In the name of Allah, the Most-Merciful, the All-Compassionate

"May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon You"

Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala Rasulillah

As-Salaam Alaykum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakaatuh

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are we True Muslims?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam! Who are true Muslims? Let us see what Allaah and His Messenger have to say about their lives and hearts:

Allaah says (what means):
"Say: My prayers and my sacrifices, and my living and my dying are for Allaah alone, the Lord of all the worlds. No partner has He. Thus I have been commanded, and I am foremost among those who surrender [themselves unto Him]"
Quran 6: 163–4

The same theme is elucidated by our Prophet: “One who loves for the sake of Allaah alone and hates for the sake of Allaah alone; and whatever he gives, gives for the sake of Allaah alone, and whatever he withholds, withholds for the sake of Allaah alone –indeed, he perfects his Iman (faith).”
Abu Dawood

The Quran makes clear what Allaah demands of you. You should devote yourselves wholly to the service of Allaah, you should live for Him Alone, you should die for Him Alone. You, and the world around you, entirely belong to Allaah; let nobody have a share in what belongs to Allaah. That is to say, you should not serve anyone but Him, nor live or die for anyone but Him.

Our Prophet explains what the Quran has said. To be a true believer, your love and enmity for everything, all your affections, all relations and transactions in your lives, should have only one purpose: to seek Allaah's Pleasure. Without this your faith itself will not be complete; the possibility of rising higher in the Sight of Allaah does not arise. The greater the deficiency in this respect, the more defective the faith.

Some people think that these qualities are required only to reach higher spiritual stations and are not essential to Iman (faith) and Islam. In other words, even without these qualities a person can be a good believer and a Muslim. This mistaken notion has arisen because people in general do not differentiate between legal Islam and true Islam which alone is truly authentic in the Sight of Allaah.

Two Types of Islam

Here, let’s have a short summary about the two types of Islam mentioned above as ‘the legal Islam’ and the ‘true Islam’

Legal Islam

Under legal Islam, on which jurists and states must base their dealings, what lies in your hearts and minds is not taken into account, nor can it be. Your verbal affirmation and those essential signs which must flow out of that affirmation are accepted as sufficient evidence of your Islam. Anyone who affirms by word of mouth belief in Allaah, the Messenger, the Quran, the Hereafter and other articles of faith, and who also fulfils those necessary conditions which provide proof of his affirmation, is considered part of Muslim society and all dealings with him are to be conducted as with a Muslim.

This definition provides the legal and cultural basis on which Muslim society is organized. Its purpose is no more than that all those who enter into the Muslim Ummah (Nation) are recognized as Muslims: nobody from among them can be called a disbeliever; every one of them must have the same mutual legal, moral and social rights; they should be entitled to marry among Muslims; they should be eligible to receive the share in inheritance; all other civil relations should be established with them.

True Islam

However, in the world-to-come, you cannot be judged as Muslim and a believer on the basis of this legal affirmation, nor on this basis will Allaah accept you as one of His chosen servants. What will count then is having faith in hearts, and willingly and wholly submitting lives to Allaah. Whatever verbally affirmed is meant for courts and for the common man and the Muslim society. For they can only see the exterior, but Allaah sees deep into your hearts and knows precisely the degree of your faith.

How will He judge a man? Allaah will see whether he lived and died for Him Alone, whether his loyalties to Him superseded all other loyalties, whether his obedience and his service, indeed his entire life, were devoted only to Him Almighty. If they were solely for Allah Almighty then he will be adjudged a believer and a Muslim, but if they were for someone else, then he will not be adjudged a Muslim nor a believer. Whoever falls short of this criterion will, to the extent he falls short, be lacking in faith and Islam, irrespective of how important a Muslim the world may judge him and of any high positions he may hold. With Allah only one thing matters: whether or not you have given away in His way all that He Almighty has given you.

