Avoiding Temptations

Temptations are all around us, we live in a society that is marked by these temptations.

Discussion: So what are some common, everyday temptations that we face whether it be at school or home or our jobs?

§  Wealth

§  Shopping

§  Laziness

§  Opposite gender

§  Music

§  TV

All these temptations that we have just discussed are absolutely prevalent in our daily lives.  First we’re going to briefly generalize all these temptations that we just listed into several categories according to the what the Quran and Sunnah of our beloved, salla Allahu alayhi waslam. And then we will spend most of out time speaking about relevant and practical ways in dealing with these everyday temptations.

Definition of Fitnah:

§  Fitnah in Arabic language in its origin refers to the cleaning and purification process that gold and silver is put through. The process of heating it and processing it. Just like this purification process separates the pure from the impure, the good from the bad, that’s how fitnah is.

§ Fitnah is treated like it is something bad but in reality it isn’t. It is up to you; fitnah can either be the best thing that happened to you or the worst thing. It could either be your doom and destruction or cause you to come out from the side, amazing and purified like the gold and silver does after its been purified.

Types of Fitnah: (Surah Kahf)

§  Surah Kahf talks about four main, four big fitnahs and for each one Allah provides us the solution

§  First one: Fitnah of Iman- how to really stay Muslim. This is definitely targeted for us, going to public school or college. Keeping iman can be a constant struggle. It’s a challenge these days and so Allah presents the story of the youth early on in Surah Kahf. ‘They were youth that believed in their lord and we increased them in guidance” Allah took care of them and just like that Allah will also take care of us. So the solution? 1, have your priorities straight. Make preserving your iman your number 1 priority. When that is set in stone, just like the youth mentioned in Surah Kahf, Allah will take care of you but make that your priority. 2, Allah tells us in Surah Kahf, how there is a huge discussion of the number of youth that were present, there was a group of them, they became each other support system so number 2, find good company. Find someone who has the same concern for them, who when you find yourself slipping you can go talk to them and then help you do a self-check, who you are comfortable enough to tell each other, look look look, maybe you shouldn’t have done that or this would have been a better way. But you need a support system; find a support system even if is just one person, we all naturally need companionship; it is an innate desire that we all have. So you might not always be with the cool people if you want to keep your iman, you might not always be part of that big possy .

-So make iman your priority. These youth went to the cave cause they had to to protect their iman. They did what they needed to to protect themselves, keeping iman at the top. And Allah tells us that ‘we took care of them’ and I want you to see this, this is epic, blew me away because Allah’s mercy is just subhanAllah.

-One in the story in Surah Kahf, there is a dog. A dog randomly just joined along with them, a big old mean dog, protection provided by Allah.

-They go to cave, called Al-Kahf. In the Arabic language, there are two types of names for caves, there is 1) a ghar, ghar e-Hira, the cave that the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi waslam would used to go to right? It was a huge cave. This kahf is more of an opening, its not very deep inside, its has a huge entrance, not very deep. So these youth were not protected really, they were just in an opening where Allah put them to sleep and listen to this, in Surah kahf it tells us they were asleep for 309 years.

-And heres the amazing part, look what Allah does to them. ‘Allah tells us, they were sleeping when the sun would rise, Allah would command the sun to kinda move away a little bit so it would burn them for hours and hours’ For these youth, Allah moved the sun a little bit to protect these youth. He moved the sun a tad bit for them so it would avoid them.

-And not just this, but you know how if you lie somewhere for too long, you get bedsores. And these youth were asleep for 309 years and if they had stayed in the same place they definitely would have got their body damaged. So look what Allah did for them, to protect their body from damage, every morning and evening we would flip them over. Allah is saying we did it, we turned them over. The dog was also preserved, but he arranged him to the way where he sat there just like a guard dog would right at the front of the cave.

-Not just this, but Allah says if you were to see them you would think they were awake while they were asleep. They were asleep but to an outsider it would seem like they were awak and Allah says, that if you had looked at them, you would have been terrified. You would have gotten scared and ran. Look at the way Allah took care of them when they made iman their priority.

§  The second fitnah was the fitnah of wealth, of money. The story of the guy with the two gardens is mentioned in Surah Kahf. This guy that has these two gardens, is being by another guy to appreciate the blessing to be grateful to believe in Allah but he kept denying, he was arrogant cause of his wealth and then overnight, everything that they guy had, was wiped out. So how do we survive through the test of wealth? Solution provided is simple: 1, realize the reality of material things and wealth. ‘give to them the example of this world that rains down from the sky, it mixes with the ground, and it becomes scattered dust’. For a while the flowers grow or something will grow but eventually it becomes garbage and the wind blows it away. That is the reality of the world. Its flashy, sweet at first but it ends. 2, you’ve got money, awesome, but balance it with the akhirah. Invest into something that will last: good deeds. You have money? Put it into something that will last like charity, building a masjid, money you can do a lot with: use it.

