March 2001: Page 1, 2, 3

Submitters Perspective

Page 3

Understanding Islam

Cont’d from Page 2

Who is better guided in his religion than one who submits totally to GOD, leads a righteous life, according to the creed of Abraham: monotheism? GOD has chosen Abraham as a beloved friend. [4:125]

Such is your congregation—one congregation—and I am your Lord; you shall reverence Me. But they tore themselves into disputing factions; each party happy with what they have. [23:52-53]

God willing this study will lead the reader in the direction of questioning, investigating and studying all information being taught on Islam, and encourage people to learn what the true Submission is all about.

Ismaa’iyl Shariyf

 

[Ed’s note: Br. Shariyf is currently incarcerated. He holds “Understanding Islam” classes in the prison to teach and propagate the True Islam to other incarcerated brothers.]

 

Anecdote

Submitted by Brother Robert from Tucson

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

“Come in,” God said. “So you would like to interview Me?”

“If you have the time,” I said. God smiled and said, “My time is eternity and is enough to do everything; what questions do you have for Me?”

“What surprises you the most about mankind?” I asked.

God answered: “That they get bored of being children, are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live neither for the present nor the future. That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived...”

God took my hands and we were silent for a while and then I asked: “As parents, what are some of life’s lessons you want our children to learn?”

God replied with a smile: “To learn that they cannot make anyone love them but what they can do is let themselves be loved. To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but who they have in their lives.

To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others for everyone is judged on their own merits. To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least. To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love, and that it takes many years to heal them. To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness. To learn that money can buy everything except happiness. To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it very differently. To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything about them...and likes them anyway. To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven but that they have to forgive themselves.”

I sat there for a while enjoying the moment. I thanked God for His time and for all that He had done for me.
He replied and said “I am here 24 hours a day, and all you have to do is ask for Me,” and with that He looked into my eyes and whispered these words:

“My dear child, please remember that people will forget what you said, people forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel….”