I want to be strong...

[Mason]

Earlier today i was reading on another forum about a girl who wanted to take up a religion, but she had a few beliefs that clashed with it, ones that would have stopped her from practising that faith. It seemed she didn't know if she could or wanted to give them up... In someone's reply they said "If you do seek God, you may be put in the position of having to dispense with some long cherished beliefs. That is how it is with God". This made me think about me and Islam, as i am in quite a similar position,... not knowing if i can detach myself from my original beliefs. I want to, because most of them don't make any sense and they leave me feeling very empty and worthless. I want to be strong and leave these wrong beliefs behind, but i don't know how, and i most certainly don't want to be living in denial.

There are some things i have found out about Islam that i wish i hadn't, because it makes me abit sad to think that its not as perfect as i had hoped. Though, i still want to learn more about it, and i really think i want to be a muslim. I hope i can be forgiven by Allah for being so very doubting and indecisive. Does anyone have any surjestion on how i should over come and learn to disbelieve my "basic beliefs"? I really don't want them anymore, i never did. I want to feel whole and content about what i believe, can anyone help me...?

 

[Friend]

Salaam

It is very important step in your life my friend ,so take your time to think and ask about the truth . submission for Allah mean put your trust on him .
Ask Allah to guide you to the right way , may Allah help you .
I know that it is very difficult for any person whom live in certain conditions and surrounding by west thoughts and spent all his life in west culture environment to understand the Islamic way of life . I think you are strong person because you take your decision to search and increase your knowledge .
I want to ask you few questions and according to your answers may be we can help you .

When you are start think about Islam ?
What are the most attractive things that made you search about the reality behind Islam ?
What are the things you found it unsuitable for you or made you sad to know about Islam ?

and i really think i want to be a muslim. I hope i can be forgiven by Allah for being so very doubting and indecisive

If you are really feel that, I'm sure that Allah will help you to be strong .and he will guide you to the truth .
see this link :
http://www.islamonline.net/askaboutislam/browse.asp

 

[Mason]

Thanks for your reply Friend, ^_^
I will try to answer your questions as well as i can.

When you are start think about Islam?

Ok, here i think you mean: When did you start thinking you wanted to learn about Islam. < or something along those lines.
I have been interested in that part of the world, since i heard some islamic style music when i was about 15 years old, (it was Tarkan's "Kiss Kiss"). So i decided to investigate. At first it was the geography of the region i learned, as in country positions, etc. Later i became very interested in islamic architecture and this lead me on to mosques and finally Islam.

What are the most attractive things that made you search about the reality behind Islam?

Um,... i think its the idea of heaven, and that when i find love, it can be forever, not just for 60 years. (i am right in thinking this i hope, men and women do go to the same heaven don't they?) < hope thats what you meant by the question.

What are the things you found it unsuitable for you or made you sad to know about Islam?

There were two but i can't remember one, and i don't really want to speak about the other right now.
^_^

 

[farhan]

Salam,

well I guess I can understand . Difficult decisions take time . Important decisions take time too . So ... try to think whats important for U...and whats the most important...and what gives U the thing(s) U want .

There are some things i have found out about Islam that i wish i hadn't, because it makes me abit sad to think that its not as perfect as i had hoped

Well perfection is a very subjective thing , dont U think so ?? Having said that , every religion is based on three things

1 . Beliefs

2 . Prayers

3 . Practices

From beliefs part , all I know is that U believe in many gods . I cant feel how believing in many gods would feel like . But I think in religions with many gods , all gods have been created by one supreme God . The one who created all , & himself is uncreated . What do U say ??

From Prayers part , we havent discussed anything yet .

From Practices part , well...there R somethings that R difficult to follow . Thats what differentiates an average man from people whom God calls " Friends of Allah " .

In Islam practices can be divided into Obligatory , recommended , your choice , better not be done , & forbidden .

It is better to follow 99% & not follow 1% , rather than not following at all , what do U say ??

(i am right in thinking this i hope, men and women do go to the same heaven don't they?)

Of course , they go to te same heaven .

I hope i can be forgiven by Allah for being so very doubting and indecisive.

Well he is your creater , he knows U even better that U know yourself . He knows your streangths & weaknesses . He can see U R in the middle of a big decision here . U only have to ask him wholeheartedly for forgiveness , he will forgive U .

