| DELAYING THE REPENTANCE Prof. Dr. Mahmud Es'ad
COSAN Ałzu billāhi
minesh-shaytąnir rajīm. Bismillāhir rahmānir
rahīm. Elhamdu lillāhi rabbil
ąlemīn... Was salātu was selāmu alā seyyidinā muhammedin wa ālihī wa
sahbihī
ejma'īn... Wa men tebiahū biihsānin ilā yewmid dīn... Praise is due to Allah, The
Lord of the Universe. The Prayers and peace be on our beloved
Prophet
Muhammad, his family, his companions and his sincere followers till the
day of
Resurrection. Since you have gathered,
here, I would like to read you a hadith. Then I will describe the
daily
duty for those who like to be initiated to the tariqa. Let us read the hadith
first as a good advice on this blessed day of Ramadhan. You may
take
notes and benefit from it later, too. The Prophet SAS said: يقول الله
تعالى: يا ابن اۤدم! الى متى تطلـب الــتوبــة و تســوِّف
الاوقــات؟ وترغـب فى الآخرة وتــترك الــعمل، تقول قول
العابدين وتعمل عمل المنافقين. ان اعطيت لم تـقـنع
وان ابلــيـت لم تصــبر. تأمر الناس بالخير ولا تــفــعلـه،
و تـنهى عن الـشـر ولا تــنـهى عــنــه. و تحبُّ الصالحين
ولست منهم، وتبغض المنافقين وانت منهم. تقول ما
لاتفــعل وتفـــعل ما لاتؤ مر. تسـتوفى حقَّــك ولا توفِّى
حقَّ غيرك. ما من يومٍ جديدٍ الا والارض تــخــاطــبـك
فـيـه فـتـقــول لـك: يـا ابن اۤدم! تـمـشـى عـلى ظهرى ومصيرك
الى بطنى، وتضحك على ظهرى وغدًا يأكلك الدود
فى بطنى. ويـنـاديك القــبـر: يا ابن اۤدم! انـا بـيـت
المســئـلــة، وبـيــت الـوحشـــة، وبــيــت الـوحـدة، فاعـمـرنى
ولا تـخـرِّبـنى. (Yaqłlullahu ta'ālā)
"Almighty Allah said: ... " This is a Hadith
Qudsī. The Prophet informed us with is own words what Almighty
Allah
revealed to the Prophet. We should listen to it attentively. يا ابن اۤدم! (Yabni ādem!)
"O son of Adam!" This does not exclude the
"daughters." We all are the children of Adam, and male and
female, all mankind is included in this address. It is the same
as
"O mankind!" الى متى
تطلـب الــتوبــة وتســوِّف الاوقــات؟ (Ilā metā tatlubut
tawbete wa tusewwiful awqąt?) "For how long are you going to think
about repenting yet neglect it? For how long are you going to
think about
doing something for the hereafter, yet delay doing it?" This is a question.
The questions are asked to focus the attention and to get an
answer.
Almighty Allah knows that the believing servants want to repent; i.e.,
to turn
to Allah, follow his path and become a good servant. Everybody
wants
this, yet they keep delaying it. For instance, a believer
will go for Hajj: "I should get older and then go." He will do
his daily prayers or spend for a charitable cause, he says: "I will do
this after such and such things, after my children get married, after I
get
older." If it is a good deed that comes to a person's mind, it
should be carried out right away. One should hurry to do good
deeds and
not delay it. Yet, people keep delaying their repentance. They
keep
postponing it: "Let me get older, be forty, after I do this and
that..." They keep postponing it. That is called taswif. We had some friends in the
university. They liked us, and we would sit and talk. I had
helped
them somehow. They were modern people. Both husband and
wife were
faculty members in the university. They liked Muslims and
prayers.
When we say, "Start offering your daily prayers regularly!" they
would say: "Okay! I will start. I am aware of my fault.
But,
not now." "If you are aware of
your faults, then start the prayers now." "I will." This kind of postponing is
called taswif. It is one of the tricks of Satan.
