Seek Divine Forgiveness and Help

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

فَقُلْتُ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا 
    يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاء عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًا   وَيُمْدِدْكُمْ بِأَمْوَالٍ وَبَنِينَ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ أَنْهَارًا 
  

Nuh 71:10-12. and I said: "Ask your Sustainer to forgive you your sins - for, verily, He is all-forgiving!He will shower upon you heavenly blessings abundant, and will aid you with worldly goods and children, and will bestow upon you gardens, and bestow upon you running waters.

Seek Forgiveness from Allah and rely on Him for your needs

Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal, may Allah be pleased with him, a renowned scholar of Islam and a famous theologian, once was passing through a remote town.  Owing to his humility, he had not introduced himself to anyone. After salah, he wanted to stay overnight at the masjid, but the caretaker as a matter of policy ( and also not recognizing who he was) asked him to leave. Imam Ahmed tried to convince him to let him stay, but of no avail, and the caretaker literally dragged the aging imam out. A man, who worked as a baker, was passing by and watched this scene and (as any good Muslim should), offered to host him for the night.

While at the baker's place, the Imam saw him engrossed in his work, mixing and kneading the dough, tending the fire, and pulling loaves from the oven, all the while doing dhikr, especially Istighfar (asking for Allah's forgiveness).

The Imam asked the baker if he has experienced any blessings due to reciting the same, and the baker replied: "By Allah! No do'a (supplication) I have ever made has been unanswered, except one."
“And what is that do'a?” asked Imam Ahmed.

The baker responded: "To see the renowned Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal." Upon hearing this, tears welled up in his eyes as he disclosed to the baker, "I am Ahmed ibn Hanbal! By Allah! I was dragged to your place so that your do'a would be fulfilled."

The impact of istighfar

Someone complained to Al-Hasan Al-Basri about a drought, and he said to him: "Seek forgiveness from Allah. Someone else complained to him of poverty and he said to him: "Ask Allah to forgive you." Someone else had the concern of gardens going dry, and yet another had no children, and in all of these cases, Hasan advised the same "Ask Allah for forgiveness."

He was asked about this cure-all and he replied: "I do not say this out of my own accord, for does Allah not say in Surah Nuh:"
"Ask your Sustainer to forgive you your sins - for, verily, He is all-forgiving! He will shower upon you heavenly blessings abundant, and will aid you with worldly goods and children, and will bestow upon you gardens, and bestow upon you running waters.


A modern story, similar to that of Imam Ahmed, but about the power of do'a is narrated by Mufti Ismail Menk in the following video:

Seek wisdom

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

 

      يُؤتِي الْحِكْمَةَ مَن يَشَاء وَمَن يُؤْتَ الْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِيَ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلاَّ أُوْلُواْ الأَلْبَابِ 

Al-Baqara  2:269.. granting wisdom unto whom He wills: and whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted wealth abundant. But none bears this in mind save those who are endowed with insight. -.



Seek Wisdom from everywhere


When a great Sufi mystic, Hasan, was on his deathbed, someone asked him about his teacher.

He said, "I had thousands of teachers.Just to relate their names it will take months, years and we don't have enough time. But perhaps three of them might be of particular interest to you.

One was a career thief. Once I got lost and wandered into a remote village, quite late at night. Everyone was asleep and everything closed, but I saw a man trying to make a hole in the wall of a house. I summoned courage to ask him about a place to stay. He replied: "'At this time of night it is rather difficult to find a place, but if you don't mind staying with me, you are more than welcome."

And the man was wonderful company, and at his insistence I stayed with him for a month! Every night, he would say , 'I am going to work. You be comfortable, rest and pray.'  Every night he would come back empty handed, but would always say, "Tomorrow it will happen, Insha Allah." He never lost hope and was always happy.

When I was striving for years on end in my spiritual struggle, progress was slow.  At times I would get desperate, and wanted to give up, when I would remember the thief who would say every night, "Tomorrow it will happen, Insha Allah."

I was once by the banks of a river, and saw a dog struggling to drink water. He is the second teacher that I want to tell you about.  Whenever he looked into the river, he saw his own image and was afraid (thinking that there was another dog). His thirst was so much that eventually he overcame his fear and jumped into the water. The image (and the fear) thus disappeared and his thirst was quenched.  That taught me that God wants us to jump despite our fears. Only then will our longing be satisfied.

And the third teacher was a kid, who I saw walking to the masjid with a lit candle in his hands, to place it inside.

I thought of having some fun, and asked 'Have you lit the candle yourself?' He said, 'Yes sir.' And I asked, 'There was a moment when the candle was unlit, then there was a moment when the candle was lit. Can you show me the source from which the light came?'

And the boy laughed, blew out the candle, and said, 'Now you have seen the light going. Where has it gone? You tell me!'

That shook me, and made me realize that I was being arrogant, and worse, being arrogant about something that I had no knowledge of. The child with his simple reply had put me in my place.

