Enslaved To Lusts and Desires

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Following lusts and desires is the cause of misguidance, not that the Truth is not clear. People who disbelieve, it is not because after they have learned about Islam and find it does not make sense, but really it has to do with their lusts and desires. They don't want to acknowledge Islam because it goes against what they want. Lust is the enemy for man. Man choose kufr (disbelief) against Iman (Faith).

Only human being is capable of doing what harms him. Somebody who is enslaved to his lusts and desires, who is more astray than him? Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.

فَإِن لَّمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَكَ فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّمَا يَتَّبِعُونَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ ۚ وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّنِ اتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ بِغَيْرِ هُدًى مِّنَ اللَّـهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿٥٠

But if they do not respond to you - then know that they only follow their [own] desires. And who is more astray than one who follows his desire without guidance from Allah? Indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people. (50)

(Qur'an Al-Qasas 28:50)

Lust-based existence is not a happy one. It is more like a compulsive drug addict. He cannot stay away from drugs. It does not mean that he is happy. This is because it is grounded by ingratitude because the person prefer the blessings over the Bestower. The person is ignorant because he prefers the temporal over the infinite. This is our enemy in our journey in reaching the true station of man and the closeness to Allah.

The vision of the religion of Islam, as a whole, is a journey that each individual person goes through. Your destination is a high level of Iman and closeness to Allah.

The perfect Iman is that one has a desire for what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ love which is so intense, and a repulsion for what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ hate. That is why the greatest acts of Iman is loving and hating for the sake of Allah.

It is not possible for someone to overcome his own desires and replace them with what Allah loves without love itself unless he is a person of love. True love entails agreement. There is harmony.

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّـهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّـهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ﴿٣١

Say (O Muhammad ﷺ to mankind): "If you (really) love AllAh then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur'an and the Sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

[Qur'an AleImran 3:31]

Following the Prophet ﷺ is harmony. This is what Allah wants. The fact that love really exists, it is shown by someone falling into line with what Allah has asked to happen. If you do that, Allah will love you. Submission is the key to this love.

Three traits, whoever has them enjoys the sweetness of Iman: that Allah and His Messenger ﷺ are more beloved to him than other than them, that he loves another person, only doing so for the sake for Allah, and that he detest to return to disbelief just as he dislikes to be thrown into a fire. [Bukhari]

There is a sweetness in Iman. If you want to taste the sweetness, you have to be people of love. Loving what Allah loves and hating what Allah hates is the true mark of the highest Iman and sweetness. The greatest kufr (disbelief) is the opposite of this.

Part of this love of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ is that you are satisfied for what they have chosen for you. If you hate what Allah loves, you are ruined.

The Companions were the greatest role models of the religion based on true love. There were many incidents where they were intensely against something and when the Prophet ﷺ said not to do it, they transformed. Their very values transformed just upon they heard it from the Prophet ﷺ. This is true Iman.

True Iman is not that God must conform to our values, whatever they might have of what our purpose is. Rather, true Iman is we listen and we obey, we don't dictate. This is the way of Allah's messengers.

آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۚ كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللَّـهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّن رُّسُلِهِ ۚ وَقَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ ﴿٢٨٥

The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination." (285)

[Qur'an Al-Baqarah 2:285]

The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ (may Allah be pleased with them) summarized this in the most amazing way. They give up lands for the sake of others. They were people who prefer others over themselves although they were in dire poverty. Even in moment of death they prefer each other over themselves. This is called their lust have conformed with what the Prophet ﷺ has brought to the highest degree. The result is that Allah made the world crumbled before them. Allah put blessings in everything they did, whether in war or in peace. As a group they are amazing. That is why they are the most blissful people in this life and the next.

By the lust, not necessarily the devil, but the nafs, our propensity for desires within us. These things hold us back. The religion of Islam shows us an easy steps on how to overcome that.

May Allah protect our Iman and guide us and the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam