30. ABSTINENCE FROM SINS LEADS TO BASKING IN HONOUR
O you, whose status is elevated with piety (taqwa), do not sell the honour you have received with the humiliation of sins (maasi) Try to persevere from the thirst of lust (hawa) during the heat of desire no matter how hot it gets and how much pain you must endure! If your patience (sabr) reaches its ultimate level (maqam), be reasonable and say [to yourself]: This is the status of people who if they swear, trusting Allah for something, Allah would fulfil their oath.
Anas Ibn Al-Nadlr (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) persevered a lot in abandoning his desires. It is him whose endeavours manifested in the words of his oath when he said: ‘If Allah let me live to witness a battle, He will see what I will do.’ On the day of the battle of Uhud, he fought to the point when he was found dead, all his body was deformed from sustained sword injuries and his body could only be identified from the tip of his finger. Indeed was it not for his high endeavours, he would have not sworn to Allah to be that courageous when he spoke his oath! How could that not be him when he swore by Allah, the tooth of Al-Rabf will not be broken, and Allah fulfilled his oath.
For Allah’s sake! I ask you to taste the sweetness (halawa) of abstaining from that which He forbade for it is a tree that blooms fruits honouring this life and the Hereafter.
Once your thirst for what you desire becomes severe, then stretch the fingers of hope {raja’) to reach out to He who will quench your thirst completely, and say, ‘[O Allah] the endurance of the ‘self is about to expire in these years of drought, so I beseech You to hasten the year in which I will receive aid and juice of my fruits.’
For Allah’s sake! I ask you to think about those who spent most of their life fearing Allah, yet when they were subjected to a test towards the end of their life, their boat crashed on the rocks of the valley at the time they supposed to rise above!
Woe to this life— and even to heaven (Jannah) if gaining it will cause the Beloved (Allah) to turn away from us!
A layperson is called by his name and his father’s name. As for people with a high status, their titles precede their names and their fathers’ names.
Tell me: ‘Who are you?’
‘What have you done?’
‘To what level has your status reached?’
O you who cannot refrain for a moment from that which he lusts!
For Allah’s sake! Do you know what a man is? A true man is he who finds himself alone with sins, and has the power to commit them and his lusts urges him to quench its thirst, but he thinks about Allah looking at him, so he feels embarrassed from angering Him and thus his desire goes away.
But it seems that you only abandon things that you do not have desire for, or things that are not desirable in the first place, or even things that you are unable to have! This is your habit! If you give charity then you only give a small piece of bread that is not even suitable for you to eat, unless there were people around to praise you.
Nay! By Allah! You will not earn the high rank and be among Allah’s awliya unless your actions are purely for His sake; therefore you must abandon what you like and desire, and persevere over things you dislike— all the while realising that you are a hired worker and the sun has not yet set for you to receive your reward; only if you wish to honour this contract.
If your love for Allah is sincere and true, you will find this to be minimal (you can do) when compared to the pleasure you will receive from the One you love. None of the words I have mentioned above are intended to address the sinners.
(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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