13.000 Muslims prayed in 12 points of Attica

Source:   Kathimerini

Translation © Muslim Association of Greece

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

 

Without any special reactions the religious manifestations of Muslims took place. “Greece is the only European country without a mosque” states the chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece.

Thirteen thousand people, according to the police, participated in all the manifestations of the Muslims’ public prayer in twelve different areas of Attica.

The prayer, who started at 7:40 in the morning and finished at 11, took place without the slightest problem, besides Attica square, where according to eye-witnesses, there was abuse, by a small group of habitants, who threw eggs and other objects against Muslims who were walking by the streets of the area, though there was no response and with the firm presence of the police, there weren’t any violent incidences.

As it has been stated by the Hellenic Police, the manifestations of Muslims joined 4.000 people at Aigaleo, 2.000 at the Arabic-Hellenic Educational Centre at Kiprou str. In Moschato area, 500 at Propylaia, 600 at Attica square, 600 at Koumoundourou square, 1.000 at the old Racetrack Court at Faliro, 1.000 at Karamnanlis Avenue at Menidi, 300 at the basketball court at Elefsina, 250 at Aspropirgos, 1.500 in an abandoned factory at Markopoulos avenue at Koropi, 250 at Oinofyta and 1.000 in the court of Ierotheos at Peristeri.

Backlashes for the religious manifestations

Habitants of the area of Attica square, together with members of “Chrisi Augi” gathered earlier in the area in order to prevent the Muslims to perform a religious manifestation, the Qurban Bayram or the Feast of Sacrifice.

In the area, there was a firm police presence which in order to avoid any violent incidents, drove off all the gathered group-who were demonstrating against the presence of immigrants in Athens-towards Acharnon str., making a slight use of chemicals.

The Bayram is the equivalent to the sacrifice of Abraham that lies also in Christian religion, and which up to a certain point is accepted by the Muslims as well. At this very moment at Propylaia dozens of Muslims are gathered who live in Greece, originating from Greece, Albania and from other countries of Asia and Africa.

The gathering at Propylaia took place under the initiative of the Muslim Association of Greece and it is the third time that prayer takes place in a public place.

Muslim Association of Greece: We should assemble all the prayer sites with the Mosque

The chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece Naim Elgandour participating in the show “Proti Grammi” on SKAI television made clear that the prayers at public areas do not constitute a force mechanism for the construction of a Mosque.

He stated that “It is a matter of culture. Greece is the only European country without a Mosque, it has to be done soon enough in order to assemble all these prayer sites that they are constantly sprout up.”

www.kathimerini.gr with information by ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ, skai.gr

 

Translator:  Myrto Zacharof

I am torn between choosing Islam and my Greek family

I received this comment today and I wanted to post it here so that you can respond to Vasili.  Many of us can relate to this part of the journey.

 

 

I am currently Greek Orthodox Christian and it is sad how even the Orthodox Church is becoming westernized. Women and men should still stand on opposite sides in church, the women should still cover their heads in church, the men should not be wearing gold chains and/or ripped jeans, among many other things. Its starting to look like a Catholic Church. Going to church has become a status competition in the Greek Community. So many Greeks go to church to gossip and show off their wealth. Its ridiculous. Its not even about God any more. I would say the most devout Eastern Orthodox I know are my Coptic Egyptian friends.

This is why recently I have been researching about Islam. I have quite a few Muslim friends because culturally as Greek I can relate to them more than an American. Even if I did choose to convert, it would be a very hard transition and it would completely change my relationship with my family. I am afraid they would frown upon me becoming Muslim and I am worried I would have a hard time adjusting to the lifestyle of Islam. I don’t know what to think any more. In my opinion, if you are going to be Christian, Eastern Orthodoxy is best, only if you follow the doctrine and traditions, which are being diluted in today’s society. I have respect for both Islam and Christianity, and honestly if I could follow both faiths I would; but the Islamic faith seems to most consistently practice the traditional, conservative, and respectful way of life that Allah has intend us to follow.

-Vasili

Weird reasons why people fast and what your real reason should be

It was lunch time and we were eating, well, except for the host.  She told me she was fasting because it was Friday and every Friday she fasts, out of habit. 

I’ve seen weird things in my life but this one confused me.  A few conversations beforehand, I discovered that she didn’t believe in God anymore.  So, the obvious perplexing question I had was why she would keep fasting if she was not doing it for God??

