Focus on the Prize

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

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

It's everywhere even in masjids! You hardly see people with the Qur'an in their hands- old or young, rather people almost wholly preoccupied with their phones and engaged in much negativity: through useless talk, social chats, baseless arguments, confrontation, gossip, video games, music, movies, ... Their time and energies are constantly being wasted on fruitless distractions that squander their potential, foster enmity, and make them unmindful of Allah’s remembrance. These habits are like an addiction. They are hard to shake off, and they are as effective as any intoxicant in making people speak and act contrary to good sense.

The greatest way to repel such tendencies is to focus on Allah. This is not only a cure for negative thoughts and bigoted notions, but it provides relief for all the negativity, problems and worries of life. The remembrance of Allah calms and fortifies the soul. It cultivates fortitude and perseverance, moderates impatience, and repels depression and despair.

Remembering Allah is also very easy. It is accessible to everyone. There are no prerequisites to fulfill or procedures to follow. There are no permissions to be sought. The doors to Allah’s remembrance are open at all times, whether we have recently been engaged in worship or have recently committed a sin. We have the opportunity to remember Allah upon waking, whenever something good happens, when misfortune strikes, when we make a mistake, and whenever else we are given cause to be reminded of our Lord.

Remembering Allah is the first step in treating all maladies, both physical and spiritual. It is a prescription for every person afflicted with bodily illness or spiritual doubt. It is equally suitable for the young and old, rich and poor, the powerful and the weak, since everyone is equally dependent on Allah.

Anyone who takes time to consider the names of Allah will come to a surprising realization: not one of these names focuses on Allah’s punishment, anger or wrath. Instead, we find names that express His mercy, love, and kindness, others that communicate His knowledge and wisdom, those that speak about His greatness and majesty, as well as those that speak about His creative powers and providence.

We find names like: Ar-Rahman (the Beneficent), Ar-Rahim (the Merciful), Al-Ghafur (the Forgiving), As-Salaam (the Source of Peace), Al-Wahhab (the Bestower), Ar-Razzaq (the Provider), Al-Karim (the Most Noble), Ar-Rauf (the Most Kind), and Al-Wadud (the Loving). There are no names like: “the Punisher”, “the Avenger”, or “the Wrathful”. The Qur’an speaks about Allah being “severe in punishment”, but this is actually a description of Allah’s punishment and not of Allah Himself. It is Allah’s punishment that is severe.

Allah Almighty says,

اعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّـهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ وَأَنَّ اللَّـهَ غَفُورٌ‌ رَّ‌حِيمٌ ﴿٩٨

Know that Allah is severe in penalty and that Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. (98) [Qur'an, Al-Ma'idah 5:98]

إِنَّ رَ‌بَّكَ لَسَرِ‌يعُ الْعِقَابِ ۖ وَإِنَّهُ لَغَفُورٌ‌ رَّ‌حِيمٌ ﴿١٦٧ ...

Indeed, your Lord is swift in penalty; but indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful. (167) [[Qur'an, al-A`rāf 7:167]

Ibn al-Qayyim observes:

Blessings and salvation are attained through Allah’s mercy, forgiveness, benevolence, and generosity. Therefore, we find these meanings attributed to Allah. As for Allah’s punishment and its consequences, these are among Allah’s creations, and as such, Allah is not called “the Punisher” or “the Wrathful”. This is an important difference. The former set of meanings is attributed to Allah directly while the latter are only used to describe His actions. This distinction can even be found in a single passage of the Qur’an, for instance:

نَبِّئْ عِبَادِي أَنِّي أَنَا الْغَفُورُ‌ الرَّ‌حِيمُ ﴿٤٩﴾ وَأَنَّ عَذَابِي هُوَ الْعَذَابُ الْأَلِيمُ ﴿٥٠

[O Muhammad], inform My servants that it is I who am the Forgiving, the Merciful. (49) And that it is My punishment which is the painful punishment. (50) [Qur'an, al-Hijr 15:49-50]

The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, while beseeching Allah in prayer: “Evil is never applicable to You.” [Muslim] This means that Allah is perfectly and completely good in His essence, names, and attributes. He is praiseworthy in every way. His actions are full of wisdom and justice and they are always for the best. His names are all depictions of perfection and beauty.

Evil exists in the world that Allah created, since Allah’s wisdom dictated that He create a world containing both good and evil. It is in this way that evil can be understood to exist as a consequence of Allah’s actions as Creator, and Allah alone knows why the presence of evil in the world is for the best. It is something that goes beyond our limited human understanding.

When we regard all of Allah’s names together, we see a clear pattern. All of His names refer to benevolence, generosity, mercy, kindness, clemency, and forgiveness. This tells us something very important. It shows us that love is the foremost quality that we should focus on in our relationship with Allah. It is the quality that brings us nearest to Him, and it should govern how we conduct ourselves with others in the world.

