When the Muslim took Islam as a doctrine, he surrendered to the oneness of his Creator and obedience to Him in every matter, no matter how small or big. By this surrendering, he has made the ruling of the Shariah his compass which leads him to safety and to win the pleasure of the Beneficent (Ar-Rahman). In every work and every moment of his life, the Muslim adheres to Allah’s rule because he knows that his Creator is better informed and able to lead his life to that which is best and prosper. So why shouldn’t he be a slave to his Lord, asking and beseeching him, pleading to him, fearing him, and not neglecting this even for a blink of an eye? Why does he leave himself a hostage to whims and prey to Satan and his whispers and depart from the path of his Lord? قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاَتِي ونُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِين “Say, “Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds.” [Al-An’am: 162]
This is the path of the righteous and the pious. One must not deviate from the ruling by what Allah has revealed in his life for a moment. So when he proceeds in life, the Shariah rules are the light that light up the darkness for him until he sees the light and reaches safety and satisfies his Creator.
The Muslim’s creed, if strong and correct, it gives him an invincible force that will make him overcome adversity and difficulties; he does not care about what he will sacrifice for it: his soul, wealth, children… everything is insignificant compared to it. People were combed with iron combs and did not turn back on their religion. The People of the Groove (Ukhdood) were killed, yet torment and death did not seduce them out of their religion. This is the position that the Muslim must take since he does not know which sedition will afflict him – and we ask Allah to make us steadfast on the Deen and His obedience. A Muslim must be aware at all times, not forgetting the rulings of his Lord proceeding and seeking the path of guidance so as not to fall into misguidance and sin. He must obey his Lord in all his actions and conditions.
Allah (swt) says: فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْراً يَرَهُ * وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرّاً يَرَهُ “So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, * And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it” [Az-Zalzala: 7-8].
The Muslim must take care of performing his duties and stay away from everything that angers his Lord, whatever his circumstances may be and whatever obstacles and difficulties he faces, and he must not care about anything else, for his sole purpose is to please his Lord and win Paradise and freedom from fire, as our messenger and our guidance has advised us to keep in mind: «مَوْتٌ فِي طَاعَةِ اللهِ خَيْرٌ مِنْ حَيَاةٍ فِي مَعْصِيَتِهِ» “To die in the obedience of Allah is better than living in disobedience to Him”.
The Muslim must fortify himself with duties and hasten to attain the good and leave the prohibitions. The companions abstained from some actions that Allah has permitted in fear of falling into suspicion. They viewed it as a shield that protected them from the prohibitions and falling into them. They know that life is full of sedition and danger. They feared that they would slip into them. They feared Allah and He (swt) promised them forgiveness and a great reward. So why don’t we follow their footsteps to win the great reward??«إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَالَ مَنْ عَادَى لِي وَلِيًّا فَقَدْ آذَنْتُهُ بِالْحَرْبِ، وَمَا تَقَرَّبَ إِلَيَّ عَبْدِي بِشَيْءٍ أَحَبَّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا افْتَرَضْتُ عَلَيْهِ، وَمَا يَزَالُ عَبْدِي يَتَقَرَّبُ إِلَيَّ بِالنَّوَافِلِ حَتَّى أُحِبَّهُ، فَإِذَا أَحْبَبْتُهُ كُنْتُ سَمْعَهُ الَّذِي يَسْمَعُ بِهِ، وَبَصَرَهُ الَّذِي يُبْصِرُ بِهِ، وَيَدَهُ الَّتِي يَبْطِشُ بِهَا، وَرِجْلَهُ الَّتِي يَمْشِي بِهَا، وَإِنْ سَأَلَنِي لَأُعْطِيَنَّهُ، وَلَئِنْ اسْتَعَاذَنِي لَأُعِيذَنَّهُ، وَمَا تَرَدَّدْتُ عَنْ شَيْءٍ أَنَا فَاعِلُهُ تَرَدُّدِي عَنْ نَفْسِ الْمُؤْمِنِ، يَكْرَهُ الْمَوْتَ وَأَنَا أَكْرَهُ مَسَاءَتَهُ» “Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him.”
