Aim Real High- what one should "actually" be greedy for

Our Prophet Sallallahu alaihiwassalam taught us to pray for Jannathul Firdaws Al-A'laa (High position in Jannath-ul-Firdaws), not just seek Jannah. He said: If you ask Allah for Paradise, then ask him for Al-Firdaws, for it is the highest part of Paradise, in the middle of Paradise, and from it spring the rivers of Paradise, and above it is the (Mighty) Throne of the Most Merciful. (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

We often find ourselves thinking and making dua'h: Oh Allah, at least make us at least the last person to enter Jannah. Or, Oh Allah, grant us atleast a small portion of Jannah or at least the lowest position in Jannah. Or, even "Its OK if I have to be in Jahannum for a while, my final abode should be Jannah, that's all I want." This is like how the Qur'an says about the Jews:

وَقَالُواْ لَن تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ إِلاَّ أَيَّامًا مَّعْدُودَةً

And they (Jews) say, "The Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days.'' (Surah Al-Baqara: 80)

We should never wish like that, because a day in The Hereafter is equivalent to 50,000 years. Can we even bear a minor burn that comes with direct contact with fire? The intensity and heat of the fire of Jahannum is 70 or 70,000 times that of the fire in this world.

Therefore, we always pray for a very high position in Jannah. Now does it make sense that we only pray, and not try to do our part of implementing Islam(Submission to Allah) in our acts, speech and thoughts?! Is it fair? And so, we should pray such to Allah Azza Wajal, and also work towards attaining it.

Suppose, we have an exam to attend to. And we want at least a "B" or "C" grade. Don't we have to study for an "A" to get this "B" or "C"? Because, we keep in mind about the careless mistakes that could happen, and hence, lose marks. Shouldn't the same principle be applied here? In fact, shouldn't it be applied more, considering that the Hereafter is eternal; and that sometimes, when we do an act of Ibadah, our intentions keep fluctuating between the wish to please Allah alone, and the probability of wishing for the praise of others or to be a good role model to your kids or to show others that Islam is the best religion? And sometimes, we make mistakes out of ignorance or carelessness.

The popular saying goes, "Aim for the sky, and you will reach the top of the tall tree"! And this is exactly what our beloved Prophet Sallallahu alihiwassalam said more than 1400 years ago when he taught us to make dua'h to be granted A HIGH POSITION IN JANNAH. Another scary thought but a true fact is: What happens when we are content with just doing the minimum and sometimes even taking some commands of Allah SWT light, with the hope that "Oh, Allah will forgive me for this" (which by the way, shows that we are not having Ikhlaas- sincerity that is only for Allah) and we feel we shouldn't be greedy(considering that we are not doing a lot of deeds) and just ask for the minimum from Allah, The Almighty -And then we miss this minimal requirement because of some carelessness or due to a forgotten sin? What happens then?? We get degraded- and to where? Oh Allah, forbid it for us, aameen...On the other hand, if we were to miss the high position that we want and ask from Allah Subhanahu Watha'ala and work towards it, we would be degraded, but we would still be in a considerably good position in Jannah, InshAllah.

Let's be greedy for more and more in Jannah, just the way we feel greedy to earn more, live more comfortably, have more secular knowledge, have the latest car and a big house, have more friends etc in this world. Let's not trade the Hereafter for the amusement and play of this world. Let's be more ambitious and try to earn more and more love of Our Lord Almighty inshAllah. Let's be a better Muslim today than yesterday, and strive to be even better tomorrow. Let's love Our Lord more and more, let's love Him more through our deeds and thoughts than just saying "I love Allah the most". May Allah grant us all Jannath-ul-Firdaws-al-A'laa, aameen.

Five things we will questioned about

Ibn Mas’ood Radhiyallahu anh Narrated: The Prophet (SAW) said: “The son of Adam will not be dismissed from before his Lord on the Day of Resurrection until he has been questioned about five things:
1. His life and how he spent it.
2. His wealth and how earned it.
3. How he spent his wealth.
4. His youth and how he used it.
5. How he acted upon what he acquired knowledge.” (Tirmidhi)

Lessons:

- Life is the time period of our stay in this world- this shows the importance of time management, and balancing our time between affairs of the world and affairs which will benefit us in our Hereafter. Each breath we take is a Blessing and Mercy of Allah, Alhamdulillah. And so we should be grateful for it, and remember Him Azza Wajal.

- We all love money, and its OK to be rich too. But we should not earn or spend our wealth in non-halal ways. The difference between the rich and poor, on the Day of Resurrection is this: the rich will be questioned about their wealth majorly, whereas the poor won't have these questions. In order to make our questioning and weighing of our deeds (related to our wealth and how we spend it) easy, we should use it in the way Allah SWT has prescribed and Prophet Sallallahu alihiwassalam has taught us. So our wealth is a responsibility upon us, a trust from Allah SWT. We should spend more and more from our wealth for giving in charity, and in the way of Allah (whether to give during fund-raising for the construction of a masjid or an Islamic Center or to seek knowledge of the dheen of Allah etc.)

