

WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

To Become A Best Human Through
A Meaningful Life Of Islam
 © Yamin Cheng 2025

All rights reserved. No reproduction or alteration to any part of the

contents is permitted unless with the permission of the author.

The author asserts his moral right to the contents of this work.

Printed in Malysia
 Lest We Forget
Remembering the Children of Gaza

By
Yamin Cheng

My child
For what reasons
You knew not why
You have to suffer
Your heart is pure
Your laughters are joys
For those who hear
Your chuckles and teases
But suddenly
You hear no longer
Your own laughters
Only cries of your mother
Calling out your name
As if you are here no longer
But my child
Those who cause you to suffer
Will not have your joys and laughters
But one day will see
The things they do to you
Happen to their very own people

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

But I know
No matter how you have suffered
You do not wish it happening to them
For the laughters and joys of their little ones
You do not wish to be taken away from them
For your kindness
Your love shall prevail
Over their hearts
And hopefully one day
Their little ones will grow to understand
How people like you
Have your joys and laughters
Shread to pieces
Despair no longer
Cry no further
Your days here are done
But your joys and laughters
Will live on forever
My child
Close your eyes
And rest your mind
Let go your tears
For you are now
Happily roaming
In paradise

vi
 Contents

Introduction

1
1. Life, Coming To Think Of It

3
2. Islam As Life’s Path

25
3. Khalifah As The Quest Of Living

50
4. Purity As Basis Of Islamic Living

55
5. The Necessary Things Of Everyday Living

74
6. The Fundamental Knowledge Of Islam

112

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WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

7. A Heart Of Islam

120
8. Why Choose Islam

131

viii
 Introduction

In the Name of Allah

God Most Mercy, Most Merciful

I f anyone thinks that, going by the title of the book, the

book is about comparing Islam with other paths of life
and showing how Islam is a better choice compared to these
other paths of life, that person will be disappointed that this
is not what the book is about.
Rather, the focus of the book is on this question—if I
were to choose Islam as my life’s path, how is my life
transformed into one by which I become the kind of human
being every one of us who is called human desires to be?
For most if not all of us, we were already born into
families who have been following and practising a certain
path of life, and in many cases, the path is a religious path
with belief in a supreme power that looms over our lives and
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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

guides our direction in life.

And, for those of us who were already born into a
certain life’s path, we grow up to accept that the path we
grow up to follow is the right one and, if given the choice of
choosing which path to follow, we would stick with the one
we were already born into because that path has been our
flesh and blood since birth and the one we know as the one
and only true way to follow.
Also, not only are we contented that the path we follow
is the true and right path of life, we too want others to follow
it because they too should share in the joy of the life we are
having.
But there are those among us who choose to depart
from what we grow up to follow and decide upon another
path of life that for us is better but more importantly, truer.
A truer and better path of life however must be seen in
how it transforms us into a truer and better human being,
and that should be the goal of one’s choice of life, namely, to
be a human being with a superior quality to our human
identity through the path of life we have decided to turn to
from the one we were having previously.
In this regard, what kind of human being am I
becoming when I choose Islam as my life’s career in terms of
how I am truer and better in my human identity?
And to this aim is what this book sets out to do.

Yamin Cheng

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 1
Life, Coming To Think Of It

L ife, what is it?

Life, in simple terms, is the breath we hold in our
body that by it, we are able to walk and talk as well
as do the many activities that our hands and legs are eager to
carry.
Death, in this regard, is the opposite of life, thereby the
end of the breath we hold in our body, and therefore the
terminal point of our activity.
We live and we die. This is what happens to everyone.
Mention life and all of us become energized at the prospect
of being able to do the many activities we have already
prepared in our mind. The moment we open our eyes even
before the sun starts to rise, until the time the sun sets in the
west and it is bedtime for our eyes to rest, we busy ourselves
with as many things and also try to squeeze them as much as

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possible into the 24-hours we have. What a life to possess!

But mention death and we will immediately turn pale
and wish that we will never have to hear that word again.
But what is it about life that we find it fascinating to
have and, the fear of losing it? What is it about life that we
cling to it so passionately and would not want to let it go
although we know that one day we will have to let it go?
In fact, there are those among us who cling on to life to
the extent that we wish we could go on living without ever
wanting to think that one day we will be departing from this
world. For some however, life continues even after we die,
and one that is far more splendourous than the one on earth
that we currently occupy. Shih Huang Ti, the first emperor
of China, built a huge underground palace as his afterlife
abode that is equipped with his army made from figurines,
called the terracotta warriors, which are now on display in
Xi’an, China. The Egyptian Pharaohs constructed the
pyramids to house their mummified bodies they thought
would travel to the nether land that would be the land of
their after-death.
As such, what therefore is life? Try asking the young
people, and they will give you a long list of the things they
cannot wait to accomplish. But tell them too about death,
and they can turn purple on the spot.
For the young ones, life means grabbing the
opportunity to go after their childhood dreams and
ambitions, that is to say, to study hard, get into the best
universities, graduate with flying colours, get their dream
job that comes with the kind of salary that will let them

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 LIFE, COMING TO THINK OF IT

afford the kind of life that only many can only wish in their
dream list.
That says a lot about what life is, and the young ones are
the very best people to tell us what life should be that one
should not waste it. It’s once in a lifetime thing, and if we do
not live it or make full use of it, we will live to regret it
especially when it comes to old age and we will look back at
life and say, ‘How I wish I had done this when I was
younger!’



Older, and supposedly wiser people, may give an answer

more philosophical in nature and one that gives a
perspective of life more down to earth and realistic to think
about.
Life, to older people, is one where, between living and
dying, we fill our time with many as well as with all kinds of
activities. But what are these activities and what are they
meant to achieve and fulfill?
Our most immediate activities are those that are
directed at ensuring that we could continue to live and that
means having enough food to eat, enough water to drink,
enough clothes to put on, enough healthcare to keep one
stay free from disease, enough homes for shelter and enough
of all the things that would ensure life can go on without a
hitch.
As humans however, we are not contented with having
enough food to eat and enough water to drink and enough
of everything that would ensure our biological well-being. In

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making sure we have abundance of food and water and all

the needs for everyday living, we also look into how we
could improve the quality of the needs for our everyday
living, not just their quantity. We want abundance of food
and water, but we also want to make sure the food and water
make us healthy and allow us to live longer.
Having said, we may be a species that yearns for
improvement in the quantity as well as the quality of our
needs for everyday living but we are also a species that easily
gets bored if the food we eat and the water we drink are the
same food and water all the time. We may have abundance
of food on the table and plenty of water to accompany the
food we eat but if the food and water are the same look and
taste again and again, we will eventually not want to look at
them, what else to taste them. But thanks to a creative mind
we are endowed with, we can make water into drinks that
come in all kinds of varieties with all kinds of tastes and
flavours and appear in all kinds of fanciful names. Thus,
from water comes coffee but coffee that comes in names like
black coffee, white coffee, café au lait, espresso, and so on.
As humans, we eat and drink for the fulfillment of our
basic needs so that we can continue to live and as we
continue to live, we try to bring improvement to the needs
of our everyday living so that we can continue to live
healthier and better but with more colour added to the life
we are having with the creativity we bring to the things of
our everyday living. But we are also picky and choosy about
what we eat and drink and about what we wear, for instance.
We pick and choose our choices not only because of their
quality or quantity or variety but also because they tell us

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 LIFE, COMING TO THINK OF IT

our identity, about who we are, about who I am, namely,

that I am such and such a personality.
What kind of person I am going to appear, this will
depend on the products that I choose that will fit me into
the kind of identity I want myself to look. If I want to look as
a studious person like those students in the 1950s and 1960s,
I will keep my hair nicely combed and wear clothes that are
well ironed and looked clean and put on shoes that will look
shiny. And I will take my meals at places where only persons
like my kind of appearance go to.
Therefore, life is that by which our activities are
directed at ensuring we could continue to live but a
continuity of living that would see us transforming life from
one that is about attending to our basic needs to one where
these needs tell us about our identity, about who we are,
about who I am as this person called ‘Me’. It is only when I
know precisely that this is who I am will I find life worthy to
live it because I will then know how to go about with life
that will reflect the identity I carry. And this is especially
true with regard to the young people because young people
are people who are very passionate about how they look
through which they come to identify themselves as such and
such persons.



Coming back to the young people, life, for the young people,
is one of passion, ambition, and determination. It is to chase
after dreams that one has built a very long time ago, since
the time one could start walking!

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

A young life is an unfinished life. A finished life is for

the elderly and old people, people who are already looking
forward to their next life in the afterlife. A young life, on the
other hand, is an on-going life here in this world that we are
living right now in flesh and blood that needs to be put
together to become a carbon-copy of paradise but a paradise
made here on earth, a life where everything and everywhere
is sweet singing and pleasure living.
Cliff Richard, who starred in the 1961 movie The Young
Ones, sang the title song to reflect the kind of life that young
people should strive to have. The song goes like this
(partially):
The young ones,
Darling we’re the young ones
And young ones shouldn’t be afraid
To live, love
While the flame is strong
For we won’t be the young ones very long
For the young people, life is not life if one has not
shown that he (or she) can pour all his energy and creativity
into turning what is nothing into what is something, what is
little into what is abundant, and what is already good into
what is better.
Life, so to speak, is to make the most of one’s ability to
transform quantity, quality and variety into the best of living
identity and, in the final analysis, the best of human
personality that would make earth a truly worthy place for
living. And most importantly, in making life one that brims
with joys and pleasures, it is to produce in you the pride as
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 LIFE, COMING TO THINK OF IT

to what you are, that you are somebody others will look in
awe for what you are able to accomplish and become. Life is
about living but a living that ultimately is about you and
your individual pride.
Ask those boys and girls or the restless teenagers and
they will tell you that life is to show what you are made of
and prove to others what you are capable of doing.
Thus life is something the young ones wouldn’t want to
let it go because that would mean losing the golden
opportunity to be able to enjoy all the pleasurable things
that spread before their very eyes!



Life, for the young people, is a many-splendoured thing. The

reality of life however is not always a bed of roses. When we
close our eyes and imagine how it will look like, what
appears is a beautiful life. But when we open our eyes and
look at whatever that is happening around us, we may see a
different picture altogether.
What, for instance, if life turns out to be like this piece
of song below that I remember listening to when I was a
child, a song called Nobody’s Child and it goes like this
(partially):
As I was slowly passing an orphan’s home one day
And stop there for a moment just to watch the
children play
Alone a boy was standing and when I asked him why
He turned with eyes that couldn’t see and he began
to cry
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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

I’m nobody’s child, I’m nobody’s child

Just like a flower I'm growing wild
No mommy’s kisses and no daddy’s smiles
Nobody wants me, I’m nobody’s child
What therefore is life when others have their parents
and siblings to play and laugh together while I on the other
hand have no father and mother nor brother or sister to
share my life with? What then is life with nobody of my
flesh and blood to surround me so that I may know what it
means to be loved, pampered, given attention, and be taken
care of with warmth and affection?
For some children however, the opposite is true. They
see their parents as a stumbling block to their freedom. They
do not see loving faces of their smiling parents looking at
them with compassion. Instead, they see some cold eyes
watching over their every movement and monitoring their
every action and telling them time and again what they
should and should not do.
And, coming to the parents, for those fathers and
mothers who are looking at retirement with a good life to
enjoy for the remaining of their lives, what if it turns out
that their children choose instead to send them to the
nursing or old folks home to be taken care of as they do not
have the time to look after their parents nor are they willing
to spend money on their parents’ leisure and pleasure? What
life is this that all the toil and sweat poured into the
children’s well-being only ended in seeing their children
overlooking their parents’ well-being?
What therefore is life when what is imagined as a

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paradise where everything is sweet singling and pleasure

living turns out to be a river of tears flowing incessantly?
Is this life that we hope to find? Or it is that life is not a
bed of roses but it is not a bushes of thorns as well. Or that
life is both sweet and bitter, pleasant yet painful, and we
have to find the means to balance both.



There will come a time where we will look back at the life we
are having and ask where we are heading with it. For some
of us, this occurs very early in our life (even the little ones
ask where they come from and we would tell them it’s from
your mommy’s tummy!) and, for some of us, this comes
pretty late, perhaps already at the end of our presence on
earth (too late perhaps!).
We look at life and whatever that we have gone through
throughout the span of the time we have spent and try to
make sense of the things we pursue. We try to get a picture
of how life looks and thereafter assess the things we have
done to see if they fit into the picture of the life we are
having and then ask ourselves if this is what life really is. Is
this what life really about? What is life really about?
Life means different things to different people and
brings different things to different people. For some, life is
sweet singing and is full of many pleasant things. For some,
life is a river of sorrow and brings bitter memories. For
some, life is neither this nor that but only something I find
myself having and therefore I just live it until the angel of
death comes a calling.

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

For some of us, life is to see to it that it is filled with

peace, prosperity, and happiness. We want a peaceful society
so that we can all have prosperity to live by and therefore a
happiness to savour for the rest of our life.
For some others, life is to be surrounded by as many
people as possible, to share joys and grievances together and
to be able to feel each other’s presence in our own life such
that togetherness makes a complete yet meaningful human
being. That is why for some people, family is the most
important thing in life because without my parents and
siblings, what meaning of life can my life be? And, for some
people, it is friends and peers that matters because these are
people who would add sunshine into my life when we meet,
chat, joke and have meals together.
For some of us, life is the opportunities to be able to
enjoy all the things that tempt the eyes, and to see these
opportunities come to a premature end is surely a sad way
to end our life’s story.
For some, life goes beyond the material pleasure of
living. Life is about the meaning and purpose of existence. It
is looking at the totality of what we pursue for our living to
what that means to the kind of human being we are
becoming, namely, about what human identity that is
coming out of our acts and activities of living. It is about
what we do from which we see ourselves blossoming into a
person with a beautiful personality and worthy to be called a
human being.
Yet, for some others, life is not merely about being a
human being with the noblest of personality but it is to be

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somebody that I can proudly say that this is ‘Me’. It is, so to

speak, about self-realization, that is to say, about what I see
myself as in terms of my ability to turn myself into
something I personally and proudly possess as my very own
identity, such as, for instance, becoming a doctor or an
engineer or a lawyer and all those professions that would
indicate that this is what life’s fulfillment is about. It is to
have an identity that I could clearly identify as that of my
own self and with it, I know how to go about with life that
will fulfill what I want and what I desire to be.
But, for some, self-realization is not about being a
‘somebody’ but being a ‘nobody’. It is to remove your ego
that acts as a veil to the reality behind all that exists and
when one is able to dissipate his or her ego, one will have
achieved true enlightenment and see things ‘as they really
are’ and this is the actual goal of life, not mired in all the
material pleasures of life that would cloud a person’s soul
with ‘dust and dirt’ which will then blind his or her spiritual
eye and vision into looking at the really real. Mystical
training and Zen are some of the ways to achieve life’s actual
contentment.
For some others, life is the uncertainties surrounding
what happens after we die, what story of life awaits us next.
Will there be a life after death and if there is, what kind of
life is that? Will it be better and sweeter than the one I am
currently enjoying?
And, for some others, life is just a routine exercise that
keeps repeating itself day in and day out with no exciting
picture about what it is supposed to do to one’s living. It is
to pass time until one passes out of existence and say
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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

goodbye to this evanescent world. And, in worst case

scenario, it is better to end one’s life than living in agony
without any inkling about life’s purpose and meaning.
If we can put all the different views regarding what life
is in a nutshell, we can say that these different views pertain
to four fundamental questions regarding our human
existence. These are (a) who are we or who am I (b) where
do we come from or what is the origin of our human
existence (c) what are we doing in this world or what is the
purpose of life (d) where do I go after I die or what happens
after death.
These four questions and their answers (different and
variety of answers to the same questions, not forgetting that)
will give us an overall picture about life (varies from view to
view) from where it can guide us in our quest to know our
identity as a human being.



There are many views regarding what life is but no matter

how each and every one of us looks at life, there is one thing
that lies at the centre of our vision of life, and it is that, we
yearn to become a good human being (no matter how bad
we have become!) and not just becoming ‘somebody’ that I
identify as that which is me or one who has accomplished
something or someone who can show he is someone others
will look in awe for what he has become (a great football
player, a well-known scientist, the first man to step foot on
the moon!). Ask Robin Hood, and he would tell us that
robbing the rich is not a bad thing after all as the money he

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 LIFE, COMING TO THINK OF IT

got would go the poor and the oppressed, money taken from
them to prosper the rich! For Robin, his was a good soul
with a good intention although the rich may scorn him but
the poor surely loved him.
But how do we explain that while our human nature
yearns for us to become a good human person such that we
will be proud of ourselves, we can become the opposite and
end up becoming a horrible person instead. Are we saying
that we are Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide, having one nice
personality and one ugly personality, at the same time?
Or it is more about how a good personality can turn
ugly because of circumstances?
It could be that as we come into this world as little
babies, we carry the seed of goodness in our soul but as we
grow older, how good a person we could become, this
depends on the environment we find ourselves in that
would become the factor nurturing the seed of goodness in
us. If the environment is very supportive for the seed of
goodness to grow, then we will become a person with plenty
of goodness spread in our soul and if the environment is full
of toxic elements, then our soul will become toxic too and
we will breed a personality that nobody wants to come near.
Thus, while we may possess a soul, namely, that
essential component in our body that has in-built goodness
in it, we still need to nurture it so that the soul will become a
bright and enlightening soul, not one that has dark spooks
lurking in the deep corners of our body.
But where does this nurturing strength come from? It
comes from, first and foremost, the family for it is the family

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

that we find ourselves surrounded with in the first place the

moment we come into this world. Our father and mother
are our most immediate affection and influence as our ties
to them are connected through the biological link of the
body that also becomes the channel for the emotions to flow
from parents to children. Needless to say, life finds the
family the first sanctuary for one to grow his good soul into
a good personality and thus a good human being.
As children, the first sign of our connection to our
parents is the obedience we show to them. We listen and
follow their words without question. True, sometimes we
show defiance and throw tantrums at them but on the
whole, we follow what they tell us and why? Because they are
our parents!
And even as we grow older and are able to think for
ourselves as well as having more freedom to express our
thoughts and feelings and do the things we like to do, our
parents are still our parents and we would talk to them in
ways that will not hurt their feelings. Obedience to our
parents, no matter how we have advanced in life, still lies at
the core of our personality.
Now, because obedience binds parents and children
into a unity of family togetherness, it is pertinent that both
father and mother show their children what being a good
human being is through examples in their daily lives. It is
what children see of their parents that they learn their first
lessons of life. And the more the children see of their
parents’ goodness, the more quickly they themselves can
cultivate goodness in themselves because obedience to
parents can spur the children to imitate what their parents
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 LIFE, COMING TO THINK OF IT

do and how their parents behave.

