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Al Lah

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We as humans always had a tendency to bow down to something which was superior to us, something we could derive great benefits from and something which we could not understand. Mankind had worshipped the sun, the planets and the stars, fire, trees, idols, graves, kings, animals and pharaohs. 

Although people emerged in different times and places claiming to be true Prophets (From Adam (AS) to Muhammad (AS), may peace be upon all of them) sent by the Creator, with the passage of time, man's mental intellect grew as well. What people thousands of years ago thought to be a huge ball of fire, which glowed and floated across the skies every day, giving life in the form of energy (heat), food (photosynthesis) and gave blessings to the people, is now known as a star, the sun.  

Science increased its grip on human intellect. The superior were conquered, those which gave benefits were replaced and that which could not be understood began to make sense. The prophets gave the same concept of God throughout, and at one point, human intellect crossed their path with that explanation.

The big bang occurred and we evolved. But because for every effect there must be a cause, men pondered over the "theories" of the Prophets; a God is present, who was always there when there was no concept of "there" and "when". He created space and time and thus is independent from such dimensions. He caused the big bang and he created us. He is present, who sees everything, knows everything and will raise us again from our Graves to question us as to what we did in this world of his.

This God was something which was much superior and incomparable to us, some one who blessed us with great benefits and something which we could never understand. But because now mankind was used to conquer everything, and this God could neither be conquered nor be understood, many of us refused to accept this theory. Many of us moved ahead and started to worship science. Unfortunately, many of us still stand where men stood thousands of years ago and worship the conquered.

What is more unfortunate, is the fact that we, the monotheists, people who accepted the Prophets and follow them, or claim to do so, also refuse what the Prophets, specially Prophet Muhammad (SAW), gave us.

Muhammad (SAW) gave us a God who had no Shareek (partner), while although we testify the same, we took alot of partners in his work.

Thou makest the night to pass into the day and Thou makest the day to pass into
the night, and Thou bringest forth the living from the dead and Thou bringest forth the
Allah dead from the living, and Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou pleasest without measure.
Quran [3:27]

And how many a living creature that does not carry its sustenance: Allah sustains
it and yourselves; and He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
Quran [29:60]

Not speaking about ignorant people who consider their pirs and gurus, their saints to give life and death independently, their Qalanders to distribute Rizq independently, the educated class, people of intellect "worship" their bosses in offices. If it weren't for our boss, I would not have a job, I will not get a promotion; in simple words, who will give me sustenance (money) if i do not please / fawn my boss in every way. My loyalty is not with my work but with my boss because he is the one who will eventually create my career path. Don't we miss our religious and family obligations because of our work, to an extent, unnecessarily (late sittings on purpose for example)?

Muhammad (SAW) gave us a God who is omnipotent, who knows everything, sees everything, hears everything.

Say: Whether you hide what is in your hearts or manifest it, Allah knows it, and
He knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth, and Allah has power
over all things.
Quran [3:29]

Do they not know that Allah knows their hidden thoughts and their secret
counsels, and that Allah is the great Knower of the unseen things?
Quran [9:78]

But whenever we are alone, we think no one can hear us, watch us.

We think we are very clever, smart and wise when we plan some one else's downfall, when we back bite and gossip, when we do the damage behind closed doors. Our God becomes deaf when we hurl abuses at one another, our God does not see when we commit sins. We can even trick our God in thinking how much we love him and worship him when our Salat, Fasts and Hajj are only for the people to see and praise about.

Muhammad (SAW) gave us a God who owns whatever exists and is created, who owns the heavens and who will forgive anyone as he pleases.

Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is Allah's; and whether
you manifest what is in your minds or hide it, Allah will call you to account according to
it; then He will forgive whom He pleases and chastise whom He pleases, and Allah has power over all things.
Quran [2:284]

Fortunate for us, we own paradise and we own hell.

