Attending Friday prayers today sadly exposes to me that Muslims in general have lost that loving feeling towards one another!
Everyone seems to be in a bloody hurry to get home or whatever else is sniping at their heels. This is not something that I am conjuring up from my own ‘ignorance’ or failing to ‘sangka baik’ upon my fellow Muslims. No sirree!
Those of you who are Muslims know that I am telling the truth and that the truth when disclosed sure hurts very deeply especially those who prefer to have the ‘Pollyanna’ syndrome plugging their minds and clogging up their brains!
My Friday observations here is meant to jolt those of you who have been unwittingly been led to get up after the salam by the Imam and join the others in leaving the masjid before even joining in the congregational do’a with the Imam.
Muslims nowadays are stricken with a severe case of ‘who the hell cares?’ syndrome and no one bothers to advice the other when it comes to matters concerning the Adab and Tertib concerning prayer rituals.
Children keep playing noisily whilst the Khutbah is being ‘read’ and there are petty traders and hawkers still plying their wares regardless of the need for them to stop their trade and concentrate on listening to the Khutbah ; no matter that nowadays it’s just prepared script by the Department of Religious ‘Advancements’ @ JAKIM!
Things are slowly going to rot by way of ignorance and ‘Tidak Apa’thy’ of those who are supposed to lead the Muslims in observing the proper manners and Sunnah’s of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wassallam!
Just take a look at the faces coming out of the masjid and all seeming to rush back to where they came from!
Nobody save for the elderly and for ‘fundamentalists’ like me bother to give the salam to others no matter whether I know them personally or not! I figure guys like me are considered ‘dangerous’ to others for I ask them to do something that is no longer being practiced!
That is to love and care for my fellow Muslims in good faith not bothering whether the fellow coming my way is a bloody thief , scoundrel, corrupt, adulterer, whatsoever?
Who the hell knows what whoever truely is ? Just extend that hand of yours and greet your fellow Muslim with a sincere heart and leave it to Allah SWT to judge whatever the person or persons coming our way have done in their lifes!
That’s why I am saying that Muslims are now giving credence to that forlorn sounding song’s lyrics:
‘ You’ve lost that loving feeling…whoa those loving feelings..
You’ve lost those loving feelings ..now it’s gone ,gone ,gone…
And I can’t go on…whoa whoa whoa….:P’
To those of you who know what I’m talking about, if you make it to the next Juma’at prayers, take time to sit and say ‘Ameen’ to the do’a of the Imam and then just go on giving the Salam to those you meet on your way out of the masjid and flash those pearlies at the ones whom you greet!
You never know that you are making someone’s day special and they’ll go home pleased to have met you, InsyaAllah!
Spread the salam, have ‘sangka baik’ upon your fellow Muslims but be a smart cookie too and watch out for the ‘zalims’ who look like ‘alims’ at the same time! 🙂
We all know the stories …Just be smart and sensible…Smile! You are on Allah’s SWT candid camera! 🙂 He knows us best! InsyaAllah!
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My muslim bro. I’m a chinese living in Malaysia. My thought of religious teaching is at the least helping others, be considerate to others and so on. Somehow, when comes Friday noon, I see a lot of cars parked indiscriminately along the roads leading to a mosque. I was wondering where is the consideration for road users?
I am quite relaxed and tame my sweet time in the masjid and only come out after the doa. Maybe it is due to the fact that Fridays are holidays in Kedah, whereas most of the people have to rush back to their places of work in KL and other places.
Actually as MENJ has clearly pointed out today, the Muslims are rushing out of the mosque to protest (YET AGAIN).
I do agree with you though that these days, (immaterial what religion or race you are) ppl are too busy to slow down to listen or help the elderly.
Blogger stubborn self,
You thought right when you say that religious teachings ask that people be more considerate.
In fact the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)adviced the people not to inconvenience others when at the roadside.
An important aspect of social behavior the Prophet taught his companions, and all Muslims, relates to what may be done when one sits by the roadside.
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Abu Hurayrah reports that the Prophet told his companions that they must not sit by the roadside.
