Love and unification of believers open this October 2000 issue, with verses showing that God condemns sectarianism as a form of idol worship and commands unity. A Thanksgiving reflection by a woman raised Episcopalian treats guidance as God's greatest gift, asked for in every contact prayer. Readers' comments to submission.org close the issue, including one from a Muslim who rejects sect labels.
Surely, those who believe and lead a righteous
life,
the Most Gracious will shower them with love (19:96).
We all heard about love. We know about the
love of God (2:165) (3:31) (5:54). We also know that “love”
is an important criterion for certain categories (9:24). We know about
love and marriage (); Love and charity () () (); and
love of people () (), but do we know about love and unification?
Have we ever thought WHY the sectarianism is condemned? Note what God
says in the Quran:
“You shall submit to Him, reverence Him, observe
the contact prayers, and whatever you do, do not ever fall into idol worship
(30:31-32).”
As you can see, God calls “sectarianism” a form of idolatry
too. God knows that sectarianism bring people to disputes and division,
and the result is nothing but “hatred”. Hatred is against
“love”, isn’t it? So, He continuously
commands “UNITY” (3:103, 200)
(49:9) (61:4). Love is necessary for the unification. A true believer
will not forget that “love” is among God’s signs and
blessings (5:54) (30:21), and God is able to change the animosity into
love because God is Omnipotent (60:7) (3:103).
Let’s pray for love and unification of all faiths and religions
for our God is one and the same, and remember the following verses:
He decreed for you the same religion decreed for Noah,
and what we inspired to you, and what we decreed for Abraham, Moses, and
Jesus: “You shall uphold this one religion, and do not divide it.”
The idol worshipers will greatly resent what you invite them to do. God
redeems to Himself whomever He wills; He guides to Himself only those
who totally submit.
Ironically, they broke up into
sects only after the knowledge had come to them, due to jealousy and resentment
among themselves. If it were not for a predetermined decision from your
Lord to respite them for a definite interim, they would have been judged
immediately. Indeed, the later generations who inherited the scripture
are full of doubts. (42:13-14)
Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one! Therefore, you
shall adore the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your mind, and with all your strength. (Deut. 6:4-5)
(Jesus said) “ None of those who call me ‘Lord’
will enter the kingdom of God, but only the one who does the will of my
Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)
Laleh
Page 2
GUIDANCE
A Gift From God
With the American holiday of Thanksgiving
just around the corner, it’s a good time to reflect on the
many things we have to be thankful for. Thanksgiving is a wonderful
holiday—its very name speaks of our appreciation to our Creator.
There are so many gifts from God in our lives. We have to try to
remember to be thankful for each of them. I think sometimes overlooked
is the ultimate gift that makes everything else possible—and
that’s guidance.
How does an American woman raised in the Episcopal church find
her way into an exotic religion like Islam? My mother asked me that
once, assuming I would name some person who brought me into it,
but at that moment I realized without question that it was God who
brought me here. The Christian tradition in which I was raised doesn’t
really allow for God’s involvement in our day to day activities.
So this was an alien concept to my mother. But with this gift of
guidance comes the understanding that God is doing everything; He
is running every moment of my life; He is with me continuously.
Without His guidance to that understanding, I would have continued
blundering without knowledge.
God is so incredibly merciful. He doesn’t just tell us we
have to worship Him or we won’t make it to heaven. He spells
out how to achieve this. Then He sends scripture, messengers and
individual guidance. He told Adam and Eve and their descendants:
"Go down therefrom, all of you. When guidance
comes to you from Me, those who follow My guidance will have no
fear, nor will they grieve.” (2:38)
God offers this guidance to everyone.
There are many moments in our lives
when we either recognize that guidance, accept it and follow it,
or ignore it and carry on in darkness. God then enhances that choice.
In our contact prayers, 17 times a day, the one thing we ask of
God is: Guide us in the right path, the path
of those whom You blessed; not of those who have deserved wrath,
nor of the strayers. (1:6-7)
We were all of us in darkness until God guided us into the light,
into understanding and knowledge. He tells us at the end of 2:198
You shall commemorate Him for guiding you; before
this, you had gone astray. Being thankful for that guidance
is an important thing for us to remember. God
guides those who seek His approval. He guides them to the paths
of peace, leads them out of darkness into the light by His leave,
and guides them in a straight path. (5:16)
Very early in sura 2, God describes the righteous: who
believe in the unseen, observe the Contact Prayers (Salat), and
from our provisions to them, they give to charity. And they believe
in what was revealed to you, and in what was revealed before you,
and with regard to the Hereafter, they are absolutely certain. These
are guided by their Lord; these are the winners. (2:3-5)
If we are guided by God, we are winners. Therefore, guidance is
a gift without price. In many verses, God reminds us of the power
of this gift.
