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The Islamic Bulletin
Volume XXV No. 29
reported to have said, “People are asleep, until they die, then
they are awake.” Death is the time they realize that their chase
was pointless and what they have accumulated served as a heavy
burden for which the will ultimately have to answer for.
Are you caught up in the dunya? Are you just working
hard for money, so you can be more well-off then that other guy?
Subhanallah, people buy things they don’t want, with money
they don’t have, to impress people they don’t even like! If this is
you–and maybe you have a lot of this, or a little of it–remember
the grave. That’s where it ends. At that point, none of this dunya
stuff will matter.
One ‘alim/scholar, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “if you
see people racing with you for the dunya, race with them for the
akhirah.” Don’t compete for a bigger house here–compete for a
better house in Jannah. Compete to beat your friends and family
in salah, in sadaqah, in dhikr, in Qur’an memorization and recita-
tion, in all these good deeds.
These two verses remind us that the quality that distin-
guishes the believer from the believer is elevating oneself above
greed for worldly gains and striving instead for the everlasting
reward of Allah (SWT). This type of striving allows for spiritual
development and constant purification. The believer struggles in
performing good deeds without receiving immediate rewards.
This struggle consumes their thoughts and actions and offers them
the strength and fortitude to face evil in all of its forms, whether
it is the oppression that surrounds them or the oppression of their
desires. The heart of the believer is awakened in hearing these
verses and it is burdened by the triviality of what has occupied it.
But it knows that its Creator (SWT) has promised infinite mercy
and forgiveness to those who seek it.
Because the ultimate pay-out comes in the Hereafter;
this life is only a few days, a few years, and then it’s back to the
akhirah. May Allah (SWT) make us among those who are pre-oc-
cupied with pleasing Him. May He (SWT) make our hearts filled
and satisfied with loving Him above the love of anything of this
life. May He (SWT) make us among those who know their pur-
pose in this life and receive His ultimate reward in the next.
R
IVALRY
F
OR
W
ORLDLY
G
AINS
Shaikh Jamal Said
My message to you this month is a discussion of two
verses from Quran that you all have memorized as young chil-
dren partly due to its majestic rhythm. These verses, however
short, carry deep meaning and possess the power to impact the
lives of even the most lost souls. Allah (SWT) states in the first
verse of Surah At-Takathur , Quran 102,
Any translation of the verse does not do justice to
the original text but it can be roughly translated to “The want
of plenty distracted you.” In the Arabic text, it is comprised
of simply two words, one meaning distraction and the other
abundance. Allah (SWT) employs the word “lahu” in the Quran
in many instances to refer to entertainment or pre-occupation
in a matter which is less deserving of attention, especially, when
more pressing issues are looming ahead in the journey of life:
death, the life of the grave, the Day of Judgement, the next life.
This verse calls upon us to reflect deeply on which
drives us to act. Our eyelids are lifted as we ask ourselves what is
it that distracts us most. What is something you engross yourself
in that completely captures your attention and focus to the point
that you cannot for a moment distance yourself from it?
Allah (SWT) identifies the cause of this distraction as
“takathur,” or a want of
plenty. This essentially refers
to an untamed desire to
have more of that which we
do not have. This desire for
more leads to a struggle, an
exhaustive effort to try to
get more of that which we
do not have or might have
some amount of.
Let us take a moment to consider this. Are we pre-occupied
with a struggle to possess a worldly matter which we do not
have? Money, a house, a car, a spouse, a child? Does that want
and struggle define our thoughts and actions? If we are bestowed
with that worldly matter which we had sought after, are we then
satisfied, or does that struggle continue? And does that struggle
transform into an urge to show others what Allah (SWT) has
provided us with without any power from us? At some point it
causes a person to fail to fulfill their duties towards Allah, their
selves, family, and Ummah.
The next verse Allah (SWT) states,
Allah (SWT) here says that the person en- grossed
by this senseless preoccupation continues in their struggle until
they have visited gravesites. The person is blinded in chasing the
life of this world until they are placed in their graves without any
warning or choice. Allah (SWT) uses the word visit here rath-
er than enter because even the grave is temporary. Ali (R) was