In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful
I want to begin by directly asking you a few questions. The first question I want to ask is if you saw an old lady crossing the road that needed help, would you choose to help her or would you leave her be? Secondly what do you think of a person who shouts at a baby for not being able to run?
Of course these questions may seem really weird for the moment but hang on in there and let me try to explain my point. Many people have a mentality that if I am committing a lot of sin, what is the point of me praying namaaz (5 daily prayers) or following any other of Allah’s commands for that matter. Well let’s look at the first question I posed at the start. If you answered yes then why should you do this? Isn’t helping an old lady a command of Allah?
Now I know some will say that this is the human thing to do. Well to follow Allah and His commands is also the human thing to do and if you want evidence then look deep in your heart to see if your heart is satisfied with your current life. Most people go to sleep unhappy every day or dissatisfied with their life. The obvious answer is that we are missing complete submission to Allah in our life. Isn’t it time to change and leave our old lives behind? Is it not time to turn back to Allah?
Some people, including myself when I was younger believe that Islam is only meant to be practised by a Hafiz or Alim. If this is you then let me ask you, will you be holding someone’s hand and taking them in your grave with you? If I want success in this world and the Hereafter I need to make changes in my life now. Neither me nor you know when the grave is going to swallow us up so shouldn’t we be making changes in our life now before it is too late?
I recently heard a very good point. We seem to be diverting ourselves to learn about the day of Qiyamah and we certainly should be, but isn’t there a bigger day coming for all us of very soon. Qiyamah will only come once all the major and minor signs told to us by the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) have come to pass. However our death is imminent. It can strike at any time and there are no signs of death. When Allah recalls us, we have to go.
As for the second question presented at the start, many people in our society frown upon those that try to follow Islam but stumble here and there. It is in the nature of a person that he or she will commit sins however some people feel they are of a high enough status and position to criticise and try to bring these people down.
Allah says “And remind for verily a reminder benefits the believer.” (Al-Qur’an: Adh-Dhariyat: 55)
The Qur’an tells us to do the complete opposite to what we are accustomed to. We should be reminding each other with love and affection otherwise we push those away who are trying to discover the truth of Islam. No matter how old you are or how exalted we are in the eyes of the people, we all make mistakes. Even the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) used to ask for forgiveness from Allah (God) even though all the prophets were infallible. The whole point of mankind being created was because we do make mistakes but we then repent and ask for forgiveness from people.
Allah is not like mankind. Allah is Ar-Raheem (The Most Merciful). There is none like Him. If I was to upset any human it would leave a crack in the relationship just like cracks in the wall but Allah completely removes the sin like it didn’t even take place. Allah’s mercy is such that he puts a veil over all of our sins. This in itself is a big blessing. Just imagine everybody was to know all the bad you and I have done! How disgraced would we feel? One pious person mentioned that you know you have reached piety if you can walk around the market place with your desires on a silver platter. That is certainly something to think about!
Lastly I just want to mention about wisdom. It’s very important that when we talk to anybody about Islam we think before we speak. Some people do get very heated with debates of Twitter, Facebook etc. A discussion is absolutely fine and that is encouraged but social networking sites aren’t the place. Certainly it is better to discuss in person where the truth and be found and we merely aren’t keyboard warriors.
As Muslims we should be trying to encourage each other as much as possible and this is the way forward. Give your friend a pat on the back. Tell them that they have done something good today and most importantly, SMILE!
Jazakumullah Khayran
Yasin Ibn Suleman Desai
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