I guess because as Muslims, we get this question a lot.  Why do you fast in Ramadan?  I usually say that we do it for God to gain piety as the Quran says,

“O you who believe! fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed upon those before you in order that you may attain taqwa.”[Surah al-Baqarah 2:183].

Notice that I translated “taqwa” as piety.  Well, that’s not quite accurate.  Recently, we were all gathered around and the same question came up, how do you translate this rich Arabic word “taqwa” into English?

Some say it is piety, some say fear, others say it is obedience to God.  I’ve heard many translations but nothing quite encompasses the original Arabic word.  The funny thing though is that if you leave it untranslated and just say taqwa, most Muslims know exactly what you mean by the word and sense a deep emotional feeling.

Here’s a good translation of taqwa I found:

Taqwa is obedience to God hoping for the mercy of God and it is staying away from the disobedience of God fearing the punishment of God. 

And just by fasting properly, you can automatically gain taqwa.  Before I fasted every year, I never imagined that would be the result, but when you do it properly, you would be amazed at how much taqwa you gain.

 But do you think that the lady who fasts every Friday out of habit and not for God can gain taqwa?  Most likely not. 

People fast for weird reasons but if we want to feel full and take the maximum benefit from things in life, we need to know why we do things and not just do them because our ancestors did so or society tells us to do so.

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photo credit: diekatrin

Revealing the real purpose of fasting

I used to find it odd – if not heretic – to starve yourself from sunrise to sunset.  Anything that went against fasting in the Greek Orthodox way was indeed heretic, or so I thought. 

The first time I heard Muslims fast in a different way, my stomach churned and I thought, man you guys are completely off the mark.  You need to be saved!

At that point, I’d never researched the proofs for fasting in the Bible or the Quran, but it was my pride that would never let a thought into my brain that said that they might have proof for what they were saying while I have absolutely none – or at least knew of none. 

And frankly, I didn’t care.  Fasting was one of the zillion rituals of the Greek Orthodox faith that you ‘just believed in’  and didn’t question.

The weirdest thing to me was that Muslims would not only fast from food but actually from ‘bad’ things like drinking, going to bars or dating.  Now, that for me was completely illogical !  What does food have to do with having fun?

It was normal for all of us Greek Orthodox to fast before Easter and go out and have fun at the exact same time – without feeling an inch of guilt.

Once you find out why you are supposed to fast in the first place (which, as a Christian I never really did), then you’ll understand that it’s not about the food.

Muslims believe that God revealed to mankind to fast because through self-restraint, you can become pious.

“O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqun (the pious).  (Quran 2:183)

You might be asking, What does piety have anything to do with it?  I was confused at the beginning too but when I started fasting – starving myself from dawn to dusk actually – I realized that it was a true sacrifice.  

It’s like having a close friend that you love more than you love yourself.  You give up something that you love the most to make her happy.  It’s not like you are forced to do this.  You choose this because you love her.  That’s when your relationship has gone to a new level – because she’s seen the proof that you put her before yourself. 

That’s in a way, the purpose of fasting.  When you choose to give up something that is permissible, like food, you realize that you want to because you love God more than yourself.  And you want to show Him that love.  That’s the journey of piety.

So, really, for anyone who is fasting, whether Muslim, Christian or other, fasting was prescribed for all of us as the verse says.  Only when you know what the purpose of fasting is can you really taste the journey of love for God.

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  photo credit: opusbloo

Gerasimos Loukatos: my journey to Islam

My name is Gerasimos Loukatos and I was born and raised in Athens, Greece and officially became Muslim in 2008 in Stockholm. Since then I have been experiencing brotherhood and sincere kindness from Muslims, wherever I happen to meet them! My acceptance of the truth of Islam was so natural for me that it came as a relief after many years of searching and trying to understand the meanings of life. I embraced Islam wholeheartedly when I realized that, for most of my life, I was living in the proximity of the Islamic understanding of life and that everything happens for a reason as I was struggling to understand why something happens and what does it mean.

So, my way to Islam, as I have experienced it, begins very early on starting from the early age of seven when I became interested in the unseen. From the age of 11-15, I was given psychology books like Adler and Freud, where I started training myself on deep reflection and critical thinking.  I would often reflect looking into the sky and stars and my surroundings on the countryside outside of Athens.  I thought if my time is limited, how do I want to use that time?  I needed to balance my spiritual and worldly development – my heart and mind.

