Protecting and Boosting Your Most Precious Thing in Life

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

The most precious thing in our lives is not our jobs, our homes, our wealth, our circle of influence, our titles, not even our families or our health. It is our Faith (Iman). Because our Faith is our key to Paradise, our eternal home. And so, we should protect it for our dear life.

Whoever dies believing in the Oneness of Allah and believing in His Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace, will go to Paradise sooner or later. A person who died in Faith might go to Hell first because of his sins for not doing the deeds of Islam but his eventual abode is Paradise inshaa Allah. But don't plan to go even a slight detour to Hell because any amount of time in Hell is something we cannot imagine--the terror, the fear, the pain. Plus our iman is not sitting around without any enemy. There is an enemy who wants our Iman. That enemy is called shaytan (devil). Allah Most High says in Surah Al-Baqarah,

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ فِى ٱلسِّلْمِ كَآفَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ خُطُوَ‌ٰتِ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ ﴿٢٠٨

O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy. [Quran, Al Baqarah 2:208]

The shaytan doesn't really care about many things you do. He doesn't care if you womanize, fornicate, drink, gamble, waste your time, screaming at your parents. He is only after one thing--your Iman. He is forever lurking to steal your Iman from your heart so you go to Hell and stay in Hell with him forever. He put doubts in your heart. He gives you ideas. Everything he does is to push you to the limits to get something he really wants from you-- your Iman.

What is your defense against the shaytan? We have no defense against the shaytan except for the actions of Islam and staying away from disobedience. Allah Most High says in Surah Al-Hijr,

قَالَ رَبِّ بِمَآ أَغْوَيْتَنِى لَأُزَيِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ ﴿٣٩﴾ إِلَّا عِبَادَكَ مِنْهُمُ ٱلْمُخْلَصِينَ ﴿٤٠﴾ قَالَ هَـٰذَا صِرَ‌ٰطٌ عَلَىَّ مُسْتَقِيمٌ ﴿٤١﴾ إِنَّ عِبَادِى لَيْسَ لَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَـٰنٌ إِلَّا مَنِ ٱتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ ٱلْغَاوِينَ ﴿٤٢﴾ وَإِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمَوْعِدُهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ ﴿٤٣﴾ لَهَا سَبْعَةُ أَبْوَ‌ٰبٍ لِّكُلِّ بَابٍ مِّنْهُمْ جُزْءٌ مَّقْسُومٌ ﴿٤٤﴾ إِنَّ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ فِى جَنَّـٰتٍ وَعُيُونٍ ﴿٤٥﴾ ٱدْخُلُوهَا بِسَلَـٰمٍ ءَامِنِينَ ﴿٤٦

[Iblees] said, "My Lord, because You have put me in error, I will surely make [disobedience] attractive to them on earth, and I will mislead them all (39) Except, among them, Your chosen servants." (40) [Allah] said, "This is a path [of return] to Me [that is] straight. (41) Indeed, My servants - no authority will you have over them, except those who follow you of the deviators. (42) And indeed, Hell is the promised place for them all. (43) It has seven gates; for every gate is of them a portion designated." (44) Indeed, the righteous will be within gardens and springs. (45) [Having been told], "Enter it in peace, safe [and secure]." (46) [Quran, Al Hijr 15:39-46]

The most important of the actions of Islam are the obligations of Islam such as the five daily prayers, fasting, zakat, hajj, good treatment of parents, seeking knowledge, and staying away from disobedience (such as lying, stealing, fornication, adultery, backbiting, slander, gambling, earning unlawful income, eating haram, showing nakedness, etc). These obligations need to always be strengthened and they should be surrounded with other good actions such as sunnah prayers, reading the Quran and other dhikr of Allah, du'as, charity, keeping wudu' at all times, humility, haya', develop good character, etc, so that shaytan will have a hard time getting through them and enter our hearts. We seek refuge with Allah from the accursed shaytan.

There are amazing blessings of Faith. Faith is related to success in life. Faith in Allah gives us postive attitude, gratitude, very strong degree of determination, preseverance and patience, and trust in Allah. The stronger the Faith the stronger these qualities. In order to develop Faith, make sure we read and learn the Quran and its Tafsir, study the Seerah and Hadith.

This lockdown is definitely the best time to put up all the defenses available to us in order to protect and boost our Iman. Inshaa Allah by the time the lockdown is lifted, we will come out with strong defenses against Shaytan and continue to strengthen them until we meet Allah.

May Allah grant us tawfiq and 'afiyah always. Aameen.

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