My Watch

In the Name of Allaah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. 

We've learnt from the concept of Amana that we must exhaust all avenues in order to avoid blaming our brothers unless they openly reject the truth.

Sometimes people ask us to soft pedal on certain issues critical to the spiritual well-being of the believers suggesting that it sounds extreme while at the same time they always forget how active those promoting falsehood are.

When forexample we harp on the issue of hijab and free-mixing it's seen as off the hook while at the same time those promoting nudity have made pornography accessible 24 hours at the press of a button and nobody sees that as a big deal.

So the argument has always been whether people hate us for repeatedly talking about these issues , one should not relent because those on the opposite side of the truth are even more active and nobody seems to be disturbed. So whoever wants to speak the truth must run away from the praises of people and be ready for their criticism.

Today, our type of Islam is taking a new dimension where what seems trendy becomes the norm even if it violates the very tenets of the Shari'ah that even speaking against it makes one sound odd and out of place. The danger is, those that sincerely yearn for the truth will now be exposed to a type of Islam that only fits into the 21st century but not anyway close to the first century Islam.

Brothers and sisters, forgive my lengthy discussion but these are pertinent issues disturbing me. The type of Islam we have today, what women call hijab today, the various whatever international days we have today all alien to the Shari'ah yet they seem normal to us and we dread speaking against them.

We have a large population of Muslim brothers and sisters today that genuinely are seeking for the truth. If we don't give them the type of Islam acceptable by the Prophet (Pbuh) we would have been doing a great disservice to Islam.

Our love for one another dictates that we encourage one another on what is acceptable by the Shari'ah.

When we speak we should not mince our words to appease a particular gathering, but in speaking the truth we need wisdom and diplomacy without telling people that what they are doing is normal when we know we would not be confident to present that type of Islam to the Prophet.

May Allaah expose us to the truth and give us the ability to stick to it. There's only one competition in Islam and that's out racing one another in righteousness. I pray Allaah choose us among His righteous and sincere servants. Ma'salam

Email: penabdul@yahoo.com; twitter: @amraabdul; Instagram: @penabdul