This is another lecture that also took place in DXB, but this time, it was Shaykh Azhar Iqbal (disciple of Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad Naqshbandi) who gave the lecture. I can't remember when it took place; probably a couple of months ago. I do have the sound file; it's over 50 MB though, so if anyone wants it, let me know. =) The lecture was in Urdu, but these are some *slightly* comprehensive notes I took in English. I would also like to thank Brother 3umr for the Riwaya of عبد الله ابن المبارك رحمه الله; it has been taken from his blog post entitled, 'The Lady who Only Spoke Quran' - ربي يجزيه كل خير في الدنيا و الآخره.
I will be translating a lecture series titled, "Ailments of the Heart", by Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad Naqshbandi, shortly. It will cover subtopics such as anger and jealousy, along with other ailments of the heart.
PS. The formatting's gone whacked, but I dare not touch anything else, for fear that everything will wipe out. If there's anyone that cannot stand messed up formatting, it's me..but I can't help it right now..sorry! If anyone wants the MS Word document, lemme know!
Diseases of the Heart: Vengeance
In general, defiance against Allah’s Commands and Rasulullah’s Sunnah is what is known as sinning. Their disobedience can either be done in public or in private, yet Allah sees EVERYTHING that transpires. Allah says in Surat Al-An’aam, verse 120:
وَذَرُواْ ظَـٰهِرَ ٱلۡإِثۡمِ وَبَاطِنَهُ ۥۤۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَكۡسِبُونَ ٱلۡإِثۡمَ سَيُجۡزَوۡنَ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَقۡتَرِفُونَ
Thus, sins can be categorized as being either:
1. ظاهري : those that are apparent and one is almost aware of when he is sinning – e.g.
fornication, drinking, theft, etc.
2. باطني : those that are well-hidden, and might not constitute of any apparent action – e.g. vengeance, jealousy, etc.
Vengeance is such a grave sin that as per Hadeeth, all those who seek forgiveness on Laylatul Qadr will be granted it, except those who have a grudge, bear enmity, or hatred for another believer in their hearts. This entails that vengeance is such a fatal disease that as long as it exists in the heart, one’s prayers and forgiveness is made void.
Initially, someone takes something that was said or done to his or her heart, and if he or she dwells on it, it takes over one’s heart, almost like cancer. In the process, it makes attaining the Closeness to Allah IMPOSSIBLE. The path to finding the Nearness of Allah is one of love, which is why vengeance would be equivalent to Kufr. This is not to say that the person leaves the folds of Islam, but one renders all his Ibadah useless, as not only can he not attain forgiveness from Allah, but he is also void of his Nearness.
As per another Hadeeth, Rasulullah is reported to have said: when I sleep at night, I clear my heart free of all grudges, and this is my Sunnah; whoever acts upon it, will be with me in Jannah. According to another Hadeeth, the Sahaba were sitting in the company of Rasulullah, when another Sahabi passed by them. Rasulullah looked towards him and stated: “Look..there goes a dweller of Jannah.” The Sahaba were surprised; what was so special about this particular Sahabi? They all wished that Rasulullah had said that about them. One got up and followed him, with the intention that he would find out what it was that he did different than the rest; what it was that lead Rasulullah to distinguish him from the rest and call him ‘a dweller of Jannah’.
He requested for permission to stay for three days in his house, and was granted it. After three days passed by, he had not seen anything extraordinary on behalf of this Sahabi; nothing that the other Sahaba didn’t already do. So, he finally told him his purpose of staying for those three days in his company, and asked what it was that made him worthy of the glad tidings. After having admitted to have shortcomings in Ibadah, the Sahabi said that he had cleansed his heart free of all hatred and enmity against all those who had wronged him, despite the amount of pain they had all caused him.
