The State of Repentance
Imam Ibn ul Qayyim al Jawziyyah
Madaarij as-Saalikeen
AlJumuah Magazine
The state of repentance, tawbah, is at the beginning, the middle and the end of all states of submission to the will of Allah. The servant who seeks the pleasure of Allah never abandons tawbah. He remains in the state of tawbah until his death. Whatever his state of belief, the servant makes tawbah his constant companion. Thus, tawbah is at the beginning and at the end of his servitude to his Creator. His need for tawbah at the end, just as at the beginning, overrides, and supersedes all other needs. Allah says: "And turn to Allah altogether (make tawbah), O you who believe so that you may succeed," (24:31)
The verse above is contained within a Madinan Surah (revealed after the migration to Madinah), in which Allah addresses the people of emaan, who are the best of His creation. He calls upon them to make tawbah "turn in repentance" to Him after they had already believed, gone through hardships, trials of faith, executed patience, migrated and performed jihad. Allah then made success conditional on perfecting such tawbah, as the effect is often conditional on the cause. No one can hope for success, except: those who make tawbah. Allah says: "And those who do not make tawbah are indeed the dhaalimoon (wrongdoers)." (49:11)
Allah divides His servants into two categories only: the repentant and the wrongdoers. There is no third category. Allah calls those who do not make tawbah, "dhaalimoon" (wrongdoers and transgressors) and no one is more of a wrongdoer and a transgressor than a person who does not repent for his evil actions. This state is a result of a person's ignorance of his Lord and the rights due to Him, as well as, his own defects and the evil of his deeds. The Prophet, sallallahu alayeh wa sallam, is reported to have said: "O people, make tawbah to Allah. By Allah, I make tawbah to Him more than seventy times each day." (Bukhari)
His companions used to count for him in each congregation his saying one hundred times: "My Lord, forgive me and accept my repentance, for You are At-Tawwab (the One who accept repentance), Al-Ghafoor (The Oft Forgiving)." The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, is also reported to have said: "No one will be rescued (on the Day of Judgment) by his deeds. They (his companions) asked even you Messenger of Allah? He said, even me, unless Allah would grant me His mercy and Grace."
May Allah's blessings and peace be upon His Messenger, the most knowledgeable among His creation of Him, His Rights, His Greatness and what servitude He deserves. He is the most knowledgeable of servitude and its requirements and the most committed in servitude to Allah.
The Starter (Fatihah) of Tawbah
Tawbah is the return of the servant to Allah. It is also his turning away from the path of those with whom Allah is angry and those who are astray. This returning cannot be done except by Allah's guidance to the Straight Path. The servant will not attain guidance except through Allah's help and the servant's submithrough tawheed. Suratul-Fatihah explains this concept in the most complete and eloquent manner.
Whoever appreciates Surat-ul-Fatihah and gives it is right estimate, through knowledge, contemplation upon its facts and by living its directives, will realise that one cannot recite it, with the true recitation of a servant, unless one makes sincere tawbah. The perfect guidance to the Straight Path cannot be attained with the indifference to sins or the persistence on sins. Indifference to sins negates the knowledge of guidance. Persistent sinning negates the intention and the will of the servant. Thus, tawbah will not be valid except after one recognises the sins, admits to them and seeks to rid oneself of their evil consequences.
Seeking Refuge from Sin
The first aspect of tawbah, then, is to see how one was taken away from seeking the pleasure of Allah, by committing sins. Next, one has to recognize that Allah didn't safeguard him from sin. One should also ponder how happy one was while sinning and being persistent on the sin, while knowing with surety that Allah ever watches over whatever is done in the heavens or on the earth. If the servant had sought refuge in Allah, he would not have gone away from the guidance of obedience, "And whoever holds firmly to Allah, then he is indeed guided to a Right Path." (3:101)
If one's holding onto Allah is firm, one would never be forsaken by Allah, "And hold firmly to Allah, He is your Mawlaa (Protector) and what an excellent Mawlaa and what an excellent Naseer (Helper)." (22:78)
In other words, whenever we hold firm to Him, He will become our Protector and He will support us against our nafs (inclinations) and the Shaytan. These two enemies, the nafs and Satan, are the ones that do not leave the servant for even a moment. Their enmity is more harmful to the servant than the enemies from without. Attaining victory over such enemies is more difficult, and the servant's need for such a victory is far more important. The degree of help rendered to defeat these enemies is dependent upon the degree of our dependence and holding onto Allah. If we do not hold firmly to Allah, we will go away from Allah's protection. This is indeed the true loss. Allah could have aided us in staying away from sins, however, because we deserted Him, we were allowed to listen to any obey our nafs. If He wished to protect us, the sin would not have found a way to get to us.
