Is there a such thing as a Muslim but not Religous!

In the Name of Allah,

All praise due to Allah, the Creator, the Sustainer.

"And say: `My Rubb! Increase me in knowledge.'' (20:114)

"It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allah.'' (35:28)

Mu`awiyah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah said, "When Allah wishes good for someone, He bestows upon him the understanding of Deen.''
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 74

As I walk in late to the Tafsir class on Sunday, I saw all the people who were sitting listening, and there was something a miss. See, after some salat, there will be a person who stands up and announce that there will be a small talk on deen (religion)afterwards, and, the whole Jamat that is focused on bringing people to the Masjid, and, in some cases, take people to far masajid, was missing. [There was one from that Jamat there but that was unusual].

Then, there are some brothers who come for cricket at Asar, they were missing. Also, there are some who are huffaz, and lead salat in some cases were missing.

Then, there are some brothers who come to Maghrib on Sunday were missing.

Then, Arab brothers who come to salat regularly were missing.

Then, there are brothers who come for almost every fardh salat were missing.

Then, there are brothers who are leading the community, or on the school board were missing.

Bottom line is that everyone has one reason or the other to NOT show up in Jamah Masjid after Maghrib on every Sunday. For them, "dancing with the stars", or "NFL games", or "Chatting with friends", or "Indian Dramas", or Allah knows what else is more important than learn the meaning of Quran that took 23 years to come down with blood and sweat of our beloved Prophet (PBUH), and lives of the honorable sahaba (RA). I am not referring to people who have valid excuses, of course.

Unless we have an excuse, missing Tafsir of Quran amounts to intentional ignorance of Allah's words. If one is part of "Jamat" and don't participate in Tafsir of Quran, I am not sure what other benefit of Masjid are they inviting people to.

To people, who think that they are following Islam, and walk away after the announcement is made for Tafsir after Maghrib, I don't buy their claim.

To people who come for cricket, and spent 2 hours running after a ball, but don't seem to find time for Tafsir of Quran, I hope the skills in cricket will save them on the day of judgement.

To people who are sitting at home, and not coming for Tafsir, it does not convince me that "they worship none but allah" because Allah's words are being explained, and they are not there, which amounts to worship when convenient, and not if it is on Sunday evening.

Brothers and Sisters, seeking knowledge of Deen (religion) is not optional, but is our duty. On top of that, it is one thing to not come on Maghrib on Sunday, but it is another to walk out of the masjid as Tafsir starts. Do you have another means of learning about the meaning of the Quran? Do you find it boring to know what is in this book that has been protected by young kids with their lives?

Wallah! if my beloved Prophet (PBUH) was alive today, he would have cried at Muslims walking out after Maghrib, and not staying to listen to the meaning behind the verse read in Salat.

This is the cause of difficulty on our nation, and nothing else. Not the economy or insincere leaders, or Non-Muslims. If we make an intention, and try our best to learn our deen, I promise you that our lives will improve 10 fold, and the world will start respecting our religion, and we don't have to shave our beards to blend in, but they will grow beard to blend in with us. This is no joke!

At the root of this is two reasons, which no one talks about.

- Difference of opinion with the person teaching
- Prefer being a Muslim, but not religious

First reason is very hard to resolve, because everyone has created "Madhahib" (religions) within "Madhab" (Islam), and they identify themselves as Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbili, Shafii, Tablighi, Deobandi, Barelvi, and whatever they can find to disagree upon, they have splitted the religion. No one identify themselves as Muslim anymore. I have read many books on the lives of sahaba, and yet to find a single evidence of these divisions, although Ibn Masood and Ibn Abbas disagreed on many opinions.

Second reason is very serious, because this is very clear attitude among Muslims nowadays. We are Muslims, but not religious. For love of God, I can never undertand this term "religious". Either you are a muslim or not. If you are a muslim, you are religous, because Islam is a religion. Now, if you are atheist, I understand the term.

A person could be non-practicing Muslim, which is similar to saying that I am a lawyer but don't practice. It is kind of funny because one has to go through alot of study to become a lawyer, and it is insane to become a lawyer and work in 7-Eleven afterwards.

In my opinion, a person who thinks he/she is a muslim, but doesn't practice is either not convinced that Islam is the best way to live life, or is convinced that it is out of date, or simply not convinced that there will be retribution. For example, would anyone looking at the Police car, intentionally break the red light. On the contrary, sight of cops brings this sense of community and moral in us that we will use two hands on steering to show the cop that we are not be pulled over.

When was the last time we corrected our lives thinking there are angels writting every deed, and we will be held responsible for it. This is called taqwa with Allah. It makes us better than other creations, not the best car, or clothes, or the best profession.

If you have not understood Quran completely, please come to Tafsir of Quran, and sit under calm, and soothing environment. You may even socialize afterwards, and find it very refreshing to hear the words of Allah.

If you beleive that Quran has nothing to teach you, please avoid the tafsir program as much as you can. I will not be there on next sunday, but I pray to Allah that the Masjid will be full as it was on 27th of Ramadan to receive some fake blessings that our Rasool (PBUH) didn't know about, because he didn't had the "dua on 27th Ramadan".

Of course, tafsir has no benefit, if we don't follow it. We have to trust Allah when he tells us that Islam is good for us, and not fall into the trap that practicing Islam will harm our image. Practicing Islam is the only way, and everything else leads to a loss.

The Prophet also said: "Knowledge from which no benefit is derived is like a treasure out of which nothing is spent in the cause of God." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 108

JazakAllah Khairin
AbuArman
A struggling muslim