Ten Things We Waste
(based on a lesson of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah)
1. --Our Knowledge-- Wasted by not taking action with it.
2. --Our Actions-- Wasted by committing them with out sincerity.
3. --Our Wealth-- Wasted by using on things that will not bring us ajr. We waste our money, our status, our authority, on things which have no benefit in this life or in akhirah.
4. --Our Hearts-- Wasted because they are empty from the love of Allah, and the feeling of longing to go to Him, and a feeling of peace and contentment. In it's place, our hearts are filled with something or someone else.
5. --Our Bodies-- Wasted because we don't use them in ibadah and service of Allah
6. --Our Love-- Our emotional love is misdirected, not towards Allah, but towards something/someone else.
7. --Our Time-- Wasted, not used properly, to compensate for that which has passed, by doing what is righteous to make up for past deeds
8. --Our Intellect-- Wasted on things that are not beneficial, that are detremental to society and the individual, not in contemplation or reflection.
9. --Our Service-- Wasted in service of someone who will not bring us closer to Allah, or benefit in dunyaa
10. --Our Dhikr-- Wasted, because it does not effect us or our hearts.
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Symptoms Of the Heart's Sickness
Bismillahir*RaHmanir*RaHeem
"He it is Who sent down As-Sakinah (calmness and tranquillity)into the hearts of the believers, that they may grow more inFaith along with their (present) Faith. And to Allah belong thehosts of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is Ever Al-Knower,All-Wise." Al-Quran: Surah 48: Al-Fath ayat4.
Four-Symptoms Of the Heart's Sickness & Signs of Its Health
Bismillaahir-RaHmaanir-RaHeem*
The Signs of a Sick Heart**
A servant's heart may be ill, and seriously deteriorating, while he remains oblivious of itscondition. It may even die without him realising it. Thesymptoms of its sickness, or the signs of its death, are thatits owner is not aware of the harm that results from the damagecaused by wrong actions, and is unperturbed by his ignorance ofthe truth or by his false beliefs. Since the living heart experiences pain as a result of any ugliness that it encounters and through itsrecognising its ignorance of the truth (to a degree thatcorresponds to its level of awareness), it is capable ofrecognising the onset of decay-and the increase in the severityof the remedy that will be needed to stop it-but then sometimesit prefers to put up with the pain rather than undergo thearduous trial of the cure! Some of the many signs of the heart's sickness if its turning away from good foods to harmful ones, from goodremedies to shameful sickness. The healthy heart prefers whatis beneficial and healing to what is harmful and damaging; thesick heart prefers the opposite. The most beneficial sustenancefor the heart is faith and the best medicine is the Qur'an.
The Signs of a Healthy Heart
For the heart to be heality it should depart from this life and arrive in the next, and then settle there as ifit were one of its people; it only came to this life as apasser-by, taking whatever provisions it needed and thenreturning home. As the Prophet, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, said to Abdullah ibn Umar, "Be in this world as ifyou were a stranger or a passer-by."1 The More diseased theheart is, the more it desires this world; it dwells in it untilit becomes like one of its people. The healthy heart continues to trouble its owner until he returns to Allah, and is at peace with Him, and joinsHim, like a lover driven by compulsion who finally reaches hisbeloved. Besides his love for Him he needs no other, and afterinvoking Him no other invocations are needed. Serving Himprecludes the need to serve any other. If this heart misses its share of reciting the Qur'an and invoking Allah, or completing one of the prescribedacts of worship, then its owner suffers more distress than acautious man who suffers because of the loss of money or amissed opportunity to make it. It longs to serve, just as afamished person longs for food and drink. Yahya ibn Mu'adh said: "Whoever is pleased with serving Allah, everything will be pleased to serve him; andwhoever finds pleasure in contemplating Allah, all the peoplewill find pleasure in contemplating him." This heart has only one concern: that all its actions, and its inner thoughts and utterances, are obedient toAllah. It is more careful with its time than the meanest peopleare with their money, so that it will not be spent wastefully.When it enters into the prayer, all its worldly worries andanxieties vanish and it finds its comfort and bliss in adoringits Lord. It does not cease to mention Allah, nor tire ofserving Him, and it finds intimate company with no-one save aperson who guides it to Allah and reminds it to Him. Its attention to the correctness of its action is greater than its attention to the action itself. It isscrupulous in making sure that the intentions behind its actionsare sincere and pure and that they result in good deeds. As well as and in spite of all this, it not only testifies to the generosity of Allah in giving it theopportunity to carry out such actions, but also testifies to itsown imperfection and shortcomings in executing them.
