Trust the Intangible

Haroon Mosque

Brothers and Sisters,                    Friday November 30^th. 2012

          We are living in the worldly environment comprising of Tangible and Intangible entities.  The tangibles such as, human, animals, things, assets, food etc. and the intangibles such as sense of love, happiness, peace, dignity, rich etc. are all surrounding our daily lives.  These tangible and intangible entities must be well balanced.  If we emphasize more on the tangible entity like assets or money, we may try to do anything even to break the Law of Allah (Sub) to acquire those assets or money to become rich.  

Surah Ar-Ra’d 13:26 Allah increases the provision for whom He wills, and straitens (it for whom He wills), and they rejoice in the life of the world, whereas the life of this world as compared with the Hereafter is but a brief passing enjoyment.

            Normally, the intangible senses are more important than the tangible assets.  Comparing between one family having little food to share and all of the family members enjoyed their meals deliciously, with another family having a banquet but hardly swallow any food through their throats due to sickness or unhappiness.  Whether rich or poor, just grass roots or high society, one can meet peace and happiness only when one submit oneself to Allah (Sub).  But one thing that we must be careful is Shaitan who whispers into the hearts of mankind. 

Surah Al-A’raf 7:20. Then Shaitan (Satan) whispered suggestions to them both in order to uncover that which was hidden from them of their private parts (before); he said: "Your Lord did not forbid you this tree save you should become angels or become of the immortals."

          Shaitan is a professional deceiver.  Shaitan knew the weakness of man who is afraid of death and wants to live forever.  So Shaitan deceived Adam and Hawa to approach the forbidden tree in order to live forever.  Adam and Hawa do not really want the forbidden fruit or to break the Law of Allah (Sub) but they want to be immortal.  This is the technique of Shaitan to lure people to break to Law of Allah (Sub) to attain something that Shaitan falsely promised.  The promise of Shaitan is no effect.  Adam and Hawa both were driven out from the Heaven.  We are the children of Adam and Hawa.  We must be aware of this. 

          And the worst kind of deception is self-deception.  We are only deceiving ourselves when we think we are being clever. Allah (Sub) Bestow us good idea. May be we do good to impress people. We want people to praise us. Remember all praises be to Allah (Sub).   Our actions are good but our real intentions are unworthy, so we lose the blessings, we lose the barakah. At other times we may have good intentions but we may forget the courtesies, the adab, that’s so important. The actions also count. The way to hell is often paved with good intention but bad action.

          Prophet Muhammad sws once told Sahabah, who had just returned from battle, that they should now fight the Greater Jihad, the jihad-al-nafs, the battle against the demons of their lower self.  History shows us what the Sahabah achieved from Spain to India, within that first century of the Hijra.    Omar (rd) taught us a very important lesson. He took his own responsibilities very seriously. He used to worry that if a donkey stumbled and injured its leg on a badly maintained road in Baghdad while he was the Caliph in Madinah, Allah would hold him responsible. This is the sense of responsibility that every leader should have?

          We should enjoy, with grateful detachment, every wholesome thing that Allah provides for our benefit (Halaalan tayyiban). But we must not become so attached to these things that we worship any part of Allah’s creation.  Better to get our fixed share with Allah’s pleasure, than to have it with Allah’s anger.