which you would not expect to attract even a foolish child are often accepted by mature people who are by no means foolish.

Meanwhile, so far as the majority is concerned, faith in science has not really diminished, although it may have changed in nature because of changes in the scientific perspective itself. We call this "scientism" because it is not in fact based upon the complex theories and speculations of contemporary physicists, many of whom leave some space for the "unknowable" or even for the Divine dimension, but upon a vague notion that science can explain everything and answer every possible question. This is said to be "the Age of Knowledge;" it is in truth the age of ignorance; ignorance, that is to say, of everything that really matters. The denial of Revelation and the denial of intellectual intuition (which is dismissed as a subjective feeling, not as a glimpse of authentic Truth placed in our hearts from above) has impoverished modern Western humanity to an almost unimaginable extent.

There is no longer any sure guidance. The Christian Churches have failed the people because they have themselves fallen under the spell of every modern illusion and have readily absorbed the errors of the time. They have, so to speak, followed in the footsteps of the mob, instead of standing aside and offering an alternative and radically different perspective. They have for the most part, accepted the general view that faith is something irrational and contrary to common sense; they have lost their intellectual dimension. At the same time, despairing of ever persuading their flocks to believe in a transcendent Reality and in an afterlife "better and more lasting" than our brief existence here, they have given themselves almost exclusively to the affairs of this world.

I should hardly need to add that, for those who are sickened by the errors of modernism, of rationalism, and of scientism, and who wish to break free from theses illusions, there is a home, a shelter always available: Islam. Let us hope however that the leaders and the wise men of our Ummah do not fall into the trap into which Christianity has fallen and do not, from a desire to be "up-to-date" and "progressive," follow in its footsteps. We must pray that Allah (SWT) will protect us from committing any such betrayal.

Technology is Man's greatest fallacy

Technology is Man's greatest fallacy

We live in a time where man thinks that technology can save him. All this is means man is progressing. I watch movies on my phone, I can see the people who I am talking about, I use this machine to this and that. One of my friends said have you noticed that all this technology is about "i"? We seem to think that technology is man's yard stick for progress and this is somehow making us better. Technology can help us save lives yet look at the arms industry why are we learning of more ways to kill people?

We sit on machines wondering what to do with them. We move from one machine to another without realising what is going on. Man is alone but cannot communicate because he can speak using his laptop better than he can with his own lips.

Is this progress? Is man progressing? Making great strides thanks to a machine that is made obsolete. As soon as it reaches you there is another piece of rubbish to take its place.

If man is so advanced as a race then why are making bombs to kill other people. All these countries who take pride in their wealth and their advanced societies are the same ones teaching and training others to kill their own.

In this time that people are deceived into lying to their people and themselves in some sort of vain belief that if people follow them then this will vindicate their lies.

We are lost using our machines whilst the machines of war kill innocent people in the name of democracy. Freedom is spelt differently in those lands possessed by foreign invaders it’s spelt free-doom because that’s what it is, doom for free. Except it’s not for free it’s at a cost, the greatest cost, is the loss of human life and the next is their natural resources.

They come to liberate you from your bodies, liberate your families from this earth, and liberate your homes from the ground. Lets us cheer as they blame religion and join in their lies.

Bombs made in factories that people don’t care; exported to military bases all over the world then dropped on the heads of the innocents. It was an accident, it is collateral damage? No, that’s a lie. They massacre innocent people as their natural resources are stolen from them as you set one against the other.

This is mans great progress? Isn’t it? Well to me this is the lie of the last century and this new one that everyone is asleep watching our DVD’s as they kill claiming its for you and me.

They kill to exploit and they kill to mock. We sit here and don’t even question. When will they enter the dock?

Just because you have your iphone means nothing because I can speak and communicate to real people. Don’t cry if they take it away from you.

Technology means nothing even these words mean nothing because I am using this medium to contact you.

Is there another way? Yes there is, get rid of what you don’t need and realise what Orwell wrote, “Freedom is slavery, War is peace and Ignorance is strength.” We are all ignorant and we are happy. We think invasion is freedom and war is setting things right. Who gave us the right?

Wake up people this is the looking glass and you are not going to like what you are going to see just like Alice.

Technology is not going to help you into Paradise, is it?


