- Islamic Education
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- Knowledge of the Hearts
We should follow the lead of our example the prophet PBUH:
Dear brother, Allah, exalted is His Majesty, mentions to us the stories of the prophets in His Quran.There is a misconception that goes as follows: whenever you say to someone that this great prophet did so and so he says to you: “Well I am not a prophet” as if there is a line that separates the life of believers from the life of prophets.
Who told you that you have reached the rank of this prophet? This prophet is but an example to you and you should follow his lead and steps, and the Ayat in the Quran should be your guidance in your path to Allah.
Allah the Almighty mentions the stories of several prophets to us in Surat Al Anbiya’.
For example, Allah says about Ayoub PBUH:
﴾ And (remember) Ayub (Job), when he cried to his Lord: "Verily, distress has seized me, and You are the Most Merciful of all those who show mercy." So We answered his call, and We removed the distress that was on him, and We restored his family to him (that he had lost), and the like thereof along with them, as a mercy from Ourselves and a Reminder for all who worship Us.﴿
No one leads a life free of problems.
Calamities, disasters and trials are part of this worldly life for it is the abode of trials.
﴾ for sure We are ever putting (men) to the test.﴿
Ayoob Ayoub PBUH took this stance towards the affliction which befell him, so he invoked Allah the Almighty.Had each one of us invoked Allah in Salah whenever he is in hardship, we would have led a different life than the one we already have as Muslims.
The prophets stroied as an example for us:
Allah the Almighty gives the supplication a power by which man’s Aqidah becomes stronger.When you believe that Allah does whatever He decrees and when you believe that everything is in His Hand and that He is with you wherever you are, you will resort to Him whenever you are in hardship, and as a result you will be relieved from it in a very distinguished and amazing way.
Allah wants you to believe in Him entirely, and one of the ways to increase your faith is to be afflicted or come close to being afflicted, and in this case you will resort to supplication with which your affliction will go away in a very distinguished and exceptional way.
Therefore, these stories are our guidance in life whether our problems are social, economical or they are health related ones.
The invocation is done individually, like when a student in the university has a problem, or when a job seeker has difficulties or when a merchant has a problem, but why it is done individually? It is reported that the prophet PBUH invoked Allah individually.
I gave you previously the following example regarding this matter: if a student in the university has a very difficult subject and the professor has no mercy on any student and this student’s graduation is on hold because of that subject, in another example there is a merchant who imported goods and there are complications with the customs which prevent accepting these goods and which might cause this merchant a big loss and again in another example there is a woman who can’t bear children and her husband is thinking of divorcing her, so is there any supplication that is in common between all these people? There isn’t.
If we ask all these three people to invoke Allah, the woman will ask Allah to give her children, the merchant will ask Him to facilitate accepting his goods and the student will ask Him to pass the exam.
Therefore, every person has his own needs and thus he offers Duah individually like when a patient has an intractable disease, he invokes Allah to cure him.
Again, the bottom line is to learn lessons from the stories of the prophets which benefit us in our connection with Allah the Almighty.
Success lies in taking the perfect stance towards problems:
This noble prophet PBUH Ayoob said:﴾ And (remember) Isma'il (Ishmael), and Idris (Enoch) and Dhul-Kifl (Isaiah), all were from among As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.).﴿
This means that calamities afflict prophets.
What marks this worldly life is that it is full of afflictions and every human being is subject of trials.
I said to someone who has a problem two days ago: “Your success is not by being relieved from the problem but your success lies in taking the perfect stance towards it”.
Allah tested His Prophet PBUH with hardship and he took the perfect stance, for his wife was accused of fornication, his son Ibrahim died and Allah also tested him in poverty:
(("Do you have anything to eat?" they replied, "O Messenger of Allah! We have nothing." Then he said, "Well, in this case, I am fasting today!"))
The prophet PBUH faced a big trouble in Ta’if for he was accused to lying, he was hit by its people and he was mocked.Hence, no one leads a life free of troubles.
When you are perceptive, you will feel that any problem that afflicts you is a means to strengthen your faith, for Allah the Almighty uses the believer (whether he likes it or not) because He loves him.
