| TURNING AWAY FROM SIN Prof. Dr. Mahmud Es'ad
Cožan Ełdhu billāhi minash-
shaytąnir rajīm. Bismillāhir rahmānir
rahīm. Elhamdu lillāhi rabbil
ąlemīne hamden kethīran tayyiben mübāreken fīh... Kemā yenbaghī
lijalāli
wejhihī wa liazīmi sultānih... Was salātu was selāmu alā seyyidinā
muhammedin
wa alā ālihī wa sahbihī wa men tebi'ahū bi-ihsānin ejmaīn... Dear Brothers and Sisters, May Almighty Allah have all
of you benefit from the blessings of this Blessed month of
Ramadhan. May
He accept our prayers, supplications, Tarawihs and fasts and make them
means
for earning His consent. Our beloved Prophet
informed in a Hadith Qutsī that Almighty Allah said the following: يا ابن
اۤدم! هل عصـيـتمونى فذكرتم غضــبى فانـتهيـتم عن
مــعصـــيتى، وهل اۤتـيتم فرائضى كما امرتكم، وهل اۤتـيــتــم
المساكــــين من اموالـكم، وهــل احســنــتم الى من اساء
الـــيكم، وهــل عفوتم لمن ظلــمكم، وهــل وصلــتم لمن
قــطـــعـكم، وهـــل وفــــيــتــم لمن خانــكم، وهــل ادبــتـم اولادكم،
وهل ارضـــيتم جيرنكم، وهل سئلتم الـــعلماء عن امر
ديـــنــكم؟ فانّى لا انظـــر الى صــوركم ولا محا سنكم، ولكن
انــظــر الى قلــوبكم و نــيَّاتكم، فارضونى بهذه الخصال
عنكم. (Yebni ādem! Hel
asaytumūnī fedhekertum ghadabī fenteheytum an ma'siyetī? Wa hel āteytum
ferāidī
kemā emertukum? Wa hel āteytumul mesākīne min emwālikum? Wa hel
ahsentum
ilā men esāe ileykum? Wa hel afewtum limen zalemekum? Wa
hel
Wasaltum limen Qata'akum? Wa hel wefeytum limen hąnekum? Wa
hel eddebtum
ewlādekum? Wa hel erdaytum jīrānekum? Wa hel se-eltumul
'ulemāe an
emri dīnikum? Feinnī lā enzuru ilā suwerikum wa lā mehāsinukum.
Welākin
enzuru ilā qulūbikum wa niyyātikum. Fe erdawnī bihādhihil hisāli ankum.) Almighty Allah taught many
things to His beloved Prophet. The prophet said: ادبنى ربى
واحسن تئدبى (Eddebenī rabbī wa
ahsene te'dībī) [My
Lord have trained me and made my training well.] Almighty Allah trained
the
"The Orphan Pearl" [i.e., Prophet Muhammed whose parents died when he
was a child and grew up as an orphan] and blessed him with the
knowledge of the
past and the future. It feels like a person cannot study all of
the
ahadith of the Prophet that fills the libraries in a life time.
His
ahadith are like a treasure; a treasure of education in
deed.
