What is the light of God?

The Prophet tells us that God created angels out of light. Light is a name of God, and the Koran tells us that "God is the light of the heavens and the earth" (24:35). In order to understand what angels are, we have to understand what light is. It will not help us much to think about light in physical terms. Rather, we have to grasp the signs that are revealed to us when we observe light.

Normally, we think of light as visible, but in fact, it is invisible. We can only see light when it is mixed with darkness. If there were only light and no darkness, we would be blinded by its intensity. Look at what happens when you gaze at the sun, which is 93 million miles away and is viewed through the earth's atmosphere. If we moved outside the atmosphere, just few miles closer to the sun, we could not possibly look at it for a moment without losing our eyesight. What we call visible light is pretty pale stuff. It can hardly compare with unfiltered sunlight, much less with the divine light, which illuminates the whole cosmos. Hence, it is said in Islam that God's light is so bright that people have all been blinded by it.

God is unseen, angels are unseen, and light is unseen. Thus it should not be surprising that God and angels are light. You might object and say that we see light shining everywhere, but we don't see angels or God. Don't we? Tawhid (Unity of God) is telling us that the signs are nothing but God's radiance, and the creatures are nothing but the outward marks of God's creative power. "God is the light of the heavens and the earth" (24:35), and the heavens and the earth are the radiance or the reflection of that light.

Light is invisible, but without light we see nothing. Hence, light can be defined as an invisible something that makes other things visible. So also, God and the angels are invisible, but without them there would be no universe. Hence, God and the angels can be described as invisible somethings that make the universe visible.

The opposite of light is darkness, and darkness is simply the absence of light. In other words, light is something, but darkness is nothing. We see things because a nothing has mixed with a something. We would not be able to see if there were only light, or if there were only darkness. Light and darkness must come together for vision to occur.

God is Light. The opposite of light is darkness, which is nothing. In other words, God has no real, existing opposite, since nothing is not really something. If nothing is there, how can we talk about opposites? Of course, we say that nothing is the opposite of something, but this nothing does not exist except as a figure of speech or as an object of supposition for the purpose of discussion and explication.

Are creatures' light or darkness? The answer, of course, is that they are neither, or that they are both. If they were light and nothing but light, they would be God, and if they were darkness and nothing but darkness, they would not exist. Hence they live in a never-never land that is neither light nor darkness.

In respect of tashbih, the creatures are light, but in respect of tanzih they are darkness. In other words, to the extent that things are similar to God, they are luminous, but to the extent that they are incomparable with God, they are dark. They must have some luminosity, or else they could not exist.

To dwell in darkness (relative darkness, that is, since absolute darkness does not exist) is to dwell in distance from God; it is to be dominated by the divine qualities of majesty and wrath, which keep things far from God. To dwell in light is to live in nearness to God; it is to be dominated by the qualities of beauty and mercy, which bring things close to God.

There is one light, and that light is God. There are many darknesses, since each creature represents darkness in relation to God. The deeper the darkness, the greater the distance from God. Absolute darkness does not exist, because it would be cut off from God in every respect. How can anything exist if it has no relationship whatsoever to the Real, which is the source of every quality?

Created things dwell in distance from God, in difference, in otherness. This is to say that they dwell in relative darkness. Relative darkness has many modes and forms, since there are an infinite number of ways in which things can be different from God. "Nothing is like Him," but each thing is unlike him in its own unique way.

Dwelling in difference means perceiving God from the perspective of tanzih and hence to be dominated by the attributes of severity, majesty, and wrath. The goal of religion is to bring about a movement from tanzih to tashbih, from distance to nearness, from difference to sameness, from manyness to oneness, from wrath to mercy, from darkness to light.

