Weigh Your Emaan Before It Is Weighed Al Meezan - 3 9 th August 2015 23 th Shawwal 1436 A.H.
Al Meezan (3) Acquiring knowledge is the most beloved deed to Allah after the obligatory acts. It causes delight to the person. He will understand what Allah His lord loves and hates. And hence, It is made obligatory upon each and every one of us. We always seek refuge from being amongstthe those )ضالين( Daa leen ) who Allah sent astray and are angry عليهم( with MaghdoobiAlayhim)everyday )مغدوب in every prayer of ours. And did you know that both of these descriptions are related with knowledge? Who are the عليهم They? مغدوب are those who earned the knowledge, but didn t act upon it. Therefore, it is important to acquire knowledge as well as be guided. Some people fear acquiring knowledge fearing they won t be able to act upon it. But if one is given the privilege of gaining knowledge but doesn t take it, he will fall among.ضالينthe May Allah protect usall. So we have to keep in check of our heart now, that we acquire the knowledge and benefit from it (by acting upon it) so as to not to fall in any of the two categories above. And it is one of the biggest favors of Allah that He has blessed us to learn about Him, His Names and His religion. But if we show ungratefulness; the blessing will be taken away from us. Our gratitude is a means of increasing our knowledge. And if we do so, the satan will have no authority to overpower us In sha Allah. One of the righteous people dreamt that, there is a big arsh set on water and a voice is calling out to him saying I am your Lord, and there is no fasting, prayer etc. upon you anymore. If someone has no knowledge they will fall for the (whisper of the Satan). And that s how knowledge saves a person from misguidance and Bi dah (Innovation in the religion). Knowledge is important so we don t fall among the people of ضالين and مغدوب عليهم (those who Allah sent astray and are angry with). The most important thing we should acquire knowledge about arethe 6 pillars of Imaan. And one of them are the Day of Judgement and within it The Scale (Meezan) especially because it is considered as one of the horrors of that day for which we have to prepare for. And why is it considered as a horror of that day? Because the Prophet (salallahualaihiwasallam) will be standing there for intercession and the angels will be standing with fear of the Meezan (scale), even when the person sees his evil deeds, he will wish there was the distance of east and west between him and his deeds. So let us prepare ourselves with deeds that will be heavy on our scale and pleasing to Allah. Things that will be weighed in the Meezaan (scale): The slave himself, he will be weighed, but not according to his weight or strength, but according to the weight of Imaan in his body. There could be a fat man weighed but his weight in the Meezan (scale) will not even be as much as the wing of a mosquito. The second thing that will be weighed is; The deeds of the person. Allah is able to give forms to the deeds. From the moment the person is put in his grave, his good deeds will come to him in a form of a good looking person (if he was righteous in this life). The following ahaadeeth are evidences that deeds will be given forms:
1. The Prophet (salallahualaihiwasallam) said, Nothing will be heavier on the Day of Resurrection in the Scale of the believer than good manners. Allah hates one who utters foul or coarse language. *Sunan At-Tirmidhi] The most beneficial thing on the Day of Resurrection will be a courteous behaviour which will outweigh all good actions. But that will be witnessed in case of a believer as there is no question of weighing a non-believer s good actions. 