Some examples of The Weakness of Faith (part 1)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم, الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله وسلم وبارك على نبينا محمد وآله وصحبه أجمعين, أما بعد
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful, All praises be to Allah, Lord of universe, peace and prayer of Allah and His blessing be upon our Prophet, Muhammad, his family, and all his companions.
After that,
Dear readers.
How do you do? Wish that you’ll always be in a faithful and steadfast state
This time, let’s introspect ourselves. Are we among those with a weak faith or not.
Some of the past time scholars said:
يقول بعض السلف : ” من فقه العبد أن يتعاهد إيمانه ، وما ينقص منه ، ومن فقه العبد أن يعلم أيزداد إيمانه ؟ أو ينقص ؟ وإن من فقه الرجل أن يعلم نزغات الشيطان أنى تأتيه ؟ ” شرح نونية ابن القيم لابن عيسى 2/140 .
“Among the understanding of a slave (about his religion) is that he always maintains his faith, and (protects it, -ed) from anything that might reduce it, and among the understanding of a slave (about his religion) is that he should recognize, whether his faith is increasing or decreasing? And Among the understanding of a slave (about his religion) is that he should recognize, from which direction will the evil temptation come to him?” (Taken from the “Sharh Nuniyat of Ibn al Qayyim”, by Ibn Isa, 2:140)
Examples of the One’s Weak Faith
a). Committing many wrongdoings, to the extent that he underestimates it and gets addicted to it!
When satan allures the son of Adam, he will never directly tell him to commit wrongdoing, but he will use plenty of tricks that in the end will push a man to commit it, and after that he will not left him but keep on tempting him thus he’ll commit it continuously, and finally he will get used to it and underestimate it, until he really gets used to it and even addicted to that sin!
It all started from a single wrong deed that he committed and underestimated!
عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ سَعْدٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- « إِيَّاكُمْ وَمُحَقَّرَاتِ الذُّنُوبِ كَقَوْمٍ نَزَلُوا فِى بَطْنِ وَادٍ فَجَاءَ ذَا بِعُودٍ وَجَاءَ ذَا بِعُودٍ حَتَّى أَنْضَجُوا خُبْزَتَهُمْ وَإِنَّ مُحَقَّرَاتِ الذُّنُوبِ مَتَى يُؤْخَذْ بِهَا صَاحِبُهَا تُهْلِكْهُ ».
Sahl Ibn Sa’ad -may Allah be pleased with him- said, the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said, “Don’t you underestimate the minor sins, as a clan who descended to a valley, and then one of them came bringing a piece of wood and others came bringing it too, until they were able to bake their bread. Indeed, when someone do the minor sins, it will destroy them.” (Narrated by Ahmad and classed valid in “Silsilah Al Ahadits Ash Shahihah”, no. 389).
A believer, upon seeing his sin, is not similar to a sinner who committed plenty of sins!
Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud -may Allah be pleased with him- said,
عَنِ الْحَارِثِ بْنِ سُوَيْدٍ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ حَدِيثَيْنِ أَحَدُهُمَا عَنِ النَّبِىِّ – صلى الله عليه وسلم – وَالآخَرُ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ قَالَ « إِنَّ الْمُؤْمِنَ يَرَى ذُنُوبَهُ كَأَنَّهُ قَاعِدٌ تَحْتَ جَبَلٍ يَخَافُ أَنْ يَقَعَ عَلَيْهِ ، وَإِنَّ الْفَاجِرَ يَرَى ذُنُوبَهُ كَذُبَابٍ مَرَّ عَلَى أَنْفِهِ » . فَقَالَ بِهِ هَكَذَا
“Indeed, a believer sees his sins as if he sat under a mountain that he feared that it would crash upon him, and a sinner sees his sins as a fly that perched on his nose”, then he waved it away with his hand.” (Narrated by Bukhari).
Some of the sins are consider as minor sin today, while it actually was among the sin of great threat according to the companions’ belief, -may Allah be pleased with them.
عَنْ أَبِى سَعِيدٍ قَالَ إِنَّكُمْ لَتَعْمَلُونَ أَعْمَالاً هِىَ أَدَقُّ فِى أَعْيُنِكُمْ مِنَ الشَّعْرِ كُنَّا نَعُدُّهَا عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- مِنَ الْمُوبِقَاتِ.
Abu Sa’id -may Allah be pleased with him- said, “Indeed, you have done affairs that you consider as thinner than a hair, whereas we in the past, at the time of the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- considered it among the destroying, major sins. ” (Narrated by Ahmad and classed valid by Al Albani in his work, “Silsilah Al Ahadist Ash Shahihah”, no. 3023).
If someone has done it often, he’ll finally get addicted to it and will not be shy in doing it and telling it before many people.
