Part 43

Chapter: Signs of Happiness and Misfortune

Some of the signs of happiness and success are that whenever the servant's knowledge has been increased, he would be more humble and more merciful. Whenever he becomes more knowledgeable, he would fear Allah more and be more cautious. Whenever he gets older, he would be less greedy. Whenever he becomes wealthier, he would be more generous. Whenever he becomes more important, he would be closer to the people, and be more and more at their service.

The signs of misfortune are that whenever he becomes more knowledgeable, he would be more arrogant. Whenever he performs more deeds, he would be more boastful, disdain people and have a very good opinion of himself. When he gets older, he would be greedier. Whenever he becomes wealthier,

AL-FAWA'ID : A Collection of Wise Syaings * 261

he would be stingier and whenever he becomes more important, he would be more conceited. These are trials from Allah, the Almighty to try His servants, and according to these trials, some people become happy and others become miserable.

In the same way, wonders are trials and tests from Allah, like sovereignty, authority and wealth. Allah, the Almighty said about His Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon) (peace be upon him), when he saw the throne of Balgis,

ae ake ee 40

which means, "This is by the Grace of my Lord to test me whether | am grateful or ungrateful!” (An-Naml, 27:40)

That is to say grace is a trial and test from Allah, in order to bring to light the gratitude of the grateful and the ingratitude of the ungrateful.

In the same way, ordeals are a severe trial from Him, Exalted be He. He afflicts with grace as well as with misfortune. The following Quranic verses will illustrate this fact,

which means, “As for man, when his Lord tries him by giving him honour and gifts, then he says (puffed up): "My Lord has honoured me.” But when He tries him, by straitening his means of life, he says: "My Lord has humiliated me!" Nay! But you treat not the orphans with kindness and generosity (i.e. you neither treat them well, nor give them their exact right of inheritance)!”

262 * AL-FAWA'ID: A Collection of Wise Sayings

That is to say that honor and gifts from Allah do not always mean that He is pleased with the servant, and at the same time, straightening the means of life for the servant does not always mean he is being degraded.

Chapter: Deeds are an Establishment whose Foundation is Faith

Whoever wants his establishment to be high, should consolidate its foundation and take great care of it, because it is according to the consolidation of the foundation that his establishment can reach the heights and stay firm. Therefore, deeds and grades are considered as an establishment and its foundation is faith. Whenever the foundation is firm, it would be able to hold the establishment and add more to it. And when any part of the establishment is destroyed, it would be easy to repair. However, when the foundation is not firm enough, the establishment would not be able to be constructed, and would not be stable. When any part of the foundation is destroyed, the establishment would collapse or would not stay long before it is destroyed.

The person who is profoundly knowledgeable of Allah would be interested in consolidating the foundation and strengthening it. And the ignorant person would be interested in constructing but without taking care of the foundation, and in no time, his establishment would collapse. Allah, the Almighty said in the Quran,

ef oe EGY 2

Ue fat Gl A BS ope df 406598 Je tas — tf Gcit> 4B. pat UE Gg HE ao LE

which means, “Is it then he, who laid the foundation of his building on piety to Allah and His Good Pleasure, better, or he who laid the foundation of his building on an undetermined brink

AL-FAWA'ID : A Collection of Wise Syaings * 263

of a precipice ready to crumble down, so that it crumbled to pieces with him into the Fire of Hell?” (At-Tawbah, 9:109)

Therefore, the foundation regarding the establishment of deeds is like energy for the human body. If there is enough energy, it would be able to maintain the body and prevent many diseases. However, if there is not enough energy, it would fail to maintain the body, and diseases would find their way to it very easily.

For this reason, you should found your deeds on a basis of strong faith, and if anything happens to this strong faith after that, it would be easy to cope with it. And this basis is comprised of two matters:

One is: to have good knowledge of Allah, His Orders and His Beautiful Names and Attributes.

Two is: to have pure submission to Him and His Messenger (peace be upon him) and leave other than Him. This is the strongest foundation a servant can found his deeds on, and according to it, his faith would increase and increase.

