WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A MUSLIM TODAY?

Assalam Alaykum brothers and sisters in Imaan.

To be a Muslim today--or any day--is to live in accordance with the will and pleasure of Allah. Muslims often say, with joy and pride, that it is easy to be a Muslim since Islam is "the straight path" leading to paradise. What this means, in other words, is that the principles of Islam are simple and straightforward, free of ambiguities, confusions, inconsistencies or mysteries, and that comprehending them or living in accordance with them is not difficult. The assumption here is that if one somehow comes to "the straight path" by accepting Islam, which is Allah's last and final revelation to humanity, one will fairly effortlessly arrive at the destination which is a state of eternal blessedness in the presence of Allah. I must confess that I am totally amazed, and overwhelmed, by this assumption. To me, being a Muslim today--or any day--seems to be exceedingly hard, for to be a Muslim one has constantly to face the challenge, first of knowing what Allah wills or desires not only for humanity in general but also for oneself in particular, and then of doing what one believes to be Allah's will and pleasure each moment of one's life.
Probably you may be asking yourself why this article. Well, I thought I should raise this issue as per our culture of reminding each other, raising awareness and bring positive vision about Islam. This presentation is of personal perception and understanding of Islam and should not be taken as of Muslims in general or the other way round.
Okay, let’s go straight to the topic. I think to be a Muslim first and foremost, to believe in Allah, who is "Rabb al-'alamin": creator and sustainer of all peoples and universes. Integrated vision of the Qur’an does not separate belief in Allah and Allah's revelation ("iman") from righteous action ("'amal"), or regular remembrance of Allah ("salat") from regular discharge of one's financial and moral obligations to Allah's creatures ("zakat"). Thus, to be a Muslim means--in a fundamental way--to be both Allah-conscious and creature-conscious, and to understand the interconnectedness of all aspects of one's life, of the life of all creation and of our life in this transient world to life eternal.
In one hadith, prophets wife, Aisha (r.a) was asked about the prophet’s behaviour, she replied it was a Qur’an. The Prophet of Islam attained the highest degree of "'ubudiyat" (service of Allah) and became a model of righteous living not only as the spiritual and political leader of the Muslim "ummah", but also as a businessman, citizen, husband, father, friend, and a human being in general, and this is to say that that being a Muslim means more than seeking or worshiping Allah.
Being a Muslim is dependent essentially only upon one belief: belief in Allah, universal creator and sustainer who sends revelation for the guidance of humanity. Believing in Allah and Allah's revelation to and through the Prophet Muhammad, preserved in the Qur'an, is, however, not identical with accepting the "Shari'ah" as binding upon oneself.

IT IS A PERSONAL COMMITMENT.
To me being a Muslim today means taking a stand against those who insist that being a Muslim means following the trodden path and sanctifying tradition without subjecting it to serious reflection or critical observation. According to the holy Qur'an, Adam was elevated even above the celestial creatures on account of his capability to "name" things, i.e., to form concepts or to exercise the rational faculty (Surah 2: Al-Baqarah: 30-34) in one of the most significant passages of the Qur'an( Surah 33: Al-Ahzab: 72) we are told that Allah offered the "trust" of freedom of will to all creation but only humanity accepted it. What this says to me is that it is not only a right of Muslims, but also their duty--and indeed their glory--to think and to choose.
Being a Muslim today means not turning away in hatred or anger from those who regard Muslims as adversaries but engaging in dialogue with them in a spirit of amity and goodwill.31 Being a Muslim today means paying serious heed to the Qur'anic teaching that Allah, universal creator and sustainer, who cares for all and sends guidance to all, has decreed diversity for a reason, as the following passage tells us: "O men! Behold! We have created you out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another. Verily the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Behold, God is all-knowing, all-aware."1 What this passage says to me is that we should be mindful both of our unity and our diversity, that one of the basic purposes of diversity is to encourage diverse groups and persons to know one another, that a person's ultimate worth is determined not by what group he or she belongs to but how Allah-conscious he or she is.

Being a Muslim today means taking serious note of the Qur’an imperative, "Let there be no compulsion in religion, (Surah 2: AI-Baqarah: 256), knowing that the right to exercise free choice in matters of belief is unambiguously endorsed by the Qur'an, which says: "The Truth is/From your Lord:/ Let him who will/Believe, and let him/Who will, reject it." (Surah18:AI-Kahf: 29). Being a Muslim today also means realizing that by merely professing Islam we do not attain to Paradise, and that Muslims have no special claim upon Allah's grace, for the Qur'an tells us:

Those who believe (in the Qur'an)
And those who follow the Jewish (scriptures),
And the Christians and the Sabians,
Any who believe in God
And the Last Day,
And work righteousness,
Shall have their reward
With the Lord; on them
Shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve2

Finally, to me being a Muslim today--and always--means being on a journey, both external and internal, toward attaining a state of peace which is the goal of Islam. However, peace is not merely the absence of conflict, even as health is not merely the absence of sickness. YES, that’s it. According to the perspective of the Qur'an, peace is a positive state of safety or security in which one is free from anxiety and fear. It comes into being when human beings honoring the divine imperative to live justly, learn to be just to themselves and to others. Constant striving is required to overcome the fragmentation to which most human beings are subjected in the technological age and also to eliminate sexism, racism, classism, and all forms of totalitarianism which lead to the injustices and inequities which characterize the world in which we live. To engage in such striving (which the Qur'an calls 'jihad fi sabil Allah": striving in the cause of Allah) is the purpose of a Muslim's life.
                 
1 This passage (Surah 49: AI-Hujurat: 13) is taken from The Meaning of the Qur'an, translated by Muhammad Asad (Dar AI-Andalus, Gibraltar, 1980) p.793.
2 The Holy Qur'an, pp.33-34 (Surah 2: AI-Baqarah: 62) and The Holy Quran p.265 (Surah 5: AI-Ma'idah: 69).
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