When Ashamed of Worshipping Allah

In our society, where religious sensitivities haven’t been at the top of our list of priorities for a worryingly long time, we have become hesitant to perform acts of worship that Allah has made obligatory to us, which we know we are required to fulfill. We have also become meek and bashful in avoiding harams as if we would be deserving of censure by steering clear of them as we are duty-bound to. All in all, we have peculiar anxieties that muddle our thoughts and make it difficult for us to get a grip on the uncluttered, lucid version of our reality.

We are required to fulfill our duties of worship, sometimes publicly and other times in quiet secrecy. However, the key point is that we have our responsibilities to carry out, and satisfactory performance of our obligations is what matters in the end. This is where one of the main problems facing Muslims today begins.

In our society, where religious sensitivities haven’t been at the top of our list of priorities for a worryingly long time, we have become hesitant to perform acts of worship that Allah has made obligatory to us, which we know we are required to fulfill. We have also become meek and bashful in avoiding harams as if we would be deserving of censure by steering clear of them as we are duty-bound to. All in all, we have peculiar anxieties that muddle our thoughts and make it difficult for us to get a grip on the uncluttered, lucid version of our reality. Unrealistic and hollow concerns such as “How would the people around us look at us?” “Would they make fun of us?” “Would they put labels on us?” “Would we be accused of being backward and behind the times?” cloud our judgment. By merely allowing such questions to form in our thoughts, a sneaking anxiety grips us, and we become afraid of doing our duties regarding fards and harams. First, we must define our purpose with clear-cut lines; are we more concerned with how Allah views us or what some of His creatures, beings incomparably less consequential than Him, may think of us?

If it’s the latter, we are no longer attributing a high priority to pondering questions such as, “How would Allah look at us if we do not fulfill our debt of servitude to Him?” “What would become of us if He judged that we were part of the lot of sinners because we did not avoid haram?” “Wouldn’t we be wasting our eternal life in the Hereafter by neglecting our duties?” It is ultimately to our detriment to let these vital points of consideration fade into the background. If we choose to head down the wrong path at this point in the crossroads, our sacrifices start with making compromises in our servitude to Allah. As if those people we are fearful of offending will help us after death! This is nothing short of wasting an eternal life in the akhirah for the sake of a fleeting existence in this world. Having our priorities misaligned in such a myopic, distorted fashion can only lead to bitter, irrepressible regret that no amount of prestige from a literal lifetime ago can soothe.

The salah that is slipping away

Let’s assume that the time for a prayer we need to perform is running out, and we do not have enough time to enter a mosque and pray. Do we have the courage to say, “Allah has made the earth a mosque for us,” ignoring the hundreds of people walking around us, and lay down our jackets on the concrete in a quiet corner and perform our prayer? Or do the worries of our mortal life, as we mentioned above, hold us captive? Do we relegate Allah's right to second place because of fear that people will squint at us derisively, take pictures of us, or rant at us while we’re praying? Of course, that is not to say that we should choose public places other than masjids as our go-to locations for worship just to show everyone that we are not afraid. The above-mentioned scenario is hardly ideal but could be a choice we might have to make when we are absolutely out of options. In any other situation, such a choice could be easily misinterpreted, mischaracterized, and misrepresented as insincere, politically motivated, and even outright provocative, depending on the setting and social environment. To avoid submitting ourselves to the judgmental gaze of potential cynical onlookers in public, paving the way for the general Muslim population to come under fire, we should make it our top priority to find a masjid first, and then if all else fails, try to find a spot suitable for salah.

The prestige of Allah’s greeting

Aside from obligatory prayers, let's consider how much we use the greeting known as salam, which is an inseparable part of our Islamic tradition and the inheritance of Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to all Muslims, for fear of people entertaining strange thoughts about us.

A greeting comes before a conversation, right? So, when we go to our office for work in the morning, do we give greetings first to the people we meet, as instructed by Allah and His Messenger, putting salam before everything else, or do we start our speech with ordinary greetings such as “good morning” or “hello,” fearing that they would label us?

The biggest danger is this: When we fail to uphold our values, despite having a keen awareness of them, because of meaningless concerns, society, especially our family, is shaped and led into the future without their guidance. One of the consequences of this is that our children drift away from the core values that we consider living without unthinkable, resulting in the terrible loss of an entire generation of youth. Because if we cannot pass on our Islamic identity to our children with an exemplary life, it will be inevitable for them to adopt very different values in a frighteningly short time. Most regrettably, we will become people representing two starkly different cultures under the same roof.