But it is also the reality of life that as children get older,
they also develop the tendency to be rebellious. Rebellious is
one way to show that you are ‘somebody,’ that you have an
identity to call your own, and you are not a parrot imitating
and following what your parents tell you for that would
mean you are a weakling and cannot stand on your own two
feet to become somebody.
Unless the children already received the proper
education regarding how they see themselves and how they
behave towards others, as well as practised the things taught
to them in their everyday living, the rebellious attitude can
be a headache for parents as their children can go to the
extent of doing the things their parents detest or doing
things against acceptable social norms just because they
want to prove to others, especially to their peers and the
adults, that they are grown-ups and no longer need to listen
to what others have to tell them about what they want to do
with their life.
Freddie Aguilar, a Filipino musician, wrote this song
called Anak or Child (1978) that tells the story of a child
growing up who later turned rebellious against his parents
(Aguilar converted to Islam later in his life and took the
name Abdul Farid). The song goes like this:
When you were born into this world
Your mom and dad saw a dream fulfilled
Dream come true
The answer to their prayers
You were to them a special child

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

Gave ‘em joy every time you smiled

Each time you cried
They’re at your side to care
Child, you don’t know
You’ll never know how far they’d go
To give you all their love can give
To see you through and God it’s true
They’d die for you, if they must, to see you live
How many seasons came and went
So many years have now been spent
For time ran fast
And now at last you’re strong
Now what has gotten over you
You seem to hate your parents too
Do speak out your mind
Why do you find them wrong
Child you don’t know
You’ll never know how far they’d go
To give you all their love can give
To see you through and God it’s true
They’d die for you, if they must, to see you live
And now your path has gone astray
Child you ain’t sure what to do or say
You’re so alone
No friends are on your side
And child you now break down in tears
Let them drive away your fears
Where must you go

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 LIFE, COMING TO THINK OF IT

Their arms stay open wide

Child you don’t know
You’ll never know how far they’d go
To give you all their love can give
To see you through and God it’s true
They’d die for you, if they must, to see you live
Like what the lyrics of the above song say, inasmuch as
children try to show that they can be strong and
independent of their parents, they also reveal that they can
be some frail creatures with fears pouring out of their
floundering souls, especially in times when they find
themselves wandering with no sight of where they are
heading in life and, in the end, they become lost sheeps
ready to be pounded upon by the hungry wolves who are
looking to take advantage of their young age and naïve
behaviour and make them tread the wrong path of life.
As one gradually edges into adulthood, one also
mellows in one’s perspective of life. From chasing dreams
and ambitions, one begins to wonder what dreams and
ambitions are about, namely, what they mean to one’s life.
Sure, I can now own this wonderful condominium and call
it home with the fat salary I am getting, but if I am always at
work and seldom at home, would that condominium be
called a home and, if I were to have a family with children of
my own and my children hardly see me such that when I
come home they are already in bed, would my children be
happy to call this wonderful place to live that I bought for
them a home?
Nonetheless, this does not mean that one should stop

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chasing dreams and ambitions or abandon them altogether.

It is just that one needs to look deeper into the philosophy of
life and tries to find some guiding principles to one’s pursuit
of happiness. But where does one look to for the wisdom
behind our dreams and ambitions for a life that is
prosperous but fulfilling and brings peace to the mind and
body?
For many of us, we are brought up in families who
already practised some form of religious beliefs that teach
about the meaning and purpose of life and the aim of
becoming a good human being.
Although many of us are brought up in families that
practise religion, we take its teachings for granted and
accept them without question and follow them out of
respect for our parents or grandparents or ancestors. We
just do what our parents ask us to do regarding what they
tell us about what they were taught about the religion they
practised. This is not to say that every one of us is a blind
follower as there are those of us who take their religion
seriously and regard it as an eternal truth that must be
pursued wholeheartedly without an iota of doubt.



Since ancient times, religion has been the main provider of

answers concerning how we see things as they really are and
also about how we organize and lead life that would bring
about a desirable society and produce good human beings.
Religion provided the answers to the most fundamental
questions concerning human life—about who we humans

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 LIFE, COMING TO THINK OF IT

are, where we humans come from, what we humans should

be doing in this world, and what happens to us after we die.
Modern times like ours today have seen a decline in
human attachment to religion, and there are those of us who
turn to ideologies for answers regarding the origin as well as
the meaning of life. And there are those who turn to
spirituality for the consolation of life, taking only the inner
dimension of religion and leaving out the beliefs and rituals.
Those who turn to spirituality engage in meditative
practices in order to achieve a balance of the mind and
body, relieving the mind from being swarmed by all kinds of
thoughts coming from the stresses of everyday living, and
relaxing the body from succumbing to health problems
occurring to the heart especially.
Yoga and Buddhist meditation are some of the spiritual
practices that many people follow. But whether it is yoga or
Buddhist meditation, these practices connect to a view of
life.
Buddhist meditation is not merely for healing the mind
or body and to energize one’s spirit so that tomorrow will be
a livelier day than today and one can attend to one’s chores
more attentively and energetically. Through Buddhist
meditation, one not only cleanses the mind and body but
empties them to the point where the person will be able to
see things as they are, that is to say, to be able to arrive at the
vision of reality that would answer the questions concerning
the four fundamental questions of life that we have
mentioned.
Meditation is a channel into visioning reality and what

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

does one see of reality? One does not see anything as if there
is something there in a fixed condition to see, only the
coming and going of images, states, and conditions that do
not remain permanent. Things thus come and go, passing in
and passing out. There is no point of origin as a beginning
nor is there an end point as its final destination. Everything
moves in and out in a cycle without stopping. Buddhism
calls this anicca or impermanence.
Because everything is impermanent, it means that life
too is impermanent. There is no point of beginning to life
and there is no end point to life. Living and dying are just
instances of coming and going of a person. As such, life is a
short moment in a person’s existence. Because of this, one
should not, while his body is still holding his breath, attach
himself to life and regard it as something he owns it and
wouldn’t let it go. This is especially so for people who, in
their lifetime, spend their time in pursuit of the material
satisfaction of life, finding pleasure in accumulating wealth
but find little pleasure in sharing with others. All the wealth
they accumulate is for them to see their own glory and they
become thrilled when their little mound of money starts to
grow into a mountain of gold. But they begin to feel restless
the moment the thought of death crosses their minds as they
would be wondering what would become of their wealth if
they are no longer around to see it? What would become of
all their monies in the bank? What would become of all the
mansions and fleets of cars that they possess? But the most
crucial part is the thought that they can no longer enjoy and
can only watch the range of things they possess. So what if I
have loads of money that I can buy the tastiest food in the

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world with it but alas, I can’t even swallow a little piece of

cake and enjoy its taste right now and here I am, laying in
the hospital bed and can only swallow pockets of water from
time to time and eating one or two pieces of bread a day?
But persons who see the accumulation of wealth as
something they can share with others especially with those
in need and those who can’t even feed themselves, wealth is
something they see coming into their pockets for their
benefits and going out of their pockets to benefit others. It is
a flow from others to them and from them to others. The
more they get, the more they prosper others, and the more
they feel prosperous, and in the end, feel the happiness of
life and the joyfulness of living because coming and going
and the impermanence of things means they get to cherish
the abundance of goodness flowing incessantly from which
they are able to channel it to benefit as many people as
possible, just like the flow of water that runs incessantly that
would be able to quench the thirst of multitudes of people.
Thus, the Buddhist life is one where impermanence lies
at the core of its vision of reality through which it shapes a
person’s conduct and way of living that would bring out the
best humanity in the form of compassion (karuna) and
charity (dana) that characterize the Buddhist personality
and social identity.



Life, it seems, begins as an adventurous quest for the

material fulfillment of life which then turns in the direction
for self-realization and the quest to know that I am such a

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

person, which then turns to seeking what is beyond human,

namely, the transcendent, to complete the picture of my
human identity.
How is this reflected in the case of the Muslim? What is
life to a Muslim? What human identity is coming out from a
life of Islam?

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 2
Islam As Life’s Path

W hat is life to a Muslim?

Life, for a Muslim, is like any human being. And
like any human being, a Muslim has needs to fulfill,
dreams to wish about, ambitions to pursue, and to become a
‘worthy somebody’ so that his existence is something he
feels worthwhile of having.
And, like any human being, he (and, of course, she) is
bound to stray from life’s ideals, gets distracted from life’s
priorities, and commits things that should not have been
committed.
This is especially the case as he gets older, has more
freedom to do what he pleases without being told what to
do, and when he has achieved his dreams and wishes, he
yearns to have more so that he will be able to enhance his
pride and therefore gain the attention from everyone who

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

would praise him high and lofty and glorify him for what he
is able to accomplish and when this happens, he forgot who
he is as a person and will start behaving unbecomingly
towards others that in the end, he brings destruction to his
own self inasmuch as he brings agonies to others.
(This is not to say that we should not aim for what
is more, or what could be better, such as if we are a
doctor, we strive to become a better doctor by
improving our knowledge and skill of medicine,
but not to the point where we begin to think highly
of ourselves and less highly of others when we have
climbed the ladder of success).
But, as he progresses in age, he also mellows in his life’s
pursuits, and somewhere along the way, he will want to look
back at his life and ask where his life is taking him. He may
already have his answers from the religion he professes but
as a human being, he still asks the questions that all human
beings will ask at some point in their lives, that is to say,
about what life is about and what being human is about—
Who am I? Where do I come from? What am I doing in this
world? What happens after I die?



Who am I? Where do I come from? What am I doing in this

world? What happens after I die?
For Muslims, we humans come from a creator who is
God addressed as Allah. We are therefore God’s creation,
called ‘abduLlah, meaning ‘one who makes Allah the centre
of his life’s devotion, in belief, thought, and activity.’

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 ISLAM AS LIFE’S PATH

As God’s devoted creation, life is to be a human being

of the best kind, one who is called khalifah.
A khalifah is one who is worthy to be called a human
being by becoming a person who is both useful and good in
his humanity. A scientist is obviously a useful person but he
must be a good person as well, that is to say, his profession
must bring about moral excellence in him so that he would
not use his knowledge to the detriment of society, such as,
for instance, producing things that endanger human lives.
After he dies, he returns to God and depending on how
he conducts himself during his time on earth, he goes to
heaven (called jannah) if he has filled earth with heavenly
behaviour or finds himself an occupant in hell (called naar)
for making earth a hell of a place to live for himself as well as
for others.
This is a short but precise picture about human
existence from the lens of Islam, namely, our existence is to
become that something called human being and one that
not only God will be proud to see but we ourselves find it
worthwhile of possessing.
But what kind of human being is coming out from a life
of Islam that one finds it worthwhile to possess?
It is one that we all desire, namely, a human being who
possesses a humanity that will exude peace, joy, and
happiness in ourselves because we acquire a personality that
establishes equanimity, harmony, and tranquility with
whatever is around us that together give us the wholeness of
our human identity, from God who stands as the centre of
our existence, to the world we inhabit that is called Nature

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

or ecology or environment, and to our fellow humans, such

that I am what I am because of who we all are.
God inevitably stands at the centre of my human
existence through which I find my meaning as a human
being and from which I relate with all that is around me that
together give me the complete picture of my human
identity, therefore presenting me the sense of who I am, how
I should go about with life, and where I am headed to after
my time on earth expires.
It is when I am aware that my human existence is a
remarkable thing to possess that I know my human
existence is a special gift from God who wants me to know
that my existence is something I should not regret having
which will unfold to me the wisdom of why I exist.
But how is God like such that He is a joy we find in our
existence and not a sorrow to lament from in our creation?



For some, God is everything to my existence. Without God,

what would I be and where would I be? I would be a lost
sheep wandering aimlessly in this world without a clear
vision of where I am heading in life and, if so, what is the
point of living?
For some, it is, well, you know, my parents who taught
me about God since I was born and I would just be a good
boy and follow what they tell me about what I should believe
and what I should do. After all, parents know what is best
for their children.
For some, God is for the weaklings. Only weak people

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 ISLAM AS LIFE’S PATH

turn to God when they are in trouble. They make no effort

to find solutions to their problems. Every time there is a
problem, they will turn their face to heaven, close their eyes,
and plead for some miracles to happen.
For some, God is some kind of fearful presence and
watches our every move. Make a single mistake and mind
you, wait for some punishment to happen. Mention God,
and the name sends chills down your spine.
For some, God is the outcome of fear and hope. There
are a lot of uncertainties in life and there is abundance of
calamities happening everywhere and every now and then.
We need something greater than human that can intervene
in these uncertainties and calamities and what would that
be? Superman? Spiderman? Iron Man? Thor? Captain
Marvel? Well, some of us might just hope that this is the
case. But the reality is, this is not the case. So where do we
turn to? God is still the best hope for mankind, it seems.
For some, God is a pain rather than a gain. Life is
nothing but about going to heaven or hell, depending on
how we want it. If we wish to go to heaven, always be in
worship and prayer and leave aside the worldly life. But if we
do not mind going to hell, then enjoy life as much as we
want and forget about what’s right or wrong and what’s
good or bad. If life is not to enjoy it, then what is life for?
Lamenting about sin?
God therefore means different things to different
people. Irrespective, as human beings, we always look to
something bigger, greater, and more powerful to navigate
and guide us in our life’s pursuits.

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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

Children look to their parents as that something bigger,

greater, and more powerful in overseeing their well-being.
In a society, law is the mechanism to regulate human
behaviour. We humans behave so diversely that unless there
is an overarching instrument providing the general
principles regarding how we should conduct our activities,
society can become disorderly if and when everyone wants
to do things their way. Thus, we need something more
powerful than the power of individual persons to put things
under control. Law and the legal system is that bigger,
greater, and more powerful mechanism that is there to make
sure no one goes overboard with their behaviour.
For some people, the world which we inhabit, what
some of us call Nature or ecology or environment, is our
source of sustenance but also our resource for ideas about
life and living. For primitive societies, Nature is everything
to their existence. Abundance of food means Nature is
compassionate towards them but abundance of flood means
Nature is upset with them and therefore these people need
to make sure they do things that will appease Nature and
avoid doing things that will invite its wrath. Nature, for
primitive peoples, is that which is bigger, greater, and more
powerful that these people look to for the assurance of their
well-being.
For more advanced societies, Nature is still their source
and resource for life’s fulfillment but minus the aspects of
compassion or anger that primitive peoples think Nature
possesses. For modern-day people, Nature is a lifeless entity
which serves only as a body of consumption for the material
well-being of humankind. Irrespective, even if Nature has
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 ISLAM AS LIFE’S PATH

been treated as a piece of object summoned to humankind’s

mercy about its fate, we humans still rely on Nature along
with its laws and patterns of behaviour to make decisions
about how we deal with the range of issues affecting our
climate, society, and livelihood. Thus, like it or not, Nature
is still that something bigger, greater, and more powerful
that we have to come to terms with to secure our well-being
even if it is regarded as a piece of lifeless entity.
And, since the beginning of human history, religion has
featured in human life as that something bigger, greater, and
more powerful that human beings look to for life’s
assurance, irrespective of how the religion looks, whether it
is God, or deities, or spirits, or ancestors, or merely a
spiritual way of devotion. Even kings look to religion for the
governance of their peoples, praying to heaven for life’s
abundance and prosperity as well as pleading to it to be
spared from the calamities that would wreak havoc to crops
and shelters.
Some, on the other hand, would prefer looking to
fortune tellers, faith healers, as well as voodoos,
superstitions and amulets which they think contain powers
that can protect them from evil and bad omen. Thus, despite
the advances made by humankind in science and
technology, the human psychology still thinks there are
some powers out there that can intervene more effectively in
human destiny than what science and technology can.
And who could have thought that with science and
technology, we even dare to imagine the presence of
superhuman heroes with divine power in the likes of the
Avenger heroes even if these are mere fiction arising out of
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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

the mind and make their way to the silver screen? This
certainly speaks of the human desire for a presence that is
bigger, greater, and more powerful than the human ability
to bring order to the world.
And, for many people, God is still the biggest, greatest,
and most powerful source of their life’s story. So too are the
Muslims.
But how is God like in Islam? A God of wrath and anger
who punishes? Or a God of compassion and kindness who
blesses? A God who only supervises from the top while
humans are free to take charge of their lives? Or a God who
needs to be obeyed to the fullest without an inch for humans
to chart their lives’ course? A God where life is basically
prayer done round the clock? Or a God where worship
includes pray, play, and pleasure?



To understand God, we must understand ourselves, yes, we

who are called humans because God created us as the
gateway to understand Him. In fact, creation, which
comprises both humans and the non-humans, in particular
Nature or ecology or environment, is the gateway through
which we get to understand God. Thus to know God is to
know Him through His creation, namely, the world that
spreads before our eyes that become the resource for our life
and living and, we ourselves!
That we are created and brought into existence into this
world by God and not that we are the outcome of a long
process of evolution that began in the waters and

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culminating in the land creatures of which the apes were our

forefathers is an indisputable fact in Islam. Having said, why
did God bring us, bring me and you, into existence? Why do
we exist at all?
Quite simply, it is to be imago dei or ‘image of God’ or
‘in the likeness of God.’ God created us so that we shall
reflect His image or likeness but the image or likeness of
God should not be taken to mean to look like God in terms
of how God looks or to be like God in terms of the powers
He possesses to do anything He wishes. Rather, it is to be a
human being who would reflect the way God wants us to
portray our human identity, namely, as one who will delight
all that is in heaven and earth with his personality of
heavenly substances but lived in flesh and blood on earth.
Only then will he be said to be a human being called
khalifah in the truest of meaning.
Life, for many of us, is an exciting thing to have
especially when it affords us the opportunity to display what
we are capable of doing and becoming, that is to say, to be
able to do great things, achieve great result, and be
somebody great that would reveal to us this is who I am, this
is what I am.
Becoming a doctor (or a lawyer or a scientist or
whatever whose profession is pursued as well as looked up
by others), for some, is a lifelong ambition, because, for
these people, it is about being able to contribute to the
human well-being through their expertise in treating
diseases and health problems. To see the sick being able to
smile again and feeling assured of their health condition is
surely a satisfaction for these people. Becoming a doctor is
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 WHY CHOOSE ISLAM

therefore a pride and speaks well of the human identity one

has acquired and the ‘somebody’ one has become.
But becoming ‘somebody’ like becoming a doctor is not
only a personal pride. It is the pride of the parents and
family members as well. It is also the pride of the patients
and hospitals, as well as the teachers who once taught them
and rally them to become what they have become in life.
This is what human existence is about, that is to say, life
is that I am able to achieve something that makes me see
what becoming a human being is.
But we humans have the tendency to swerve from life’s
ideal path. Some of us would think that since I have become
‘somebody’, I therefore am someone whom everyone else
should praise me high and low for what I am (Well, you
know, I am a doctor and without doctors, what are you
going to do when you are sick? So show respect to me for
what I have become!).
Our ego is now inflated to a degree where I only see
myself in my existence and not others who are part of my
existence. I forgot that what I have become is because of the
sacrifices my parents have made, toiling day and night to
earn the money that would send me to university so that I
am able to pursue my dream. I forgot that it was my teachers
at school who went to great lengths to see me able to
understand what has been taught about the subjects that
would pave the way for me to become the career I sought in
life. I forgot that it was my siblings and friends who
encouraged me and gave me the courage to believe that I
can succeed in life. I forgot all the people who helped made

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my life possible.
When such a situation occurs, who suffers? Everyone,
from one’s self to all that is part of our life.
Our behaviour becomes unbecoming and we treat
others unbecomingly so that our parents’ pride and joy turn
into shame and despair. What has become of our child? Our
teachers would be shocked for words for what we have
turned into and would be asking what has happened to the
things we taught him while in school? Our peers at our
workplace would be scorning at us and ask what is so great
with this person when there are others here who occupy
higher positions than him and are more worthy of our
respect. Our siblings and friends would be wondering why
after becoming ‘somebody’ in life we forgot about others
who brought joy and laughter into our very own life?
It is only one fine day that when we have awoken from
our false consciousness that we realize we have cheated on
ourselves. But as long as we still hold the breath in our body,
there is always the opportunity to right one’s way and
become the person that everyone admires for our humility
and not our egoism.
True, as a human being, we have personal things to
pursue to be what I am but we must never forget that I am
what I am because of who we all are.
As an individual, we may think that I am the one who is
going to decide what I am going to be. But alone, we can
only achieve thus much. Together, we can make our
individuality looms large. And, not forgetting, we are not an
island all to ourselves, existing in isolation from others.

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Rather we and the rest of others are attached to one another

that in the absence of one, the rest cannot function
altogether. It is when we can feel the cry of a little pussy
wandering in search of its mother that we know what it is to
be stranded alone and in this instance we will know what it
is to be human whose self is attached to other selves to be
what he is as a person individually.
We are attached to other humans, our parents
obviously as well as our siblings and also our friends and
strangers. We are also attached to what is around us, namely
the world of Nature that becomes the source of our
sustenance but also the resource for ideas and creativity to
build our life.
But most of all, we are attached to God who lies at the
centre of everything He brings into existence, from Nature
to humans.
God therefore stands at the centre of our existence
through whom we derive our human identity that this is
where I came from, this is what I am, this what I am
supposed to do, and this is where I am heading after I die.