I read the New Testament and kept the meaning of anything that taught good character. I really had a hard time understanding how Jesus could be son of God and die, but even more problematic was that he died to redeem us from our sins and how an all-loving and all-forgiving God can hold us accountable for the original sin? Somehow the whole concept didn’t resonate in my heart.

Later on I read a few books on Buddhism which I found far more spiritually cohesive but I still had a problem. I couldn’t understand how people can prostrate to a statue! The more I read about religions the more I became confused. At about 20 years old now, I decided once again to review my understanding by examining what I knew and try to understand what is false and what is true. For me, that meant going back to zero…either there is God or not!

So when I returned back to zero, I explicitly prayed to Him, if He exists to show me His signs!

I couldn’t accept the existence of many gods as this would mean the created gods are dependent on the one god that created them! It became obvious to me, if one God created us, He wouldn’t send different messages to different people. So, even if religions are expressed in different ways, their essence should be the same. The fact that religions were different indicated to me that people throughout time had used religion in order to control and manipulate people. After forming a foundation based on these facts, I started an ongoing dialogue of “if…then” with myself. I ended up believing in absolutely one God but not in religions in any absolute sense. I recognized there is truth in them mixed with fiction and it was a way for people to come together to realize that their religion was the same.

This was the most turbulent period for me spiritually partly because I felt so different than most of the people around me. I never enjoyed drinking or dancing or doing things just for the sake of doing them and I never adhered to fashions. These are enough reasons to characterize a person strange or even anti-social and it took me sometime to understand that there is nothing wrong with that if that’s what you are.  Even in terms of intimate relationships, I had a strange understanding that it should be experienced in all three levels, physical, psychological and spiritual in order for it to have any meaning.

Thank God who sent on my way when I was 23, the person that I call my spiritual father! I met Gregory in an interview, on my way of joining a group of people who had far more knowledge and understanding than me in terms of book knowledge. Gregory became in a sense my mentor; it was like sitting at the feet of a teacher in a traditional way of learning. He taught me how not to get lost in the details, nor how to bypass them in face of the whole picture. He taught me that, most often, the same mistakes will come disguised as different ones. He taught me that the purpose can never sanctify the means. He taught me that experience is not always trustworthy, as wrong experience may take you down the wrong path. And when I wanted him to show me that path, he answered me, “I cannot show you the right path. You have to find it on your own and walk on it on your own. I can only try to show you how you will find it.”

He taught me that people who focus on targets risk losing sight of their surroundings. “Every person has his/ her Ithaki and you too,” he said. “Be aware of your Ithaki but always remember, it’s your journey who will take you there!” Well, I guess what I ever say it won’t be enough!

Otherwise, when there was a gathering, I used to remain silent as I felt I couldn’t compete in knowledge with any of the speakers. Until one day, I openly declared that I believe in God but I don’t believe in religions! The director replied, “The older you grow, the nearer you will draw to God.” The only person who stood up to my defense was an atheist but unfortunately none of them understood what I said. That was my last day at the gathering.

Eventually I moved to Sweden as a married man to an Iranian girl. It was my first contact with Muslims even though her family was rather neutral and she was an atheist. After seven years of marriage and three years of trying to make things work, we came to a mutual agreement to divorce in a friendly manner. Thank God once again we didn’t have any children as we realized we had to resolve the problems between us first.

When I met a friend in Athens, who knew both of us well, he told me, “Do you know why it didn’t work out between you? You believe in God while she doesn’t. Differences in view of the world will manifest themselves sooner or later.” Well, maybe he had a point and God knows best!

Several months later I got in touch with a Muslima from another town of Sweden. We communicated mostly by phone and we would discuss just about anything, from philosophy and psychology to religion and politics. Actually I met her in three different occasions over our 3,5 years of contact. She wasn’t a practicing Muslima for some time but eventually we were discussing more and more about religions. I had the same distorted views about Islam, as so many others in the Western hemisphere. Even my earlier contact with Muslims didn’t change my view. However, I was aware of the politics and the propaganda taking place through the media and I was aware that any understanding I had was not objective. So, I used to discuss, listen and reflect, until almost two years ago.

She started telling me that I think like a Muslim, I should become a Muslim, I am a Muslim. At the end I became curious to find out why she thinks I am a Muslim, so I started buying books about Islam and eventually I bought the Quran.