We take a second to declare everyone else a kaafir. We decide in this world who goes to paradise and who will burn in hell. Because you argue with me and have opposing views as mine, you are going to hell, because I said so. Our God will always appreciate our actions and beliefs, our God will be biased towards us. No matter whatever we say or do, we will always be guided (in our own eyes). It will always be the other person who needs to rectify their actions.

Muhammad (SAW) gave us a God who told us to follow the Prophet (SAW).

Say: If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your faults, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. Say: Obey Allah and the Messenger; but if they turn back, then surely Allah does not love the unbelievers.
Quran [3:31-32]

But we are above the message and can follow any one as we desire.

We follow our parents, our teachers, our friends, our peer pressure, Mullahs, religious clerics and fanatics, Imams of the mosque, Muftis and Ayatullahs, Qalanders, even the Sahabas (RA). Infact, we follow and love everyone except the Prophet (SAW) himself. Muhammad's God gave us the Quran but we are more interested in Ahadith and traditions and also word of mouth.

Muhammad (SAW) gave us a God who was most beneficent, most merciful and extremely Just. Muhammad (SAW) gave us a God who is to be loved but feared at the same time.

(High) degrees from Him and protection and mercy, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
Quran [4:96]

This is for what your own hands have sent before and because Allah is not in the
least unjust to the servants.
Quran [3:182]

(As for) those who fear their Lord in secret, they shall surely have forgiveness and a great reward.
Quran [67:12]

Inform My servants that I am the Forgiving, the Merciful,  And that My punishment-- that is the painful punishment.
Quran [15:49-50]

Our God only knows how to love. Our mother loves us so much, and because our God loves us more than 70 mothers, he will always forgives us for our sins irrespective of our repentance. And because we are Muslims, we pray, fast, give charity, do Azadari, cry for Imam Hussain (AS), do Hajj, Allah will be forced to send us to paradise without any accountability on the scales of Justice. Perhaps, paradise was initially created for people like us who have already forgiven ourselves in our mind and have created many many homes and hooris in our name in paradise already. We are free to kill, rob, rape, in-tolerate others, adulter, create divisions, cause finah and innovate in our religion.

Muhammad (SAW) gave us a God who was above everything, who our imagination could never comprehend as to his physical or spiritual form, his location and whereabouts, his shape if any.

He begets not, nor is He begotten. And none is like Him.
Quran [112:3-4]

Vision comprehends Him not, and He comprehends (all) vision; and He is the
Knower of subtleties, the Aware.
Quran [6:103]

Because we are men of superior intellect and we have conquered gods of the past, we tried to conquer the God of Muhammad (SAW) as well. We believe (some of the Muslims) that he has arms, legs (for instance the hadith below and its usual interpretation):

Anas b. Malik reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said that the Hell would continue to say: Is there anything more, until Allah, the Exalted and High, would place His foot therein and that would say: Enough, enough, by Your Honour, and some parts of it would draw close to the other.
Sahih Muslim Book 040, Number 6823

Infact, we will be able to see our God who can shape shift and limit himself in the finite boundaries of a form (for instance the hadith below and its usual interpretation):

Narrated Abu Huraira: Some people said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?" ...... O Allah's Apostle!" He said, "So you will see Him (your Lord) on the Day of Resurrection similarly Allah will gather all the people and say, 'Whoever used to worship anything should follow that thing. 'So, he who used to worship the sun, will follow it, and he who used to worship the moon will follow it, and he who used to worship false deities will follow them; and then only this nation (i.e., Muslims) will remain, including their hypocrites. Allah will come to them in a shape other than they know and will say, 'I am your Lord.' They will say, 'We seek refuge with Allah from you. This is our place; (we will not follow you) till our Lord comes to us, and when our Lord comes to us, we will recognize Him. Then Allah will come to then in a shape they know and will say, "I am your Lord.' They will say, '(No doubt) You are our Lord,' and they will follow Him. .......
Sahih Bukhari Volume 8, Book 76, Number 577

Muhammad (SAW) gave us a God who has nothing but the good in store for us.