The Causes of Sickness ofthe Heart
The temptations to which the heart is exposed are what cause its sickness. These are the temptations of desiresand fancies. The former cause intentions and the will to becorrupted, and the latter cause knowledge and belief to falter. Hudhayfa ibn al-Yamani, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The Messenger of Allah *saaws* said, "Temptationsare presented to the heart, one by one. Any heart that acceptsthem will be left with a black stain, but any heart that rejectsthem will be left with a mark of purity, so that hearts are oftwo types: a dark heart that has turned away and becom like anoverturned vessel, and a pure heart that will never be harmed bytemptation for as long as the earth and the heavens exist. Thedark heart only recognises good and denounces evil when thissuits its desires and whims." 2 He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, placed hearts, when exposed to temptation, into twocategories:::---->First, a heart which, when it is exposed to temptation,absorbs it like a sponge that soaks up water, leaving a blackstain in it. It continues to absorb each temptation that isoffered to it until it is darkened and corrupted, which is whathe meant by "like an overturned vessel". When this happens, twodangerous sicknesses take hold of it and plunge it into ruin: The first is that of its confusing good with evil, to such an extent that it does not recognise the former anddoes not denounce the latter. This sickness may even gain holdof it to such an extent that it believes good to be evil andvice-versa, the sunnah to be bida' and vice-versa, the truth tobe false and falsity to be the truth.
The second is that of its setting up its desires as its judge, over and above what the Prophet *saaws* taught,so that it is enslaved and led by its whims and fancies.----->Second, a pure heart which the light of faith is brightand from which its radiance shines. When temptation is presentedto pure hearts such this, they oppose it and reject it, and sotheir light and illumination only increase
Notes: 1. Al-Bukhari, Kitab ar-Riqaq, 11/233. 2. Muslim, Kitabal-Iman, 2/170 (with different wording). --------=-The Purification of the Soul-=--------------------- from the works of Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbabli, Ibn Al-Qayyim al-Jawziyaa, and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali~
"He it is Who sent down As-Sakinah (calmness and tranquillity)into the hearts of the believers, that they may grow more inFaith along with their (present) Faith. And to Allah belong thehosts of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is Ever Al-Knower,All-Wise." Al-Quran: Surah 48: Al-Fath ayat4.
Four-Symptoms Of the Heart's Sickness & Signs of Its Health
Bismillaahir-RaHmaanir-RaHeem*
The Signs of a Sick Heart**
A servant's heart may be ill, and seriously deteriorating, while he remains oblivious of itscondition. It may even die without him realising it. Thesymptoms of its sickness, or the signs of its death, are thatits owner is not aware of the harm that results from the damagecaused by wrong actions, and is unperturbed by his ignorance ofthe truth or by his false beliefs. Since the living heart experiences pain as a result of any ugliness that it encounters and through itsrecognising its ignorance of the truth (to a degree thatcorresponds to its level of awareness), it is capable ofrecognising the onset of decay-and the increase in the severityof the remedy that will be needed to stop it-but then sometimesit prefers to put up with the pain rather than undergo thearduous trial of the cure! Some of the many signs of the heart's sickness if its turning away from good foods to harmful ones, from goodremedies to shameful sickness. The healthy heart prefers whatis beneficial and healing to what is harmful and damaging; thesick heart prefers the opposite. The most beneficial sustenancefor the heart is faith and the best medicine is the Qur'an.