Sheikh Hmza Yusuf - Planning for Tomorrow
http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/07/sheikh-hamza-yusuf.html

The Life of this world
http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/05/life-of-this-worlddunya.html

Imam Zaid Shakir

Friends of Allah parts one to five

Hasan Le Gai Eaton

Living by the Book (Quran)

Audio Link

http://www.livingislam.org/imfl.html#hge1

Sheikh Muhammad Al -Yaqoubi

Degrees of Jihad

English is the language of rubbish

We don’t really mean that but now we have your attention let’s explain what we are saying. Increasing we are seeing the use of the Arabic language on sweet wrappers and other types of packaging. This is, to a supposed student of knowledge, horrific. As when we are done with the item the packaging is normally thrown away; this is not something that we should be doing!

We are throwing away something that has Arabic words upon it which could mean that there is a letter or word from the Quran. This really scares me and we try to avoid to buying products with Arabic writing on them. If you cannot then at least remove it somehow; when you have finished.

Arabic is a divine language and not the language that should be used for packaging that can be thrown away! That’s why we have English. English is the language of rubbish not Arabic!

Just in case you think that we really think what the title reads then let me give you something to think about. We are presently enjoying a lengthy sojourn in the works of Shakespeare, how spiffing!

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

Islam today radion interview

Habib Umar ibn Hafiz

Clarity amongst noise

Taqwa/piety/God consciousness

Taqwa/piety/God consciousness

The word Taqwa comes from the word وقى to mean protect or guard oneself against something. Someone who has Taqwa guards themselves against all types of harm and this shall be explained, in sha Allah.

This word is extremely difficult to translate uniformly. As the context has to be considered before translating and that goes with anything. Several of the following words are common: piety, fear and God conscious. Some prefer not to use translations and use the word as it is. In the translations of the hadith in this article we have used fear or piety. But for all the other sections we will use the word Taqwa to clarify any confusion with the word useage.


Why is Taqwa important?

The following narrations will answer this question.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, “The most common thing which leads people to Paradise is fear of Allah and good conduct; and the most common thing which leads people to Hell is the mouth and the private parts.” (At-Tirmidhi)

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bestow upon him peace and blessings) said, “The majority of those who enter paradise, fear Allah and possess good character.” (At-Tirmidhi)

Attaining this, one of the most praiseworthy of qualities, is a way to paradise and it is weighty on the scales. That is why it is important.


What else is attained?

“The most noble of you is the most pious.” The Private Apartments 49:13

“Allah loves the pious.” The Repentance 9:7

Allah (Almighty and Majestic) loves those who have Taqwa and then you become one of the noblest people. Do you really want anything else?!?!? If Allah (Almighty and Majestic) loves someone then what happens? Then he tells the Angel Jibreal (upon him peace) to announce this to the inhabitants of the Heavens!

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that Messenger of Allah (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) said, “When Allah loves a servant; he calls Jibreal (upon him peace) and says, “I love so and so; so love him!” Then Jibreal loves him and calls out to the residents of the heavens, “Allah loves so and so; so love him.” Then the residents of the heavens love him and his acceptance his placed on the Earth. If Allah dislikes a servant then he calls Jibreal saying, “I dislike so and so; so dislike him; then Jibreal dislikes him and call out to the residents of the heavens. “Allah dislikes so and so; so dislike him.” They do and then dislike for him is placed on the Earth.” (Muslim, At-Tirmidhi, Bukhari and Malik)

This is the benefit of Taqwa that the residents of paradise know who you are and they accept you. What an amazing blessing for such an action.


Benefits of Taqwa

Are there benefits or are you just trying to make my life difficult! These verse spell this out in great detail for us.

Recourse
"Whoever fears Allah is given recourse."
Al-Talaq 65:2


He has ease

"Whoever fears Allah is given ease in his matter."
Al-Talaq 65:4

His sins are removed
"Whoever fears Allah has his sins removed and is given a great reward."
Al-Talaq 65:7

Are these not benefits for you? When things are difficult you are given a way out. You are given ease in your matters, your sins are forgiven and have a great reward! Is there any more you need?!
 

Definition of Taqwa

Now that we have outlined the reasons and benefits we need to define exactly what it is, in order to put in into practice.

