An Easygoing Approach to Faith

Posted by: Alif-Lam-Mim on: December 25, 2008 By Sheikh Salman al-Oadah Religion is human nature. Allah created religious awareness as a component of the human being. Our very natures recognize essential moral values. This is what makes those values universal. When a person acquires religious knowledge, he or she discovers something about his or her inner self, something that was always there. As for taking things in an easygoing manner, this leaves people with fertile ground for their innate upright natures to grow and develop naturally. It gives people leave to conduct their own affairs as long as they do not transgress against the dictates of the Islamic faith or the rights of other people. There is an ethical basis which all human beings share, and which Islam came to perfect and bring into sharper relief. Islam did not come to strip people of their innate ethical awareness or overturn it. Rather, it came to confirm and strengthen it. The Prophet (peace be upon him) once mentioned to his followers a covenant that the Arabs had concluded which had brought peace to their clans. He said that if he were ever invited to enter into such a treaty, he would do so. The treaty he spoke about had taken place before the advent of Islam. It was a treaty which brought the people together at the same table to affirm their rights and their human dignity, and which put an end to the endemic warfare that they had been suffering from and that was consuming their lives and wealth. Though the treaty took place before Islam, it was nevertheless in accordance with the innate moral sentiments that all human beings acknowledge. We all know that it is better to learn from one another and prosper. We all agree that hatred, conflict, and rancor are hated by Allah and condemned by mankind. Clemency and flexibility in religious matters restore to people a healthy outlook, allowing them to live their faith in a way that is genuine and that accords with the nature that Allah has placed within them. It makes religion easy on the people, the way Allah intended it to be. Once, a desert-dweller came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) complaining that Mu`dh prolonged the prayer too much. The Prophet (peace be upon him) asked the desert-dweller: What do you say in prayer? He answered: When I offer my tashahhud, I say: O Allah! I ask You for Paradise and seek refuge with You from the Fire. As for me, I am not good at droning on the way you and Mu`dh do.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him: It is basically these things that we drone on about. [Sunan Ab Dwd (22), and Musnad Ahmad (15333)] We can see that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not impose upon the man to memorize what was too difficult for him. He took into account the mans abilities. Maybe he was an old man, or had a weak memory, or was poorly brought up. It is significant that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not interrogate the desertdweller about his intentions. No doubt, the word the desert-dweller used to describe the prayer of Mu`dh and of the Prophet himself was quite unflattering and could easily have been construed as an insult. The Prophet (peace be upon him) did not take offence. Instead, he accepted the desert-dwellers coarse and simple statement: I am not good at droning on the way you and Mu`dh do. and answered gently: It is basically these things that we drone on about. With this answer, he comforted the desert-dweller and reassured him that the simple words he was using in his prayers were essentially what Mu`dh was saying though maybe Mu`dh was using words that the desert-dweller was unable to understand. Indeed, the desert-dweller was essentially making the supplication of all the Prophets a supplication for Paradise and to be spared from Hell. Allah says: Lo! They used to vie one with the other in good deeds, and they cried unto Us in longing and in fear, and were submissive unto Us. [Srah al-Anbiy': 90] Clemency and an easygoing nature should be the spirit of our personal conduct and our social interactions. This attests to the truth that our innate, easygoing religious awareness is better than imposing difficulties in religion. It is also farther away from the dangers of pretentiousness, conceitedness, and showing-off. We find that most of the people who preoccupy themselves with hair-splitting debates based in complex logic and semantic differences, they contribute nothing of consequence. They are like people fighting over possession of a dry well or scrambling to reach a mirage. They have left behind the life of normal people and turned their attentions to superficial disputes. They are the last people to bring benefit to others, but the first to criticize and cause disputations. This is indeed, blameworthy ostentation. IslamToday: http://www.islamtoday.com/showme_weekly_2006.cfm?cat_id=30&sub_cat_id=2045 Source: http://ibnayyub.wordpress.com/2008/12/25/an-easygoing-approach-to-faith/

