Honor to the Devotees

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

The God the Highest honors those who devote themselves to Him in charity and chastity simply to please Him with few honors....

Quran

He says which means, "Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer; We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward (in the hereafter) according to the best of what they used to do" (Surah al-Nahl 16:97).

"The God promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession (to authority) upon the earth just as He granted it those before them and that He will surely establish for them (therein) their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security, (for) they worship Me, not associating anything with Me. But whoever disbelieves after that; then those are the defiantly disobedient" (Surah al-Nur 24:55). 

"Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds; indeed, We will not allow to be lost the reward of any who did well in deeds."(Surah al-Kahfi 18:30).

"Those will have gardens of perpetual residence; beneath them rivers will flow. They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and will wear green garments of fine silk and brocade, reclining therein on adorned couches. Excellent is the reward, and good is the resting place". (Surah al-Kahfi 18:31).

"On those who believe and work deeds of righteousness, will (the God) the Most Gracious bestow love" (Surah Maryam 19:96).

Ibnu Abbas r.a in interpreting the verse mentions that, the God the Highest loves a believer and He also makes the heart of other believers to incline to this believer.

Hadith Qudsi

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w communicating the message of the God the Highest, "Whoever hates my beloved ones, thus I am declaring war with them. Nobody could approach Me except with whatever that I love from which I have obliged upon him. And a servant who never stops to approach me through optional worships and services until I am in love with him, and if I love him the I am in his hearing, I am in his view, I am in his hands which he uses to touch things, and I am at his feet where he uses to walk. If he begs me thus I will grant him whatever he wishes, and if he beg for protection then I am His protector (Wilayat)".

This is how the God the Highest bestow His love upon a person until his acts in reaching His pleasure and his devotion to Him are brought under His protection. He bestows these on those who perform their obligation and also optional devotions in order to be close to Him.

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w says, "If one of my servants approaching Me within a span of fingers, then I am close to him a unit. If he approaches Me in a unit, and I am closer to him in two arms distance. If he comes to me walking, and I am swiftly approaching him".

It is clear from the hadith explanations, that the God the Highest is close with His grace and bestowal or mercy upon those who try to be closer to Him through services, obedience, and worship.

In other hadith, prophet Muhammad s.a.w says, "The God the Highest prepares for His righteous servants with graces which no eyes have ever seen, no ears have ever heard of and cannot be imagined by human mind".

Quotes

Psalter

The Psalter (Zabūr) mentions, "O sons of Adam, be obedient to Me and I will fill your heart with richness, and I will fill your hands with sustenance and your body will be filled with health. And He commands the world, "O world, whoever among my servants serves Me thus you must be his servant! But he who serves you thus will become your slave!"

This quote is among the quotes which echoes within my mind when I am also trying to establish my life dear brothers and sisters. I do not want to be the slave of the world and many people around looking at me like a stupid crazy man though they are my own family members. They never come across this valuable teachings and I am so sad for them.... Because they are my family and not others. We have to save our own family first before people out there. We can only pray to the God the Highest because we are powerless. The "power" is only within His side as He is the Lord of Powers... Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billahil 'aliyyil 'adhīm...

Bishr al-Hars

Righteous people usually will leave by bringing the world and hereafter together with them.....

Yahya bin Mu'adh

Slaves of the world enslave themselves to the material world. Those who serve the "hereafter" are never slaves of anything in the world. They are free people.

Abdullah Alawi al-Hadad

Dear brethren, if you wanted to get a glorious success, honor and greatness which will never perish thus obey the God the Highest and be devoted only for Him. Since He places everything in the obedience and obeisance to Him. And He bestows honor upon those who are committed in devotion and obedience to Him.

