WHY CALAMITIES AND DESTRUCTIONS ARE HAPPENING TO MUSLIMS

One question that may arise in our mind is why are calamities and destructions happening to Muslims? 

Yes, indeed the oppressors are the wrong doers. They make destruction and kill Muslims and steal their properties. On the other side, it is worth for us to look on ourselves so that we can improve our weaknesses. I would like to quote a Hadith… and I don’t intend to elaborate on it. Let us read and we judge it ourselves :

The companion ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas RA narrated that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: 

“5 matters result when 5 things happen: If people break their covenant with Allah, He will send an enemy against them; If they rule by other than the Law of Allah, poverty will spread among them; If they become deceptive in trade, Allah will deprive them of crops and they will be struck with famine; And if they withhold the payment of Zakaah, they will be struck with drought.” [At-Tabaraani]

In another narration he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “If they break the covenant of Allah and His Messenger, Allah will send an external enemy against them who will seize some of their possessions; If they do not rule by the Book of Allah, nor attempt to implement everything in it, Allah will spread enmity among them.”

Conversely, obeying Allah and His Messenger sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam is the source of victory. Allah says: “O you who have believed, if you support Allah, He will support you [by giving you victory].” [Surah Muhammad Ayah 7]

Indeed, Allah gives victory to those who deserve it. And most of the times defeat comes from ourselves. One night, Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqaas, may Allah be pleased with him, was checking on his army during the battle of Qaadisiyyah. He passed by the tent of one group of soldiers at night and found the men inside praying Qiyaam, or voluntary night-prayer, and remarked: ‘Victory comes from such a tent’ then he passed by another tent and found the men inside sleeping and remarked: ‘Defeat comes from such a tent.’

This was despite the fact that the men who were sleeping only missed a recommended prayer and not an obligatory one; yet Sa’d considered missing this recommended act to be a reason for defeat.

Let us avoid destructions, disasters and humiliation. Muslims have experienced too many appalling tragedies in their own land. It was Bosnia; Afghanistan; Iraq and now (always) Palestine, and tomorrow we never know whose turn. 

The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam was once asked: 

“Would we be punished by disasters which befall us while we have righteous people amongst us?’ he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam replied: “Yes, if evil becomes widespread.” 

Allah says clearly on this issue in al Quran: “And fear the Fitnah (affliction and trial, etc.) which affects not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong (but it may afflict all the good and the bad people), and know that Allah is Severe in punishment". [Surah Al-Anfaal Ayah 25]

Therefore, if Muslims truly wish for safety from destruction and given victory, then they must change and improve what is in them as Allah says that which translates as: “For each (person), there are angels in succession, before and behind him. They guard him by the Command of Allah. Verily! Allah will not change the good condition of a people as long as they do not change their state of goodness themselves. But when Allah wills a people's punishment, there can be no turning back of it, and they will find besides Him no protector.” [Surah Ar-Ra’d Ayah 11]

Allah Knows Best.

COPING WITH THE FEAR THAT OUR WORSHIP WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED

Dissatisfaction with our sincerity in worship and with our efforts for our faith is usually a good thing. It inspires us to greater efforts, deeper conviction, and a firmer resolve to please our Lord. It prevents us from being prideful and haughty and keeps us from looking down at others when we see their faults and shortcomings.

Sometimes, though, these feelings exceed their proper bounds and can turn destructive, especially if we start feeling that the worship that we are engaged in is not good enough to count; that Allah is not going to accept anything that we do. This can easily lead us down the dark road of despair, where we start to feel that we will never be forgiven and that we cannot hope to attain salvation.

Such feelings deprive us of the peace of mind, the tranquility, and the pleasure that we are supposed to find in worshipping our Lord. This can ultimately lead us to neglect our religious duties.

There are many reasons why we might suffer from these feelings. Sometimes, our distress is the result of our hearing well-intended but misguided exhortations from those who wish to encourage us to greater devotion in our worship. So often we are told how impossible it is to attain true sincerity and how difficult it is for us to work acts of righteousness that Allah will find acceptable.

We need to realize – and hold in our hearts with the greatest conviction – that Allah is merciful and that His mercy is vast. Indeed, He has promised his servants that He will reward them with the best of rewards.

Allah says: “So whoever does an atom’s weight of good shall see it.” [Sûrah al-Zalzalah: 7]

He says: “Whoever works any act of righteousness and has faith; his endeavor will not be rejected. We shall record it in his favor.” [Sûrah al-Anbiyâ’: 92]

Allah is most generous. Whenever He promises something, He fulfills His promise, but whenever He threatens something, He is quick to pardon.

We must consider how Allah so often in the Qur’ân speaks of His mercy. Indeed, when we read the Qur’ân, we need to contemplate on words like the following:

“But your Lord is most forgiving, full of mercy”[Sûrah al-Kahf: 58]

“My mercy encompasses all things” [Sûrah al-A?râf: 156]

“Say: Your Lord is a Lord of all-embracing mercy”[Sûrah ah-An?âm: 147]

This is very important, because sometimes pessimism about our worship arises as a result of some evil deed that we have committed. Satan takes this opportunity to whisper into our hearts that we do not deserve Allah’s mercy, causing us to despair. We must seek refuge with Allah from this deception and not succumb to it. Instead, we need to sincerely turn to Allah and beseech His forgiveness, confidence in the knowledge that Allah forgives all sins.

