The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) warned us against dunya and said:
فاتقوا الدنيا
“So beware of this world”
(Hadith reported by Muslim).
And he said that the dunya tastes sweet (khulva khadyra) and that the dunya is:
حُلْوَةٌ خَضِرَةٌ
khadyra – fresh, green, attractive, alluring.
And, of course, it is no secret that because of the worldly (dunya), because of the benefits of dunya, people are ready to endure difficulties, people are ready to stay awake at night, people are ready to experience various hardships in order to receive some kind of worldly benefit. If you can go to earn money, if you can get some help, some food or something else for free, a person is ready to get up early and go to bed late. Or when they invite you to some delicious food, everyone immediately remembers that it is wajib to respond to the invitation. But when it comes to eternity, when it comes to ahira, a person often looks for the slightest clue not to do this, and deceives himself. Allah (pure and exalted is He) says:
بَلِ الْإِنسَانُ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ بَصِيرَةٌ
people will testify against their own souls,
(Quran, Surah “Resurrection”, 75:14).
Each person, if he honestly admits to himself, will easily understand whether he postpones or refuses the act of akhir because he really has a valid reason from the point of view of religion, or is simply looking for a clue, the slightest clue. My knee hurts a little, something has blown a little on my side, or something is a little tight in my shoulder today, which means I won’t go anywhere for any worship. Or maybe I was feeling slightly tired, and the doctor said, “I need to sleep for seven or eight hours.” And under such a pretext a person refuses great deeds, deeds that cleanse him from the filth of sins. Instead of then being cleansed of the dirt of sins, and you will not enter Paradise with this dirt. Instead of being cleansed from the filth of sins through some misfortune in this world, or punishment at the time of death, or punishment in the grave, or punishment on the Day of Judgment, or punishment in Hell, Allah (pure and exalted is He) by His mercy gave for you deeds, great deeds that can cleanse you from the dirt of sins, according to your sincerity (ikhlyas), according to your zeal. Actions that allow, by the grace of Allah (pure and exalted), without punishment, without torment, to enter the abode of bliss (darul salam). We ask Allah (pure and exalted is He) for His bounty.
But such things as weakness and laziness (“al-ajz” and “al-kasal”) hinder people. It is no coincidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked Allah (pure and exalted is He) for protection from “al-ajza” and “al-kasal”:
من العَجْزِ وَالكَسَلِ
“from weakness and from laziness”
(Hadith reported by Muslim).
Weakness is when a person, in principle, can do something, but somehow he allows himself to show laziness and weakness. And laziness, may Allah (pure and exalted be He) protect us from laziness, is a quality inherent in man, especially in some people. So, it is no coincidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) all the time asked a lot from Allah (pure and exalted is He) for protection from laziness, from powerlessness and from weakness of will. Why? Because these two things lead to great damage. May Allah protect us (pure and exalted is He).
Just listen to that joyful news, which you, of course, have already heard more than once, but which may have passed your ears, and which, perhaps, does not penetrate your hearts. And these are the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him):
من صَام رمضان إيِمَانًا واحْتِسَابًا، غُفِر له ما تَقدَّم من ذَنْبِه
“He who fasts during Ramadan with faith and seeking his reward from God will have his past sins forgiven.”
(Hadith narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim).
Allahu Akbar!
And another hadith says:
من قام ليلة القَدْر إيمَانا واحْتِسَابًا غُفِر له ما تَقدم من ذَنْبِه
“He who passes Lailat al-qadr [Night of Predestination] in prayer with faith and seeking his reward from God will have his past sins forgiven.”
(Hadith narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim).
Now these last ten nights have just arrived. These are the best nights and this is a priceless gift from Allah (pure and exalted is He). You now have a chance to cleanse yourself through these deeds from the dirt, from the burden of what you have done over the years of your life, what you have transgressed before your Lord and what you have transgressed before the creations of Allah (pure and exalted is He). Of course, before the creations you need to ask for forgiveness and make amends. But first of all, we ask forgiveness from Allah (pure and exalted is He), He then helps us in obtaining forgiveness for what we have done and from the creatures too.
Is it possible to neglect this chance, citing some nonsense, some imaginary difficulties, some excuses?! The man says: “It’s difficult for me.” Of course it’s difficult, but what did you expect? Did you think that Heaven was achieved without difficulty? Paradise is not a cheap commodity. Do you understand what Paradise is? Paradise is eternal bliss, where you will not be afraid of death, where you will not be afraid of poverty, where you will not be afraid of old age, where you will not be afraid of separation from loved ones, where there will be no illnesses, where there will be no suffering, there will be no misfortunes. Did you think you could earn it without any difficulties? The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
وحُفَّتِ الْجَنَّةُ بِالْمَكَارِهِ
“Jannah is surrounded with adversities.”
(Hadith narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim).
Or do you think you still have time? You think that you will make it, but not this year, next year, not next year, then later. You are wrong to think so, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told you to count yourself among the dead. He said:
واعدد نفسك في الموتى
“Consider yourself on the list of the dead”
(The hadith was reported by Ahmad. The authenticity was confirmed by al-Albani “al-Sahiha”, (1474)).
You cannot know whether you have ten Ramadans, or fifteen, or twenty, or forty. Maybe this is the last Ramadan, maybe you won’t have any more chances. Either you have no sins in your soul, or you have accumulated so many good deeds that you are no longer afraid of anything, and you have nothing to add to them, and you are already calm, and you are ready to calmly leave this abode of deeds and enter the abode of reward, to the abode of calculation? Or maybe you don’t know that the one who was forgiven of all his previous and subsequent sins spent those ten nights in diligent worship of Allah (pure and exalted is He), without relying on the fact that everything was forgiven to him? He tied his izar tightly for the most fervent worship, as we say: “Rolling up his sleeves.” He would distance himself from his wives, spend the night in worship and wake up his family, as reported by the mother of the faithful ‘Aisha (may Allah Almighty be pleased with her). She said:
كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا دَخَلَ العَشْرُ أَحْيَا الليلَ، وأَيْقَظَ أَهْلَهُ، وَجَدَّ وَشَدَّ المِئْزَرَ
‘When the last ten nights of Ramadan began, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stayed up at night (for prayer) and he woke his family up and tightened his izar.’
(Hadith narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim).
What does it mean to “tightened his izar”? This means that he distanced himself from his wives, from intimacy with them, because he was busy with worship. Or the second meaning of the expression “tightened his izar” – was zealous in the worship of Allah (pure and exalted is He).
So don’t be frivolous! Even on such a night, don’t be frivolous, don’t be careless, don’t be a slave to your whim, your laziness, your habits, your nafs, because these nights are priceless! Because these nights are priceless, if only you understood!
