...so I was talking to my friends during lunch and the technical discussion took a tangent and we started talking about religions and beliefs. One of my Jewish friend asked us (me and another Muslim guy) about our religion. The reply my Muslim friend gave was really weird, confusing and funny but I kinda expected it. I expected it because I have heard it so many times from Muslims regardless of their geographic location, origin, color, etc. Many of you must have heard the same thing or maybe you are also one of those who describe their religious beliefs just like my friend.
So anyways, my friend replied to the American guy as follows: Oh! I am a moderate Muslim!!! This term always makes me laugh so I thought I should write about it. Good idea right!? May be not, but then everybody hates me anyway, so who cares!
Just like fifty shades of grey, Muslims these days come in many different shades and colors such as "liberal Muslim", "Spiritual Muslim", "spiritual but not religious Muslim", etc. After analyzing many such personalities (like my friend), I have come up to the conclusion that there are two main causes behind people who describe their beliefs in fifty different shades, when in reality Islam comes in only one.
The first reason is spelled as follows: "I.n.f.e.r.i.o.r.i.t.y C.o.m.p.l.e.x" and the second one can be described as "human weakness". Now let us talk about these two behaviours and the root causes behind each one in some detail.
The concept of inferiority complex was deeply engraved on the hearts and minds of the Muslims when the European powers started colonization of their lands in Africa and Asia. All colonized territories were controlled with extreme intelligence by making the oppressed people feel insignificant, illiterate, uncivilized, etc. They were force fed the ideas that things they do, things they know, the way they look and everything they believe in makes them uncivilized and uncultured. Hence lassi (curd drink) became paindoo (uncultured) and tea was the new drink of the east, dark color became a stigma and fair&lovely was needed just to look acceptable in the society, beard was unacceptable and men with face like a baby's butt were the new definition of manhood, when the women who used to breastfeed their kids saw the goori (white) ma'am using the bottle, they took loans to buy the bottles for their loved ones, etc.
Another tactic used against the locals was to divide and rule. As we all know that languages join and keep people together, hence applying the formula of divide and rule, the people of subcontinent were disconnected from Iran, Afghanistan and the Arab world by the introduction of a new language you now know by the name of Urdu. People who didn't know Urdu/English were not given jobs, all paperwork was changed from Farsi to Urdu/English, teaching Arabic or Farsi in schools was discouraged or discontinued, etc. The people were also made to feel inferior by belittling their profession, hence the super skilled shoemaker of the Muslim world became "moochi" (derogatory term for a shoemaker), imam masjid fell from being the teacher and important part of the community to being someone who lived on the leftovers of the landlords, molvi and Sufi became derogatory terms, and much more. Many of you may not know but there used to be sign boards in some parks and markets of subcontinent with a message saying: Dogs and Indians are not allowed!!!
All those who opposed the oppressors were killed or thrown out of their lands, and all those who supported them and betrayed their people and their land became Makhdooms, Shahs, Gailanis, Zardaris, Sardars, etc. the same people who still rule us. If we compare the colonized and non-colonized regions of the world, we can see the vast differences in the way they feel about their beliefs, culture and everything that defines them as a nation. For example Afghans and Iranian are neighbors of Pakistan but you can see the vast differences in their behaviour as a nation and the level of self respect. I can bet that the dog of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has most self respect than Zardari and company can ever have in 1000 years. The blood of 28 Pakistani sons is cheap and worthless because we have no self respect and have forgotten the meaning of honor. We honor our martyrs by opening the supply routes while Hamid Karzai even though the puppet, was able to get an apology for the blood of innocent Afghan civilians.
Hence it is the same inferiority complex of our ancestors that is transferred to the next generations making us liberal/moderate Muslims, hate our culture, our people, and ourselves.
Coming back from historic perspective behind the concept of moderate Muslims to present, what most people fail to understand is that there is no such thing as moderate or liberal Muslim. I mean is it acceptable for a moderate Muslim to miss Sallah(prayer) or is it ok for a liberal Muslim to drink alcohol? Can you reach spiritual nirvana by dancing with Anna or Shabana? The answer is No! Negative! Nahi! Nah! Nope! So why do people use these terms other than the first reason of this amazing brain fart... i.e. inferiority complex.
Second reason is human weakness i.e. it is an easy way to justify our weaknesses and hence those who drink become liberal Muslims and those who miss prayer become moderate Muslims, etc.
But according to me, there are only two kinds of Muslims i.e. strong Muslims and weak Muslims (like me) or those who try their best to follow the path they have picked and those who are weak and are not able to control their desires and are easily distracted by all the attractions this world has to offer. Weaknesses like alcohol, drugs, women(or men), stealing, cheating, lying, etc. It is not easy to resist these attractive things because we are weak and our desires are strong. Furthermore, it is in human nature to do things that we are not supposed to do or acts/things that are harmful to us, either in long run or in near future. Our curiosity defines us as humans and just like everything else, curiosity comes at a price; sometimes in the form of STD or unwanted pregnancy(knowledge gained at the student health services during college, the place where the reality bites), and sometimes falling from the garden of Eden to earth.
Hence, a Muslim can be weak but can never be liberal, moderate or something else. We are weak and we do things out of weakness and there is nothing wrong in being weak but accepting the weakness and not doing anything to weaken it, is. Another important thing that I have learnt from my personal experience is that not doing anything about our weaknesses is one thing but justifying our weaknesses is the worst thing that we can do to ourselves. Justifying our weaknesses closes all doors of improvement, and no improvement means death. Hence accepting the truth about our weaknesses is the first step, fixing comes much much later.
History is full of men and women who were weak but accepted the truth about their weaknesses and never tried to justify them, and with time, with their effort and with the help of Allah they became the best of them all. Men like, Zaheer-ud-Babar, Umar bin Al-khattab, etc. My own journey from being an atheist to a weak Muslim was not so easy either, but even in the worst of times during this journey, I never justified my weaknesses.
Another important thing is to know the meaning of our claim when we say that 'I am a Muslim', or what does being a Muslim means? There is a huge misconception among Muslims that being born in a Muslim family makes you a Muslim! I can announce this with deep sorrow that sadly all those think like that are wrong! Wrong because being a Muslim is not a child's play and we always, always, always choose to be a Muslim or something else; sometimes couciously and sometimes by our actions. In my case, even though I was born in a Muslim family, that never made me a Muslim; I had to pick a path, first I picked atheism, and then monotheism; hence we have to choose, and we always do!
Next question: So what happens when you pick "the" path? After making the choice, you have to prove your claims, i.e. the testing begins. Allah says in Quran:
[29:2] Do men imagine that they will be left (at ease) because they say, We believe, and will not be tested with affliction?
The test is according to you level, good students can answer All kinds of questions while weak ones can only answer easy ones.
[29:3] Lo! We tested those who were before you. Thus Allah knoweth those who are sincere, and knoweth those who feign.
So we should always remember that all those who claimed were tested! 20,000 Christians(followers of Jesus A.S not Paul) were burnt alive because they believed and stayed steadfast. Allah talks about them in Quran as follows:
[85] Woe to the makers of the pit (of fire), Fire supplied (abundantly) with fuel. Behold! they sat over against the (fire), And they witnessed (all) that they were doing against the Believers. And they ill-treated them for no other reason than that they believed in God All mighty, Exalted in Power, Worthy of all Praise!
Bilal R.A was tested if you remember! His test was harder because he was not weak like us. Nothing stopped him from saying that truth, and then Allah's help came and he passed the test with flying colors!
In short, all we can do in life is try. Try and we will succeed. Be proud of who you are, what you believe in, your people, your history and your bright future.
And BTW never under estimate the power of a weak Muslim because the prophet Mohammad S.A.W said that "the believer sees with the Light of Allah!". And my dear friends, if you have light of Allah, you have everything!
So anyways, my friend replied to the American guy as follows: Oh! I am a moderate Muslim!!! This term always makes me laugh so I thought I should write about it. Good idea right!? May be not, but then everybody hates me anyway, so who cares!
Just like fifty shades of grey, Muslims these days come in many different shades and colors such as "liberal Muslim", "Spiritual Muslim", "spiritual but not religious Muslim", etc. After analyzing many such personalities (like my friend), I have come up to the conclusion that there are two main causes behind people who describe their beliefs in fifty different shades, when in reality Islam comes in only one.
The first reason is spelled as follows: "I.n.f.e.r.i.o.r.i.t.y C.o.m.p.l.e.x" and the second one can be described as "human weakness". Now let us talk about these two behaviours and the root causes behind each one in some detail.
The concept of inferiority complex was deeply engraved on the hearts and minds of the Muslims when the European powers started colonization of their lands in Africa and Asia. All colonized territories were controlled with extreme intelligence by making the oppressed people feel insignificant, illiterate, uncivilized, etc. They were force fed the ideas that things they do, things they know, the way they look and everything they believe in makes them uncivilized and uncultured. Hence lassi (curd drink) became paindoo (uncultured) and tea was the new drink of the east, dark color became a stigma and fair&lovely was needed just to look acceptable in the society, beard was unacceptable and men with face like a baby's butt were the new definition of manhood, when the women who used to breastfeed their kids saw the goori (white) ma'am using the bottle, they took loans to buy the bottles for their loved ones, etc.
Another tactic used against the locals was to divide and rule. As we all know that languages join and keep people together, hence applying the formula of divide and rule, the people of subcontinent were disconnected from Iran, Afghanistan and the Arab world by the introduction of a new language you now know by the name of Urdu. People who didn't know Urdu/English were not given jobs, all paperwork was changed from Farsi to Urdu/English, teaching Arabic or Farsi in schools was discouraged or discontinued, etc. The people were also made to feel inferior by belittling their profession, hence the super skilled shoemaker of the Muslim world became "moochi" (derogatory term for a shoemaker), imam masjid fell from being the teacher and important part of the community to being someone who lived on the leftovers of the landlords, molvi and Sufi became derogatory terms, and much more. Many of you may not know but there used to be sign boards in some parks and markets of subcontinent with a message saying: Dogs and Indians are not allowed!!!
