Part 30

Those who are in need wait at the door of Allah asking for their needs, while the people who love Him are close to Him. If He wishes to fulfill the need of any of them, He would show mercy to them and give them honor. Surely to be far away from Allah is like being beaten and punished.

Chapter: Ten Useless Matters

There are ten useless matters; knowledge that is not acted on, the deed that has neither sincerity nor is based on following the righteous examples of others, money that is hoarded, as the owner neither enjoys it during this life nor obtains any reward for itin the Hereafter, the heart that is empty; has neither love nor longing for Allah, and does not want to be close to Him, a body that does not obey and serve Allah, loving Allah without following His orders or seeking His pleasure, time that is not spent in expiating sins or seizing opportunities to do good, a mind that thinks about what is useless, serving those who will

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not bring you close to Allah nor will benefit you in your life, hoping and fearing whoever is under the authority of Allah and is in His hand; has no authority over himself either to do good, bad, bring about death, life, or to resurrect himself.

However, the greater of these matters are wasting the heart and wasting time. Wasting the heart is done by preferring this worldly life more than the Hereafter, and wasting time is done by having incessant hope. Decay occurs by following one’s desires and having incessant hope while all goodness is found in following the right path and preparing oneself to meet Allah.

How strange it is that when a servant of Allah has a problem, he seeks the help of Allah but he never asks Allah to cure his heart before it dies of ignorance, neglect, fulfilling one’s desires and being involved in innovations. Indeed, when the heart dies, he will never feel the significance or impact of his sins.

Chapter: The Right to Submit to Allah

Allah, the Exalted gave His servant an order, wrote a judgment that He will fulfill, and a blessing that He will bestow. The servant will never escape from these three things. The judgment is of two kinds: either disasters or defects.

The individual is a servant of Allah during all these three and the most beloved to Allah among His creatures is he who knows his duties of being a servant of Allah and fulfills this right. Such people are those who are closest to Allah, while the farthest from Him is he who fails to be a true servant of Allah on all these three levels; and that rule becomes suspended for him in both deeds and knowledge. Being a servant of Allah in His order is to sincerely obey and follow the example of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). Being a servant of Allah in His forbiddance is to avoid what He has_ forbidden while fearing, honoring, and loving Him. Being a servant of Allah in His judgment of disasters is to be patient, and to be

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satisfied with them, which is a higher rank, and moreover to praise Allah for them and this is even higher than satisfaction. He will be able to do that if love for Allah fills his heart, and if he knows that Allah chooses what is best for him. Surely, Allah is merciful to him, and even if he hates this disaster, it is for his good.

Being a servant in judgment (of defects) is to seek repentance, to place oneself in the position of giving apologies and to be humble and _ sure that Allah is the only One who is capable of removing such defects. No one can protect him from the evil of these defects except Allah, and if these defects continue they will keep him away from Allah and will expel him from the door of Allah. Defects that are manifested in committing sins are evil and only Allah can remove them and they are greater than the defects of the body.

The true servant of Allah seeks His pleasure and not His anger, he seeks His forgiveness not His punishment; he seeks the help of Allah against Allah, and resorts to Him from Him, and he knows that if Allah abandons him and leaves him to himself, all evil will appear, and he knows that there is no way to abandon sins and repent except with the help of Allah and His support. tAll this is in His hand, not in His servant's hand; the servant is weak and incapable to support himself or to praise his Lord without His support, and permission. He is just a poor and humble refugee throwing himself between the hands of Allah and in front of His door. He needs, seeks, longs for, and loves Allah; his body is busy in performing the orders of Allah, his heart is bowing between His hands, and he knows with certainty that there is no essential goodness in himself, and that all goodness is from Allah, and indeed He is the Lord of all blessings. He knows that Allah bestows blessings on His servant without his being worthy and He gives to him while he sins and disobeys. The share of Allah is praise and thanks but the share of the servant is dispraise and biame. Allah alone

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deserves all praise and the servant deserves all blame. All praise is to Him, all goodness is between His hands, all grace is to Him, all thanks is to Him, and all favor comes from Him.

Allah treats His servants well while His servants are ungrateful to Him. He becomes close to His servant by granting blessings and the servant strays away from Allah by committing sins, and He gives advice to His servant and His servant ridicules the truth in return.

Being servant of Allah in blessings is to know and acknowledge the blessings of Allah, to seek refuge in Allah and not to ascribe any share of worship to other than Him, even if this person is among the causes of having this blessing. Indeed if such a person is the cause of blessings, it is because Allah made him the cause. All blessings are from Allah alone and showing thanks and praise and love to Allah is through using His blessings and obeying Him.

Also being a servant of Allah in blessing is to perceive the great number of blessings one has, even if they are few. To know that all blessings come to him from His Lord without any price being paid by him, asking, or even deserving it. Actually this blessing increases his humility, submission, and love for Allah. The more Allah bestows blessings on His servant, the more the servant should submit to Him and love Him. The more Allah prevents, the more content the servant should be, and the more the servant commits sins, the more he will ask for forgiveness. This is the good servant.

Chapter: The Sweetness of Trusting in Allah

The sincere servant of Allah abandons an act while planning and hoping for more, fearing he will obtain less, asking for health, or escaping from disease, knowing that Allah has power over all things, that He alone has the choice and planning, that Allah knows what will benefit His servant more than he does,

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and that He, the Almighty is more capable to grant it to him. He is more useful to him than himself, more merciful than he is with himself, and more kind to him than he is to himself. If the servant of Allah knows that he cannot escape nor change the plan of Allah, he will commit all his affairs to Allah and throw himself between His hands as a humble servant throws himself between the hands of a mighty king who has authority over him and indeed the servant has no power of his own. When the servant knows ll that, he will be relieved from all distress and sadness and will pass the burden to Allah who does not care or get tired. Allah will carry them; show him kindness and mercy without any tiredness. The servant has paid attention to Allah alone and Allah paid attention to the needs and benefits of his life and emptied his heart from them, and as a result, his life will be good and his heart will be happy. However, if the servant refuses and chooses to plan and chose for himself and cares more for his right than for the right of Allah, He will leave him with what he chose, and as a result he will live in distress, sadness, grief, fear, tiredness, and a bad condition, and his heart will never be pure, his work will not be suitable, and he will never find relief or pleasure. It will be as if there is a veil between himself and his pleasure and happiness. He works hard during this worldly life but he does nothave any hope or reward in his resurrection. Allah, the Exalted gives His servant an order and gives him a guarantee. If the servant performs what he was ordered to do, like giving advice, being truthful, sincere, and diligent, Allah, the Exalted will fulfill what He promised like subsistence, sufficiency, victory, and fulfillment of one’s needs. Allah, the Exalted guarantees subsistence to whoever worships Him, victory is for whoever trusts in Allah and asks His support, sufficiency is for whoever takes Allah as his only aim, forgiveness is for whoever asks for it, and Allah will fulfill the needs of whoever asks Him sincerely and trusts in Him. He, who is clever, cares for the orders of Allah and knows that Allah is true to His promise. Allah says,

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which means, "And who is truer to his covenant than Allah?" (At-Tawbah, 9:111)

It is among the signs of happiness is that one pays attention to the orders of Allah without wishing for any guarantee, and it is among the signs of deprivation that the heart does not care for the orders of Allah.

Bishr bin Al-Harith** said, "The people of the Hereafter are three: the worshiper, the ascetic, and the sincere ones. The worshiper worships Allah while seeking a reward whether in this worldly life or in the Hereafter. The ascetic worships Allah while negiecting that, and the sincere one worships Allah while being satisfied regardless of whether Allah gives to him or not.