The Sweetness of Iman

I was fortunate to be present in one of Mufti Menk's talk during his visit in Malaysia. He is a well known religious speaker from Zimbabwe and he was here last week on the invitation of Malaysian NGO. From his talk, 3 words that keeps playing in my head: the Sweetness of Iman.

He said that we can actually 'taste' the Sweetness of Iman if we do the following:
1. Love Allah and Muhammad SWT above everything else
2. Love Allah and Muhammad SWT before anyone else

You may ask, how do we "Love Allah and Muhammad above everything else"? If what we do everyday is in accordance to the teaching of Islam, then its a show of our love to Allah and Muhammad SWT. Everything that we do is to please him. We fear His wrath (and the hellfire) and we seeks His forgiveness and blessing in all that we do. All time. Every time.

In contrary, common practice that we see every day especially among the young ones are like missing their prayers for the sake of work or extra curricular activities. (refer to my earlier post entitled Life Balance). When we do that then we are not putting Allah above everything else. Our priorities is misplaced. At the same time, Mufti Menk reminded us that its not enough that we observe the pillars of Islam and Iman, but we must be able to fight the devil's temptation when it comes to desires, greed and power. Its not surprising that we find some people who would diligently do their prayers 5 times daily and fast the whole month of ramadhan, but sadly, accumulate wealth and power without a care of where it comes from or how its achieved. (refer to my earlier post entitled 'Iffah). In this case, it goes to show that we love money and power more than we love Allah.

As for "Love Allah before anyone else", well, this is when we do not do anything against the the religion even for the sake of our loved ones, be it our parents, children, spouse, family or friends. In fact we are told to breakaway from people who may influence us or make us feel pressured into any wrong doing.

Mufti Menk went on to advise us all to make sure that the company that our children are keeping with, are people with good characters in the eyes of Islam. He went on further to advice that the partner that we choose (for our children) must have a good upbringing in the religion, not just base on looks or wealth or education. (refer to my earlier post entitled "Jodoh ditangan Tuhan").

All in all, what he preached may not be news to us, but he managed to put them in a very clear perspective that we longed to do what he advised.

I will certainly strive to do all that and hope to get a little taste of the Sweetness of Iman. InsyaAllah.

P.S. For more talk from Mufti Menk, you can find him in You Tube. Just type 'Mufti Menk' and press 'search'. Happy listening and learning!