Soul Searching

In the Prophet (sws)’s  last khutbah, the Prophet stood on the valley of Mount of 'Arafat and left his last reminders to the Ummah. Among many other important reminders, the Prophet concluded by saying: “I leave behind me two things, the Qur’an and my Sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray.”

Human beings naturally have physical needs. We need food, water, comfort, protection, stability, a roof over our heads, and partners in life. These are physical needs that need to be fulfilled. However, human beings aside from physical needs also have spiritual needs. The physical needs sustain the body of the human being but what sustains the soul? What fills that empty feeling inside of us? What do we feed out soul?

These questions are answered in the Prophet (sws)’s khutbah: the Qur’an & the Sunnah. These two ingredients, these two vital nutrients are food for our soul. The Qu’ran, we all know is the book of Allah- it is Allah speaking to us through his words and the Sunnah is the tradition, the example of the last and final messenger, peace and blessings be upon him.

Allah says in Surah Ibrahim, “Alif, Lam, Ra. [This is] a Book which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], that you might bring mankind out of darknesses into the light by permission of their Lord – to the path of the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy –“ [14:1]

In this ayah, Allah is reminding the Prophet (sws) but at the same time we are being reminded today about the power and purpose of the Qur’an. Allah says that this is the book that brings people out of multiple shades of darkness into the singular light. The word that’s used is not a singular darkness- it means multiple shades- different kinds of darkness’ to the light by means of the Qur’an. Today we are surrounded by different types of darknesses. Today, faith is being questioned in classrooms which we think are protective, safe haven for our children, today little kids are being exposed to shamelessness, to filth. We live in a time where the industry of pornography makes big bucks, and even the Muslims are not safe from it. We live in a time where wearing less is better, where we are losing our identity as Muslims and are after this chase of fitting in no matter if that means we have to sacrifice our beliefs and duty to Allah. Today we live in a time where parents have no respect anymore, where as soon as an argument or two starts bubbling the kids think of running away. Today, we’re in a time where little girls that have barely turned teenagers are committing zina, where we have so many conveniences yet we feel like we never have enough time because the time we do have is sucked up by entertainment and socializing and dunya dunya dunya.

But the Prophet (sws) said that if we held onto the Qur’an and the Sunnah, we would never go astray but how many of us are chasing in all the wrong directions today, towards more and more darknesses? That is because we have primarily abandoned the Qur’an. We don’t even care enough to figure out or find out who the Prophet (sws) is. In so many households, the Qur’an remains on our bookshelves, getting dusty unless a funeral comes around or we face some trying times and finally want to open it up. The Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet (sws) and used to be so heavy on him- when he would receive revelation, beads of sweat would form on his forehead, it’s said that his body would get very heavy and one time you could hear a buzzing sound coming from him. It took a huge toll on him and he went through so much and sacrificed his whole life to make sure that the message gets to us, and left behind his practice and example for his Ummah- and that same Ummah, us, we have abandoned it.

Allah says this book has the potential to bring us out of the shades of darknesses that we may be in and bring us into the light. How so?

·       Through the Qur’an we get to know who Allah is- “He is Allah, besides whom there is no god, the Soverign, the supreme in holiness, the one safe from all defects, the giver of peace, the guardian, the all mighty, the all repairer, the sublime. Pure is Allah from what they associate with Him” [59:23].

·       The Qur’an reminds us of our purpose- “I did not create the Jinns and the human beings except for the purpose that they should worship me” [51:56].

·       The Qur’an reminds of accountability- “Whoever acts righteously, it is for his own benefit, and who does evil, it is against his own soul. Then towards your Lord will you be returned” [45:15].

·       The Qur’an reminds us of a day that is bound to come, a day when we will face Allah. The Qur’an heavily focuses on warning us, on reminding us of resurrection- the last two juz are heavily based with the Day of Judgment as their theme where Allah swears by various things that the Day is near. “About what are they asking each other? About the great event in which they dispute! Indeed they will soon know. Again, indeed, they will soon know” [78:1-5] 

·       The Qur’an presents many examples, many case studies, and stories of people of the past that were destroyed for the wrong that they were doing, and on the other hand many role models for us to take examples from.  “And We have certainly presented to the people in this Qur'an from every [kind of] example.” [30:58]

·       The Qur’an presents various characteristics of the believers and full descriptions of their qualities as well of those of the disbelievers and hypocrites as well. One can even make like a checklist of the do’s and don’ts based on the characteristics that Allah presents of those type of people.

