When we approach someone and we haven’t seen them in awhile, we say “Salaamu alaikum” and they say back “Wa alaikum as-salaam.” Salaam means “peace”. Salaam is also a name of Allah, a name of God. So when we meet somebody we say to them “God be with you and peace be with you” and they say “And God be with you and peace be with you” in those few words. Now all of us are actually striving to fiind this word “salaam” but how do you find it? We certainly use it enough. We certainly talk about it enough. It’s like “everybody’s talkin’ ’bout, nobody’s finding it, peace.” How do we go about finding peace? What is this state that’s called peace?
Well, a few things, it’s a state without anxiety, it’s a state without fear, it’s a state that is satisfied with the moment and the space and the place and the time that we’re in. It’s a moment when we don’t need to go somewhere else. It’s a moment when somehow in all of the chaos in this world, we have found contentment. We have found the ability to be at rest. We have found of the ability to be at peace in the midst of the blaring of sirens of the world. We have found the ability to be at peace and to be not disturbed.
Now, some people think that to find peace, you have to go to a mosque or to a church or to a synagogue. You have to go somewhere. The truth is, we all carry our own place of worship with us, and it’s in our heart. Our heart is our place of worship and if we realize that wherever we go, we have our heart with us, then we should simultaneously realize that we are always in a place of worship. So, we are always in the place. Now we have to have the attitude. Now we have to have the intention because Allah in his mercy has given us each that place, has given us each that house of worship that travels with us.
Allah created this whole world and he put all kinds of riches in it and put in all of the necessities that man would need for his life in it. Then after he created all of that, he then created us and put us in it. Think about that…
