Upon The Deen

may Allah make us people of Qur'an

Wuhayb ibn Al-Ward said: “It was said to a man: ‘Do you not sleep?’

He said: ‘The amazingness of the Qur’aan has halted my ability to sleep.’”

‎"Reciting the Qur'ān is the most important of adhkar, which should be done regularly. No day or night should be without and it may be attained by reciting a few verse."

I find it a little awkward and strange being in a lift with other people. You don't know where to stand, where to look, what to do with yourself while you're waiting eagerly for your floor number to arrive on the digital screen that your eyes are fixed on to. You're afraid of looking elsewhere or at someone else and causing an uncomfortable situation.

I was in a similar situation this morning in my hotel lift in Makkah. There was an uncomfortable silence in the lift as we were making our way to our rooms after the fajr prayer.

Apparently depending on the number of people in the lift people take up different areas of the lift. So if there's five people then four would be in each corner and one poor person would be the centre of attention in the middle. I haven't had the opportunity to try and observe this theory because it'll probably end up causing an even stranger situation in the lift with me looking around at everyone's positions in the lift like a nutter.

So anyway there's about 8-9 of us in the lift (I was sort of in the middle with a couple of others if you're interested in the schematic layout of persons in said lift) and we're all trying to act normal desperately hoping that our floor number will come up quickly so we can escape this strange social setting.

No one is speaking. Everyone is silent. Until a brother from the middle of the lift says something thought provoking. He was a young Arab brother with a trimmed beard and wearing a night thoub and someone I had never seen or met before. Just your average person. But what he said stayed with me and caused me to post this from my hotel room in Makkah a couple of hours later.

He said with a smile and almost as if he was talking to himself and reminding himself:

'Subhanallah, this lift is like the dunya. People leave it and people enter it!'

I was relieved he didn't say something useless in the company of strangers in a lift. But he was right; people enter and leave this world at different stages in their life. Some people stay on for a long time and others leave as soon as they're brought into this world.

I learnt some things from this incident in the lift.

1. Life in this world is like a race. People race to get ahead of the pack just like people rushing to get on a lift, unconcerned about how they spend their time while in it.

2. The expensive suites are always at the highest part of the hotel. They overlook the rest of the people who are below them. On the day of judgement it will be said to the one who used to recite the quran in this world: 'recite and rise.' For every ayah that he knows he will be raised in rank in paradise. If he only memorised a few surahs he'll be in the lower levels. Someone who memorised the whole quran will keep rising until he completes the whole quran and he'll be in the luxury suites in paradise! That's the best kind of lift!

3. It's amazing where inspiration and valuable life lessons can come from. I never expected to hear something so thought provoking from a stranger in a lift.

4. That brother probably said something that was on his mind in passing and maybe didn't even realise how it affected some of us on the lift.

5. Allah knows the reward he will receive for what he said even if he's unaware. If you have something beneficial to say then don't hesitate to say it. A person may benefit even if you think no one will. The prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa Salam) said: whoever believes in Allah and the last day then speak good or remain silent.

6. The prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa Salam) said: A man will speak a word that is pleasing to Allah while he is unaware of it and Allah will record His pleasure for it until the day that he meets him' (Tirmidhi). Allah will never forget a good deed that you did even if you yourself forgot!

6. Don't hesitate or think twice about doing a good deed.

7. This life is temporary just like your time in a lift. Make every second of your life count.

8. Some lifts and waiting rooms in saudi have stickers on the wall saying: 'use this spare time making istighfar.' This is like the example of people who spend this short and temporary life remembering Allah and worshipping him. While others stare idly at the screen waiting for their time to come to an end not knowing what to do with the time they've been blessed with.

May Allah accept all our deeds; big and small in this month and after this month and may he give is the strength to continue our good deeds outside of ramadhan. Ameen.

This is exactly how you’ve been speaking to Allah.

Slow down. This isn’t how kings are addressed.

Al-Haafidh al-Mizzi states in Tahdeeb al-Kamaal (11/194):

Yahya ibn Yayha an-Naysaboori said:

I was with Sufyaan ibn ‘Uyaynah when a man approached him and said:

“O Abu Muhammad, I came to complain to you about my wife, I am the most lowly and disliked of things to her.

Sufyaan remained silent for a while then said:

“It may be that you were only interested in her to increase yourself in honour.”

The man said:

“Yes, O Abu Muhammad.”

Sufyaan said:

“Whoever seeks honour [by marrying a woman] will be tested with lowliness, and whoever seeks wealth [by marrying a woman] will be tested with poverty, but whoever looks for righteousness [in a woman], then Allah will combine both honour and wealth with righteousness for him in her.”

He then told him a story; he said:

“We were four brothers; Muhammad, ‘Imraan, Ibraheem and me. Muhammad was the oldest, ‘Imraan was the youngest and I was in between.

When Muhammad wanted to get married, he was interested in lineage, so he married a woman of better lineage than him, so Allah tested him with lowliness

‘Imraan was interested in wealth, so he married a woman who was wealthier than him, so Allah tested him with poverty. They took his wealth and did not give him anything.

So I pondered over their affair. Ma’mar ibn Rasheed traveled to us so I spoke to him about the affair and told him of their story. He reminded me of the Ahadeeth that ‘Aa’ishah and Yahya ibn Ja’dah narrated.

As for Ja’dah’s Hadeeth; the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:

“A woman is married for four reasons: righteousness, lineage, wealth and beauty. Marry the one with righteousness and you will be successful.”

