Praise be to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, the Forgiver of sins, the Accepter of repentance, the Mighty in strength and Severe in punishment, the Donor of every gain and grace, the Up-lifter of every horrendous calamity and distress! I praise Him (?) for His abundant graces, great generosity and ample bounties ; and I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah firstly and lastly, explicitly and implicitly; and I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's Servant and Messenger. He sent him both to the Jinn and Humans as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner, and as one who invites to Allah by His Leave and as a lamp spreading light. May Allah send His Salat (Graces, Honors, Mercy, and Peace) on him, on his noble and pure family, on his Companions, and on the tab'în (the contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam after his death) and those who followed them righteously till the Day of Judgment
O people! I advise you and myself to fear Allah (?), for in this life you are merely ordered and charged (with a great responsibility) by Him. Ordeals afflict you and death pierces you; graces come to you in succession; however, you do not get one grace except by leaving another, and no effect of yours continues except by another one departing; and no new thing can be renewed except by another new thing decaying, some origins of which we are but branches have gone away. So (O you wise) tell me what kind of existence can branches enjoy without origins! ?whereas the life of this world as compared with the Hereafter is but a brief passing enjoyment.? [Ar-Ra'd: 26]
O people! People in general are naturally disposed for toil and hard work. Allah has created man in toil “… all people go back and forth, and one either sells himself in order to save it and set it free or to destroy it.”
People can be either hard workers who enjoy what they do or ones who suffer because of it. They might weaken in front of difficulties and hardships disgracefully; and they might be entranced by benefits tyrannically; the good one among all those is he who does not deviate (from the right path) or become oppressive, and remain calm and composed in both cases. He is one who pushes himself hard to stand at the door of his Creator and Master asking Him for pardon, good health and well-being in his religion, worldly affairs, family, and wealth, since preference of good health and well-being is a natural disposition that Allah has created man with. Indeed, no one likes ordeals and pains except one who is insane.
The only one who knows the value of well-being is he who has missed it in his religion and worldly affairs; for if well-being lasts, it is ignored, and if it is missed, it is recognized. The dress of well-being is the most beautiful dress for worldly life and religion. Well-being in religion and worldly affairs makes life enjoyable, and leads to a good result in the Hereafter.
Thus, the advice of the Chosen One (Prophet Muhammad) (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) to his nation was a sign of mercy and care when he said: "Ask Allah for pardon and well-being, for no one has ever been given after firm faith better than well-being." [Narrated by Ahmad]
The Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) did not only say this to his nation, but supplemented it with repeated action so that his nation will sense the importance of this great grace. That is why he (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) used to say "O Allah! I ask You for well-being in this worldly life and the Hereafter; O Allah! I ask You for pardon and well-being in my religious and worldly affairs, in my family and my wealth… (Cf. the Hadith)." [Narrated by Abu Dawud and others]
Well-being, O servants of Allah, is an absolute value that does not admit partition or relativity. Therefore, one will be wrong if he thinks that it only means physical well-being (good health) excluding religious well-being; and whoever seeks only physical good health excluding religious well-being would have definitely deviated from the Right Path; and whoever seeks religious well-being and excludes physical well-being would have done himself injustice, and would probably have weaken his religion by the weakness of his physical health. The strong believer is better and dearer to Allah than the weak believer.
The happy one, O servants of Allah, as Ibn Al-Jawzi said, may Allah bless his soul, is a person who submits to Allah and asks for well-being; for well-being is not granted unconditionally. There has to be an ordeal; the sane person keeps asking Allah for well-being in order to overcome all of his human conditions.
Every sane person, O servants of Allah, prefers to be in a state of well-being and thank Allah for it rather than to be in a state of trial (affliction) and be patient, as Abu Bakr (RA) said.
O Servants of Allah!
Every attentive observer notices with his mind's eye that the public takes care of physical good health; to obtain this grace, they dedicate their time, effort, remembrance, and supplication, while simultaneously they are oblivious to the value of well-being (good health) in religion and its being free of defects and ordeals, because ordeals and defects in religion weaken the individuals who make up society.
Whenever a person neglects securing well-being in his religion, he definitely leads himself to ruin and loss. This ruin and loss intensify when he discloses to the public his disobedience of his Lord. Allah covers his sins, while he discloses them! The Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) has rightly said “My entire nation’s sins are forgiven except the sins of those who disclose them publicly."
Lack of well-being in religion exists when there is a deviation from Allah's religion (Islam). This happens either when a bestial desire dominates a person and turns him down to a pit where he drinks deeply of desires like animals do, or when a doubtful matter in religion dominates him and leads him away to be like those who sit at every path menacing believers and driving them away from the Path of Allah, wishing that matters be crooked. The Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) warned us against the piercers (i.e. destroyers) of well-being in religion; he (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said: "There will be afflictions (in the near future) during which a sitting person will be better than a standing one, and the standing one will be better than the walking one, and the walking one will be better than the running one, and whoever will expose himself to these afflictions, they will destroy him." [Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
The most serious loss of well-being in religion happens when a person becomes a corrupter not a reformer, a scoffer not an earnest one, a destructive axe of his society not a building agent of its established tower; you never find him except in places of scoffing, or innovating what scratches and injures religion and the Fitra (natural disposition) which Allah has created people with, in order for him to carry his own sin as well as the sins of those who acted according to his innovation till the Day of Judgment.
The Sunnah (the Prophet's tradition) has indicated that actions are normally attributed to their agent and that the agent carries his sin till the Day of Judgment as a consequence of leading others to violate Allah's way and religion. The Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) has said: "Whenever a person is murdered unjustly, there is a share from the burden of the crime on the first son of Adam for he was the first to start the tradition of murdering." [Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Imam Malik (may Allah bless his soul) said in advising one of his students: "Do not carry people on your back" i.e. do not carry people’s sin due to what they invent (in religion) "and if ever you want to play around with anything, don't play around with your religion."
Yes, O Servants of Allah!
Let those who spread afflictions and corruption in religion beware that they will carry their own burden in full on the Day of Resurrection as well as some of the burden of those whom they mislead without knowledge.
Let them beware those of us who may have been wronged by the lure of falsehood and the adornments of fitnah (temptation, sedition, etc.) and enchantment. Verily, truth is so clear and manifest no matter how hard one strives to conceal it, whereas falsehood is tantamount to a mirage amidst the desert that tempts the thirsty but falls short of quenching their thirst. If we only watched the road ahead of us as we walked, we would never tread on thorns or stumble over holes.
(The sheikh quotes a poet who says):
Watch out, that you may be saved, for there is a hole ahead of you!
How many a man, before you, therein has fallen!
Whoever is blessed with well-being should praise Allah. (To this effect, the sheikh again quotes other lines of poetry):
It is only right to seek safety.
For it is a fortress in hard times
Neither human being, nor any resolute person can get,
After Yaqin , any better well-being.
May Allah bless you and me by the Glorious Qur'?n and make its verses and wise sayings beneficial to you and me! This is what I have said. If it is correct, it is so thanks to Allah, but if it is wrong, it is my own fault and Satan’s. I seek forgiveness from Almighty Allah. Verily, He is Oft-Forgiving!
0 Comments