The problems that could arise from vengeance are almost countless; the biggest being falling susceptible to hypocrisy. It isn’t necessary that one should show displeasure towards the person they hate; in fact, they could seem like the best of friends! A smile on the face, empty words of praise that have no meaning, yet a heart that harbors bitter enmity and hatred for something that he or she once said or did in the past. The following are clear signs of vengeance, and if one happens to have any of these, they should immediately rid their heart free of any grudges they might be harboring against others, and turn in repentance to Allah, asking for His Forgiveness.
1. You dig down DEEP for the person’s faults; it gives you GREAT satisfaction when he or she actually has the ill qualities you thought he or she had: if you’re going to scrutinize someone under a microscope, then there’s no doubt that you will faults in him or her. However, no human being is free of faults, and as per Hadeeth, the best wrong-doers are those who turn back to Allah in repentance. In the words of Rasulullah:
كل بني آدم خطاء و خير الخطائين التوابون
2. Your inner hatred for the person is so intense, that it gives you satisfaction to see him or her in trouble (sadistic nature): this falls under the first point; as per Hadeeth, if someone has repented for a sin that he committed in the past, and someone else blames and accuses him or her of committing that sin, [thereby bringing the person shame and reminding him or her of the wrong he or she has done], the accuser will NOT DIE UNTIL he is put in the same situation as the accused, until he or she commits the very same sin himself/herself. This is why It is crucial to abstain from bringing others’ wrongdoings into the spotlight, as if they have sincerely repented to Allah for them, one will only succeed in digging a pit for himself/herself.
3. Can NEVER say anything GOOD about the person: If your opinion was taken regarding the person, it will ALWAYS be something negative that you have strived hard to dig out about him or her. Supposing he or she has 100 good qualities and one bad one, you will ONLY remember the BAD one when you’re asked about him or her.
4. You will deem the person inferior to yourself, and look down upon him or her in contempt and disgust: this is extremely dangerous.
When Eesa Alyhis Salam went to the second, he asked him if he had any last wishes that could be granted in this lifetime. Having spent a righteous life, abstaining from all that was forbidden, he replied: ‘I just don’t want to be brought up with this man in the Hereafter.’ By ‘this man’, he meant the one who had not done a single good deed in his lifetime. After their death, Eesa Alyhis Salam was informed about their ends through Wahy: the first man (evil) was hopeful of Allah’s Mercy, and had expressed remorse and regret at his wrongdoings before his death; thus, he was granted Paradise. As for the second, he had deemed the latter inferior to himself, and had judged him according to what was apparent to him, and had clearly expressed aversion towards him and stated he didn’t want to be brought up with him; thus, he was sent to Hell.
5. You will consider and grab hold of every possible opportunity during which you could verbally inflict pain on this person: women are LARGELY guilty of this point. We are usually heard saying things like: “I gave her such an answer that would burn her heart to the core”. Yes, you might have burned her heart, but bought Jahannam for yourself in the process, و العياذ بالله! It is well known that the tongue’s wounds are far more detrimental to a person than those inflicted by a sword. The tongue can sever the strongest of ties, those of which cannot be severed by a sword. A single word repeated thrice by the tongue of an angry husband, can ruin years of effort put into a marriage in less than a second.
6. You backbite about that person at every opportunity you can get: this is such a grave sin that it has been deemed WORSE than fornication! Rasulullah is reported to have said
:
الغيبة أشد من الزنا
In another Hadeeth, the definition of someone who is "مفلس" or what can be translated in what we term as ‘broke’ in English, is not that of a person who has not a single fils on himself. Mufles is he who has unlawfully stripped people of their rights – be it through backbiting, slandering, cheating, etc. – and will undoubtedly have to pay them back in the Hereafter if he doesn’t ask for their forgiveness in this world. On Youm al Qiyamah, this person will have a mountain-load of good deeds, but one by one, people will come to this person and take from his Ajr, the dues that will compensate them for the rights he rid them of.
Another point worth taking note of is the fact that when one backbites, he or she tends to lie to reinforce his or her statements, in order to make them ‘believable’ by others. In this case, the person slanders the accused in his absence, that is, makes false accusations about something he or she never did or said, which is a very dangerous sin indeed.
