format_quote Originally Posted by
ardianto
The view that I found didn't say that too busy in help the other will make a Muslim have no time for salah. But clearly, they worry that if a Muslim serving humanity, then he will be easy to fall into humanism philosophy, and far from Islam.
Is it right?. This is what I want to discuss.
Oh dear! (smile). The time it took forme to answer you previous post, you have clarified a specific point you wish to discuss.
So if I understand correctly, there is a fear that if Muslims work with non-Muslims, specifically atheists with a humanistic philosophy, that the Muslims may lose their faith?
If this is so, this is a sad commentary on the vitality of the Ummah. And yet (sigh), there is some truth in it. Because while someone who is a little older, and has had the time to research the Qur'an, ahadith and various scholars and thinkers, is not at all likely to lose his/her faith while working with non-Muslims, I can see that it might be a risk for someone younger and less grounded.
I say this because I went to a very old-school Catholic-nun run boarding school as a child. And the level of hypocrisy I found really bothered me. This, combined with too many questions, combined with some difficult experiences, led me as a teenager to feel that there could not possibly be a God. How could there be a Good God if innocent children suffered and those that clothed themselves in piety behaved badly?
But, all thanks and praise be to Him Who Created me, I stumbled instead across Islam. It answered my questions. And Allah freed me from a terrible oppression. (smile) I can't say that I became a brilliant Muslim, but He had Mercy on me and Showed me this Even Path.
But I wonder: if the nuns had been better people, might I have not left Christianity?
And so may it be for young Muslims, or possibly others lacking in knowledge. Perhaps if they see Muslims behaving badly or neglectfully, while atheists behaving well, they may come to question their faith?
But is the solution to avoid decent atheists? Or would it not be more appropriate to try to look at our own selves and also approach the not-so-well-behaving Muslims? If Muslims behaved better, then the young and disenfranchised, it seems to me, would not have any cause to question the truths they have been taught about Islam bringing out the best in people. Plus, the decent atheists might feel the call to Islam...realizing that their ideals would be best brought out via a deep relationship with Allah.
Even if the not-so-well-behaved Muslims might not listen, it seems to me that just the fact that there are Muslims saying that such-and-such is not right, would be heartening to many young Muslims. I know this to be true with my own children. Just recently, I advocated for having khutbahs in English and on topics geared to Canadian-born Muslims, not just for first-generation Arabic speaking immigrants. I have advocated for these sorts of things periodically over the years, in a quiet, private sort of way.My children did not witness it. But this time, they were present, and (alhamdullilah!) it had a really good effect. They felt that at least
someone was listening to their generation's concerns.
So anyway, the short answer to your question, I think, is that if we are afraid that Muslims may find atheism a more effective way to attaining social justice than Islam... we need to start by working on ourselves and our Ummah, and showing how He Inspires us in our everyday actions.