In the end , ask your creater ( without giving him any name , attributes , qualities if U dont want to ) to show U the right path . He created U with love . He wont leave U .

Hope that helps

 

[Mason]

Some helped Farhan, and some left me confused.
Ok, firstly, thanks for answering my question,... thats good to know.

The first post in this thread, i tried my best to say i don't want to believe in many gods and in another post some where in my 'Questions ?' thread i said why i do, it went something like this:
I would like to be as fair as possible, so that if and when i do choose to take up a religion, i have not criticised it as being false. I believe its not my place to say some religions are wrong, i just want to be nasty as infrequently as possible.
I would like to add i do NOT worship any of these gods, actually i don't worship any yet. Islam will be my first and only religion i hope.

Also i said i didn't want to waste another second on that subject, i really would like to move on with my life. ^_^ (you know what face i'm pulling, lol)

Well perfection is a very subjective thing, don't U think so?

Yes, perfection is very difficult to achieve, almost impossible, thats why i said

its not as perfect as i had hoped

meaning i didn't think it was going to be 100% perfect.

It is better to follow 99% & not follow 1%, rather than not following at all, what do U say?

What can i say but "yea, sure, your total right".

 

[smkolins]

Salaam

I know that it is very difficult for any person whom live in certain conditions and surrounding by west thoughts and spent all his life in west culture environment to understand the Islamic way of life .... ]

I would hope more care be used in such words. To limit the effect of the Spirit of God to one place or another is to chain the unchainable. I think one should strive to get passed materialism and a patriotism that is blind and consumption based on fads among many modern ills wherever one is. In each era, some have had prominance, and in every age there have been ills. But the ills always carried on, while whoever had prominance changed from here to there. What best characterizes this problem is not place, or culture, but lack of spiritual sight, and understanding. The ways of men have never been the ways of God, praised be He. Ah, that His guidance might be listened to.

 

[Mason]

Smkolins, i can't say i valued your opinion....
Reading your post left me in a state of confusion and coursed me to forget what i was going to ask Friend.

|¬_¬| Thank you for your input.

 

[Bandit]

Mason, I think everyone feels that way at some point or another no matter what religion. I found my strength comes from Allah & not of my own.

Do search His will, like Friend said. He does not fail us when we seek Him, He will guide us into all truth.

For me, I have found there to be truth & error in all organized religion because if we had it all or one person had it all, then we would be God.
We are only humans though.

 

[Friend]

I would hope more care be used in such words. To limit the effect of the Spirit of God to one place or another is to chain the unchainable. I think one should strive to get passed materialism and a patriotism that is blind and consumption based on fads among many modern ills wherever one is. In each era, some have had prominance, and in every age there have been ills. But the ills always carried on, while whoever had prominance changed from here to there. What best characterizes this problem is not place, or culture, but lack of spiritual sight, and understanding. The ways of men have never been the ways of God, praised be He. Ah, that His guidance might be listened to.

Hi
I'm sorry if I didn't explain my idea here well , what I mean here that we all suffer if we change some thing in our life despite of which is better , like when we change our home location .( I mean the influence of change on our life ).

 

[Mason]

At the beginning of this thread i said:

Does anyone have any surjestion on how i should over come and learn to disbelieve my "basic beliefs"?

I don't feel any the wiser about this, but i do know i'm certain that, its what i want to do.

Have any of you studied psychology by any chance?... as i don't just want to cover them up, I want to let go. If not, does any one have any surjestions on how i could try?

Thanks ^_^

 

[Friend]

Salaam
I don't know what you mean by your question , but according to my understanding if we doubt about any things and we want to take decision about them , we can write every good things about them ,then we should write every things we saw it is worthless or unbelievable about them .
and the results of them in our life , and the most important thing which can help us to take decision in our life the inner peace inside ourrself with our decisions( or our feeling with our decision ).

 

[smkolins]

At the beginning of this thread i said:I don't feel any the wiser about this, but i do know i'm certain that, its what i want to do.

Have any of you studied psychology by any chance?... as i don't just want to cover them up, I want to let go. If not, does any one have any surjestions on how i could try?

