There is no turning away of the needy in Islam. One who is not able to give anything must at the very least offer comfort and consolation with their words.
There is no turning away of the needy in Islam. One who is not able to give anything must at the very least offer comfort and consolation with their words.
Regard honouring others as a favour and honour the needy in a sense of gratitude. Do not forget that “surely Allah is He [Who] accepts what is offered as charity”. (See 9:104)
As for friendship with Allah, it is contingent upon defeating the ambitions of the carnal self. Those who befriend their carnal desires are deprived of the friendship of Allah.
Acts of worship have their set times. Belief and servanthood, however, span a whole lifetime.
Even if a person possessed the whole world and reached the pinnacle of material wellbeing, nothing can fill the void which deprivation of belief leaves in their soul.
No matter how many righteous deeds we may have, we must seek refuge in the mercy of Allah. For our good deeds are in as much need of acceptance as our prayers are.
The wise person is one who sacrifices the fleeting to earn the eternal. One who is deceived by the world and sells their Hereafter is heedless. And one who sells their Hereafter for the world of another, is a fool.
The duty of the human being is to constantly remember mortality and the Hereafter. Otherwise, their inner world will turn into a cesspool of carnal ambition.
There is no harm in worldly affairs when the heart is with Allah. But with a heart which the hustle and bustle of the world has left heedless, even worship has its shortcomings.
The Straight Path is a path leading to Allah Almighty. The guide along this path is the Messenger of Allah. Disloyalty to the Messenger of Allah is the greatest disloyalty.
The sincere tears of those who enter the garden Divine love are a fountain of repentance that washes away sins and purifies hearts.
The failure of deeds to engender favourable effects in one’s morality and way of living is a sign of their insincerity.
The Prescribed Prayer keeps the servant away from vice and wickedness. It is sufficient that we look at how much we are able to avoid sin, in order to determine whether or not our prayers are acceptable.
Children who are deprived of spiritual learning and who are not trained in accordance with the Qur’an and the Prophetic example will be claimants against their parents on the Day of Reckoning.
The most precious time is the time between the past and the future – the present. This is because the pages from the past are shut, while what the future contains is unknown.
What caused Satan’s banishment from the Divine presence was not a lack of or deficiency in knowledge or deeds, but his insolence. This is why the most excellent virtue which destroys Satan is good manners.
A person cannot be both pious and coarse, ill-natured and disobliging, for the essence and spirit of Islam is Divine unity and oneness with respect to belief, and good manners and compassion with respect to action.
Good manners is like the fragrance of a rose that enlivens the spirit. This scent should pervade our spiritual being and be felt at every stage of our lives.
Piousness, renunciation and righteousness is not abandoning the world, but, as in the case of Prophet Solomon, upon him be peace, it is refusing to allow love of the world to enter into one’s heart.
Everything in this world is known through its opposite. As hate is the opposite of love, hating those things that are disliked by Allah is a requirement of loving Him.
Allah is with us wheresoever we may be. He is closer to us than our jugular vein. The important thing is who we are with.
Pride, arrogance, self-conceit and carnality are the cancers of the spiritual path. This is why Satan fell to ruin where he once held a high station.
If we want to see our level on the spiritual path, we should look closely at our state and actions.
As impossible it is for the sun not to provide heat, is it also impossible for noble spirits to be deprived of compassion.
The believer must be a key to goodness and a deadlock to evil. For working to prevent falsehood is as much a requirement of belief as is working for the exaltation of truth and goodness.
Detachment, in one’s heart, from those who do not merit the love of Allah is as much a precondition of sound belief as is loving Allah and those loved by Him.
The entire capital of those who depart from this world, whether they depart as sultans or slaves, is whatever they send in advance from this world.
Just as the virtue of the Prayer is its being performed at the earliest possible time, the virtue of spending in the way of Allah is in its being undertaken at the very first opportunity, without delay.
Fellowship in Islam is like two hands that wash each other. The precondition of such fellowship is to be not a burden but a helper.
Servitude to Allah is a must until the last breath. This is why an emigration from the heedlessness of ignorance to the character of Allah’s Messenger is necessary at every moment.
We must never forget that so long as we are unable to feel the responsibility of our fellow believers on our own shoulders, we will not be able to easily account for our own actions.
