Lesson 1- How To Charge Our Iman.

Assalamualaikum.

We are all Muslims and at times we wonder why we fail to perform all the commandments of Allah s.w.t. We are always at the same par. So, insyaAllah I’ll try to help on why we got stuck and how to escape. What is the drive and courage needed to perform. What is the right goal and what stops us from being better. Also, in deen, what are the values of dunia and akhirat. What is hidayah and why we need it.


Why you got stuck?

Syaithan. In all of us there is an inherent ( built-in, resident, given) element called Syaithan. Syaithan’s main task is to prevent the Sons of Adam from obeying all the commands of Allah s.w.t . Syaithan has cheated Adam a.s by persuading him into eating the khuldi fruit and caused Allah’s curse. He tried hard to persuade Adam a.s and knowing that Adam was obedient to Allah s.w.t, he cheated and persuaded Hawa a.s to get Adam a.s to fall into his trap. Syaithan had asked for permission from Allah s.w.t to deviate all Sons of Adam until qiamat and his wish was granted! Syaithan flows in our blood! Syaithan never sleeps! Syaithan has cheated Sheikh Abdul Qadir jailani, sufi of all Sufis. So who are we? How do we eliminate or lessen the effect of Syaithan on our hearts?

Nafsu. What about nafsu? In a Hadith, Allah s.w.t did submerged nafsu in the coldest Hell for a million years to test his loyalty. When saved, Allah asked Nafsu: Who is Allah? Nafsu said you, you and me, me! Allah s.w.t then submerged nafsu in the hottest Hell for a million years to test his loyalty. When saved, Allah asked Nafsu: Who is Allah? Nafsu said you, you and me, me! Then, Allah s.w.t stop the food to nafsu ( i.e fasting) and only then did nafsu succumbed and admitted that, yes, he is just a makhluk of Allah s.w.t. and Allah s.w.t is God. Nabi s.a.w said: Humans, if given two valleys of gold, he will cry for the third! In another Hadith, Nabi s.a.w said: The yearning of nafsu stops when earth filled his mouth ( i.e when one is buried in the grave ). Understand now why we kejar dunia all the time?

How to escape?

Syaithan’s main enemy is dakwah ilallah. In a Hadith, it was narrated that when a muazzin calls for azan, syaithan will run helter skelter as far as they could and throwing wind ( yes! farting)! The moment azan finished, they will come back and settle very close to the hearts of Muslims, ready to whisper words of sins and negligence. In short, to minimize the influence of syaithan, we must all do dakwah ilallah. What is dakwah ilallah? Just look at what we uttered in azan. Dakwah is glorifying Allah s.w.t, not what our mind seems to think of. Dakwah is not what PAS is doing. Dakwah is not what all Ustaz is doing. Ustaz is only giving lessons on ilmu. There is a big difference between dakwah ( inviting human beings towards their Rabb, Allah s.w.t) , dakwa ( judging and imposing verdict ) and dakyah ( following man-made constitution, organization, clubs etc). This is very important. Don’t be confused. The effect of dakwah is people come to Islam. The effect of dakwa is people run away from Islam. The effect of dakyah is people break up into groups, not united. Don’t be confuse!

So, to escape from the grip of Syaithan, you must do dakwah ilallah. Well, it is a big phobia because our parents didn’t do it, our society didn’t do it and even ulama’s didn’t do it. There is 60 ayats in the Quran commanding ( perintah Allah s.w.t) us to do dakwah. Some of it for your reference: Imran 110, Imran 31, Yusof 108, Ankabut 69, al-Asri and many more. So, how to do it? Just do it! Well, first you must give time. To learn anything, you must give some time. No pain no gain. Nothing is free. But what I am asking is just some time. Sacrifice some of your free, leisure time and go and learn it. Now, who is doing it in a simple, continuous, istiqomah, easy, peaceful, humble, systematic and “mujahaddah” way? Jemaah Tabligh. So, I urge you to go to the markas at Tranquerah on Saturday nights and just lend you ears. Between Maghrib and Isya, usually they will have a short fikir on our iman and amal. It is good that we gauge how we stand in the area of Iman and Amal. The talk is filled with fadhillat ( benefits ) of each amal. Also, it will cover the Greatness of Allah s.w.t, the sunnah of Nabi s.a.w and the great stories of sacrifices and examples of the sahabahs. Why the sahabahs? They have radhiallah huanhu, meaning Allah is pleased with their faith! Now, to be successful, shouldn’t we follow those who are successful in the eyes of Allah s.w.t? What are their traits?

