if you have time plz check http://www.islamhelpline.com/about.asp. it is about the repentance and guidance of a Bohry to true Islaam.
Bohra are a sect of Shi"aa who constitute more than 1 million Muslims!!
The beauty of the story in the above link is opening our eyes on how someone devout can live a life time amongst false believes inspite of the very evident TRUTH infront of one's eyes if one insists on believing whatever a sect he belongs to tells him without questioning it. We should all question our status quo every once in a while.
We all have to question whatever we come across and search for the truth for ourselves and not just take for granted that a certain group is right and all others are wrong. After all ALLAAH (SWT) says, "wakulluhum aateehe yawm al-qiyamati farda". One will be responsible for himself only and can never say that i followed the so and so sect or group whom i thought were right. Didn't ALLAAH (SWT) give us eyes to see for ourselves, ears to hear and minds to think and contemplate?!!
Personally, as a child, I used to go to church in addition to the mosque, and many of my close friends were Jews and Buddists and even aethiests. My father used to tell me when i was 7 years old, look around and see for yourself, explore, but in the end you will reach the same conclusion i reached after i explored for years and years, two important facts;
1. Islaam is the only true reilgion.
2. True Islaam does not belong to a certain sect or cult. As our Beloved (SAWS) says in the hadeeth what means that Muslims will be divided into 73 groups, all of whom will be in hell except one group. Nowadays and since the division of Muslims, every single group of these claims to be the only one that is truthful and all the others are absolutely wrong. Now if any of these people in each of these groups had true guidance and common sense they would have realized that by saying that they are the only group whom our Prophet said about to be the one going to heaven, they have judged that all other Muslims out side their group or members of the other groups are in hell!! Of course this cannot be true. The explanation of the hadeeth is that only the faithfull people in each of these 73 groups are the ones who are in heaven in shaa ALLAAH.
Another indirect fact that could be deducted from that hadeeth is that that division in itself is meaningless and false based on the fact that faithful members from all groups are the only truthful group.
Last but not least, i would like to remind us all that the day the ayah, "alyawm akmalt lakum deenakum wa'tmamt "laykum ni"maty waradeet lakum al-islaam deena", the day that ayah was revealed there was only one group of Muslims. Any other group or division that was formed after the descent of that ayah is false whatever the reasons its founders gave, and then the nowadays followers say, that they are the only true ones.
We are Muslims .. full stop.
This posting reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine a few days ago who is studying environmental management. She was writing an essay on the differences between natural and social sciences from a philosophical point of view. She kept wondering whether our innate beliefs and stereotypes are more applicable to the natural sciences or more so in the social sciences or whether they were applied the same way in both types of sciences.
ReplyDeleteIt was something to ponder over. In sciences like biology, chemistry and physics etc, theories are built on assumptions or hypotheses which are tested, built on observable facts then conclusions drawn. In sciences like sociology and psychology etc, you may even choose to not consider them complete sciences, nevertheless, some aspects of them are based on the same types of hypotheses, observable and testable facts then conclusions. Where do these hypotheses and assumptions come from? When a scholar or scientist puts forward a new concept or idea what is he basing it on?
It struck me then, it is most often based on the individual scholar or scientist's individual beliefs and stereotypes - fed in from his environment, from his observations and surroundings. It struck me again that it is often that newer theories cancel out old ones. Does that means that new theories suddenly appeared? No, they were always there but just couldn't be seen. Why?
There was a time when everyone thought the earth was flat. It was a solid theory at the time on which many other assumptions were built. When suddenly the discovery that dawned upon the scientists at the time that the earth is in fact round and we were not living on a planet that was the centre of the universe, does that mean that the earth suddenly transformed itself into a sphere? Obviously not!
It is often the case that our stereotypes prevent us from seeing the plain facts out there. Everything is laid out around us, we just have to learn to open our eyes and question as we search for the ultimate truth. Only then will we see true revelation.