With God I now know that we humans are created to be a

complete, perfect and beautiful creature but a complete,
perfect, and beautiful creature that is not only splendourous
in our physical appearance or that we look great with the
usefulness of our brain and brawn in bringing about
achievements in science and technology for human
progress. Together with our physical look and usefulness,

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we must also be good in our character and behaviour. Then

only can we say that we are a human being in the fullest of
meaning.
Thus, for a human being to be called a human being in
the fullest of meaning, he (or she) needs to be a complete,
perfect, and beautiful creation—physically, functionally, and
morally. That is to say, a human being is one who is a
praiseworthy person in his physical appearance (how he
takes care of his body an outward appearance), usefulness
(where he contributes his brain and brawn), and behaviour
(how he conducts himself) that together constitute his
personality called khalifah, one whose personality qualifies
him to inhabit earth and turns it into a garden of delight to
live in.
(In this regard, to be a doctor is not only to be a useful
doctor but also a good doctor such that in becoming a
doctor, I also become a good person and know how to be a
praiseworthy human. In fact, a good doctor is one who uses
his usefulness to the goodness and well-being of others and
not to take advantage of his patients through his knowledge
of medicine and healthcare. Knowledge has two sides,
namely, theory and practice, and a good doctor is one who
sees his profession as a responsibility to help others and
nurture them back to good health, not see his patients as
means to make profit from their health condition, for
instance, and through insurance of course!).
But to be complete, perfect, and beautiful in all aspects
of our human identity, it is not merely to carry out God’s
plan but to the exclusion of our participation in determining
how we appear in the plan.
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Had God wanted us to become a totally obedient

creation, He could just create us like the angels or the
animals where we would just carry out God’s instruction to
the fullest.
Instead we find ourselves being able to think and decide
on things and make choices with regard to our wishes and
preferences.
Why would a God who demands total commitment to
His authority allow us humans such freedom to furnish the
world with our ideas and creativity?
It is because God wants us to know that to be who we
are who are called human, we need to contribute to our own
identity, not waiting for divine intervention to descend
every now and then and telling us what and what not to do.
God wants us to know that our existence is something we
find it worthy of having because we can participate in
shaping our identity as a human being.
For this, God endowed us with the intellect (called aql)
that with it we become aware that we can accomplish many
things that even we ourselves are amazed and astounded
with what we are able to achieve that we thought could only
exist in dreams and imaginations. Look at all the discoveries
and inventions that we humans have brought forth into this
world. What more can we say of what our tiny little brain
could accomplish that with the intelligence we have, we
could traverse from one corner of the world to another
corner of it in just a few hours with the planes and build
skyscrapers that soar into the skies?
Surely we cannot deny that we humans are a special

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breed of creation that could turn this world into a

wonderland for living so much that some of us wish that we
could continue living in this world forever and ever.
As such, with the intellect, God wants us to see for
ourselves and ask ourselves if our creation as human being
is something we ourselves find it worthwhile of having.
Needless to say, God wants the answer coming from
ourselves if existing as a human being is indeed a best gift
from Him.



But there is something about our human existence that with

the intelligence we have, we can become a best creation and
ironically, to becoming a worst creation as well, committing
things unbecoming of us as human beings. War is one
example that speaks of the ugly side of our humanity that we
humans will do anything even to kill mercilessly in order to
advance our self-interest. We create all kinds of weapons of
the most sophisticated kind with the knowledge of science
and technology of the most complicated kind and what do
we do with it? Decimate our own human race!
When humans think that they can become gods, what is
there to stop them from showing their might and pride?
What is there to stop them from conquering the whole
world and universe? What is there to stop them from
conquering fellow humans? What is there to stop them from
showing the prowess of the mind and the superiority of the
might?
That is why there must be guidelines governing our

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thought and conduct so that we do not go overboard with

our insatiable desires and irresponsible actions.
These guidelines act to protect us from thinking and
doing all kinds of insane things by grounding our wishes
and desires within the proper perspectives of their
fulfillments.
Freedom of thought and action must be put into the
relevant context so that only positive outcomes are
generated from them.
Rules of living are not meant to inhibit our freedom nor
circumscribe our creativity but they are meant to guide our
wishes and desires into becoming praiseworthy traits of our
mentality and activity.
In this regard, God provides the guidelines concerning
how we go about with life but also how we think about life
(called shariah). The shariah therefore does two things
about the guidelines—how to do things properly and how to
think things rightly, aimed at safeguarding as well as
elevating our humanity.
But more significantly, the guidelines are channels
through which faith in God blossoms into norms of living
that will be evidence that God’s presence with us is His
connection with us through the guidelines for living, for in
carrying out the guidelines for living, we will have a clear
idea that this is how God is, this is how God operates in our
life, this is how God intends our existence to be, and this
how God shows the wisdom of our creation as that special
something called human being.


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The totality of human living through carrying out the

guidelines for living is called worship (or ibadah).
For some of us, worship is that exclusive relationship
with God carried out in certain time of the day or week or
month or year through specific acts deemed holy and
sacrosanct.
Ask anyone about religion or God or worship, and they
will immediately point to a mosque or church or temple, or
the altars or shrines placed in the homes where devotees
pray or pay homage to the objects placed at these altars and
shrines, or the crescent or cross or swastika that serve as
symbols of their respective religions, or the Muslim Id
celebration or Christmas or Buddhist Wesak or Hindu
Deepavali as holy days but not Mon-day or Tues-day or
every-day in the week.
But ask anyone if the school or the hospital or the bank
is a place of worship, doing gardening or sleeping or even
jogging and swimming are acts of worship, or learning
maths or science is learning about religion, and they will
give you an unbelievable stare in your eyes. What are you
talking about? Worship is regarding God or the holy and
these things, how are they regarding God or the holy?
For a Muslim, every moment of his life is a moment of
worship and every single thing that he does is an act of
worship and every place he sets foot on is a place having to
do with worship.
A Muslim is always in a state of worship because his life
is an unbreakable connection with God and therefore every
moment, every act or activity, and every inch of the space he

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occupies has everything to do with God.

When he faces God in prayer (called solat), it is worship
but when he takes his food, it is also worship because in
consuming his food, he remembers that it is God who is the
source of his well-being who gifted him food so that he may
not go hungry, that he may stay healthy, that he may be able
to carry out his daily activities full of energy, and that his
everyday living will be sunny and happy.
Prayer is worship but so is taking one’s meal because
worship means taking cognizance of God’s presence in our
day-to-day activities through following His guidelines for
living.
When we pray, we acknowledge God’s presence and
relevance to our existence by doing the necessary acts set out
in His guidelines for our actions, and in taking our food, we
also acknowledge His presence and relevance in our life by
applying His guidelines to how we take our food, such as,
for instance, not taking food that will aggravate our physical
well-being, as well as not being wasteful with the food, and
also sharing our food with those who have only crumbs to
eat.
Thus, when look at closely, taking food is actually an act
of prayer or put another way, it is prayer carried out in
relation to our food consumption because both prayer and
food consumption are the acknowledgement of God’s
presence and relevance in our life through us observing His
guidelines for living meant to bring about our well-being
physically, functionally, and morally.
Worship in the complete sense of its meaning pertains

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to God’s presence and relevance in human life that extends

into all aspects of living and covering all acts and activities,
time and place, and not only certain acts and activities, time
and place.
A life of Islam is therefore a life of worship and in this
regard, a Muslim is one who is always in worship all the
time, at all places, and pertains to whatever he is doing.
We attend to God in prayer but we also attend to Him
in all the things of everyday living because our life with God
is a life of worship to Him that by it, God is ever with us to
look after our well-being.
Prayer is not only an act done in a specific place called
the mosque and carried out at only certain times of the day.
Prayer is everywhere, whether it is the mosque, or the toilet,
or the restaurant, or the bank, or the school, or the
workplace, because in everything we do, God is the
measurement of our act and activity regarding how we go
about doing the things that will bring praiseworthy
consequences and not otherwise. In prayer, we need to come
in a clean state, be focused and diligent in our act of praying,
make sure that we come to God bringing the things we do
outside of prayer as things done praiseworthily. The things
we bring into prayer, these are the same things we apply into
the acts and activities, time and place of other aspects of
everyday living.
Worship therefore is not an isolated aspect of living but
it is a total way of living where God stands as the centre of
our life, thought, and activity and prayer acts as the pivotal
point of contact between God and us, heaven and human,

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spiritual and physical, eternality and earthly and therefore

bringing about our human identity as a unity of heaven
earth, and human through worship as the unifying entity.



What happens after we die?

For some of us, this not something we should be
thinking. We should be concerned with the present and let
the future take care of itself.
For some others, it is a thought that sends uneasy
feelings in our mind because we have no idea about what is
going to happen to us after our time on earth lapses.
For some, it means having to lose this life and all the
enjoyments that come with it.
For some others, it is, phew, at last I am departing from
this world that is so full or torments and sadness with all the
bitterness I have witnessed of our human history.
For some, Phew! I am coming back again in another life
(called reincarnation) but will I be human again or become
some other things?
So, is death a good thing or not? Is death something
sweet or fearful? Is death something to be welcomed or
shunned?
Whatever, death is a sure thing that will come knocking
at the door for those of us who are living.
So, what happens after I die and if there is a life after I
die, that is to say, I will actually continue to live but in a
different dimension of my existence, how is that life going to

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be like?
All of us surely wish for a better life than the one we are
having here right now, right here on earth but do we deserve
for such a life?
We see that in many religions, in fact in all religions,
when it is time to send off our loved ones when their time to
depart from this world arrives, it is always with the prayer
that they will have a good life in the next world.
What about Islam? What is a life after this life on earth
like?
For Islam, this worldly life is a one-way ticket to the
afterlife and whether the afterlife is going to be a pleasant
life where good souls enter heaven or paradise and not-very
good ones are welcomed to feel the burning heat of hell for
their unbecoming ways during their time on earth, it all
depends on how we make this earthly life a heavenly life and
a paradise for living or conversely, we make this world a
hellish time for ourselves and others.
The afterlife is described as a garden of delight (called
jannah) where the meadows of heaven are filled with food
and drink and playmates as well as mansions of splendour
for us to roam and wander and fill our pleasures without
knowing whether it is day or night, or when it is going to
end once and for all. But good things are meant for good
souls so we just need to make sure our limited time on earth
is used wisely to become good human beings who will build
a good world to live for ourselves and others.
Not-very good souls on the other hand, whose time on
earth is basically spent on minding other people’s business

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and inflicting pain and agonies to others while ignoring

one’s own insipid condition, will see the corresponding
consequences in their afterlife in a place known as hell
(called naar).
But how do we make sure our afterlife is one that will be
one where we will enter heaven and not hell?
For some people, it is about being good and doing good
as all good deeds will have good outcomes and the afterlife
will surely be a good life.
For some others, it means shunning the worldly life and
putting one’s attention on the afterlife by focusing on
prayer, meditation, repentance, giving alms, going for one’s
pilgrim to Makkah as much as possible, and all those
practices that are categorized as ‘worship in the specific
sense’, that is to say, worship that is personal in nature
between man and God by doing certain things meant to
procure His pleasure, blessings, and forgiveness.
But a world where we cut ourselves off from the rest of
others just because we think it is the way to heaven is not the
way to heaven.
Why did God give us a world with all the splendour for
living if the world is not meant for us to live in it and enjoy
its splendour?
The right way to live that could get us to heaven is
therefore to live the earthly life but in ways that reflect the
life in heaven or paradise.
Rivers in paradise and rivers on earth connect with one
another through the wisdom of the water that the two rivers
carry.

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Water is basic to our continuity of existence but it is

also that cleanses the dirt and filth on our body and it is also
a purifying agent of our soul and spirit. Water is thus a
biological, physical, and spiritual entity.
Water is a cooling sight, is importantly useful to our
life, and is rich with goodness it brings to humans and
others.
We should therefore not disrespect water and mistreat
it, like polluting the rivers, or waste it by throwing water
around unnecessarily, or turning water into drinks that will
jeopardize our health such as the ones causing drunkenness,
for instance.
When water is treated with respect and used in the
proper way, we will surely bring about a life of delight
whether biologically, functionally, as well as morally so that
what praiseworthy consequences coming from our
treatment of water, that will go into making our life in the
afterlife having the corresponding consequences as well.
Water brings family together not only with the drinks
set on the table for a nice gathering of tea and coffee, but the
waterparks filled with fun activities are also a way to bring
families together through a holiday vacation. A kindred
family will bring about a joyful family that is blessed and
blissful and will continue to be such in the life hereafter but
a topsy-turvy family where family members fight with one
another will make this world a hell for living that might see
dark days in the next world.
When we look at ourselves and whatever that is around
us, we must look at everything as a tightly knitted unity

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where everything is bounded with everything else as a web

of relationship such that I am what I am because of who we
all are.
The hereafter is far yet near because the spectrum of
creation that adorns our world is pregnant with wisdoms,
signs, and messages that connect us humans to the hereafter
through our intellect that when utilized properly, will reveal
to us our closeness to the hereafter through these wisdoms,
signs, and messages that are meant for us to know that an
earthly life that is heavenly will end in a heavenly life in
eternity, a sanctuary of living that we so often hear as a place
far, far away thought of only as fairy tale stories.
But to a Muslim, it is as real as this world called earth
that we live in flesh and blood and see with our very eyes but
it is only reserved for those who qualify as khalifah, namely,
those who have accomplished life’s mission of becoming a
human being in the truest of meaning.



Islam is a meeting point between man and God, between us

humans and Allah. It is this meeting point that two things
happen. First, we get to know Allah more closely and
intimately and thereby get to know Him more profoundly.
Second, we get to realize the very meaning of our existence
which is to be a human being in the noblest of meaning,
namely, one who understands the principles and purposes
of things, one who is sensitive to all around him be it
humans, plants, or animals, one who is able to act and
interact with others with respect, and one whose personality

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beams beauty and attracts the eyes that see.

To get to know Allah in the true sense of its meaning,
we have to be a human being in the true sense of its
meaning. Therefore, life is a journey of knowing one’s self in
order to know the other ‘self’ which is none other than Allah
for in the process of knowing one’s self, one has to refine his
personality in such a way that when he gets to the point of
realizing his self’s loftiness, he will have arrived at knowing
the loftiness of Allah.
This is what becoming a Muslim is, namely, to arrive at
a meeting point between us and God through the journey
and process of self-discovery in the span of time allotted to
us in this world, a meeting that will end in us becoming
God’s khalifah on earth, one who realizes the true meaning
of himself as a human being and at the same time realizes
the relevance of Allah to his human meaning and becoming
which can only be accomplished through ibadah, worship of
Allah, a worship where God is adored and glorified not only
because He is God and Great but because in knowing what it
is to adorn and glorify God, our own greatness as a human
being will be brought into light and be realized in flesh and
blood.

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 3
Khalifah As The Quest Of Living

L ife is knitted with time and the time we have on earth

is limited and what do we do with it?
Even more limited regarding the time we have is that it
is divided into years and months and days and when we
start to realize how much time we have left on earth, we will
be wondering what we have been spending it on to make life
a worthwhile thing to live.
And for many of us, time is even more limited when it
is just morning and evening we have in a day and is it
enough to do the things we want to do for our life and
living?
When we open our eyes from a good day’s night, it is
already morning sunshine and even before we realize what
time of the day is it, it is already evening with the sun setting
and it is time to say goodbye to another day and off to bed

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we go for another good day’s rest.

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a person healthy,
wealthy and wise, so goes a saying. How does this echo in
today’s market-place society and especially for the Muslims
who live in a rat-race economy but wants to know how a life
of Islam is like in today’s world characterized by work, work,
and work from morning till night and offers little time for
rest and play?
For many of us who live in today’s market-place society
where life is about making a living and trying to make ends
meet, the moment we open our eyes, the first thing that
rushes through the mind is that it is time for work! And very
quickly we jump out of our bed, go straight to the toilet to
wash ourselves, get dressed up hastily, have a quick sip of tea
or coffee and nipping a little sandwich, and voila! Off we
shoot for our workplace!
For a Muslim however, the moment he opens his eyes,
the first thing he does is to give thanks to Allah for giving
him another chance at life and to do what? To be a better
human being through the things he does for his everyday
living!
A Muslim does not forget that, even though society has
changed to become a busy rat race and life is about chasing
the pleasures of living rather than contemplating about what
is true living, at the core of his life’s pursuit is to realize the
very purpose of his existence, and that is to be a khalifah,
namely, one who seeks to become a human being of the
noblest kind.
One may be a successful person in life whether in career

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or wealth but at the heart of his achievements he is still a

human being like any other person and he must never forget
that as a human being, he must be a human being of the best
kind, one who knows what it is to be human, and this is
what khalifah means. In the movie The Man in the Iron
Mask (1998), one of the scenes depicts the arrogance of the
king who, when approached by his Musketeer bodyguard
who tried to advise him on his behaviour towards his
subjects who were enduring hardship of livelihood under his
rule, said, ‘I am the king’ and to which his Musketeer
bodyguard retorted sharply and said, ‘Then be a good king.’
The personality of khalifah applies to everyone, young
or old, male or female, whether one is a career person or a
simple housewife, and whether he or she is a person of
knowledge or one who is just learning to read and write, or
even a king or queen for that matter!
A student who excels in studies is not one who merely
scores A’s in his exams but must be one who excels in
everything regarding his or her personality, from being
excellent in books to being excellent in co-curricular
activities, from being excellent in classroom to being
excellent outside the classroom, from being excellent with
his brain to being excellent in his speech (not only good at
arguing or delivering fine speeches but must not slur,
slander, backbite) and excellent in the myriad skills of living
and also excellent in human relationship.
This is what a khalifah is, namely, one who possesses a
praiseworthy personality with his look, brain, and behaviour
because he possesses a soul that is heavenly in character and
manifested in all aspects of his living on earth, that is to say,
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a soul who is always aware that in whatever he thinks, does,

and expresses, God stands as the centre of his life, thought,
and activities, and because of that, only goodness shall
proceed from his soul into his mind and body and extends
into his relations and actions with all that is part of his
existence to bring about progress and prosperity whose
materialistic fulfillment of life must bring about a
personality of the noblest kind, one whom others feel at ease
and serene when they come near him and find that he is
trustworthy with his tongue (what comes out of his words)
and hand (what comes out of his acts), like what Prophet
Muḥammad says.
Many of us are preoccupied with how we look with our
physical appearance (the face and body especially!) but pay
less attention to how we look in our inner appearance that
has everything to do with our character. It is important that
as we take great pains to take care of our physical
appearance, we must also do likewise with our character.
We will look more attractive and appealing in our
physical appearance when we have taken good care of our
inner appearance or character. One who looks handsome or
pretty will no doubt attract admirers to his handsome or her
pretty look but if his or her personality does not display a
handsome or pretty character, then the physical beauty will
eventually lose its charm.
But one who cultivates a lofty character will find that
even as his or her age begins to wither, his or her character
grows to become more charming and appealing that will
make his or her physical appearance to still look attractive to
others.
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As such, a Muslim sees it necessary to be in touch with

God every moment of his life because to be in touch with
God is to be in touch with everything concerning his
existence so that God’s presence is seen as a bless and bliss
towards bringing good consequences to his living, meaning,
and being human through the necessary things of everyday
living.
And this is what a Muslim aspires to accomplish as his
quest of living, that is to say, to become a human being of
the best kind, one who shines forth the personality of
khalifah in his human becoming.

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Purity As Basis Of Islamic Living

F or a Muslim, purity is the basis of everyday living

through which he blossoms into the kind of human
being worthy to be called khalifah.
Purity is to purge one’s self from all the filth that has
gathered in one’s soul that, if not attended to, could cause a
person to do things that may not be pleasant in the eyes of
others. After all, we do send our cars and computers for
servicing so that they will continue to enjoy a longer
lifespan. In the same way, we need to get ourselves ‘serviced’
so that we could continue to have a pleasant life, and a
pleasant life means being pleasant in one’s conduct of life,
towards one’s self and also towards others.