Thus I learnt from everyone that I encountered, and each of them was like a pond or a pool where you can learn how to swim. And then you are able to swim in all the oceans of the world"

Allah knows what is best for us

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

      عَسَى أَن تَكْرَهُواْ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ وَعَسَى أَن تُحِبُّواْ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَّكُمْ وَاللّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ

Part of Al-Baqara  2:216,   It may well be that you hate a thing the while it is good for you, and it may well be that you love a thing the while it is bad for you: and Allah knows, whereas you do not know. !.


The Chinese Farmer (from a Tao/Zen tale)

A farmer who lived somewhere near the border in medieval China was somewhat wise. He had only one mare, and one day it ran away. The neighbors came to console him over his loss. The farmer said, "Who knows the wisdom behind it?". The people were rather surprised to hear his response, as they could not fathom how this could be in any way good.

A month later, the mare returned home,  accompanied by a pack of prize wild stallions. The neighbors were amazed, and somewhat jealous at the farmer's good fortune.  The farmer responded by saying, "Who knows the wisdom behind it?"

Few days later, the farmer's son, while trying to tame one of the wild stallions, was thrown off and broke his leg. The neighbors were distressed and felt sorry for the farmer, and his son. The farmer, even then, said, "Who knows the wisdom behind it?"

A week or so later, a war broke into the neighboring areas, and the Emperor summoned every able-bodied man to be sent into battle. All the youth in the village were conscripted for a potentially deadly battle, except the incapacitated son of this farmer. What do you think he would say now?


The Optimist Friend (from an African tale)

An African king had a close friend who was an eternal optimist, and would say "Alhamdulillah, it is for the best" at about every occurrence in life no matter what it was. Many people thought that it was bound to get him in trouble eventually. Since he would accompany the king everywhere, he was with him during a hunting expedition when an unfortunate mishap happened.  The weapon the king was holding misfired, and accidentally blew his thumb off. "Alhamdulillah, it is for the best", his friend exclaimed.

The king was rather upset at the suggestion, and feeling insulted and angry, ordered him to be sent back with a battalion and imprisoned while the king camped to be fit for travel back home.

Sensing the limited presence of soldiers, a tribe of cannibals attacked the camp and kidnapped the king under cover of darkness as a royal sacrifice for their gods (and followed by a royal meal).
They took him to their village deep into the forest, where they tied him up while readying a good fire to roast him with.  As their witch doctor came near to sacrifice him, he noticed that the king was missing a thumb, thus imperfect and not whole, and hence not fit to be sacrificed to their gods. So they untied the king and sent him on his way.

On the way back, the king had plenty of time to think, and full of remorse the king rushed to the prison to release his friend.

"You were right, that accident was for the best" the king said, while explaining what happened. He then apologized "I feel bad that I ordered you to be locked up.That was bad"

"Don't say that! Alhamdulillah,  it is for the best!" responded his delighted friend.

"Oh, how could that be good my friend, I did a terrible thing to my best friend?".

"Don't you see?" said his friend, "if you had not imprisoned me, I would have been hunting with you and they would have sacrificed me instead."

Never belittle or judge people

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

      يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَسْخَرْ قَومٌ مِّن قَوْمٍ عَسَى أَن يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِّنْهُمْ وَلَا نِسَاء مِّن نِّسَاء عَسَى أَن يَكُنَّ خَيْرًا مِّنْهُنَّ وَلَا تَلْمِزُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ بِئْسَ الاِسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِ وَمَن لَّمْ يَتُبْ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ  
 

Al-Hujurat  49:11 O YOU who have attained to faith! No men shall deride [other] men: it may well be that those [whom they deride] are better than themselves; and no women [shall deride other] women: it may well be that those [whom they deride] are better than them­selves. And neither shall you defame one another, nor insult one another by [opprobrious] epithets: evil is all imputation of iniquity after [one has attained to] faith; and they who [become guilty thereof and] do not repent - it is they, they who are evildoers!.

Never belittle or judge people

There was this old gentleman, in ordinary clothes, queuing up for security check at the gates of the banquet hall.  On clearing the metal detector and the physical search, he entered the banquet hall said “As-salaamu Alayikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh ”. He had yet to reach the Mercy of Allah (“Rahmatullah”) in his utterance, he was surrounded by the  guards and the Assistant Banquet Manager (ABM), who, not impressed by his attire, told the gentleman:
    “This is a closed event.  Are you aware that you cannot enter the banquet hall, unless invited?”
    “Oh, but I am….. Invited, I mean”, he said calmly.
    “Yeah sure, but the banquet is reserved for distinguished guests only, so may I please see your invitation?” they said, not believing him. After all, how come someone with such poor attire be a guest at the Sultan's banquet.
    “Actually, I am not carrying it with me,” he replied confidently.
    “So you are a distinguished guest?” the the ABM asked.
    “Well, no,” replied the old man.
    “Then you must be more than that, a diplomat perhaps?” asked the ABM he said, in a ridiculing tone.
    “No, not really”, said the old man.
    “So you are a minister, perhaps?”
    “No, not that too”.
    "Oho! So you must be the Sultan himself, sir," said the ABM sarcastically, obviously running low on his patience reserves.
    “No, I am sure I am not the Sultan!”
    “Hmm? So you must be higher than the Sultan?  But wait, nobody is higher than the Sultan in this land! Get rid of this beggar” so saying he signaled to the guards to get rid of him.
    “Now you have it,” he exclaimed, and everyone froze, “I am ‘Nobody!’” he continued.  Before anyone could make sense of what he had said, sounds of commotion were heard near the main gates, indicating the arrival of the Sultan.  Everyone ran to their respective positions, and the gentleman shrugged his shoulders and proceeded towards the exit.

