Sunday 27 September 2009

In the Name of Allah do we begin...

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Bismillahir-Rahman-Ar-Raheem,

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful...


Having read several blogs and mulled over creating one over a couple of years, I felt it was time for me to start projecting my mundane and not-so-mundane thoughts on all sorts of topics, mainly related to my way of life. That is, Islam.

Most people who know me would not believe that I think so deeply that I feel the need to tell the world my thoughts, primarily due to the fact that I have not done this before. Or maybe I have, though not so much in an obvious way.

In the past couple of years, since my increased understanding towards my religion, one that I already practiced, I felt that there were many issues within the Muslim community that needed to be addressed. They are not your average, typical, fundamental issues that are found in the newspapers, but ones that need further investigation before these issues can be acknowledged. And so began my thought process prior to projection.

However, as with many deep thinkers and people in general, life got in the way and so, in the midst of completing my final year at university, working and getting married, I held off for a year or two before contributing to the world of blogging, so that things could settle down a little.

One may ask why now? The reason is probably due to laziness, until I began reading SISTERS magazine and a blog called Muslim Matters and felt the desire to write. It seems, however, that I have always wanted to write and that the abovementioned elements, combined with my husband's new blog as well as my father's musings on several online Arab newspapers, inspired me to create this blog.

So where to begin? A good place to begin may be Islam and my choice of title for this blog.

In case you haven't noticed, the title is 'There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah'. What does that mean, you might ask? For Muslims, the essence of Islam lies within that statement itself, which comes from the Arabic 'La ilaha il Allah', a statement which is so profound and yet so easily ignored, and occasionally belittled.

What it means is that there is no-one, no-one at all, no person, no being, no object be it animate or inanimate, that is worthy of any kind of worship or even receiving any sort of veneration, except God. To Muslims, God is known as Allah.
No partners can be ascribed and none of the abovementioned can receive the same level of devotion or names that are attributed to Allah. In short, it is not enough to just believe, it is imperative for Muslims to practice their faith beginning with that statement.

Surah al-Ikhlaas (Chapter 112) from the Qur'an would explain this statement well:

Say: He is Allah the One and Only; (1) Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; (2) He begetteth, not nor is He begotten; (3) And there is none like unto Him. (4)

And the command to worship is in several places:

O mankind! Worship your Lord (Allâh), Who created you and those who were before you so that you may become Al-Muttaqûn (the pious)
(Al-Baqarah: 21)

And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).
(Adh-Dhariyat: 56)

And so, I believe that it is important to strengthen the understanding of 'La ilaha il Allah' before proceeding to understand anything else for it is the fundamental aspect of a Muslim's way of life, and therefore my reason for choosing it as a title, as it represents everything I believe and practice.

As the day turns into night, I hope that I have not offended anyone with my first post or even bored them! And insha'Allah (God-willing), Allah will forgive me for my mistakes and shortcomings.

Ameen.