إرشادات أولية هامة لمن يبحث عن الحقيقة والدين الحق

PRIMARY, IMPORTANT DIRECTIONS FOR THOSE SEEKING REALITY AND THE TRUE RELIGION

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

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Praise be to Allah, may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah

I have completed writing an article entitled “Primary, Important Instructions for New Reverts to Islam,” directed to those who entered Islam and are still new to it, regarding what steps they should take. As for this article, I am addressing those who have not yet reverted to Islam, and are still in the stage of searching for reality and the true religion, and those whose decisions are characterized by hesitation and fear of Islam. For them, I offer my most sincere advice in the following points:

1) Know that the Religion in the sight of Allah is Islam, and it is the religion of all prophets and messengers, from Adam (PBUH) to Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Ishaq (Isaac), Ya’qub (Jacob), Yusuf (Joseph), Musa (Moses), Zakariyya and Isa (Jesus) peace be upon them all, finally to the seal of all prophets and messengers after whom there is neither any prophet nor messenger: Muhammad (PBUH).

• Allah says, “Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam” (Al Imran, 3:19)
• Allah says, “whoever seeks another religion besides Islam will never have it accepted from him, and in the hereafter, he will be one of the losers” (Al Imran 3:85).

2) All of the prophets and messengers from Adam (PBUH) to the seal of the prophets and messengers Muhammad (PBUH)—whose divine messages, despite difference in the revealed laws in a way befitting the time of the messengers and nations which preceded—had a single call: the singling out of Allah the Almighty as the only object of worship, and avoiding polytheism (shirk) and worshipping anything besides Him, the Glorified, the Almighty.

• Allah says, “we have sent to every nation a messenger to worship Allah and abstain from the taghut” (Nahl 16:36), the Taghut refer to all those worshipped besides Allah who are content with this worship. Every prophet said to their people:
• “O my people! Worship Allah, there is for you no deity besides Him” (A’raf 7:73)
• Allah says, “the Messiah said: O children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord! Indeed, whoever associates (worship) with Allah, Allah has prohibited paradise for him and is refuge is the fire, there are no helpers for the oppressors” (Ma’idah 5:72).

3) All of the messengers believed in each other, and all of them believed in and gave glad tidings of the prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

• Allah says, “And when Jesus the son of Maryam said: O children of Israel! I am a messenger of Allah (sent) to you, affirming that which preceded me in the Torah and as glad tidings of a messenger coming after me, his name is Ahmad” (Saff 6).

The one who belies a single messenger has belied all prophets and messengers, and the one who differentiates between messengers – believing in some and disbelieving in others – or who believes in Allah and disbelieves in His prophets and messengers, or some of them, is not a believer.

• Allah says, “The Messenger believed in that which was revealed to him from his Lord, and the believers. All believe in Allah, His angels, books, and messengers. We do not differentiate between any one of His messengers. They say: ‘We have heard and obeyed! (Grant us) Your forgiveness, our Lord, to You is the destination” (Baqarah 2:285).
• Allah says, “Indeed, those who disbelieve in Allah, His messengers, or seek to differentiate between Allah and His messengers saying, ‘we believe in some and disbelieve in others’, wanting to take a middle path between: they are the disbelievers, truly, and we have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment” (Nisaa 4:150-1).

4) The shortest path for you to attain reality and knowledge of the true religion, and to tread the straight path by which you attain protection and safety in both this world and the hereafter, is to accept the Noble Quran with impartiality, contemplation, and an open mind, as it is the speech of Allah the Almighty who has revealed it upon His slave and prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and it is the extended rope of Allah from the sky to the earth. Thus, you will find that in it, Allah the Almighty Himself—the possessor of the beautiful names and the highest attributes—is addressing you, and speaking to you, and answers all of your questions, and all (thoughts) that wander in your soul for which you search. If you do this, Allah will never abandon you.

