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The Pagans Within Us

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The Pagans Within Us
bedou
12/16/03 at 03:11:33
Assalaamu alaikum,
some more wisdom from the writers of http://hidayaonline.com


The pagans within us
by Seeker

NOTE - I apologize in advance if some of what I have to say offends anyone. I write based on readings, writings and personal experience, so I’m encompassing more than one nationality. However, I don’t mean to offend anyone. If I do, I apologize in advance. Feel free to email me if you prefer to do so.

We share with the pagan Arabs of the time of the Prophet (SAWS) the same intellect and stubbornness when they had chosen to follow the “religion” that of their ancestors. Except, lucky for us, we were born in Muslim families.

How else do we explain the blind followers of the religion “Islam, the culture”, as opposed to the religion the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) brought “Islam, the religion”.

Allow me to distinguish the two - there are many who follow certain aspects of Islam, BELIEVING, it’s recommended to do so Islamically. However, what they fail to see is that the reason they practice it is NOT because it’s recommended islamically, but because it’s commonly practiced culturally. For example, it’s all about religion when I see a sister cover her hair. But it’s about ‘Islam, the culture’ when I see that the ONLY part of her ‘modestly covered’ is the hair. It’s about Islam when you recite the Quran. But it’s about Islam, the culture, when it’s ONLY recited in wake of someone’s death.

We’ve left religion behind … maybe 1400 yrs behind. Somewhere in the midst of the ‘125,000’ recitations of the Shahada (which is now customary to do when someone dies), and the 100,000 recitations of Surah Kausar on death anniversaries, we’ve left our religion behind.

What most of us hold on to, today, is a mirage of Islam. We follow certain practices because someone told us to do so. No questions asked. Very little thought as to whether it even has any bearing to the religion. And more often that not, the leader(s) is(are) our parent(s).
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read the rest at http://hidayaonline.com/archives/000079.html
and feel free to comment on there.


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