By Hazrat Maulana Yunus Patel Saheb
(Rahmatullah ‘Alayh)
WEBSITE : YunusPatel.co.za
One young friend of mine,
who is a pilot, recently flew to Australia. Due to the ash clouds, they were
told they would not be able to take off. They were thus delayed a few days.
When he returned, I asked
him : “There was still a lot of ash …What did you’ll do?”
He said : ‘They gave us a
flight path whereby we could bypass the ash clouds. We took this route and we
avoided the ash.’
I then asked him : “Did
you take any lesson from that?”
He, in turn, asked :
“What lesson?”
I explained :
“The lesson is this :
When there was a lot of ash, then there was danger that the ash cloud would
damage the engine of the Boeing you were flying. Your life was in danger and
the lives of all the passengers were in danger. If you were caught in such an
ash-cloud, you could have gone and the passengers could have gone. …So they
gave you a ‘round about’ route, to avoid the ash clouds and reach your
destination.
The lesson we take is that when there is temptation to sin, or some
fitnah approaching, we must avoid it. We must take a ‘round about’ route. If
that plane crashed, the lives would have gone. However, here, if there is a
crash – i.e. the person falls into sin – the spiritual life – Imaan - can go.
…Some of those crashes take the person’s Imaan away. Some pretty face
takes away the Imaan of a person, or some other temptation or invitation to
Haraam leads to a spiritual crash. The environment of drugs, pornography,
fornication and adultery, gambling, music, etc. are like those ash-clouds.
The Muslim avoids all areas of sins – whether the cinemas, clubs,
theatres or other venues of vice. To whatever extent he can avoid, he avoids.
He takes a ‘round about’ route so that he can reach his destination safely. And
the destination of a Muslim is Jannat.
If there is a group of young girls dressed indecently and the gaze falls
on them accidentally, then try and avoid an encounter with them. Don’t even
look again. Think that the ash clouds are approaching. …If the person cannot
lower his gaze and quickly walk pass, then he must move in another direction.
Cross the street. Go over to the other side. Take another route lest he gets
caught in the ash cloud of fitnah and loses his Imaan and Aakhirah.
I told this pilot friend
: ‘When you are flying the plane, then you avoid the ash clouds. Avoid those
clouds of fitnah as well. …On the plane itself, there will be encounters with
the air-hostesses and female passengers. At that time, guard the gaze. You must
be an example. You must show to others that I am a Muslim. …That you don’t behave
like the other pilots behave.’
And the same applies to
all of us. We too face different ‘ash-clouds’ of fitnah – whether on the plane
or train, whether at work or in the bazaars and market places, whether at
school or college. How do we respond ? Do we adopt Taqwa? Do we fear Allah
Ta’ala? Do we take the opportunity to prove our sincere and deep love for Allah
Ta’ala? Do we subscribe to “Fafirroo
Ilallaah’ – i.e. we flee to Allah Ta’ala? Or do we recklessly ‘fly’ into the
ash clouds of sins, unconcerned that we may be meeting our spiritual death?
There is no doubt that
the environment around us is hazardous, dangerous and high-risk for our Imaan.
Despite the scenario, a Muslim must be courageous. We do have the
courage. We need to only make use of that courage.
Steer the heart and body
away from those ash-clouds of fitnah if we want to reach the Hereafter safely,
if we want to enter Jannat without delay; and above this, if we want to earn
the Pleasure of Allah Ta’ala.
How do we build up this
spiritual strength, whereby we avoid sins like how the pilot avoids the ash
clouds, or like how we would avoid the plague… ?
We work on developing the quality of Ihsaan.
Rasulullah (Sallallaahu 'alayhi waSallam) explained the
quality of Ihsaan as :
“That you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, And
if you cannot see Him, then He sees you (anyway).”
The understanding and knowledge has to be deeply impressed in the heart
and mind : “Wherever I am, my Allah is watching.”
My Shaykh, Hazrat Maulana Hakeem Muhammad Akhtar Saheb (Daamat
Barakaatuhum) says in poetry :
“If you hide and commit sins,
Someone is watching from above
(Allah Ta’ala)…”
A Muslim works towards
developing the sifat (attribute) of Ihsaan in all aspects of his life. It is
not confined to the different forms of Ibaadah (worship), like Salaah, Fasting,
etc.; rather it is a reality which should be found across the spectrum of our
lives.
Unfortunately, this
quality of Ihsaan – this Conscious Awareness of Allah Ta’ala - is something
which is lacking in our lives. As such, we very quickly and easily lose sight
of Deen and Shariah, we lose sight of that khauf and khashiyat of Allah Ta’ala,
or muhabbat and love of Allah Ta’ala.
The moment we are
occupied in the mundane activities of life, we incline towards negligence. We
forget Allah Ta’ala is watching. And this ‘ghaflat’ (negligence) is the
stepping stone to spoiling the harmony of life. This ‘ghaflat’ is the HEN which
lays the eggs of sins.
However, if this
attribute is cultivated and nurtured in all aspects of life. ...“That you
worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, and if you cannot see Him, then He sees
you (anyway).” …then this is opening the doors of success in both worlds.
The person who has
developed within himself the beautiful state of “ihsaan” will lead a very
balanced life. …Temptations will come his way, but he will not fall for those
temptations. The quality of Ihsaan does not mean that Shaytaan will then leave
him (or her) alone. Shaytaan will work harder and will continue to tempt.
However, due to this Muslim’s conscious awareness of Allah Ta’ala, he will not
fall for the temptations. He will resist them. And in this manner, he will also
secure the noor of Taqwa. In this way, he becomes the friend of Allah Ta’ala.
“…Verily none are the Auliya (Friends of Allah) except
those who refrain from His disobedience…”
[Surah Al-Anfal 8 : 34]
That Conscious Awareness
of Allah Ta’ala makes us apply brakes and resist the temptation to sin. If we
are faced with temptation, we will move away. Wherever we feel we will be
tempted, then we will keep far from such areas. If an invitation to sin is extended
to us, we will refuse and reject it.
Our dua is, as my Shaykh says, in poetry :
‘(O Allah) wherever I am – whether on earth or in the
skies – my Taqwa must always remain safe.’
