by Islamic Spirituality
http://islamicspiritualityk.wordpress.com/
[Some highlights from a very powerful talk delivered by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed damatbarakatuhu]
إِنَّمَا بَغْيُكُمْ عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ
[10:23]
ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ
[30:41]
سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ
وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِينَ
وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
[37:180-182]
[Download original Talk's mp3]
In this present day and time in this country of Pakistan and Worldwide, theres a great many people who, due to the situation in your country, feel greatly distrurbed, feel deeply disturbed about the halaat(conditions) and you find that everybody is saying in urdu:
“hum buhat pareshan hain”…yahan tak ke koi deen ki baat ker bhi nahi sakta.
Agar aap deen ka bayan shru ker dein tu log kehte hain k maulvi sahib aap zara halaat per baat kerein”
Today, I’m going to speak to you about your halaat, today I’m going to tell you what is the cure for your halaat and believe it or not, the cure for your halaat is exactly what the ullema of the deen of Islam would have told you. I’m going to state it very clearly at the outset, and I’m going to establish it with the Qur’an: Unless you fix your individual halaat you have no hope, absolutely no chance whatsoever, for your collective halaat to get improved.
So, I will establish to you this premise from the Qur’an-e-karim and then I’m going to tell you how is our own individual halaat in the times that we live in.
Allah swt says in the Qur’an-e-karim:
إِنَّمَا بَغْيُكُمْ عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ
[10:23]
That know humanity that whatever you do is going to come back to haunt you [I’m translating this loosely] that whatever you do is going to come back to haunt you so if you seek to live a life as an individ fil hayaat id-dunya ual, as a family, as a society, as a community, as a country, as an ummah distant from the ahkaam of Allah swt , distant from the teachings in the life of Sayyidina RasoolAllah saw
عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ
it is going to come back to haunt you, it is going to come back and plague you and then Allah swt says in the Qur’an-e-karim:
ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ
that how does fasad become apparent, when does it manifest itself [everybody feels we are living in a fasaad ka zamana]
فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ
on land and on water
بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ
That what is the sabab of it? – What human beings themselves do, what we ourselves earned, our own actions that is what brings fasaad.
Fasaad does not come about on its own.
Allah swt is saying very clearly bima kasabat aidiyannaas that Fasad is a product of what we ourselves earned. Its our ‘amaal or in many cases our lack of certain amaal that has lead to the situation that we are in right now. Infact, I would suggest to you that if we wereto be honest: our bad amaal or our lack of good ‘amaal actually warrant and justify that much more should be happening right now, it is infact a dua of RasoolAllah saw that has saved this ummah from the azaab of Allah swt:
It is mentioned in hadith that Jibraeel AS came to him at a particular moment and told him that the duas that you make at this moment, Allah swt will accept them and theres a masjid that is marking this place that is on walking distance from Masjid-e-Nabwi to Madina Munawwara and in this masjid, sayiddina RasoolAllah sawe made a few duas, one of the duas was that Ya Allah swt, I make dua to You that You never Put an azaab on my Ummah.
It is just due to this dua that we have not fallen under the azaab of Allah swt, otherwise as an Ummah we are doing sins the like of which have not in any way been exceeded by the Qaum of Aad and Thamud. We are an ummah who have left the teachings of our Book and our Prophet..not unlike the previous communities left the teachings of their Book and their Prophet.
This is our real haqiqat; this is our real reality.
Now, before we continue I want to show you, a few more ayahs in the Qur’an-e-karim, in which Allah swt Has Promised His Madad, His Nusrat, His Nijaa’at to the mo’mineen; in which Allah swt in the Qur’an-e-Karim Has Promised that He will help the believers, and after going through these ayahs we will have only two possible questions left to ask ourselves that:
Are we believers? Have we stopped being believers? Or Has Allah swt stopped being Allah swt? There are only two possibilities!
1. Allah swt says in the Quran:
إِنَّا لَنَنْصُرُ رُسُلَنَا
Indeed! certainly we will help our messengers and prophets
وَالَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا
And (certainly Indeed we will help) the people of Imaan
فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا
in their worldly matters
[40:51]
Allah (swt) is promising and invoking with emphasis His nusrat for the people who believe. And He is saying in this ayah that He is going to help them as much and as certainly as He helped his messengers and prophets. All of us are Alhamdullilah familiar with the sirah of Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) and how much Allah (swt)’s madad and nusrat came. Whether it is Badr, all the way to Fatah-e-Makkah, all the way from Badr till after Fateh Makkah. Allah (swt)’s miraculous madad came on Prophet (saw) and Allah (swt) is pledging with equal certainty and surety that He will help the believers in their worldly lives.
2, Q: And then We will give nijaat to messengers and prophets and just like that we will grant nijaat to the believers.
We will free them and take them out of their pareshan halaat. We will grant nijaat Allah (swt) says it is lazim on Him. We talk about Haqooq Allah; Allah’s rights over us. We talk about Haqooqul Ibaad; other’s rights over us. Here Allah (swt) has used the word Haq ul Alaina that it is a Haq on Allah (swt) to give madad and nusrat to the believers. Allahu Akbar Kabeera! This is how far Allah (swt) has gone.
