CULTURE OF ISLAM

066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

Imtiaz Muhsin 17-Feb-12

The main objective of these talks (and therefore the scripts of these talks), is to stimulate thinking. Sensible, rational and logical thinking. So, my message, think, think & think! Be sensible, be rational and be logical.

066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

Please Note
1. I have had the great privilege, (since Aug 2010), of presenting talks on the weekly Radio Program Culture of Islam [Every Friday 8 to 8.30 pm, Radio Sri Lanka - FM 97.4] 2. Since these are Radio Talks, I refer to, or address the audience as listeners 3. I am well aware that the audience to these talks would consist of people belonging to a variety of faiths. So as to make people of all faiths feel included, I very often use words and names that are common to all religions. 4. For these reasons, I use the name GOD, as well as Abraham, Moses, Jesus etc as well as the names Allah, Ibrahim (Alaihis Salaam), Moosa (Alaihis Salaam), Easa (Alaihis Salaam) etc 5. Muslims by habit usually say Sallallahu Alaihiwasallam, when the name of Prophet Muhammad is mentioned, and Alaihis Salaam' when the name of a Prophet is mentioned. However, in these series of talks I have reduced the use of these prayers & sayings to the bare minimum. 6. Muslims, also by habit, use a number of Arabic prayers or sayings, such as Alhamdulillah, Insha Allah and so on. Again, I have reduced the use of these prayers or sayings to the bare minimum. 7. Sometimes I have to write Arabic words in the English script. I have devised my own way of writing Arabic in English, as follows;

th TH

s Ss SW

DHL DHZ

H h

Gh GH

Information on these talks along with all download links can be found on my on my Blog (http://imtiazm.wordpress.com/) The dates or the schedules of these talks can be viewed on the Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/ImtiazMuhsin786) The Scripts of these talks can be downloaded from www.ScribD.com (www.ScribD.com Author Imtiaz Muhsin) The audio files of these talks can be downloaded from YouTube (YouTube Channel Imtiaz Muhsin) The YouTube Link to this talk is at

All Praise and Thanks is due to Allah and Allah alone Alhamdulillah! P.S. The Picture on the Cover is of the Devatagaha Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka

066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

Dear Friends, I greet you all with Assalamu Alaikum! Alhamdulillah, it has been my pleasure and privilege to present these series of talks on the weekly Radio Program Culture of Islam Whilst presenting these talks, I had this urge to talk about what is most central to the Culture of Islam, or I could even call it say the belief of the Muslims - and that is the belief in God who we recognize as Allah, I prefer to use the name Allah Taaalah which means Allah the most exalted. But then, Muslims are not just required to believe in God, their Faith demands that they should spend their life in searching for and recognizing the attributes of God and through this process change their whole lives, every aspect of it, in submitting to the will of God or Allah Taaalah. Now, just to understand what this will of Allah Taaalah is, is itself a long and arduous search or journey arduous but completely satisfying! Let me word it this way. 1. We look around us, at this world, at this Universe and it becomes obvious to us that there are many systems and processes taking place in this universe - all the time processes engaging systems that possess brutally terrifying powers but all beautifully regulated and modulated We begin to think or begin to realize that there is a Power or a God controlling everything. 2. Now this thinking or this realization itself, gives rise to an enormous number of questions. We have to rationally work out the answers, and the amazing thing is that in searching for these answers, we do not really find the answers, but we find that this search is actually sprouting a plethora of many other questions each one as intriguing as the other. 3. One major question or we could even call it a stumbling block is that we cannot see God There is so much evidence that every system and process we observe in this universe is a balance of enormous powers and forces and something we may even call it logic, tells us that there has to be that someone designing this order, creating this order, controlling this order and even sustaining this order but then who is that somebody? We cannot see him, we cannot feel him, we cannot hear him we do not have any sort of detection meters say a God meter to detect him so we have this gnawing worry is there a God? There has to be a God but then why is it that we cannot see him? I call this the biggest question that there ever was, that there is and that there ever will be. But then what about the biggest answer how do we discover it? It is worth a try, isnt it? Actually it is worth devoting our entire life to this life of discovery the life of discovering God or Allah Taaalah.