Therefore, strengthen the foundation, preserve your faith, continue to be zealous for your faith, spare no effort when things are too much for you, be moderate when you achieve your goal, otherwise, you would always have weak faith and an evil intention and you would not be able to exert any effort.

Say goodbye to this worldly life because the final Farewell is close at hand. When the construction is complete, you should decorate it with good manners and kindness to people, then surround it with a fence of caution that is impossible to be broken through by an enemy, and let there be no defect to be seen through it. And then draw the curtains around its doors, and close the gate with silence from that which you fear. Then install a key to it, like remembering Allah, with which you can open and close it as you like. When you open the door, you

264 * AL-FAWA'ID: A Collection of Wise Sayings

open it with the key, and when you close it, you close it with the same key. In this way, you would have built a stronghold with which you have fortified yourself from your enemies. When the enemy went around it, he would not find any entrance, so, he would be disappointed with you.

You should continue to take care of the stronghold at all times, because if the enemy failed to enter from the door, he would initiate for you a way of committing sins from a far distance.

Therefore, if you neglect him, these sins would reach you, and you would soon see the enemy with you in the stronghold, and it would be very difficult for you to get rid of him, and one of the following will apply to you:

- Either he overcomes you in the stronghold and takes possession of it

- Orhe lives with you in it.

- Or he keeps you busy by making you fight him without taking care of your more significant interests.

However, if he is able to get to you through committing sins, he would cause you three problems:

- He would ruin your stronghold. - He would invade its contents and supplies.

- He would show the defect to thieves of his kind. You would continue to suffer from their invasions one after the other, until they weaken your strength and undermine your determination, and you would end up by abandoning the stronghold and leaving it to them.

This is the state of affairs of many people with the enemy. That is why you see them displeasing their Lord by pleasing themselves, and moreover, by pleasing a creature like themselves, which has_ no power either to harm them or to do

AL-FAWA'ID : A Collection of Wise Syaings * 265

them any good. They waste the gain of religion with the gain of wealth. They ruin themselves with that which is transient and will not remain with them.

They rush after the worldly pleasures, while it gives its back to them. They renounce the Hereafter, while it has charged them. They contradict their Lord by following their own vain desires. They rely on life and forget about death. They remember their desires and shares, and forget about that which Allah charged them with, and they care for that which He has guaranteed for them. They do not care for that which He has ordered them to do. They rejoice at worldly pleasures and feel sorry when they miss their share in it, but they do not feel sorry when they miss Paradise and what it contains.

They do not rejoice at faith the way they rejoice at the Dirham and the Dinar. They ruin their reward with their sins, their guidance with perversity and their good with evil. They mix their faith with uncertainty, and their lawful deeds with the unlawful. They hesitate in the confusion of their ideas and thoughts. They neglect Allah's guidance, which He guided them to. And what is more, the enemy uses the owner of the stronghold to ruin his own stronghold with his own hands.

Chapter: The Bases of Infidelity

There are four bases of infidelity: They are pride, envy, anger, and desire.

Pride can be prevented through submission to Allah, envy through advice and offering it, anger through justice, and desire through devoting oneself to worship. If the base of pride falls, submission would be easy for him, if the base of envy falls, accepting advice and offering it would be easy, if the base of anger falls, justice and humility would be easy, and if the base of desire falls, patience, virtue, and worship would be easy for him. Removing mountains from their places would be easier than removing these four from whoever was afflicted with them,

266 * Al-FAWA'ID: A Collection of Wise Sayings

especially if they have become solid bases, habits, and firm characteristics. No deed will be worthy and no soul will be pure as long as these four are found in the servant. The more hard he works, the more these four will spoil his deeds. All evil results from them. If they grow in the heart, they will change right to wrong and wrong to right and truth will be considered falsehood and falsehood will be considered truth. This worldly life will be close to him and the Hereafter will be far. If you think carefully about the disbelief of a nation, you will find that it resulted from these four, and their punishment will be according to their intensity. Whoever surrenders to these four would be opening the doors of all sooner and later evils, and whoever avoids them, would be closing the doors of all evils, as they prevent submission, devotion, repentance, accepting right and advice of Muslims, and being modest to Allah and His creatures.