If you have, you will be granted the reward which is reserved for those who are loyal and render the service that is due. But if your submission has been less than total, if you spare any part of your life from His service, your claim to be Muslims which implies that you have wholly given up yourselves to Allaah, will be a deceptive claim. Although you may be able to mislead the world and persuade the Muslim society to grant you its membership and all the rights of Muslims, Allaah cannot be deceived into assigning a place for you among His faithful.

Reflect on the differences between legal Islam and true Islam and you can see that their consequences will vary greatly, not only in the Hereafter but also in this world; the life pursuits, character and disposition of a true Muslim will be totally different from one who merely parades the outward trappings of faith. You will always encounter these two types of Muslims.

Two Kinds of Muslim

Now let’s talk about the two kinds of Muslim which are the ‘Partial Muslims’ and the ‘True Muslims’

Partial Muslims

Some Muslims profess faith in Allaah and the Messenger, and declare Islam as their religion; but then they confine this Islam to only a part of their lives. To the extent of this part, they express great attachment to Islam, extensively perform worship rituals like Prayers, use of the rosary, remembrance of Allaah. They are very particular in conforming to outward piety in matters like food, dress and other external social, cultural customs. Thus they are fully 'religious'.

But beyond these conventions their lives are not according to what Allaah commands. If they love, they love for the sake of their own selves, their country, their nation, or for anything else, but not for Allaah. If they become displeased, are angry, hate someone, make enemies, or wage war, it too is for the sake of some worldly or selfish interest. Their relations with their businesses, their wives and children, families, societies — will all be to a great extent unaffected by Islam and based on secular considerations. As landlords, traders, rulers, soldiers, professional people — in all spheres they will behave as if they are autonomous, having no connection with their position as Muslims. When such people establish cultural, educational and political norms and institutions, these have nothing to do with Islam, even though they may seem Islamic.

True Muslims

The second kind of Muslims are those who completely merge their personalities and existences into Islam. All the roles they have become subordinate to the one role of being Muslims. They live as Muslims when they live as fathers, sons, husbands or wives, businessmen, landlords, laborers, employers. Their feelings, their desires, their ideologies, their thoughts and opinions, their likes and dislikes, all are shaped by Islam. Allaah's guidance holds complete sway over their hearts and minds, their eyes and ears, their bellies, their sexual desires, their hands and feet, their bodies and souls. Neither their loves nor their hatreds are formed independently of Islamic criteria. Whether they fight or make friends, it is purely for the sake of Islam. If they give anything to anybody, it is because Islam requires it to be given. If they withhold anything from anybody, it is because Islam wants it to be withheld.

And this attitude of theirs is not limited to personal lives; their public lives, their societies are also based entirely on Islam. Their collectivity exists for Islam alone; their collective behavior is governed by the precepts of Islam alone.

What Kind of Muslims Allaah desires

The above two kinds of Muslims are significantly different from each other, even if, legally, both are included in the Ummah (Nation) and the word 'Muslim' is applied to both equally. Historically the first kind of Muslims have made no achievement which may be worthy of mention or which merits our being proud of it. Nothing these 'Muslims' have done has left an Islamic imprint on the pages of world history. The world has received no benefit from their existence; indeed, Islam has suffered decay because of them. Because of the predominance of such 'Muslims' in Muslim society, power and world leadership largely passed into the hands of rebels against Allaah. For these 'Muslims' have been content merely with ensuring that they enjoy the freedom to live religiously within the narrow confines of their private lives.

Allaah never desired to have such 'Muslims'. Nor did He send His Prophets عليهم السلام or reveal His Books to make them. Indeed it is the second kind of Muslims who are desired by Allaah. Only they can ever accomplish anything worthwhile from the Islamic point of view.

  Allah's name, The All Loving, manifests itself in many ways in the life of the believer and in the world. For example, "Verily, Allah loves those who do good" (2:195).

Allah knows the best.

Compiled, edited and adapted by Khalid Latif, www.thekhalids.org