066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

4. As Muslims we believe that everything when we say everything we mean simply everything happens through the Will of God. We have our senses, we cannot detect God or Allah Taaalah through the use of these senses, but then we have been provided some tools we could simply describe them as tools for thinking, and when we put these tools to work, and to work out the purpose of our creation, then we would open up another sense, a hidden sense, a sense deep within us, and that sense would detect Allah Taaalah what this sense would actually detect or read are the Signs of Allah Taaalah this sense is more powerful than all our senses. In many instances our sense would give us some information, but then this hidden sense this sense that detects God, could override all the readings of our other senses and indicate to us the truth the core truth of what is actually happening. We call this sense conviction A true lover spends all his resources to be near his beloved or to be in the company of his beloved. What is actually happening is that he is stimulating all his senses, through the presence of his beloved. A true seeker of God I like to refer to him as a true Muslim would spend the rest of his days invigorating his conviction through the signs of God or the signs of Allah Taaalah. And we have this belief or we could call it our further conviction that Allah Taaalah would now guide this seeker, through amazing ways that would further inspire his convictions and keep him enraptured with the ways of God or the ways of Allah Taaalah. It is like saying, a true sincere searcher or seeker, would first study some points which would be Signs of God or Signs of Allah Taaalah, and the more he thinks and the more he reflects, his conviction grows and then he begins to notice other signs and then he would begin to think about and to reflect on those signs too and his conviction would continue to grow, and then he would now begin to notice other signs, and so on. He will gradually begin to see the world, as well as his presence in this world, in new perspectives. So to those of us who want to embark on this journey of seeking God or seeking Allah Taaalah, we all need some points, some material which we could use as material for our reasoning out process or our logic we may even call them clues or signs that we see. That is the purpose for this series of talks. I began by talking on the main topic Knowing God or Knowing Allah Taaalah Alhamdulillah, this is a huge topic so I broke it up to many episodes and was able to deliver 6 talks on different aspects of that topic. I called each of these talks an episode I then began to prepare for the topic Is this what we are created for? you could even call it Why are we on Earth? but then, Maasha Allah, there was again, so much material, that I had to decide to break this topic in to many sub topics or episodes. So, to this topic Is this what we are created for?, there were 8 sub topics or episodes viz; 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. What do we see, on Earth? Who are we? Where do we fit in? Our special benefits, on Earth What makes us stand out? What makes us special? Who is really in charge? What does God or Allah tell us about Himself? Our special faculties how they should be used, how they should not be used. The two paths.

066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

During the last 3 weeks I was able to talk on the 1st 3 sub topics, so today I shall speak on the 4th sub topic, which would be; What makes us stand out? What makes us special? Again, let us just use our reason. Let us look around and see what makes us special, what makes us stand out on Earth? There are many, many points. Let us take some of them, and let us take them one by one; 1. We Dress One of the most obvious points that would strike all of us is that we, human beings, dress. We have a sense of shame and something in us some sense wants us to cover ourselves. We cover ourselves through a sense of shame. We also cover ourselves for warmth or for protection against cold. We also use this feature, of covering ourselves, to express ourselves, or as is commonly referred to as making a statement For example we could recognize the dress of people from different parts of the World this dress we refer to as traditional and reflects the culture of the people, especially the climate or the environment. So those peoples living in cold places would be warmly covered whilst those living in temperate climates would wear loose fitting clothes. Then, we also have clothes for occasions. We have evening wear, office wear, even relaxing at home clothes. Then we have clothes which are recognized as uniforms, and then we have clothes of pride. To proclaim our status, our wealth, our positions, our tastes and so on. No other animal would look for or wear clothes, especially not in such elaborate variety as the human beings do. So this makes us special. 2. To see, hear and think 1. We see beauty 2. We hear beauty 3. We love beauty 4. No other animal appreciates beauty 5. We try to surround ourselves with beauty 6. The beauty in the Universe makes us meditate it captures us and draws us in to meditation mode So this makes us special. Only we are distracted, we are unable to give time, we are unable to give clear headed time. 3. We Learn & We Teach 1. We learn through seeing hearing and thinking 2. We learn according to our environment 3. Thus we learn different languages and different trades or vocations thus the variety of cultures 4. We acquire knowledge from our parents and society 5. We build on our knowledge 6. We share knowledge with the rest of society 7. We pass on our knowledge to future generations who in turn build on it and pass it on 8. We teach animals we call it training animals 8a. Watch Dogs, hunting Dogs, Sheep Dogs