Allah says: “Say: O my servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of Allah’s Mercy. Truly, Allah forgives all sins. Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Sûrah al-Zumar: 53]

There is no sin that He will not forgive except that of a person who dies on unrepentant polytheism.

Allah says: “Allah does not forgive that anyone should set up partners with Him, but he forgives anything less than that to whom He pleases.” [Sûrah al-Nisâ’: 48]

Allah loves those who turn to Him in repentance, and when His servant repents to Him, it pleases Him immensely. He says: “Allah loves those who turn much in repentance, and He loves those who purify themselves.” [Sûrah al-Baqarah: 222]

This should encourage us to ask for Allah’s grace, knowing that He loves us to do so.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant when he repents than one of you would be if he were to lose his mount while traveling in barren land while it was carrying his food and drink. Then, if he were to despair of finding it and went over to a tree and laid down in its shade and while sitting there in hopelessness of ever seeing it again, he sees it standing before him.” [Sahîh Muslim]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “I swear by Him in whose hand is my soul. If it were not that you sinned, Allah would remove you and bring forth a people who would sin and then seek Allah’s forgiveness so He could forgive them.” [Sahîh Muslim]

We should turn to the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) and read therein about Allah’s forgiveness. We should remember how Allah forgave a prostitute – a woman who lived by selling her sexual favors – only on account of a small mercy that she showed to a dog. How then shall it be for someone who strives to do right?

We must hasten to good deeds with the optimism that our sincere deeds will be well received.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) relates to us that Allah says: “Whoever comes with a good deed will be given ten times its worth or more so, and whoever comes with an evil deed will be recompensed its worth or I will forgive it. Whoever draws near to me a handspan, I will come to him the extent of a forearm. Whoever draws near to me the length of a forearm, I will come to him the length of two outstretched arms. Whoever comes to me walking, I will come to him at speed. And whoever comes to me with the Earth’s weight in sin without associating anything with me, I will come to him with forgiveness of equal measure.” [Sahîh Muslim]

We must not despair. “And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord, save those who are astray?” [Sûrah al-Hijr: 56]

Now here is something that we need to fear – for who among us wishes to be among those who are astray!

INSTILLING THE LOVE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH) IN THE HEART OF A CHILD

Question:

How can we develop love of the Prophet(sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) in the hearts of our children? I have a young daughter – what can I do with her to achieve this?

Answer:

Praise be to Allaah.

There are a number of ways to instill love of the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) in the hearts of our children, such as:

· The parents can tell them the stories that have been narrated of the children of the Sahaabah at the time of the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam), how they fought those who tried to harm him, how quickly they responded to his call and obeyed his commands, and how they loved that which he loved, and how they memorized the hadeeth of the Prophet(sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam).

The parents should help her to memorize as much hadeeth as she can of ahaadeeth, and reward her for that… One of the things that was narrated concerning that was the words of al-Zubayri: Maalik ibn Anas had a daughter who memorized his knowledge – i.e. al-Muwatta’. She used to stand behind the door and if a student made a mistake she would knock on the door, and Maalik would be alerted and would correct him. And it was narrated that al-Nadar ibn al-Haarith said: “I heard Ibraaheem ibn Adham say: ‘My father said to me, O my son, seek hadeeth, and every time you hear a hadeeth and memorize it, I will give you a dirham, so I learnt hadeeth in that way.”

They should teach her – according to her level of understanding – about the life of the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) and his military campaigns, and the lives of the Sahaabah, both men and women – may Allaah be pleased with them, so that she will grow up loving these noble people, and be influenced by their behaviour, and will be keen to strive and sincere in correcting herself and supporting her religion.

The Sahaabah and the (early generations were keen to teach their children about the life of the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam), and they would teach it alongside teaching the Qur’aan, because his seerah is the interpretation of the the meanings of the Qur’aan, as well as stirring up emotions and demonstrating true Islam and having a wondrous effect on the soul. It also carries the meanings of love and jihad to save mankind from misguidance and bring them to guidance, from falsehood to truth, from the darkness of jaahiliyyah to the light of Islam.

When telling their daughter about the life of the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) and the lives of the male and female Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them), the father and mother must tell her about things that she can relate to, such as the childhood of the Prophet(sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam), some stories about his life with (his wet-nurse) Haleemah al-Sa’diyyah, and how Allaah bestowed goodness and blessings upon Haleemah and her family because of him (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), the night of the Hijrah and how Allaah covered the eyes of the mushrikeen, and other stories which demonstrate how Allaah helped him. Thus the girl’s heart will be filled with love for Allaah and love for His Messenger (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam). It was narrated from ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet(sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) said: “Train your children to acquire three characteristics: love of your Prophet, love of his family and reading the Qur’aan, for the bearers of the Qur’aan will be in the shade of Allaah on the Day when there will be no shade except His, with His Prophets and His chosen ones.” (Narrated by al-Suyooti in al-Jaami’ al-Sagheer, p. 25; classed as da’eef by al-Albaani in Da’eef al-Jaami’ al-Sagheer, p. 36, no. 251). It would be a good idea if the parents devote a suitable time for teaching the life of the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) during the daily family lesson, when the children can read about seerah in simplified books, or the father or mother can tell them these stories in a manner that is appropriate to the child’s age.