When reading, I came across the two most misunderstood verses of the Quran. One of them was verse Surat An-Nisaa: 34. After listening to the correct explanation of the verse, reading the whole Quran and listening to a couple of lectures, I knew why I was Muslim (in a sense) and why I should become Muslim officially. That Muslima, in the process of guiding me to the correct understanding of Islam, she returned herself in the practice of Islam. In many ways it was perfect between us in having almost everything in common but we had to go separate ways due to her refusal to move to Greece and my refusal to consciously deny Greece. It’s only for God to know what He saves for me and it’s for me to find out!  One way or another, I couldn’t consciously give up my family and alhamdulillah, it is comforting to know that I will not be the only Muslim in Greece!

How has Islam changed my life? Well, in many practical ways, it hasn’t changed it a lot. I didn’t drink, I didn’t go out dancing and jumping up and down and I always strived not to have superficial relationships of any kind. My family didn’t have a problem with my religion either, even though my father doesn’t want to listen a word about Islam, he recognizes my freedom of choice and time given and God willing he will listen some day or even better see for himself. Surprised and disinterested as he might be, he doesn’t hold hard feelings, alhamdulillah.

However, Islam has changed my awareness of my relationship of God, my awareness of my actions and words towards others and my awareness of who I am, why I am what I am, why I am here and where I am going.

What I know from experience is that difficulties will come and they will pass by and if that will not teach us patience it will teach us something we really need to know. So many times I found myself at the edge and being in distress for not finding a way out and so many times I had an opening when least expected! At the end I couldn’t feel in distress even in the worst of situations because I knew the opening would eventually come! And every person I met, every stimulus to every thought or reflection my intellect could perceive, every situation I found myself in, was all part of my way to Islam.  God showed me His signs as I prayed and He revealed to me how things are in truth. Until now, I can’t find a question Quran hasn’t an answer to. I am talking about answers my intellect can grasp and my heart can sense. Surely, I don’t have all the answers but I know where to find them inshaa Allah!

Finally I found the path I was searching for and it’s the straight path! It is difficult to walk on it, due to the many distractions around it, but it’s worthy following it. So, I am not anywhere near an ideal Muslim but if it is one person who played the most important role in my life, that person was my mother. She taught me Islam without knowing it! She taught me to forgive and pardon others for their shortcomings and she advised me to listen to my heart when I can’t see the way clearly. I would give the same advice to everyone who is in search of the truth. Just make sure to clear the distortions before listening to your heart, otherwise you will only hear cacophonic sounds!

 

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photo credit: Atonal Blue

Greek slant on Euroarabia and Islamophobia

Source: Enet.gr

by Pericles Korovesis, PM SYRIZA to the Greek Parliament.

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

Is Europe in danger of becoming Islamized? How can Turkey, a non-Christian country that never has had Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, integrate into Europe without distorting its characteristics? Should all Muslims be expelled from Europe in order to find the lost identity?

These are some questions and more similar others that the Right and extreme Right Wing of Europe and the USA are asked to answer. Several books have been written and the Yellow Press officiates of racist campaigns of any kind incriminate immigrants that have Islamic religion.

Racism and nationalism, in order to make its arguments seem truthful, must distort reality. So the fact is concealed that in Europe, out of 493 million residents, only 3-4% are Muslims. And still they do not bring the question of who brought them. After World War II, Europe needed cheap workers. Where could they find them? The old empires sufficiently destroyed their colonies. France made mass import of workers from North Africa. Britons brought workers from India and Pakistan. Holland brought Moroccans. Germany preferred to bring Turkish, but also took Greeks, Yugoslavians and Italians. Even the Spanish that did not want Muslims at all for historical reasons brought Muslims massively in 1970 for the needs of their economy.

Mainly, this working force was occupied for the hardest and heaviest jobs, was living in the urban ghettos and never attained the same rights with the natives. Even the second or third generation that had no Islamic education and the vast majority of them went to public schools (in France only 5% of the Muslims go to the mosques), they have not become first class citizens. Surely there are extremists as they exist in every religion. But they are an insignificant minority cut from the Muslim community.  If we can talk about something like that, their problem is not the Islamization of Europe, but the unemployment that hits always the weak.

