Al Fatah Ar Rabbani 34

Al Fatah Ar Rabbani 34

Earning and giving is not only for wealth. When we call someone a generous man – is this when he gives money only?
Or Allah Kareem. Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He is the Generous One. But, is He the Generous One only when He provides us with money? He provides us with good health – generosity. Children – generosity. Belief – generosity.
And a generous person is not always rich. He may be poor and still be generous. And, he may be rich but stingy. It is not always the rich who are the generous and the poor who are the takers of this generosity. It is the person who, in his heart, understands the meaning of life and gives for the sake of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, who is the generous one. And the one who has such feelings in their heart is the generous one.
There are many forms of charity – the ‘zakat’. The charity of good deeds, charitable teaching, honestly discharging you duties due to your position for the benefit of the people. Because Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, puts you in a position, you have to know how to deal with it. You will be judged by how well you discharged your duties in the position that Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, has raised you to.
The end of this life, from the time of Sayidinnah Adam, peace be upon him, until the last day, will be the same for all of us. All of those who have died before us and all of those who will follow us in this life: there is one end only – death and the grave. There will be no change in this. It won’t matter how beautiful was the life, no matter how advanced or developed the society, no matter how luxurious a persons life, or if a person is rich or poor, there is but one end. But this end has to be in ‘husnal qaatimah’, a beautiful end.
And the ‘meaning of life’ is measured by two things. Although people claim that this life is meaningless and worth nothing. And yet still we fight for better things. ‘Iwant this.’ ‘I want that.’ ‘I want more.’ I will take from someone. If someone has something that I don’t I will look up to him. Maybe not with my intention but when I feel jealous of him, or I wonder why I don’t get the same position or reward. If he got it unfairly, you should not want to be in the same position. And if he got is fairly you should try to be like him in order to receive the same reward.
Human beings are like the one who was fleeing from a hungry lion. He came upon a well of water so he jumped into the well to get away from the lion. And he is holding on to the rope that is used to draw the bucket of water up from the well water. And he let himself go halfway down the well between the top opening, and the surface of the water below. The lion was waiting at the top. And when he looked down he saw a crocodile in the water below. He cannot go up and he cannot go down. How long can he hang on in this position. But, with all of that, two rodents come and start to chew on the rope that he is holding on to adding further to his anxiety. And then, wouldn’t you know it, he notices on a ledge at the side of the well an almost fresh apple that someone has thrown into the well and has become lodged above him just out of his reach. Forgetting all of his other troubles he starts to struggle to reach the apple. He forgets, the lion, he forgets the crocodile, he forgets the rodents chewing on the rope, and follows his desire to get the apple that is so appealing to him.
This is the example that people give. Human beings forget the difficulties of this life, and the death and resurrection and judgment that is surely coming for them. And they forget their past sins for which they must repent and make amends.
But Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, has said about such people:
وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَأَنسَاهُمْ أَنفُسَهُمْ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ [٥٩:١٩]
And be ye not like those who forgot Allah; and He made them forget their own souls! Such are the rebellious transgressors!
In Surat Az-Zukhruf – Zukhruf is an adornment of this life – verse 33 to 35 –
وَلَوْلَا أَن يَكُونَ النَّاسُ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً لَّجَعَلْنَا لِمَن يَكْفُرُ بِالرَّحْمَٰنِ لِبُيُوتِهِمْ سُقُفًا مِّن فِضَّةٍ وَمَعَارِجَ عَلَيْهَا يَظْهَرُونَ [٤٣:٣٣]
وَلِبُيُوتِهِمْ أَبْوَابًا وَسُرُرًا عَلَيْهَا يَتَّكِئُونَ [٤٣:٣٤]
وَزُخْرُفًا ۚ وَإِن كُلُّ ذَٰلِكَ لَمَّا مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۚ وَالْآخِرَةُ عِندَ رَبِّكَ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ [٤٣:٣٥]
And were it not that (all) men might become of one (evil) way of life, We would provide, for everyone that blasphemes against (Allah) Most Gracious, silver roofs for their houses and (silver) stair-ways on which to go up,
And (silver) doors to their houses, and thrones (of silver) on which they could recline,
And also adornments of gold. But all this were nothing but conveniences of the present life: The Hereafter, in the sight of thy Lord is for the Righteous.