The words used in both ayat were Al’lazeena Aminoo and Mu’mineen. So it’s not something just for the mutaqeen, muhsineen, sadiqeen or sabireen. It is for the basic entry level Ummati, a person who is amongst the mu’mineen Allah (swt) has promised and made it mandatory upon Himself their nusrat and nijaat.
So there are only these options left:
a) Either Allah (swt) has stopped being Allah (swt) [Na’auzubillah] and that’s why He is not giving His nusrat and nijaad.
b) Or He is still Allah (swt) but He has broken His promise. He is not true to His Kalaam, the Quran al kareem [Na’auzubillah]
c) Or the other possibility, which is the true reality, is that we have stopped being such believers who would get His nusrat and nijaat, this promised help from Allah (swt).
Just in case a person thinks that no we still have to strategize we still have to plan because only we know who our enemies are and who are plotting against us, whether they are within the country or out of the country. We should spend hours and hours watching television programs every single night. This is what our whole country has been doing. Anywhere from 1 to 6 hours every single person in this country is either watching television, listening to the radio or reading the newspapers, doing what you call ‘tabsira on the halaat’. And then when they turn the program off and they look at one another and they do ‘tabsira ala tabsira’.
We have become people who do tabsira ala tabsira, while Allah (swt) wanted us to become Noor-‘ala-Noor. It is only because we have not become noor ala noor, that we are doing tabsira ala tabsira.
This is our response to the situation.
We think we can somehow figure out what is going on, we can engage in news and analysis and the wonderful programs on television from one channel to another channel. Has this brought you even an inch closer to solving your problem? Has this brought you even an inch closer to the aman which you so desperately want and have so vainly lost due to your own actions.
Imagine now those same 150 million people spending 1 to 5 hours making dua to Allah (swt) in about 30 days let’s say 1 hour per day, so 150*30 = 4.5 billion hours could have been spent making dua to Allah (swt). You tell me, had 4.5 million hours been spent in making dua to Allah (swt), you don’t think His nusrat and nijaat would have come?
You have under-estimated the power of Islam and you have over-estimated the power of news analysis.
We have failed to understand how our deen teaches us to respond to these halaat. Let’s say some of you are thinking that all these ayaat are saying Al’lazeena aaminoo and mu’mineen tou wohi na ijtamaai halaat theek houn gey tou phir infradi halaat theek houn gey.
So here’s another ayah of the Quran al Kareem which makes it clear, it’s a crystal clear verse:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْفُسَكُمْ
[5:105] O you who believe! It is laazim on you to fix your ownselves.
Remember the 2nd verse? That helping the believers is laazim on Allah (swt). Now what is laazim on you O believers is your ownselves.
Fix yourselves! Fix your own individual selves. This is what we are being taught in Arabic grammar muqabila tul jama ala jama it means taqseem ul ifraad ala ifraad.
I’ll explain to you giving an example.
Allah (swt) says all of you should wash all of your faces. It doesn’t mean all of you should get together and start washing each other’s faces together. It means each and every one of you should wash your own face. Alaikum anfusikum means each and every one of you should fix your ownselves! That is what is laazim on you. If you can fix just one 6 feet body of your ownself, and each and every one can do this, then Allah (swt) will Himself take care of the nusrat and the nijaat and the madad for all of the mu’mineen and muslimeen.
Then Allah (swt) goes further to say
عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْفُسَكُمْ لَا يَضُرُّكُمْ مَنْ ضَلَّ إِذَا اهْتَدَيْتُمْ
[5:105]
Mand’alla is that person who has gone astray, who is on zalalat. La yuzurrukum means that person on zalalat will not be able to harm you in any way. Those who are astray and those who wish to lead you astray will not be able to harm you in any way.
When will that happen? When you do Alaikum anfusikum – > when you took care of your ownself.
Allah (swt) says that Allah knows better of who your true enemies are. So He is the most perfect to do our nusrat and nijaat. And He has said simply that all you have to do is fix you own self. Further He says that no way will any person who is astray or wishes for you to go astray will ever be able to harm you ‘iza hidaytum’ if you submit to hidaya. If you follow the hidaya, if you follow the deen, if you follow the Quran and the Sunnah of Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) there is no way that anyone will be able to harm you. And all of you will return to Allah (swt) collectively and Allah (swt) will inform you that what it is that you used to do.
Better to figure it out in our lives that what is it that we are doing which has led to this state of affairs rather than being informed by Allah (swt) on THAT day what it is that we were doing that caused these state of affairs! Allah (swt) has told us clearly what it is that we are supposed to do.
There’s another feature to our dilemma We have been born in an age of fitnah.
Those who are younger are born, while some of us who are a bit older are living and witnessing the age of fitnah. This is even more intense.
Allah (swt) says that fitnah is even more devastating than murder. And we are worried about the murders and killing that has begun recently while we have been in the state of fitnah for several years. But we are blind to it. Most of us are still oblivious. Abhi hamein khabar nahi ayi k ham kitne paani mein hein, infradi taur par ya ijtamai taur par. We are just worried about our own individual aman. There are people in Pakistan making plans of going to Dubai, or of going to Bahraih… o shabash! Little runaway havens worrying about their kids, right?