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8b. We can also teach Cattle, Horses, Camels even Elephants for riding and for carrying loads, so that they serve us 8c. We also teach Monkeys, Dolphins, Elephants so that they entertain us 8d. We teach Mice and Monkeys so that we can experiment with them and increase our learning. So this makes us special. 4. Our Farm Crops We Herd Cattle 1. All animals hunt they are either the prey or the predator in a complex food chain but human beings are neither the prey nor the predator in these food chains. 2. Human beings Farm we sow seeds, we harvest crops. 3. We herd cattle make use of them for milk, dairy products, for the meat industry for the leather industry for the wool industry even for transport. 4. We can manage fire no other animal would go near it 5. Our ability to adapt to every environment through the use of ingredients especially spices and fire, we process or cook food thus we are able to process indigestible and unpalatable foods into foods that are both digestible as well as tastefully flavored to rouse our tastes. 6. Our ability to live as communities to urbanize So this makes us special. 5. We Barter We Trade. 1. We possess a mathematical mind 2. We possess the ability to seek, to search, to detect, to decipher, and even to encrypt 3. We possess the ability to process what we see to enquire, to categorize, to reason out, to detect and to capitalize 4. We possess in built greed, and we possess the ability to be ambitious to plan to scheme 5. We possess the ability to serve; the ability to exploit; the ability to coerce to bully; the ability to enslave; the ability to colonize; So this makes us special. Alhamdulillah, I have provided tons of material for us to contemplate about, and there are tons more. Here we are on Earth. A special Universe; A special, solar system. Everything made to serve us, even the animals, the other inhabitants of this planet Earth serve us; Even the elements appear to be made to serve us. Now let us try to see, what is special in us. What is it that we possess that makes us special. In my view just two things. Our hands and our minds. Other animals especially what we call the vertebrates just have fins, feet or wings only the Primates have hands, but that too they use for limited purposes but the hands of man that is amazing man can do many things with them and he can innovate or make machines for tasks that he would find too difficult for his hands indeed amazing. So we are on this Earth everything seems to be tailor made for us, we are given many benefits and talents and then we have this brain an amazing organ all our senses feed information to this brain and this brain processes this information. Sorts it, categorizes it, archives it at different memory levels, and then compares these sensations with other similar sensations so that with time

066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

his knowledge or this processed and stored information keeps on maturing then we can ask this question, how does he get things done? How does he meet his goals, his ambitions? Now, I am going to say something that is going to take everyone by surprise from what I have seen, man only has to think and his wish is fulfilled. This, you would say is an amazing statement that I am making, but it is true God has put us on this Earth, made the earth comfortable for us, provided for all our needs, given us a brain that can see, hear and think and that brain can decide what it wants and this want or this need is fulfilled amazing! amazing! amazing! Just view our lives, the lives of our relations, our friends, our society, well known personalities etc etc we can detect a magic in our thinking. We think - we get! Just inspect our lives how did we start, how did we learn, why are we in our profession or vocation, how did we get all our needs. If we were to map out our lives and mark out the landmarks, then we would realize how amazingly things happened that led us to what we wanted. The trend is so obvious to anyone who observes the thinking of human beings, that in this observation we come up with 2 questions. 1. How is it that we think, and we get how can that be? 2. Why is it that sometimes we do not get what we think about? Actually the more we study this subject, we first get amazed to find that we that is all human beings get what we think about, we have to think, then only do we get. The trend, the relationship is amazing. Then later on we begin to get amazed as to why in some instances we do not get what we think in fact we sometimes get the opposite of what we thought or what we wanted why is that? So I began to search for and read articles on the Web as well as books on the working of the mind but I found these articles and books to be too academical too heavy for a layman. But then, Alhamdulillah, I got my hands on a book by a Sri Lankan Professor of Psychology, Dr Erantha De Mel, who has written this book Optimizing the Infinite Mind it is written for the layman and he has tried to use as simple words as possible to explain a very complex topic I thoroughly enjoyed reading his observations, and would like to quote some sections from this book, which contains over 500 pages. This is what he says; Open Quote Optimizing the Infinite Mind By Professor Erantha De Mel From the Preface Life is an exotic buffet with lots of choices. But the tragedy is that most people are starving to death. We are surrounded with joy, with prosperity and love. Unfortunately, most of them have no idea of this whatsoever, because they are programmed to think that such things are beyond their reach. They tend to think that they've got a raw deal in life. If you try to understand the mind processes and resolve to change your mind, you can change your life. What you perceive and believe create the actual circumstances in life. By changing your inner attitudes of mind, you can change the outer aspects of your life.

