Freedom!

Despite of all the movements and all our history. We still need freedom. We still need to be free from the shackles of our lower self and rise high from the debris of all the slavery, we all have put ourselves in. To be human is the hardest task we are capable of accomplishing.

“And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.” They said, “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?” Allah said, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.” (Quran 2:30)

Islam at Crossroads by Muhammad Asad

Excerpts from the conclusions of Islam at the Crossroads by Muhammad Asad.

“Islamic culture has had its splendid rise and its blossoming age; it had power to inspire men to deeds and sacrifices, it transformed nations and changed the face of the earth, and later it stood still and became stagnant, and then it became an empty word, and at present we witness its utter debasement and decay. But is this all?” . . . .

“What appears to be the decay of Islam is in reality nothing but the death and emptiness in our hearts, which are too idle and too insensitive to hear the eternal voice.No sign is visible that mankind, in its present stature, has outgrown Islam. It has not been able to produce a better system of ethics than that expressed in Islam; it has not been able to put the idea of human brotherhood on a practical footing, as Islam does in its supra-national concept of the ummah; it has not been able to create a social structure in which the conflicts and frictions between its members are as efficiently reduced to a minimum as in the social plan of Islam; it has not been able to enhance the dignity of man, his feeling of security, his spiritual hope – and last, but surely not least, his happiness.” . . . .

” By far the most important feature of our present-day condition is to be found in the intellectual and social spheres: in the disappearance of our belief and our creativeness and the disruption of our social organism.” . . . .

“Our first step must be the shedding of that spirit of “apology” for Islam, which is only another name for intellectual defeatism: only a masquerade for our own scepticism. And the next stage must be our conscious, deliberate following of the Sunnah of our Prophet. For Sunnah means no more and no less than the teachings of Islam translated into practice. By applying it as an ultimate test to the requirements of our daily life we will easily recognize which impulses from Western civilization might be accepted and which ought to be rejected. Instead of meekly submitting Islam to alien intellectual norms, we must learn – once again – to regard Islam as the norm by which the world is to be judged.”  . . . . .

“But only if we regain our lost self-confidence can we expect to go forward once again . Never will the goal be reached if we destroy our own social institutions and imitate a foreign civilization – foreign not only in an historical or a geographical sense but also in the spiritual one. And the way has been pointed out to us in the words of the Holy Our’an:

“Verily, in the Apostle of God you have a good example for everyone who looks forward to God and the Last Day” (surah 33:21)”

Tradition and the false prohphets of modernism!

Harry Oldmeadow writes an excerpt from the Vishnu Purana in his “Tradition and the false prophets of modernism”

“Riches and piety will diminish daily, until the world will be completely corrupted. In those days it will be wealth that confers distinction, passion will be the sole reason for union between the sexes, lies will be the only method of success in business, and women will be the objects merely of sensual gratification. The earth will be valued only for its mineral treasures, dishonesty will be the universal means of subsistence, a simple ablution will be regarded as sufficient purification…The observances of castes, laws, and institutions will no longer be in force in the Dark Age, and the ceremonies prescribed by the Vedas will be neglected. Women will obey only their whims and will be infatuated with pleasure…men of all kinds will presumptuously regard themselves as equals of Brahmins…The Vaishyas will abandon agriculture and commerce and will earn their living by servitude or by the exercise of mechanical professions…The dominant caste will be that of the Shudras…”

Changing the world!

[Soruce]

There are hundreds and thousands of campaigns all around the world, working to change the world. To change it for the better. In my opinion, they cannot change the world. They cannot change an inch of the world because all change derives itself from wills of wills. If we change ourselves, we can see the change. It is the essence of ‘Be the change you want to see in this world’.

Communication gaps will evaporate once we synchronize our hearts. Once we change what is within. Quran says:

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.”

[13:11 Translation from Sahih International]

Is there something missing in those campaigns then? Yes, there is missing realism, honesty, and sincerity. If they were from the core of the heart I don’t think anything can stop them from seeing the change they want to see. It is true to every religious, environmental, economic and social change that the world wants to see. I pray and hope that we focus on the change required in ourselves. In our behaviors, and in our attitudes, somewhere, something is missing. We have to work on that. This universal change comes from within and from within all the fountains of peace, happiness and harmony sprout.

I do not believe that civilizations have to die because civilization is not an organism. It is a product of wills.
Arnold J. Toynbee

Misfits!

[Image Source]

The juniper in the garden is free as well as chained to the soil

You should acquire freedom within these constraints!

Phool, Bang-edra, Iqbal

Society has its own ways we are taught. Bold and the beautiful are always admired, every society yearns for those who are the prodigy of its social consciousness. For us these are the engineers, doctors and business men. The high achievers, high salaried people who are seen as the pinnacle of our society. If you are among them it is good and your every thought, your every activity is admired. As long as you stick to this it is fine, as soon as you start deviating, those who were with you will be looking with disgust at you. Those who were your buddies will go away, your parents, your relatives will disown you. Why? Because you are a misfit, you are someone who said I am going to discover life on my own.

Society is judged by the way it treats the misfits. If you are asking to quit your profession and start up a business you are a misfit, if you want to marry according to your own wishes you are a misfit, even if you want to marry before your elder sibling you are a misfit. In some circles, even if you are having a beard you are a misfit, you are wearing a hijab you are a misfit. If you are opting to study according to your desires you are a misfit. In my experience, I have heard stories about people from all these misfits. If you desire to have a simple wedding you are a misfit, if you are not going to demand dowry from in-laws you are a misfit. The list goes on and on and on . . . . .

Freedom and patience is needed in every society i believe. We have to play an enabling role. We have to altruistically love everyone. We have to stop judging. We have to make this society free from all such dogmas and traditions and chains that it is imposing. People’s lives are involved, families are involved but we in our own ego, fail to see all this. We have to revamp our behaviors and our attitudes for those who think otherwise. Because it will be an oppression of the highest order. This freedom is needed for an individual to think freely about all the possibilities that his potential self can achieve. This freedom is not haphazard, it is not crazy but an organized thoughtful quest of living one’s own life. Our society must be supportive of this freedom. Instead of making misfits, psychos, we have to make humans human.

When, therefore, it is said that the interests of Islam are superior to those of the Muslim, it is meant that the interests of the individual as a unit are subordinate to the interests of the community as an eternal symbol of the Islamic principle. This is the only principle which limits the liberty of the individual, who is otherwise absolutely free. The best form of Government for such a community would be democracy, the ideal of which is to let man develop all the possibilities of his nature by allowing him as much freedom as practicable.

Iqbal in Islam as Moral and Political Ideal, 1909

Conviction of love

Love is the Space and the Creation, Love is Time and Earth!
Love is conviction entire, and conviction is the key!

The luxury of destination is forbidden in the religion of Love;
Fighting the storms is permitted, but the comfort of the shore is forbidden;

Iqbal

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