Thus, Imam Abu Haneefah Rahimahullah used to say: “IF there’s anyone I should backbite about, and who is deserving of it, it would be my mother; I would be able to give her the reward I have received for my good deeds in return for all the trouble she went through for my sake. (I.e. to bring him into this world and bring him up to be the man he was) The word ‘if’ denotes that it is something impermissible.
7. You lose the sweetness of Ibadah, and are deprived of good deeds: a person becomes SO consumed over trying to take revenge from the one who has wronged him or her, that he or she spends all his time and life in figuring out and plotting the ‘best form of revenge’. There is no time to spare to engage in Ibadah or to increase the balance of good deeds. Not only does he or she engage in this vile sin, but also encourages others to do so, severing the strongest ties at times; thus, this is a CONTAGIOUS ailment of the heart.
This person is described as having lost in this world and the Hereafter.
خسر في الدنيا و الآخره
A believer’s nature is not vengeful, and neither does he or she bring others any harm; instead, a believer should be forgiving, and should wish for the best for all of Allah’s Creation, not just Man. “If you forgive Allah’s Creation, Allah will forgive YOU.”
Rasulullah was not of a vengeful nature; neither were the Sahaba, Tabi’een, or those that followed the Tabi’een. (تبع التابعين) In fact, none of our Aslaf were of a vengeful nature, and this lecture will be concluded with a few examples from their righteous lives.
As for Rasulullah, the renowned incident regarding the Key of the Ka’ba is clearly evident of his forgiving nature, as are countless other famous incidents that occurred during his blessed lifetime. Prior to Fat-h Makkah, Makkans did not spare him of any form of harm, yet he did not destroy them. Countless Sahaba were killed at their hands, yet Rasulullah did not vow any kind of revenge; instead, his reply was the very same that Yusuf Alyhis Salam gave to his brothers in the end:
لا تثريب عليكم اليوم
Have no fear this day!
As a result, the pagan Makkans embraced Islam in huge numbers. The fruit of Rasulullah’s perseverance and forgiving nature can be seen in the world today.
Before Fat-h Makkah, Rasulullah went to Uthman Bin Talha, the bearer of the key of the Door of the Ka’ba and asked him for it. His request was declined. Unable to worship Allah in solitude before heading back for Madinah, Rasulullah returned back with a heavy heart.
Coincidentally, after Fat-h Makkah, the Sahaba awaited to see who would be given the Key to the Door of the Ka’ba. They all individually anticipated that Rasulullah would definitely choose them; after all, who else could be deemed more worthy of such a great honor?! However, when the time came, it was handed over to none other than Uthman Bin Talha, and Rasulullah clearly reminded him of how he had deprived him of worshipping Allah before Fat-h Makkah. He told him he would not deprive him as he had done before. It comes as no surprise that the key remains in the very same family, having being passed down their generations until this day.
A great scholar by the name of Ali Hajweri Rahimahullah was once traveling on a ship; he had taken his cap off for fear that it would fly away with the wind – revealing his shaved head – and sat engaged in the Remembrance of Allah. A mischievous boy came around, having taken notice of the scenario, went up to him and smacked him on the head. This esteemed scholar refused to budge from his place, as he noted it would be a waste of his time. Time spent on catching the boy and telling him off would be better spent if he remained engaged in the Remembrance of Allah.
Having seen his reaction, the boy got fearless and kept slapping his head, so much so, that other people also got involved. Ali Hajweri Rahimahullah did nothing; he sat lost in the Remembrance of his Lord, oblivious of the ill-mannered people that surrounded him. As he sat there, it was though as someone had placed the sense in his heart: You sit here while this people ridicule you; if you want, with one fierce wind, we can blow this ship over and bring an end to them all.’ At that instance, he raised his hands up in supplication, praying: “Oh Allah! If you really do want to turn them over, then turn over the ships of their HEARTS [towards good].”
