Hazrat Maulana Jalaluddeen Rumi
(Rahmatullahi ‘alayh) had mentioned a story in his Mathnavi Shareef, of a worm,
which was told: “You will find a delicious, juicy grape on the grapevine.”
Having heard this, the worm began its
journey up the grapevine. It soon came across a green leaf, and thinking it to
be the delicious grape, it whiled away its entire life eating off that leaf,
until it made its ‘qabr’ (grave) on that same green leaf.
Had the worm gone just a little
further, it would have come across the delectable grape, and would have enjoyed
the sweetness of that grape. It would not have spent all its life on a green
leaf.
The anecdote illustrates our
similarity with that worm….
Like that worm which landed on the
green leaf, many have landed in front of some filthy television programmes,
many have landed in Interest transactions, enriching themselves with Haraam; or
have landed in fraud and theft, others in some illicit relationship, or in a
casino, or in raves, or drugs, or homosexuality, or indecent and obscene novels
and magazines, or some porn website on the Internet, or Haraam video games and
a multitude of other sins and illusions - and they ignorantly think that that
is the sweet grape. …These were the leaves before the juicy grape or the thorns
before the petals of the fragrant rose flower.
Many set out for the juicy grape of
Imaan but have been waylaid and trapped by shaytaan and nafs
in Haraam pleasures, in which
they while away and waste the very precious time of life. Yet, there are just
two steps to be taken to taste of this delicious grape. The first step is on
the nafs and the second step, on shaytaan. With these two steps we will enjoy
such sweetness of Imaan that we would never want to return to the temporary and
sinful pleasures of this world.
Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (Rahmatullahi
‘alayh) had said that in reality, there is just one step, and that step is
suppression of the evil desires of the nafs, since shaytaan became shaytaan
because of his nafs.
…It will not be denied that there is
some temporary enjoyment in consenting to the evil demands of the nafs.
However, this Haraam ‘pleasure’, which is so short-lived, should be weighed
against the anguish and punishment that awaits one in the Hereafter for having
earned the displeasure and wrath of Allah Ta’ala.
This punishment is not reserved for
only the Hereafter. It descends and pursues a person even in this world, in the
form of restlessness, anxiety, fear, humiliation, disgrace, and sometimes,
everlasting regret.
My Shaykh, Hazrat Maulana Hakeem
Muhammad Akhtar Saheb (Rahmatullahi 'alayh) said in poetry:
“Agreed, there is a little stolen
pleasure in sin,
But what great rebellion is this
against the Sustainer
(Allah Ta’ala),
(That you use His bounties to disobey
Him).
A little while of pleasure and
everlasting regret;
What stupidity it is to bury
the Janaza of respect and honour.”
Even though some difficulty is
incurred in opposing the dictates of the evil nafs, the consequence in the
Hereafter is eternal pleasure. In this world as well, the person will enjoy
tranquility and satisfaction.
And when there are so many forms of
Halaal (lawful) pleasures that one could enjoy, why foolishly go toward
Haraam?
By Hazrat Maulana Yunus Patel Saheb (Rahmatullahi ‘alayh)