The Qur’an heals hearts, the Qur’an transforms lives. There are prisoners who pick up and open up the Qur’an and it completely turns their lives around, a whole 180 degree turn, and they come out to be better people, why? Because the Qur’an reconnects us with our Fitrah, it reminds us where we came from, and where we are headed towards and gives us a wakeup call. But in order for the Qur’an to heal us, and to change us, we have to make the effort to understand Allah’s words, start small, maybe one ayah a day but read it with full understanding, and relate it to one’s life and try to implement it. It is said that the sahaba would take the Qur’an ten ayahs at a time and would not move on until they had implemented those ayahs. The first step to developing a relationship with the Qur’an, is to take small but consistent steps towards understand what Allah is telling us.

The Qur’an is one side of the balance and the other side is the Sunnah- the tradition and example of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (sws). The Sunnah is our travel agent-the way he prophet peace be upon him lived.
 A lot of the times when we think of Sunnah, we think of little action items or practices that we have to implement to “follow the messenger”, which is important, but before that how much do we know about the Prophet (sws)? How much do we know about his character, about who this man was, about what he did and the sacrifices that he made for us? He (sws) would cry out worry for US, he had the biggest responsibility on his shoulder, and he would worry to the point where Allah reminds him through the Qur’an that he’s going to kill himself out of grief for worrying about these people. How much do we know about this man? The more you read about his life, the more you learn about the way he treated people and the way he interacted with them, you cannot help but fall in love with this man.

Once this love is established, once a person gets to know his character and familiarizes themselves with who he was, then we go to learn about his daily routine and practices and we can all implement little by little into our lives.

“And whatever the messenger gives you and take it and whatever he forbids you leave it and fear

Allah: truly Allah is severe in punishment” [59:7].

“There is indeed a good model for you in the Messenger of Allah- for the one who has hope in Allah and the last day, and remembers Allah profusely” [33:21].

“Say (O Prophet): If you really love Allah, then follow me, and Allah shall love you and forgive you for your sins. Allah is most forgiving, very merciful” [3:31].

Some sunnah practices that are very easy to employ into our lives are:

·       Smiling, yes its Sunnah : )! Even though the Prophet (sws) went through many difficulties in his life, lost many of his childen, was rejected and humiliated by family and was even tortured sometimes, the Prophet would bear it with patience and remained optimistic. Every day is a new day, learn to let go, be happy, and count your blessings!

·       Visit the sick, take care of the poor and the needy.

·       Speak politely, not harshly.

·       Give the greetings of “Assalamalaikum” those those you know and don’t know

·       Pray the Night prayer during the last third of the night. This is as simple as getting up five minutes before Fajr and praying even one rak’ah! Allah actually swears by this witr prayer in the Qur’an. During the Prophet (sws)’s life, the Prophet never missed the night prayer.

·       Accepting Invitations

·       Drinking water sitting down and from the right hand

·       Using miswak

·       Eating from that which is closest to you

·       Saying Bismillah before you eat, if forgotten, recite: Bismillah Awal-wa-akhir

This may seem to be an overwhelming amount of things to immediately add to one’s routine and implementing all of them is unreal and unpractical. The Prophet (sws) related to us that the deeds that are the best and those that are the most consistent. So start slow, take it one at a time, maybe employ one small sunnah habit into your routine a month and make it consistent inshAllah!

One thing to remember is that the Qur’an makes up one side of the balance and the sunnah makes up the other. We cannot pick and choose whether we want to follow one or the other. The Prophet (sws) prescribed both things and with the Qur’an and the sunnah, the Ummah would never go astray. The Qur’an gives the basic big picture and lessons and the Sunnah and seerah provide details and explanation and specific instances. The Qur’an gives basic reminders whereas sunnah provides details. It’s important to remember that the Qur’an is the word of Allah whereas the hadith and narrations need a deeper understanding and in depth study to really get what’s being narrated and the authenticity of what’s being said etc. Abandoning the Qur’an but engrossing oneself in hadith study actually doesn’t logically make sense. The Qur’an is the foundation and the hadith and seerah help in the understanding of it. It’s all about taking both and moving forward.

