Weakness of Faith
Ali Mollah, MD
Doa'ful
Iman - Weakness of Faith:
Bismillah Ar Rahman Ar Raheem
All praise belongs to Allah, we praise Him and
seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our
own souls and from our evil deeds. Whomever Allah guides, none can lead astray,
and whomever Allah leaves astray, none can guide. I bear witness that there is
no god except Allah alone, with no partner or associate, and I bear witness that
Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is His slave and Messenger.
O you who believe! The
message is clearly directed to us as believers. It is not a general statement
but addressed specifically to the believers and hence the emphasis – O you who
believe – Fear Allah. Fear Allah
as He should be feared and die not but as Muslims.
This ayah from the Surah Al Imran (3:102) states a simple and
straightforward message that forms the basis of our Iman i.e. having Taqwa.
.
The word Taqwa, having the fear of Allah, has been mentioned in the Qur'an 251 times as an indication of the importance of the subject and the dimension that the concept of Taqwa – the fear of Allah swt.
Today as Muslims - both
in America and beyond our Iman is weak and this fear that we should have for the
creator today is displaced by the fear for the created. The created, people,
wealth ... We fear people, we fear poverty, we fear humiliation, we fear death
and we fear and fear everything but Allah swt as He should be feared- the
most prominent fear and only fear that we should have is deficient.
This overpowering fear of created things rather than for The Creator of
all has subjected us (as a collective Ummah) to one humiliation after another
with subsequent loss of our pride, our dignity, and our self-respect.
As the Messenger of Allah Ta'ala prophesied:
"It is expected that nations
will call other nations to share against you, as the feasters call each other to
eat from the food in front of them in a large wooden plate. One of the
companions asked, 'O Messenger of Allah, will this be because of our small
number on that day?' And the Prophet said, 'No. Your number will be great. But
you will be without substance, like the foam on the face of a river; and Allah
will remove from the breasts of your enemies the fear of you; and Allah will
throw wahn into your
hearts.' One of the companions asked, 'What is wahn, O Allah's Apostle?' And the
Prophet responded, "Wahn is to love this life, and to hate death!'
Wahn results from the weakness
of Iman or the lack of Taqwa and there is literally no English translation for
this Arabic word wahn. There is no concept of wahn and it does not exist. So
when we love this life and hate death we suffer from a sickness in our hearts, a
sickness in our Iman. This weakness of Iman is what I would like to share with
you today.
The phenomenon of weak faith has
become so widespread among Muslims today. So often we feel this hardness in our
heart, in that we do not find any joy in worship, reading Qur’an does not move
us and we fall into sin so easily. It is unfortunate that this entity of
weakness often goes by our entire existence without us being consciously aware
of its destructive nature – and how it is detrimental to the spiritual and the
moral aspects of our lives. As Muslims this is not acceptable.
We need to recognize and acknowledge this weakness and make a sincere
effort to channel this weakness to become our strength to serve Allah swt and
His cause.
What causes weakness of faith:
Three broad categories include
1.Failing to seek knowledge on a
constant basis.
Many of us have abandoned reading the Qur’an and Hadith on a daily
basis and when we do we seldom reflect on its message or seek guidance.
Our minds are not focused on the virtue of its message.
We starve ourselves in the knowledge of deen by allowing our attention to
be diverted by feasting on daily talk shows on TV, or other forms of destructive
activities for the passing of time. We miss out on that breeze of Iman that
softens hearts.
2
Living in an environment surrounded with sin is conducive to weakening the
faith.
In
this environment temptation exists, continuously at every point. We need to
guard our prayers and our Iman. We are not as Allah conscious as we ought to be,
we allow ourselves to be swayed and distracted by temptations. We have been
devoid of a faith-filled environment for too long. We’ve become de-sensitised
and lost sight of the world of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him). We are oblivious to the good as taught by the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him). --
Moral and spiritual values that elevate man are replaced by the worldly
pleasures of today’s society. We
fail to protect our families and ourselves from acts of disobedience and often
we accept them as the norm.