When the servant becomes heedless of the consequences of sin, he finds pleasure when he satisfies unlawful desires. This pleasure in disobedience is evidence of his ignorance of the Greatness of the One of disobeys, and his ignorance of the evil consequences of sins and evil actions. His pleasure with sin has concealed all of this from his sight. In fact, his pleasure with sin is more harmful to him than perpetrating the sin itself. The believer can never have any pleasure from sin. He cannot have complete satisfaction with it. On the contrary, he would not even pursue it, except with grief in his heart. But the intoxication of the desires obscures one from feeling this remorse. When the heart becomes empty from such grief and one is happy with sin, then one should question his faith and weep for the death of his heart. If one were alive, he would be sad for the perpetration of any sin, big or small. The evil effects of sin, more times than not, go
unnoticed in us and in our brothers and sisters in Islam. Diligences in constant self-evaluation is necessary in leading us away from sin and its destructive ends. One can do this by focusing on the following.
1. The fear of dying before making tawbah.
2. Remorse about the good that was missed because of the disobedience of Allah.
3. Working seriously on regaining what has been missed.
If one becomes completely heedless then one becomes persistent, which means constant disobedience with the intention to perform the sin again and again. This by itself is another sin that could be far greater than the first. Part of the punishment for sin is that it leads to a greater sin, then another, and so on until it completely and certainly destroys the person if he does not repent.
Persistence on sin is another sin. Not attempting to rectify the sin means persistence on it and satisfaction with it. This is the sign of ruin. Worse than all of that, is the commission of sin in public when we are sure that Allah watches and sees everything from above His Throne. If we believe that Allah watches us, yet we proceed to commit sins publicly, this is a great contradiction. But if we don't believe that He watches us, then we are completely out of the realm of Islam.
There are two considerations for a sinner: lack of embarrassment from Allah knowing that Allah's sight watches over all, and lack of fear to go out of the deen. Therefore, one of the conditions of the acceptance of tawbah is that a person should firmly believe that Allah was watching and that He will always watch over him. He sees everything during the perpetration of sins.
The reality of tawbah is to return to Allah is not sound or complete without the knowledge of the Lord's names and attributes and their manifestations within Himself and in the world. The repenting servant should know that he was running away from his Lord, captured in the grip of his enemy. He didn't fall into the claws of his enemy except as a result of his ignorance of his Lord and his daring to go against Him. He should know how and when he became ignorant, and how and when he was captured. He should believe that tawbah requires great determination and complete awareness to rescue himself from the enemy and be able to return and run back, to his Lord Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim. He should realise that returning to his Lord is actually turning away from the road of destruction, where his enemy had taken him. He should know the number of steps taken away from his Lord and the efforts and obstacles that he must strongly work on to get back to the Straight
Path.
..pray with imaam until he finishes witr..
It has been observed that some people pray complete Taraweeh with the Imaam but as soon as the Imaam gets up for Witr, they leave the Masjid. They think that they will not be able to pray Nafil Salaah at the later part of the night as Witr should be the last prayer and furthermore it is not permissible to pray two Witr in one night..But by not completing with Imam, they are missing a great reward concerning which Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said : "Whoever prays qiyaam with the Imaam until he finishes, will be recorded as having spent the whole night in prayer." Al-Tirmidhi (806), classed as Sahih by Imaam Al-Albaani [rahimahullaah] in Sahih Al-Tirmidhi
So in order to achieve the above mentioned reward there are two ways
1.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz [rahimahullaah] was asked : Some people, when they offer Witr with the Imam and he says Taslim (salutation of peace ending the Prayer), they get up and add another Rak'ah (unit of Prayer), because they want to offer Witr later at night. What is the ruling on this action? Are they considered to have prayed with the Imam until he finished?
