Rejoice at the bounty of Allah – The 20th January 2019

Introduction

Allah commands us in the Quran to remember the favors of Allah. This favor includes the Quran, Faith, Knowledge, islam and attending the study circles.

Hadith:

Allah (glorified and exalted be He) has supernumerary angels who rove about seeking out gatherings in which Allah's name is being invoked: they sit with them and fold their wings round each other, filling that which is between them and between the lowest heaven. When [the people in the gathering] depart, [the and (mighty Allah Then said: ( ﻠﺻ ﻰ ﷲ ﮫﯿﻠﻋ ﺳو ﻠ ﻢ Prophet (the He heaven. to up rise and ascend angels] sublime be He) asks them - [though] He is most knowing about them: From where have you come? And they say: We have come from some servants of Yours on Earth: they were glorifying You (Subhana llah), exalting you (Allahu akbar), witnessing that there is no god but You (La ilaha illa llah), praising You (Al- Hamdu lillah), and asking [favours] of You. He says: And what do they ask of Me? They say: They ask of You Your Paradise. He says: And have they seen My Paradise? They say: No, O Lord. He says: And how would it be were they to have seen My Paradise! They say: And they ask protection of You. He says: From what do they ask protection of Me? They say: From Your Hell-fire, O Lord. He says: And have they seen My Hell-fire? They say: NO. He says: And how would it be were they to have seen My Hell-fire: They say: And them forgiven have I says: He Then said: ( ﻠﺻ ﻰ ﷲ ﻋ ﻠ ﯾ ﮫ ﺳو ﻠ م Prophet (the He forgiveness. Your for ask they and I have bestowed upon them what they have asked for, and I have granted them sanctuary from that is then among Lord, O say: They said: ( ﻠﺻ ﻰ ﷲ ﻠﻋ ﮫﯿ ﻠﺳو ﻢ Prophet (the He protection. asked they which from So-and-so, a much sinning servant, who was merely passing by and sat down with them. He (the Prophet people such with sits who he forgiveness: given have I [too] him to And says: He And said: ( ﻠﺻ ﻰ ﷲ ﮫﯿﻠﻋ ﺳو ﻠ ﻢﻠﺳ shall not suffer. It was related by Muslim (also by al- Bukhari, at-Tirmidhi, and an-Nasa'i).)

Surah Ayah 65

In Ayah 45 we are told when we know Allah is the lords of the worlds then we must worship Him. Allah then asks us if we know anyone who resembles Allah. Sheikh As Saadi says here Allah is inquiring if we know anyone who is equal to Allah in his greatness ? is there anyone who is like Allah from among the created being.

Do you know anyone who resembles Allah because:

1. He is the Rabb, the creator. Anyone other than him is subdued to his lordship. 2. Allah is the creator and everyone else is created 3. Allah is self-sufficient in all his aspects. His creation are in need in all aspects. 4. Allah is absolutely perfect in his creation in concealing of our sins, in mending our hearts. The creation is deficient in all aspects.

This means we should be attached to the one who is perfect. This is a definitive proof that only Allah deserves to be worshipped. This is call to Tauheed and oneness of Allah. Worship of Allah is the truth and worship of anyone else is falsehood.

How to act upon this verse? There is no one like Allah

1. We have to tell ourselves that whenever we admire someone for their generosity and our heart is attached to the person then we need to remind ourselves that people are not perfect and that the generosity of Allah is perfect 2. We should not be angry with people because Allah created them deficient. 3. Allah is perfect so we need to only go to him to remove our pain and shortcomings.

2 4. We must remind ourselves of this verse in order to perfect our Tauheed. This verse is like a medicine/ cure for our hearts when we are attached to the people and they hurt us.

How Allah deals with his servants with regards to Guidance

Allah mentions in many verses in the Quran that Allah guides whomever He wills and He misguides whomever He wills. Whenever Allah mentions about His will it is joined with his knowledge and wisdom.

Surah Insaan Ayah 30

In this Ayah, Allah tells us we don’t will except for what Allah wills. Allah guides and misguides based on his knowledge and His wisdom. Allah knows who deserves to be guides and who deserves to be misguided.

Let us see from the Quran whom Allah guides and who is misguided.

3 Surah Maryam Ayah 75 and 76

Whoever is in error, Allah will extend his time and wealth to increase him in error. This person is completely engrossed in misguidance.

Allah showed us the way to Paradise and the way to Hellfire. If we chose the guidance then Allah will increase me in guidance and if we chose misguidance then Allah will increase me in misguidance.