Almighty Allah taught and showed him many things and elevated him to
stages
that no ordinary person could be. Allah granted His Prophet the
Miraj and
accepted him in His presence. The Prophet was blessed with
blessings that
nobody ever experienced, for he was the leader of the prophets and a
chosen
beloved servant of Allah. Almighty Allah informed him of many
things. The hadith I read is an example of such information: يا ابن اۤدم! (Yebni ādem!) "O son of Adam!" said
Almighty Allah. The Prophet has informed us about it. The
words of
Allah as stated by the prophet [which are not part of the Qur'an] are
called
Hadith-Qudsī. So this is a Hadith Qudsī. Almighty Allah addressed us
as "O son of Adam!" Since we all are descendants of Hadrat Adam
AS, we are the Children of Adam (Benī Adem). In Arabic ibn
means son
while benī is the plural form: sons. We all are the children of
Adam. Almighty Allah addressed us as "O son of Adam!" I go into such detail
because the last sentence contains a very good news: "You do
these
things, and I will be pleased with you." In other words, if we do
the things mentioned in this Hadith Qudsī, we will earn the consent of
Almighty
Allah. In fact, this is the reason for me to select this hadith
for today's
discourse. يا ابن
اۤدم! هل عصـيتمونى فذكرتم غضبى فانـتهــيــتم
عن معصيتى؟ (Yebni ādem!) "O son of Adam! (Hel
asaytumūnī fedhekertum ghadabī fenteheytum an ma'siyetī?) Have you
ever
remembered My wrath and punishment and withheld yourself from
committing an
offense, a sin, a form of disobedience?" Have you ever been in a
situation that you were about to commit a sin and you remembered
Allah's
commands and anger, then you decided not to commit that sin? Here is an example: It is
stated in the Surah Yusuf (bismillāhir rahmānir rahīm) ولقد همَّت
به، وهمَّ بها، لولا ان راۤ برهان ربه
(يوسف:٢٤) (Wa leqad hemmet bihī wa
hemme bihā) Mother
Zulaikha closed the door on Prophet Yusuf who was exceptionally
handsome. Another issue just came up,
and I must state it. In fact Prophet Muhammed was more handsome
than
Prophet Yusuf AS. Once a companion made the following statement
about
Prophet Muhammad SAS: "The face of the
Prophet would shine like a sword." His face was so
illuminated. The person thought of a bright and shiny object to
describe
that brightness. At that time, there were not many bright
objects.
For instance, the mirrors would be made out of polished silver. Another companion objected
the description: "What do you mean like a sword? His face was
shiny
like the moon and the sun." May Almighty Allah grant us the
opportunities to see the beauty of the Prophet. Mother Zulaikha had invited
the ladies in her room and gave them knives and fruits to peel.
When the
ladies sow Prophet Yusuf, they were mesmerized by the beauty of Prophet
Yusuf
and they cut their hands in confusion. He had a stunning beauty. فلما راينه
اكبرنه وقطَّعن ايديهن وقلن حاش لله ما هذا بشرًا،
ان هذا الا ملكٌ كريم (يوسف:٣١) (Qatta'nā
eydiyehunne) They cut their
hands in that state
of shock. They said: (Inne hāshā lillāh, mā hādhā besherā) "Verily,
perfect is Allah! This is not a human being! (in hādhā illā
melekun
karīm) This is none but a noble angel." (Qur'an 12:31) Mother Zulaikha was
attracted to Prophet Yusuf AS. He was a handsome young man.
She was
a noble lady, too. She wanted to seduce him. She closed the door
and
said, "Come, you!" Prophet Yusuf held himself back: لولا ان راۤ
برهان ربه (يوسف:٢٤) (Lew lā en ra'ā burhāne
rabbihī) "He
would have inclined to her had he not seen the proof [i.e., signs] of
his
Lord." (Qur'an 12:24) It is told that Prophet Yusuf all of a
sudden
saw his father Prophet Ya'qub AS before him. Prophet Ya'qub was
biting
his fingertips. Prophet Yusuf realized the gravity of the matter
and
said: قال ربِّ
السجن احبُّ الى مما يدعوننى اليه (يوسف:٣٣) (Rabbis sijnu ehabbu
ileyye mimmā yed'ūnenī ileyh)
"My Lord! Prison is more to my liking than to which these
women invite me to." He preferred the prison over the desires of
the
women which were sinful. (Qur'an 12:33) He was a perfect servant
of
Allah, a chosen servant, a noble servant, a prophet, and a son of a
prophet. In this Hadith Qudsī,
Almighty Allah asks us, children of Adam: "Have you ever held
yourselves
back when you were about the commit an offense while all the conditions
for
that offense existed, yet you thought about the punishment of Allah in
the
hereafter?" If you give up committing a sin in this manner,
Almighty
Allah will be pleased with you. As a matter of fact,
Almighty Allah had Hadrat Yusuf released from the prison and be a
vizier for
the ruler of Egypt. Almighty Allah also had Hadrat Yusuf marry
Zulaikha
in a legitimate and wholesome way. It was in their destiny;
they
had one another not in an unlawful way, but in a legitimate and
pleasant way. We keep moving from one
topic to another as it is called for. Once I read an incident in
a book
and enjoyed very much. Let me tell you that, too: Hadrat
Ali and
his servant came to a masjid in Kūfa. They dismounted the horse
and asked
a man to hold the bridle of the horse until they offered their
prayers.
