"The definitions of materialism and terrorism" by Taha U.

I could of done this on things like my passions and hobbies in life like filmmaking and poetry, false romance stories, or anything cliche or nonsensical but I decided that since there’s an overall lack of substance and deeper thinking in some of the previous months this needs to be addressed from the heart . Growing up as a Muslim  I’ve always been confronted with the topics of materialism, inner desires, and terrorism. From the beginning people have always assumed that I’m “missing out” by not following my desires, what I mean by desires are the things we as humans want to do but they’re not the right things to do according to the rulings of God.  

If we want to understand what materialism is you need to know what it means, by definition materialism is defined as “a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values”.  

What do we see today? People have replaced God in their daily lives with the temptations of this world. Why do we see the richest of the rich who have everything getting ready to commit suicide while others across the world are forced to live in refugee camps?  Before I get fully worked up this isn’t a rant on why we should embrace socialism or any “isms” of that matter.  

The issue is that when  people forget God they become senseless and they forget themselves.  Instead we see people trying to senselessly imitate people like actors and musicians in everything when we don’t understand that even people like them are merely happy on the surface, how many times do we hear about the broken or dysfunctional personal lives of the people we idolize?  People only live life for their coffee in the morning, their social media following, and the latest releases of things like fashion and the newest IPhone. This disease can be seen everywhere, in today’s world the problem often causes people to doubt their existence.  The same people who practically worship celebrities and their own material wealth are always the first to say they’re unhappy when they have enough in life. People pretend to be content in life as long as they have their Supreme, Thrasher, and any other brand you can think of. I’m not attacking you either if you enjoy looking nice, but the purpose in life in deeper than simply having nice things.   

The worse aspect of it all is how people are never thankful, the contrast is that people have absolutely nothing in life and they can still smile but yet people decide to complain when they’re unable to get the latest tech or name brand items.

The prophet Muhammad ( peace and blessings be upon him) once said that  “the One who’s biggest concern is this world, God ordains poverty between his two eyes and causes his affairs to become disjointed and dissipated, And as for one who passes his time with his biggest concern and goal the afterlife, God puts contentment to his heart and gives a wholeness and unity to his affairs.

This statement is not far from reality, why do you think the depression and suicide rates are so high among people in the richest countries?  Wealth does not buy you happiness or contentment, submission to God does.

Sometimes people look down at me when I tell them that wealth is not my end goal in life. I believe my purpose in life is to worship God and God alone by following what he has ordained in the Quran (Muslim holy book) and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him). At the end of the day you need to ask yourself the question: What will my wealth do for me in the grave or on the day of judgement when I’m asked by God what I did in this life? As a Muslim we believe that when God has given you something good or bad it is a test from God, if someone were to achieve wealth from  legitimate or  illegitimate methods, God will judge accordingly to way it was earned and also the way it was used. On the other hand, the REAL contentment of this life is through submitting to God, some individuals love to place blame on others when they fail to realize that this life is a test and that sometimes our bad actions can lead to consequences. If you’re still reading by this point I can tell you one of the greatest enjoyments I have in life is not through money, intoxicants, clothes, or anything else but it is through Salah or the five daily prayers, building and strengthening your relationship with God is something that will get you through life. The scariest thing of this all is if someone’s only goals in this life are wealth and status when they reach old age they feel as if they have nothing to live for anymore, the reason why it is essential to worship God alone and accept his rulings is because in the long term it will be beneficial to you not only in this world but also the afterlife. The Prophet Muhammad also said to Be in the world as if you were a stranger or a traveller along a path, we never know when we’ll return to God, life is uncertain but real honor is given by God. You might read this and laugh it off but don’t be shortsighted as we’ll all stand in front of God one day.
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Part 2: Terrorism

 I apologize for this being long but I felt like this needed to be said. Another experience I’ve had growing up as a Muslim is how we’re often correlated with terrorism.  Growing up in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, many people gave into the fear and hatred that was being promoted by others, some of the worst memories I’ve had in school were being called a terrorist and even being told to ‘go back home’ and that I didn’t belong in America. This isn’t meant to be some sort of sob story but the record needs to be set straight.

When we look at the definition of terrorism, terrorism is defined as the use of violence and intimidation to achieve a political or religious goal. Be honest, when you think of terrorism the first thing that pops up is the image of a Muslim man in a beard or a Muslim woman in a burka. I don’t blame you if that’s what comes to mind, but with the definition of terrorism you need to look at all sides and at the same time the likes of

ISIS or Al Qaeda do not represent Islam or Muslims in general. As a Muslim it is impossible for someone to support their injustice and oppression towards anyone.  Terrorism is the story of how millions of native Americans were wiped out by European invaders in a lust for greed and power. Terrorism is when millions of Africans were stolen from their lands and placed on cramped disease and starvation ridden boats, only to have their families broken up and denied their rights for hundreds of years.  Terrorism is Israel expelling over 700,000 Palestinians in 1948 like how the Pharaoh exiled Moses and his people, terrorism is also how Israel continuously bombs the Gaza strip’s schools, hospitals, and homes with white phosphorous turning people into ashes like the incinerators in Nazi camps all  in the name of ‘defense’. Terrorism is the west’s imperialism on Iraq and Afghanistan, killing millions while creating deformed children in Fallujah from the usage of depleted uranium  and stealing countless natural resources in the process of bringing “freedom”. Terrorism is oppressing people of color by forcing them to live in slums while introducing drugs and guns to them, you can take a look and see that policy’s effects linger on in the streets of  South Central LA, Chicago, and elsewhere. Terrorism is plundering and  colonizing the world under the pretense of white superiority and ‘bringing civilization’.  Terrorism is Russian involvement in Syria causing over 400,000 deaths and many to flee their country all for the sake of supporting a mad dictator hellbent on only securing his power. The list goes on, you need to put your humanity in check and understand that the narrative that we’re often forced to believe is not the truth, in fact Malcolm X even said that “The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent”, you can’t make up your own definition of terrorism while things like this happen neither can you blame a single group for the ills of violence in today’s world. I wanted to get this out here because people need to understand what reality is.

At the end of the day I’m proud of being a Muslim and I will not let anyone change this.