066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

All of us have the capacity to try to be successful. In pursuit of success, we need to optimize what is inside - our thoughts, emotions, and actions - to obtain the desired results in life. In this process, you need to discover your potential and capacity. Mind Power Human mind power is infinite in its potential to create the results you desire, whatever they might be, whether on the physical, mental, or spiritual plain. By becoming aware of this power, coupled with establishing a conscious awareness of the absolute and unwavering universal laws and principles that support it's ability to do so, you can embark on a journey in developing the awareness of an infinite supply of wisdom, knowledge and power which is available to all of us and begin to create a life of 'Infinite' abundance and happiness that has ALWAYS been available to you. Your insight and action is the only prerequisite to accomplish any goal or vision held. The recognition of this intrinsic ability of your mind to consciously create the 'world' you want, becomes remarkably obvious once you develop an awareness and understanding of the fundamental universal laws and principles, along with an awareness on the internal processes of the mind, thereby facilitating yourself to reprogram and customize your mind in a beneficial manner. We talk to ourselves more than we talk to other people. This is called 'self-talk'. By becoming aware of and consciously harmonizing your self talk, thoughts, feelings, endeavors and actions with a view of refining your mental processes and to optimize your efficiency, you'll find that you can literally attract and manifest 'True wealth and prosperity' in every area of your life to flow to you, which up to this point you have been trying so hard to accomplish with extremely limited results. Through establishing an awareness and deeper understanding about the latent infinite power of your mind which is dormant, it will soon become obvious that your intrinsic mind power, once discovered and 'consciously' exploited, can and will enable you to begin attracting and experiencing desired 'miracles' in every area of your life. By developing an awareness of the functions of the human mind, and trusting your ability to do so, it is possible to consciously and purposefully utilize your mind power to dramatically optimize any area of your life. It will have a definite impact on your life as a whole; encompassing the financial aspects, your relationships, physical healing as well as the capability to develop intuitive ability, psychic awareness, and a host of other outcomes which fall outside the scope of what is logical or perceived as 'achievable' from a limited physical perspective. End Quote So we are very special. God has put us on this Earth, made the earth comfortable for us, provided for all our needs, given us a brain that can see, hear and think and that brain can decide what it wants and this want or this need is fulfilled amazing! amazing! amazing! Some of us maybe confused. We may agree that in this world we get what we think but then we have also observed that quite often we do not get what we think!

