Is it not amazing how we always occupy ourselves with trying to figure out the aim and purpose of people’s actions and intentions and never care to understand the aim of our greatest enemy whose happiness is our misery? If you were for instance asked what the aim of the Shaytan is, what would be your answer? The average honest person would probably reply “I honestly do not know”. Why is this the case? Why are we so busy insuring our wealth, lives and properties but rarely bother to take precautions against the one who inspires the thieves and murderers in the first place? I think it is simply because we do not know what his real aim is.
A couple of weeks ago I discovered something in the Quran. Reading the Chapter entitled Al-A’raf (The Heights). I discovered the sole aim of the devil, which he revealed in a dialogue he had with God shortly after he refused to bow down to Prophet Adam. God said to him
“(Oh Iblis) get down from this (Paradise), it is not for you to be arrogant here. Get out, for you are of those humiliated and disgraced. (Iblis) said: Allow me respite till the Day they are raised up, (i.e. the Day of Resurrection). (God) said: You are of those respited. (Iblis) said; because you have sent me astray, surely, I will sit in wait against them (human being) on your straight path. Then will I come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them as thankful one” (Al-A’raf:16-17).
Now, a few lessons can be learned from these verses. The first lesson is the vastness of God’s mercy. Shortly after he had disobeyed God, the Shaytan makes a prayer, i.e. to live until the end of times. Despite the fact that He was highly displeased with him, God granted Shaytan his wish. How many of you have had the urge to ask God of something yet you hear a voice in your head saying “how dare you ask God for anything knowing that you are disobedient to him most of your time?” This my, dear sisters and brothers, is the voice of the Shaytan, the same one who prayed for God despite being the first and only creation who stood in front of God and bluntly said I will not obey you. My dear sisters and brothers, when you hear this voice you should reply to it. Say “Oh Shaytan, I know I’m a bad person but I’m not as bad as you. My Lord is the Most Merciful and accepts the sincere prayers of His creation. Had you known this, then you would’ve asked for forgiveness for your arrogance. Sadly it is too late for you, but for me, there is still hope.”
The second lesson to be learned from the above verses is the fact that the Shaytan said he will be waiting for us on God’s straight path. In other words, he is only interested in those who are or try to upright, especially the youth. Why the youth? Because they are the backbone of this nation, if your back is straight, wouldn’t your body be too? This great Ummah of ours is bound to the wheelchair because our back, our youth, are broken.
Shaytan vows to wait for the believers on God’s path and promises to assault them from their front, back, left and right. Notice how he never said he will not attack us from above? This is because he realises the mercies of God descend unto us from above and he does not possess the ability of diverting God’s blessing, nobody does. However, he does have the ability of making us ungrateful for those blessings. And this is where the Shaytan reveals his core aim. He promises God he will attack us only for the purpose of making us ungrateful to God. Have you ever reflected upon the meaning of gratefulness in Islam? As a matter fact, everything in Islam links back to gratitude. Shaytan’s sin of arrogance can be classified as ungratefulness.
Despite the fact that God gave him the best home (i.e. Paradise), he refused to obey God’s only command to him, to bow down to Prophet Adam in a manner of respect. When someone is grateful to God, they say “Alhamdullillah”, which means “All Praise is due to God”. Tell me, what are the most common names of the most beloved prophet of God? Mohammed and Ahmad, two names which come from the root word “hamd”, which is Arabic for “praise”. Why was the Prophet (SAW) called these names? Because he (SAW) praised God a lot and was at the same praised by the whole creation, and will continue to be praised until the Day of Judgement. I ask you; with what words does the first chapter in Qur’an start with? Is it not “All praise is due to the Lord
of all the Worlds”? Again I ask you; do you know what the last words of the people of Paradise are when they are entering it? They will be saying “Verily all praise is due to the Lord of the all the World”. Oh, Muslim, do you now understand the importance of gratitude in Islam?