It may not cross your mind to invoke Allah, but when you are poor for example and you are offered a big sum of suspicious money, and you refuse it, this refusal, despite your need , is an invocation unto itself.
When someone is afflicted with a disease, Allah forbids, and when this patient accepts his sickness with content, he is pleased with Allah (despite his health condition) and he feels shy because this disease is due to his shortcomings, in this case he excels because of this disease in the Sight of Allah.
Allah the Almighty turns every believer to an invocation whether the latter likes it or not:
﴾ And We admitted them to Our Mercy. Verily, they were of the righteous.﴿
Resorting to Allah saves man from hardship and melancholy:
When man reads the following Ayah:﴾ Truly! We found him patient.﴿
Upon reading this Ayah, man will become patient for the sake of Allah’s honorable Face, will put his fate in the Hands of Allah, will control his matters and will never complain to anyone:﴾ He said: "I only complain of my grief and sorrow to Allah, and I know from Allah that which you know not.﴿
I dare anyone on earth to tell me that his life is free of problems.Problems always take place in the household, with children, wife, at work, in health or when someone plots against someone else in his career, and in all these conditions man should be patient and Allah teaches us to resort to supplication:
﴾ And (remember) Dhan-Nun (Jonah), when he went off in anger, and imagined that We shall not punish him (i.e. the calamites which had befallen him)! But he cried through the darkness (saying): La ilaha illa Anta [none has the right to be worshipped but You (O Allah)], Glorified (and Exalted) are You [above all that (evil) they associate with You]. Truly, I have been of the wrong-doers." So We answered his call, and delivered him from the distress. And thus We do deliver the believers (who believe in the Oneness of Allah, abstain from evil and work righteousness).﴿
By Allah this Ayah fills the heart of the believer with tranquility regardless the place, time, condition or the problem man is facing, because when man resorts to Allah Alone, He will relieve him from any hardship.All human beings are created for a paradise:
One of the reasons behind the believer’s tranquility is that he considers Allah and His prophets as the frame of reference in his life.Now if you ask a Kafir or an atheist, you will find out that his concerns are about his wife, children and his people, whereas the believer goes back in his roots to our Master Adam and he considers every prophet since then, he tries to learn lessons from their experiences, hardship and the Divine honoring to them.
﴾ And thus We do deliver the believers (who believe in the Oneness of Allah, abstain from evil and work righteousness).﴿
It turns into a law.﴾ And (remember) Zakariya (Zachariah), when he cried to his Lord: "O My Lord! Leave me not single (childless), though You are the Best of the inheritors." So We answered his call, and We bestowed upon him Yahya (John), and cured his wife (to bear a child) for him. Verily, they used to hasten on to do good deeds, and they used to call on Us with hope and fear, and used to humble themselves before Us.﴿
Do you notice the description?﴾ Verily, they used to hasten on to do good deeds, and they used to call on Us with hope and fear, and used to humble themselves before Us. And (remember) she who guarded her chastity [Virgin Maryam (Mary)], We breathed into (the sleeves of) her (shirt or garment) [through Our Ruh - Jibrael (Gabriel)], and We made her and her son ['Iesa (Jesus)] a sign for Al-'Alamin (the mankind and jinns). Truly! This, your Ummah [Sharia or religion (Islamic Monotheism)] is one religion, and I am your Lord, therefore worship Me (Alone). [Tafsir Ibn Kathir]﴿
All people are invited to Allah, all of them are demanded to turn to Him and all of them are created for a paradise that is as wide as the heavens and the earth..All orientations in this worldly life are man-made ones and for which Allah has sent down no authority.
All the grouping whether they are racial, regional, gender-wise, tribal or sectarian are but the acts of devil.
People are of two kinds only:
People are of two kinds: a believer and a non-believer, a righteous and a deviated, a liar and an honest, a trustworthy and a traitor and a just and an unfair.Believers share the same traits all over the world and you are a brother to every believer regardless who he is.
The proof of that is when you visit a very far country and you meet with another believer, you feel like you know him already regarding his values, fear of Allah, good intentions and his love towards Allah the Almighty.
When man travels abroad and meets other believers he feels like being in his home country and in his own house, whereas in some cases one feels very far from his own brother in blood.