They act as if they are doing you a favor by embracing
submission! Say, “You are not doing me any favors by embracing
Submission. God is the One who is doing you a great favor
by guiding you to the faith, if you are sincere."
(49:17)
Whomever God guides
is the truly guided one, and whomever He commits to straying,
these are the losers. (7:178)
This guidance is not an arbitrary gift. God doesn’t pick
and choose at random. He is fully aware of those who deserve the
guidance, those who will recognize it and follow it, and those who
will listen heedlessly and then turn away, following instead their
own opinions.
Had God willed, He could have made you one congregation.
But He sends astray whoever chooses to go astray, and He guides
whoever wishes to be guided. You will surely be asked about everything
you have done. (16:93)
You cannot guide the ones you love. God is the only
One who guides in accordance with His will, and in accordance with
His knowledge of those who deserve the guidance. 28:56
Another interesting thing about guidance is that it seems to be
a process. If we allow ourselves to receive it, then God increases
it; the sequence and timeframe will be appropriate to each individual.
God describes this process of receiving guidance in almost physical
terms. Our whole being cringes away from the awesomeness of God;
then God actually softens the hearts and minds of those who are
striving to let Him in. God makes a comparison in terms we can understand.
He describes someone willing to accept Submission as having a wide-open
heart. And someone unwilling to seek God’s guidance is like
someone at the top of Mt Everest, his chest constricted until it
is physically painful.
Page 3
GUIDANCE
If God renders one's heart content with Submission, he will be following
a light from his Lord. Therefore, woe to those whose hearts are hardened
against God's message; they have gone far astray. God has revealed herein
the best Hadith; a book that is consistent, and points out both ways (to
Heaven and Hell). The skins of those who reverence their Lord cringe therefrom,
then their skins and their hearts soften up for God's message. Such is
God's guidance; He bestows it upon whoever wills (to be guided). As for
those sent astray by God, nothing can guide them. (39:22-3)
Whomever God wills to guide, He renders his chest wide
open to Submission. And whomever He wills to send astray, He renders his
chest intolerant and straitened, like one who climbs towards the sky.
God thus places a curse upon those who refuse to believe. 6:125
Guidance from God is a very personal, individualized gift. And it’s
so very important for us to recognize it, follow it and be appreciative
of it.
We want to be among those who are invited
into Paradise, pleased and pleasing. Only with God’s guidance will
we make it. We don’t want to be like those described in 39:54-60,
who actually have the audacity to say: “Had God guided me, I would
have been with the righteous.” Or 3:86: Why should God guide people
who disbelieved after believing and after witnessing that the messenger
is truth, and after solid proofs have been given to them? God does not
guide the wicked.
On Thanksgiving, and on every other day of the year, we need to offer
our sincere thanks to God. He tells us in 14:7 that the more we thank
Him the more He gives us. This is as true for guidance as for all the
other gifts.
God augments the guidance of those who choose to be guided.
For the good deeds are eternally rewarded by your Lord, and bring far
better returns. (19:76)
Lydia Kelley
submission.org
Web site comments
I am soooo pleased to have found your web site! It is what I have been
looking for (what my heart and soul needed), but I didn't know this until
I found your web site. I have been a Muslim for 13 years and for the last
several years, I have been "preaching" that we are all Muslims
and we are not allowed to add a title to the beginning of the word Muslim
(i.e. Sunni, Sufi, etc.). Because Allah says in the Quran that our father
Ibrahim named us Muslims and also not to divide our religion into sects.
DRA
**
…So, it was just amazing that I happened to "CLICK"
on your website out of the blue and for no apparent reason (or so I thought),
and found the information that made my heart feel SOOO much more content….
A.
Do you have any comments or suggestions? Just drop us a line. Thank
you and God bless (Ed.)
About this work
Kind
Document
Author
International Community of Submitters
Publisher
International Community of Submitters / Masjid Tucson