The excellence of love for the sake of Allah.

Excerpt from a page:

These are ahadith regarding the excellence of love for the sake of Allah and encouraging it, and a man who loves another informing him of that and what he says to him when he informs him  The excellence of love for the sake of Allah:

375. Anas reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Anyone who possesses three attributes will experience the sweetness of belief: that he loves Allah and His Messenger more than anything else; that he loves someone for the sake of Allah alone; and that he hates the idea of reverting to disbelief as much as he would hate being thrown into a fire." [Agreed upon]

376. Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "There are seven whom Allah will shade with His shade on the day when there is no shade but His shade: a just Imam, a youth who grows up worshipping Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, a man whose heart is attached to the mosque, two men who love each other for the sake of Allah, meeting and parting for that reason alone, a man who refuses the advances of a noble and beautiful woman, saying, 'I fear Allah', a man who gives sadaqa and conceals it so that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives, and a man who remembers Allah when he is alone and his eyes overflow with tears." [Agreed upon]

377. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Allah Almighty will say on the Day of Rising, 'Where are those who loved one another for the sake of My majesty? Today, on the day when there is no shade but My shade, I will shade them.'" [Muslim]

378. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "By the one who has my soul in His hand, you will not enter the Garden until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I point out to you something which will make you love one another if you do it? Make the greeting widespread among you." [Muslim]



Reference:
http://www.sunnipath.com/library/Hadith/H0004P0046.aspx

A bitter comparison

Every child is asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Of course, the reply is not taken seriously when we’re young, but this very same question later becomes the subject of our lives with everything revolving around it. Honestly speaking, I have never cared much about studies; I’ve always studied just as much as was needed to get a decent grade to save myself from uncalled for embarrassment and scolding. Yet, during my A’ levels, I was constantly asked about which university I wanted to go to, what were my future plans etc that even I saw myself being horribly worried. 

Not that it is wrong to worry in such matters, in fact I respect the people who take their studies seriously without losing their senses completely but the only thing that bothers me is that how something which is so much more important than all this is subsided. How come I wasn’t ever told to be concerned about my relationship with God, yet always made to worry about this world and how I would survive in it?

This is the bitter comparison that all of us shy away from. Some of us have been lucky that our families have retained at least some essential values of Islam and passed them onto us but most of us see Islam as nothing more than a backward ideology. We make no efforts to learn anything about Islam and form our opinions based on other peoples’ opinions which are based on some other peoples’ opinions whose own opinions are faulty to begin with. Our concept of striking the perfect balance between Islam and this world is of that person who focuses on the success of this world but also remembers God sometimes as per his/her need.

Is it really balance in wanting to excel in all things worldly and doing even less than the bare-minimum in religion? Is the concept of the prayer just to peck our heads on the ground like crows or is it an experience that brings us closer to God? When we learn about a theory we study it first and then look at its criticisms, yet with Islam we believe the criticisms first and then never even bother studying what Islam actually stands for. This is what we call balance! 

And then if someone makes even a little bit of an effort to get on the right track then people start being “concerned” for him/her. How come such concern is only shown when someone strives for religion and not when they strive for this world? In fact, we are told to strive for competition in the world. They say only the fittest survive, well  if the fittest are the ones who rob, abuse, oppress, corrupt, cheat, lie and do all such wonderful things then I’m happy that they believe they came from apes, for verily such traits cannot and should not be seen in human beings.

It is the right of every single person to study Islam because ignorance is verily not bliss and ignorance can never be equal to knowledge. Learning about Islam is our job and giving guidance is Allah’s job and Allah is perfect in whatever He does. We cannot just blindly follow our whims and believe things that random people say about Islam. Look up and study about Islam for yourself and then whatever you decide to believe in will at least be your choice, not somebody else’s choice that they made for you.

Working on implementation

The purpose of learning about Islam is not just to increase one’s knowledge but to act on that knowledge as well. As Shaykh Kamal El Mekki said, “Knowledge is just a tool for application, if you spend your whole life preparing the tool, then when are you going to use it?” So even though we all love talks and lectures on Islam, still very few of us are able to practically apply Islam in our lives. So here is an attempt to In shaa Allah follow some steps which can help us incorporate Islam into our everyday lives.

The first and foremost step before doing any and everything is to have the right intention. If you are even doing something as simple as switching off the lights before leaving a room, do it with a “niyyat” that Allah does not like extravagance. One thing that can help here is to make a habit of saying Bismillah before starting any and everything. Doing this also helps keep one in check because you can obviously not say Bismillah before listening to, watching or doing anything inappropriate.

Secondly don’t undervalue any good deed, even the smallest of deeds done with a pure intention carry a lot of weight. Also the best of actions in the eyes of Allah are those that are consistent. So be consistent.

Furthermore, our “ikhlaq” i.e. our behavior towards others is of immense importance as well, Muslims cannot and should not have pride and thus should be humble and loving towards one and other. Smiling is a sunnah and a good character is essential to being a good Muslim.

Find beauty in sunnah, observe the sunnah and give sunnah its due importance. Shaykh Kamaludin said in one of his lectures that sunnah is not sunnat in its importance. Meaning that in order to become good Muslims, we NEED to follow sunnah. So value sunnah and strive to follow as many sunnats as you possibly can. Start with the basic ones like always saying salam when you meet someone and also when you bid farewell, don’t drink water right after finishing a meal, sit on the floor while eating, smile at your brother/sister etc.

We should also always remember Allah and remember the fact that this life is temporary and that all things in this life will be left behind except our deeds. We should remember that Allah is always present and He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing and this should In shaa Allah keep us away from sins.

One more thing we need to do is that we need to be regular in salah and we should not just “pray” salah but rather we should “establish” it. Because when Allah Ta’ala mentions salah, He doesn’t use the words “pray salah”, but instead He says “aqeem-us-salat” that is establish salah. How is establishing salah different from just praying it? When we establish salah then our actions and deeds outside our salah start becoming better as well because salah then acts as a reminder rather than just a ritual.

And the last and the final step: keep praying to Allah for guidance because whomsoever Allah guides, no one can misguide and whomsoever He misguides, no one can set aright. May Allah guide all of us! Aameen!