Sorry I've been a bit a snippy. And those that posted on the deleted post didn't really say anything wrong, it was the straw that broke the camels back. I was more upset with people in my non-blog life :)
I've been using my blog to heavily vent the last week or so. Parcially in an effort to not lash out at a certain young man I love. Partcially in an effort to not kill my friends for saying "Well he should be willing to do xyz because you are doing all this for him." (IM NOT DOING THIS FOR HIM!) Things are really tough right now because I am dealing with some make it or break it issues both for my religion and my relationship.
And I'm terrified of ever having to go back to square one. Both on the religion point and the relationship. And every time I run into something that could make me do that, I get horribly frustrated and a little depressed.
Thank God I now have a blog to take it out on and not him. Just know that I'm not being angry with all of YOU , I'm just venting on the blog. Perhaps I should label them as venting so you all know I'm not mad at ya :)
Thank you for the support.
Posts
My dear LK,
ReplyDeleteI can give you five strong reasons why I think God wrote the Quran... and I can give you five equally strong reasons why I think Muhammad wrote the Quran :-)
But I think today you want to hear the five strong reasons why Quran is God’s word, don’t you?
Where you are right now, I was there a long time ago for a very long time. Stuck. Stagnant. And I lied to myself. I lied that I was happy with my choice and what I was doing. The only difference is I was questioning a religion I was born into and to which my Love belonged.
Faith is never learnt. You are trying too hard to learn it. You need to give yourself a break. This means your WHOLE life. You don't want to rush into anything - neither the religion, nor the relationship.
My siblings and my husband's - they have all fallen for people from other faiths. Two liked Christians, one liked a Hindu and one fell for a Shia. There were loads of conversions, heartaches, tears. And to each I said "this means your WHOLE life. You can't start believing in something because that would be easier or simpler or better or just feels good.”
At this point you want confirmations. You want others to tell you that Islam is *the* Truth. But remember, your belief is what matters. If you believe it is the Truth then it is the Truth for *you* no matter what anyone tells you. Just don’t listen. Listen to your heart. Does it tell you Islam is from God? If yes, embrace it!
ALL and I mean absolutely ALL Muslim readers will want you to accept Islam. It doesn’t matter whether you convert as Shia or Sunni, to a Muslim the most important thing is that you accept Allah and Muhammad. No one cares about anything else. To ALL your non-Muslim readers, you would be a fool to accept Islam. If you don’t accept it in the end, you will be the Muslims’ fool and the non-Muslims’ sage :) If you write a post explaining why Quran is from Allah, all Muslims will tell you how right you are and non-Muslims will show you your folly. Then if you write a post saying you were wrong, the same Muslims will show you your folly and the non-Muslims will nod. So if you are seeking confirmations, you will get different opinions from each one of us. Never trust human praise or criticism as a measure of divine certainty.
When you have God in your heart, it becomes God’s Truth. Pray to Him and be a good person and then it doesn’t matter to Him whether you call Him Allah or Bhagwaan. Religion is nothing but the figment of one’s imagination and the solace of the heart. If Islam will bring that solace to your heart, contentment to your head, and your Love in your life then what’s holding you back?!
But don’t base religion and relationship on any compromise. That doesn’t pay off in the long run. The most successful religionists are those who are 300% sure that the religion they follow is the ultimate Truth. If you begin by requiring confirmations, you will need them all your life and there will be people who will not give them to you because your Truth is not their Truth. If it was all that simple to accept that Quran is God’s word, we would all be Muslims now, wouldn’t we?
The beauty of God is that He will speak to each one of us in the language of the religion that will make us the happiest. To you He may speak as Islam to another as Buddhism and to yet another in Judaism or Christianity. God is Universal. All truths are True. Don’t think Islam is not the Truth because it may be your Truth. How special is that now? :)
Take your time to inhale. And once you have, don’t wait to exhale.
With my best wishes,
Achelois
I'm always willing to listen, Insha'Allah. You have a fantastic blog (definitely my favorite out of the ones I follow), and I admire your commitment to ALLAH and your desire to know the facts about Islam first and making sure you really believe them in your heart before jumping into any conclusions. The shahadah may only be a few words, and it is very easy to convert, but it is a lifetime jihad (i.e. struggle) to actually LIVE the shahadah.
ReplyDeleteAw, I understand, LK. I was just scared we'd hurt you somehow when I know none of us intended that. I know you have a lot going on in your life right now. I pray you will find peace in whatever you decide. :)
ReplyDeleteAchelois: Thank you. Your words are inspiring. I agree with you, there are multiple truths in this world and always people willing to argue against them. One cannot rely on the opinions of others. I will always firmly believe there are multiple ways to reach God and no one has the right to call another person an unbeliever. The Qur'an might be my truth, the Bible anothers the Baghavad Gita another. Does that make the other people wrong? No. It just might not be right for me. God knows best.
ReplyDeleteI just want to find my truth so badly. I'm so tired of not having one.
Anne: thanks Anne, that is exactly what it is.
Susanne: No harm done. Thank you for your prayers.
I suppose right now I wrestle with two distinctions needed to be Muslim:
ReplyDeleteYou must believe the Qur'an is the word of God and perfect.
You must believe Muhammad is a prophet and was perfect. Perfect being the key word.
Without those things, you really can't be a muslim even if you love the Qur'an, think Muhammad is a great man, and love everything else about the religion.
