Editor’s note
Ana says she is not (yet) a muslim. When I talked to her, I realised that she has the ‘gambaru’ attitude that we see in most Japanese- the will to strive for perfection in everything they do. Everything must be done to the best of their ability. For Ana, she wants to make sure that she can perfectly commit to Islam’s rules, before she converts. Insha’Allah, she will.
*UPDATE
After 4 months since she told us her story, Ana has reverted to Islam on 21 March 2016. Allahu Akbar! May Allah continue to make it easy for her in her learning and striving to be a better muslim in her journey ahead, insha’Allah. Ameen!
I think I had a chance to believe in Allah since I was teenager, for 3 reasons. let me tell you why. xD
- I don’t like to drink alcohol. When i drink it, I will always get a headache. And now, i avoid eating pork too! *practice practice!
- I have never liked wearing tight clothes or pants in public. I don’t know why but when I imagine wearing like that in public, I get a feeling… I can’t explain this feeling… but it made me not want to wear.
After I got interested in Islam, I realised that, “Oh, I always get this feeling because God is trying to protect me from something bad.”
So, whenever I wear hijab outside the house, I cover my aurat perfectly
For example, cover breasts perfectly, cover my foots perfectly… even it’s hot or not, I always wear long socks n sneaker… and I never wear pants when I wear hijab! (Editor: she wears long skirts) - My name is Ana.
I heard in arabic, “ana” means “me”… “ana ana” أنا آنا1st and 3rd reasons sound small but i’m glad it has gotten me interested in Islam!
My Malaysian friends changed my thoughts about Islam
When I was younger, I thought muslims were terrorists and I was afraid of muslims because the women always wore hijab/niqab and long-black clothes, and I could only see their eyes or faces.
4 years ago, I took part in a Japan x Malaysia interaction project in high school, and I made a lot of Malaysian muslim friends. They told me a lot about the teachings of Islam kindly. For example, muslim women wear hijab and long clothes to protect themselves. I soon realised that the hijab is really beautiful so i’m became not afraid at all.
When I misunderstood about Islam and asked my Malaysian muslim friend, “Muslims are terrorists, right?”
Do you think he got mad?
No〜〜〜 He didn’t get mad, and told me kindly about the real Islam , how Islam is beautiful.
then I was embarrassed and I realized too that I was misunderstanding my friends too…
Why I’ve not converted to Islam yet…
I’m really worried~
I’ve not told my family that I want to convert to Islam someday, and my relatives are all having misunderstandings on Islam, so I’ve got to tell them too!
I’m also working at a public childcare from this April. I’ve never seen a muslimah who’s working at a public childcare place. If I convert to Islam, I don’t want to be lazy about anything for Islam. I want to wear hijab to work, I want to fast, I want to avoid eating pork. But now it’s hard because we have always been taught since young that we must “always eat lunch with a smile and be in a good mood when eating with friends and teachers”.
I just want people to know muslims aren’t terrorists. Lots of people trust media too much… ISIS also makes them confused and afraid of Islam …
I really, really want everyone to know that Islam means peace. <3
If I convert to Islam, after that, I want to tell about Islam to people who don’t know well about Islam. How great Islam is, too.
So now, I think I have to study Islam harder! xD
Ana has some questions about Islam…
- Ana’s never felt God’s existence and doesn’t know how to believe in God.. But she also has the feeling that God is still around.
- Ana also wonders why do muslims wipe their faces after dua?
If you have an answer to give her, please leave a comment here. She’ll read it. Jazakallahu Khayrun.
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15 comments
JazakAllahu khayrun for summing it up so nicely brother Yunus. Yes you are right, the attitude Ana has is typical of the “gambaru” attitude a lot of Japanese have, which is really admirable, and yes you have also summed it up really nice here, there should be a balance point. I will be consolidating all the wonderful advice from everyone and sending it to Ana really soon, Insha’Allah. It is a good thing Ana’s English is good, because my Japanese level is also almost 0.
JazakAllahu khayrun for summing it up so nicely brother Yunus. Yes you are right, the attitude Ana has is typical of the “gambaru” attitude a lot of Japanese have, which is really admirable, and yes you have also summed it up really nice here, there should be a balance point. I will be consolidating all the wonderful advice from everyone and sending it to Ana really soon, Insha’Allah. It is a good thing Ana’s English is good, because my Japanese level is also almost 0.