They still don’t understand, they still don’t get it. You’re not going to be safe in Dubai. Not in this age of fitnah. That’s not the response that Allah (swt) wants. You are supposed to fix yourselves. You are supposed to be a means to fix this society.
Now what does fitnah mean?
Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) in the Hadith has defined fitnah in several ways, in case anybody thinks that we are not sure that we are in the age of fitnah. There are many Ahadith describing fitnah. In fact, muhaditheen have gathered these Ahadith into chapters named kitaab ul fitan. In one hadith Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) says
‘Fitnah will occur in you just like the rain falls ‘
So fitnah will occur just like a downpour. That will be the age of fitnah. Not just one fitnah, but a downpour of fitnas.
How is the age of fitnah defined in Ahadith?
1. This is that age when it will be difficult to tell who is right and who is wrong. There will be so many fitnas that you won’t know for sure who is Haq (truthful) and who is Batil (wrong). There will be many people out there trying to convince you. But deep in your heart you won’t really know for sure what is going on. The age in which we won’t be able to tell what is truth and what is falsehood. That is also the age of media. The age of media actually fits very well with the age of fitnah.
2. The age of fitnah will be such that disobedience to Allah (swt) will become widespread. This is something that is clearly apparent in the urban centers of this country. And it’s not something only confined to the youth. Whether it’s people in their 40’s 50’s or 60’s you find within them 24 hours of widespread range of sins. For some of them the sin starts off when they sleep through their fajr Salah. For some of them their entire day is spent in sin as they work in interest bearing banks. Sin is common and widespread. It is unrepentant and unabashed. Sin means to do anything against the will of Allah (swt) and/or to do anything against the practice and teachings of Syedna Rasool Allah (saw). Some of us have fooled ourselves by believing only fuhish (vulgarity) is a sin. So a person thinks no I’m not a bad person because he thinks that he doesn’t do anything vulgar or obscene. Because we have misunderstood sin. Yes there are sins which also have vulgarity in them. But sins means anything done against the pleasure and wish of Allah (swt) and against the teachings and practice of Syedna Rasool Allah (saw).
3. The age of fitnah is such that the crimes will become rampant. Crimes whether theft, burglary, corruption, bribery, murder, rape, they have become rampant. These are the sign, by the way, which Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) is mentioning will take place within the ummat-e-Muslima in the age of fitnah.
4. People will present proofs for falsehood which aren’t proofs for it and they will present proofs to refute the truth which aren’t proofs against it. This again we see in media. People giving you reasons why such and such thing is correct. But if you pause for a moment you’d realize ye tou is ki daleel banti hi nahi hai.
5. In the time of fitnah one of the signs that will occur in this Ummah is that two groups of Muslim Ummah will fight one another and kill one another and the one killing the other one would not know why he killed the other one. And the one killed would not know for what crime he was killed.
This has been further explained in another Hadith of Syedna Rasool Allah (saw): When two Muslims meet one another with weapons, both the killer and the one being killed will both go to jahannum. These days some of you like to think that both are shaheed. Maybe you think one of them is shaheed. But according to Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) they are both jahannumi. It’s because they both intended to kill without justification.
So me and you are living not just in difficult times, but we are living in an age of fitnah. In this age of fitnah it’s all the more important for us to know what our deen tells us to do. I’m going to go even one step further. And I’m going to tell you that one thing that is mentioned in the Hadith are the signs of the age of fitnah, up till now I’ve given you some of those signs. Then there’s a second set of Hadith that mentions not just the sign and the alamaat of the age of fitnah, but another phrase is used ‘the alamaat of qurb e qiyyamah’. That there are certain signs, and again these are the signs that are going to take place inside the Ummah, that indicate the closeness of the end of time. Now people don’t understand, they don’t realize in fact many of you enjoy studying this Hadith but these Hadith were said by Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) for a reason. When you try to signal something to a person, you want them to get the signal. So by giving the alamaat Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) wants us to realize that you are living in the age of end of time. There’s a particular fitnah related to the age of end of time and that fitnah is called fitnatul Dajjal.
This is the greatest fitnah to inflict the humanity. Even Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) used to make dua ‘Allahumma inni aoozubika min fitnati Dajja’ [O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the fitnah of Dajjal]. Such a big fitnah that all of the Sahaaba karam, tabieen, all of the great Muslims, Muslims who had real Imaan and taqwah used to seek refuge from the fitnah of Dajjal. And me and you who have weak Imaan and taqwah, we’re not even thinking, we’re not even opening up our eyes to all of these alamaat, we’re not even realizing that the age of fitnah of Dajjal had begun.
