Episode 14 - The Merciful Will Be Shown Mercy

In the previous station, we contemplated Allah's wisdom, His love for His servants, and His aid to those who seek His help in times of hardship. In this station, we will contemplate a new attribute of our beloved Lord. When you contemplate it while in the midst of suffering, your love for your Creator and Sustainer will increase. It is: Allah's mercy. Let us contemplate the beauty of this mercy so that we may hope for it, then know how to attain it.

Allah's mercy.. the source of the greatest joy!.. Allah commanded us to rejoice in it, saying: {Say, 'By the favor of Allah and His mercy; for that let them rejoice. It is better than what they amass.' 58} [Yunus: 58].. {For that}: a style of restriction because it is the most worthy of what one rejoices in.. because this mercy is the true source of joy that does not diminish nor is affected by circumstances, more worthy than the fleeting pleasures of this world.

The commentators defined this favor and mercy as faith and the Quran. These are sources of joy that you carry in your heart in times of ease and hardship, in difficulty and comfort. Your faith in Allah, your knowledge of His names and attributes, your longing to meet Him, your trust in His care, and your anticipation of His honor.. {For that let them rejoice. It is better than what they amass} [Yunus: 58]..

Can anyone withhold this mercy or prevent it from reaching a servant of Allah? No, by Allah. The Most Merciful, the All-Merciful, said: {Whatever mercy Allah opens to the people, none can withhold it} [Fatir: 2]..

Sayyid Qutb, may Allah have mercy on him.. he has beautiful contemplations on this verse {Whatever mercy Allah opens to the people, none can withhold it} [Fatir: 2].. The beautiful thing is that he wrote them while suffering from illness and long imprisonment in difficult circumstances before he was executed.. I advise you, my brothers, to read and contemplate them repeatedly.. write the verse in the search engine then (In the Shade of the Quran).. and read and ponder. From what he said -in meaning-: That this verse, when it settles in the heart, brings about a fundamental transformation in a person's feelings and scales, so that he despairs of all mercy on earth and clings to Allah's mercy, that mercy which the believer's heart feels in every situation even if he loses everything.. So whoever Allah bestows this mercy upon sleeps on thorns, and it becomes a soft bed, while if he loses Allah's mercy, he sleeps on silk and finds it thorns, because He, the Most High, said in the same verse: {And none can withhold} -meaning from mercy- {so there is none to send it back after him.}.. If Allah withholds His mercy from a servant, then the entire earth cannot oppose Allah's will nor bring His mercy to this servant. So whoever Allah bestows mercy upon, the springs of happiness and tranquility flow within him even if he is in the depths of prison and the midst of suffering. Then he said: (And from Allah's mercy is that you feel Allah's mercy! Allah's mercy embraces you, overwhelms you, and pours upon you, but your feeling of its existence is the mercy, and your hope in it and your longing for it is the mercy, and your trust in it and your expectation of it in every matter is the mercy. And torment is the torment of your being cut off from it or despairing of it or doubting it, and it is a torment that Allah never inflicts upon a believer: {Indeed, none despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people 87} [Yusuf: 87].. And Allah's mercy does not become difficult for a seeker in any place or any condition. Ibrahim found it in the fire, and Yusuf found it in the well as he found it in prison, and Yunus found it in the belly of the whale in three darknesses. And Musa found it in the river as a child stripped of all strength and all protection, as he found it in Pharaoh's palace while he was his enemy, lying in wait for him and searching for him. And the companions of the cave found it in the cave when they missed it in the palaces and houses, so one of them said to another: {So flee to the cave; your Lord will spread for you of His mercy} [Al-Kahf: 16], and the Messenger of Allah found it in the cave with his companion while the people were pursuing them and cutting off their tracks.. and everyone who turns to it in despair of everything else found it. What tranquility? What decision? What clarity in perceptions, feelings, values, and scales does this verse establish in the conscience?! A single verse that draws a new picture of life; and establishes in the feeling values for this life that are firm; and scales that do not shake nor waver nor are affected by all the influences). So, my brother, no matter what your affliction is, and no matter how severe it is.. seek Allah's mercy.. and you will find it.

