Tuesday 22 June 2010

Need a favour?

Do not take upon the favour of the one who bestows,
Upon you a bounty then reminds you of it.
And choose for yourself what you have been given,
And be patient for verily patience is a shield.
The reminder of favours by people is, upon the hearts,
Is more hurtful than the tips (of swords).



Intention is a fundamental part of doing good in Islam. The Imam is saying that if one ever does a good deed it should only be done to achieve God’s pleasure and not to win the praise or favour of the person you are helping out.
This point is made clearly in the Qur’an when Allah says:
“O you who believe! Do not render in vain your Sadaqah (charity) by reminders of your generosity or by injury, like him who spends his wealth to be seen of men, and he does not believe in Allah, nor in the Last Day. His likeness is the likeness of a smooth rock on which is a little dust; on it falls heavy rain which leaves it bare. They are not able to do anything with what they have earned. (2:264)
This also works the opposite way too. If ever you need help then you should go to someone who does it for God and won’t expect something back from you. This will save you from exploitation and make sure you are dealing with a God-fearing individual.

Sunday 13 June 2010

Diseases are from three things

Three are they the causes of destruction for humans,
And call the healthy to diseases.
Alcoholism, too much lovemaking,
and eating food upon food.

The Imam was an accomplished doctor as well as a Jurist, and he was often mistaken as a doctor by other doctors who were always very impressed by his deep knowledge of the human body.
His advices of giving up alcohol and not overeating are easily acceptable and have vast amounts of medical research to back them up. As for his advice about too much lovemaking, there are different medical and psychological opinions on the matter, and the advice varies from person to person. But by and large, if lovemaking overtakes other more important things in ones life then this can clearly be from the "causes of destruction for humans". Medically the opinions are more murky but once again there is evidence to suggest that one can do more harm than good by over-stretching oneself.

Monday 7 June 2010

The harvest of innovation

Mankind don’t stay on the straight path for long without falling into innovation,
By inventing things in the religion from their minds that the prophets were not sent with.
To the extent that most of them didn’t care for the religion of Allah,
And were occupied with what they took up in its place.

Thursday 3 June 2010

The bad characteristics of society

There is only plotting and flattery to be found in society,
They are a thorn if you touch them, and a flower if you look upon them.
And if necessity forces you to live amongst them,
Then be like fire perchance the thorns might be set aflame.

The meaning of this poem is that when one comes across evil people and is forced to live amongst them, then one should be constantly alert and not be afraid of being retaliatory to open animosity from someone.
The analogy used sums this up beautifully. If someone is like a thorn to you, and is causing you harm, then you should be like a flame to this thorn. If a thorn is placed in a flame then the flame is unaffected while the thorn burns to a crisp. Thus we should conduct ourselves in a way that we don’t leave ourselves open to harm from evil people.
But at the same time lets remember that fire is a vital tool in the hands of the adept. This means we must make ourselves useful and helpful towards those who need it as well as burning the thorns.

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Visiting the Ill

A man came to Shafi’i and told him that his friend was ill. Shafi’i replied: “By God you have done me good, and woken up my honour and turned away from me the lie-ridden apologies.” Shafii was referring to the case where he would later have had to apologise to his friend for not visiting him and his friend might have suspected that he was lying and had knowingly not visited.
Then Shafii said:

To walk barefoot full of pain, upon hot sand in Dhu Tawa, is easier than to give a friend a lie-laced excuse.

Then he said:

I find tranquillity in the correct upon doing it,
And it is a hard day upon me if I intentionally left it.
And you are well-blessed if you are not seen as a liar,
And your saying “I didn’t know” is very difficult.
And whomsoever fulfils the rights of the neighbour after the right of his cousin,
And his close friend, be he in any situation.
Then he shall live as a leader of the people  and sweet will be his remembrance amongst society,
And if a calamity befalls him then they will come willingly.

Looking out for our brothers and sisters is an important part of being part of the Muslim Ummah and visiting the ill forms part of this duty.
And if we do this duty well, then we will be well-mentioned and well-remembered, and people will want to come to our help when we are in need.