The Koran frequently explains that God's goal in creation is to bring about unity, and often it employs the terms light and darkness to make this point. The broad significance of such verses becomes clear as soon as one grasps the meaning of tawhid. Notice that in the following verses light is one, since light is an attribute of God, but the darknesses are many, since darkness is an attribute that assumes many forms in keeping with the diversity of creation:

Are the blind and the seeing man equal, or are the darknesses and the light equal? (13:16, 35:20)

It is He who sends down upon His servant signs, clear explications that He may bring you forth from the darknesses into the light. (57:9)

Why, is he who was dead, and We gave him life, and appointed for him a light to walk by among the people, as one who is in the darknesses, and comes not forth from them? (6:122)

It is He who performs the salat over you, and His angels, that He may bring you forth from the darknesses into the light. (33:43)

This last verse brings us back to the angels, who are created from light and are therefore able to assist God in giving light to the creatures who dwell in the visible world.

Source: Islamicity

Heaven

Heaven and Hell. Concepts of the afterlife found in most of the major religious traditions, heaven generally symbolizes an abode of bliss or a place of union with God, while hell symbolizes a place dominated by Satan or evil forces or a place far from God. In Judaism before the exile God was seen as residing in heaven; below the earth was she’ol, the realm of the dead, which was poorly defined. Zoroastrianism envisioned a celestial realm filled with light and occupied by Ahuramazda, and a realm of darkness and evil dominated by Ahriman. These ideas influenced Judaism in the fourth and fifth centuries B.C.E., when Jewish writers and thinkers lived under Persian rule; as a result Judaism acquired a belief in heaven and hell and the idea of Satan (from Ahriman).

Traditional Christian and Islamic ideas developed from Jewish notions. From popular Jewish and Greek notions, medieval Catholicism developed the idea of an intermediate stage, purgatory, where souls were punished for and purged of their sins and prepared for heaven; only the unrepentant were destined for hell. Islam views heaven as the reward of the true believer and hell as the destination of the infidel, though some will be released from hell after a period of suffering.

Early Hinduism gradually developed a concept of heaven as an abode where one enjoyed the pleasures of life but not the pains; a realm where one lived with, and like, the gods. The idea of hell as a shadowy, evil place, developed more gradually. With the rise of the idea of rebirth ("reincarnation") because of the accumulation of good or bad karma (actions), heaven and hell came to be seen by some Hindus as states into which one could occasionally be reborn, but the achievement of moksa (liberation) became the ultimate goal instead. Other Hindus spoke of a state of nirvana ("extinction"; bliss) and defined it variously as union with Ultimate Reality or unqualified communion with God. Buddhism developed out of later Hinduism and preserved the Hindu ideas of heavens, hells, karma, and rebirth, but redefined nirvana and viewed it as the ultimate goal. Some Buddhist sects, however, located the future Buddha in a level of heaven, the "Pure Land," and stated that faith in him could result in rebirth in the "Pure Land."

The Bahá’í Faith rejects the idea of heaven and hell as actual places. It views afterlife as involving progress through a series of spiritual realms, termed the Abhá ("Most Glorious")Kingdom. Depictions of the Abhá Kingdom are metaphorical, not literal, because the next life is a mystery that can not be adequately described. In the next world human beings remain in the human station–they can not progress to the station of, for example, a Manifestation of God–but in the human station they progress infinitely. The Abhá Kingdom possesses a spiritual hierarchy of stations, as the following passage from the Long Obligatory Prayer suggests: "I testify unto that whereunto have testified all created things, and the Concourse on High, and the inmates of the all-highest Paradise, and beyond them the Tongue of Grandeur itself from the all-glorious horizon. . ." (Bahá’í Prayers, 2d United States edition, 13). Bahá’u'lláh mentions a similar set of levels to the Abhá Kingdom in His mystical work, The Seven Valleys: "Others have called these the worlds of the Heavenly Court (Láhút), of the Empyrean Heaven (Jabarút), of the Kingdom of Angels (Malakút), and of the mortal world (Násút)" (The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, 25). Here Bahá’u'lláh is quoting Súfí ideas.

The Bahá’í Faith usually defines the concepts of heaven and hell as "restricted to this world" (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, 282) and "conditions within our own beings" (Shoghi Effendi, High Endeavors, 48). In other words, heaven and hell represent the state of the soul in its progress toward, or remoteness from, God, and its degree of obedience to divine law.

