Rajab: a very special month of seeking forgiveness

Alhumdulillah! How wonderful is this declaration. We use the plural even if we are performing Salaat by ourselves because we say “Nah’budu” and “Nasta’een”. It is this selfless person who has integrated into the larger body of the Muslims in the world who consciously acknowledges the Grace, the Sovereignty and the Propriety of Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala who says:

 “Iyyaka nah’budu wa Iyyaka nasta’een”.
“Thee only do we worship, and Thee only do we ask for help.” 

Once you make this declaration you are no longer confused in a world filled with confusion. You are free of the empty souls who are looking for meaning to their lives. You conform unto Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala the Most Exalted Creator of the heavens and the earth. It is the peak of hypocrisy for Muslims to verbalize  “Iyyaka nah’budu wa Iyyakanasta’een” and then to purchase weekly lottery tickets or to engage in other forms of gambling and Haraam earnings. Instead of placing all our faith in “Iyyaka nah’budu wa Iyyakanasta’een” we become willing participants to the evil powers of Shaytaan Lanatullahi alay.

This has become a conflict between what we say and what we do. When will we who profess to be true Muslims be able to say these words from the innermost depths of our hearts and place them in the context of today’s world? Beloved Ummatal Qur’an! When will we awaken from our meaningless verbalization of the beautiful Qur’anic words to meaningful actualization of the Qur’anic verses?

To say: “Iyyaka Nah’budu wa Iyyaka Nasta’een” is a very serious statement because we pledge to Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala that we will only take Him and Only Him Alone as an abiding source of all help and dependence in life and discard every thought of dependence on any other.Beloved People of Imaan! What does it signify when we repeat: “Ih’dinas Seerathal Mustaqeem” [Guide us on the Straight Path]. The Straight Path is the path that leads directly to Almighty Allah and it is the path trodden by all the Ambiya Alayhim Salaam. The Straight Path that we are praying to Almighty Allah is not the path devised by any particular race, community or by any particular religious group. No other term other than the “Straight Path” could have been chosen to signify the universal way of Almighty Allah Rabbul Ala’meen Who informs us in verse 153 of Surah Al-An’am:

The “Straight Path” has been there from the very beginning and is easy to traverse. It is by proceeding along that Path that the Ummah of Allah’s Beloved Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam have been promised a much better life in the Aghirah. From this it is clear that all those forces that cause division among mankind are not straight paths for they are factors for disintegration.

The Straight Path or the Path of Seerathal Mustaqeem, is the Royal Highway that aims to bring together a dispersed humanity and lead them into a single brotherhood united in Muhabbah and Imaam. The Most Holy Qur’an repeatedly draws attention to the success that awaits those who choose to follow the Straight Path, and gives an account in verse 137 of Surah Al-Imran of the sufferings brought upon those who discarded the Straight Path.

We are living in a time when the need to centre our lives on the Holy Qur’an is most urgent and compelling. Without this we will never discover our selves; we will never give meaning to our existence, and we will never find dignity in this world. More importantly, we will never please Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala. Without the Holy Qur’an, mankind too, will continue to slide from abyss to abyss. No one can honestly assert that he or she does not practice a religion, to say so would be equivalent to saying that one lives without an understanding of life, without a world view, without direction and orientation in life, without values and norms, and without preferences and goals. Almighty Allah informs us in verse 148 of Surah Al-Baqara:

 “Every man has his direction to which he turns”.

This means that every human being has a direction in life, which is his or her religion, a god that he or she worships and adulates, whether it is Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala – the Creator of the heavens and the earth Who is the only genuine object of worship and religious pursuit, or a god carved out by self-love, desire, delusion, ego, and fancy. Many people profess to subscribe to a certain religion, but their real religion is the one that actually shapes their lives and directs its course, and often it is different from what they verbally profess. One cannot have two religions at the same time. In the same way one cannot move in two directions at one time for Almighty Allah declares in verse 4 of Surah Al Ahzab:

“Allah has not assigned to man two hearts within his breast”.

The evil workings of Shaytaan is to make a human being turn the face of his or her heart away from the Straight Path. One of Shaytaan’s great masterpieces is to whisper into the minds of humans with nonchalant discourse and deceptive manipulations on the pretext that if the heart were to have a singular attachment one can succeed faster in curtailing worldly attachments. Verily, there are times in our lives wherein Almighty Allah sets gusts of spiritual opportunities going. We must look out and place ourselves in their path. Today is the day when the Divine Spiritual breeze has begun to blow.

Today is the best day for making Qiyam and for starting our journey on the Straight Path for the sake of Islah [reform]. Today what excuse do we have to offer before Almighty Allah? What is the weakness and impotence that has kept us away from the Straight Path? Difficult circumstances, trials and tribulations, hardships and traumatic events encountered during these difficult economic times are meant to test our real mettle, bringing out the best in us by challenging our conscience and energies.

Patience in the face of hardship, and gratitude in the case of good fortune, is good for a person because, at the end of it, he or she is promised a great reward and an eternal abode of sublime serenity and joy in Janna’h. The person who has complete trust in Almighty Allah possesses a calmness, a steadfastness that is part of his or her armour against the cruelties of life. And when death occurs, faith is not lost nor confidence shaken, for death is part of the scheme of things, and a Muslim’s attitude toward death is that everyone must sooner or later experience it.

Almighty Allah allows evil to exist alongside good for the same purpose: to test mankind and provide them with the opportunity to follow evil or good, as they so choose. We have the freedom to decide whether or not we will be evil, and we have to decide what to do about people who are. We can choose whether to gratify the desires of our own lower selves, or to put Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala before our desire for self-gratification.

The month of Rajab teaches us that it is the love of Almighty Allah Rabbul Ala’meen that unblocks the coldness, the bitterness, the ache of bereavement, the pain of loneliness and rejection, the hatred, the Fithnah, and the resentment of our ill-treatment by others. Maybe life is given to us specifically so that we can learn how to believe in Almighty Allah; how to love Him, how to serve Him, and how to love our fellow human beings and treat them with love, understanding and compassion. Our Beloved Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam said and I quote from Sahih Muslim:

  “You cannot believe until you love one another”.

In another Hadith (Abu Dawud)  he said:

 “Almighty Allah, the Compassionate One, 

                                                            He Who is heaven will show mercy to you”. 

May Almighty Allah Tabaraqa Wata’ala in His Infinite Mercy and Bounty, accept all our endeavours, forgive all our shortcomings and grant us the benefits of a good deed in this world, the reward of a good deed in the Aghirah, and protect us eternally from the suffering and the agony of Jahannum,