It has been proven that He bestows honor upon those who obey Him, by releasing them from enslavement of worldly desires and He purifies their heart from impurities which make a human inclines toward the pleasure of this temporal world. The God the Highest performs many miracles at their hands, and put upon them honor which never fails to attract other sentient beings, and invisible news that they had told the people, blessings pouring upon them and their wishes come true. And because of that, people around could also get the benefit and enlightened with the lights transmitted through them. Public standing behind them and ministering the path that they had embarked in their prayers to the God the Highest to banish sadness and sorrow. Public will ask them who is sincere and obedient to the God the Highest to pray to Him for the removal of sufferings befall upon them and the God the Highest is looking at their "heart".

The God the Highest even bestows them with His lights and filling them with pure gnosis to Him, love, devotion and tranquility being alone and reciting His Names until they feel restless when they are among His creatures. And the God the Highest provides for them eternal happiness full with grace in the paradise and He promises them that they will have the chance to see the Greatness of His Essence!

Behind all of these, His pleasure is actually the greatest gift for those who are fortunate. "That is the greatest fortune upon one" and "for this, one has to practice diligently and being in devotion in obedience to Him" (Surah al-Tawbah 9:72; Surah al-Saffat 37:61).

My Mind

Thus, dear brothers and sisters. Never ask for karamat for yourself because you wanted to be a famous person or having large followers!!! That is against the principle of a faithful and devoted servant of the God the Highest. Be in devotion and obedience simply because of His pleasure. Because we are looking for His love and pleasure. That is the greatest gift ever upon a lowly creature like us. I am sorry if I was rude to those brothers who talked about this to me last time. I know what you were talking about but I strictly do not like to talk anything related to this in the public. I tried to call you one by one not to blast you. But because I wanted to explain to you. Maybe you thought that I wanted to debate things with you while I actually hate to listen to debates or engaged in debates. I am not an ego. I would easily apologize if I am doing anything wrong because I am aware that I am an ordinary human-being.

This has nothing to do with mystics or whatever magical things. This is related to seeking love and pleasure from Him. You will not understand anything until something befalls upon you. And I am trying to tell everyone including myself to be careful with our mind, speeches and acts whenever and wherever we are... Observe more rather than talking and shooting words or we will regret ourselves in the "hereafter". Start from the very basic of the "Path"! Allahumma ṣalli 'alā Muhammad wa 'alā āli Muhammad.... 

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Pleasure and Wrath of the God

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I learned that it is not cute to have such a long title. I tried to make the title simple but catchy. I think that it is an art itself, haha. I am trying to continue the discussion of Abdullah al-Hadad in his letter to fellow brethren.

The God the Highest through His will has put on His pleasure in the obedience towards Him and His wrath is in disobedience towards Him. He promises paradise for those obedient servants but threatening those who disobey with "bitterness" in this life and so on due to His infinite fairness and wisdom. 

Quran

These are the limits of the God the Highest, and whosoever obeys the God the Highest and His messenger will be admitted to the gardens which rivers flow, to abide therein, and that will be the great success (Surah al-Nisaa' 4:13).

"And whoever disobeys the God the Highest and His messenger, and transgresses His limits, He will cast him into the Fire, to abide therein; and he shall have a disgraceful torment" (Surah al-Nisaa' 4:14).

The God the Highest commanded His believing servants to compete in reaching the "forgiveness" and getting the "paradise" besides protecting themselves and their family from the "torments of hell" through obedience to His commandments but avoiding His prohibitions.

"And march forth in the way which leads to forgiveness from your Lord, and for paradise as wide as are the heavens and the earth, prepared for the pious ones" (Surah Ali-'Imran 3:133). 

"O those who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are appointed angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey the God in what He commands them but do what they are commanded" (Surah al-Tahrim 66:6).

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Deeds

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I am sure brothers and sisters had come across this word karma in Sanskrit. Most of all, many people in the world understood it in a rather weird way for me, hehe. If you watch this American TV series, "My Name is Earl" starred by Jason Lee then perhaps you will also find the notion about karma. 

I am fan of Earl (Jason Lee) and his retarded brother in the series, lol. The character presented a premise for the movie which sounds like, "You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks? Well, that was me. Every time something good happened to me, something bad was always waiting round the corner: karma. That's when I realized that I had to change, so I made a list of everything bad I've ever done and one by one I'm gonna make up for all my mistakes. I'm just trying to be a better person. My name is Earl".

