Part 52

which means, "And honor Him." (Al-Fath, 48:9)

Al-Hasan said: why do you not know the worth of Allah and why do you not praise Him? Mujahid said: you do not care to honor your Lord. Ibn Zaid said: you do not believe in obeying Allah. Ibn ‘Abbas said: you do not know the worth of His glory.

All these sayings bear one meaning, which is if they glorify Allah and know the worth of His glory, they would believe in His oneness, and obey, and praise Him. Obeying Him, avoiding

sins, and feeling ashamed in front of Him are able to be done according to the amount one glorifies Him inside his heart. That is why some of our pious prececessors said: in order to increase the glorification of Allah inside the heart of anyone among you, mention Him when he is ashamed of mentioning Him and combine His name with other names. This is the way to glorifyAllah.

To glorify Allah is to never say He has an equal with any of His creation either in words as when one says, By Allah and by your life, | do not have anyone except Allah and you, and whatever Allah wishes and you wish, nor in loving, honoring, and obeying like obeying what a person orders or forbids, or even greater as the majority of unjust and dissolute people do. Also not to fear or hope for anything except Allah, or to care for Him less than you care for others. Man should never underestimate the worth of Allah and should never say that Allah used to forgive us. He should never give priority to creatures over Allah, nor put Allah and His Messenger on one side and people on the other, and join the side, which includes people and neglect the side, which has Allah and His Messenger. He should not dedicate his heart and soul to creatures while talking and give Allah the body and tongue without the heart and soul while worshiping Him, and he should never give priority to his desires over the orders of Allah.

All this is required to glorify Allah within the heart. And whoever fails to do that, Allah will never grant him honor and glory in the hearts of people but indeed, He would remove from their hearts any honor and glorification for him. Even if they honor him for fear of his evil acts, this is honor resulting from hate, not honor from love and glory. Also glorifying Allah is to feel ashamed to let Allah know his secret and conscience and know what He would hate. Also to feel ashamed in front of Him while in a place of privacy more than one feels ashamed in the presence of influential people.

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What is meant here is how can the one who does not glorify Allah, His words, and the knowledge and wisdom that He granted him, ask people to glorify and honor him? The Qur'an, knowledge, and speech of the Messenger (peace be upon him) are all warnings and restraints that have been sent to you in addition to white hair; it is a warning and a restraint for you, which exists within you. But neither what We have sent to you restrains you nor what is in your body advises you. Still you ask others for glorification and honor. You are like the one who was afflicted but did not profit from it and asks others to profit from his distress.

Whoever hears about the punishments and warnings that happened to others is not the same as he who sees them with his own eyes, so what about the one who tasted them in himself? Allah says,

which means, "We will show them Our Signs in the universe,

and in their ownselves." (Fussilat, 41:53)

His signs are known and heard throughout the universe and His signs in the souls are recognized by the pious. May Allah protect us from being disappointed. Allah says,

which means, "Truly! Those, against whom the Word (Wrath) of your Lord has been justified, will not believe. Even if every sign should come to them, - until they see the painful torment."

And He, the Almighty says,

which means, "And even if We had sent down unto them angels, and the dead had spoken unto them, and We had gathered together all things before their very eyes, they would not have believed, urless Allah willed." (Al-An‘am, 6:111)

The rational servant, who advocates success without having this, is completing the defects of his creation by virtue of his manners and deeds. Whenever his body loses the effect of worshiping Allah, he would increase his faith in another effect and whenever his body loses its power he would increase the power of his faith, belief, and seeking Allah and the Hereafter. If he was not like this, death would be better for him because he stops at a specific level of pain and corruption regardless of his defects and faults. It increases his pain, sadness, and regret, while if he lives for a long time it might be good and useful if it is used in remembering, catching what has past, seizing opportunities, and sincere repentance. Allah says,

which means, "Did We not give you lives long enough, so that whosoever would receive admonition, - could receive it?" (Fatir,

Whoever attains old age and life did not make him repair his defects and catch up with his past, and seize the rest of his life in order to seek the life of his heart and permanent pleasures, then his life would have been useless.

