Part 34

He, the Almighty, forgives sins even if they are as numerous as the waves of the sea. Allah is willing to cancel them and their effects with the slightest effort from His servant, who displays true repentance and remorse. That would happen because of the existence of what pleases Him like repentance, obedience and pure monotheism, and this fact indicates that the existence of such things are dearer to Him.

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Point nineteen clarifies that: Allah, the Almighty preordained the existence of those things that He hates, due to the goodness that follows them . This is because He, the Almighty is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than the person who lost something dear and then found it; than the barren woman who has just given birth to a child, and the thirsty person who has just arrived at a watering place. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave an excellent example about His Joy that goes beyond all measure when His servant repents. This does not mean that everything that pleases Him is dearer to Him than avoiding every deed that He hates, to extent that the two rak’ahs of forenoon Prayer become dearer to Him than not killing a Muslim, but what is meant is that the general concept of obeying His commands is better than the general concept of avoiding prohibitions.

The main issue here is the significance of repentance, which renders a deed beloved to Allah. Some people might say that Allah rejoices when His servant repents and that repentance occurs because of avoiding a prohibited act, then the joy was caused by abandonment.

To this we say that absolute abandonment is not the cause of joy, and moreover, itis not the cause of reward or praise.

Repentance is not essentially abandonment, although abandonment is one of its requirements. Rather it is a ‘to-do’ command, which means that the servant repents to his Lord and becomes dutiful to Him. To make this happen in reality it is necessary that the prohibited thing be abandoned. That is why the Exalted said,

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which means, “And (commanding you): "Seek the forgiveness of your Lord, and turn to Him in repentance.” (Hid, 11:3)

Therefore, repentance means turning away from what is hated to what pleases Him, and not just abandonment, because someone may merely abandon a sin, and not keep away from it for the sake of Allah and then adopt what pleases the Exalted. In this case, he would not be truly repentant, for repentance means refraining from something and turning in repentance to Allah with a sincere heart.

Point twenty: if someone fails to obey the commands of Allah he would be bereft of life, and that is what the Exalted said, 1 pEaaeb I SES 1S Jpg ob etal te Gull tly y

which means, “O you who believe! Answer Allah (by obeying Him) and (His) Messenger when he (SAW) calls you to that which will give you life.” (Al-Anfal, 8:24)

He, the Almighty also said,

which means, “Is he who was dead (without Faith by ignorance and disbelief) and We gave him life (by knowledge and Faith) and set for him a light (of Belief) whereby he can walk amongst men, like him who is in the darkness (of disbelief, polytheism and hypocrisy)?” (Al-An’am, 6:122)

And He, the Almighty said about the unbelievers,

which means, “(They are) dead, lifeless, and they know not when they will be raised up.” (An-Nahl, 16:21)

And He, the Almighty said again,

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which means, “Verily, you cannot make the dead to hear (i.e. benefit them and similarly the disbelievers).” (An-Naml, 27:80)

Doing a prohibited act, causes diseases of the heart, which is a living death.

Some of the prohibitions lead to polytheism, which is destruction in this life and the next.

It could be said that ruin comes about due to a lack of monotheism, and obeying Allah’s commands brings about life, but when obedience is lacking destruction is imminent.

Point twenty one: failing to obey even some of Allah’s commands brings about ruin and permanent misfortune.

Point twenty two: obeying Allah’s commands requires abandonment of the prohibited deed if it is undertaken in its correct form with sincerity, following up and being done for the sake of Allah. The Exalted said,

which means, “Verily, As-Salat (the prayer) prevents from AlFahsha' (i.e. great sins of every kind, unlawful sexual intercourse, etc.) and Al-Munkar (i.e. disbelief, polytheism, and every kind of evil wicked deed, etc.)” (Al-‘Ankabdat, 29:45)

The mere abandonment of prohibited deeds does not require performing the commanded deed.

Point twenty three: the deeds that He commanded are related to His attributes, and the prohibitions that He hates are related to the results of His Actions. This is a difficult point that needs to be illustrated. Therefore, we say that prohibitions are evil deeds that lead to more evil deeds, and commands are

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righteous deeds that lead to more righteous deeds. The righteous deed lies in His Hand, whereas the evil deed is not related to Him. This is because evil does not belong to His attributes, His actions or His Beautiful Names, but it belongs to the results and consequences of actions, though it is evil with respect to the servant, but with respect to the Creator, the Almighty, it is not evil (it does not affect Him).