Purification comes in five forms. The first is the most

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common to all of us and it is the cleanliness of our

surrounding and environment so that we could have a
comfortable place to live, such as having the air we breathe
free from pollution and the water free from contamination,
rid our homes of pests and insects and the weeds growing
everywhere, and getting our body and clothes cleansed from
all the mud and dirt that cause filth and plenty of
discomfort. All these are purification in the physical sense. It
is called nazafah, and like what the Prophet said, ‘Nazafah,
namely, cleanliness, is part of iman, that is to say, part of
one’s religious life.’
The second type of purification is with regard to the
acquisition and consumption of the means of livelihood,
such as money, food, and even services. This is called halal
and toyyib, or permissible and good. It is no point for one to
live a life that is mired in ill-gotten gains because whatever
he consumes from these gains will turn into his flesh and
blood and how could one expect good to come to his soul if
his body is tainted with unjust means of livelihood?
Therefore it is important that our livelihood is acquired
through halal means and is of toyyib quality, namely,
whatever we consume is obtained through the proper
channel of acquisition that will ensure the purity of our
consumption and the good consequences upon our health
and wealth.
The third type of purification is to purge our thoughts,
feelings and desires from all the blameworthy elements,
elements that could cause us to become human beings with
a base character that nobody wants to come close, elements
such as envy, hate, jealousy, pride, selfishness, and actions

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such as lying, cheating, practising corruption, and so on.

This is called tazkiyyah.
The fourth type of purification is called taharah, that is
to say, cleansing one’s body according to the prescription of
religion, such as how one cleanses one’s self after going to
toilet, or when one is doing the wudu or ablution before
going for the solat or prayer.
The fifth type of purification is called tawhid, namely,
to keep one’s attachment to Allah pure from all kinds of
misunderstanding of His nature as God.
Seen together, all five forms of purification are
connected to one another. A person who is not bothered
with the cleanliness of his surrounding, or his home, or even
his own body, is a person who cannot be bothered with the
responsibility and respect towards others, self, and God.
When he becomes lacking in his concern with his
surrounding, with others, with God, and even with himself,
how can he be concerned with his own dignity as a person
and as a human being?
Likewise, a person who is conscious and conscientious
about himself will do all that is necessary to make him
physically healthy, morally responsible, and spiritually
enlightened and these can only be achieved if he takes care
of his body, thoughts, behaviour and rituals from falling into
decadence and becoming insipid. If decadence happens, life
will turn from vibrant and buoyant into listless and
cheerless which, in the end, will produce a human being
with a lifeless personality, a society with little concern for
one another, and a surrounding or an environment that is

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dull and unattractive to inhabit.

Impurity, or najasah, is an impediment to human
growth, social coherence, and ecological well-being and
therefore, we need to make sure that cleanliness, in its five
forms, must be cultivated, pursued, practised, maintained,
and improved at all times, day and night, morning and
evening, and every second of our life, and from the moment
we open our eyes until the moment we close our eyes for
one last time.



Nazafah or physical and outward cleanliness

Our life begins as a physical life. As a baby, when we
discharged our wastes, our mother would make sure we are
always clean and, to be hygiene, we the moderns develop the
pampers to replace the napkins. Likewise, handkerchiefs
were at one time a useful item to clean our mouth and wipe
our hands but today, they are considered unhygienic and we
use the serviettes or paper towel instead. And, we make sure
that our clothes are always washed and looked clean and
ironed so that our spirit will be uplifted and our body
energized to start the day. Children would need to look neat
and tidy in their uniform and shoes when they go to school
or they may get penalized for looking in mess.
The food we eat would also have to be clean and for
that, we are often told to wash the meat and vegetables. The
morsels that fall on the floor, we shouldn’t pick them up and
put them in our mouth because it is not a healthy thing to
do. The water we drink shouldn’t look yellowish when it
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comes out from the tap and if it did, we shouldn’t drink it.
And even if the water looks clean, some of us prefer to
install the water filter so that we get only purified water.
And, during meal time, we should wash our hands before
eating as well as after eating, and rinse our mouth to avoid
bad breath as well as to keep our teeth healthy.
Needless to say, cleanliness of our body, clothes as well
as the food we eat and the water we drink is a basic necessity
that without it, we not only face the prospect of problems
affecting our health but also of diseases coming our way. A
healthy body, after all, will enable a person to do his
activities that will bring abundance of benefits to the body,
mind and spirit and ultimately, to the character and
behaviour of a person such that he will be able to become a
human being with a pleasant personality, a khalifah so to
speak.
It is because we are concerned with cleanliness that we
humans have taken the trouble to find ways and means to
improve our living condition, so that from merely having
clean water to drink, we now have purified water, oxidized
water, ionized water and all kinds of water that would not
only enable us to have a longer life span but also would not
cause harm to our body so that we could stay healthy, be
energetic and become spirited to carry out our daily work.
In this regard, Islam is especially strict on cleanliness
such that, for instance, in whatever we eat and drink, we
should never consume things that are potentially harmful to
the body, mind, and behaviour. Intoxicants that come in
names like beer, stout and wine are totally forbidden to be
taken because of their effects upon health and behaviour.
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For Islam, anything that is potentially harmful to a

person must be avoided from his life and activity, right from
the day he was born until the day he dies.
As such, we must pay attention to the physical part of
our existence because a body that is well taken care of will
ensure that the mind can think well and decide wisely and
our actions can bring happiness to ourselves as well as to
others. Needless to say, cleanliness is the mark of a cultured
person, the making of a respectful society, and the basis of a
thriving civilization.



Tazkiyyah or inner cleanliness

A person who takes the pain to make sure his body is free
and healthy from dirt and filth will also make sure his home,
garden and environment would be free and healthy from
pollution, such that a healthy person and a clean
surrounding and environment would make a person’s life
look pleasant.
But the pleasant look of a person is not only the
outward part of his self which is his physical body but it
must also happen to the inner part of his self and body
which is none other than his mind, heart, and feelings. The
Prophet has taught that when we put on our clothes, we
should recite the du’a or words to beseech Allah’s
intervention in our actions by saying ‘Allahumma ka-maa
hassanta khalqi fa-hassin khuluqi,’ meaning ‘O Allah, as
much as you make my outer appearance good and pleasant,
make my inner appearance good and pleasant too.’
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Thus, there is a direct connection between our outer

appearance and our inward appearance and that connection
is made through our desires, passions, wants, wishes,
dreams, and all those names that point to our need as
human beings to possess and enjoy the many things that
give pleasure to our body especially, but also to our mind,
heart, and feelings.
It is only when there is cleanliness in our inner
appearance would there be calmness in our soul that in turn
would bring about peace and equanimity in our thought,
feeling, and bodily expression and movement such that
whatever that we intend, think, feel, say and do will be of
desirable contents and qualities.
Needless to say, purification of the mind, heart and
feelings in terms of how we think, feel, and act is required if
we are to become a human being whose inner appearance
will be pleasant and beautiful, just like how many of us
would take the trouble to see to it that our face, body and
hair appear pleasant and beautiful that will draw praises
from those who look at us.



Halal and Toyyib or rightness and goodness in livelihood

For some Muslims, halal and toyyib pertain to what is
permissible for consumption especially with regard to food
and drink.
But permissibility is not only with regard to
consumption. It is also with regard to how we obtain the

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things for consumption.

In eating rice which is a halal and toyyib food, is the rice
we are eating obtained through the proper means? Is the
money we use to buy the rice obtained rightfully or is it
money obtained from corruption or from stealing, for
instance?
Enjoyment of a good meal can only be satisfying if the
meal consumed is one that is obtained rightfully. A child
who learns that the money to buy his food is money gained
from immoral sources is not going to eat the food even if it
is the most delicious food he dreams of having.
Money is something we all yearn to have because it is
the means to all kinds of pleasurable things we desire to
have. Having the money in our hands through the proper
channel of getting it is a requirement for a good life in Islam
and a good life in Islam is not only having money obtained
the right way but also with regard to the philosophy
governing its use that will bring about the human quality of
the most desirable kind, one that makes a person a likable,
pleasurable and most of all, a noble human being.
As human beings, we desire all kinds of things. But that
is because it is part of our human nature. There is nothing
wrong with wanting this and that, only that we have to make
sure they are acquired rightly and consumed with thrift. We
should not let wealth turn us into creatures with a bestial
personality, becoming selfish and greedy, for instance.
Desires can be deceiving and make a person to become
unreasonable with his thought and behaviour. A person
with little money to survive could only wish that he could

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have a little more money for him to be able to have better

food to eat.
But as he got more and more of what he wished for, he
began to see that material comfort is everything to living
and that having money, riches and wealth are the only
things that matter in life.
However, without a proper vision of what money
should do to a person’s overall well-being besides giving him
material satisfaction of life, his riches could turn him into
becoming a person obsessed with wealth to the point that he
could become selfish and stingy with what he has and also to
be lavish and extravagant with his consumption that, in the
end, he forgot at one time he was a pitiful and humble
person seeking only to fill the belly from day to day.
Accumulating wealth need not be seen as a negative and
blameworthy thing. It can be a positive virtue if only it is
understood and practised as a praiseworthy element of our
humanity.
In this regard, Islam shows the way about how being
wealthy can also make a person noble and charitable, loving
and caring, as well as sharing the wealth he has with others.
Zakat or the compulsory contribution of a portion of one’s
wealth is a religious obligation. There are two types of zakat.
These are zakat al-fitr and zakat al-mal. Zakat al-fitr is
compulsory upon all individuals, young or old and
financially able, and it is contributed during the fasting
month of Ramadan. It is a very small amount, and one can
say that it is meant to show how a small amount, when
contributed by the many, can build a mountain of wealth

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that can then be disbursed for the benefit of those who

cannot afford to feed themselves and their families. Zakat
al-mal, on the other hand, is contribution made upon one’s
wealth accumulated over a year, and it is two and a half
percent of the extras one has in his possession after
deducting all his expenses for his needs and the needs of his
family as well as those he spent on. The contribution must
take into consideration that it will not cause hardship and if
it does, such that the person is going to need the money later
on but only for necessities and not luxuries, then he can be
excused from the contribution until such time when he is in
the position to give.
Zakat is one way to make us think of others and in
thinking of others, it can make us think of ourselves, such
that when we come to think of the condition of others, the
thought of their condition can arouse sympathy and
kindness in ourselves and the desire to care and share with
them what little we may have, for the Prophet himself has
said, ‘No one can be said to be true to his religion until he
loves for others what he loves for himself.’
For those of us who want to share more of our wealth
other than the prescribed percentage of the zakat, we can do
sadaqah, or voluntary giving of what we have.
Therefore, accumulating wealth is a good thing and
becoming rich should be encouraged as it can make us into
becoming persons with a noble heart and a charitable
character, helping the less fortunate with the plentiful wealth
that we have.
As such, we should have a proper perception of what

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money, wealth and riches do to our life so that we become

human beings with a lofty humanity from the abundance of
wealth we possess and not that we become persons who are
arrogant, looking down on others, and unbecoming with
our behaviour, thinking that we can do whatever we like and
making others to kowtow or kneel to our desires just
because we have piles of money to spend without limits.
Therefore a life of Islam must be one that is halal with
regard to what and how a thing is and is also toyyib with
regard to the consequences following from its use and
consumption upon the quality of humanity.



Taharah or ritual cleanliness

For Muslims, water is essential not only to life but also to
their practice of Islam. Water has everything to do with
purity.
For a Muslim to stand before God, before Allah, in
prayer, he has to be clean from pollution in the religious
sense. This is called taharah. A married couple need to take
the compulsory bath after their intimate relationship,
cleaning every part of his or her entire body from the stains
on the body, either with soap or any material that could
remove the stains, and this would be followed by having all
parts of the body to be washed with water.
A person who goes to the toilet to ease himself, whether
it is to discharge his solid or liquid waste, would use water to
clean himself so that his vital statistics would be free of the

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stains from his solid and liquid wastes.

And if his clothes are stained with blood, he has to clean
them with water so that the clothes he is wearing can be
worn for prayer.
Thus, for a person to stand before his Lord in prayer, he
has to make sure his body is clean, the clothes he wears are
clean, the place where he prays is clean, and most
importantly, that he has the wudu or ablution, namely, the
washing of certain parts of the body with water as a religious
act that would usher him into prayer. In standing before
God, a person has to be clean physically but also mentally
and spiritually.
To stand before Allah but coming with a mind that is
filled with undesirable thoughts, a heart that is filled with
undesirable feelings, and actions that are blameworthy and
causing problems and harm, these are incompatible with the
prayer as the prayer requires that a person should stand
before his Lord with a mind that is removed from all
undesirable thoughts, a heart is that is removed of all
undesirable feelings, and actions and activities that bring
benefit and pleasure.
Thus, a person needs to be in a state of purity, in terms
of the cleanliness of his body and clothes, in terms of his
state of religious purity with the wudu, and in terms of his
state of purity of his mind, heart, and feelings when he steps
into prayer.
Prayer is the time where a person comes face to face
with Allah, and for those who know what it is to pray,
prayer will knock on his conscience to get him to appraise

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his mind, heart and feelings and whisper into his soul to
look at what his mind has thought, what his heart has
intended, and what he has actually done as his actions.
Prayer is the time where the door of heaven is opened
to his mind and heart so that he would seek to cultivate and
improve his humanity such that as he finishes his prayer he
finds himself a renewed person who is determined to make
amends on his thought, feeling, and action if he has
transgressed them thereby causing unpleasant consequences
upon others and, if he has done many good things, prayer
will uplift his spirit and give him more determination to
even do better and thereby becoming even a better human
being.



Tawhid, sensing God’s presence

in the spectrum of creation
Allah is always present in human life. Some of us may say
that since we cannot see Him, how are we going to connect
with Him?
Purification is a way through which we stay in touch
with God. A person who takes the trouble to be clean is a
person who is able to see through things. A pool of muddy
water will not allow us to see what is inside the water. A
glass that is covered with dust will not allow us to see what is
on the other side of the glass. Needless to say, we cannot see
what is on the other side of us if there is something standing
between us and what is over there, blocking our vision and
our sight.
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In the same way, between us and God, there should not

be anything standing in the way and blocking our direct
contact with Him.
We stand in direct contact with God and although we
cannot see Him physically, we can feel His presence because
we have the mind to connect with Him.
The mind connects us with God through the many
wonders of creation that spread before our eyes. The things
that we see, be they the flowers, birds, and trees, or the
fishes, rivers, and seas, as well as the animals roaming the
lands freely, are meant for us to benefit from, whether as
food or drink, or for shelter, or anything that would keep us
continue living.
Life surely is something we enjoy having but in
enjoying the life we are having, there will come a time where
we will start asking what the enjoyment of life means to the
whole purpose of existing. We begin to ask questions about
where we humans came from, what the purpose of existence
is, and where we will be heading after we die. Questions
such as these will make us to ponder and wonder and
eventually awaken us to the ultimate answers about
existence, answers that will let us know why behind all that
we see, there is God who made the world and gifted us life.
However, if the mind remains dormant, or is occupied
with thoughts of worldly life to the extent of overlooking the
real meaning and purpose of living, then one could be
disconnected from God because these conditions stand in
the way between us and Him, blurring our vision and sight
about what life is meant to be.

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Through the mind connecting us with God, we begin to

realize that God is there even if we do not see him because
the spectrum of creation that we come into contact in our
everyday living connects us to Him. This comes in the form
of signs, meaning to say, the things that we come across in
our everyday contact, they point us to what is beyond that
we see with our eyes and that we enjoy from our sight, such
that we will be thinking about where the things we enjoy
come from and what purpose do they serve in the
fulfillment of the human life.
The water we drink, for instance, what does it tell us
about life beyond our consumption of it to quench our thirst
and to allow us to go on living? Could there be something
more than having clean water to drink and to wash our
clothes or to irrigate the soil so that we can have more
vegetables and therefore more food to eat?
The water we drink should move us to a higher level of
thinking about what water is about, that besides being a
consumption purpose, could it also involve ethical
questions, about what kinds of drinks should we take so that
our body will stay healthy and be free from medical
problems? And finally, if we do take all the precautions to
ensure that we will have a healthy body and to be able to
have a longer life span, what are we going to do with a
healthy and hearty life?
Thus we should ensure that we always stay in touch
with Allah so that we can regularly check on why we are
gifted a life and how we can make living in this world a
wonderful venture that will transform us into a creature of
the finest kind in physical appearance, in the way we think
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about things, in the way we refine and portray our character

and behaviour, and in the way we fine-tune our spirituality
so that we can be a human being of the noblest kind, one
who is wise, good, loving, and beautiful.
And for that to happen, we have to keep our mind from
having incorrect thoughts about the meaning and purpose
of our existence, and to have command and control over our
passions and desires, ambitions and wishes, as well as ideals
and dreams so that in the pursuit of the worldly life, we do
not end up by becoming human beings that are seen as self-
centred, selfish, self-interested to the extent of bringing
hardship and harm to others.
With God in mind, we can be rest assured that guidance
is always there to keep us vigilant of our presence in this
earthly world.



A healthy environment for a heavenly living

We must remember that as a human being, we are a person
with four selves or four aspects of our self. We are (1) an
individual or a personal self (2) a relational self (3) a
collective or communal or social self (4) a transcendent self,
namely, a self that goes beyond the physical self and the
world to connect with the invisible and the unseen, such as
with God. We are these four selves at once and at the same
time such that in how we think about things and in
whatever things we do, we not only look after our own
interest but look also after the interest of others that has
everything to do with our existence and well-being.
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We can never be isolated from all that is around us

because they are the lifeline of our existence. Without them,
we cannot exist fully as a human being, not only in terms of
our biological and physical need, or our emotional need, but
above all, they are important in terms of our need for our
human identity. With them, we get to understand the
meaning of life, which in turn, enables us to have a direction
in life that will allow us to live purposefully and, in turn,
helps us to shape our human identity, about how we become
human. Therefore, we need others and others need us for us
to blossom into a full-fledged human entity through which
we realize our meaning, living, and being human.
A healthy environment, in this regard, contributes to a
healthy body, and a healthy body sustains a healthy mind,
and a healthy mind is needed to think about healthy things
for one’s own well-being which in turn would contribute to
the well-being of others.
To do away with things that pollute or harm our
environment is to do away with all those things that will
jeopardize the ecosystem that contribute to our well-being.
For instance, unruly cutting down of trees in the name of
development (such as cutting trees for timber) can cause the
warming of the environment, soil erosion, and even the
problem of good quality air. But more importantly, such an
action brings up the question of our human nature, that we
are willing to ignore the importance of our green
environment to our very own human existence such that the
‘rape’ of Nature is worth the price for monetary profit and
material satisfaction of life. The green environment is only
seen as a ‘dead’ object ready to be plundered and ‘sold’ to

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the highest price bidder, while the well-being of human

beings themselves is put at stake.
Such an attitude towards Nature, our green
environment, happens because when we look at what is in
front of us, what is before our eyes, we can’t see anything
except a lifeless object whose value is only to satisfy the
human desires for profit and material gains. The
environment, on the contrary, is more than just some raw
material for our use and consumption. Like us, it is a
creation of Allah, a reservoir not only of provisions for our
life’s sustenance but more significantly, it is a reservoir of
ayat, signs, that connect us to Allah through which our
mind is awakened to the purpose of our existence, our heart
mellows with the feeling of compassion yearning to treat our
environment with reverence, and our actions will be
directed at developments that are necessary for our living
but in ways that we do not destroy our ecosystem which will
mean destroying our own lives as well and as such, a
disrespect to Allah Himself who wants us to treat ourselves
and other things in existence with dignity.
Therefore, to live a life of purity, we cannot but to make
sure that we take care of our environment, making sure we
do not do the things that will put the forests and trees, beasts
and bees, oceans and seas, in jeopardy, leading to the harm
of the environment and ecosystem. To ensure that we take
great care of mother earth, we must make sure that our
knowledge and intentions are purged from such
blameworthy elements like greed, selfishness, and self-
centredness, and our self, soul, and spirit are cleansed and
purified of all those stains that would cloud our mind, heart,

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and intellect from seeing our wonderful world with love and
compassion.
A person who is sensitive towards the well-being of his
environment as well as of other humans and himself will
also be sensitive towards Allah. In taking care of the
environment, he takes care of himself, and in taking care of
himself, he ‘takes care’ of Allah by heeding His call to be
sensitive towards his own well-being and that of the
environment. One way to do it is through doing his prayer
as well as the other rituals for the rituals will sustain him in
purity continuously, always making him to remember that
behind his life, thought, action, and interaction, there is
always a sacred presence looming over his existence and
seeing to it that he treats his own self with dignity, and also
in the way he treats the environment along with its contents
for utilization and the signs for intellection, and in the way
he regards Allah as God and Lord of the whole spectrum of
creation.

