Being popular, is a status that most people seek after avidly. Of course, no one likes to be left behind, or looked down upon. Most people like to be the ones followed, not the ones following. Imperialist political regimes spend trillions on the popularization of their fake idealism and masked theft programs; movie makers spend millions on the propaganda of mostly their worthless stupid art, fashion houses spend probably billions on forcing the acceptance of the most idiotic bizarre designs, etc… I have seen this extravagant path being followed by every fake idea and demonic thought usually aiming to fulfill the greedy plots of a small bunch of people, and help them monopolize the riches of the majority. I can coin a new expression here, that is “Slaverization,” by that I mean the creation of slaves who believe to be free.
Here I ask myself, does what’s good and right need any of the means utilized by those in power to prevail in the hearts of those who are worthy? And the answer that overflows my heart and mind is “NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT.” What’s right and worthy coincides with the sound innate characters of pure hearted human beings; hence, it doesn’t need any propaganda whatsoever to reach the depths of their souls, and find a place within their hearts. Unfortunately, centuries of hatred spreading, propagation of false information, and imprinting fake default beliefs, have blinded the majority and destroyed their sound birth given nature. The previous —among other reasons— has resulted in making the right wrong, the pure evil, and the direct undesirable. But still, there is always some good left in this world, prime, pure, and worth striving for. The path might be lonely, extremely dull, and self-destroying, but that’s the price one must be willing to pay if his goal was to make victorious what he has come to believe is right. You will be the least popular among all people, you will be left behind, you will be neglected and looked down upon, you will lose the years of your life one after the other without achieving any progress like your peers do; and worst of all, you will doubt yourself all the time. There will come a time when you will repeatedly ask yourself, “Am I right?” And this will always be your worst nightmare. That’s totally normal… for holding on to what’s right at times of corruption and moral degeneracy is like holding on to embers.
Today, with all the negative propaganda about Islam— “the religion of terrorists”— in the media, movies, newspapers and magazines, etc., many people: some Muslims, and some non-Muslims, have chosen to go with the flow, to believe in what they are told like any below average student, to build their opinions based upon fragmented knowledge not solid research; and worst of all, to repeat what’s said about Islam and Muslims without any understanding whatsoever. The end product is that Muslims have become the least popular among all people, and Islam has become the religion of the outcasts in this world.
About this, Prophet Muhammad said: “Islam started as a stranger [to this world], and so it shall return to be a stranger, so blessed be the strangers.” [Recorded by Muslim].
When he was asked in different occasions who would those strangers be, he gave different responses with very close meanings, he said: “Those who shall continue trying to set things right when people are corrupt,” “Those who shall forsake their corrupt people,” “Honest persons amidst corrupt people, they shall be disobeyed by much more people than those who shall obey them,” “Those who shall try to revive my teachings and deliver them to all people.” [Recorded by Abu-Dāwud, Tirmidhī and others].
Islamic Methodologies Made Easy 
The more I read, the more I study..Islam speaks to me. It touches my heart, my soul and calls out. Unlike the churches I attended as a child and a young woman, where it was rote knowledge. I see the reactions of Christians when seeing a woman wearing Hijab and want to lash out saying “she is honoring God. Are YOU?”
The older I become the more I want to understand God, so I read. I speak with people of other faiths. I search.
I do not, like others in my country, equate Islam with terrorism. I equate terrorists with terror, regardless of whatever perversion of faith they profess.
As a woman of logic though, I can not accept some of the things written about the life of Mohammad. The flying horse, for example. was that simply a metaphor or is it a belief in something real? I do not believe in angels or demons. To me they are simply metaphors to explain particular emotions or actions of either the wicked or the good people.
I was told by an Imam that I “must” believe in these things or I can not be a follower of Islam. So, I suppose I shall just continue to search…and wonder why I “must” believe that which is impossible for my mind to accept.
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Dear Ma’am, I understand you are different, and I sincerely appreciate it that you are a truth seeker. According to my beliefs, all prophets and messengers started out as truth seekers, and they never backed up. None of them told their followers, “You have to believe,” and absolutely not Prophet Muhammad. A true Imam or scholar would help you through logical disciplines in reaching the truth, he will be like a companion and supporter in the journey rather than a leader. You have to lead your own heart, and not let it be led by others, until you finally find what satisfies both: your heart and mind.
