A person’s intelligence is a blessing, but if it doesn’t lead to Allah then stupidity is better than it; he becomes self-deceived thus becoming heedless of his Lord: { يَعْلَمُونَ ظَاهِرًا مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ عَنِ الآخِرَةِ هُمْ غَافِلُونَ } “They know what is apparent of the worldly life, but they are heedless of the Hereafter.” [Al-Rūm 30:7]
ذكاء الإنسان نعمة لكنه إذا لم يوصل إلى الله فالغباء خير منه، يغتر بنفسه فيغفل عن ربه (يعلمون ظاهرا من الحياة الدنيا وهم عن الآخرة هم غافلون)
"They know what is apparent of the worldly life, but they, of the Hereafter, are unaware." (30:7) Shaykh Abdallah references this verse constantly, pointing out that many people are tricked by the idea "Might makes right." Even subconsciously, many Muslims these days look starry-eyed to nations who have military power, economic clout, and technological prowess. Without ignoring the need for Muslim nations to secure proficiency in these areas we must not make the facile mistake of assuming that these things make a nation or its people morally superior, and thus worth aping.
Aping someone is differing than adopting the good things that they produce. Aping is the uncritical acceptance and admiration of everything another party says and does. Muslims, says Shaykh Abdallah, should not concede the moral high ground provided by our faith, even as they try to better the material conditions of their societies by using technologies or strategies developed elsewhere.
"Do they not contemplate within themselves? Allah has not created the heavens and the earth and what is between them except in truth and for a specified term. And indeed, many of the people, in [the matter of] the meeting with their Lord, are disbelievers." (30:8) Everyone who is chasing power and prestige, everyone who is aping the powerful nations hoping to grovel for table scraps, real and imagined: haven't you realized that the powers of our current day will also soon come to an end? Everything has a term specified by the Creator, the glories of nations before are mere tales for the history books, as will become the glories of today's nations.
"Then the end of those who did evil was the worst [consequence] because they denied the signs of Allah and used to ridicule them." (30:10) Shaykh Abdallah told us, how many of us fall into into kufr unknowingly by making fun of Allah's signs? How many times have we mocked someone for the way they make the adhaan, recite Quran, or perform other acts of worship? How many times have we made fun of someone's beard, or hijab
“Therefore glory be to Allah when you enter upon the time of the evening and when you enter upon the time of the morning.” (Qur’an 30:17) فَسُبۡحَـٰنَ ٱللَّهِ حِينَ تُمۡسُونَ وَحِينَ تُصۡبِحُونَ The best times for making Tasbih are in the morning when the soul approaches Allah seeking His help to perform good action, and in the evening when it surrenders to Him. Gems From The Quran Telegram: goo.gl/ZclAR9 Instagram: goo.gl/OaiQD7 Facebook: goo.gl/jJ90YS
Ibn al Qayyim رحمه الله said: If it (sex) is done wholeheartedly, in a friendly and loving manner, with full desire and with the intention of reward only than one can get complete pleasure which no other thing can give. It can only be attained by doing it in a best way. The sign of it is, after doing it every part of the body feels calm, eyes feel cool by seeing the beloved (wife), and the ears feels happiness by listening to her soft and beautiful voice, Through her perfume and by touching her it feels good, and by kissing her the taste of mouth changes, likewise every part of the body feels good..
Because women (wives) are the cause of happiness of the heart that is why they are also called the reason to the happiness of the soul. Allah says "And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquillity in them" [30:21]
● [روضة المحبين ونزهة المشتاقين صحفة ٢١٧] فإن صادف ذلك وجها حسنا وخلقا دمثا وعشقا وافرا ورغبة تامة واحتسابا للثواب فذلك اللذة التي لا يعادلها شيء ولا سيما إذا وافقت كمالها فإنها لا تكمل حتى يأخذ كل جزء من البدن بقسطه من اللذة فتلتذ العين بالنظر إلى المحبوب والأذن بسماع كلامه والأنف بشم رائحته والفم بتقبيله واليد بلمسه وتعتكف كل جارحة على ما تطلبه من لذتها وتقابله من المحبوب فإن فقد من ذلك شيء لم تزل النفس متطلعة إليه متقاضية له فلا تسكن كل السكون ولذلك تسمى المرأة سكنا لسكون النفس إلينا قال الله تعالى {وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجاً لِتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا}
Principle 6 – وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُمْ مَوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً “And He has placed between you love and mercy.” If Allah places ever-lasting love between you both, then Alhamdulillah, this is light upon light, but if the aspect of love dips, then the element of mercy should pick up. Gems From The Quran Telegram: goo.gl/ZclAR9 Instagram: goo.gl/OaiQD7 Facebook: goo.gl/jJ90YS
The Thing with Intellect | The best thing I've read today: ❝The intellect is an instrument that leads you to an audience with the King, after which it doesn’t follow you in.❞ — Moḥammed Mutawallī ash-Shaʿrāwī. If this confused you, then allow me to explain a little: This statement comes in tafsīr of āyah 24 of sūrat ar-Rūm, ﴿إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ﴾ ﴾Indeed in that are signs for a people who use reason.