On the Way to Allaah’s Pleasure

[madeenahsh]

On the Way to Allaah’s Pleasure





Shaykh Usaamah Al-Khayyaat





All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all the worlds. Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon the Messenger, his household and companions.

Fellow Muslims! Fear Allaah and be conscious of Him. Know that you will stand in front of Him on

“A Day when man will see that (the deeds) which his hands have sent forth, and the disbeliever will say: "Woe to me! Would that I were dust!”

(An-Naba’ 78:40)






Brethren in faith! If the paths to falsehood are numerous and uncountable, the path to Allaah is only one. That is the straight path, which He has marked for those who seek His Pleasure and Paradise. Allaah says,

“And verily, this is my Straight Path, so follow it, and follow not (other) paths, for they will separate you away from His Path. This He has ordained for you that you may become pious.”

(Al-An‘aam 6:153)

Allaah makes His path one because He is One and He pluralized the paths that negate His, because they are many.

‘Abdullaah bin Mas‘ood narrated that the Messenger of Allaah drew a straight line and then said, “This is the path of Allaah.” He then drew other lines to the left and right and said, “These are the paths. On each of them is a devil that calls unto it. He then recites the verse: “And verily, this is my Straight Path, so follow it, and follow not (other) paths, for they will separate you away from His Path. This He has ordained for you that you may become pious.”

Dear brethren! The way to Allaah is only one because Allaah is One. As for falsehood, it is uncountable. All that is besides Allaah is false and every way that leads to falsehood is also false.

As regards the statement of some scholars that there are various ways that lead to Allaah and that He made it so in order to show compassion and favour to His servants, this is a true statement and does not in any way contradict the oneness of the path to Him.

Ibn Al-Qayyim explained this further when he said, “Certainly, the only way to Allaah is one. Though there are various means by which one can seek for His pleasure in view of times, places, persons and situations, yet all are means that lead to the attainment of His pleasure. Allaah diversifies the means because of the diversity in the people’s preparation. Had He made the means only one irrespective of people’s differences in understanding and preparations, not everyone would be able to take it. But since the preparations are different and the means are diversified, every man would be able to adopt the means that is compatible with his preparedness. It is in this light that differences in the Messengers’ practical laws, in spite of the Oneness of their Lord and oneness of their religion, can be well understood. The Prophet said, “Prophets are (like) children of the same father, whose father is one but have different mothers.” The Prophet likened the religion of the Prophets to one father and likened their practical laws to different mothers.

Though these practical laws were different, their source is the same religion. There are some whose major occupation by which he seeks his way to the pleasure of Allaah is learning knowledge and teaching it. He spends all his time in learning knowledge and teaching it until he attain the pleasure of Allaah or dies in the cause of doing what he finds suitable for his nature. Allaah says,

“He who emigrates (from his home) in the Cause of Allaah will find on earth many dwelling places and plenty to live by. And whosoever leaves his home as an emigrant unto Allaah and His Messenger, and death overtakes him, his reward is then surely incumbent upon Allaah.”

(An-Nisaa 4:100)

[COLOR=DarkGreen]There are some whose beloved act of worship is reciting the Qur’aan and remembering Allaah. He devotes most of his time for these acts of worship and whenever he feels that he has neglected anything of these acts, he regards that as a big loss.

There are some whose major acts of worship are supererogatory prayers. So if he diminishes any of that or spends some time without being able to perform it, he feels disturbed.

There are some whose favoured act of worship is showing kindness to people, meeting their needs, providing relief for the distressed and doing all kind of philanthropic deeds. He finds this means very easy and he takes it as the way to the pleasure of his Lord.

There are some whose chosen path is fasting. Whenever he is unable to fast, he becomes sad.

There are some whose preferred act of worship is promoting virtue and forbidding vices. That is the path that Allaah has made easy for them and they take it as a means to the pleasure of their Lord.

There are some whose path to the pleasure of their Lord is performing Hajj and ‘Umrah.

There are yet some who combines all these means. You will find such a person taking up every means that leads to the pleasure of Allaah. He has made acts worship his direction whereby you find him participating in every act of worship. You find him among the knowledgeable, you find him among the fighters in the cause of Allaah, you find him among the performers of supererogatory prayers, you find him among those who remember Allaah much, you find him among the philanthropists and you find among the sincere lovers of Allaah who are always conscious of Him. If he is asked about the deeds he wants to do he replies, “I only want to implement the orders of my Lord wherever they may be. I have no other wish but to carry out the His commandments.” You will see him ever conscious of his Lord and worshipping Him with his body and soul. He has sold his himself to Allaah and he is expecting the price.

“Verily, Allaah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties for (the price) that theirs shall be the Paradise.”

(At-Tawbah 9:111)

Brethren in faith! This is the path of him who is seeking the way to his Lord. His heart is completely attached to Allaah as the heart of a lover is attached to his beloved and he thereby forgets other things. The result of this is that his Lord will love him, select him and take care of all his worldly and religious affairs. He will also nurture him more than a compassionate father would nurture his son. For it is Allaah Who undertakes the care of all creatures, both the obedient and sinful ones. How much more will His care be of the one who loves Him, prefers Him and is satisfied with Him as his Lord, as the Disposer of his affairs, as his Helper and as the Giver of guidance? Had Allaah revealed the realities of His compassion and kindness to this slave and showed them to him from sources that are known or unknown to him, his heart would have melt out of love for Him, in longing for Him and in gratitude to Him.


Dear brethren! Whoever tastes anything of the above and knows the way that leads to his Lord and yet abandons that way and follows his lustful desires and inclinations, he will expose himself to ruin and perdition. His life will be full of sorrow and distress, his death will be a great loss and his life after death will be full of regret. Then he will seek for relief but no relief will come his way. His happiness will turn to sorrow, his glory will turn to ignominy and his wealth will turn to poverty.

All this will be the result of his turning away from the path of his Lord after he has recognised it. He was called but has failed to respond to the call. He turned his back against his Lord and followed only the dictates of his whims.

Whoever turns away from Allaah totally, Allaah will also neglect him totally and whoever turns away from Allaah totally, his lot will be misery and loss. The real deprived is the one who knows the right path and yet turns away from it. Allaah says,

But whosoever turns away from My Reminder (i.e. neither believes in this Qur’aan nor acts on its teachings.) verily, for him is a life of hardship, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection." He will say: "O my Lord! Why have you raised me up blind, while I had sight (before)." (Allaah) will say: "Like this: Our Aayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) came unto you, but you disregarded them (i.e. you left them, did not think deeply in them, and you turned away from them), and so this Day, you will be neglected (in the Hell-fire, away from Allaah’s Mercy).”

(Taa Haa 20:124-126)

Brethren in faith! When Allaah pays attention to His slave who takes a path to Him, He lights up his life, removes his darkness and shows the effects of His attention for him in the light of his heart and the brightness of his face. He makes the Angels love him and befriend to him because they love only him whom Allaah loves and befriend only him whom Allaah takes as a friend. The Messenger of Allaah said, “When Allaah loves a slave, He calls (Angel) Jibreel and tells him: ‘I love so-and-so, you should then love him.’ Jibreel will then love the person and will call on the inhabitants of the heaven saying: ‘Indeed, Allaah loves so-and-so, you should then love him.’ The inhabitants of the heaven will then love him, and he will be made to be loved by the inhabitants of the earths as well.” (Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim)

Dear brethren! Fear Allaah and work towards achieving the love of your Lord with sincerity and following the path of the Messenger of Allaah.

[Khayal]

:sl:

JazakAllah khair.

:w:

[Emperor]

Excellent article:)