Islamic Spirituality

Repented: Beloved of Allah swt (part 2)

In this part of article. I will explain an example of how Allah swt forgave his servant out of his vast Mercy.

The first story comes from the time of Taby'een (students of sahabah). Hasan Al-Basri(R.A)was one of the religious Taby'een at that time from whom even the sahabah of Basra would learn Deen. In daytime he used to teach Dars-e-Quran and Hadith and at night he used to conduct Majlis. Majlis is a gathering where there is remembrance of Allah swt, teachings of Allah swt and dua to Allah swt. Both the men and women of Basra were his students.

In his students there was also pious woman who was sincere lover of Allah swt. She had a son, a young man and that young man was a big sinner. He used to commit all type of sins, literally any sin. He could not control his nafs(own desires). Her mother was very worried about him. what she would do is that she used to take him to majlises and gatherings of Hasan Al Basri(R.A). Her son would sit there, listen to Hasan Al-Basri(R.A) but when he would leave, he would still go back in those sins. His mother would request Hasan AL-Basri to talk to his son, give him advise and company (suhbaat). so sometimes Hasan Al-Basri would talk to him yet the young man would always turn back to sins.

Then what happened is that the young man fell sick in his early twenties. He got some disease that was so painful and that made him bedridden. It occurred to him that this is Allah swt punishment to him. He suddenly remembered how he had the chance to live with pious people, learn about the deen and Quran yet now everything seemed to be lost.As he could feel his death approaching him, he thought of asking Taubah from  Allah swt. But he did not know whether Allah swt will forgive him or not on his death bed. He talked to his mother about this. His mother told him not to worry as she will fetch Hasan Al-Basri for him who will explain to him how he should do taubah.

So when his mother came to Hasan Al-Basri to tell him that her son wants to do taubah, Hasan Al-Basri replied in negative. He said that he cannot help her son and excused himself. so when the mother came back, his son could see from her face that Hasan Al-Basri is not coming. He said to his mother "Oh my mother,I have angered Allah so much that now his pious people dont want to meet me. I want to request you that when I die, get a horse, tie a rope around my neck, have my dead body dragged around the city of Basra and have somebody walk along the horse who should announce "Look how sinful people die" " After saying this, he died.

Now the mother was standing there crying and thinking what to do. In the mean time there's a knock on the door. She opens the door and Hasan Al-Basri is standing there worried. He asked "O woman, where is your son?". She replied that he just died a few moments before. Hasan Al-Basri then replied "O woman after you had left, I took a nap and in my sleep, a voice told me "Hasan, you call yourself a friend of Me?, If you want to save our relationship then go give bath(ghusal) to My Friend and read his namaz-e-janaza as well."" AllahuAkbar. Then Hasan Al-Basri himself read his namaz-e-janaza and lowered him into his grave.

SubhanAllah!!! The great of scholar of his time, Hasan Al-Basri, offered the namaz-e-janza of that young man. why, because in his heart, that young man had made an Intention of Taubah. Allah intensely loves those who make taubah. So what are we waiting for? we have already done enough sins. 20, 25 years of life, its just too much, till when we will continue this sinful life? Lets just ask for Forgiveness from Allah swt. May Allah swt accept our taubah and grant us a life of His Obedience.(Ameen)

Posted by Jahanzaib Jamshed
Taken from Shakyh Kamaluddin Ahmad's talk

Love of and for Allah SWT (spirituality)

What is Love?

Love is the attraction that 2 human beings feel for each other. In Arabic, love is called "Muhabbat". Muhabbat comes from "habba" that means "seed". This is because muhabbat is like a seed that is planted in the heart of a human being,if they nurture the actions that lead to that love then that seed sprouts into a plant that eventually dominates the human being and that is actually the power of Muhabbat. 

Imam Ghazali (RA) wrote that Muhabbat is the natural inclination of a human being to that which gives them true joy and happiness in their heart, and Muhabbat means that a lover's thoughts, desires and wishes become same as the thought, desires and wishes of their beloved. That is the trans-formative nature of muhabbat.

Allah's Love for Momineen

One of the Shakyhs of spirituality defined muhabbat as in which the lover views his own attributes as insignificant and the lover views everything that his beloved does with  tremendous importance. The shakyh then uses this definition to establish from Quran, that Allah swt is the Lover of the momineen and that Allah has love for the Momineen. so somebody asked him and he quoted from Quran..

Allah swt says in Quran (4:77 part)

"Say: the enjoyment of this world is little.."

This ayat comes in line with fact that lover considers what he gives to his beloved as very small and insignificant. Allah swt has made Dunya subject to human beings. Allah swt has made human beings master of this world in terms of wordly life whereas what momin gives to Allah swt is his worship, his remebrance and his Dhikr.

Allas swt says in Quarn(33:35 part)

"for men and women who engage much in praise.." 

so that for that small amount of Ibadaat, the momin does, Allah swt calls it "Kaseer"(abundunt). but for that massive entire dunya Allah swt has given to humanity, He calls it Qaleel (little).

So the shakyh said that this is a proof that Allah swt has love for believers

Love for Allah

Allah swt says in the Quran(3:31)

"say, if you love Allah, follow me and He will love you..."

this ayat means that if one has to love Allah, one must have love for Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) as well.

Junaid Baghdadi (RA) said that Muhabbat means that characteristics of the beloved are transferred into the lover. So if someone has love for Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) then he must have the following of Sunnah. Junaid Baghdadi (RA) also said that when beloved's characteristics are transferred to lover then they become indistinguishable. An example can be found in history books is when non-Muslim deputation used to came to Madinah they would find everyone as same. they could not differentiate who is prophet Muhammad(pbuh). that was the level of love, the sahabah had for Allah swt and his messenger

Allama shibli (RA) on another definition of love says that a lover loves everthing that his beloved loves and the lover would dislike everything that his beloved dislikes. The sahabah did not like anything which Prophet(pbuh) did not like, not only in shariah terms but also in personal terms. It meant shabah loved whatever Prophet(pbuh) liked. That is what Muhabbat means

.Today we donot feel the love for Allah and his Prophet(pbuh) because our own hearts are filled with love of this dunya and how can a heart filled with love of dunya, have love of Allah swt.  Shakyh Zulfiqar Ahmed says that just like a room is dark or lit at a time, similarly the heart can either have love of Allah swt or the love of the world. So as to have love for Allah swt, we must strive and struggle to remember Allah swt abundantly and try to follow the Sunnah of Prophet(pbuh) so that we may become the Zakeereen, Allah swt talks about in Quran.

Posted by Jahanzaib Jamshed
Taken from Shakyh Kamaluddin Ahmad talk

Allah's Name 

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Allah (swt) says in the Quran , Surah Rehman(78):

            "Greatly Blessed is the name of your Lord, Majestic and Venerable."

           As you can see, it says  Blessed is the name of your Lord . The barakaat lies in the Name of Allah.      Even Quran starts with "Bismillah..."..."in the name of Allah...". It could also have been "with Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful" but it starts with "in the Name of Allah..." This signifies the barakaat that are in Allah's Name. It is one of the best zikr (Dhikr) one can possibly do.
  So it is important that before you do any work, any task be it at work , be it cooking, be it reading a book make sure you start it with the name of Allah!

Posted by Jahanzaib Jamshed

Parts taken from Shakyh kamaluddin Ahmed's talk in Lums Masjid    islamicspirituality.org 

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