Well I have realized that as a Muslim I have given a lot up for God's sake.
Recently I have been contemplating the fact of how many LESS friends I have since becoming a Muslim. Of course one would say that I actually have more friends now because the friends I have are real now, which of course is true in a way. But only people who have altered their lives drastically, and experienced the people lost in the process, can understand what I am feeling right now. Basically, I am spending more time alone now, than I ever have in my entire life. This is because I have simultaneously lost friends due to my conversion, weeded out some innappropriate ones, or just lost anything in common with the others. I am not unhappy with my decision in any way...I just wish that I wasn't having to deal with moving to a new state, and a new job, with less friends! I mean I am trying to get to know people here. People at my job are very nice...but none of them are Muslims. And I run into people every day that are curious about the ways of Islam, and how I became a Muslim and all of that. But I still have yet to figure out how to make friends. And I also wish that I had friends that understood the convert part of me, the American part, the part that had to give up things from her "previous" life. I feel that is a necessary bonding experience. Not to say that I could not be friends with a person who was born Muslim. I just feel, that because I have experience the "other" side of things, I have things in my heart that a person who has never been there, would never understand. I still struggle with certain things, and I am not even close to being the Muslimah I would like to be. I just wish I knew I wasn't alone, I wasn't the only new Muslimah, staring at her empty apartmnet walls, wondering what it would have been like to live a blind life, ignorant of the truth around her.
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"Well I have realized that as a Muslim I have given a lot up for God's sake."
ReplyDeleteMy aplogies if I am rude or have misunderstood you---but this seems a very "Christian" attitude---giving up a lot for God---!?!?......
What we do as Muslims---is not for the "sake of God"...but for the sake of our soul/self (nafs).
Quran is a Guidance sent to help and empower US.
Salaam wa alaikum,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you misunderstood me or what have you but here is my response :)
God is the creator of all things. Without Him anything we did would not benefit our souls. He is the one and only who can let us enter Paradise. Quran was sent as a MERCY to mankind. God does not need us to do anything. When I say I have given up things for God's sake, I have done so in the name of Allah, in the hope that he will reward me. We do NOT have the power as humans to do things for ourselves. We only can do things through God, and him alone. I hope this clears things up for you.
And on a side note, the Christian belief is NOT to give up things for God, they believe that Jesus died on the cross for their future sins...so they don't have much to give up because their sins are already forgiven so to speak........
As a Christian, I have to disagree with the comment that "giving up things for God" is a charactersitic attitude unique to my faith.
ReplyDeleteThat's like saying Muslims DON'T give up things for Allah - given the meaning that "Islam" means submission to God. Or even Hindus DON'T give up things for their gods in the form of fasts and what not. Even so, what's what wrong with this? Aren't we all obeying the rules to please our God - the same rules He wants us to follow?
Katie, all religions "give up" things for God, if you want to phrase it that way. Faith involving a religious deity ALWAYS indicate a higher being than us, and as a way of faith and devotion, we follow a path (unique of behaviour) to honor Him. Since humans are suseceptible to sin, it's easy to stray away and do what we want to do, even if it's disobeying God. You can see abhoring to your faith as "giving up" tempting things in life, but like Muslims, Chrisitians do what we do to respect the foundations our God laid out for us. Please don't confuse Christianity with Catholisim - there are a lot of corrupt sects in Christianity that mirrors a lot of warped concepts and skewed Bibilical interpretations, that take away the real merit Christianity has to offer. I don't want to take away from this post by "preaching", but, I just want to say that for those Christians who strictly adhere to the Bible, we do give up things for God. Please contact me if you'd like specific examples.