Apparently, this was a social habit practiced by many people.
Hence,some of them complained:
“Messenger of God! It is very hard for us to sit at home.”
He said: “If you sit by the roadside, you must make sure of what is due from you.”
They asked him to explain what that was.
He said: “To guide whoever needs guidance, return people’s greetings, lowering one’s gaze, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong.” (Related by Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad and Abu Dawood).
An even more authentic version of this Hadith is reported by Abu Saeed Al-Khudri who quotes the Prophet as saying:
“Beware of sitting by the roadside.”
His audience said: “Messenger of God!
We cannot dispense with our sitting places, as we sit to talk together.”
He then said: “Since you refuse, you must give what is due for the road.”
They requested him to explain what he meant by that.
He said: “To lower one’s gaze, refrain from what upsets people, enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim and Abu Dawood).
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So blogger Stubborn Self, what those Muslims do when they leave their cars parked inconsiderately is frowned upon in Islam as it goes against the bidding of the Blessed Messenger!
Those who do so are truely at fault and are inconveniencing others thus they are running foul of the teachings of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
I myself always park my car properly away from the roadside for I do not want to worry about my car being left in the middle of the road when others have driven away.
Gives me peace of mind to concentrate on my prayer when my car is parked safely and not inconveniencing others.
I hope those who have been doing that get to read your comments and refrain from repeating the same disturbance to traffic.
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Blogger adam,
May Allah SWT bless you for doing so and continue to keep it up for as long as you shall live! Ameen.
Happy snorkeling! 🙂
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Blogger Otto,
Everytime people go to protest against America by gathering at the embassy here, I always fear for the protesters getting hurt by the FRU etc whereas it doesn’t change a wee bit the situation in Palestine or even harm a single hair of any of the Israeli regime terrorisers!
Talk about venting anger uselessly as such.
Protesting against matters here in our nation itself doesn’t see any changes where the protesters are ; what more when protesting against Israelis who are thousands of miles away!
My logic may sound a bit arrogant or seem like I am inciting anything but I feel if things really need to be changed , then the protesters should go to the warfront and face the Israelis as enjoined by the recently freed Indonesian cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir!
The thing is we can only talk but when push comes to shove it is not Bashir or any other fella worth his balls who would fulfill his threat and expressed anger at the Israeli regime by packing up and going there to fight the buggers!
The Arab Muslim nations right around the region are themselves acting like the bloody 3 monkeys by ignoring the atrocities being perpetrated right in front of them because they remain disunited and divided.
Compared to the PAS supporters who protest loudly here and get walloped by their fellow Muslims working in the FRU, those oil rich Arabs if they want to can buy all the weapons and arms in the world and go to war defending the poor Palestinians.
Such a scenario will never take place now for the Arabs have the love for this world and the fear of Death in their hearts unlike the situation during the Prophet’s lifetime and the early 4 Caliphs who were Companions of the Prophet.
Even then, only the first Caliph, Saiyidina Abu Bakkar As Siddiq died a natural death.
The 3 consecutive Caliphs were all assassinated by Muslims themselves.
So, it is no wonder that the present day Muslims are without proper leadership all over the world and they are too occupied with their own affairs of enriching each other’s coffers and have developed the ‘Kiasu’ syndrome.
A hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) relates how Islam first came into being as a stranger and will eventually return to a state of being considered strange again in the Final Days (present times).
Those who try to practice Islam in it’s proper teachings will be looked at with contempt and suspicion whereas those who don’t give a hoot about the faith will be heralded as ‘champions of liberalism, forward thinking’, etcetera.
This is the reality that I as a Muslim and a billion others face in my day to day existence here on Earth.
No one is perfect Blogger Otto and we will never ever be so but we can within our own efforts try to uphold the tenets of the faith as we can to the best of our capabilities within our own faiths.
That’s all. No use in worrying too much about those who choose to only see the negative side of Islam for it will always be there in their eyes and minds and proven to be true by the actions of the growing number of misguided Muslims who do not practice the faith!
Just do what we can, help out whoever we can and pray that others will do the same.
May peace be with you. Ameen.