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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| need clarification: huda |
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| mwishka |
| 07/21/02 at 19:50:29 |
| ok, i know that words and ideas become blurred sometimes so that when someone uses them they can actually mean something slightly different than what that person might literally be saying, as when people say "to marry is to complete half of your deen", which of course is not what that means - right? it means that if you marry AND make a good choice in the spouse you take in marriage, AND are blessed by god on top of that, that your spouse will be good beyond what you can imagine, and righteous in the marriage, and so you will be ABLE therefore to be a good spouse as easily as if that half of your deen were given to you merely by the act of marrying.....isn't that what it means really? (at least that's the way i understand it from what i've read...) so my question includes this very word, "deen".... i read this about huda (guidance): Divine Guidance is divided into three categories. First, it is in the form of [i]din[/i], the [u]basic, unchanging Truths which have been preached by every one of God's messengers[/u]. Second, it is in the form of [i]Shari'ah[/i], a [u]system of law necessary for a community's social and spiritual welfare[/u]. Third, it is the [i]minhaj[/i], an open road or [u]a way of life, principles based on the [i]din[/i] and [i]Shari'ah[/i][/u]. ok, so now at this point, it sounds like what i often hear people refer to as [i]din[/i] is instead [i]minhaj[/i], a way of life based on [i]din[/i] [u]and[/u] [i]Shari'ah[/i], due to the range of concepts people here seem to be including when they refer to someone's "level of [i]din[/i]". so, based on those three explanations above, [i]din[/i] is not specific to Islam, right? it's specific to the God of abraham, right? it has to do with God and belief in God, and belief in the oneness of God, and not with the practice of Islam, right? (all these questioning "rights?" --- i REALLY need somebody to be helping me out here.....) ok, now back to the continuation of the text i was actually reading when i found this: The [i]din[/i] in Islam is the same call preached by each messenger of God while the [i]Shari'ah[/i] and [i]minhaj[/i], promulgated and recommended by the Prophets, [u]varies in accordance with the exigencies [i]of the time[/i] and of each communities [i]cultural development[/i][/u]. so, does this mean that any part of Islamic practice that is not also in the bible and the torah is [i]minhaj[/i], which has cultural and time relationships?? (please don't tell me to go ask mokhtar.....!:( or, if this really is a confusing question beyond the scope of this board, of course i will do that...) mwishka (who doesn't have a broad enough exposure to islamic ideas to know what she's talking about, anyway.... he he and is pretty dependent on you all setting her straight...!) |
| Re: need clarification: huda |
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| Kathy |
| 07/21/02 at 23:44:49 |
| [quote author=mwishka link=board=lighthouse;num=1027295429;start=0#0 date=07/21/02 at 19:50:29]....as when people say "to marry is to complete half of your deen", which of course is not what that means - right? it means that if you marry AND make a good choice in the spouse you take in marriage, AND are blessed by god on top of that, that your spouse will be good beyond what you can imagine, and righteous in the marriage, and so you will be ABLE therefore to be a good spouse as easily as if that half of your deen were given to you merely by the act of marrying.....isn't that what it means really? [/quote] No- and I don't beleive all those "ifs" apply. What if your spouse is not the best choice, and he is not good to you (using he instead of the wordy he/she), and the marriage is not so righteous on his side / Is that the fault of the other? Are the wives accountable for his actions? It is narrated by Anas that the Messenger of Allah [saw] said, "When a [u]man [/u]marries, he has fulfilled half of his religion, so let him fear Allah regarding the remaining half." The Prophet considered marriage for a Muslim as half of his religion because it shields him from promiscuity, adultery, fornication, homosexuality etc., which ultimately lead to many other evils like slander, quarreling, homicide, loss of property and disintegration of the family. According to the Prophet [saw] the remaining half of the faith can be saved by taqwa. {by being God-minded and aware of his obligations.} If anyone has the actual Arabic.... does the hadith just refer to -man? |
| Re: need clarification: huda |
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| mwishka |
| 07/22/02 at 00:00:18 |
| oh no sis kathy...don't make me look up THAT part.......! eek...i have terrible trouble finding things after i've read them, because......which is precisley why i prefer books....i have to search them all out in the first place all hodge-podge all over the silly internet... (that's why i have way way too many bookmarks, and why my drafts folder in messenger is soooooo full, because i use it as a little library of articles and the links to them...... ayyyyyyyyy) but, ok....i'll look for them. just don't know when i'll be able to. it was always a question of context -- the context in which such statements about that fulfillment in marriage were made..... mwishka |
