Friday 23 November 2012

You are in Youth

By Hazrat Maulana Yunus Patel Saheb (Rahmatullahi ‘alayh)


Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem



On one occasion, when I was addressing a group of young boys, I said to them: “The word “you” is in “youth”. And you are presently in youth. Your youth is in your hands. Now it is left to YOU to safeguard the ‘you’ in your youth or destroy the ‘you’ in your youth.


If you safeguard that youth, Allah Ta’ala will give you respect and dignity. You will enjoy good health – both physical and spiritual. And Allah Ta’ala also promises the noble and enviable position of being under the Shade of His Throne on the Day of Qiyamah. There will be success in both worlds. 


However, if you say that you are not interested in safeguarding that youth and want to enjoy this worldly life, by engaging in those actions which please the nafs, and which displease Allah Ta’ala. …Then ask yourself: What is enjoyment in life? Who is the One that gives enjoyment in life? True enjoyment and happiness will only come from the One who Created the heart and controls the heart – Allah Ta’ala.


Sins bring temporary satisfaction, gratification and enjoyment of the nafs …a little while of pleasure that so many amongst our youth engage in, and thereafter, dealing with the consequences life-long. As my respected Shaykh (Rahmatullahi 'Alayh) would say:

“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.”


We deal with so many cases of young boys diagnosed with AIDS, with pregnancies and abortions by school girls. …What did that temporary enjoyment bring them? …Short term gratification and long term, misery, disgrace, humiliation.


No doubt, the environment that we live in is very vicious: In the name of Education, so much of Haraam is read, so much of Haraam is heard, and so much of Haraam is seen. When there is so much of exposure to Haraam, promotion of sin, invitation to sin, temptation to sin, the net result is that the youth are easily caught.


And there is also no doubt that, “Youth is a kind of madness.”  It is a stage or period in life, where the young person does not want to listen to parents or to anyone. He believes and even says that he is free and can do whatever he wants. He does not want to be bound by restrictions.


However, as Muslims, we should know better. True freedom is only obtained when we are released from the prison of this world and return home to Jannah. So long as we are in this world, there will be restrictions, there will be rules and regulations. This is part of our test. If we pass, we secure freedom forever and ever, where our every desire and wish is immediately fulfilled.


No one remains in youth. A few years and it’s all over. How many regret having lost their youth and the wonderful opportunities of obeying Allah Ta’ala, whilst hale and healthy?


…When Allah Ta’ala gives enjoyment, then that enjoyment is true enjoyment, which is related to the heart. Happiness and peace are not related to money, music, illicit love, drugs, etc. True pleasure is not outside the heart. The true enjoyment is that which Allah Ta’ala gives in the heart of a Mu`min – but conditional that the Mu`min is obedient to Him and His Rasul (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam)."


Together with the effort to stay away from sin, and spend the time of youth constructively - in good, we should continuously make Dua for Allah Ta’ala’s special protection. …In the words of my Shaykh:

‘(O Allah) wherever I am – whether on earth or in the skies – my Taqwa must always remain safe.’


**********************

Rasulullah (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said:

“Seven persons are those who will be sheltered under the shade [of the Arsh (throne)] of Allah on the Day of Judgment when there will be no other shade, besides His shade. They are : 

A just ruler;

A young man who passed his youth in the worship and service of Allah – The Lord of Honour and Glory;

One whose heart is perpetually attached with the Masjid (mosque);

Two persons who love each other for the sake of Allah - they joined together for His sake and parted for His sake;

A man who is invited for sin by a charming and beautiful woman but he declines, saying: ‘I fear Allah!’;

One who spends in charity in a secret way without making a show, so that his left hand may not know what his right hand spent;
And


One who remembers Allah in solitude so that his eyes overflow.”