The Bahá’í scriptures also use heaven and hell as symbols and literary devices; these uses constitute the great majority of occasions where the words "heaven" and "hell" appear in the writings of the Báb, Bahá’u'lláh, `Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. Bahá’u'lláh notes that "in every instance, He hath given the term `heaven’ a special meaning" (Kitáb-i-Íqán, 68). Among the common uses are the following:

1. A literary device of contrast. This involves contrasting the word "heaven" with one of its opposites, such as: "make mention of Me on My earth, that in my heaven I may remember thee" (Bahá’u'lláh, Hidden Words, Arabic no. 43); "Creator of earth and heaven" (Bahá’u'lláh, Proclamation of Bahá’u'lláh, 58); "satanic conduct can not be turned into heavenly behavior" (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, 39); "all the keys of heaven God hath chosen to place on My right hand, and all the keys to hell on My left" (the Báb, quoted in Promised Day is Come, 43).

2. A symbol denoting the "loftiness and exaltation" of something (Bahá’u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, 66): hence "the heaven of the religion of God" (Bahá’u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, 40); "enter the heaven of communion with Me" (Bahá’u'lláh, Hidden Words, Persian no. 8); "he. . . hasteneth to the heaven of inner significance" (Bahá’u'lláh, The Seven Valleys, 12); "the foundations of idle fancies have trembled, and the heaven of vain imaginings hath been cleft asunder" (Bahá’u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u'lláh, 119); "the heaven of statesmanship is made luminous and resplendent by the brightness of the light of these blessed words" (Bahá’u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u'lláh, 166).

3. As part of a term referring to the Manifestation of God: "Birds of Heaven" (Bahá’u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, 211, 254; Tablets of Bahá’u'lláh, 261); the "melody of the dove of heaven" (Bahá’u'lláh, Hidden Words, Persian no. 8); ". . . that they may recognize Him Who is the Day-Star of Thy Revelation, the Dawning-Place of Thy signs, the heaven of Thy manifestation" (Bahá’u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u'lláh, 114).

4. As part of a symbol of revelation or the source of revelation. The term "Maid of Heaven" is the most common example of this usage (Bahá’u'lláh, Gleanings, 91; Tablets of Bahá’u'lláh, 251). "Heaven of divine Revelation" also occurs (Bahá’u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, 44).

5. As a symbol or part of a term referring to God: "neither [man nor woman] is superior to the other in the eyes of heaven" (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, 162); "raise your suppliant hands to the heaven of the one God" (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Secret of Divine Civilization, 2).

6. Rarely, as a metaphor for the Abhá Kingdom: ". . . the Supreme Concourse, the angels of heaven and the dwellers of the Kingdom of El-Abhá" (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, 527).

7. Occasionally the term is used literally: "we are waves of one sea, grass of the same meadow, stars in the same heaven" (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Promulgation of Universal Peace, 174); "the heaven which doth not exist at all, for it is but space" (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of `Abdu’l-Bahá, 168).

The term hell is used much more rarely in the Bahá’í scriptures than the term "heaven," and possesses a similar range of symbolic meanings. Use of "hell" as a contrast to the term "heaven" or some other positive idea is most common; for example "they hasten forward to hell fire, and mistake it for light" (Bahá’u'lláh, Gleanings, 42). Just as "heaven" is occasionally used to symbolize the Abhá Kingdom, "hell" is occasionally used as a symbol for this world: "In truth, [upon death] from hell it [the soul] reaches a paradise of delights" (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í World Faith, 327). "Hell" is also used to symbolize evil: "shun the manifestations of the people of hell" (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í World Faith, 431)

Keys to Happiness

Happiness is the only goal on earth that all people without exception are seeking to attain. Believers and unbelievers alike seek to be happy.

Know that if you do not live within the scope of today , your thoughts will be scattered , your affairs will become confused , and your anxiety will increase . These realities are explained in the following hadith : “When you are in the evening , do not expect to see the morning , and when you are in the morning , do not expect to see the evening.” ( Al-Bukhari).

