In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
When you look at a workplace, each head of office has his/her own support staff or secretary. There is a private secretary and a number of support staff to a Vice President of a company, a secretary and law clerk to a judge, a private secretary, and various executive support staff to the President of United States. The President of United States is not expected to set his own media conference, book his own plane tickets, or go to the copying center and make copies of documents because, like the VP and the judge, he has more important things to do.
Allah created and subjected the sun, the moon, the day, the night, the animals, the ships to sail, the rivers, the plants and everything on earth for our service. They tireless serving as Allah commanded and they will not stop working unless Allah commands them. At that point this world will come to an end. For Allah to subject other creations in the universe to humans, this should lead us to believe that we really have important things to do. After all, humans were made the vicegerent/khalifah on earth.
... وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّى جَاعِلٌ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً[Qur'an, Al-Baqarah 2:30]
And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority (vicegerant/khalifah)."...
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَكُمْ خَلَـٰٓئِفَ ٱلْأَرْضِ وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَكُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَـٰتٍ لِّيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِى مَآ ءَاتَىٰكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ سَرِيعُ ٱلْعِقَابِ وَإِنَّهُۥ لَغَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۢ ﴿١٦٥[Qur'an, An-'Am 6:165]
And it is He who has made you successors upon the earth and has raised some of you above others in degrees [of rank] that He may try you through what He has given you. Indeed, your Lord is swift in penalty; but indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful. (165)
But what happens to us? Similar to a lousy king, who has everything taken care for him and his royal family, live a life of luxury so much so that the princes don't have to lift a finger and become spoiled rotten and end up destroying the empire. The early generations of Muslims that were given the Message, they took it very seriously and they understood that Allah has put the world to our service so we can serve Allah. They came out victorious against all odds. The latter generations came and said, 'We have the world at our service so we have time to relax'. And so Muslims become who we are and in the state we are now.
All the facilities, technology, utilities and all the conveniences we enjoy in life are not supposed to put us in a mode of relaxation but they are supposed to put us in a state of urgency. We have to realize that Allah has subdued the sun, the moon, etc for our service to serve Him, and serve Him alone.
ٱللَّـهُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَأَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِۦ مِنَ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ رِزْقًا لَّكُمْ ۖ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلْفُلْكَ لِتَجْرِىَ فِى ٱلْبَحْرِ بِأَمْرِهِۦ ۖ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرَ ﴿٣٢﴾ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ دَآئِبَيْنِ ۖ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ ﴿٣٣[Qur'an, Ibrahim 14:32-34]
وَءَاتَىٰكُم مِّن كُلِّ مَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَإِن تَعُدُّوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّـهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَآ ۗ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَظَلُومٌ كَفَّارٌۭ ﴿٣٤
It is Allah who created the heavens and the earth and sent down rain from the sky and produced thereby some fruits as provision for you and subjected for you the ships to sail through the sea by His command and subjected for you the rivers. (32) And He subjected for you the sun and the moon, continuous [in orbit], and subjected for you the night and the day. (33)
And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you should count the favor of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, mankind is [generally] most unjust and ungrateful. (34)
As vicegerents of Allah, we are to maintain spiritual and temporal order under His commandments, to teach others how to abide by His laws, and sometimes even to exercise temporal power and spiritual authority under His guidance (the Qur'an and Sunnah). Are we doing all these to the best of our ability? We should have this feeling of urgency to do these works so to gain His pleasure and bring us closer to Him.
Rush to good deeds and always, always, be grateful for all the countless blessings He has bestowed upon us and say 'Alhamdulillah' for keeping us alive so we can have this moment to serve Him and His Deen.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱصْبِرُوا۟ وَصَابِرُوا۟ وَرَابِطُوا۟ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّـهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴿٢٠٠[Qur'an AleImaran 3:200]
O you who have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed and fear Allah that you may be successful. (200)
May Allah make us of those who are grateful to Him and grant us righteous deeds and sincerity. Ameen.
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wassallam.
Allah alone give success.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
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