Living for the sake of Allah

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

Allah says in Surah Mu'minuun;

 

Then those whose balance (of good deeds) is heavy, - they will attain salvation: but those, whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls, in Hell will they abide.  (23:102-103)

 

The scale that will be used on the Day of Judgement is a special one.  It’s not like our perception of a scale.  Yes, there are two sides; one side to weigh a person’s good deeds and the other for his bad deeds; but the difference according to the ayat above is that if a person has done a lot of good, that side of the scale will move downwards due to the weight.  On the other hand if a person’s evil deeds outweigh the good; that side of the scale will move upwards.  It will not sink.

 

Think of it like a bank account from which you keep withdrawing.  Every time you withdraw it becomes less.  This is the way Allah will weigh your deeds.  It is not like our knowledge of scales.

 

That being said, you don’t need anyone to supervise you in your thoughts and actions.  Allah has blessed us with knowledge and intuition to decipher right from wrong.  You’re the one who will know the true contents of your heart and always bear in mind that one day it will all come to light and placed on a scale.  We want our scale to be on the heavy end and not light as the ayat makes mention of. 

 

The key for true success in this life is that whatever you do always do it for the sake of Allah.  Understand that if you try to live for His sake He will take care of you and never let you down.  One day you will see the reward of this attitude.  It is not easy; but if you can sincerely live for Allah’s sake He will take care of your affairs.

 

Try not to get mixed up and involved with people who openly demonstrate ulterior motives.  Living for the sake of Allah is the key for everything in this world.

 

All of us do wrong at some point in time.  None of us are sinless, but remember, that if you live for the sake of Allah , insha Allah He will overlook your shortcomings.  I truly feel sorry that some people only choose to constantly highlight Allah’s wrath, and being flung in the Hell fire.  Your Lord is so Loving, Kind and Merciful.  He knows that we faulter from time to time and insha Allah He would forgive all of us.

 

Have hopes of your Lord’s Mercy and don’t be despondent.  Have faith in His workings and rest assured that if you sincerely live for His pleasure He will take care of all your affairs insha Allah.

The Three Categories

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

In Surah Fatiha Allah has identified three categories of people about whom we make mention of in our salaat and further identifies one of those category’s that we wish to be apart of.  That is those who are being guided by Allah and receiving His blessings.

 

The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.  (1:7)

 

The word ni’mah denotes to Allah’s blessings.  So in Surah Fatiha we are asking Him to include us among those persons who He bestows His ni’mah upon.  And we further beg Him to prevent us from falling into the other two categories of people; those who have gone astray, i.e. they know the message but their focus and purpose have been diverted and those who have rejected Allah outright.  They have both opened themselves to the wrath of Allah.

 

We do not want to be misguided nor be the recipient of Allah’s wrath.  We want to be counted amongst the favourable ones.  This is one reason why we identify Him as the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful.  Because we know that if we sincerely try to earn the pleasure of Allah ; through His Grace and Mercy He will take care of our affairs.  Our concept of Allah is not one of a vengeful God.  Even though much focus is paid by some to Allah’s wrath and constant reference to man as a sinful being; Allah is the Most Loving and Most Merciful.  Allah says that He connects Himself to His creatures through the quality of Compassion.  

 

We need to always be sincere with our faith.  Keep Allah in your heart and nothing else.  Recognise Allah as That Incomparable and Unimaginable Being.  There is an urdu saying Allahi Allah hai – Allah is Allah.

 

When you go higher in the spiritual world you will understand the importance of sincerity because you can see and feel when a wrong is committed it’s damaging to your faith.  You will understand that at that point in time you do not have true faith. 

 

Keep Allah in your heart at all and be sincere about it.  We need His Mercy, Compassion and Forgiveness; and understand that He knows what is best for us.  

 

May Allah guide us and protect us from falling into the hypocritical and misguided categories of people and may He enable us to successfully get back to Him insha Allah.

Hablullah Issue #10

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

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Continuing the climb

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

We have just come out of the blessed month of Ramadhan and there are two things I wish to draw your attention to.  Allah has used two terms in the Holy Qur’an which we should be familiar with. 

Firstly, Allah says in Surah Al Ma'aarij;

Allah, Lord of the ways of Ascent.  (70:3)
 

Allah uses the term Dhil-maarij.  Dhil-maarij literally means He is the Owner of the ascending.  So Allah is The Owner of everything that ascends.  Allah knows what comes down to the earth and what goes up to the skies.  He also says in Surah Muthaffifii that evil is recorded in a dungeon and good is recorded in the skies.  So that it is only good that ascends.  Dhil-maarij is therefore translated as The Owner of the ascending stairway. 

The second term I wish to bring to your attention is what Allah makes mention of in Surah Insyiqaaq;
 

Ye shall surely travel from stage to stage.  (84:19)
 

Allah uses the term tabaqan aan tabaq – stage to stage.  Think of it as the steps of a ladder.  Our mission is to climb as high as possible all in an effort to try to get close to our Lord; to feel close to Him in this life and attain closeness to Him in the hereafter.  This is our mission and purpose; to get back to the Garden.

Look at how Merciful and Loving He is to us.  He says ‘if Allah were to punish men for their wrong-doing, He would not leave, on the (earth), a single living creature’ (16:61).  But look at how Gracious He is.  He has given us Ramadhan and what is so special about Ramadhan.  Let’s say for example you have a big debt that you’re having difficulties in repaying and someone offers to pay it off for you.  How would you feel?  Ramadhan is just like that because Prophet Muhammad (pboh) is reported to have said:

Whoever fasts during Ramadan with faith & seeking his reward from Allah will have his past sins for-given.  Whoever prays during its nights with faith & seeking his reward from Allah will have his past sins forgiven.  (Bukhari, Muslim)

What one of our goals should be is that every Ramadhan should be like a step higher on the ladder.  From this Ramadhan to next Ramadhan, we should try to ascend closer and closer to our Lord.  And we have been given the promise that our slate would be clean. 

Don’t waste your achievements that you would have gained in Ramadhan by going back to any form of wrongdoing.  Let’s say we didn’t get 100% of our sins wiped out.  Supposed it is just 60%.  That is still a start.  Build on it and don’t add any more blemishes to it.  Try to always move forward and realise your closeness to Allah and you would have been successful.  It is an individual effort.  No one can help you attain closeness to your Lord.  Society can help to an extent; that is if they abstain from the loathsome and prohibited.

The journey is a lonely one and the choice is yours.  The things you stayed away from in Ramadhan try to avoid them because those will not aid you in ascending.

Try your best to culture your personality along the lines of the etiquettes of what you did during Ramadhan and you would have been successful.  A simple formula but very practical and effective, regardless of your environment.

May Allah make it easy for us to attain closeness to Him in both worlds and may he enable us to continuously ascend insha Allah.