Part 7

O you whose wrongdoings have stained him with its dirt, hasten to wash it off with the spring of good health before it dries up. Do not be fooled by a life as sweet as honey, for indeed being judged (on the Day of Judgment) will be more bitter than the taste of gall. O you antagonists, you shall then know the true might and status of your opponent (i.e. Allah) as then the indebted will meet his creditor, after the respite he got from paying his debt.

The destruction of a building is caused by installing in it a misappropriated block of stone; so if the lawful is hardly free of doubt [of being blemished by something of the unlawful] so what do you expect regarding the unlawful? There was a milkman who used to sell the milk of his sheep, but he used to cheat [his customers] by mixing the milk with water, until one day a torrent came and swept away all sheep; he said, weeping at his loss, “all these drops of water that I used to mix with milk have accumulated until it became an unstoppable torrent”, while the punishment of his sin called out to him: “It is your hands that lit the fire, and your mouth the bellows [that made into a blazing inferno]”.

How many tears did the eye of the [wronged] widow shed, and how cruelly was the heart of the orphan torn, while their oppressor basked in comfort?! but

O pre AG LG

“you will surely know [the truth of] its information

The dispraise of Dunya

I truly wonder at these oppressors, how they forget the manner in which the tyrants [before them] wete folded up within the pages of history, though they had not even reached one-tenths of what these have reached! Have not they noticed how they perished and to what end they reached?

“So each We seized for his sin” . [al-Ankabat 29 40]

Have they not departed from the orbits of regret? “And the heaven and earth wept not for them! [al-Dukban 44: 29]

Was not the warning call launched? sy she Se ther oe well S “How much they left behind of gardens and springs.” [al-Dukhan 44: 25]

Indeed, I wonder at the befooled (i.e. those who still overlook all these signs and are misled by the transient charms of this world)

On Ahete a xe one

CET AS EG; “while there has already occurred before them similar

punishments [to what they demand]”

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

Did not the admonishment of

a IK HORA rE “and it had become clear to you how We dealt with them” [Ubrabim 14: 45]

suffice [so they return to the right path?] Who will ever help them if they then wanted to return to life?

Pan aed ene era “And prevention will be placed between them and what they desire”

Plenty are those who indulged in luxury, until their comforts were overturned and changed to calamities!

“and We make it as a harvest,”

O oppressors, the punishment is in the prison of ee eee ee “So be not impatient over them” [Maryam 19: 84]

and hope is upheld Con goer ane ae “so that mankind will have no argument against Allah.”

If the scorching [wind] of punishment had been removed from

The dispraise of Dunya

the blowing gale of Gee ee eB wm ose Te Bi Me AFB EES Is

“And if [as much as] a whiff of the punishment of your Lord should touch them”

the blocks of insobriety caused by

one “We only extend it for them so that they may increase in sin, and for them is a humiliating punishment.” [ALTmran 3: 178]

would have been pulled out, and so

fe le a oes “they will not be able [to give] any instruction”

Be cautious and bewate of being in the state of “Lest a soul should say,

Ae hee se BF AS

ME LLM EGE IESE “Oh [how great is] my regret over what I neglected in

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

“and they [then] called out; but it was not a time for escape.”

Are there any unspent arrows in the quiver of watnings and admonishments! ra te Ieasz nike 3 oH Pn pa “Then should We turn the message away, disregarding

you, because you ate a transgressing people?” [at-Zukbruf 43: 5]

The ship of piety must be fully sealed and secured (i.e. have no holes or cracks) for the sea may enter through tiny nails in the ship; therefore seal these areas with the sealant of piety. But a far cry is that from your state, who have cracked it with your major sins! And you shall not come to this realisation until you descend to the same state as the people of “Nith (‘alayhi as-salam)” when he regretfully shouted

“There is no protector today”

O sinners, the grass of justice shall not thrive, as long as the thorns of injustice have not been removed, for it is not guaranteed that its effect shall not extend to the heart. Beware of drowning in the intoxicant of power because the Head of authority (i.e. Allah) is ever vigilant of you.