Vengeance is a deadly ailment of the heart, which the heart needs to be cleansed of immediately. Scholars of Tasawwuf say:
من عرف نفسه عرف ربه
It is only once the heart is rid of all these fatal ailments that one can seek the Closeness of Allah, and one can only diagnose these illnesses when one has control over their Nafs. Thus, it is ESSENTIAL that we all look into our hearts rather than point out faults in others. We need to find our own faults out, in order to eradicate their cancerous effect on our hearts and souls.
The best antidote for this ailment is Touba, or repentance to Allah. If one cannot cleanse his or her heart of this disease, then the LEAST he or she COULD do is ask for forgiveness from Allah for corrupting it. Not only is it the best remedy for that reason, but those that repent for their sins are loved dearly by Allah. It is stated in the Quran:
إن الله يحب التوابين
Verily, Allah loves those who repent.
During the time of Hassan Al-Basri Rahimahullah, there was once a young man who lived with his mother. This man was not only a habitual sinner, but he was also defiant. His mother used to beg him to ask Allah for forgiveness, but he paid no attention to her pleas. He continued to defy Allah’s commands until he fell terminally ill. His mother was sick with worry, and ran around from doctor to doctor with no results.
Eventually, while her son lay on his death bed, he began feeling remorseful about all that he had done, and the lack of good deeds that threatened to lead him to hell. He started crying about his wretchedness, and asked his mother to request Hassan Al-Basri Rahimahullah to come, so that he could ask for his forgiveness as well, as he defied him during his lifetime. He also requested that he lead his Salat Al Janazah, but when his mother ran tearfully to call him, Hassan Al-Basri Rahimahullah angrily turned her away, refusing to visit the dying man, and grant his last wish to lead his funeral prayers.
She ran back to her son, and told him of what the great scholar had said. The young man cried and exclaimed, “This is EXACTLY what I am worth; please tie a rope around my neck after I die, and trail me around the village so that everyone sees the result of sinners like me.” Saying this, his body and soul parted, leaving his crying mother by the side of her son’s body.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door. When she opened it, she was surprised to see Hassan Al-Basri Rahimahullah standing there. When she inquired, he said: “after you left, I went to sleep and dreamt that someone said to me, ‘Oh Hassan Al-Basri! What kind of Wali are you?! Another WALI of mine is DYING, and you refused to lead his Salat Al Janazah?!’ That is the reason why I stand before you right now; not only have I come here to lead your son’s funeral prayers, but also to inform you of the fact that Allah has ACCEPTED your son’s repentance!”
ALLAHU AKBAR!! There is NO EXTENT to Allah’s Mercy! Another incident that ties in perfectly with this whole lecture is that of an old woman who somehow got detached from her caravan, as they were making their way back from Hajj. Shaykh Abdullah ibn Mubarak Rahimahullah narrates: I left to perform Hajj at the House of Allah and to visit the grave of Rasulullah. As I was on my way along the outskirts I noticed something; it was an old woman wearing a woolen outer-garment and a face scarf.
I said: “Assalaamu-Alykm wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu”.
She replied: Salam (peace be on you) – a Word from the Lord (Allah), Most Merciful. [Ya-seen (36):58]
I said to her: “May Allah have mercy upon you! What are you doing in this place?”
She replied: …And whomsoever Allah sends astray, for him there is no guide. [Ghaafir (40):33]
From that, I understood that she was lost. I said to her: “Where do you want to go?”
She replied: Glorified is He who took His slave for a journey by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haraam to the furthest Masjid (in Jerusalem)…..[Al-Israa (17):1]
I gathered that she had performed her pilgrimage and was intending on visiting Bait’ul-Maqdis. I then asked her: “How long have you been in this place?
She replied: ...three nights, though having no bodily defect.” [Maryam (19):10]
I said: “I see, you don’t have any food with you to eat?”
She replied: “And it is He Who feeds me and gives me to drink. [Ash-Shu’raa (26):79]
I then said: “With what do you perform Ablution?”
She replied: ...and you find no water, perform Tayammum with clean earth …..[An-Nisaa (4):43]
I said to her: “I have some food, would you like to eat something?”