We must all engage in critical self-reflection and strive to clear our Account before we are brought to reckoning in the Divine Court.
A cause of light in the heart is a believer’s frequent self-criticism and their being able to see their own faults before those of others.
It is easy to spend in the way of Allah in affluence. For this does not strain the carnal self. That which is difficult is to be generous in times of need. To be able to give from those things that we love in times of prosperity.
Belief arises from affirmation of the Divinely-revealed truths with the heart and declaration with the tongue. Belief is acceptance in advance, not with the mind but with the heart.
It is easy to bring to reason one who is aware of their own ignorance. The true feat is to bring to reason those stubborn fools and arrogant sophists who deem themselves scholars.
The Straight Path is the path leading to Allah. The guide along this path is the Messenger of Allah. Disloyalty to the Messenger of Allah is the greatest disloyalty.
Prophet Musa, upon him be peace, entreated Allah saying, “O Lord, where can I seek you?” Allah Almighty declared, “Seek me near the brokenhearted.”
The means leading to union with Allah are as numerous as the breaths of beings in the universe. The most excellent path to achieving this [union] is to free the heart, the focus of the Divine Gaze, from all its worries.
Sufism is the endeavour to remove all the barriers to servanthood and to attain perfection of belief through every possible means leading to such servitude.
Sufism is the ability to live in the best possible way, in accordance with the Qur’an and the Prophetic Practice, in utmost sincerity, piety, perfect goodness and vigilant awareness.
The pleasure the Messenger of Allah derived from spending in the way of Allah was such that it made him forget his own hunger. He would not dream of eating himself without first feeding the hungry from among his community.
It is stated in a Prophetic Tradition: A person dies as they have lived and is brought back to life as they have died.” (Munawi, Fayd al-Qadr, V, 663)
Miserliness is taking refuge in one’s wealth instead of taking refuge in Allah Almighty. It amounts, at a certain point, to one’s idolising their wealth and possessions. While it is Allah Almighty Who bestows that wealth.
Let us offer our Prayer in the consciousness that Allah sees us though we do not see Him, that our Prayer be for us an Ascension.
Acts of worship are like vitamins for the spirit. They are a means of spiritual resistance against the viruses of sin which pull a person away from their Lord.
It is essential that those who enjoin truth, goodness and righteousness must first be truthful and upright themselves. For one cannot offer anything with an empty cup.
There can be no psychiatric ailments in a society where the Prescribed Prayer is offered in humble, devoted reverence. Similarly, there can be no social eruptions in a society wherein the prescribed annual alms and charity is offered.
The Prescribed Prayer is a kind of ‘moral report card’ for the believer. One who does not avoid sin and wrongdoing despite offering the Prescribed Prayer should re-evaluate their prayers.
Death is not just an appointment made with the elderly. Every creature that is born is a candidate for death. That being so, age is of no consequence when it comes to preparation for the Hereafter.
Death comes to a person in accordance with the quality of their spiritual disposition: for the believer a blissful festival morning; for the unbeliever a harrowing journey of torment.
‘Ali, may Allah be well pleased with him, says: “One cannot reap roses from a field sown with thorns.”
‘Ali, may Allah be well pleased with him, says: “Islam is sufficient for you as a worldly bounty, worship as preoccupation and death as lesson.”
‘Uthman, may Allah be well pleased with him, says: “The greatest loss is a long life lived without one’s having prepared provisions for their journey to the Hereafter.”
‘Umar, may Allah be well pleased with him, says: “Reduce your worldly desires that you may live in freedom. Reduce your sins that death be easy for you.”
Falsehood rises where truth falls silent. Remaining silent when one is in a position to defend the truth is to become a tongueless devil.
The most distinguishing characteristic of a Muslim is their nobility of character and person.
Our aim ought to be leading our lives in accordance with the guidance of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. All other roads are dead ends.
Our truest path is to follow in the footsteps of the Messenger of Allah in the faithfulness of a shadow to its object, and to strive to emulate him in every way.
The Qur’an and the Prophetic Practice are the greatest mirror of guidance into which a believer needs to constantly gaze in order to correct their mistakes and wrongdoing.