The Fear of Fame: A Lost Characteristic Posted by: ibn ayyub on: November 9, 2008 The scholars and the righteous of this Ummah always feared fame and becoming wellknown amongst the people. They would dislike for their name to be mentioned much and you can see one of them fleeing from the people as if they were a fitnah (trial), whilst at other times you can see one get up and leave the circle of knowledge which he was conducting because the numbers became too many. Below here are some amazing statements from our predecessors that allude to just how much they held onto sincerity and how much they fled from fame and from being spoken about. _ Ibn Masood (radhiallahu `anhu): (O people!) Be the springs of knowledge and the lamps of guidance! Stick to your homes and be like a light in the night, revivers of hearts, wearing worn-out clothes, you will then be known by the people of the heavens and be hidden among the people of the earth. A man said to Bishr: Advice me. So he said, Let your mention be unknown And Hushib would be found crying saying, My name has reached the Masjid! Both Ibrahim al-Nakhai and al-Hasan used to say, It is enough of an evil that a man should be pointed at in matters of Deen or Dunya (i.e. out of fame), except him whom Allah has protected. Righteousness lies here and hed point to his chest three times. Ibrahim ibn Adham: A slave who loves fame has not been truthful to Allah. Aasim: If more than four people came and sat around Abul-Aaliyah, he would get up and leave. Dawud al-Tai used to say: Flee from people just like you would flee from a lion. Imam Ahmad: Glad tidings be to the one whose mention has been hidden by Allah! And he would say, I wish for something that will never be I wish to be in a place devoid of other people. Dhul-Nun: Being pleased with being around people is from the signs of bankruptcy Fudhayl ibn Iyyadh: If you can get by without being known, then do so. What does it bother you that people will not praise you, and what does it bother you that you may be blameworthy in the sight of people if in the Sight of Allah you are praiseworthy?

Muhammad ibn al-Alaa ibn Musayyib from Basra wrote to Muhammad Yusuf alAsbahani saying, O my brother, whoever loves Allah loves that he remain unknown (to the people). Bishr ibn al-Harith: I do not know a single man who loves fame except that he loses his religion and becomes disgraced. No-one who has fear of Allah, loves to be known amongst the people. He (rahimahullah) also said: A man who loves that everyone should know him, will never find the sweetness of the Hereafter. Yazid ibn Abi Habib: Indeed from the fitnah of a scholar is that speech should become more pleasing to him than silence and listening. Abu Huraira (radhiallahu `anhu) used to say: Were it not for an ayah in the Book of Allah, I would not have narrated to you people (ayah below): Verily, those who conceal the clear proofs, evidences and the guidance, which We have sent down, after We have made it clear for the people in the Book, they are the ones cursed by Allah and cursed by the cursers. [al-Baqarah: 158] Al-Shabi: We tried incredibly hard to get Ibrahim al-Taymi to sit down in the masjid and narrate to the people but he refused. Ibn Abi Layla: I met a hundred and twenty Companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam), and none of them would narrate except that he loved his brother to suffice him of that. And none of them gave fatawa except that he wished his brother would suffice him of that. Abdullah ibn Abbas: Indeed Allah has slaves who have been silenced by the fear of Allah although they are eloquent in speech. Sufyan al-Thawri: If you can become a scholar without being known, then do so. For indeed the people, if they knew what was in you, they would eat your flesh. ^ He (rahimahullah) wouldnt allow more than three people to sit in his gathering. One day, more than three came and he saw his gathering had increased so he stood up in fear and said, By Allah, we have been taken and we do not even feel it! By Allah, if the leader of the faithful, Umar (radhiallahu `anhu) were to see someone like me sitting in this gathering he would make me stand up and say The like of you is not worthy of this! It is reported that when he sat to narrate hadeeth, he would sit in fear and terror. If a cloud passed over him, he would become silent until it passed then hed say, I feared that it contained stones with which we would be struck with.

