What does Quran say about success?
1. Al- Baqarah 1-5
Definition of taqwa is guarding ourselves from Allah's displeasure. Being conscious of Allah and have healthy fear. How do we know that we are having healthy fear? When we do something wrong, we work hard to turn back to Allah and repent. Taubah means to reroute and come back to Allah. Escaping the wrath of Allah by turning back to Allah. Run to Allah in repentance.
Unhealthy shame is when someone does something wrong, they avoid Allah. Unhealthy shame will paralyze them and it is the tools of syaitan for us to be further from Allah.
Humans cannot run away from making mistakes, it is human nature to make mistakes. The best of people are the ones who repent. Allah loves those who repent.
Healthy remorse
- It is from Allah
-Be closer to Allah by repenting to fix the problem (his relationship with Allah)
-The person is motivated to rush to Allah.
-Want to fix mistakes
Unhealthy shame
-From syaitan
-Attempt to hide from Allah, move away from Allah
-Makes us bad feel bad about ourselves and give up.
Quran is guidance for the taqwa. Mutaqqin
Characteristics of Taqwa
1. Believe in the unseen
Nowadays the modern society reject the idea of the unseen because they cannot see it with their own eyes, but a person who has taqwa believes in the seen for the fact that it is what Allah said.
Unseen consists of Allah, Angels,Jannah, Jahannam, Jinn etc
Tawakkul means to believe in Allah completely.
2. Establish the solah
Establish solah is not the same as doing the solah. Establishing the solah means to pray even when it isn't convenient, tired, not "feeling" it.
Solah is our spiritual oxygen. We don't miss breathing just because we are busy or don't feel like it. We do it because it is the only way to be alive. And that's the same as solah. It must be established because it is our spiritual oxygen.
3. They give to others from which Allah gives to them
Charity is not only with money. Using talent for the sake of Allah, take the time to help others for the sake of Allah. Using the resources we have that Allah has given us to help others.
Golden rule: Treat someone like you'd treat yourself.
In Islam, the platinum rule is do unto others as you would like Allah to treat you.
4. Believed what were revealed to them and also what was revealed before them and have full certainty in the hereafter
They have guidance and they will be successful.
2. Surah Al-Maidah 35
1. Have taqwa of Allah
2. Seek closeness to Allah
3. Strive hard in the cause of Allah (jihad)
There are a lot of things to do to jihad.
One of the most important one in current times is lowering your gaze.
Lowering your gaze is so important that it is mentioned in the Quran and Hadith. Not only that, it specifies to both men and women. In Quran, there are times Allah makes a general statement (without mention of gender), but in this commandment Allah addresses both men and women. One of poisons of heart is when they don't lower their gaze. The eyes are the gateway to the heart, anything that we see goes straight to the heart. The root problem is when we don't control our eyes.
What does it mean to not lowering your gaze? In simple terms, it means checking someone out. There are differences between seeing, looking, and gazing.
Seeing- something/someone is in the zone of our vision
Looking- Looking at the person
Gazing- checking them out.
Porn, haram relationship, infidelity starts from not lowering the gaze. Another thing to take note is just because it's behind the screen (laptop/phone/tv), doesn't mean the rules of lowering the gaze is not applicable anymore. Syaitan will put seeds of dissatisfaction when we don't lower the gaze. Not statisfied with our lives, not satisfied with our spouse etc.
3. Surah Al-Imran 200 (Last verse)
Misconceptions of Sabar
1. Do nothing, be passive
Being sabar means take action and persevere
As muslims, we do not tolerate abuse, do not enable the oppressors and the ones being oppressed.
2. Feel no emotion
Having sabar doesn't mean not having any emotion. Yakub had beautiful sabar, he also cried until blind. This means that he also felt emotion. To heal, we need to address the emotion and grieve properly. We cannot suppress our emotion. Sabar is feeling sad or crying but the tongue is always saying things that is pleasing Allah. Accepting the decision of Allah and still feel all of the emotions.
Sabiru- Persevering and enduring opposing force.