What does it, then, mean to be a grateful person? The Prophet (SAW) said that the one who is not grateful to the creation is not grateful to the Creator. My dear brother and sister, are you a grateful person? Are you grateful to your mother for everything she has done for you? Are you grateful to your teachers for passing on their knowledge to you? Are you grateful to your employer for giving you a chance to earn your bread? Oh, youth, are you grateful to society for looking after you in every possible way? Are you grateful to nature for enabling you to live in this world comfortably? You see, if you are not grateful to all of these, you cannot be grateful to God. So how do you show your gratitude? Is it enough to say thank you? Actually, I believe that gratitude is so much more than a few words uttered mostly done so without a sincere intention. I believe gratefulness is shown in your actions. It is easy to say thank you to your
mum, teacher, employer and so on, and this we tend to do only when they have allowed us to do what we wanted or given us what we needed.
Being grateful to your mother is showing her kindness and easing her burden, especially during time when you are not in good terms. Being grateful to your teachers is to gain the best grades and utilise the knowledge to the benefit of others, just like they utilised theirs to benefit you. Being grateful to your employer is helping their company or department achieve perfection in their services, even if it means going that extra mile.
Being grateful to the society is contributing back into it and changing it for the better. Being grateful to nature is to look after it by not over-using its resources irresponsibly and preserving it for the coming generations.
Now you know what it means to be grateful, I ask, my fellow Muslim, are you a grateful person? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make you feel awful about yourself. All I want to do is make you realise how to protect yourself from your worst enemy. All I want to do is to enable you to be amongst God’s beloved and grateful servants. All I want to do is to make you overcome your worst enemy and say to him “Oh, Shaytan, I am grateful and you are not”.
Monday 10 September 2007
Friday 7 September 2007
My Love is Your Love
MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE
What would you say to the Prophet (SAW) if you were to meet him tomorrow? Would you hug and kiss him and tell him how much missed and loved him? I think it is fair to say that for every Muslim, the answers to these questions would be a resounding YES! But if the day we meet the Prophet (SAW) was the Day of Judgement, the day when no tongues will be able to lie, would the answer be the same or would our true colours come out? Unfortunately, for many of us, our tongues express the love we presumably have in our hearts for the Prophet (SAW) but our actions bear witness of how artificial this love really is. When a person loves someone he/she would be willing to do everything for that particular person and love everything associated with him/her.
Describing a person affected by this, a poet once wrote “for the sake of a Sudanese girl, he loved Sudan to the point that he loved the black dogs due to his love for her!” Thus, if we really and truly loved the Prophet (SAW), we would love and honour everything he (SAW) loved and honoured. So, let us then ask what did he (SAW) stand for and love?
Firstly, we know he (SAW) stood for mercy and compassion because ALLAH had said in His glorious Qur’an that the Prophet (SAW) was not sent “except as a mercy to all the worlds” (Qur’an 21:107). Reading the Seerah (the biography of the Prophet, SAW) we would indeed see how well he fulfilled this role. Now, does this reflect on us who claim to follow and love the Prophet (SAW)? Are we for instance merciful towards our fellow human beings or our environment? Do people describe us Muslims as people of mercy, compassion and love? Well, I leave to answer that…
Another thing the Prophet (SAW) cherished was the unique brotherhood that Islam brings amongst its followers. This was not only a characteristic of the Prophet (SAW) but all other Prophets (AS). Take Harun (AS) for instance. When Musa (AS) left him in charge of the Bani Israel, one of them, referred to in the Qur’an as Samiri, mislead them by arguing the golden calf was their lord. Harun (AS) knew this was clear falsehood and warned his people. He said to them: “Oh my people! You are being tested by this, for verily your Lord is Most Gracious so follow me and obey my command”! (Qur’an 20: 90). His people disobeyed him and said “We will not abandon this cult, but we will devote ourselves to it until Moses returns to us” (Qur’an 20:91). Of course, God informed Musa about the situation and he returned to his people and confronted Harun (AS) asking him why he didn’t prevent the people from deviating and demanded to know why Harun (AS) had disobeyed his command. Harun (AS) replied “Oh son of my mother! Seize (me) not by (the hair of) my head! Truly I feared lest you should say ‘You have caused a division among the Children of Israel and you did not respect my word’!
