Saleha Bakhtiar, London
Scrolling through alislam.org, the structure of the website reminded me of my very first (Power Point) presentation on God. In Year five we were given access to the internet to make a project on something we felt passionate about. So, there I sat in front of a computer, struggling to copy an extract on the Unity of God (Allah) while manoeuvring the left click on the mouse with my mini hands. Being impressed by the passage’s completeness in describing the truth, I pasted the words in a Power Point slide, changed the font and added a nice bright background, then sat back and looked proudly at the screen and thoroughly read again the passage containing words I could not yet pronounce.
Talking of technology, we are reminded of how fast paced the world has become. Along with tremendous discoveries and advances, I fear these luxuries may have a stronger hold over our lives than we do ourselves. As little as internet lagging causes so much distress and agitation, which I too am a victim of, we may be losing ourselves as we gradually trade our morality and humanity to fulfil our materialistic means. However, we forget that by renouncing our basic spirituality we also lose the means to recognise, let alone honour, God Almighty. His Holiness Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad (may Allah be pleased with him), the second Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, states “God reminds people of their initial state and says they have been created from something [as insignificant as] a sperm drop and the further back they trace their beginnings the more insignificant they become, therefore, they could not have been their own creators.”[1] Clearly after reading this one cannot help but pause and contemplate the life gifted to them by Ar-Rahman, The Gracious God; Ar Raheem, The Merciful – the reason why we are still able to reap pleasures from this world only due to His repetitive pardon regardless of our countless shortcomings and ungratefulness.
What I’m trying to say is, Allah is Beautiful and ‘the philosophy of Islamic worship is to establish a loving relationship between Allah and His creatures, which is not possible unless we know and understand the attributes of Allah.’[2] The satisfaction we will gain from doing so will satisfy us in a way none of these worldly distractions are capable of. ‘So, it is necessary that while praying to Allah, we should invoke the appropriate attribute of Allah. In this way, Allah the Exalted would accept our prayers abundantly.[3]
This Ramadan I took it upon myself to research, learn and revisit everything I possibly could in the holy month. This process of getting to understand my faith and experience the pure attributes of Allah fulfilled me and gave me such pleasure I could not find elsewhere. I felt a bit like J.D. Salinger where he writes “I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot.”
Having said that, later I became busy and unable to pursue this passion fully yet I would still try to read Islamic books before bed and learn new prayers. Soon, like an addict, I started feeling agitated by my lack of spiritual knowledge and its detachment. I prayed as I felt lost and again, I went to my trusty alislam website and in the search bar typed in my worries, yet this time with mature hands. The first result was “Devotion of Life” a book about the companions of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). It was exactly what I needed; inspired with every comment, a tear would run down my cheeks, while the points mentioned not only touched my heart but strengthened my motivation to keep learning more about Islam. While it’s only Allah Who can guide us and put blessings in our path, I feel anyone who is in my position would really benefit from reading the following quote:
His Holiness Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad (may Allah be pleased with him), states:
I did not understand and still do not understand why this love and passion to serve Islam was put in my nature, but I do know this much that this passion is very old. So, it was due to this passion and desire that I prayed to Allah the Exalted that may I be the one to perform the task of Tabligh* of Islam and I thank God that He gave me great glad-tidings in response to my prayers. You are the people that have been chosen by God and this is a reward of my prayers that He has shown me. Seeing this I am convinced that He Himself will make all other necessary arrangements and shall exhibit these glad-tidings by materialising them.”[3]
*To convey the message of Islam
References
Official Blog of Ahmadiyya Muslim Women's Association UK 
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