4 Surah Al Kahf Ayah 13

The youth mentioned in Surah Kahf believed in Allah and Allah increased them in guidance. So it is us who have to take the first step then Allah will increase us in guidance

Now Let us see from the Quran whom Allah does not guide

Surah Al Baqarah Ayah 258

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Here we are told Allah does not guide the Zalimeen i.e. wrong doers. It is mentioned in the Quran eight times that Allah does not guide the wrong doers i.e. the one who associated other gods with Allah or He did not worship Allah at all. He wronged the people by backbiting them or taking their rights etc. or he is earning unlawful earning or eating unlawful. We need to look at ourselves and see if we are doing wrong in our worship to Allah or in our relationship with people. Allah leaves such people in their state of misguidance. Therefore we must not blame anyone but ourselves

Surah Al Baqarah Ayah 264

Kufr is of two types

1. Major: To disbelief in Allah 2. Minor: To be ungrateful to Allah’s favors or to attribute Allah’s favor to someone else.

Allah will not guide the Kafireen. Sheikh As Saadi said the disbelievers are those have placed that good deeds in wrong place. Who they turn away from the worship of Allah when Allah alone is the one to give benefit to the people. Because the people turned away from Allah so Allah turned them away from guidance.

6 Surah Al Maida Ayah 108

Here Allah tells us that he does not guide the rebellious and disobedient people. We need to check if we are obedient to Allah in order to seek guidance of Allah.

Surah Ayah 52

7 Allah does not guide the plot of betrayers. A betrayer is someone who was entrusted and he showed treachery. Betrayal has different forms i.e. it can happen between people or between spouses. Allah will not guide those who are ploting and betraying.

Surah Zumar Ayah 3

Allah will not guide those who deny the signs of Allah and disbelieves and rejects them. Sheikh As Saadi said Allah will not guide a person who is given signs and admonition through his circumstances but the person is lying to himself and blaming others.

8 Surah Ghafir Ayah 28

The one who transgresses the limits is the one who shuns the truth and turns to falsehood. He does not respect the limit of Allah. No matter how much a person lies, one day Allah will disclose his reality to the people.An example mentioned in the Quran is of Firoun who told Ha’man to build a tower for him so he can reach the means to reach the heavens so he can see the God of Musa. Then Firoun said he thinks Musa is a liar.

Surah Ghafir Ayah 36 and 37

9 Whom does Allah guide and whom does He not guide?

• If a person desires guidance and seeks it then surely Allah will guide him. • Allah will guide whoever is truthful. • Allah does not guide the one who’s an oppressor, disobedient, transgressor, liar, betrayer, ungrateful.

Surah Taha Ayah 1 to 8

How do we act upon Ayah 1-6 ?

We Ask Allah for His mercy. Ar Rahman is Allah’s vastest attribute and the Throne is the greatest creation thus we should never despair from Allah’s mercy when we commit sins.

It will so happen that the shaitan will magnify our sin to make it greater than Allah’s mercy and make us fall into desperation from Allah’s mercy. When we fall into sin, he will make us seek mercy to other than Allah The shaitan will remind the person of what he did in the past and make him feel miserable such that some people commit suicide or others leave Islam. It does not matter how

10 many sins a person may have, but he needs to know Allah is Ar Rahman and He will take him into His mercy. There are those whom wherever they go, they fail in their worldly achievement until they fall into desperation from Allah’s mercy. Such a person is lacking three things:

1. We need to Believe in Allah’s wisdom: we need to think that Allah is merciful to us when He gives us what we desires and at the same time Allah is All-Wise and when He withholds something from us then there’s goodness for us. 2. Belief in the decree: not everything we desire we will get in this life. This life is deficient and will not get everything we want. 3. He’s not pleased with what is apportioned to him.

How do we apply upon Ayah 7 in our life ?

1. We need to take care of what we conceal in your hearts. 2. We need to be truthful, whatever we say should conform to what’s in your heart. 3. We need to always intend good.

There was a righteous man who had a garden and every year he would harvest the fruits and give to the poor. His sons inherited the garden and when it was time to harvest, they gathered at night and said we will not give the poor the fruits of the garden. They thought they are the owners of the garden and can do whatever they want and can have full power over it. They didn’t know that Allah hears them and knows their intentions. Allah sent a fiery thunderbolt and it burned their garden. When they first saw their garden, they thought they missed the way. When they realized it was their garden, they came to know Allah punished them for that bad intention which they had and then repented.

It’s important that we keep good intentions in our heart even if we don’t have the means to do the good. Allah looks at our hearts, therefore we should purify our heart from grudge, envy, pride, bad thoughts of Allah . Allah will deal with us according to our hearts.

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