They performed the prayers. Hadrat Ali got five dirhams out of
his money purse
to tip the man who watched the horse. He was going to give it to
the man
outside. As they got outside, the man and the horse were
gone. they
looked around and found the horse roaming. The bridle of the
horse was
missing. Apparently, the man stole the bridle. He could not
steal
the horse, but he stole the bridle. Hadrat Ali handed the five
dirhams to
his servant and sent him to buy a bridle. The servant went to a
merchant and spotted a bridle. He recognized the bridle and
claimed it
back. The owner said: "I paid five dirhams for it. If it
belonged to you, just pay me five dirhams." The servant paid five
dirhams
and returned to the masjid. People gathered around
Hadrat Ali and his servant. There were curious. Hadrat Ali
said:
"O people! This is an important event to heed. I had
intended
to pay this man five dirhams for his service. This money was
going to be
his with my consent. If he had been patient, he would have earned
five
dirhams lawfully. Yet he was not patient! He still received
the
same amount of money, but he received it unlawfully. He stole the
bridle,
sold it and got five dirhams. He was going to receive five
dirhams from
me lawfully. He chose to receive it unlawfully. Almighty
Allah sent
him five dirhams and showed tow ways: lawful way and unlawful
way.
If he had been patient, he would have received it lawfully. His
sustenance was five dirhams for today, yet he got it unlawfully." If we look at the purse of
Hadrat Ali, it did not matter: He was going to give five dirhams to the
man,
yet the money had to go the merchant. The money in the purse
decreased by
five dirhams. If you consider the merchant, he paid five dirhams
to the
thief and received five dirhams. He did not earn or lose money. The money was destined to
go to the man who was entrusted the horse. He was meant to
receive five
dirhams on that day. However, he received it in an unlawful
way.
The way one earns money can be lawful or unlawful; the reward, too,
could be
Paradise or hellfire. Hadrat Yusuf were patient,
did not give in to haram. He stayed away from haram and preferred
imprisonment over haram. In the end, Almighty Allah rewarded him
with
marriage with the same woman in a lawful and honorable way. This
has been
an example of how a person should hold himself back from committing an
offense. A person could have opportunities; he could have
desires.
The apple could be in his reach, yet he should say, "I should not touch
that apple, it is not mine. It is unlawful." If he does that,
another person could bring him a plate full of apples. If it is
in his
destiny to eat apple, he would get it anyway. Nevertheless, one has to
hold
himself back from the unlawful ways. If a person does that,
Almighty
Allah loves him. In the hadith I read,
things that Almighty Allah likes are stated in the question form.
You
should be aware of then--that is why I explain them. We have to
control
ourselves and avoid looking at haram. We have to control
ourselves not to
listen to haram. We have to control ourselves not to support the
haram. We shall control ourselves not to go to places where haram
is
committed. What is taqwa?
Almighty Allah says in the Glorious Qur'an: bismillāhir rahmānir
rahīm يا ايها
الذين اۤمنوا كتب عليكم الصيام كما كتب على الذين
من قبلكم لعلكم تتقون (البقرة:١٨٣) (Yā eyyuhelledhīne āmenū
kutibe 'aleykumus siyām, kemā kutibe alelledhīne min qablikum
le'allekum
tetteqłn) (Qur'an
2:183) "O believers! Fasting has been prescribed for you as it
was
prescribed for those who lived before you so that you may attain
taqwa." The taqwa would mean holding back from committing an
offense
or avoiding a sin. Here Almighty Allah has
asked about that: "Have you remembered Me and My anger and then turn
away
from committing sin?" We must learn how to control ourselves and
how
to stay away from offenses. We have to practice our training that
we have
acquired in Ramadhan. We must not touch haram, look at haram, say
haram, eat
haram or approach haram. وهل اۤتيتم
فرائضى كما امرتكم؟ (Wa hel 'alteytum
ferāidī kemā emertukum?" Have you fulfilled the obligations that I
have ordered for you in the way they should be carried out?" Have
you offered the daily prayers, pay the Zakah? "Aqīmus-salāh"
says Almighty Allah: "Establish the prayer in a complete
sense." He does not say simply, "Sallus salāh--offer
your prayer!" instead He says, "Establish the prayer in a complete
sense." One has to offer the prayer in the best way. Again,
Almighty
Allah does not say simply, "wa lā teznū--do not commit
adultery!" instead, He says "wa lā taqrabuz zinā--do not
come close to adultery!" We have to stay away from adultery; we
should not pass through its neighborhood. We should avoid all
that would
lead to adultery; we should not look or talk. To provide
all of
this abstinence, men and women should not mingle freely, There
should be
separate places for man and women. There should be covering of
the
body. All of these are orders of Allah and precautions to keep
people
away from haram. Almighty Allah asks:
"Have you fulfilled the obligations that I ordered for you? Did
you
pay your dues? Did you carry out what had to be carried
out?"