5) Do not permit the biased and malevolent media—which propagates false narratives against the Noble Quran and Islam, the Religion of Allah—create a barrier between you and the truth, making it difficult for you to rid yourself of its power and effect over you. This cheap, hateful, and untrue method (of portrayal) taken by the modern mass media today has been adopted by the leaders of shirk, enemies of the prophets and messengers through various methods, in order to ward people away from paying attention to and following the truth.

• Allah says, “and those who disbelieve said, ‘do not listen to this Quran, and speak noisily (during its recitation)’” (they do this) by raising their voice and fabricating racket and noise, “so that you may overcome” (Fussilat 26).

That is, ‘so that you may overcome the Noble Quran, and weaken its effect on the people.’ The malicious media today matches the description “speak[ing] noisily.”

• Allah says, “And those who were oppressed will say to those who were arrogant, ‘Rather, [it was your] conspiracy of night and day when you were ordering us to disbelieve in Allah and attribute to Him equals.” They will confide their regret when they see the punishment and We place shackles on the necks of those who disbelieved, are they being punished except for that which they used to do?” (Saba 33).

 

This is a part of an argument that will occur on the day of judgement, between those who followed and those who were followed, between the weak and the powerful and arrogant, between the general population and the leaders of the polytheists—what use will their argument be?

6) Expel, as much as you can, the pressure and compulsion that surrounds you. Do not learn about Islam from the enemies of Islam, as this will misguide you, and lengthen your path: in fact, you may not even arrive at guidance, or learn about the true religion. Islam is taken from two sources, the Noble Quran, the speech of Allah, and the purified prophetic Sunnah, which is every act, statement, and tacit approval of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that is authentically established, as can be found in Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim, and other books of hadith (reports).

7) Know that the revealed laws of Islam encompass all aspects of life. In the beginning, do not toil over researching the specific, detailed rulings of the law, and the reasons for their (legislation): why did Allah prohibit alcohol? Why has the flesh of pigs been prohibited? Why is the hijab required of women? Why is there purification and ablution? Why is there prayer? Why is interest prohibited? —asking why, why? In the beginning, this is not a fruitful endeavor. It will lengthen your path, and keep you engaged with infertile debates, resistance and objections without any use, and you may be misguided, or branch off into other paths.

Rather, your first and foundational concern should be, in the beginning, to research issues that are general, universal, and comprehensive: why did Allah the Almighty create creation? What is the purpose of our existence in our worldly life? Then, what will happen after we die? What is waiting for us? What is our destination? Is Allah true? If He is true, then what is His claim over His slaves? —or did Allah create us frivolously without any purpose and no revealed law to guide us? Then, how is it possible this right can be known? What is the correct way to know it? Are the prophets and messengers true? What is the necessity and need for their existence? Then, what rights do the prophets and messengers have over us? If you arrived at the correct answers to these comprehensive and universal principles, and you believe and affirm them, it will be easy for you after this to understand and believe, and to practice those detailed actions of worship!

8) Know that there is no compulsion in religion. Allah the Almighty is Himself the most loved, and he does not accept that his slaves worship Him under compulsion or with hatred. It is rather required to worship Him lovingly with obedience and contentedness, without hatred or compulsion,

• Allah says, “there is no compulsion in religion, the guidance has been made clear from deviance” (Baqarah 2:256).

The true meaning of this verse, however, should not cause you to delay, procrastinating in the duration of contemplation, searching, and hesitation to months and years, in the name and impression of searching for the Truth and reality; for you have no control over time, and death can overtake you at any moment, even if you are still in the stage of searching for reality, making you die as a disbeliever and polytheist! You will regret it, and a regretful day will certainly come!

9) We will not sugarcoat it, nor lie to you; whoever dies upon disbelief, polytheism, and belying Allah, his destination is the fire for all eternity, regardless of any righteous acts that he undertook.

• Allah says, “Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly gone far astray” (Nisa 4:116).
• Allah says, “They have certainly disbelieved who say, ‘Allah is the Messiah, the son of Mary’ while the Messiah has said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Indeed, he who associates others with Allah – Allah has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire. And there are not for the wrongdoers any helpers” (Maidah 5:72).

