Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #187 Guidance for Seekers Prioritizing the Hereafter
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As we continue to look at Imam al
Muhasabi's
wondrous
work,
Risadat al Mustarshidin,
a treatise for the for seekers of guidance.
He says,
He says,
Then pursue
your ultimate
interest.
Pursue and prepare
for what is your ultimate
interest
which is
the hereafter.
Right?
That very often we spend
I mean, a simple way of looking at
it is how much time do we think
do we spend
in our days, in our weeks? We have
168 hours, how much of that time do
we spend
thinking about our dunya?
And
we have and how many plans do we
have for our worldly life?
So he says, then
prepare and plan for your hereafter.
Not by neglecting
your worldly concerns because you're gonna take care
of them, but have a plan for paradise.
Right?
And be be freed
from your provision.
Meaning that
you need to
your worldly matters are your
are your provision
for
your journey to the hereafter.
Take care about take care of it, but
don't obsess over it.
At some point you need to say,
it's enough.
So you can give some attention
to your hereafter.
And be a sincere
adviser
to yourself.
Advise
yourself. How? Remind yourself of what your Lord
has reminded you of.
Remind yourself
of the
truths that His Messenger has come with
And don't make worldly people
your advisors.
Don't make worldly people your advisors.
Meaning in setting
your life direction,
in setting your ultimate
priorities.
Waqil
Amraq
and know
and understand
your affairs,
That true true intelligence, true 'aql
is as Imam Ghazali
highlights in the book of knowledge in the
here, true intelligence
is the capacity
to seek your true benefit.
So
and
that have be intelligent
regarding your own affairs.
And what is your affair?
Your affair is that you're gonna die and
you're up
you're up for reckoning.
Right?
You're up for reckoning.
And you don't know when that last breath
is.
And if we knew if we were told
that this place is going to burn down
at some point,
it would be like
that's pretty serious.
Right?
So similarly,
our lives the the the lights are gonna
go out.
So understand your affair
and be prepared.
And he says
what Taiaqas
means Sunitic
and
wake up regarding your
habits.
Right? Wake up regarding your ways. Often
we take
our religion for granted, oh things are fine.
Well how how are things?
Many of the early Muslims hated the question
How are you?
Because literally it means what is your state?
And that's a deep question.
That's a serious question.
How are you really? It's a question that
you should ask yourself. How am I?
And in another copy it means synecdic. Wake
up from your
drowsiness,
from your sleep.
And wake up about
your your ways or wake up from your
sleep.
For you will be asked about your life.
Right? For you will be asked about your
life. And here,
the editor of the work, Sheikh Abdul Fataha
Buhuda, one of the great hadith scholars of
20th century, refers to the famous hadith
of
Abu
Barza al Aslami
who a noble companion who said that the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
That a person's
no person's feet will move on the day
of resurrection until they're asked about 4 matters.
But do we have the answers ready?
What are these 4?
About their life
and what they spent it in.
Their life and what they spent it
what they extinguished it in.
Those things that you spent your life in,
what is the eternal return on
that?
And their knowledge,
what did they
do with it? What did they act upon
of it?
And their wealth.
How did they earn it? And how did
they spend it?
And about their own body
and what they
directed it to, what they
extinguished it in,
their own body. Right? Like where
what did you spend
yourself
on?
People stay up at night
in their work, in their business,
in their
social life, in all things.
What have
you tired and toiled over? Right? These are
four questions that we should ask ourselves because
we'll be asked on the day of resurrection.
Our life and what we spent it in.
Our knowledge and what did we do with
it.
And this applies both to knowledge of religion,
did we act upon it with sincerity,
but also applies to
whatever
knowledge,
whatever skills Allah has granted us. What good
have we done with it?
What benefit have we spread with it?
And their wealth, how did we and our
wealth, how did we acquire it?
And how do we spend it? Is it
pleasing to Allah?
And finally, our own body and lives, and
what do we extinguish ourselves in?
And then he mentions the words of a
noble companion.
So,
He said, if a if a person, if
a child of Adam
understood
from their lord, it would be better for
them
than all their striving,
or than actual jihad.
Right? And this is one of the things
that one of the most important
purposes of religious knowledge is not to become
sophisticated,
it's not to become smart,
it's not to become the one who can
say religious things in a gathering.
Right?
It's to have this
is
to understand from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that
where Allah places you, you can understand
where am I
and what am I to do? How am
I to respond
where I am?
To have the understanding that shows how do
I seek the good pleasure of Allah?
Inwardly,
by having the right inward response,
spiritually,
through what
religious good should I be doing in the
moments I'm in, but also socially,
what opportunities
for good do I have
in the moments
that I'm that I'm in?
And then he gives a comprehensive
counsel which we will read and then close.
He says,
He says, and know well that whoever makes
their greatest concern,
the hereafter,
Allah
will grant them sufficiency
in their worldly life.
And the
Right? The
is what is
what is the gathering point of your concern.
Right?
Like, you know, you have many things in
your thoughts. The
is what
what is the what is your pressing concern?
Whoever makes their pressing concern,
the hereafter.
Allah
will take care of your worldly concerns because
then you will put your worldly priorities
in the right order.
And this is a also Allah has promised
this.
