Questions....questions...

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” ― Dr. Seuss  

Years ago, when I started evaluating my life, I found that I fell short from the definition of a ‘Muslim’. I found myself severely lacking. I also found that many things which are cultural rituals, that I have been following, are not religious practice. The danger is that these rituals have been practiced and passed down through generations that it is difficult to differentiate it from the religious practice. I needed to get myself back on track, wherever the track may be.

For example, holding a feast (kenduri) after a funeral, is a cultural thing. It is not an Islamic practice. I can’t find any Quran verses or Hadith to support the act of holding the feast in honor of the deceased but it is something that we have been doing for ages. In Islam, it is not up to the family of the deceased to provide food for the well- wisher but it is the responsibility of the neighbours and friends, to bring food for the family of the deceased. 

There were also many other things that I questioned but I couldn’t get any answers to. At that point of time, I really felt lost. I did not want to blindly follow rituals that I do not understand. The funny thing is, many of us do not understand but we never bother to try to seek for the answers.

When I was first met the Wise Old man and the Wise Owl, I unleashed all my pent-up questions on them. One of the questions I had asked was, why do we need to pray? Why do we need to prostrate and do other physical acts in the prayer? If prayers is a form of communication between the Creator and His servant, why can’t I just sit and talk to God?.I had asked the same question to an Islamic Scholar (ustaz) years ago and he brushed off my questions and told me to just accept without questioning otherwise I would be in danger of renouncing my faith. What??? Seriously?

I am a student of Islam. Every day, I will learn something new until I breathe my last breathe, and only then, will I stop learning. A good student is one who asks questions so that she or he can understand the subject better. A student who blindly copies everything from the blackboard without bothering to think or ask question is, to me, a lazy student. As Muslim, we can’t afford to be lazy. We need to ask questions so that we understand our beautiful religion better. I find that when I understand better, I am more willing to follow. I do not want to be force to follow but I want to make the conscious decision to follow. I was not born with complete a-z knowledge about Islam hence I need to seek for the knowledge and questioning is part of the process. I am not a Prophet so no Angle will come down and reveal anything to me. I am just a normal ignorant human being and I need to seek for my knowledge as it will not be given to me on a silver platter. 

So back to my questions, the Old Wise man said this to me, “sister, our soul was created by God before our body. Our body was created in our mothers’ womb. Before our soul was breathed into our body, our soul was already worshipping God Mighty. How? That is beyond our knowledge but, when our soul was put into our bodies, we then became the custodians. Our bodies belong to God AlMighty so don’t you think that it is only fair that our body also worship God? If we were to just sit and talk, it is just our soul whispering to God but not our entire body. On Judgment day, all of our body part will have a voice of its own and it will testify to God whether it had ever worship God, during its lifetime. We control our bodies so if we do not pray, we have prevented our bodies from worshipping its Creator. Our bodies will testify against us on Judgment day.  The way for our bodies to worship God, has been taught by God Al Mighty to our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW and he, in turn, taught us. It was during Isra’ Mikraj when the 5 daily prayers was made compulsory upon us. When our souls and bodies combine and perform the perfect act of worship which includes prostrating to God Al Mighty, then we are truly grateful servants of Allah SWT.”

Hadrat Abu Hamid as Sayidi (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated amongst ten of the companions of the Prophet (may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him): I know better than you about the prayer of Allah's Messenger (may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him). They asked: Narrate. He said: When the Prophet (may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him) stood for prayer, he raised his hands till he took them opposite his shoulders, then he recited takbir, then he read (the Qur'an), then he recited takbir and raised up his hands till he took them opposite his shoulders, then bowed placing his palms upon his knees, then making himself straight, neither lowering his head nor raising it up. Then he raised up his head saying, "Allah hears one who praises Him": then he raised up his hands till he took them opposite his shoulders by being straight: and he said: "Allah is the greatest." Then he lowered himself to the ground in prostration keeping his hands away from his two sides and bending the toes of his feet, he raised up his head and bent his left foot and sat on it, then he sat straight till every bone returned to its proper place. Next he prostrated and said: "Allah is Most Great", raising himself, and bent on his left foot and sat on it. Then he sat straight till every bone returned to its proper place. Then he stood up and did the same thing in the second Rak'at. At the end of the two Rak'ats he stood and said takbir raising up his hands till he took them opposite his shoulders, just as he recited takbir when he opened the prayer, then he did the same in the remaining portion of his prayer till when the prostration in which there was Taslim, he put out his left foot and sat on his hip bone upon his left side. Then he uttered Taslim. They said: You have spoken the truth. He used to pray thus. (Abu Dawud)

The Wise Owl then related to me the events that took place during isra’ mikraj.