2. Abu Malik Al-Harith bin Asim Al-Ash'ar (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that: The Messenger of Allah (salallahualaihiwasallam) said: "Wudu' is half of Salah; the utterance of (Alhamdulillah - all praise belongs to Allah) fills the Scales of good actions; the utterance of (Subhan Allah wa Al-hamdulillah) (Allah is far removed from every imperfection and all praise belongs to Allah) fills the space between the heavens and the earth, and Salat (prayer) is light; and charity is the proof of Faith; and endurance is light, and the Qur'an is a plea in your favour or against you. Every person departs; he either ransoms it or puts it into perdition". [Muslim] The scale is so huge that the heavens and the earth can be weighed in the scale, so the word Alhamdulillah fills the scale when you say it with heart, with love for Allah. Whenever the true believer goes through any situation in his life he will always say Alhamdulillah. He will say it with love for Allah (azzawajal), in submissiveness of his Qadar(Fate) to His Lord. It should be based with how much you believe in Allah and His perfect attributes and how much you re grateful for His blessings in your life. No body can perceive how much weight this word (Alhamdulillah) has. 3. Abu Umama said he heard Allah's Messenger ( may peace be upon him) say: Recite the Qur'an, for on the Day of Resurrection it will come as an intercessor for those who recit e It. [Sahih Muslim] 4. Abu Umaamah (r.a.) said he heard Allah s Messenger (sallallahualaihewasallam) say, "Recite the Qur aan, the two shining ones, Surah Baqarah and Surah Aale Imran, for one the day of resurrection they will come as two clouds or two shades, or two flocks of birds in ranks pleading for those who recite them. 5. Omar (r.a.) narrated, that the Prophet (sallallahual aihewasallam) said: The deeds will be boasting on the Day of Judgement, and the Sadaqah (charity) will say I am the best of you. *SahihTargheed+ All of these ahadeeth prove that whatever we will be doing in this Dunya (world), be it even a single utterance, it will be put for us on our scale on Day of Judgement. Another thing that will be weighed on the meezan (scale) are our records. The records the angel on our left and right have been writing. Every one of us will have the Bitaaqa (card) of LaaIllahaIlla Allah, but how many of us fulfill ALL the conditions of this statement with sincerity, humbleness, truthfulness, love, etc.? Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Al-Aas narrated that the Messenger of Allah (salallahualaihiwasallam) said: Indeed Allah will distinguish a man from my Ummah before all of creation on the Day of Judgement. Ninety-nine scrolls will be laid out for him, each scroll is as far as the eye can see, then He will say: Do you deny any of this? Have those who recorded this wronged you? He will say: No, O Lord! So He will say: Do you have an excuse? He will say: No, O Lord! So He will say: Rather you have a good deed with Us, so you shall not be wronged today.
Then He will bring out a card (Bitaaqah); on it will be: Ash-haduanlaailaahaillallahwa ash-haduanna Muhammadan abduhuwarasooluh (I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and I testify that Muhmmad is the His slave and His Messenger). He will say: Bring your scales. He will say: O Lord! What good is this card next to these scrolls? He will say: You shall not be wronged. He said: The scrolls will be put on a pan (of the scale) and the card on (the other) pan; the scrolls will be light, and the card will be heavy, nothing is heavier than the name of Allah. [Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Hadeeth No. 2639. Graded saheeh by Shaikh Al-Albani in SahihSunan At-Tirmidhi, Hadeeth No. 2639.] Many people nowadays are taking this hadeeth as a evidence that we do not need to pray or fast etc, as long as we are Muslims and say the Testimony of Faith (Shahada) ShaykhFawzan (r) said: Whoever saying LaaIllahaIlla Allah without knowing its meaning, it will not benefit him. And whoever says it with knowing the meaning, and believes, but having no actions done to imply it, it will not benefit him. So for those people who take the bitaaqa hadeeth as evidence, claiming that just uttering the shahada (testimony of faith) without proof (salaat,siyaam,etc). Now after having to know this, we hope that our Shahada has weight with Allah; Now how can we attain the heaviness of the Shahada? Let us first start by knowing and understanding the meaning of it: Negation- The meaning of LaaIlaahaIlla Allah is not that there is no God but Allah, rather it is No one DESERVES to be worshipped except Allah. Because to Allah belongs the perfect attributes and Names. Ibraheem (AlayhisSalaam) says to his father in ch.19 verse 42 What is the attribute of the perfect God in this verse?
