A GIFT OF LOVE

Bismil Laahir Rahmaanir Raheem

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatul Laahi wa barkaatuh brothers and sisters in Islam. Allah is the Gafuurur Raheem; the All Forgiving and Merciful. We pray that Allah azza wa jal favours us with the blessing of His forgiveness whiles we live this life, in our death and on the Day that we would stand before Him to give accounts of our lives; which is a surety. Aameen.

On this Day of Accounts which has been given various names worth pondering upon, we are told by the noble Prophet Muhammad suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam that Allah azza wa jal will ask us a question. This is related by Abu Huraira radiyal Laahu anhu who reports that the Prophet said;

‘Allah will ask on the Day of Judgment: ‘Where are those who loved each other for the sake of My glory? Today, a day when there is no shade but mine, I shall shade them with My shade.’

Saheeh Muslim

I need and want so badly to have this favour on this Day and I pray that all of us are blessed with this favour in shaa Allah. There are ahaadith that talk about the favour of Allah azza wa jal upon those who love one another truly and solely for His sake but the one that blows my mind most is found in Sunan Abu Dawood which states;

The Prophet suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam said: “Among Allah’s servants are people who are neither Prophets nor martyrs, but whom the Prophets and martyrs will deem fortunate because of their high status with Allah.”

They asked: “O Messenger of Allah! Inform us of who they are.”

He said: “They are people who loved each other for Allah’s sake, without being related to one another or being tied to one another by the exchange of wealth. By Allah, their faces will be luminous and they will be upon light. They will feel no fear when the people will be feeling fear and they will feel no grief when the people will be grieving.”

Then he read the ayah: “Behold, on the friends of Allah there shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” (Surah Yunus, Chapter 10 ayah 62)

Now, that is just enough motivation for you and I to start loving as much as we could others (without being related to one another or being tied to one another by the exchange of wealth) fiisabi lil Laah. If you are doing so already, then keep the fire burning. If you are not, then this could be the time.

There are a thousand and one ways to show love to a brother or sister fiisabi lil Laah and this show of love should be directed towards one goal: enjoining that which is right and discouraging from that which is wrong. In this article, I want to look at one aspect of ‘love fiisabi lil Laah’ that I believe we should intensify among us.

We are in an era where we are challenged with lots of external (outside of the Muslims) problems and then internal ones (within the Muslims) as well. In this era, it is getting a lot tougher to genuinely show your love for a brother or a sister fiisabi lil Laah because even sometimes those people put question marks to your show of love. Think deeply about that. That should not discourage us anyway since our sole purpose is to attain that status that Allah azza wa jal talks about. The Prophet suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam said:

“A Muslim’s supplication for his brother in secret is answered. At his head an angel is appointed, and whenever he supplicates for his brother with something good, the angel appointed to him says: ‘Amîn, and likewise for you’.”

Saheeh Muslim  

    

So the aspect of loving fiisabi lil Laah that I want to emphasize on is in the hadith above: ‘Supplicating for one another.’ For me, this is one of the best ways for us to show love for one another for Allah’s sake and it is the easiest as well. This type of love could be given to the poor by the rich and the rich to the poor. Du’a is the best form of love for Muslims who know or don’t know one another (and might never know one another until the end).

We face diverse problems in our lives. We have various needs and fears and our greatest weapon in dealing with these things is du’a (seeking Allah’s aid). Allah azza wa jal tells us;

‘And your Lord says, "Call upon Me; I will respond to you...’

Surah Ghafir, the Forgiver, Chapter 40 ayah 60

Allah, al-Mujeeb, has assured us that He is ever ready for ‘our call,’ ‘our du’a.’ He again says beautifully that;

‘And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me - indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided.’

Surah al-Baqarah, the Cow, Chapter 2 ayah 186

Alhamdu lil Laah! Alhamdu lil Laah! Alhamdu lil Laah! Feel it! Say it! Act it because most definitely we are blessed to be Muslims. May Allah sustain us on this beauty. Aameen. This is how much Allah, al-Mujeeb, is ready to listen to us. It will be unfortunate on our part to let the opportunity of Allah hearing us pass us by. It is even more loving, per my understanding, if we call on Allah azza wa jal to tell Him about the needs of a brother or a sister or simply ask Allah to bless them with His guidance and love and all the goody goodies.

Sometimes we know the specific problems that some of our brothers and sisters face so we can seek specific things for them from our Rubb. Where we don’t know of their challenges in life (and everyone has a challenge unless the person does not know), then we give them general du’a.

We could also cultivate the habit of doing du’a for others just about any time when the need arises and not necessarily after our sualaat or tahajjud prayers. Imagine we made seeking the guidance of Allah our core du’a for people we see doing things that are against the Deen as we try to talk them out of it; that will be awesome. That is not to say that we should think they need the guidance more than us; we all need it. 

The hadith above makes the whole situation of making it a habit to do du’a for others even more rewarding. That is because for every good that you ask Allah to do for a brother or a sister, an angel seeks the same from Allah for you. That is enough motivation to keep it up if we are already doing that or to start if we aren’t.

So I make an appeal to you by this article to remember others in your du’a always (they don’t need to know or ask you for it or thank you for it). Do this with the hope that on that Day, Allah azza wa jal may bless you with His shade and the Prophets and martyrs will deem you fortunate. But of course, please do not forget me in your du’a and I pray that Allah azza wa jal does for you an uncountable number of whatever you ask Him for me. Aameen.

We are still warming up for Ramadaan; you could do this best during this holy month provided you are alive to witness it. Alhamdu lil Laah for everything. I love you fiisabi lil Laah and may Allah, ash-Shaheed, be a witness to this love. Aameen.

Jazaakumul Laahu khair always!

Love fiisabi lil Laah always!

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatul Laah!

RMRS; www.mmahajia.blogspot.com