Al-Hijr’s Thoughts Of The Day

During the British occupation of India, in the final years, a Junior officer had an argument with a layman Muslim, during the argument the Junior officer slapped the Muslim, so the Muslim guy got angry and he retaliated by slapping him back.

So the junior officer got annoyed as they were not used to people hitting them back specially by low class poor people, so Junior officer goes to his Senior officer in the army and he says to him:

“The Muslim are posing a threat to us, today this man slapped, tomorrow another will slap you, so if we don’t take control now, things might go out of hand, so if you give me the permission I will go with the rest of the soldiers and sort him out good”.

The Senior officer was an intelligent person, so he said to Junior officer:

“No, you will not do any of the sort, do exactly what I tell you to do”.

So he went to one side of the office where the safe was, opened the safe and took out 50,000 rupees, which was a lot of money at that time. He gave it to Junior officer and said:

“Do me a favour, go to the that person you slapped and apologise to him and say to him it was an argument and due to heat of the conversation you got angry and slapped him and he slapped you back, and that you are both even. Tell him you want to repay him by the money given by the Senior officer”

So the Junior officer went and did what his Senior officer told him and said to the Muslim man:

“Go and buy a house, a flat and one Riksha”.

The Muslim man was overjoyed, very happy and thinking what a good and generous man the officer was. So he went and bought a house for 30,000 rupees and a Riksha for 20,000, he was overjoyed with his new found wealth.

So after one year the Senior officer called the exact Junior officer to his officer and told him:

“Do you remember 12 months ago that Muslim man who slapped you?”

The Junior officer replied “Yes”.

So the Senior officer said “Go and call him at once, for I am calling him”.

So after 12 months, you can imagine the state of the Muslim man, very happy with his house and riskha and he comes back. The two officers are there, so the Senior officer tells the Junior officer:

“I want you slap this Muslim man now.”

The Junior officer says “Slap him for what, there is no valid reason to slap him?”

The Senior officer tells him “Do what you are told, I am telling you to slap him”.

The Muslim is standing there and the Junior officer slaps him and he goes down on the floor. A year ago, the scenario was different, when he was a poor person he stood up and fought back.. But once he was given that 50,000 rupee, his hands were tied, his mouths were sealed and he became subservient. He just looked at the officer in the room and just gave him a dirty look, and that was it, no retaliation at all.

So the Superior officer said “This is how you win the hearts of these people, this is how you rule these people, you don’t fight back, there is an art of controlling the Muslims and this is how you do it”

Extracted from a talk by Sheikh Mohammad Sindi

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The story above demonstrates the cheapness of one’s Iman, and how a beleiver can compromise their deen, sell a chunk of there right for a worldly gain.

In a hadith the Prophet saw mentioned how some could be a believer in the day and become a disbeleiver by night.

We must take the lesson that there is no compromise in the deen, and those that sell out for a chunk of dunya, will be the loser on the day of judgement!

May Allah increase our Iman and keep us steadfast in the deen, ameens.

There are ten useless matters:

1. Knowledge that is not acted on
2. The deed that has neither sincerity nor is based on following the righteous examples of others
3. Money that is hoarded, as the owner neither enjoys it during this life nor obtains any reward for it in the Hereafter
4. The heart that is empty of love and longing for Allah, and of seeking closeness to Him
5. A body that does not obey and serve Allah
6. Loving Allah without following His orders or seeking His pleasure
7. Time that is not spent in expiating sins or seizing opportunities to do good
8. A mind that thinks about useless matters
9. Serving those who do not bring you close to Allah, nor benefit you in your life
10. Hoping and fearing whoever is under the authority of Allah and in His hand; while he cannot bring any benefit or harm to himself, nor death, nor life; nor can he resurrect himself.

However the greater of these matters are wasting the heart and wasting time. Wasting the heart is done by preferring this worldly life over the Hereafter, and wasting time is done by having incessant hope. Destruction occurs by following one’s desires and having incessant hope, while all goodness is found in following the right path and preparing oneself to meet Allah.

How strange it is that when a servant of Allah has a [worldly] problem, he seeks help of Allah, but he never asks Allah to cure his heart before it dies of ignorance, neglect, fulfilling one’s desires and being involved in innovations. Indeed, when the heart dies, he will never feel the significance or impact of his sins.

Imam Ibn ul Qayyim al Jawziyyah