“Be More & Achieve More!”

Welcome,

I’m going to relate to you a story of a group of people who wished the best for themselves and relied on their own capacities alone.

A long time ago there was a group of people who were preparing to go to sleep and dream about how they wanted to gather their harvest early in the morning. They had eagerly looked forwards to reaping the fruits of hard labour and resolved to gather the bounty at the break of dawn. When they awoke, they called upon each other to hurry towards the garden and to move quietly whilst doing so. When they arrived, they found the garden, to their great dismay and anguish, in utter ruins. But why? What had happened?

Well, let’s hear it from the One Who Knows all in His own Majestic words, Chapter 68, The Pen:

17. Verily We have tried them as We tried the People of the Garden, when they resolved to gather the fruits of the (garden) in the morning.
18. But made no reservation, (”If it be God’s Will”).
19. Then there came on the (garden) a visitation from thy Lord, (which swept away) all around, while they were asleep.
20. So the (garden) became, by the morning, like a dark and desolate spot, (whose fruit had been gathered).
21. As the morning broke, they called out, one to another,-
22. “Go ye to your tilth (betimes) in the morning, if ye would gather the fruits.”
23. So they departed, conversing in secret low tones, (saying)-
24. “Let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the (garden) this day.”
25. And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust) resolve.
26. But when they saw the (garden), they said: “We have surely lost our way:
27. “Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour)!”
28. Said one of them, more just (than the rest): “Did I not say to you, ‘Why not glorify (God)?’”
29. They said: “Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been doing wrong!”
30. Then they turned, one against another, in reproach.
31. They said: “Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed!
32. “It may be that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for we do turn to Him (in repentance)!”
33. Such is the Punishment (in this life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter,- if only they knew!
34. Verily, for the Righteous, are Gardens of Delight, in the Presence of their Lord.
35. Shall We then treat the People of Faith like the People of Sin?

So, these foolish and greedy people wanted to steal the fruits of not just their labour, but other people’s too, who had an equal share in reaping the rewards. And also, they had no inclination towards relying on the Sustainer, the Source of all Goodness, for their provisions but in their ignorance thought they had control over all aspects of livelihood.

But the right way is to remember that all our plan’s success depend on how much they accord with God’s Will and Plan. His universal Will is supreme over all affairs. The foolish men who had secretly plotted to rob the poor of their just rights were frustrated when their plan was foiled by the Greater Force. They were put into a position where they were unable to continue with their fraudulent mission, as a storm destroyed the fruits and trees and altered the place beyond recognition.

This is the spiritual reason behind a physical phenomena which often we do not see nor realise. We will think it an unfortunate matter of ‘nature’ that has nothing to do with anyone, or thing, in particular. But here, we are told that the deceptive, cruel and selfish motives of a certain bunch of people triggered the spiritual intervention that created the physical upheaval. The dreams of the selfish were destroyed because they thought they could cheat the poor of their share. Class struggle? Yes, the rich owners of the orchid did not realise the rights of the poor that they were trampling on so their greed was punished.

Their first thought was of personal loss, the loss their labour and the loss of their capital. They had plotted to keep out others from the fruits: now, as it happened, the loss was their own. When such greed is punished often people are ready to throw blame on others. With varying degrees of guilt, one had pointed out in moments of reflection that he had warned them of wrongdoing and defying the Will of God and the right of man.

The selfishness created an arrogance in them that they were the proud owners of the garden and this led them to forget God. However, once they realised their mistake some sincerely repented and hoped for a better exchange to what the previously had. This is the beauty of God’s Mercy: there’s always room for it if we sincerely draw nearness to Him and repent. If not, we are warned that the punishment of the Hereafter is much worse than what we witness here.

You may wonder “why do the wicked flourish?” God’s mercy is one of the reasons but there are others we can refer to:

1. the limited choice left to man’s will;
2. his moral responsibility;
3. the need of tuning his will to God’s will;
4. the long-suffering quality of God, which allows the widest possible chance of-
5. His Mercy &
6. in the final part, the nature of spiritual punishment, which is not an arbitrary act, but a long gradual process in which there is room for repentance at every stage.

All these aspects are represented in this remarkable Parable of the People of the Garden, which also illustrates the greed, selfishness and heedlessness of man, as well as his tendency to throw blame on others if he can think of a scapegoat.

All these foibles are shown, but the Mercy of God is boundless, and even after the worst sins and punishments, there may be hope of a better orchid than the one lost, if only:

• the repentance is true &
• there is a complete surrender to the Will of God.

And if there is no surrender of the will, then the punishment in the Hereafter is something incomparably greater than the little calamities in the Parable.

So now, think of the times and situations where such phenomena may have taken place in your own life, or in the lives of those you know or have heard of. Can you think of what the real reason might be, unknown to you at the time, of a particular case of misfortune befalling on anyone? It is not the nature of good people to wish bad for any other but we do need to learn the lessons of past mistakes and move ahead with a greater recognition of the universal order around us and the just rights of the people. You may now also begin to see the current global economic crises in a different way: the leaders of wall street and other major banking corporations have had to rely on government bail-outs which ultimately the people will have to pay for.

But the good will wait for their turn and are patient with testing times, for they understand that all affairs rest with Him above and know if they wish to have their dreams materialised, they must trust in God and surrender their will to His.