The extreme right parties as the National Front of France, Liberty party of Austria or the British National Party etc., have invented a neologism: “Euroarabia”. And that means new pogroms. Islamophobia takes the place of the old anti-Semitism that carries basic characteristics to Islam. For example, that behind any world conspiracy Islam and Arabs are hiding. After 9/11, terrorism and Islam were coincided, and was formed the axis of good Bush and of bad Muslim. In Greece, these theories have not found a ground yet, because what  prevails is the native xenophobia and the specialized Turkophobia. But besides this, we have made neither a mosque nor cemetery for the Muslims. And maybe this is our own Islamophobia. At the point where there is no tolerance for the others, the different, there is no democracy and we enter in dangerous paths. And the other becomes the enemy.

20 questions: Greeks, Muslims and racism

Source:  Ta Nea Newspaper

Translation © Greeks Rethink

Board Member of the Muslim Association of Greece, Iman Sotiria Kouvalis is Greek and embraced Islam in 2000, following studies in comparative religion. She is the founder of www.greeksrethink.com, the only meeting on line place of Greek Muslims everywhere, as well as those who are interested to know a little more about Greek Muslims and get possible questions answered.

Question 1: How serious is it for a Muslim to rip the Qur’an?

When someone rips the Qur’an, it shows disrespect to the sanctity of God.

Question 2: Do you justify the reaction of the Muslims?

The best way to resolve this matter is through the courts of justice and this is the path we will follow. As for those who react violently, this is contrary to our concept of religion and humanity.

Question 3: Was it politically motivated?

Political groups used isolated pockets of the most distressed immigrants to demonstrate in favour of broader problems, not just the ripped Qur’an.

Question 4: Did these political groups respect the Muslims of Athens?

Just a few immigrants came out with their supporters in the missed march, blackening the image of 10’s of thousands of Muslims who are either Greek citizens or are harmoniously intergrated in the Greek society.

Question 5: Did the Greek authorities respect the Muslims?

In general, they respect the Muslims. The incident with the Qur’an was something that had never happened before, nor was the police officer aware at that time of the seriousness of his action.

Question 6: How can the attack on the Qur’an be repaired?

The police could and still can issue a formal apology to the Muslims of Greece for their error.

Question 7: Are there Muslims who believe the incident was a “war against Islam.”

Any Muslim who tries to act as such on his own accord will be condemned by the majority of Muslims worldwide.

Question 8: How many Muslims live in Greece?

More than 1 million.

Question 9: How many Greeks are Muslims?

Apart from the Greek minority in Thrace, there are many Greeks who have embraced Islam and are either living in Greece or abroad.

Question 10: Why did a Christian woman embrace Islam?

Many Greek women accept islam and they feel liberated. They enjoy all rights given to them by God, including the right to be respected and honoured.

Question 11: What is the role of women in Islam?

Women and men in Islam have equal rights, but different roles. First and foremost is the commitment to God. After that, her primary role is like any woman, to care for her family. Then, if the woman wants, she can study or can be trained to work. Women in Islam are encouraged to study.

Question 12: Compared with Christianity?

Historically, when Islam established women’s rights in 7th century, as the right to property, inheritance etc., such rights were unknown to the world, including Christians.

Question 13: Is the headscarf compulsory or an option?

The headscarf is compulsory as stated clearly in our religion.

Question 14: Why do you wear the headscarf ?

I am happy when I wear headscarf as I obey God’s will. There is great wisdom behind this. I feel liberated, honoured and respected.

Question 15:  Is the burqa obligatory for  a Muslim?

The burqa is a garment worn only in Afghanistan and is not compulsory. Islam requires that women cover their  head, body and hands [arms] with modest clothing. They may wear what they want providing  they respect the initial conditions.

Question 16: Where is the issue of the mosque being stuck ?

In the cogs of bureacracy, lack of interest is given by the government to handle and resolve the matter.

Question 17: Without a mosque which mysteries can’t the Muslims  perform?

Islam has no mysteries in the sense that there are in Christianity. The mosque, however, is the core of Muslim life and a place of tranquility. Without a mosque, a believer can not pray on a Friday which is compulsory and to live a life full of spirituality.

Question 18: Without a Muslim cemetery where can the Muslims be buried?

Either they get buried in their countries of origin which is a  hopelessly a slow and costly process. The Greeks and those who have no homes to be buried, such as the Palestinians,  they get buried in a cemetery of Thrace,  which is also a slow and costly process.

Question 19: Where do marriages and baptisms take place?

In Islam, we have no mysteries such as marriages and baptisms. The name is given to the child at birth. The marriages are either in a register office  if one of the spouses is Greek or in the embassies of the country of origin.