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 5
The Necessary Things
Of Everyday Living

F or many of us, life has what is called rites of passage,

namely, those moments of life that become the
junctures to deliver us from one stage of life to another stage
of life in our process of growing up as well as descending
into our twilight years, that is to say, the necessary things we
do as recognition of our life’s presence in this world from
cradle until grave.
Birth is always welcomed with some kind of celebration
to mark the joyous occasion of having a new member in the
family. When one reaches the age of puberty, that is to say,
upon reaching a certain age called the age of majority, one is
welcomed into the world of ‘adulthood’. Marriage is surely
the most joyous occasion of all as it is the turning point in
one’s life where one will now have one’s own family and be a

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father or mother after this. And finally, when it is time to

retire from life which is the most sombre moment of life,
one is given a proper farewell in one’s next journey in life.
For a Muslim, the moment a new life enters this world
as a cute little baby, he or she is ushered into this world with
the azan that is said into the right ear, and the iqamah into
the left ear.
Then a tiny bit of the date or kurma or anything sweet
for that matter that the baby can swallow is fed into the
mouth of the little one. This is called tahnik.
On the seventh day, the aqiqah is held which is a small
feast to introduce the baby to families and friends where an
animal, usually a lamb, is sacrificed. Shaving the hair of the
baby is also done. In conjunction with the occasion, the
baby is given his or her name on this day.
When the child reaches puberty, the child will receive
circumcision, namely, the removal of the flesh around the
genital organ. This is called khitan. This occasion marks the
child’s entrance into adulthood which also means that the
child would be obligated to observe all the requirements of
religion, such as doing the prayer and fasting in the month
of Ramadan. As long as the child has not reached the age of
puberty, all religious obligations are merely encouraged but
not compulsory.
Marriage is an important moment in one’s life and
Islam encourages marriage in order that one’s life would be
complete with it. While marriage today has been seen as less
and less meaningful especially by the young people who
think it is only to legalize sexual intercourse and nothing

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more, marriage in fact contributes to the biological and

medical well-being of a person, not to mention its
implications upon human dignity especially women and
children, and also its implications upon wealth distribution.
Therefore Islam sees marriage as a sacred institution that
must be preserved at all cost as it has immense implications
upon dignity, life, health, society, and property. Besides the
nikah or solemnization of marriage, the walimah or
marriage feast is something encouraged to announce the
happy occasion.
Finally, sadness always looms over family and friends
when one passes away. But this is a fact of life that we who
are called human must face the reality of it. Therefore no
matter if one dies unknown to others as to who he or she is,
they will be given a proper burial as well as prayer for a
better life in the hereafter. In Islam, when a person passes
away, everything is cut off from him (her) except three
things that will continue to contribute to his well-being in
his afterlife. These are—his meritorious deeds that others
benefit from, the knowledge which he imparts that helps to
enhance the value of humanity, and the prayer of his
children for his well-being in his afterlife. Death is the last
station of our life in this world but a proper burial and
prayer for our well-being will be a perfect send off for our
next journey to the other world.
Between the rites of passage that stand at different
junction of our life’s journey from cradle until grave, there
are things we do to make life a worthy venture to our
meaning as a human being, from getting up to taking
shower to having meals to doing things like going to work

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or going to school or going to the gym or gardening. These

things are what we do in our everyday living and we do
them as our daily routine.
Inasmuch as we need to know the rites of passage that
introduce us from one phase of life to another, we also need
to know the other ‘rites’ of life that make these rites of
passage meaningful. Marriage introduces family life and
what is the point of going through the rite of marriage but
not knowing what the marriage is going to do to one’s
family life after that? What is the point of a marriage when
one doesn’t know what it means to be a wife or a husband,
or a mother or father for that matter? Thus, we need to
know the necessary things of everyday living and how to go
about with them so that the rites of passage will be
meaningful in their message to us about how life is to be led
that will deliver us to our purpose of existence, and that is to
become a human being in the noblest of meaning through
the practice of Islam in everyday living



We humans have a timespan to our life but ironically some

of us take life for granted as if we are going to live on and
on, forever and ever! And why shouldn’t we? Life, after all, is
something we enjoy having!
But life is such that we cannot, for instance, be healthy
all the time. There are times when we fall sick and the food
we have been enjoying now seems tasteless to eat. And life is
such that we may find that we cannot be wealthy all the time
and therefore our enjoyment becomes limited or even

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curbed. And, life is such that when we become too

preoccupied with making a living, enjoyment is no longer a
priority but the quest to survive is.
Still, for many of us, life is something we enjoy having.
Question is, how should we enjoy life and, what is the
enjoyment for?
Prophet Muḥammad has reminded us of five things
that we should take heed of. He said:
Grab these five before the coming of these other five:
1. Your life before your death
2. Your health before your ailment
3. Your leisure before your preoccupation
4. Your youth before your aging
5. Your sufficiency before your poverty
On the day when we return to God, we will be asked
about how we spend our life on earth. The Prophet said,
‘The son of Adam will not pass away from Allah
until he is asked about five things: How he lived his
life, how he utilized his youth, with what means did
he earn his wealth, how did he spend his wealth,
and what did he do with his knowledge.’
Therefore, from the time we breathe our first breath of
life until the time we breathe our last breath of life, we need
to make sure that every moment of our life is a moment
filled with thoughts and activities that would ensure that we
are always doing right, doing good, and doing beautiful, and

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not only that, we also make sure that we desire to do better

in what is already right, be better in what is already good,
and transform into a better person with a better personality,
attitude, and behaviour.
For that, we must begin by practising the necessary
things for everyday living because it is in these everyday
things that we grasp the very message of what it is to be
right, good, wise, and beautiful.



Sleeping and waking are two activities we do from the time

we live till the time we die. For many of us, we take for
granted that sleep is the time we allow our body to rest so
that we will wake up feeling fully fresh, energetic, and raring
to attend to our daily chores. But let us ask ourselves, what if
I don’t wake up any more?
Such a thought would send the chill running down our
spine for death is a dreadful word that we try to avoid
because it would mean the end to our enjoyment of things.
For some of us, it is the end of our passions and ambitions
as there are so many things to achieve while we are still
young and full of dreams. And, for some of us, death means
we are not sure where we will be heading next in our next
phase of life. Will it be sweet heaven that is filled with
plentiful delights or will it be hell that presents us with all
kinds of dreaded sights?
Needless to say, every moment of life is a possible
moment of death for we do not know when death knocks on
our door and if it does, whether we are prepared for it?

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Imagine that we are told that someone among our

beloved ones has met a horrible accident and died. How do
we react to the news? Imagine that we are told that someone
we know passed away suddenly at a young age from a heart
attack? How do we react to the incident? And, how do we
pass by the days if we were to spend our last days of our old
age in the hospital bed, waiting for the angel of death to take
away our last breath?
So, what do we do? Leave the life of enjoyment and turn
to a life of solitude and meditate all day long with the hope
that we will get to meet our Lord sooner than expected and
lead a better life in the other side of the world?
Sleeping and waking are two enjoyments that give
freshness to our body which in turn will bring pleasure to
our physical comfort which in turn will energize our spirit
to sprint us into life once again so that we will able to
continue doing the things we pursue, fulfill whatever we
need to fulfill, or start the day with a new resolution!
But every time when we wake up, what do we do next?
A Muslim is one who has God in his heart, in his mind, in
his resolution, and his sleeping and waking.
He knows that it is Allah that he derives the pleasure of
sleeping and it is Allah that he gets to wake up and gets to
enjoy life, once more!
Therefore, the first thing he does the moment he wakes
up is to give thanks to Allah for the pleasure he gets from
sleeping and the joy he gets from waking. A simple word of
thanks would be Alhamdulillah or As-shukr lillah. A longer
one would be Alhamdulillah allazi ahyaa-naa ba’da maa

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amaata-naa wa ilaihi an-nushur, meaning ‘Praise be to

Allah who brought me into life again after having put me
into lifelessness and to Him is the return.’ Or one could say
Alhamdulillah allazi ‘aafani fi jasadi, wa radda ‘alaiyya ruhi,
wa azina li bi-zikri-hi, meaning ‘Praise be to Allah who gave
strength to my body, and who returned my soul to me, and
who permitted me to remember Him.’



The words one says in remembrance of Allah, in giving

thanks to Allah, and in asking favours from Allah are called
du’a.
The Prophet has said that du’a is the kernel or essence
of worship—al-du’a mukkhul ‘ibadah. Thus, du’a is that
through which we are connected to Allah every moment of
our life, permits us to feel His presence every instance of our
life, and puts us into remembering Him every second of our
life so that remembrance of Him would become the guiding
light of our thought, action, and expression.
In surah al-Baqarah verse 152 Allah tells us, ‘Remember
Me, I shall remember you. Be grateful to Me and do not turn
your back on Me.’
Such is the importance of du’a that we say it no matter
where and no matter when, from the time we go to bed to
the time we get up from bed, when we take our shower or
when we ease our bowel, when we put on our clothes or
when we take our meals, when we go to school or when
leave for work, and when we begin our daily chores or when
we finish the chores for the day.

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We make du’a for ourselves and for what we do, but we

also make du’a for others who are part of our life too. The
importance of du’a cannot be emphasized any further than
by the words of the Prophet who says that upon the death of
the son of Adam, namely, we humans, everything will be cut
off from him except three things that will continue to pour
rewards for him even after his death. These are the deeds
that he has benefited others, the knowledge that others
benefited from him, and the du’a of a child for his parents.
Thus, let us make sure that we do du’a before we go to
bed and when we get up from bed, and also before we start
our chore and after we finish our chore. And before we go to
bed and close our eyes, let us recite this du’a namely
Bismillah amuutu wa ahyaa, meaning ‘By Allah, in Him that
I die and I live,’ or alternately it can also mean ‘By Allah, in
Him that I lapse into sleep and lifelessness and in Him that I
am able to wake up and move back into life.’
As such, we should begin, no matter what it is, with
Bismillah, and end with Alhamdulillah.



For some of us, after waking up and getting up from bed, the
first thing we do is to proceed straight to the bathroom to
clean ourselves and get ready for the activities of the day.
Being clean is something that all of us who are called
humans desire. For a Muslim, being clean is not only being
clean in the physical sense of it, namely, that we purge the
not-too-nice odour from our body or have our mouth
rinsed so that no bad breath is coming out or have our teeth

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brushed so that they will look sparkling bright. Being clean,

for a Muslim, also means to be clean in the ritual sense of it.
For instance, taking a shower is something that all of us do.
But, for a Muslim, there is also what is called compulsory
bath and supererogatory bath.
Compulsory bath is where the bath must be taken or
otherwise one cannot perform the solat or prayer. This bath
is taken when one has had sexual intercourse, for instance,
and whether semen has been discharged or not (married
couple, please take note!). Other than sexual intercourse,
when semen discharges, whether by itself (such as in a
dream) or through forced discharge of it, one still has to do
the compulsory bath. For women, the compulsory bath is
done when the menstruation period ends or when one has
given birth.
In performing the compulsory bath, three things must
be observed. First, one needs to clean the body from any
stains and this usually applies to those who had sexual
intercourse. Second, when this is done, one proceeds to do
the compulsory bath. In doing the compulsory bath, as the
water touches the body, usually the head as the starting
point, one must make the intention that the bath taken is the
compulsory bath. The intention is done in the heart and one
need not have to say it with the mouth. Third, the water
must touch all parts of the body, including the inside of the
ear, the armpit, the nostril, and the area around the anus.
In the course of the bath, one cannot apply soap to the
body to clean it of any stain or dirt. This has to be done
before the compulsory bath is taken. Only water is applied
to the body during the compulsory bath.
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The supererogatory bath, on the other hand, is a bath

taken in conjunction with a religious moment or occasion,
such as the bath one takes before going for the Friday prayer
or the Eid prayer. One only has to make the intention that
the bath is in conjunction with the moment or occasion and
there is no need to follow the rules as in the compulsory
bath.
To be clean therefore, means three things. First, it is to
be physically clean, namely, to be clean from stain or dirt,
for instance. Second, it is to be ritualistically clean so that
one can go on to perform one’s duties of worship. Third, it
is to be spiritually clean so that one can remain pure in one’s
faith in God, pure in one’s thought of and about God, and
pure in one’s duty to God.



From the du’a one makes the moment one wakes up from
sleep, the connection with God from the du’a is extended to
the prayer (called solat).
Prayer or solat is the mother of activities. The first thing
a Muslim does the moment he wakes up in the morning (in
fact, a Muslim wakes up before dawn) is to do the prayer
(after washing and cleaning oneself of course!) and the last
thing he does before he goes to bed is also the prayer (this is
especially the case with traditional societies).
That is to say, upon waking up, one says one’s thanks to
Allah, goes and cleans himself, makes the wudu or ablution,
and does the solat.
Muslims do the solat five times a day (these are the

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obligatory prayers), once before the sun rises (fajr), once

during the afternoon (zuhr), once during late afternoon
(asr), once during sundown (maghrib) and once after
sundown or late evening (isya’).
As such, the first activity of the day is the prayer and the
last activity of the day is also the prayer where between them
are the activities we do for our everyday living, be it work,
study, leisure, sport, or whatever.
Prayer is therefore the chief of activities through which
a person’s relationship with God is extended and
reverberated into these other activities so that together they
constitute a union of prayer called worship or ibadah.
But how is work itself worship? How is learning itself
worship? How is leisure worship? How is sport itself
worship? How are the everyday things of everyday living
worship?
The activities of everyday living are worship because the
message and meaning of the prayer are carried into these
activities and therefore caused them to become prayer
extended and as such these activities are considered worship
inasmuch as the prayer is.
Cooking, for instance, is considered by many as an
activity of everyday living that surely cannot be called
worship. For a Muslim however, cooking has everything to
do with worship because in cooking, a person acknowledges
that God is the source of the meat and vegetables and all the
ingredients that go into the cooking, that the ingredients are
those that are halal or permissible, that the food cooked
should be of the best quality in terms of nutrition and taste,

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that cooking is to bring out the most creative ideas from our
mind about the kind of food we cook so that the food looks
delightful with all kinds of varieties and flavours, that eating
is to enable us to live but also to make us healthy and also to
become a wholesome human being and therefore we
become selective with the what we take into our body that
will not bring about undesirable consequences to our health,
and the energy derived from eating will be channelled and
used for beneficial purposes in the activities we are doing.
Worship is to acknowledge God’s presence and
relevance in our life and cooking, in this regard, is to see to
it that God’s presence and relevance in our life is carried out
with regard to the food we consume so that good things will
happen to our health and with a healthy body, we will be
able to do the many things we want to do as
accomplishment of life’s fulfillments that will bring about a
personality of khalifah which is the very purpose of our
creation by God.
Needless to say, a Muslim is continuously ‘worshipping’
every moment of his everyday living and in every activity he
is doing and in every space and place he finds himself in. Put
simply, a Muslim is always in a state of worship because the
message and meaning of the prayer are carried into the
things of his everyday living no matter when, no matter
where, and no matter with regard to what.



Prayer is done round the clock and can be done anywhere

but of all the places to do the prayer, the masjid or mosque is

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the most significant place to do it because it is the ‘house of

God.’
Prayer is worship and the mosque is a place of worship.
If prayer is worship and cooking as well as all the other
activities of everyday living are worship, it follows that the
places where we do our activities can be considered as places
of worship.
A home is a place of worship and so is the school or the
hospital or the bank or the restaurant.
A place of worship is a sanctuary to nurture good souls
who would do good deeds and the home in this regard is the
sanctuary to produce praiseworthy human beings by
nurturing children to become useful and good human
beings.
A school as a place of worship should not be thought of
only as the religious or missionary schools or the theological
seminaries where religious learning means studying about
God that has little or nothing to do with science, maths,
geography, music, art, history, and all the subjects termed as
worldly and secular subjects.
For Muslims, these worldly or secular subjects are in
fact religious subjects because if learning about religion is
about truth, goodness, and usefulness, then these worldly
and secular subjects are also aimed at these values and can
be considered subjects that put faith into practice in
concrete environments to be lived and experienced in flesh
and blood.
Therefore, when a Muslim goes to school, he or she is
going to a place where religion is carried out and as such the

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school is a place of worship inasmuch as the mosque is.

Today all over the world and even in Muslim lands,
Western fast-food outlets are a common sight, even in
Makkah or Mecca which is the holiest site of Islam. One
notices how Muslims who go for their pilgrimage to
Makkah enjoy their meals at KFC for instance.
What has KFC to do with Muslim food as it is a
Western meal that has little to do with Muslim culture?
Well, the point is not whether it is a Western meal sold
in a Western restaurant with a Western name. Rather, it is
whether the food is halal, that is to say, the food and also the
drinks must conform to the Islamic guidelines for dietary
preparation and consumption.
Therefore, KFC can be considered a place where
worship is carried out (well, it would send the wrong
message to call it a place of worship!) if the restaurant serves
halal meals as Muslims would have no problem savouring
the food.
When one sees how the Muslim pilgrims in their white
robes performing their worship at the Grand Mosque of
Makkah called Masjid al-Haram and thereafter going for
their meals at KFC also donning their white robes, one
could picture the relationship between the two places where
worship is carried out.
Prayer, in this regard, is like the spokes of a wheel that
connect the axis to the rim so that the wheel could turn and
allow the vehicle to move. The axis of human existence is
none other than God that stands at the centre of our life and
living and prayer is the spokes that connect God to our

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activities which are the rim.

When prayer connects God to our activities, what we
have is worship carried out in every aspect of our living, that
is to say, a faith that, through prayer, moves thought, feeling,
and activity that are expressed and regulated in proper
settings in time and place so that we will have an organized
life lived in a purposeful manner.
Prayer therefore serves as a very important station in
the Muslim life not only because it is something that must
be done as testimony to God’s greatness and glory but also
because it is a point of contact that gathers time, place, and
activity into a unity of worship through which the Muslim
sees his existence as one of togetherness with others and
from which he will know how to relate and behave towards
them, that is to say, know how to behave towards moments,
places, activities and other living beings both human and
non-human in a respectful and reverent manner and as
such, displays his personality as khalifah.



Prayer, for a Muslim, is what makes life meaningful and

purposeful. Prayer is the focal point that becomes the lens
through which he sees the totality of life’s meaning, purpose,
and fulfillment, from which he derives his sense of living,
and towards which he crafts his personality as a human
being.
Prayer puts one in a position where he could now see
more clearly the picture of himself as a human being. He
stands before the One who is the source of his existence, the

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giver of his life, and the sustainer of his well-being.

