fatimah
04-24-2006, 04:44 AM
:salamalaikum:
Dilemmas of the Muslim student: Between Clubbing & the Qur'an
Muslims at university are faced with many problems, obstacles and challenges. Whether they are in their home cities or have moved, having left home for the first time. They prepare themselves for the problems of coping with the workload, organising their time, accommodation and coursework. Although these problems are real and cannot be overlooked they are just the tip of the iceberg.
Ironically in the first week at university the first problems they face will not be organising their time or coping with the workload. In the first weeks they’re likely to be invited to a party by their department, their colleagues will invite them to go clubbing and the Student Union will invite everyone to a pub-crawl. At the fresher’s fair every society will try and sign them up including the clubbing society with their promises of cheap beer and discounts at the clubs.
This leaves Muslims with a real dilemma: should we go with the flow and compromise our identity or stick to our principles and risk being called "anti-social". So how do Muslim students face this dilemma?
Differing responses
Some people will accept everything that comes their way and totally forget Islam. So they may not pray all year and when the media attacks Islam they may even agree because of the negligence they have committed. This is seen as extreme; more commonly people choose to take the ‘middle ground’. So they enjoy the pubs and clubs but still pray on a Friday, they would indulge in drugs but would never touch a ham sandwich.
As term progresses, more and more Muslims forget Islam until this becomes normality. This is the natural consequence of taking the common ground. It is then thoughtby some that the one who drinks but does not get drunk is compromising Islam.
Accepting compromise is the basic reason behind the identity crisis within Muslims at university. Compromise is what leads people to ‘relax’ some parts of Islam that don't seem to fit in to their new lifestyle. This is why many Muslims limit Islam to something they do every Friday or when they return home for the holidays.
Many see nothing wrong with the ideas of "live life to the max" or "you only live once", dreaming that after student life they will settle down and then think about Islam. Others may fully engage in their study, greeting fellow Muslims with complimentary Assalamu Alaikum, but leave Islam on the shelf.
Muslims may even lose their emotion for Islam, becoming numb to the problems the Muslims are facing around the world, justifying to themselves that it doesn’t directly affect them or that they are only problems for the people of that nationality.
An Invitation to Think
As Muslims, we are always in danger of falling into the traps of society, of abandoning our beliefs.In fact we must look at the facts that are available within Islam and adapt these facts to the everyday lives that are lead.
Although basic, many of us dont think deep enough to acknowledge that we are Muslim by choice and that as muslims we are ordered to follow the religion of Islam,not only for the fact that our parents may be muslim but for the pure reason being that Islam is the only logical belief that we must believe in.
Some of us when posed with this thought may say, “Islam is the truth” but when questioned further as to how to prove or show these facts within Islam may give a vague reply.
We need to realise that Islam is the definite truth. Islam is not a belief like those of other religions and creeds, which resort to notions that do not make sense or are not accpeted by the mind. Rather we know for sure that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’aala) exists without a place and that the Qur’an is the word of Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala). The proof of Allah’s (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) existence and power is found in our surroundings, which leads to the fact that everything in the universe could not have resulted out of nothing as some may claim.
We should acquire the knowledge of our belief and our identity so that we have no doubts and can easily refute any of the arguments that the society may bombards us with.
Sticking to Islam
As Muslims having firm belief in Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) and certainty in the fact that the Qur’an is guidance from Him, we can build our lives according to Islam and must shun the notions that get in the way of doing so.
We should realise that restricting Islam to a visit to the mosque or merely eating Halal food is compromising our position both in this life and in the hereafter. We are accountable for all our actions and upon this basis Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) will assign to us Jannah (paradise) or Jahannam (hellfire).
Whilst at university individuals spend hours of thought upon the topics of their courses and even their social lives. But when we sit and think strongly about this life we come to the realisation that the most definite thing that will happen to all of us in this life is death, it would be irrational for us to ignore the inevitable and attempt to escape thinking about it as so many people do.
