Bismillah ir Rahman nir Raheem
Whenever someone brings something up about Islam, they address as if it is a burden but everything we do is for a reason, and a good reason. Alhamdulillah most of us, or all of us were born Muslim but from the beginning most of us were taught rituals. We were told bam! Pray fives times a day, no eating or drinking in Ramadan, don’t talk to boys unless it’s a school project, and no pepperoni. We were taught many of the commandments, but Allah who asked us all of this, was completely out of the picture.
So we were fed rituals- Ramadan would come around and its like okay UGH now this Islam thing is making me starve myself again. Because we were never taught to understand Allah, because we were not taught the why’s, we never loved doing these. We did not internalize that love to get up for Fajr at five thirty in the morning to talk to our Creator. We did not have that taqwa, that consciousness when all we were fed were this, this, this, Muslim, Islam, done.
For this reason, many of us grew up seeing many of the aspects of Islam as a burden.
However, when love for Allah comes into the picture, a whole new attitude appears and instead, all the little things that we are asked to do that to others seem burdernsome, become things we LOVE to do, things we LOVE to abandon, and our deen becomes the one thing that we LOVE about our lives. Allah already love us. Allah has already served us. We are the ones that should want and not just want but need His love.
Some aspects of Islam that are seen to be burdensome are as follows: Hijab/ Modesty, Not being able to eat pork, the prohibition on drinking, the prohibition on smoking, the prohibition on unlawful, non-marital relationships with the opposite sex, fasting, as well as praying five times a day. However, these commandments are all set with good reason and ultimately we do should submit our intellectual humility and understand that whatever Allah commands is to our best interest but some the reasons for these prohibitions are clear as day if we look around our society.
"And it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know" (2:216).
Hijab
Many people have a big problem with hijab. Why does Allah command us to cover ourselves, to dress modestly? But my question is, why does international culture command you to dress like a piece of meat, that everyone stares at? Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed us with this command of modesty where we as Muslim women are looked at not for how our body is shaped, not how tight our shirts are or how much of our body is revealed but instead we are looked at the beauty within. Allah does not care about appearance, does not care about how short your shorts are or what you look like, it is what is within the hearts that Allah knows and cares about. It is taqwa that matters.
Pork
Pork is not only forbidden to Muslims but was forbidden to Jews and Christians but now since their scriptures have been cut here, pasted there, you can see some alterations, like some Christians don’t eat pork on this certain day, and Jews will stay away from meat or fast from meat on a specific day so alteration have been made later on. Its body is filthy, its way more fat than actual meat and nutrition-where does lard come from…pigs. Today, people tend to use every last piece of a pig, from its hooves to its intestines to its skin, liver, blood, yeah in China they make Black pudding, everything…but you know tapeworms start to originiate on its tissue, it leads to so many infections, basically its disgusting.
Drinking
...Cirrhosis, liver disease, “beer belly”, fat, addiction, ruins the home, ruins relationships, ruins your brain, car accidents, innocent lives are killed, memory loss, many claim to do it for fun, but then they don’t even remember anything. If you need alcohol to have fun, you probably aren’t a fun person and are using that as a tool to you know get this alter side of you to make other convinced you are.
Smoking
...A bajillion types of cancers, your teeth get stained, your lungs turn black and jiggly and gross, and the whole long list of other medical conditions and such but worse of all it’s a gateway to other things, its addicting and that makes everything worse. Not to mention you're making everyone around you smoke, second-handedly.
Fasting
Not eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset is a huge deal to most people and is the cause of great freak-outs by Non-Muslims. However, fasting is a prescription from Allah subhana wa ta'ala and actually has much less to do with food than most of think. In fact, fasting is less about the food and more about purifying the soul. Ramadan, the month of fasting was sent to us, prescribed to us to cleanse our soul, to starve our soul from physical food so that we can fill it up with the ultimate soul food...the Quran.
Dating
Many youth and young individuals have a big issue with the fact that dating is prohibited in Islam. They look only to the fairy-tale, rainbow, sun-shiny side of it where some perfect person comes and sweeps them off their feet. They get so caught up into the so called "happiness" of these young relationships but fail to realize the lasting effects of them. They don't see past the temporary smiles to the depression, to the anxiety, to those long sleepless nights. Dating is emotionally exhausting and usually ends up in tears, in fights, and sometime even long term depression. Alhamdulillah Allah has blessed us and has allowed us to enjoy the opposite gender, but through the relationship of a marriage, with actual commitment and has allowed us to find refuge, love, and mercy through that bond.
Praying
Praying five times a day is another aspect of Islam that non-Muslims and Muslims alike see as a burden. What many people don't realize is that we need the reminder, we need the disassociation from this dunya five times a day. We need to step back and remember our creator and remember our purpose and remember our destination. Salah purifies us through out the day. Salah is the first thing we will be asked about on the Day of Judgment. Salah is our connection to our Creator. Without these set times, would we really take out the time throughout the day to put out face on the ground? Think about it.
“Say, “Not equal are the evil and the good, although the abundance of evil might impress you.” So fear Allah , O you of understanding, that you may be successful.” [5:100]
Allah loves us more than our own mother loves us, so the things he has told us to do are not to burden us but to help us; Islam is easy, it is people that make it hard.
-Mission Dawa
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