When Bishr al-Hafi abandoned narrating hadeeth in a gathering, the people said to him: What are you going to say to your Lord when He asks you Why did you abandon narrating to the people the statements of My Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam)?! He (rahimahullah) said, I will say, O my Lord. You have commanded me to do it with sincerity but I did not find that in me. It was said to Sufyan Ibn Uyaynah once, Wont you sit and narrate to us? He (rahimahullah) said: By Allah, I dont see you worthy of being narrated to nor do I see myself worthy of being listened to. Ibrahim Ibn Adham;Ibrahim ibn Adham: I never found delight in living except in al-Sham (greater Syria). I would flee with my religion from heights to heights and from mountain to mountain. Whoever saw me said Hes delusional and whoever saw me said Hes a porter. He (rahimahullah) would also say: The scholars! When they taught they would act (righteous deeds) and when they acted, they would become busy in that, and when they became busy they would be missed by the people and when they were missed, they would be sought out by the people, and when they were sought, they would flee. One day he passed by the gathering of al-Awzai (rahimahullah) and saw that a large number of people had gathered. So he said, If all this crowding was around Abu Huraira, he would have departed from it. This reached al-Awzai who got up and abandoned the gathering from that day on. Ibrahim ibn Adham was an amazing personality mashaAllah; he tried hard to keep away from the people in fear of them mentioning him too much. But his fame shot up and his name became so widespread to the point that it was said one time He is in the garden (where he worked tending to crops), so the people entered it, encircling it, saying Where is Ibrahim ibn Adham? So he began to encircle along with them saying, Where is Ibrahim ibn Adham?! [Point being here that his name, character and reputation was known but he himself was hardly seen so they didnt recognise him!] He (rahimahullah) said: My eye never found solace and delight in a day of this world except once. I spent the night in a mosque in one of the villages in al-Sham whilst I had a stomach sickness. The muadhin then grabbed me by my leg and dragged me out of the mosque! He found solace in this because the man did not recognise him and he did not leave the mosque as he was ill and illness had made him remain in the mosque.
Quotes taken from the book: Tatir al-Anfas min Hadith al-Ikhlas by Dr. Sayyid al-Affani (original sources include Tahdhib al-Hilyah, Siyar Alam al-Nubalaa, Tanbih al-Mughtarin and Sifat al-Safwah to name but a few)

From: Fajr (http://fajr.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/the-fear-of-fame-a-lost-characteristic/) Source: http://ibnayyub.wordpress.com/2008/11/09/the-fear-of-fame-a-lost-characteristic/

According to Merriam-Webster, an intense effort is one marked by great zeal, energy, determination, or concentration. (Quoted from: http://ibnayyub.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/individual-factors-certain-attributes-mustcome-from-within/)

On Arrogance, Humbleness, and Inferiority Complex

Posted by: ibn ayyub on: October 27, 2008

In: Character| Islam| Religion| Tasawwuf Comment!

By Khalid Baig It has been called ummul-amradh, or the root of all sicknesses of the heart. Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, warned that a person having even an iota of it in his heart will never enter paradise. This deadliest of all sins is kibr, or arrogance. No one likes arrogance in others. We never like a person who is haughty, too proud, or condescending. We detest a person who belittles us and has a huge ego. Similarly we love people who are humble, polite, and easy to talk to. We love people who give us respect and honor. Thus if we follow the principle of treating others the way we like to be treated, most of these problems might be cured. In reality, the treatment of ummulamradh requires a deeper look. For that we need to appreciate the difference between adab or manners, on the one hand and akhlaq or morals on the other. While adab deal with ones external disposition, akhlaq as defined by Islam deal with our inner thoughts, feeling, and attitudes. In a healthy personality, the manners and morals are in harmony. But it is also possible to have the former without having the latter. The first concerns itself with how a person deals with others. The second is concerned with what a person thinks of himself. Two persons showing humbleness in their dealings with others, may have exactly opposite ideas in their minds. One may do it out of his or her generosity; the other may do it because he genuinely thinks that he is not better than the other person. The first person only has a shell of humbleness, which will crumble when tested. It is the second person who is really free of arrogance. Real greatness belongs only to Allah, our Lord, Creator, and Master. Human beings are just a creation of Allah and a very small creation in comparison to the unimaginably vast universe. Anyone who understands this will realize that our proper status is only that of servants of Allah. In fact for a Muslim the real human model is none other than

Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, who is the greatest of all human beings. His greatness lies in being the humblest of all servants of Allah! It is impossible for any person who has this consciousness to entertain any notions of his own greatness. This leads us to the definition of kibr, given in a famous hadith: Kibr is to knowingly reject Truth and to belittle other people. This hadith exposes two strains of this deadly disease, both dealing with our exaggerated ideas of self-importance. The first suggests that I am more important than the Truth. The second suggests that I am more important than other people. We know about the Quraish and Jews of Arabia who had come in contact with Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and who knew in the heart of their hearts that he indeed was the Messenger of Allah. Their arrogance, though, kept them from accepting it. History has recorded statements from some of them who said we know he is the Promised Prophet but we will keep on opposing him to maintain our leadership. While that was the most blatant form of arrogance, we can witness the same attitude on a smaller scale in our discussions and arguments. A person realizes that he was wrong, but then his pride keeps him from admitting it. No matter how polite or humble that person may appear to be ordinarily, this test shows the presence of arrogance in his heart. It is arrogance that keeps a person from saying I am sorry. The second strain involves our feeling of superiority with respect to other people. Islams teaching is that one should never consider oneself greater than other people, because that Judgment will come from Allah, and Allah alone, on the Day of Judgment. None of us knows what our end will be, whether we will end up being a winner or loser over there. The person who appears to be nobody here may end up with eternal bliss because of his goodness that only Allah knew. The person who is a big shot here may end up among the sinners who will be punished there, because of his evil that only Allah knew. How foolish, it is then to congratulate ourselves over our fleeting superiority. What if a person does have edge over another person in measurable worldly terms? How then can he not consider himself superior than the other person in that respect? The point is sometimes made in half jest: it is difficult to be humble when you are so great. Islam does not ask us to reject reality and imagine we dont have what we really do. Rather it asks us to take a deeper look at the reality and not be misled by a superficial perception of it. And the simple reality that escapes many is that our health, wealth, talents, and power are not of our own creation. God gave those to us as a test and He can take them back whenever He wills. Those who are conscious of this reality, their blessings will produce gratitude in them; those who are blind to it will develop pride and arrogance. Some forms of kibr are subtle. If a person is embarrassed to bow to Allah in the presence of non-believers, that is a case of kibr in the face of Allah, says Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi.

While throughout history humanity had agreed on the evil of arrogance and the virtue of humbleness (despite its failures in practice), this century has seen new dogmas that aim at changing the definitions of good and evil. Humbleness is no longer desirable. Rather, one has to avoid Inferiority Complex. Alfred Adler (1870-1937) gave us that term. According to him, life is a continuous struggle to move from a position of inferiority to a position of significance. Those who fail to make the progress, develop inferiority complex, which can be treated by increasing self-esteem. Unfortunately today such pseudo-science is accepted as gospel truth. The truth is that problems arise when we turn away from reality. A humble person is a happy, content, grateful person who thanks God for his blessings and has no notions of his own superiority. False notions of superiority or of ones entitlements in life, on the other hand, lead to frustrations and complexes. From: AlBalagh.net - http://albalagh.net/general/kibr.shtml Source: http://ibnayyub.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/on-arrogance-humbleness-andinferiority-complex/ Its a consciousness in action.