In this movie, Earl is trying to erase his evil deeds by trying to correct things which he has done to others while he was a bad person. He makes a long winding list for that and my colleagues were laughing hard watching Earl's stupidity in quest to get a "better" luck, lol. So, people talk about karma as something related to luck whether it is bad or good. 

This concept is actually an ancient Indian theory which prevails in philosophies of ancient Indian religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, and others. Hinduism is actually an umbrella term for these bunch of religious thoughts taught by ancient Indian sages and teachers. It also being a shade for folk religions in Indian sub-continent besides of the Vedic ones. 

The word karma frames the notion of the deeds of sentient creatures which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect and this cycle is known as samsara. The Malays had absorbed the word into Malay language but the meaning in Malay is, suffering. In explaining this, there are few interpretations which develop into theories proposed by those religions in order to explain the effect of deeds. People only use the words but they are at lost on how does the word works. I am sure those who study Malay language could distinguish which one is Sanskrit derived and which one is original ones. Which one is Arabic derivation and which one is Persian derivation and so on. 

Retaliation is Based on One's Deed

Well for Muslims, we have the concept of العمل and it is also translated in English as deed or action. Every sane and mentally healthy person actually knows that they would receive the fruits of their deeds. The deeds are like the seed which they thrust on the Earth and they will reap the result of what they had planted. They will achieve success when they work on it.

Why they do not know this matter and why have no confidence on what is there for them? While they also listen to whatever they believe and have confidence in it, whether it is a firm verse of the scripture revealed by the God the Highest or the sayings of the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w? Both of these had brought certainty and confidence to those whom the God the Highest has enlighten their heart with His light.

Quran

Now, open up your eyes and carefully listen with your ears to some of the sentences from the scripture... from the hadiths. May you receive awareness and wake up from your long sleep. Thus with it, you will strive hard with your good deeds in order to save your self during, "the day where no treasure nor son is useful for you, except that you who come to Him with pure and clean heart" (Surah al-Shu'ara 26:88-89).

The God the Highest says which means, "And for the God is whatever in the heavens and whatever in the Earth for Him to retaliate on those who commit evil with their actions and to reward those who perform good deeds with their actions" (Surah al-Najm 53:31).

Some glimpse on ancient Indian philosophical view about the earth and heavens related to deeds. This one is philosophical. It is not religious nor related to the teachings of prophet Muhammad s.a.w! This is my philosophical experience as a young guy who studied Brahmanism with Indian Buddhism framework yet I was also a student in Islamic traditional system which was absorbed into national education stream. There is a cosmological notion about land of actions and land of birth in the previous Brahmins' scriptures. I guess it was the Srimat Bhagavatam as far as I could remember. It explains the planetary systems and I also read those "stimulative" labeled scripture which is more likely some kind of gospel for the Indians. The Earth and its surrounding is known as the physical universe. This physical universe is one of the four regions in the universe. The other three universe are the Earths of Retaliation where souls or beings reaping their deeds. In those regions, they could not commit anything independently as in the physical Earth. Other three regions are the hell, the paradise and the subterranean heavens or Hollow Earth inhabited by weird creatures. So, in physical Earth the creatures or beings in their forms could produce deeds independently either the bad ones or the good ones.

"And that, there is not for man except that for which he strives. And that his efforts is going to be seen. Then he will be recompensed for it with the fullest recompense. And that to your Lord is the finality". (Surah al-Najm 53:39-42)

"Paradise is not (obtained) by your wishful thinking nor by that of the People of the Scripture. Whoever does a wrong will be recompensated for it and he will not find besides the God the Highest a protector or a helper. And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer, those will enter Paradise and will not be wronged, even as much as the speck on a date seed" (Surah al-Nisaa' 4:123-124).

