18. STAY AT THE DOORSTEP OF YOUR LORD
An intelligent person should stand at the doorstep of his Lord all the time and cling to the robe of His grace when he obeys Him and even when he disobeys Him. He ought to seek His intimacy while being alone in His companionship; hence should he find a barrier making him sense strangeness in his heart while being in His companionship, he should endeavour to remove this barrier. Just like one poet said,
Do you feel estranged due to what you have reaped?
Be good, if you wish, and you shall then enjoy intimacy
Yet if he senses his inner self inclining to the worldly life, he should call to his Lord to grant him all what he wishes from it. If he senses his inner self inclining towards the Hereafter, he should ask his Lord to guide him to work for it.
And, when he fears the harm of this worldly life he should ask his Lord to rectify his heart (islah al-qalb) and cure him from the sickness this life brought forth to him— because when the heart is rectified it will never seek what may harm it. Truly, a person who lives by such standards will be a person indulging in happiness.
It is a must nevertheless for a person to ensure having the quality of fearing Allah (taqwa) in such a state, because intimacy (uns) with the Lord cannot be without it.
The pious whose fear of Allah has prevailed in their lives will keep themselves busy from everything except supplicating and seeking Allah’s Help.
It was related that when Qutaybah Ibn Muslim saw the army of the Turks, he was amazed at the large numbers of their soldiers, so he asked, ‘Where is Muhammad Ibn Wasi’?’
They told him he was in the far end of the right flank of the army leaning on his arc and raising his finger supplicating to Allah.
Qutaybah remarked, ‘That one finger (supplicating to Allah) is more beloved to me than a one-hundred thousand sharp drawn swords.’
Thus when the Muslim army defeated the Turks he asked Muhammad, ‘What were you doing?’ He said: ‘I was [invoking Allah] to secure all the ways for your success.’
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
Comments
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.