Chapter #1: What being Muslim is all about

Chapter #1: What being Muslim is all about

Written by: Barah

 

بِسْــــــمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰــــنِ الرَّحِيــــمِ

Ramadan is here! Time to dive into the Quran once again and learn a few lessons from it. As I’m trying to finish the Quran this Ramadan, I plan to take a verse that may have struck me while reading my juz (chapter) and present it to you with a small commentary. If you plan to finish the Quran this Ramadan as well, you can also send me the verse that struck you and maybe I’ll post it! Let’s start with the first juz.

 

“۞ لَيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَنْ تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالْكِتَابِ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ وَآتَى الْمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ ذَوِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينَ وَابْنَ السَّبِيلِ وَالسَّائِلِينَ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَى الزَّكَاةَ وَالْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ إِذَا عَاهَدُوا ۖ وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي الْبَأْسَاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ ۗ أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُتَّقُونَ”

 “Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives charity; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous.” [Sahih International][2:177]

After reading some tafseer (scholarly commentary) on this passage, I understood that God commanded the qibla, the direction faced in prayer, to change from Jerusalem to Mecca. This was something difficult for people, so this verse came to clarify the wisdom behind it: Adhere to His commands and face whatever direction He commands us to face, because, after all, the essence of being Muslim is to hear and obey God. But the above verse also explains that facing the qibla isn’t all that makes you pious and that there is more to it than just that.

Being a Muslim requires more than just one thing. It’s more than just praying, more than just wearing the hijab, more than just reading the Quran. It’s so much more. Who you are and how you act is also what makes you a Muslim.

Let’s try to remember what being a muslim is all about and try to embed it into our daily lives, God willing.

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