| Re: need clarification: huda |
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| Anonymous |
| 07/23/02 at 13:30:59 |
| Oh boy, do I feel for you! I've known atheists before, but I've never known one to put a tenth of the effort you've been doing to find God. Insh Allah He will come to you, probably not in any way you expect either. Even though, I'm new to Islam I've always had a belief of some kind of higher being and it is something I feel. If I thought with my brain about the concept of God too much, forget it, I would go insane, I can't wrap my mind around it. It's all in my heart for me. Probably in my mind, I could talk myself right out of the concept of God, but it would still be in my heart. A few really make me feel closer to God. Nature, animals, and when human beings do selfless acts for others. The first two I just wonder at the complexity of it all and how everything fits together in the world. The third when any human goes out of their way or sacrifices of themselves to help others with no thought for themselves, this blows me away, this capability can only be put there by God in my mind. So, you sound extremely intelligient and of the intellectual bent. It will probably come to you different. Have you read the Quran and found it perfect? If so, have you ever wondered if just a human could possibly have written it? People find God in so many different ways, the birth of a child, sometimes when a loved ones dies the idea of them not going on is so inconceivable that they have to believe in God. Keep persisting, really try not to overanalyze (even tho you sound so clever), it will be something you feel & probably come from somewhere unexpected. And just think when you do find him, you already found a way to worship Him through Islam. Insha Allah He will put a light in your heart soon. |
| Re: need clarification: huda |
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| mwishka |
| 07/23/02 at 22:47:19 |
| anonymous, i suppose you could say most atheists would spend most of their lives as i have - not putting special effort into any kind of god search because there was no motivation to do so. i, however, was fortunate to encounter individuals of such true devotion to Allah that i was guided to invest my efforts purely by their examples. such people are rare, so most atheists will not have the opportunity i have had. possibly many of the atheists you've known have had very closed minds, which has only to do with the way a person conditions themselves to (not) think, and that person can have a god and a religion as easily as not. that state of mind has nothing to do with atheism or with god. all of the things you mention though, that you see and find god in, are what i have also seen, and yet not seen god in. i wish i could have seen it all the way you do.... when people do things for other people, that seems to me not at all unusual, but absolutely human - who would NOT do such a thing? i wish it did show me something other than our frail humanity, our great need and instinctive drive to care for each other as simple humans..... Insha Allah He will put a light in your heart soon. this would certainly lighten my load AND light my way. thank you for your kind thoughts. mwishka |
| Re: need clarification: huda |
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| Traveler |
| 07/24/02 at 00:51:10 |
| [slm] This thread has been read about 90 times and I was wondering if there is anybody who's planning to answer mwishka's question? Frankly speaking, I myself am waiting to see what others have to say on the issue. I have an opinion on the issue myself, which I might express if nobody comes forward. But I honestly hope one of our scholar brothers on the board would say somthing before I commit the mistake of opening my big mouth. 8) Traveler |
| Re: need clarification: huda |
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| amatullah |
| 07/24/02 at 22:59:54 |
| Bismillah and salam, deen just means religion and yes all the messengers had the same message of tawheed. so your "right?" questions are right but you have to put it in context that Allah said in the Quran that the only deen accepted by Allah now is Islam. Submission to Allah means all the prophets and messengers were in fact Muslims. The ones that came with new minhag were called messenger/ rasool. If they only fixed what was being changed by the one before is a nabi. And each Sharei'a is valid until comes a new shari'a. Until Allah gave us the last chance as humans with the Quran and He promised this will not be changed. In fact there were messengers came in the same time as each other. There is no problem since the message is the same, but we humans corrupt it. the asnwer to the rest of the question i will translate a transcrpt i have in Arabic from sheikh 3isam albasheer who is so amazing masha'Allah: Allah S. has sent his prophet [saw]" with huda and deenul 7aq" ie. with guidance and the relgion of truth. To show him and have him cover the whole of religion. It is built on those two things in fact compeletly The scholars have interprutted the huda to mean the useful knowledge while deenul 7aq to mean the good deed And both put together the useful knowledge and the good deed together are wisdom. Allah s. said that which means "and who ever attains that (wisdom) then he has attained alot of good) In its verbal defintion wisdeom stems from the prevention of that which is harmful. When it comes in the book of Allah witout reference (#3a6f, a grammer in arabic) as in what means" and we indeed bestowed upon Luqman much wisdom" it means both the good deed and the useful knoweldge. BUT when it comes dualed with the book itself (ma3qooba 3alayh) as this example which approxamtely means: and whatever he has braught down for you from teh bood and wisdom) then it is to be taken to mean the Sunnah of the prophet saws Mohammed. Keep in mind he is the last prophet. and his good deeds and useful knoweldge to be shown to us. And that was his message. understanding and the doing. so any straigtening (istiqma) to a muslim has a relation with these two. As inb alqayim may Allah have mercy on him said the perfection of the mental power and the perfection of the doing power (3amaleya) [u]al3aqeeda [/u] is what constitutes the frame of the understanding, the knowledge on all its levels. if it is correct, then the rest is corrected. if it deviates, then so does the rest including the actions for an action to be accepted you need the ikhlas the sincerity as well as the itiba3, the following of the sunnah. you can't say i love prayer so i will make 3asr 7 instead. Aqeeda of tawheed is a consent between allll the messages Allah has sent to his creatures. In an aya that means " that we have revealed to you as we have revealed to those before you" and "we have not sent a messengar except that we have revealed to him that there is no god except me so worship me" and there are other ayas which mean similar thing there are levels of hidaya though: 1. there's a hedaya that each creature knows that which its life is. there is an aya that means " He who gave each creature its life and guided it". So animals know their nature and we know ours, plants,etc 2. there's hedaya which means making clear, showing and guiding and proofing to that which leads to the Truth and goodness. This is stable in the rights of prophets, those who follow their manhaj, their blueprint their outline, and the ayas of proof mean soemthing like: " and you guide to a straight path" and "and to each group a guide" 3.there's a hedaya which means tawfeeq and ilham/revelation or the making steadfast of faith in the hearts. and the aya which proves this means" and verily you do not guide whom you love but Allah guides whom he wants" 4. the last hedaya is the result of our actions and it is either to jannah or to hell There are ayas that show the responsibility is spilt on those who know and those who didn't, as to why they haven't taught them. Ali ra used to say the ones who know will be asked as to why they didn't teach before the ones who didn't know are asked why they didn't learn. Aqeeda is not a matter that is disconnected from life and reality. Even in the sense of of the prophets..Allah s. sent them each to call for the tawheed in Aqeeda and to remedy that which was deviation in their society. ex. mosa it was political might, saleh was a physical culture, shu3ayb econimical power and corruption, lu6 social immorality,etc ok that is all i can translate for now. I hope it makes sense in English. |
| 07/24/02 at 23:16:45 |
| amatullah |
| Re: need clarification: huda |
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| BrKhalid |
| 07/25/02 at 05:27:21 |
| Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) Just to reiterate what Br amatullah has said there are three main different stages of guidance. Maulana Muhammad Shafi in his Tafsir of the Qur'an [Ma'ariful Qur'an - which I highly recommend btw] describes them as: 1. General guidance given by Allah to all those in the Universe including animals and plants. 2. Specific guidance given to those beings which are rational [namely men and jinns]. This type of guidance comes via the Prophets and the revealed books. 3. The third type of guidance is even more particular and is reserved for those who have believed. Again this guidance comes from Allah and the form it takes is that of the ability [Tawfiq] to act upon the guidance received in 2 above. One of the things I remember that really used to confuse me was why as Muslims we asked Allah in Surah Al Fatihah to "Guide us along the straight path" when we had already been guided to Islam? Of course the answer is clear when you know there is a higher level of guidance, namely the guidance which allows you to do good deeds and keep away from evil deeds. Mwishka I know I haven't addressed your question directly but I hope the above gives you some insight. ;-) As ever Allah knows best Wasalaam Br Khalid |
| 07/25/02 at 05:28:31 |
| BrKhalid |
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