Qualities of a Believer

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Praises only due to the God the Most Highest. I managed to establish my relation with the mosque again after thinking on where to stop by as there were many traumas which makes me exhausted when thinking about them. It is quite tough for someone who is not stable in term of life like others to stay in a proper place. As for me now, I regard myself as a traveler who is in a journey to return to Him. I am just staying at the house of my parents because of their mercy-compassionate to provide me with shelter to continue this chaotic life and I own nothing. 

I always tell my sisters that I don't care about possessions because I do not regard my father property as mine. That possession came from his own effort and I have no right to claim the credit from his sweat and tears. The same thing also to my grandfathers possessions. We own no rights but only the rights to accept the Divine Path of our ancestral lineage. I am fortunate enough that our parents raised us up and we do not die due to famine though there might be some loopholes such as the lack of love due to the pressure of surviving in the city since the 90s until now. Parents are human-being and we must accept the fact that human are not perfect just like us. Only the God the Highest is Perfect. 

I do not know whether my sisters understood me but I really wish they understood me. I try to tell them about Him and to return together to Him with me. I also try to do so with my parents and preventing them from taking part in "public" sustenance as they do not know. I am aware about that and I checked everything again until the root, so I tried to prevent our selves from further defilement. I wish them to understand me but as always I am also labeled like what those Tabligh kids talked with me. I am also facing the same thing though I am not a member of that particular movement. I cried alone before Him and it is more painful when we are called names and misunderstood by our own family members.

Importance to be Grateful

I will continue with other notes once I record this note as I did not bring any pen or note book to the mosque this evening. I only brought with me a part of Quran which is the surats that I try to put into my heart through His permission. The lecture about Divine Path occurs in the mosque in the time that we expect the least about it. It will be a regret for me if I forgot these valuable teachings. Weirdly, I found that the ustad told the same thing which I am currently practicing. He mentioned about the importance of appreciating the grace of the God. The greatest grace of His graces is the grace of Islam and faith. This is greater than the grace of sustenance or luxuries of this illusory world. 

This question always struck me when I am applying for the job when I am annoyed with the pressures such as housing bills, loan payment, taxes, how to survive in this period or when people asking me what am I doing right now while I am jobless. I have nothing to brag to others and I am forbidden to accept the zakat by ancestral inheritance... Even if I try to do so, there would be many problems hitting my application. I checked my account and it scares me too but I try to convince myself that I can go through this time with His support. 

Perhaps my faith is not as great as the companions of prophet Muhammad s.a.w among the people of Medina as I am just a lowly follower among followers. I am envious to them as some of them were willing to die for the faith. There is a story about one of them which is an anonymous figure had met the prophet Muhammad s.a.w in order to pray for them for the cure of cholera infection. The prophet s.a.w said that he can pray for them and they will be cured once the God the Highest accept his prayers but if they hold on patiently, the reward is greater than they could imagine. The guy who heard this thinking for a moment and later return home without being prayed upon by the prophet s.a.w as he wishes to receive forgiveness for his sin. He later died because of cholera together with his family as unknown martyrs.

I wish I know his name and each of his family name, they would be those saints that I will specifically include in my humble prayers. I am so ashamed of myself as I almost cried in the mosque while listening to the sermon. The ansars or the people of Medina were well-beloved by prophet Muhammad s.a.w and they were the people who have preserved the traditions as transmitted again through prophet Muhammad s.a.w. I am bursting in tears while typing this. Anyway, nobody could see how ugly I am now or thinking that I am a nut because I am not living a "normal beautiful life" like them... haha...

Qualities of the Believer

In the surat al-Mu'minoon 23:1-18... The God the Highest has mentioned to us about the qualities of the people who are well beloved and enjoying the sweetness joy of faith. It is the highest quality in our Path and looks quite easy but actually requires us concentration and focus especially this period is the dark period of the universe. Being a Muslim is one thing but being a believer Muslim is another different thing. It is about being a Muslim by heart and not only by physical. 

A believer who submits himself to his Lord will be a successful person whether in this present life or in the other life. The word in the beginning of the surat actually denotes that the God is promising us something and His promises are all the truths and facts of the life. Maybe many other sites had also talked about this or perhaps I had posted about this too but I will put them always as reminders. It is important for us to repeat things not because we wanted to be boring but to stay in awareness. The highlights to us eight points for a person to be a believer although he is already a Muslim:

1. A person who is full of concentration in his salat services is a believer person. The first step to be a consistent and a focus person is to prepare early for the salat services. The key word that I have is preparation to see Him as salat services also means that we are in contact with the Creator.

2. A believer is a person who keeps himself or herself away from worthless words and acting in vanity. This is a trait of a dweller of the paradise and we can see it while we are in this world. 

3. A believer keeps his property and possession in purified condition through the prescribed zakat as what I had put in place in the introduction treatise. If we are not a fortunate person, it is enough to donate whatever that we have or sharing it with others who are unfortunate. 