Satan
prevents a person from doing good deeds in man ways. It tries to
have the
person do bad things. If he cannot convince the person, then it
tries to
prevent him from doing the good works. If the person is
determined to do
the good thing, then Satan tries to delay it: "Okay. You can do
it,
but why hurry? You can do it later. You can do it in a few
years." Depending on the nature of the good deed, it finds ways
to
have it delayed. Delaying the good work is a
trick of Satan, and we must be aware of it. Especially, the repentance
is a
very important phenomenon--turning to the Path of Allah. It is
not merely
getting the rosary and saying "Astaghfirullah, astagfirullah,
astaghfirullah...-- O Allah I seek forgiveness. " Our beloved master Hadrat
Ali was in a Masjid in Kūfa. He saw somebody who was saying
istighfar at
a corner: "O Lord! Forgive me. Astaghfirullah al-azīm wa
etūbu
ilayh. Astaghfirullah al-azīm wa etūbu ilayh." Hadrat
Ali
said, "Saying 'Astaghfirullah al-azīm' by tongue only is the
repentance of the liars." Tawba means returning to Almighty
Allah--
one cannot turn to Allah with words only. The "state" of the
person must turn to Allah in totality. Once a person gets in to
the
straight path of Allah, that would be the true repentance. Each person shall abandon
the wrong practices and turn to the straight path. For instance,
a woman
shall observe hijab if she has not been. Each person shall start
offering
his daily prayers regularly if he has not been. He shall fast in
Ramadhan
if he neglected fasting. He shall abandon ill code of conduct if
he has
had any. If he is negligent in fulfilling the orders of Allah, he
will
attempt to do them. He shall return to the path of Allah.
His
friends or associates will say, "This person has changed; he has turned
to
Allah's path." Some have a desire to turn
to the Path of Allah, yet they keep postponing it. Almighty Allah is
asking in
this Hadith Qudsī: "For how long will you intend to repent yet postpone
it?" Once in Fatih, That is why in the
beginning of the Hadith Qudsī Almighty Allah says: "Do your repentance
if
you intend to. Do not delay it. For how long are you going
to delay
it o son of Adam?" One should repent right away. That is
why
the prophet said in a hadith: عجِّلوا
بالتوبة قبل الموت. (Ajjilū bit tawbati
qablal mawt) "Hurry up in repentance before death." You
never know when the death arrives. It comes all of a
sudden. There
may be a traffic accident, a heart attack; there could be some
unpredictable
accident that takes the life away. Sometimes a young person dies,
sometime an elderly person. Sometimes the patient survives and
the
caretaker dies. The grandchild dies and the grandfather
survives.
You never know how the will of Allah takes place. That is why
before the
death arrives, one must turn to Allah in repentance. The
repentance
should not be delayed. In fact, we have passed the
month of repentance. We should have offered our repentance in the
beginning of the three months season. The month of Rajab and the
special
nights have passed already. The month of Sha'ban, too, has
gone.
Rajab is the month in which Almighty Allah forgives His servants. رجب شهر
الله، وشعبان شهرى، ورمضان شهر امتى (راموزالاحاديث:٢/٢٨٩) (Rajabu shahrullah)
"Rajab is the month of Allah." What does that mean? All months,
all years, the whole world, the whole hereafter, and everything belong
to
Allah. It means, it is the month Almighty Allah forgives His
servants and
accepts their repentance. That is why we should have repented in
that
month. Nevertheless, a person must repent immediately. It
should
not be delayed even for a moment. The Hadith Qudsī continues:
وترغـب فى
الآخرة وتــترك الــعمل، (Wa targhabu fil
akhirati wa tatrukul 'amel) "You
desire the hereafter, you want to enter تقول قول
العابدين وتعمل عمل المنافقين. (Teqłlu qawlel ābidīne
wa ta'melu amelel munāfiqīn) "O
son of Adam! What are you doing? You utter the
words of the sincere worshippers, yet you do the deeds of the
hypocrites." People talk nicely as the elderly said: النصيحاة
سهوٍ والمشكل قبولها (Ennasīhatu sehwin) "Giving advice is easy, (wal
mushkilu qabūlehā) and accepting it is difficult." Each
person
should accept the advice when he understands it. People at the
time of
the Prophet would listen tot he prophet attentively and accept what he
said. People of today listen to the advice, think about it "forty
times," realize that it is true, yet they delay doing it or not do it
at
all. When the verse that
prohibited wine was revealed to the Prophet, people poured the wine to
the
streets to get rid of it. The streets of Madina were flooded with
wine. They complied with the verse that was revealed.