Our love for Allah should transcend the fear we have of Him as well as the hopes we pin on His favor. This does not mean that we should fail to pin our hopes on Allah, nor that we should be devoid of feelings of awe or fear of Him, since Allah describes some of His righteous servants as follows:

فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ يَحْيَىٰ وَأَصْلَحْنَا لَهُ زَوْجَهُ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يُسَارِ‌عُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَ‌اتِ وَيَدْعُونَنَا رَ‌غَبًا وَرَ‌هَبًا ۖ وَكَانُوا لَنَا خَاشِعِينَ ﴿٩٠

So We responded to him, and We gave to him Yahya, and amended for him his wife. Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and supplicate Us in hope and fear, and they were to Us humbly submissive. (90) [Qur'an, al-Anbiyā’ 90]

ادْعُوا رَ‌بَّكُمْ تَضَرُّ‌عًا وَخُفْيَةً ۚ إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ ﴿٥٥﴾ وَلَا تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ بَعْدَ إِصْلَاحِهَا وَادْعُوهُ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا ۚ إِنَّ رَ‌حْمَتَ اللَّـهِ قَرِ‌يبٌ مِّنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ﴿٥٦

Call upon your Lord in humility and privately; indeed, He does not like transgressors. (55) And cause not corruption upon the earth after its reformation. And invoke Him in fear and aspiration. Indeed, the mercy of Allah is near to the doers of good. (56) [Qur'an, al-A`rāf 7:55-56]

However, the fact that Allah’s names praise Him for His mercy, clemency and kindness, means that these are the qualities that we should remind people of when we call them to Allah, and these are the qualities we should strive to cultivate in ourselves and our children.

When we affirm that the love of Allah is foremost, we must not be hesitant in doing so, fearing that our categorical commitment to Allah’s love means we should no longer fear Him or pin our hopes of salvation upon Him. All of these feelings are aspects of our relationship with Allah. They complement and reinforce one another. Once we understand this, we will find ourselves open to more goodness than ever before. Our deeds will be better for it, and we must know that Allah’s mercy far surpasses the merit of our best deeds. So we beseech Allah for His mercy and support, and ask Him never to leave us to our own efforts.

A lot of times, while we go about our daily routine, we never for a minute think that we are going to return to our Creator one day until some calamity happens that might reminded us- death of a loved one, near miss accident, stricken with a terminal illness. What if that one day is today? Are we prepared to meet Him?

When you die, most likely your children, your spouse, your close friends will cry and some will really grieve for various reasons-maybe they miss your cooking, your company, or maybe they regret for not being nicer to you. It doesn't matter to you how much they cry or grieve because you are dead. Eventually, they have to take you to the grave, bury you, and for some really closed ones, they might linger around your grave, recite the Qur'an and make more du'a for you (Alhamdulillah), but whether they like it or not they too will have to leave you alone in the grave.

It is the beginning of your judgment Day. If you brought with you good deeds, you will find bliss in your grave. If you bring sins that you haven't repented for, it would be the beginning of Hell. What happen in the grave is a foretelling of your eternal life. We should be constantly aware of this. And we should question all our actions before we do it-- is this action of mine going to please Allah or displease Allah? Is this action of mine going to take me to Paradise or Hell?

We might think that we have plenty of time still on this earth to think about our next life. But no, we don't. Don't let our good health, our age, our glory, our wealth, or our intelligence fool us. It has happened to young people, healthy people, wealthy people, well known people, intelligent people and surely it could happen to us, sooner than we think.

Since Allah still allow us to breathe a little longer, make sure that every breath you take is taken with much gratitude to Allah. And gratitude entails to acting what He has commanded--brought to us by His beloved Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace).

You do your best in learning and applying what the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) brought to us. Doing your best means pushing yourself as far as you can, making sacrifices for Allah--not give yourself excuses not to do it. How do you know something is an excuse? A good example: Say, a friend asked you for a ride across town but you really didn't want to do that because you are too tired, and you said sorry I can't. Then someone told you someone is giving $1M to anyone who pass through this town where your friend had wanted you to take (and you have no cause to believe that this person is lying). Would you not rush to go to that town so you can collect the $1M despite being tired? So the tiredness was an excuse.

What awaits us after this life is better and worth more than $1M!

"Upon that day some faces shall be radiant, gazing upon their Lord." [Qur'an, Al-Qiyamah 22-23]

"And convey good news to those who believe and do good deeds, that they shall have gardens in which rivers flow; whenever they shall be given a portion of the fruit thereof, they shall say: This is what was given to us before; and they shall be given the like of it, and they shall have pure mates in them, and in them, they shall abide." [Qur'an, Al-Baqara 2:25]

Focus on this big prize, don't let your spouse, your children, your friends or the whole world for that matter, prevent you or slow you down from getting that prize!

May Allah grant us His Noble Countenance. Ameen.

And Allah knows best and He alone grant success.

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wassallam.

Wassalaam