As for myself, I just could just share these posts for the time-being. Say if we have RM1, so perhaps we just donate 10 cents to the donation box as it means one tenth from 100 cents. This is my personal logic based from the hadith narrated by Jabir bin 'Abdullah r.a. where prophet Muhammad s.a.w says that the crops watered by the rain and river water, the tithe would be one tenth of it and those by the camel; the tithe is one twentieth - Muslim. Since I cannot pay the proper zakat, so I am doing as this hadith proposes me because I might also had tyrannized others. It does not have to be strictly like the hadith but the principle matters. I received the support from my father and sisters while studying as undergraduate translation and interpretation student but I did not use them wholly for myself. Some, I donated to unfortunate brothers and to non-Muslim friends as a way to introduce my Path to them without having to to tell them anything or offend them with unwise attitude. They will come and ask me themselves why am I donating them with those things while I eat nothing from them. I managed to explain them about some principles of the Path and we became friends. This is also a practice of Orthodox Indian Brahmins and the Brahmins among Buddhist monks.

4. A believer must keep his or her genitals away from whatever is illegal to them. He or she must only stay in legal marriage condition as it is holy for them. The verse also mentions about genitals are only permitted for one's owned slave servants but nowadays the war principles are not the same as previous days. Nobody is the slave or serving others without any payment or binding contracts of employer and employees. One possess his mind to think and ponder on what is suitable with the principles around through the guide of Quran and Sunnah so use it wisely.

5. A believer must keep himself or herself away from committing adultery and other acts caused by the flesh desires. When we mention flesh desires here, it means that they are things that contradict the spirit. Those who are finding the ways as according to his or her evil desires are those who exceed the limit as a civilized human-being. Our Path is the Middle Path, we must be within the track and not outside of the track.

6. A believer is a person who is committed to his or her promises and trusts. Among the promises and trusts are the promises to be within the commandments and to hold higher the Covenant of the Lord. In our daily services, we actually make promises with Him so if we wanted to live for eternity, this is among the way that the God highlighted in the scripture for our convenience. The same thing also goes to other businesses, trusts and contracts that he or she holds. A believer also acts with this attitude.

7. A believer is a person who keeps his salat services and always learning about how to perform it nicely only for the pleasure of the God the Highest. This also refer to the litanies and remembrance that we chant for e.g the highest sentence which refers to the "there is no gods except the God; only Him with no partners to be worshiped;only for Him the Kingdom and Praises; He raises the soul into life and He put the soul into the death;and He is all-Powerful!".

I do not really like to put it here because I personally think that it is enough for a person to perform the basic things mentioned in the pillars of Islam. But I cannot hide this too. This has to do with our practices and also mentioned by the ustad. I guess he is from traditional circle because the reference books he use for the sermon and lecture is the books written by people of traditional circles. It takes times for one to perform this and I was also asked by a freshman undergraduate student while chanting this alone. I do not like people asking me this question because I do not like people relating this practice with mysticism. This is not a magical chanting word!

I am not so much traditional in approaches because we can conduct practices whether in private or in congregation. We emphasize on the Quran, the Sunnah and the wisdom of Ahl Bayt. Some traditional people say that we need to perform chantings of the highest sentence with teacher everyday and alone. It is up to people, the religion is very flexible. I chant without any teachers too while walking, while laying down or while I have no friends for conversation. I am communicating with the God, souls around and angels. Maybe next time I will share what I recite everyday. It is just the same with other people and I also perform tahlel for souls of faithful martyrs. Please some people do not mistook those chantings as magical.  

8. Once a person fulfills these integrated qualities, he or she will reach the Eternal Kingdom as promised by the Lord. One who sells everything that he posses which also includes his soul for His cause and the Lord is paying him with an extremely high price. I am not sure whether I have these qualities. I pray to him may everyone including myself acquire these traits. Please help me to pray together, amin!

 

Judging Faith 

So, these are the parameter of our Faith for Him. No need to see it in other people but try to put a mirror in front of ourselves and ask ourselves whether we hold these qualities? This is better than we label others as kafeer or with other unpleasant names. It should be imprinted in our heart...

After the 'Isha' prayer service, I just went to the nearby 99 Mart and I could see that I have some papers left in my wallet. I just used those papers to buy some vegetables like the lady's fingers and eggplants. I wanted to fast tomorrow and see if I will die because of hunger. No meat and no beautiful food, just enough with simple food to survive as fasting is a training for spiritual enlightenment. Not to demand the God the Highest to grant us any material reward. Just enough to receive His Merciful Love.

Next morning I would have to purify myself with turmeric as people at home began to take forbidden things like seafood and shrimp paste in the kitchen. I have told them many times a wara' person will never touch those matters. I am not a wara' person myself but I am trying to hold the codes as fast as I can and promoting them to everyone other than to myself. This is some influence that we have to encounter when we are melting in the receiving society...

It is up to them or anyone to take it or to leave it. I will stick to whatever I believe and I believe those subject matters will slow my effort to grab the Quran while it is for everyone benefits. It is a very painful process especially to maintain awareness about Him and not to fall again into darkness.... I am apologizing to everyone which also includes my parents. I am such a burden and a useless son. I am also a useless friend and could provide nothing for friends as offerings. I wish that I could do something as a favor for everyone... Ya Allah....

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!