The Muslim and His Lord : Obedient to the commands of his Lord

salam..

#The Muslim and His Lord

OBEDIENT TO THE COMMANDS OF HIS LORD

"none of you(truly) believes until is inclination is in accordance with what i have brought" (an-nawawi's  forty hadith. hadith no. 41, p.124)

Belief is a very important part of Islam. the word 'Iman' itself can be translated as "to believe". many of us THINK that we believe in Islam but deep down inside, our faith towards Islam is very little. we still have doubts and we think that there might be things that we do that is perhaps better than what Allah wants us to do..

the whole issue of faith(iman) is a complex matter. i dare not dwelve into the topic that much.
but what i do know is, faith is something that motivates you; that gives you reason.
it is faith and trust that we work till the end of the month in complete belief that we will get our salary at the end of the month.
it is also faith that we are willing to go through years of studying in university in the hope of getting a good job. i am in New York right now because of that faith. if not, then i'd probably be sitting around at home doing nothing and expect a job offer. it is also faith that brought Bill Gates the realization that he needs to quit school in order to pursue his business.

faith and hope is pretty much in the same category. and in islam, we can clearly understand our level of faith by looking at how much we truly believe in the words of Allah. we may say that the quran is true, but how do we know that we believe in the quran ?

to do so, is to calibrate, when Allah gives an order that doesnt make any sense, do we obey ?
like for instance, zina. zina with contraceptive methods is completely rational in the modern secular and liberal world. think about it, sex, with no diseases, no babies.
but to obey when Allah says that zina itself is haram and is bad for you, and the society, is to believe and have faith in Islam.

how to know when we do not have faith in Islam ?
we simply say things like, "even if the Quran says that it is haram, it is completely legit in the sense that i know myself better."
that, is when you dont actually believe in Islam..

may Allah guide you and me, and the people around us away from disbelief; let it be major, or minor. may we always be reminded of renewing our faith. ameen insyaAllah..
wallahu'alam..