And
seldom do we turn to Allah swt in repentance (taw bah). This is our ignorance,
our weakness.
And
last but not the least,
3.
Preoccupation with our worldly life, while neglecting the hereafter.
Our
day to day activities centre around our material world - our business, our work,
our money, our bills, the sizes of our homes, our cars, and so on. These take
preference both in our minds and speech. This preoccupation with the world
enslaves our hearts.
We
have allowed the diseases of the heart to flourish such as vanity, pride, fame,
glory. We tend to get lost in these illusions, fooled by the worldly glamour and
fail to illuminate our hearts with Allah’s Noor.
We
remain pre-occupied with our worldly life.
Allah
says in
Surah
Al Hijr 15:3
“Leave
them to eat and enjoy, and let them be preoccupied with (false) hope. They will
come to know!”
And
Allah swt created us only for His Ubudiya, for His worship alone, as His
slaves but today we have become slaves to this duniya, this world, slaves
of our desires and ambitions, slaves to wealth.
The
Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “He is
doomed, the slave of the dinar and the slave of the dirham” (Reported by
al-Bukhari, no. 2730),
The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) further said: “Every
nation has its fitnah (trial or temptation), and the fitnah of my Ummah is
wealth.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 2336). So this eagerness to acquire
wealth weakens Iman. This is what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) meant when he said: “Two hungry wolves sent against the sheep do
not do more damage than what a man’s eagerness for wealth does to his
religion.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no. 2376). That is it leaves him
injured or dead as far as his Iman is concerned.
We
must analyse and reflect where we are in terms of our knowledge, our
environment, our desires, our hopes and dreams and our level of Iman.
A
weak Iman is a disease of the heart. And
like all diseases this too has its symptoms.
I
am going to mention those symptoms that are more apparent, and perhaps we can
list these and perform a self- assessment of our Iman.
Performing
prayers devoid of feeling, performance without the keenness to earn reward,
performance without humility and obedience indicate a weak Iman. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that “Allah
does not accept the dua’ of one whose heart is heedless of Him.”
(Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no. 3479).
Lack
of zeal and enthusiasm in
prayer and other acts of worship such that we are able to perform yet we tend to
procrastinate on. For instance Hajj, often many of us are able to perform Hajj,
yet we delay it, or fail to go for Jihad when we have the strength to do so,
give Zakat when we have the means to do so and even pray in congregation when we
are able to do so. All these are traits of weakness of faith.
This lax attitude is in contrast to what Allah swt describes in
Surah
Al Anbiya 21:90
“…
They used to hasten on to do good deeds, and they used to call on Us with hope
and fear, and used to humble themselves before Us.”
And
where are we in terms of our acts of worship?
3.Not
being moved by the ayah of the Qur’an is yet another sign of the Weakness of
Iman.
We
hear and read the words of the Quran but seldom relate to its meanings. The
promises of Paradise or its warnings of Hell do not touch our hearts.
Its commands and prohibitions, its descriptions of the Day of
Resurrection are not taken into the seriousness that it involves. The one who is
weak in faith gets bored when he hears the Qur’an being recited, and cannot
continue reading it. Whenever he opens the mus-haf, he soon closes it again.
Not
remembering Him often or making dua’, such that dhikr or remembrance of Allah
swt becomes difficult, and when we raises his hands to make dua’, we quickly
lower them again. A difference between those of faith and the hypocrites is that
of remembrance of Allah swt.
Allah
swt has described the hypocrites in
Surah
Al Nisa 4:142
“…
and they do not remember Allah but little.”
Another
example.
5.Falling
into sin and commit haraam deeds with ease.
Without
any hesitation or reservation we fall into sins. Persisting in our sins to the extent that the sins become a
part and a habit for us. And where
we commit sins openly? The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) “All of my Ummah will be fine
except for those who commit sin openly, an example of which is a man who does
something at night, and when morning comes and Allah has concealed his sin, he
says, ‘O So-and-so, I did such and such yesterday.’ His Lord had covered his
sin all night, but he has uncovered what Allah had concealed.” (Reported by
al-Bukhari,). Sinning without ease and with no remorse or repentance for it.