Dilemmas of the Muslim student: Between Clubbing & the Qur'an
Muslims at university are faced with many problems, obstacles and challenges. Whether they are in their home cities or have moved, having left home for the first time. They prepare themselves for the problems of coping with the workload, organising their time, accommodation and coursework. Although these problems are real and cannot be overlooked they are just the tip of the iceberg.
Ironically in the first week at university the first problems they face will not be organising their time or coping with the workload. In the first weeks they’re likely to be invited to a party by their department, their colleagues will invite them to go clubbing and the Student Union will invite everyone to a pub-crawl. At the fresher’s fair every society will try and sign them up including the clubbing society with their promises of cheap beer and discounts at the clubs.
This leaves Muslims with a real dilemma: should we go with the flow and compromise our identity or stick to our principles and risk being called "anti-social". So how do Muslim students face this dilemma?
Differing responses
Some people will accept everything that comes their way and totally forget Islam. So they may not pray all year and when the media attacks Islam they may even agree because of the negligence they have committed. This is seen as extreme; more commonly people choose to take the ‘middle ground’. So they enjoy the pubs and clubs but still pray on a Friday, they would indulge in drugs but would never touch a ham sandwich.
As term progresses, more and more Muslims forget Islam until this becomes normality. This is the natural consequence of taking the common ground. It is then thoughtby some that the one who drinks but does not get drunk is compromising Islam.
Accepting compromise is the basic reason behind the identity crisis within Muslims at university. Compromise is what leads people to ‘relax’ some parts of Islam that don't seem to fit in to their new lifestyle. This is why many Muslims limit Islam to something they do every Friday or when they return home for the holidays.
Many see nothing wrong with the ideas of "live life to the max" or "you only live once", dreaming that after student life they will settle down and then think about Islam. Others may fully engage in their study, greeting fellow Muslims with complimentary Assalamu Alaikum, but leave Islam on the shelf.
Muslims may even lose their emotion for Islam, becoming numb to the problems the Muslims are facing around the world, justifying to themselves that it doesn’t directly affect them or that they are only problems for the people of that nationality.
An Invitation to Think
As Muslims, we are always in danger of falling into the traps of society, of abandoning our beliefs.In fact we must look at the facts that are available within Islam and adapt these facts to the everyday lives that are lead.
Although basic, many of us dont think deep enough to acknowledge that we are Muslim by choice and that as muslims we are ordered to follow the religion of Islam,not only for the fact that our parents may be muslim but for the pure reason being that Islam is the only logical belief that we must believe in.
Some of us when posed with this thought may say, “Islam is the truth” but when questioned further as to how to prove or show these facts within Islam may give a vague reply.
We need to realise that Islam is the definite truth. Islam is not a belief like those of other religions and creeds, which resort to notions that do not make sense or are not accpeted by the mind. Rather we know for sure that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’aala) exists without a place and that the Qur’an is the word of Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala). The proof of Allah’s (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) existence and power is found in our surroundings, which leads to the fact that everything in the universe could not have resulted out of nothing as some may claim.
We should acquire the knowledge of our belief and our identity so that we have no doubts and can easily refute any of the arguments that the society may bombards us with.
Sticking to Islam
As Muslims having firm belief in Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) and certainty in the fact that the Qur’an is guidance from Him, we can build our lives according to Islam and must shun the notions that get in the way of doing so.
We should realise that restricting Islam to a visit to the mosque or merely eating Halal food is compromising our position both in this life and in the hereafter. We are accountable for all our actions and upon this basis Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) will assign to us Jannah (paradise) or Jahannam (hellfire).
Whilst at university individuals spend hours of thought upon the topics of their courses and even their social lives. But when we sit and think strongly about this life we come to the realisation that the most definite thing that will happen to all of us in this life is death, it would be irrational for us to ignore the inevitable and attempt to escape thinking about it as so many people do.