There is no flying horse in the Qur’an or the prophetic traditions, but there is a narration of the incident called “The Night Journey.” It occurred after a long devastating chain of tribulations through which the prophet had passed in ten tiring years, ending with the death of his uncle and his beloved wife. In this incident, the prophet is said to have been accompanied by the archangel Gabriel, and taken by some sort of a ride which is named “Al-Boraq,” literally translated as, “That which travels with the speed of lightening or light.” This ride is falsely translated as a flying horse, that’s mainly because when the prophet tried to describe it to his companions according to what they knew during their time, he said it was bigger than a donkey and smaller than a mule, but he never said it was a flying horse in the literal sense of the word, nor could this be found anywhere in the Arabic wording. This ride’s nature or details was not given in the narrations, all the prophet confirmed about it is that it was white, its length and height was as described, and its speed as given by the prophet is that it placed its hoof where its sight reached. He meant that it reached the end of his own sight instantly, for no one can tell what another can see or where his sight ends. The usage of the word hoof is in reference to that ride’s legging or whatever kind of supports it was placed upon, that’s it. Try to think of the description as what could have been given 1400 years ago by a person living in the Sahara.
Anyway, in this incident the prophet traveled from Makkah to Jerusalem and returned at the same night. He also narrated that at Jerusalem, the archangel took him up to heaven where he spoke to some of the previous prophets like Adam (the father of our kind), Jesus and John the Baptist (they were sitting together), Joseph, Enoch, Aron, Moses and finally Abraham P.B.U.T. Then he was shown parts of hell and parts of paradise, and finally received orders and revelations from Allah.
Muslim scholars are divided into two main groups, the majority believed this to be a real journey which the prophet went through physically, and the other believe that the journey was of a spiritual nature, like a vision. The thing that strikes me the most about this journey is that when the prophet reported it to his companions the next day, many Muslims denied the possibility of this to have happened, and apostatized. Until today, many Muslims deny this incident and even some born Muslims renounce Islam when they learn about it. My Sheikhs at Al-Azhar University explained to us that this journey was some kind of consolation from Allah to the prophet after he had lost everything striving for what’s right and trying to make it prevail. It was to strengthen his heart and tell him do not be grieved for what you have lost in your strife, you are on the right path. Do not think that victory is impossible, we will show you that We are capable over all things and that it’s closer than you think. This was the main message in my post today and in the verses in the photo up there. Amazingly the incident you included in your comment came coinciding with it.
The only problem with this incident is that our minds always stand incapable of understanding or imagining what our eyes can’t see. There is a huge difference between logic and imagination. Logic says that if this man was truly a prophet receiving revelations from beyond the boundaries of the universe from the mighty entity that created all that exists, and he told us that something miraculous has happened to him like this incident, we should believe him for we have already believed what’s even more bizarre. Surely if the Creator God Almighty Himself chose Muhammad to be His messenger to all people, it would be very strange to deny that God took him on a miraculous journey for one night. Being unable to imagine how this happened is totally irrelevant. Ever since the discovery of the pyramids and till the moment of writing this, scientists were unable to figure out how exactly the big pyramid was built, but not one of them denies its existence because they can see it with their eyes, and study it. But when it comes to the night journey of the prophet, they usually make a jest of it. They were unable to differentiate between logic and imagination. The revelations of the Qur’an are the prophet’s everlasting miracle, if one examines them properly and decides that they are not from the Creator, then he/she should deny as well any other miraculous narrations related to Prophet Muhammad along with his prophethood; but if after examining them one finds in his/her heart and mind that this Qur’an couldn’t be but the words of our Creator, then he should be able to believe that the prophet wasn’t lying about his night journey.
