This article is targeted for the personal development of people who believe there is Hereafter or Paradise or Judgement Day. :)
· Praises to Allah and Salutations on the Rasul.
· Considering the traumas on Judgement Day, the reality of our disappointing performance on earth and the strict entry criteria for the Paradise, the most important question that day will be: What can I hold onto that will earn me Allah’s Mercy. The Rasul (pbuh) said: “No one will enter Paradise except by the mercy of Allah.” The companions asked him, what about you? He (pbuh) said, “Even me!” Therefore, the question is, what can you do now that you can show Allah that you deserve His mercy?
· Can you call attention of Allah to some of your action and thereby earning His mercy? Yes. I am reminded of the story in the hadith of the three people trapped in the cave by a huge unmoveable stone, who then had to turn towards Allah for his mercy to rescue them.
· The Prophet said, "While three men were walking, it started raining and they took shelter (refuge) in a cave in a mountain. A big rock rolled down from the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. They said to each other, 'Think of good deeds which you did for Allah's sake only, and invoke Allah by giving reference to those deeds so that He may remove this rock from you.' One of them said, 'O Allah! I had old parents and small children and I used to graze the sheep for them. On my return to them in the evening, I used to milk (the sheep) and start providing my parents first of all before my children. One day I was delayed and came late at night and found my parents sleeping. I milked (the sheep) as usual and stood by their heads. I hated to wake them up and disliked to give milk to my children before them, although my children were weeping (because of hunger) at my feet till the day dawned. O Allah! If I did this for Your sake only, kindly remove the rock so that we could see the sky through it.' So, Allah removed the rock a little and they saw the sky. The second man said, 'O Allah! I was in love with a cousin of mine like the deepest love a man may have for a woman. I wanted to outrage her chastity but she refused unless I gave her one hundred Dinars. So, I struggled to collect that amount. And when I sat between her legs, she said, 'O Allah's slave! Be afraid of Allah and do not deflower me except rightfully (by marriage).' So, I got up. O Allah! If I did it for Your sake only, please remove the rock.' The rock shifted a little more. Then the third man said, 'O Allah! I employed a laborer for a Faraq of rice and when he finished his job and demanded his right, I presented it to him, but he refused to take it. So, I sowed the rice many times till I gathered cows and their shepherd (from the yield). (Then after some time) he came and said to me, "Fear Allah (and give me my right)." I said, "Go and take those cows and the shepherd." He said, "Be afraid of Allah! Don't mock at me."I said, "I am not mocking at you. Take (all that)." So, he took all that. O Allah! If I did that for Your sake only, please remove the rest of the rock.' So, Allah removed the rock." Source: Sahih Bukhari, Hadith # 3.526
· What is common to these people, which gave them the opportunity to benefit from the mercy of Allah is the state of their hearts towards the people they were dealing with. The pure heart is the path to Paradise. I have spent the last few months looking into the pure heart and have come up with “The Five Dimensions of a Pure Heart.”
· The importance of a pure and peaceful heart is emphasised by the hadith of the Man of Paradise. [If you want to see the man of Paradise, that is him leaving the Masjid… This man does not go to sleep with a heart of burden (by grievance, enmity, hatred, conflict etc, he has a peaceful heart).
· The journey of life is the purification of man: we are sent to this world to transform ourselves. Man was created from pure substance but debased to the lowest of the low (Qur'an 95 [Surah Tinn] verses 4-5), due to the pursuance of material pleasures, which brings out the worst of us - our animalistic instinct. Returning to the state of purity is the goal in life and whoever present him or herself in this state of purity at the Gate of Paradise will no doubt be allowed entry.
· Everyone has their Asr time (the ending stage of their life) and we will most certainly be losers except those who purifies their faith, souls, deeds and being. (Surah Asr)
· The purpose of life is the deliverance of the trust (the gift of life) to it's owner in it's pure and peaceful state. That is the challenge and this underscore the importance of pursuing a pure heart, this is also referred to as a soul or heart at rest (nafs mutmaina [Surah Fajr – Q89]) and it's such souls that would be pleasantly and personally welcomed by Allah into His Paradise.
· The Five Dimensions of a Pure Heart are:
1. Everyone is Actually Human: This concept is simple and almost redundant, possibly pedantic. Yet, it is the single most important factor fueling the continuity of conflicts within a community or even amongst friends. How do you perceive people with whom you are in conflict? The moment you relegate them to the subhuman level, you have no feelings for them nor their situation. [Nazi/Jew/Palestine/Arabs/Blacks etc]
You can never have a pure and peaceful heart if you have any single human that you consider less human than you. I recently completed a volunteering arrangement with a mental health charity (MIND) and was told during my induction: "it may take time, but you will soon realised that there is no one who is not better than you in something in life, regardless of their current mental health circumstance." Allah blessed all of His creatures uniquely without discrimination with respect to faith or race, why would you want to do the discrimination?
