#35 Reflections: Unskimmed Milk Or Milk And Cream

"...people of other religions, who are accustomed neatly to separate the “spiritual” from the “ bodily” almost in the same way as the dairyman separates the cream from the milk , cannot easily understand that in the unskimmed milk of Islam both these ingredients, though distinct in their respective constitutions, harmoniously live and express themselves together.

In other words, the Islamic prayer consists of mental concentration and bodily movements because human life itself is of such a composition, and because we are supposed to approach God through the sum-total of all the faculties God has bestowed upon us."

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I had to share this quote because with one metaphor (about unskimmed milk) Muhammad Asad was able to show the beauty of Islam.

What a legend.

(This book is Islam At The Crossroads by Muhammad Asad. For a full review of the book, check out my bookstagram page.)

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In this section of the book, Muhammad Asad was explaining how Islam stands distinctly from any other religion because of the way it encompasses everything in our life.

That is why the way we pray involves both the inner khushu and the other bodily movements.

Just like how this quote talks about the mental and physical aspects of Salaah, it made me think about how Islam is unskimmed milk in everything.

That is why riba (interest) is completely forbidden because everything about it is oppressive to people with less.

That is why a person who prays and does extra acts of ritual worship can still be destined for Hell if the people around them are not safe from their tongue.

Islam has never been about just the prayer mat. Our purpose in life is to worship Him (51:56) and that means in every aspect of our life - from the prayer mat, to the kitchen, to the workplace.

For myself it's a reminder to reset my intentions for every aspect of my day. To make sure I treat Islam as it is meant to be treated - that is unskimmed milk and not milk and cream :)