﴿ Ar-Rūm:24 Reason is used to comprehend the signs of Allāh that He shows us. It is used to reach a state of belief in Him; do I believe in Him after having seen and heard so many signs that point towards Him? Once you arrive at that belief, you submit to Him. Once you are sure that Allāh has commanded it and decreed it, you do not question it. You do not use logic to obey Allāh. You do not use logic to analyse the ordainments of Allāh; why do we have to do this? Why this number of times? Why was this decreed? Why did this happen? Why doesn’t God just do such and such? Why do women have to do x and not the y that men get to do? And so on. These are questions that minds cannot fathom nor answer completely; the people who insist on answering these questions live a life of hypothesising and building their belief on weak assumptions. In worst case scenario, they end up following the path of misguidance as is evident in many cases. We are conditioned by the widespread secularist culture to believe that our intellects are supreme and almighty. That our intellects know no bounds and cannot and should not be restrained. To think in this manner is the epitome of following hawā (desire) which Allāh warns us against repeatedly in the Qurʾān. It is the following of this hawā that leads to misguidance. The disbelievers that Allāh tells us about in the Qurʾān, didn’t disbelieve because they were unconvinced. They disbelieved because they venerated the ways of their forefathers, or they venerated sacred men amongst them, or they venerated the ones they believed were protecting them, and yes, some disbelieved because they venerated their intellect—over and above the instructions of Allāh. When we submit to Allāh, we submit even our intellect to Him, and because of this we do not question Him nor do we try to fathom matters that are beyond us. An example that I often give in my Tafsīr classes to better explain this point: Human beings, unarguably, have limitations. These limitations are either unique to us or ‘individual limitations’. OR they are limitations that are common to the entire human race. Two of such limitations are physical limitations and intellectual limitations. So, for example, the amount of weight I can lift is different than the amount of weight my older brother can lift. The speed I can run at is different than the speed an athlete might run at. These differences are determined by our individual physical limitations. We also have physical limitations as a human race, so suppose a person was to jump off a high platform and flap his arms, no matter how fast he flaps, he will never fly. Similarly we have intellectual limitations as individuals. For example, some are better at calculations, while others are better at languages. Some can write well, others can speak well. Some can memorise in short periods, other need twice or even thrice as long. No one can deny these individual intellectual limitations each of us has relative to each other. We also have intellectual limitations as a human race, as an example of this, we cannot fathom matters related to the unseen. This is knowledge that Allāh hasn’t given us and we have no way of accessing this knowledge to try and make sense of it. ALL of our minds without exception have absolutely no way of comprehending what Allāh does or why He does it or HOW He does it; what is going to happen and how it will happen; how the matters of the heavens and the earth are run. The one who tries to use intellect here is no different to the one who jumps off a high platform and then promptly flaps his arms—the only direction he will be headed is south. A failure to acknowledge this intellectual limitation is a failure in submitting to Him, and this is what leads to chaos. From the Qurʾānic Reflections website: http://quranicreflections.com/…/23/the-thing-with-intellect/
"Do they not see that Allah extends provision for whom He wills and restricts [it]? Indeed, in that are signs for people who believe.* So give the relative his right, as well as the needy and the traveler. That is best for those who desire the countenance of Allah, and it is they who will be successful.* And whatever you give in order to increase by the wealth of people, [it] will not increase with Allah . But what you give in zakah, desiring the countenance of Allah - those are the multiplied." (30:37-39)
Shaykh Abdallah pointed out here that when it comes to giving money in charity, the general rule is that voluntary charity is best given in secret whereas obligatory charity (zakah and zakah al-fitr) is better given publicly. This is because obligatory charity involves establishing the pillars of the religion and manifesting the symbols of Allah. When people see that these obligations are being fulfilled they will be confident in the base-level religiosity of the broader community and will develop a sense of social expectation to fulfill their own obligations. The poor specifically will protect themselves from envying the rich when they are confident that the rich people of their community are giving their fair share, as the rich will save their reputations and ward off any doubts about their goodwill and sense of duty.
One thing I reflect on via this verse is how in the Quran Allah informs us of a different calculus of time, people, and money than the simply arithmetical, materialistic ways in which we've been indoctrinated. We typically move throughout our days experiencing these things as fungible: meaning each unit is identical and replaceable by any other unit; every dollar is like every other dollar, every minute like every other minute, every worker like every other worker. This framework is extremely alienating to the human soul, and it's a method of calculation Allah refutes with the simple concept of blessing. Here Allah is saying that the money you give to other people, hoping that eventually they are going to give you more back, is devoid of blessing. Elsewhere Allah says that the money gained through interest and usury is actually so devoid of blessing that it diminishes the value of the wealth you have. Elsewhere Allah says that an army of patient, righteous believers will be easily capable of defeating an army 5 times more numerous (some scholars said 5 times more powerful!). Still elsewhere Allah compares the length of the Day of Reckoning to 50,000 years. Throughout the hadith literature we are informed that some times are better than others for certain types of worship: Fridays for reading Surah Al-Kahf, Mondays and Thursdays (and the full-moon days) for fasting, Friday afternoon for supplication, and so on. Bringing our moment-to-moment awareness as well our daily actions into harmony with this framework will not only reap concrete gains in our lives, it will also chip away at the sense of estrangement and alienation we have accumulated in our hearts, replacing it with a deep sense of connection and meaning.