Dunya

I was reading one of my favourite books the other day by Yasmin Mogahed when I stumbled across a very interesting metaphor. What is the purpose of a ship on a body of water? The actual purpose is to get from said point A to said point B- no matter what kind of boat is in question. Be it a yacht or a poor man's boat, the purpose of it is to sail. She then went on to say what happens if water enters that ship? Not just a little bit of water but what if the ship is overwhelmed with water? The ship will drown- be it a yacht or a poor man's boat- overwhelming amounts of water will cause it to sink and subsequently the people inside will drown. If you think about this concept in parallel to the human heart (the ship) and the water (the dunya) you'll realise it's the same principal. The purpose of this world is for us to get to our final destination - our hereafter, that doesn't mean we can't get there on a yacht nor does that mean that a poor man's boat won't get there. However, if we allow the world and worldly things to get deeply inside our hearts then we have surely created our own downfall. It seems everyone has a void in their hearts innately because before we were born- we had infinite love from our Creator and we were residing with him, when we were born and got placed in the dunya that infinite and perfect love was ripped away from us leaving a cavity in our hearts. In the dunya we will try and fill that cavity with all sorts of things, wealth, careers, beauty and even other people. Nothing will ever satisfy the void, no amounts of money, beauty, wealth, success or even relationships will fill that space because it was never meant to be filled with something that imperfect- that void can only be filled by Allah SWT. I always thought the love of dunya never really applied to me as I don't hold material things dear to my heart but the love of dunya does apply to me as I think I put too much gravity on relationships and on other people. However, if you place all your weight on an imperfect creation what else do you expect except imperfection?

You'll know what you've placed in your heart if you just picture the thing you dread losing the most- the thing that if you lost you would feel like your life would fall apart and you could not go on. That is the thing that rules you. That is the water in your ship. We need to replace that with the love of Allah- granted it is more easily said than done but if we manage to achieve this know that we will never be let down because then the love of Allah is what rules us and surely that will not be our downfall. That's not to say do not enjoy your lives, enjoy your material things, enjoy your wealth, enjoy your success and your relationships but do not give them the power to control you.

“Amazing is the affair of the believer, verily all of his affair is good and this is not for no one except the believer. If something of good/happiness befalls him he is grateful and that is good for him. If something of harm befalls him he is patient and that is good for him” (Saheeh Muslim #2999)

Feminism

Feminism is a buzzword on social media; positive or negative, it seems everyone has an opinion on it, myself included. The absolute definition of feminism is equality of the genders whether that be economically, socially, political, culturally or personally however our new age feminism may as well be known as 'free the nipple.' Naturally, as a woman I agree with the fundamental principles of the movement as I certainly don't consider myself to be under any man and granted, if I didn't have Islam I would take an active part in this movement however I am a Muslim woman. The distinct difference is that women is Islam are given all of these rights discussed previously, Allah SWT gave us economic rights, social rights, personal right and practically every right we can think of. I believe in rights for women but I do not call myself a feminist. I call myself a Muslim. A muslim that has been liberated by Allah and by Allah only not by any movement and also as a Muslim it is important to understand that men and women although they are "equal" have different roles; deny it as much as you wish but even biologically we are not the same. We are of equal importance but women can't be exactly like men and men can't be exactly like women and we are built for different purposed decreed by the Almighty.
I often hear the argument being presented that women are mistreated the most often in "Islamic societies" and that Islam stops nothing but that is an example of when culture and religion get integrated too far. The fact some men mistreat some women is not a reflection of what Islam teaches as the Prophet PBUH said that the best of men is one that is good to his wife. I'm aware that abuse and mistreatment happens however this is not a result of Islam, this is a result of people not being educated about their own religion and confuse cultural practises with the truth- these women don't need feminism per say but they need the true Islam that liberates them more than any modern movement ever could as it was made by the Almighty and this will only come with educating a society and educating a woman about the Haqq.
In short, Islam is feminism, I am a Muslim and I am given my rights and liberated by my God.