‘Aa’ishah’s Hadeeth is as follows; the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:

“The woman with the greatest blessing is the one with the least Mahr.”

So I chose righteousness and a small dowry, following the Sunnah of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) so Allah combined honour, wealth and righteousness for me [in my wife].”

Also found in:

So he said:

لو فرج الله عن يوسف في أول ابتلائه ، لما آلت إليه خزائن مصر... قد يطول البلاء ليعظم العطاء... فثق بالله و لا تستعجل

❝ If Allah granted relief to Prophet Yusuf at the first hurdle of his weariness (and fatigue), then contrast that with the treasures of Egypt that came to him... One's trial/tribulation may be prolonged in order to magnify the gifting... Trust in Allah and do not be in haste. ❞

Whoever ponders over the Qur'ān understands the Lord The Mighty and Exalted, he understands the greatness of his authority and power, he understands the greatness of the preference He has over the believers, and he understands the mandation of worship placed upon him, so he attaches himself to the obligation and warns himself over that which His Most Honourable Protector has warned against, he places his hope in that which He instructed to place hope in, and whosoever has these qualities whilst reciting the Qur'an and listening to it rather than other things then the Quran will be a cure for him...his anxiety during recitation of the Surah when it is opened: When will I heed what I recite? He does not mean: When will I finish the Surah?! He means:

When will I rationalise that Allah is addressing me?

When will I startle?

When will I understand?

THIS IS AN OBSERVATION that may be limited to my tiny window of experience. But it’s something I’ve been aware of since the early 1990s. Which is that we Muslims are ready and eager to read stuff about the nitty gritty points of shari’ah law. But as soon as discussing the actual Creator of the law is involved, we tend not to be so keen or interested.

This isn’t just a problem with the general public; scholars can be just as guilty of it too. There are some who are so keen on proving the existence of God, yet care little for God Himself. Others will speak endlessly about the need for divine law or governance, but care little for getting to know the “Governor” in any real or meaningful way. Could it be that such people have turned those aspects of Islam into mini object of devotion and worship, instead of devotion to God Himself?

One of the great pillars of knowledge and piety in early Islam, Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah, once said: ‘The learned are of three types: One who knows God and knows His commands; one who knows God, but not His commands; and one who knows God’s commands, but not God. The most perfect of them is the first, and that is the one who fears God and knows His rulings.’1

In this sense, every one of the Prophet’s sahabah or “companions”, may God be pleased with them all, were ‘alim bi’Llahi wa bi ahkamihi -“knowers of God and His commands”. Whether it was the likes of the senior companions, who had been nurtured and tutored by the Prophet, peace be upon him, for years or decades; or those lesser in rank who only spent a short time in the prophetic presence - each one was a knower of God and knew the rulings God obligated them to know for their daily life - commensurate with their varying levels of faith, piety, ability and responsibility.

By knowledge of God, it doesn’t mean some dry, formulaic learning about God. But learning which inspires the heart to be filled with God’s majesty, awe, reverence, love, hope and fear. Talk which inspires the heart to yearn for God, seek intimacy with Him, trust in Him wholeheartedly, remember and invoke Him abundantly, and seek the means of approach to Him sincerely.2

As for knowing God’s commands, it is to know what He has made lawful and unlawful in daily life, what acts please Him and anger Him, and the correct manner with which to inwardly and outwardly worship Him.3

To this end, one sits in the gatherings of shaykhs and scholars that can nurture such knowledge in us, read books that will help stir love of God and the good in us, and contemplate the Qur’an with an eye to instil an abiding reverence of God and His commands in us.

As one grows in knowledge of God and seeks to internalise it, the soul is illumined; character is given to reflect prophetic beauty; and the heart is brought to bear upon life’s Ultimate End and love’s Ultimate Encounter.

Wa’Llahu wali al-tawfiq.

__________________

1. Al-Darimi, Sunan, 1:102; Abu Nu’aym, Hilyat al-Awliya, 7:280.

2. See: Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Bayan Fadl ‘Ilm al-Salaf (Kuwait: Dar al-Arqam, 1983), 46.

قال أحد الحكماء عن تربية الأبناء: ما يجمل الحديقة هي الزهور وليس السياج! هكذا تربية الأبناء: بغرس القيم فيهم بدلاً من السيطرة عليهم!

One of the wise people said regarding tarbiyah of children:

"What beautifies the garden are the flowers in it, and not the fence around it! Thus, tarbiyah of children is through instilling values ​​in them instead of (relentlessly) controlling them!"

قال الحافظ ابن حجر:

ما أحسن قول القائل: من علامة السـعادة: أن تطيع وتخاف ألا تقبل ، ومن علامة الشقاوة: أن تعصي وترجو أن تنجو!

Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar رحمه الله:

❝ How wondrous is the saying: 'From the sign of one's well-being is that you show obedience and yet fear (your deeds) won't be accepted. And from the sign of wretchedness is that you are disobedient and yet hope you will prosper. ❞

The renowned Hanbali jurist Imam Ibn Qudama states in his Al-Mughni, “Al-Namisa is a woman who ‘plucks’ facial hair, and al-Mutanammisa is one whose facial hair is plucked upon her request. This is not permissible due to the hadith. If [however] she shaves off the hair, there is nothing wrong with that; since the hadith is in reference to plucking. Imam Ahmad (Allah have mercy on him) clearly mentioned this.” (Al-Mughni 1/77, with Al-Sharh al-Kabir)

al-Sa'dī: When you see the heart leaning towards and quickly giving into sins, then the heart is sick.