Episode 40 - Keys to Success
O beloved ones.. There is a concept that answers many questions that come to our minds: S Sometimes we commit actions that we ourselves are surprised by, and we do not know how we did them! They may greatly affect our lives, and we deeply regret them. What is the reason for these actions, and how can we protect ourselves from them? S Why do we go through times when we feel a void in our hearts and a drop in morale, despite all the verses, hadiths, sayings of the Salaf, poetic verses, proverbs, deductions, and beautiful meanings we memorize? S O people of prolonged afflictions, what makes them patient? We feel that if we were in their place, we would not be patient. How can we achieve such patience as theirs? S Allah the Exalted attributes any good that happens to us to Himself, Glorified be He, in all circumstances. Is this only to preserve His right, or is there a great educational benefit for us in this? S Why did the Shariah condemn praising others to their faces? What is the danger of this praise? And why did the righteous fear it? The answer to all these questions is in two words: disavowal and seeking aid.. What do they mean? This is what we will answer with Allah's permission in these pages.. 1. "Let your abilities benefit you!" Ibn Al-Qayyim said something I will narrate with some modification to focus the idea. He said, may Allah have mercy on him, meaning: (The knowledgeable ones agree that success is in Allah not leaving you to yourself, and failure is in Allah leaving you to yourself. A servant may experience both failure and success, comparing them, and realizing that the One who holds the sky of his success and guidance from falling to the earth of his failure and misguidance is the One who holds the sky from falling to the earth except by His permission. The servant then realizes his need to say in every prostration: {It is You we worship and it is You we seek help from. 5 Guide us to the straight path. 6} [Al-Fatihah: 6,5].. And the servant then realizes his great need for success in every breath and every moment).
So, brothers, success is in Allah not leaving you to yourself. What does this mean? Imagine life and its tests as a group of pits. You may admire your abilities and intelligence because you managed to overcome some of these pits. You feel that you have "intrinsic abilities" that qualify you to succeed in any experience, and you say: -"I am not the type who weakens in the face of temptations" - "I am not the type who is easily deceived"
And people's praise reinforces this view: - "So-and-so is a lion" - "So-and-so is a school of patience and steadfastness" - "So-and-so is successful in everything he does"
And such expressions are praise for different aspects of your personality. You then unconsciously feel a sense of "independence" from Allah's mercy and success!: {Nay! Verily, man does transgress 6} [Al-Alaq: 6].
Allah then exposes you to a pit, and lets you rely on your abilities, (let them benefit you!), so you fall into the pit in a terrifying way, because you were entrusted to yourself. You then learn that there is no salvation nor success for you except by clinging to Allah's rope, the rope of His mercy and success.
You then disavow your abilities, and seek success from Allah. This is the meaning of disavowal and seeking aid. And you completely avoid saying: (I am the type) and (I am not the type)..
Rather, you realize that we are all without exception "the type" that is not worth a single onion peel if Allah entrusts us to ourselves! How many are proud of their steadfastness in the face of desires, yet one day fall into what they never imagined they would, and what they despised doing! And how many are proud of their intelligence, yet are deceived by what does not deceive the simple people.. Therefore, we supplicate morning and evening with the constant supplication of our Prophet, peace be upon him: (O Living, O Self-Subsisting, by Your mercy I seek help, rectify all my affairs, and do not entrust me to myself for the blink of an eye).
One of us may ask: (Do I not dispense with Allah's success for the blink of an eye?) Meaning, for the duration of a blink? Yes.. Look, brothers, at actions that may not take more than a blink, where Allah entrusts us to ourselves, and actions come out of us that leave a deep wound throughout our lives!
- You may get angry and kill with a bullet or a knife stab in the blink of an eye, leaving a destructive effect on your life beyond what awaits you in the Hereafter. - A husband divorces his wife twice, and in the blink of an eye, he divorces her a third time, so they separate without return, and the children are scattered. - You are deceived by a swindler, and in the blink of an eye, you fall for him on paper or hand him money, and you become poor after prosperity. - You anger your father or brother or friend with a hurtful word that comes out in the blink of an eye, revealing a hidden evil in yourself towards them, and how difficult it is to mend after that! - You say a word containing disrespect or bad manners with Allah the Exalted, and in the blink of an eye, you ruin your work. - You are in a suspicious position in the blink of an eye, and people see you in it, so you fall from their eyes, and they no longer take you as a role model. - A secret is revealed in the blink of an eye, bringing a calamity to others, and you oppress them with it. - You curse your child in the blink of an eye, contrary to the Prophet's prohibition of cursing children, and a calamity befalls him that accompanies him in his life. And many others.
Actions that you are surprised by their occurrence from you, as if they are signs from Allah the Exalted: to see what you would be like if entrusted to yourself and your heedlessness is removed from the necessity of your need for your Lord's mercy in every blink of an eye.
Remember that to supplicate with urgency and eagerness, not routine supplication: (So do not entrust me to myself for the blink of an eye).
