Finding God First

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Many years ago, one of the women I barely spoke to contacted me and asked me out for tea.  She had just converted to Islam but encountered some severe issues and the husband to be left.  She said that she thought I was easy to talk to.  Several weeks later, she informed me that she had decided to leave Islam and asked me how to go about it.  And I helped her.  Then she asked if we could still be friends if she was not Muslim, and I said I had no problem with that. 

Then months later, she contacted me and said she believed in God but could not accept the prophet.  It was the usual issues: the marriage to Sayyidatina ‘Aishah bint Abu Bakr (r.a.), the polygamy issue, the hijab and so forth.  I said believing in God is good enough.  I never heard from her for a year or so.  Then she contacted me and asked me for a good book on sirah.  I recommended Shaykh Siraj ad-Din Abu Bakr Martin Lings’ (q.s.), “Muhammad: His Life from Earliest Sources”. 

This pattern continued regarding the odd questions here and there.  And then one day, she said she wanted to retake the shahadah.  So I arranged for it.  And then she wanted to attend a class.  And I made the arrangements also.  And then one day, just as I had not heard from her in a very long time, we happened to meet somewhere and she asked me why I never told her what to do, what to wear, tell her to pray and fast or anything.  My reason is simple: she had not found her relationship God, what use is there to think about the forms of the religion?  There is no use in learning texts and reading books and attending lectures if one is unable to recognise the human soul.  Muslims do not do that.  They like to throw the book at people.  Our religion is about connection.  That is the sunnah.