Beware of Stumbling on the Path to Forgiveness

14/07/2011| IslamWeb

A believer who expects the forgiveness of Allah The Almighty should know that by no means could this forgiveness be attained by sleep, hesitation and laziness. Forgiveness can only be attained by doing efforts befitting it. Allah The Almighty accepts even a small amount of work provided that it is done with sincere love and devotion to Allah The Almighty. At the same time, He rejects a large amount of work when it is done listlessly and resentfully, with the desire for it to end so that the person can come out of the presence of Allah The Almighty. To him we would like to say: "To whom will you go? To whom will you turn your face; who is better than Allah The Almighty?"

A person learns to strive by guarding oneself against heedlessness with the remembrance of Allah The Almighty, relentlessly drawing closer to the Quran to receive guidance, enlighten his way, cure his heart, and bless his time and efforts. He should spend generously of his time, effort, property, soul, children, health, sleep, and so on in the cause of Allah The Almighty. He should spend, in whichever state he is, for the sake of the generosity he likes to receive from Allah The Almighty, perchance He would be more generous to him, and give him more and better recompense, as stated by Him when He Says (what means): {And He answers [the supplication of] those who have believed and done righteous deeds and increases [for] them from His bounty.}[Quran 42:26]

The next step is to stick to the aims of striving. How should he strive against himself? He should arrange his duties of fasting, standing (in prayer), remembrance (of Allah), and all deeds of faith, to do his best to fulfill them to please Allah The Almighty. He should strive against himself to practice self-reckoning and to watch his soul lest it should slip away from him. Every time he deviates or finds himself inclined to laziness or weariness, he should chastise it and force it to obedience once again. When he comes to the state in which he says: "Tomorrow, Allah willing (I will do such-and-such)", it should be known that he has been overpowered by his own self, his evil inclinations and the whispers of the devil. Tomorrow will come and he will do nothing. The days will pass by one after the other and he will do nothing. So, unless he decides the matter with himself from the first day (he will be lost): How should he pray? Of course, he should, inevitably, pray under all circumstances, and whatever the obstacles might be. When he comes to prayer and says: "Allah willing, I will begin to pray from this night, and even from the first part of it", the devil and his own evil inclination may tell him: "Sleep for an hour to be able to stand for prayer. Sleep for an hour, Allah willing, and delay the prayer to such-and-such an hour. Sleep for an hour, Allah willing, to be able to fast", and so on until the night passes in vain, and he sleeps half, or even the whole of the night, thereby wasting the standing (in prayer).

The next step is to take his decision so that when he is asked to sleep, he replies: "No, I have pledged to Allah to pray." When he is asked to fulfill a certain need or a matter of his own interest, as the devil never lets him do good, he soon says: "No, we have pledged to Allah to pray."

Does anyone imagine that the devil will come to such a person to say: "You are a good man since you have pledged to Allah to pray, and I will help you pray, remember (Allah) and stand (in prayer). Go my brother, go and pray, and I will help you pray. Come to prayer, come to Thikr (remembrance of Allah The Almighty"?

Of course not! This is because Satan has said, as stated by Allah The Almighty, (what means): {"Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path.} [Quran 7:16]

May Allah The Almighty keep us free from the machinations of the devil and steadfast upon the straight path.