COVERED Edition 4 Issue 5 | Page 8

REALITY______________________________________________________________________ S ome laws may be more difficult to understand than others, you could work at trusting and accepting what He says and also finding the reasons for why the laws are as so. You also need to be cautious in terms of accepting everything that was taught in society or by elders, they are not always correct. Fact checking and understanding the sources of information passed along is also necessary. How many of us believed that leaving the musalla open or the Quran, means that shaytaan (satan) would pray on them? Ummm if shaytaan prayed, wouldn’t that make him a really good guy? Let him pray more in that case. It makes no logical sense, nor on there any proof that such statements are true. The musalla is open all day in the mosque, is it not? These ideas were probably passed onto children in a fear-based manner to possibly remind them to put away a musalla or respect the Quran and close it when they were not reading it. What about all the wedding customs we have? Are they religious or cultural? The idea of having a prayer or idea related to a certain number of days after death as having some significance is a custom from India, related to some of the religious and cultural sects there. It isn’t an Islamic teaching. Understanding why and how we should be abiding to the laws sent down to us could make it significantly better for all of us and in teaching children, could cause a world of change for us. Every person operates differently. For some, a fear-based method or reward system works, for others, it is logic and understanding, for some it is method of sentiment, love, connection and feeling. So why not go a holistic method in teaching? And why not teach matters that actually impact us and will give you the tools to live life optimally? That means, for example, instead of saying: "well God said we should pray, so do it or you will go to hell." Why not try this: Prayer is so much more than a ritual or an up-down exercise. It recalibrates your moral compass, reminds you of goodness. You begin your day being reminded that you should go about your day with goodness and honesty, in the middle of the day and towards the end of the day, you break away from work and remember to instil positivity, goodness, honesty and morality in what you do, even if others do not treat you the same, there will always be justice. It reminds you to be good, because when you are good, you attract good. Things will come together for you, even if they take time to. At the end of the day you do it again. You instil hope throughout the day that there is ALWAYS someone there for you, even when everything is against you. We as human beings, were created in the form of mind, body and soul. Prayer covers each of them. You calm your mind and meditate when you pray, you release stress and the wash you do before prayers, targets your pressure points, calming you and refreshing you. The body is exercised and stretched as you move into the different positions. Your soul is recalibrated and you as a human being are made up of energy, the prayer releases negative energy through the words uttered, through the actions, through grounding. The positive forms of energy from the prayer allow you to attract good things to yourself such as protection, blessings and peace. God has made is compulsory because it is good for your being and your nature as your human being. It is more a gift for you than a ritual or sacrifice for Him. Instead of saying that you will go to hell for drinking alcohol or sleeping around, why not research it, why not understand why God loved us enough to say no to us? Alcohol does have some benefit in it, God tells us this, but the harm is more than the good, hence he said no and forbade it for us. It is an addictive substance, it is the reason behind countless innocent deaths, rapes, abuse and injuries. It causes defects in births. It is absorbed by the bloodstream and can affect almost every organ in the body. It puts you out of your sense and can make the most respectable of men, demean themselves and trash the basic boundaries of respect and morality and the rights of others. 8