Physically
this weakness manifests as anxiety, mood swings and depressions that weighs a
man down. Irritability sets in and he has no tolerance. The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) described faith when he said, “Iman is
patience and tolerance”
The
heart that harbours love for fame, desire for leadership without understanding
the serious responsibility involved, stinginess and greed, malicious enjoyments
of the failures of others can not share abundance of Iman in the same heart.
Two
important aspects that affect us not just on an individual basis but
collectively as an Ummah are:
1.
Not feeling any responsibility to work for Islam
2.
Lack of concerns for Muslims.
Islam
and spreading of its message is our duty. The attitude of the Companions of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who as soon as they entered
this religion felt this responsibility right away, for example, al-Tufayl ibn
‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him), who became Muslim and went to call his
people to Islam straight away. He was only a new Muslim but he felt that he had
to go back and call his people to Islam, and he went and did this.
Today after being committed to Islam for several years we still hold
ourselves back for fear, for thoughts of being considered old fashioned “ out
of the loop ”, for rejection and being able to Fit In. It comes from the
sickness of the heart.
Lack
of concern for the welfare of a brother Muslims is lack of faith. Whether it be
by making dua’, giving charity or helping them. A person with weak Iman has a
distant attitude towards the oppression, suppression and disasters suffered by
his Muslim brothers in any part of the world, be it Palestine, India, Bosnia,
Iraq and others. And is content
merely with his own safety because this world is everything to him. This is the
result of weak faith. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
said: “The believer’s position in relation to his fellow believers is like
that of the head to the body; the believer feels the pain of his fellow
believers as the body reacts to the pain suffered by the head.” (Musnad
Ahmad, 5/340).
Do
we feel the pain, the torment, and the oppression? Do we feel the hunger, the sense of loss and the hurt?
Do
we feel angry when the limits set by Allah are violated?
We
don’t feel this anger because the flame of zeal has been extinguished in his
heart. One no longer takes action
to stop evil, or guides evildoers to do good deeds, or denounce wrongdoing. We
seldom get angry for the sake of Allah. The Messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) described this heart ravaged by weakness in the
Hadith: “The heart will be subjected to trial after trial, and there will
appear a black stain on any heart that is affected, which will spread until the
heart is completely black and sealed, as it were, so that it will not recognize
any good deed or denounce any evil, except whatever suits its own desires.”
(Reported by Muslim, no. 144).
InshaAllah
we shall talk about strengthening our Iman in the next Khutbah.
Innalláha Wa malaaikata yusallúna Alan nabi. Yá ay yuhal latheena ámanu sallú alayhi wasalli mú Tas leema.
Alláhumma salli alá Muhammad, wa ala áli Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali Ibrahim, innaka hameedun majeed Alláhumma barik ala Muhammad, wa ala áli Muhammad, Kama barakta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali ibrahim. Innaka hameedun majeed.
Second Khutbah:
Strengthening our Iman.
We need to value that we are Muslims. No other creation has been as blessed as us, and no other
creation is shielded by Allah’s Mercy as we Muslims are. Allah swt bestowed us
with His best blessings and made us the Ummah of the Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him). He granted
this special favor, this high honor and privilege to us. He guides whom He wills.
Allah swt mentions in Surah Noor 24;46
……..and Allah guides whom He wills to a way that is
straight.
For us to strengthen our Iman we must
1.
Reflect on our relationship with Allah swt and His
commandments
2.
Reflect internally as believers
3.
Reflect externally in our community
Reflecting on our relationship with Allah swt.
There is none that can increase our Iman
except Allah swt. He alone shares
that personal relationship between a slave and Himself. Can we claim that we love Allah swt and His Prophet SAW in
the manner where we can taste the sweetness of faith?
