Following on from the post which Hassan started about Fear and Islam, I was thinking how much guilt plays a part in how Muslims behave and follow their religion.
I went for Friday prayer at the infamous Green Lane Masjid a few weeks ago and the guy was giving a talk about Muslims in the UK and how there are so many people who if you asked them about football, or technology, or politics or films, they would have a lot of knowledge and talk confidently about these subjects, yet if you asked them about the Deen of Islam, they would know very little. He went on to say that there are many people in our community who do not pay Zakat, don't fast and don't even pray.
I was thinking, a few years ago, this would have made me feel very guilty, but I was glad that i just thought "what a wanker!"
I know people who have become very devout and many of them used to do a lot of "bad" things like drinking and fornicating. And there is also a high proportion of converts who convert in prison. Do you thinking that these people go towards the path of Islam because they feel guilty because of their pasts?
Yes, guilt is a big factor (as it is in Christianity too). People want to atone for their sins (or perceived sins - we sometimes feel guilty about things that we shouldn't feel guilty about.)
Have you ever got some of those awful chain letters going on and on about how bad we are for not doing this or not caring about that and telling us we are sinful for not spending every second in the path of Allah blah blah blah...
The message is you are bad, sinful and unworthy - no-one deserves paradise - you will only get there by Allah's mercy (He is so merciful for sending us to heaven even though we are so wretched and totally deserve being tortured for eternity for the unspeakable sin of being human and behaving according to the way God created us.)
I still feel guilty at times and I don't even know why! lol
Topic: Guilt and Islam