Islamic Thoughts

• ANALYSES
• 1 Behavior code of Muslims toward non-Muslims
• 2 September 11 (2001) attacks on America not compatible with Islam
• 3 Ways To Defuse Religious Tensions
• 4 The Value Of The Ten Commandments
• 5 Bright Spot Of The Us Constitution: Religious Freedom
• 6 Lessons from the prophet's hudaibiah treaty.
• 7 Rulers' roles in promotion of christianity.
• 8 Exploring a model definition of 'religion'
• 9 Where islam stands as a civilized religion?
• 10 Proving god's existence through experimental science.
• 11 Roles of man as necessary & God as sufficient condition.
• 12 Human kindness is a shadow of god's kindness.
• 13 Why islam is the best choice for the Africans?
• 14 In Old Age, All Roads Lead To Death.
• 15 No Creations Are Without Purposes & Uses.
• 16 Prayer Prevents People From Bad Actions.
• 17 When Haram May Be Excusable: Five-Step Conditions.
• 18 Islamization Of Some Un-Islamic Cultures.
• 19 Greater The Faith, Tougher The Test.
• 20 How Science Can Make A Difference For Muslims?
• 21 The Time Gap Reality Between Sin & Punishment.
• 22 Good & Bad Days Alternate In Cyclic Order.
• 23 Let Moon-Sighting Unite & Not Divide The Muslims.
• 24 Faith Crisis Among Some Intellectuals.
• 25 Islamic Policy Toward Animals.
• 26 Improving The Muslim Performance (Aamal) Standard.
• ARGUMENTS
• 27 How Middle Course Better Than Conservative And Liberal Extremes?
• 28 Why God Is The Best One To Be Worshipped?
• 29 Costs And Benefits Of Belief In The Afterlife
• 30 Bible Is Similar To Hadith But Different From Quran
• 31 Defaming Islam: Freedom Of Speech Or Violation Of Rights?
• 32 How Islam Compares With Democracy?
• 33 Who Is Responsible For '0' Small Pox Since 1980?
• 34 Timeliness Is The Leading Condition For Prayer.
• 35 Ten Arguments For Women's Education.
• 36 Why Physical Fitness Matters For The Muslims?
• 37 Homosexuality Vs Adultery: Which Is Worse And How?
• 38 Countering Abortionist Argument
• 39 Which Is Better: Open Or Secret Prayer?
• 40 Small Or Large Recitation: Which Is Better In Prayer?
• 41 Personal Or Social Suffering: Which Is More Painful & Why?
• 42 Cultural Slavery Vs Cultural Diffusion.
• 43 Why Should America Ban Religious Defamation?
• ASSORTMENTS
• 44 Visible Action Of Invisible God: From Author's Diary.
• 45 Optional Good Deeds Are Like Bodyguards For Compulsory Ones.
• 46 The Gravitation Law Of Performance (Not One Of Newton).
• 47 The Theory Of Relativity (Not That Of Einstein).
• 48 In Good Deeds
• 49 "Rob Peter to pay Paul" is not for islam
• 50 Muslims Cannot Be "Penny Wise And Pound Foolish".
• 51 Islam Endorses Salad Bowl & Not Melting Pot Theory.
• 52 100% Homosexuality Means Prospect Of 'O' World Population.
• 53 Sinning In Teens To 40's & Suffering From 50's To Death.
• 54 Revenge May Be Lower But Not Greater Than Harm.
• 55 Why Karl Marx Is Irrelevant Forever?
• 56 Is God The Same One For All Religions?
• 57 How God Controls Economy And Livelihood?
• 58 How Muslim Repression In Myanmar Violates Buddhist Principles?
• MISCELLANEOUS
• 59 Grim Reality of Death: Unfailing Lesson for Everyone
• 60 Religion Vs Reason: Which is More Important?

47 : THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY (NOT THAT OF EINSTEIN)

Islam has its own version of the theory of relativity that has to do with the quality of performance. In reality, it is almost impossible that you will be absolutely perfect or 100% sinless like a small selection of prophets. This does not mean you will despairingly operate at '0' effort level with almost total lacking of good actions. Islam suggests that you must try your level best to launch relatively better effort than otherwise. On the scale of 100 to 0, you should aim to move as farther up as you can from 0 toward 100. As applied to good actions, this means that something is better than nothing and more of good actions are better than less. For example, praying once or twice a day is better than not praying at all and five times prayers outshine fewer prayers. This theory should fix the self-defeating mentality of those who make long term plan to be a perfect person after certain event like getting married or doing pilgrimage etc.

Similar policy applies to bad actions as well. Accordingly, it will be the best if you can get rid of sins altogether. If you can't do that despite your best effort, try your best to minimize the number of sins by fighting your evil instinct (e.g. you must stop stealing during solvency even if you cannot do so in dire poverty). In this way, if you can keep your sins within limit (with repentance or commitment against future sins), then that is better than keeping your doors open to more sins. Thus, fewer sins are not as bad as more of similar sins, minor sins are less worse than major sins and forced sins (lying for saving life) are more pardonable than willful sins (lying for cheating or fun). Such principle of relativity recognizes the reality that changeover to Islamic life often does not happen abruptly but through gradual process. That is why, Islam chose 3 gradual steps to banning alcohol (first telling its negatives, second prohibiting it while praying and finally forever) over ordering its prohibition all at once.