Peace and Tranquillity
The ideal life one can attain is a life of peace and tranquillity. This is however, to some extent impossible, because an “ideal life” is the best life a person can achieve. Therefore it will be reserved for the hereafter.
Allah in His infinite mercy wants us to cultivate and achieve peace within ourselves. However we are faced with two challenges in this world, viz.
1. Satan:
Allah has given satan the freedom of trying to mislead us from the straight path. If you are opened to attacks, you cannot live in peace. E.g. If one is trying to meditate and is being bothered by mosquitoes, it will be difficult to concentrate and maintain focus due to the constant distraction.
2. Allah says in Quran “We will constantly try you”. Therefore, if one is undergoing trials it will be impossible to live in peace.
Allah has prescribed Zikir as a form for the believers to achieve Itminan (peace/tranquillity in our heart). Therefore our mission in this life is to develop Itminan in our qalb
Prophet Muhammad (saw) has shown this quality of Itminan throughout his life, even though he was constantly faced with trials and tribulations from:
His wives
The attack from the unbelievers
The lack of the culture/etiquette of the Arabs
Yet he was the most humble person because his qalb was at peace at all times.
Itminan is one quality that makes Islam different from the other religions’. The only way of attaining Itminan is engaging in the remembrance of Allah with your heart
We have seen the manifestation of this characteristic in some personalities in Islamic history.
E.g. - the martyrdom of Hazrat Uthman (ra) and Imam Hussian (ra). They were both fully aware that there were plots to have them killed, however they did not panic nor did they act frantic because they knew that whatever Allah decrees will come to pass.
Inshallah one will attain Itminan, but not in this world. It will come in the hereafter as Allah has indicated that on the Day of Judgement the angels will welcome the believers, saying to them: Peace!
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Itminan
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Darood
Undoubtedly, Islam is completely different from all other religions.
Up to the time of Prophet Isa (pbuh), Allah use to bestow physical blessings on the people. E.g. the food of the Israelites’ use to come down from the sky.
With the coming of Prophet Muhammad (saw) this form of physical blessings ceased, because there was no need for it. The Sahabas demonstrated this when the Arab rulers placed an embargo on the muslims’ and ran them out of their homes. They took up refuge in a nearby valley. Life was so hard that some of the muslims’ began eating stones and sand and though they were experiencing hardship they never complained to Prophet Muhammad (saw).
Did Allah favour the previous nations more than us? If you are on a journey and you have the option for using a highway and a side road to reach your destination, it is logical than you will take the highway because of the peace, comfort and luxury it offers. Islam came to establish the “highway”. What is this “highway”? The “highway” is darood.
Allah causes our sustenance to come from the sky. It is said that our provision hangs between heaven and earth. Additionally, Allah has said that HE and HIS angles continuously and constantly send a special gift to Prophet Muhammad (saw). A gift of salaat and salaam. What is the purpose of this gift and why is it being continuously and constantly sent? It is being sent for distribution to the world. This is one reason why Prophet Muhammad (saw) is given the title of “the mercy to the world”.
If you “connect” to Prophet Muhammad (saw) you will be able to receive from the “gift”. Through the institution of darood, every difficulty and hardship you are faced with will be extinguished.
In Islamic culture, whenever you are going to visit or request something from someone it is customary to present a gift to that person. This custom is evident in Darood Akseer-e-Azam. Whenever you recite this darood you are sending a gift to Prophet Muhammad (saw), and through this gift you ask Allah to grant you something, e.g.: protection or help.
Prophet Muhammad (saw) is reported to have said, “Whoever sends darood on me I beg Allah for him”. If you recite darood 1000 times every Friday, Allah will show you your status in the hereafter before you die.
Darood is the “highway” for the sincere believers, something that no other religion has. Something special from Allah for distribution.
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Belief in the unseen
Say: "I have no power over any good or harm to myself except as Allah willeth. If I had knowledge of the unseen, I should have multiplied all good, and no evil should have touched me: I am but a warner, and a bringer of glad tidings to those who have faith."
Allah says: “fa-dhkuru-ni adhkur-kum” “Remember ME, and I will remember you” (2:152).
Allah sustains everything, so it is important that you establish a good relation.
Part of our aqidah is that we believe in the unseen. We believe in it even though we cannot see it. There are some who argue whether or not heaven and hell physically exists. When Prophet Muhammad (saw) went on Mi’raj, what did he see? Regardless of what dimension or form he saw it in, the point is it existed. Allah has described heaven and hell to us, and from this description we can from a concept of it. It does not exist in our direct knowledge, we cannot see it nor can we get into it. It is existing, but it is not in our capacity to understand.
Allah says in Chapter 7, verse 188; “if I had knowledge of the unseen, I should have multiplied all good, and no evil should have touched me”. If you were able to see the beauty of heaven and the torment, torture and difficulties of hell, would you want to commit wrong deeds?
Allah is telling us in the above-mentioned verse that we don’t possess any insight or knowledge of the unseen, however we should believe firmly in it, because it is such a beautiful and attractive place.
One of the best ways of attaining good deeds is by giving charity, because it is given by one’s free will.
Prophet Muhammad (saw) is reported to have said: “Work for this world, as though you have all the time, and work for the hereafter as though you going to die tomorrow”.
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Hayatan Tayyiba
Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has Faith, verily, to him will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions. (Ch 16 V 97)
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The human personality comprises of a physical and non-physical. The body represents the physical and the sprit represents the non-physical. Allah put both the physical and non-physical together for a particular reason. In order for us to understand we must remember two things, viz.
Allah says in Quran: “HE causes the night to go into the day and the day to go into the night”, meaning that the night and day are there for a specific period of time.
We must remember the incident of Hazrat Ibrahim (pbuh). Ibrahim (pbuh) was looking for God in material things, such as the moon and the stars. After some time he said “I won’t worship things that disappear”.
The point is that material things have a life span, e.g. the trees and flowers, and Allah testifies to this in the quran, “everything on the earth will go out of existence”. Allah mentions in Quran: “Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has Faith, verily, to him will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions” (ch 16 v 97). Therefore, our mission and purpose is to attain hayatan Tayyiba, a new life that is good and pure.
We should view all the trials and tribulations that befall us as a process that we must go through in order to prepare ourselves for hayatan Tayyiba.
Allah even gives us assurance at the time of death. HE mentions in quran “The true believers, at the time of death the angels will say to them do not worry, we are your walli, your closest companions at this time”.