Treating people as object is demeaning. We may not realise this is what we do, but what if this is how others feel about our actions. Some of us know how to use Islam to take advantage of people! Use and dump. Rather we should endeavour to make people feel valued, touch people’s life everyday, you may not know what you have done. [The story of a non-Muslim woman who went out for the last ride around the city before returning home to her waiting suicide tablets and glass of water, but was touched by an act of kindness and humane treatment by a Muslim sister who told me this story just a couple of days after it happened in November 2010.]
2. Equality and Actions Beyond the Surface: Indeed we are all equal and there is absolutely no need to make a distinction between people when our desires, needs, realities are the same. Distinction is only with regards to piety and only Allah is able to make any determination in that regards, any human attempts is futile and almost certainly bound to be unjust and inept. This is why Allah warns [Surah Hujurat – Q49 verse 11] a section of humans not to mock or scorn or undermine another section of human because it is not within our remit to judge on piety, or even on who a true believer is. Only Allah knows the circumstances of each of us and He is best to judge. [Hadith: AbuHurayrah narrated: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say: There were two men among Banu Isra'il, who were striving for the same goal. One of them would commit sin and the other would strive to do his best in the world. The man who exerted himself in worship continued to see the other in sin. He would say: Refrain from it. One day he found him in sin and said to him: Refrain from it. He said: Leave me alone with my Lord. Have you been sent as a watchman over me? He said: I swear by Allah, Allah will not forgive you, nor will he admit you to Paradise. Then their souls were taken back (by Allah), and they met together with the Lord of the worlds. He (Allah) said to this man who had striven hard in worship; Had you knowledge about Me or had you power over that which I had in My hand? He said to the man who sinned: Go and enter Paradise by My mercy. He said about the other: Take him to Hell. AbuHurayrah said: By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he spoke a word by which this world and the next world of his were destroyed.” (AbuDawud)]
Our task in this world is to worship ALLAH through service to humanity and that begins with seeing everyone as equals. Further, the service must come from the heart. What we do on the surface is only as good as the underlying inference ie intentions. Actions are judged according to intentions. Humans have unseen vibes which we send, receives and sense without our actual awareness or presence of mind. Whatever you do on the surface without the sincerity of the heart is seen, received and felt as such. We must act with and from the heart and knowing, believing and behaving that way - we are all equal. The differences we have in terms of wealth, class, social, political, moral or cultural are circumstantial, temporal, and susceptible to life's vicissitude. The Rasul (pbuh) said “Allah does not look at our physicals and actions, but He considers what is in our hearts.”
3. Simple Approach to Life's Complexities: the person who desires a pure heart is not simple minded, yet he is not overwhelmed by life's serious and complicated nature. He has developed simple and pragmatic approaches to life. Simple tasks or even communications or events in life can be extremely complex, but a few steps, make life healthy:
a) Take nothing to Heart: human actions speeches and actions can be a burden, a man of peaceful hearts would not burden his hearts with other people's baggage. People go about looking for someone to heap their baggage on. Dodge it! Don't be a victim. Learn to ignore or put things in their proper perspective.
Learn how to handle personal criticism to your own developmental advantage. My father’s statement: “Should someone accuse you of something: if you are guilty, stop it; if you are not, don’t do it. C’est finis! No quarrel, no argument” Internalise and always be ready to move on, do not dwell on the past too much.
b) Communicates: of course there are issues with people, instead of keeping quiet, moaning or suffering internally, the heart at peace seeks to communicate their issues and grievances in a way that shows and seeks mutual understanding, respect and appreciation. Once issues are clarified, leave no rooms for whispers, doubt and second guessing people’s intentions. Communication is the greatest took to seek to understand and to seek to be understood.
c) No Expectations, No Hurtful Disappointment: One of the main causes of hurt to the heart is the disappointment emanating from our expectations from others. A peaceful heart puts his complete trust only in God. People are human and they may be handicapped by circumstances unknown to us. Therefore, the strategy is to not actually be dependent on people for whatever we need and where we cannot but depend on people, the anticipation of the possibility of failure should have warranted an option B alternative and this should lessen the pains from disappointment.
The starting point therefore should be: avoid asking people for what they have. The Rasul (pbuh) responded to the question "How do I make God and people to like me at the same time?" His answer was: "Do as Allah has commanded you and He will love you for your obedience; and do not ask people for what they have and people will like you for your non-dependent.”
d) Honour Thy Words: Your mouth speaks your heart, therefore, to purify your heart and make it noble, you have got to make your words honourable. You must be true to what comes out of your mouth. You must THINK before you TALK (Hadith on silence is good, good speech is golden)
- Talk the TRUTH always: Qur'an on taqullah wa quluqawlan sadeedan.