عَنْ سَالِمِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ – صلى الله عليه وسلم – يَقُولُ « كُلُّ أُمَّتِى مُعَافًى إِلاَّ الْمُجَاهِرِينَ ، وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْمَجَانَةِ أَنْ يَعْمَلَ الرَّجُلُ بِاللَّيْلِ عَمَلاً ، ثُمَّ يُصْبِحَ وَقَدْ سَتَرَهُ اللَّهُ ، فَيَقُولَ يَا فُلاَنُ عَمِلْتُ الْبَارِحَةَ كَذَا وَكَذَا ، وَقَدْ بَاتَ يَسْتُرُهُ رَبُّهُ وَيُصْبِحُ يَكْشِفُ سِتْرَ اللَّهِ عَنْهُ » .
Abu Huraira -may Allah be pleased with him- said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said, ‘Every one from my followers will be forgiven (of their mistakes) but those are being mujahir, and indeed, among the attribute of mujahir is when someone did a sin at night time, then he entered the morning while Allah the Exalted had covered up his sin, and then he said, ‘O so-and-so, last night I did like this and like this’, whereas his Lord had covered it but in the morning he uncovered the cover that Allah had put over him.'” (Narrated by Bukhari)
b). Paying No Attention to the Quality of his worship
Among the proofs of the weakness of one’s faith are:
- The aim of his worship is merely to finish it,
- merely to wear off his obligation,
- merely to have plenty of it
- and many other priorities according to him
But he doesn’t even care a bit for the quality of his worship, thus he’ll work on how to get the worship accepted, not merely performed it.
Allah the Exalted decreed,
إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ [المائدة: 27]
“Allah only accepts offerings from the God-fearing.” (QS. Al Maidah/The Table Spread: 27).
Because of this verse, Abu Ad Darda -may Allah be pleased with him- said,
لأن أستيقن أن الله قد تقبل مني صلاة واحدة أحب إليّ من الدنيا وما فيها، إن الله يقول: { إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ }
“Indeed, I, if I’m sure that Allah the Exalted has truly accepted one of my prayer, it is dearer to me than getting the world and whatever in it, because verily, Allah decreed, Allah only accepts offerings from the God-fearing.'” (See: Tafseer Al Qur’an Al ‘Azhim)
It was narrated that Ali Ibn Abi Thalib -may Allah be pleased with him- (died in year 40 H) said:
كونوا لقبول العمل أشد اهتماما منكم بالعمل ألم تسمعوا الله عز و جل يقول : { إنما يتقبل الله من المتقين }
“Try to concern more on how the deed will be accepted than on perform the deed, don’t you hear that Allah the Almighty decreed, (which can be translated as)’“Allah only accepts offerings from the God-fearing.” (QS. Al Maidah/The Table Spread: 27).
Fudhala Ibn Ubaid (died in 53 H) -may Allah be pleased with him- said,
و عن فضالة بن عبيد قال : لأن أكون أعلم أن الله قد تقبل مني مثقال حبة من خردل أحب إلي من الدنيا و ما فيها لأن الله يقول : { إنما يتقبل الله من المتقين }
“Indeed, if I knew that Allah has truly accepted from me an atom, it is dearer to me than the world and whatever in it, because Allah decreed, “Allah only accepts offerings from the God-fearing.” (QS. Al Maidah/The Table Spread: 27).
Ibn Dinar (died in 127 H) -may Allah have mercy on him- said:
الخوف على العمل أن لا يتقبل أشد من العمل
“Fear of an unaccepted deed is greater than perform the deed.”
Atha’ As Sulami -may Allah have mercy on him- said,
الحذر الاتقاء على العمل أن لا يكون لله
“Beware! Stay away from the worship which is not aimed for Allah.”
Abdul Aziz Ibn Abi Rawwad (died in 157 H) -may Allah have mercy on him- said,
أدركتهم يجتهدون في العمل الصالح فإذا فعلوه وقع عليهم الهم أيقبل منهم أم لا؟!
“I found them were being serious in performing righteous deeds, and if they’d done it, they felt restless, whether their deed were accepted or not?!.”(See: “Lathaif Al Ma’arif”, by Ibn Rajab Al Hanbali, page 232).
Dear readers…
There are many people who perform the night prayer….
There are many people who love to stay at the mosque….
There are many people who always come to the first row of the prayer…
There are many people who become scholars….
There are many people who always spend the charity and zakat from their wealth….
They are not wrong, all praises be to Allah, but what’s wrong is the one who does not perform the worship or does not concern about it’s quality.
To be continued, insha Allah
Written by Ahmad Zainuddin, LC
Article of www.WhatisQuran.com