1986-February/March

Progressions Magazine

Establishing The Muslim Life

Imam W. Deen Muhammad

Muslims must pray to Allah if we are to get the moral courage to do the things required of us by nature, and in the sight of our Lord and Creator, Allah. And until we do that, we have to filter out that which doesn't belong among us and in our lives. We should get the weak people from around us. These weak people try to impress us with "Allahu Akbar (Allah is Greatest)". Look for the truth in their lives of Islamic devotion. And if you don't see Islamic devotion in their lives, then just stay away from that disease. If it is at all possible, don't even sit next to them in the Friday (Jumu'ah) congregational prayer, unless you are sitting there to watch them to assure that they don't create any problems.

This is a serious struggle, and we have to be alert and defensive, because if we are not, the subtle strategies of the socialist, the racist and others will try to put us in an unfavorable risky position.

I thank Allah for guiding us to the light and making us firm believers in the Qur'an and in the practices (sunnah) of prophet Muhammad (pbuh). We should follow those examples and take on the description, the attributes, the characteristics of the Muslim life, and fight with all of our might, every influence that threatens the Muslim life.

God says to us in the Qur'an, "This is the Book, there is no doubt in it. It is guidance for the God-fearing." To worship, to understand and to know God is also to fear God. If you do not fear God, then you cannot worship Him properly. Furthermore, you don't understand or know God.

God also tells us in the Qur'an, "And none can touch it (Qur'an) except the purified one". We know from this verse in the Qur'an that it is a Book that is closed against the unclean and immoral person. Only those who are right at heart can benefit from it. This is better understood in the Qur'an wherein it says, "And with it, He (Allah) causes to stray those who have in their heart uncleanliness (the disease of immorality)". Thus, when it comes to those who have in their heart some wrong, God causes the same Qur'an to lead them into more straying or deformity.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) established for us certain practices. Among them is to say during or after our ablution for prayer, "O God, make us of those who love purity and practice purity." And again, Allah tells us in the Qur'an, "And God will never leave the believers in the state in which you are presently until He separates the unclean from the clean".

God is not going to give us the benefit that we want for our community until He has separated the unclean from the clean. As long as we are all mixed up and confusing moral principles, God is going to leave us in the state that we are in presently. But, if we accept God's Way, which is to separate the vulgar from the decent, He will give us the benefit that He promised to those who are faithful to Him.

We are also told in the Qur'an, "And certainly God hears the words of those who say, 'Surely God is poor, and we are rich,' with no justification. So we say, 'Face you, the punishment of burning.'" Two ideas have been addressed in the above Qur'anic quotes. One is the idea that a Muslim community of believers will not prosper until it has made the distinction between the morally upright and the immoral, and its members have separated themselves on that line of judgment or distinction.

The next idea is that there are people who boast of their wealth. In their wealth or in their material possessions they boast that God is poor and they are rich. The believers today hear that coming from the mouth of the wicked just as the believers heard it in the time of Prophet Muhammad. When we hear that coming from their mouths, we must remember that God has said to us that He will not change our state or allow us to make progress until we first accept that the clean be separated from the vulgar the unclean.

Those who say, "God is poor and we are rich," are not really making progress. God is not worried about their boast. They have no justification for their saying because whatever they have, God has provided it for them. They have not been in possession always. If they would just look back a little, they will see that there were those in possession before them, and they are gone, and nothing is standing to testify to their greatness. Thus they have no justification for their boast. They are boasting in ignorance.

God and the righteous say to such people, "Face the punishment of the burning fire." That is where they are headed, and that is where they are, and that is the only place they can go with that attitude. The Qur'an is telling them that they are not really making progress because they are not following the moral principles. But if they would follow the moral principles, God would save them.

Until you follow the moral principles in your religion, God is not going to save you, and you are going to be haunted by the boastful among the wicked by their saying, "Oh, you people claim to believe in God, and claim to have the right religion, but where are you going, You are poor. You are weak in the World. Your God is poor. Your religion is impoverished. We have wealth. We have possessions."

God is telling us, "Look at your situation. Your poverty is because you are not right at heart yet". God will not bless people who claim to believe in Him until they become right at heart. If they become right at heart, then He will bless them. God is also telling us what to do. If we want His Favor, and if we want to progress, first accept to be morally upright, then He will be with us, and our good days will last.