Empathy And Your Face

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When Going to Mosque

Allahumma ijAAal fee qalbee noora, wafee lisanee noora, wajAAal fee samAAee noora,wajAAal fee basaree noora, wajAAal min khalfee noora, wamin amamee noora ,wajAAal min fawqee noora, wamin tahtee noora, allahumma aAAtinee noora.,
‘O Allah, place within my heart light, and upon my tongue light, and within my ears light, and within my eyes light, and place behind me light and in front of me light and above me light and beneath me light. O Allah, bestow upon me light.’

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Ask Your Heart.. :

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) said: “Ask yourself for a decision, ask your heart for a decision (saying it three times.) Righteousness is that with which the soul is tranquil and the heart is tranquil, but sin is that which rouses suspicion in the soul and is perplexing in the breast, even if people give you a decision in its favour.” [Mishkat]

Everybody has within them the sense to distinguish right from wrong. And each person will be held accountable for using this sense. It is possible to twist facts and get people to give the decision that you want to hear, but if your heart is not at peace with the decision then know that it is most likely sinful for you to act on it. Unfortunately, if a person sins enough then the heart becomes dead and the ability to feel disquiet dies.

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) said: “Leave that which causes you doubt for that which does not cause you doubt.” [Tirmidhi]

This hadith is one of the ahadith around which the whole religion revolves: it is the foundation of scrupulousness (wara) around which revolves certainty; and it brings relief from the dark oppressiveness of doubts and speculation.

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Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “It is the excellence of a man’s faith that he gives up meaningless work.” [Tirmidhi, Ahmad]

List all your activities and label them to see which belong to the category of meaningless. If the activity is not taking you towards a meaningful goal for any of the roles that arise from your ideology (e.g. Muslim, parent, son/daughter, self, breadwinner, daee, etc), then it would be to your advantage to replace it with more meaningful activity. Anything that does not bring you closer to Jannat and distance you from the Fire is meaningless in the long run, and will cause you to regret when it is too late why you bothered to waste your time with it.

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Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Whoever does not argue when he is in the wrong will have a home built for him on the edge of Paradise. Whoever avoids it when he in the right will have a home built for him in the middle of Paradise. And whoever improves his own character, a home will be built for him in the highest part of Paradise.” [Tirmidhi]

Arguing with people is strongly discouraged in Islam. We are to state our point of view and then leave it at that. Nor are we to involve ourselves in matters that do not affect a person’s deen. Note that a person is to shun argument whether he is in the right or whether his stand is wrong. Both get houses built for them in Paradise. But since the person who knows that he is right finds it more difficult to leave the argument and let things be, he/she is promised a greater reward.

Arguing with people rarely gets anyone to change their minds. It usually only produces defensiveness and creates ill feelings between people. The issue becomes a matter of one’s ego and makes it more difficult for a person to change their stance. Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) loves to have Muslims live harmoniously with each other. Try this hadith out in practice, and you will see that your relations improve with people and that you have greater peace of mind.

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Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Whenever a non-mahram man and woman meet in seclusion, Shaytaan definitely is the third one joining them.” [Tirmidhi]

What this hadith means is that Shaytaan arouses their passions and incites them to commit evil. Prevention is better than cure. Fornication and adultery rip to shreds the psychological health of society. Since the family is the building block of society, for a society to be healthy, it must have healthy families that constitute it. To prevent any situation arising which might harm the family unit, Islam nips the source of problems in the bud. A person is responsible not only for himself or herself but for the spiritual, emotional, psychological and physical well being of their children as much as it is in their control. From their children will arise many more generations. Keeping this in mind we have to do our best to provide as healthy a moral environment as we can so we are not held responsible for the destruction of future generations.

“If the breakdown of the family and female security is to be averted, only two strategies are available: firstly, members of society may be conditioned to believe that sexuality is from the devil, and should inspire feelings of guilt and distaste; or secondly, sexuality may be accepted as the loving expression of a natural human need, in which case the sexes must be separated, within reason, to avoid the risk of the temptation of weak souls and hence their unchastity.”