Several hours later, a vaguely familiar guest was behaving rather strangely, dipping his cuffs in the punch-bowl.  As if that was not weird enough, he started ladling custard down the front of his rather dazzling brocade coat (with ivory buttons and semi-precious stones lining the epaulets).  Not only that, he put his turban on the banquet table and applied caviar on to it.
    The head-waiter rushed towards him, as if with the intent of offering him a juice or something to calm him down.  Suddenly in one swift, unexpected motion he picked and threw the bottle across the hallway, smashing it to smithereens. A hushed silence pervaded across the banquet table, as the attention of the Sultan was drawn to him.  We did not know what to expect, when the gentleman uttered:
    “Apparently the juice has taught the bottle to fly, but it has yet to teach it the the art of landing properly.”  Then addressing his coat and turban, he said “Thanks to Allah, you have had your fill.”
    So saying the merry gentleman, covered in all sorts of delicious sweetmeats excused himself from the table, when the Sultan addressed him, much to the surprise of all and sundry.
    “O Noble and August Shaykh Nasruddin, did anything displease you?”, asked the Sultan, with utmost respect.
    “No,” replied the gentleman, who, it seems was Nasruddin Hodja.
    “No, not at all, I was just feeding these robes of brocade for what is their right,” said he, rather nonchalantly.
    At this point, the Sultan asked “What could be the meaning of this, O Master of Masters?”
    He replied, “The banquet invitation was meant for these robes, for they were welcome here, and not I, when I came a while back without them”.
    So saying, he took leave and left.

Prepare for the Hereafter

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيم

     مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الْآخِرَةِ نَزِدْ لَهُ فِي حَرْثِهِ وَمَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الدُّنْيَا نُؤتِهِ مِنْهَا وَمَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِن نَّصِيبٍ 

Ash-Shura  42:20 To him who desires a harvest in the life to come, We shall grant an increase in his harvest; whereas to him who desires [but] a harvest in this world, We [may] give something thereof - but he will have no share in [the blessings of] the life to come.


A story attributed to Bahlool, the jester, and the Abbasid Caliph Harun, narrates that Harun had gifted Bahlool with a wooden staff, as a symbol of foolishness.  "It is meant for the most foolish person in the world. If you find a person more deserving of it than yourself, pass it on." Every time Harun and his entourage would see Bahlool carrying it with reverence, they would laugh at his stupidity and was hence a source of much amusement.

Fast forward to several years, with Harun at his deathbed, Bahlool came for a visit. This supposed conversation took place:

Haroon: "I am going to travel soon."

Bahlool: "Where are you going?"

Haroon: "Very far. To the Other World."

Bahlool: "How long will you stay there? When will you come back?"

Haroon: "I will never come back."

Bahlool: "Then you must have made special preparations for this journey. Did you send an advance welcoming party to take care of you once you arrive?"

Haroon: "Bahlool, everyone has to go there alone. And no I did not make any special preparations."

Bahlool: "But you used to send troops to make extensive preparations for you for even short trips of only a few days. Now you are going to a place where you will live forever but you have made no special preparations!"

Bahlool: "Can you postpone the trip, to make preparations now?"

Haroon: "No one can postpone it, once summoned."

Bahlool: "Did you know that you will have to undertake this trip?"

Haroon: "Yes, I always knew."  and then he wept.


Bahlool thought silently for a while, and then he said: "I think I have found the person more deserving of this staff" and he handed the "staff of foolishness" to Harun.

Remind ourselves and others constantly

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

    وَذَكِّرْ فَإِنَّ الذِّكْرَى تَنفَعُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

Az-Zariyat 51:55 Go on reminding [all who would listen]: for, verily, such a reminder will profit the believers.


It is said that once the slave Malik Ayaz became a close confidante of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, a powerful Muslim ruler, a lot of people felt jealous, and were always conniving to rid the Sultan of his influence.

Once they claimed that Ayaz had reportedly hidden stolen wealth in a secret chamber, which he visits everyday in secret.  The Sultan ordered the chamber to be broken into, and all they could find was a worn sheet and a pair of old leather slippers.

So, the Sultan summoned Ayaz to ask for the reason behind his strange behavior.

Ayaz replied, "Before I became your slave , those were my only possessions. But after joining your service I have been blessed with much. I am afraid of falling in to disobedience and pride, and so I frequently visit the room and gaze upon my old attire to remind myself of my humble origins. I always try to remember that whatever I have today is due to the favor of Sultan and it is all temporary. Then only I commence my work."