If we look at the notion wishful thinking, I had found many fellow Muslims (bigots) ourselves who condemn others to the hell without contemplating on ourselves. How courageous they are in throwing out those words as if they had gotten the stamp from the God the Highest to stamp others with the stamp of the hell. Who they think they are? Why they shamelessly thinking that they are favored by the God the Highest even if they are practicing? How do they know that the God the Highest favor them? Is it their wishful thinking or the revelation from the God which reaches them? As far as I know, "revelation" by the mean of those which is sent through the heavenly emissary, archangel Gabriel a.s to human-being is already stopped after the revelation which is piled as the Glorious Quran is completed.

So, where did they get this "wishful thinking" that they are the dweller of paradise and violently and harshly saying things to other creatures of the God the Highest? As for people of the scripture, I consider Muslims as people of the scripture too. We could say that most Arab tribes during the period of ignorance were without scripture and 'most' of them worshiped dates, palm trees, stones and other gods introduced from the Levant world as the Levantines were seafarers who sailed to other lands and bringing with them other foreign cultures. However, Muslims were people who are revealed with scripture, namely the Quran. From beginning of his prophethood, prophet Muhammad s.a.w was revealed with scripture which was the Surah al-'Alaq 96. So, how could this notion only being labeled to the Christians and Jews? Why not everyone together contemplate some more, having more insights rather than spewing "holier than thou" speeches and checking the chronicles of the world besides shooting words without we realize that we are burdened with 'responsibility' on our deeds and our speeches is a part of the deeds. Our thought is also a part of deeds and actions. It only come to materialize when we use our articulations, our hands, our eyes and others because we 'choose' to commit those acts!

So, whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it. And whoever does an atom's wight of evil will see it! (Surah al-Zalzalah 99:7-8)

"The God does not charge a soul except (with that within) its capacity. It will have the consequence of what good it has gained, and it will bear the consequence of what evil it has earned. "Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our Protector, so give us victory over those who disbelieve You" (Surah al-Baqarah 2:286).

Whover perform charity thus it is for himself. Whoever commit evil thus it is for himself. And your Lord never tyrannize His servants (Surah Fussilat 41:46)

The Day every soul will find what it has done of good present (before it) and what it has done of evil, it will wish that between itself and that evil was a great distance. And the God warns you of Himself, and the God is the Most Kind to servants (Surah Ali-'Imran 3:30).

And fear a Day when you will be returned to the God the Highest. Then, every soul will be compensated for what it earned, and they will not be treated unjustly (Surah al-Baqarah 2:281).

Hadiths

Say the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w, "The holy spirit (Gabriel a.s) whispered to my heart, choose whatever life you wanted to live since you will die, love whatever you wanted to love since you will be separated to it and do whatever you wanted to do since you will be recompensed with it".

He further says, "Goodness never perish, and sin is never forgotten and the Executor of the Retaliation (the God the Highest) never dies. You will be recompensed according to what you had done".

In another sacred hadith that he received while he was sleeping, he says in his own words that the God the Highest says, "O my servants, those are just your deeds. I am reckoning them for you and I will fulfill the retaliation upon you. And for those who receive goodness thus say, 'Praise be to the God, Lord of the universe' and if you get other than that, curse no one but himself!"

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w also mentions that, "Never curse those who were already dead since they indeed receiving whatever they had done".

And in another hadith he says, "Indeed there will be a slave boy who is placed higher than his master in the paradise and the master will be asking the Lord, 'Was not this my slave boy while we were on the Earth?' The God the Highest thus will be saying, "I am just recompensing whatever he had done in the Earth!'"

Quotes

Ali r.a mentions, "The world is the place for deeds and there is no material upcoming for those deeds in the world. The hereafter is the place to reap the deeds and there is no deed there! Thus, perform your deeds in the place where there is no retaliation there since the hereafter is not the place for deeds".  

Hasan of Basra said, "The God the Highest says to the dwellers of paradise, 'Enter into the paradise because of My Grace, be eternal there because of your good intentions and accept everything according to your deeds'".