Narrated Malik bin Sasaa: The Prophet said, "While I was at the House in a state midway between sleep and wakefulness, (an angel recognized me) as the man lying between two men. A golden tray full of wisdom and belief was brought to me and my body was cut open from the throat to the lower part of the abdomen and then my abdomen was washed with Zam-zam water and (my heart was) filled with wisdom and belief. Al-Buraq, a white animal, smaller than a mule and bigger than a donkey was brought to me and I set out with Gabriel. When I reached the nearest heaven. Gabriel said to the heaven gate-keeper, 'Open the gate.' The gatekeeper asked, 'Who is it?' He said, 'Gabriel.' The gate-keeper asked, 'Who is accompanying you?' Gabriel said, 'Muhammad.' The gate-keeper said, 'Has he been called?' Gabriel said, 'Yes.' Then it was said, 'He is welcomed. What a wonderful visit his is!' Then I met Adam and greeted him and he said, 'You are welcomed O son and a Prophet.' Then we ascended to the second heaven. It was asked, 'Who is it?' Gabriel said, 'Gabriel.' It was said, 'Who is with you?' He said, 'Muhammad' It was asked, 'Has he been sent for?' He said, 'Yes.' It was said, 'He is welcomed. What a wonderful visit his is!" Then I met Jesus and Yahya (John) who said, 'You are welcomed, O brother and a Prophet.' Then we ascended to the third heaven. It was asked, 'Who is it?' Gabriel said, 'Gabriel.' It was asked, 'Who is with you? Gabriel said, 'Muhammad.' It was asked, 'Has he been sent for?' 'Yes,' said Gabriel. 'He is welcomed. What a wonderful visit his is!' - (The Prophet added:). -There I met Joseph and greeted him, and he replied, 'You are welcomed, O brother and a Prophet!' Then we ascended to the 4th heaven and again the same questions and answers were exchanged as in the previous heavens. There I met Idris and greeted him. He said, 'You are welcomed O brother and Prophet.' Then we ascended to the 5th heaven and again the same questions and answers were exchanged as in previous heavens. There I met and greeted Aaron who said, 'You are welcomed O brother and a Prophet". Then we ascended to the 6th heaven and again the same questions and answers were exchanged as in the previous heavens. There I met and greeted Moses who said, 'You are welcomed O brother and a Prophet.' When I proceeded on, he started weeping and on being asked why he was weeping, he said, 'O Lord! Followers of this youth who was sent after me will enter Paradise in greater number than my followers.' Then we ascended to the seventh heaven and again the same questions and answers were exchanged as in the previous heavens. There I met and greeted Abraham who said, 'You are welcomed O son and a Prophet.' Then I was shown Al-Bait-al-Ma'mur (i.e. Allah's House). I asked Gabriel about it and he said, This is Al Bait-ul-Ma'mur where 70,000 angels perform prayers daily and when they leave they never return to it (but always a fresh batch comes into it daily).' Then I was shown Sidrat-ul-Muntaha (i.e. a tree in the seventh heaven) and I saw its Nabk fruits which resembled the clay jugs of Hajr (i.e. a town in Arabia), and its leaves were like the ears of elephants, and four rivers originated at its root, two of them were apparent and two were hidden. I asked Gabriel about those rivers and he said, 'The two hidden rivers are in Paradise, and the apparent ones are the Nile and the Euphrates.' Then fifty prayers were enjoined on me. I descended till I met Moses who asked me, 'What have you done?' I said, 'Fifty prayers have been enjoined on me.' He said, 'I know the people better than you, because I had the hardest experience to bring Bani Israel to obedience. Your followers cannot put up with such obligation. So, return to your Lord and request Him (to reduce the number of prayers.' I returned and requested Allah (for reduction) and He made it forty. I returned and (met Moses) and had a similar discussion, and then returned again to Allah for reduction and He made it thirty, then twenty, then ten, and then I came to Moses who repeated the same advice. Ultimately Allah reduced it to five. When I came to Moses again, he said, 'What have you done?' I said, 'Allah has made it five only.' He repeated the same advice but I said that I surrendered (to Allah's Final Order)' " Allah's Apostle was addressed by Allah, "I have decreed My obligation and have reduced the burden on My slaves, and I shall reward a single good deed as if it were ten good deeds." - Sahih Al-Bukhari 4:429

I was captivated by the explanations made by both, the Wise Old Man and the Wise Owl. What a beautiful explanation. Now I truly understand the importance of prayer. I must not deny my body from worshipping God because, truly, I do not want my hand or feet or even eyes complaining to God, saying that I stopped them from worshipping Him. The vision of my hands talking, is enough to scare the living daylight of me so, to vision them testifying against me, is enough to give me nightmares till eternity! No thank you.

I was very lucky that I finally found 2 wonderful people, who were willing to erase my doubts and put me straight. I think all Islamic scholars should try to explain rather than insisting that we just blindly accept. I was not questioning my faith or God or the Quran but I just wanted to know the history behind certain religious conducts so that I can learn to appreciate it better. It is also because I asked questions, these hadiths were told to me …

On the authority of Hadrat Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that Allah's Messenger (may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him) said:
The first of his actions for which a servant of Allah (The Glorified and the Exalted) will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayers. If they are in order, then he will have prospered and succeeded; and if they are wanting, then he will have failed and lost. If there is something defective in his obligatory prayers, the Lord (The Glorified and the Exalted) will say: See if My servant has any optional prayers with which may be completed that which was defective in his obligatory prayers. Then the rest of his actions will be judged in like fashion. (Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, an-Nasai, Ibn Majah and Ahmad). (Hadith Qudsi)

Hadrat Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him) said, "Let anyone tell me; if a stream flows by the house of any person and he baths in it five times a day, whether any dirt will remain on his body." The companions replied that no dirt would remain in such a case. He said, "So is the case with prescribed prayers. Allah forgives men's sins (minor) on their account." (Bukhari, Muslim)

                                                                                                                         

So my dear brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to ask questions but we must never ask out of arrogance or conceit. Let our intention be sincere and In Shaa Allah God will give us the answers. Do not be disheartened if you can’t find the right person who can answer all your questions. Remain steadfast and keep on looking; and God will send someone to guide you, In Shaa Allah.