What do you want from life? This is a very random question but I would like to know.

I am flattered that you are interested in knowing that. The only things I truly want from life seem impossible, so I don’t really have any hopes in this life. If my life is to contain any meaning or satisfaction then that can only come through God. My hopes are in the afterlife.

Do you have any advice on getting through a religious dilemma? I grew up in a somewhat Catholic household, for years I have prayed and went to church quite regularly, but in my early 20s, I have became an agnostic person due to my scientific studies, but now I don't think science and religion is mutually exclusive. A year ago I visited Jerusalem and I was amazed by being at the "source" & became fascinated by Islamic art. I am now kind of stuck - how can my beliefs, faith (or lack of) coexist?

Face God and sincerely pray to Him for guidance, and He will guide you. God is always with you, you just need to start speaking to Him. If you feel something blocking you from wanting to speak to Him, ignore it and do it anyway regardless of how you feel and regardless of whether it seems to have any benefit or not.

Another thing you could do is read the Bible and the Quran in a good translation (such as Abdel Haleem’s). To fully appreciate the Quran a person should read it multiple times. The first time you read it all the new information may make it difficult to take in its deeper meaning. But the second time you will be able to connect with it much better.

If you have difficulty connecting with Islam, try reading C. S. Lewis’s works (especially Mere Christianity). The best things in Christianity are also present in Islam, so if you appreciate Lewis you will be able to appreciate both Christianity and Islam all the more.

Also realize that deciding to become religious (whether Christian or Muslim) is not an intellectual decision. It is similar to the way no amount of reading will enable you to drive a car unless you actually get in a car and do it. In the end you will have to “open your heart”, to make a leap of faith, to take a great risk and accept its consequences. This requires a great amount of courage and sacrifice.

Salam I want to ask, what to do if a person forgot to read Tahiyatul during the second rak'ah?

Alaikumassalam wa ra rahmatullah,

The first tahiyya is sunna, not fard, so forgetting it does not nullify the prayer. If you forget it simply do sujud al-sahw after the prayer. Since sujud al-sahw is also considered sunna by some schools, forgetting to do this will not nullify the prayer either according to this opinion.

Salaam. Many ulema in Indonesia agreed that the Caliphate is one of Muslim obligation to be established, while I've read your essay that you do not agree on the re-establishment of the Caliphate. Your essay mentions only for the Western, that it do not need a Caliphate. Does your thoughts and opinion also applied to every country and place on Earth, that we do not need a re-establishment of Caliphate?

Also, why are there people who think that Muslims need a Caliphate and that it's re-establishment is obligated upon every Muslim? I noticed that not a single ayat in the Quran says that Allah made the Caliphate an obligation. Also, when Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) time was near, he did not emphasize his speech to call upon the people to keep running the Caliphate. If Allah and Prophet Muhammad did not befall this responsibility to Muslim ummah, why are there some who eager for it?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

My opinion applies to the whole world. There is no strong evidence that it is required for Muslims to establish a caliphate. I expect the reason why some people like the idea is that it seems to give them a purpose in life that they can work toward–it gives them a seemingly achievable goal, and a sense of power, while also freeing them from the requirement of reforming their own hearts.

Islam’s view of reform is bottom-up (or “grassroots”). Change begins with the individual, and the best example is the Prophet PBUH who never sought political power but only reformed the individuals around him. But Islamists (those who like to turn Islam into a political ideology/movement) turn things upside down. They have a “top-down” understanding of change. They think that if they can gain power they can make the world such a better place for everyone. This utopian/fairy tale idea of creating a perfect state was imported from Western political ideologies and has no basis in Islam. Islam does not teach us to gain power to do to good. It teaches us to do good right now and leave it to God to give us power, when He wants, for as long as He wants.

Unlike Zionist Jews, we do not have a “Greater Israel” to establish. Islam does not promise us some wonderful future on earth where every problem will be solved. Islam teaches us that power is given and taken by God as He likes. Even if we establish the perfect caliphate and it rules the world for the next 500 years, it too will be destroyed like every caliphate/Islamic state before that. History goes in cycles and our goal is to be the best humans we can be regardless of how powerful or powerless we are.

Note that I am not against political activism as I discuss in the essay.

Salaam. I agree that Moslem should have the "bottom-up" mindset. And I interested to your opinion about we (Moslem), should not to re-establish caliphate in anywhere. Then, I have a question. What should we do as a Moslem, to get unity? And in hadith, Rasulullah (peace be upon him) said that Moslem could conquer the Rome. How we could to get there if caliphate isn't re-establish? I just curious with ur opinion, cause I still looking the best way to living Islam. Jazakumullah khairan katsira

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

Unity is like all the other good things that Islam teaches us, such as fearing God. We can never attain perfect unity or perfect fear of God. But we can strive to accomplish as much of it as possible. Even if the Muslim world achieves perfect unity for 10 or 50 years, this will end and things will go back to the way they have always been. There isn’t some state of perfection that we can achieve permanently. Islam is all about the journey, the destination is not this world but the afterlife. In this world, whatever we accomplish will sooner or later come to an end. Nothing in this world is lasting except the record of our deeds.

Islam does not teach us to always work to get rich in order to give our money in charity. It teaches us that God grants wealth to whomever He wants and tells us to give our money in charity if we ever have enough to give away. In the same way, Islam does not teach us to always work to gain power (as Islamist ideologues think) in order to do good with our power when we have it. It teaches us that all power belongs to God and that He gives it to whomever He wants, and teaches us to use power responsibly if we are given it.