The Signs of a Healthy Heart
For the heart to be heality it should depart from this life and arrive in the next, and then settle there as ifit were one of its people; it only came to this life as apasser-by, taking whatever provisions it needed and thenreturning home. As the Prophet, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, said to Abdullah ibn Umar, "Be in this world as ifyou were a stranger or a passer-by."1 The More diseased theheart is, the more it desires this world; it dwells in it untilit becomes like one of its people. The healthy heart continues to trouble its owner until he returns to Allah, and is at peace with Him, and joinsHim, like a lover driven by compulsion who finally reaches hisbeloved. Besides his love for Him he needs no other, and afterinvoking Him no other invocations are needed. Serving Himprecludes the need to serve any other. If this heart misses its share of reciting the Qur'an and invoking Allah, or completing one of the prescribedacts of worship, then its owner suffers more distress than acautious man who suffers because of the loss of money or amissed opportunity to make it. It longs to serve, just as afamished person longs for food and drink. Yahya ibn Mu'adh said: "Whoever is pleased with serving Allah, everything will be pleased to serve him; andwhoever finds pleasure in contemplating Allah, all the peoplewill find pleasure in contemplating him." This heart has only one concern: that all its actions, and its inner thoughts and utterances, are obedient toAllah. It is more careful with its time than the meanest peopleare with their money, so that it will not be spent wastefully.When it enters into the prayer, all its worldly worries andanxieties vanish and it finds its comfort and bliss in adoringits Lord. It does not cease to mention Allah, nor tire ofserving Him, and it finds intimate company with no-one save aperson who guides it to Allah and reminds it to Him. Its attention to the correctness of its action is greater than its attention to the action itself. It isscrupulous in making sure that the intentions behind its actionsare sincere and pure and that they result in good deeds. As well as and in spite of all this, it not only testifies to the generosity of Allah in giving it theopportunity to carry out such actions, but also testifies to itsown imperfection and shortcomings in executing them.
The Causes of Sickness ofthe Heart
The temptations to which the heart is exposed are what cause its sickness. These are the temptations of desiresand fancies. The former cause intentions and the will to becorrupted, and the latter cause knowledge and belief to falter. Hudhayfa ibn al-Yamani, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The Messenger of Allah *saaws* said, "Temptationsare presented to the heart, one by one. Any heart that acceptsthem will be left with a black stain, but any heart that rejectsthem will be left with a mark of purity, so that hearts are oftwo types: a dark heart that has turned away and becom like anoverturned vessel, and a pure heart that will never be harmed bytemptation for as long as the earth and the heavens exist. Thedark heart only recognises good and denounces evil when thissuits its desires and whims." 2 He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, placed hearts, when exposed to temptation, into twocategories:::---->First, a heart which, when it is exposed to temptation,absorbs it like a sponge that soaks up water, leaving a blackstain in it. It continues to absorb each temptation that isoffered to it until it is darkened and corrupted, which is whathe meant by "like an overturned vessel". When this happens, twodangerous sicknesses take hold of it and plunge it into ruin: The first is that of its confusing good with evil, to such an extent that it does not recognise the former anddoes not denounce the latter. This sickness may even gain holdof it to such an extent that it believes good to be evil andvice-versa, the sunnah to be bida' and vice-versa, the truth tobe false and falsity to be the truth.
The second is that of its setting up its desires as its judge, over and above what the Prophet *saaws* taught,so that it is enslaved and led by its whims and fancies.----->Second, a pure heart which the light of faith is brightand from which its radiance shines. When temptation is presentedto pure hearts such this, they oppose it and reject it, and sotheir light and illumination only increase
Notes: 1. Al-Bukhari, Kitab ar-Riqaq, 11/233. 2. Muslim, Kitabal-Iman, 2/170 (with different wording). --------=-The Purification of the Soul-=--------------------- from the works of Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbabli, Ibn Al-Qayyim al-Jawziyaa, and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali~
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