Being rich does not mean a person is a believer nor does it mean he is an unbeliever. If the ‘dunia’ (world) is away from his heart, and yet is in his hand and he is dealing with it in a way that is pleasing to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, he is good. But if he is not (dealing with it in a way that is pleasing to Allah) then he is alone in a big ocean sinking without his knowledge. He forgets everything because he is heedless about the true meaning of life.
A good example of that, those who had everything from this world was Nimrod (Namrud) and Qarun.
Nimrod (Namrud) was during the time of Sayidinnah Ibrahim, peace be upon him, and he was the one who instructed the people to put Sayidinnah Ibrahim into the fire. And Qarun. Qarun had immeasurable wealth as no one before him had and nobody will ever have the same again. He had special servants, slaves really, to carry the keys of his safes. This is in Al Qur’an al Kareem. And this was only the keys to open the safes, not the wealth itself. And big solid people to carry just the keys. The people, what they used to say according to Al Qur’an al Kareem – “Oh, we wish that we were like him! With his houses and palaces and the rest. That is the meaning of life.” Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, wanted to show the example of this person. The earth opened, he was sucked down, and the earth closed over him. Nothing was left of him, or his wealth. Everything was gone. Then the people proclaimed, Praise be to Allah we are not like him.
So, don’t think when they have said that that they have said something good. They learned that they had a sickness because of their longing for the wealth of Qarun. But, did they really learn any lesson from this?
Just now, I said that there are two things that will lead us to understand the meaning of life.
Number one: if they offer to give you 20 or 30 billion dollars. Someone says to you take this cheque for 30 billion dollars. But the condition is that you will have terminal, incurable, cancer. Are you going to sell your health for billions?
One time, a wise (intelligent) boy was asked: Do you want to be ignorant and stupid and rich or poor and clever? He replied: I would choose to be poor and clever. They asked him why? And he said: Because if I am ignorant and stupid then I will waste all of the money foolishly and I will remain ignorant and stupid after that. But if I am clever I can build myself up if Allah wills.
So the one who has lost his health, everything else will become meaningless. His wealth and possessions will become of less value than the small ant.
The second thing to lead us to the understanding of life is the death of someone.
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Al Jailani has said that if you want to test if you have a heart or not, a believer’s heart, go to the grave yard and visit the graves. If, when you go you remember that you are going to be in the same place one day. You will see the grave of you friend, your father, this is so and so, they could not delay their end by even a second. The Angel of Death cannot be bribed. He does his job as instructed and that is the end. On the spot. If your heart quakes and you are scared. That means you have a heart. But if not. If you take no lesson from those who have predeceased you, it means that your heart is already dead even though you are still walking around. You can be considered to be dead spiritually and you are only waiting to die physically.
Consider Sayiddinah Sufyan al Thawri (r.a.) – note there are two Sufyan’s: Sufyan al Thawri and Sufyan ibn Aiyana – these are the two greatest ulama in
Fiqh – together they are known as Sufyanan – as in hadith they refer to the Sheikhain – meaning Al Bukhari and Muslim. Sayiddinah Sufyan al Thawri was working for both knowledge and action. He would teach and he would practice. He was a saint – and therefore a good man. He was so frightened of the end of his life, that some trial or test would beset him – a test of wealth, of anything – he was so concerned about this that he became sick until his urine became mixed with blood. So they took his urine to a Doctor from Egypt – a Christian – a devout believer devoted to Christianity. So when they took the urine specimen to him he said “This cannot be the urine of a human. This must be the urine of a Priest who has divorced himself from this world and he is really scared from everything.” He did not know who it belonged to.
