Non-Muslim Sunnah

BismIllah.

When looking at how we would focus our lifestyle and consider the changes and improvements we needed to make in our lives, we looked firstly at the Qur'an and the Sunnah. In this case, not the Sunnah of manners and worship, but the Sunnah of lifestyle of our Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam. The reason we looked at this is because our Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, was sent down at a specific time and lived a specific lifestyle, which was in harmony with the earth (a focal part of our Islam). We then looked at what environmentalists and sustainable living veterans were doing - the crunchy movement.  We came to this question: "Why are all the non-Muslims raving about the Sunnah?"

What, you ask? Is there a group of non-Muslims that have learned about the Sunnah and love it? No. There are masses of non-Muslims who swear by living the Sunnah - but they don't know it is the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet. They just know it is the best way to live. Why do they know and practice, and we, as an Ummah, rarely do?

Why is it that when we go to the doctor, they tell us to eat whole, unrefined grains, natural foods, fruits, vegetables, like olive oil? Sunnah food! We are warned day in day out about avoiding chemical-laden, refined and processed foods like white sugar, white flour, white rice, etc. Why do they tell us to use honey, which we have ahadith and Qur'an ayaat about? Why are they giving us tips about how to eat mindfully, when we have extensive ahadith about the etiquettes of eating that tell us these things?

Why is it that the Green Revolution is telling us to build houses out of earth, just as they built the first masjid in Madinah? In the secular world, we are reminded that every day is Earth Day. In Islam, every day IS Earth Day because we have been given this earth as an amanah (trust) from Allah. They tell us not to use dangerous and harmful chemicals...subhaan Allah, it's as if they read the ayaat in the Quran "and do not destroy yourselves."

We turn up our noses at the "primitive" squat toilets used in the Middle East, but the west says that they are the healthiest toilets to use for proper elimination and even sell steps to use in front of western toilets to give the same effect of crouching. Subhaan Allah! We are even told that conventional toilets are a huge waste and composting toilets are the way to secure our earth's future.

Just go online and you will see articles and blogs about giving up material things, getting rid of the clutter. Non-Muslims are raving about the virtues and value of giving up unnecessary things to better appreciate what is important in life. So now, we have non-Muslims taking practical steps towards Az-Zuhd, when we are out shopping and filling our homes.

Non-Muslims are recycling, living for a year without throwing anything away to see how they can reduce their impact on the earth. They have gone back to the materials used in the time of the Prophet - iron, steel, glass, pottery - and shunned the plastic, aluminum, and teflon found to be so dangerous to our health. They even went back to the Sunnah in the materials they use - cotton, hemp, linen, wool, silk, leather, while we buy Japanese polyester abayas and thobes.

What have we come to that the rest of the world is doing what was sent us by Allah, in the form of our Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and his Sunnah, as the best example of how to live? As you will see in the posts about our lifestyle changes and evolution, we are taking the best example of how to live as our model for living our lives, now and ultimately on our land bi ithn Illah.