The hidden belief that can destroy your success

I noticed a trend amongst converts.  Before converting, many of them are climbing the corporate ladder.  After converting, it’s almost as if they think that if they continue to do that, they are not “as pious”.  In other words, get rid of wordly success so you can get afterlife success.

 

X     Be pious = afterlife success only

 

I don’t blame them.  Much of the reason why they adopt this concept is because many Muslims have this hidden limited belief and it carries over to the converts.

I was conducting a seminar this weekend where (on a side note) we discussed the same thing.  The sheikh in the room described that in Islam, the formula is actually this:

 

√    Be pious = afterlife + wordly success

 

The best believer is the one who is strong in their belief and puts it into action.  The best believer is not the one who sits at home and prays all day (although they would be rewarded for this) but the better one is the one who goes out and benefits society.

And that is what I have done.  Take a look how.

Are Christians Muslims? And those who think so

 
As ridiculous as that sounds, many Muslims want to include Christians, or People of the Book, as believers because they feel that the term, kafir, or disbeliever, is too harsh of a label.

So, they end up saying things like, People of the Book are believers because God gave them special status. 

At first, I was confused too as many other Muslims.  But if you ask a Christian, Are you a Muslim?  They will say, heck no!  In fact, they think we are disbelievers and they have no quams about telling us that, so why do we hesitate to say that they are not Muslims?

A believer is someone who believes in the saying, La illaha illah Allah, Muhammad ar-rasuluAllah (there is no object worthy of worship except Allah [God] and Muhammad is His messenger).

The truth is that God has told us in the Quran that most People of the Book are disbelievers but there is a party amongst them that are true believers,

“Not all of them are alike; a party of the people of the Scripture stand for the right, they recite the verses of Allah during the hours of the night, prostrating themselves in prayer. They believe in Allah and the Last Day; they enjoin what is right and forbid evil and they hasten in good works; and they are among the righteous. And whatever good they do, nothing will be rejected of them; for Allah knows well those who are the pious”. (Quran: 3:113-115)

This is why we can’t go up to a single Christian or Jew and say, hey you are a disbeliever (like they do to us), unless they explicitly profess their beliefs.

Some Muslims are uncomfortable with this because the media has painted an ugly picture that Muslims terrorize or spit at disbelievers, but that couldn’t be farther than the truth. 

As Muslims, we must treat everyone with respect and give specific rights to all of humanity and even animals.  And the People of the Book have special rights that must be preserved. But that doesn’t make them believers.

 

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Note: There is a distinction between a Muslim and a Mu’min (a believer) but it is beyond the scope of this post.