I have spent significant time on this topic and my conclusion is that nature has instilled a special mechanism in a person by which he can control his anger. When angry, all one has to do is observe silence. Anger incites a psychological fire within a person and in the resulting rage, he is not able to control himself. But when one becomes silent in moments of anger, the rage instantly begins to take a downward trend. So, when someone provokes us, we must simply become quiet.
At all such times, I myself do not react and I have experienced that anger takes no time in subsiding. Reaction leads to chain reaction and not reacting stops the chain reaction, but in order to stop the chain reaction, one needs the power of self-control. Only the spiritually strong can break the chain reaction in a situation involving provocation and rage. It is a sign of great strength. As per a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad:
The strong man is not one who is good at wrestling, but the strong man is one who controls himself in a fit of rage. (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 5763)
It has also been alluded to in the Quran that one may earn a position in Paradise by being forgiving at times of anger:
for those who spend, both in prosperity and adversity, who restrain their anger and are forgiving towards their fellow men—God loves those who do good works. (Quran 3:135)
Even I used to get angry in my early days, but my anger led me to self-thinking, which made me realize that anger yields no result. I then concluded that it was futile to waste energy on anger.
During 1975, I had written an article for the publication, Al-Jamiat, where I had narrated the story of how I was invited to Ahmedabad by a young Muslim engineer who had set up a factory there. The engineer was a very competent person. As he was showing me around the place, we came across a new kind of machinery which was produced at that time only for export purpose. While demonstrating the prowess of the machine, he first pushed on a button and its flywheel started rotating at top speed. He then pushed another button and the flywheel immediately changed its direction and started rotating opposite to the previous position. As I saw this, it struck me that when matter (or machine) has the quality to change its direction within seconds, then a human being should have this ability manifold. After this incident, I started training my mind to change my emotion within seconds whenever a situation requiring so arises.
Hence, in moments of rage when our natural tendency is to speak or react aggressively, we need to instantaneously change the direction of our flywheel and remain silent. Without doubt, the anger shall dissipate and we shall be in a position to prudently handle the situation.
There is no objective criterion for this. The journey begins when man finds out that his sole concern is God. The Quran gives the criterion to discern between those who would be rewarded in the hereafter and those who would not be.
The first criterion pertains to one who would become deserving of punishment in the hereafter. The Quran says for such a person
He used to be happy with his own people. (84:13)
According to this criterion, those who earned and exhausted their resources on their family did not discover God! They could not think beyond their kith and kin.
The second criterion pertains to those who would be rewarded in the hereafter. For such individuals, the Quran says,
When we were among our families, we were full of fear of God’s displeasure. (52:26)
Such people were always actively thinking about their accountability towards God. In other words, despite being with their family, their sole concern was God.
This is very easy. All you need to do is remember God wherever you are. You do not need to do anything special. At all times, you must think how your needs are getting fulfilled – discovering, realizing and making up your mind on these lines is all that is required.
Source: The Seeker’s Guide
Zikr means remembrance of God. Zikr is the link to God Almighty. It is not just the repetition of certain words. It means to remember Him again and again in different situations. For example, if you see a tree, you will see the miracle of God in it. You will exclaim, standing with your hand on your heart, “O God! You have made the tree green and fresh, so also, in the same way, make me like a green tree. I am just a dried-up tree. You can turn me into a green tree by your inspiration.” This experience does not relate to any one thing. It relates to all things. Everything in this world contains spiritual food. Wise is the one who can live in this world by taking spiritual food from everything.
Remembering (zikr) is a meaningful reality, not just a turn of phrase. When you remember God, the Lord of the worlds, He will naturally come to your mind as the Owner and Lord of the universe; One whose blessings are so many that they cannot be counted. Contemplation or deep thinking is automatically involved in remembering. That is why zikr means remembering God again and again in different situations. This helps one to live a God-oriented life.
