Dear Santa!

'Dear Santa...

This year I would like my fellow muslims to stop saying "Merry Christmas" to me.
It is confusing'.
This is a message on one of the blogs on the internet and really sums everything up as the next post on the same blog goes;
'I know one sister who actually put up a Christmas tree in her home and is celebrating the holiday, when asked why? she said: she wants to do it while her son is young for him...I felt like saying something but honestly didn't know how, any suggestions?
I have recieved a Christmas card from my local MP/MSP saying Marry Christmas, which is completely normal and we are thankful to them for that, although personally, I would not send them an Eid card on Eid (although Eid is completely a religious festivity, I am not suggestin Christmas isn't, am I?) but that is not the point too, this beautiful card has been designed by Taha Almanasrah and has been chosen from over 200 entries from schools throughout Maryhill constituencey.
My solicitor friend Jamy asked me the other day, 'do you celebrate Christmas' ?NO! my answer naturally came, 'what do you do on Christmas then'? said he.
What do you do on Eid day? said I.
And he was staring at the roof of his lovely office where we were sitting.
This is just a flavour of how surrounded we are in here by our Christian fellows (which prooves that we Muslims do integrate very well, although I personally do not like the word on the face of it, I rather preffer using 'participating') and this is an indication that how confused our Muslims, especially the young ones, are.
This is not their own fault.
The problem starts from home (childhood), identity crises is what some people might call it.
Lack of proper Islamic education which provides one with a solid ground to stand on, teaches who he or she really is not who she or he looks like, what language she or he speaks or where do they live (what box of ethenicity do they click) or what dress they wear and so on.
'want to know the secret of life? dig deep inside yourself and
become yourself if not mine' (Iqbal).

So 'to know oneself is to know one's Lord' as Sufis would say.
This self awareness is basically a key to living a healthy life and lifestyle.
When Descartes uttered "I think, therefore I am" (cogito ergo sum), he placed his individual awareness of his own limited self as the criterion of existence for certainly the "I" in Descartes assertion was not meant to be the Divine "I" who through Hallaj exclaimed "I am the Truth" (ana'l-Haqq), the Divine "I" which according to traditional doctrines alone has the right to say "I".
Until Descartes, it was Pure Being, the Being of God which determined human existence and the various levels of reality.
But with Cartesian rationalism individual human existence became the criterion of reality and also the truth.
'In the mainstream of Western thought, and excluding certain peripheral developments ontology gave way to epistemology, epistemology to logic; and finally by way of reaction logic became confronted with those anti-rational "philosophies" so prevalent today'. (S.H.Nasr)
'khudi' is another term Iqbal describes this with.
Of all the fine philosophical thoughts that Iqbal gave, “Khudi” has come to be known as the pride of his philosophy. Khudi, to Iqbal, is the inseparable soul and spirit of humanity.
It is this very concept which when awakened in someone, not only does it revolutionise the person but through this it provides the human society with the true essence and meaning of existence.
Iqbal comprehended well that Allah had created human and blessed him with Khudi so that he is fit for the role of being His vicegerent. Allah created man to be superior thus angels were commanded to prostrate before him. This act not only honoured the humanity but also portrayed the rank of human before Allah. Man’s dignity and honour was eternally guarded when Allah ordered him to bow and prostrate in front of no one but Him. His self respect was guarded by ordering him to bow to God only so that he might not be placing his sacred forehead on every doorstep.
Allah has sent Prophets and Messengers to guard and remind human about “Khudi”, his dignity, self realization and self respect.
In this way human was equipped with the protective shield of Khudi.
Iqbal says in one his beautiful poetry called: (asrar e khudi) the secret of the self:
SHOWING THAT THE SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE ORIGINATES IN THE SELF AND THAT THE CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF ALL INDIVIDUALS DEPENDS ON STRENGTHENING THE SELF.

THE form of existence is an effect of the Self,
Whatsoever thou seest is a secret of the Self,
When the Self awoke to consciousness.
It revealed the universe of Thought
A hundred words are hidden in its essence:
Self-affirmation brings Not-self to light.
By the Self the seed of opposition is sown in the word:
It imagines itself to be other than itself
It makes from itself the forms of others

In order to multiply the pleasure of strife.
It is slaying by the strength of its arm
That it may become conscious of its own strength.
Its self-deceptions are the essence of Life;.....

Islam, as a natural way of life, explains the reality of matters as to what they actually are and what is the purpose in their creation?
In other words, who we are,where did we come from and where are we heading to?
Man, through mere logic and rational, has never been able and will never be, to give answers to the above three questions until he seeks help from the devine.
To cut a long story short, if we need to come out of this confusion, we need to start learning about ourselves as to who we are, what is the purpose of our life and so on.
A Muslim is in true sense universal, he or she does not belong to a secific land or country as he or she belongs to Allah who is the Lord of every land and every nation, rabb al 'aalameen.
Every land is the land of Allah 'wa lillahe meerasussamaawate wal 'ardh' as he or she too belongs to Him, this truely is a sense of Islamic universility.
Also 'alkhalq 'ayaalullah' people are the family of Allah' they come from one man (Adam) and woman (Eve/Hawwa) hence all humans are brothers and sisters (one family and equally responsible for their actions in front of God).
To complete the above Hadith/saying of prophet, the best is the one who is more benefitial to the creation of Allah.خير الناس من ينفع الناس


So be 'armed' with true knowledge of Islam, equipped with the prophetic wisdom and, through the blessed company and under the guidance of true scholars (awliyaa ullah) and mashaykh (followers of sunnah being your role model as their role model is the Prophet of Allah), take a lead and be exposed to the whole world, that is the way of a Muslim inshallah
Keeping in mind this 'whole' picture of the reality, one will never be confused about his identity nor will s/he mix up things and be confused
Allah is with you
Mustaqeem Shah