For Success & Contentment,

Asad Khan

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Greetings,

We, mankind, are created weak, hasty and ungrateful. We have learnt in the previous postings that when things go dead against us we do one of two things: (i) despair and give-up all hope; (ii) enter into prolonged prayers with the deity that we know to exist - the One who created the heavens and the earth and rests on His Mighty Throne above - but lack the proper knowledge to relate to Him. Why? because our base nature tends to seek Him and want His assistance and yet, attempting to be patient, grateful and resolve to persevere only comes with great character development and spiritual insight.

Then, when we are bestowed favours from above, we forget the Source of Goodness and assign the turn-around to our own abilities, or ‘luck’, or worse some false deity or spiritual force. And as the person continues along the path of good fortune he begins to develop a sense of self-sufficiency that quickly rises into a type of arrogance that we are all too familiar with.

But here I want to help you to link this state of arrogance with one other crucial feature: miserliness. You see, this self-conceited person who believes in his own abilities as being the sole power to shape his destiny becomes hard-hearted and shows the exact opposites characteristics of when he was in despair: “I have such and such, so much, and I managed this myself and hence who are you to ask me for anything? Go do it for yourself!” Might be the silent messages emanating from his conduct.

We have been looking at verses in Chapter 70 (Ma’arij, The Ascent) and I want to share with you a coiuple of other verses to put things into further perspective:

17: Inviting (all) such as turn their backs and turn away their faces (from the Right)

18: And collect (wealth) and hide it (from use)!

And so, as the great commentator A Y Ali say, the analysis of sin is given in four master-strokes, of which the first two refer to the will or psychology of the sinner, and the last two to the use he makes of the good things in life.

1. Sin begins with turning your back to the Right, refusing to face it squarely, running away from it whether from cowardice or indifference.
2. But conscience and the sense of Right will try to prevent the flight; the Grace of God, Allah, will meet the sinner at all corners and try to reclaim him; the hardened sinner will deliberately turn away his face from it, insult it and reject it.
3. The result of this psychology will be that he will abandon himself to greed, to the collection of riches, and the acquisition of material advantages to which he is not entitled; this may involve hypocrisy, fraud, and crime.
4. Having acquired the material advantages , the next step will be to keep others out of them, to prevent hoarded wealth from fructifying by circulation, to conceal it from envy or spite.

And so it is: In adversity man complains and get into despair. In prosperity he becomes arrogant and forgets other people’s rights and his own shortcomings.

So here is the simplest of formula to write but amongst the weightiest to enact:

Faith + Gratefulness = Righteousness + Charity (Benevolence)

As per the prophetic tradition, all children of Adam sin, but the best amongst them are those who repent and return to their Creator.

Most sincere people, the general do-gooders, are those who will have a strong sense of guilt when committing a sin and feel a strong tremble within when approaching that which is not proper. And even if this was recklessly repeated due to the weak nature, then this generally good and sincere person does his best to stay away from falling into the same trap. It is only those who refuse to believe that any wrong is being committed, they have deluded themselves into thinking that what is improper is actually valid and acceptable. They have become hard-hearted, deaf in the ears and blind in their sight, though they have a pumping heart, physical ears and eyes. The gap between the physiological function of these organs and their respective spiritual faculties has widened - this connection is lost.

Their central nervous system (CNS) no longer trembles at the idea of committing a sin - whether it be against their own person or against another - as this CNS does not have the same sensitivity or sensibility towards understanding virtue, morals, thoughts, intentions, deeds or habits.

It’s only with a real big JOLT to the CNS that a chance of self-awareness is created and the possibility of appreciation, gratitude and humility re-enters the emotional pattern. Otherwise, the person is far removed from such sentiments and it is no wonder that righteous conduct does not follow.

So what is righteousness you may ask. Let’s us see what the Divine instruction on this is. As well as 2:177, we have in the same chapter 70 that we been studying so far the following masterful insights and instructions:

Not so those devoted to Prayer;-

Those who remain steadfast to their prayer;

And those in whose wealth is a recognised right.

For the (needy) who asks and him who is prevented (for some reason from asking);

And those who hold to the truth of the Day of Judgement;

And those who fear the displeasure of their Lord,-

For their Lord’s displeasure is the opposite of Peace and Tranquillity;-

And those who guard their chastity,

Except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess,- for (then) they are not to be blamed,

But those who trespass beyond this are transgressors;-

And those who respect their trusts and covenants;

And those who stand firm in their testimonies;

And those who guard (the sacredness) of their worship;-

Such will be the honoured ones in the Gardens (of Bliss).

Prayer, Selfless-Sacrifice, Generosity, Probity, Chastity, True and Firm Witness, and the real consciousness of Higher Presence are the hallmarks of those who desire Peace & Tranquillity in this life and the Eternal Garden of Bliss in the next.

Does every man of them long to enter the Garden of Bliss?

By no means! For We have created them out of the (base matter) they know!

We are all on a journey and the emptiness, confusion and uncertainty of faith that pervades people’s everyday life comes from a lack of true knowledge. Hence the requirement of Divine Revelation to help put matters into the context of the actual Reality.

The animal part of man is nothing to proud of, and we know it. It is by spiritual effort, and long preparation through a good life that a man can rise above the mere animal part of him to his high dignity as a spiritual being, and his noble destiny in the Hereafter.

We all have our day-day experiences, some good, some exciting, others challenging and yet others still quite mundane and tedious. We have to learn to develop a greater awareness in order to make this journey peaceful and more importantly to ensure we safely arrive at the desired ultimate destination.

For Success and Contentment,

Asad Khan

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