A week ago, a very pious woman was afflicted with an intractable disease and she died. Her son resides in the United States and he is married to an American woman who embraced Islam and she adopted it contently. This son had come with his wife to see his sick mother, so the American wife asked him to sleep the entire month with his mother so that he will gain her content.
He agreed and his wife used to wander around with the Salah cover on her head and she never took it off.
While his mother was dying, he wept, so his wife said to him: “Are you weeping for your mother? She will be in paradise if Allah wills, but it is me who should weep because my parents died as Kuffar.”
She also served her mother-in-law beyond imagination.
The parents of this American woman are Christians, and she used to be Kafir, but when she knew her Lord, she turned into another person.
The sick mother has another daughter in law who comes from Muslims bloodline, yet she said to her mother in law right to her face: “You have cancer and you will die”.
She broke it to her rudely and bluntly and she is not religious in the way she dresses.
Believers are alike wherever they are, and this American daughter in law is a proof of that fact, for her parents were Christians, yet her stance reflected a deep faith.
Hence, whenever you meet a believer on any spot on earth, you feel that you both share the same values, goals, principles, appearances and piousness:
﴾ Truly! This, your Ummah [Sharia or religion (Islamic Monotheism)] is one religion, and I am your Lord, therefore worship Me (Alone). [Tafsir Ibn Kathir]﴿
The Muslim is a Muslim wherever he might be, and if he is a true Muslim, he will be transparent, his intentions will be good, he will be inclined to offer good deeds and he is connected with Allah the Almighty:
﴾ Truly! This, your Ummah [Sharia or religion (Islamic Monotheism)] is one religion, and I am your Lord, therefore worship Me (Alone). [Tafsir Ibn Kathir]﴿
Man’s ego shows only in the absence of the religion:
For that very reason, whoever embraces Islam becomes one of the Muslims with the same rights and duties, whereas the earthy orientations, which exist on earth according to races or other matters, are made by people who want to shatter the entire world.
The Islamic countries from the Far East to the far west are one Ummah, and the disunity we suffer from is but the act of devil.
By the way, man owns a disposition and he is assigned by Allah, and while the disposition is an individual matter, the Divine assignment is collective.
Allah assigned us to cooperate with one another, to become one and to remove any differences between us, so if we turn away from our religion, these differences will emerge, thus individual tendencies emerge in the absence of the religion.
Allah says:
﴾ You would think they were united, but their hearts are divided﴿
When man turns away from religion, he becomes self-centered, he competes with sh3er and he takes pride in what he has, like being from a certain race or from a certain bloodline.Take Hitler as an example; for he destroyed the world because he considered the Germanic race as a dominating race over other races, but in our eyes, he and his followers are not more than barbarians.
When a believer's deeds are right he will enter Paradise:
Therefore, whoever turns away from Allah will claim success to his self and degrade sh3er, whereas the believer is right the opposite.Allah says:
﴾ So whoever does righteous good deeds while he is a believer (in the Oneness of Allah Islamic Monotheism), his efforts will not be rejected. Verily! We record it in his Book of deeds.﴿
Look at the inclusiveness in the Ayah, for Allah considers man’s deeds and belief in Allah regardless of his race:﴾His efforts will not be rejected. Verily! We record it in his Book of deeds.﴿
﴾ Verily those for whom the good has preceded from Us, they will be removed far therefrom (Hell) [e.g. 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary); 'Uzair (Ezra), etc.]. They shall not hear the slightest sound of it (Hell), while they abide in that which their ownselves desire. The greatest terror (on the Day of Resurrection) will not grieve them, and the angels will meet them, (with the greeting): "This is your Day which you were promised." And (remember) the Day when We shall roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books, as We began the first creation, We shall repeat it, (it is) a promise binding upon Us. Truly, We shall do it. And indeed We have written in Zabur (Psalms) [i.e. all the revealed Holy Books the Taurat (Torah), the Injeel (Gospel), the Qur'an] after (We have already written in) Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz (the Book, that is in the heaven with Allah), that My righteous slaves shall inherit the land (i.e. the land of Paradise).﴿
At the end, only what is right lasts.
