Islam - A practical religion

Sunday, February 25, 2007
Islam-A practical religion
What does Islam mean?
Islam is to recognize and acknowledge that above us is a Being who created, sustains us and the world, and to whom we will return with death. As a corollary of the above, Islam is to submit, unconditionally, in love and obedience, to the will of that Being, as He manifested it through revelations, the final being the Qur’an.
Why do we fast during the month of Ramadhan?
Islam is not the name of a set of beliefs. It is also not simply a way of life. It is designed to raise men • all men - to higher physical, intellectual and spiritual levels of existence. It develops the humans, investing in them such qualities as are necessary for the next phase of their lives which starts with the death of the body in this world. Fasts create in men and women an understanding of what truly it means to be hungry. What are pangs of hunger? What is it that the mind of a hungry person thinks of most? What it means to the strength or weakness of the body and mind? How extreme hunger can lead a man to do things he wouldn’t ordinarily do, to extinguish his hunger? Fasts raise people to new levels of consciousness: a level at which they are better appreciative of the needs of the countless millions who struggle everyday from dawn to dusk just to fill their bellies. Fasts also create in man some other qualities such as, patience, fortitude, stronger will power, use of the energies lying low in his body and thus discover and know himself. They also help to shed extra calories, to make the body trimmer, and the mind quicker.
What is zakah?
Zakah is to expend out of whatever one possesses, whether in cash or in kind, on the poor, in order to get rid of certain base qualities such as, love of wealth, and selfishness - to create in place, generosity, love of people and willingness to share their tribulations. If a person is rich, he spends according to his means, and if poor, then according to his means. Everyone finds someone lower than him or her. Zakah teaches him or her to recognize such of the lower ones as “one of us” and therefore, give out, from whatever he or she has to reduce the material disparity. If one has no wealth, he shares food. If one hasn’t got enough of it, he offers services. And if one is unable, as a ninety year old man is unable, then, he smiles in the face of his brother to spread cheerfulness and goodly countenance.
IMPLEMENT ZAKAH SYSTEM,ERADICATE POVERTY
12:03:51 AM
Posted By mohammed taqiuddin Comments (2) Uncategorized
Comments
K.Venugopal Sunday, February 25, 2007 3:02:29 PM
Dear Mohammad, Reading without understanding or misunderstanding is ignorance. Therefore after reading what you have written above, I request you to please clarify the following to ensure that I have understood what you have meant:Why do you say that we have to submit unconditionally in love and obedience to the will of that Being as a corollary of recognizing and acknowledging that He created and sustains the world and to whom we will return with death?
K.Venugopal Sunday, February 25, 2007 3:14:41 PM
Dear Mohammad, You say fasts create in men and women an understanding of what truly it means to be hungry. I say an understanding of what it means to be hungry is an understanding that everyone has from birth to death – otherwise we would not be eating regularly. Therefore putting man through a course of fasting year after year in the name of religion to learn the lesson of hunger is meaningless.