 

In the hadith, it is authentically narrated that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “By the one in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul (God), there is not a single person in this nation, Jew or Christian who hears of me and then dies without having believed that which I was sent with, except that he will be a companion of the Fire”. This meaning is proven in tens of passages in the Quran and Prophetic Sunnah, and all of the prophets and messengers of the past agreed upon this.

10) It is possible that you dread or fear the reaction of those around you—your family, friends in places of work, and others—and that you allow this to deviate you from faith and entering Islam, or from announcing your Islam publicly. Satan is making you fear the people around you, while Allah the Almighty is more deserving of your fear and attention!

Know that those whom you fear and obey in disbelief because you fear them and their reaction, will never benefit you. They will not be with you in your grave, where nothing will benefit a man on that day except his own deeds. They will not be with you, nor benefit you, when you stand on the day of resurrection in front of your Lord, the day you will say:

• “’If only I had taken a path following the Messenger! I wish—if I had only—not taken such a person as a friend! He has misguided me from the remembrance (of Allah) after it came to me’, Indeed, Satan is most deceitful to man” (Furqan 27-29).
• Allah says, “The day where a man will flee from his brother, (then) his mother and father…Each one of them, that Day, will have enough concern (of his own) to make him indifferent to the others” (Abasa 34-7).

The Truth has a tax, just as falsehood has its tax. The tax of falsehood in this world is a poor life, constriction of the chest, depression, destruction, worry, and fear of the unknown—and in the hereafter, the anger of the Lord, the Glorified and Almighty, and eternal residence in the fire of hell. On the other hand, the tax of the Truth, as great as it may be, is followed by tranquility and peace in the soul, comfort of the mind, a happy life, easing of the chest, purity of the body, and harmony, agreement, and brotherhood between the body, mind, and soul—and in the hereafter, the contentedness of the Lord, the Glorified and Almighty, and eternal residence in paradise and its bliss. Know that whoever pleases Allah the Almighty by (earning) the anger of people, Allah becomes pleased with him, and makes the people pleased with him. And whoever pleases the people with hatred of Allah, Allah is angry with him, and he angers the people (against him). The reasonable person is the one who makes the best choice.

11) Do not take the wrongdoings of some Muslims as evidence of Islam being wrong, or an evidence of its falsehood, as this will carry you to oppression, hostility and disagreement towards Islam, and will make you flee from it. You will be misguided and will misguide others. Nobody represents Islam completely and absolutely except one single individual, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and everybody besides him both errs and does good. It may be said to them: ‘you have committed an error,’ or ‘you have acted correctly,’ ‘you have done well,’ or ‘you have done poorly.’ Know that the Truth is not known by men, but rather, men are known by the Truth, and the Truth in this case is limited and restricted to ‘Allah said (such as such)’, and ‘The Messenger (PBUH) said (such and such)’, i.e., the Noble Quran, and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

12) In conclusion, I recommend that you supplicate, withdraw from your desires, and to ask Allah with all honesty to show you the Truth as truth, and to bestow upon you your following it; and to show you falsehood as falsehood, and bestow upon you your avoidance of it. If you do this after half the night has passed, and you are in a position of prostration to Allah, that would be best, as Allah is near you, He hears and sees, and nothing passes without His knowledge: you require no intermediary between Him and yourself, and the time a slave is nearest to his Lord is when he is prostrating:

• Allah says, “And when my slaves ask of me, I am near. I answer the supplication of the caller when I am called upon: so, let them seek response from me, and let them believe in me, so that they may be guided” (Baqarah 2:186),
• Allah says, “and we have created man and know what its soul whispers within him, and We are nearer to him than his (own) jugular vein” (Qaf 16).

Abdulmonem Mostafa Halimah

Abu Baseer Altartousi

26/12/2021 Gregorian | 22/5/1443 Hijri

www.abubaseer.bizland.com