You are the seed. 

The soil is the Quran, the sun is the sunnah, and the water is hard work. You need the soil no matter what, you need the sun to grow, and it all means nothing unless you have water. 

Belief, Hope, Fear: the Balance

Ibn al-Qayim said: "On his way to Allah, a [believer's] heart is likened to a bird: love is its head, fear and hope are its wings. Hence, when the head and wings are sound, the bird will perfectly fly; if the head is cut, the bird will die and when he loses the wings, he will be inevitably objected to hunting". 

Hope & Love are very powerful emotions but fear balances it. Fear is not a counter to hope, it is a balance to it. Islam is not fire and brimstones but it does mention fire and brimstones in a balanced way. Islam is not all gardens and happiness even though it does mention gardens and palaces of Jannah. Islam is balance and a Muslim is one that realizes the balance between hope & fear.

A lot of the times when we have a very busy schedule or we become more active, whether that may be getting into graduate school or working towards a program, or working in a volunteer organization or serving people in some kind of Muslim community, or even taking care of the kids at home, & sometimes when you get caught up in all this, you forget about yourself. We forget to reflect on ourselves.

On one hand there is hope: “Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah . Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful." [39:53]

And on the other hand there is fear: “Rather, man, against himself, will be a witness,” [75:14] “So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it.” [99:7-8]

Some reasons why we lack this sense of fear:

-Lack of reflection on one’s own problems and getting caught in other people’s problems. Especially when we become active or part of organizations, it becomes very easy to always complain and discuss the problems of others but sometimes we forget to reflect on our selves: what do I need to focus on, what do I need to change about myself, what do I need to improve on? When you don’t reflect on your faults and sins, that fear of Allah isn’t there anymore because you feel like every one else has problems, but you yourself are okay. Humbling one’s self can lead to developing and instilling fear.

-Overstimulation from movies, from video games, from stories and then when you read ayahs about the hell fire, it’s like oh okay, eh. Our culture today and entertainment has released lots of horror films, themes like hell and end of times have become almost a joke to the point when a person who watches a lot of movies and tv shows like that is not moved when Allah paints those scenes in the Qur’an. The hearts are not moved anymore because those topics have become entertainment. Rather than the scenes of the hereafter and day of Judgment instilling fear and developing an urgency to change, they leave us unmoved.

-Uncomfortability with the idea of fear. Many of us are sometimes scared of the idea of fear. We are uncomfortable with fear. Sometimes we perceive it as a bad thing. But sometimes fear is necessary to create urgency, to create importance and as stated before, Islam is not all fear nor all love. Islam is the balance, a beautiful balance of both. There was a sister once who came to Nouman Ali Khan who had left Islam and her reason for leaving Islam is because she read Surah Rahman, and her argument was if god is so merciful why are people being burned and being dragged into hell? She said, what kind of mercy is this? One reason for this is a much deeper problem- it’s a spiritual problem of arrogance. We are the slaves of Allah, not a reviewer of the Qur’an. These words are the words of Allah, of God, of our master. But we want things our way and just because we are uncomfortable with the idea of something- we want to leave it all together? We cannot pick and choose with religion, we cannot pick and choose what we like and don’t like from the Qur’an. At the end of the day, those are Allah’s words and both the mercy and the fear and explained for our own benefit. Another thing on the point of being uncomfortable with the idea of fear is that fear is natural. Why are we trying so hard to avoid what’s natural? If a child didn’t have fear, they would kill themselves, they would jump in front of cars,

There are many graphic descriptions of hell are mentioned in the Qur’an.  One such surah which many of us are familiar with is Surah Rahman. In the middle of this surah, Allah describes the hell fire and the state of the disbelievers. Allah says, “This is Hell, which the criminals deny. They will go around between it and scalding water, heated [to the utmost degree].” [55:43-44]

Graphic descriptions, boiling water is being poured down their troats and they are switching between tortures and boiling water being poured down their throats. And in another part of the Qur’an, Allah says how when the disbeliever’s skins will be burned, new skins will be grown and burned again. Why? Once the skin burns off to a certain point, the person does not feel any pain because the nerves have died.  But in Surah Rahman after these ayahs mention this vivid description of the hell fire, Allah says” But for he who has feared the position of his Lord are two gardens –“ [55:46]

For those have this fear of Allah, Allah says that for them there are two gardens! Even Allah instilling this fear in us is a means of Allah helping us get to Jannah. Even Allah mentioning these ayahs and these warning are a blessing from Allah, a mercy from Allah. Allah never presents just one side of the picture- fear is never presented by itself. The hell fire isn’t mentioned by itself, descriptions of Jannah usually balance it. Allah always balances both out.