Now, let us reflect upon this for a minute. Here we have a man whom God had given the ability and authority to put forward a fatwa and declare whomsoever worshipped the calf and followed Samiri would have deviated from the Right Guidance and thus, essentially, become a kafir (disbeliever). He could have easily, and rightly, separate himself and those who followed him and form their own group. Yet, despite this he refused. Why?
Because he did not want to cause a division within the group and because he knew there was one person who had more knowledge and authority than him, i.e. Musa (AS), to deal with the issue at hand. Compare that to us Muslims today who are willing to declare someone a disbeliever because of trivial reasons like for using prayer beads, not letting the beard grow or for not wearing the right type of hijab! If we truly loved the Prophet (SAW), wouldn’t we cherish our unity and do whatever it takes to keep it?
Do you know one of the last things that caused the Prophet (SAW) to smile? It was seeing the Muslims all praying shoulder to shoulder, united behind their leader to be Abu Bakr Siddique (RA). He (SAW) cherished unity and brotherhood so much so that he (SAW) would smile despite suffering great pains due to an approaching death! Does the unity of the Muslims concern you half as much as the Prophet (SAW)? Do you worry or feel saddened by the fact that so many of your brothers and sisters have abandoned their religion and become disillusioned by the transient life of this world? And if it does concern you, do you do something about it? Do you involve yourself with the spreading of the religion the Prophet (SAW) was sent to complete and perfect? Do you at the least greet your fellow Muslims with a cheerful smile, just like the Prophet (SAW) did? If we all ask ourselves these questions we can judge the truthfulness of our love for he Prophet (SAW). If we truly loved him (SAW), our answers would be strong and clear.
Shortly before the Prophet (SAW) died, he cried. Do you know why he cried? Because he missed you and me. His (SAW) love for us was so great it made his heart ache and his eyes cry. When the companions asked him (SAW) why he was crying, he (SAW) said: “I miss my brothers”. When the companions told him (SAW) he said he was not referring to them but to those who would come later on and defend Islam and uphold his Sunnah although they had not seen or met him (SAW).
Now let us ask ourselves, are we amongst those who caused the Prophet (SAW) cry out of his love for us or amongst those who will case him to cry out of sorrow on the Day of Judgement because we failed to save our families, our ummah and ourselves from the Hell-Fire? Will we be amongst those who tongues claimed the love of he Prophet (SAW) but whose actions belied their words? My fellow Muslim, do not get me wrong, I’m not trying to make you depressed. I just wish that Muslims start asking themselves some serious questions and make a promise to make their words and actions collectively say “Oh, Prophet! My Love is Your Love!”
What would you say to the Prophet (SAW) if you were to meet him tomorrow? Would you hug and kiss him and tell him how much missed and loved him? I think it is fair to say that for every Muslim, the answers to these questions would be a resounding YES! But if the day we meet the Prophet (SAW) was the Day of Judgement, the day when no tongues will be able to lie, would the answer be the same or would our true colours come out? Unfortunately, for many of us, our tongues express the love we presumably have in our hearts for the Prophet (SAW) but our actions bear witness of how artificial this love really is. When a person loves someone he/she would be willing to do everything for that particular person and love everything associated with him/her.
Describing a person affected by this, a poet once wrote “for the sake of a Sudanese girl, he loved Sudan to the point that he loved the black dogs due to his love for her!” Thus, if we really and truly loved the Prophet (SAW), we would love and honour everything he (SAW) loved and honoured. So, let us then ask what did he (SAW) stand for and love?