- Fulfil your PROMISE: do not have the habit of over-promising and under-delivering. When you knowingly speak to deceive, making promise but knowing that you will not deliver on that then you have developed a character of the hypocrite, a one quarter hypocrite is not welcome to Allah's Paradise. Allah says: Lima taquuluna ma lantafaluun. (Q61:2-3)
- Control your tongue: sometime, even speaking the truth at the wrong time or in the wrong place or in a wrong way can get you into trouble. Weigh your words, be sure you understand the gravity and implication of your utterance and consider whether silence is the best option or delayed response will beat achieve the desired result.
- When you talk, speak with respect for the person you are addressing and for their feelings. Learn to do these naturally because your non-verbal communications speak volumes more than the words you utter.
e) Free from Hate: make it a point not to have any issue with people by basically learning to ignore people. A drunk once told me on a bus in Oxford City: "People you hate live in your head and they do your head in and this destroys your relationship with people you love. Forget them, let your loved ones live in your head." This is so true; when you are filled with anger and hatred, you become negative and sad and maybe mad. It weighs on your heart, soul and wellbeing. But the liberated heart does not burden itself. If Allah has not placed on you a burden greater than you can bear (Qur'an 2 verse 286) then why burden yourself with other people's baggage?
f) Forgiveness: It is said that “Forgiveness is not something we do for other people, but we do it for ourselves to GET WELL and MOVE ON.” Ease to forgive is an attribute we must emulate from Allah for He is Ghafur Raheem. Forgiving people is a natural nutrient for liberating the soul and the mind. Also, to forgive and forget liberates from the past and prepares for the future. It is noted that “The brightest future will always be based on forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and headaches.” Moreover, it is part of the Prophet’s advice that we must forgive people by giving excuses for their actions. We should give 70 excuses! Before you get to 10 excuse, you would have forgiven an offense against yourself.
4. A Sense of Responsibility: After seeing every human as a human being. The next level is to identify and understand the sense of duty you owe them. This is natural. If you see someone fall down, you rush to their need without a care for who they are or what they believe. That sense of duty extends beyond the need for rescue or assistance, but to actually seek their comfort and wellbeing without their need to ask. Comfort and wellbeing to live a peaceful and happy life, an extension of this is seeking their wellbeing in the hereafter, but this is secondary as the primary duty is to ensure earthly wellbeing. If you can solve their problems in his world, you stand a better chance of being listened to with regards to the issues of the hereafter.
5. Peace with all: He does not only pursue a peaceful life with other humans but with other creatures and above all with his Creator.
Peace with all of Allah’s creations: Hadith on Dogs: “Narrated by AbuHurairah: The Prophet said, "A man saw a dog eating mud from (the severity of) thirst. So, that man took a shoe (and filled it) with water and kept on pouring the water for the dog till it quenched its thirst. So Allah approved of his deed and made him to enter Paradise." And narrated Hamza bin 'Abdullah: My father said. "During the lifetime of Allah's Messenger, the dogs used to urinate, and pass through the mosques (come and go), nevertheless they never used to sprinkle water on it (urine of the dog.)” (Bukhari, Hadith #1.174)
The Prophet said when a believer dies, the trees will weep for his loss, the fishes in the ocean will mourn and the birds will pray for their souls. Will these objects (trees, fish and birds and other creatures of Allah) pray for the one who does not treat them well? They will say, “Good riddance to a bad rubbish” even if he or she is a “believer.” Those creatures will only pray for a true believer and you need to start considering which one you are. Are you at peace with not only Allah, but with other humans (Muslims and Non-Muslims including ridiculous relatives, naughty neighbours and colluding colleagues etc) and with other non-human creatures? Have you established peace with all, so that your Hereafter is free of people who will make allegations against you?
Conclusion:
Its all about us and our looking glass and our thinking hat. How do we perceive ourselves in relation to others? It is about our attitude and character development. Whether at home or at work, we need to desire peace at heart to be successful in this world and at the gates of Paradise.
Hadith: “The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: I guarantee a house in the surroundings of Paradise for a man who avoids quarrelling even if he were in the right, a house in the middle of Paradise for a man who avoids lying even if he were joking, and a house in the upper part of Paradise for a man who made his character good.” (AbuDawud)
It was Zig Ziglar who noted that people often worry about whether or not they have chosen the right person. He said, you can marry the right person and treat them bad, you end up with the wrong person and you can chose the wrong person and treat them well and end up with the right person, what matters is you being the right person and treating all people well.
© Shams O’Muyiwa, November 2010.
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