“Yo man! We are the modernized generation of Islam”—“Yo man! Kami adalah generasi Islam yang moden”. This idea or rather concept is engraved in most of our Muslim youth of nowadays. We can not deny that fact even if we want to. We Muslims are pleased with the idea of being modern-Oh modern idea for modern Muslims! We get excited about the future as modern ideas manifest in a brighter existence for modern Muslims. Wearing the latest style, knows the newest dances and songs, the cutting-edge technologies are among our extreme obsessions today. We feel the bitterness about the past as it keeps haunting us with its backward, extremist ways—not at all modern of course.
So we modern Muslims with our modern ideas and conceptions set off on a journey. Our Goal and Mission? To change the “old and out of date” Islam into a new, stylish, flashy and attractive Islam!! We set ourselves to mould Islam and configure it to fit into this modern world created by us, to fit our modern lifestyles, our modern ideas.
BUT have we ever pondered upon that—exactly what is a modern Muslim??
If ever we get an answer to that question, then it means we are just a bunch of pathetic Muslims! It is just us, pathetic Muslims who are pretending that Islam which is a perfect way of life is not actually perfect, that it doesn’t fit the way we live today in this westernized world. We somehow think that Islam; a religion not limited by time is suddenly old, backward and extreme nowadays. With this “modern” idea of ours, we claim that we have the absolute right to “adjust” Islam to fit our lifestyle instead of just adjusting our lifestyle to fit Islam.
But perhaps the most disturbing factor of this modernization is when we Muslims begin to manipulate the Quran and Sunnah of our beloved Prophet(pbuh). Though we are very slow to realize it, many among us are beginning to consider themselves as superior to the Muslims, the Scholars, the Sahabi and most devastating, even the Prophet (pbuh). Remember we are modern Muslims and they are not! We may not consciously say: “I am better than them” but our actions, as the cliché goes speak far louder than our futile words. We modern Muslims pounce on any chance to justify our lifestyles within the boundaries of Islam. Hence if anything in Islam just does not “fit” with the rest of Western society, we constantly seek moral justification in Islam to allow us to act the way we do.
Islam has become a game of multiple choice, where we pick and choose the part we want to obey and skim over the parts we would rather leave “open to interpretation” and it turns out if we think about it that our own individual faith is in serious trouble. The debate over hijab and the "Islamizing" of the Prom are just two examples among many that shows how Muslims are increasingly attempting to make Islam more "attractive" and non-threatening in our Western world when in fact, if we truly understand the essence and root of our own faith we would be blessed to know that Islam never was and never will be "unattractive" or "out-of-date" nor is it threatening when understood with a clear, open and intelligent mind.
We have deleted from our heart-disk that the world is just like a waiting room for us Muslim. We have lost our identity as true Muslims. We have make our secondary goal in this world our priority! We are seeking for heaven in this world itself even if we know that this is not possible in any way. We have been blinded by the modern aspects of this world that we can not figure out what we should be doing exactly. Oh Muslims! It is not yet late to make it back where we should have been standing; as an example for the rest of humanity just like our Prophet (pbuh) did. There are several factors that are preventing us to realize it and to feel the heavenly taste of spiritualism.
We all believe in Allah but yet we do not fulfill his commands. It is time for us Muslims to be awake before it is too late. We should stop living in our dreams and face the reality! Young people may think Islam is too "old fashioned" and not in tune with the modern age. But we are forgetting that Islam gives us focus and an understanding of who we are and where we are going, which most of "teen culture" does not.
Ask yourself these 4 questions:
a. Where am I going in life and what would make me really happy deep down inside?
b. What do I believe?
c. Who should I be grateful to?
d. Did I get to where I am today without the help of anyone?
You will realize after answering these four above questions that we are being artificial to our true identity. We love the Prophet (pbuh) but we don’t follow his sunnah. We read the holy Quran but we do not put it into practice. We enjoy all the benefits from Allah but we are not grateful to Him. We acknowledge Shaitan as our enemy but yet we do not go against him. We all want to enter Paradise but we do not work for it. We do not want to be thrown into Hell-Fire but we do not try to run away from it. We believe that every living thing will face death but we are not prepared for it. We gossip and find faults in others but we forget our own faults and bad habits. We bury the dead but yet we do not take a lesson from it.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, it is time for us to awake! We need to realize that we are just being fooled by this world and Shaitaan is making his best for make us fall for it! Let our tears wash our silliness and foolishness away by asking for forgiveness from Allah. Let us prepare ourselves to face what will be coming afterwards. Let us count for ourselves before we are counted in front of the supreme and ultimate court of Allah.
Umar Ibn al-Khattab [ra] said: "Hold yourself accountable before you are held accountable and weigh your deeds before they are weighed for you."
"For to us will be their return; then it will be for us to call them to account." (Holy Quran 88:25-26)