Nobody knows when Dajjal will show himself. Nobody can tell when zuhur e Dajjal will take place. But the fajr of that age has begun because the alamaat are maujood. When does the fajr start? When the time of sunrise is close and the alamaat can be seen. So if these alamaat that I will be mentioning are already here then that means that the time of coming of Dajjal is near. However, nobody can ever tell you how close you are. Normally when the fajr starts it takes about one and a half hour for the sun to rise. When the fajr of Dajjal starts we don’t know it could take 10 years, 20 years, 50 years or even 100 years before Dajjal comes. But it means that Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) wants us to take a lesson that the time is qareeb. That we are living close to that time. It may happen in our lifetime or in our children’s lifetime, maybe our grandchildren’s lifetime. But there’s a mentality which Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) was trying to create by telling us these signs. And not only are we going to notice the signs that I’m going to tell you, rather we are drowning in these signs.
We are drenched in the realities that were mentioned in Ahadith 1400 years ago but we are still not able to take a simple ibrat. In fact there’s a famous Arabic proverb which will tell us something about ibrat. “A good person is he who takes ibrat from others, while a badbakht is he who becomes an ibrat for others.” We have two choices. Either we choose to take ibrat. If we don’t take ibrat from these things and fix ourselves then we will become an ibrat for people who come.
So let’s look at the ilamaat and signs which have been mentioned in the Hadith.
There are many of them but we are only going to do a few:
1. My Ummah will miss their prayers.
Now you should also think, imagine who is hearing this. Me and you are listening to this now. But imagine Sahaaba karam listening to this. They would have been stunned. They would have thought Ya Rasool Allah (saw) we are giving our lives in Uhad and Badr for this Deen. We are giving our lives for the sake that this Ummat should continue and you are telling us that there will come a time when this Ummat will voluntarily leave Salah, which to them was more basic and more essential than food and drink.
I can only imagine what the Sahaaba must have thought at that moment. And they would have thought that surely such a thing would be the beginning of the end. They would have thought such a state when the Ummat would miss faraiz Salah waqai uss pe tou qayamat ko ana hi chahiye. Aur ham khud namaz chorne walay iss baat ko nahi samajhte. Allahu Akbar Kabeera!
There are a very few Muslims left today who pray five times a day. It’s very shocking for me to tell you this. It’s like telling you that they don’t have the most basic thing such as water. The human race would have died out. Actually the mu’mineen have died out. Mu’mineen and Al’lazeena amino are an endangered species. Because they are so few that’s why this nusrat and nijaat doesn’t come. A naik Musalman today is that who prays four or four and a half times a day. And a University naik is that who only prays Jumma. That’s the university level of Islam.
Some of our uncles are naik who offer the Eid prayer. That’s the uncle level of Islam. Right at the first alaamat we are there. In fact the missing of the prayers is so widespread that we would say this has been going on for quite some time, don’t think that this is new k abhi qareeb aa gaye hein because of a couple of bombs that hit us 2009. These alamaat have been there for several years.
2. The people in the Ummat will betray one another’s trust. They will do khayanat in amanaat. They will betray and leave their promises unfulfilled… broken promises.
3. Riba and interest will be widespread and rampant.
Today you go to any commercial market in any neighborhood of any city in this country you will find several institutions called banks that openly, unabashedly and proudly have their windows advertising that they are ready to offer you a loan on such and such rate of interest. And the thing is we don’t understand, we don’t feel that to be vulgar. The vulgarity and obscenity of riba is as much as zina, no less. It’s as shameful as zina.
As far as I’m concerned a man that works in a bank is as shameful as someone working 9 to 5 in a prostitution rank. I see no difference between the two. That’s what my deen tells me. That’s the mizaj that our deen is trying to create. You think you should have repulsion on the basis of your tabiyat? No! You should have repulsion on the basis of what Allah (swt) has forbidden. And a thing that Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) has mentioned that will bring about the end of time for this Ummah, how can you not be repulsed by such a thing?
How can you not feel a moral outrage, this is what we call in English. That you should feel a moral outrage. Just like you would feel if a vulgarity took place such openly, you should feel the same level of moral outrage at the presence of these institutions in your society. We don’t feel that, at all.
4. Lying will be widespread.
5. Murder will be widespread.
6. The believers will sell their deen for a small price.
That’s what happens when people miss their prayer. You go to any commercial centre in any city and just see what happens during Jumma. The vast majority of people do not pray Jumma. Aap k aksar dukaandar Jumme k liye nahi jaate hein. The majority of your corporate workplace does not go for Jumma. If you go to a store and let’s say the Medical Store owner decides not to go for a Jumma. Let’s just talk about the farz of Jumma. How long does it takes? It would take 20 minutes max, although you could get done with even less than that.
So let’s see what is it that this owner is doing in those 20 minutes instead of praying Jumma. What exactly did that guy earn? Maybe he sells Rs. 500 or 600 worth of medicine. Maybe he sells Rs. 1000 worth of medicine. Within 20 minutes he’s not going to sell much. What’s the cost of that medicine? Probably Rs. 700 or 800. So what did he do? For Rs. 200 to 300 he decided to leave his Jumma. Had he closed the shop how much would he have lost? What was the cost of that 20 minutes of closure of shop? Just a few 100 rupees. That’s it.