Question 20: Is there  racism against Muslims?

Your everyday Greek citizen has no racisim against his Muslim neighbour.

Too much God bless… (Κύρ’ ελέησον)

Source:  Enet.gr

Movie review: Waiting for the clouds

 

The movie, Waiting for the Clouds, depicts the story of an elderly woman named Ajshe, who was a survivor of the turbulent 1920’s that reshaped the Balkans by war, genocides, evictions, forced population exchanges, new nation formation/expansion, political ideological clashes and nationalistic fervor on all sides. 

Ajshe never though forgot her childhood identity and memories which she kept hidden deep inside her for many years.  At a very young age she was one of the victims of those turbulent times when she, known then as Eleni, was given by her father, after a difficult march from their native Mersin (southern Turkey) to a Muslim family from the Black Sea region (Pontos-Karadeniz) who promised to protect and rear her as their own. 

Eleni’s family roots were Rum (Christian).  There in Pontos Eleni (Ajshe) lived for many years yearning especially to reunite with a long lost brother who got caught up in the great population exchange between Muslims from the areas newly acquired by Greece and Christians from the newly formed state of Turkey known as the Laussane Treaty of 1922.

The movie was interesting as it was based on some true elements in history that surrounded the Communist movement taking place in Turkey in the early 1970s.  Apparently, it seems that Ajshe’s father, in the early 1920s, may have been a communist who were seen by the Turkish state as sympathizers with communist Russia and therefore traitors.  Russia was one of the powers who dreamt at a piece of the pie after the dismemberment of the Ottoman State and dreamt of the incorporation of Turkish land into her nation.

As history tells us, the Pontians (Karadenizler) mainly live in Northern and North Eastern Turkey most of whom for various reasons chose to convert to Islam during the Ottoman period, although quite a few remained Christian, and so you will see that their language is a mix of an old Hellenic form and Turkish. A fraction of Pontians (Christians) were forcefully expelled to Greece in the 1922 exchange of populations and were settled into lands and homes of Muslims forced out of Greece.

Even though the movie had some religious elements to it, it was mainly focused on political ideological struggles and to a lesser extent ethnic ideas and conflicts and therefore, I do not recommend watching it to gain anything Islamic out of it since there were some folklore practices mentioned that have nothing to do with Islam but with local practices that predate Islam and perhaps even Christianity.

But, if you’re just looking for an emotional movie filled with human tenderness and beautiful scenery, and just a slight insight into political/ethnic tensions this just might be the movie for you.

 

The #1 secret to enjoying life to the fullest

 

Being a Christian for so long, you quickly realize how flimsy your life can be.  I mean, after believing that Jesus has died for your salvation, who really needs to do any good after that?  

As former Christians, we always believed that it was a nice gesture to give someone a ride, take care of the poor, give our seat to the elderly, buy a gift for our moms, but there’s nothing that really pushed us to do it. 

And on the flip side, if we committed some sins or did bad things, really, so what if at the end of the day, we are already saved? 

 

1 Million Flimsy People

This is what I mean by flimsy. And you put 1 million flimsy people together in a society and what do you have? Major societal problems.

My favourite saying back in the day was ‘go with the flow’.  If no one knew why we were here and why we die, well, at least we might as well enjoy life to the fullest.  At the end of the day, really, who cares if we do something good or bad, useful, or even useless?

 

Live a life of meaning

Well, in Islam, it’s completely opposite.

Everything we do has benefit to it. Worship is not limited to prayer on Sundays or Fridays.  Our scripture is not limited to ancient tales that have no meaning in our present life. 

Everything is relevant, with the times and dynamic in Islam and the puzzle pieces all fit perfectly to harmonize our mind, body and soul, giving us internal peace.

We enjoy life to the fullest through ‘ibadah’, sometimes translated as worship but actually means anything that Allah loves and is pleased with, whether it’s a statement of the tongue or an action, outwardly or inwardly.

So if I give someone a ride, take care of the poor, give my seat to the elderly, or buy a gift for my mom, I’m doing it first and foremost to seek the pleasure of Allah, and by doing that I not only feel full of life, but I feel useful in society and I hope that this deed will be weighed in on the Day of Judgement for my salvation.

 

The Model society

To become an ideal Muslim is to become the model citizen in society. Now, put 1 million ideal Muslims together in a society and what do you have?  Matchless civilization.

Would you like your life to have meaning? Would you like to feel useful in society?

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