سبحن الرّزّاق

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. AlHamdulillahir Rabilalameen. Ash-hadu un la illaha illa Allah wa dahula shareeka la. Wa ash-hadu enna Muhammadar Rasulullah—sallalahu alayhi wa salaam.

     I bear witness of the truth of the Prophets, from Adam, alayhi salaam, to Muhammad bin Abdullah, salallahu alayhi was-salaam, and that they are the most beloved of creation and they are those whom Allah has guided on a straight path to their Lord.

     I bear witness of the truth of the Revealed Books, and that Allah Aza wa Jalal revealed to the human, his creation, glad tidings of an eternal peace in The Garden to those who strive in His way and plain warnings of a continuous suffering in the fire for those who are arrogant and turn away.

     I bear witness of the truth of the unseen and Allah’s angels who carry out His tasks, who visit us in the womb, who record our deeds, who take our life, and who tend the fire and serve the people of The Paradise.

     I bear witness in Allah’s Divine Decree, that He has determined our affairs, and that the people of the garden will act accordingly and the people of the fire will act accordingly until a Looming, Inevitable Day of Judging, of sorting out, and of purification and punishment.

 

     We praise Allah The Most High, and we ask You, Ya Allah, to make us of the people of jannah.

 

     I want to share with you how I became Muslim, not to praise myself—because Allah did whatever He willed and He knows best as to how. But I find that others and myself are encouraged when we here another’s story on how he or she came into Islam—or back into it, as the case may be. Allah says in His book:

 

Find verse: Those who search for the truth, etc.

 

     My ancestors came to the U.S. from Germany and Ireland. My family had me baptized as a baby into the Roman Catholic Church, after which my parents attended a different Christian sect’s sermons, that of the Presbyterian Protestants, in which I also became a somewhat active member as a young teenager. A couple years later, my traditional Christian belief in God faded away, and I became interested in reading Buddhist and Vedanta books (the latter which falls under the British term of “Hindu-ism”). I mainly took from these books the aspects of meditation, mind and desire analysis, and the cultivation of compassion. Although these religions have a lot of innovation, superstition, and shirk in their cultural practices, I found their main books to be sources of knowledge and monotheistic—belief in The One and Only God.

     But what these books did for me, as far as my knowledge knows, was created in me a general belief in a unique god who has no partners, belief in a line of messengers, and the importance of a daily practice such as prostration and meditation to gain peace now and after life. I did these practices on and off, in no formal manner. I remember for a couple weeks, when I was about 19 or 20, I would prostrate to God in the morning, pointing toward the West for some reason. I would do this in my parent’s house in a covered porch area where we keep a bunch of plants. At the same time I’ve been interested in gardening and plants, and I think my Dad thought I was bowing to the plants!

     As a side note, I encourage those who are involved in dawah to the other faiths to read some of the main holy books of the other religions, and I think we will be able to give better dawah, considering that many of these holy books point to The Unique God, peace, submission, and other Islamic principles that we can use to guide others to The Straight Path, if Allah wills. And this is just my humble observation and opinion.

     But I see these events and explorations through other religions as being a setup for me to enter Islam, in which I could correct any misguidance in my belief with the pure revelation through Muhammad, sallahu alayhi wa salaam.

     Throughout reading these books and doing some meditation, devotion, and analysis of my own mind, I got to the point about three years ago that I decided the world needed another prophet to bring the people from the various imperfect religions back to a pure religion of unity, to say, “Oh, humans! Your Lord is One Lord,” and to bring a daily practice—a real tool to implement in life to make positive changes in you and your world. With a new spiritual outlook I gained from the Buddhist, Vedantist, and other spiritual ways, such as Tao Te Ching from China, I also now saw The Bible in a new light. I saw a Bible I could believe in. I began reading parts of The Old Testament, and I remember feeling as though I was indeed of Abrahman’s children—of his spiritual children. And I remember desiring to know and practice religion as Abraham, Moses, or Jesus would have practiced. Although this is sort of humorous to look back on now, I realized that burnt offerings were important in The Old Testament and throughout other religious traditions, so I would sometimes take a little bit of my food and light it on fire outside of my apartment for the sake of Allah, as an offering to Allah. I looked at myself as a devotee to the Supreme Unique God, Allah Subhana wa ta’ala.