Forget the past and all that it contained ; being absorbed in things that are past and gone is sheer lunacy.

Do not be preoccupied with the future because the future is in the world of the Unseen; do not let it bother you until it comes.

Do not be shaken by criticism ; instead , be firm. Be sure that in proportion to your worth , the level of people’s criticism rises. Also , make good use of criticism in discovering your shortcomings and faults, and let it drive you toward self-improvement. And do not expect gratitude from anyone.

Have certain faith in Allah the Almighty and perform good deeds; these are the ingredients that make up a good and happy life. And if you desire peace, tranquility, and comfort, you can find it all in the remembrance of Allah the Almighty.

You should know with certainty that everything that happens occurs in accordance with divine decree. And train yourself to be prepared for the worst eventuality.

Enumerate the blessings of Allah the Almighty and be thankful for them. And know that you are better off than many others.

In both times of hardship and ease, one should turn to supplication and Prayer , either patiently contented or thankful. Indeed, relief comes from one hour to the next . indeed, with each difficulty there is relief.

Calamities should strengthen your heart and reshape your outlook in a positive way. Do not let trivialities be the cause of your destruction.

Always remember that your Lord is Oft-Forgiving . Assume an easy-going attitudes and avoid anger.

Bear in mind the fact that Allah the Almighty loves those who endure trials with steadfastness, and seek to be one of them.

Work hard at something that is productive, and cast off idleness.

Do not spread rumors and do not listen to them . If you hear a rumor inadvertently, do not believe it.

Know that your malice and your striving to seek revenge are much more harmful to your health than they are to you antagonist.

The hardships that befall you atone for your sins, if you show patience.

Accepting Allah in Our Lives

This is the message of peace, the message of salvation. This is the message of liberation from being enslaved to mundane things that keep shackling souls with worries and sorrows.


This is a call from the One Who controls everything, calling you, humankind, to submit!

Submit your life to Him and be calm. Make your motto of life La ilaha illa Allah (There is no god but Allah).

By this motto, you testify to your incapacity as a creature provided with limited faculties. You testify that everything in the universe belongs to Him and whatever He wants will come to pass in the way and the time He wants. You testify to your being created by Him in the way He wants:

[He it is Who shapes you in the wombs as He likes; there is no god but He, the Mighty, the Wise.](Aal `Imran 3:6)

But despite His absolute power to do everything in anyway He likes, what we notice is that out of His infinite mercy He made everything perfect, created you and all what you see around you in the most beautiful way that we all behold:

[He has created the heavens and the earth in just proportions, and has given you shape and made your shapes beautiful: And to Him is the final Goal.](At-Taghabun 64:3)

[No want of proportion will you see in the Creation of (Allah) Most Gracious. So turn your vision again: See you any flaw? Again turn your vision a second time: (Your) vision will come back to you dull and discomfited, in a state worn out.](Al-Mulk 67:3-4)

Due to His mercy the abnormalities are subject to the law of rarity; that is, ever since the creation of Heaven and earth and the creation of Adam up to the present day, there is not any irregularity in the pattern of creation, and whatever few abnormalities that we see are also subject to His divine wisdom.

Despite all the constant recklessness of humankind, painful consequences never occur in a proportional measure, subhan Allah (glory be to Allah)! Compared to the high rate of speed-limit violations, how many accidents occur daily? Very few! Actually, His mercy exceeds His wrath.

[Whatever misfortune happens to you is because of the things your hands have wrought, and for many (of them) He grants forgiveness.](Ash-Shura 42:30)

Another point here is, your testifying to Allah's almighty power is an explicit recognition of your limit as a human being. By pronouncing the words "la ilaha illa Allah," you are actually surrendering your limited power to the mighty Lord of unlimited power; you submit your will to Him. This is Islam.

But this attestation can never be genuine if it is not accompanied by love, because faith without love is dead. If you do not love Him, you will not genuinely obey Him. This is different from relationships between mortals where hypocrisy can prevail, making it hard to distinguish between genuine and fake love.

