Thanks to the help of my beautiful, wonderful, marvelicious momma, everything was ready in time for English Night. Alhamdulillah, it went well. This time one of my students brought a chess board, and there was Scrabble and chess going at the same time. I played three games, won only one.

Game Number 1: Played against a fairly good player. I am a mediocre player, therefore I lost.

Game Number 2: I win! I then rewarded myself with a handy slice of cheesecake. How’s that for a prize? (Like the lizard who jumped from the high Iroko tree, I will praise myself if no one else does)

Game Number 3: Now game three was the interesting one. Games one and two were played on a small, portable chess set. Game three, however, was played on a full-size wooden board, not with pieces, but stone figurines. The king was about six inches tall, the pawns were about three inches. They were all beautifully carved, and slightly racist. (hehe) The white pieces were Crusaders. There was a fatherly-looking Christian king (looked like Richard Lionheart to me) and a gentle, matronly-looking white queen.

The black pieces though, were SARACEN HEATHENS!!!! (That would be the Muslims who were trying to defend the Holy Land from those nutty Crusading infidels) The black king (I think he was supposed to be Salahuddin) had a big nose and fat lips and ugly, exaggerated features, and he was wearing an ominous, druid-type hood. (the figurines were very precisely carved) The black queen was actually a Niqabi! She was wearing a long qameez and a scarf, and had her face covered! I was so in awe of the huge pieces, and consequently so confused and disoriented by them that I kept mixing up what they were.

At one point in the game I was closing my knights (carved on horseback with complete horses) around what I thought was a lone white bishop. Well, luckily for me, just before I was about to put my piece directly in front of him, I realized, he was actually the king. I had to retreat, and all the moves I put into that strategy were a complete waste. Maybe I’m humble, or maybe I have a big ego, but I was too ashamed to admit that I was confused by the beautiful but visually chaotic pieces.

I also almost sent a castle to its doom by putting it in the way of a pawn that was totally obscured by the giant knight in front of it. I was about to take my finger off the piece (signaling the end of my move) when I noticed that the knight had three heads. One for the horse, one for the rider, and one on the side for the grubby little pawn hiding behind it. All I can say is, never trust Crusaders.

The board came from Germany by the way. I don’t know if I would ever want one. It’s too hard to play with. You can’t go from clean and simple little plastic bits to six-inch stone figures. It’s too hard to tell what’s going on, and plus you can’t throw them at people when you lose! 25% percent of the fun of playing chess is in the strategy, another 25% is in the mind games you play, and the last 50% is in throwing the pieces at the winner to compensate for the fact that you’ve lost. This is why we play with plastic pieces in my house. The marble pieces were destroyed a long time ago.

Well, I’m feeling better than I did yesterday, teaching seems tolerable again, but I still think I should be doing more useful things. I’m going to try to start writing again, InshaAllah. And I’ll try to post something Islamic (as compared to something absurd, which is what I usually post) once a week. This week’s is not a very detailed or well-written one, but the Islamic info in it is useful, InshaAllah. So, without further ado, here’s this week’s Islamic article.

Don't do that man, that's a sin!
Yeah, but Allah forgives everything, right?
by Sensei

There’s a common mistake that a lot of people make, and it’s in thinking that Islam is like Christianity somehow. In Christianity, Prophet Jesus, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was supposedly crucified as punishment for the sins of all mankind. He took all our punishment, so now all we have to do is believe in him and we’re automatically saved because he went through living hell for us. That’s called vicarious atonement.

In Islam there is no vicarious atonement. No one died or was tortured on a cross to apologize for your sins, so you have to apologize yourself. In order to be forgiven, you have to ask for forgiveness. You can’t just lay down at night without praying Isha and just think, Oh it’s ok if I miss Isha, Allah forgives everything. It doesn’t work that way. Allah CAN forgive all sins, but that doesn’t mean he WILL, especially if you don’t even ask.

Repentance, called Taubah in Arabic, works like so- there are four basic steps to repentance according unanimously to Muslim scholars and simple logic:

STEP 1: STOP THE SIN. Obviously you can’t repent of something when you’re still doing it, that’s the equivalent of punching someone in the eye repeatedly and apologizing at the same time. You have to stop doing whatever wrong it is you’re doing first.

STEP 2: FEEL BAD. Feeling bad implies you understand what you were doing was probably wrong, ungrateful, and un-Islamic. If you do step one and stop sinning without ever feeling Islamically bad about what you were doing, then chances are you quit for some other reason. It’s like not wearing tight clothes anymore only because you gained weight, or not dating because you suddenly hate all men. If you didn’t quit for the sake of your religion or to please Allah, how can that be counted as repentance?

STEP 3: RESOLVE NOT TO REPEAT IT. You can’t just quit smoking...in between cigarettes... You have to decide to quit for good. It’s true that since people are imperfect, that they may lapse back into sins, but the point is that you sincerely repent and resolve to stop doing that specific sin immediately and try, to the best of your abilities, to never do it again. Otherwise it’s like Ya Allah, I’m sorry, but I’ll do this again anyway.

STEP 4: MAKE UP FOR IT. The last step is the hardest one of all. If you sinned against someone, you have to apologize or do something to make up for it. If you stole, you have to pay what you owe or return what you stole. If you missed prayer, you have to make them up as well. If you don’t try to make up for the wrongs you’ve done, then you’re just repenting so long as it doesn’t cause you any trouble, and that doesn’t sound too sincere, does it?

BUT WHAT IF I HAVE TOO MANY SINS?

There’s no such thing as having too many sins, anyone who thinks that hasn’t got enough faith in Allah’s Infinite Mercy. It’s actually a little cocky too...no don’t bother forgiving me, I got more sins than you have mercy...Astaghfirullah. Allah says in Hadith Qudsi number 34 of 40 Hadith Qudsi:

“...O Son of Adam! If your sins were to reach the limits of the sky, and then you seek My forgiveness, I shall forgive you, and I shall not mind. O Son of Adam! If you will bring sins equal in volume to the earth and then you meet Me (on the day of Judgment) in the state that you would not have suggested partners unto Me, I shall give you in return forgiveness equal to the volume of the earth."

Remember, forgiveness is conditional, in order to be forgiven you have to repent and do Taubah, and not have committed Shirk (Shirk is worshipping anything other than Allah or associating anything with Him).

But what about minor sins?

Anas, may Allah be pleased with him (to one of the followers): "You imagine certain sins to be more insignificant than a straw. But, at the time of the Prophet we used to count them among those that can destroy a man." -Sahih Bukhari

Ibn Mas'ud, a companion of the Prophet said: "A believer treats a sin as if it is a mountain over his head that may fall on him any moment. Whereas a regular violator looks at them as a fly that perched on his nose and he waved it away with his hand." -Sahih Bukhari

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him said: "Beware of the minor sins. For the example of the minor sins is like that of a group of travelers who broke their journey in a valley. Then one of them brought in a straw. Another came up with another (and a third with one more) until with their collection they were able to gather enough to cook their food. Remember! If a man is held for questioning (on the day of Judgment) for his minor sins, surely they will destroy him." In another version he is reported to have said: "Beware of minor sins. For they add on until they destroy the man."

“And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad ) about Me (whether I am close to them or at a distance, let them know the), I Answer the prayers of him who calls Me." Al-Baqarah: 186

"Tell them, O My slaves who have wronged their souls: 'Do not despair of Allah's mercy.' "
Al-Zumar:53

Labels: Islam

posted by Abez @ 6/14/2003 02:24:00 AM