Nafsu? To escape from the grip of nafsu, we follow the sunnah of Nabi s.a.w. A sunnah is the way of life of Nabi s.a.w and it is widely broken into the surah ( appearance), sirah ( way of life ) and sariroh ( the wants, dreams and thoughts ) of Nabi s.a.w. This is all called the sunnah of Nabi s.a.w. Following Nabi s.a.w is the commands of Allah s.w.t. Nabi s.a.w is the best example for all to emulate! Today, Muslims are confused between sunnah and sunat. Let them be! What is sunat? It is a Syariat ( law ). You do it you get pahala, you miss it, never mind. What is sunnah? You do it you are successful and if you don’t, you will be deviated ( sesat ). That’s the difference! As an example, look at solat. Nafsu says ahh pray at home but sunnah insist it be done in congregation at the masjid. Eating. Nafsu says eat, eat and show off. Eat in a plush expensive restaurants but sunnah insist we eat only when we are hungry and stop before we are full. Greetings. Nafsu says ahh why should I greet this person but sunnah insist that we spread salaam. Sleep. Nafsu says sleep but sunnah says do tahajjud. A lot of other examples but first we must know what is a sunnah and the fadhillat ( benefit) of each sunnah, no matter how small!. This you will also get from the fikir of iman and amal at the markaz. You won’t get this from anywhere else. In the markaz, you will see people emulating the dress of Nabi s.a.w. It looks awkward because Muslims have forgotten how Nabi s.a.w looks! It is difficult to follow the sunnah but it is the command of Allah. I was there before. I know the chemistry. Trust me. A person who talks but don’t do it is a hypocrite. In Islam, it is called a munafiq!. Do you know that the hell for a munafiq is lower than that of a kafirin? So, check where we stand, always. May Allah s.w.t gave us the light.

Drive and courage?

In dunia, material benefit and lust ( nafsu) will make us do what we want. To do anything for dunia, knowledge is enough. In deen however, knowledge alone is not enough. Knowledge can only guide, not drive. Ask anyone who doesn’t pray. They all know how to pray but have no drive to do it. In deen, we need hidayah. Hidayah is just like a light given to us when we are in the dark. Hidayah is the drive and courage you need but it doesn’t come easy. In Quran, al-Ankabut, Allah s.w.t says: Those who sacrifice in my path, SURELY, I will open the doors of hidayah! Once Allah s.w.t open the hidayah to you, you get will get iman. From iman, amal will come. So the drive and courage is HIDAYAH.

We all have hidayah but the types of hidayah are Hidayah Nasabi ( hereditary ), Hidayah Qalbi ( heart ) and Hidayah Khawasi ( evaluation ). What we need, what we all lack is HIDAYATUL NUUR. Hidayat Nur comes from Allah s.w.t. We all thought with ilmu, with being a Muslim, our iman is strong. No!. Hidayat Nur comes from sacrifice. Also, when we talk about hidayah, we must remember that it is at the sole discretion of Allah s.w.t. It is not given based on anything. It is entirely based on Allah ‘s discretion!. Proof? Abu Thalib, who is Nabi s.a.w’s uncle didn’t get hidayah! The wife and son of Noh a.s didn’t get hidayah. What we can do is to sacrifice our self, time and money for hidayah. There is no other way to get Hidayah Nuur.

Right Goal?

Our ultimate goal shall and must be to be saved from Jahannam and enter Jannah. All the other things we strive and get in dunia are mere achievements. All achievements are temporary. Without the right goal, i.e the permanent goal of a success in akhirat, then we will wonder in this dunia without any action to prepare for that goal. We will be lost. For Muslims without goal, they will be worst. They are lost in the light! Kafirs are lost in the dark.

Values?

To understand value, let me give you a simple analogy. If you give a monkey one banana and a diamond, which will it choose? Banana! Why? Monkey doesn’t know the value of a diamond. Same with Muslims. At Dzohor prayer time, very few will be at the mosque and most will be chasing dunia. Why? Even after years being a Muslim, most Muslims are not convinced of the values of akhirat!

Summary

Why we got stuck? Syaithan and Nafsu. How to escape? To escape syaithan, do dakwah ilallah and to beat nafsu, follow the sunnah of Nabi s.a.w. How to get the drive and courage? We sacrifice our self, time and wealth to get hidayah by going out in the path of Allah ( mujahaddah). What is deen? Deen is the whole surah, sirah and sariroh of Nabi s.a.w. In short, Nabi s.a.w’s way of life. Deen is not only the 5 rukun of Islam. Deen covers imaniat ( faith ), ibadat ( the five pillars ), muamallat ( business dealings ), muasyarat ( laws of Allah ) and akhlak ( behaviour ). So, without hidayah and conviction on the values of akhirat, we won’t be able to perform. We will be dead. We will be a Muslim by name all our life. So, do you want to seriously change?

email from :
Mohd Haneef Yusof