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**Grarypealumma** · 03-11-2009, 07:44 PM

As Maulana Yusuf Khandelvi said, we(muslims) seem to have a ehsas e kam tari(inferiority complex)

Inferiority complex we have will not be eradicated by only aquiring knowledge but by strenghthening ones Iman and Yaqeen.

In short MUSLIMS ARE ASHAMED

WHY?! Why?!

When I was getting advice from a sister about dhikr, and we were discussing dhikr of the mind versus dhikr of the heart, blablabla, she told me to yell ALLAH with all my power, and wherever in my chest I felt a flame of love, that was the location of my heart latayif (it's more difficult for sisters to work out the location physically, due to anatomical differences).

So, this two-month-old revert Muslim clears her throat and says ALLAH as loudly and clearly as she dares (the walls of the apartment were thin and our neighbors were staunch secularists etc.). "I said, shout it!" snapped the sister (on the other side of the country, surrounded by pious and devout sisters). "ALLLLAAAHHH!" she yelled, just to show me. I tried again: "Allah!"

"SHOUT out the name of your Creator!" she bellowed into my ear.

"Allah!" I tried again.

"SHOUT IT!"

"Allah!"

"Who is the source of this shame, sister? Not Allah and not his angels. Only other mortals. This is false shame. SHOUT IT!"

"ALLLAAAHHHH! Eek!"

Anyway, that little episode taught me a lot. I've never been able to forget it. How could I be more scared of the neighbors' opinion of me than that of my Creator?!

And since then, I've been working on my priorities, and I'm still struggling when it comes to the opinions of my non-Muslims family, etc. But I'm really puzzled by the general attitude of embarrassment among born-and-bred Muslims. Why all the secrecy, the closed doors, the hasty tidying away of prayer mats and Qurans when secular or non-Muslim visitors arrive? It's one thing choosing to associate with other like-minded Muslims, but it's another thing to conceal your devotion to Sharia and Sunnah among the less religious masses.

Let me share with you a theory I have, which I haven'T read anywhere, so it may be wrong, in which case, please correct me: there's natural shame, which comes from the fitrat which Allah created, and then there's learned shame, which comes from family and community etc. And the learned shame which doesn't originate from the Quran and hadith, is entirely false shame, and is shame of things which please Allah. And this false shame, funnily enough, isn'T propagated by non-Muslims, but by Muslims themselves. Take a look at revert Muslims, and then at born-and-bred Muslims - who is prouder of their religion, and who is more eager to appease society than Allah?

If my words sound harsh, forgive me. I was just speaking to a sister who, after a year of struggling with her nafs and other concerns, finally started wearing hijab a couple of weeks ago. For the past few days she's been staying inside the house as much as possible, despite having little tasks like taking out the trash which necessitate going outside.

This morning she awoke filled with calmness, and followed her husband outside to the gate to bid him farewell on the way to the office, her head held high (metaphorically!), for once not caring what the neighbors would be saying about her new appearance.

She even waved at her next-door neighbor who was outside watering her garden.

"Oh! Is that you under there?" giggled the neighbor. "I was about to call in the anti-terrorist squad!"

Our sister just smiled and said, "It's me."

And her salah-performing, dhikr-reciting Muslim husband edged away from her and called out to the neighbor something like: "It's just some new fashion thing, I don't understand women!" And gave an embarrassed laugh and jumped into his car, all clean-shaven face and Western-style business suit and hi-tech laptop computer etc.

So forgive me if I'm blaming the Muslims themselves for propagating this false shame, particularly the brothers.

03-11-2009, 07:44 PM	#31
Grarypealumma Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 487 Senior Member	As Maulana Yusuf Khandelvi said, we(muslims) seem to have a ehsas e kam tari(inferiority complex) Inferiority complex we have will not be eradicated by only aquiring knowledge but by strenghthening ones Iman and Yaqeen. In short MUSLIMS ARE ASHAMED WHY?! Why?! When I was getting advice from a sister about dhikr, and we were discussing dhikr of the mind versus dhikr of the heart, blablabla, she told me to yell ALLAH with all my power, and wherever in my chest I felt a flame of love, that was the location of my heart latayif (it's more difficult for sisters to work out the location physically, due to anatomical differences). So, this two-month-old revert Muslim clears her throat and says ALLAH as loudly and clearly as she dares (the walls of the apartment were thin and our neighbors were staunch secularists etc.). "I said, shout it!" snapped the sister (on the other side of the country, surrounded by pious and devout sisters). "ALLLLAAAHHH!" she yelled, just to show me. I tried again: "Allah!" "SHOUT out the name of your Creator!" she bellowed into my ear. "Allah!" I tried again. "SHOUT IT!" "Allah!" "Who is the source of this shame, sister? Not Allah and not his angels. Only other mortals. This is false shame. SHOUT IT!" "ALLLAAAHHHH! Eek!" Anyway, that little episode taught me a lot. I've never been able to forget it. How could I be more scared of the neighbors' opinion of me than that of my Creator?! And since then, I've been working on my priorities, and I'm still struggling when it comes to the opinions of my non-Muslims family, etc. But I'm really puzzled by the general attitude of embarrassment among born-and-bred Muslims. Why all the secrecy, the closed doors, the hasty tidying away of prayer mats and Qurans when secular or non-Muslim visitors arrive? It's one thing choosing to associate with other like-minded Muslims, but it's another thing to conceal your devotion to Sharia and Sunnah among the less religious masses. Let me share with you a theory I have, which I haven'T read anywhere, so it may be wrong, in which case, please correct me: there's natural shame, which comes from the fitrat which Allah created, and then there's learned shame, which comes from family and community etc. And the learned shame which doesn't originate from the Quran and hadith, is entirely false shame, and is shame of things which please Allah. And this false shame, funnily enough, isn'T propagated by non-Muslims, but by Muslims themselves. Take a look at revert Muslims, and then at born-and-bred Muslims - who is prouder of their religion, and who is more eager to appease society than Allah? If my words sound harsh, forgive me. I was just speaking to a sister who, after a year of struggling with her nafs and other concerns, finally started wearing hijab a couple of weeks ago. For the past few days she's been staying inside the house as much as possible, despite having little tasks like taking out the trash which necessitate going outside. This morning she awoke filled with calmness, and followed her husband outside to the gate to bid him farewell on the way to the office, her head held high (metaphorically!), for once not caring what the neighbors would be saying about her new appearance. She even waved at her next-door neighbor who was outside watering her garden. "Oh! Is that you under there?" giggled the neighbor. "I was about to call in the anti-terrorist squad!" Our sister just smiled and said, "It's me." And her salah-performing, dhikr-reciting Muslim husband edged away from her and called out to the neighbor something like: "It's just some new fashion thing, I don't understand women!" And gave an embarrassed laugh and jumped into his car, all clean-shaven face and Western-style business suit and hi-tech laptop computer etc. So forgive me if I'm blaming the Muslims themselves for propagating this false shame, particularly the brothers.
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