The son of Sayiddinah Fudayl ibn Iyaz had been brought up in a great environment: ikhlas, takwa, solat, …; but he was really frightened by the thought of death. He used to say “I am afraid that Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, will send me to hell.” So one day another scholar said to him: “You are young yet. By Allah, I believe your judgment won’t be difficult like others because of your age.” He replied: “Do you see what people do when they want to start a fire. First they pick the small kindling sticks and twigs to get the fire started and only once it is fully started then do they add the bigger ones. So I think Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, is going to start the fire with the small ones like us.”
But we, we are always complacent. “Ya Allah, Allah will forgive us.”. But this is wrong. It is heedlessness. Who says that Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, is going to give His Mercy to everyone, even those who are heedless. There are two things required to benefit from the Allah’s mercy. That which you say, and that which you do. Your words and your actions.
So the boy was like this. Then, when Sayiddinah Fudayl became the imam before he would start the prayer he would look to the saf, the neat rows of believers ready for prayer, to see if his son was among those who were praying. If his son was among them he wouldn’t recite any verse about hell, or punishment, or judgment day. And one day he saw that his son was not there so he started the prayer with the Takbir “Allah Akbar” and started reciting Al Qur’an al Karim. And the verse was “and Allah said that these people would be away from Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He,”. That is they are not going to meet Him. They are not going to be close to Him. With that verse, he heard someone scream and then the sound of someone falling to the ground. At the end of the prayer, after the final greeting of peace, he went and found his son who was repeating the verse that he had read and then he passed away.
Then we have the story about the two lovers, girl and boy, but when they finally met each other they both passed away. This is like Laila Majnun (Laila and Majnun – or Qays). Then he would write poems for and to Laila but the minute they met, both of them passed away.
They say that love can be like fire – it will burn the one who has the love.
So if that can happen to one who loves someone of the creation – a creature. What happens to those who love Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. But don’t expect that if you love Allah you are going to die straight away like this. It needs the feeling. It depends upon things like taqwa and solat and your generosity – this is one of Allah’s names, Glorious is He. For those people who love Allah. Then, finally what we call iman – faith. Without looking for it, the essential meaning of Islam. Because Sayiddinah Isa bin Mariam – Nabi Isa – peace be upon him, said, I have seen the life in the shape of an ugly woman. He asked her: “How many people have you killed until now.” She replied: “Many”. And he asked: “How many people have divorced you.” And she replied: “Very few.”. To divorce the life means to remove it from your heart.
A scholar has said there is a way to know if you love life or not. If someone knocks on your door and wants to give you a cheque and you are happy, you love this life. But if someone knocks on your door asking you for something you hide – “Tell him I am not here.”. Or someone from the Masjid comes looking for help with some charitable action and you make excuses for not helping. One is in the path of Allah (fisabil’Illah) and the other is in the way of the creation of Allah (fisabil khalq’Illah). The essential understanding is this. If we understand this, everything else will come.
In Arab history there are famous names about generous people and they write poems about them. On such example can be seen in the story of Hatem the Generous.
The good one, you will remember it won’t matter how long and whatever else he does. Until the end of his life.
And this is how we deal with a person who is generous. How about Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. Akhramul akhrameen.
They say that Sufyan ath Thawly himself, in his old age – he passed away at 60 something – he used to go every year to Hajj. One year, while at Arafat, he prayed “Ya Allah, this Hajj I dedicate to those whose Hajj has not been accepted.”. Later in his sleep, in a dream, he heard a voice saying: “You want to show Me your generosity on the day of My Generosity? I asked them to come to forgive them.” Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He has mandated Ramadan so He can forgive us for all of our sins. This is Generosity. In the dream He said: “I have forgiven them while they are still in the womb of their mothers.” He knows us very well, Almighty and Glorious is He. “If this one is going to go to Hajj, I am going to forgive him. From the beginning.”. He, Almighty and Glorious is He, is Kind, and He gives you before you ask.