As for angels and demons, these are creatures that Allah has created. They just have physical and biological different natures from ours. In Islam, angels are described to be created from light, they don’t have any lusts; hence, they always obey Allah and never do but what He orders them to do. They are His loyal servants and they shall not be judged like us on the judgment day, but they only stand as witnesses and carryout Allah’s orders. As for demons, in Islam they are called Jin. Jin are people like us having nations and tribes also like us. Among them are those who are faithful believers, and those who denied the messages of the all prophets. They were created from fire; hence, they are much lighter than us, they move faster and have the ability to reach places which we never reached and will never be able to do so. The idea of demons is totally different in Islam. The Qur’an calls those who deny Allah’s prophets and messages, and call upon others to deny them “Waswas,” a word usually translated as demon, but it’s never what the western movies depict. Waswas is simply a wicked person whether he is from mankind or from Jin who tries to instigate the others to renounce their belief in Allah and His messages, that’s it. Again don’t confuse logic with imagination; the existence of creatures which we cannot see doesn’t mean that they do not exist. Let me give you a quick example: the Qur’an teaches that for every person, there are angels guarding him/her from whatever dangers which Allah hadn’t decreed upon him; I guess we have all seen tens if not hundreds of incidents in which people were saved in unexplainable miraculous ways from certain death or extreme injuries. You can see some of these incidents on YouTube caught on cameras by coincidence.
Let me give you an even weirder example. If you read about embryology, you will learn that after fertilization takes place, the embryo is formed inside the female’s womb. The embryo clings to the womb’s inside-wall feeding on the blood of the mother, exactly like a leech. During the early stage of the embryo formation (i.e. first 3 weeks) the heart is not yet built. Therefore the embryo is filled with blood that is not circulating, it is literally a blood clot. After the start of blood circulation, the embryo develops into a lump of flesh in which the heart, brain, head and the tissue that later develops into the vertebra are in the period of formation. The backbone is formed first, followed by the rest of the bones that are later wrapped by the muscles and then the flesh. After 6 weeks the facial features begin to form. Amazingly this was literally stated by Prophet Muhammad 14 centuries ago when he said: “When 42 nights have passed from the time of the nutfah (i.e. time of fertilization), Allah sends an angel to it, who shapes it and makes its ears, eyes, skin, muscles and bones…” [Recorded by Muslim] Dividing 42 by 7, you get a 6 weeks period exactly as science has proven. The prophet in the above narration said that an angel carries out the task of shaping the facial features of the embryo inside his mother’s womb. If science hadn’t proven the first half of the tradition to be exactly correct and true, most people nowadays would have denied this tradition for it speaks about angels that aren’t seen and couldn’t be detected by ultrasonic; but thanks to the precise number given by the prophet 1400 years ago and lie recorded in the books of traditions, we have come to believe in the second half to be true as well.
For more insight into this issue read my previous post “Science Vs Revelation.” It includes links to videos in which acknowledged scientists speak about the scientific implications given in the Qur’an and prophetic traditions. Sorry for the long response, but trying to explain things always take a longer time than that of placing the questions.
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Thank you, Ehab. For the first time, angels and demons make absolute sense. I have known truly wicked people. I have seen the destruction they cause, both physically and emotionally. I have been touched in my own life by the miraculous and unexplainable. it makes sense now. I appreciate more than I can express your explanation on both sides of the night journey. I heard about it from a newly professed Muslim who I believe was mixed up by where the story came from for he said it was part of the Quran. Thank you for telling me the truth of it.
I read some of the Quran and was struck by the physical descriptions of new life forming. It was absolutely correct physically. That was the thing that had me searching for answers. I thought if someone in the far distant past with no medical knowledge could say this, then it wasn’t from him but from some much higher knowledge…that could only have been God.
I have little access to Imams here. the one I spoke with was “visiting” and seemed not interested in answering an “unbeliever’s” questions. I was disappointed by his rushing through a response and disheartened with feeling he thought I was wasting his time. I wanted to ask him how one becomes a believer if no one will speak with them but was raised to respect those in a position of authority, so I held my tongue. I regret doing that now.
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I am glad that you found my response helpful. But I just want to clarify that “The night Journey” is mentioned in the Qur’an, but its details are not, the details I gave in my response were all mentioned in the traditions only.
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This reminds me of the nasheed titled ‘ghuraba’.The words written, couldn’t be truer.
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Thanks Asma, I’m glad you liked it.
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