Excuses, excuses, excuses.
Our lives are filled with excuses.
Admit it. Everytime we commit a sin or make a mistake, we tell ourselves (and others) that we do it for a reason. But, ironically, that’s mainly to erase the guilt, to justify our acts.
Like when Ashraf Sinclair was caught kissing his girlfriend, Bunga Citra Lestari and everyone was condemning them for doing so. His excuse was that he was swayed by love and love is supposed to ‘conquer’ all.
Or when Ulama’ annonced that the practice of Yoga is deviated from the teachings of Islam. Yoga enthusiats went on and on about how these religious scholars don’t understand the fact that it is just a form of exercise.
And when a friend of mine told me he went to a club in KL just to observe how clubbers have fun. His said he didn’t drink, he didn’t dance, he was merely observing.
Or when another friend told me everything she did which hurt others’ feelings was for reasons that I did, may and will not understand.
And when Muslims are told NOT to celebrate Halloween, party-goers claim that they are only learning other cultures. The same case as Valentine’s. Lovers (and ironically, mostly unmarried couples), staunchly stand by the fact that it is not wrong to ’spread’ love and to show ‘appreciation’ to the ‘love’ of their lives.
One question: When Allah question us on all these that fateful day at the Padang Mahsyar, are we all going to argue like we do now? “But My Lord…! I was only…”.
Another question: Does Allah care that we have those reasons to back us up?
Answer for both: NO. NO WAY.
Easy. Niat tidak menghalalkan cara. Ever.
My brother once asked me a question which his lecturer asked them all in class. What if, a Muslim religious scholar, goes into a remote village, to meet up a group of Orang Asli, with the aim to spread Islam to the people there and he is told that he needs to perform certain Orang Asli rituals and is guaranteed that once he performs those rituals, the 200 Orang Asli population in the village will accept Islam. Should the ustaz do those rituals which are clearly against Islamic teachings? Look at the number of new Muslim converts (or reverts) he would have managed to attract! I couldn’t answer the question so I asked a friend who has formal education in Islamic Studies and his answer was simple. NO, the Ustaz MUST NOT perform the rituals. In Islam, the ends do not justify the means. There is no such thing as doing evil for a greater good.
The example I gave above shows that even in relations to spreading Islam itself, we MUST not stoop to a lower level. Therefore, committing sins are wrong, no matter the reasons. Well, a ’sin’ itself means the action of breaking a religious or moral law.
Look at it this way.
If we see in the news a mother beats up her child up to a point where the child breaks a bone or two, we condemn the mother as an abuser even when she explains that what she does is only to discipline her unruly child.
Remember the case of the teacher who asked her students to get into the school’s dirty pond as a punishment? The incident caused an uproar even though the teacher explained that she did so as the students were being very indisciplined.
Or any case of a wife falling in love with another man who is not her husband. I can guarantee that our creative society will come up with interesting names to label that woman even though she explains that her husband does not provide enough for her.
Oh yes, I am sure many are familiar with the situations where we do not do well in exams or tests or quizzes and the lecturers scold us even though we explain that we have been bogged down with too many workload for other courses.
So you see here, even as (ir)rational human beings, we ourselves CANNOT accept excuses. But then we expect Our Lord to accept the silly excuses we give everytime we commit a sin?
Good friends and family we have around us serve as reminders. I am blessed everytime Syima reminds me that I must not dilly-dally in performing my prayers or when Mar reminds me that I must be thankful for everything I have or when Maira tells me I must never hurt anyone’s feelings as Allah loves those who take care of others’ feelings or when Atih tells me I must always be patient in dealing with everything in life or when he reminds me I must not buy things I do not need. I am blessed and loved everytime my parents and siblings scold me for the many mistakes I make everyday.
It is very hard to admit we are wrong. But if the people around us point out our mistakes, let us all try and ponder on those instead of arguing. Especially in relations to religion. If someone who clearly has better understanding in Islam than us points out that such and such is wrong according to the Qur’an and Sunnah, best we keep quiet and accept it. Sometimes we argue to look smart but we end up looking stupid.
This is also a reminder to myself with the aim to be a better Muslimah, InsyaAllah. =)