Source: The Spirit of Islam
We do love God. He is our supreme benefactor, the most gracious and the most merciful. Piety in human beings is a manifestation of the love they have for God. Having fear of God is not in the same sense as having fear of a ferocious animal. Rather, fear of God is positive fear and can be understood in the context of obedience to God. While God is compassionate and benevolent toward human beings, He is also very just. Thus, fear of God is a result of the realization that God has the ability of punishing wrongdoers for their evil deeds. God is all-knowing and nothing is, or can be, hidden from Him. A person who has fear of God constantly lives with the sense of being accountable to Him. Even if his fellow human beings do not have the power to implicate him for his wrongful actions, a person who has fear of God knows that in the Hereafter he will surely be answerable to the Almighty for his actions, big or small. It is this that causes a believer to naturally fear God, a concept which serves as a source of reform in his life.
There is a common misconception that Islam is a religion of Violence. There is no basis for this in Islam. Islam is a religion of peace.
The very first verse of the Quran reads: In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the most Compassionate. This verse, which is repeated in the Quran 114 times, clearly shows that the God of Islam is the God of Mercy and Compassion, and the book of Islam too is the book of mercy. The people of Islam must also possess the quality of mercy and compassion; otherwise they could not be true believers.
If you go through the Quran you will find that from most verses, either directly or indirectly there emanates the sprit of peace. There is a verse, which says ‘And God calls to the home of peace.’ (10:25) This means that the destination of Islam is peace. All the teachings of Islam are oriented towards the goal of peace.
If you make a detailed study of the Quran you will discover many verses, which deal with the objects and events of the universe, as signs of nature. These verses project the universe as a model of peace and harmony. There are innumerable astronomical bodies in space. All are in motion, but all follow their own orbits without the slightest deviation. Holding up this phenomenon as an ideal, the Quran asks us to follow the same course of peace, that is, to move in one’s own orbit and not trespass (3:83). Thus peaceful living is the religion for both: man and the universe.
Now I would like to present examples from the traditions of the Prophet. Once a man came to the Prophet and asked, “O Prophet, give me a master advice which will enable me to manage all the affairs of my life.” The Prophet told him: “Don’t be angry.”
That is to say, stick to positive behaviour in all situations. In fact, in normal conditions man is governed by his own nature. And nature always takes the course of peace. When people are provoked their nature is upset, and they are derailed into negativity. So the Prophet advised people never to take a negative course of action, and to keep to peaceful and positive behaviour in all situations, even in the face of provocation.
According to another tradition, the Prophet of Islam once observed: Don’t wish for confrontation with your enemy; instead always ask for peace from God.
This means that even when they have enemies. Muslims are not allowed to take the course of confrontation. They must rather seek the way of avoidance. The Quran further states that if you deal with your enemy positively and return good for evil, he will become your closest friend (41:34). These references from the Quran and Sunnah make it clear that peace is the greatest concern of Islam. The Islamic method is a peaceful method. Islamic activism is a peaceful activism.
Why does Islam lay such a great emphasis on peace? Because all the good things which Islam wants to see in human life can be brought about only in peaceful environment. For instance, such constructive activities like spiritual uplift, character building, educational activity, social welfare, worship and prayer — and above all dawah work, can be performed only in peaceful conditions. No peace, no progress; no peace, no development. Peace in Islam is not required for the sake of peace. It is required for the sake of God that is for the sake of a great purpose. It is because no Islamic activity can be carried out except in peaceful conditions. Due to this great importance, the Prophet of Islam always wanted to maintain peace even at the price of unilateral adjustment.
Some people portray the picture of Islam as a religion of violence by using the word Jihad. They say that Jihad in Islam is a holy war. But there is not concept of holy war in Islam. Jihad has nothing to do with war or violence; it actually means a struggle, a peaceful struggle. ‘And make Jihad on them, with the help of the Quran’ (25:52), says the Quran. Nowhere does it say, ‘with the help of the sword’.
Clearly, Jihad is an act to be performed by the power of ideology rather than the power of the sword; it is only another name for peaceful activism along Islamic lines.