Imam Ghazali gives the following definition for Taqwa, “Removing sin from the Heart and not repeating the like of it.” (Minhaj al-Abideen p.112 Dar al-Ishaat)
تنزيه القلب عن ذنب لم يسبق عنك مثله

Ibn Juzayy said in his dictionary of terms from the introduction to his tafsir:
"Taqwa's meaning is fear, clinging to obedience to Allah and abandoning disobedience to Him. It is the sum of all good."

A person in a state of Taqwa is someone who is always on guard for what could harm his religion. So he lowers his gaze from the prohibitions, he seeks halal food, he make sure that his job is permissible, he is guards his ears from hearing the prohibited, he guards his eyes from prohibitions and he is relentless in performing his acts of worship to the best of his ability.

Sheikh Murabat Al-Hajj once saw a mouse who heard the smallest sound then quickly went back into its hole. He said that is Taqwa. I did not understand this for many years but one day the meaning was given to me. The mouse was on guard against anything that could harm him. So even the smallest noise could mean that something may be on its way to attack it. That is Taqwa to be on guard all the time even against the smallest threat.

A person with Taqwa is like soldier on guard ready for attack but with a detailed action plan.

“If you are patient and fearful then this is a weighty matter.” The family of Imran 186

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (may Allah be pleased with him) once said, "Taqwa is not by fasting the day and not by praying the night. And it's not by mixing between the two of them. But Taqwa is leaving what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has made prohibited and by doing what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has made obligatory. After one has done this, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will provide good things for that person."

A man came to the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) and asked, “O’ Prophet of Allah, give me counsel.” So he said, “Be fearful of Allah as it comprises of all goodness.” (Imam Ahmed 3, 82 and 266)

Taqwa is essentially an action of the heart and actions of the heart are by no means easy. They can be difficult and Taqwa is not something that you have one day and not the next. It has to be a permanent state that you have accustomed yourself to.


For all eyes not just some

One of our problems is that we deem it okay to be someone in a one place and someone totally different in another. In front of our parents we are pious, righteous and devout then as soon as we leave the house we are the exact opposite! This is something that we hear and see often. We are one person for our families and we are one person outside the house. This is all born from fear of our parents and not fear of Allah.

I remember being in the masjid with someone at a deen intensive a few years ago. The call for the prayer had gone and I was about to get up. I saw the other person and advised him to join us for the prayer. He said he did not want to pray with us. I was shocked then he said if his Pir (spiritual leader) was here then he would be in the first row. I retorted by saying, “Do you fear your Pir more than Allah?” He said it was good point but still did not pray.

Fear Allah because he knows what you are doing all the time and your family only know what you are doing at home!

Do not think just because my family cannot see me then I can do what I want. Why don’t you wake up and realise that you should be doing what Allah (the Exalted) wants and that is to be aware of all of what you do. Allah (the Exalted) knows what you heart is thinking right now and what you are about to do. So even though no physical person can see you the angels who record your deeds can see you. They are writing down all those disgusting things that we do when no one else can see us. Shouldn’t we have some shame?

The Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) said, “I advise you to fear Allah in your private and public matters.” (Imam Ahmed 21465)

This is one of pillars of the spiritual path of the Shadhali’s which is to have Taqwa of Allah in secret and in public. (Usul Al-Tariqah by Imam Ahmed Zarruq)

The Prophet (May Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) said, “Fear Allah wherever you are. Follow up a bad deed with a good deed and it will blot it out. And deal with people in a good manner.” (At-Tirmidhi 1987 and Ahmed 5/236)

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “I advise you to be shameful before Allah as you would be shameful before a pious man of your clan.” (Ibn Abu Dunya’s Makarim Al-Khalaq/ Noble Qualities p.81)


Conclusion

Taqwa is not an easy station to acquire it takes time to remove all those things from yourself that are prohibited and then you also have to remove any paths ways to the prohibited. Works of the heart are great because they are just between you and Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and they are not for show. This is not easy but the reward and the blessings of attaining this quality is beyond what we can fully comprehend in this world.

As with everything once you know something you have a responsibility to practice. We cannot allow ourselves to be victims of a world which will swallow us whole and spits us out. We have to be ready to defend anything that could cause a deficiency with our connection to the Creator.