All of the evidences from the scripture's verses and hadiths and quotes proving that there are retaliations on beings' deeds. And it is just a reminder for everyone including to ourselves. Why not for a reminder? This matter is known by everyone whether scholars or public... Even down to those who are ignorant among them.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Fear

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I had few times talked with some Christian friends and I used to mention to them about fear to the God the Highest. Well, if people talk with me, I would try very hard avoiding from imposing our views on others but only explaining what is our belief. I found that they cannot understand and keep repeating about Jesus love and salvation through the divinity of lord Jesus is better than fear to the God because the way the God can be approached is through love. Most of all they are "new" converts which sometimes make me feel annoyed as they behave like some kind of religious zealots and trying to baptize me by pressuring persuasion. I am still maintaining connection with my non-Muslim friends including some of them are Buddhist monks and I never convert any of them! I only talk about my belief or faith when they ask me. If they do not ask me then I will remain silent. I do not like to compare anything to make others look bad or to force something which is not "meant" for them. I also believe in the soul tendency other than the Wisdom of the God. 

First of all, I respect Jesus Christ as a noble prophet and we give due honor to his mother, lady Maryam the virgin who talked with the Archangel Gabriel a.s. We are strictly prohibited from saying bad words about Jesus a.s or else we will automatically become apostate as to show that there is not much difference between noble prophets and messengers of the God who conveys His message to the Earth. The way we talk about Jesus a.s is the way that we talk about other prophets that we have faith in down to Muhammad s.a.w as the seal of eras. I am familiar with theophany theory in few world philosophies and I do not like to dwell so much in it as it is not practical. It is just a "theory"!

Method of Servants

Fear as according to Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in his "Method of Servants" and according to the Glorious Quran refers to three meanings...

1. Shy, humble and respect

2. Devotional obedience in worship and services

3. Purifying the heart from influences of sin

And there is a mention about genuine fear by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. These are the conclusion from his book. Generally speaking, the word which is translated simply as fear from Arabic refers to the avoidance of one self from His wrath and punishments due to crossing the lines which is drawn by Him who is Supreme. General fact of fear is that He oversees us and we cannot escape His vision by committing errors in hidden or in open space. He never lost us on whatever He commands us as we are in His vast Kingdom.

Definitions

The word taqwa was like other Semitic words was derived from three letters root verb. It is the eighth stem in the Arabic tongue articulation dictionary and lexicon mediator. It could literally means...

(1) protecting one self from something.   

(2) afraid of the penalty and avoid from violating the "nature"

(3) cautious and avoidance of something 

(4) making something as a protection and boundary line for something

Encyclopedia of Islam (2013) mentions that the word "fear" is an Islamic term which denotes God-consciousness, mindfulness and piety. The literal meaning is to put a barrier between one self and the wrath of the God. This is an ethical base for a Muslim and Muslims who form a community. It plays a significant role in one's relationship to the God by reminding believers of His omnipotence and knowledge. Fear is one of few stations in the Path. And it is important due to its ability in bringing one closer to the God. 

Ibn Katir Exegesis mentions that the root of the word taqwa is to avoid what one dislikes. It was reported that Umar al-Khattab r.a asked Ubay b. Ka'ab r.a about the word. Ubay r.a asked him, "Have you ever walked on a path that has thorns on it?" Umar r.a said, "Yes, certainly". Ubay r.a asked him agaim, "What did you do then?" Umar r.a replied, "I rolled up my sleeves and struggled". Ubay r.a answered, "So that is taqwa (fear). It is a sense of protecting one self from sin through dangerous journey in this life so that one can successfully complete the journey without being influenced by sin".

Ibn Abbas regarding the verse from Surah al-Baqarah 2:2 which means, "the guidance for the fearful" said that "the fearful" means, "They are the believers who avoid associating the God the Highest with anything from the Earth and Heavens and who work in His obedience". He further elaborates, "They fear the punishment of the God the Highest which would come if they abandoned the true guidance that they already recognize and know. They also hope in His Mercy by through His revelation".

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!