Today, you
see Muslim parents' children who are addicted to alcohol and they do
not give
up drinking. You tell them that alcohol is haram; they disregard
your
words. You see some parents giving advice: "Do not smoke
cigarettes!" However, they keep the packages of cigarettes in
their
pockets. He tells the truth, yet he himself disregards it. Uttering the words of the
sincere worshippers, yet leading a life of the hypocrites... what are
the main
characteristics of the hypocrites? A hypocrite lies when he
speaks, fails
to fulfill his promises, and betrays the trust when something is
entrusted with
him. He is an unreliable person. He says something and does
something different. A believer is not like that at all. He keeps
his
promises, and stands behind his words. Once a person came to the
father of one of our friends who had a business in After he retired, once he
visited his son's store. He noticed the IOU's, invoices, and
other
documents on the desk. He asked what they were. The son
explained
him. The old man felt very sorry: "Oh no! Is this how you
do
business now? At our time, we could send the whole store upon
just one
word, then the person would pay it back. Everybody would keep his
promise. Is this how you do business now?" It sounded very
strange for him. It was an indication that people do not fulfill
their
promises. People have left their iman and became
hypocrites. When
they talk, they say so many nice and soothing words, yet when it comes
to the
action, it is very disappointing. I read a hadith on
somewhere on the wall: "If you see a person doing prayers and fasting,
do
not lower your guard towards him right away. Look at his actions
and
interactions. How does he deal with people?" He could be
offering his prayers and fasting, yet he may have a crooked way of
dealing with
people. He could be telling lies and fooling people. I inquired before coming
here: "How much does a prayer rug cost in Isparta [which is a province
famous with its rugs]" "Dear Khawaja, they
started using bad material, then they lost the customers." A customer could be fooled
once only. They should have produced the rugs with high quality
material. They work on a piece of rug for a month, and when it is
produced with low quality material, the whole work goes down the
drain.
If it had been produced with the top quality material, it would have
worth good
amount of money. Once the customer is cheated, he will not come
back. My friend told me that the rugs of Isparta are no longer
popular.
The work is no longer the work of a believer; it is full of deception. The words of our Lord is
reproachful: "You utter the words of the sincere worshippers, yet
you do the deeds of the hypocrites." All of our deeds and
works have to be sincere and proper. Everything we do should
comply with
the consent of Allah. The Hadith Qudsī continues:
ان اعطيت لم
تـقـنع وان ابلــيـت لم تصــبر. (In u'tīte lem taqna') "When you are given something,
you are not content; (wa in ublīte lem tasbir) when Allah tests
you with
a trouble, you lose your patience." A believer should be content
with the sustenance he receives. He should say, "Alhamdulillah
for
everything I have." While I was in Ēanakkale, I
was told that there was an elderly couple who were very blessed.
They
were poor. I decided to visit them. We went to their
place.
The couple had no house; they had a little box out of tin.
Husband and
wife were living in that small box. The wife was very content;
she kept
praising Allah for all the blessings she had. She kept saying,
"Look
at us! We have all we need. We praise Allah for
that." I
felt embarrassed. One could not stand up in that tin box.
These
poor people kept praising Allah. "Look we are nobody, but you
came
to visit us. We are not worth a visit, but you came here."
They were content. The contentment and the
richness in heart make a person happy. Lack of contentment keeps
a person
disturbed even if he lives in abundance. We thank Allah that we
are not
hungry and that we have clothing and homes. We praise Allah that
we have
been blessed with so many things. We have seeing eyes and
reasoning
minds. There are no bombs exploding over our heads or destroying
our
minarets. It is not like Chechnia or Then a person should
appreciate all of the blessings and be content. Sometimes, he is
subjected to tests; even the prophets were subjected to the
tests.
