Muslims Need Living Wills

We should try to keep our affairs in order. We may not want to think about unpleasant medical situations,  yet it is important to designate someone who will follow our wishes for medical care. We may not always be able to voice those wishes ourselves.  A living will is the means by which to do that.

An Islamic Living Will is available as a download at Al Farooq Masjid in Atlanta.  The living will allows for executor and also for an arbitor in case of dispute.  This is particularly important for Muslims who are isolated from a community or who have a non-Muslim family that may be inclined to maintain life support indefinitely. All of us, however, need to investigate and discuss this difficult end-of-life issue.

Hope Makes Changing Your Life Easier

Sometimes we fail.  We fail in our worship of Allah.  We fail in fulfilling commitments to others.  We fail in protecting ourselves and our families when we open ourselve up to influences or suggestions that lead us into the twists and turns of life that are better left unexplored.

Consider the following:

A mother and teacher advises strangers but abandons her own family.

A man who has memorized over half of the quran becomes an adulterer.

A man who saves others in during a robbery goes home to his stash of illegal drugs.

We know that each of us is a mixture of strength and weakness.  We know we should come to Allah with a mixture of fear and hope.  Too often, in knowing the magnitude of our failings, we let the fear drive us away from hope.  When we give up hope, we begin to justify our failings and begin a moral spiral  downward.  We give up prayer.  We give up fasing.  We seek non-Muslim society and avoid Muslims.  We know we are lost, but we don’t know how to find our way back.

We look at the complications involved in retracing our steps, in reconnecting with family and friends, in undoing the wreckage we’ve made in our lives.  We are overwhelmed with the details we can foresee, so fearful of the details we cannot for see but which we know are out there, waiting to ambush us. It seems that continuing the downward spiral  is actually easier than the process of reversing course.

The beginning of change can be as simple as remembering hope.  Hope means making one decision such as praying one salat, or fasting one day, or turning down one drink, or going to the mosque for one event. Hope means recognizing one sign from Allah when we begin to make positive change. 

Consider:

A woman going to her first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting finds that not only is her cab driver another Muslim, but that this man who knows nothing of her journey gives her a Quran.

A man with legal problems takes a low paying job rather than make a lot of money selling drugs comes in contact at work with a lawyer who settles the legal issues pro bono.

A woman who decides to quit her working as a stripper has the suitcase stolen that contained all of her costumes.

An abusive huband attends Jumuah prayer and hears a sermon about the rights of women and wives.

These Muslims began with the first easy step–the hope that they could change. They made one decision, recognized these events as signs from Allah, and moved forward from there.

…but We leave those who rest not their hope of their meeting with Us, in their trespasses, wandering in distraction to and fro. (Quran 10:11)

Discussing Islam Through Film

Prince Among Slaves is a film that instructs the adult and the child, the Muslim and the non-Muslim. It is the well-researched documentary about a Muslim prince enslaved and brought to Mississippi in the 19th century.  His journey is a history lesson and a lesson about patience, submission and acceptance to the will of Allah.  The film is a project of the Unity Productions Foundation  (UPF).

Another UPF film, Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, is a documentary about the effort of Gallop to poll Muslims internationally.  The poll is an effort to identify Muslims concerns and, perhaps, to affect American policy decisions.  The most important thing about the film is that it differentiates  Muslim from terrorist and connects terrorist with revolutionary, thereby separating religion from politics in a way that merits further discourse.  The film, only an hour long, is a good place to begin a dialog in schools and workplaces interested in such a dialog.

Ramadan is the Time to Stop Running

Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is Allah’s; and whether you manifest what is in your minds or hide it, Allah will call you to account according to it; then He will forgive whom He pleases and chastise whom He pleases, and Allah has power over all things. (Holy Quran 2:284)

We all have sins for which we seek Allah’s forgiveness.  But we sometimes have secret sins that we’re afraid to mention even to our Creator, even though we know we have no secrets from Allah.  Some of us manage our secret sinss-sour, darkest hidden guilt–by turning away from Islam, claiming to be “secular Muslims” who bury sins and guilt under drugs, alcohol, sex, food, or the pursuit of money, power or fame.  Some of us claim to be practicing Muslims and do those  same things–only not so openly. Some of us drive ourselves into various states of anxiety, depression and other psychological ills.

Regardless of how it manifests in our lives, the problem is the same: we are running away from Allah. Running away often seems easier than facing the shame of  having anyone know what we’ve done wrong–whatever it is–and keeps us from taking any steps toward Allah.  We forget that the shame we fear from people we know is less than the shame we will face of the Last Day. 

Sometimes we think we can do great good in other areas of our lives and hope that Allah will forgive us everything without pur ever having to acknowledge that deepest, secret guilt.  But the hope that Allah will gloss over without ever any accounting of our worst misdeeds–our secret misdeeds–still leaves us agitated within our souls, and we are unable to feel any peace.  Without peace, we continue to pursue our addictions or diversions, compounding sin upon sin, guilt upon guilt.

