Part 42

a good way of living, granting relief to the body, strength to the heart, relief to the soul, joy to the heart, delight to the chest, being safe from the dangers of dissoluteness and wantonness, having only a little sadness, grief, and distress, honoring the soul by not accepting humiliation, protecting the light of the heart by being turned away from the darkness of sin, showing the way to the heart which cannot be seen by the disbelievers, providing subsistence from sources that we could never imagine, making easy whatever is hard for the disbelievers, helping him to obey, aiding he who is learning, and increasing other's supplications for him. This is all regardless of what he gains like beauty, glory in the hearts of people, support and protection from others if he was hurt, protection of his honor if he was slandered, answering his supplication and being close to Allah, and close to the Angels and being far from the Satans among the humans and the jinn. People will compete to serve him and fulfill his needs and to gain his love and company. He will not fear death but he will be happy to meet Allah and receive his reward. The world will be low in his eyes while the Hereafter will be great. He will seek the greatest property, supreme achievement in the Hereafter, tasting the sweetness of obedience, the sweetness of faith, the supplications of the angels that carry the Throne and the other angels around him, the happiness of the two angels that are recording his deeds and their supplications, an increase of knowledge, understanding, and faith, loving Allah, longing to meet Him and happiness at his repentance. Allah will reward him with happiness and joy that are not even close to the happiness experienced when committing sins.

These are some of the results that are gained in this worldly life when the servant abandons sins. If he dies, the Angels will meet him announcing the good news from his Lord that he will enter Paradise and that there is neither fear nor grief for him. He will leave the prison of this life to go to the garden of Paradise; enjoying its pleasures until the Day of Resurrection.

And on the Day of Resurrection, while the people will be sweating and hot he will be in the shade of the Throne, and when they are gone, he will be taken by the right hand with his pious companions and the successful party. Allah says,

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which means, "That is the Grace of Allah, which He bestows on whom He wills. And Allah is the Owner of Mighty Grace." (AlJumu'ah, 62:4)

Chapter: The Piety of ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz

You should know that when a servant begins a speech or deed, with which Allah’s Pleasure is sought, seeking Allah's Favor upon him and His Good Fortune for him, and that it is from Allah and not from him or his knowledge, thought, might

5' He is ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz bin Marwan bin Al-Hakam Al-Umawy, from Quraish tribe, his nickname is Abu Hafs. Historians considered him as the fifth of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. The period of his reign was two and a half years. He (may Allah have mercy upon him) died in 101 A. H. Adopted from Tahdhib At-Tahdhib (7\475), Tarikh Al-Bukhary Alkabir (6\174), Aj-Jarh watTa'dil (1\663) and Siyar A’lamu-Nubala’ (5\114).

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and strength, and moreover, it is He who created the tongue, then the heart, the eye and the ear are for him.

Therefore, He who favored him with that is the One Who favored him with the ability to speak and act. If he keeps this in his mind and heart, he would not be caught in the trap of conceit, whose origin is overt consideration of oneself, and taking no consideration of his Lord’s Favor, Good Fortune and Support.

If these remarks are far away from his heart and mind, his self would assert itself, and there would be conceit, and his speech and deeds would be corrupted. At times, he would be hindered from completing his task, and this would be mercy upon him, so that he does not forget to consider the Favor and Good Fortune provided by Ailah. And at other times, he would be able to complete it, but he would have no fruit, and if he has fruit, it would be weak, and not as he had desired. At other times, its harm would be more than its benefit, and there would be a lot of evil according to his negligence of good fortune and favor, and his conceit. According to this situation, Allah, the Almighty directs His servant to righteous speech and deeds, so as to enlarge their fruit for him or frustrate them for him and prevent him from the fruit. Therefore, nothing is more harmful to deeds than conceit and seeing oneself as actually the originator of one’s deeds.

Therefore, when Allah wills good for His servant, He makes him witness His Favor, Good Fortune and Support for him in everything he says or does, and then he would not be conceited. And then He would make him witness his carelessness, and he would repent to Him and seek His Forgiveness and become shy to ask for a reward.

On the contrary, if He concealed it from him, and the servant found himself to be indispensable for the performance of his deeds, and found himself to be perfect and became self

satisfied, his deeds would not be accepted, or gain the satisfaction of Allah.

Therefore, the person who he profoundly knowledgeable about Allah performs deeds for the sake of Allah, while observing in them His Favor, Grace and Good Fortune, repenting for any defect and being shy in front of Allah for failing to give Him His due right. The ignorant people perform deeds for the sake of their own vain desires and interests, observing themselves in them, and regarding them as a favor to his Lord and being satisfied with his deeds. Therefore, this is one category and that is another category, and they are far from each other.

Chapter: The Benefits of Deserting Evil Habits

In order to attain the pleasure of Allah, one should desert all bad habits and abandon anything that hinders one from achieving this goal. And "'Awa‘ia" means: to enjoy the pleasure of living in gentleness, relaxation, and that which people are used to as forms and situations that people have adopted and placed them in the position of Islamic law. They disapprove of the person who violates them, but do not disapprove of the one who violates clear Islamic law. They might accuse the person of unbelief, heresy or perversity. They might as well abandon him and punish him for violating these forms.

For the sake of these forms, they have abandoned the Prophet’s Sunnah (peace be upon him), and they made them equal to the Messenger (peace be upon him) by supporting them. Therefore, the good for them is that which is in conformity with these forms and the bad is that which differs from them.

These situations and forms have prevailed among different groups of people like kings, leaders, Islamic jurists, the poor, those who command good and forbid bad and the common people. Children have grown up in this environment, and adults have been educated according to them, and they have adopted

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them as ways of life, and moreover, they are dearer to them than the Prophet’s Sunnah. Those who support these forms are shut off from the right path, and those who have abided by them have separated themselves from the Prophet's Sunnah. Whoever adopts them will be disappointed with Allah, the Almighty, and whoever follows them without the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace be upon him), will not be accepted by Allah. These are the greatest barriers and obstacles between the servant and being close to Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him).

There are open and secret hindrances. They hinder the heart from its advancement to Allah and prevent it from its course. There are three kinds: polytheism, innovation in religion and wrongdoing. The hindrance of polytheism disappears with pure monotheism, the hindrance of innovation in religion disappears with the adoption of the Sunnah, and the hindrance of wrongdoing disappears with repentance.

These hindrances do not become clear to the servant until he is ready and constant in obeying Allah. By then, these hindrances would appear to him, and he would feel them according to the degree of determination and sincerity in his commitment to Allah. Otherwise, as long as he has not taken any step towards Allah, he would not see or feel any hindrance at all.

Attachments are everything that the heart gets deeply attached to, besides Allah and His Messenger, like worldly pleasures, desires, leadership, being in the company of people and loving them. There is no way at all to cut off or reject these three matters except by strong attachment to the highest issue. Man does not abandon his beloved or that which he is used to,

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except for the sake of another beloved one who is dearer to him than the former. And whenever his attachment to his desires becomes stronger, his attachment to others would be weaker, and vice versa. To be attached to desires is to have a strong desire for them, and that is according to one’s knowledge about it, its honor and its excellence.

Chapter: The Status of the Messenger (peace be upon him)

When the Messenger (peace be upon him) perfected the feeling of great need for Allah, the Almighty, He made him necessary to all the creatures in this world and in the Hereafter. Their need for him in this world is stronger than their need for food, drink and air with which they live. Their need for him in the Hereafter means they would seek his intercession with Allah in order to free them from the suffering of that critical day. All of them would be unable to intercede, but he would intercede for them, and he is the one who would ask for the coor of Paradise to be opened for them.