The way one explains his Religion!
Pondering Mind
Question:
Hi All,
Today while browising through one of the sites, i came across the following question
"I am a 17-year old Muslimah, reverted to Islam one month back. My question to you may sound weird but my concern is genuine. I belong to a Hindu Brahmin family without any brothers. Since girls are allowed as well to perform the funeral rites of their parents in absence of any real brother, I wish to know if I shall be eligible to do so when the evil day shall beckon. My family does not know of my decision of reverting to Islam"
And the answer for this is:
"Congratulations on your reversion to Islam. We cannot thank Allah sufficiently for this great bounty.
You will have to do your utmost to come up with some excuse for not attending. If need be play sick or find some excuse.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best"
What i dont understand is, Is religion greater than one's responsibilitry towards parents?
Response:
Peace VVA,
There are ways one can believe and understand things said by Quran and in turn by God. Everyone at some point or the other is pushed to consider his actions under the shade of reasoning; intentionally or unintentionally we in many situations tend to give priority to our sentiments giving it a dominant platform. It is at this point that many being a religionist for years have entertained a unique sentiment about God and his directions. For many, God – his way, is a historical reality that has been a part of their own culture either in the name of religion or in the name of ancestral history. They believe in God not because they have found due signs to believe in Him but because it's been a practice as a culture to follow a deity for years. Their thought line is to justify that there is no reason to reject Him even if there isn't a reason to believe in Him. The next step is to create a reason why they believe in God; a step wherein they could console their conscious feelings that tend to question them on different situations. They blindly abide by the rules, if they feel to, as given by their favorite scholars and ignore it for their own personal sentiments. Such an attitude is a result of what one would call it to be ignorance in comprehending the very relevance of God and his system or not taking it seriously. You never had a strong reason to believe him nor do you have a strong reason to obey Him when it is against your sentiments. You believe in Him for some reason and you obey or disobey his system for a different set of reasons altogether. The response you quoted in your post belongs to this group.
Contrastingly, there are some who in their initial stage might have been of the group explained above but at some point have chosen a different road altogether. A road wherein they by their personal experiences have found a unique definition on why they believe in God and what they believe to be his given directions. For them God is the source of righteousness and his laws - an ideal direction towards Reality. Any law interpreted contrary to the given perception is either man-made or wrongly interpreted by men. In their view, religion was supposed to give them directions on how efficient they can deliver their responsibilities towards their parents and not just a cultural burden inherited in support of the ancestral unanimity. For me, religion is like the food prepared wherein you would blame the cook and not the vegetables if things weren't up to the mark. It's up to the followers to make their religion efficient enough to reap fruitful results. Some like me find a strong reason to believe in God and find no harm if one claims that there is a way to comply with his Laws if the given perception is sensible.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Pondering Mind.