Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem
Hazrat
Maulana Yunus Patel Saheb (Rahmatullahi ‘alayh)
ONCE, I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY to join in an outing with some students of a Hifz class. They were having a picnic at a park. …We all require rest,
exercise and some entertainment – but of the Halaal kind.
One of the
games that these youngsters were playing was ‘Tug of War’.
After their
game, I mentioned that in tug of war, there are two parties pulling a rope.
Winning is based on the side that pulls stronger. And I mentioned that we
should take a lesson from this:
In life,
there is always a tug of war. There is
the pull of temptation and sins, and there is the pull of Deen and Shari’ah; there is the
pull of the nafs and shaytaan, and there is the pull of the Rooh (soul).
From our
side, we have to suppress and overcome the pull of temptation towards Haraam.
We have to resist the nafs when it demands and commands to anything Haraam.
To be able to
come out as the victorious party – as the champions – we will have to
strengthen our Imaan, Istiqaamah and Yaqeen in Allah Ta’ala. In this way, we
will be the dominant and stronger side.
If we do not give any attention to
building our spiritual stamina, strength and prowess, then we will easily be
defeated by the other side. Nafs and shaytaan will not have to pull very hard
because spiritually, we will be weak.
So, to
maintain the upper-hand at all times, we draw our strength – and great
spiritual strength will be drawn – establishing Salaah, five times a day. ...For
us men, this must be performed in the Masjid, in Jamaat (congregation). Together
with this, we need to maintain our identity as Muslims and work towards
fulfilling the Commands of Allah Ta’ala – especially, staying away from all those
actions which are displeasing to Him.
We should
also be selective of the company we keep and seek out friends who are concerned
about their Deen and are also trying to be obedient to Allah Ta’ala. If not,
then a bad ‘friend’ is no friend. He belongs to the opposite party, with nafs
and shaytaan – and will pull hard to draw us into sin. Then we will be
defeated.
If the friend
is a good friend, then he will assist us and will be on our side, in overcoming
the opposition.
In the game
of “Tug of War”, there are occasions and times when there is a balance or the
other side is stronger.
The weaker
side gets the upper-hand when there is a slight lapse. In our day to day lives,
this is what we term as ‘accidental’ sins: There is a lapse in our hold of the
rope of Taqwa. We lose our grip and shaytaan and nafs gain the upper-hand. To
regain control, there is a need for plenty of remorse and Taubah. In this way,
we redeem our position of being the stronger side.
Of course, we
should allow the nafs Halaal pleasure and entertainment. Having a picnic and
playing for a little while is important to keep us refreshed, re-energised and
happy. However, we should always be on guard that nafs and shaytaan don’t get
any leeway and pull us away from Allah Ta’ala and Deen.
May Allah
Ta’ala grant us the Taufeeq of becoming tough and strong against nafs and
shaytaan.
