Sunday 23 October 2011

We judge without knowledge of judiciary

I know my posts are getting more inclined towards daily issues and less towards tafseer but a mixture of both keep the spirits up:).
we dont realize it but we are a judge in our daily lives. we judge the person sitting next to us in the train, we judge the person who just bumped into us at the mall, we judge the lady buying bread from the store, but more importantly we even judge people we have never met or talked to. am sure no one agrees with this statement but its true.
recently the death of Steve Jobs had become the hype in the media and was the 'hot topic' of the week. some mourned his death, some were indifferent, some were actually happy with the hopes of young mind and young ideas replacing him. But then i personally caught snippets of conversations between people where they went so far as to judge the deeds of Steve Jobs. They went to the extent of deciding his life hereafter. Exactly when did we become the assistants of Allah? When were we entrusted with this task of judging who lands up in hell and who will be blessed with heaven? Maybe we do this with the ordinary people in our daily lives as well but this particular case of Steve Jobs and then Gaddafi as well has caught my special attention. Why? BECAUSE WE HAVE NEVER MET THESE PEOPLE. At least i havent. How can i say that Steve Jobs had money but no virtues to save him from Hell?How can I say that Gaddafi is destined for hell. I dont know what they were like in their personal lives. Whatever i know is through media and how much of the media are we going to believe? the same media that sells its soul,its ethics and values for a meagre sum of money? That same media that now aims to corrupt and corrode the minds of the viewers rather than show them the true reality? the same media that has been reduced to nothing more than just a vicious money making business?
I dont know what religion Steve Jobs practiced but his father was a Muslim Arab. I dont know what faith he belonged to, what level of belief he had in God and how he dealt with the daily issues of his life. But i know this that his faith is known only to Allah.
We need to realize that Taqwa is not determined by the length of the beard or the thickness of the veil, its a divine bond between the Creator and its Creation, between the Lord and the servant. That bond can simply not be understood by another human being. I cant judge another person's level of Taqwa because i may see his sins, i may see his mistakes but do i see his acts of forgiveness and repentance?Who am i to judge if an xyz person fears Allah or not? similarly claims to love Allah and claims of being the most fearful of Allah are not signs of Taqwa either. Taqwa is not something you explain, talk about or show. it's within us, in our hearts. it's the fear of Allah, it's the knowledge of the fact that Allah is All-Knowing and All-Seeing.A person may seem pious to us but we dont know his/her deeds in private. Its best to withhold judgements regarding the intensity of a person's faith and his hereafter.  we may like or dislike a person based on his/her personality traits, their thinking and their way of behaving with others. But based on this we cant and we shouldnt engage in judging and discussing what their hereafter is going to be like. its better to utilize our time worrying about our own hereafter,we need to worry about our deeds, we need to judge ourselves, we dont have time or the righ to do it for others.

I came across a very interesting article so i will quote a piece of it here:

How will Allah Almighty Judge the non-Muslims? Should a person be a Muslim first to be accepted in Paradise by Allah Almighty?

Allah Almighty will admit to Paradise those whom He loves because of their righteous work and belief:

"O mankind! [this includes all races and all nations] We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well-acquainted. (The Noble Quran, 49:13)"

"Not all of them are alike: Of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] are a portion that stand (For the right): They rehearse the Signs of God all night long, and they prostrate themselves in adoration. They believe in God and the Last Day; they enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong; and they hasten (in emulation) in (all) good works: They are in the ranks of the righteous. (The Noble Quran, 3:113-3:114)"



My definition of the word 'Muslim':

I believe that the definition of 'Muslim' is not just limited to someone who believes in Allah Almighty, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and the Noble Quran only. While it is extremely important and becomes mandatory for a person to believe in the Noble Quran and the Prophethood of Muhammad, especially if he or she is fully convinced of the Truthfulness of Islam, but the real Noble Quranic definition of a 'Muslim' is someone who believes in the Absolute Oneness of GOD Almighty and associates no partners (idols or humans or any other creations) with Him. This makes any Unitarian and Monotheist a 'Muslim'. That is why Islam is called 'The Religion of Abraham', because Abraham, peace be upon him was a true Monotheist and associated no partners with GOD Almighty. So Salvation is not just reserved for the Noble Quran's Believers only.

To support my statement above, let us look at the following Noble Verse:

"Who can be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to God, does good, and follows the way of Abraham the true in Faith? For God did take Abraham for a friend. (The Noble Quran, 4:125)"

"Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him. (The Noble Quran, 112:1-4)"


The entire coloured text is taken from an article i read. And i tend to agree with the opinion of the writer. there are so many things we go through in life and as the Quranic verse says that the most honoured is one who is most righteous. My level of righteousness is known only to my Lord and no one else. Steve Jobs and Gaddafi may have had higher levels of righteousness than maybe us , who knows. Allah did not come and tell me at least about how righteous they were.  maybe we need to understand what righteousness is ? Its not just about labelling oneself as a muslim, praying five times a day and observing fasts. It much more than that. How we behave with others, how we earn, how we live, how we speak, how tolerant we are to others pain, how firmly we believe in His existence, our belief in His help, our faith in His guidance is what counts.
lets kill the negativity within us and promote the positivity that islam preaches us of and of which each and everyone of us is capable. May we get Hidayat and God bless us all. Ameen

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