066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

So what is it? Do we get what we think or do we not get what we think. To understand this phenomena I shall give explain a simple example, which I am sure everyone will understand. All of us know that there are some people who are always punctual. There are others who are always late and still others who are always early. Those who are punctual tell us that we decided to be on time, so we are on time. Those who are late are so full of regrets. Sometimes they even say, I will somehow or the other, be on time, next time but then next time too they are late. Why is this? Because they have developed an attitude, a mindset that they can be late they do not realize it, even though they keep on saying I will be punctual, I will be on time there are some mismatches in their thinking. So they have to identify those mismatches and correct their thinking then they would always be on time. This would be the explanation for all those who say, yes many things happen according to our thinking, but there are somethings that never seem to go right it is an attitude a mindset that needs rewiring! So, now we start thinking a little deeper. We begin to think, how is it that we get what we think surely there must be someone who can read our thoughts and give us what we want! Otherwise things would just not make sense. Once we realize this, then we begin to turn to God to fulfill our needs, not just our needs but all our desires I call this the lifestyle of getting God to submit to OUR will. But then a truly wise person, who does some contemplating, would think, would it not be better if I were to submit My Will to God rather than trying to get God to submit His Will to My Desires? So there would be two paths; 1. Leading a life trying to get God or Allah Taaalah to submit his Will to my desires 2. Leading a life where I submit my Will to God or Allah Taaalah. Now that is the journey we should all be undertaking. Out of the 8 topics, I have now covered 4 topics viz. 1. What do we see, on Earth? 2. Who are we? Where do we fit in? 3. Our special benefits, on Earth 4. What makes us stand out? What makes us special? Insha Allah I hope to cover the following topics in the next few weeks. 5. 6. 7. 8. Who is really in charge? What does God or Allah tell us about Himself? Our special faculties how they should be used, how they should not be used. The two paths.

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I sincerely pray and hope that all of you benefit from these talks as much as I have benefitted from doing research from the Quran and then preparing and presenting these talks to you. May Allah Taaalah guide us all and accept us all. Jazza Kalla Khairan. Assalamu Alaikum

Imtiaz Muhsin Colombo Sri Lanka crescent786@hotmail.com

You Tube Channel - HaneefanMusliman

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066 What Makes Us Stand Out?

Series 2 The Talks numbered 054 to 071 is under a series titled Knowing Allah Taaalah or Knowing GOD The details of the scripts of these 16 Episodes (Talks) are as follows;
Talk No Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Talk Number & Title 054 Ilm Knowing Allah 055 Rationality - The Foundation of Islam 056 Is Man Special? 057 Ar Rahmaan - The Beneficent 058 Nature or GOD? 059 Our Relationship with GOD! Sub Series: 060 Is this what we are created for? (Is this what we are created for? Part 1) Sub Series: 061 What do we see on Earth (Is this what we are created for? Part 2) Sub Series: 062 Who are WE? Where do we fit in? (Is this what we are created for? Part 3) Sub Series: 063 Our benefits on Earth (Is this what we are created for? Part 4) Sub Series: 066 What makes us 'Stand Out'? What makes us 'Special'? (Is this what we are created for? Part 5) Sub Series: 067 Who is in charge? (Is this what we are created for? Part 6) Sub Series: 068 What ALLAH Teaches Us, About Himself (Is this what we are created for? Part 7) Sub Series: 069 Our Special Faculties How they should be used, How they should not be used! (Is this what we are created for? Part 8) Sub Series: 070 The TWO Paths 071 Is this what we are created for? A review of Parts 1 to 8 from the Sub Series Is this what we are created for? Date Broadcast Dec 9th 2011 Dec 16h 2011 Dec 23th 2011 Dec 30th 2011 Jan 6th 2012 Jan 13th 2012 Jan 20th 2012 Jan 27th 2012 Feb 3rd 2012 Feb 10th 2012 Feb 17th 2012 Feb 24th 2012 Mar 2nd 2012 Details of Picture on Cover Wellawatte Jummah Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka Parasangaswewa Mosque (a remote village) in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka Mutwal Jummah Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka The Akbar Mosque in Slave Island, Colombo, Sri Lanka Mosque in Matara, from the Southern Province of Sri Lanka Beach Mosque at Kalmunaikudi in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka A Mosque in the Kurnegala District, Sri Lanka Maradana Jummah Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka Colpetty Jummah Mosque, in Colombo, Sri Lanka The Jummah Mosque at Natpidimunnai, in the Ampara District, Sri Lanka The Devatagaha Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka A Mosque in a rural village in the Ampara District, in Sri Lanka The Jummah Mosque in Oluvil a village in the Ampara District, Sri Lanka The Dhanakawewa Jummah Mosque in a remote village in the Anuradhapura District in Sri Lanka Mosque at Madhavakulam in the Puttlam District, Sri Lanka A Mosque by a river in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka

Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Episode 13

Episode 14

Mar 9th 2012 Mar 16th 2012 Mar 23rd 2012

Episode 15 Episode 16

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066 What Makes Us Stand Out?