Watching Anime (Japanese Cartoon) Halal Or Haram?
Don’t worry about shirk and kufr as a Muslim when you know “ There is nothing like unto Him (God) “. However , God wants his servants to worship him as if they see him (hadith: Worship God as if you see him ). It’s the seeing of the heart in the imaginal realm . Here’s a beautiful story from the Masnavi explaining the deep implication of the hadith. Next follows an anecdote of Bilkis, Queen of Sheba, whose reason was enlightened by the counsels of the Hoopoo sent to her by King Solomon. Outward sense is as opposed to true reason as Abu Jahl was to Muhammad; and when the outward senses are replaced by the true inner rea son, man sees that the body is only foam, and the heart the limitless ocean. Afterwards comes an anecdote of a philoso pher who was struck blind for cavilling at the verse, “What think ye? If at early morn your waters shall have sunk away, who will then give you clear running water?” This is suc ceeded by the story of Moses and the shepherd. Moses once heard a shepherd praying as follows: “O God, show me where thou art, that I may become. Thy servant. I will clean Thy shoes and comb Thy hair, and sew Thy clothes, and fetch Thee milk.” When Moses heard him praying in this senseless manner, he rebuked him, saying, “O foolish one, though your father was a Mosalman, you have become an infidel. God is a Spirit, and needs not such gross ministra tions as, in your ignorance, you suppose.” The shepherd was abashed at his rebuke, and tore his clothes and fled away into the desert. Then a voice from heaven was heard, saying, “O Moses, wherefore have you driven away my servant? Your office is to reconcile my people with me, not to drive them away from me. I have given to each race different usages and forms of praising and adoring me. I have no need of their praises, being exalted above all such needs. I regard not the words that are spoken, but the heart that offers them. I do not require fine words, but a burning heart. Men’s ways of showing devotion to me are various, but so long as the devotions are genuine, they are accepted.” The Quran does warn of shirk but if you observe carefully, God has anthropomorphized himself for the believers. Two examples are more than enough “ Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you, [O Muḥammad] – they are actually pledging allegiance to Allāh. The hand of Allāh is over their hands.” “And to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.” An authentic hadith also describes God in anthropomorphic terms , it’s just one the many you can find in the hadith literature On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Allah (mighty and sublime be He) will say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I fell ill and you visited Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I visit You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so had fallen ill and you visited him not? Did you not know that had you visited him you would have found Me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so asked you for food and you fed him not? Did you not know that had you fed him you would surely have found that (the reward for doing so) with Me? O son of Adam, I asked you to give Me to drink and you gave Me not to drink. He will say: O Lord, how should I give You to drink when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: My servant So-and-so asked you to give him to drink and you gave him not to drink. Had you given him to drink you would have surely found that with Me”