I have. It is an infant science with several paradigms explaining what is or can be changed about us. Some point to understanding oneself but think that is arrived at through introspection. Others think to change one must simply do it and stop thinking about it. More common these days is learning how to think positively about what needs to be, and taking opportunities or taking matters into one's own hand - to move in that direction. There are also nonprofessional forms of psychology, the archtype of which is a 12 step program, which outline a series of steps, in cooperation with a helper, but what the goal is and the details are left up to you.

Religiously speaking, any of these could be supported I think. One must be alittle impatient with oneself, and one must be patient with oneself. It's a stormy process. One must seek with vigor, but one will other times be very tired and apathetic. One will feel totally guided sometimes, and other times totally lost.

But when we move, when we act, God has something to work with. When we don't act, when we are oblivious, then there is nothing much God can do but send us troubles to bounce us out of our complacency. It can help to get views from other walks of life, but one aught not assume just because another says it, that it is true.

 

[smkolins]

Hi
I'm sorry if I didn't explain my idea here well , what I mean here that we all suffer if we change some thing in our life despite of which is better , like when we change our home location .( I mean the influence of change on our life ).

There is some truth to that - one can feel that the way things are in our own particular place is the way it is everywhere. Moving one's home will quickly change that view in some ways.

But there is no where we can go to be rid of ourselves, our own choices, and those of others. Learning how to make better choices, and being able to deal with those of others, is a sustaining way. God can make it possible - the lives of His Prophets show the way. None had lives more complicated and oppressed. None succeeded more, whether they lived in the East or the West - are they not a Tree of neither the east or the west?

 

[Mason]

Thanks for you reply, Smkolins

I would like to point out (to non-native english speakers) that when smkolins wrote:

It is an infant science

He/she didn't mean psychology is a study of infants, he/she meant it's new or recent. I just don't want any of you to think i didn't make sure i was using the right word, is all. ^_^

P.s. Smkolins, wouldn't it be nice if you had a good looking avatar, or maybe none at all...?

 

[Mason]

We can write every good things about them, then we should write every things we saw it is worthless or unbelievable about them.

Thanks for the surjestion Friend, i will give it ago ^_^

 

[Friend]

Just an idea

Hi
Mason ,I have one suggestion for you .. I think read about Islam help you to take idea about it ,but before any decision and as inquiry you can visit a Mosque to see practically what you reads about .This may be help you to test your thought and feeling . Just to add some information and to see how Muslims practice their Islamic teachings . ( remember this will not costs you anything ) .

 

[smkolins]

Thanks for you reply, Smkolins...
P.s. Smkolins, wouldn't it be nice if you had a good looking avatar, or maybe none at all...?

Perhaps. But I also find a question mark an interesting statement!

 

[smkolins]

Thanks for you reply, Smkolins

I would like to point out (to non-native english speakers) that when smkolins wrote:He/she didn't mean psychology is a study of infants, he/she meant it's new or recent. I just don't want any of you to think i didn't make sure i was using the right word, is all. ^_^

Very true. A more mature science will have some broad-based fundamental laws that are acccepted and seen applying in many circumstances. Right now psychology has a few paradigms, or sets of "laws" but there are large scale inconsistencies among them....

 

[Bi Dhikri Allah]

Hi Mason,

I can see that you are a deep person with a heart inclined towards the truth. You are already a strong person because you are questioning the faith you grew up with/the way you lived your life up till now, and that takes guts. Your curiosity about faith shows that you are mature enough to realize that there is more out there than merely this world. Allah says in the Quran in several places that this (the Quran) is a book for those of understanding/who are wise/ who seek knowledge.

With that in mind, please continue to ask questions about the Muslim faith of Islam because it IS a strange religion (Ghuraba). Allah says that this religion began as something strange and will return as something strange.

Anyways, if you do choose to accept Islam and submit to His will, you will find that Allah will make it easy for you to let go of the past and He will recognize and REWARD you for sacrificing something so dear to you as your art of sculpting. He will also forgive your past sins. Islam is not an easy religion and Muslims aren't expected to live an easy and carefree life. Life is a test of one's faith and how much we put our trust in Allah, our One and ONLY Creator. However, the end of the journey makes it all worth it.

On respecting other faiths and religions, Islam recognizes that there are religions out there that believe in more than one God, etc. We are not allowed to make fun of them and insult their religions. We must show respect for them.