Ribat- Stand firm even if can't endure anymore.
Taqwa- Having healthy fear of Allah
4. Surah Al-Imran 130
There are certain sins that we commit that we don't realize the consequences that happen because it happens from other parts on our life. For example, haram money like selling liquor, being involved with riba (usury). When money is not clean, it affects the morality of the person and also the morality of the children. Seems like it has no correlation but that's how sins are, it is haram because it will impact us negatively.
Do not be involved in riba, doubled and multiplied and have taqwa. You may be succesful if we avoid this particular sin. Riba is taken lightly but it is a super serious sin.
“O ye who believe! fear Allah and give up what remains of your demand for usury, if ye are indeed believers. If ye do it not, take notice of war from Allah and His Messenger.” (al-Baqara 278-279)
The phrase "waging war against Allah and His Messenger" is not used for any other sins in the Quran. It is used only for those who do riba. This will be enough to explain what a big sin riba is in the sight of Allah.
There are certain things in the deen that we neglect but it is the foundation and it is important that if not done will lead to absolute destruction which is;
-lowering the gaze
-avoiding riba
-dzikir (remembrance of Allah)
In remembrance of Allah, there is success, so remember Allah a lot. When neglected, there are consequences that follow. Whoever turns from the remembrance of Allah, they will have a narrow and miserable life,syaitan will become an intimate companion (No 1 advisor of our life) until we stop praying, stop reading the Quran. And it will only bring destruction into our own lives.
5.Surah Al-Baqarah 152
How to always remember Allah?
Establish the prayer and do dzikir. It is the design of being human that needs constant remembrance. Dzikir needs to be done consistently ; just like breathing. That is what's keeping us alive spiritually.
6. Surah Al-Ahzab 35
To both men and women who remember Allah often, Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward. You can see in this ayat that Allah addresses to both men and women to show the importance of what is being said. These are traits of the successful men and women in the sight of Allah. Do these things and Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.
7. Surah As-Syams
In this Surah, Allah uses oaths by his creation. This surah has the most oaths, by the sun by the moon etc. When a person makes an oath (utters wallahi), you know that the person wants to emphasize and truly mean it. In this surah, Allah swears by a lot of things. This shows emphasis that what comes afterwards is very very important. Indeed they will be successful who purify themselves. And if failed, the soul will be corrupted.
8. Surah At-Talaq 2-3
He who has taqwa, Allah will make a way out for them. And provide them from places that they can't imagine. Taqwa is when make a mistake, repent and turn back to Allah; when falling down, get back up. People get caught up and feel trapped by different things. With taqwa, Allah will give a way out.
Whoever puts full trust and reliance on Allah, Allah is enough for them. Allah will take care of you as long as you trust Him. Having husnuzon with Allah (Yakin and good opinion of Allah).
Analogy- It's like when our mother comes pick us up from school and takes a different route, when we ask her, she says be patient and just keeps driving. We don't go into panic mode because we trust our mother and have husnuzon with her that she would never do anything to harm us. Same concept with full reliance to Allah eventhough we don't know Allah's plan.
When we want to solve a problem,
Take action and tawakkal at the same time. (Tie your camel and trust in Allah )
What's the point of taking action? It is the commandment of Allah and it is also part of our worship to take action. Allah is the one who gives and we must do the actions (the means) for things to change.
A believer is not passive and not weak. A believer is strong and active. And step outside their comfort zone.
Q&A
1. What is Islam's perspective on getting treatment for mental illness?
It does not contradict with Islam. Take the treatment and at the same time tawakkal and ask for Allah's help. There is no shame in seeking help/treatment. In fact, it is also a part of ibadah to take action.
2. How do know that we have tied the camel enough?
Do istikharah and keep working towards it. When we keep pursuing it and many doors keep closing, we know that our istikharah is answered. And when we keep pursuing it and many doors are opened, that means that our istikharah is answered.
End.
Hope you have benefited from this and do drop some questions if there are some parts that you find unclear. Till next time, Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh!
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