Sunday 29th Rajab 1439/15 April 2018
Lesson 12: The Kind and Generous vs. the Miserly
- Recap of lesson 11
- The Two types of love (beneficial and harmful)
- When does loving something besides Allah or at the expense of his duty to Allah, become shirk?
- Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami mentioned the harmful (sadness, loss of perfection etc) effects of loving something/someone besides Allah
- NOTE: the above harmful love is when someone loves something/someone in a way only befitting to Allah, or with humility, or such that this causes deficiency in his duty to Allah. Natural, normal love towards one’s spouse or child or an inclination towards one’s wealth which does not decline his duty to Allah is not what is meant.
- How are the above cured?
- Remembrance of Allah
- Qur’an
- Adhkar such as from the Fortress of the Muslim
- The importance of being kind, Ihsan
- Remembrance of Allah
- “Ihsan” literally means to perfect, in this context kindness and generosity is meant
- The one who is stingy and tight fisted lives a sad and constricted life
- Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “The example of a miserand an almsgiver is like the example of two persons wearing iron cloaks.” Allah’s Apostle also said, “The example of an almsgiver and a miser is like the example of two persons who have two iron cloaks on them from their breasts to their collar bones, and when the almsgiver wants to give in charity, the cloak becomes capacious till it covers his whole body to such an extent that it hides his fingertips and covers his footprints (obliterates his tracks). (1) And when the miser wants to spend, it (the iron cloak) sticks and every ring gets stuck to its place and he tries to widen it, but it did not become wide. [Sahih Al-Bukhari, also found in Sahih Muslim]
- Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami says from the avenues of alleviating the chest is to be kind to creation and benefitting them with what one can.
- Ihsan is of two types, literally means to “perfect” and so the first type is to have Ihsan in the worship of Allah, i.e. to perfect it. The second category is Ihsan towards creation, i.e. goodness and kindness towards creation.
- Being kind and having mercy towards other people and creation is a form of showing thankfulness towards Allah as he is the one who blessed you in the first place and placed you in the position of being able to spend and help others. Therefore one who is in that position, then that act of spending is an act of gratitude towards Allah.
- Helping others and showing mercy can be in many forms, you can help them physically with a task, you can help someone in need financially, you can put a good word in for someone who needs a reference if you are in a position to do so etc.
- Therefore the generous is NOT just someone with money; kindness itself is a mercy to others. One can be generous with even just a smile.
- Examples of such kind and happy people
- Ibn Qayyim says as for the miser, in whom there is no ihsan, he is the one who has the heaviest chest and lives the most bitter life and possess the greatest amount of distress.
- Why is this? He has gone against the word of Allah and gone against the fitra (Natural disposition of a human
- This type of person is in a state of uneasiness, continuously trying to satisfy his greediness and niggardliness, whilst his heart reproaches him all the while, and for that reason he lives in a state of grief as he is unable to extend the hand of kindness to the other servants of Allah.
- Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami says stinginess necessitates and is inseparable from cowardliness, just as generosity and kindness necessitates and is inseparable from courage. Therefore when you see a generous person, know that he is brave and courageous, and when you see a miser know that he is a coward.
- Recap so far of causes of achieving relaxation of the chest:
- Tawhid (Islamic monotheism)
- Huda (guidance)
- Noor of eemaan (Light of Belief)
- Inaaba (turning towards Allah in repentance)
- Ilm (knowledge)
- Loving Allah
- Dhikr (remembrance) of Allah
- Ihsan, kindness and generosity
- Next Part: Ibn Qayyim says from among the means of relieving the heavy and tight chest is bravery, because the brave one has an expanded chest and is someone who is easy going, has a big heart. As for the coward, he has the most heavy heart, no happiness or delight does he experience, he only experiences the pleasure which the animals derive, however he is denied from true happiness of the heart.
- Principle: the state of your heart whilst in this life, that is how the state of your grave is going to be in the next life
- Indeed the one who is kind and generous, the bliss which his soul experiences in his life transforms in his grave into a garden, and in a similar fashion the tightness experienced by a miser and coward converts into confinement and torture in the grave.