“Historically, the first of these two choices has been that of Christianity, while Islam has opted for the second. The modern Western attitude, in which there is both an obsession with sexuality and a casual mingling of men and women, and which has resulted in massive promiscuity (and hence infidelity, divorce, abortion and disease) does not represent an ethically coherent system.” [The Seventy-Seven Branches of Faith, translator’s note, The Quilliam Press]

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Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) said: “Let me not find one of you, reclining on his couch, when he hears something regarding what I have commanded or forbidden saying: ‘We do not know. What we found in Allah's Book we have followed.’ [Abu Daud]

This is a good description of the casual attitude with which some Muslims, unfortunately, discard the Sunnah of our Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam). Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) repeatedly links obedience of Allah to obedience of His Messenger. Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) says: “And whoever obeys the Messenger, thereby obeys Allah.” (41:80) and “Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, refrain from it.” (59:7) Innumerable ayaat of the Quran itself condemn having a ‘Quran only’ approach. To divorce the Sunnah from Islam is to render Islam ineffective. For example, the Quran says to pray but without the Sunnah how would we know how to pray?

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Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) said: “By Allah, this world in comparison to the hereafter is nothing but as though one of you dipped his finger in the sea. So ponder how much (of sea water), the finger returns with.” [Mishkaat]

The duration of the Day of Judgment is equal to 50,000 years. The sun will be brought overhead so that it is unbearably hot. People will be drenched in their sweat according to the amount of their sins. Some will be ankle deep in it, some will be in it up to their ears. In this condition, people will be standing for hundreds of earth years and not even a minute of that day will have gone by. Those who love Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) in this world will be under the shade of Allah’s Throne on the Day of Judgment – the only shade available that Day.

That is why Luqman Hakeem advised his son: “Serve this world according to the time you are going to spend in it, and work for the akhirah according to the time you are going to spend in it.” After we have been standing in the same spot for thousands of years, our life on earth is going to look like nothing!

Make a ratio of your time on earth compared to your time on the single Day of Judgment. If you live for a hundred years, it is 100: 50,000. The time to spend each day in the pursuit of dunya comes out to be less than 3 minutes! The rest of the day should be spent preparing for the Day of Judgment. If you were to make a ratio between the time to be spent in dunya compared to the time in akhira, it would be 100 years: infinity. Any number compared to infinity becomes zero. Effectively, the significance of the duration on dunya becomes zero. 0 minutes, not even 3 minutes! How is it possible that we spend all our time preparing for the akirah?

Abdul-Malik LeBlanc writes in "The Bible Led Me To Islam": "During my Christian days.... I often wondered how a person was supposed to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17)?....But when I was introduced to Islam in 1987, and began to read and learn more about this way of life, I found that Islam provided divine guidance from God and Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) by which a person could pray (be in a state of worship) without ceasing, if it was the will of God. Whether waking up, eating, sleeping, putting on clothes, being in the presence of a woman, looking at a woman, going shopping, going to the bathroom, looking in the mirror, traveling, visiting the sick, sitting in a non-religious meeting, taking a bath, having sexual intercourse with one's wife, yawning, cutting your nails, sneezing, greeting people, talking, hosting guests at home, walking, exercising, fighting, entering my house, praying and many other acts, Islam and the guidance therein of the Quran, and the acts and sayings of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) provided ways in which I could observe 1 Thessalonians 5:17."

In other words, our dunya can be spent working for the akhirah -- at the same time that we fulfill our duties on earth. This can be achieved by fulfilling our roles and responsibilities according to the guidance of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). Ask yourself, "Am I spending all my time on earth working for the akhirah?"*

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The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, says, ‘O son of Adam, as long as you call on Me, I shall forgive you of what you have done, and think nothing of it. O son of Adam, even if your sins were to reach up to the clouds in the sky, and then you were to ask for My forgiveness, I would forgive you and think nothing of it. O son of Adam, even if you were to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth, and then you were to meet Me after death, not worshipping anything besides Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as the earth.’” [Tirmidhi]

Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) loves it when people ask Him to forgive their sins. He is overjoyed with their repentance, since He hates to punish anybody. At the slightest excuse He washes people’s sins away. The only condition is that the human being must truly regret in his/her heart that they did what they did. The sinner should be ashamed of their misdeeds, and discontinue committing such sins. If the resolve to avoid the sin is not there then one has not actually repented.

In this hadith, Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) tells us that no matter how many a person’s sins are, should they even reach the sky in heaps, Allah would forgive the sinner if they were to turn to Allah in repentance. In a different hadith, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told us that Allah’s bounty is so vast that He would actually convert all the sins into good deeds, should the person truly repent. We should not postpone repenting of our sins and reforming ourselves to when we become old, since nobody knows when they will The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, says, ‘O son of Adam, as long as you call on Me, I shall forgive you of what you have done, and think nothing of it. O son of Adam, even if your sins were to reach up to the clouds in the sky, and then you were to ask for My forgiveness, I would forgive you and think nothing of it. O son of Adam, even if you were to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth, and then you were to meet Me after death, not worshipping anything besides Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as the earth.’” [Tirmidhi]

Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) loves it when people ask Him to forgive their sins. He is overjoyed with their repentance, since He hates to punish anybody. At the slightest excuse He washes people’s sins away. The only condition is that the human being must truly regret in his/her heart that they did what they did. The sinner should be ashamed of their misdeeds, and discontinue committing such sins. If the resolve to avoid the sin is not there then one has not actually repented.

