Matan Arba'in Hadith: Second Hadith II

Assalaamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah!

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Thanks to You dear Allah, we had safely finished services at Your noble house of worship. Now we will continue with the explanation of the hadith, may He permits it.

The faith of faithful servants of Allah is through the faith toward Him, faith toward His angels, His revelations and scriptures, His messengers, the Resurrection and the evil and goodness that happens in this Universe is through His divine predestination. I have two comments which sparks in my mind. 

The first one regarding the conspiracies concerning certain groups of human-being. I don't believe these. But I believe that there are Haqq (Truth) and baathil (evil). He is the Truth and evil will be vanquished by Him who is the Holy Lord of the Universe! Evil is nothing but just the test for our faith as His slaves and servants. He had revealed to us what He wants us to know so we do not have to believe in man-made conspiracies and fully relying on theories. I learned about theories and epistemology but it is different from the learning of faith and the revelation.

I heard many conspiracy theories in few blogs written in Malay or those forwarded by an Arab speaker from Egypt. I know that book which talks about anti-Christ and others. I also heard few juniors talking about these. I don't take them seriously and it is just a waste of time. I am tired of those things. We have our own sources for that so we don't need any additions on the faith source from nonsense sources.

We faithful Muslims do not dominate the world because the world does not belong to us. He is the One who possess everything! He has revealed us with His scriptures to spread mercy and amity. What is His mercy? It is His teachings, His law, and it proves His love to us. Wars, greed, and evil happened in human history had tarnished our understanding around. 

The root for all of these is ignorance. Theories of dominion for certain race belongs to Europeans of colonial period with their Orientalism branch of study. Some of us think that it is not good for us to follow their footsteps, they are colonialists, they are evil plundering others, and whatsoever... But we without realizing ourselves had fallen into the same thinking as them when we accept those conspiracies. Our jihad is through His Wisdom, Mercy and Love. I don't hate Europeans, Americans nor any race or nation. I don't believe in race superiority. I only believe in His Dominion, Superiority and His Law.

Second thing that I wanted to comment regarding this explanation about pillar of faith in general is that... Through my understanding on what I had heard from different teachers in learning traditions in mosques, it is also from my experience, not many of us are aware of our own pillars of faith with this same question asked by the archangel Gabriel peace be upon him. I had asked many people including my family members, my dad and my sisters, some of my friends or people around who profess that they are Muslims. I am so sad, when they just keep their silence. However, when it comes to conspiracy theories, illuminati, and other nonsense theories which came out from the so-called American or Europeans' head, they are so keen about it and could further elaborate with racial superiority over the others. Even if what is theorized coincidentally comes true, I would never submit myself to that. I am only submitting myself to His divine predestination just like our noble brother and a good example, Hassan al-Banna may Allah bless his soul. Those theories are not from valid revelation in Quran. If the Resurrection will happen, then it will certainly happen. It is His will. We will die, and it is the haqiqat (fact, truth). This life is not true but just a dream. 

In this particular hadith, the God has classified Islam with three classifications which are the faith, the practices, and the sincerity. In the pillar of faith, regarding the divine predestination we have the sayings of ahlul haqq (the truth thinkers): "everything that exists in this Universe is organized by Him. He organizes the creations of the creatures according to their nature and environment that we can see today." 

The divine predestination is subbed to four branches:    

1. The predestination and the measurements of Allah. Says the prophet may Allah be in contact with him, which means, "nothing would be destructed but only being destructed according to their nature and environment which fit to them. Conspiracy theories are just a waste of time to ponder on. It just deflect us from the learning to know Him and to see His noble appearance in the hereafter. 

2. The predestination of everything is written in the Guarded Tablet. He is the One who possess the right to change everything written in the Tablet according to His will and pleasure. Nobody has the right to do that, even those conspirators have no rights and no reach to that! When we supplicate to Him, we are begging Him to change the predestination and He would change it through His Will and Mercy. He already knows that we are going to supplicate and pray to Him. It's not like when we think that we would be in the hell, then we do not have any effort to please Him. He is listening to His servants and slaves prayers. Everything is in His wisdom.    

3. The predestination in the womb of mothers as the discussion in the fourth hadith. 

4. The destiny takes place and time as in His wisdom without any speed or any delay. It takes place just in time and place according to the earthly concept. He is the One who decides on goodness or evil to take place. Says the God: "Say (dear Muhammad), I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn, from the evil of what has been created." When He loves His servants and slaves, He will never let anything to harm His servants and slaves before the time to come. In a hadith reported, it says that those who did charity with sincerity and linking the connection of mercy to other creatures of the God, he will never face evil death but only facing happiness during his time of death. In another hadith, it says that bad omen and supplications are filling the heaven but the supplications of the servants and slaves of the God will overturn and defeating the bad omen before they descend.        

