SUBMISSION TO GOD ALONE

A Beginner's Thoughts

I was a “Traditional Muslim.” Not just an average Traditional Mus-lim but a staunch Traditional Mus-lim. My appearance, my deeds, my religious practices, my lifestyle were all in accordance with Sunna, Hadith and the supposed lifestyle of Muhammad. I did be-lieve that there is no god but God; I believed in the angels; I believed that Quran is one of God’s scrip-tures and that Muhammad was one among the various prophets and messengers God sent to this world with the message “La Elaaha Ella Allah,” and I believed in the Day of Judgment. But all this was mere lip service. I never actually ob-served the five daily Salat (Con-tact) prayers. I only went to the Friday prayer [once a week] and “Eid prayer [twice a year].”

It all began in 1992. There was a beggar who used to pass by my house every morning saying loudly “Rab ne paida kiya bandagi ke liye” (Translation: “The Lord has created us to worship Him.”) God made me realise that there was a purpose of my existence and it is mentioned in Quran in 51:56 “I did not create the jinns and the humans except to worship Me alone.”

This set the ball rolling and I de-cided to follow Islam more relig-iously. I started saying the five Salat prayers reverently in congre-gation. I started attending Ijtema’s (religious meetings). But as per the traditional Muslims, my source of guidance was Hadith and Sun-nah because according to thei

claim it was very difficult to un-derstand the Quran, and was only meant to be recited. I removed the TV from my house and changed my dress code. I began to analyse every act and deed of mine, and if it was not in accordance with Hadith or Sunnah, I would refrain from doing it.

Despite my doing all this for years, there was no joy in my life. I was always confused and thought that there was something wrong with this type of traditional form of worship — something was missing. Wherever and whenever I attended religious get-togethers, I found them praising prophets and messengers, especially Muham-mad and the Saints.

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