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God And Guidance In Islam

Ghazal Omid - 7/11/2007

For millions of Muslims, Friday is a holiday as well as the holy day of the week. We worship from Thursday night through Friday afternoon and believe the spirits of those who love us come back to visit and guide us. I believe it is time for me to believe this because I am writing this article inspired by the true story of the great Gandhi.

For me this Friday night was much like any other night of the week; just another day, worshiping, working, trying desperately and perhaps futilely to save the lives of the nineteen Iranian political prisoners I am trying to help. I say futilely because no amount of work I do seems to be saving them from death.

This week was particularly hard and discouraging for me. One of the prisoners for whom I am spokesperson is going to be hanged in Tehran on July 4th. Apparently, there is nothing the UN, Amnesty International or US politicians can do to stop it.

I did all the homework in soliciting help from the media to publicize his plight but our world of wonder is more concerned with coverage ad nauseam of Paris Hilton and the judge's lost pants. The impending death of the political prisoner has not been the popular popcorn story and he will either die because he is on hunger strike or he will be put to death. Either way it is out of my hands. May God be with him and those who tried to be his voice.

This story has had such an impact on me these days that I forget to eat and the pain of my own tooth ache. True to the proverb that people grow closer together in sorrow, I feel as if one of my own family is going to be put to death. Even though I have never met him, I know from conversations with so many good people of America that they feel the same.

The point I was making; I was so sad today after receiving a disturbing letter from contacts in Iran informing me that he will soon die, I took a long walk. Walking, I noticed what this man has missed for the past seven and a half years in jail. He missed hugging his children, he missed seeing them smile and laugh and their tears of joy. He has not been allowed to see his family for the past six months. He missed the rain and the sunshine, the summer heat, the color and fragrance of flowers, the tantalizing smell of food from the neighbors, the sound of cars and traffic jams, he missed seeing life in the streets and alleys. He missed birds singing on a summer day as hot air caresses his sweaty skin while he works in his vegetable garden. He missed so many other wonderful things that we in the free world take for granted and will not notice until we no longer have them. .

After the walk, I visited my dentist for the first time in months. He told me that the pain in my jaw is because of a cracked tooth. Momentarily forgetting my tooth, I noticed his sterilized set of instruments and remembered one of the prisoners who could die if the government of Iran does allow him to have dental surgery. When he was arrested, six years ago, government police broke his teeth. He has had no dental attention and has serious infection in his jaw. He tries to relieve the pain by sticking heated needles into his gums.

My dentist listened to me attentively and verified my concern that this prisoner could have a heart attack or die from infection if he does not receive immediate help. As I told my dentist this story, he said "I am sad to say but every one us should have a sick friend to remind us how wonderful our lives are in this country." I couldn't agree with him more.

I have nineteen sick friends and there is not much I can do for them by myself. So, today was a hard day. I came home and sat down but couldn't continue working so I channel surfed until I caught a glimpse of a Gandhi movie. When I noticed what it was, I became interested and watched the rest of it. I am not ashamed to admit I don't watch movies much but I am ashamed to say this was the first time, I saw this movie, The True Story of Gandhi.

While still in Iran, I had read and heard about this great man, his heart and attitude toward others but never was touched by his pain on such a personal level. I suppose that is because never in my life have I felt so responsible for others.

I know by now you might think I am making this bigger than it is but I truly feel the pain of these nineteen men. They are not my children or relatives but they are the closest thing I have felt responsibility for in my life.

As I watched this movie, I saw a great man brought to his knees when he said "I have nothing to give to stop the violence when the English give sovereignty to India." Then, that was between Hindus and Muslims. Ironically, today, we are at the same crossroad again, this time, according to Bin Laden, between Muslims and Christians.

I watched Gandhi try so hard to stop the violence; telling a Hindu man who confessed that he had killed a Muslim child that he would surely go to hell and that his only way to heaven was to raise a child as his own and he must raise him as a MUSLIM."

Giving one a faith is considered the greatest gift of all in Islam. Since the time of Prophet Mohamad, if you raise a child as Muslim you will find your way to heaven. That is the word of God in the Koran. Great Gandhi, a man of a different faith, worshiped God precisely as God wants. He practiced the way of God, not by his mind but by his heart. He told the Hindu to go against his religion because he had killed a Muslim child. This would also have been true if the killer was Muslim who must then raise a child as Hindu.

We as Muslims, Christians or Jews are not supposed to practice religion with our minds. It is written in the scripture of our different faiths, "The great Satan will get into our mind and manipulate it but will not get into our heart until we have already given it to him on our own." God himself says in the Koran, "I am in your hearts." He does not say, "My place is in your mind." We turn religion into a business when we practice it with our minds.

The greatest and purest souls worshiped God with their hearts. That is the way of great Prophets and Imams of Shiah and is the way a man named Gandhi believed that God must be worshiped.

At the end of the movie, Gandhi was about to make the journey to Pakistan after he fasted for along time in an attempt to stop the civil war and bring peace to both Muslims and Hindus. He was killed by a young Hindu and cremated according to the custom of Buddhists. I thought, this man will find his way to heaven and I believe he never dies.

A thousand years ago, a man named Sadie, a well known Persian poet and worldly said in his books of poetry, Golastan & Boostan:

"A good man with a great reputation will never die. A dead man is the one who we never remember as any good."

I feel funny saying this. It sounds like that game show where the contestant says, "I am not smarter than a first grader" but we are not smart enough for Satan. If we were, we would not have allowed him to get under our skin and to divide us over our religion(s). We may worship God differently but ultimately we worship Him. And, if we were good Muslims, we would never have seen the day that Shiah Muslims and Sunni Muslims kill each other in the name of Allah and kill Christian Americans in the name of God in the holiest place for Muslims in the world!

What we see happening in the world in the name of whichever religion is more popular at the time, is not because of God. It is because humans practice God the way they choose not the way it should be.

On this Friday eve, I pray for Gandhi to be in heaven, just as it is a custom of Muslims to pray for their fellow Muslims. I pray for the woman who saved my life many years ago. She was born Christian but died as Hindu. I pray for the man who will lose his life in Iran on 4th of July. And, I pray we shall learn to love others as if they are part of our faith as our brothers and sisters. That would be the way of God and will bring peace to our world.