Table of Contents
And Love Your Neighbor. For, That Is Also Islam
Thus, treating the three key female figures in your life – your mother, your wife and your daughter – in the best and nicest possible manner is your passport to Paradise.
At least so says Islam – and for all these 1400 years.
These are some of the most glorious facts about Islam that maybe some narrow-minded, small-hearted and ill-intentioned people do not want to see get out about Islam. That may be one reason for all this evil and false propaganda against Islam that is sweeping the world these days.
And don’t forget to be nice to your friends and neighbors as well. That is because after your own family, no one is more important than your neighbors.
And God particularly loves that arrangement.
But don’t send to inquire what religion or race your neighbor is. For, then you would have lost the game before you even started it. For, the religion, race or nationality of your neighbor does not really matter. Not in Islam.
For, a neighbor is a neighbor is a neighbor. And Allah loves you to love your neighbor. And that is the Qur’an for you – paraphrased but direct.
And that is what Islam is all about: Loving Your Neighbor.
And also be nice to everyone else, whether you know them or not. Because that is Islam, as they say, in a nutshell. Just being nice to people – the ones you know as well as the ones you don’t. That is directly from the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
Self-evident, wouldn’t you say?
Or would you rather say: Elementary, my dear Watson?
Kick the Booze – and All Other Drugs – Even If It Is Just for One Day
And do you know what? Now is your chance. Kick the booze – and all other drugs, if there are any – even if it is just for one day.
For, to use alcohol is to abuse it. That is the kind of dangerous drug it is.
People may tell you it has some social use here or a medical benefit there. Don’t listen to them. For, the cumulative negative impact of alcohol on individuals, families, workplace and society is devastating.
And it far outweighs any supposed benefit some people may say it has.
Therefore, stay away from alcohol the whole day.
That is right. If you ever needed an excuse to kick the booze, and let yourself out of the bottle, even if it is just for one day, then this is your day.
So, Carpe Diem. Cease the moment. Take time by the forelock and avail yourself of the opportunity sent your way by God Almighty himself.
Do it on this most blessed World Day of Fasting.
Also, while you are at it, stay away from smoking and all other drugs the whole day. Use the World Day of Fasting as the occasion – or excuse if you want to call it that – to liberate yourself as completely as you can from the tyranny of alcohol and drugs on your mind, body, soul, person and life.
Don’t Forget Islam Is Moderation – And Muslims Are People Too!
Don’t forget Islam is all about moderation.
I am not saying that is what Muslims do as a rule all the time in their daily lives. What I am saying is: That is what Islam teaches; that is what Islam stands for; and that is what Islam is.
As for how much of this, or of any of the other teachings of Islam Muslims follow in their life, look no further than your own life for an answer to that – and to many other similar questions.
Ask yourself how much of your divine book if you have one, and how much of the noble teachings of your own faith, you yourself follow, and you will begin to understand a simple truth about life and about our world: Muslims are people too.
They are people just like you.
To some degree, I learned my faith in God by driving on Interstate Highways and watching drivers react to the presence of police cars in the vicinity. If human beings – some of the best of them perhaps – could fear police that much, they must learn to fear God at least equally, I said to myself.
And that changed my life.
Punctuality and Timeliness
So, moderation is what Islam teaches and that is what Islam stands for. It is one of the core teachings of Islam.
So, eat and drink in moderation.
And also don’t forget that Islam is all about timeliness. And Islam is about punctuality.
You don’t believe me, do you? I don’t blame you. And in reality, I wouldn’t believe myself either if all I had to go by was the general lifestyle of Muslims throughout Muslim habitat of the so-called Muslim world.
Looking at their daily life, Muslims are anything but punctual. And I have never seen anyone – other than my late father that is, may Allah bless and forgive him and fill his grave with his light – make any fuss about it either.
So, it is nothing less than miraculous the way it works in Ramadan. And during prayer times, five times a day, every day, on all other days.
The way Muslims leap to break the fast during Ramadan or to catch the Congregational Jama’at Prayers in the mosque five times a day, every day.
Muslims – the same habitually and chronically UN-punctual Muslims in everything else – suddenly leap to life on these special occasions as if hit on the head by a secret clock tower tucked away somewhere in their bosom, which chimes and peals non-stop till they rush headlong to do what they must do: Break the fast during Ramadan or join the congregation for prayers every day.
That is a living miracle of our time everywhere – throughout the Muslim world – which the devil has blinded most people to, including many Muslims themselves.
Muslims do it, but they have no awareness or appreciation of what they are doing. Any better than their non-Muslim friends and compatriots do.
