Islam is like a university. Some just visit the campus.
They don’t enroll. But all are invited. All are provided a full
scholarship with the only requirement, that one put in work.
Do your best. And if you struggle, then ask for help. Similar to
keeping a high GPA. If we don’t work hard, if we don't participate,
if we aren't active then our grades suffer. Our status at that
university is at risk. So, we’re on the campus of Islam. But
are we putting in work? What do our grades look like?
Think of today as report card day. Sometimes we forget
what it's all about. What's our purpose on this campus? If we’ve
lost focus we’ll stop working and our grades, our imaan, our faith
will suffer. On this campus of Islam, we have some core beliefs,
requirements. It's what defines Islam. And when practiced, it's
what makes us Muslims. And in this talk, it's your identification.
It's what qualifies you to be on this campus.
How did we come to Islam? Well, we believe that God is
One. One without a partner and Unique. One who is Self-
Sufficient and Omnipresent. And we believe in the (male)
Prophets mentioned in the Torah and Bible including Jesus the
son of Mary (peace be upon them both) with Muhammad (s.a.w)
being the final and sealing Prophet and messenger of God. The
belief that God is one, and in Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) are the
gates to the university of Islam. If I’ve already lost you, then you
may be at the wrong school. If we agree on one and not the
other, you're on the wrong campus.
Who is your Lord? What is your religion? Who is your
Prophet? These are the questions on our final exam. How will we
answer? Will our hearts response help us pass and graduate? Or
have we not studied or prepared for this? We say with our
mouths, “Our Lord is God, Allah (s.w.t.)”. But what will our
hearts say? We say our religion is Islam, one submitted
to the will of God. But are we really submitted to ourselves or to
our selfish desires?
Before we answer to who is our Prophet, let's be clear
as what a Prophet in Islam is. There are people today (outside of
Islam) who call themselves prophets and. Some who confuse
closeness to God, or the emotion of kushoo with a spiritual
position.
A Prophet is not some holy roller that believes they are
“anointed” with special powers. And a Prophet of God is not
anyone walking around on this earth today. Those are false
prophets. In Islam, our Prophet is Muhammad (s.a.w). The one
whom Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) directed us to (John
14:15-16). Our example and Teacher. Or have we another?
Who is your Prophet? Whose sunnah or “example” do you follow?
What grade would we give ourselves when it comes to our
relationship with Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.). The walking Quran
(s.a.w.). Are we really trying to follow his examples and
teaching?
You see, we may like the idea of Islam, but we aren’t really
interested in following the lifestyle, hence putting in the work to
remain on campus. So then when some of us remove our hijabs,
or stop praying or start going backwards in our practice everyone
else is confused but we know the truth. We’ve been distracted
with idols and superstars of the world. We’ve become idols. We
want to be followed. We’ve fallen in love with people and led
straight off campus.
If we don’t believe that we are to obey God through the
Quran and Prophet (s.a.w.) Then trying to practice Islam will be a
problem. And why is that? Because Islam is a religion of action.
Of being mindful of how you move, live and worship. How we live
is an expression to what we believe. I’m not saying that if we
struggle in work there is a problem, we all need help. We all need
support, tutors, and resources. I’m saying that if you do not
believe or consider these things important then this religion will
be a problem for you because the shahadah is a prerequisite in
the university of Islam. And acting upon it is what makes us
Muslim.
The point of being on this campus of Islam is to implement
to our best abilities what Allah (s.w.t.) has given us with the
Quran and sunnah. Do you know life outside of this campus?
What it’s like to be uneducated? Have you a clue what it's like not
knowing how to pray, or what Allah wants from you? It’s like
being illiterate. And it's frustrating when we’ve been taught to
read given the truth and instead of sharing it with others we take
advantage of their illiteracy to fulfill our nafs.
Non-Muslims won't remind you to pray. They may not
know you aren’t supposed to drink or date. And we take
advantage of that. Non-Muslims who believe in God and are lost
looking for what we have, Islam and we’re so selfish we don’t
even want to help them. Don’t even want to let them know Islam is an option.
Some of us are at risk of an academic dismissal and all of
us are on probation if we are on this campus but not putting in
the work. Anyone that knows you should know that you are a
Muslim because of your actions. Don’t be afraid to be asked
questions by non-Muslims. Why are you fasting? Why do you
pray that way? Don’t you realize these are our pop quizzes? How
we answer or react can make a big difference in a person's life.
I grew up working with a few Muslims and whenever I’d ask
anything about Islam they’d blow me off. “This is our culture
Naomi” they’d say. “You wouldn’t understand, it's our tradition”.
They were so busy trying to blend in with us non-Muslims they
kept this deen to themselves. Don’t do that to people. When you
have something good that you love that you believe in, you at
least let people know it exists. You’d have pride and want to put
it on display like our pride for our schools.
So how can we do better this semester? How can we
improve our grade our imaan inshaAllah? It always goes back to
the basics. Islam, like a university is an institution of the highest
learning. We may differ in majors, but we all have the same
prerequisites. Our salat. Our five daily prayers are what keeps us
anchored in these deen. These are our dues to ourselves in this
university. Making sure we not neglect salat is everything and if
we struggle to pray, then here is where our work must go. If we
don't know how to do our basic obligations, it is our responsibility
to find help. if our prayers fall short and we're not concerned then
we risk losing this scholarship, this deen. Our imaan will suffer.
Usually when our imaan is low for too long, and our
hearts become distracted, prayer, is the first to be abandoned.
Others may see it before we realize it and try to remind us. We
might start becoming defensive and start blaming "mean
Muslims" or anyone other than ourselves as to why we don’t pray
or practice. If we've abandoned our salat it's because we no
longer believe it's important. The thing about us as humans is
that our actions will always expose us. Whomever our hearts
follow in secret will eventually start to show in our actions.
No matter what we tell people, what excuses we give.
Like if we were at Harvard or Howard on a full ride and
then we started skipping class. No one would accept that we've
stop going to class because the teachers were mean or that we
couldn't make friends. People would say "Are you crazy?!" Who
cares about them, get that degree. It’s never really practicing
people that turn us away from doing what’s right. Not that there
aren't tests. But not enough to change your entire faith.
Some of us have met new people who don't go to school
and they've influenced us. Some of us miss sleeping in and think
fajr salat is too hard. We need to stop playing victim, stop
blaming others and start owning our decisions. If we stop trying,
if we quit then not only do we risk falling back into our jahiliyyah,
we risk having worse. You know why? Because now we know
better.
If we believe that Allah swt is One and in the fact that He is
always watching us always aware then we need to act like it. If
we believe in the Prophet (s.a.w.) then we need to follow his
examples and directions.
* And if you do not believe in these basic principles of
Islam then you’re’ on the wrong campus. When you love
something, you appreciate it. You can’t imagine your life without
it. I pray that Allah SWT make us those that are grateful for the
gift of Islam and not make us of those whom He can replace
because of ingratitude. Ameen.
Asalaamu Alaykum
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