Whatever benefit comes to you (O man!), it is from Allah, and whatever misfortune befalls you, it is from yourself, and We have sent you (O Prophet!), to mankind as a messenger; and Allah is sufficient as a witness.
Quran [4:79]

Our God, he has given us alot of problems in our lives. We are poor, hungry, misguided, sad and suffering only because of him. He sends earthquakes our way, he gives us troubles like suicide bombing, he ruins our future through unemployment and installs wicked leaders on us.

As Muslims, Rasool (SAW)  made us understand what God is, but as intellectual beings, we always tried to exceed it and made our own god who worked our way. We tried to conquer and understand the Khaliq e Haqiqi (the absolute Creator) who is also the Creator of the reality, who created us and our capacity to understand. Our denial of the God of Muhammad (SAW) may not be because of our willful Kufr, but because of our arrogance, insincerity with ourselves and blindly following of traditions, stories and clerics.

Because we want to be at ease with our sins, we have made God the way we would want him to be; some one who loves us for all the fitnah we have created in his created society.

The fact is, our opinions do not change the facts. Allah is one, who gives life and death. He is The-God or Al-Lah (literal translation). He has the best of names and the best of attributes. He is the one to be feared of, yet worthy of worship (as Mawla Ali (AS) said).

A person who is born blind, can never have visual dreams. Reason being, because he has never seen what a tiger looks like, he can never recreate it in his mind and thus lacks visual dreams. Can we comprehend what is Allah when he has created everything and existed even before "what" existed? We are bound by dimensions. We are born blind thus we can never comprehend what Allah is.

Muhammad ibn al- Hassan has narrated from ‘Abdallah ibn al-Hassan al-‘Alawi and Ali ibn
Ibrahim from al-Mukhtar ibn Muhammad ibn al-Mukhtar al-Hmadini altogether from al- Fath
ibn Yazid who has said the following: "I asked Imam abul Hassan (a.s.), "What is the minimum required degree of knowledge about Allah?" The Imam said, "To acknowledge that there is no other lord besides Him and that nothing is similar to and like Him and that He is eternal, positively existing and not absence and that nothing is like Him."
Al Kafi, H 224, Ch. 4, h 1

Why argue about what is he like, where is he, when we know he exists. It is his mercy that he has guided us and given us the opportunity to remember him.

Is it possible to mention Allah, without the mention of his Apostle Muhammad (SAW), who Allah has selected as a Wali alongside him, obedience to whom  is at par with that of Allah's himself, who is the reason why all the other prophets were chosen for prophethood.

And is it possible to mention Muhammad (SAW), without the mention of his blessed Ahlulbayt (AS) and Progeny, who if not included in the Durood sent on Prophet (SAW) nullifies the Durood, upon whom Zakat is forbidden along with the Prophet (SAW), who were chosen for Mubahila, the Purified ones, the group which had produced the Princes of paradise, Imam Hassan (AS) and Hussain (AS), the leader of women of paradise Fatima (AS), and the Mawla of all believers, Ali (AS). 

Remember, the purpose of our creation and existence is to worship Allah, the one on whom all depends.

And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me.
Quran [51:56]

What is the use of living this life without serving the purpose of our very creation? We may enjoy a life of 80 years in bliss of money, power, fame, women/men, glamour, strength. But what then? Serve Allah through obedience to his prophet (SAW), loving the chosen Ahlulbayt (AS),  earning money through permissible means, guarding private parts, piety, respecting elders and loving children, erasing hatred and differences amongst different groups, bowing down to his might and remember him in the day and remember him in the night.

As Imam Ali (AS) said, Allah deserves to be worshipped and served. So begin each day in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful and keep the end in mind, which is the same for emperors, and the same for beggars, the grave.

Everything will come to pass, everything will end; youth, strength, beauty, good times, bad times, this world, our flesh, our friends, our families, our jobs, money. Love them and be sad when they depart you (which the eventually will). Allah will always be there. Love him and never face the sorrow of loosing him, but only through your own actions and faith. 

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