A Muslim is not free to do what he wants once he has chosen Allah and his Illah (the supreme master). He submits to Allah alone with regard to his actions and thoughts.

They say that a fool lives to eat and a wise man eats to live. But the question remains: for what purpose does the wise man live? Living is not an end by itself. There has to be a purpose for man to live for. So what is this purpose? Any ignorance, however great, could be forgiven except for man to be ignorant about the secret of his existence, his aim in life and what will be its outcome after death. Any person can realise the inevitability of submission and death! The only question remains to whom and why?
Islam is the only deen (way of life, constitution, will of illah) acceptable to Allah. It encompasses every sphere of living from social, political, economical to personal aspects. There are only a few who believe Islam as a complete system while most of us have limited it to only the symbolic means of Ibaddah (following of deen, the law) and still consider themselves as Muslim. This narrow concept implanted in our minds is jahilliyah in which most of us are dwelling. Our heart and society is enslaved by several ideologies like secularism, feminism, democracy, liberalism, nationalism and all sorts of neo-paganism. And with them come the deceptive slogans of equality, freedom, tolerance, terrorism, peace. A Muslim is not free to do what he wants once he has chosen Allah and his Illah (the supreme master). He submits to Allah alone with regard to his actions and thoughts.
Rejection of false gods is the first requirement of Iman in Allah. It includes hatred of them in heart, not helping them, boycotting everything related to them and then to voice against them with intellect and to fight with power. One who fears Allah alone is shielded from all other fears of wealth, power, fame, family, etc. His only fear is protection of his Iman and such is the person of whom the Taghut is fearful of. The message of every Prophet was same, i.e., ‘Tawheed’ – rejection of Tawghoot (false god(s) and serving to Allah alone). Tawheed is acceptance of Allah alone without associating partners to him, and to accept the oneness of divine names and attributes. With Tawheed comes action and with action comes Ibadah. Ibadah is the union of obedience of Allah with love, fear, hope and reverence and at collective level it consists of witness and invitation towards Allah. All guidance and goodness is rooted to Tawheed, and all kinds of sin, guilt, and misguidance is rooted to shirk (associated partners/rivals to Allah). In today’s era the most common form of shirk is Shir-at-Taa’a (shirk in ubudiyyat/obedience, i.e., sovereignty).
Allah has called Muslim Ummah as the best Ummah among mankind because they believe in Allah. The definition of right and wrong at the limits of do’s and don’ts is what is set by Allah alone, not by majority or any other being. So, today’s concept of ‘my choice’ and ‘my life’ is all deceptive and far from truth. One gets easily inclined towards the majority, but righteous are those around whom evil dwells yet they remain steadfast. For such ‘strangers’ there are glad tidings. The most deserving of any kind of love is for Allah alone, then for the Messenger, and then for the believers.
We are living in a state of fear where Muslims are tortured and killed, yet the world’s second largest religion sits silently. The disbelievers rejected Islam once for all, but Muslims disobey everyday, after every salah. So they are the real culprit, who claim themselves on shahadah (sworn to Allah alone) yet they love and follow the enemy of Allah. The only escape is to follow the path of the Messenger (saw). We live in a society where leaving salah is trivial, telling lies is a must, listening to music is inevitable, breaking promise is a joke, homosexuality is celebrated, backbiting and tale-bearing is fun, and women imitating men and vice-versa is being smart. These are some of the major sins. Despite all these we have left one of the ‘Sunnah of Messenger’, that is, Sunnah of correcting mistakes. The intention of correcting mistakes should be to follow the command of Allah and it should be in accordance with knowledge of deen of Islam. Also, one should remember that Allah is Al-Ghaffar and he loves the one who repents when he commits mistakes.
We cannot bow our head to anyone except Allah, cannot fill our hearts with love, fear, hope and reverence except for Allah. We cannot use our energies for any other purpose except to follow the will of Allah; cannot use our tongues for lying, backbiting, false accusation, deception, buttering, slandering, abusing, taste haram like wine, etc; cannot use our cheeks to please tyrants, receive haram kisses or caress, and to smile to disbelievers and kins, etc; cannot use our ears to listen to haram like musical instruments, fuhash songs, backbiting, false knowledge, etc. Similarly, what we earn and feed to ourselves must be free from lying, deception, interests (riba), haram work, etc. We must watch over our sexual relationships, rights and duties as ordained by Allah for spouses and the society formed by their union. Sexual perversion or transgression, like LGBT, surrogacy, adultery, rape, birth control, etc, is forbidden. Each organ will witness against our sins on that day!
Today, Halal and Haram is established by society according to the whims and desire or intellect. But it is the sole authority of Allah to decide Halaal and Haraam. Our homes are equipped with gratuitous things in the race of acquiring status, and our time and labour are all focused on food, branded clothes and well furnished homes, while in Muslim homes there should be satisfaction and thankfulness in less belongings as their real abode is not this world.
The consciousness of the immortal life of hereafter prevents one from indulging in idle pursuits. Also, Islam does not allow monkhood, so the balance is necessary keeping in mind that our means of relaxation must not involve any haram thing nor it should distract from obliged duties.
Islam creates a strong family bond which is primarily based on the bond of husband and wife tied with taqwa (consciousness of Allah). It commands children to be obedient to their parents and to strengthen the ties of kinship. Every kingdom has a chief and Allah in his encompassing wisdom and absolute knowledge has chosen man for that role. The choice does not detract from women’s role, nor does it belittle them in the least. Today, marriages are made troublesome by fallacious customs of baraat and dowry. Allah says that one of the responsibilities that the Messenger was sent for was to ‘relieve them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them’. There is no concept of any feast from the bride’s side, though reception is encouraged within limits. So, why we feel ashamed to follow the path of the Messenger? A believing woman should feel honoured and proud to adorn herself in the uniform which none other than her creator, Allah himself, has prescribed for her. Pardah consists of abiding in home and not to go out unnecessarily, to observe purdah of satr in the presence of mahrams, and to cover the top of their heads with the outer garment when they come before non-mahrams or when they go out.
Only the most obtuse and ignorant gets astrayed when someone slanders Islam in the name of talaq or polygamy. Any aspects of Islamic system cannot be neglected or doubted to slightest extent to justify a particular individual opinion. Polygamy is not a decadent or indecent relation but a valid part of marriage system of Islam; it is beneficial to society as a whole. And Allah’s wisdom is superior to our opinion.
On the day of resurrection, Allah will ask about life. Then, He will ask the second question: in regards to youth, despite the fact that the period of youth is itself part of life. So, at this age of blessing where we are heading to? The period of teenage which is implanted in our minds as a time to enjoy life and permission to do fallacious deeds is nothing but a fitnah in itself. We have forgotten the heroes of Islam who were zealous and always ready to sacrifice their lives for the establishment of deen-e-Islam, who chose Aakhirah above this world. The only true role model is prophet Muhammad (saw), who is an example in every sphere of our life and for all time. The true path is only one which Islam advocates for, and it demands complete submission and sacrifice of worldly pleasure. One should never forget that death is certain, barzakh is truth, and day of resurrection is promised by the one who knows all. So, ponder over the signs of qiyamah, be aware of fitna-e-Dajjal, and ask yourself: ‘WHAT YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR THAT DAY?’

The writer is studying for a Bachelor’s Honours degree in Political Science at Aligarh Muslim University. [email protected]

FAHEEM UL ISLAM