The hadith continues: وهل
اۤتـيــتم المساكـين من اموالـكم؟ (Wa hel āteytumul
mesākīne min emwālikum?) Have you allocated some of what you have
for the
poor and needy? Have you spend for charitable causes? As you know, paying Zakah
is not a virtue--it is an obligation. It is the right of the poor
on the
rich. والذين فى
اموالهم حقٌّ معلوم. للسائل والمحروم (المعارج:٢٤-٢٥) (Welledīne fī emwālihim
haqqun ma'lūm) "There is a known amount of right in the wealth of
the
rich." To whom does this right belong? This portion is (lis
sāili
wal mahrūm) "for the beggars and the deprived and the destitute."
(Qur'an 70:24-25) That portion of the wealth does not belong to
the rich,
and it is to be given to the poor. If you consider yourself
generous,
then give away more than the required amount. Generosity is not
limited
by 2.5 % that is required for Zakah. Did Hadrat Abubakr-i Siddīq
limit his generosity to 2.5 %? When the Prophet asked for, he
gave
everything he had. The Prophet asked: "O Abubakr! What did
you
leave for your household?" Once a Bedouin came to the
Prophet. I like this incident and I can visualize it. A
flock of
sheep was brought to the Prophet as spoils of a battle. Sometimes we see some sheep
and lambs on the side of the road as we drive on the highway.
They look
healthy and well fed. The labs looks so cuddly. The season has
plenty of
rain, and the grass has grown. They enjoy it very well. The Bedouin was from a
tribe that lived in the desert. He liked the sheep very
much.
"O Prophet of Allah! How nice these sheep are!" they must
have been a special kind of sheep and well fed. He liked them
very much. The Prophet asked,
"Did you like them?" "Yes, O Prophet of
Allah. They are beautiful." "They are yours.
Take them all!" If it were us, we would
give one sheep or a leg of the lamb. Or we would give the head
and feet
of the animal because it would be difficult for our wives to prepare it
at
home. Who is going to skin the head or torch the feet? That
would
be our mentality. The Prophet said,
"Take them all!" "You mean all of them,
o Prophet of Allah?" "Yes, all of
them!" The Bedouin took the whole
flock to his tribe. People who saw him returning with a large
flock of
sheep could not believe what they saw: "Allahu akbar!
What is this? You left your tribe in the
morning with nothing, and now you return with a flock of sheep.
What did
you do--steal a flock of sheep?" He responded:
"Mohammed gave them to me. He gave me them in a way that he was
not
afraid of poverty. He is extremely generous." We would be afraid of
poverty. When we want to give away something, we worry about our
children
and household. The Prophet SAS gave away the whole flock without
any
tinge of fear of poverty. The whole tribe were amazed and
mesmerized. They all came to the Prophet SAS and accepted Islam. Now you tell me which is
better: a flock of sheep or a group of believers? The
Prophet gave
a flock of sheep, yet he got a groups of believers. It was an
excellent
deal. The Prophet would give away
things without the fear of falling into the poverty. So would
Hadrat
Abubakr. He said, "Allah and His Messenger suffice for my
family." He meant that Allah would suffice for all their needs so
long as they follow the path of the Prophet. He trusted in Allah
in the
absolute sense. Almighty Allah asked in the
Hadith Qudsī: "Did you give some of your wealth to the
needy?" We shall do that because they have rights on our
wealth. When we give their share, our wealth becomes
purified. When
the wealth is cleared of other people's rights, then it will be pure. The literal meaning of the
Arabic word Zakah is "cleansing." When the portion of Zakah is given
away, the remainder of the wealth becomes pure. Paying Zakah is a
sign
that a person is not stingy. However, it is the lowest level of
generosity. The top level of generosity is the giving without the
fear of
falling into poverty, at the level of siddiqiyyet. One could give
away
everything he has for the sake of Allah--including his own life.
