Obligatory Actions before the Supererogatory and Recommended Actions (2/2)

Then contemplate the second matter, may Allah have mercy upon you, "He who loves a person solely for the sake of Allah".  Look into the reality of your love for people:  What is the basis of your love?  What is the basis of your hating and detesting?  Why do you love a particular person more than another?  Is it because he is from your people?  Or for his wealth and status, or for some worldly interests?  Or is it because of his compliance to the orders of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his undertaking of righteous actions?

Maybe you are still facing difficulty for not having relished the sweetness of Faith. So where does the problem lie?  It could be that the third matter has not materialised, that is the saying of the Messenger sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam:

 "…and he who has as great an abhorrence of entering into disbelief after Allah has rescued him from it, as he has of being thrown into the Fire."

• How is your abhorrence of entering into disbelief?   Do you abhor it as you would abhor being thrown into the Hellfire?

• Do you live this abhorrence and this fear?

• It ought to be that you cultivate this feeling in you, so that your sincerity to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is cultivated and that you may hasten to purify your soul.

• Contemplate the hadith of Umm Salamah radiallaahu 'anhu who said: "Most of the invocations of the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam used to be: "O Changer of the Hearts make my heart firm upon your religion." (Reported by Ahmad, Musnad, at-Tirmidhi and others).

• Reflect upon how Ibrahim 'alayhis salaam feared associating partners with Allah, so he used to supplicate:

"And keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols." (Surah lbrahim, 14:35)

• Dont forget the supplication of Yusuf 'alayhis salaam:

"Cause me to die as a Muslim and join me with the righteous." (Surah Yusuf, 12:101)

You should aid yourself through fear: living with the fear of eternal abode in the Hellfire and of never coming out of it, from everlasting hunger and continuous thirst, with fear of crying blood continually, so much so that if a ship was to be sent into it, it would float.

The Messenger of Allah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam said,

"Verily the inhabitants of the Fire cry, so much so that if ships were sailed into their tears, they would float, and verily they would cry blood - meaning instead of tears." (Reported by al-Haakim, Ibn Maajah, Kitaab az-Zuhd, no. 4323, and others).

Dont rest and sit around while the sweetness of Faith is missing or is weakened.  How many people set out on journeys for the prupose of treating their illnesses and how many of them spend out of their wealth to treat these illnesses?  Do not the souls and the hearts have more priority in being treated, as their matter is one of total eternity?

Bring to mind the hadith -

"Every slave will be resurrected upon that which he died" (Reported by Muslim, and others from the hadith of Jabir radiallaahu 'anhu)

Then expect death at any moment.  It is better for you if you were to meet death whilst trying to improve your own condition than to die whilst striving to improve others', being held accountable at the same time for leaving off obligatory actions just like the lantern that burns itself out and gives light to others, as in the hadith,

"The example of the scholar who teaches the people good things but forgets himself is that of a lantern, it gives light to the people but burns itself out". (Reported by at-Tabarani, in al-Kabir, and ad-Diya'. See also Iqtid' ul 'Ilm il-'Amal no.70)

This is what Abu ad-Darda radiallaahu 'anhu used to fear hence his saying, "Verily what I fear from my Lord on the Day of Resurrection is that He calls me at the head of all creation and says to me: "O Uwaymir," so I say "Here I am, My Lord, at Your service," so He says, "What did you act upon from the knowledge that you acquired?".