An external cause (khariji sabab) is proper upbringing. If man is correctly brought up from childhood, then this upbringing can be helpful in saving man from sin, but only up to a limit. The history of Islam bears witness to numerous individuals whose parents were evil and corrupt (fasiq o fajir), but, because of proper upbringing, their children became believing and pious persons. For example, when Yazid’s son Mu’awiyah sat upon the throne, he called his forefathers (ancestors) oppressors. He rejected the government and said that the right of this government belongs to the Ahlul Bait. When Bani Umayyah investigated how a person whose father was Yazid and whose grandfather was Mu’awiyah could be a lover of the Ahlul Bait, it was found that a believing teacher had trained him. Because of him, he became a lover of the Ahlul Bait. Similarly, Umar bin Abdul Aziz had the cursing upon Hazrat Ali (peace be upon him) stopped. (Umar bin) Abdul Aziz himself says that one day before my teacher I spoke badly about Hazrat Ali (peace be upon him). The teacher replied that in the Koran a lot has been said about Hazrat Ali. Furthermore, every father desires to marry his daughter to a noble person; Na'ozbillah, if Hazrat Ali (peace be upon him) was bad, then why would the Apostle of Allah marry his daughter to Hazrat Ali (peace be upon him)? This is proof that Hazrat Ali (peace be upon him ) was the best person in the universe. Here also the matter arises that proper upbringing can save man from sin; however, when the self is over-flooded, whether by wealth or greed for power, then proper upbringing also becomes useless. Therefore, only heartfelt faith can emancipate (liberate) man from sins.
The Result of all of the acts of
worship in Islam is Heartfelt
Faith (Iman-e-Qalbi)
Thus, the purpose of all the acts of worship Islam has prescribed is to attain heartfelt faith. As the Koran declares,
“And serve your Lord until there comes to you that which is certain” (Al-Hijr:99).
Certainty can only be achieved through worship, and certainty is related to the heart. Therefore, in order to attain heartfelt faith, man should pay as much attention as possible to recommended (suggested) acts. Among recommended deeds, there are some recommended deeds that not only strengthen man’s connection with Allah, but also erase past sins. As the Koran declares,
“And keep up prayer in the two parts of the day and in the first hours of the night; surely good deeds take away evil deeds; this is a reminder to the mindful” (Hud: 114).
Hence, some good deeds wipe out the effects of sins. The Koran again states,
“Keep up prayer from the declining of the sun till the darkness of the night and the morning recitation; surely the morning recitation is witnessed” (Al-Isra: 78).
In this verse the importance of the Dawn Prayer is described; commentators (announ-cers) say that this may mean that the lesson and all the special characteristics present in the other four prayers (Noon, Afternoon, Evening, and Night) are found in the Dawn Prayer. It is again stated in this chapter,
“And during a part of the night, pray Tahajjud [Midnight Prayer] beyond what is incumbent on you; maybe your Lord will raise you to a position of great glory” (Al-Isra: 79).
This verse describes the significance of the Midnight Prayer. The Midnight Prayer itself is a recommended act. Secondly, in Namaz-e-Witr, saying “I seek Allah’s forgiveness” (astaghfirullah) seventy times or saying “forgiveness” (al-afwa) is the cause for erasing past sins. Thus, scholars of ethics give utmost importance to the Midnight Prayer for (the achievement of) heartfelt faith.
The second lesson in the Midnight Prayer is of service and sacrifice, because in Namaz-e-Witr one is commanded to pray for twenty alive and twenty dead believers. Thus, man gets up in the middle of the night and disturbs his sleep to pray for others, because Allah has made service of creation the best act. Thirdly, access (Tawwassul) of Muhammad and the Progeny of Muhammad (peace be upon them) is a means to heartfelt faith.
Four Rules of the Gnostics
for Heartfelt Faith
The Gnostics (Arifin) have described four pillars to strengthen the connection with Allah. The first is silence, and silence has been divided into two parts. One is silence of the tongue and the other is silence of the heart. The tongue should adopt silence, except for remembrance of Allah and for enjoining good. The second pillar is that man should be hopeless of servants (of Allah) and should only place hope in Allah for all his affairs. The relationship between these two pillars is that if man’s tongue and heart are always focused on Allah, then man himself becomes independent of the servants. All his hopes are focused toward where his heart and tongue are.
The Gnostics have established hunger as the third pillar. It is found in tradition that while a servant is fasting, Allah says to the angels, “Look, I have created this servant for this. Although he is compelled (required) to food and drink and gets extremely hungry, he refrain (abstain) from eating and controls his food and drink for Me. Bear witness that I forgive this servant’s sins.” However, hunger should not be to such an extent that the human body becomes weak, because all the spiritual acts depend upon this material body. Islam has even given priority to (maintaining) its health. The fourth pillar is awakening in the middle of the night, or the time of the night that is before the Dawn Prayer, for the Midnight Prayer. The fourth pillar is related to the third pillar. However less man will eat, that is how much less he will sleep. Once a Prophet asked Satan, “How do you misguide the servants?” Satan described his methods. Then he asked, “Do you attack me as well?” Satan replied, “In one way. When you sit to eat at night, then I give you pleasure in eating more food, so that you will eat more and thus sleep more. Hence, your time for the Midnight Prayer will decrease.” These four pillars are the discussion of one action that heartfelt faith is borne through good acts.