Hatim al-Asamm said, “I have chosen four things to know, and have discarded all the knowledge in the world besides.” He was asked, “What are they?” “One,” he answered, “is this: I know my daily bread is apportioned to me, and will neither be increased nor diminished; consequently I have ceased to seek to argument it. Secondly, I know that I owe Allah a debt which no other person can pay instead of me; therefore I am occupied with paying it. Thirdly, I know that there is one pursing me (i.e. Death) from whom I cannot escape; accordingly I have prepared myself to meet him. Fourthly, I know that Allah is observing me; therefore I am ashamed to do what I ought not.” (Kashaf Al-Mahjub p.13)




We are not pretending to be someone who has Taqwa. If anything we need to try very hard to attain this lofty station even though we do not deserve it by our actions nor our state. We pray that Allah (Almighty and majestic) forgives all the Muslims and gives us this state.

See a door of a Taqwa
http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/07/door-in-morocco.html

Islam and the Canterbury tales of Geoffrey Chaucer

Islam and the Canterbury tales of Geoffrey Chaucer

We were surprised to learn that there are many Islamic references in this text.

It was written between 1339 and 1346 in time in which the aftermath of the Crusades were still ringing in the ears of the Europeans. But the reconquista of Spain was still in full swing as the Muslims last vestige of power in Granada was being threatened. Sometimes I think that the history may look at the war on terror in a similar way to the way the Crusades are seen by reasonable people now.

So it is in this caldron of emotions that this text was written and even though the messages stand the test of time there remains one question. Was the text influenced by a thousand and one nights? Let us go through the references of this text. We are using the Penguin popular classics edition.

“No Christen man so oft of this degree; In Gernade at the seege eek had he be; Of Algezir, and riden in Belmarye.” Line 55-58, P.5.

This was in reference to the capture of the city of Grenada from the Muslims.



“Again another hethen in Turkye.” Line 66, p.5.

Again another reference to the Ottomans.



“... Razis, and Avicen, Averrois...” Line 433-434, p.20.
Razis referring to Imam Muhammad Ibn Zakariyya Al-Razi he was a pioneer in many sciences.

Avicen meaning Avicenna or Ibn Sina one of the leading philosophers of all time.
Averrois meaning Ibn Rushd another one of leading philosophers who championed Greek philosophy even though they were widely rejected in the Muslim world Europe to them on.



“Yemen on foot and communes many oon,”
P.86

Not sure about this reference.


“His Almageste and books greet and smile.”
p.107 The Miller’s tale

This refers to Ptolemy’s work on astronomy but this work has an interesting story because this Greek work came into Europe by the means of Arabic. A 9th century translation of the Greek text was sponsored by the Caliph Mamun and then this was eventually reached Spanish in the 12th century and Latin in the next. Also note that it is referred to in its Arabic name not in its Greek name. Isn’t it amazing that Europe failed to benefit from its Greek works until the Muslims came along?

Later in the text Ptolomee is used in the French language which indicates from where it was taken.

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf and Chris Hedges

Offical video!
Does God love war?

A door in Morocco

This may seem similar to any door that you would see in the old cities of Morocco but there is one difference. Look carefully and you will see two door knockers. Most doors have one and some don't have any so why two? Our guide said that one knocker was used by women and the other was used by men. This meant that even without looking the people or person at home knew the gender of the person knocking.

This is, to me, is a door of Taqwa/piety and it is proof of who we once were. We protected our eyes against something that could cause us harm and that is Tawqa.

There are many gems such as this in our Islamic history that have been lost. It's up to us to find them again and inform others.

Article on Taqwa
http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/07/taqwapietygod-consciousness.html

Sheikh Yahya Rhodus

The Prayer of the Prophet

The Prayer of the Prophet - Shaykh Yahya Rhodus from SeekersGuidance on Vimeo.

Cursing/Swearing

This is something that can be heard wherever you go on this planet. You can hear on it on most media channels, especially movies and television. Many a time the people doing the swearing are the youth who seem to enjoy swearing as much as they enjoy eating! But have we considered the fact that it may be sinful to swear?