Didn't they get sick? Didn't they get sad? They had so much
saddening
experience. They were falsely accused with things. People did
unimaginable cruelty towards the prophets. A believer should see
all of
these as tests and try to pass the test with flying colors. تأمر الناس
بالخير ولا تــفــعلـه، وتـنهى عن الـشـر ولا تــنـهى
عــنــه. (Te'murun nāse bil
khayri wa lā tef'aluhū wa tenhā anish sher-ri wa lā tunhā anhu) "You ordain people the good
deeds, but you do not do them yourself. You also tell them not to
do evil
deeds, but you do them." This is not acceptable! وتحبُّ
الصالحين ولست منهم، وتبغض المنافقين وانت منهم. (Wa tuhibbus sālihīn, wa
leste minhum)
"You like the righteous people, but you are not one of them. (Wa
tubghidul munāfiqīn, wa ente minhum) You get angry at the
hypocrites, yet
you carry the characters of the hypocrites. This is not
acceptable o son
of Adam." This is what our Lord says in a general sense.
Each
person takes his share from these words. In a hadith the Prophet
said: "There are characters of hypocrites. If all of them are
found
on a person, he is a complete hypocrite. If he has one of the
characters
only, he will be a partial hypocrite." That is why we need to
abandon the characters that belong tot he hypocrites. Now we tell a child:
"Son! Be trustworthy! Do not utter a lie!" Then the
telephone rings and we tell the same child: "If it is for me, tell that
I
am not home." What happened here? Haven't we just told the
child not to utter a lie? Weren't we not to utter a lie? Of
course,
the child notices the contradiction and tells: "Haven't you told me not
to
utter a lie?" He confronts the parents: "Mom, Dad! How is
it possible? You told me not to lie first, then you are forcing
to
lie." They the parents tell the child: "You shut up!"
Well, the child is right, and the grownups are wrong. The person who ordains the
good must do it himself first. When he does it first, his words
will be
more effective. It will be effective spiritually, too. Hadrat Abdulqadir-i Geylāni
started a preach in the pulpit: "Ałzu billāhi minesh-shaytąnir
rajīm. Bismillāhir rahmānir rahīm." Before he started
the
main topic, he said some simple words: "My wife at home did this and
that..." The congregation was so joyous that they started crying
in
the beginning of his talk. He had so much spirituality. He
was a
blessed person. His son was observant of
all of this. He wanted to preach people, too: "I want to tell
them
so many interesting things." Hadrat Abdulqadir-i Geylānī told his
son: "This week you are going to preach." The son prepared his
speech. People listened to his speech, but there were no
excitements or
cries. Hadrat Abdulqadir-i Geylānī lived what he preached; that is why
his
words moved people. When the preacher does not practice what he
says, his
words will be ineffective. When a person gives advice
about doing good things, he should do it himself first. Again,
when a
person tells people not to do something, he should stay away from
that
first. If a person loves the righteous servants--these are the
beloved
servants of Allah--he should try to be like them. If a
person
dislikes the hypocrites, he should try to get rid of any character
that
resembles those of the hypocrites I want to mention one of
the characteristics of the hypocrites as an example. The Prophet
said:
"Men should be keen about coming to the mosque for the Isha and Fajr
prayers because the hypocrites do not come to mosque for these
prayers." If a person fails to go the mosque for the Isha and
Fajr,
he should remember this hadith and say, "Oh no! I have a
character
of the hypocrites. I should not stay home but go to the
mosque." Then he should go to the mosque. He should pay
attention to attending the Fajr congregation in the mosque. Since
we do
not like the hypocrites and their characters, we should try our best
not to be
like them. Since we like the righteous people, we should try to
be like
them. We should get to know the
righteous people. There are benefits in reading, telling and
listening to
the anecdotes of these blessed people because we can see the examples
of a good
person. We can see how they live and aspire to be like
them. We
have benefited from them in a great deal. An example for the
righteous people is Hadrat Aisha-i Siddīqa, the mother of the
believers.
