Sacrifice...
Is there any greater test of sincerity than to sacrifice something which you love for the sake of Allah swt?Tonight I was faced with a dillemma in my heart.
I would like to think that I am not a person who is deceptive and dishonest, and I would like to think that I am not a hypocrite. But tonight all of these adjectives plus a few more were swimming around in my head until finally my heart said "enough is enough!"
How could I possibly say that which I do not do? It is a great thing to Allah that we say that which we do not do.
There are two things to me which allows a person to become truely humble and to truely earn the favor of Allah swt of hidaaya.
Sacrifice and Struggle.
Im not talking sacrifice of something that if you let it go you wont even notice that it is gone, or something that you were going to get rid of anyway so you might as well do it now. Im talking about sacrificing something that you love. Something that is dearer to you than anything else. Something like listening to music for instance. You know that you listen to music whenever you step in the car and whenever you are working out, then sacrifice this music for the sake of Allah and replace it with something which will gain you good deeds like Quran. Or a better example which i promised I would touch upon in a later post is sacrificing talking to the opposite gender on AIM. This is something that we take so lightly, and we think that we have everything under control and that we are talking about deen things and not dunyaawi things so its all good, right?
Wrong.
Before you know it, your heart has become attached to this person that you are speaking to, and the very beauty of this religion and the virtues of the deen which you two speak about have been comprised by your intention and have now become the fuel of your desire to speak to this person.
Do we not recognize how fragile our heart is?
How can we possibly think that we are going to talk to someone on AIM, someone who is religious, knowledgable, God fearing, funny and down to earth without becoming attached? What are you a rock? Just because you talk of marriage and you talk of each other's rishta stories and rishta blunders and bloopers, does this mean that you two have somehow reached a new level in your relationship, a level where despite the fact that you connect on almost everything, you enjoy each other's company and you have the exact same interests, you somehow are not doing something wrong by talking because your practicing muslims and you couldnt possibly be doing something wrong since you arent talking about haraam stuff? Do you think that you are some super human entity which transcends feelings and emotion, and that you will be able to withstand this onslaught of fitnah by maintaining your bipartisanship and be able to control your feelings for a person who is of such a high level of character?
It is absolutely devastating to the heart of a believer that he/she feel arrogant and self sufficient in matters of gray area when it comes to self control, as even the Sahabah avoided the gray areas to the extent that it is reported that abu Bakr ra was eating food brought to him by one of his slaves/servants. While abu Bakr ra was eating the food the servant informed him that this food had been bought by money which was earned by cheating in a business of soothsaying. Immediately abu Bakr ra put his fingers down his throat and vomitted all that had entered his body.
Nowadays we think we can handle this type of stuff and that it wont effect us in any way because we are super religious active MSA people who are immune to harm.
Allah swt set an example for us in the Quran of Ibrahim PBUH who loved his family so much. He loved Ismaeel so much that Allah swt tested the Prophet PBUH by ordering him to slaughter his son. Can we even fathom the idea? Can we even imagine being commanded to slaughter our own flesh and blood, and then Ibrahim PBUH having no hesitiation in fullfilling the command and Ismaeel PBUH offering his neck on the stone so that he can be a part of this obedience to Allah?
What is our Ismaeel?
What are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of Allah swt so that Allah will be pleased with us? Do we not believe that Allah will replace that which we sacrifice with something better and full of barakah? Do we not have tawakkul?
If you sacrifice talking to a sister/brother online for the sake of Allah, a sister/brother who you know is perfect for you in almost every way, then dont you know that Allah will either grant you this sister/brother or something better and fill your union with blessing?
And do not legitimize talking to this sister/brother in your mind for any reason. Even if you know that the feeling is one sided and that the sister/brother only sees you as a big brother/sister who can help her with her/him problems and can talk to you about deen stuff and benefit her/him with it. Dont try and tell yourself that since its only you who is feeling this that then somehow it will be ok. Its not. Its still going to bring your imaan down, its still being recorded by the angels on your shoulders no matter the other person's intentions, and you will still be hurt more the longer you keep the online relationship going.
Ask yourself: Why are you talking to this person online? Is there a need for it? How late do you talk? How long are your conversations no matter the topic? Would you talk to her/him like this if you saw her/him in person, for the same amount of time and with the same relaxed attitude?
These questions should be clear cut enough that if you ponder over the answers, and you fear Allah, you will end the convos.
How foolish we are to think that we can take our own paths and ignore the path that has been set up by our Prophet PBUH. A path which is so absolutely amazing, that a person is honored to follow that path and the path is in need of no person to follow it in order to maintain its honor.
Allah swt says in Surah Ankaboot what translates to mean "And those who strive in Our (cause),- We will certainly guide them to our Paths: For verily Allah is with those who do right."
Guidance is earned through struggle and striving, and the path to follow to salvation is not an easy path. It requires discipline, hard work, and dedication.
Let us not lower ourselves by taking this deen as some sort of pop culture movement which is just regulating what we wear and how we talk, and then we act just like everyone else.
Sincerity is all we have complete and absolute control over, and that is what we will be judged by. Our limbs may not have the ability to carry out that which our heart desires sincerely, yet we must have the comfort of knowing that our Lord is one who is ar Raheem and al Adl (the most merciful and the most just) and then act upon this thought by trying our hardest to be completely sincere.
Make dua for me, as I am going through a transition period which I will detail in a later post insha Allah.
May Allah make us among those who are mukhliseen.
posted by Iboo LaL @ 1:02 AM
Comments: 9