He senses a presence through which he realizes the
greatness of this presence and at the same time, the tiny-ness
of his existence, from which he realizes this source and
presence as his guidance, sustenance, and dependence for
his living, meaning, and being human.
He realizes, for instance, that the water he drinks is a
story to think and the story to think is that the water comes
from this source and presence responsible for his life and
well-being and as such he should first of all recognize that
the water he drinks comes from this source and presence,
which would then lead him to be thankful to this source and
presence for the water he drinks without which life could be
unbearable for him, which would then lead him to be
thoughtful of the water he drinks that he should only make
as well as take drinks that are beneficial to his body, life, and
well-being and not those that will cause harm to him (such
as the intoxicant drinks that come in names like wine, beer,
and stout), which will then lead him to be mindful over the
water he drinks that he should be careful with how he uses
water so that only good comes out from its uses and this
includes his attitude towards water such as, for instance, he
should not be wasteful nor cause the water to be polluted
that will harm those who consume it.
Needless to say, in prayer and through prayer, one
fulfills not only his spiritual need but also his biological,
moral, intellectual, and aesthetical needs at the same time.
Prayer teaches the person who prays that in praying and
through praying, he should become a person who is
thankful, thoughtful, mindful, and careful with what he does
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in his life and as such, prayer is that through which all our
other needs in life are fulfilled but fulfilled in ways that will
bring goodness, rightness, and healthiness to our soul, heart,
mind, and body which in turn will bring about a personality
that is beaming with good behaviour, right attitude, and a
healthy lifestyle.
Therefore, for five times a day everyday, as a person
performs his prayer, he gets to appraise himself about how
far he has made good his human living, meaning, and
becoming because prayer provides him that avenue to
connect with the source of his existence which is none other
than the Almighty and through whom he gets to measure
his thought and action in relation to all that he comes into
contact with, humans in particular but also the birds and
beasts as well as the grasses and trees and also the skies and
seas.
Because prayer is everything to living, meaning, and
being human, it is no wonder that the Prophet would
underscore its significance in our existence by saying,
‘Prayer is the pillar of religion. Whoever establishes prayer
establishes religion. Whoever makes petty of prayer destroys
religion.’
And, most important of all, prayer will be the first thing
to be inquired of a person in his meeting with his Lord when
he dies, and if his prayer is done well and good, then his
other deeds would also show the same outcome,
characteristic, and quality.
As such, it is pertinent that we give utmost priority to
prayer because if one who does it knows its wisdom and

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feels its effect, he could see the outcome and consequence of

prayer in his personality and conduct. But if one does the
prayer only because it is a command from God or if he does
it to satisfy the requirement of religion or because he does
not want to end up in hell, then he may not see how prayer
makes all the sense to his human living, meaning, and
becoming, and how prayer brings about changes to his life
that will make him into a personality of a fine quality that
even the angels will envy.



When one is praying, he is required to read Al-Fatihah,

namely, the opening chapter of the Quran. In reading the
Fatihah, he does three things. First, he acknowledges Allah
as God and Lord, or Ilah and Rabb. It is not enough to
acknowledge the God-ship of Allah without also
acknowledging His Lord-ship. It is not enough to
acknowledge that Allah is He that we worship but
nevertheless He has no place with regard to how we go
about with our life. The proper way to acknowledge Allah is
to acknowledge that as God, He is also Lord who has
everything to do with how we go about with constructing
our personality as well as organizing our life’s activities and
also with regard to how we manifest our attitude and
behaviour.
Second, and following from the proper recognition of
Allah as God and Lord, we put this proper recognition from
words of recognition into acts of recognition, and the most
important of these acts is the solat or prayer. From prayer,
this recognition is extended into all our daily activities, from
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meals to learning to working to playing and to sleeping and

waking, such that drinking water is seen as an act of prayer
because in drinking water, we acknowledge Allah as the
source of the water and in drinking water, we make sure that
we drink water that only brings well-being to our health
which is how Allah wants us to drink it.
Third, besides being the focal point of the recognition
of His oneness as well as the focal point of worship, Allah is
also the focal point of seeking blessing and bliss. This is the
du’a.
A Muslim is one who has Allah in his heart, his mind,
and his resolve. He begins his day and his activity with
Bismillah and ends the day and his activity with
Alhamdulillah. He seeks guidance from Allah in whatever he
does and thanks Allah for whatever outcome he gets. After
all, Allah is the focal point of his solace and it is in Allah that
he rests his faith for a better today, tomorrow, and every
other day.
As such, prayer is not only one act that is done because
it serves one single purpose but it is an act that becomes the
umbrella through which all other acts derive their meanings
and purposes about how we can become a human being in
the noblest of meaning, construct a life that is a many-
splendoured thing, and make earth a place we could call
paradise for living.



Food, clothing, and shelter are among the necessary things

of everyday living but so are schools, hospitals and

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workplaces, and so are kinship, friendship and human

relationship, as well as prayer, meditation, and values.
For a Muslim, the necessary things of everyday living
range from the biological to the physical to the intellectual
to the emotional to the moral to the aesthetical to the social
to the ecological to the spiritual, all at once.
The absence of one will not contribute to the overall
well-being of a person’s identity as a human being and for
that, he has to make sure that in whatever he is doing, he
seeks to fulfill all his aspects of well-being from the
biological to the spiritual through a centre in God who
provides the guidelines for living from which he
understands that God’s presence in his life is not a
hindrance to his wishes and ambitions but it is to facilitate
his quest to become ‘somebody’ but one who knows what it
is to be a human being in the truest of meaning.
Food and water are intimately tied to life and death.
Without one or the other, we might as well forget about
living and all the dreams of a pleasurable life in a Garden of
Eden.
But for those of us who are fortunate to have food and
water on the table every morning we open our eyes, we can
dream and wish for all kinds of fanciful meals that come
with all kinds of fanciful tastes and flavours for us to savour
and enjoy.
Whether we have only a morsel of bread to feed our
mouth or a plate full of tempting dishes to fill the whole
belly, or only a few drips of water to wet the mouth or a glass
of delightful juice to rumble through the belly, we must

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always remember that the food and drinks we take must not
be ones that are toxic and harmful to our body and health.
For this, we can only take what is vividly laid down by
Islamic dietary laws as permissible to consume. Alcoholic
drinks that come in names like beer, stout and wine, and
whose contents have the tendency to cause damage to the
body, mind, and speech, are to be shunned altogether.
Not only that, all the activities of producing them are
forbidden and this includes growing anything, including
grapes, if they are meant for producing alcoholic drinks.
Needless to say, for a Muslim, not only drinking
alcoholic drinks is forbidden, producing and selling them
are also forbidden even if they are meant for the
consumption of non-Muslims. This follows from the
principle that whatever is harmful to one self is also
considered harmful to others and therefore for a Muslim, to
care for the well-being of one’s own self must also include
the care for the well-being of others.
For a Muslim, purity is the basis of everyday living and
togetherness is what enables purity of living to be realized
and practised as a collective or group way of living that will
make life meaningful and delightful.
As such, when we take our meals, we must first and
foremost make sure that whatever we consume takes purity
as the basis of living and thereafter try as much as possible
enjoy our meals together with our loved ones, be they family
members or friends for that matter.
We may still enjoy our meals if we take them alone but
it won’t be the same if we have our loved ones having meals

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together with us as their presence not only add laughter and

joy to our enjoyment of the meals but their presence causes
blessedness from heaven to descend on the food and drinks
we take and thereafter extends into our body and health and
from which pleasant and praiseworthy effects will flow from
our psychology into our personality and we can then see
how the food and water we consume that come with the
heavenly bless will bring about the kind of humanity in our
thought, feeling, and activity and brings us humans closer to
one another.
Meals are not only about filling the belly so that we have
enough energy to do our daily chores and activities but
more importantly it is to make sure we can come good in
our attitude and behaviour and personality with it and most
importantly it is to bring human beings into a togetherness
of existence that will enable us to appreciate the spirit of
togetherness in our human relationship. Try compare us
having meals at some nice outlets all to ourselves and us
spending meals on those who can only imagine how they
too could be able to enjoy their meals at these nice outlets.
Which would bring more delight?
Meals are one of life’s delights. A person who knows
how to enjoy life is a person who knows how to enjoy his
food. A person whose mind is filled with problems cannot
enjoy his food even though he may be dining at the best or
the most luxurious restaurant.
Meals mean different things to different people. Some
of us eat when we are hungry. Some eat because the food is
tasty. Some have meals because we are together with our
family. Sometimes it’s a festive thing, such as celebrating a
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religious or traditional occasion. And, for some, it’s a get-

together gathering of friends and colleagues.
Today, many of us take three meals a day—breakfast,
lunch, and dinner. And, of course, there are the coffee break,
afternoon tea, and evening supper.
Meals are important not only for our bodily need. They
are important because they bring the family together at the
dining table and bond the family as meals of unity. That is
why, even if we are busy, such as having to go to work early
or having household chores to complete, when it comes to
meals, we must try to spend time as a family.
Muslims, before taking their meals, would make the
du’a and say Bismillah, meaning ‘In the name of Allah’, or
Allahumma baarik lanaa fiimaa razaqtanaa wa qinaa azab
an-nar, meaning ‘O Allah, bless the sustenance you gave us
and keep us away from the displeasures of the hereafter’s
consequence.’ When a Muslim recites this du’a, he
remembers God as the source of his sustenance, and
therefore, remembers that the food and drink he takes
should be such that they bring about praiseworthy
consequences to his body, health, and spirit.
Thus, whether it is coffee or sardine sandwich, we must
always bear in mind that the food and drink that we take
come from God, and to remember God for the food we take
is to remember that meals are taken not only because we are
hungry, but also because meals cause cheers to our health
and body, bring together a family, and influence the way we
behave daily.
For people like us who live in a world where our

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everyday life is one of making a living, eating out is an

everyday thing. Fast-food restaurants are a familiar sight.
We have meals at KFC, McDonald’s, Burger King, Dunkin
Donut, Subway, and many other places, mostly Western-
style restaurants.
Muslims in Malaysia have no hesitation stepping into
KFC or McDonald’s anywhere in the country. One obvious
factor that removes the hesitance of the Muslims to step into
these places is the status of the food, which is halal. Halal
refers to food that meets the requirements of the religion,
from the sources of the food, such as the animals to be
consumed of their meat, to the way these animals are
slaughtered. Halal applies equally to drinks. Intoxicants
such as beer and wine are not halal and must not be
consumed.
Besides the halal status of the food, surely there must be
something more that makes Muslims to want to come to
these fast-food restaurants again and again. The answer is
obvious. It is the taste of the food. The taste of the food has
everything to do with its secret recipe, as well as its quality
control. Also, the food is tailored to meet local flavours, such
as having spicy chickens and using local herbs. Chickens
slaughtered and prepared according to the proper rites are
thus consumable, but what makes a chicken more desirable
to be eaten is the tenderness and sweetness of its meat, so
that quality enhancement of the food also means quality
enhancement of the religious status of the food.
Needless to say, besides being halal, the food and drink
must be toyyib or good so that the food and drink are not
only consumable but consumable in such a way that they
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leave positive and praiseworthy consequences upon our

health as well as our etiquette, attitude, behaviour and
personality.
And, after one has concluded one’s meal, one should
not forget to thank Allah for the rizq or gift of the food
and drink. For this, one should say Alhamdulillah allazi
at’amaanaa wa saqaanaa wa ja’alanaa min al-muslimin,
meaning ‘Praise be to Allah who gave us food and drink and
who made us into Muslims.’



Adorning beautiful clothes is something of our human

nature. We not only like to look clean and neat but also
pleasant and beautiful. Clothes, no doubt, play a significant
part in enhancing our appearance.
When a person is putting on his or her clothes, he or
she should say Allahumma ka-maa hassanta khalqi fa hassin
khuluqi, meaning ‘O Allah, inasmuch as you make my
outward appearance pleasant, make too my inner
appearance beautiful.’
We humans are easily attracted to physical beauty,
namely, the beauty of the face, body, and skin, and with the
right clothes, we can look stunning and attract prince
charming or sleeping beauty. In the same way, we are
quickly attracted to persons who look enchanting in
beautiful clothes, and, for some of us, it turns eyes into love
at first sight.
Young people especially are particular or even obsessed
with how they look and are willing to spend hours and also

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hefty sums of money on clothes so that they will become

everyone’s sweet praises.
But we must not forget that we will grow old and to
look old is something that many of us dread. Old is the time
when wrinkles start to appear on our faces. But with the
right clothes, our look can defy our age.
Clothes no doubt enhance our physical beauty but the
beauty must not stop at the look of our physical stature and
appearance. It must go one step further. It must enhance our
personality, attitude, and behaviour.
Our outward beauty must reflect our inner beauty. If
not, what quickly becomes an instant attraction would end
up making people distancing themselves from us. Imagine
ourselves having people gazing at us but when we open our
mouth, foul words come out from it, and guess what the
people around us would do?
Clothes therefore do not only function to beautify what
is outward of us but beautify also what is inside of us. As we
adorn clothes to look pleasant outwardly, we must at the
same time tell ourselves that the clothes must bring out the
best and finest qualities of our humanity from the inside of
us.
That is why the du’a that is mentioned above seeking
for Allah’s guidance to help us balance the outward and
inward beauty is necessary because we can be easily swayed
by our outward beauty over our inner beauty that, in the
end, we ended up looking arrogant and pompous rather
than humble and polite.
As such, the du’a is important because the moment we

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put on our clothes, we immediately connect with Allah in

such a way that when we look beautiful we also think of
Allah who makes us beautiful and therefore we try to let our
inner beauty shines forth in our outward beauty and
manifests in our etiquette, attitude, character, action,
behaviour, and personality.
The most important aspect that connects our outward
and inward beauty is shame. Shame is when we feel lowly of
ourselves due to how we portray ourselves or how we do
things such that others not only feel lowly of us but feel
lowly of their own selves too.
When little children are noisy in front of their mother
who is talking to her friends, for instance, not only are they
going feel ashamed that they are being rude in front of
others, but their mother too would feel ashamed that her
children are not behaving properly in front of others.
A father who steals would be ashamed if his children
come to know that he is a thief and the children too would
feel ashamed that their father is a thief. Both father and
children would feel lowly of themselves, not only the father.
In many societies of the past, the body is a very
important aspect of humanity such that they pay great
attention to how they dress and cover up the body.
Men and women usually cover up from neck to ankle
especially when they are outside the home, and they would
put on something on their head as a mark of chastity. Islam
is no different. Both Muslim men and women are required
to cover the aurah, namely, the region of shame, and the
region is from the neck to below the knee for the men, and

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right up to the ankle for the women.

In some religious traditions, the hair, especially for
women who join the religious orders, is something that
must be concealed as it is one of those outward aspects of
beauty that easily attracts attention. Catholic nuns would
put on the veil which covers the hair. Buddhist nuns would
shave the hair.
Islam does not have religious orders like Catholicism
and Buddhism. Covering the hair, for Muslim women, is
applicable to all when they have reached the age of puberty
and enter adulthood. On the other hand, they are not
required to shave the hair. Because the hair adds to the
beauty of a woman, the beauty has to be given proper care
so that the woman will not become victim of unscrupulous
persons who see her beauty as something to be exploited.
The hijab, namely, covering of the aurah, is dresses
worn in such a way that they protect the femininity of
women. As such, in dressing, women must not let their vital
statistics or those parts of the body that protrude from the
body to become glaring to the eyes, such as the breasts and
the buttocks.
Covering the aurah is only the beginning of a journey
of seeing to it that the beauty of the dress shall lead to the
beauty of the personality. Covering the aurah does not mean
that one is instantly a changed personality who has become
a saintly person and who will no longer commit any wrong
or sin. Rather, covering the aurah keeps one in vigilance of
one’s commitment to the meaning and purpose of dressing
so that one would strive continuously to make sure that as

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one seeks to enhance one’s outward beauty, one’s inner

beauty would also be enhanced with it.
In modern times like ours where men and women
move freely and mix freely with one another, women are
easily exposed to invasion of their bodily look and in
extreme situations, suffer from sexual harassments and
infringements, whether verbally or by way of action. The
hijab, in this regard, can play a significant role to prevent
these undesirable incidents through defining how
relationships between the opposite sexes should be carried
out.
The hijab reminds the person who adorns it that her
femininity is a prized asset of her humanity and as such she
should safeguard her femininity and not let herself be seen
as an easy prey that could be courted by any man anywhere
and anytime. One who knows the value of hijab would feel
shameful, hurt and even senses the loss of her pride and
honour if she does things that tarnishes her image. But it is
not she alone who feels the disgrace. Her parents, siblings,
and even friends and neighbours too may feel let down by a
conduct not expected from her.
The message that the hijab carries is not only for the
person adorning it but it is also for others, whether women
of other faiths or men, Muslim or not. And the message is
that the hijab is meant to protect the sanctity of womanhood
and as the person adorning it strives to make womanhood
shines in her, others too must respect her womanhood by
not being disrespectful to her whether by word or by action
or through interaction.

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The hijab thus carries a dual effect, for the person

adorning it and for others who come into contact with her.
The hijab is not meant to restrict the movement and
freedom of the person adorning it such that the person is
not able to participate in any activities. The hijab is not
intended to create a sense of fear and helplessness in a
person. Rather, it is to create a sense of security and
dynamism that with the hijab, she could move around as
freely as she could and do the things she wants to do as
much as she could without having to be afraid that she
would be taken advantage of. Needless to say, the hijab, and
covering the aurah for that matter, aspire to make a person
thrives in his or her surrounding by instilling positive and
praiseworthy values and attitude that with them, he or she
could go on living a life that not only is beaming with
delight outwardly and physically but also shining with
dignity inwardly and spiritedly.



Everyday, for many of us, after waking up in the morning

(and doing the solat or prayer for the Muslims), we dress up
immediately, take a quick sip of a hot cup of coffee or tea,
have two or three pieces of bread spread with tuna or butter,
and off to work we go. Work is therefore a word that all of
us who live the modern life are familiar with. Ask anyone,
and one quick answer is that it has everything to do with
making money, about having to make ends meet, about
making a living.
But what exactly is work? The answer may vary from

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one person to another. Put simply, work is anything that we

do. But this answer is too broad and too general.
Work may mean a career. We tend to think of the
rituals of modern life, from childhood to adulthood, getting
up from bed very early in the morning, going to school,
going to tuitions after school, doing homework at night, and
burning midnight candles when exams are near, hoping to
get into a good college or university, doing a program of
study of our choice, getting a promising job that offers great
income, and, spending the money on a life of comfort. For
many young people of today, this is what work means. Work
is material satisfaction of life.
Work can also mean the menial jobs done by the blue-
collar workers, people who work less with their brain and
more with their brawn—factory workers, or janitors, or
mechanics, for instance—who follow instructions more than
giving them. In this sense, work is labour, the use of the
hands and legs.
Mothers who stay at home and take care of their little
ones are said to be not working. They are called housewives.
Are they not working? They wake up early in the morning,
prepare breakfast for their children, dress them for school,
wash the clothes and dishes, clean the floor, cook for the
family, go through the school work with their children,
prepare the bed, make sure the family is in order and the
children all behave well. Mothers are not getting a cent for
what they do. But are they not working?
Can thinking be work? What about those town planners
who busy themselves day in and day out working to figure

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out how best to make the towns into the best places to live?
Work thus is doing, but also thinking. It is using the
body, the hands and legs, but it is also using the mind. It is
done by everybody, by little children as well as elderly
people. Even beggars are said to be doing work. And, not to
leave out the priests and monks who pray, for prayer too is
work.
Why do we work? What do we achieve with work and
what do we gain by working?
For many living in today’s society, work is survival of
livelihood. Debts are more than earnings, as prices of things
have soared beyond the skies. Basic necessities of life have
become more and more difficult to obtain unless one has the
money to afford them. Food has become rather expensive,
and if one is someone who has the habit of eating out, this
could be a problem. Education has also become expensive
because education is no longer about being a good human
being, but about how much money one can make. Health is
also another area of concern as hospital bills are
skyrocketing and if one does not have insurance, how could
one pay for these bills? In today’s world that is characterized
by the computer craze, new and more sophisticated
products are churned out every now and then and the young
ones especially, do not want to miss out on these. Where is
the money coming from to afford these gadgets? So parents
have to work, students have to work, and even the children
now have to start looking for jobs during school holidays, or
otherwise one will slip into poverty and cannot even afford
what beggars could. Thus, to work is to be able to eat, sleep,
and find a place for shelter.
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For some, work is self-pride, that something giving us

the drive, enthusiasm, and spirit to show others what we are
made of. Getting straight A’s, or getting four flat on the
CGPA, or getting into Cambridge, Oxford, or Harvard is
self-pride, not only for one, but also for the parents and
family members. It speaks a lot about the workload, focus,
and hard work put into the efforts to achieve such results. It
also speaks a lot about the parents’ role in their children’s
success story. Thus, self-pride is to be able to compete with
others and come out on top of them. For some, self-pride is
to practise a high level of virtue and morality, so that one is
recognized as an upright person in society, and be trusted in
any business dealings. And for some, self-pride is to hold
public office, such as becoming a magistrate, or a policeman,
or a teacher, because public servants put the interest of
others before self, and sacrifice their time and energy for the
well-being of others.
For some, work itself is religion. Hindus, for instance,
see work as the outcome of one’s previous life. It is the
karma of work that determines what one’s next life would be,
for better or for worse. If the good karma overweighs the
bad karma, one who is a bellboy could well be on his way to
become a priest, the highest and most noble human dignity
in the Hindu view of life. For Christians of the Protestant
faith, work is the measurement of whether one is elected
into heaven. Good works do not guarantee salvation as it is
faith alone that guarantees it, but good works are indications
that the faith one professes is an acceptable one, and thereby
salvation is assured.
In the same way, work defines the meaning of a Muslim.

