Sunday 18 Feb 2018
Lesson 5: The Light of Eemaan Prevails over the difficulties of this World
- Recap of Lesson 4:
- The cause and means of Allah saving you from your own evil could be just one dua
- Tawhid is the greatest cause for alleviating the tight chest
- Shirk is the greatest cause for tightening the chest
- The noor (light) of Eemaan (belief)
- For Summary of Lesson 4 go to: http://alhudabolton.com/2018/02/04/lesson-4-remedying-heavy-tight-chest/
- Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami (may Allah have mercy on him) says the light of Eemaan expands the chest and as a result of that, a person does not attach significance to this world and isn’t worried by the toils of it nor does he/she take delight in its luxuries
- However, this must be correct Eemaan, free from shirk
- Eemaan must be based on what the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught us
- Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami continues that perhaps there is a person who has Eemaan but is in a state of poverty or does not have much wealth, or perhaps he has enemies whom Allah has placed in a state of authority (as Allah has done in the case of many Prophets, Messengers and those who strive to bring about rectification in order to test them). Such people, Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami says, they find within themselves love of Allah and being in a state of happiness
- Shaykh Ibnul-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) says the believer has an expanded and alleviated chest in this world despite the difficulties he faces, and when his Eemaan becomes intensified, then he will have an more expanded chest when facing the difficulties of life more so than what expansion he would find in a state of ease.
- When such a person departs this world (dies), his/her heart becomes even more expanded, just as one who leaves a state of confinement as, in reality, this world is a prison for the believer
- When the believer dies, he/she will experience bliss in the life of Al-Barzakh. However, when Allah raises him on the day of resurrection he/she will experience such a degree of relaxation which cannot be compared to what came before it
- Allah may cause the enemies of those who strive to bring about rectification (e.g. the Propehts) to overpower them as a trail
- Shaikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH may Allah have mercy on him), the teacher of Ibnul-Qayyim, was tested greatly however despite these difficulties Allah provided him with bliss, happiness and an expansive chest
- Shaikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (when imprisoned) said: “What can my enemies do to me? My garden is in my chest, wherever I go it goes with me, it does not leave me, my imprisonment is seclusion, my being killed is martyrdom, and my being driven out of my land is tourism”
- Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami says can your enemies do any more than this (to imprison, to kill, or to expel)?
- Ibn Qayyim reports regarding the imprisonment of Shaikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah in the fortress of Damascus that he said “If I was to spend this fortress worth of gold, it would not equate to the gratitude and thanks I wish to give for this blessing (of being imprisoned in this fortress)”
- Regardless of what others may do, if a person has the light of Eemaan then his/her heart is protected from the difficulties of this world
- Ibn Qayyim says that he had not seen anyone live a life happier than Shaikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah despite the difficulties he endured. Whenever fear increased with them they would go to Shaikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, seeing him and listening to him speak would replace the fear with relaxation, certainty and tranquillity
- Shaikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah: “Indeed in the world there is a paradise, whoever does not enter into this paradise, he will not enter into the paradise of the Hereafter”
- The paradise of this world is the delight of obeying and worshipping Allah.
- Eventually such a person who obeyed Allah will die and his/her soul will be in bliss