The Quran says that on the day of the Judgement, God will say: ‘O peaceful soul, come and enter my paradise’ (89:28). And only those who have followed the path of peace in this world will be allowed an entrance into God’s
According to religious belief in Islam, Satan has a role to play. A person’s mind has ego and desires. Each desire is an entry point for Satan wherefrom it enters. When Satan enters one’s mind, the Quran says:
When any evil suggestion from Satan touches those who fear God, they are instantly alerted and become watchful. (Quran 7:201)
The final decision rests with man and man alone is accountable for his actions. Satan cannot make a person commit sins. He can only act as a catalyst.
The greatest issue facing man in this world is how to secure salvation in the life after death so that he may find his true abode and have a share in God’s eternal blessings.
Every man who is born in this present world has to enter another world after death. In this world man was granted life’s opportunities as a matter of being tested by them. Whatever man receives in the next world will be purely on the basis of his deeds in this world. This means that in the world before death, man has been given a great number of things and opportunities, whether or not he deserved them. But after death, the criterion of receiving will only be a matter of his just deserts; nothing will be given to him to try him.
This means that those who are held to be deserving will be granted not out of God’s blessings but more that they actually merited. But those who have done nothing to deserve God’s blessings will have nothing whatsoever in store for them. They will be compelled to live in a state of utter deprivation.
This is man’s greatest problem. To what should he give the greatest attention so that he may not be held undeserving in the life to come? Everyone has to himself exert to the utmost in the consciousness that in the next stage of his life he may by default be considered without merit. Then there would be no further scope for him to earn God’s blessings, salvation would elude him completely.
The next world is the most perfect and eternal world. There, all kinds of pleasures and happiness have been stored up for mankind. It is that world which man should cherish most, and it should be the place to which he most earnestly aspires. But the time for action to secure a place in that blessing-filled world is not the world after death, but the world before death. The present world is the place for action, while the next world is the place for reaping the reward for one’s deeds.
Salvation in the life Hereafter is only for those who prove themselves deserving of it.
We do love God. He is our supreme benefactor, the most gracious and the most merciful. Piety in human beings is a manifestation of the love they have for God. Having fear of God is not in the same sense as having fear of a ferocious animal. Rather, fear of God is positive fear and can be understood in the context of obedience to God. While God is compassionate and benevolent toward human beings, He is also very just. Thus, fear of God is a result of the realization that God has the ability of punishing wrongdoers for their evil deeds. God is all-knowing and nothing is, or can be, hidden from Him. A person who has fear of God constantly lives with the sense of being accountable to Him. Even if his fellow human beings do not have the power to implicate him for his wrongful actions, a person who has fear of God knows that in the Hereafter he will surely be answerable to the Almighty for his actions, big or small. It is this that causes a believer to naturally fear God, a concept which serves as a source of reform in his life.
God is the Creator. When I see my existence, it is but natural for me to think how this existence came into being. The renowned French philosopher Rene Descartes said, ‘I think, therefore, I exist.’ Following this dictum, I would say, ‘I exist, therefore, God also exists.’ Because when there is a creation, a Creator is also bound to exist. Modern science tells us that our universe is vast, proportional and continuously expanding. It is an intelligent universe, but a right approach would be to say that the universe is the work of an Intelligent Creator.
In order to better understand the idea of creation, let us also reflect on the development of human knowledge. Human knowledge has two different phases—the pre-Einstein period and the post-Einstein period. In the pre-Einstein period, knowledge was confined to the macro world, which was observable and measurable. It was believed that matter was eternal and had not been created. But, in the post-Einstein period, with the development of quantum physics and discovery of the phenomenon of the Big Bang, this thinking changed.
When the atom was split, the world of logic underwent a colossal change. Splitting of the atom revealed the micro world. It came to be known that subatomic particles, which constitute matter at the most fundamental level, cannot be observed even by the most powerful microscope. The question is when we cannot see then, how do we believe that they exist? They cannot be visually seen, but every scientist believes in their existence, for the reason that although we cannot see these things directly, we can measure their effects. We believe in the existence of all of these things, not by observation but by the effects they produce. In other words, the existence of these unobservable particles of the micro world can be proved by way inferential argument – they cannot be seen, but can be known by way of their effects. And if inferential argument is valid with regard to the unseen elements of the micro world, it is also valid with regard to the existence of God or the Creator.