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “The Muslim is he whom Muslims are safe from harm of his hand and tongue.” (Al-Bukhari 1/53, Muslim 1/65)

There are different narrations of this hadith which have people instead of Muslim and other has believers. This hadith means any harm that comes from the tongue this could be some of the following: Cursing, swearing, backbiting, slander and tale bearing. Swearing is a major sin it is not a minor sin because like other major sins it affects others as well as yourself.

Saying an offensive word affects the person who you said it, the one who heard it and the one who it was said to. It is not a major thing now that we hear so many people swearing all over the place.

Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) states that the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) said, “A believer does not falsely claim lineage; does not curse; is not lewd or obscene.” (At-Tirmidhi 1987)

The Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) was asked, "What is Islam?" He replied, "Gentle speech and feeding the poor." Imam Ahmed.

People also seem to think that it is okay to swear in another language and that somehow that does not count! It does count, swearing in any language counts and is counted. We do speak in dialects of the languages of our various peoples and they often contain rude, offensive and insulting language. This is extremely common sight that you may witness someone speaking in English then switching to his mother tongue to let rip on some people who do not understand him, then turn to them smiling! One of my English friends asked me what two people were saying and I told him that it was better off that he did not know. Why? Because they were swearing!

This is the main reason that we do not like the use of some dialects. They are littered with swearing and insulting language and if you want to join in the conversation then you have to join in on the sinning!

You see hearing is not something that you stop; even if you put your fingers in your ears you can still hear what someone says!

It is bad enough to swear at someone but swearing at a Muslim is even worse.

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “To insult a Muslim is corruption and to wage war on him is disbelief.” (Bukhari 48, Muslim 64)

Dr. Marcia K. Hermansen

Spiritual aspects of Sirah

Annemarie Schimmel

On Iqbal

Dr. Marcia K. Hermansen

On Allama Iqbal

Sheikh Fasial Abdurrazak

External adab/etiquitte with the Quran

Dr. Marcia K. Hermansen

God is the light of the Heavens

Imam Zaid Shakir

Enlisting Action

The Importance of Action/'Amal

The importance of action in Islam

Faith is a key to paradise but how can one increase their rank in paradise? Its action that makes one rise. This is the important part and the importance of action for a believer. There was a misguided group called murijah who were people who wrongly thought that faith alone was needed for salvation. They were rightly refuted by the Asharis and Maturidis, in their books. Faith needs to be combined with action to achieve salvation. Faith alone may get one into paradise but the journey will be much harder than those who have the requisite action such as five daily prayers. Action without faith has no point because only a believer benefits from their actions in the afterlife. 

We have spoken about the superiority of the character of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was because, in part, of his practice of the commandments and prohibitions of the Quran. Allah (mighty and majestic) gives the greatest testimony to this when He said, “You possess the greatest character.” The Pen 67:4. One should remember that the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings be upon him) is great because Allah (the Exalted) made him great.

Imam Tabari said in Tafsir Al-Bayan, “The Exalted addresses his Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him), “O’ Muhammad you possess excellent etiquette. This is the etiquette that Allah gave him and it is Islam and the sacred law.”

In the Tafsir/commentary of Ibn Kathir report a hadith narrated from Imam Ahmed that Abu Hurayrah states that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bestow on him peace and blessings) said, “I was only sent to complete righteous character.”

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) states that this is the religion of Islam and Hassan Al-Basri states that this means the etiquette of the Quran (Ibn Al-Jawzi's commentary on this verse).

Hassan Al-Basri’s speech is very interesting because it is similar to what Aisha (may Allah be pleased her) said when asked about the character of the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessing upon him). “His character was the Quran.”

This is one of the major reasons why the character of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is so great because of his application. Is there a greater testification than from the Lord of the worlds? No, there can never be any greater testification than that of the Creator (Mighty and Exalted).

When we have knowledge we must try to put it into practice. If we try and fail this is the least we can do. Putting knowledge into action is one the greatest means of drawing closer to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) as we are drawing closer by doing something we are recommended to do.

The first book of Imam Ghazali’s revival of religious sciences/Ihya Ulum Al-Deen is the book of knowledge. Our first step is knowledge, sacred knowledge that will help us clarify our religion. It could be said that this is the book that outlines the reason for the religion, practice. Practice also helps preserve the manner and the ways of those who have left us.