The dispraise of Dunya

Woe to you, do not scorn and underestimate the invocation of the oppressed (against you), for the sparks of his heart’s fire is cartied by the wind of his invocation to the ceiling of the oppressor’s house; his darts hit their mark, his arrows are different, his arch is blazing, his strings are strong, and his shooting target is a clear aim. Allah promised the oppressed, “I shall make you victorious even aftet a while” and that is an arrow undoubtedly meant to hit its target without mistake. All the while, you have seen examples [of the downfall of oppressors] and the days shall bring forth more experiences.

7 Reported by al-Tirmidbi (2526) hadith a/-Qudsi.

Working for the Hereafter

MY BROTHERS, turn down this worldly life (dunya),

for it has rejected those who were more enamored by it

than you. Take heed from the lessons of those who were before you, before you become a lesson for those who will come after you. This life is intoxicating and entapturing, and the indwelling chants of mankind’s nature inherently support it, therefore the lightheadedness of those who drink from it becomes stronger, until the season of profit has passed them by. Thereafter they wake up from their unconsciousness only to prepare for punishment; the feelings of sorrow overwhelming them, though just the reality of all the good they have missed [of the hereafter] is a sufficient lash upon them, a fact that they grasp only after death.

Woe to you; death is like clouds, and grey hair is its raindrops. Whoever reaches the age of seventy would complain of pain even without teason, and so the sensible person is he who wakes up in fear, because he realises the nearness of death. O you, this life is behind you, and ahead of you is the hereafter; and to seek what is behind is a retreat and a defeat, whereas victory lies in advancing

Working for the Hereafter

forward with strong will. The flood of death has arrived so embark for safety onto the ships of righteousness and do not accompany the “Kan’in”! of hope. Woe to you, pay heed and start benefiting yourself from your lifespan, for how long is an earthly creature to live in confusion?

Illnesses distress the bodies necessarily causing emaciation, and you appeat as if you are in your grave, lying down on the bed of regret while it is, by Allah, coarser than a rock. That said, plant (good deeds) during the spring of your life before the onset of sterility afflicts the field that is your body, and amass [good deeds] in your petiod of capability, setting them aside before the time of weakness and incapability artives. Prepare your supplies before travelling so you do not suffer poverty during the journey where there is no food to consume. Beware, beware, of [being in a state where you will be among those whom Allah said they will say on the Day of Judgment],

“Lest a soul should say, “Oh [how great is] my regret over what I neglected in regard to Allah” [al-Zumar 39: 56]

The wise and determined is he who acquires his provision [of good deeds] before the time of his return [to his Lord] comes. The root of the tree of strong will and firmness is wise and has perceptive thinking, its branches are seeking the advice over problematic issues, and its fruit is taking advantage of available oppottunities, and the loss of opportunity in itself is sufficient cause of

''The son of Prophet Nith (‘alayhi as-saldm) who drowned in the flood as he hoped to survive if he just get on the top of a mountain.

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

I wonder at the one who wastes his lifetime in lazy indifference, until the day the collector of souls (i.e. Angel of death) arrives, whence he says,

18 3] “Indeed, I have repented now” PX 46 tee Seas, S4ps8 on BEI ST “But how for them will be the taking [of faith] from a place far away?”

Fearing Allah, the Most High

regarding one’s end disquieted the heatts of those who know (their Lord). Then the ayah,

PUSARESS AA N pAuay “And know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart”

T HE FEAR OF ALLAH’S DECREE and the wariness

furthered their anxiety. There is no comfort for them in this life, as whenever they enter a path of comfort their anxiety brings them out of it to the road of fear (of Allah). Their state is as the poet said:

Anxiety flicks my heart day and night Though my appearance gives the impression that I am well

They were ignorant naive youth, but once they awakened they

spend the day and night translating their solid strong wills into actions, therefore when they paid the due debt of their mistakes

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

their knowledge asserted they should beware of the expected reply [in response to their previous sins]. They longed [to Allah] so they sighed, and became anxious and thenceforth never felt at ease. Theit breaths cannot be concealed, their souls are on the verge of perish; the colour of devotees is overwhelming, and their sorrowful tears betray their state - for indeed a wheel cannot roll without rumbling.

‘The mountain of hope crashed into the mountain of fear in the heart of the knower (of his Lord), but upon the arrival of a/- Isqandar’ of his thought, he called for the iron sheets of worry until