The servant is traveling either to Paradise or to Hellfire. If he had a long life and his deeds were good, his long journey would be the means of an ncrease in pleasure for him. The more the

Whoever is sincere in seeking Allah, whenever something from himself is damaged, he uses it to raise his heart and soul, and whenever something from his worldly life decreases, he would use it to increase his hereafter. Whenever he is prevented from some of the pleasures of this worldly life, he would use it to increase the pleasures of the hereafter, and whenever he is afflicted with distress, sadness, or grief, he would use it to increase the joys of the hereafter. The more there is a decrease in his body, life, pleasure, power, and authority, the more he gains in his resurrection and it would be a mercy and good for him, otherwise it would be a prevention and punishment for the sins he had committed either in public or secret or for neglecting an obligatory act of worship either in secret or in public, as the good of this worldly life and of the Hereafter depends upon these four. May Allah grant us success.

A Precious Gem: Life is a Journey

From the very moment of creation, mankind is on a journey. He is a traveler and is not allowed to halt except when he reaches either Paradise or Hellfire. The wise one among them is the one who knows that traveling is based on hardship and danger. It is usually hard to seek pleasures and relief during it,

which are to be acquired after it is completed. Every footstep and every moan mace during this journey will not stop him. It is proven that the traveler is preparing supplies, which will take him to his final end. And if he halts, sleeps, or rests, he is doing so while preparing himself to complete his journey.

A Precious Gem: Observing

Scholars agreed that keeping oneself busy with observing instead of walking seriously is in fact stopping, because if we use the time that is spent observing in performing any good deed either public or secret, increasing our knowledge, or strengthening our faith, it would have priority. Mankind will be resurrected according to the kinds of deeds he performed with knowledge, intention, and will. The body will be resurrected according to its deeds whether good or bad. When we are removed from this world, we will see the reality of that. As much as your heart is close to Allah, you will be removed from people and from mixing with them and as much as you keep your secret and your will, Allah will protect you. The core of ail this is the truth of monotheism, then the truth of knowing the straight path, then the truth of will, and then the truth of deeds. And be very wary of people who seek you and know your aim, as itis a great disease.

A Precious Gem: The Satanic Ways of Tempting Satan has three ways of tempting man:

One: increase and extravagance; to have more than one needs. This addition is the way, which Satan uses to enter the heart. To protect oneself from that is to be careful not to fulfill all the needs of the soul like food, sleep, pleasure, or rest. Whenever you close this door, you would be safe from any enemy.

Two: negligence; whoever remembers Allah is protected by the fortress of remembering Him. When he neglects that he will be

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opening the door of this fortress and the enemy will enter. It would then be difficult to drive him out.

Three: caring for what is not his business in all matters of life.

A Precious Gem: The Way to Success

Whoever wants to reach Allah and the Hereafter and attain all knowledge, craft, and authority in a way that he will be ahead of these matters and be followed in that, needs to be courageous, bold, in control of his desires, not to be governed by the authority of his imagination, renouncing all his needs, love what he is heading toward, knowing the way to it and the ways that interrupt it, and have a strong intention and a firm will that nothing would turn him away from its aim. Such a person would not be affected by blame or reproach, and would usually be quiet and think seriously. He would never be inclined to follow either the pleasure of praise or the pain of dispraise. He would be secure of what he needs from all the means of support, would not be provoked by disagreements, and would adopt the motto of patience and his relief would be found in working hard, love for high moral standards, being on time, being careful while mixing with people like a bird when it looks for its seeds, preserving himself through hope and fear, hoping for the results of being special above his kind, not to lose any of his senses in useless matters, and not to lose his mind in contemplating the levels of the universe. In order to achieve all that, he should abandon the habits and obstacles that lie between him and what he wants. The public used to say: to have hidden manners is better than losing one’s manners in public.