All those who opposed the oppressors were killed or thrown out of their lands, and all those who supported them and betrayed their people and their land became Makhdooms, Shahs, Gailanis, Zardaris, Sardars, etc. the same people who still rule us. If we compare the colonized and non-colonized regions of the world, we can see the vast differences in the way they feel about their beliefs, culture and everything that defines them as a nation. For example Afghans and Iranian are neighbors of Pakistan but you can see the vast differences in their behaviour as a nation and the level of self respect. I can bet that the dog of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has most self respect than Zardari and company can ever have in 1000 years. The blood of 28 Pakistani sons is cheap and worthless because we have no self respect and have forgotten the meaning of honor. We honor our martyrs by opening the supply routes while Hamid Karzai even though the puppet, was able to get an apology for the blood of innocent Afghan civilians.
Hence it is the same inferiority complex of our ancestors that is transferred to the next generations making us liberal/moderate Muslims, hate our culture, our people, and ourselves.
Coming back from historic perspective behind the concept of moderate Muslims to present, what most people fail to understand is that there is no such thing as moderate or liberal Muslim. I mean is it acceptable for a moderate Muslim to miss Sallah(prayer) or is it ok for a liberal Muslim to drink alcohol? Can you reach spiritual nirvana by dancing with Anna or Shabana? The answer is No! Negative! Nahi! Nah! Nope! So why do people use these terms other than the first reason of this amazing brain fart... i.e. inferiority complex.
Second reason is human weakness i.e. it is an easy way to justify our weaknesses and hence those who drink become liberal Muslims and those who miss prayer become moderate Muslims, etc.
But according to me, there are only two kinds of Muslims i.e. strong Muslims and weak Muslims (like me) or those who try their best to follow the path they have picked and those who are weak and are not able to control their desires and are easily distracted by all the attractions this world has to offer. Weaknesses like alcohol, drugs, women(or men), stealing, cheating, lying, etc. It is not easy to resist these attractive things because we are weak and our desires are strong. Furthermore, it is in human nature to do things that we are not supposed to do or acts/things that are harmful to us, either in long run or in near future. Our curiosity defines us as humans and just like everything else, curiosity comes at a price; sometimes in the form of STD or unwanted pregnancy(knowledge gained at the student health services during college, the place where the reality bites), and sometimes falling from the garden of Eden to earth.
Hence, a Muslim can be weak but can never be liberal, moderate or something else. We are weak and we do things out of weakness and there is nothing wrong in being weak but accepting the weakness and not doing anything to weaken it, is. Another important thing that I have learnt from my personal experience is that not doing anything about our weaknesses is one thing but justifying our weaknesses is the worst thing that we can do to ourselves. Justifying our weaknesses closes all doors of improvement, and no improvement means death. Hence accepting the truth about our weaknesses is the first step, fixing comes much much later.
History is full of men and women who were weak but accepted the truth about their weaknesses and never tried to justify them, and with time, with their effort and with the help of Allah they became the best of them all. Men like, Zaheer-ud-Babar, Umar bin Al-khattab, etc. My own journey from being an atheist to a weak Muslim was not so easy either, but even in the worst of times during this journey, I never justified my weaknesses.
Another important thing is to know the meaning of our claim when we say that 'I am a Muslim', or what does being a Muslim means? There is a huge misconception among Muslims that being born in a Muslim family makes you a Muslim! I can announce this with deep sorrow that sadly all those think like that are wrong! Wrong because being a Muslim is not a child's play and we always, always, always choose to be a Muslim or something else; sometimes couciously and sometimes by our actions. In my case, even though I was born in a Muslim family, that never made me a Muslim; I had to pick a path, first I picked atheism, and then monotheism; hence we have to choose, and we always do!
Next question: So what happens when you pick "the" path? After making the choice, you have to prove your claims, i.e. the testing begins. Allah says in Quran:
[29:2] Do men imagine that they will be left (at ease) because they say, We believe, and will not be tested with affliction?
The test is according to you level, good students can answer All kinds of questions while weak ones can only answer easy ones.
[29:3] Lo! We tested those who were before you. Thus Allah knoweth those who are sincere, and knoweth those who feign.
So we should always remember that all those who claimed were tested! 20,000 Christians(followers of Jesus A.S not Paul) were burnt alive because they believed and stayed steadfast. Allah talks about them in Quran as follows:
[85] Woe to the makers of the pit (of fire), Fire supplied (abundantly) with fuel. Behold! they sat over against the (fire), And they witnessed (all) that they were doing against the Believers. And they ill-treated them for no other reason than that they believed in God All mighty, Exalted in Power, Worthy of all Praise!
Bilal R.A was tested if you remember! His test was harder because he was not weak like us. Nothing stopped him from saying that truth, and then Allah's help came and he passed the test with flying colors!
In short, all we can do in life is try. Try and we will succeed. Be proud of who you are, what you believe in, your people, your history and your bright future.
And BTW never under estimate the power of a weak Muslim because the prophet Mohammad S.A.W said that "the believer sees with the Light of Allah!". And my dear friends, if you have light of Allah, you have everything!