Many things were brought to the house during the day, but she gave them
away. She instructed her maid: "Take this to such family, and
this to
other family." She gave them all for charity. They were fasting
on
that day. When they heard the call for Maghrib prayer, the maid
said: "Oh Mother of the believers! Why didn't you save some
for us, too? You gave away everything you received. You are
fasting,
and there is nothing to eat other than some stale bread and some
dates." Hadrat Aisha responded:
"If you had reminded me earlier, I would have done that, too." Look! This is the
state of the righteous people. Observe how they spend for the
charitable
causes. Here is another
example. Hadrat Ali RA and his family fasted the whole day.
They
sat down for supper. A poor person knocked at the door and
begged:
"Please give me something to eat for the sake of Allah. I am
hungry." They gave their food to this person and stayed
hungry. They chose to be patient. The next day they again
intended
to fast. When they completed their fast and prepared something to
eat, an
orphan knocked at the door: "We are hungry. Could you give us
some
food?" They gave the orphan all they had and stayed hungry. The next day they intended
to fast again. In the evening when they were about to break their
fast, a
captive person knocked at the door and begged: "We are hungry.
Please give us something." They gave their food to them and
stayed
hungry again. Upon this incident, a verse
was revealed: ويطعمون
الطعام على حبِّه مسكينًا ويتيمًا واسيرًا (الانسان:٨) (Wa yut'imūnet taāme alā
hubbihī miskīnen wa yetīmen wa esīrā.) "To earn the Love of Allah, they give
their food to the needy, the orphan and the captive." (Qur'an
76:8)
They say: انما نطعمكم
لوجه الله لا نريد منكم جزاءً ولا شكورًا
(الانسان:٩) (Innemā nut'imukum
liwajhillāh)
"We feed you for the consent of Allah. (Lā nurīdu minkum jezāen wa
lā
shukūrā) We wish not from you reward or gratitude." (Qur'an
76:9) They do that for the sake of Allah without expecting any
money or
thanks from them. Hearing about these
incidents, a person aspires to be like them. That is why we ought
to read
about the lives of the righteous people. We ought to try to be
like them.
We have published books
such as Examples from the Lives of the Companions. These books should
be
read. Who were the female companions? How did they
live? What
are their characters? How was their servitude? What was
their
mentality? We ought to read all of these and realize how a good
Muslim
should be. Going back to the Hadith
Qudsī' Almighty Allah continued: تقول ما
لاتفعل وتفـعل ما لاتؤ مر. (Teqłlu mā lā tef'alu wa
tef'alu mā lā tu'meru) "O son of
Adam! You talk about the deeds that you cannot do
and you do things that you are not ordered to." Here two of the
faults of the
human beings are stated: (Teqłlu mā lā tef'alu) "You say things
that you will not do!" Some people keep promising things without
thinking much about it. It is not right for a person to tell
things that
he cannot fulfill. Each of us could only promise as much as he
could
fulfill. The words of the person should not go beyond his head. (Wa tef'alu mā lā
tu'meru) "You
are doing something that you are not asked to do." We have to
check
and see if what we do is the order of Allah. We should ponder
about our
deeds and ask ourselves if we are carrying out the orders of Allah or
the
tradition of the Prophet. We must pay attention to what we do. The hadith Qudsī continues:
تستوفى
حقَّــك ولا توفِّى حقَّ غيرك. (Testewfī haqqake wa lā
tuweffī haqqa ghayrike) "If you have some right on somebody, you
demand it all, and when somebody has a right on you, you avoid paying
it
back." For instance, the inheritance of a person is already
divided,
and there is somebody who has a share in it. In Islam, when
a woman
dies, her nephews have a share in her wealth, yet they could demand
nothing
according to present laws in "O son of Adam!
When somebody owes you anything, you get it all to the last
penny. But
when you owe something to somebody, you are not as meticulous about
paying
it." Try the fine needle on yourself before attempting to poke
somebody with a darning needle. Experience how it feels.
Realize
how sad you will get when somebody deprives you of your right.
You defend
yourself like an attorney. You must pay the due rights to the
respective
owners. ما من يومٍ
جديدٍ الا والارض تــخــاطــبـك فـــيـــه فـتـقــول
لـك: يـا ابن اۤدم! تـمـشـى عـلى ظهرى و مصــيرك الى
بطــنى، وتضــحك على ظهرى وغدًا يأكلك الدود
فى بطنى. (Mā min yewmin jedīdin
illā wal ardu tukhątibuke fīhi feteqłlu leke:) "There is no new day
in
which the earth does not call on you." In this Hadith, the
Prophet
is telling us that the earth calls on us and says these words: (Yebni ādem!)