Chand 100 rupay k liye. That’s what Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) said that they will sell their deen for a small price. Now this is what Allah (swt) says about the kuffar from the ahl-e-kitaab that “they sold their soul for a cheap price.” And this is the exact same thing that Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) said about his Ummah that they will also sell their deen for a small price. That would be a sign for the end of time.
7. Zulm (oppression) would become widespread. Within 48 hours you have 120.000 refugees from Waziristan. Who are they? They are all mazlumeen. This is their shar’ai definition. Within a period of 2 days you can create this many mazlumeen. That’s phenomenal.
8. Talaq (divorce) would be widespread.
9. People will die sudden deaths. Heart attack, strokes, to name a few.
10. The Muslims will blame others for their problems. Allahu Akbar! Muslims will blame others; they won’t think that it’s their own earning or their own fault. They will blame others for their difficulties.
11. There will be hot weather.
Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) said there will be hot weather despite rains. He added that lest a person thinks that rains would stop. English tarjuma of this would be: Global warming. Green house gases. This was predicted by Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) 1400 years ago and mentioned as an alaama of qurb-e-qiyamah. That means Muslims only after knowing the first sign, let alone so many signs, should take ibrat. We don’t do that.
12. The leaders of the Muslimeen will be from the zalimeen.
The unjust and undeserving people will be amongst the leaders of the Muslims.
13. The hudood will be suspended. What is hudood? Hudood is Allah (swt)’s own stipulated punishment for those things which Allah (swt) has Himself declared to be a crime.
Now tell me as Muslims, if Allah (swt) declared something to be a crime and then Allah (swt) Himself said what the punishment should be for that crime then we should at least in act those punishments, if nothing else. That’s the easiest open case of criminal law. That those things that Allah has said is a crime and the punishment He has set for those crimes, that is what is hudood. “Hudood will be suspended.” English tarjuma: women’s protection act.
14. Children will disobey parents.
Children will lose their respect and will start disobeying their parents in matters that are permissible. In fact what happens is that children today are obeying their parents in disobedience to Allah (swt). Or the children are being asked by the parents to obey them in disobeying Allah (swt).
There was a time when parents used to ask their children to obey them in an equal obedience to Allah (swt) and now the parents ask their children to obey them in an equal disobedience to Allah (swt). They want their children to not look a certain way, not to dress a certain way, not to act a certain way, not to follow the deen, not to follow Sunnah, not to follow shari’ah. So then they command their children not to do so.
Sometimes they invoke this right that Allah (swt) has given them, that o my son or daughter, doesn’t your religion tell you to obey your parents? At that time they say your religion they don’t even say our religion. Know that the deen of Islam and the Quran doesn’t anywhere say that you must obey your parents. The Qur’an says you must be kind and respectful to your parents. Obedience lies to Allah (swt) and His messenger alone.
Yes, you can obey your parents as long as their obedience doesn’t mean disobeying Allah (swt). There’s no obedience to a creation if that obedience equals disobedience to the Creator. That’s not possible. The same Allah (swt) who has allowed their children to be kind and respectful to them how can those same parents twist that right of Allah (swt) and tell their kids to disobey Allah (swt)!
15. Singers will be given a great status in society. Singers will be given a maqam of izzah in society. English tarjuma: celebrity… celebrity musician. Allahu Akbar! Koi soch sakta tha k these would be the celebrities of your time. And this is again referring to inside the Ummah itself.
16. The later Muslims will curse and slander the earlier Muslims. They will say that the earlier Muslims didn’t know anything. The earlier Muslims just came up with ijtihad based on the top of their head. The earlier Muslims didn’t know Hadith. As opposed to the beginning of the deen when the later Muslims used to have love and respect for the earlier Muslims. The people who met the sahaaba said we would do your it’tiba that’s why they were called the tabieen. The people who met the tabieen said we would do your it’tiba and they were called taba tabieen. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an: follow the person who has taken up the path that leads towards Me. Allah (swt) in Surah Fatiha tell us follow the siratal mustaqeem. What is that path? The path followed by sirtatal lazeena aminoo, those who were blessed with the favors of Allah (swt).
All of these signs make us realize that we are definitely living in the time of fitnah. All of those first Ahadith generally about fitrnah, and then all of those Ahadith about the alamaat of the fitna of Dajjal and of end of time all of these signs are present. In fact in my own personal study of Hadith, I have not come with a single spiritual alamat of the Ummah that was mentioned as a sign of qurb-e-qayyamat except that I found that spiritual condition present in the Ummah right now. So we are living in that age.
Now we come to the real purpose: what does Allah (swt) tells us to do? What are we supposed to do in these halaat? Whether you want to still view it as your mulki halaat, whether you want to realize now that actually this is the age of fitnahs or this is the age of beginning of the end of time. How long will that journey take, again nobody will know. But the forces of Dajjal are already present. The pre-cursors the preludes of Dajjal are rampant. What should we do in response to this?
So listen to what Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an al Kareem:
Wala tahinu wala tahzanu wa antumul aalaun inn kuntum mo’mineen.