She replied: ...then complete your Saum (fast) till the nightfall…[Al-Baqarah (2):187]
I said: “It has been allowed for us to break our fast whilst we are traveling.”
She replied... And that you fast is better for you if only you know. [Al-Baqarah (2):184]
I said: “Why do you not speak to me the same way as I am speaking to you?”
She replied: Not a word does he (or she) utter but there is a watcher by him ready (to record it). [Qaaf (50):18]
I said: “Which people are you from?”
She replied: And follow not that of which you have no knowledge. Verily, the hearing, and the sight, and the heart of each of those ones will be questioned. [Al-Israa (17):36]
I said: “I have committed a mistake, so please excuse me.”
She replied: ...No reproach on you this day; may Allah forgive you...[Yusuf (12):92]
I said: “Would you like to ride upon my camel so that you may catch up with your group?”
She replied: ...And whatever good you do, (be sure) Allaah knows it. ….[Al-Baqarah (2):197]
So I made the camel sit down, whereupon she said: Tell the believing men to lower their gaze...[An-Noor (24):30]
So I closed my eyes and told her to sit upon the camel. As she was getting upon the camel, it stampeded causing her clothes to be ripped slightly.
Upon that she said: And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned…[Ash-Shuraa (42):30]
I told her to get on, she said: “Glorified is He Who has subjected this to us, and we could have never had it (by our efforts). And verily, to Our Lord we indeed are to return!”[Az-Zukhruf (43):13-14]
I took the rein of the camel and began to move quickly whilst at the same time yelling.
She said: “And be moderate (or show no insolence) in your walking, and lower your voice…[Luqmaan (31):19]
So I began to walk slowly whilst chanting some lines of poetry. Upon hearing me, she said: ..So recite as much of the Qur’a^n as may be easy…..[Al-Muzzammil (73):20]
I said to her: You have been given much goodness.”
She replied: But none remember (will receive admonition) except men of understanding.[Al-Baqarah (2):269]
As we walked some distance, I said: “Do you have a husband?”
She replied: O you who believe! Ask not about things which, if made plain to you, may cause you trouble…..[Al-Maa’idah (5):101]
I then remained quiet and did not speak with her until we arrived to her traveling group. I said to her: “This is your group, who is there from amongst them?”
She replied: Wealth and children are the adornment of the life of this world….[Al-Kahf (18):46]
From this I understood, that she had children. I said to her: “What is their role in the pilgrimage?”
She replied: And landmarks and by the stars, they guide themselves. [An-Nahl (16):16]
From this I knew they were guides for the traveling party. She then went towards the tents that were propped up. I said: “These are tents, which is yours amongst them?
She replied: ...And Allah did take Ibrahim as a Khalil (an intimate friend)! [An-Nisaa (4):125]..and to Musa Allah spoke directly. [An-Nisaa (4):164] “O Yahya! Hold fast the Scripture……” [Maryam (19):12]
I called out: “O Ibrahim, O Musa, O Yahya!” Out came young lads like moon’s shining, greeting us.
When they had sat down, she said: ..So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the town, and let him find out which is the good lawful food, and bring some of that to you……[Al-Kahf (18):19]
So one of them went, and bought some food and placed it in front of me. She then said: Eat and drink at ease for that which you have sent on before you in days past! [Al-Haaqqah (69):24]
I said: “Now your food is forbidden upon me until you do not tell me regarding her situation!” They replied: “She is our mother, and she has spent the last forty years speaking only by the verses of the Qur’an; fearful that she may slip, and fall under the wrath of the Most Beneficent.
I (Abdullah Ibn Al-Mubarak) then said: That is the Grace of Allah which He bestows on whom He is pleased with. And Allah is the Owner of Great Bounty. [Al-Hadeed (57):21]
سُبۡحَـٰنَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ ٱلۡعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ وَسَلَـٰمٌ عَلَى ٱلۡمُرۡسَلِينَ وَٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ
(Shaykh Azhar Iqbal)
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