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It is through work that a Muslim is able to see what kind of

person he is, and ultimately, what human identity he is
carrying. In Islam, work is called amal. Amal may refer to
individual acts, or activities, or livelihood.
The Quran mentions amal salih or works that are
righteous, virtuous, good, and praiseworthy, all the time. All
of us humans are required to do not just amal but amal salih.
Why is the emphasis on works that are salih?
In the first place, for a Muslim, work carried out must
be predicated, or based, or grounded in God. God is the
point of reference for work. God is the point of departure
for work. God is the point of return for work. What does
this mean?
When a Muslim works, he is governed by a set of
guidelines about how he fulfills his needs. These guidelines
are collectively known as the shariah and they are intended
to protect, preserve, and promote the well-being of his
humanity so that he will become, as well as function, as a
wise, true, good, virtuous, kind, loving, pleasurable and
beautiful human being—thus echoing what the Prophet said
concerning his mission to mankind that ‘I was sent but to
bring the noble qualities of humanity into fruition.’



The necessary things of everyday living are the needs that we

seek to fulfill without which life falls short of expectations
and meaningfulness. We have basic needs to fulfill, such as
food, clothing, shelter and healthcare. These are biological
needs.

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As human beings, we are not contented with having

only shelter. We want to make the shelter a home that has
nice designs and decorations, and looks colourful too. In
short, as humans, we crave for things pleasant, lovely, and
beautiful. These are aesthetical needs.
We also need warmth, love, and affection. The
fulfillment of needs may be less meaningful if we do not
achieve them together, or even share what we have with
others, for caring is a very precious aspect of humanity. But
above all, we have feelings for one another because ‘I am
what I am because of who we all are.’ These are affective
needs.
We need to feel safe and protected from harm and
danger, to our life, property, and mind. These are safety
needs.
We need values for our life, about what is right and
wrong, good or bad, so that decisions that we make will have
positive consequences as well as avoid putting ourselves and
others in harm’s way. These are axiological needs.
As human beings, we seek not only what is basic and
sufficient, but we aspire to bring the basic to the level of
sophistication and complexity, so that we comprehend and
understand things at the highest and deepest level possible
that would reveal to us their true and real nature. These are
intellectual needs.
We also desire for self-expression or cultural needs,
needs by which we display our preference for how things
look, including about the way we appear as a person.
Being humans, we have ambitions, we desire to be

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motivated, we want to achieve things, and we wish to turn

dreams into realities. We are not contented with only having
to eat, having a place to stay, or having clothes to wear. We
look at the world around us, and we want to transform the
world into much more than what we could imagine. These
needs, the drives to turn something into something more,
are self-esteem needs.
Through the self-esteem needs, we want to end up as
somebody with an identity, to be able to tell others this is
what I am. This is the need for self-realization.
Finally, there are the spiritual needs. For many of us, life
is unfulfilled and incomplete if it is not a blessed life, a life
that gives us not only a sense of satisfaction, but a sense of
serenity and peace. With a life that is blessed, we can go
about fulfilling all our other needs, knowing that we have
been truthful, righteous, virtuous, and conscientious in our
quest to fulfil our needs.
All the needs as mentioned are necessary for us to be an
all-round human being. They are all related to one another
without which our human identity will not take shape fully.
For a Muslim, these needs would have to be
undertaken within the framework of tawhid, shariah, ibadah
and maslaha which will deliver him to become a human
being of the desirable kind, one who is called a Muslim and
who is worthy to find his place on earth as God’s vicegerent
called khalifah.
Work, in the fulfillment of needs, should make us
realize that in fulfilling our needs, there are guidelines to be
observed, objectives to be achieved, and a personality to be

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shaped, such that by the end of the day, our life becomes
satisfied yet meaningful that the work we do delivers us to
the realization of what it is to be human, and, ultimately, the
wisdom of being God’s vicegerent on earth, one who is wise
and truthful, righteous and good, loving and caring, humble
and beautiful.



From birth until death, from the day we open our eyes to the
day we close our eyes, God looms over our life.
Thus, it is only logical that for a Muslim, everyday when
he opens his eyes to usher in a new day of his life, his first
thought is that of God. With God, with Allah, he connects
his past to his present and reflects upon how he can make
today an even better day not only for what he is going to do
but more significantly, for what he is going to be.
With prayer, he extends his connection with God into
the necessary things of everyday living, from meals to work
to leisure to relationships, and makes sure in the fulfillment
of his needs and wants, he will become a better person every
single day, and that can only come if he takes the time to
reflect upon his deeds each time he finishes his prayer, each
time he begins and finishes his food, each time he starts and
ends his work, and every time he goes to bed for one can
never know, we may never open our eyes again.
As such, for a Muslim, his life from birth till death is a
life of worship, from prayer to eating to learning to work to
leisure, and to everything he does for everyday living.

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 6
The Fundamental
Knowledge Of Islam

I t is important to learn the fundamental knowledge of

Islam regarding how one is to practise the religion or
otherwise becoming a Muslim can be meaningless. Learning
aspects of the religion that are necessary for one’s everyday
living is called fardu ‘ain.
(Learning has two aspects—fardu ‘ain and fardu
kifayah. Fardu ‘ain pertains to basic matters regarding a
person’s faith and practice whereas fardu kifayah pertains to
matters that touch on common interest to society such as
agriculture, science and technology, economics, law, and so
on).
In this regard, it is important to familiarize with some
concepts and terms in relation to the practices of Islam as
one is bound to come across many of these concepts and

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terms that are used in their everyday living.

The first thing to know is that Islam is observed
through three branches of the religion, namely, aqidah,
shariah and akhlaq.
Aqidah is that branch of knowledge concerning iman or
faith and this aspect of Islam touches on how we should go
about holding on to what is true and real. Foremost is
tawhid or acknowledging the oneness of God who Muslims
address as Allah. The oneness of Allah encompasses both
His God-ship and Lordship and therefore God should not
only be adored but must also be obeyed in terms of how we
go about with life and living.
The guidelines for living are collectively called shariah.
Shariah covers all aspects of living and it constitutes
relationship with God which is called habl minALlah as well
as relationship with fellow humans and which is called habl
min al-nas. Muslim scholars, in this regard, have divided the
practices of shariah into four spheres, namely, ibadat,
munakahat, muamalat, and jinayat. Ibadat deals with
worship, namely, about how we carry out our commitment
to God, such as solat or prayer, zikr, zakat, haj, qurban, and
the like. Munakahat deals with marriage and matrimonial
matters and how they affect human relationship in terms of
blood relationship or consanguinity which will have
consequences upon such matters like guardianship,
alimony, and inheritance. Muamalat deals with commercial
transactions, regarding such matters like buying and selling,
contracts, insurance, and the like. Jinayat deals with
offences, crimes, and punishment.

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Another term used for these four branches of shariah is

fiqh. Fiqh means ‘to understand’ and to study fiqh is to
understand the rules and regulations regarding the
undertaking of these four branches of shariah in everyday
living. Today, the word fiqh is used in a much wider sense
than its traditional application to the four spheres of
shariah. We find, for instance, the term fiqh al-mar’ah or
fiqh regarding women matters that touches on all aspects of
womanhood, ranging from matters on purity to puberty to
beautifying and to education, work, and family. Another
term we come across today is fiqh awlawiyyat or
understanding priorities, namely, about what should be our
priority in life that would help realize the shariah as a viable
domain of living.
Akhlaq is about how our everyday living is carried out
in the best manner. It is about practising the shariah in the
true sense of the word. Akhlaq is the quality of our
personality, behaviour, attitude, manners, and etiquette. It
tells us how good and how beautiful is our humanity.
For instance, giving charity is a very commendable act.
But if we give because we want to be praised or get
something out of what we are doing, then it is not a sincere
act. We are not doing the thing because it is a noble thing to
do but because we have an ulterior motive in doing it.
Giving charity with a sincere heart will make a person to be
loving, caring, and sharing and brings out in him feelings of
sensitivity and sympathy towards the less fortunate. A
sincere heart and a sincere act of giving make a wonderful
creature out of our humanity. Sincerity or ikhlas is therefore
a necessary aspect of our human identity that will make our

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practice of the shariah one that will bring about lovely

outcomes from what we do. Otherwise the act will remain
something that we do but it does not give out any aroma of
sweet charity. This is what akhlaq is about, namely, making
sure the things we do are done to bring out the best quality
of our humanity into our personality.



A Muslim upon attaining the age of majority or puberty is

required to observe some of the acts that are mandatory or
compulsory. He is, in this regard, called a mukallaf, namely,
one who is required to carry out the injunctions of the
shariah. Prayer, fasting in the month of Ramadan, to
practise halal and toyyib in one’s consumption, and paying
the zakat, are some of the things compulsory to be practised
by a Muslim when he or she has entered the stage of
adulthood.
In fiqh, there are five grades governing human conduct.
These are wajib or fard, sunnah or mandub, haram, makruh,
and mubah.
Wajib or fard refers to acts that are compulsory and
must be carried out without question. Sunnah or mandub
refers to acts that are commendable that add weight to the
virtue of the wajib acts but they are not compulsory. The
five-time daily prayer is wajib. Before and after each of the
five-time daily prayer there is the sunnah prayer called
qabliah and ba’diah prayer respectively. One may not do
these prayers but doing them will increase one’s
commitment to do the wajib prayers consistently because if

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one can give weight to the voluntary prayer, surely he will

give more weight to the compulsory prayer.
Haram refers to acts that are forbidden outright.
Drinking alcoholic and intoxicating drinks is considered
haram even if it is one tiny drop of it. Eating meat whose
animal is not slaughtered according to the prescribed rules is
considered haram. For women, during their period of
menstruation, they are not allowed to do the solat.
Makruh refers to acts that are permissible but not
desirable. Doing the solat towards the end of its period is
makruh. For instance, it is makruh for one to do the zuhr
prayer at the end of its period and bordering the asr prayer
because if can affect the zuhr prayer as the prayer may enter
the asr period during the time the prayer is made.
Some scholars categorize makruh into two types,
namely, makruh tahrim and makruh tanzih. Makruh tahrim
refers to makruh that is already leaning towards haram
whereas makruh tanzih refers to makruh that still remains as
undesirable but not tending to what is forbidden.
Mubah refers to acts that are permissible but not wajib
or sunnah or haram or makruh but these acts can turn into
wajib or sunnah or haram or makruh under certain
circumstances. For instance, drinking water is a mubah act.
But it will be wajib if one is in need of water and if one does
not drink, one may suffer from dehydration or even die.
Drinking water may be sunnah if it is taken sitting down as
it is the practice of the Prophet to sit when drinking.
Drinking water may become haram if the water taken is
confirmed toxic and detrimental to health or if the water

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taken is an alcoholic drink. Drinking water may be makruh

if the water is contaminated but still drinkable and does not
cause health hazard but it will be makruh tahrim if it can be
shown that it can lead to health problems.
Two other terms that are necessary to know are sahih
and batil (or sah and batal in the Malay use of the terms).
Sahih means valid and batil means invalid. To understand
how these terms are used, let’s take prayer to illustrate the
point. Ali performed his prayer but he did not do the wudu
or ablution, namely, the washing of his body with water
which is a condition for doing the solat. Has Ali fulfilled his
obligation with regard to prayer? On the one hand, Ali has
fulfilled his obligation because he did his prayer but on the
other hand, his prayer is not sahih or that it is batil because
he did not do the prerequisite for prayer which is the wudu.
Ali therefore has to re-do his prayer by taking the wudu and
then do his prayer. Now, let’s say there is no water around
and the time of prayer has come. What should Ali do?
Should Ali stop doing his prayer because there is no water to
do his wudu or should he do the prayer with no wudu? Ali
still has to do the prayer but he can replace the wudu with
tayammum, namely, using clean soil to rub certain parts of
the body. His prayer, in this situation is considered valid.
Supposing Ali now lies in bed in the hospital and cannot
move around as he is too weak to do so. Still, he has to do
his prayer in bed even if he cannot do the wudu or
tayammum but he does the prayer within his capacity to do
so such as, for instance, he lies on the bed and says the
prayer in his heart. His prayer, in this instance, is valid.

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

Muslim scholars have formulated general guidelines to aid

the Muslims who may be perplexed about how they go
about with their practice of Islam. These general guidelines
are called qawaid al-fiqh or principles of fiqh practice.
The first principle is that all things are considered
permissible unless there are clear provisions that they are
haram or forbidden. The second principle is that anything
that is haram or forbidden, the things that contribute to the
thing being haram are also forbidden. The third principle is
that hardship begets necessity, meaning to say that, if there
is anything that brings about hardship that could lead to
some grave situation if it is not removed, then what is haram
becomes permissible but only to remove the hardship and
nothing beyond.
Let us take drinking water to illustrate these principles.
Water, no matter what form it takes and what kind of
beverages in what kind of names and tastes it comes in as, is
permissible except when it is detrimental to health such as
the alcoholic drinks. As such, alcoholic drinks are haram. In
this regard, the ingredients that are intended to make the
drinks are themselves haram to be used for making the
drinks. Grapes, for instance, are permissible to be used to
make them into any kind of drink but the use of the grapes
become haram the moment they are intended for making
alcoholic drinks. However, if someone for instance, is
caught in the freezing snow and could die from the extreme
cold, he or she is permitted to consume the alcoholic
substance to keep the body warm and to avoid the

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possibility of dying from the cold but the consumption of

the alcoholic substance is only intended for that purpose
and nothing beyond.
A life of Islam is a life meant for goodness of the body,
soul, and behaviour so that one could grow to possess a
healthy body with a sound mind and a clear vision that
would allow him to put his energy into good use for the
benefit of himself as well as his fellow humans. This mission
of life where goodness is the aim of living is called maslaha,
meaning ‘goodness.’ To be able to lead a life of maslaha, we
must practise goodness in our life and only a life of purity in
its five forms and carried out in all aspects of living from
morning till night can assure that sakinah or calmness,
equanimity, and serenity emerge in our mind, heart, and
body and spread out to produce a personality that could be
properly called a human being in the true meaning of it, a
personality by which becoming a Muslim is a worthwhile
choice.

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 7
A Heart Of Islam

G od is the centre and therefore the focal point of a life

of Islam. Connection with God is a continuous and an
unbreakable relationship, from birth till death, from the
moment one opens one’s eyes and until one closes one’s eyes
for one last time, at the time of waking and sleeping, praying
and meditating, eating and drinking, learning and working,
walking and jogging, thinking and reflecting, playing and
resting, that is to say, all the things of everyday living.
We connect with God morning and evening, no matter
where we step foot on, in our relationship with our fellow
humans and non-humans, and with regard to the activities
we do.
We connect with God outwardly through our contact
with time, place, relationship with others, and the activities
we do, but we also connect with Him inwardly in a very

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personal way, that is to say, in a one-to-one relationship

with Him through stepping into our inner self and coming
face to face with God.
It is in connecting with God through our inner touch
with Him that we can get a better understanding of who
God is and therefore a clearer view of our very own self and
as a consequence a more fruitful relationship with the rest of
everything.
Through being in touch with God, we get to be in touch
with everything more emphatically and meaningfully and as
a result, we will acquire a personality befitting our heavenly
endowment as God’s vicegerent on earth, one who will be
able to live in peace and harmony with all that is part of his
existence.
Besides, it is our nature as human being that inasmuch
as we are busy trying to fulfil the things of everyday living,
we also take time out from these things, turning inward into
ourselves, looking at ourselves and trying to look for those
insufficiencies within ourselves and see if we could remove
them and replace them with those qualities that could make
us a better human being.
We reflect on how we regard ourselves (human beings
after all are an egoistic creature as egoism has everything to
do with one’s dignity and pride) to see if we have become a
pompous self with a big ego who is obsessed with his own
importance or if we possess a heart of togetherness with
others.



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Our heart (called qalb) is the connecting point between us

and God and we need to attend to it to make sure it does not
become clouded or tainted to the extent that it becomes a
veil that blocks our ‘vision’ of God and therefore distancing
ourselves from Him to the point where we could hardly feel
His nearness.
Our heart connects with the mind and bodily organs
and whatever that is intended in the heart would flow into
the mind to form the perception of things and pass into the
bodily organs to animate our behaviour. Whatever that is
coming out of the mind and heart through what we say and
do has everything to do with the heart through what we
intend to do.
Because of that, we need to attend to our heart and
make sure it is always kept within the perimeter of its noble
creation and that it does not swerve from the very purpose
of its existence, which is to guide us humans towards
possessing a humanity of the most noble kind that would
bring about a human being of the most desirable type.
The most significant and important aspect of the heart
is none other than faith (called iman), namely, the
acknowledgment of God as the rightful source of our
existence and therefore the proper object of our heart’s
attachment for navigating the other aspects of the heart
(such as love and kindness) to manifest as praiseworthy
elements in our soul and psychology and thereafter releasing
them into our bodily acts that go into our activities.
Because faith and action are unbreakably tied to each
other, faith therefore is also the primary virtue of our action

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that through it, the other praiseworthy elements can shine

forth into our soul and body and find their way into our
outward behaviour that will do things which bring about
positive and likeable consequences.
The consequence or effect of faith-cum-virtue is taqwa
or God-consciousness as the heart will always be conscious
and conscientious of God’s presence and therefore makes it
to feel vigilant and careful with how the body acts and
behaves, that is to say, how a person sees things, says things,
hears things, and does things so that the things he sees, says,
hears and does do not bring about outcomes that would be
undesirable to his self, body, and behaviour.
The opposite of taqwa is kufr. Kufr means to cover, and
a person of kufr is a person whose heart has been covered of
his ‘vision’ of God and thereby cut off from Him such that
kufr in its extreme form means that a person is totally cut off
from God and causes him to turn his back on Him and
disregard His presence in his existence.



Taqwa breeds humility or tawadu’ but kufr brings about

pride or kibr.
A person of taqwa is very aware of what God means but
a person of kufr does not give a damn to what God stands
for and worse, turns a blind eye on Him.
A muttaqun, namely, a person of taqwa, has God in his
heart, in his mind, and in his life all the time but a kafir,
namely, a person of kufr, is one who is consumed by pride
and vanity because he thinks he is master of his own

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existence and needs no God to tell him what is right or

wrong, good or otherwise.
The distinction between a person of taqwa and a person
of kufr can be seen in Musa (Moses) and the Pharaoh
(Firaun) of his time and the lengthy story of them both in
the Quran is a telling message about the place of humility
and egoism in human life.
When taqwa rules, all the praiseworthy elements will
appear and become the dominating forces in a person’s soul,
character, and behaviour, and conversely, if kibr
overwhelms, then the blameworthy elements will take over,
and therefore:
 Watch our heart for it becomes our thoughts
 Watch our thoughts for they become our words
 Watch our words for they become our actions
 Watch our actions for they become our habits
 Watch our habits for they become our values
 Watch our values for they become our character
 Watch our character for it becomes our behaviour
 Watch our behaviour for it becomes our humanity
 Watch our humanity for it becomes our philosophy
 Watch our philosophy for it becomes our identity
 Watch our identity for it becomes our destiny
As such, we must make sure that we are always in a
state of taqwa so that our heart, thoughts, words, deeds,

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habits, values, character, behaviour, humanity, philosophy,

identity and destiny will bring about the personality of
jannah or heavenly personality befitting our endowment as
khalifah on earth.
For this, we must necessarily take care of our heart, and
like what Prophet Muḥammad said, there is a piece of flesh
in the body that if it is well taken care of then the entire
body will have a prosperous well-being and it is neglected
and left to decay then the body will become corrupt and
destructive to our well-being. This is the heart.
At the centre of the heart is the conscience, namely, the
instinctive awareness of things and the inner voice of our
soul that inform us with regard to what’s right or wrong,
good or bad, true or false.
A father who steals would not advise his children to do
the same and why so? Because his conscience knocks on his
heart and reminds him in the head to tell him that what he
is doing is wrong, and it also sends guilt into his emotion so
that he knows and feels that what he is doing is not a right,
good, and truthful thing.



