The Absent Root of Faith

Know, my son—may Allah guide you—that Allah does not love to have anyone else in your heart with Him! This is not a hidden matter; rather, Allah declared it, and His Messenger affirmed it. Allah does not accept associating anyone with Him in worship, neither an angel nor a sent prophet. The evidence for this is His saying: "And [He revealed] that the mosques are for Allah, so do not invoke with Allah anyone" (Quran 72:18). And in the Hadith Qudsi, Allah says: "I am the most independent of partners. Whoever performs a deed associating others with Me in it, I leave him and his polytheism" (Sahih Muslim).

Here, the matter is general, encompassing everything. Meaning, you do not embark on your work thinking it's for Allah, but you're actually seeking benefit from it in the eyes of your boss, or perhaps to deserve compensation from people. If you do this, you step out of the circle of love, because the essence of work should be solely for Allah, whether it's the work you make a living from or the one you serve the public with.

The essence of this is worshipping Allah. Therefore, just by allowing wishes to sneak into your heart, whether it's for good (like seeking promotion) or even for evil (like indulging in unlawful earnings), you forfeit the pleasure of love.

You might ask: What harm is there in not forgetting my share of this world?

I say to you: Your share of this world is the result of your care for Allah's share of your work. If Allah were your sole objective, the world would come to you in its finest form, kneeling before you.

I'm always astonished by the people of Allah when some of them fall into an error that might divert them from His care, even though they are among those already favored by Allah's mercy!

They say: "We do this for Allah, so if it brings calamities, we won't do it... We don't need those virtues!" If you truly do it for Allah, then adhere to silence, because Allah is the one who facilitated goodness for you and took you by the hand towards it. So it's incumbent upon you to endure the harm resulting from this deed, because the deeds of goodness are not perfected except through the trials of evil.

Because goodness is a direct battle with Satan... and one of you must prevail. The people of Allah always prevail if they are sincere. But between entering the battle and achieving victory, there are days, months, or even years of harm and suffering. Otherwise, how would victory have meaning?

If you want to be among the people of goodness, know that they endure the harm of its completion. So the lowest levels of goodness are when you engage in a battle with yourself to compel it to charity and help the needy; this is financial jihad. And the highest levels of goodness are those in which you repair the earth and cultivate it.

Just as falsehood has strength to protect it, so does the truth have strength to protect it. You must learn when to use the power of truth and when it uses you!

Do not fear the blame of a blamer in Allah's eyes... so when you're summoned to the Angel of Death and stand before him as a believer, expecting reward, calmly accepting your fate, having never consumed anything forbidden, nor fallen into doubt for a moment in your life, and having never left a needy person without aiding them in the trials of life, your limbs will testify for you, and the earth will testify for you with its gravel and soil, and every place you have inhabited in it will bear witness.

So do not associate anyone with Allah, and do not turn to anyone besides Him, for He is the Protector and Supporter, Exalted above all, with no equal in His sovereignty, and His sustenance flows abundantly throughout eternity!

 

 

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