We need to turn to Him in sincerity
and humility and ask. Sincerely
pray for Iman -making dua to Allah swt to renew and strengthen our faith with each prayer.
Allah's messenger Rasool Allah
SAW taught us that Faith is never static. It increases
and decreases, or waxes and wanes. It is our responsibility to assess where our
faith is, and make it our duty to constantly work towards improving it.
Allah
mentions in Surah Al Fath – 48:4
It is He Who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the
Believers, that they may add faith to their faith;- for to Allah belong the
Forces of the heavens and the earth; and Allah is Full of Knowledge and Wisdom;
Faith increases with obedience and
decreases with disobedience.
We should make every effort to obey
Him and avoid disobedience. By doing this Allah swt will make it easy for us to
strengthen our Iman.
Allah swt already blessed with His guidance through the example of
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Quran. We need to implement
those obligations and strive to increase our Iman. So how can we strengthen our Iman? We should
begin…………..
1. With our daily prayers, not for a day but a sincere commitment
and duty to Allah swt make it the part of our daily lives. Praying as if you are
seeing Allah swt in front of you and pray as if this is the last one of your
life.
Confide in Allah and humble oneself before Him. The more we humble
ourselves before Allah, the closer we become to Him. The Messenger of Allah
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The closest the slave can be
to Allah is when he is prostrating to Him, so make lots of dua’ then.”
(Reported by Muslim, 482)
2. Reading the Quran, even if it takes 10 minutes a day.
We should make an effort to read and ponder the meaning of the Qur’an.
There is no doubt that it contains a powerful and effective cure.
Allah says Surah Al Isra17:
82:
We send down (stage by stage) in the Qur'an that which is
a healing and a mercy to those who believe:
3. Remembering Allah swt often. Even
though our hands are occupied keep that heart attached to your Lord.
Take the opportunity to remember at home with family or in the halaqa
here.
The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “No people sit
together remembering Allah, but the angels surround them, mercy envelops them,
tranquility descends upon them, and Allah mentions them to those who are in His
presence.” (Saheeh Muslim,)
Are our deeds in accordance with Allah swt? And will he accept these deeds. Do I find the time to do good?
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked his Sahaabah: “Who among you got up fasting this morning?” Abu Bakr said, “I did.” He asked, “Who among you has attended a funeral today?” Abu Bakr said, “I have.” He asked, “Who among you has fed a needy person today?” Abu Bakr said, “I have.” He asked, “Who among you has visited a sick person today?” Abu Bakr said, “I have.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “No man does all of that but he will enter Paradise.” (Reported by Muslim)
We
need to self-evaluate on a constant basis.
Umar
ibn al-Khattaab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Take account of
yourselves before you are called to account.”
Evaluate
internally in terms of our lives, our deeds and our end.
Do acts such that our end is a good one and where Allah swt is pleased
with us. As The Messenger (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Remember often the destroyer of
pleasure, meaning death.”
Reflect externally in our community
We need to get involved in our community.
We need to be known as Muslims and take part in all our community
activities and for those in need. As
Muslims we need to unite as people, make dawah and reach out with the message of
Islam. It is our responsibility to
share this message of Islam with non-believers.
We need to attach our hearts with the believers and express enmity
with those that our enemies of Islam. We need to be loyal and sincere to Islam
and we need to care for our brothers in Islam and any and every way we can, even
if it is by dua or sharing of your wealth or voicing your opinion.
We need to think beyond ourselves and think collectively as an Ummah.
O Allah, we ask You by Your beautiful Names and magnificent
Attributes to renew the faith in our hearts. O Allah, make faith appear
beautiful to us and adorn our hearts with it, and make kufr, sin and
disobedience abhorrent to us. Make us of those who are rightly guided. Glorified
be the Lord of Might above what they ascribe to Him. Peace be upon the
Messengers and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
Al hamdilillahi rabbil alameen irRahman irRaheem, Malik al yawm ad-deen. Wassalatu Wasallam ala Sayyidina Muhammad bin Abdullah Khatamul Anbiya wal Mursaleen.