Keeping Ties with God and Trusting Him
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In the name of Allah, the Most-Merciful, the All-Compassionate
"May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon You"
Praise be to Allaah, we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allaah leaves astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allaah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala Rasulillah
As-Salaam Alaikum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakatuhu
Keeping Ties with God and Trusting Him
Life is a journey down smooth paths, rocky roads and extremely treacherous terrain.
While joy comes naturally during the easy times of life, it takes effort to find moments of happiness during adversity.
It's easy to get caught up in our own stress and anxiety, and I for one plead guilty of this, however, I try to remember that our life is short and temporary, and that the everlasting life is in the Hereafter. This will to some extent help put our worries in perspective.
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Allah: The All-Loving -Is Allah All-Loving? (Interview) -Feeling the Infinite Love of God |
Losing a valuable family member recently, I have been jolted to recognize our belief in the transitory nature of the life of this world remembering that whatever difficulties, trials, anxieties, and grief we suffer in this world are something we will only experience for a short period of time. More importantly, if we remember to handle these tests with patience, God will reward us for it.
By remembering God in the way He has taught us to, we are more likely to gain acceptance of our prayers and His Mercy in times of difficulty. When our heart feels heavy with stress, worry or grief we must communicate with the only one who not only hears and knows all, but who can also change our situation and give us the patience to deal with our difficulties.
The Quran reads: {Remember Me, and I shall remember you; be grateful to Me, and deny Me not.}(Al-Baqarah2: 152)
And {If you are grateful, I will give you more.}(Ibrahim14: 7)
As believers, we must be aware of the fact that the trials we encounter are there so that God can develop and strengthen our character. They remind us of our limitations as human beings and our complete need of God and His guidance.
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It is impossible for us to turn to God, and He rejects us. We are replete withhadithswhich demonstrate this. |
At times we may feel our faith wavering through difficult phases in life. It's hard to still believe that we can look forward to God's blessings when we feel everything tumbling around us. Keeping faith in God and strengthening ties during these times is imperative even when it means taking the first step when you don’t see the whole staircase.
God says in a sacred hadith:
“Whoever comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.” (Al-Bukhari)
We should try to live in the moment. Without doubt there are moments of joy in even the most painful times of life and we should make every effort to look for them. We must open our heart to these moments, rest in them and ultimately turn to God.
It is impossible for us to turn to God, and He rejects us. We are replete withhadithswhich demonstrate this. One such hadith reads:
“Allah is happier when a servant of His repents to Him than a man who was on his camel in a waterless desert and the camel escaped from him with his food and water. When he has lost hope of finding it, he retired to a tree and lied down under its shade. As he was there, the camel suddenly appeared in front of him. He took hold of its halter and said in his state of excessive joy: ‘O my Lord You are my servant and I am Your Lord.’ He uttered this erroneous statement as a result of his being overjoyed.” (Muslim)
Counting our blessings not only helps us to be grateful for what we have, but also reminds us that we are so much better off than many others, whether that is in terms of our health, family, financial situation, or other aspects of our life. Being grateful for all we have helps us maintain a positive attitude in the face of worries and challenges we are facing almost daily. Taking the time out to thank God for His blessings will not only overwhelm us because we will never be able to enumerate them, but will truly help us recognize God's undeniable presence in our life.
God says: {And remember when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you in favor.}(Ibrahim14: 7)
Do You Trust God?
Now that we have acknowledged the significance of turning to God and remembering Him during difficult times we must also grasp how reliance or tawakkul on God is just as important.
With the blessed months of Rajab, Sha’ban and Ramadan we are living, what better time to strengthen our resolve to leaving things to God and putting our faith in that He knows what's best for us even if at the time they seem incomprehensible. The Divine works in ways too sophisticated for our minds, just reading chapter Al-Kahf with Moses (peace be upon him) and Al-Khidr reveals many instances of our limitations.
Developing and maintaining this reliance and ties with God requires time, effort and the desire for closeness. Just as relationships with other people take work and devotion, so does a relationship with God. Putting forth that effort often leads to a greater sense of self-worth, inner peace, compassion and love. Choosing to pursue this relationship and keep it strong is something we must all work on to improve ourselves and our outlook on life.
In light of this, we should definitely take time to develop our relationship with God and reap the rewards and the peace it brings. By thanking Him we also recognize and appreciate Him. The more we thank, the more we will see how He has blessed us, and again realize His presence in our life. This in itself will truly create a certain soothing of the heart. Prophet Muhammad said:
“Remember Allah during times of ease and He will remember you during times of difficulty.” (At-Tirmidhi)
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By depending on and trusting God fully you will realize how much simpler life can be. |
God says in the beautifulhadith:
“O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind.
O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you.
O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as its.” (Ahmad)
As mentioned above, the blessed months we are living leading up to Ramadan is a perfect chance for us to reevaluate, strengthen and develop our relationship with God. By depending on and trusting God fully you will realize how much simpler life can be.
This can be realized when reading:
{And He will provide him from sources he could never imagine. And whoever puts their trust in Allah, and then He will suffice him. Verily, Allah will accomplish His purpose. Indeed, Allah has set a measure for all things.}(At-Talaq65: 3)
And: {He is the Most Gracious Allah in Him we believe, and in Him we put our trust. So, you will come to know who it is that is in manifest error.}(Al-Mulk67: 29)
While knowing that our responsibility for what happens is limited and comforting instilling in us an enormous amount of peace and contentment, we must understand that our success depends on our sincere efforts to the best of our abilities. Take for instance the popularhadithin which the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said to the Bedouin who had left his camel without tying it, to tie your camel and place your trust in God.
