Part 56

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because of His favor and mercy, which is Islam, faith, and the Qur'an, as the companions and followers explained.

A Valuable Rule: All Blessings are From Allah

The origin of this is to know that all blessings are from Allah alone: both the blessings of worship and pleasure. You should seek Him in order to help you in remembering and _ praising Him. Allah says,

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which means, "And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah. Then, when harm touches you, unto Him you cry aloud for help." (An-Nahl, 16:53)

And He, the Almighty says, 4D o Al NI MV 23... p

which means, "So remember the graces (bestowed upon you) from Allah, so that you may be successful." (Al-A'raf, 7:69)

And He, the Almighty says,

which means, "And be grateful for the Graces of Allah, if it is He Whom you worship." (An-Nahl, 16:114)

As these blessings are from Him and His favor and remembering and praising them are not gained except through His permission. Sin is the result of neglecting one’s duty to Allah and the consequence of Allah leaving His servant to himself and if He, the Almighty does not remove this from His servant, he would never be able to remove it himself. The servant is obliged to ask Allah to remove its cause from him so that he will not commit it and if it happens he would be obliged

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to ask and supplicate Ailah to remove its consequences and punishment. The servant is never satisfied with these three origins and will never gain success without them: praise, seeking health, and sincere repentance.

This essence of this subject is desire and fear and it is not in the hands of the servant but in the hands of Allah, who turns the hearts according to His will. If Allah granted His servant success, the servant will seek Him with his heart and fill it with desire and fear but if Allah leaves His servant, He will leave him to himself, and will not captivate his heart. Whatever Allah wishes, wil! be and whatever He does not wish, will never be.

Granting Success and Incurring Failure

| often wonder whether or not there is a reason for success and failure or whether they are just according to will. The truth is that their reason is based on the level of gratefulness in the servant. For a servant to be in a suitable situation to accept a blessing he must know its value, and its potential danger, praise He who bestowed it on him, glorify Him, and know that itis a blessing from Allah without having had anything to do with it nor deserve it. The servant should acknowledge the oneness of Allah, use this blessing to praise Him, admit that it is because of His favor, and then he would know his faults and defects as he knows he could never praise Allah properly. The servant should know that if Allah continues to grant him this blessing, it is a favor, charity, and blessing from Him and if He chooses to take it away from him, he deserves that.

The more Allah grants His servant blessings, the more humility, submission, praise, and fear of Allah the servant should have and if it is taken away from him it is because he did not praise Him as He deserves. The Almighty may take His blessings away from whoever does not acknowledge or care for them as they deserve. If the servant does not praise Allah as he should

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and misuses this blessing, undoubtedly Allah will take it away. Allah says,

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which means, "Thus We have tried some of them with others, that they might say: "Is it these (poor believers) that Allah has favored from amongst us?" Does not Allah know best those who are grateful?" (Al-An'am, 6:53)

They are those who knew the value of those blessings, accepted, loved, and praised whoever granted them, and loved and thanked Him. Allah says,

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which means, "And when there comes to them a sign (from Allah) they say: "We shall not believe until we receive the like of that which the Messengers of Allah had received." Allah knows best with whom to place His Message." (Al-An'am, 6:124)

Chapter: The Causes of Failure

The cause behind failure is unsuitability of place, inconvenience, and lacking the ability to accept the blessing; if he was granted the blessing he would say: this is mine and | got it because | deserve it as Allah says,

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which means, "He said: "This has been given to me only because of knowledge | possess." (Al-Qasas, 28:78)

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

That is to say, because of the knowledge that Allah gave me and according to which | deserve this blessing and so it is my right. Al-Farra' said: | got it and | deserve it according to the favors | possess.

‘Abdullah bin Al-Harith bin Nawfal’’ mentionedthe blessings and ownership that Sulaiman bin Dawdd (Solomon, the son of David, peace be upon him) possessed, then he recited that Allah says,

which means, "This is by the Grace of my Lord to test me

whether | am grateful or ungrateful!" (An-Naml, 27:40)

He did not say: this is because of my honor. Then he mentioned Qardn and recited,

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because of knowledge | possess." (Al-Qasas, 28:78)

He meant that Sulaiman (Solomon, peace be upon him) realized that whatever he gained is from his Lord and His favor and that he is afflicted with it and Qarin thought that he deserved the blessings he received. Also Allah says,

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7? He is ‘Abdullah bin Al-Harith bin Nawfal Al-Hashimy Al-Qurashy. He was a pious imam. He, (may Allah be merciful to him) passed away at 84 A.H. See Tahdhib Al-Kamal, vol.2, p.673, Tahdhib At-Tahdhib, vol.5, p.180, Tagrib AtTahdhib, vol.1, p.408, Al-Jarh wat-Ta‘dil, vol.5, p.30, and At-Tafawut, vol.5, p.9.

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which means, "And truly, if We give him a taste of mercy from us, after some adversity (severe poverty or disease, etc.) has touched him, he is sure to say: “This is for me (due to my merit)." (Fussilat, 41:50)

That is to say, | deserve it and it is mine; | own it.

The believer realizes that all blessings belong to Allah and His favor and that Allah grants him blessings without him deserving it. It is continual charity from Him to His servant and He has the right to deprive anyone from this as He wills. If Allah prevents people from receiving blessings, He never prevents them from what they deserve. If the servant fails to realize that, he might think that he deserves it and would become conceited thinking that he deserves this blessing and that he is better than others. As Allah says,

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which means, "And if We give man a taste of Mercy from Us, and then withdraw it from him, verily! He is despairing, ungrateful. But if We let him taste good (favor) after evil (poverty and harm) has touched him, he is sure to say: "Ills have departed from me." Surely, he is exultant, and boastful (ungrateful to Allah)." (Hdd, 11:9-10)

Allah dispraises such a man because of his despair and being ungrateful during times of afflictions and because he is happy and proud when the affliction is removed. He failed to praise Allah, thank, and glorify Him when He removed the afflictions but Allah says that he said, "Ills have departed from me." If he had just said: Allah removes ills away from me by His mercy, Allah would never dispraise him but the servant forgets Who bestowed this blessing on him by ascribing it to himself and through feeling proud.

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If Allah, the Exalted sees such a heart in His servant, this is one of the greatest causes of failure and letting him down. His place is not suitable to receive such perfect and complete blessings as Allah says,

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which means, "Verily! The worst of (moving) living creatures with Allah are the deaf and the dumb, those who understand not {i.e. the disbelievers). Had Allah known of any good in them, He would indeed have made them listen, and even if He had made them listen, they would but have turned away, averse (to the truth)." (Al-Anfal, 8:22-23)

Allah said that their place is not suitable to receive His blessings. Besides this there is another obstacle that prevents blessings from reaching them, which is their denial and neglect of what they know and perceive.

The causes of failure are based on the state of the soul and its adherence to its nature; the origin of creation. The causes of success are according to Allah, Who enables the servant to accept His blessings. The causes of success are from Him and from His favor and He created both this and that as He created all the parts of the earth; one part accepts plant life and the other does not. He created trees; one grows fruit and the other does not. He created the bee and enabled it to produce honey with different colors as well as the hornet, which cannot do that. He created good souls that are able to remember, praise, thank, glorify, and advise His servants and also created evil souls who are not able to do that. He is the All Wise and the AllKnowing. The scholar of Islam Abu Al-'Abbas Ahmad bin

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Taimiyah” (may Allah be merciful to him) talked about the interpretation of chapter of Al-'Ankabit saying the following.