Thank you sister Meriam for this sharing and your good-will in helping Ana sort out her confusions.
they got a name for that attitude and they call it “gambau”!! Japan never fails to win my respect. I think “gambau” has its equivalent in Islam, when the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said: “God loves if someone of you performs a work, that he performs it with mastery” [إن الله يحب إذا عمل أحدكم عملا أن يتقنه]. And this is (yet again) one of these Prophet’s oral legacies that were always carried out marvellously in Japanese society without even knowing it was a directive from God: Devotion in work. But there is also the verse: “Allah does not impose upon any soul a duty but to the extent of its ability” Al Baqarah 286. So to say: Ana, if you couldn’t perform your religious obligations with perfection, while you had a strong and genuine intention to do that, then rest assured because oppositely from workplace bosses God has accounted as if you did it with perfection; Caliph Umar told us that the Prophet said: “Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each Human will have what he intended”.
Indeed Islam strives for perfection; perfection is at the core of Islam, and the “Perfect” is one of the names of God, but Islam prones rather the perfection of our heart first and foremost, irrespective from whether our actions were perfect or not, as long as we are pure in our intentions (and not assuming failure before our intention takes place). Islam is only here to release our burden not to add up: “And We have not sent you but as a mercy to the worlds” Al Anbiya 106. And the Prophet has also said: “I was only sent to perfect good characters” [إنما بعثت لأتمم مكارم الأخلاق].
And bear in mind that Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) has repeatedly warned about overdoing things to the extreme point, as narrated by the scholar Albani, the Prophet said: “This religion is firm, so enter it with leniency” [إن هذا الدين متين فأوغلوا فيه برفق]. So just to sum up, and as a rule, I think this quote from the Prophet has got it all: “What I have forbidden for you, avoid. What I have ordered you to do, do as much of it as you can” narrated by Bukhari and Muslim [ ما نهيتكم عنه ، فاجتنبوه ، وما أمرتكم به فأتوا منه ما استطعتم].
Funny to say, that in Arabic the word “Human” {Insan} has led to forming the word “Forget” {ansa}, because I think Forgetting is the most obvious (and annoying) feature that set Humans apart from automated machines or even other creatures (other creatures are innately not forgotting God, but we do _).
hehe I just realized I drifted away from the two main questions that you posted, but just quick:
1- The question of God existence: Just see one thing at a time and contemplate it, let’s say the eye, and how beautifully it was engineered. There got to be an architect for all of this. What is sure like SUUURE, is that this couldn’t be by coincidence. Now If someone come up saying: “Webcams came up by themselves”, or “this computer program was written by nobody” or “this landscape painting draw itself” or “this clock precision came just by accident”, then that’s what I call Science Fiction (or a horror movie plot, depends on how you see it). How can we convince a blind-by-birth person of the existence of light or colours: only if he loves you, he will believe in you, without really being able to grasp the full meaning of light or color. Something to ponder about.
2- Why Muslims wipe their faces after dua’. I don’t know really, but I will find out. I am not even sure if the Prophet did it. Personally I do it sometimes, sometimes not.. because what many people do not know, is that the word “Sunnah” in Arabic, means also “the action that you abstain from pertaking from time to time”, if “Sunnah” is performed everytime, then it it no more a “Sunnah”, it could have been called a “Fard” (obligation) instead ;-). I am sorry that some Arabic words can be ambiguous to non-Arabic speakers, and it should have been our duty as Arabs to clarify them.. your rewards are tens of folds more that ours, because language was not a barrier for you in seeking truth.
All in all, I am certain sister Meriem is well placed to discuss this piece of thought to Ms Ana.. my Japanese is next to zero, so is my battery level hhh. Ganbatte <3
I’ve read some comment say that wiping face after dua is not sunnah Rasulullah but we can do as long as it is not against Islam. I pray for you hope ANA get hidayah from Allah insyaAllah.
For the question no.2 why we wipe our face after dua because It is sunnah from Rasulullah. if we make we got pahala from Allah :) InsyaAllah