Tag: belief

  • Often, after a tedious debate about atheism versus theism, the residual thought that keeps floating in my head is the last verse of Surah Kaafirun. And then I wonder why I had the debate to begin with. But I always get sucked into the debate anyway. It all feels so futile sometimes. But I guess I could never sum it up better than this Surah does…It confirms that unless there is a willingness to consider the alternative, we’ll always be locked in our own views of faith and belief. So instead of continuing the insane pattern of reblogging and debating, this is my reminder to myself, and anyone else that I may have been engaging in any discussion (meaningful or not) about issues of faith.

    Lakum, deenukum, wa liyadeen…to you is your way and to me is mine. 

    I’ll try to restrain myself to the point of only establishing understanding, but not to go as far as trying to convince. 

    (Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

  • My Greatest Fear

    I fear hypocrisy more than I fear disbelief. Determining, subjectively or objectively, whether one is on the path of Imaan or Kufr is relatively easy, with the most daunting obstacle in this path possibly being arrogance or pride. And both arrogance and pride quickly subsides in the face of overwhelming odds. So at such a point, it would be quite easy to determine whether I’m a believer or not.

    Hypocrisy is so much more difficult to identify, both within ourselves and in others. Blatant hypocrisy is easy. Seeing someone visibly making statements about their beliefs and then deliberately or equally blatantly acting in contradiction to those beliefs is a litmus test of hypocrisy that anyone can apply, regardless of education, intelligence or upbringing.

    But hypocrisy can be easily disguised through the conscious application of our intelligence, especially if we’re naturally self aware. I can easily observe my own actions relative to my statements in front of others, and through conscious thought, ensure that they are always aligned. But if my motivation to do so is to appear to be sincere and consistent to others to save myself from criticism or ridicule, then this is when I believe I’ll be standing on the edge of hypocrisy and potentially not even realising it because at that point, if practiced for long enough, I would possibly succumb to internal debates that justify my actions to myself because my actions are beyond reproach by others. But…this internal debate is what I fear most as the potential seat for hypocrisy.