REMINDER ON PRIDE...THIRD PART There are other examples of the dangerous road that pride can lead one down:: In Ibrahims confrontation with Namrood, the former argues that Allah is the one who gives life and gives death. Namrood responds by bringing out two people sentenced to death. He releases one and kills the other as a poor attempt at making a point that he also brings life and death. Ibrahim refutes by stating that Allah brings the Sun out from the East, and so he asks Namrood to bring it from the West. Namrood is then perplexed and angered. He arranges for Ibrahim to be thrown into a great fire, but Allah protects him from it by commanding the fire to be cool and safe for Ibrahim. When Firaun (Pharoah) repeatedly challenges Musa Alayhis Salaam (AHS), and whenever Allah’s signs come. Whenever the Azab came down on the people of Firaun, he begged Musa to ask Allah to remove these calamaties, promising repentance. Yet, when the calamites were removed by the Mercy of Allah, Firaun would again resort to his tyrannical and arrogant ways. In another hadith, the Prophet (SAW) once said to his companions do you want to see a man of paradise? A man then passed by, and the Prophet (SAW) said that man is one of the people of paradise. So a companion of the Prophet decided to learn what it was about this man that earned such a commendation from the messenger of Allah (SAW). He spent time with this man, and observed him closely. He noticed that he did not perform the night prayer vigil, or anything extraordinary. He appeared to be an average man of medina. The companion finally told the man what the Prophet (SAW) had said about him and asked if he did anything special. And the man replied, the only thing that I can think of other than what everyone else does, is that I make sure that I never sleep with any rancor in my heart towards another. That was his secret. So we should try to remove this rancor, or even hint of hatred, jealousy or envy. The scholars have indicated that one way to remove any hatred of another is to make sincere du’a for that person. By name, asking Allah for good for them and their families in this life and the next. To ask for their forgiveness from Allah. Because who is to say that we are better than someone, just because we do not like them, or that we do not agree with them? In the sight of Allah we are all faqir - we are all poor. We are born into this world without clothes and without the ability to feed ourselves. Without the ability to even walk. It is our parents who nurture us and feed us and clothe us and show us love and attention, only by the Mercy of Allah. When we become older, it is Allah who has given us the faculties such as sight and hearing, intelligence, and the ability to understand concepts, in order that we may learn and be productive when we reach maturity. Why? So we can be thankful to Him. So we can understand that without his Mercy, we would have and be absolutely nothing. What about the person, given great strength and health, and when it is removed by Allah? They can barely function to support themselves, they can barely get out of bed? It is for Allah to provide rizq to His servants. But for man, we are created in a state of hastiness. We forget, that what we learn ultimately is not something special about us. It is something special that Allah has Given us. It is an Amana or trust from Allah to be used in the correct way. It is to be used in a halal way, and the best way we can use it is for our akhira. If Allah has given us a special gift of memorization, we should try to use this in memorizing Qur’an. If Allah subhana wa t’ala has given us capacity to have great wealth, we should use it in taking care of the poor and needy. If Allah has given us the gift of speech, we should use it to perpetuate his message by giving dawa and teaching other Muslims about how to follow Islam. By utilizing the gifts that Allah has given us, we stand more of a chance of remaining grateful to Him, and allowing these gifts to benefit us not only in the dunya, but in the hereafter for our akhira as well. So one of the ways that we are taught to help eliminate this pride is the importance of dhikr of Allah (SWT) and sitting down in the dhikr of Allah SWT. In remembrance of Allah, we can find the cure for the rust of our hearts. It is the important process of the salik to travel this journey of remembrance, and to constantly seek the advice and knowledge from our mashaikh to travel this journey. By doing so we hope to achieve the closeness to Allah SWT, and to separate ourselves from our nafsani desires. To further ourselves from the temptations of Shaytan, and to rid ourselves of these spiritual diseases like pride and hatred and jealousy. By staying consistent in dhikr of Allah (SWT), we are able to hopefully find more importance in our akhira so we can repeatedly ask Allah for His forgiveness, and really reflect that this dunya is a temporary stay. This dunya is important in the fact that it is our test, where ultimately we need to keep our eyes on the prize. It’s a means to the end, which is our akhira. And whatever means we focus on in this life, will be the indicator of where we are going to end up when we pass away. When you look at the process of olives, you can also see a sign of the patience needed to enjoy the fruits of doing dhikr of Allah (SWT) and remembering Him. When you grow an olive tree, it first of all takes a few years for that tree to begin to bear fruit. It doesn’t happen the first season, it usually takes about 4-5 years for that tree to start bearing fruit. Even then the fruit that it bears is relative to the size of the olive tree. Furthermore, when you begin to harvest the olive fruits, when ripe. You still cannot eat the olives from most trees, save one or two types, directly from the tree. They are just too bitter and pretty much inedible. The olive has to go through a process of curing in order for some of the chemicals to be eliminated from the skin of the olive, in order for it to become what we come to know when we eat an olive. Similarly, when we go through the process of tazkiyah, patience is required by us to first of all get to the point of bearing fruit. We have to get accustomed to sitting in dhikr of Allah (SWT), then getting to the point of clearing our mind, and then activating our lataif. It takes time to progress through the different stages and lessons. And once we begin to bear fruit, that’s just when the process is beginning. We then Insha’Allah start to see the real benefits of how we act, how we think, and this process also takes time. And Insha’Allah when we keep progressing, just like the olive tree, then Insha’Allah we hope that we then can begin to really benefit from the process. And what a special blessing to have in front of us living examples of the outcome of this fruit, when we are able to sit in the company of our shuyukh. When we sit in the suhbah of our shuyukh, we are able to benefit and feel even closer to Allah. And we can see where we are heading Insha’Allah which is by leading our lives in the example of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength. May Allahu cleanse our heart from ANY FOR)()M OF PRIDE...And guidance be with we all till Jannatul firdaus. Ameeeeeeen
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 18:35:34 +0000
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