Wala tahinu: sust na bano. Don’t be lazy. Don’t have apathy, don’t be disinterested. This is exactly what we do. You look at this country and you will see many people going exactly opposite to this verse. They would tell you k halaat ki waja se zara susti aa gai. Koi cheez karne ka shauq nahi hai ab. Kisi cheez mein dil nahi lagta. Ibadaat mein bhi dil nahi lagta. Dunya k kamoun mein bhi dil nahi lagta. Complete apathy, complete disinterest, complete laziness. Completely opposite to the hukam of Allah: Don’t be lazy. Remain active, remain dynamic, do something! Fix yourselves and be a means to fix others.
Wala tahazanu: aur pareshan mat hou. Aur har ek Pakistani ki zabaan par hai pareshan houn. Every single one says ham pareshan hein, ham halaat ki waja se pareshan hein. Everybody is saying that. The Qur’an is saying don’t grieve, don’t despair, don’t worry, don’t fear, don’t have stress, don’t have tension, don’t be depressed, pareshan mat hou. Seedha urdu tarjuma. Phir bhi sab pareshan.
Antumul aalaun inn kuntum mo’mineen: You will be a’ala, you will be triumphant and victorious if only but you can make yourself believers. This worry and depression won’t take you anywhere. Instead you must work on yourself and become believers. This laziness, apathy, disinterest is not going to take you anywhere. You must become believers. Even physically people have become stationary. What in English in America we used to call ‘couch potato’. The elites of this country have become nothing more than couch potatoes. Subhaan Allah! Couch potatoes, and they watch hours of that till 11 pm, till midnight, till 1 am and then they go to sleep without praying isha and they don’t wake up for fajr in the morning.
You tell me what’s going to happen to such a society? What does such a society deserve? What do such people deserve? At least what do they deserve from their Allah (swt)? You tell me. They sit down and do exactly the opposite; they become lazy, they watch tv for hours till they say I’m depressed and they go to sleep without praying isha and they wake up having missed their fajr. I’m not talking about one or two people here. You know that this is the case with the majority of the elites of this country; whether you want to view them as economic elites, political elites, military elites, civil servant elites, educated elites, journalist elites, lawyer elites, judge elites any way you want to plot it. Un mein se kuch naik log bhi hein lekin buhot aisay hein they are exactly the opposite to the Qur’an.
For me that is actually the biggest sign of end of time; that the thinking Muslims, jo samajhdar Musalman hein, the ones who may actually even have some ability, jo sahibe ikhteyar Musalman hein, as opposed to the poor guy who drives the rickshaw, they are going against Qur’an. When they are going against Qur’an then what is the hope for your society.
Allah (swt) says that the izzat is given to the believers. All we have to do is adorn ourselves with the sifaat of imaan.
So now what should we do?
1. Work on ourselves.
This is what the Qur’an is telling us to do. Try to look within ourselves and see how we can improve ourself. Try to see what is wrong with me as an individual in the eyes of Allah (swt) and His messenger. What is there in my life that is divergent from the Qur’an and Sunnah? To do tabsira on myself in fact to do several tabsira on ourselves. This is the first thing that we should do.
2. Don’t be lazy.
Don’t be heedless.
3. Don’t worry
Don’t become pareshan. Don’t despair. Don’t become depressed.
4. Have Sabr.
Allah (swt) tells us to do sabr and have patience, why? Because after every difficulty will come ease. It is just upto us whether we want to spend that time of difficulty in a state of sabr or not. So we must learn to become people of sabr. By the way, sabr is not passive. People think sabr in Islam means just to sit back and be patient. Sabr is a very dynamic concept. Sabr means himmat, fortitude, istiqamat, perseverance. That’s what sabr means. It doesn’t mean that Allah (swt) is with the people who are passively patient. It means that Allah (swt) is with the people who are dynamically strong and persevere in the face of adversity. We must have sabr. That is a strength that we must have. We must develop our will power. We must be people of action.
5. We must remain razi with Allah (swt).
You must always remain pleased with Allah (swt). We can never become displeased with Allah, disillusioned with Allah (swt), or upset with Allah (swt), or complaining to Allah (swt). We must remain razi. This is also a part of the sabr. This is also a part of the himmah. That we remain completely pleased Allah (swt) with You in this state as we were in the other state. Our being pleased with you has not changed in any way.
Look at Rasool Allah (saw) how he was always pleased with Allah (swt). Allah (swt) bestows the mantel of naboowat on him. He goes out and tries to invite his family members. Uncles refuse him. He tries to invite his tribe Qurraish. The vast majority of them refuse him. He tries to invite the youth of Makkah Mukarama. The vast majority refuse him. He was being faced with adversity. Then he is opposed, persecuted, prosecuted, oppressed but he was always razi with Allah (swt). People say this “itnay bhi nahi ham buray Allah (swt) kun ham par aise halaat guzarte hein?” Ham apne aap ko kya samajhte hein?
Do you ever think that Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) made this dua k “Ya Allah! Mein tou khatimun Nabiyeen houn. Yeh kaunsi baat hui k mere chacha ko imaan ya mere Quraish waloun ko imaan naseeb nahi hour raha. K Abu Jehl aur Abu Lahab meri baat nahi maan rahe”. He never thought like that. He was always razi with Allah (swt).
