From Darkness to Light

Intention Matters!

I have finally started reading the Forty Hadith by Imam Nawawi. Even though I have only read a few yet, I encourage every one to read them. All of them hold great importance but I am discussing the one I think I struggle the most with. Here is the Hadith:
It is narrated on the authority of Amirul Mu'minin, Abu Hafs 'Umar bin al-Khattab, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, say:
"Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended. Thus, he whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated."
[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]
Our greatest enemy is Satan. Those who are doing Ibaadah as our Prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam did and comanded others to do may suffer from this dirty trick of satan which I have suffered and till date, I suffer. This is not just the case with the prayers but all other things we try to perform in a certain manner that was commanded by our Prophet Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam. Being careless about one's intention when performing a deed of worship is not a good sign. One must intend in his/her heart that this Ibaadah is solely for the sake of ALLAH, that I want my LORD to accept this from me and forgive me any shortcomings in the performance of this action. Such is the rule for doing other things that we do in our daily lives that revolve around our 'beliefs'.
I am going to give my example here. Well, I migrated at age 14 to America. Then I went back to to my home land for a few months and came back again for the 'sole' purpose of a 'better' material life and a 'better' education. This 'sole' purpose was not decided by me, neither did I really pay attention to why I am coming here but my parents decided that for us, me and my brother. We accepted it as it was because we didn't really care. This is just a small anecdote I am sharing.
The real example I am going to talk about which depresses me so much and I feel scared because of it is this: Sometimes, I start caring about what other people thinks about me. Then, if I even do something that, in normal situations, would be rewarded, it seems to me it may lose the reward because of the drift in the intention. I become more conscious of people's thought of me for doing certain things. I become more obssessed with the praise I would get from people for performing that action. I start thinking 'because I did such and such, now that other person is going to think good of me' or 'now that person will know how good (a big joke or a lie?)I am' This shift into the intention is a dangerous one. Alhumdulillah that doesn't happen for the Salah though. That would be even more scary. May ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala save us from that. ameen thuma ameen.
After reading this hadith, I have come to learn a very good point about my actions which, if put to practice, shall inshaALLAH help me change my thoughts. The point is:

• Always keep a check on your intention. Actively, at the beginning, middle and the end of something, check your intention. Am I doing it for the sake of people or worldly benefits? or am I doing it solely for the sake of ALLAH to get HIS approval?

No matter how pious the person you are dealing with is, or you think is pious, don't think that if I do such and such, because this person likes it, I'll be a better human being in his eyes. If you want to know the end result, here are a few things that will happen:

1. You have done that act with the intention to please that person, so you shall get rewarded according to that intention.
2. You might get that person's appreciation because he/she doesn't know what goes on in your little brains.
3. But you won't be able to get the appreciation of the ONE and ONLY ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala because your action was to please the person not to please your LORD.

Do you think that this is worth it? (the actions mentioned are not the worldly matters, such as doing homework, or little things but ones that relate to your Ibadaah) When we seek pleasure of people and forget about the pleasure of our LORD, it might get us what we wanted for this world, but we won't have any good written for us in regards to that particular function. Another thing can be that we seek pleasure of people because we seek pleasure of ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala. For example, I want to be nice to people and practice Ihsaan because that is what I am commanded by ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala in Quran. If I am nice to people with this intention, there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. But if I am nice to people in supporting the man-made laws that contradict Quran and Sunnah just because I want them to be pleased with me, then that is a big sin.

One other thing we must be careful with in our dealings is checking our intention while interacting on the internet. When we share a piece of the deeni knowledge we have, we must do so for the sake of ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala. Our intention should be to share it with as many people as possible so that they may gain knowledge and benefit from it inshaALLAH. In a similar way, we should not become obssessed with performing a good deed BECAUSE this other person we really like performs that deed and likes those who perform it. Rather, we should do so for the sake of ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala. We should know that performing this good deed with the intention to please ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala is far better because HE is the ONE who rewards us. The most we can get from people is a few words of appreciation whereas the reward from ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala is endless (Paradise) inshaALLAH.

So always keep on checking your intention because it helps you become loyal towards the Originator of the heavens and the earth.

posted by Allah's Slave @ 3:05 PM 0 comments

Reality Check!

On my way to college, I was listening to the tafseer of Ayaat 74-82 of Surah Al-Baqarah by dr. Farhat Hashmi. I want to share the discussion of Ayah 75 of Surah Al-Baqarah, which translates to this:

"Do you then hope that they would believe in you, and a party from among them indeed used to hear the Word of Allah, then altered it after they had understood it, and they know (this)."

