19. WHOEVER ABANDONS SOMETHING FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH WILL BE COMPENSATED WITH SOMETHING BETTER
I once had the power and ability to access a desire (shahwa) that my “self’ found to be better than fresh water in the mouth of a thirsty person.
My sense of interpretation corroborated with my wish by saying there was nothing forbidden about the desire you can have, but it’s just a matter of righteousness (wara) that keeps you away from it!
It however, appeared to be unlawful for me to attain the said desire, thus making me hesitant about which side to take. I decided to avoid the desire I could have attained; myself wondering why I prevented it from accessing what it sought.
So I said, “O self! By Allah, there is no way for you to attain what you desire or even less than that!”
This made my ‘self become disturbed, so I yelled at it and said, ‘How many times I agreed to comply with your wishes yet the pleasures attained are all gone, with only the regret for indulging in such pleasures remaining! Do you not see if you attain the pleasures of your desires, regret is multiple times the pleasures attained! In response, the ‘self asked, ‘what should I do then?’
I answered with a line of poetry:
I was patient, though by Allah, I have no patience…
over love but still I became patient despite that
Here I am now waiting in earnest to receive Allah’s reward for this deed; therefore I will leave this section blank until I receive the reward for my patience so that I can record down the reward 1 received, by the permission of Allah Most High. This is because He may hasten or postpone the reward of patience (sabr); if it is hastened, I will write it down here, and if it is postponed then I have no doubt the reward of one who fears his Lord will be nothing but good because whoever leaves a matter for the sake of Allah, He will compensate him with something better.
By Allah, I only abstained from that desire for His sake alone and it suffices me to have this deed as a saving so that if late (on the Day of Judgment) I am asked, ‘when did you favour the obedience of Allah over your own self desires?’ I can say, ‘it happened on such and such day’.
That being the case, ‘O self be proud for being successful and praise the One who guided you to success, for there are many who have failed!
Beware of failure in such matters! There is no power or strength except in Allah, the High and Mighty.
This incident happened in year 561 AH and when the year 565 AH commenced, I was compensated with something better that even righteousness does not prevent me from attaining it.
I said this must be the reward I receive in this worldly life for leaving a matter for the sake of Allah, and the reward in the Hereafter is even better.
All praise is to Allah alone.
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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John Doe
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