Moreover, scientific studies of today tell us that about 13 billion years ago there occurred a big bang in space. After this, our universe came into existence. Scientists have found evidence to believe that in the beginning there was what they call a cosmic ball. All the particles now present in the universe were tightly bound to each other in this cosmic ball in a highly compressed and dense state. Then, according to astronomical studies, this cosmic ball suddenly exploded. The compact particles scattered outwardly and as they were moving away they started interacting and the present universe as we see it (galaxies, stars, etc.) came into existence. This was the beginning of matter, but the question was which external source caused the intervention so that the compact particles scattered outwardly?
Worship
Worship means acknowledgement. It is inherent in human nature to acknowledge the Benefactor. Our Creator is our biggest benefactor who brought into existence the entire universe, which is custom-made to human needs and has a life support system to ensure our sustenance. How can we then not acknowledge the greatest of all Benefactors? Man, as a creation, has his limitations; no human being is all-powerful. When a person seeks to do something, he often finds out that he has limitations. It is this helplessness which leads him to pray to and seek help from God.
A mother solely bears the burden of her child for at least two years, hence there is a special regard given to a mother. She is the most respectable family member. According to a tradition:
Abu Hurayra reported that a person came to God’s Messenger and said: ‘Who among the people is most deserving of a fine treatment from my hand?’ The Prophet replied: ‘Your mother.’ He again said: ‘Then who (is the next one)?’ He said: ‘Again, it is your mother (who deserves the best treatment from you).’ He said: ‘Then who (is the next one)?’ He (the Prophet) said: ‘Again, it is your mother.’ He (again) said: ‘Then who?” Thereupon the Prophet said: ‘Then it is your father.’ (Sahih Muslim, hadith no. 2548)
According to another tradition:
Abdullah ibn Amr said, ‘A man came to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, wanting to do jihad. The Prophet asked, ‘Are your parents alive? ‘Yes,’ he replied. The Prophet then said, ‘Then exert yourself on their behalf.’ Then your jihad would be with them’ (i.e., in looking after them and being at their service). (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 3004)
The Quran instructs us to be kind to our parents and pray for them and this is looked at as among the best of deeds:
We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents: his mother bore him, in pain and in pain she gave birth to him, and his bearing and weaning takes thirty months. At length, when he reaches the age of full maturity and attains forty years, he says, ‘O my Lord! Help me to be grateful for Your favours which You have bestowed upon me, and upon both my parents, and to do good deeds that will please You. Grant me righteousness in my offspring. Truly, I have turned to You and, truly, I submit to You.’ We accept from such people the best of what they do and We overlook their bad deeds. They will be among the people of Paradise—this is a true promise that has been given to them. (Quran 46:15-16)
The Quran also talks about how we should treat our parents:
Your Lord has commanded that you should worship none but Him and show kindness to your parents. If either or both of them attain old age with you, say no word of contempt to them and do not rebuke them, but always speak gently to them and treat them with humility and tenderness and say, ‘Lord, be merciful to them both, as they raised me up when I was little.’ (Quran 17:23-24)
The Qur’an, the Book of God, enshrines the teachings which were basically the same as were to be found in previous revealed scriptures. But these ancient scriptures are no longer preserved in their original state. Later additions and deletions have rendered them unreliable, whereas the Qur’an, preserved in its original state, is totally reliable.
The Qur’an has 114 chapters. Its contents in a nutshell are: belief in one God, and considering oneself answerable to Him; firm belief that the guidance sent by God through the Prophet Muhammad is the truth and that man’s eternal salvation rests thereon.
The position of the Qur’an is not just that it is one of the many revealed scriptures but that it is the only authentic heavenly book, as all other books, due to human additions and deletions, have been rendered historically unreliable. When a believer in the previous revealed scripture turns to the Qur’an, it does not mean that he is rejecting his own belief, but rather amounts to his having re-discovered his own faith in an authentic form.
The Qur’an is a sacred book sent by the Lord of all creation. It is a book for all human beings, because it has been sent by that Divine Being who is the God of all of us.