This Ayah refers to the Bani Israel who altered the words of ALLAH in the earlier scripture. Bani Israelies used to alter the scripture so as to match it up to their desire and even though, they knew in advance about Prophet Mohammad (Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam), they rejected him because they knew he was preaching some of what they already knew that which they had altered for their own desires. Now when He (Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam) had started preaching the same things, they got worried. After discussing the real context of the ayah, our beloved scholar compared the Bani Israelies of the past to the Muslims of the present.

Bani Israelies altered their scripture. Lets compare what we, Muslims, have done similar to that. We CANT change the real scripture as holds the promise of my LORD (Subhana Wata'ala), but what we do is that we alter the 'tafseer' or the meaning and discussion of the certain Ayah of Quran and twist and turn it to our best interest and then present it to others, who because of lack of knowledge or no knowledge at all, accept it. This is done by 'ulema' who shouldn't even be called 'ulema'. Do you see where we stand today? How similar we are to the Bani Israelies of the past? Where is your taqwa Muslims? Where is your rememberance of Akhira? Why do you not realize ALLAH is the ALL-Hearing, ALL-Seeing and ALL-Knowing. He Subhana Wata'ala hears what you utter, He Subhana Wata'ala sees what you do, and He Subhana Wata'ala knows what you plan even before you plan it.

Do we expect to enter Jannah without having to do 'anything'? We hear but we don't obey. We forget the unlimited amount of blessing ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala has showered on us. We forget we must go back to our LORD as we came first into this world. The One who created us has power to do every thing but we seldom realize. Those who make changes to the meaning of the verses, do they believe they will not be heard or seen, or what they hide within their hearts will not be known? Why do they, then, run after the worldly life and desires? why not SUBMIT in the first place and become ALLAH's true slaves?

I ask ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala for forgivness and I ask Him to make my intention pure for Him. Ameen YaRabbilalameen.

posted by Allah's Slave @ 10:17 AM 0 comments

Practice!!

Yesterday was the first day of college after a long three month summer break. At 12:00, when I went to my Healthy Eating class, the teacher introduced the course and herself. This is what happens on the first typical day of college normally. So when she was introducing the course, she said something that made me think. She is not even a muslim, but knows the 'logic' behind concepts which many of us seem to forget or ignore simply. She said: "knowing something is one thing, but puting it into practice is another thing...or for some, a whole different story" then she went on saying, "this is how it is with every thing basically" When she said it, I could only say SubhanALLAH. All of us know it but how many of us actually realize it and again 'put even this same concept into practice' We 'know' this also, but when will we put it into practice?
Loadz and loadz of people learn Quran, read authentic books, (some follow blindly), we know the Sunnah and we know the ahadith also, but when are we to understand, that just reading it is NOT enough, what it takes is real life practice.
I learn in a computer class how to use a computer, I learn how to use keyboard and type without having to look at the keyboard and each and every key, but what benefit will it give me if I still type looking at the keyboard and each and every key trying to find it out as I used to before taking the keyboard class? Then all my money and my effort put in taking the class and succeeding it will go to vain, wouldn't it? Just as that, why do we not understand that learning and 'knowing' about the principles of an Islamic way of life is one thing, but putting it to practice is another. After learning about the basics and what are the things we can do and can't do (which is for our own benefit by the way, try it some day), if we don't put it to practice what is the use of learning it? Isn't that just the same as 'waste of energy' and in the first place why would you just want to know something just for the sake of it.
Does anyone know anybody who just learned medicine. They just put some good amount of money in studying medicine just because. I don't know anyone atleast learning in any field and doing it just because. They do it so that when they are a degree holder, they can go out in real life and practice it and after a few years, they will be paid double the amount they put in studying that particular field.
Same as that, if we learn and put into practice the 'real' knowledge and live our lives according to the Quran and Sunnah, don't you think the pay we are promised by ALLAH kareem is worth MUCH MORE than getting the pay at say, your hospital or your chemical industry or whatever. This pay that you get, you use it to pay rents, bills, buy stuff and support family. It is all used up at the end of the month or say only a few bucks left, but what about that pay which will NEVER be taken away from you? Have you ever seen someone who was payed and payed and payed consecutively and the account of that person was never empty? Don't you want to be one of those? I do.
That which I wrote on was just some words uttered by some christian lady (who by the way doesn't know the real meaning. If we follow this golden rule in our real lives, don't you think the end result is totally worth it?
Why then do we go astray? why then do we not do what we are supposed to do and yet we know what it is? All it takes is practice. Practice the Quran and practice the sunnah for those will indeed make you true slaves of Ar-Rehman.

posted by Allah's Slave @ 12:41 PM 0 comments