What It Means To Be A Muslim: A Poem by: Dr. Rafey Habib

What it Means to be a Muslim

To be Muslim, we must believe
In the One God, His prophets, His last prophet.
We must pray, feed the poor, fast,
And make sacred our pilgrimage.

But this is not all.
We must be clean, at all times,
As when we come before our God.
We must be modest in our dress, both
Woman and man.
We must speak gently, not too loud,
And not walk proudly upon this earth
For one day we will meet our God.
This is the Prophets example.

We must care for our parents, and
Families; we must love our spouse, be true
To her or him, and bring up our children
In tender knowing of right and wrong.

But this is not all:
We must be honest in all our dealings:
Of business or home or work.
We must be honest with all, with
Muslims and non-Muslims.

It is not enough to pray and fast
And read the Holy Book; this is
Not all the Prophet taught; though he
Spent his night cloaked in prayer, in
His day, he changed the world.

So this is not all; we
Must also do good works,
Seek knowledge, teach, change,
Change the small
Part that is our world.

We must care for our communities:
For their welfare, their health
And cleanliness; we must strive to
Be upright, aim high in all things,
Especially in giving.

Revelation must come to us
Just as it came to him. We
Must struggle and strive
And learn the patience of
His vision. To find God,
You must first find yourself.

No matter what people say or do
You must act kindly, act with patience,
Your words must bring a smile,
Your bearing must be gentle.

If you practise Islam, you
You will eat and drink
In moderation. Bowing
In prayer will keep you humble,
Even supple; your fasting
Will purify you inside.
Your charity will make you
Strong. Your pilgrimage (all
Life long) will bring you
Peace.

And all of this will
Make you smile, will
Bring release from the
Long days toil and
The nights care, will
Make you sweet
In His image.

And one last thing: if you
Truly believe, you must
Know: He knows you: there
Is no hiding, no deceiving, He knows
Why you do what you do:
Your deepest motive, your
Most hidden thought. His gaze
Holds not only time and space
But all the depth behind
Your face. To answer
Him, you must answer first
Yourself.

So outer faith is not enough:
We must be pure inside:
Our deepest heart
Must pulse with love
For our Creator, and
His creatures: this
Is the longest, hardest
Pilgrimage:

The souls journey
To itself. Through sin, through
The darkness, endless depth, over
Sea and desert sand
To where it all began:
Footsteps of archangel,
Voice of God to man.

Our only faith
Is the faith that fills
Our words and actions
In the love of sister, brother.
Our only light
Is the Light of God.
No other.

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• What
• It
• Means
• To
• Be
• Muslim:
• Poem
• by:
• Dr.
• Rafey
• Habib

[jrswordfish1]

what an absolutely worthless piece of poem. an utter disgrace to the humankind.

an attempt to handle insecurity albeit evolutionary trait with an imaginary character starting in humble ways has turned out to be the terroristic nuisance that we see today. the blind belief, uneducated and unscientific scribblings of the poem is a prime example of all that is wrong today. a fundamentally dishonest and small mind of the human that is rafey.

[XxxMsBabygirlxxX]

The world is not going to flipping end on 2012, no one knows when it going to end

[happy10112]

@jadeflowerjan you shit face one day you will find out what will happend to you may be on january 1st 2012 watch or it may be before that just you watch

[happy10112]

@stmaxlv shut up you you dont even now about it and you just think jesus is gods (allahs) son your mad you have no brains you just think wrong i think you shoude strt being a muslim

[happy10112]

@bismallah19 yea

[happy10112]

what you said its really good mashallah

[mhabib3]

@jadeflowerjan Show me just TWO passages which state that Jews and Christians should be killed. You won't be able to. I don't think you have read the Qur'an, and if you don't know what you are talking about, it would be better to remain silent.

[jadeflowerjan]

Why is the koran full of contradictions like you also want to kill the infidels like us Christians and Jews too?

[tchaikovsky1979]

Listen to the voices of truth brother, do not bother by the voices of darkness here, care only about the appreciation you get from us light workers . Because we both know the voice of truth. Keep doing what you do.hug from a Muslim brother .

[tchaikovsky1979]

tchaikovsky1979 May Allah bless you brother!! I shared this poem with non-Muslims and first thing they asked was: how can it be, after such beautiful words, that some "Muslims " claim to do horrible things in the name of Allah?