"O son of Adam! (Yemshī alā zahrī wa masīruke ilā batnī) Now you
are
walking on me, yet there will be a time that you will be buried in me."
(Wa tadhaku alā zahrī wa
ghaden ye'kuluked dūdu fī batnī) "You are enjoying life, having a
good
time on me, yet when you are buried, bugs will eat your flesh." ويـنـاديك
القــبـر: يا ابن اۤدم! انـا بـيـت المســئـلــة، وبـيــت
الـوحشـــة، وبــيــت الـوحـدة، فاعـمـرنى ولا تـخـرِّبـنى. (Wa yunādīkel qabru)
The grave will call on the person. (Yebni ādem!) "O son of Adam!
(Ene
beytul mes'eleti wa beytul wahsheti wa beytul wahdeti fe a'mirnī wa lā
tuharribnī.) I am the house of interrogation." There will be
an
interrogation in the grave: "Who is your Lord? What is your
religion? Who is your Prophet? What is your
scripture? What
is your qibla?" That is pointed out here. (Wa beytul wahsheti wa
beytul wahdeti) "I am the house were you will be in solitary
confinement. There will be no companion or helper for you."
Each of us will be alone in the grave, yet our good deeds will be our
company. His prayers, fasting, pilgrimage, Qur'an reading, his
dhikr, and
his charitable spending will be there to protect him. It is stated in a Hadith
that a person who is placed in the grave will ask upon seeing a lovable
person
with an illuminated face: "O blessed person! Who are you?
While I was having a difficult time with the interrogation, you
appeared.
I like you. You have a bright face. Who are you?" The person will respond:
"I am the Surah Tabāraka (Mulk) that you used to recite.
Almighty Allah send me in this form to accompany you." Because people like to have
company, Almighty Allah shapes the Surah Tabāraka in that form and
sends it to
the grave. Our other good deeds will appear in the grave in a
pleasant
form to accompany us till the day or resurrection. In the end of the hadith
there are two orders: (Wa a'mirnī) "Try to beautify me, improve
me!
(Wa lā tuharribnī) Do not destroy me." The beautification and
improvement of the grave is done by the good deeds whereas its
destruction
takes place with offenses and sins. We must try doing good deeds
and
spend for the charitable causes. We shall think about our comfort
in the
grave. I see alhamdulillah
some sisters reciting Qur'an, offering prayers, and doing other good
deeds. All of these are counted for the beautification of their
graves. This hadith is the address
of Almighty Allah to us as human beings. We should derive the
following
lessons from this Hadith Qudsī: We shall turn to Allah in repentance
and not
delay it. Since we have a love for the good things in the
hereafter, we
should work to earn the Despite the instruction in
the Hadith Qudsī, our clothes, our life styles, and everything else
resembles
that of the disbelievers. How did they succeed having us look
like
them? How did this Muslim nation change? How were our
forefathers? How are our people now? When I go outside, in the
market place or on the streets, I notice the poor state of women.
I avoid
looking at them and look at where my steps are as I walk. Yet, it
is
almost unavoidable. Women are much different from the daughters
of Muslim
grandfathers and grandmothers. They do not look like the
hypocrites; they
look like disbelievers! Here it is relatively cold; freezing
temperatures and snow prevent many things. If you go to the
south, e.g., One of our friends is from Aside from the tourists,
our own people got worse than the tourists. Weren't we supposed
to differ
from the hypocrites? Many people go beyond the lifestyle of the
hypocrites and
dress like the disbelievers. They groom themselves like the
disbelievers;
they put make up like them. They adorn themselves and live
like the
disbelievers. They do not pray, make wudu, ghusl,
or do any
worship. They disobey and have no mercy or sense of what is right
and
what is wrong. Where is this leading? We deserve more
chastisement than these words: "You utter the words of the righteous
servants and sincere worshippers, yet you do the deeds of the
hypocrites."