     These thoughts and desires about following a prophet’s way prompted me to check out The Quran, which I had partially read years before, at a time when I didn’t really believe or didn’t have knowledge in the afterlife as explained in general by the Abrahamic faiths. So I basically set the book aside for a couple years, neither dismissing it nor putting it into practice, until these thoughts and desires about Abraham and Moses’ way came to me. I did know enough that Muhammad was claiming prophetic brotherhood with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and that The Quran’s way is Abraham’s religion. So I decide to reread The Quran and do some YouTube-ing where I found videos about the sunnah of Muhammad, which I think really made the religion and The Quran click into place for me. I discovered that the prophet I was waiting for had already come—Muhammad salallahu alayhi wassalaam.

     I gathered that the Muslims’ prostration and bowing was for Allah, so I began occasionally doing my own form of salat in my bedroom in which I would bow, put my head on the floor, and then come up and read the following from the Quran:

 

Say ye: “We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma’il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we bow to Allah (in Islam).”

 

-Surah AlBaqarah (2.136)

 

Being a vegetarian for about a year, for various spiritual and ecological reasons, I decided that halal meat would be OK for me to eat, since it was at least slaughtered in the name of Allah, which implies a respect for the creature to be slaughtered and thankfulness for the sustenance that Allah has given us, as opposed to the wastefulness and apathy shown in how the modern human gains his food. I met a Muslim at the halal meat shop, who gave me a ride back home and thereafter kept in touch and discussed Islam with me. This was the first Muslim I really knew up to this point. And up to this point I was doing my own form of salat and wudu and reading The Quran. I don’t mention this to say “Hey, look at how great I am!” But rather I only say this to give us all more evidence to fitra that Allah has placed in creation, to the fact that we as humans desire Islam, we desire that natural state that connects us back to The Creator. After meeting with this Muslim and watching hours of YouTube lectures and how-to videos, I gained more knowledge about tawheed and how to do salat and wudu, which I kept performing at my home and at a local mosque, and began attending jummat prayer on Fridays.

     I also want to comment on the straight path that The Quran constantly encourages us to strive on. As a new Muslim, or one looking into Islam, or even for those born-Muslims surrounded by strong cultural forces opposed to Islam, The Quran really does guide him or her. Many things that some of my nonMuslims acquaintances would say, I would find that Allah replies to them in the Quran.

     For example, a friend of mine, may Allah guide them, would criticize the Islamic practices I was implementing in my life, by saying, “These things and this religious stuff are for older times, not for these times.” And then I’d read in the Quran:

 

And there are among them such as [seem to] listen to thee [O Prophet]: but over their hearts We have laid veils which prevent them from grasping the truth, and into their ears, deafness. [18] And were they to see every sign [of the truth], they would still not believe in it-so much so that when they come unto thee to contend with thee, those who are bent on denying the truth say, “This is nothing but fables of ancient times!”

Al An’am (The Cattle)

6:25

    

     As another example, someone would hate, God knows why, to see me in salat, in sujud, bowing to Allah, and they would’ve stopped me if they could’ve. They criticized the salat and told me to leave it. And then I’d read The Quran and it would encourage me like in Surah Alaq when it mentions one who dissuades a devotee of Allah away from salat:

    

Nay, Obey not thou him. But prostrate thyself, and draw near (unto Allah).

 

There are many other personal instances like this that I felt the Quran was directly guiding me through. For sure, The Quran is a guide to mankind. The Quran says:

 

O people of the Book! There hath come to you our Messenger, revealing to you much that ye used to hide in the Book, and passing over much (that is now unnecessary). There hath come to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous Book,-

Wherewith Allah guideth all who seek His good pleasure to ways of peace and safety, and leadeth them out of darkness, by His will, unto the light,- guideth them to a path that is straight.

 

Al Mai’dah – 5:15-16

 

     I finally decided to take the shahadah in public in March of 2008, which I did directly after a funeral prayer conducted right after the jummat prayer. The imam had me come up to the front, where I realized that the person for whom we did the funeral prayer for was laid out in his or her coffin. So in front of a hundred people or more, standing next to this simple wooden coffin—basically standing next to death—I said, “Ash hadu en la illaha illa Allah, wa ash hadu enna Muhammadar Rasulullah.” Directly after which, some brothers rushed up, picked up the coffin and with a surprising urgency carried it right passed me, almost running me over! And directly after, many more brothers swarmed me to embrace me and shake my hand. I felt the whole experience in my chest. Like a ball of energy rolling in my chest.