Syedna Rasool Allah (saw) goes to Taaif alone thinking that I had a wet nursing mother Haleema Sadia in Taaif when I was a baby. No one would have remembered it was so long ago but he thought maybe just that nisbat will make somebody in Taaif accept me. So he walks to Taaif all the way alone. Not one person in all of Taaif takes Imaan. No man, no woman, no elderly, no child, not a single person takes Imaan. But Rasool Allah (saw) is still razi with Allah (swt). Subhaan Allah! Pleased with Allah (swt) at all times, in any situation.
We must learn to be pleased with Allah (swt). If we are pleased with Allah (swt) then Allah (swt) will be pleased with us. When Allah (swt) becomes pleased with us then He will save us. He will take us out from any and all of our situations.
6. Develop a ta’aluq with Allah (swt).
We must develop a relationship with Allah (swt) by way of doing amaal. Today the average Muslim is totally disconnected from Allah (swt), has lost touch, has lost contact. We say this about one another that he is out of touch. She’s out of touch. She never contacts, he never contacts anymore.
That is actually how a believer has become with Allah (swt). We are out of touch; we have lost touch lost contact with Allah (swt). No ta’aluq at all.
A sign of that is we cannot make dua for more than 2 minutes, we cannot stand up and pray nafl for 5 minutes, we cannot read the Qur’an for 5 minutes. We have no ta’aluq with Allah (swt) and this is our own doing. Ham ne khud iss ta’aluq ko khatam kar diya hai. It’s insane. Generally speaking insane, and at times like this it is sheer insanity to lose touch and contact with Allah (swt).
The way to create that contact is through amaal; to become people who do good deeds, and we have to do extra. It’s not enough anymore to just do fard and waajib. Some of us think that deen has been reduced to just doing fard and waajib. It’s not going to be enough to just do that. Do you think that a student who is struggling with his CGPA just comes up with D’s he would be fine? You say k fard tou yehi tha na k F nahi lena hai. He comes home to his parents and says I got straight D’s in this semester. Do you think the parents will say that yes you are lifting yourself out of a difficult situation? It’s amazing that the same parents who are not happy if their kids get straight D’s themselves are getting F’s with Allah (swt). They never think about it.
Mein tou aap logoun k waldain k halaat par bara tarasta houn. The people in this country who are in their 40’s or 50’s… Allahu Akbar Kabeera! So distant from Allah (swt) mein hairaan hota houn jeetay kaise hein mujhe samajh nahi aata. I don’t know actually how they live this Allah-free life. I don’t know how they manage it. Their gatherings are Allah-free, Allah ki yaad se free, Allah k dhikr se free. Their homes are Allah-free. Even their whole entertainment system, they lead Allah-free lives. Their workplace is Allah-free. This is completely opposite. We have to bring Allah (swt) back into every part of our lives, everywhere. When people look at our office, our cubicle they should think of Allah (swt), when they enter our rooms they should think oh this place reminds me of Allah (swt). We have to start surrounding ourselves with the reminders of Allah (swt). That is the way you are going to bring Him back in ta’aluq with yourself. You have to remind ourself our own haqeeqat our own asal which is we are abd Allah. We don’t even think like that.
How many times do we consciously think that I’m not a free person? I’m a slave of Allah (swt). We don’t even have that consciousness anymore. Ye soch hi nahi hai hamare andar k mein tou kisi Rab ka ghulam houn. Mein koi aam aadmi nahi houn. Do you ever say to somebody when they invite you that I cannot go there mein tou waisa admi nahi houn mein tou Allah ka ghulam houn. Mein kaise ja sakta houn wahan par? Mein tou kisi nabi ka Ummati houn. Mein tou kisi ka beta houn ya mein tou kisi ki beti houn.
We have completely lost our identity. People don’t even think like that. When Rasool Allah (saw) told us that Ummul mo’mineen the wives of Nabi (saw) are our mothers, then who do you think our father is? Father is the husband of the mother. Nahi samjhe? So the biggest thing that Syenda Rasool Allah (saw) is saying that his wives are mothers of the believers, he is saying I’m Abu mo’mineen i.e. I’m the father of the believing men and women. Has any man ever thought like that? That “I’m the son of Prophet (saw) what are you talking about? What makes you think I can do that for you?” Has any woman ever thought like that “I have to carry myself in society like the daughter of Prophet (saw). I have to have a haya that befits the daughter of Propher (saw)”.
We have forgotten who we are and we have lost our ta’aluq with Allah (swt).
7. The last and final thing is that we should make taubah.
We seem to think that we don’t need to make taubah. Allah (swt) says that we must repent to Allah (swt) a true and sincere repentance. In another place Allah (swt) says that you should make taubah all together. We should think that I’m the reason it is because of my sins, because my name is written with this Ummat this is why all of this is happening to Muslims. We should think that it’s my presence, my wajood in this world that is causing this to happen. That’s the level of taubah we should make. But we don’t think like that. I will make you think like that.
