The Fourth Message: The Inner Subtleness

[manhagmuslim]

The Fourth Message: The Inner Subtleness



In the name of Allah the Most Beneficent, Most Merciful
And may peace and blessings be upon the prophet, his family, his companions, and the ones that follow his path.



O Allah I ask you to provide us with Your Love and the love of those who love You; and to provide us with a good deed that will get us closer to Your love


O Allah be kind and gracious by making what’s hard easy.. since making the hard easy is easy for You to do.

O Allah we ask for Your Kindness, subtleness, and mercy.

O Allah pardon and wash away our sins; and make us amongst the servants You love the most by your grace and bounty.. You are the most Generous.



My Beloved in Allah,
We promised in the previous message to discuss the important meanings of Allah’s Subtleness, compassion and mercy. We shall strengthen our certitude in Allah through His name: Al Lateef (The Subtle) . This will increase our love and get us closer to Allah the all Mighty. We will worship Him by this name in a realistic new way.


My brothers and sisters, you may have realized how hard the way to Allah is. Only the ones who have walked the way to His all Mighty and suffered in it will understand. It is a hard path, full of trials and hardship. However, Allah the subtle descends his subtleness upon what is hidden in the hearts of His servants.


If only you understand!!!!!

Ibn el Qayem said in his book “Al Fawa’ed”


The servant is constantly fluctuating between the rules of commandments ( obligatory acts) and the rules of tests and trials (Ibtilaa’). Servants need Allah’s support to fulfill the commandments. And they need Allah’s subtleness for when trials descend.
Hence, depending on the slave's performance of the commandments, enough subtleness from Allah will aid him throughout hardship and trials. If the acts of worship do not exceed the performance then too, the subtleness will descend on the acts of worship themselves making them easy to be performed. Therefore, less subtleness will affect the slave's heart making it harder for the heart to actually feel the act of worship
If the slave fulfills the obligatory acts without paying attention to his heart, Subtleness will be bestowed upon him on the outside and his heart wont benefit from Allah’s kindness

This is the meaning of ‘remember Allah at times of joy and luxury .. and Allah will know you at times of distress’ … Worship Him with your heart and your body and His Subtleness will reach all that surrounds you


Worship him not only by the noticeable acts of worship: Prayer, fasting, Dhikr .. Moreover, worship Him with your heart and by watching Him. Feel your heart. I am sorry to say that we neglected our hearts and paid attention only to the apparent acts of worship. This is why we were deprived of the hidden subtleness bestowed upon our hearts

This is why we constantly complain about the hardness of our hearts, we complain about the relapse of faith and deterioration of state. We complain about the incapability of following the straight path and the steadiness of hearts straying.


Are you looking for the cure? The cure would be: May Allah bestow upon you inner subtleness!!


Ibn el Qayem said: If I am to inquire what the Inner Subtleness would be, Then it would be what happens to a heart when crisis and trials descend.. The heart would undergo a state of tranquility and peacefulness. Any state of worry and anxiety would fade away and become replaced by the calmness that washes away the sorrow and the pain.Allah's slave then understands that all trials come from Allah and that they are what Allah chooses for him. Hence, in this state, he becomes pleased with all that encounters him and in turn, Allah would be pleased. If the slave meets Allah's qadar (fate) with hatred and displeasure, Allah will be displeased with him. The Inner subtleness is the fruit of your inner status or the status of your heart. It will increase by its increase and will decrease by its decrease.


If your status with Allah is a reflection of your inner acts of worship.. If you have a hidden connection to the all Mighty, this inner subtleness will surely affect you. Allah will then provide you with a peaceful heart that’s steady on the right path. Allah will push away the hardness of your heart and you will find yourself in a peaceful state.

That was the case of the prophets. They didn’t feel the hardships and any Ibtilaa’ as they have proper inner faith. Even if they were a hurt on the outside.


Do you understand?
Our Assignment is How do we achieve the descending of the inner subtleness?
First: Feel your heart.. Watch what it enfolds.. Let your first priority be to regularly check it’s faith .

Second: Don’t leave the supplication “O Changer of Hearts, steady my heart in Your Religion.” Third: reflect on the Quran by reading its verses with your heart. Feel the meanings more than just reciting the words to achieve the reward. { Which the trustworthy Ruh [Jibril (Gabriel)] has brought down Upon your heart} (Ash-Shuara:193-194)



Practical Assignment: reflect on surat alFajr. It is the chapter that has the verses for the greatest days of life (the ten days of dhul Hijah) Pray with it daily in your night prayer. May Allah lighten our hearts with its meanings and secrets, thus subtleness may descend from The All Subtle and All Aware

Fourth: Learn the munâjah (prayer and supplication) .. It is one of the important inner acts of worship. A secret munâjah causes the descending of the inner subtleness.


Fifth: Remember the greatest reason for subtleness is humility and humbleness. Be humble as much as you can, subtleness reaches the most humble.


Note: You are asking for the practical assignments. The problem is the following:


How many of you were not lazy to do the assignments?How many of you were not busy to do them?How many of you were not setback by his arrogance to implement the assignment? O Allah be subtle to us


written by
Sheikh Hany Hilmy