Ihsan Center – Islam From The Heart

Brothers and sisters we must not loose sight of our identity as muslims and muslimahs. Where do we draw this identity? Do we draw it from the culture we are in? Living here in this culture we are constantly bombarded by Shaitan urging us to all kinds of sin. We are constantly prodded to live for materialistic things and things that take our heart and mind from Allah (SWT). And most sad of all, constantly, everyday I see people treat each other badly. I see rudeness and impatience and anger and enmity. What kind of society are we following? I heard yesterday that a study was done where it was estimated that we are exposed to 90 thousand advertisements every day. Violence is prevalent, and not just wars and things far away, but in our own lives. People bicker and mistrust one another, and people do cheat and steal and lie. But we are human and we do make mistakes and where do we turn? How do we realize our identity and be the kind and compassionate people we are supposed to be as muslims.

The Qur’an says that when Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala told the angels about His plan to place human being as His deputy on the earth, the angels remarked that this deputy would not use his freedom well; he would do mischief in the land and shed blood. But Allah said, “I know what you do not know.” The commentators of the Qur’an say that Allah knew that there would be many who would do corruption, but He also knew that there would be many others who would build, improve, reform and make peace. Allah took this risk by creating the human beings. The life now here on this earth is full of struggle. There are those who make mischief and do corruption, but there are also those who are peaceful and do acts of kindness, love and charity. There are those who make mischief (mufsidin) and there are those who do reform, make peace (muslihin). The challenge is before us. What do we want to be and to which camp do we want to belong?