- Islamic Biography / Prophetic Biography
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- The prophet's exemplary behaviour
Continuity and persistence are out of prophetic Sunnah:
Dear brother, the Sunnah of the prophet PBUH includes two significations, the first one is the method, which we should follow, and the second is the way we deal with this method:
﴾To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear way.﴿
“Shira’ah” (the prescribed law) refers to the dos and don’ts in Islam and the Islamic rulings of every matter related to man’s life.
On the other hand, the method is the way we deal with this Sharee’ah (Islamic rulings).
The continuity of offering deeds is part of the prophetic Sunnah in the way we deal with Shree’ah (Islamic rulings), so how things happen? Man might be heedless and disconnected from Allah. As a result, he falls in deep pain from this estrangement, his matters face difficulties, he is straitened, he is depressed and he suffers psychological, social, economical and physical problems, all of which amount to agony. When he reconciles with Allah he takes a quality leap towards a better level, towards happiness and towards a different life he has never experienced before, a life where he can find stability in his soul, trust in the future and an overwhelming feeling of pleasing Allah, let alone enjoying tranquility, security, prosperity and facilitated life.
This sudden quality movement grants him happiness that he cannot hide, so what does happen at this point? At this prime moment, he might assign himself to something beyond his capacity. So after a while he may slow a little bit, then he takes another step backward, and suddenly he finds himself in front of a huge setback. After he was offering night prayers, he stops doing so and after he was attending religious sessions, he stops attending them, and this setback will cause him a big problem.
For that very reason, continuity and persistence in offering deeds are part of the prophetic method:
'A'isha (May Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) had a mat and he used it for making an apartment during the night and observed prayer in it. The people started prayinge with him, and he spreaded it (the mat) during the daytime. The people crowded round him one night. He (the Prophet) then said:
"O people, perform such acts, as you are capable of doing, for Allah does not grow weary but you will get tired. The acts most pleasing to Allah are those that are done continuously, even if they are small."
If you give 100 liras every month to the poor, you should keep doing it. If you offer Duha (late morning) prayer, also maintain it daily. If you attend a religious session, keep coming to the Masjid to attend it.
Stable and continuous steps give the soul a feeling of trust, whereas falling behind makes man trapped in a setback.
Since man is in continuous movement, every step forward will drag other steps forward, whereas every step backward will drag other steps backward.
The prophet PBUH instructed us in this regard:
'A'isha reported Allah's Messenger (PBUH) as saying:
"The acts most pleasing to Allah are those which are done continuously, even if they are small. "
We should adopt a balanced method to follow continuously:
One more thing, the Divine method is related to our destiny in life and it is not like graduating high school or university when man puts all his efforts for a certain period and it is over. Not at all. That's because the Divine method is related to our destiny in life until our death.
Accordingly, man should adopt a balanced method within his capacity and he continues following it. Thus, what really counts is that your diagram line keeps ascending without any setbacks, because having repeated setbacks will leave man in depression.
The prophet PBUH said:
“The acts most pleasing to Allah are those which are done continuously, even if they are small.”
Man sometimes takes a hasty decision (in a spiritual moment) of giving away all his money to the poor, and then he falls in regret and wishes that he didn’t spend it and that he didn’t regret spending it.
Spending on the poor is good, but regrets should not follow it. However a man in a spiritual hour might spend all his money, or all his monthly paycheck, then he spends the rest of the month suffering hunger. In this case, if it crossed his mind that he wishes he never paid his entire money, his good deed will be in vain.
For this reason, I support the balanced method that ascends gradually, and I am not a supporter of doing something in a spiritual rush.
During a spiritual rush, one might spend all his time in the Masjid offering Salah or spending on the poor, but then he falls in a setback, given setbacks are very grave.
Some brother are deviated from the right path not out of opposing the Divine method but because they burden themselves beyond their scope.
Ali, May Allah be pleased with him said: “Hearts draw near and turn away, and become active and frigid. When they draw forward offer Nawafil, and when they fall back offer Fara’id”.
One should be wise, for this is the method of his lifetime not a method for one year or one month. When you deal with Allah, you do that until the end of your life.
Balance, stability and continuity make the right path:
When someone doesn’t plan for his future and never thinks of getting married, then he reaches the age of marriage, he will see that all men around him are getting married except him because he doesn’t have a job, doesn’t have a house and doesn’t have an income. This is a setback for him and he will wonder: “Why can’t I get married?” Well, it is your fault, because you did not plan for it, as Allah bestowed you with reason and a Divine method.
Hence, I, for one, support building man in a balanced way. He needs to get married, he needs a job, he should offer his Salah, he should seek knowledge and he must have plans.
On the other hand, some people give all their time and life to the religion, and then they disappear suddenly after having setbacks. In other words, doing things out of spiritual rush is not the right way to do them, but rather man should do things according to a stable, balanced and continuous method. Thus, continuity is the right path.
In another narration:
And it was the habit of the members of Muhammad's (PBUH) household that whenever they did an act they did it continuously.
Another person might start reciting the Quran, so he’d better start with 5 pages every day, but starting with 5 Ajza’a (100 pages) is beyond his scope.
Life is complicated and man is under the pressure of his job, appointments and other daily burdens, so when he assigned himself to 5 Ajza’a of Quran daily, this definitely will be beyond his scope.
May be 5 Ajza’a are not too much for a retired man, but when man is in his prime building his future, he needs to reauthor the Quran daily in small amounts. So five pages would be enough, and later on he can make them 20 pages, but starting with 5 Ajza’a will lead him to abandoning reciting the Quran entirely.