Right? Allah has promised this throughout the Quran.
Whoever whoever strives for our sake,
and that is their primary striving.
We will guide guide
to all the paths to us
in their worldly affairs and in their religious
affairs.
And truly Allah is with those who do
good. The prophet
said
whoever makes their concern, one concern,
Allah takes care of all
their
concerns.
And then
He says, as has been related from the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
that
free yourselves
from excessive worries
about your worldly life
for whoever makes their worldly life their greatest
concern,
Allah will
make their affairs
scattered.
Allah will scatter their affairs. The more you
think about it, and the more you worry
about it, the bigger
and more scattered your concerns will become.
And then the prophet sallallahu alaihi said, reported
says, and he and he Allah will place
poverty
be be before your eyes
cause you will start being fearful.
And whoever makes the hereafter
the greatest of their concerns.
Jema Allahu Amraha
Allah will gather their affairs.
And
will place
wealth
in their
heart. And then the prophet promised
that
no servant
turns to Allah Most High
with their whole heart,
except that Allah makes the hearts
of His believing servants
turn to them
with mercy
and love and deep love.
Right? So this is a beautiful,
reminder.
And
this has been related by, similarly, by Muhammad
Tobarani
from
Abu Darda.
And there are other narrations
of this.
So we ask Allah
to grant us right
priorities.
That Allah grant
us with all the worldly concerns that we
have. That we
strive to make
the hereafter
the greatest of our concerns. How do we
do that?
Through reflection.
Right? Through reflection. We need to
to
to pause
in key moments of our life
and ask ourselves
about
where is the hereafter in my concern.
Right?
To
pause as part of our dua to have
moments of reflection.
Right? After each after each obligatory prayer,
one of the sunnah is
to reflect
even if it's for a moment.
One of the great times of reflection
is
Fajr time. Imam
Al Ghazali mentions 4 key
sunnahs
that one busies oneself with
after the Fajr prayer.
There is
recitation of Quran,
there is remembrance of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
there is supplication
and there is
reflection,
to reflect. And there are many things to
reflect upon and that's a whole
lesson in itself but one of the things
is
to think about where you are with Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
What is your
spiritual life plan?
And what is your spiritual life plan?
If you find good in it,
things that are consistent,
that are growing,
be grateful to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for
it.
And
appreciate that
as being a gift from Allah and strive
to nurture it. And if you find shortcomings
then rectify them.
Right. Imam Ghazali suggests that in the morning
time at Fajr,
plan
your spiritual day.
That what will you be doing throughout the
day?
What will you be doing
throughout the day?
Okay,
after Fajr when will Duha prayer come?
Where will you be doing duhr on that
day?
K. Asr, is it going to be at
work or you're going to arrange your day
so you can make it to the masjid
or catch a congregation?
Where will you be doing maghrib?
Where will
you include
some devotional practices?
All those little things
and then you will see a whole myriad
of opportunities.
That, yeah, I'm gonna have lunch.
Don't just stuff yourself.
Maybe that's an opportunity to reconnect with that
cousin that you heard is in town and
they're somewhere downtown.
So in the morning, you'll try to see
if you can hook up you can meet
up with them for lunch
as a spiritual act
on the way back home. So you plan
your spiritual day.
Right.
And this is part likewise,
at some point,
one should be planning one spiritual week.
Then what am I doing in this upcoming
week?
Right. And there has to be times where
one reflects
on one's life.
That what am I doing in my life?
Right?
And the the these are blessed
times. And the the amazing thing is the
doors of opportunity are so vast,
like are so vast.
There's no situation
in which there
aren't countless ways of turning to Allah.
Right?
So this is at least some of our
thinking
needs to go
towards this. And this is why Abu Umama
said that if people understood
if a child of Adam understood
from their Lord, it'll be better for them
than all their striving
or it'll be better for them than jihad
itself.
Why?
Because by reflecting what does Allah seek from
me?
Will I be able to
have a meaningful
answer to that which is your true life?
May Allah grant us
the wholesome life of one whose heart is
awake and whose concern
is connected towards Allah
Someone who could say something like what Sayyidina
Ali bin Abi Talib radiAllahu
Waqarah Mujaz said that I can he said
it's an amazing statement. He said I can
describe to you the the pathways
of paradise better than any of you can
describe
the pathways of Medina.
I can describe to you the pathways of
paradise
and some interpreted meaning, I can describe to
you all the ways
by which you could get to paradise better
than you could describe.
You know, this city of yours
and how to get to different places. How
do we get to the new
Nahari joint? Well, go go that way. How
can I do this? You know, we know
our city,
right?
He knew his Lord,
and others have said it means he could
describe Paradise better than we could describe dunya,
but either way
that's a true life. May Allah grant us
that life. As one of the great poets
of the 20th century said,
Dear friend, make the most of life.
How many a dead person
did Allah
grant life?
Never
ever
would he let down
ever
anyone who comes
with a with a sincere
intention.
But what does it need?
Empty your heart
for God to be manifest there.
And open up your eyes
so that you may behold.
And
concern other concerns.
Dear friend,
put aside,
and extinguish your yourself,
extinguish your concern.
Spend your life
for Allah most high.
May Allah
grant us of these meanings.
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