By 'tying the camel' we have done the best that can be done as humans, what happens after that is up to God for He knows best. We have utilized all our means without simply waiting for a miracle to as they say 'drop from the sky'.
Our reliance though shouldn’t be mistaken with giving up our efforts thinking that somehow our challenges will get resolved. It means however striving and working with the attitude that God will take care of our affairs and will help us in getting through our trials remembering all the time that this too shall pass. This full conviction will be reached when we work on building a solid relation with God while leaving the overall results to Him.
What we all want from life is continuous and genuine happiness and while it seems impossible, it can be reached simply by acknowledging and trusting that God is All-Knowing, He is our sustainer.
We must make God a priority in our life. To help improve our bond with God we should surround ourselves with good positive friends who will pray for us, encourage us and share with us their testimony and how they have made it through the bad times in their life by putting trust in andtawakulor reliance on God in turn strengthening our faith and renewing the right spirit within us.
ALLAH'S Beautiful Name: AL-FALIQ - The Opener, The Splitter
Allah splits the seed and kernel. He brings forth the living from the dead, and produces the dead out of the living. That is Allah, so how are you deluded? He splits the sky at dawn , and appoints the night as a time of stillness and the Sun and Moon as a means of reckoning. That is what the Almighty, the All-Knowing has ordained. (Surat al-An‘am, 6:95-96)
Our planet contains many kinds of plants, each of which has seeds unique to itself. If you keep dry seeds in a room, they may remain unchanged for years. Yet once they are buried in the ground or another suitable place, they start to sprout and, one day, grow into a rose bush or a giant plane tree.
While it is amazing to see such variety coming from a “dry seed,” even more amazing is the formation of a living being. For a tree to exist, its seed has to collect the necessary materials from the soil and begin to grow. But a seed cannot determine the amount of minerals and water it needs, nor can it decide to grow into a green plant or a fruit tree.
If we claim that a seed can make such decisions, then we have to accept that the seed is “talented.” But we cannot seriously assert that any seed has such faculties. As the verses above inform us, only Allah “splits the seed and kernel.” By His will, countless trees and plants come into existence. Indeed, another verse relates that Allah creates everything:
He sends down water from the sky, from which We bring forth growth of every kind, and from that We bring forth the green shoots, and from them We bring forth close-packed seeds, and from the spathes of the date palm date clusters hanging down, and gardens of grapes and olives and pomegranates, both similar and dissimilar. Look at their fruits as they bear fruit and ripen. There are Signs in that for people who believe. (Surat al-An‘am, 6:99)
http://al-tanzil.com/-123__Al-Faliq.html
The path to Allaah is long and we pass along it like turtles ..
Al-Imaam Muhammad Nasrud-deen al-Albaani (rahimahullaah) said:
“The path to Allaah is long and we pass along it like turtles. The goal is not that we arrive to the end of the path. Rather the goal is that we die while we are on the (straight) path”
Imam As-Sa'di: Commentary on the verse {indeed all the believers are brothers…..} [AlHujurat: 10]Allah the Most High says:
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَindeed all the believers are brothers. So make reconciliation between your brothers, and fear Allâh, that you may receive mercy. (Al-Hujurat 49:10)Imaam A-Sa'di said:
"This is a bond that Allah has concluded between the believers, that if there is an individual whoever he may be, whether in the east of earth or its west, that has belief in Allah and his Angels and his Books and his Messengers and the Last Day then indeed he is a brother of the believers, a brotherhood that necessitates that the believers love for him what they love for themselves and that they dislike for him what they dislike for themselves, and due to this the Prophet (Salaa Allaahu Alaihi Wa Salam) said ordering the believers with brotherhood based on Eeman:[و لا تحَاسَدُوا و لا تَنَاجَشُوا و لا تَبَاغَضُوا و لا تَدَابَرُوا و كُونُوا عِبَاد الله إِخْوَانَاً و , المُسلِم أَخُو المُسْلِم لايَظلِمُهُ و لا يَخذِلُهُ و لا يَكذِبُهُ)) [متفق عليه))"Do not envy each other. Do not inflate prices on one another. Do not hate one another. Do not abandon one another, but rather be servants of Allah and brothers. The Muslim is the brother of his fellow Muslim. He does not oppress him, nor does he abandon him nor does he lie to him." [Agreed Upon][المؤمن للمؤمن كالبنيان يشد بعضهم بعضاً و شبك بين أصابعه)) [متفق عليه))"The believer to the believer is like a building whose different parts support each other" Then the Prophet clasped his hands with fingers interlaced. [Agreed Upon]Indeed Allah and his Messenger have ordered the believers with the fulfilment of each other's rights. And Allah and his Messenger have ordered with that which brings about unity and mutual love and interconnection between them (the believers), and all of this is in support of the rights they have on each other.
So if fighting was to take place between them that results in the hearts disuniting and mutual enmity of the hearts and abandonment, then the believers should rectify between their brothers and race towards that which will eradicate their enmity.
Allah then orders with At-Taqwah (fear), and from At-Taqwah and fulfilment of the rights of the believers comes Ar-Rahmah (mercy)."
Tayseer AlKareem AlRahman Fee Tafseer Kalaam AlMannaan pg.952
Translation: Abu Shu'ayb