In this hadith, Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) tells us that no matter how many a person’s sins are, should they even reach the sky in heaps, Allah would forgive the sinner if they were to turn to Allah in repentance. In a different hadith, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told us that Allah’s bounty is so vast that He would actually convert all the sins into good deeds, should the person truly repent. We should not postpone repenting of our sins and reforming ourselves to when we become old, since nobody knows when they will die.

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The Prophet of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Beware of the earth, for it is your root and basis, and there is nothing which a person does on it, that it will not report, whether it is good or bad." (Mujam at-Tabarani)

About Ali (radi Allahu anhu) it is related that when he distributed the money of the Bait ul-Mal (public treasury) among the needy and thus emptied it, he would perform two rakahs of prayer in the Bait ul-Mal and say: "You will have to bear witness that I filled you with justice and emptied you with justice."

The fact is that although Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) directly knows whatever a man does, yet in the Hereafter when He will establish His Court, He will punish every culprit only after fulfilling all the demands of justice. Any case which is brought before His Court against a criminal will be proved with such perfect evidence that no room will be left to doubt his being a criminal. The first and foremost evidence against a person is the record in which the two recording angels are recording his each word and deed. (Surah Qaf: 17-18, Surah Al-Infitar: 10-12) This record will be handed over to him and he will be asked to read it, for "you yourself suffice as reckoner against yourself." (Surah Bani Isra'il: 14) Reading it man will be bewildered, for "it has left nothing un-recorded of our deeds, small or great." (Surah Al-Kahf: 49)

Then there is man's own body which he had used in the world. In Allah's Court his own tongue will bear witness to what he had been speaking through it in the world, his own hands and feet will bear witness to what deeds he had committed through them. (Surah An-Nur: 24) His eyes and his ears will bear witness to what he saw and heard by their means. Even the skin of his body will bear witness to his deeds. Bewildered he will ask his limbs, "Why have you borne witness against me?" They will reply: "The same God Who has given speech to everything has given us speech." (Surah Ha Mim As-Sajdah: 20-22)

On top of this, there will be the witnesses which will be presented from the earth and all its environments, in which man will hear his own voice by his own ears and see the exact pictures of his own deeds by his eyes. Furthermore, the ideas, motives and aims hidden in the heart of man and the intentions with which he had performed every deed will be brought out and placed before him as is stated in Surah Al-Adiyat. That is why with the production of such absolute, clear and undeniable proofs, man will be left confounded, with no chance to say anything in self-defense to excuse himself. (Surah Al-Mursalat 35-36) [Tafhim al-Quran, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi]

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Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler.” [Bukhari]

The above narration clearly indicates that we are in this world for a purpose and not for entertainment. We are like travelers during this life on earth. A traveler has a final destination that he/she is eager to reach. They need to use the time of their stop-over wisely, so as not to miss their connecting flight.

We should remember that earth is not our final destination. We have been encouraged to utilize the blessings Allah has put here for our use, yet we are told not to lose sight of the temporary nature of this life, and to use it to make preparations for the next life. Our souls are on a journey. Remembering death defeats joy. It kills our tastebuds for the pleasures of this life. But it is the only wise thing to do, in our own interest.

Concerning the life of this world Hazrat Esa (alaihis salaam) said, "This world is like a bridge, cross it and do not build on it."* This life is a bridge from our previous existence as soul to our next existence in the grave, then on the Day of Judgement, then either in The Garden or (Allah Forbid) The Fire. Houses are built on land, connected by bridges where the need arises. The most appropriate place to build, the focus of our attention, should be the land that we will set foot on once we cross the bridge that is our earthly existence. Where are you focused on building? On land, or on a delicate bridge that can collapse anytime with your death?

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Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Mankind will not perish till they make excuses for their conduct to themselves.” [Mishkat]

The worst kind of deception is self deception. There is very little hope for a person’s success in any sphere of his or her life, in relationships, in religion or in their careers, till they view themselves and their shortcomings realistically. Only then can they improve themselves. So stop blaming, complaining and procrastination. Successful people take full responsibility for their lives.