The only way to stop the cycle is to turn back to Allah to ask forgiveness, to take whatever steps we must to end or undo the wrongs we’ve done.  The process is a painful one when it involves making restitution in some way to others, or going to others for help.  Sometimes the pain is in knowing that some things cannot be undone–an injured party is dead, for example. Sometimes we see the repercussions of our misdeeds affect other lives in ways it is impossible for any one person to fix.  Sometimes a choices we made years ago have lead to unforeseen disasters in our life or in the lives of others.  What then?

The answer still the same:  turn to Allah.  Stop running.  Perhaps, truth be told, it feels easier to continue running.  To stop running, to turn to Allah seems immeasurably more difficult. Continuing with a life filled with  hidden terror, addictions and emotional imbalance seems somehow to be the more familiar and safer choice, but there is this:  that choice is the choice without peace or rest or hope or light.

It is Ramadan–a month of  forgiveness and mercy. Stop running.

And whoever does evil or acts unjustly to his soul, then asks forgiveness of Allah, he shall find Allah Forgiving, Merciful. (Holy Quran 4:110) 

Summer Ramadans Demand More of Us

As we move into the summer Ramadans in North America with 15 to 16 hour days and 90-plus degree temperatures, some of us will discover that  fasting is about more than just abstaining from food and drink during the day, it is also about what we do when we break our fasts. In order to stay hydrated, we need roughly 5 cups of water at night and 3 at suhoor to account for the 7-8 cups of water our bodies need on a daily basis.  In order to drink that much means cutting down on food intake—there’s only so much the stomach can hold at one time.

Staying up late in order to eat more is not an option for many of us.  Staying up late only makes increases the possiblity of sleeping through suhoor in the morning.  Increasing the length of the fast by missing suhoor is something most of us want to avoid.

Many of us are also finding that what we eat affects our fast and our health.  We are less able to fast, especially as we get older or if we have any health issues already, to tolerate a diet that contains junk food or foods with a lot of salt or sugar–both of which dehydrate to body.  One sister found that even though she was drinking a lot of water, the popcorn, potato chips and french fries she ate at iftars during the first week of Ramadan left her in a dehydrated condition, with a urinary tract infection .  Getting  treatment caused her to miss a couple of days of fasting.

Many of us are learning  that  summer Ramadan means being conscientious about taking care of ourselves, of what we eat and drink at night in order to maintain our ability to fast during the day.

Muslim Merchants Need Our Support

A Muslim shopkeeper practically hugged me because, after she totalled up my purchases, I paid the bill. Merchants don’t usually get that emotional at the cash register.  But this woman was genuinely relieved that I had paid without complaint. She told me that so many Muslims ask for discounts on their purchases that she can barely cover her own expenses.  She told me how much she paid for rent, and the cost of doing business in her location was rather high.  But she was just a couple of doors down from a masjid and right next to a halal restaurant.  She was in a prime spot for foot traffic from Muslim shoppers.  Her proximity to a mosque also was a convenience for Muslims. Yet her Muslim customers were about to run her out of business with their refusal to pay the asking price for her goods. 

I know that many immigrant Muslims come from countries where haggling over prices is part of the culture.  But once in America, these same Muslims find the American business model is very different: pay the price as marked.  Unless there is damage to the merchandise, the merchandise is a sample or floor model, or it is a big-ticket item for which a discount for paying cash is likely, we follow that business model.  We pay the price as marked.  We don’t bargain with the salespeople in Sears or with the cashier at Kroger.  We don’t try to get discounts on stamps at the post office.  Certainly all of us born or raised in America know this.  So there is no reason for any of us to pretend that the Muslim stores are different.  They are not.

We ask for discounts not because of any flaw in the merchandise; but because we, the customers, are Muslim. We have to question our own intentions when we use Islam as a weapon, shaming the shopkeepers into giving us what we want for less. We are supposed to want for our Muslim brothers and sisters what we want for ourselves.  What we want for ourselves, apparently, is a discount while we nickel-and-dime our Muslim brothers and sisters that much closer to bankruptcy. 

Most of the Muslim businesses in America are small, mom-and-pop operations.  They don’t have the financing of big corporations or franchises behind them.  They are generally operating on a small profit margin.  When we all insist on discounts–in the name of Islam, no less–we take that small profit away from them. Sometimes we even force them to close–and then complain there are no Muslim stores in our area.  Paying the amount we’re asked for in a Muslim’s shop should not be a cause for celebration.

Service Horse Alternative for Blind Muslims

Guide horse boarding plane. Photo from Wikipedia

 The Guide Horse Foundation offers trained miniature horses for the blind.  The Foundation was started in 1999 and places its animals with persons who fit its adoption criteria.  The miniature service horse is an alternative for Muslims who need animal assistance but prefer not to have a guide dog.  The horses are more expensive to maintain and owners are required to provide outdoor space for the animal when it is not working.  The horses live, on average, more than twice as long as guide dogs. 

Muslims who could use these animals, or who would like to get involved in helping to provide guide horses to the blind should get involved now, as there may be legislation in some areas prohibiting the use of any animals except dogs as guide animals.  For more information, go to The Guide Horse Foundation and watch this video: Guide Pony for Blind Muslim.