بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Iman (Faith) is the most precious thing that we have because it is our key to Paradise. Whoever dies believing in the Oneness of Allah and believing in His Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace, is from the People of Paradise. This person might detour to Hell because of his sins for not doing the deeds of Islam, but eventually he will enter Paradise. A believer has this right with Allah but he shouldn't rely on that. Why?
First, going to Hell for any amount of time is something we cannot imagine--the terror, the fear and the pain. This is sufficient to perfect our Islam and to save ourselves from Hell altogether no matter how brief one might be in it.
Second, there is even a greater danger than a temporary stay in Hell. Our iman is not sitting around without an enemy. There is an enemy who wants our iman. That enemy is called shaytan (devil). The shaytan doesn't really care about many things. He doesn't care if you womanize, fornicate, drink, gamble, cheat, bad to your parents and so on, He is only after one thing--your iman. He is forever lurking to steal the iman from your heart so you go to Hell forever. He put doubts in your heart. He gives you ideas. What is your defense against the shaytan? We have no defense against the shaytan except for the actions of Islam and the most important of these are the obligations of Islam.
So now, the devil's real task is to make you leave the five pillars, without which make it easy for shaytan to snatch your iman from your heart. He will try to trick you. Allah has protected these obligations with the sunnahs of the religion. If you pray the sunnah prayers, how can you not pray the obligatory prayers? If you give charity regularly, how can you not pay zakat at the end of the year? If you fast Mondays and Thursdays, how could you leave Ramadhan fasting? The only way the shaytan can misguide you is to tell you that the sunnahs are not important after all. But Allah gives us another layer of protection -- the recommended worship to protect our sunnahs. So we should do much of the recommended acts like having wudu' outside of prayers.
Our iman is the key to Paradise no doubt but what guarantee do we have that we are still to keep it safe until we die considering our mortal enemy is out there. There is a danger of relying on the promise for the people of iman but not doing the acts of the people of Islam--praying, fasting, paying zakat, performing hajj when you are able. Someone who performs the pillars of Islam and the actions of Islam can hope to die as a Muslim because he puts all these protections in place.
If a woman loses her hijab, it is not just the benefits of wearing hijab that she is losing; if someone loses his/her prayers, it is not just losing the benefits of prayers; if someone doesn't pay zakat, it is not just losing the growth on his money; if someone doesn't fast, it is not just losing the benefits of fasting; but the door is wide open for the treasure of treasures to be stolen from this person. This is the problem. This is the reason why we should not belittle what the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, has brought and taught us. All of them is a guidance for us to keep our iman safe in our hearts until we die.
May Allah protect our iman and grant us excellent ending. Ameen.
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