If you’re a woman, you should think that at any point in the day if there’s a Muslims sister of yours whose izzat is being taken whether it is in Afghanistan or Iran or Kashmir. Now imagine Allah (swt) just like you like to watch the tv channels, Allah (swt) is Al Baseer He is watching everything. He can see everyone at every single moment. At that very same moment He looks at this other Muslims woman who is well-off and well educated in Pakistan. What is she doing at the moment? She is herself walking around without haya.
Imagine how it must look to Allah (swt) when at that same moment a Muslim woman is being oppressed. Right now how many Muslim women are sitting in these areas you have written them off completely by calling them illaqa-e-ghair. While they are wondering if a drone would come and bomb them to smithereens.
This is terror. You want to know what terrorism is? It’s a state of terror that every single night you think that any second you can be blown to bits, to pieces and your children and your grandchildren can be blown to bits, to pieces and your entire country couldn’t care less about you. And the women of this country won’t even shed a tear over you. You never sleep one night like that. Your terror is that the lights are going to go and the fan would stop working for an hour. That’s the extent of your terror. We just don’t realize what’s going on in this world. We are completely oblivious, we have become cold hearted.
If you’re a man you should think that at that same moment at that same time when somebody is rising up in pain and somebody is sitting without any home and that same night when some woman is being oppressed, switch the channel to that young man and what is he doing? The Muslim young man is doing badnazri. Exactly at that same moment dono Allah (swt) ko nazar aa rahe hein. Imagine what must Allah (swt) feel looking at that situation. Sins are so rampant. We don’t even have the strength to get up for tahajjud and make dua for the muzlimeen. What is the worth of your news commentators on tv? They can’t even get up for 5 minutes and make dua for someone? We are really the cold-hearted, the dead hearted Muslims.
We have to make taubah of this. Ya Rab e Kareem I make true taubah to you. I make taubah for all the things that I have done in my life that have numbed my heart. I make taubah from all those things that have made my heart fall asleep. I make taubah for all those things that have made my heart dead. I make taubah for everything that I’ve done that was ever displeasing to you. I make taubah for not feeling for my fellow Muslims. I make taubah for not being dynamic and trying to help others in the society. I make taubah from all of these things. It’s time that we make taubah to Allah (swt).
If this Ummah, this country, our people were able to learn the power of taubah; the power of taubah is such that it attracts Allah (swt). He is At’Tawaab. It means that Allah (swt) is the Being always ready to accept our taubah. No other being is like that. Agar ham dunya k dhakay kha kha kar bhi Allah k pass jaate hein tou Allah hamein taana nahi karte k aap tou idher udher hou kar phir Mere pass aye. Jaise ham eik dusray ko karte hein. Somebody goes somewhere else, somewhere else then somewhere else, and as a last resort comes to you aap taana dete hein usse acha ab mere pass aye. Allah (swt) is not like that. Woh tou baray khush hote hein. Allah Ta’ala ajeeb Parvardigar hein. Woh tou buhot khush hote hein. Balke mein aap logoun ko bataun Allah (swt) Haal mein aate hein.
Allah (swt) ka haal suno Qur’an mein.
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
[39:53]
Allah (swt) farmatay hein k Ay gunehgaar Musalmaan, aap mere pass aa gaye? Aap taubah taaib hou kar Mere pass aa gaye? Mein tou aap par toot parta houn. Maafi kya, Meri muhabbat aap k pass hai. Allah (swt) keh sakte thay k Allah ta’ala ne gunehgar mo’min ki maghfarat kar di. Ya Allah (swt) ne taubah ko qabool kar liya, maaf kar diya. No no, Allah (swt) tou Juzz mein aa gaye hein. Allah (swt) tou farmatay hein k ay Mere gunehgar Musalman aap puri dunya se dhakka kha kar aate hein. Mere pass koi cheez nahi le kar aate hein. Bas Meri nafarmani le kar aate hein. Magar aap ne dil se taubah kar li, aap k dil mein nidamat aa gai. Sun lo Meri muhabbat ka ailaan suno k Mein taubah karne waloun se muhabbat karta houn. Mein ne aap ko apna mehboob bana liya.
Ye hein hamare Allah (swt). Hamare Allah hamein apna mehboob banana chahte hein. Mehboob-e-khuda gunehgaroun k liye.
Gunehgar Package: To become the mehboob of Allah (swt) just make taubah. That’s it.
Laut jao wapas Allah (swt) k pass. Apni zindagi se taubah karo. Iss duri se taubah karo. Bas keh dein Allah (swt) mein aap ka ban’na chahta houn, ya chahti houn. Mein apni do-rangi se tang aa gya houn. Mein bhi seedhi saadi, sachi, suthri zindagi guzarna chahti houn. Mein taubah karti houn. Taubah karta houn.
If we can make this amal of taubah, and if we can fix our own halaat and inshaa Allah Ta’aala if we become people of sabr, Allah (swt)’s nusrat is there. He is still the being who has pledged His nusrat. He is still Rabbe Kareem. His nusrat and nijaat will come swiftly if only we can make our taubah swiftly and once again become mo’mineen.
Wa aakhiru da’awaana anil hamdulillahi rabbil aalameen
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