The Quran emphasises on action, “Blessed is the reward of the doer.” The Family of Imran 4:136

The doer in the verse is the one who carries out the action. In the Quran there are two places where people are cursed for not doing what they say and there are other places where the doer of the actions are blessed.

“The likeness of those who were charged with the Torah but who subsequently failed in those (obligations), is as the likeness of the donkey which carries books (but understands them not).” Al-Jum’ah 62:5

We do not want to be like those who carry knowledge and do not derive any benefit from it. I remember one person who was laughing when he transmitted some religious knowledge, saying that if that person acted upon the knowledge that he was given, he would be rewarded! I look back at this now and realise that this person was content with being a donkey! He passed on knowledge without performing the action himself!

Belief or Action?

Many of us, in this time, place over emphasis on belief. We make claims about who has the correct belief and which system should be followed. The correct belief systems are the recognised schools of Ashari's, Maturdi's and the Athari's. Once we have this clear in our minds we can now emphasis on action. We cannot be people who are deluded into thinking that because they have the right belief that they are safe and that there is no work to be done. We have met many who act like this! We have to be prepared to work hard in all our religious matters.

We cannot merely think that we have the correct belief  and so and so group do not; so I am safe. No, no way! We have to work; day in day out.

Consider these prophetic narrations:

Imam Ahmed narrates from Abdullah ibn Umair ibn Al-'Aas who heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say, "Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will infer a man from my nation from the heads of creation on the day of judgement. Ninety nine scrolls will be shown to him; each scroll will extent as far as the eyesight. He asks, "Do you reject anything? Has the record of my angels oppressed you?" He replies, "No, Oh Lord." He asks, "Do you have an excuse or good deed?" He went pale and said, "No, Oh Lord." He said, "You have with me one good action and there is no oppression for you today." A card was brought forward with 'I testify that there is no deity except Allah and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah' (recorded on it). "Bring it forward." He says, "Oh Lord, this card against all these scrolls?" He states, "You will not be oppressed." The scrolls are placed onto one scale and the card on the other; the scrolls are outweighed by the heaviness of the card. He said, "Nothing can outweigh; what contains 'in the name of Allah; the most merciful; the most compassionate."

This explains to us that belief will save us but do not neglect good actions because you never know!!

Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bestow peace and blessings be upon him) said, “I swear by he whom there is no deity other than him, one of you will perform the actions of the inhabitants of paradise until there is a cubit between him and paradise then what is written manifests; and he perform the actions of the inhabitants of hell until he enters it. One of you will perform the actions of the inhabitants of hell until there is a cubit between will overcome him; then what is written manifests; and he performs the actions of the inhabitants of paradise until he enters it.” (Bukhari 3207, 3332, 6594, 8454; Muslim 2643; Abu Dawood 4808; At-Tirmidhi 2137; Ibn Majah 76; Ahmed 1/382, 430 and 414)

I have often pondered over this hadith and though about its meaning. I used to think that this was aimed at Muslims but this is also aimed at non-Muslims. How? Look at some of the non-Muslims in our time and you can find them doing amazing actions of charity. Some are even doing the actions of the people of paradise but because of their belief they will not enter paradise. I do wish that these people would become Muslim and enter paradise. The flip side of this coin is the person doing the actions of the inhabitants of paradise. You can find some Muslims who doing some wretched actions but because of their belief they will enter paradise.

Suhail ibn Sa'ad (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) said, "The servant will perform the actions of the residents of the fire but they are part of the residents of Paradise and (others) they will perform the actions of the residents of Paradise and they from the residents of the fire. Actions are only finished once completed." (Bukhari 11/499, Muslim 1/106 without, "Actions are only finished once completed.")

Remember belief places someone into paradise and action raises the person status in it. Also do not be fooled by non-believers doing the good actions because this will not avail them in the afterlife. Their reward is in the world and not in the hereafter. So don’t be distracted as there are many people who are doing the actions of the people of hell but will end up in paradise because of their belief and there are many people doing the actions of the people paradise but will end up in hell.

For myself?

One of my friends once said to me that being religious is something that is done just for oneself. Then you must be your own worst enemy if you are not prepared to do anything that you will benefit from eternally!!

Anyone who wants to please his Lord cannot please him with anything better than that was made obligatory upon one; the five pillars are everyone’s starting point.