Sincerity in our Actions
Until man’s inner self is purified of the un-cleanliness of polytheism, his worship cannot be sincere. When man does a good act, then he makes the intention to attain the nearness of Allah (qurbatan illallah). However, when he leaves the sphere (area) of the intention of nearness to Allah then his act enters the sphere of polytheism. For example, a man wants to give some money as charity. Half of his intention is to attain fame among the public and the other half of his intention is to earn reward. This alms (charity) giving person has made the servants partners in this worship of Allah; this is called polytheism[1].
If the servants' worship of Allah includes, the self, wealth, rank, or one’s pride (alu’), then that worship does not remain pure. Rather, it becomes wasted due to polytheism.
Polytheism sometimes occurs before an action, sometimes during an action, and sometimes after an action. The polytheism after an action is extremely dangerous and undetectable. For example, someone spent the whole night worshipping. In the morning, he went to the grocer to buy vegetables. While praying the Midnight Prayer, his worship was sincere. When he asked the grocer how much the potatoes were, the grocer replied, “Eight rupees a kilo.” Then the one who performed Midnight Prayer thought in his heart, “I perform the Midnight Prayer; he should have given me the vegetables at a discount.” Now, if his night worship had been sincere, then he would only hope for reward from Allah. Expecting favours from a person is evidence that the worship was not sincerely for Allah.
Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Husain Behishti Shaheed came to Imam Khomeini and said, “We cannot work because of Bani Sadr’s propaganda.” So then Imam Khomeini (May Allah be pleased with him) replied, “Even if all of the people of the whole world turn against me, or if all of the people of the whole world become my followers, I will not have any happiness or sorrow; because I work for, and only for, the pleasure of Allah.” Sometimes man’s action is not for Allah, but for his own self. Yet (Until now), Satan deceives (betrays) man that his action is for Allah and is worship.
Dangerous Polytheism
A person was in Iran. He performed four pilgrimages (Hajj) by foot, travelled in extreme cold, and bore the hardships of the journey. One night his mother asked him for water. He said to his mother, “Mother, it is extremely cold and it is almost time for the Dawn Prayer. When I get up for prayer, then I will bring you water.” When he arose for prayer and went outside, he thought that maybe all these pilgrimages (Hajj) of mine were not sincerely for Allah; as I bore the hardship of the journey of Hajj, but could not bare the hardship of getting up in the cold weather to give water to my mother.
The Apostle of Allah says, “One hours of reflection (upon whether or not my action is sincere) is better than seventy years of worship.” If man performs polytheistic worship for seventy years, it is useless. However, if he reflects for an hour in order to make his worship sincere, it is better than that seventy years’ worth of worship. One day the Apostle of Allah was extremely sad. His companions asked, “What is the reason that you are sad?” The Prophet replied, “I am seeing that such a time will come that many people of my nation (ummah) will become polytheists.” The companions asked, “After you will Muslims prostrate before idols?” He replied, “No, but after me they will practice polytheism.” (They will worship in order to be seen).
It is a tradition that, “All showing off (Ri'ya) is polytheism.” From this saying it can be concluded that Islam does not only condemn (blame) idols of stone and wood, but also invisible ones. For example, it also opposes the idols of hypocrisy, worship of the self, seeking of fame, and nationalism. These are all major idols. It is easy to break the idols made of stone; however, it is very difficult to destroy inner idols. The Apostle of Allah has said, “In Islam, the actions that are difficult are also the ones with great reward.”
Check your Actions
Hazrat Ali has taught a superior prescription or formula for recognizing hypocrisy:
1. “When he is alone, he is lazy.”
When he worships alone, he is very lazy and quickly finishes the prayer.
2. “When he is among the people, he is active.”
Yet, when he worships in the mosque, it is with great humility (humbleness). If the worship of Allah was performed with a sincere intention, then Allah is (present) in solitude and He is also (present) in the mosque. However, when in the mosque, he prays with humility for the people; when alone, he does not pray with humility. Thus, there is hypocrisy in his actions. Sometimes when a person observes others in congregational of Duas, and in other acts of worship. He adopts humility (humble condition) as the gatherings have more effect upon him than loneliness. This is not polytheism.
3. Then the Imam declares, “The sign of hypocrisy is that after performing a good deed, he waits for people to come and praise his deed.”
If the action is for Allah, then why is there this waiting for others? Nevertheless, people describe good deeds in narrations so that people can praise them.
Ayatollah Mazahari states that in whatever manner you are becoming a scholar, in that way your evil self (Nafs-e-Ammara) is also becoming a scholar. Now it will try to misguide you through means of knowledge. For example, you arose in the middle of the night for the Midnight Prayer. Someone saw you, so the evil self will say that if you worship to show off to others, this recommended action will become hypocrisy. So, do not perform the Midnight Prayer! However, this is not hypocrisy; it depends upon the real intention. Man should rectify (correct) his intention, not completely shun (ignore) the action.
[1] "It is He who has sent His messenger (Muhammad) with the guidance and the Religion of truth, to prevail over all religions, even though the idolaters may detest." (Quran 9:33)
source : seeker of solace/ syed jan ali kazmi
