Why is everything Haraam?

I don’t know who said it, but there’s a saying that goes, “All good things in life are either banned or illegal or fattening”.

Many of the guys I know feel the same way about Islam too. Lots of discussions I have with someone at one point kinda takes the “ah dude, that’s haraam too?” turn and let’s face it – many of us at one point would’ve felt the same way about certain issues.

So where does the problem lie anyway? I guess the real issue lies in two things:

One, in spite of our co-called identity, our lifestyle does not adhere to the teachings of Islam. At a recent corporate dinner I was at recently, I was almost an outcast for not joining in with the ‘social drink’ along with everyone else…and as expected, someone needed to be told that alcohol is haraam.
I guess the same thing goes for eating pork, social intermingling at parties and places, chick-flicks on the tube, and just about every other thing that just so happens to be a part of our lives. And the really bad news is that all of these things just seem to only get worse as you climb up the proverbial ladder. And unless you're careful, pretty soon you're bound to think that Islam probably might not fit in with the times.

Two, and most importantly, is in our Taq’wah. (and btw, if you’re like lost and scratching your head right now, this is a good time to go brush up on terms we need to know, especially ones used in the Qur’an a lot of times)
Part of that lies in knowing that Allah, as Creator, knows what is best and decides that for us. And being guidance for all of humanity, the Qur’an is the final word on what is right and what’s not…and not for us to figure “Gee, I’m not too sure why that seems to be haraam, I mean it seems alright to me” because we are not the authority debate on that.
I really don’t know how to explain this further; like I said, it lies in our Taqwah.

We pray to Allah to give us Ilm-un-Naafi’a and for the courage to stand up against the crowd for what you believe in.

But one thing we need to remember: this is our religion.
And our principles are not for sale.