Note that “Rome”, when mentioned in hadith, actually means Byzantium (present-day Turkey), which was conquered by the Ottomans.

Is it a sin to feel sorry for yourself?

I do not like to say anything is a sin unless it is explicitly stated in the Quran or hadith that it is a sin. But self-pity ultimately means that we feel God has wronged us, since God is in charge of the universe and nothing that happens to us happens without His knowledge and will. So thinking of it this way it does seem sinful, since we would be questioning God’s wisdom, mercy and power. The true Islamic attitude is the opposite of self-pity; it is to say to God, “Whatever you decree for me, it will never decrease my love for You.”

Hello brother, I fear the afterlife, the time when I'll be laying in my grave, and it scares me whenever I think of it, especially at night. But when the Sun is up I start to forget about it. and another thing is, I am afraid it is the fear that leads me to be a good muslim. But I want it to be out of love to the God rather than out of fear. I want to live Islam in a harmony and to fix my trust in God's Mercy. Yet I've sinned, and still find hard to leave some bad habits. What should I do?

Hello,

There is nothing wrong with worshiping God out of fear or desire. The Quran says:

And do not corrupt on earth after its reformation, and pray to Him out of fear and desire. God’s mercy is close to the doers of good. (The Quran, verse 7:56)

Those who think that God should only be served out of love are naively choosing one of the God’s attributes as if it is superior to His other attributes. God wants to be worshiped for all of His attributes. When you ask Him to give you something because you desire it, you are pleasing His attributes of power and generosity. When you worship Him out of fear, you are pleasing His attributes of power and majesty. God never tells us that some of His attributes are superior to others. We must take all of His attributes into consideration when we interact with Him.

A person who only relies on God’s attributes of love and forgiveness are in reality trying to set up a false god; they are creating their own god by picking and choosing some of His attributes over others. To truly know God, the real God, is to fear Him, to desire His generosity and mercy, to fear His retribution, and to want to be loved by Him.

Being a good Muslim is a daily struggle. No matter how faithful and spiritual you felt the day before, the next day you have to start the struggle from scratch. You will continue sinning as long as you live. The point is to always go back to God, ask Him for His forgiveness and guidance, and work to better yourself.

As for fearing the afterlife, there is nothing wrong with this unless it prevents you from enjoying a good and productive life. We are supposed to fear it. Any Muslim who does not fear it, who thinks they are now in such a good place spiritually that they will be safe if they die, has got it wrong and has become proud and has lost their true understanding of God. We are never safe as long as we live, and this feeling should always make us seek safety in God. This world is a testing hall. The only true safety we achieve is when we get the results in the afterlife and we are told that we passed the test.

Assalamualaykum brother. In this cashless era, many start-ups offer promotions like cash back for its customer. Is this considered halal? I personally use this cash back quite often, but I don’t know what Islam says about this kind of thing. Jazakallah khairan for your answer

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

There is no issue with cash-backs since they are (at least they are supposed to be) part of the profits that the company gives back to the customer in order to increase transactions.

assalamu aleykom wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu, i'm still learning so much about my religion and i wish to know, if it is somewhat islamic as in if it's right thing to do as a muslim, as a seeker of Allah's mercy, to complain or to open up about our sorrows to our friends, i don't meant family or a therapist but strictly friends. would it be better to stop doing so and do so with Allah during salat? barakAllahu fik for your answer

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh,

I don’t see any issue with sharing your problems and sorrows with a friend as long as you do not do it in a self-pitying way as if God has wronged you. Self-pity is due to a lack of spiritual understanding (and it is also never attractive and makes people dislike us). A great thing about reading the Quran daily is that it makes self-pity impossible, at least for me.

Salam! Do you have advice on how to not pity oneself. I didn’t realize how much I actually do this and how it goes on to affect the way I interpret my daily life and past.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

I believe the cure is to have a very firm belief in the fact that God is in charge of the universe, that nothing happens to us without His allowing it, and that He is just, kind and merciful and always gives us what we need for our growth and maturation. However merely recognizing these things intellectually is not enough. One also needs to keep the recognition alive in the heart, otherwise self-pity (and all kinds of other negative character traits) always creep back regardless of how wise and saintly we are at the moment. We need to do constant, daily work to maintain our balance, and the best way to do that is to read the Quran daily.

Assalamualaykum. How to slow down in this fast pace life? I mean, I rush with almost everything. I lost my consciousness and awareness about myself, what I’m doing, my surroundings, even with my prayer and my relation to Allah. I’ve realized time just passed by without barokah in it. I’m afraid I’ll die with such conditions 😢 naudzubillahimindzalik. Where should I start to fix this? Any advice? Jazakallah khairan.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

I believe the best way to fix that is to dedicate a certain amount of time every day to reading the Quran (which is something I talk about often). The Quran helps you move outside the ordinary current of time and look at things from the point of view of eternity. It helps you live in the present moment; it offers forgiveness for your past mistakes, accepts you as you are, and tells you that the future is entirely in God’s hands so there is no need to worry about it. Merely recognizing these facts intellectually is not enough. The great thing about the Quran is that it helps you feel these things deep in your heart. It doesn’t just give you the facts, it makes you feel their reality.