2. Why do I sometimes feel a void in my heart and a drop in my morale? One of us may memorize the Quran, the hadiths related to patience, contentment, positivity, stories of the righteous, poetic verses, proverbs, deductions, and beautiful meanings.. Yet, there come times when none of these benefit him! He then feels weak in faith, a void in his heart, a drop in morale, and a lack of patience!
As if it is a reminder from Allah the Exalted that even these verses, hadiths, and meanings do not have an inherent effect, but if Allah wills, He removes their effect from you, and the sky of your patience and contentment falls to the earth of your weakness and fear. And if Allah wills, He makes a new effect for a verse in you and a great impact as if you are hearing it for the first time, even though you have read it before hundreds or thousands of times. These are tremors that make you feel the approach of your sky's collapse, so you increase your resorting to Him.
And I see that this helps in understanding the Prophet's saying, peace be upon him: (It weighs heavily on my heart, and I seek forgiveness from Allah a hundred times a day) (Muslim). It weighs meaning it covers the heart with what covers it, as if these are tremors that occur to the Prophet (peace be upon him) to remind him that his steadfastness and strength are not inherent, but a manifestation of mercy and companionship from Allah the Exalted, so his insight into his need for his Lord, Glorified be He, is renewed in every blink of an eye.
And so were the Prophet's companions, peace be upon him, described by Allah in the Battle of the Confederates with His saying: {There the believers were tried and shaken with a mighty shaking. 11} [Al-Ahzab: 11].. A shaking that reveals to them that –even though they are the best of people, the strongest and most steadfast- their souls are weak if entrusted to themselves. Therefore, for those who ask: (What do I do when I weaken?).. The answer: admit your weakness, disavow your surroundings and strength, and seek forgiveness from Allah for every moment you were pleased with yourself and said in it like Qarun's saying (I have been given this only because of knowledge I possess)! And seek determination and strength from your Lord, the Mighty and Majestic.
3. O people of prolonged afflictions, what makes them patient? If you were about to furnish a house and a wealthy man told you: (Buy what you want and do not ask about the price, I will pay the bill) you would buy without worry..
I often wondered: (How do those imprisoned for long years, for example, endure?) And I feared to be afflicted like them, because I look inside myself and do not find in it what endures like their endurance.
Then I realized that these are people whom Allah has blessed with difficult moments! They were shaken to their core and extracted all their strength, but found it insufficient, so they disavowed their strength and sought aid from Allah, meaning they knew the key, and then they were like the one who plunges into any adventure with an "open check" from a rich man, and Allah's example is the highest. My worry decreased with this realization, because my ceiling was my soul, and my soul is limited and its patience is limited. As for the aid from Allah, it has no limit nor end, but it is upon us to seek it well: {And be patient. Your patience is only with Allah.} [An-Nahl: 127], (And seek help from Allah and do not despair) (Narrated by Muslim).
Look at the steadfastness of the steadfast and the success of the successful as manifestations of Allah's mercy and power, and do not be preoccupied with admiring their characters and praising them, for their praise may deceive them and gradually make them forget the truth that what is with them is purely success from Allah..
Instead of saying: "How patient is so-and-so" train yourself to say: "How great is Allah's mercy in making so-and-so patient".
Therefore, the righteous feared being praised to their faces, fearing that they would appear as those who acknowledge people's attribution of virtue to themselves, so Allah entrusts them to themselves and they fall.
A man from the companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, used to say when praised: (O Allah, do not hold me accountable for what they say, and forgive me for what they do not know) (Narrated by Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad and Al-Albani said its chain is authentic).
4. Why does Allah attribute the virtue to Himself? Keys to Success Every good that happens to the servants, Allah always attributes the virtue to Himself. As He says, Glorified be He: - {And had it not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, none of you would have been pure ever. 21} [An-Nur: 21].. - {And had it not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, a group of them would have led you astray. 113} [An-Nisa: 113] - {But for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have been among the losers. 64} [Al-Baqarah: 64]
Is this only to inform the servants of His right, Glorified be He? But I think that He also educates us with this, for Allah the Exalted is free of need from the worlds, but He gives us the keys to success and guides us to what benefits us so that we seek aid from Him at all times and do not be deceived by ourselves and our abilities, which if entrusted to them, we would go astray and lose, and our souls would not be purified.
Ibn Al-Qayyim said: (If the servant stands for the truth against others and against himself first, and his standing is for Allah and with Allah, nothing will stand for him, even if the heavens and the earth and the mountains were to support him, Allah would suffice him their burden, and He would make for him a way out) (I'lam Al-Muwaqqi'in).. Look at his saying: (And his standing is for Allah), meaning relying on Him alone, Glorified be He.
On the contrary, Ibn Taymiyyah said about some sects of innovators: (If you look at them with the eye of destiny, confusion has taken over them, and the devil has taken hold of them, have mercy on them and be kind to them: they were given intelligence but not purity (i.e., blessing), and they were given understanding but not knowledge...).
If there is no help for the youth from Allah He will be the first to be destroyed by his efforts So remember: Disavow your surroundings and your strength, And seek aid from the One whose strength has no limit, Glorified and Exalted be He.