Tag: Piety

What Does It Mean To Be Religious?

 

We all seem to have an image. An image of what a God-fearing and religious person looks like. That image may be founded on our experience with those whom we consider to be “religious” or at times based on what we imagine a pious person to be, created upon our reading from a particular book, novel or after having watched a video.

The fact of the matter is that despite of what we imagine and consider being a God-fearing person, there are, there will be and have always been some really outstanding and amazing God conscious people in almost every nook and corner of our planet. But, the most pious people on the planet do not go around boasting of how good they are, nor do they look down arrogantly upon others. It is their sincerity of work, humbleness in their achievements, and trust in God which really makes them superior to those who claim to be sincere, humble, and trust worthy yet act otherwise. It is however, strange that on a more general opinion, people assume that the more pious a person becomes, the less cheerful he gets and the more arrogant he appears to be. One should realize that a truly pious Muslim is the one who is more caring for his/her parents, takes good care of his/her neighbour, kind in treating the ones younger than him/her and respectful towards his/her elders. If this was not the kind of pious person you had in mind then you should know, that the person you have had a bad experience with and whom you thought was religious was in fact not a God-conscious person, at least not yet!

As an inspiration for all Muslims and even all non-Muslims, let us learn from the impeccable characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companions. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was once recorded to have said:

“None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” [Recorded in the Book Saheeh Bukhari]

Similarly, on another occasion the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said:

“He is not one of us who does not show tenderness to the young and who does not show respect to the elder.” [Recorded in the book Tirmidhi]

Allah says in the Qur’an: ““O people, surely we have created you from a male and female, and made you tribes and families that you might know one another. Indeed, the noblest of you with Allah is he who is best in conduct.” [Qur’an, 49:13]

And there are many more verses and sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) that prove the same point. Hence, a significant amount of Islamic literature deals with improving one’s character and dealings with not just other human beings but also with animals. The Prophet (Peace be upon him), told his companions of a woman who would be sent to Hell for having locked up a cat; not feeding it, nor even releasing it, so that it could feed itself. [Narrated by Abdullah bin ‘Umar (R.A.), Recorded in Saheeh Bukhari] Therefore, improving one’s good manners and characters is a possible sign of him trying to be more pious. However, Islam is not just about good manners. It’s about perfecting one’s prayer, removing any possible chance of showing off, standing up and speaking out against injustice, giving money to the needy and the under-privileged, in short, being closer to the creator of the universe, and doing all that one can to maintain and improve upon that closeness.

However, one important point of consideration is to make one’s intentions pure. One should not study so that other humans can praise him for his vastness in knowledge, not to give in charity so that others can praise him for his generosity and not to fight against injustice so that others can call him brave. As a matter of fact, such people shall be in loss on the Day of Judgment due to their misappropriate intentions. One should only do good deeds so that the Creator of the universe will reward him for that. This is precisely what it means to be good. To do good sincerely and with full devotion keeping in mind that the creator of the universe is well aware of his intentions and hence should be sincere and diligent in doing good deeds is indeed a success in itself. This is exactly why; the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) were world renowned for their incredible character and amazing patience. They did not do good deeds so that other human beings could praise them, but, because they wanted to thank God in any way they could. They did not do good deeds so that people would reward them with medals or prizes but because they wanted to be rewarded by God in this life and the life hereafter.

It was due to this blend of sincerity combined with devotion, patience, and authentic knowledge of the commands of the prophet (peace be upon him) and of God, which made Muslims unparalleled and outstanding. And, unless and until we adopt this amazing yet simple recipe for success in this life and the hereafter, we would still remain lost in the same mess where we find ourselves today.

Are You as Pious as Me?

Have you seen those people who look very pious and virtuous, but at the same are very arrogant, violent and stubborn? They create repulsive vibes and people  try to stay away from them. There must be some problem with those guys who practice and preach religion, but turn more people away then they attract towards religion.

The ‘conceit of piety’ may sound odd; but it happens. It’s a disease actually, better known as ‘kibr’ ‘ghuroor’. Satan (Iblees) was the first one who conceited, thought he is the better one. So, indeed all Muslims should try to refrain from conceit and repent whenever such thoughts come into their mind.

The strange thing is the link of piety with conceit. Those who are pious are never supposed to be arrogant; those who are arrogant can never be pious. So from where comes the amalgamation? That is something to ponder upon.

When a person follows the ‘rituals’ religiously, he develops a feeling that he is better than others; certainly better from those who are not performing religious obligations. This develops a sort of superiority complex, in which a person feels himself superior to others. Such a person becomes big-headed and looks down upon others. It naturally takes away humility and the person becomes more arrogant. In his beliefs he is preaching religion, but actually he is repelling people away.

This conceit is a result of our ‘competitive’ mind-set. We tend to compete and quantify everything in monetary terms. While Allah Almighty has encouraged the sense of competition for paradise, the ‘real value’ of each virtue will be decided by Almighty Himself. It does not matter whether a person has given away a million in charity or a penny, what’s really important is his intention.  It’s not like scoring grades in college, where A grader can mock the B grader. Grades would be decided on the Day of Judgment by the Almighty Himself; and till then it’s not disclosed that who will enter Heaven or Hell. Every virtue should take us closer to God doesn’t mean that it is guaranteed that we are closer to God. A famous quote of Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA) in which he said that

‘If on Day of Judgement Allah announces that only one person will enter paradise, from the blessings of Almighty I expect that I will be that one. But if Allah announces that only one person will enter the hellfire, I fear that I will be that one.’

The concept of ‘holier than thou’ repels people from religion. The notion that ‘I have achieved a religious status’ and now I am ‘closer to God than you’ is a problem in itself.  When we tag others as lesser than us in terms of piety, it surely serves a detrimental purpose. For the opponents of faith, it serves double purpose. First, it turns people away from the faith. Second, it gives the opponents a chance to mock the religion and those who stand for religion.

When we preach religion and perform the role of Dawah, again it is very important that we have humility and lovely attitude. There can be no example betther than the Prophet (SAW) himself.  Prophet of peace (SAWW) shown the most humility in his actions.
Quran says

“And who is better in speech than him who prayeth unto his Lord and doeth right, and saith: Lo! I am of those who surrender (unto Him). The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo! he, between whom and thee there was enmity (will become) as though he was a bosom friend.” (ch-41: v 33-34)

Our actions should speak louder than our words. Our words will be effective only when our actions follow them. Those who have the conceit of piety, usually have multiple standards; different for themselves and others. It has more of social aspects. When such a person is in command of the situation, who thinks that others are not equal to him in piety, he actually makes life miserable for others. And what is the end result, people are repelled from God and His word, just because of that particular person and his pharaoh like attitude.

All of us should safeguard our virtues from conceit. Whether small or big, whatever our contribution is, it should make us more humble and more God-fearing.

Prophet (SAWW) gave same message in a hadith narrated hazrat Haritha bin Wahb Al-Khuzai:

“May I tell you of the people of paradise? Every weak and poor obscure person whom the people look down upon but his oath is fulfilled by Allah when he takes an oath to do something. And may I inform you of the people of the Hell-Fire? They are all those violent, arrogant and stubborn people.”