THE THIRD DEGREE
The third degree is “Ihsaan” (utmost sincerity and perfection in acts of worship). It implies which means that you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, and if you do not see Him, He sees you. One must worship his Lord with this quality. That is, to bear it in mind that Allah is close to him; that he is standing before his Lord. This condition makes man have awe, fear and great honour for Allah. It makes man sincere in acts of worship and gives him courage to strive more towards its perfection.
The slave is conscious of his Lord while observing act of worship and reminds himself of His nearness to him as if he is seeing Him. If he cannot do that, let him be conscious of the fact that Allah sees him and knows his secret and public affairs, and that nothing is hidden from Him. (Jaamiul ‘uloom wal-Hikam p. 128.)
The slave that has reached this stage worships his Lord sincerely, not looking to others besides Him. He neither expects people’s praise nor fears their blame; for it is enough for him that his Lord is pleased with him and praises him. This is a man whose public and private deeds are the same. He worships his Lord in private and public with certain faith that Allah knows all that is in his heart and goes on in his mind. The faith has overpowered his heart and the consciousness of his Lord is manifest on him; his limbs then surrender to Allah; for he will not use them except in what pleases Allah and in that which He loves and in submission to Him.
Since his heart has been attached to his Lord, he will not seek help from any creature, for Allah suffices him; he will not complain to any man, for he has approached Allah with his needs and enough is He as a Helper. He does not feel lonely in any place nor does he fear anyone, for he knows that Allah is with him in all his conditions. He is enough for him and He is the Best Helper. He will not abandon any order that Allah commands him to carry out and will not perpetrate any sin, for he is ashamed before Him and hates that He finds him wanting in what He Commands him to do or finds him where he forbids him. He will neither oppress nor wrong anyone or take anyone’s right for he knows that Allah is seeing him, and that He shall call him to account for all his deeds.
He will not cause mischief in the land; for he knows that all good things that are in the earth are properties of Allah which He subjects for His Creation. He will take of these good things according to his needs and thank his Lord for facilitating them for him.
All that I have told you and presented to you in this booklet are only important matters and great pillars in Islam. Whoever believes in these fundamentals and acts by them has become a Muslim. If not, Islam – as I have told you – is both religion and worldly; a worship and a way of life. It is the comprehensive and perfect Divine Order that encompasses in its ordainments all that the individual and the society need in all aspects of their religious, political, economical, social and security life. Man will find therein principles, fundamentals and rules that regulate peace and war and binding duties; and preserves the dignity of man, bird, animals and the environment that surrounds him. They also explain to him the reality of man, the life and the death; and the Resurrection after death. He also finds in Islam the best methodology of relating with people around him; such as the saying of Allaah,
“And speak good to people” (Al-Baqarah 2:83.)
And His saying,
“And those who pardon men.” (Al-Imran 3:134.)
And His saying,
“And let not the enmity and hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just; that is nearer to piety.” (Al-Maidah 5:8.)
After we have discussed the degrees of this religion and the fundamentals of each degree, it is appropriate that we discuss briefly the beauties of Islam.
By Dr. Muhammad bin Abdullah As-Suhaym
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