§  Third fitnah: story of Musa alayhisalam and Khidhr, his teacher. It is the fitnah of knowledge. This can be one of the most problematic. A lot of the people that are more active and knowledge, their lack of character become a way to push people away. When the guy or girl that does know a lot that pray etc but then acts like a jerk, it pushes people away. Solution: humility. Humble yourself. Find a teacher or mentor that you constantly seek advice from, constantly be taught, realize that no matter how knowledge you have, there is always more to learn. Your knowledge is a blessing, if your smart it is because Allah made you smart. Don’t start calling yourself awesome, your 4.0 GPA is a blessing from Allah who put that potential in you who made your brain in the first place. So Be grateful, be humble. In the story of Musa and Khidhr, Khidhr is his mentor; he’s constantly keeping him in check. He’s constantly telling Musa to be quiet; but Musa sticks with it.

§  Fourth fitnah: fitnah of power. This is depicted in the story of Dhul Qarnaiyn towards the end of Surah Kahf. You will be held responsible for your flock. The word in Arabic for responsibility literally means ‘you will be held accountable’. We are all responsible for our flock. Solution: mingle with the people. Talk with them. Don’t over use your power as an older sibling to be mean and harsh and brutal to your younger ones. Don’t use the power as being a parent to be cruel and harsh to your children and likewise with children to parents. Power can be a fitnah; use it in moderation and in a way that brings about benefit.

Practical Steps in Dealing with Fitnah:

§  Niyyah and the right mindset to avoid the temptation. This goes for everything. If you want to change something, start with setting the proper niyyah even if you keep failing in the beginning. Only if you set your mind to avoid it, only if you make the niyyah and ask Allah to help you will your path be eased.

§  Making Iman your priority: Remember the story of the youth in Surah Kahf; they had their iman as their priority and look at how Allah helped them.

§  If you want to stay away from fitnah, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Prophet Yusuf, alayhisalam was being approached by Zulaikha as Allah tells us in Surah Yusuf. Zulaiqa wanted to ‘do the deed’, Prophet Yusuf was one of the most handsome people to have lived and she too was pretty. She had bolted all the doors, not like today where it is just a small lock, she had literally BOLTED the doors. There was no one watching, they were all alone but Prophet Yusuf, alayhisalam feared Allah so naturally he was temped. What he do? He first asked Allah for help and then RAN towards the bolted doors. If a door is bolted, what do you expect? To crash into it, right? But watch what happens. Prophet Yusuf, alayhisalam is running towards the bolted doors and the doors SWING OPEN for him. These bolted doors just fly open subhanAllah. So when you are faced with some kind of fitnah, do not just sit there and expect the fitnah to magically disappear; DO SOMETHING about it. You make the effort and watch the way Allah will help you inshaa’Allah.

§  Keeping the following three attributes of Allah in mind: All-Knowing, All-seeing, All-hearing. No matter where you, if you are about to engage in something haram or are on the verge of falling into temptation remember that if no one is watching, Allah is still the All-Seeing, All-Hearing, and the All-knowing.

§  Stay away from the place of fitnah. For example, if guys are a fitnah for you and you are you know constantly struggling to stay away from talking to them or getting into relationships that you know are not permissible and say one of them is facebook chat. Say that Bob always messages you like late at night and now you really are trying to avoid this, well a really awesome way would maybe be 1, not getting on facebook chat, or 2, deleting Bob. So you see, staying away from the fitnah, you keep away from what is causing the fitnah. Another example could be maybe wealth let’s say and you know that every time you go to the mall, you psycho splurge, well keep away from it and maybe go to the mall less frequently.

§  Purify yourselves 5 times a day: The importance of this cannot be stressed enough, I think we all by now get the point but how many of us actually implement it. You want to avoid temptation, you want to avoid fitnah? Start with the most vital connection with your creator: salah. If you are still struggling to pray Fajr or would like a call just to make sure you get up, right now we can do a buddy system calling where you know if you want a wake up call, give us your number or pair up with someone and inshaa’Allah we can get this going. Salah is key, and any beginning starts here. [Tell story about the guy who used to drink]

§  Attach yourself to the Quran: The Quran if full of lessons, full of reminders and is a the perfect way to feel Allah speaking directly to you. The more you will get to learn about your deen, about Allah, about Prophets, the harder it will be to choose temptation over the beauty of Islam.

§  Employ Istighfar: Continuously ask Allah for forgiveness for your sins. We are all sinners and as Ibn Taymiyyah said ‘Every son of Adam is a sinner and the best of sinners are those who repent’. We may say we won’t engage in such and such but we may fall into it. We as humans are weak but don’t let a fall ruin the climb uphill. Get back up on your feet and constantly employ istighfar. It is more important to get rid of the stain on your robe then to keep adding to the robe while the giant stain is still there. So ask for forgiveness, constantly keep purifying yourself.

**Much of the information was extracted from Shaykh Abdul Nasir Jangda’s talk on the Four types of Fitan (Trials) by Quran Weekly. Check out their Youtube page, inshaa’Allah!  

And to Allah belong all things good and pure.