In the Prophet Muhammad's time, the nonMuslims in Muslim lands were free to practice their religion, have their own courts and practice their own autonomy. Prophet Muhammad was very well known for his justice and equity so much so that nonMuslims would come to him to decide matters of dispute and would ask him to be judge. He would respect them so much that he would rule and make judgements based on THEIR beliefs and THEIR laws, not Muslim laws and beliefs, so that the ruling would be fair to them. subhanAllah (praise be to Allah).

I would like to share with you another example of the Prophet's kindness and how it won over the hearts of nonMuslims: Where the Prophet lived, there was a Jewess who lived next door to him. Everyday she would throw her trash at him whenever she saw him walking outside. One day, the Jewess didn't throw trash at him and he became perturbed. He didn't say anything like "good the old cow is dead" or anything. Instead he went up to her house and asked her servants if their mistress was feeling ok and if there was anything he could do for her. When she heard about this, she immediately accepted accepted Islam.
I could give you countless other stories like this, but I'm afraid this post is too long already-heh.

 

[thipps]

Salaam,

Giving up something for the sake of Allah is part of the teachings of our religion and it has come up in this thread, so here is something to digest:

"Whoever Abandons Something For The Sake Of Allâh, He Will Replace It For Him With Something Better Than It..."​

By: Shaykh Alee Hasan al-Halaabee​

Source: Al-Asaalah Magazine (Issue 31, pg. 60-61)

The teacher of our teachers, the great scholar and historian, Shaykh Muhammad Raaghib At-Tabbaakh, (Rahimahullâh), mentioned the following story in his book "I’laam an-Nubalaa bi-Taareekh Halab ash-Shuhabaa" (7/231):​

"Shaykh Ibraaheem Al-Hilaalee Al-Halaabee – a pious and noble scholar – travelled to Al-Azhar University in search of knowledge. While seeking knowledge, he became very poor and used to rely on charity. One time, several days passed by and he did not find anything to eat, so he became extremely hungry.

So he came out of his room in Al-Azhar to ask for some scraps of food. He found an open door from which a pleasant smell of food was coming out of. So he entered the door and found himself in a kitchen with no one around. There he found some tempting food, so he grabbed a spoon and dipped it in, but when he lifted it to his mouth, he held himself back from eating it, since he realized that he had not been given permission to eat from it. So he left it and returned to his room in the dormitory of Al-Azhar, still hungry and starving.

But no less than an hour passed by, when one of his teachers, accompanied by another man, came into his room. And his teacher said to him: 'This noble man came to me seeking a righteous student of knowledge to choose for marrying his daughter, and I have chosen you for him. So rise and come with us to his home where we can complete the marriage contract between you and his daughter and you can become part of his household.'

So Shaykh Ibraaheem struggled to get to his feet, obeying the command of his teacher and went with them. And behold they took him to the very same house he had been to, and which he had entered and dipped the spoon into the food!

So when he sat down, the girl’s father married her to him and the food was brought out. It was the same food he had put the spoon into before and which he abandoned. But now he ate from it and said to himself: 'I withheld from eating it when I had no permission, but now Allah has given me this food with permission.'

Afterward, this righteous wife went back with him to Halab, after he had finished his studies. And she was bore righteous children for him.”

So this is the fruit of patience and this is the result of having taqwaa, as Allah says: "And whoever has Taqwaa of Allah, He will make a way out for him (from hardship), and He will provide for Him from places He never imagined." [Soorah At-Talaaq: 2-3]

But as for those who are hasty – those who do not distinguish between the truth and falsehood, seeking after the transitory vanities of this worldly life – they will never experience anything but grief and sorrow in their hearts, for they will never attain the worldly life nor will they ever achieve Religion.

This is because they forget – or perhaps neglect – the saying of Allah: "Is not Allah sufficient for His servant?" [Soorah Az-Zumar: 36]

As for those who are patient and firm and who have Taqwaa, they will gain ascendancy in this life and glory and honour with their Lord on the Day of Judgement. And Allah says: "So give the glad tidings to the patient ones." [Soorah Al-Baqarah: 155]

And He says: "Verily, the patient ones will be given their reward without any reckoning." [Soorah Az-Zumar: 10]

-------------------------------------------------------------​

And with Allaah lies all guidance.​