A person of taqwa is one whose heart is like a lamp that is

always glowing with the brightness of the divine light that
shines through his conscience and allows the person to see
his inner self more vividly and therefore see his humanity
more clearly.
The first thing a person of taqwa sees in him is his ego,
that is to say, how his self stands in relation to God. A

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person of taqwa not only knows but can feel God’s majesty
and grandeur and power and at the same time, knows and
feels the tiny-ness of his own self. To know and feel God’s
greatness is not to make us feel intimidated and helpless but
it is to make us aware that no matter how far we are able to
accomplish things, God is involved in our accomplishments.
We humans have the tendency to think that because we
can accomplish great things, we are therefore masters of our
destiny and with the intelligence we possess, we can achieve
many things according to how we want them to be. A
person of taqwa in this regard knows that no matter how
successful he can be with what he can accomplish, he
realizes that his achievements are not his own efforts alone
and that there are others beside him that contribute to his
successes. Also, he realizes that his achievements are a
matter of the degree of probability, that is to say, what is the
percentage of the possibility of the successes happening, and
not that his successes can be known beforehand if he does
such and such efforts.
A patient who comes to see a doctor obviously looks
forward for the doctor’s magical touch that with the doctor’s
treatment, he will surely be cured. But that is not how things
work. A doctor cannot assure the patient that he will be
cured of his medical problem but what he can do is to tell
the patient that based on the patient’s medical condition,
what is the likelihood of his recovery. In certain cases, what
appears as ‘gone case’ turns out to be miraculous cases and
even the doctors could not explain them and what appears
as sure case of recovery turns out to be the opposite. How
does one explain the case of those who exercise frequently

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and one fine day die of heart attack and those who do not
exercise regularly but live a long life?
There are in fact numerous cases of incidents that
cannot be explained in sure terms of their outcomes
although they are based on scientific facts and figures.
As such, we cannot be overconfident with whatever we
do to the extent of being sure of their results because we
think that we are capable of determining their outcomes.
For a person of taqwa, man may propose but it is God
who disposes. We can set noble aims and use the best
methods to achieve these aims but how much we do achieve
them, we cannot determine for sure and the most we can do
is to predict their possibility and probability. As such, in
whatever he is doing, a person of taqwa will try his very best
to achieve the best result but also rests his hope on the
power that be, namely God, for the ultimate outcome. This
is called tawakkul.
Tawakkul is not blind dependence on God for our
wishes. God did not create us humans to become some kind
of passive creature who does little or nothing and only prays
to Him for our fulfillment of life’s needs.
If we are hungry and hold a bowl hoping for food to
descend on it as we pray for divine help, we may as well end
up continue to be hungry for the rest of our life.
God gave us the basic necessities of life such as the soil
and seed as well as the rain and sunshine along with the
brain and brawn and all we do is pray for divine help to
descend on our empty bowl?
We should instead use our head to understand how the

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seed, soil, and water together produce grains, fruits and

vegetables and thereafter use our effort to toil the land to
produce abundance of foodstuff for our consumption.
But as we make the effort to produce as much food as
possible, we must also look to God to bring about the
desirable outcome for the toil and sweat we have put into
our effort to bring food to our table.
A person of kibr on the other hand thinks that his brain
and brawn are sufficient to bring about the desirable
outcomes to his efforts.
He thinks that with his brain, he will be able to know
the factors determining the result of his effort and when the
results do not go as he predicts them to be, he thinks it is
because he has overlooked or missed something and not
that it is because some divine intervention has caused his
results to be such.
And when the results do tally with his predictions, he
feels that he is the one who makes things happen. His pride
will gradually inflate until his ego reaches a point where he
sees himself as a god-like image who thinks that with the
brain and brawn he has, he can determine the nature and
fate of things.
When he has reached such a degree of haughtiness, he
will look down on others or even ignore their contribution
to his successes to the extent that he shuns all that is part of
his achievements.
He sees only his own importance and greatness and
when this happens, he will behave in ways that will manifest
his proudness and egoism whenever he talks, walks and

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interacts.

It is therefore important that we keep our heart attached to
God so that our ego can blossom to become a humanity
whose destiny is the heavenly sanctuary and whose career is
the khalifah on earth.
For that to happen, we need to always attend to our
heart so that it will always remain bright and brilliant and
allow the light of heaven to shine through it and shine into
the mind and body with the praiseworthy wisdoms and
virtues that will manifest in our thought, feeling, action,
interaction, and expression.
If we ignore the importance of the heart to the totality
of our humanity, the heart will gradually become enveloped
with the blameworthy elements until it becomes clouded
and opaque and eventually hardened to the point that we
could no longer feel the shame and guilt of thinking and
doing things that will bring about the undesirable
consequences to our humanity as well as dignity.
In fact we will come to a stage where we can hardly feel
God’s presence in our heart and therefore his relevance to
our life and we would do things without minding and taking
into cognizance of God’s regard for our well-being and the
provisions He made to safeguard our humanity.
If God no longer holds a primary position in the heart,
where else does one rely upon as that something greater and
bigger to navigate and guide his soul towards things that
would not violate the sanctity of his humanity?
Therefore, as we look outward and move forward to

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fulfill the things of everyday living as well as chasing our

wishes, dreams, and ambitions in order to become
‘somebody’ of importance, we must simultaneously look
inward and move backward and connect our heart with God
so that with God hovering in our heart, we will become
‘somebody’ of importance but one whose ego does not make
us into a proud and vile creature but instead transforms us
into a personality who will delight all that is in heaven and
earth with bless and bliss as well as kindness and love and
also sharing and caring, that is to say, the best kind of
humanity.
Needless to say, as we look outward and move forward
to a better life, we look inward and move backward to
connect with God for guidance and direction, and the result
is a transformation of soul, self and person into somebody
that shines forth a personality of heaven lived in flesh and
blood on earth that qualifies us as God’s khalifah whose
heart is the meeting point between heaven, earth and human
and expressing the unity of faith, thought and action in life
and living through which we become creatures of the best
and worthiest kind to ever exist in the universe.

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 8
Why Choose Islam

D uring my boyhood days, I used to go to my grandma’s

kopitiam i.e. Chinese-style coffee-shop (name is Tai
Jooi Heng Kopitiam) to help out with the business. We are
after all Hainanese and Hainanese or orang Hailam are
known for plying their trade in kopitiam and becoming
experts in that trade.
Below is a poem I wrote as reminiscence of my time at
the kopitiam:
The kopitiam is where I grew
As a little boy I already knew
To make nice coffee that I brew
Using charcoals to heat and stew
Many liked our Hainan bread
But not the sweats which they dread
And in white shirts that we clad
It’s the work for living that we had

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The kopitiam is where I found

Life’s stories that were much abound
In serving coffee and bread around
I learned life’s lessons from the ground
The kopitiam is my laughter and tears
Old age is coming one quickly hears
Perhaps I should return to my childhood years
Work at the kopitiam as my twilight nears
The kopitiam is located at the end corner of a row of
shops at Jalan Bunga Raya, Melaka with the Renaissance
hotel right behind it across the shop. Opposite the kopitiam
were once cinemas that showed Shaw Brothers movies,
namely Rex, Federal and Sun which are no longer around
today (I still watch these shows on Astro TV CCM-Channel
321 which are screening movies of my childhood era).
Our kopitiam, like any Chinese-style coffee shop, sells
kopi-O and teh-O (coffee and tea with sugar), kopi susu and
teh susu (coffee and tea with condensed milk), teh si and
kopi si (coffee and tea with evaporated milk), served in the
kopitiam-style mini cup, and along with the drinks, the
hailam bread spread with kaya and margarine served as roti-
cheok (toasted) or roti kok (steamed).
We also sell soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola,
Green Spot orange, Fanta strawberry and grape, Sinalco,
Kickapoo, F&N sarsi and orange, Magnolia chocolate milk,
Yeo’s chrysanthemum and soya bean (those days Yeo’s
drinks were delivered in wooden cartons by trishaws).
Like any Chinese-style coffee shop, our shop also sells
liquors coming in names like Anchor Beer, Carslberg and

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Guiness Stout and cigarettes such as Benson & Hedges, 555

(Three Five), Pall Mall, Rothmans, and Rough Rider.
Our shop rented out spaces for hawker stalls and the o-
chien or fried oyster egg was the customers’ favourite.
Above the shop is the Wah Hin Club where the
members play mahjong and spend their leisure time there.
Whenever I wanted to watch TV, I would go upstairs to the
club.



I learned many things about life during my time at the

kopitiam from the people who came to patronize our shop. I
eavesdropped what they talked and listened to what they tell
me about their lives. But as a little boy, my excitement was
more upon the work I did and whether the customers were
happy with the coffee and bread I made and more
importantly, the money I enjoyed counting that was
trickling into our shop’s coffer.
As I was growing up however, I also began to ask about
what I was seeing in the shop.
My father was rather strict when it comes to liquor and
cigarette and would not allow me to try these stuff. I began
to ask myself why is it that I was forbidden to try these
things when our shop ironically was selling them.
Once a customer who was at that time ordering a bottle
of beer called me and told me never to be like him who had
become addicted to beer and it was destroying his health but
he took to drinking because he was having some problems
and the beer was supposed to give him a temporary reprieve

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from these problems but it turned out that it was making

him addicted to it.
And there was this fishmonger who came almost
everyday to our shop right after work and ordered a few
bottles of beer and stout and drank them together with the
groundnuts and sometimes he would become so drunk that
he would be singing and murmuring things that no one
understood what he was saying.
I watched with my very own eyes how these liquors
were turning people to become persons with erratic
behaviour and unstable mind and I told myself never, ever
to touch alcoholic substance in my life.
I also detested the ‘upstair people’ who spent long hours
playing mahjong. There was this hawker who was doing
very well selling char kuey teow right across my shop but
after some time deserted his business and instead spent his
time at the club upstair playing mahjong.
There were also young girls accompanying the men
especially the ones who were carrying riches with them
when they were playing mahjong.
I didn’t like what I saw at this club as I was walking up
and down the club attending to the orders for the drinks and
bread from my kopitiam.
I guess things that children see do have impacts on their
lives later on as they grow older and are beginning to be
inquisitive about the things they saw when they were
younger.
That applies to me and as I became older I also began to
query about the kind of life I would be having and with what

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I was seeing at the kopitiam, how the lives of others could

impact upon that of my own.



Although I was born and raised in the traditional Chinese

way of life that practises Chinese folk religion with ancestor
worship as the heart of the religion, as well as Confucian
ethics as the paramount values of everyday living, I found
that these were not enough to give me the stability of life I
was looking for.
I wanted something more, something that grounds me
in a firm conviction that this is what life is supposed to be,
that the good life must be a life from cradle until grave.
I noticed that Islam was particularly strict when it
comes to things like alcoholic drinks and gambling, and a
Muslim is forbidden from even sipping a drip of the liquor
or indulge in gambling or any other form of the game of
chance for that matter even with a small amount of money
(I remember during Chinese New Year, I used to play pakau
or cards with relatives of my age group and we would be
betting 10 or 20 sen for each game).
I was attracted to the kind of life that Islam was
teaching, that you do not destroy your own life or waste
money on things like gambling that will leave your pocket
empty and for that, you are not allowed to do things that
will lead you to the path of destruction from the moment
you open your eyes as a little baby until the time you see the
world for one last time.
When I decided to make Islam my life’s path, the first

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thing I had to face was my parents’ wrath. For many Chinese

in Malaysia, opposition against family members becoming
Muslims has more to do with race than religion.
Islam has been regarded as a Malay religion by both
Malays and Chinese in the country and to become a Muslim
means also to become a Malay and to be a Malay means
discarding one’s Chinese roots for good and adopting the
Malay way of life as one’s new life as a Muslim such as
taking on a Malay name and dress like a Malay as well as
eating by using the hand and doing away with the
chopsticks which is the traditional way of eating for the
Chinese.
Needless to say, when one becomes a Muslim, his or her
relationship with his family and Chinese society is cut off
and in this regard, one cannot actually blame one’s parents
or family members for reacting strongly against the decision
to become a Muslim because of the implications and
consequences following from the perception that to become
a Muslim means also to become a Malay.
The converts themselves also contributed to this
perception because many of them, after converting to Islam,
also chose to adopt the Malay way of life. This is due to the
fact that these people converted to Islam because of
marriage to Malay men or women and becoming a Muslim
is the legal requirement in the country for the marriage to
their Malay spouse to be possible.
I converted to Islam anyway but I had to face the
consequences of my action which is to deal with my parents’
disapproval and also the perception that I converted because

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I wanted to marry a Malay girl.

Therefore there were looks of surprise when those who
queried about my conversion to Islam noticed that I
converted not because of marriage or for any other
purposes. In fact, I did not discard my Chinese identity in
terms of my roots and legacy.
On the contrary, after becoming a Muslim, my ties to
my Chinese identity became more enhanced. This is not to
say that I have become more Chinese than before but I
noticed that becoming a Muslim does not take you away
from your original identity and to become someone else.
This conviction was strengthened when I became a
student at the International Islamic University Malaysia
(IIUM) as my Malay teachers advised me never to leave my
Chinese roots as this was never the teaching of Islam.



The IIUM was set up in 1983 by the Malaysian government

in response to the question of the Muslim identity in
modern times. At that time there were only two programs of
study, namely Law and Economics.
I was admitted into the IIUM in 1984 in the Law
program but my primary interest in Law was in the
philosophy of Law as I wanted to know how ethics
characterizes rules of conduct and brings about human
beings and society of the most noble kind.
That I suppose would have to be sought elsewhere
perhaps in sociological studies but I had to make do with
whatever offer I got as getting into a university and

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especially into the Law program those days is the envy of

many students who could only dream of getting into the
program.
Upon graduating from the IIUM, I was offered to
become a teaching staff at my alma mater specializing in
comparative religion. I was given the opportunity to go
abroad and do my postgraduate studies in my specialized
field of study.
I had heard of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Iranian scholar
of Islam who was very much respected in the West and also
Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington
University, USA, since my student days at IIUM, and I
wrote to him asking him if I could study with him.
Professor Nasr replied in the affirmative and in 1992 I
made my way to Washington DC and GWU to become
Nasr’s student.
At GWU, I did history and philosophy of religion but
my main focus was on Islamic philosophy and I did many of
my courses in the said area with Professor Nasr.
With Professor Nasr, I came to understand the idea of
the unity of being or unity of existence and how Allah
stands at the centre of the Muslim faith, life and thought
through which the Muslim person blossoms into his human
identity and from which this tawhidic or Allah-centric
identity spreads out to embrace the whole spectrum of
creation so that when the Muslim sees whatever that is
around him, from the skies to the seas to the trees, and from
the birds to the beasts to the fish, he senses their
togetherness with him and him with them so that the

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togetherness brings about a harmony of heaven, earth and

human and produces in a Muslim the ideal human being
who sees as well as lives with everything as a symphony of
peace, prosperity, and progress with a guiding light coming
from a centre in Allah who navigates the direction of the
Muslim’s journey into becoming a human being of the best
humanity.
This understanding of Islam where everything exists in
mutual co-existence with one another is termed by Professor
Nasr as Traditional Islam but he uses the word ‘tradition’ to
mean ‘continuity’ (from the Latin traditio), that is to say, the
shape of Islam from the time of Prophet Muḥammad until
before the emergence of modernity in the West whose shape
of modernity is the breaking up of the unity of being into
splinters of existence where God and spirituality become a
sphere of their own, and human beings and humanity also
become a sphere of their own, as well as Nature or
environment which also ended up as a distinct sphere of its
own.
For Professor Nasr, before the emergence of modernity,
the world came together in the human person through the
intellect which he distinguishes from reason. To Nasr,
intellect is reason grounded in divine revelation (therefore is
called hikmah), that is to say, the human ego grounded in a
divine superego, as against reason which he takes as the
display of the human ego sufficient upon itself.
It is when reason reigns supreme that we are witnessing
all kinds of distresses happening to the human spirituality as
well as to the environment, and to which Professor Nasr
says that the modern man wants to show how great man is
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by trying to conquer the highest peaks in the world but is

not interested in scaling the peaks of spirituality.
It is this ‘conquering’ mentality which is a trait of the
modern man that is bringing man and nature into a
collision of sorts that in the end brings destruction to
mankind themselves.
Professor Nasr is spending his whole life promoting his
idea of Traditional Islam especially in the modern world and
hopes that the unity of being which lies at the heart of the
Islamic faith, life and thought could be brought into the
Muslim hearts once again.
It is this idea of the unity of being advocated by
Professor Nasr that stands at the heart of my very own faith,
life and thought and from which I relate to my identity as a
Muslim.
(I was admitted into Duke University, USA in 1994 for
my PhD studies but spent only two weeks in the Religion
program as I decided to return to Malaysia where I taught at
the IIUM’s Matriculation program. I must thank Professor
Vincent Cornell @ Mansur al-Mujahid who facilitated my
acceptance into Duke. I regret however that I could not
continue my studies at Duke. Nevertheless, I was able to
pursue my PhD at Temple University, USA, from 2000-
2004, also in religious studies but in the area of religion and
the social sciences where I looked at the interaction between
religion and sociology as well as with anthropology and
psychology, among others).



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At a time when things Chinese are thought as having little to

do with Islam among many Malays in Malaysia, the idea on
the unity of being is surely a reprieve to this way of thinking
about Islam and other cultures and civilizations.
To my surprise, I found that the Chinese worldview as
well as its practices and ethics have a lot in common with
the Islamic ones and a Chinese who embraces Islam can
continue to practise his Chinese roots and legacy, and
practise them as his Islamic way of life.
As such, for a Malaysian Chinese Muslim such as
myself, to be a Muslim does not mean I have to abandon my
Chinese identity. On the contrary, I can continue with
whatever I have practised before becoming a Muslim but
now practise them as an Islamic way of life expressed
through the Chinese culture.
At the heart of the Chinese worldview and philosophy
of life is Tian Ren He Yi or Harmony of Heaven and Human
where a person who sees himself sees also others who are
part of his identity as a human being.
When I look at myself, I see not only me but I see also
my fellow humans, the world of Nature also called ecology
or environment, and the transcendent which is none other
than tian, literally meaning heaven or sky.
As such, when I see myself, I see also all that is part of
my existence that together give me my identity as a human
being in the way I see and do things.
This idea of Tian Ren He Yi to me reflects the Islamic
way of seeing and doing things.
Thus, when I look at myself, I see first and foremost the

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source of my existence which is none other than God. I also

see the abundance of resources in my surrounding that God
made possible for my sustenance, that is to say, the world of
Nature. But Nature’s resources for my existence do not stop
at the resources being consumption material for my
biological and physical well-being. They carry with them
messages, called ayat, or signs that allude us to the farther
and further meaning of their significance to us, namely,
about what existing is about. Needless to say, the uses we
benefit from Nature move us to the question of the meaning
of existence which will then move us to the question of right
living and right living is about how we form valuable
relationship with our fellow humans as well as with our
partners in Nature and also with God that together form a
relationship of harmony and balance for living aimed at
producing human beings of the finest kind called khalifah
whose personality would transform the world into a
paradise filled with warmth, love, and affection between all
that is in heaven and on earth.
I never realized that my choice of Islam as my life’s path
would deliver me from ethics to metaphysics, that is to say,
from concerns with proper living to thinking about what
living is to existence as a whole that, in the end, pushes me
to inquire about how being a Muslim is about becoming a
human being in the noblest of meaning in ways that I could
relate to everything as a unity of being, see everything as a
harmony of heaven, earth, and human, and bring about in
me the personality of khalifah who will delight the world
with bless and bliss or rahmat lil-alamin.

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Alhamdulillahi rabb al-alamin

All praises are due to Allah, Lord of the worlds

Wa ma tawfiqi illa billah

Guidance shines forth only from the Almighty

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