One
Ottoman poet said: Jān-i
jānān
dilemish, vermemek olmaz ey dil, The
beloved has asked
for the soul, o my heart we cannot refuse How could one refuse when
the beloved asks for the soul? This soul is not mine, nor is
yours.
It belongs to the beloved. Almighty Allah is asking if
we give away something for the poor and the needy. If we do that,
He will
be pleased with us. One of the characteristics
of the Ramadhan is pointed out by the Prophet: وشهر
المواساة (الترغيب والترهيب:٩٤/٢) (Shahrul muwāsāti)
"It is the month of muwāsāt." Muwāsāt means giving somebody some
money or goods as charity. In Ramadhan we shall recite Qur'an,
offer
Tarawih prayers, and fast during the day. In addition, we shall
open the
money purse and the gate of the storehouse, and give some to the
poor. We
shall give them money and goods to make them happy. Then Almighty
Allah
will be pleased because winning the hearts is rewarding just as
building the
walls of Ka'bah. Likewise, breaking somebody's heart, offending
somebody
is as grave as destroying Ka'bah. Once our beloved Prophet
turned to Ka'bah from a distance and said: "O Ka'bah!
You are so beautiful and blessed. You are so precious, yet by
Allah, the
heart of the believer is dearer to Allah than you are." The heart of the believer
is more precious than Ka'bah. Can you imagine how much reward you
would
earn by making a poor believer's heart happy? I was told in Istanbul
once, and I liked it very much: A rich man got out of the mosque after
the Eid
prayer on a day of Eid al Adha. He grabbed the arm of a poor man
who was
big and tall yet humble. He told the white-bearded poor man,
"Come
along!" Well, he was a respectable rich man--may Allah bless his
soul. They all are gone yet remembered by their good deeds.
This
rich man took the poor man to the area where the animals were sold for
sacrifice. He instructed: "You would understand which lamb or
sheep
is better and tastier. Could you please choose the best of the
animals
for me?" The rich man said:
"All right! Move it to the side." He paid the vendor for
the sheep and turned to the poor man: "Take this to your home.
Enjoy
it with your family." The poor man thought that
the rich man was going to buy it and keep it to himself. He
thought the
rich man was asking him a favor and help him choose the best one.
If he
had known that the rich man was going to give it to the poor man, he
would have
picked a small animal which would cost less. He would have said,
"This
is sufficient, Sir. No need for a better one." He picked
the
best animal for the rich to take home. Yet the rich man paid the
money
and asked the poor man to take the lamb. This is very good and unforgettable. It has nothing with me, yet I have heard about it and keep praying for that generous man. The generous rich person has left this life, yet people still pray for him on this day of Ramadhan. Man would die, yet his fame continues to live. People are remembered for the good things they do. وهل
احســنــتم الى من اساء اليكم؟ (Wa hel ahsentum ilā men
esāe ileykum?) Here is another question: "Have you well treated a
person who had mistreated you before?" In general, we do not treat
a person well if the person mistreats us. If somebody punches us,
we
would punch him back. It has been like this in the
society.
We would say: "What can I do? He started it." We take our
jacket off, hit him with our head, punch him, kick him, grab him, take
him
down, roll on the ground... Why? He started it! As the Prophet SAS informed
us, Almighty Allah is asking: "Have you well treated a person who had
mistreated you before?" I was told that once in
Pakistan a blessed man, who was a white-bearded dervish, a
mujahid, went
to a farmer who was plowing the soil. The dervish called the
farmer to
the edge of the field and advised him on Islam. The farmer got angry:
"Is
that why you called me here and kept me away from my work?"