There are many different words that are used in the Qur’an for fear.

-Khawf: This is one of the words that used for fear. This type of fear is a type of fear that’s like a state of an emergency like if there is a hurricane approaching, you realize its coming and prepare. This is Khawf. Khawf means to see the danger and be afraid and prepare. When it is mentioned in the Qur’an, Allah says that those who fear standing in front of their Lord- those who realize that there is day of accountability coming, those who realize that they will meet Allah, and they get up and prepare. This is khawf.

-Khashiya: This is another word that is used to describe fear. This type of fear, however, is when you are afraid of the harm of something. Ex/ being scared of the harm that a poisonous snake might bring to you. When it comes to the hell fire and the existence of this place, we should have khashiya, we should be afraid of its harm and take heed of the warnings that are presented in the Qur’an.

-Khushoo’: this word also has an element of fear in it even though its often translated as focus. It’s the element of fear that effects your limbs and muscles and you feel it throughout your body. When you are standing in front of Allah, praying, in salah, this feeling takes over because you are standing before your Rabb, impoverished to Allah.

-Taqwa: Often times, this word is translated as fear but linguistically, it actually means actions that are taken out of fear, in a precautionary manner. Taqwa is before the fact- its taking the precautionary measures so that you stay out of trouble. Allah mentions taqwa over and over and over again. Why? So that we can become aware, we can become aware of our surroundings with Allah in mind, so that we take the precautionary steps to stay away from trouble, staying away from things that might displease Allah, to protect ourselves from being amongst the wrongdoers. There are certain things in the Qur’an where Allah tells us to stay away from, to not come close to- that’s being aware of Allah, taking the precautionary means. One such thing is zina. “And do not approach unlawful sexual intercourse. Indeed, it is ever an immorality and is evil as a way.” [17:32] Allah doesn’t say, don’t commit zina, Allah says, don’t approach zina, don’t come near zina, don’t even go near it. This, for us, is a reminder to stay away from anything that might even lead to that. Shaitan takes subtle mini steps, Shaitan isn’t gonna make a believer immediately jump to zina. It starts slow with mini steps from a slight smile, to the look, to chatting about an “Islamic” question, to chatting about how your day went, to hanging out to work on an MSA project, to hanging out and eating dinner, and on and on and on until the deed occurs. Subtle steps. But the one that has taqwa, stays out of the gravitational field, take the precautionary measures, stops at the first or second step- they stay away, they are conscious of Allah, they are aware of Allah, and take the precautionary steps to prevent from falling into something that will displease Allah. The person who has taqwa stays away from anything that will lead to sin, they stay away from being sucked into the gravitational field.

-Wajl: This type of fear is after a person has committed a sin. This type of fear is after the fact, after something occurs. This is where your heart starts trembling when you’ve done something wrong, when the guilt kicks in. This is a type of fear necessary for repentance.

-Ar Rahab: This type of fear is one that makes you lose the pleasures of this world. This is one of the most terrifying types of fear and its used in a Qur’an for a certain type people- for Bani Israil who were so immersed in this world and so engrossed in worldy pleasures and so the fear that Allah wants from them is one that will negate this type of addiction to the world. Its specifically used for people that are so engrossed in dunya that they have no motivations for the hereafter.

Sometimes, fear is a healthy start to get into the Deen. Usually for younger people like children, hope and mercy is a better approach, but for older people sometimes fear really works. “Don’t be afraid to be afraid”. We all need a balance of hope & fear. We all need a healthy fear of Allah, May Allah help us establish the balance.

*Notes from Nouman Ali Khan’s “Fearing Allah”