Then Sayyid, may Allah have mercy on him, said -and here I quote his words briefly-: (And it remains that I direct myself with praise to Allah for a special mercy from Him that I knew from Him in this verse. This verse confronted me at this moment while I was in difficulty, effort, distress, and hardship. It confronted me in a moment of spiritual dryness, mental suffering, and distress in distress, and hardship from hardship.. and Allah made it easy for me to understand its reality, and to pour its reality into my soul; as if it were a nectar that I sipped and felt its flow and its trickling in my being. A reality that I taste, not a meaning that I comprehend, so it was a mercy in itself -meaning this verse itself I felt it as a special mercy for me from Allah in that moment of hardship- and I had read it before many times, and I had passed by it many times, but the moment pours its nectar and realizes its meaning, and descends with its pure reality, and says: Behold.. a model of Allah's mercy when He opens it. So look how it is! Nothing around me has changed. But everything in my perception has changed! It is a great blessing that the heart opens to a great truth of this existence, like the great truth that this verse contains. A blessing that man tastes and lives; but he rarely can describe it, or convey it to others through writing. And I lived it and tasted it and knew it. And all of this happened in the most severe moments of distress and dryness that I have passed through in my life. And here I find relief, joy, watering, and liberation from every bond and every affliction and every distress, while I am in my place! It is the mercy of Allah that Allah opens its door and pours its bounty in one of His signs) ended his speech, may Allah have mercy on him, briefly.

Very beautiful words from a man who suddenly felt Allah's mercy, so it sufficed him from all the world and lightened all his hardships for him.

Brother/Sister, in normal situations when you feel joy, you may attribute this joy to material causes.. your health, your wealth, your status, your wife, your children, what you enjoy of food and drink.. but when you are in severe affliction and lose much of the material causes and yet suddenly feel joy, then you realize at that moment that this joy is none other than from Allah's mercy and by Allah's mercy.. an oasis you find in the midst of the desert of hardship.

This is Allah's mercy, my brothers and sisters. I hope you have hoped for it.. Well, what should we do to attain it? Allah said: {Indeed, the mercy of Allah is near to the doers of good 56} [Al-A'raf: 56].. Be one of the doers of good.. one of us usually, when he falls into a problem, becomes preoccupied with himself and his problem and how to get out of it, and laments what he has missed and fears the future.. We forget in these critical moments to be among the doers of good to deserve Allah's mercy.. {Indeed, the mercy of Allah is near to the doers of good 56} [Al-A'raf: 56]..

How beautiful it is that goodness becomes a habit and nature for you, so you find yourself doing good and doing good automatically even in the most difficult circumstances, because you have accustomed yourself not to live for yourself but to live for people and to serve your religion. What should you do to deserve Allah's mercy? Show mercy..

The Messenger of Allah said: ((The merciful will be shown mercy. Show mercy to those on earth, and the One in the heaven will show mercy to you)) (Narrated by Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, and Ahmad, and At-Tirmidhi said: Good and sound). I have known people and seen wonders from them!.. One of them used to be accustomed to doing good and to live for people and strive to relieve their burdens, and he was known for that in his area. He knew during his imprisonment of a young man who killed a man and was sentenced to life imprisonment, then this young man became righteous and his case was rectified in prison, so he was transferred to the section where there were religious people. The merciful brother knew this young man from behind the walls.. he did not meet him nor see his face, but he knew that the brother who killed could be released if his family reconciled with the family of the victim for a sum of money.. so our brother began to coordinate with his visitors from his brothers to collect money for this young man to relieve his burden. Imprisonment did not distract him from doing good, but he strives -while he is a prisoner- to relieve the burden of the young man. He used to instruct -from prison- to give money from his money to widows and needy people. Such a person we consider feels Allah's mercy wherever he is and in every condition.. for the merciful will be shown mercy. Another brother had gone through very difficult circumstances, but despite that, he was merciful to his brothers.. I once fell ill and he put my head in his lap and recited Quran to me and comforted me and his eyes were filled with tears from the tenderness of his heart.. and he himself said to me: (I want you to enjoy the blessing of affliction)! Contentment and tranquility.. for the merciful will be shown mercy. And I saw those who expressed their mercy by putting pieces of the food presented to them in their pockets and throwing them to the cats passing by from above the prison room windows!

Do you want Allah's mercy that no one from the jinn or mankind can withhold? Do you want Allah's mercy with which is the true joy? Train yourself to show mercy and goodness in all circumstances. Have you not seen that Allah praised those who prefer their brothers even in poverty, saying about the Ansar: {And they give preference over themselves even though poverty was their lot} [Al-Hashr: 9]? They suffer from the affliction of poverty and yet they do good.

Have you not seen the words of the Prophet: ((Whoever relieves a believer of a hardship from the hardships of this world, Allah will relieve him of a hardship from the hardships of the Day of Resurrection, and whoever eases the hardship of a distressed person, Allah will ease his hardship in this world and the Hereafter, and whoever conceals a Muslim, Allah will conceal him in this world and the Hereafter, and Allah is with the servant as long as the servant is with his brother)) (Narrated by Muslim).

The affliction has increased my understanding of Allah's names: the Most Merciful, the All-Merciful.. to build my love for Allah on a deep understanding of His names and attributes, glory be to Him.

The summary of this station:

Show mercy to those on earth, and the One in the heaven will show mercy to you.. And then: {Whatever mercy Allah opens to the people, none can withhold it} [Fatir: 2]..