بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
We all have to strive to come to terms with realities. The reality is that we are all going to die and go to one of the two abodes, Paradise or Hell. Death is a means of inspiration for people to set out on a path towards Allah and turn away from this world.
فَفِرُّوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنِّى لَكُم مِّنْهُ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ ﴿٥٠
So flee to Allah. Indeed, I am to you from Him a clear warner. (50) [Quran, Adh-Dhariyat 51:50]
Allah called turning back to Him fleeing, because turning to anyone or anything other than Him involves a great deal of fear and negative consequences. In turning to Allah there are all the things that one likes, security, happiness and victory. So the individual flees from His will and decree to His will and decree. Everyone you fear you can flee from, except Allah, may He be exalted; the more you fear Him, the more you flee to Him. “Indeed I (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) am a plain warner to you from Him” means: a warner to you of the punishment of Allah with a clear message.
There are various degrees of fleeing. The important part of the path is recognizing that in every moment there is something we should be doing that is pleasing to Allah. It is not easy to do this but we have to always to remind ourselves. We want to be from those who when we hear something once, we are motivated and that catapult us forward and never turn back.
We flee to Allah from disbelief to belief, from doing acts of disobedience to doing acts of obedience, from states of heedlessness to state of wakefulness, from states of non remembrance to states of remembrance, from anything that preoccupy you from the knowledge of Allah to being present in remembrance of Allah.
When speaking about our pursuit of Salaah, Allah uses the term, فَاسْعَوْا / “Proceed”
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا نُودِىَ لِلصَّلَوٰةِ مِن يَوْمِ ٱلْجُمُعَةِ فَٱسْعَوْا۟ إِلَىٰ ذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلْبَيْعَ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٩
O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu'ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew. (9) [Quran, Al-Jumu'ah 62:9]
When speaking about our pursuit of Paradise, He uses the term, سَابِقُوا / “Race!”
سَابِقُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا كَعَرْضِ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ أُعِدَّتْ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِۦ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ فَضْلُ ٱللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ ذُو ٱلْفَضْلِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ ﴿٢١
Race toward forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden whose width is like the width of the heavens and earth, prepared for those who believed in Allah and His messengers. That is the bounty of Allah which He gives to whom He wills, and Allah is the possessor of great bounty. (21) [Quran, Al-Hadid 57:21]
But, when speaking about our pursuit of Him, Allah uses the term, فَفِرُّوا / “Flee!”
فَفِرُّوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنِّى لَكُم مِّنْهُ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ ﴿٥٠
So flee to Allah. Indeed, I am to you from Him a clear warner. (50) [Quran, Adh-Dhariyat 51:50]
Not every ambition in life deserves the same amount of effort.
Now, consider your own life, your own aspirations and what you invest most time in. Is the above an accurate reflection of us? Or have we flipped this Qur’anic standard upside down, where we ‘walk’ towards Allah, but ‘flee’ towards everything other than Him?
We need to be from the people who focus on the akhirah (hereafter). To the degree we focus on high lofty things, it is to the degree in which everything that happens down here in the worldly level be put in proper context and proper perspective. We need to focus on akhirah and our relationship with Allah and the akhirah. To the degree we focus on akhirah and our relationship with Allah, it is to the degree that Allah will assist us in everything here, in our worldly affairs, our interaction with people, our livelihood, etc.
Let your slogan in life be the words of Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) who said,
وَعَجِلْتُ إِلَيْكَ رَبِّ لِتَرْضَىٰ ﴿٨٤ ....
...and I hastened to You, my Lord, that You be pleased. [Quran, Ta-Ha 20:84]
May Allah protect us from disobedience and wastefulness, and make us His best obedient servants and grant us the highest Paradise, Jannatul Firdaus al A'la and His Noble Countenance.
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam.
And Allah knows best and is Most Wise, and He alone grants success, and to Him is the final return of all.
Wassalaam
No comments:
Post a Comment