The Qur’an is no new heavenly scripture. It is only an authentic edition of the previous heavenly scriptures. In this respect, the Qur’an is a book for all human beings, of all nations. It is the expression of God’s mercy for one and for all. It is a complete message sent by God for every one of us. The Qur’an is a light of guidance for all the world just as the sun is the source of light and heat for all the world.
Islam means submission. The religion of Islam is so named because it is based on obedience to God. A true believer in Islam is one who subordinates his thinking to God, who follows God’s dictates in all aspects of his life.
Islam is the religion of the entire universe. For the entire universe and all its parts are functioning in accordance with the law laid down by God.
Such behaviour is also desired of man. Man should also lead his life as God’s obedient servant just as the rest of the universe is fully subservient to God. The only difference is that the universe has submitted to God compulsorily, while man is required to submit to the will of God by his own choice.
When man adopts Islam, first of all it is his thinking, which comes under Islam, then his desires, his feelings, his interests, his relations, his loves and his hatred. All are coloured by his obedience to God’s will.
When man, in his daily life comes under God’s command, his behaviour with people, his dealings all are molded by the demands of Islam. From inside to outside he becomes a person devoted to God.
Man is God’s servant, and indeed, the only proper way for man in this world is to live as the servant of God. Islam, in fact, is another name for this life of servitude to God. Where the Islamic life is devoted to the service of God, the un-Islamic life unashamedly flouts the will of God. Islam teaches man to lead an obedient life and surrender himself completely to the will of God. It is people who do so who will share God’s blessings in the next world.
There is no such term as ‘pure Muslim’. A true believer is one whose heart is pure, and only God knows the state of one’s heart. We, humans, do not know what a person is in his heart and so we cannot determine a person’s purity. This matter is solely between God and man.
The essence of faith is ma‘arifah, (realization or discovery of God). When a man consciously seeks out and finds God, and thereby has access to divine realities that is what constitutes faith.
This discovery is no simple matter. God is the Creator and Owner of all things. He will award or punish all, according to their deeds; none is free from His grip. The discovery of such a God shakes to the core of the whole life of man. His thinking is revolutionized, for God becomes the centre of all His emotions.
With God as the principal focus of his attention, man becomes God’s servant in the fullest sense of the word. He becomes a man whose living and dying is all for God.
Such a faith ultimately results in all of man’s behaviour and his dealings taking on the hue of God. When the believer speaks, he is conscious of the fact that God is listening to him. When he walks, he does so with modesty so that his gait may not be displeasing to God. When he deals with people, he is always worried lest he deal unjustly and be punished by God in the next life.
The impact of this degree of faith makes the entire life of man akhirat-oriented. In all matters his eyes are focused on the Hereafter. Instead of immediate gain he makes gain in the next life his goal. Whenever there are two aspects of any matter, one pertaining to this world and the other to the next world, he always prefers the latter.
Faith, another name for the recognition of the Supreme God, becomes for the believer a fountainhead of limitless confidence in his Creator. When this recognition takes root in an individual’s heart and soul, his whole personality becomes regenerated. Knowing that in all circumstances he may depend upon God, he becomes a new man.
Every religion has an institutional place of worship. The Kabah was built by the Prophet Abraham for the worship of One God (monotheism). Neither Abraham nor his followers ever placed an idol inside the Kabah. In later times, since it was open for all, some visitors placed idols inside the Kabah, thereby causing intrusion or unauthorized trespassing.
When the whole of Makkah came within the fold of Islam, the presence of these idols became irrelevant and therefore they were removed. This was not done as a mark of disrespect. Had there still been worshippers of these idols, they would not have been destroyed but simply relocated to their rightful temples.
Source: The Seeker’s Guide
The common message of these three religious scriptures is monotheism, or the concept of unity of God. There is a verse in the Quran that reads:
The believers, the Jews, the Christians, and the Sabaeans, all those who believe in God and the Last Day and do good deeds, will be rewarded by their Lord; they shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Quran 2:62)
This is a very old question. I feel it is a very short-sighted approach to look at some events transpiring in the world and formulate an opinion based on them. We should first develop an understanding of the creation plan of God and then evaluate events in the light of this Plan.