He replied : We do not know of any opinion on the part of the scholars objecting to doing so. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with this, so that one can pray Witr at the end of the night.
Anyone who does so is considered to have prayed with the Imam until he finished, because they continued to pray with him until he concluded the Salah, and added another Rak'ah for a Shar'y (Islamic legal) reason, which is to offer Witr later in the night. There is nothing wrong with this, and it does not exclude them from having offered Qiyam (optional Prayer at night) with the Imam until he finished. Rather, they prayed with the Imam until he finished, but they did not finish with him - they delayed it a little longer. End quote. Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn Baaz [http://goo.gl/83Oi9]
So, one may stay with Imaam until he finishes Witr and if he desire to pray more Nafil Salaah at home then he will add one more rak'ah after the Imaam finishes Witr, returning home he will pray Witr after Nafil Salaah before Fajr. It is to be noted that he will recite tashahhud and durood even in the last rak'ah with the imaam without Taslim
2.
There is a fatwa by Shaykh Ibn Baaz along with other Scholars from the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta of Saudi Arabia on the permissibility of offering two Rak`ahs (unit of Prayer) after Witr based on some ahadith including the one which is related by Imam Ahmad [rahimahullaah] on the authority of Um Salamah (radi allahu anha) that the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) used to offer two Rak`ahs after praying the Witr while he was sitting. [http://goo.gl/JQVQY]
conclusion : one may adopt any of the two position although we see the second position to be more stronger or if one wish not to pray any Nafil Salaah at home then upon him is to finish Witr with Imaam and Insha'Allaah it will be recorded as he have spent the whole night in prayer according to hadith mentioned in the beginning.
For Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen [rahimahullaah] fatwa on this subject please visit [http://goo.gl/BEVm2]
Abu Mariyah Junaid Bin Munawar Bin Ali Al-Hindi
haqkidawat
Blog : http://haqkidawat.wordpress.com
Twitter : @haqkidawat
The Miracle of Positive Thinking
By Sister Shahnaaz Bemath
Thinking positive can work miracles. You may have been told to "guard your thoughts", but felt the advice to be pointless. After all, your thoughts are private. How can they possibly affect someone else? The fact is, thoughts do seem to boomerang in some mysterious ways. Science has not found a way to measure them as they have invisible sound waves. In order to understand how positive thinking works, and how to use it efficiently, it is important to understand the power of negative thinking.
"Negative thoughts and tensions are like birds. We cannot stop them from flying near us but, we can certainly stop them from making a nest in our mind."The mind can be directed towards positive thinking or negative thinking. The power of thought is a neutral power. The way one thinks determines whether the results are positive and beneficial or negative and harmful. It is the same of energy acting in different ways. Persistent inner work can change habits of thoughts. You must be willing to put energy and time to avoid negative thinking and pursue positive thinking, in order to change your mental attitude. Think of those things which are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, in other words, to fill your mind with noble, good thoughts, leaving no room for negative ones to take root.
The Noble Messenger of ALLAH (peace be upon him) has reported that ALLAH, The Most Wise, said:
"I treat my servant as how he thinks of Me" (Hadith- Bukhari/ Muslim). In other words, ALLAH TA'ALA treats His servant in the way how he thinks of ALLAH, what he hopes from and how he sets his hopes on ALLAH. So, those who come positive and with a great hope to the door of Mercy of the Almighty Creator will Insha Allah not return empty-handed.
The most powerful weapon you have at your disposal is Du'a (prayer). Use it and use it often. The basis of prayer is to lift us and situations to Almighty ALLAH -- an inner act of visualisation. A further step is to contemplate on our beautiful teachings of Islam -- this involves controlling and directing out thoughts. A simple way to think of this is to imagine your mind to be like a garden. That garden can be spoilt and overrun by negative, destructive thoughts (weeds), or it can become a place of peace and harmony by the cultivation of flowers (uplifting thoughts).
"Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers. Or you can grow weeds."Are you prone to depression? Do you see your life as a hopeless mess... consider yourself a failure? If you do, then you will close your mind, see no opportunities, and behave and react in such ways, as to repel people and opportunities. You let the power of negative thinking rule your life. Try replacing such negative thoughts with positive ones. Talk to your beloved ALLAH, ALLAH does not create a lock without a key, and ALLAH doesn't give you problems without its solutions. Trust HIM! While recognising these problems, picture yourself as mastering each one. Visualise yourself handling each situation creatively; being a success; gradually allowing your given potential to blossom.
The beloved Messenger of ALLAH (Sallallaahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) advised us if you look forward to good things, it will happen In'Shaa'ALLAH. Thinking positive is a very important element of Islam. Always think that ALLAH has a plan for you, if something goes wrong, it will probably lead you to something good. HE is working things out for you, even if you don't feel it. Have faith and be thankful. Where faith and hope grows, miracles blossoms, ALLAHU AKBAR!
At first, this kind of thought control may seem like an inner game -- but you'll be surprised at how, slowly but surely, your outer circumstances begin to change. For thought precedes action, and the right thoughts precede a chain of good actions. Destructive thoughts, on the other hand, act as poisoning agents. They embitter and limit the thinker, preventing him or her from developing good relationships, because others sense the wrong thoughts telepathically, and shy away instinctively.
Conversely, if you greet people with the thought that they'll probably be nice to know, such a positive thought will affect their response. If you're afraid of someone, replace that fear with a thought which recognises that the person's given potential "core" is probably hidden under layers of unhappiness and wrong thinking. Silently bless that person, and ask that his or her true self be given a chance to manifest.
A friend was once terribly upset because someone was spreading false rumours about her. She could not deny the rumour publicly. All she could do was pray for the woman, try to think about her charitably and visualise her acting differently. She did this consistently for some weeks. One day, unexpectedly, the woman phoned her to apologise and say she'd been mistaken, Subhaan-ALLAH! It seemed like a miracle! But right thinking can work miracles... Life has many different chapters for us. One bad chapter doesn't mean the end of the book. Be positive and keep your faith in ALLAH. Once we function in harmony with ALLAH'S beautiful laws of love and forgiveness -- and this includes spreading good, true and beautiful thoughts -- our lives will flower as they were meant to.
"Think positive, Think different. Don't waste your precious energy on negative thoughts."Decide that from today, from this very moment, you are leaving negative thinking behind, and starting on the way towards positive thinking and behaviour. It is never too late. Soon your life will turn into a fascinating, wonderful journey. Wake up every morning with the thought that something beautiful is about to happen. Let's welcome each day with a smile and bid farewell with a smile. We thank ALLAH for HIS blessings. Take advantage of our positive energy and employ them in doing well in this life. Let's learn, read and after that, we will find the entire universe will extend to us it's heart and the whole world will hug us with its beauty... Subhaan-ALLAH!
There is something beautiful in life. You just have to find it....be positive and it will find you! ONE CREATOR – ONE MESSAGE
[Fasting, Enjoined for all generations]
The QURAN
"O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.." [Quran - 2:183]
The BIBLE
"Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;" [Joel 2:12]
http://al-tanzil.com/In_The_Name_of_ALLAH.html RAMADAN, A TENET OF FAITH IN ISLAM
BY ALLAH'S COMMAND, Fasting Prescribed for Believers
"O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that ye may ward off (evil)" [2:183 - Pickthall]
The Prophet (pbuh) has said:
[Bukhari, Book #2, Hadith #7]
Narrated Ibn 'Umar: Allah's Apostle said: Islam is based on (the following) five (principles):
1. To testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is Allah's Apostle. 2. To offer the (compulsory congregational) prayers dutifully and perfectly.
3. To pay Zakat (i.e. obligatory charity) .
4. To perform Hajj. (i.e. Pilgrimage to Mecca)
5. To observe fast during the month of Ramadan.
http://al-tanzil.com/01_Ramadan.html
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