Firstly, we know he (SAW) stood for mercy and compassion because ALLAH had said in His glorious Qur’an that the Prophet (SAW) was not sent “except as a mercy to all the worlds” (Qur’an 21:107). Reading the Seerah (the biography of the Prophet, SAW) we would indeed see how well he fulfilled this role. Now, does this reflect on us who claim to follow and love the Prophet (SAW)? Are we for instance merciful towards our fellow human beings or our environment? Do people describe us Muslims as people of mercy, compassion and love? Well, I leave to answer that…
Another thing the Prophet (SAW) cherished was the unique brotherhood that Islam brings amongst its followers. This was not only a characteristic of the Prophet (SAW) but all other Prophets (AS). Take Harun (AS) for instance. When Musa (AS) left him in charge of the Bani Israel, one of them, referred to in the Qur’an as Samiri, mislead them by arguing the golden calf was their lord. Harun (AS) knew this was clear falsehood and warned his people. He said to them: “Oh my people! You are being tested by this, for verily your Lord is Most Gracious so follow me and obey my command”! (Qur’an 20: 90). His people disobeyed him and said “We will not abandon this cult, but we will devote ourselves to it until Moses returns to us” (Qur’an 20:91). Of course, God informed Musa about the situation and he returned to his people and confronted Harun (AS) asking him why he didn’t prevent the people from deviating and demanded to know why Harun (AS) had disobeyed his command. Harun (AS) replied “Oh son of my mother! Seize (me) not by (the hair of) my head! Truly I feared lest you should say ‘You have caused a division among the Children of Israel and you did not respect my word’!
Now, let us reflect upon this for a minute. Here we have a man whom God had given the ability and authority to put forward a fatwa and declare whomsoever worshipped the calf and followed Samiri would have deviated from the Right Guidance and thus, essentially, become a kafir (disbeliever). He could have easily, and rightly, separate himself and those who followed him and form their own group. Yet, despite this he refused. Why?
Because he did not want to cause a division within the group and because he knew there was one person who had more knowledge and authority than him, i.e. Musa (AS), to deal with the issue at hand. Compare that to us Muslims today who are willing to declare someone a disbeliever because of trivial reasons like for using prayer beads, not letting the beard grow or for not wearing the right type of hijab! If we truly loved the Prophet (SAW), wouldn’t we cherish our unity and do whatever it takes to keep it?
Do you know one of the last things that caused the Prophet (SAW) to smile? It was seeing the Muslims all praying shoulder to shoulder, united behind their leader to be Abu Bakr Siddique (RA). He (SAW) cherished unity and brotherhood so much so that he (SAW) would smile despite suffering great pains due to an approaching death! Does the unity of the Muslims concern you half as much as the Prophet (SAW)? Do you worry or feel saddened by the fact that so many of your brothers and sisters have abandoned their religion and become disillusioned by the transient life of this world? And if it does concern you, do you do something about it? Do you involve yourself with the spreading of the religion the Prophet (SAW) was sent to complete and perfect? Do you at the least greet your fellow Muslims with a cheerful smile, just like the Prophet (SAW) did? If we all ask ourselves these questions we can judge the truthfulness of our love for he Prophet (SAW). If we truly loved him (SAW), our answers would be strong and clear.
Shortly before the Prophet (SAW) died, he cried. Do you know why he cried? Because he missed you and me. His (SAW) love for us was so great it made his heart ache and his eyes cry. When the companions asked him (SAW) why he was crying, he (SAW) said: “I miss my brothers”. When the companions told him (SAW) he said he was not referring to them but to those who would come later on and defend Islam and uphold his Sunnah although they had not seen or met him (SAW).
Now let us ask ourselves, are we amongst those who caused the Prophet (SAW) cry out of his love for us or amongst those who will case him to cry out of sorrow on the Day of Judgement because we failed to save our families, our ummah and ourselves from the Hell-Fire? Will we be amongst those who tongues claimed the love of he Prophet (SAW) but whose actions belied their words? My fellow Muslim, do not get me wrong, I’m not trying to make you depressed. I just wish that Muslims start asking themselves some serious questions and make a promise to make their words and actions collectively say “Oh, Prophet! My Love is Your Love!”
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