Its also why I can't be Trinitarian Christian: I don't believe Jesus is God.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm mistaken, but I've heard some say that Muhammad - while a prophet - was not perfect. Wasn't he commanded to ask God for forgiveness? Forgiveness for what? If you are perfect there is nothing to forgive?
ReplyDeleteSo many you don't have to believe Muhammad was perfect. Sadly, many Muslims have wrongly revered Muhammad almost as high as they view God. With all there following every minute detail of Muhammad's life, it seems as if they are following him as much as the Christians should be following Jesus.
The difference is that Christians (most) worship Jesus AS GOD which is something Muslims strongly reject.
Yet they live the same way by exalting Muhammad to "Christ-like" status so to speak.
Christians will admit, we worship Jesus as our Lord. Muslims will say one thing, but do another.
I've even heard Muslims complain about this exaltation of Muhammad so I think YOU may be more in line with truth than the ones who think Muhammad could do no wrong. He was a man, therefore, he sinned.
Simple as that.
And you can tell I did not proof my last comment. "Many" should have been "maybe" here:
ReplyDelete"So many you don't have to believe Muhammad was perfect."
Only God is perfect so Muhammad - not being God - was a sinner.
@ LK, "I just want to find my truth so badly. I'm so tired of not having one."
ReplyDeletePerhaps because you are trying too hard to accept someone else's truth as yours and have lost the quest for your own truth in the process?
Achelois: No I don't think thats it. That was me trying desperately to accept Christianity. I am WAY better off now trust me I've been far worse. At least I don't cry over it every night and fall ill because I am so depressed.
ReplyDeleteSusanne: Yeah I'm starting to think I don't understand their definition of perfect. He was a man thus he made mistakes. But it seems that he made them, God corrected him, and thus we all learn as is seen in the Qur'an.
Susanne, that is true for Christianity but see Muslims believe Jesus was human but they also believe that he was sinless/faultless/perfect. That is what the Quran teaches. So prophets/humans can be perfect. They had to be perfect. How else were they perfect examples for all mankind then?
ReplyDeleteYes, today we may think Muhammad made some mistakes. He was often corrected but there were also times when he wasn't corrected or the corrections were 'abrogated.' Do those actions become OK then?
This is one of the thorns I was talking about on WWR's blog. It is a problem for Muslims of today at least.
Achelois: Sinless I can do, perfect I cannot. However, perfect does not seem to be the universal definition of Muhammad. Great, perfect example maybe but the man I dunno. No one can be human and perfect. Small slip ups can be made and according to the Qur'an they were in a way often to teach Muhammad something. Like when the chiefs came to him with the 3 questions from the Jewish Rabbis and Muhammad didn't answer right away because he was not sure. He waited and waited and then Gabriel came to say he had the answer all along and he should not have waited. Then Muhammad learned that even with all this information he still needs God's help.
ReplyDeleteAt least that is how the story goes in "The Messenger" He didn't really do anything wrong, just learned a lesson. But I like that, makes him human and easy to identify with.
So mistake is the wrong word but I don't have a right one.
ReplyDeleteLK, the word used in the Quran for Jesus is 'zakiyyan' which translates to 'pure/perfect/faultless.' (Zakat is from the same root word - to purify one's wealth). But it has only been used once in the entire Quran to refer to a human being and it is used for Jesus.
ReplyDeleteSo I think even according to the Quran no one was like Jesus and because we compare everyone with Jesus as the standard it becomes more difficult to accept their faults.
It is good that you differentiate between sinless and perfect because I still don't know how to do that :D I thought they mean the same! :D
Achelois: Ive heard that too, no one is like jesus. I wish I could explain the difference between sinless and perfect but its really hard! Because I want to say mistake and that is the wrong word.
ReplyDeleteI suppose its because the other prophets had human needs and desires that Jesus did not have. And I don't think the other prophets always knew what was going happen, like Jesus did.
Im weird though because I actually find it ok for prophets not to be perfect because it allows them to be human and I can identify with that more.
"Im weird though because I actually find it ok for prophets not to be perfect because it allows them to be human and I can identify with that more."
ReplyDeleteLK, I totally agree and understand what you mean. My Muslim friend was **shocked** when I told him about Solomon as recorded in the Bible. He said, "Wow, I knew the Jews made David out to be a sinner, but I see they got to Solomon, too."
I didn't see it that way at all. First of all, I don't think "the Jews" made any prophet out to be any way. It was just human nature that David and Solomon were sinners. The amazing part to me is that God can still use them! It inspires me and gives me hope!
So, yeah, I totally see what you mean.
I reconcile the perfection of Jesus with the fact that I believe He is God and I do expect God to be perfect and sinless whatever difference there may be between those two words. What I have problems with is when some Muslims claim Muhammad was perfect. If they do not worship him as God, they cannot say he is perfect. A good example, fine. But perfect, he is not.
Susanne: I agree. And I do think that Jesus was as close to perfect as a human being can be, but even he struggled with a few things. His "perfection" however is how I can see where the Christians decided he was God for I too feel that the only perfect being in existence is God.
ReplyDeleteDavid and Solomon made some mistakes and God made them learn from them. That doesn't mean they aren't prophets. Muhammad was not perfect in my mind because he had doubt sometimes and he sometimes didn't do things perfectly. Did he sin? Maybe not but just because you don't sin doesn't mean you can't make a mistake. Not all mistakes are sins.
here is an example of what I mean: Lets say I am taking a test, I studied real hard but I did write a wrong answer in for one of the questions. Is that a sin? No. Its a mistake. You can be sinless but make mistakes but you cannot make mistakes and be perfect.