When does a mere symbol become the essence? How did we come to overlook the essential and focus all our attention on the package?

We’re so wrapped up in how to dress, how to stand in prayer and which side to sleep on that we forget that Islam, much like most other religions, is about manners, behavior, attitude towards others, acceptance, kindness, forgiveness and compassion.

We’re madly obsessed with the outerlook of Islam that we prioritize that over what the religion is really about.

I see men too concerned with the length of their beards, trousers and galabeyas and ladies arguing whether the tip of their toes and heels should or shouldn’t show and if the veil is supposed to cover their chin. People sit debating whether it is right to wear necklaces bearing the name of God in the bathroom. Yet I have seen many times conservative-looking Muslims cutting me off in line or refusing to answer me when I am lost on a highway and ask them for directions — before you jump to conclusions, it was winter and I was wearing a rather loose jumper.

I often get lectured on how I am not supposed to wear a ring on my index because it is haram. I find people squeezing in suffocatingly close to me in prayers — to the point where all I am thinking is how awkward the proximity is — so that the devil does not come between us. I can’t count the times people corrected my praying postures after I finish praying — or even worse, while I am praying.

But seldom did anyone tell me you looked distracted in prayer, for instance, or lectured me about how to remain humble and focused in prayers. Rarely did anyone stress the importance of not cheating in exams, for instance, or judging others.

Many — not all — religious conservatives would have a huge issue with me if I decided to take up drinking, but would gladly listen to me gossip away a juicy piece of society news. Drinking would mostly harm the drinker, gossiping, however, even the smallest of it, is clearly harming others. Yet alcohol remains a far bigger taboo.

Inflicting harm on others is far a bigger sin than many other sins we get so worked up about. Before one can go to pilgrimage, for instance, they need to seek forgiveness from anyone they harmed.

The seven major sins in Islam, the mobiqat, much like Christianity and other religions, all revolve around doing harm or injustice to others. Stealing an orphan’s money or slandering someone’s reputation, for instance, is far worse than drinking or even adultery.

Yet I can imagine how many would consider prostitutes far less pious than a virgin who calls someone slutty or promiscuous.

I am amazed at how we feel quite satisfied with ourselves donating to the poor and praying five times a day and yet find it no issue at all to feel superior to others we deem ‘unreligious’ while talking about how pious we are for covering up, praying and fasting.

Just to clarify, I am not attacking veils or any of the religious symbols mentioned, I am simply saying; there are more important things to look at.

It is like spending ages painting and beautifying a house and forgetting to furnish it from the inside.

How are we too caught up trying to stand right in our prayers when what we should really be doing is focusing on our actual prayer, not our postures or proximity to others in line? How are we obsessed with looks when we fail to obey God and our prophet who ordained us to smile at each other and be kind? Why is it that we  are so obsessed with the veil, which is only indirectly mentioned once in our holy book, and fail to pay attention to the way God ordered us to document loans to ensure the loaner’s right when it was mentioned various times?

We have sadly slandered the name and image of our religion that the word Muslim has come to conjure up images of a stern, bearded man ready to explode at any second in the name of jihad, rather than a smiling, well-mannered  and tolerant human like we were ordered to be.

You might also be interested in:

 

 

Religion Versus Humanity

Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist or atheists; none of that should      matter to me, except the set of beliefs and values you choose to live by, be it dictated by your religion or simply your own.

      Wahabism is Not My Culture

We always remember the good old days when women used to be able                                              to wear whatever they wanted and not be bothered or harassed on the streets. But hang on a minute — that was not, actually, too long ago. No, that wasn’t some 50-odd years back when we used to be a different society. […]

 

Allah Curses She Who Gets Tattooed

    Between a shady religious stand on tattoos, a society that accepts permanent makeup but not tattoos, the fashionable trend of tattooing stirs a controversial storm about our culture’s perception of inked bodies.

 

 

 

The Faces Behind El Film Da Haram

The two young, ambitious and rather daring ladies behind El Film Da Haram.