Saturday, November 18, 2006


The remnants of jahiliyyah.

Okay. So we understand the term 'jahiliyah' to represent everything that is unIslamic.

jahiliyyah = everything that is unIslamic. Got it.

Unislamic with a small 'i', if you wish it (inside joke, sorry the un-ikhwah-akhwati-fil-Melbourne).

So. Be your own judge. Use the mizan laid out for you in the Qur'an, and you will see that it's all quite plainly mentioned, really.

Because if you believe in God (as I do, insyaAllah), you will believe that God knows better than we do, of what is good for us.

{Warning: The rest of this post will be directed towards the strictly Muslim audience, lest some non-Muslim who reads a little too much into statements will break into some sort of anti-Syazwina rant along the lines of the Evict-al-Hilaly media hoopla}

So when He says 'No intoxicants', you do NOT argue by stating the few (short-lived and wishful) benefits of drinking wine.

When God says something is haram (forbidden), you do NOT question again and forth.

'And We have diversified in this Qur'an for the people from every [kind of] example; but man has ever been, most of anything, [prone to] dispute.'
[Al-Kahfi, 18:54]

When God asks you to cover up with the hijab, well. Obviously He knows better the vagaries of the male mind. After all, He created men (not forgetting women, to all the feminists out there). So He should know better what turns guys on, and whatnot, eh?

Tak caya? Go ahead and ask a brother/father. And they'll tell you the weirdest of things that can turn into fetishes.

And when you are meant to be a GOOD PERSON overall, you try to do that. God knows the potential in everyone. God loves you enough to want you to be the best that you can be.

So I'm suggesting we let go of the jahiliyyahs that so encumber our souls. Ignore the pull of Hollywood male-worship (coming from someone who made a hobby of oogling male actors, from the likes of Elijah Wood to Hugh Dancy, not so very long ago). Don't bother to fill your head with all the songs that you'll forget the next time the NEXT successors to the Brit-punk rock scene (currently held by the Kaiser Chiefs -- I keep abreast with the times, okay?) comes around.

If you can't be rid of the material jahiliyyah, how are you going to kick out all the jahiliyyah of the soul that still remains?

The jahiliyyah of unrequited feelings for instance, which inevitably turn into self-imposed depression and neurotic anxiety?
The jahiliyyah of feeling superior -- riak, taqbur?

Do you seriously want to be of the ghurur?

So. Be rid of the prejudice that still beleagures your lenses when you view the hearts of the people around you.

Forget about your own wants, and focus more on others.

Shut up and listen.

Because you know, all of your deeds -- every action, every thought, every wish -- will be displayed on a free-for-all during the Judgement at the Mahsyar.

Do you REALLY want everyone to see all the things you've done?

Astaghfirullah, ya Ghafur, ya Karim.

This is a reminder for myself, before this becomes a reminder to you.

'It's the heart of a Muslim through the guidance of Islam
It makes you fair and kind and helpful to your fellow man
So living as a Muslim means that you must play a part
Allah looks not at how you look
But what is in your heart'
-Zain Bhikha's The Heart of a Muslim-

Wassalamualaik.

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this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 11:28 pm

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