12-18-2004, 06:12 AM
Asalaamu alikum wa rhamatuhallahi wa barakatuh Brothers and Sisters,
I have found this article and thought it would be of great importance to share with all of you. If we look inside ourseleves and ask, If every Muslim in the world was like me, would we deserve the victory from Allah(SWT)?
STOP! PLEASE READ!
Bint Abdul Khaliq
Courtesy: HidayaOnline
You may be busy with your next project,you may be just about to perform your Salaah or rush off to Hifz class. Or maybe you are a brother deciding to start a beard, or a sister donning the beautful Hijab or Niqaab. Whatever it is…Please STOP! And take a few minutes to read this…
The Prophet of Allah Muhammed (SAWS) said: Actions are only by intention, and every man shall only have what he intended. Thus he whose hijra was for the sake of Allah and His Messenger,his hijra was for Allah and His Messenger, and he whose hijra was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his hijra was for that for which he made hijra.(Bukhari)
INTENTION CHECK!!!
Let us look deep into our souls to question ourselves today and let us be absolutely HONEST in our answers.We can fool the whole world but we cannot fool ALLAH. So here it is : How many of the good deeds that we are performing are TRULY and SINCERELY done ONLY for the pleasure of ALLAH TA’ALA??? Are we performing our actions truly with Ikhlaas?
Actions done only for HIM, and HIM alone. Not to seek the slightest bit of fame, praise or ulterior motive. Pure, unadulterated , sincere intentions. I am doing this act ONLY to please ALLAH. I am writing this article ONLY to please ALLAH.I am learning The Glorious Qur’aan ONLY to please ALLAH. Saying it, believing it and meaning it.
Astaghfirullah ! When I scanned my heart,I hung my head in utter shame.ALLAH is so Merciful, HE has concealed my faults even though I do not deserve it. The most hidden intention in the depths of my heart cannot escape my Creator. I claim to be performing such and such ‘Aamaal but when I strip each one down to it’s core and foundation-The INTENTION-I am disgusted at what I find.
To please who?
Many a times, it so happens that we think that our actions are for Allah TA’ALA, but in reality, they are lacking sincerity. Here is a story of a man who used to stand in the first row for every Salaah. As the Prophet (SAWS) mentioned in one of the Hadith that if people knew the reward of standing in the first row and calling the Adhan, they would fight one another to perform these acts. But once it so happened, that this man was late for prayers and had to stand in the second row. He felt embarrassed that people would see him in the second row, and it was then that he realized that the satisfaction he used to get from standing in the first row was from people seeing him in the first row and his sincerity in doing this act was impure. This is just a small example of how our sincerity towards our Lord is unsafe from being impure.
Ahhh..how often do we do things for show? Unconciously…There’s are bearded brother going past,so she lifts her scarf off her shoulders and places it on her head. He fancies a certain ‘pious’ girl, so he starts growing a beard. She loves to give charity,but only when Her friends are around.We can go on an on…but we get the point. This is all Riyaa-actions done for show.They lack the Ikhlaas needed to beautify these actions. They are like Mirages that fool us until we reach it to find nothing.
The Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, said:
"What I fear for you the most is the minor shirk, that is ar-riyaa. Allaah will say on the Day of Judgement when He is rewarding the people for their actions: Go to those for whom you did riyaa for in the world then see if you find the reward with them."
[Related by Ahmad (5/428, 429) and al-Baghawee in Sharh us-Sunnah (4135) from the hadeeth of Mahmood bin Lubaid, radiyallaahu `anhu, with an authentic chain upon the conditions of Muslim.]
The Prophet, Sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, also said:
"Shall I not inform you of what I fear for you more than the maseeh ud-dajjaal? It is the hidden shirk. It is when a man stands up for prayer, then beautifies his prayer for another to look at."
[Related by Ibn Maajah (2604) from the hadeeth of Aboo Sa`eed al-Khudree, radiyallaahu `anhu. The hadeeth is hasan.]
One more hadith…
The illustrious Sahabi, Abu Hurairah (RA), narrated that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said:
"People will come on the Day of Judgement with good deeds like the mountains of Tihaamah and Allah will make their deeds like scattered dust." The Sahabah asked, "Will they not be Muslims?" He (SAWS) replied: "Of course! They will have prayed as you pray, they will have fasted as you fast, they will have spent in charity from their excess wealth and will have given their portion to the night (i.e. in Salaatut Tahajjud); however, WHEN THEY WERE ALONE THEY WOULD VIOLATE THE SANCUTARY OF ALLAH (i.e. fall into the Haraam)." [Collected by Ibn Maajah from Thawbaan and authenticated by Shaikh Al-Albaanee in his Saheeh Ibnu Maajah, #3423].
The time for change…
It is time for us to change…how long will we carry on the way we do? On the Day of Qiyamah,when mothers will not even want to help their own children,such will be the terror of that Day ,when even the atoms weight of good and bad shall be brought forth,what shall be our position? Would we like all our good deeds, which we had slogged to perform in this Dunya,to go to waste? Imagine the shock and the unimaginable terror of finding out that( ALLAH forbid) all our good deeds have amounted to nothing! All our efforts amounted to nothing! Because the soul of those deeds-the Niyyah was not pure.Imagine the humiliation, the shame. Our ALLAH is so merciful to us…every breath we should only be taking to please HIM alone. It is not worth it doing doing anything to please anyone but HIM. Our living must be for ALLAH,Our dying must be for ALLAH,.And every action should be done first by cleansing our intention that we are doing it solely for HIS pleasure.
I am the worst and the most guilty of all.I am writing this firstly for MYSELF to take heed,that Inshallah this article shall bring about a change in MY life as well as all those who read it,Inshallah.I beg of you to remember me in your pious duas