When will our heedlessness end?

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. May peace and blessing be upon His Messenger, his household and companions.

Fellow Muslims! Fear Allah as he should be feared, for the best provision is piety

“And be afraid of the Day when you shall be brought back to Allah. Then every person shall be paid what he earned and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. (Al-Baqarah 2:291)

Brothers in faith! The sign of man’s happiness and success lies in his repentance to his Lord and his uprightness on the law of Allah and His religion all his life and not being distracted by the strife to acquire the beauties of this world from working towards the eternal life. Such is the way of the righteous and pious people whom Allah describes as:

“Men whom neither trade nor sale diverts them from the remembrance of Allah (with heart and tongue).nor from performing As-Salaah (prayer) nor from giving the (Zakaah).They fear a Day when hearts and eyes will be overturned (from the horror of the torment of the Day of Resurrection).” (An-Noor 24:37)

Righteous people, in spite of their business and worldly engagements, do not allow that to stand between them and remembrance of Allah’s greatness; a remembrance that makes them frequently fear Him and worship Him as He should be worshipped.

This is how a true believer should be. He spends days of his life in great righteous deeds and seeks the abode of the Hereafter with whatever Allah gives him because of his knowledge that this life is only a means to achieve the everlasting life and perpetual prosperity. He knows that it is not an end in itself but only a finite place in which both the pious and sinful have their daily bread. He knows that, however long one may live, he will grow old and eventually die. He also knows that it its valueless in the sight of Allah and that it is only a bridge through which people cross over to Paradise or Hell. Allah says:

“Know that the life of this world is only play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children, as the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof the growth is pleasing to the tiller; afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow; then it becomes straw. But in the Hereafter (there is) a severe torment (for the disbelievers and evil-doers) and there is forgiveness from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure (for the believers, good doers), whereas the life of this world is only a deceiving enjoyment.” (Al-Hadeed 57:20)

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessing be upon him) said:

“ “The life of this world is sweet and green (i.e. as tempting as fruits) and Allah makes you succeed one another in it, that He may see what type of deeds you will do. Beware of this life and beware of women.” (Muslim).

He also said:

“ “If this world had weighed the size of a mosquito’s wing in the sight of Allah, He would not have given a disbeliever a single gulp of water to drink.” (Al-Tirmidhee)

There is in these Qur’anic verses and hadeeths a clearest picture of the essence of this world and what a man is supposed to do there like worshipping Allah, reforming his soul, being pious, abstaining from lusts and wishful desires and not being deceived with the beauties of this life. It is however, pathetic that, many are in the state of forgetful and delusion so much so that hope of acquiring the beauties of this world has overpowered them and sins and evil deed have covered their hearts. They life as if there is no other life except that of this world and when the love of this life conquers one’s heart, it makes him forget the remembrance of his Lord and if he forgets the remembrance of his Lord Allah makes him earn His wrath.

The Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him), while explaining the evil of the love of this world and its danger on one’s religion said:

“ “Two hungry wolves sent into the midst of a flock of sheep are no more destroying to the sheep than man’s covetousness for money and fame to his religion”.

It is also said,“Love of this world is the mother of all sins”. When Imaam Hasan Al-Basree observed the greediness of the people of his time for the wealth of this world, he said, “Do these people believe in the Day of Reckoning? No, by the Master of the Day of Judgment!”.

Among the signs of predominance of love of this world over the hearts is not to have concern for any other thing except the search for prestige and fame even if that is to be at the expense of one’s religion and virtues. Some have concerns only for amassing wealth even if they have to get it from dubious or forbidden means.

The Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) warned against this when he said

“ : “By Him, in whose Hand is Muhammad’s soul! A man may swallow a morsel from Haraam source the consequence of which is that, no good deed will be accepted of him for forty days”.

He also said: “Any flesh nurtured by ill-gotten food, Hell-Fire is more entitled to it”.

Brothers in faith! There are many Muslims among those who have been overwhelmed by the love of this life, who so yielded to their whims and caprice and their evil inclinations that they drank alcohol, took hard drugs, committed adultery and fornication and all kinds of evil acts. They are encourage to perpetrate all these sins by modern mass media that make evil things fair-seeming to them, allure them with temptation and instigate them to revolt against good virtues and conduct until many Muslims especially the youth began imitating their enemies in all aspects of their life. The following verse is true about them:

“Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up prayers and have followed lusts. So they will be thrown in Hell.” (Maryam 19:59)

So, it is their excessive passion for this life that will make them thrown in Hell.

Fellow Muslims! It is uncontrolled love for this life and preferring it to the Hereafter that weakened the Islamic ummah in contemporary times and made disgrace, dissension and hypocrisy her lot. It is this situation that enabled enemies to decide for her in many of her affairs, seized her wealth, conquer her lands and severely persecute the Muslims.

Imaam Ahmad and Abu Daawood also reported that the Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said:

“ ‘ Nations all over the world shall join forces against you as eaters would gather round their bowl of food’. The companions asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah! Is that because we will be few then?’ He said, ‘No, you will rather be many, but you will only be as (many and useless as) the scum of flood. Your fear will be removed from the hearts of your enemies and weakness will be put into your hearts’. The companions again asked: ‘What is the weakness?’ he answered: “To love this life and detest death”.

Therefore, let all of us desist from heedlessness and preferring this life to the Hereafter. Allah has condemned the heedless people and praised the pious when He says:

Brothers in Islaam! Fear Allah

“Then for Him who transgressed (all bounds, in disbelief, oppression and evil deeds of disobedience to Allah), and preferred the life of this world (by following his evil desires and lusts), verily, his abode will be Hell-Fire. But as for him who fears standing before his Lord and restrained himself from impure evil desire and lusts. Verily, Paradise will be his abode”. (An-Naaziaat 79:37-41)

Brothers in faith! Fear Allah as he should be feared and die not except as Muslims. Do not be among those who have been overpowered by forgetfulness and overwhelmed by Satan thereby making them forget the remembrance of Allah and the abode of the Hereafter. They are so deceived by false hopes that do not think of any other thing except the pleasure of this world regardless of the source from which that pleasure may come.

“And let not this present life deceive you, and let not the chief deceiver (Satan) deceive you about Allah. Surely, Satan is an enemy to you, so treat him as an enemy. He only invites his followers that they may become the dwellers of the blazing Fire.” (Faatir 35:5-6)

“They know only the outside appearance of the life of this world (i.e. matters of their livelihood) and they are heedless of the Hereafter”. (Al-Room 30:7)

Can’t you reflect, O slaves of Allah, and learn lessons from misfortunes and signs of Allah that had befallen the people of the past centuries? Can’t you ponder over the fate of the dead who are escorted to their burial places daily who are our fathers, mothers, children, kings, paupers, believers, disbelievers, righteous and sinful? These people are buried in graves and will be resurrected on the Day of Judgment,

“The Day when they will come out of the graves quickly as racing to a goal, with their eyes lowered in fear and humility, ignominy covering them all over! That is the Day which they were promised!” (Al-Ma`aarij 70: 43-44)

Fellow Muslims! Fear Allah and be dutiful to Him and remember that you will one day leave this world for the everlasting abode which is either Paradise or Hell. Get prepared for that day for,

Whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing)”. (Aal-Imraan 3:185)

[1] ‘Eenah’ is a kind of transaction whereby a trader sells an object to a buyer at a price to be paid later and after he has deliver the object to him be buys it back at a lesser price.

Khutbah from Makkah Jumadal-ula 13, 1422 (August 3, 2001) taken from http://www.alharamainonline.org

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