History shows that difficulties and hardships have also played a vital role in the progress of many countries and have been their maximum contributor. For example, one of the greatest calamities to have hit the human race was the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the aftermath of this event had a great lesson for humanity, that is, the discovery of the principle of positive planning. The Second World War had created a compulsion for Japan as its defeat in the war was so grave that Japanese were left with only one way to plan for their future, and that was, to plan on the basis of what remained with them. The Japanese had no resources to forcibly retrieve what they had lost and as a result, they were compelled to plan on the basis of what was left with them. Thus, Japanese adopted a diligent program of nation-building and worked hard towards it to emerge as a global leader. Today it is a nation known for its most dedicated and ethical work culture in the world. The tragedy, consequently paved way for Japan to develop its prowess as a global giant in the area of innovation and technology. Another example of such intense nation-building is Germany, which revived its strength to become the most powerful European country.
The negative events of the Second World War culminated in setting successful examples of re-planning. It taught people the way forward after having incurred losses and defeat. Any disadvantageous situation creates a compulsion, which leads to new and positive developments. I can cite my own personal example. My ancestral land in my home village of Azamgarh was unjustly taken away by a person. Due to this usurpation of my property, I had nothing left to do in the village. This was when I was compelled to shift to Delhi. It was here that I was able to initiate my mission of peace, which has now spread across the whole world.
God creates compulsions to guide people in the right direction for people to learn and take heed. Many communities have risen to great heights starting from utter distress.
Another point often raised in this issue is that innocent children become victims of natural disaster, which is plainly unjust and abhorrent. As far as Islam is concerned, children who die in youth age will be rewarded with Paradise in the Hereafter. The prayer read at the funeral of these children is:
O God! Cause this child to become a means of salvation for us and cause him to become a means of reward and recompense for us [in the Hereafter]. (Mishkat al-Masabih, hadith no. 1690)
The prayer means that in the Hereafter when these children see their parents, they will come towards them and hold on to them. Thus, the prayer is an invocation to God to make these children – to whom Paradise has already been granted – a means to take their families also to Paradise.
Source: Simple Wisdom
I would say that those who are engaged in table talk cannot converse with God. If you are really serious about it, then you will have to pay a price, that is, you will have to become very keen on what you want. Let me give you an example. At a very young age, I had some problem with my eyesight and for this I visited several eye specialists – from Sitapur to Rome to the United States – I consulted doctors everywhere but I never became comfortable with any doctor.
For the first time, I became comfortable with Dr. Choudhary who had a clinic in Noida, India, but he recently passed away. I was quite worried and I prayed to God. When Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India, he had kept the portfolio of Kashmir to himself instead of placing it under the Home Minister (which was the protocol). On being asked the reason for his action, he replied that the issue of Kashmir was very complex, and that he alone could deal with it. With this reference point in mind, I prayed to God:
O God, You alone can deal with my problem, so please take my problem into your Hands!
Then situations took such a turn that I was introduced to an able eye specialist, Dr. Safeena Tabassum, my current doctor from Ajmer, who has shifted to Delhi. I am fully satisfied with her treatment. God helped me. So, a believer can certainly have a conversation with God, but only when he is very keen and serious about it. There are many things in your life that will work out if you are dedicated and keen. God provides for His creation.
Paradise is the name of the ideal world, the desire for which is lodged in the hearts of every man and woman. Paradise is a place where people will have no sorrow. It is Paradise where the personality of a human being shall achieve fulfilment in the complete sense.
Paradise is that world in which a creation such as man attains his complete fulfilment, where he thinks the way he wants to think; where he sees what he desires to see; where he listens to the sounds that give pleasure to his ears in the real sense; where he has the company of those people who make his life highly meaningful.
Paradise shall be a world that would have everything that a person can think of and more. It would be a world devoid of limitations, disadvantage, illness and unfortunate circumstances. The same concept of Paradise is also found in the Bible.
If you don’t accept the belief that God is self-existent, then you have to believe that the universe is a self-existent phenomenon. Since we cannot take the universe to be self-existent, we have no other alternative but to accept God as a self-existent being.