     Allahuakbar. Allah does what He likes with us. Some he makes Muslim and they act accordingly, and some he makes Kafir and they act accordingly.

 

Abdullah b. Amr b. al-’As reported that he heard Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Verily, the hearts of all the sons of Adam are between the two fingers out of the fingers of the Compassionate Lord as one heart. He turns that to any (direction) He likes. Then Allahs Messenger (may peace be upon him) said : Oh Allah, the Turner of the hearts, turn our hearts to Thine obedience.

Sahih Muslim

 

We say: Oh Allah, the Turner of the hearts, turn our hearts to Thine obedience.

Ameen.

Just found this streaming station of nasheeds called Mr. Radio… seems like mostly voice, drums, but did here one with guitar so far.

http://www.mujahideenryder.net/2006/05/20/mr-radio-officially-launched/comment-page-1/#comment-139499

And this other station AlifMusic I sometimes listen to. You can select “no music” station, salawat, etc.

http://alifmusic1.homestead.com/radio.html

of all the movements of the body, which one brings us closest to The Peace, The Supreme, The Most High, The One without a Second? It is the prostration, when we have our forehead touching the ground for the sake of The Peace with our minds focused on praising The Peace. this choreography was given to the messengers of that Peace, and the movements have become obligatory on us, those who believe that only The Peace should be worshiped and that He sent messengers, including Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, peace and prayers upon them.

“And he [Jesus, peace be upon him] went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed.” The Gospels, Matthew 39

“O ye who believe! bow down prostrate yourselves and adore your Lord; and do good; that ye may prosper.” Quran, The pilgrimage 77

Both February and March have a Friday the 13th. Ooptydoo… Also St. P’s day is coming up, which always seems full of superstitions and drunks roaming the public transportation system.

I think the same reasoning below is also why magic is an act of disbelief in Islam.

The concept of bad luck has no basis in Islam. There is no bad omen in Islam.

“Rasulullah [Messenger of God] said, ‘Do not blame time.’ e.g. it is 13th today, then such and such a bad thing took place. We should not hold faith in these things, but rather we should say Allah [God] is the sole-doer of everything. If a person believes that because it is the 13th today, then this bad luck came upon me, i.e. the date 13th is the reason, Allah wasn’t the doer, then it will be Kufr [disbelief in God]. But if a person who says it believes Allah is the sole doer, then it won’t be Kufr. The Arabs in the time of Rasulullah did also have these beliefs and they used to say that we were given rain because of a certain Star. So Rasulullah prevented them from this and said, ‘Whosoever says so believes in the star and disbelieves in me.’ Rasulullah showed them that to say this is not permissible, but rather we should attribute everything to Allah.

“And Allah Ta’ala [God The Most High] Knows Best”

[[this is copied from http://www.albalagh.net/qa/bad_luck_13.shtml]]

Both February and March have a Friday the 13th. Ooptydoo… Also St. P’s day is coming up, which always seems full of superstitions and drunks roaming the public transportation system.

I think the same reasoning below is also why magic is an act of disbelief in Islam.

The concept of bad luck has no basis in Islam. There is no bad omen in Islam.

“Rasulullah [Messenger of God] said, ‘Do not blame time.’ e.g. it is 13th today, then such and such a bad thing took place. We should not hold faith in these things, but rather we should say Allah [God] is the sole-doer of everything. If a person believes that because it is the 13th today, then this bad luck came upon me, i.e. the date 13th is the reason, Allah wasn’t the doer, then it will be Kufr [disbelief in God]. But if a person who says it believes Allah is the sole doer, then it won’t be Kufr. The Arabs in the time of Rasulullah did also have these beliefs and they used to say that we were given rain because of a certain Star. So Rasulullah prevented them from this and said, ‘Whosoever says so believes in the star and disbelieves in me.’ Rasulullah showed them that to say this is not permissible, but rather we should attribute everything to Allah.

“And Allah Ta’ala [God The Most High] Knows Best”

[[this is copied from http://www.albalagh.net/qa/bad_luck_13.shtml]]