Accordingly, I am against doing things in a spiritual rush and leaving them afterwards. I am against doing something then stop doing it and I am against spending a lot on the poor then stop spending entirely.
Offering deeds abundantly when the hearts are active is a style that leaves grave complications in the soul, the utmost of which is withdrawal, then having setbacks and then having one-step backwards which will drag other steps backwards. Every step forward drags other steps forward and every step backwards drags other steps backwards.
Human body goes along with the requirements of Share’:
You should put your foot on a solid steady ground, then you take another step, because your religion is the method you should follow for the rest of your life, and it is not something you follow for four years until you get your license, nor is it a business you are establishing. Not at all.
A doctor told me that the prostate gland is located at the meeting point of the urinary tract and the testes tract surrounding the urethra, the tube through which urine and semen exit the body. What is the function of this gland? It has unbelievable function, when urine wants to flow in the urinary tract, it is an acidic substance, lest it harms the sensitive urinary tract, the prostate produces an alkaline substance, which equalizes with the acidic material, so the contract is never affected.
On the other hand, when the living water (the seminal fluid) wants to flow, there has been urine in that tract, so the gland produces a perfumed substance, a disinfectant substance, then a nutritious substance. This gland opens and closes, and functions on a regular basis for 80 years! It is considered as a sign of Allah's Greatness.
I asked this doctor; “What can cause inflammation of the prostate?” He answered: “Not being married”.
This means that man is formed by Allah to get married. Thus he should plan for his own marriage, and remember that getting married is Sunnah.
In other words, The One who created man and Who sent the Quran is Allah. Thus, the physical laws of the body go along with the Islamic rulings.
The third narration goes as follows:
'A'isha is reported to have said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) was asked about the act most pleasing to Allah. He replied: "That which is done continuously, even if it is small."
In another narration:
`Aisha narrated:
Allah's Messenger (PBUH) said, "Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately and know that your deeds will not make you enter Paradise"
The other day I was paying condolences after the death of a brother, so a speaker interpreted this Hadith by saying: Allah is just and man’s deeds are not enough. Thus man enters Paradise due to Allah’s Mercy.
I hoped at that point that he went deeper in interpreting this concept.
To shed light on this concept, consider the following example: if there is a house that costs 100 million (it is the likeness of paradise), your deeds are enough to pay the price of its key only, but not its price, for it will be given to you as a gift.
This is the example of man’s deed and entering paradise.
Allah says:
﴾Enter you Paradise, because of (the good) which you used to do (in the world).﴿
Your deeds are not enough to pay the price of paradise, and all you do is just paying the price of its key.
Think of the example of a father who promised his son that he would get him an expensive bicycle if he got the first rank in his class. He studied hard and was the first in his class. He went directly to the bicycle shop and asked for a new bicycle. The seller will ask him for its price. Therefore, this student gets only a promise from his father, but the price of the bicycle should be paid.
Much in the same line, it is not enough to be righteous, for righteousness will not pay the price of paradise, but rather it is the reason behind admitting man to paradise due to Allah’s favor. Thus the favor of Allah covers you from top to toes.
Scholars said: “Paradise is mere Divine Favor, whereas hellfire is mere Divine Justice.”
The religious discipline is the real one:
The prophet PBUH said:
"Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately and know that your deeds will not make you enter Paradise"
Doing good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately means that man is moving towards a goal. Thus, he should never forget this goal.
Sometimes man starts rightly:
﴾My Lord! Let my entry (to the city of Al-Madinah) be good, and likewise my exit (from the city of Makkah) be good. ﴿
Why does Allah give us details about the entry and the exit? Why does not Allah say: “My Lord, make me good”? It is because man sometimes starts rightly, but then he faces troubles that drag him to worldly life. Thus, his exit is not as right as his entry.
This is why we say in supplication:
“My Lord! Let my entry be good, and likewise my exit be good”.
Some great deeds are done at first with very pure intentions, but as it goes, intentions are altered.
Therefore:
“Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately”.
A continuous course correction is needed for spacecrafts lest they incline even slightly from their course, and if one of them inclines without correcting its course while heading to the moon, it might end up in other place in the space.
Much in the same line, man is in dire need for a continuous course correction and this is the exact meaning of the hadith: “Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately”.
Man is in dire need to a religion to follow:
People understand this hadith differently, and contrary to what is meant by the prophet PBUH.
Their comprehension of this Hadith is as follows: “Be easy on yourself and don’t be so rigid, and if you sin, don’t bother yourself”.
Therefore, some people understand this Hadith as an open permission to commit sins.
“Saddidoo” means aim exactly at the target, whereas “Qariboo” means make your aiming as close as possible to the target so that it will make a difference.
"Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately and know that your deeds will not make you enter Paradise, and the acts most pleasing to Allah are those which are done continuously, even if they are small "
The hadith was narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim. There is another narration by Al-Bukhari:
She said:
“The most beloved of religious deeds to him was that in which a person persists.”
In a narration by Muslim:
“…and that the most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even if it were little."
…And when 'A'isha did any act she did it continuously.
Today’s lecture was about how to deal with the prophetic method calmly, continuously and increasingly, for we are not with doing things out of spiritual rush (which might fade away. We are rather with stability, balance and building man’s spirit rightly.
The prophet PBUH used to supplicate:
“O, Allah make us do well in the religion which is our dignity, make our lives good for it is our living, and make us safe on the Day of Judgment for it is our final destination”.
This is the needed balance.
You need the worldly life, you need to establish a house and start a family then have children, and you need a religion which protects you, and finally, you need to succeed in the Hereafter in order to gain happiness.
