In the previous reminder we spoke on the bad habit of\nsmoking. Something that we all know is bad for us and does us great harm. It\u2019s\nsomething considered impermissible in Islam and yet so many of us fall into the\ntrap of smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In that reminder, it was explained how Shaitaan makes that\nwhich is bad for us attractive and that which is good for us unattractive. This\nis the trick of the Shaitaan and that\u2019s why this life is a test because we live\nin a state of being where the world typically is the opposite of how we are\nmeant to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order for us to be successful in this life we need to strive\nto attain habits which go against the majority. Behaviours that others often\nfind strange and may disagree with. We need to hold on strong to what is asked\nof us by Allah SWT even if it means we go against those around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The imam reminded us of the 22nd<\/sup> ayat of Sura Al-Mujadala\nwhich is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will not find a people who\nbelieve in Allah and the Last Day having affection for those who oppose Allah\nand His Messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons or their\nbrothers or their kindred. Those – He has decreed within their hearts faith and\nsupported them with spirit from Him. And We will admit them to gardens beneath\nwhich rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally. Allah is pleased with them,\nand they are pleased with Him – those are the party of Allah . Unquestionably,\nthe party of Allah – they are the successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear brothers and sisters, as you can hear from this\ntranslation, the ayat speaks of holding firm onto the right path and the right\nhabits and behaviours, even if it goes against their nearest and dearest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, our live ought to be governed by the laws set out\nby Allah SWT. As mentioned by the imam in the following hadith, this is the sweetness\nof faith. The hadith is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The messenger of Allah\n[SAW] said: ‘There are three things, whoever attains them will find therein the\nsweetness of faith: When Allah [SWT], the Mighty and Sublime, and His Messenger\n[SAW] are dearer to him than all else; when he loves for the sake of Allah\n[SWT] and hates for the sake of Allah [SWT]; and when a huge fire be lit and he\nfall into it, than associate anything with Allah [SWT].'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear brothers and sisters, nobody says that this task is an\neasy one. Often when we strive for the sake of Allah SWT and attempt to change\nour bad habits or begin our good habits, it\u2019s the nearest and dearest that are the\nfirst to object. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They can say we are being extreme or they can say that we\nare making lives difficult for ourselves. We need to understand that difficulty\ncomes in any test that we do. From exams in school to driving tests we do to\noperate a car, the test is never an easy one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But unlike those tests, the reward for this test of life is\nso great that we cannot even comprehend it fully. The imam stated a hadith in\nrelation to this which helps us understand some of the reward associated with\nthis mindset. It is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Prophet (\ufdfa) said, “Seven\nare (the persons) whom Allah will give Shade of His Thrown on the Day when\nthere would be no shade other than His Throne’s Shade: A just ruler; a youth\nwho grew up worshipping Allah; a man whose heart is attached to mosques; two\npersons who love and meet each other and depart from each other for the sake of\nAllah;<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this next hadith which is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abu Umama reported that God\u2019s\nmessenger said, \u201cIf anyone loves for God\u2019s sake, hates for God\u2019s sake, gives\nfor God\u2019s sake and withholds for God’s sake, he will have perfected faith.\u201d Abu\nDawud transmitted it; and Tirmidhi transmitted it from Mu’adh b. Anas with a\ntransposition of phrases, including \u201che will have perfected his faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear brothers and sisters, we have a clear choice to make when\nit comes to our mindset in this life. We can be of those who live for this\nlife. You will often find these people to be in the majority and it is hard not\nto follow their way of thinking as short-term this is the easier way to live.\nShaitaan has constructed this living so that this way of living is the most\neasiest way to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if you ponder over this to some length you will\nfind that those who opt for this way of thinking seldom find happiness. Instead\nthey skip from one hedonistic pleasure to another and when finally they stop to\nponder, often in older age or when they\u2019ve exhausted all their worldly desires,\nthey are left with a feeling of regret and sadness. This is their soul\ntestifying to their chosen path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so we must strive to adopt the correct mindset. This\nreminder concludes with 3 ways in which we can do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear brothers and sisters, we all are striving for peace and\nhappiness in this life. By understanding that it comes from living for the sake\nof Allah SWT, loving what He loves and hating what He hates, we will come to the\nconclusion that this is the only way to achieve true peace and happiness in\nthis life as well as success in the next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the previous reminder we spoke on the bad habit of smoking. Something that we all know is bad for us and does us great harm. It\u2019s something considered impermissible in Islam and yet so many of us fall into the trap of smoking. In that reminder, it was explained how Shaitaan makes that which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_regular_price":[],"currency_symbol":[],"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"post_slider_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","post_slider_layout_landscape_large":"","post_slider_layout_portrait_large":"","post_slider_layout_square_large":"","post_slider_layout_landscape":"","post_slider_layout_portrait":"","post_slider_layout_square":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}