THE PROBLEM OF DESPAIR AND THE GOSPEL OF EMANCIPATION

 

 Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

APPENDIX 2

 

THE PROBLEM OF DESPAIR AND THE GOSPEL OF EMANCIPATION

 

In many human beings the consciousness of past sinfulness creates a sense of despair—sometimes involving great severity—as to the possibility of their moral emancipation; and it can actually damage their prospects with respect to moral reformation, unless they are offered some principle that may ensure to them that the evil spiritual consequences of their past sins could be washed away, enabling them to build up a healthy moral life with hope and confidence and serenity, and without any lurking sense of past guilt that may disturb their moral enthusiasm.

The Holy Qur’an has supplied that principle in its teaching that sincere repentance (taubah)^[1] brings immediate forgiveness from God which washes away the spiritual stains of guilt. It says:

“O you who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentence:

Belike your Lord will expiate from you your misdeeds …” (66:8).

 

The fact is that doubtlessly the commission of sins leads a person farther and farther away from moral purity. But once a person performs taubah, i.e., repents truly and with all the force of his personality, his latent will for the good is revived and activised, reinforcing his moral fibre. This is what we learn from the story of Adam, the father of humanity. The Holy Qur’an attributes his entanglement in the Devil’s deception not to deficiency in knowledge but to deficiency in will. It says :

“And verily We made a covenant of old with Adam, but he forgot: and We found in him no firm resolve ^[2] (in that affair).” (20:115).

 

The wrong which Adam pbuh had committed was of an innocent type, consisting, as it did, not in moral turpitude but only in error of judgment. But even so, it did not repeat itself, because his repentance brought about the tazkiyah, i.e., purified him of the deficiency in his will, as we read in the Holy Qur’an:

“Then Adam learnt from his Lord words (of penitence), and He relented towards him; for He is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.” (2:37).

 

The Attribute of God as ‘Oft-Returning’ (Tawwab) in the above verse is expressive of the Islamic teaching that God’s attitude towards the sinners is one of continued mercy and compassion. Persons with weak will but a good heart may relapse time and again from their commitment in respect of taubah. But they should not lose heart. Rather, they should re-affirm their taubah with greater determination, each time they fail, and keep up the exercise for their firm establishment on the path of virtue. For that they will have to return again and again to the seeking of God’s mercy; and they will not fail to get it, because God is Oft-returning, Most Merciful.

Besides inviting to Repentance, the Holy Qur’an has also stated the law:

“Lo! good deeds annul ill deeds: Be that the word of  remembrance to those who remember (their Lord).” (11:114).

 

However, the following proclamation forms the greatest Message of Hope even for the worst sinners, provided they repent truly and start their life in conformity with the Divine Law:

“Say: ‘O My Servants who have transgressed against their souls! despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: verily, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Turn you to your Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (Will), before the Penalty comes on you after that you shall not be helped.” (39:53-54).

 

     Indeed, evils already committed can be blotted out, with regard to the spiritual effects on the human personality, if: (a) an evil-doer repents truly, and (b) wages a determined struggle for pursuing Good in Submission to God.

g

---

[1] The act of taubah is actually three-dimensional, because it consists of: (1) sincere acknowledgment in one’s heart of the wrong committed; (2) firm establishment in one’s consciousness of a proper estimate of the evil nature of that wrong and the consequent dissociation from it; (3) firm resolve in respect of avoiding its commission in the future. As such, it might be termed as a ‘contract with the future’.

[2] “wa lam najid lahu ‘azma” in the Arabic text may also mean: “and We did not find in him determination (to disobey) “—implying that Adam’s act of eating from the forbidden tree was not voluntary, and, consequently, Adam’s sinlessness was not impaired in spite of that act.

Source

to be continued . . . . . 

Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times

Internal Purification and Islamic Spirituality The Forgotten Path

Islamic Spirituality - The Forgotten Path

 

A lecture delivered by Maulana Imran Nazar Hosein

at the Maulana Abd al-Aleem  Siddiqui Masjid, Singapore

In order for the heart to accommodate the truth, the heart must now be cleansed and purified. This is called, Tazkiyah  or internal purification. After the heart has been purified and the heart is turned to Allah ﷻ then Allah ﷻ will put nur into the heart. Now you can see what other wise you could never see. The 24th  Sura, an-Nur  [The  Light],  verse  35 is the most important verse  of the Holy Qur’aan teaching  us the methodology for spiritual growth. Teaching  us the way through which we can learn to see with the internal eye when we are spiritually mobilized.

Allah  is the Light of the heavens and the earth.

The example by which you could understand His light is that of a niche in the wall where you used to put a lamp before the electricity came.

In that niche in the wall there is a lamp. Abdullah ibn Abbas Radiyallahu anhu said that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that that mishkaat or niche is not in the wall. Its here in the chest and in that space within the chest there is a lamp. I can’t do it now but when you teach this lesson, you turn off the lights and you light an oil lamp. All the children will look at the lamp and they will never forget that lesson for the rest of their lives. This is the way to teach it.

The lamp has a glass around it.

The glass is so spotlessly clean that it glitters like a shining star.

So the process of internal purification is to look to see the stains on the glass within your own heart and start to cleanse them, purify them and wash them out. The process of washing away the stains on the glass is first of all to recognize that we have committed sin. Secondly, to turn away from the sin; this is called tauba. When you turn you must turn with sincerity. Don’t turn in the day and turn back at night. [The 66th Sura, at-Tahreem (the Prohibition, verse 8]:

Turn away from the sin. Turn to Allah and do it with sincerity

Having turned away from this sin, there must be regret in your heart for what you did. [Nafsul lawwama  reproaching]:  ‘How could I ever  have  done that?  I am ashamed of myself. O My Lord! Kindly put a cover over the sins I have committed because I am ashamed of them.’ Weep for the things you did yesterday. Now you must commit yourself, never again to return to them. When you give your word, keep it. Then one last thing remains. You must spend the rest of your life teaching others, helping others, guiding others, warning others, that they do not walk on that path of sin. If you do that, then Allah ﷻ is prepared to forgive all sins. He wipes it away and the glass becomes clean. Sometimes we think the stain is gone, like in the case of lust. In fact it is not gone and still more work remains. How will I know that the stain remains? Dreams! In my dream I will commit the sin again. So that dream is telling me that the stain is still there so go back and wash. After the  glass  has been cleaned  and the  stains  have  been removed  then the  Holy Prophet ﷺ said that these hearts they catch rust. The dust accumulates.  So in addition to cleaning you also have to keep on constantly polishing. What is the polish for the glass? The Holy Prophet ﷺ   said the polish is zikr.

Source:  Islamic Spirituality - TheForgotten Path

 to be continued  . . . .