People do the deeds of the disbelievers, and they are far away from the
faith. They would not know how to say kalima-i shahadah.
They do
not know enough to perform the daily prayers. Somebody sent me a
piece of
paper with a question: "My mother is going to start offering prayers
regularly, yet she cannot pronounce the verses." Well, unfortunately
the
person has reached this age and still does not know how to pray.
I
suggested for her to learn the short surah such as Surah Kawther and
Ikhlas. We
are in a terrible state; may Almighty Allah help us. We shall be content with
the blessings that Almighty Allah sends us. If He sends us a
test, we
shall be patient. The tests could be in the form of an illness,
shortage
of something, poverty, or other difficulties. We shall be patient
for the
tests. There was a girl among our
students. She got married and had a beautiful baby. The
baby was
truly beautiful. It was the "queen of babies." She and
her husband were very happy. They had some problems conceiving
the child,
so they were very happy to have the baby. In a week, Almighty
Allah took
the bay away from them. The infant died. What can we
do? It
was Almighty Allah Who gave the child and also Who took the
child. We
shall accept this fact patiently. Unfortunately, the mother
of the baby uttered unpleasant words towards Allah. I was truly
scared to
hear those words. She lost her mind. We cannot do anything
about it
because it was Allah who granted the child and also who took the child
away.
We shall learn how to be patient. There was an imam in our
village. He and his wife would have a baby, yet the baby would
not live
long. You know sometimes there would be blood mismatch and the
infant
dies. The imam would shed tears for the loss of the infant and
feel
extremely sorry. He lost many infants like that. One day a
sage
visited the village. On that day the imam lost another infant.
When the
sage saw the imam crying out-loud, he pulled the imam to the side and
asked: "Who is giving you these
babies?" "Almighty Allah."
"Who is taking them
away from you?" "Allah." "Then, what is the
matter with you? Be patient! You are an imam, you are a
man!
You should be a good example for people. Be patient, for Allah is
testing
you." Then the imam promised him
that he will be patient. He stopped the mourning. The next
baby
survived. Look at the test! We ask for afiyah (well
being) from Allah. May Allah grant afiyah for all of us in this
life as
well as in the hereafter. May all of your days be happy; and your
business, as you hope. What if it is not like that? Then
you be
patient. It will not be summer all the time; sometimes it
snows. There will not be affluence all the time, sometime we
experience
the shortage of something. We will not be healthy all the time,
sometimes
we get sick. We have to be patient for all of these. A good Muslim shall be
patient, and raise no voice of objection towards almighty Allah.
He shall
be aware that it is from Allah and endure the hardship. He will
earn
rewards for being patient and endurance. A person earns rewards
for two
things: 1. On calamities, one
remains patient and endure the hardship; thus, he earns rewards. 2. On the blessings, one
remains thankful and earns rewards. A believer earns rewards
from being thankful and being patient. If he receives blessings
yet fails
to be thankful, he loses the rewards and commits an offense. If
he is
subjected to a test yet fails to be patient, he loses the rewards,
suffers the
hardship, and he may commit an offense. A woman was mourning by
screaming and pulling her own hair. The Prophet was passing
by. He
went to the woman and said: "Oh Lady! Be patient. Whatever
happened to you is what Allah ordained in your destiny. You need
to be
patient." The woman chose not to be
patient and raised her voice: "Do you know what kind of a calamity fell
on
me?" She kept screaming at the Prophet. The prophet walked away
without saying anything else. Some of the companions
witnessed this and asked the woman: "Did you know who that person
was?" The woman said, "No I
did not!" "He was the Prophet of
Allah." "O, really?" She ran after the Prophet
and apologized: "O Prophet of Allah! I could not recognize you.