There are degrees of generosity. The generous one, the people will go to his house asking for his help always. But the more or most generous will go and search for those who need help and not wait until they come to him for his help. For this one, his generosity is different.
An example of this is seen in
Al Imam Ali Zainal Abidin bin Husain. Whenever you get the opportunity you must read Surat Al Insaan and see what Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, has promised to people such as these. There are about 40 different rewards promised to them for feeding these three classes of people. And to do this with sincerity for the sake of Allah and not expecting any reward except the pleasure of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He.
Sayiddinah Abu Bakr, and Sayiddinah Umar, may Allah be well please with both of them were always in competition to give to the needy. But Sayiddinah Abu Bakr was always the foremost in his giving, to help and support, for anything. Sayiddinah Umar was monitoring this and one day Rasulullah may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked for a donation, and Sayiddinah Umar said to himself, “Today I will do something to be better than Abu Bakr.” So he went to Rasulullah and said “Ya Rasulullah, this is my donation.” And Rasulullah asked “How much is it.” And he replied “Half of all my wealth – half of what I have.” Then Abu Bakr came, and gave Rasulullah his donation and Rasulullah asked “What is this.” Abu Bakr replied “This is all that I have.”. And Rasulullah asked him “What have you left for your family?” He replied: “I have left to them Allah and Rasulullah!”.
These days if we do anything, go to the Masjid, schools, helping in any way, the only thing we don’t do is announce it in the newspaper so that everybody knows how good a person we are. When I put RM100 into the orphanage, or charity or waqaf, or whatever, I feel like “Oh that is really good of me!”. But if I go shopping I take RM500 – and this I consider to be nothing!
Learn now the meaning of ‘barakah / berkat’ and trust in Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. We believe the dunia, the worldly matters, are important and we are running after it. But, when you divorce yourself from this life, the world will run after you. The world will encourage you to take from the material things and when you reject them, it will become more insistent. “Take” “No thank you”. “Take!” “No, thank you.” “You must take!!” “No, thank you very much. I don’t want it.”.
And the understanding of sins, also. By being a guest, and Allah is our Host, and He is always kind and generous to us, Almighty and Glorious is He, our behaviour is a different story.
A man came to Sayiddinah Ibrahim ibn Adham Sultan ul Zahidin, the Sultan of the Ascetics, and asked him:
“Ya Imam, I used to commit sins, then I would repent to Allah Almighty and Glorious is He but then I would fall back into my sins. Advise me please. Teach me something so that I won’t commit any sins. Or to make sinning repulsive for me. Give me something to help me. I need more wisdom. Please advise me.”
So the Imam said : “OK. If you want to commit the sin, make sure that you don’t commit it on or in Allah’s land.”
Take careful note of this. This is advise for everyone.
So where to go, if you want to commit sins but you cannot commit a sin in or on Allah’s land. He is the Lord of all of the heavens and all of the worlds, Almighty and Glorious is He. Where can you go where you are not trespassing on His property.
Then he said: “If you want to commit a sin, don’t eat Allah’s food.” How? All things come from Allah Almighty and Glorious is He. If you don’t eat Allah’s food, you have no food – you will starve.
Then he said: “You you want to commit a sin, when the Angel of Death (Malaikul Maut) comes to you tell him you don’t want to go with him.” But how can you when he (the Angel of Death) has been ordered by Allah to take your soul from your body.
And if the two angels on the day of judgment want to take you to hell, tell them “No. I want to go with Angels of Mercy” And he said, “I could not! Everything has been recorded and I cannot change.”
Then he said: “Now, you eat His food, and your are in His land, and He is watching you and you cannot escape from His death and you cannot enter His Garden of Bliss without His permission, what is the meaning of being a sinner?”