He
punched the dervish on the face. While wiping the blood on his
face, the
dervish apologized: "I am sorry, I was wrong; I should not have
interrupted your work. I should not have kept you away from your
work." The farmer realized that the dervish was a blessed man. He
apologized and cried while he sought forgiveness from the dervish. In the Hadith Qudsī, Allah
asks: "Have you well treated a person who had mistreated you
before?" You think about your own life and visualize the time
that
somebody treated you wrong and deserved to be punished. You
should not
wait at a corner and say: "I will teach him a lesson when he passed
from
our neighborhood." Have you done something
good for such a person? If you have, Almighty Allah loves
you. If
you do like this, love and affection will be cultivated. That
would heal
the wounds. If one tries to take revenge, the enmity and grudge
continues. Imagine a man running away
from Diyarbakir to Bursa or Istanbul to escape from the blood
feud. He
tries to leave no traces so that he is considered lost. His
opponents
could follow him like the police detectives and kill him as soon as
they find
him. It is for the revenge of a murder case that was committed by
another
person in the family. Now an innocent member of that family is
murdered
for revenge. In Islam there is the principle: ولا تزر
وازرةٌ وزر اخرى (فاطر:١٨) (Wa lā teziru wāziratun
wizra ukhra) "No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of
another." (Qur'an 35:18) Nobody can be held responsible for
something that is committed by somebody else. If you would find
the
murderer, you punish him. In Islam, the parties involved cannot
issue the
jurisdiction or the punishment; the judge issues the verdict. One
cannot
inflict harm on the other; there is no "muqabala biz-zarar--reciprocation
with harm" in Islam. This is an important rule in Majallah. ....... Almighty Allah says in this
hadith: "If you well treat a person who has mistreated you, you will
earn
my consent. If you give away from your wealth and earnings, you
will earn
My consent. If you fulfill your obligations, you will earn my
consent. If you turn away from committing an offense or a sin by
remembering my anger, you will earn my consent." I remembered another Hadith
Qudsī: On the Day of Resurrection, Almighty Allah will ask one of
His
servants: "O My servant! I
got sick, but you did not come to visit Me!" "Subhanallah!
My Lord! You are the Lord of the Universe. How could you
get
sick? I do not understand." "One of my servants
was sick. If you had visited him, you had earned rewards as
though you
have visited Me." "O My servant! I
was hungry, but you did not feed Me!" "Subhanallah!
I glorify Thee o Allah! My Lord! You are the Lord of the
Universe. You would not get hungry! You are above all of these
needs. I fail to understand what You mean." "One of my servants
was hungry, and you did not feed him. If you had fed him, you
would have
earned rewards as though you had fed Me." We infer from this Hadith
Qudsī that Almighty Allah is pleased when we do good things to His
servants. Continuing with the first
hadith, وهل عفوتم
لمن ظلمكم؟ (Wa hel afewtum limen
zalemekum?) "Have you ever forgiven someone who had oppressed and
wronged you?" Imagine a person who definitely have ill treated you and
deprived you of your rights. Have you ever forgiven such a
person?
Forgiving earns great rewards for the person. It is praised in
the
following verse: والكاظمين
الغيظ والعافين عن الناس (اۤل عمران:١٣٤) (Wel kāzimīnel ghayza
wel 'āfīne 'anin nās) "... who restrain anger and who pardon
people..." (Qur'an 3:134) These are the attributes of people who have
taqwa. Remember, we are acquiring taqwa in Ramadhan; we are
taking
a one-month training course on taqwa. remember the verse, لعلكم تتقون
(البقرة:١٨٣) (Le allekum tetteqłn)
"... so that you may acquire taqwa--become righteous." (Qur'an
2:183) What are the characteristics of people who have taqwa? الذين
ينفقون فى السرَّاء والضرَّاء والكاظمين الغيظ والعافين عن
الناس (اۤل عمران:١٣٤) (Elledhīne yunfiqłne fis
serrāi wad darrā') "They spend in the cause of Allah during
the
time of ease and hardship..."(Qur'an 3:134) They are
generous;
they open the money purse, the safe, the sack, and the storehouse... (Wal
kāziminel ghayz) "They restrain anger, keep control of themselves. (Wel
'āfīne 'anin nās) They forgive people." What can we
do? People do things that are upsetting. We should control
our
anger and forgive them. As Yunus Emre --may his abode be Paradise
in the
hereafter--said: Yaradilani hosh gör, Yaradan'dan ötürü!
He suggests overlooking
minor and insignificant matters. Nazar
eyle
itürü, When you
look, look
carefully
Also, when you forgive
somebody who has done something wrong to you, the wounds heal and the
society
gets better. Bad people regret their offenses, and the order is
established. Otherwise, one cannot prevent the demoralization in
the
society. وهل وصلــتم
لمن قــطـــعـكم؟ (Wa hel wasaltum limen
qata'akum?) "Have you visited somebody who has distanced himself
from
you?" He ignores your friendship, never comes to your
neighborhood,
and never asks how you are. He has cut off all the ties between
you.
