Musings–Live in Victory

The Benefits of a Believer

By Imam Abdullah El-Amin, MMNS

One of the qualifications or characteristics of a Muslim believer is the belief in the absolute adherence to the scripture of the Holy Qur’an. ALLAH revealed the verses as a last message to human beings so we will have complete guidance to live peaceful, productive lives. In order to live like that, our base thoughts must be positive. And for the Muslim, positive thought originates with the Holy Qur’an.

On the other hand, there is a force determined to have you live a life filled with doubt, suspicion, and inferiority complexes. This force is, of course, the Shaitan or Devil. This Shaitan’s job is to make seem normal what is actually abnormal. It is not normal to think negatively about yourself. Almighty ALLAH has created us as next in line after Him. He says there is nothing greater than us except Him. This includes lions, tigers, dinosaurs, the moon, Saturn, Pluto, and beyond. We do not bow to or worship anything except ALLAH. This is the real deep meaning of La Illaha, Illala. There is no Deity other than ALLAH. This means He has equipped us with all the tools necessary to combat any and all obstacles that come in our path… including our own self-generated negative thoughts.

You can liken our minds to a modern day computer. We have conscious and sub-conscious mind, all housed in the brain. Our sub-conscious mind can be likened to a fertile field, filled with rich, fertilized dirt. It will grow pretty much anything we put in it, pretty flowers, delicious vegetables and such. It will also grow unsightly, non-usable weeds just as easily. The computer as well can be used to educate you in sciences, literature, Qur’an and such. It can also be used negatively for child pornography.

Our sub-conscious will accept anything we allow to enter it as well. Shaitan can be likened to a virus you let slip in. This Devilish virus can enter your mind and completely wreck havoc on your “fertile field” and have you going against your natural self.

Computers have anti-virus programs to help protect it against these intruders. The computer is completely vulnerable to attack with the protection of these anti-virus programs which know what to look out for, what to let in, and what to keep out. We have an anti-virus program to protect us as well. It is the revealed Word of Almighty ALLAH that gives flawless instruction of what to avoid and what to proceed with.

Sometimes however, some viruses slip through and for that you are going to need a special programmer. You will need someone much more experienced than you to get the bad bug out. Computer programmers go to school and are trained to master the computer and, most likely can help you out.

But for our “human computers” we must remember there is no one greater than you that can help you. Our “anti-virus” program is none other than ALLAH through prayer and submission to His Revealed Word. Our hardware (brains) can be good – our software just needs reprogramming.

Get rid of negative thinking about yourself and others. We have much more power than a material computer. We have the ability to think differently and push negative thoughts out of our heads and replace them with positive ones. Let us latch on to the instructions of our Lord and use that awesome power to better ourselves and our world.

As Salaam Alaikum
(Al Hajj) Abdullah Bey El-Amin

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