How wretched are we. We eat Allah’s food, and we enjoy His hospitality but our behaviour is contrary to decent behaviour.
There is a saying by Sheikh Abd Al Qadir (qsa) also. He said: “You must be ashamed if someone comes to you asking you for help, and you say ‘Go. Allah will give as He wills.’ Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, sent this person to you to give to him from He has given you Almighty and Glorious is He. Your are simply the cashier. What you have is a gift from Allah.” There are people who are happy with what they receive but the happier people are the ones who give, Almighty and Glorious is Allah.
Sayiddinah Aishah may Allah be well pleased with her, used to say “When you want to give charity, first perfume the money” and when asked why? She said “Before it reaches to the hand of the poor, it will reach Allah Almighty and Glorious is He. And Allah won’t forget.”
If you have done one thing in your life with sincerity, out of mercy or pure generosity, if Allah accepts this from you, this may be the one deed that will open the gates to the gardens of bliss for you as Allah wills.
For example, a lady did a good deed to give water to a dog who was thirsty and because of this Allah wrote her name the Book of the dwellers of Paradise. And another one, abused a cat mercilessly and Allah Almighty and Glorious is He consigned her to the pains of hell for eternity.
The person who believes he is above all others, in worship and deeds, but he is vain and arrogant because of his wealth or his position or his knowledge, he is branded as being vain and arrogant. If he lays his head to sleep on his pillow and he dies in his sleep, he will be raised up on judgment day and will be assembled with the vainglorious – the proud and arrogant ones. And this is the time when everyone is Allah’s servant. And Allah Almighty and Glorious is He will ask the people to prostrate themselves in worship to Him and those people will be unable to prostrate themselves. These are the people who remain vainglorious throughout their lives and never mend their ways.
But those who can prostrate, these are the servants and slaves of Allah. The first word that comes from the mouth of Sayiddinah Isa ibni Mariam was “I am the slave and servant of Allah.”. Servants, and slaves to whom? To Allah Almighty and Glorious is He.
And the one who sleeps after having done something in kindness to anyone with sincerity, if he dies in his sleep he will be among the kind and humble (tawathir). And Allah Almighty and Glorious is He will rank him among the humble servants of Allah. By Allah’s will, we will be among these.
The ‘kings of life’ in the eyes of Allah Almighty and Glorious is He, the kings of batin, are the ones who control their hearts. If you are a real king for yourself you are the one who controls your kingdom which is your heart. To be Allah’s servant. If not, you are the opposite.
Allah has command – iyaka na budu’ wa iyaka nasta’eem – we worship you and upon you do we rely. You are our guide. Guide us on the straight path. If Allah wants he will be the guide – for whom?
May Allah guide us, as He wills and may he show us the meaning of humility, and generosity, with everything that we have. We spend in the way of Allah for the sake of Allah Almighty and Glorious is He. To pass the knowledge. To help the poor. To do whatever it takes to make us close to him. To use every possible to deed to allow us to be near to Allah Almighty and Glorious is He.
We pray to Allah Almighty and Glorious is He, to say and to do as we say as well and not to be heedless. And to be among those who understand the meaning of being in this life as his servant. To enjoy His provenance and to be thankful for it. To live in His land and to be properly humble before Allah Almighty and Glorious is He. To respect what He has commanded of us. To be obedient to His laws in this temporary life.
We pray to Allah Almighty and Glorious is He to show us the real meaning of this life so we can lead it starting immediately and just try to be close to Him in the everlasting life which is the life to come as He wills it.
We pray to Allah Almighty and Glorious is He to give us good health and strength to live a long life with strong faith.
We ask Allah Almighty and Glorious is he to give us contentment with what we have been provided and acceptance of the provenance that is sufficient for our needs. And that we accept any hardship as a test from Him and be thankful for the opportunity of enduring the hardships for His sake.