How blessed and victorious is the Muslim when he strengthens his belief and trust in Allah and relies on Him. He will then become a wali (friend) of Allah, and will not be overcome by the demons of mankind and the Jinn and will not be hampered by obstacles or difficulties, and he proceeds with steadfastness and unshakeable belief that is nourished and strengthened by the duties.
Islam took care of man in every aspect of his life and at every moment of his life. Islam gave him a path to follow to live obediently to his Lord. He is not distracted from it by anything. He stays up the night in worship, and supplicates always: in sickness and in health… when entering and leaving the house, and even when he enters the bathroom. He fasts and asks for forgiveness and does Takbeer. He is in the presence of his Lord at every time and place الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَاماً وَقُعُوداً وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا بَاطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ “Who remember Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], “Our Lord, You did not create this aimlessly; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of the Fire” [Al-i-Imran: 191]
If a person converts to Islam, he will recognize that it is a Deen with a creed that is not separated from its system. He will then know that he has to learn the rulings and implement them; he does not separate them. Otherwise, what he will live by is not the Deen that he has embraced, and will be at lost by following other than the system and rules of his Creator. This is what the Ummah of Islam is suffering today after the enemy has destroyed its state and its life system and gave it its system emanating from its rotten capitalist ideology, which has subjected humanity to all sorts of crisis. And the Muslim today, under this man-made deficient corrupt system, has separated between his knowledge of the rules of his Deen and implementing them, and is left hanging, not linked to either roots (ideologies) and lives alienated in a reality he cannot live in, in which those in charge over him have eliminated the laws of the Creator and enacted their own laws.
A Muslim today does not find anyone to help him with himself against the devil’s whispers, reminds him of the rules, and deters him from following the path of truth and peace. But if he managed to protect himself and commit to the group to work to change this reality, and if he does not protect himself by other duties and the commitment of what he learns and practices them, then he should be warned of Allah’s saying:يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا لِمَ تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَ * كَبُرَ مَقْتاً عِندَ اللَّهِ أَن تَقُولُوا مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَ “O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do? * Great is hatred in the sight of Allah that you say what you do not do” [As-Saff: 2-3]
He will not overcome his desires in light of a reality full of temptations and difficulties.
The Islamic Ummah and humanity at large were inflicted by a major calamity and a major disaster on the day the Khilafah (caliphate) was destroyed and the regime of kufr was replaced. In the capitalist system, which separated Deen from life and spread the love of materials in the hearts of the people, people did not observe their Lord in their work and the Deen was restricted to prayer or Hajj. And the adherence to Allah’s rules became seasonal like in the month of Ramadan, and as soon as the night of the twenty-seventh arrives the people go back to chase the pleasures of life!!
This is what the capitalist ideology did, but Islam is not like this. It is Allah’s Deen, which connects man with his Lord at all times and in every circumstance. Allah (swt) is always on the mind of the Muslim; he asks Him (swt) for success and His (swt) pleasure and asks Allah to make him steadfast in obedience to Him (swt). This is what the life of the Muslim must be like: All for Allah; he supplicates to Allah and calls people to worship Allah alone and not fear any one’s blame in the path of Allah, and spends his life in obedience to Allah and become an intelligent person, as he advised by the Messenger ﷺ: «الْكَيِّسُ مَنْ دَانَ نَفْسَهُ وَعَمِلَ لِمَا بَعْدَ الْمَوْتِ، وَالْعَاجِزُ مَنْ أَتْبَعَ نَفْسَهُ هَوَاهَا ثُمَّ تَمَنَّى عَلَى اللهِ» “The Intelligent person is the one who accounts himself and acts for what comes after death, and the weak person is the one who follows his desires and make wishes to Allah (of repentance)”
This way – by the permission of Allah- he will be from the God fearing (Mutaqeen)
لَيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَنْ تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالْكِتَابِ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ وَآتَى الْمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ ذَوِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينَ وَابْنَ السَّبِيلِ وَالسَّائِلِينَ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَى الزَّكَاةَ وَالْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ إِذَا عَاهَدُوا وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي الْبَأْسَاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُتَّقُونَ
“Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous” [Al-Baqara: 177]
Zeena As-Samit