But with Almighty Allah everything is transparent, so when we talk about this highest degree of love we talk about something that is not tainted with any hypocrisy or deceit. So the true and genuine Shahadah in Islam is the one coated with love: loving Allah, which of course is the sublime love. This love will automatically make it easier to show full obedience to His commands,

[Say: If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your faults](Aal `Imran 3:31).

Thus you will find yourself spontaneously pronouncing the phrase "Muhammad Rasul Allah" (Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) which is the second part of Shahadah in Islam.

Then bit by bit you will find yourself on a very smooth spiritual path whereby the relationship you have developed with Allah will direct light into your heart, melting away darkness. Thus the phrase "la ilaha illa Allah" will echo in all what you do, what you see, what you hear, etc.

That is, it will develop into a conviction in your innermost self, reassuring you that it is through His command and wishes that everything happens. Hence this conviction is iman (faith) reposing in your heart. Henceforth your manners will be in proportional compatibility with that faith. That means you have accepted Allah into your life.

A Hungarian Christian who Became Muslim

This is her story :

My name is Aysha, and I am from North Hungary. I heard about Islam when I was in secondary school in the history lessons, because Hungary was under occupation by Turkey for 150 years.

After that I went to university to study molecular biology, where I met many Muslim foreign students.

I was always curious why Muslims are so proud that they are Muslims.

I was Catholic, a good one, but I always had doubts and I didn't agree with some parts of my religion: for example, how can God have a son and the concept of the Trinity was also not believable for me.

Then I started to talk with my friends, and one time, when we were having dinner and the Adhan started, one of my friends asked me to stop it, but I said no. I was very much impressed by it and something surely touched my heart.

Then I don't know why at that summer I downloaded a Quran program. I was listening to it in Arabic and was reading it in English. Then I was thinking a lot about Islam and I was reading many books about it.

But then, after two months of thinking I finally chose Islam. I declared Shahadah in front of two of my friends. I said: La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad rasul Allah (I bear witness there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah)


He told me you will never understand Islam, because you were not born as a Muslim!

I chose Islam against my culture and my family, especially my mom.

After that, Ramadan started and I decided that I will start my new life in Islam with Ramadan. Alhamdulilah (thank God), I made it successfully.

I started to offer prayer on the 4th of August. It was very hard for me at the beginning because people around me were not that practicing Muslims, so I couldn't ask anyone.

I learnt how to pray by myself from the Internet, because no one showed me how to pray or how to make wudu (ablution), or what invocation to say before it or how to do ghusl (ritual cleansing of the body) or what are the etiquettes and the rulings of Islam.

Once I had a friend and he made me really down. He told me you will never understand Islam, because you were not born as a Muslim. When I told him I want to start fasting Ramadan, he said it is not just about being hungry. At that time I was so new to Islam, I had converted just a month before he said that.

At that time I got so scared, what if I will never learn how to pray in Arabic? What if I don't do it the correct way? And I didn't have hijab (head scarf) or a rug to pray on, and I didn't get any help. So I had lots of fears.

My mom would say: "I gave birth to a Christian child not to a veiled Muslim."
But when I started to pray, I was thinking God must be smiling on me now. Because I used to write down the text of the ritual prayer on a paper and its instructions,and I kept my papers in my right hand and read loudly and then bow down and read again and so on. I'm sure I was looking so funny. But afterwards I succeeded to memorize it in the Arabic language so then there was no problem.

Then I came to Facebook and got many new friends and many sisters. From online sisters I got so much love and courage. Then a Muslim man proposed to me and he got me my first hijab and prayer rug and an Islamic book. And I got my first Arabic Quran from Jordan by post because we cannot buy it here. Now it is more than a year that I wear hijab.

I went through a very bad period with my mom. She would say to me that I will be a terrorist and I will leave her as I left my religion and I will leave my country too. She would put all pork things in the fridge and I would refuse to eat it so it turns into a big argument.