Say the ahlul qadariyyah (fatalism thinkers): "indeed nothing is destined by the God before its existence. The God knows not about the destiny of the creation before its existence but only after the creation. Say the neo-fatalism thinkers, "every goodness comes from the God but the evil comes from others." In a saying, it says that fatalism thinkers are the Zoroastrians in the era of Muhammad may Allah be in connection with him.

Say the ahlut thaniah (dualism thinkers): "goodness come from the act of the light, and evil is from the act of the darkness."

And then, asked the archangel Gabriel peace be upon him, "tell me about Ihsan..." It emphasizes the sincerity and the heart during the acts of worship. For example, when we perform salaat, what is the state of our heart? Whether we are concentrating in our prayers in the salaat? Whether we really worshiping Him with all of our heart and begging Him for forgiveness? 

And asked the archangel Gabriel peace be upon him, "tell me about the Time..." The prophet knows not about the Time but it is the truth and the fact that will happen. The specific Time is in His wisdom. Only He knows it better. Nobody even knows the exact age of the Universe and the earth. Even if the measurement is done according to mathematical and astronomical measures, it is not a must to be a faith for us. 

In Hindu-Buddhism tradition, those who do astronomy are called as Jotesh. Our cousins, the Chaldeans are also good with these kind of ilmu falaq nujum mak nenek nih. Most of them are Christians who may also speak Arabic or Greek and some are Muslims now. I have few notes regarding traditional astrological knowledge like Suryasiddhanta that I learned during the time of being a rebel and an ignorant child. But I don't read or calculate these things anymore for example, to predict the fortunate time to travel around according to suriya (sun) and chandra (moon) and auspicious time or hours to go out from the exam hall, as it is speculating. It is haram and I am not good in maths anyway. I had got my maths exercise books being thrown out by teachers from classes, well english too. I was not a well-known school student, hahaha. 

Now, I only believe in Allah 'Azza wa Jalla as my Protector with prayers and supplications. Calculating these things just making me more worried about the future that only He knows and creating hell for myself. I remember when I calculated every seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months to reach the time when I am going to be released from three months National Service. I was a 17 years old boy at that time, and that's silly because I feel like banging my head at the edge of the bed in the camp, hahahaa. I hate growing old, my sin is growing too.

About the signs of the Time that will come. I am not going to put it here. It is the fact for the believers where we are waiting for it no matter alive or passed away. No need to worry about the Time, but we need to worry on how could we benefit our limited time space for Him before the particular Time to come? From this hadith, important thing for us to take note is that, this is how we define our faith or deen (religion) and practices as faithful servants of Allah.

In a report for our musing in relation to iman and 'amal. One day comes a man to see our honorable Imam, Ahmad bin Hanbal. He asked him: "dear son of Hanbal, teach me a lesson for me to take heed on!" 

Says Imam Ahmad: "If you admit that there is the One who gives you sustenance, why do you have to be sad? If the hell exists, then why do you commit evil and vices? If there are questions of Munkar and Nakir, why human-being are created? If this world in fact will perish, then why are you here? If everyone will be investigated during the Resurrection, then why are we piling properties without being spent? If everything that happens is according to His law and predestined, why are you afraid?"

I apologize if there is any mistake. It is my weakness as I am just a poor meaningless servant. Only Allah is the Perfect and the Affluent one. Any correction, please forward it to me. I love those who help me and always praying for everyone who are merciful toward me and others. Thank you. This is just a humble service for society and sharing for beloved brothers and sisters. I have nothing to offer....
    
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad, wa 'ala aali Muhammad. Ka-maa sallai-ta 'ala Ibraahim, wa 'ala aali Ibraahim. Allahumma baarik 'ala Muhammad wa 'alaa aali Muhammad. Ka-maa baarak-ta 'ala aali Ibraahim wa 'ala aali Ibraahim. Fil'aalameena inna-ka hameedum-majeed! 

Dear the God our Lord, please be in contact with our prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and his family and nations. As You had been in contact with our father Abraham, peace be upon him and his family. Deal God please bless our prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his family. As You had blessed our father Abraham, peace be upon him and his family. Indeed, You are the Holiest who deserves glory!!! Sealed with prayers for peace, mercy, and love for beloved brothers and sisters in faith, Allah bless, aamin!