Forgive me please." The Prophet responded: الصبر عند
صدمة الاولى (راموزالاحاديث:٢/١٢٤) (Assabru inde sadmetul
ūlā) "The
patience has to be at the beginning. If you are patient after the
calamity has passed, it has no value." After some time passes, the
person
gets used to the calamity and accepts it regardless of being patient or
not. Is there anything that fell off the sky and the earth
rejected
it? That is why if a person remains patient and calm at the
beginning, he
will earn rewards; if he loses his control, then he loses the
rewards. The lesson we learn from
this hadith is that we ought to be patient. If we are tested, we
ought to
realize that it is a test and remain calm and patient. It is good to advice the
good to people, yet we ought to do the good things ourselves
first. It is
also a duty on us to prevent the evil and tell people not to do the
evil, yet
we have to avoid the evil ourselves first. If we like the righteous
people, we should try to become like them. If we get angry at the
hypocrites and disbelievers, we should try not to be like them. The Prophet said: خالفوا
اليهود والنصارى (Khaliful yehūde wan
nasąrā)
"Differ from the Jews and the Christians, do not be like them!"
We should be different from them even when it comes to the worship and
not do
it at the time they do it. We should never do the things they do
in
disobedience, in entertainment and other things that are not pleasing
to Allah.
Then a person should not
utter the words that he himself cannot do. He should not promise
things
that he cannot fulfill. He should not take a responsibility that
he
cannot carry out. He should not do the things he is not ordered
to. He
should do everything for the sake of Allah. He should do
everything that
Allah ordered. He should have the intention every morning: "I shall do
whatever
Allah has asked me to." He should try to fulfill the what Allah
ordered and what the Prophet ordered throughout his life. As a person tries to get
all his rights from others, he should pay the due rights to
others. He
should not get anything that belongs to the others. Try to remember the other
part of the hadith. Every day the earth calls us, but we are
unaware:
"You are walking on me today, yet tomorrow I will take you in."
What does the earth mean? It means there is death and we should
be prepared
for death. How does one prepare for
death? Time to time we describe Tasawwuf in different ways.
Here I
will say something that has not been said before: "Being a
dervish
is the art of preparing for the death." A dervish is always ready
to
depart from this life. If his time expires and the Angel of Death
comes
to him, he would say: "All right! I am ready!" How is it
so? He would have wudu and do dhikr all the time. He would
not owe
anything to anybody. He would carry out all of his obligations
without
missing or delaying any. He would be on the path of Allah.
He would
say, "If I am called, I will comply with the order." Being a
dervish means being prepared to depart from this life. Being a dervish requires
imagination of one's own death; it is a duty for the
dervish. While
imagining it, we should try to hear the call of the earth: "O son of
Adam!
Today you are walking on me, yet tomorrow, I will take you in.
You enjoy
life and have fun today, yet tomorrow the bugs will feed on your body."
The grave calls on the
person: "O son of Adam! I am a house of
interrogation. I
am a place that you will be all alone and terrified. You will be
in
solitary confinement. There will be none to accompany you.
So, you
should try to beautify me and not destroy me." This is the Hadith
Qudsī. We would not know the true nature of the grave. Once
we
learn these facts, we have to work for it. Ibrāhim ibn-i Edhem was a
ruler in the city of اذا اشتغل
الناس بعمارة القصور، واشتغل انت بعمارة
القبور (Idheshteghalen nāsu
bi-imāratil qusłr, weshteghil ente bi-imāretil qubūr.) "While people are busy
beautifying their mansions, you try to beautify your grave."
People
build nice houses, marble palaces, mansions with pools. They
spend
hundreds of thousands of dollars for that purpose. You see them
often in
the large cities. For instance if you go to the Lara beach and
Kemer
districts in (Idheshteghalen nāsu
bi-imāratil qusłr)
While people are building palaces and mansions, (weshteghil ente
bi-imāretil
qubūr) you try to illuminate your grave; try to fill it with
rewards. A poet said once: القبر صندوق
العمل (Al qabru sandłqul
'amel) The grave is
like a chest that girls prepare before getting married. They make
various
kinds of embroidery, napkins, covers for tables, and many other kinds
of
handicrafts to use them in their house when they get married.
They keep
them in the chest. The grave is a chest for every person.
The
person does the deeds and sends them to the grave to feel comfortable
in there.
I had intended to read a
hadith from the book, and this hadith was drawn. Its meaning is a
bit
bitter, yet it is the order of Allah with the words of the
Prophet. I
only read and explained it to you. May Almighty Allah have us
benefit from these advices and become His beloved servants.
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