She couldn't stand seeing me praying or seeing me in hijab. So I pray upstairs in my room. She would never look at me when I'm in hijab and she would say: "I gave birth to a Christian child not to a veiled Muslim."

So we had serious problems, but I was never harsh or rude with her. But alhamdulilah (thank God) she calmed down now and she seems accepting that I converted. I'm really thankful to Allah for that. Now I go out in hijab, and she doesn't say anything.

I was not talking with my father for all my life and he didn't want to see me. But now, because of Islam, I opened towards him so now he visits us regularly.

Yes, my life is a big test but I thank God for it and I have patience and hope. On the Day of Judgment I will be very thankful for them. So I'm trying to be better and better and learn more and more to understand my religion.

I believe everything is predestined, so whatever Allah has decreed that will happen to me I cannot change, but I can choose to live my life nicely.

I try helping others now in Debrecen. I organized a project to collect second hand clothes for refugee camp people. There are a lot of Muslims there who don't have a home because of wars. So we collected clothes and we went there and I made them Pakistani bread, for children and for females, they were so happy and it was so nice to see them.

I used to raise my voice if somebody says anything that bothers me. But now I am showing example everywhere I go.

I'm trying to guide also those who want to convert or just converted. I met with two Hungarian sisters, the other day, and they have just converted to Islam. So I gave them books, and my prayer rug and a copy of the Quran, so alhamdulilah we prayed together and they were really happy.

I always try to leave the image that we Muslims are nice, friendly and we have a good heart.

I converted one and a half years ago. Now I am learning Arabic, to be able to read the Quran. I read Quran in Hungarian, I offer prayers five times a day, I try to follow the Quran and the Sunnah, and I read many books to understand better.

Peace be unto you AYSHA.


Read more: here

Existence of God According to Our Scriptures

How can you deny ALLAH and you were without life and He gave you life? Again, He will cause you to die and again bring you back to life, then you shall be brought back to Him. He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. And He directed Himself to the heaven, so He made them complete seven heavens; and He is Knower of all things. (Holy Quran 2: 28,29)

Say: Who gives you sustenance from the heaven and the earth, or who controls the hearing and the sight, and who brings forth the living from the dead, and brings forth dead from the living? And who regulates the affair? They will say: ALLAH. Say then: Will you not then guard against evil? Such then is ALLAH, your true Lord. And what is there after the truth but error? How then are you turned away!

Thus does the word of thy Lord prove true against those who transgress that they believe not. Say: Is there anyone among your associate-gods who produces the first creation, then reproduces it? Say: ALLAH produces the first creation, then He reproduces it. How are you turned away! (Holy Quran 10: 31-34)

Who created the heavens and the earth, and sends down for you water from the cloud? Then We cause to grow thereby beautiful gardens – it is not possible for you to make the trees thereof to grow. Is there a god with ALLAH? Nay, they are a people who deviate!

Or, Who made the earth a resting-place, and made in it rivers, and raised on it mountains, and placed between the two seas a barrier? Is there a god with ALLAH? Nay, most of them know not!

Or, Who answers the distressed one when he calls upon Him and removes the evil, and will make you successors in the earth? Is there a god with ALLAH? Little is it that you mind!

Or, Who guides you in the darkness of the land and sea, and Who sends the winds as good news before his Mercy? Is there a god with ALLAH? Exalted be ALLAH above what they associate with Him!

Or Who originates the creation, then reproduces it, and Who gives you sustenance from the heaven and the earth? Is there a god with ALLAH? Say: Bring your proof it you are truthful. (Holy Quran 27: 60-64)

He (ALLAH) causes the night to enter in upon the day, and causes the day to enter in upon the night, and He has made subservient the sun and the moon, each one moves to an appointed time. This is ALLAH, your Lord; His is the kingdom. And those whom you call upon besides Him own not a straw. (Holy Quran 35: 13)

ALLAH it is Who created you from dust, then from a small life-germ, then from a clot, then He brings you forth as a child, then that you may attain your maturity, then that you may be old; and of you are some who die before and that you may reach an appointed term, and that you may understand.