Therefore, the purpose of allowing the servant to commit a prohibited deed is to produce an evil result on the servant, though it is not necessarily essentially evil for the servant. Failing to obey Allah’s commands means that a righteous deed is missed, and whenever the command is more pleasing to Allah, the Exalted, like monotheism and faith, the evil that occurs by missing it is greater.

The core of these points is that obeying His command is what pleases Him, and He hates the prohibited acts.

Chapter: Remembering Allah and Being Grateful to Him

Islam is based on two fundamental concepts: remembering Allah and being grateful to Him. Regarding this Allah, the Exalted, says,

which means, "Therefore remember Me (by praying, glorifying, etc.) | will remember you, and be grateful to Me (for My countless Favours on you) and never be ungrateful to Me." (AlBaqarah, 2:152)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) once told Mu'ach, "By Allah! | love you so much so do not forget to say at the end of each prayer, 'Allahumma a'inny ‘ala dhikrika wa shukrika wa

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husni ‘ibadatik (O Allah! Help me to remember You, to feel

It is worth mentioning here that remembering Allah does not include only remembering Him verbally ( with one's tongue) but it also includes remembering Him within one’s heart. However, the mode of remembering Him includes remembering His Names, His Attributes, His commandments, His prohibitions, as well as remembering Him by uttering His words, which entails knowing Him, believing in Him, and believing both in the Attributes of His Perfection, and the qualities of His Majesty. It also entails glorifying Him in various ways of praising, which is not applicable except through monotheism, for true remembrance requires the previously mentioned aspects, as well as the remembrance of His bounties, blessings and beneficence.

On the other hand, gratefulness to Allah means obeying Him and getting closer to him by performing those deeds that have been ordained by Him, both the inner and the outer ones.

Those two fundamentals are considered the core of religion, for remembering Allah entails knowing Him, and being grateful to him entails obeying Him, which is the reason behind the creation of all things. It is also the reason for which punishment and reward are founded, divine books are revealed, and messengers are sent. That is the truth by which the heavens, the earth, and all that is between them are created, and the contrary is falsehood above which He is Exalted, and this is the misconception adopted by His enemies.

Allah, the Exalted says,

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which means, "And We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them without purpose! That is the consideration of those who disbelieve!” (Sad, 38:27)

And He, the Almighty says,

which means, "And We created not the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, for mere play, We created them not except with truth." (Ad-Duhkan, 44: 38-39)

And He, the Almighty says,

which means,"And We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them except with truth, and the Hour is surely coming." (Al-Hijr, 15:85)

After mentioning His blessings in the Chapter of Yunus, Allah says,

which means, "Allah did not create this but in truth." (Ydnus, 10:

And He, the Almighty says, 6 CLL a ol GOVE >

which means, "Does man think that he will be left Suda {neglected without being punished or rewarded for the

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obligatory duties enjoined by his Lord (Allah) on him]?" (AlQiyamah, 75:36)

And He, the Almighty says,

which means, "Did you think that We had created you in play (without any purpose), and that you would not be brought back to Us?" (Al-Mu'mindn, 23:115)

And He, the Almighty says,

which means, "And | (Allah) created not the jinns and humans except that they should worship Me (Alone)." (Adh-Dhariyat,

And He, the Almighty says,

which means, "It is Allah Who has created the seven heavens and the earth the like thereof (i.e. seven). His Command descends between them (heavens and earth), that you may know that Allah has power over all things, and that Allah

surrounds (comprehends) all things in. (His) Knowledge." (At-

And He, the Almighty says, iS a dally (oily ATT Gly ti hs aT AGRI ST Jas

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which means, “Allah has made the Ka'bah, the Sacred House, an asylum of security and Hajj and ‘Umrah (pilgrimage) for mankind, and also the Sacred Month and the animals of offerings and the garlanded (people or animals, etc. marked with the garlands on their necks made from the outer part of the stem of the Makkah trees for their security), that you may know that Allah has knowledge of all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and that Allah is the All Knower of each and everything." (Al-Ma'idah, 5:97)