If we try to observe the differences between our children and us, we can easily realize how much they have changed and grown away from our values. When you get home in the evening, compare yourself with your children from this perspective. It will not take much scrutiny to reach a startling conclusion.

Losing our roots by transforming

Fundamentally, there is a disaster for us here as well. When we don't take care of our values, society gradually assimilates us. It transforms us into a more malleable form that yields to the influence of all its whims and quirks. After a while, we slowly abandon our already compromised values and become mundane people living for a mundane life, not even realizing the stagnation that has taken over our value-oriented, spirited enthusiasm for growth and progress as Muslims. What this means is that our families and us become disconnected from our past. After a while, the values we rely on to hold our families together withdraw from our lives, and we get lost in this turmoil.

When it comes to a society that has lost itself in such a flow, is losing its identity, and cannot center on its values with a sharp focus, it is difficult to maintain its existence. One of the reasons why the world-centric western culture has established hegemony in every part of the globe is the weakening of societies’ resistance to the stagnating, homogenizing change. This is seen very clearly with us as well, as we allow what sets us Muslims apart, our core tenets and values, to erode.

The society waiting for its pioneers

Due to various concerns, we sometimes hide our religiosity, hesitate, and even go so far as to commit haram. However, there is one thing we neglect in all of this:

Even though the weakness of our people in worship is increasing daily, and their values are on the verge of disappearing, their religious sensitivity is still strong. It is immediately affected by the good influences around them. If we try to live an exemplary life as Muslims and manage to do so as modestly as possible, the people around us will take notice, and some will be moved by this positive influence. Simply by observing and sometimes by interacting, they will see, become inspired by, and emulate our values that are fast fading from practice.

During intercity journeys, when you ask the driver to pull the bus over for a break in front of a mosque or a road stop with a masjid because you’re worried the prayer time will run out, you will see that a few more people will be running to pray with you. That is because people expect someone to lead the way.

Our religious legacy, which has spread to other areas of life, is similar. When someone stands up to preserve this precious legacy, others will follow. When we get our colleagues at work accustomed to greeting each other with salam rather than “hello,” or “hi,” and when we talk about the extent of the rewards of doing so, as well as it being one of the foremost values that hold us together, we will see that most of them will adopt this in a short time. When the door opens and they take their first step into their homes, their first words will be “Assalamu alaikum.” If we hold fast to our religion, the positive effects will gradually spread to society.

What could possibly come before Allah’s rights?

Our duty is to put Allah’s rights before everything else. That's why we should pay no heed to the enemies of Allah and those who have lost sight of what matters the most on the path of Islam, even if they despise and belittle us. Allah is enough for us; what a good guardian he is.

While it is vital we resolutely fulfill our Islamic duties, we should likewise have a clear understanding of how to defend our rights. Do not let shyness and timidness be our defining attributes. Let us show our reactions in reasonable degrees and measures. And let us strive to remove the obstacles that prevent us from living our life of worship and servitude with a peaceful, good-natured, but ultimately resolute demeanor.

Suppose we are deprived of a masjid or even basic facilities and means to perform worship due to regulations in effect in our schools, workplaces, or other public spaces. In that case, we should not be intimidated by the odds that may seem unfavorable to us. Instead, we should seek out the most immediate means to ensure that our salah isn’t delayed until it is too late. Any issue, criticism, or confrontation is far preferable to having to answer a question on Judgment Day, to which we know all too well that there are no straight and valid answers.

So what do we do when we can't find a masjid? Do we lay down our jackets and pray in a corner, or do we let time run out and pray qada later due to being unreasonably concerned about what people might say? This is an opportunity for us to weigh and measure ourselves.

Who is a good believer?

While describing good believers in the Qur’an, Allah states that they are not afraid of the condemnation of the blasphemer. (Al-Ma’idah, 54). He expresses how worship should be performed without interruption, even in war. (An-Nisa, 101-103). And we must not forget that everything that is asked of us, both in the verses of the Qur’an and the orders of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), is an order that we are fully expected to comply with. It is crucial for these commandments to have a central place in our lives. The believer that Allah is pleased with is the one who prioritizes His rights over everything else.

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