He it is Who gives life and causes death, so when He decrees an affair, He only says to it, Be, and it is. (Holy Quran 40: 67, 68)

Whatever is in the heavens and the earth declares the glory of ALLAH, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He gives life and causes death; and He is the Possessor of power over all things. He is the First and the Last and the Manifest and the Hidden, and He is Knower of all things. He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods, and He is established on the Throne of Power. He knows that which goes down into the earth and that which comes forth out of it, and that which comes down from heaven and that which goes up to it. And He is Seer of what you do. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; and to ALLAH are all affairs returned. He causes the night to pass into the day, and causes the day to pass into the night. And He is Knower of what is in the hearts. (Holy Quran 57: 1-6)

The Power of a Smile

"Well, believe it or not, I owe my being a Muslim today to a simple warm smile", said Stacey, an Australian friend of mine who had just become Muslim a couple of years ago.

She explained that the reason that made her interested to know about Islam was a very optimistic and cheerful young lady named Sarah, who used to work with her at the same company.

"I did not know her well, but I always felt there was something unique about her", added Stacey.

She explained how Sarah used to help everyone, looked cheerful and optimistic, and her mind always seemed free of troubles. Stacey wanted to know the secret, so she decided to get in direct contact with Sarah.

One day, Stacey decided to directly ask the young lady about the secret of her being always positive and optimistic.

"My religion helps me apply that! I'm a Muslim, you know," replied Sarah. She then started explaining how being a Muslim affects how you think, act, and feel towards yourself and towards others around you.

That was when Stacey decided to learn more about this wonderful religion that does not only address a person's spiritual relationship with God, but also, their communication skills when dealing with others around them.

A lot of people wrongly believe that in order to look respectable, they have to have a serious frown on their faces, so that others would feel that seriousness, and consequently respect them. Well, not in Islam. Islam always encourages Muslims to be optimistic and cheerful. That is basically because they believe in destiny.

Muslims believe that whatever happens in their lives only happens for their best, and that Allah is always watching over them wherever they are. Even when things seem really complicated, true Muslims believe deep down inside them that Allah's wisdom is behind all of that, and that soon enough, everything will turn to be just fine.

Muslims try not to worry so much about the future and what lies ahead. That does not mean that they do not always think about it; they definitely do, but they set clear goals, and plan for the steps they need to take in order to achieve these goals. However, after that, they stop worrying and put their full trust in Allah, leaving everything to His wisdom and mercy.
Prophet Muhammad himself was always said to have been cheerful, optimistic, and smiling. His face used to shine with the light of gratefulness to Allah, even though he faced so many hardships that no other human being could have ever endured. He was sure deep inside him that Allah is always there, looking over him, and changing his life to the better.
He (peace be upon him) also taught us to do the same. He even said that when a Muslim smiles to another Muslim, it's as if he or she has done a charitable action. (Al-Bukhari)

While practicing Islam, each one of us has the responsibility of showing the real Muslim character to others around us. It has been always said that actions speak louder than words, so the way we interact with others leaves a more profound effect than the actual content of the words we speak.

Believe it or not, body language does have a huge effect in communicating with others; "It’s not what you say, it's how you say it."

What is interesting about the smile is its power. It is surprisingly contagious among all people from different backgrounds, cultures, genders, ethnicities, and ages. It is the kind of language everyone understands. It has the power of making people feel special and appreciated, as it spreads positive energy all around the place.

Even according to psychology, smiling is considered a very healthy thing to do every now and then. Try it yourself: can you look at someone who is smiling at you and not smile back? I doubt that! I guess it is part of human nature just to smile back at someone who's smiling at you. We do it without even thinking.

To sum all that up, there is only one statement that I keep on reminding myself with; "I am a Muslim, and I have the most merciful God ever, so why should I even worry about anything, when I know deep down inside that everything happening to me is for my best interest?"
I encourage everyone out there to start practicing this healthy habit, spread positive energy all around, and get lots and lots of reward from Allah because of the charity being performed while smiling.

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