Do you go and visit him? This is very important. Our late master Mehmed
Zahid Kotku RhA was a blessed man whom people loved and observed his
miracles. While I was traveling with him, in a town he suggested:
"Let's go and visit brother x." The person he wanted to
visit was a younger person who was a disciple of our shaikh, yet who
would talk
negative things about our master. He was known to gossip about
him.
I approached to our master and said: "Father! That person has been
talking
against you behind your back. He does not like you, he is against
you!" Despite my remarks, our
master insisted about going and visiting this person. He did not
turn his
back to him. Later on this person stopped backbiting and became a
good
dervish of our master. The hadith Qudsī continues:
وهـل
وفـيــتم لمن خانــكم؟ "(Wa hel wefeytum
limen khąnekum?) Have you been truthful to somebody who had
betrayed your
trust? وهـل
ادبــتـم اولادكم؟ (Wa hel eddebtum
ewlādekum?) Have you trained your children to have good manners? وهل ارضيتم
جيرنكم؟ (Wa hel erdaytum
jīrānekum?) Are your neighbors happy with you? وهل سئلتم
العلماء عن امر دينكم؟ (Wa hel se-eltumul
'ulemāe an emri dīnikum?) Have you consulted with scholars to make
sure
that you learn the truth in your religion and not deviate from the
truth?"
The Hadith Qudsī continues:
فانّى لا
انظر الى صوركم، ولا محاسنكم ولكن انظر الى
قلوبكم ونيَّاتكم، "(Feinnī lā enzuru
ilā suwerikum wa lā mehāsinukum.) I do not look at your physical
shape or
beauty." Almighty Allah says that He does not look at a person's
physical appearance, wealth, lineage. The worldly values and virtues
are not of
His concern. He says: "(Welākin enzuru ilā qulūbikum wa
niyyātikum) yet I look at your hearts and intentions." The Hadith Qudsī ends wit
the following words: فارضونى
بهذه الخصال عنكم. (Fe erdawnī bihādhihil
hisāli ankum.) "You should earn My consent by doing these good
deeds." Lets summarize it and
conclude the discourse: The Hadith Qudsī started as
"O son of Adam! Have you turned away from committing a sin as you
were
about to do it yet you remembered my wrath?" We a have to stay
away
from sins and offenses. This is one of the things we shall do. Next, "Have you
fulfilled the obligations as I ordered?" To fulfill the
obligations,
we ought to learn about them. In the past, scholars formulated
the
obligations as "Thirty-two Obligations" and "Fifty-four
Obligations." They had children memorize them. (Hel āteytumul mesākine
min emwalikum?) "Have you give from what you have to the poor and
needy?" We must be generous. The generous is closer to
Paradise while the stingy is closer to Hell. (Wa hel ehsantum ilā men
esāe ileykum?) "Have you well treated somebody who had mistreated
you
before?" (Wa hel afewtum limen
zalemekum?) "Have you forgiven one who had done injustice to
you?" (Wa hel wasaltum limen
qataakum?) "Have you visited those who had cut their ties with
you?" Are you in touch with your relatives and friends? (Wa hel wefeytum limen
khąnekum?) "Have you been loyal and constant for one who had
betrayed
your trust before?" (Wa hel eddebtum
ewlādekum?) "Have you trained your children to have good
manners?" (Wa hel erdaytum
jīrānekum?) "Have you pleased your neighbors? Are they happy
about you? Do they say good words about you?" (Wa hel seeltumul ulemāe
an emri dīnikum?) "Have you consulted with the scholars on religion
to
avoid doing anything wrong." The hadith ends as, "I
do not look at your physical appearance, your faces, or worldly
virtues;
I look at your hearts and intentions. Pay attention to these
points and
earn My consent." May Almighty Allah guide us
to his straight path in this Ramadhan, the month of spiritual training,
worship, and mercy. The beginning of this month is mercy; the
middle,
forgiveness; the end, freedom from the fire. May He grant us the
ability
to see the truth as truth and follow it. May He grant us the
means to
benefit from the blessings of this month and become a righteous
servant.
May He grant us the means to abandon our ill characters and acquire
good
manners. May He keep us on His
straight path as his beloved righteous servants. With the secrets of Surah
Fatiha February 7, 1995 /
Ramadhan 7, 1415 -- ISPARTA
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