When you pray it not only has effect on you but it effects your whole environment and the people who are around you, so praying is not for yourself. Note the highest level of obedience is for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) alone.

Application

If someone, as we have stated, is a person who attends lessons and lectures then they should try to apply the knowledge learnt, as much as they can. So when you are in a situation and you remember something that your teachers have taught you then apply it. This can be difficult at times but you have to apply your knowledge. If you do not then you have missed the whole point of learning - application of knowledge.

It is only through the practice of this religion that a person can see a revival of themselves and then the society that they live in. The greatness of the early companions was because they practiced what they knew even if they knew little. Do you remember the story of the companion who saw the Prophet (may Allah bestow upon him peace and blessings) with his top button undone and then continued to wear his clothes in a similar fashion until he died?

We can only have sound practice with sound knowledge; so seek knowledge so that your practice can be sound and remember how much your Prophet (may Allah bestow upon him peace and blessings) used to do.

Don’t rely on your actions

One of the final points that we would like to make about this post is that a person should not rely solely on their actions because this is also foolish. As the hadith explains: Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said I heard the Messenger of Allah (may bestow peace and blessings upon him), "The good deeds of any person will not make him enter paradise." They asked, “Not even you, O’ Messenger of Allah?” He replied, "Not even me, unless Allah bestows His favour and mercy on me." (Bukhari BK70, NO 577)

Our reliance must be on Allah, our hopes must be for Allah. Yes, do the good actions as much as you are able but do not be attached to them and think that you have done enough to enter paradise. We can never do enough for Allah, ever, all the blessings that we receive in any moment is unfathomable.

There is a story of how a man of the previous nations worshiped Allah on a desert island for five hundred years and when he died. Allah told him to enter paradise because of his mercy. The man protested and said, “By my actions.” Then Allah ordered his actions to be weighed and when the blessing of the eye was weighted it was equivalent to five hundred years of worship. Then the man cried out, “By your mercy, by your mercy!”

Bottom line is that we do as much good actions as we can but we rely, ultimately, on Allah's mercy to help us.

Al-Wasti states, "When it comes to act of worship, it is [almost] more fitting to seek forgiveness for them than it is to seek reward." (Subtle Blessings by Ibn Ata Allah trans Nancy Roberts p.198).

We do not claim to be someone who practices knowledge nor am I a person who has good character. We are someone who has much bad character and need to do lots of work to purify himself from many sins. So do not be fooled I need this more than you...

Please see post about Tawakkul/ True reliance on God
http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/08/true-reliance-on-god-allah.html

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

Planning for Tomorrow

Dr. Marcia K. Hermansen

Moral Excellence

Habib Kadhim As-Saqqaf

Embodying the Prophetic Character

Forty Prophetic narrations on Tribulation, Affliction and Patience

40 hadith on tribulation, affliction and patience
Compiled by arfan
You can download the document
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45711523/40-Prophetic-Narrations-of-Tribulation

40 Prophetic Narrations of Tribulation

Cutting Corners

Chapter Twenty Three

This is one of the traps of the student of knowledge. This happens when the student learns something and then performs that practice lazily. Instead of performing an action to the best of his ability he performs the basics of that action without trying. Unlike before and sometimes worse than before! What we mean is when a student learns a subject and finds out it all the details then they perform the action to its minimum. Rather than perform it to its maximum, as before.

Other people can see him performing actions and can see his errors but because he is doing just the basics; it looks as if he is not performing the action correctly. He knows himself that the action is valid but he is missing something yet he is not concerned. In this case the person who does not know what makes his action valid and invalid is better because he tries his best.

For example if the student knows that touching his knees makes his bowing/ Ruku valid and he does not have to have his hands on his knees and pause. Others, who only know the Sunna, may think that his action is invalid because he is doing something that they do not know is valid.

The student of knowledge has to be aware of this and try to perform actions as best as he can and not perform just the basics unless he is in a situation that stipulates it. For example he only has a few minutes to perform a prayer and if he tries to complete to the best of his ability then his prayer be invalid because he would’ve left the time. In this situation he can do the basics.

Just a general point, people need to find out what makes their prayers valid and invalid. This is a basic knowledge that people need to seek.

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

Imam Ghazali