The one who is All hearer, All seer and the One who can benefit you. It means Ibrahim (alayhis salaam) brings to his fathers attention to, that the One who he is worshipping cannot even benefit him in anyway. But this does not negate the existence of Gods (because there are people who take trees as Gods, the sun the moon, statues, etc as Gods), but rather it negates the eligibility to worship other Gods beside Allah. For example: I see someone knowledgeable and admire her. But LaaIllahaIlla Allah will do what to me? It will tell me that, even Though she is good, knowledgeable, is perfect in some aspects. This is considered humanly perfection, which Allah has blessed upon her, and if you compare her knowledge with Allah s knowledge of the hidden, the secrets etc..she knows nothing compared to what Allah knows. This will make you Love Allah even more and glorify Him. Hence, the LaaIllahaIlla Allah will expel everything/everyone from ones heart. Negation - I am negating any God that deserves to be worshipped with love and magnification and I am affirming this to Allah who deserves my love and magnification because Allah is perfect and anything other than Allah is deficient and in need. And the proof for above is AyatulKursi; the greatest ayah in the Quran in chapter 2 verse 255 Allah (azzawajal) has introduced His Noble self to us. As, Allah! No One deserves to be worshiped but Him The scholars have commented that if one wants to know the greatness of Allah; then he should read the attributes of Allah from the beginning to the end of this verse. Let us compare these attributes of Allah in this verse, with other Gods; 1. Al Hayy (the Ever Living): the other Gods, they are either dead, or they wil die. Do they then deserve to be worshipped/attach our hearts to? But Allah! He is ever living, and he will never die, to Him belongs the perfect life, He doesn t need anything. 2. Al Qayyum (self sufficient)- he is in no need of anyone or anything, rather everything else is in He is self-sufficient, he is rich, he is discharging the affairs of everyone, he is over all his creation. Is there any other God like that? Are they in-charge of me? Are they self-sufficient? They are in need of sleep, food, drink, they are in need of Allah to keep them alive! Do they then deserve to be attached to? 3. He doesn t slumber nor sleep: because of his perfect life, no slumber, nor sleep can overtake Allah (azzawajal), whereas other creation needs to sleep, they are deficient.
4. Intercession belongs to Allah: no one can intercede with Allah for me. No matter how righteous is he except with Allah s permission, if Allah is pleased with me and my intercessor (those who are monotheist) so for those who are committing shirk, there is no way for them. 5. Allah knows what will happen in this world and the hereafter: do the other Gods know the secrets of the unseen? Do they know what will happen in the hereafter? Some Gods don t even have a mind to think! Even we are better than them, then how can we take them to be worshipped? 6. To Allah belongs everything in the heavens and the earth: now bring your Gods. Do they own anything in the dominion with Allah? They have no share in anything in this world or the hereafter! Allah concludes the verse by saying: Never fatigue touches Allah in guarding the heavens and the earth and He is the Most High the Most Great. Ayat al Kurs is the greatest verse because it makes you love Allah and attach your heart to Him, because there is no one in comparison with Allah, Who is free of need, Who is Rich..Ever Living. The word LaaIllahaIlla Allah will not be well established in our hearts, nor benefit us, nor give us fruits UNLESS we know who Allah is. Our problem is that we do not know who Allah is, because if we did, we will not disobey him, rather love him with utmost love, magnify Him more than anyone or anything in this life. Don t distract your heart here and there, having it to be attached to someone other than Allah, rather direct your heart to Him, Who is the Most High, The Most Great, who is up thee in the Heavens and put all your needs at His gate, because Only He is the one who is going to help you, protect you and mend your heart. And Allah isn t the ones who needs our worship, we do, as Allah says in Surah Dhaariyaat: Now, after knowing the meaning of LaaIllahaIlla Allah. We have to know that the Laa - has two roles in my life. a. It expels my heart from all attachments. It clears my heart to love/attach to anyone but Allah. It means that my heart will only love Allah the most. And how do we achieve this? Allah will make us go through situations in our life that will make me apply this Laa in my life. Why does Allah make you through trials and distresses in your life? Because He wants you to stay at His gate and ask Him and no one else. He wants you to turn back to Him, He is helping you apply the Negation of the LaaIllahaIlla Allah. b. It protects my heart from magnifying anyone more than Allah in my life. What is the meaning of Allah?
He is the owner of all the divine attributes, which are perfect attributes of Mercy, attributes of majesty, attributes of greatness, attributes of beauty, attributes of reverence Therefore, he the one deserves to be worshipped and no one else. Sunnah: It was narrated that Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saw me moving my lips and he said to me: What are you saying, O Abu Umamah? I said: I am remembering Allah, O Messenger of Allah. He said: Shall I not tell you of something better or greater than your dhikr of night and day or of day and night? You should say: Subhan Allah adad ma khalaqa, subhan Allah mil a ma khalaqa, subhan Allah adad ma fi l-ardwa l-sama, subhan Allah mil a ma fi l-samaiwa l-ard, subhan Allah mil a ma khalaqa, subhan Allah adad ma ahsakitabuhu, subhan Allah mil akullishay in (Glory be to Allah the number of what He has created, glory be to Allah filling what He has created, glory be to Allah the number of what is in earth and heaven, glory be to Allah filling what is in heaven and earth, glory be to Allah filling what He has created, glory be to Allah the number of what is written in His book, glory be to Allah filling all things); and say Al-hamduLillah likewise.