"Imagine a plain, like a vast empty field and rain is pouring down upon this field. After a few days the soil will dry and it will seem as though it never rained at all. After a few weeks or months you will start to see plants grow on that same land due to the rain that fell. The field is us, the Muslims. The rain is Ramadhan. Our bodies soaked up the water of Ramadhan and just because the blessed month is over do not think that there is no change or benefit in our condition. The fruits and vegetables which we planted in the month of Ramadhan will be harvested in Jannah and that is when you will see the rewards for your efforts in this month." (Shaykh Maseehullah Khan)
The month of Ramadhan went as quickly as it came. Whether we will be alive for the next Ramadhan we don't know but do not think that any of your ibadat or duas that you made in this blessed month were not accepted or counted. Some people tend to go back to how they were before this month started and then they lose hope in Allah Ta'ala and think that Allah Ta'ala hates them or is angry with them and because of that their condition didn't change and that their whole month of fasting went to waste along with all their tarawih and other acts of ibadat that they did, but this is not correct. Ramadhan wasn't just for the pious people to benefit from, it was there for everyone to benefit from. No matter how small your ibadat was you will see the reward of it in the hereafter.
A muslim should always keep good thoughts of his Creator. In our minds and hearts we should say, "Allah Ta'ala is happy with me, Rasullulah sallalahu alayhi wasalam is happy with me, my parents are happy with me, the ulama are happy with me, my ustaadhs and teachers are happy with me and the mashaaikh are happy with me." Why? because if a person keeps good thoughts like these flowing in his mind it will create a desire to keep on progressing in his Deen and Islam no matter what. If you keep commit a certain sin, then make taubah, some sort of repentance and istighfar and have hope that Allah the Most Merciful has accepted your repentance each time. Even if you think you don't know how to do taubah properly then just still do your taubah whatever way possible and explain to Allah Ta'ala that you don't know how to do taubah properly and to accept your efforts. Allah Ta'ala is The Most Patient and Most Forgiving. If you have still been given time to live after commiting a sin then you have also been given the time to make taubah and stay away from that which Allah Ta'ala dislikes.
If a person commits a sin and thinks that Allah Ta'ala is angry with him and won't forgive him then he will lose hope and to him it won't make a difference if he misses his salaah or doesn't pay his zakaat because to him he will think that it won't make a difference and that Allah Ta'ala won't accept whatever he does anyway. So eventually he will lose any interest in doing good deeds of any sort because to himself he will view his bad deeds as soo great that to himself he will think, "How can Allah forgive me after all that which I have done? What difference will it make if I miss another salaah when I missed my fajr this morning?". If you actually think about it really and truly we shouldn't even be alive at this moment of time because of the amount of sins we commit on a day to day basis are soo great in number that we deserve to be destroyed or punished straight away. But no, by the Mercy and Patience of Allah we are still alive and breathing so by His Mercy we will also be forgiven. Therefore, we should try and make use of whatever time we have left and seek forgiveness from Allah Ta'ala for whatever mistakes we commited and also give thanks to Allah Ta'ala by doing good deeds for giving us the time to live and the chance to make taubah about the things which we may have done.
May Allah Ta'ala grant us all steadfastness and taufeeq to do good deeds. Ameen.
To end this post I will write a qoute that crossed my mind whilst writing this peice.
"...It is only by the Mercy of Allah that you are alive and well today,
...and it will only be by the Mercy of Allah that you will enter Jannah tommorow..."
2 comments:
I agree that a person should keep good thoughts of his Creator but I think this can also lead to a person being deceived by shaytaan. It is not enough for a person to say "Allaah is happy with me" and then keep sinning. It defeats the purpose! We have to also think at times, "Allaah may be upset by this action of mine." And hence do as much as we can to please Him. Yes, we should keep good thoughts of Him but this should not lead us into trickery as we all know the statement of many today, "Allaah is happy with me, He looks at my heart!"
The same goes for the rest of what you have written in that blue paragraph. It seems as if this is encouraging a person to numb the pain of being the reason of displeasure to one's parents, shuyookh, asaatidh. What if a teacher was to say, "I am angry with you; you do no work at all!" How can the student go back and think that his teacher is pleased with him? This is a plot of shaytaan to stop people from taking the bitter pill (which is known as the truth).
The Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wasallam said, "Iman is between hope and fear." So how can you always be in hope of Allaah's mercy without being fearful of Him? It is true that you said a person who keeps good thoughts of Allaah may be encouraged to do good deeds but it also works the other way. You see, if a person always keeps good thoughts of himself, he lives in a land of no fault and will continually sin under the banner of "Allaah and His Messenger sallaallah 'alayhi wasallam are pleased with me!"
The feeling of sorrow, regret and sadness is put into the Muslim so that he can do more. The Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wasallam has stated, "If your sins upset you, then you are a believer." It is clear from this that becoming upset also encourages one into the actions of piety.
My opinion is that you change this article as a large part of it is misleading. Jazakallaahu Khaira, my aim is not to cause offence so please do not be offended.
Jazakallahu khair for your comment, I understand fully what your saying and you have made correct points.
This article, had a specific audience, a specific time and a specific quality being mentioned in it. The audience from the first paragraph was for those that had lost hope in their good deeds that they had done in the month of ramadhan. The time was specifically after the month of ramadhan which is a month that is famous for its mercy and the topic and labels given to this post were hope and mercy. Really this post even after that paragraph which you highlighted, talks about a person who does commit sins repeatedly, but in that same paragraph, I raised the point of making taubah and doing good deeds.
This post was really aimed at bringing encouragement to a person, to remind them that, the mercy of Allah does overtake His anger and that, "..If you have still been given time to live after commiting a sin then you have also been given the time to make taubah and stay away from that which Allah Ta'ala dislikes."
Yes, a person may just keep on sinning and live in his little teletubby land where he will in a way, "abuse" the Mercy of Allah Ta'ala by commiting his sins but then saying that Allah Ta'alaa is happy with him. That's why maybe I should've also highlighted this in the post aswell, that the Mashaaikh have mentioned that a person in his youth should have 51% fear of Allah Ta'alaa and 49% hope in Allah Ta'alaa's mercy. Why? Because a person in his youth should be fearful of Allah Ta'alaa so that he doesn't commit sins in the first place, but being the youth and insaan that he is, he makes mistakes and has his rough patches and that's where the 49% hope in Allah Ta'alaa's mercy comes into place. This post was just focused on that hope and mercy in Allah Ta'alaa more than anything else but if you did carry on reading the article, I did highlight a person should stay away from that which Allah Ta'alaa dislikes, i.e whatever sin it is that person keeps commiting.
Like I said before, this article was really focused on highlighting the mercy of Allah Ta'alaa and it was for those who may have been in a state of despair concerning themselves in terms of their deeds and also in a state of despair when it comes to the forgiveness of Allah Ta'alaa.
If you wish to respond to what I have written, then do so. This ain't an argument or anything but rather something which may provide clarification for the readers and also a way of highlighting anything that may be slightly misleading from the writer.
Jazakallahu Khair for your time.
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