- Our healthy years in our life will be questioned the most, the period of our youthful days. This is the most challenging period, because one has to fight his nafs of desires the most. We should remember Our Lord (and this hadeeth) at all times, in order to be able to fight Shaytan (la'nathullahi alihi).

- Our Sheikh Waleed Basyouni(may Allah preserve him) gave us a very good comparison on how knowledge affects different people. He demonstrated 3 cases. The first: he dropped a tablet into water. The water did not show any effect. The second: when he dropped a tablet into a bottle of Pepsi, the drink just oozed out leaving the bottle half empty. The third: liquid slowly and gradually turn pink when he dropped a tablet into it. The first is similar to one when he gains knowledge, it does not change him. The second case categorises many people, they gain knowledge and momentary emanrush, which makes them excited about the ilm they gained, and then slowly die away, and sometimes when the excitement dies down, they even end up in a lower level than before. The third example is the most significant, and all of us should try to be like that. We should gain knowledge and change our lives and thoughts accordingly, for the better, enlightening our souls and everything around us. For Allah will question us about how we used our knowledge, or whether we allowed it to become rotten and worthless.

May Allah SWT make us among those who will be able to enter Paradise with ease.

And Allah knows best.

Knowledge about our future- Death and Grave

Alhamdulillah, unlike other religions, Islam gives a lot of insight into the subject of our future, The Eternal Hereafter. Allah SWT, in The Qur'an has given us a lot of descriptions in details and stages of what is going to happen in the future. And the traditions (ahadeeth) of our Prophet Sallallahu alihiwassalam add to this. This enables us to increase our belief in the Hereafter, with more certainty and vision- that it will happen for sure, and that we have a purpose in the life of this duniya, to work towards a great future and avoid sins and actions that will displease Our Lord. If we remember this in each breath we take, then InshAllah, with His Mercy and Blessings, we will be successful.

When someone dies, his personal yaum-al-qiyamah (Day of Judgement) has started. In fact, the recompense starts at the time of death itself. For the believer, who is waiting to meet his Lord Almighty, he is eager to leave this world; he leaves this world with high state of emaan we say, and as he dies, the angels welcome him and give him glad tidings, SubhanAllah.

Prophet Sallallahu alihiwassalam said: “…when the time of the death of a believer approaches, he receives the good news of God’s pleasure with him and His blessings upon him, and so at that time nothing is dearer to him than what lies ahead of him. He therefore loves meeting God, and God loves meeting him.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari)

For the one who disbelieved, and was disobedient to Allah SWT, he dreads meeting with his Lord, and knows it is not going to bring good to him. Prophet Sallallahu alihi wassalam warned us: “When the time of the death of a disbeliever approaches, he receives the evil news of God’s torment and His Requital, whereupon nothing is more hateful to him than what is before him. Therefore, he hates the meeting with God, and God too, hates the meeting with him.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari)

As death approaches the wicked disbeliever, he is made to feel something of the heat of the Hellfire. This taste of what is to come causes him to plead for a second chance on earth to do the good he knew he should have done. The evil soul leaves the body with great difficulty, drawn out by the angels as a thronged skewer is dragged through wet wool.

Allah says in the Qur'an:

حَتَّى إِذَا جَآءَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ رَبِّ ارْجِعُونِ - لَعَلِّى أَعْمَلُ صَـلِحاً فِيمَا تَرَكْتُ كَلاَّ إِنَّهَا كَلِمَةٌ هُوَ قَآئِلُهَا وَمِن وَرَآئِهِمْ بَرْزَخٌ إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ

“Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: ‘O my Lord. Send me back to life (on earth) in order that I may do good deeds in the things that I neglected.’ By no means! It is only an utterance that he says. And before them is a barrier (preventing them from returning: the life of the grave) until the Day (of Resurrection) they are resurrected.” (Surah Al-Mu'minoon: 99-100)

Allah says:

وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذِ الظَّـلِمُونَ فِى غَمَرَاتِ الْمَوْتِ وَالْمَلَـئِكَةُ بَاسِطُواْ أَيْدِيهِمْ أَخْرِجُواْ أَنفُسَكُمُ الْيَوْمَ تُجْزَوْنَ عَذَابَ الْهُونِ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَقُولُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ غَيْرَ الْحَقِّ وَكُنتُمْ عَنْ ءَايَـتِهِ تَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

And if you could but see when the wrongdoers are in the agonies of death, while the angels are stretching forth their hands (saying): "Deliver your souls! This day you shall be recompensed with the torment of degradation because of what you used to utter against Allah other than the truth. And you used to reject His Ayah with disrespect!'' (Surah Al-An'am: 93)

Allah SWT says:

وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذْ يَتَوَفَّى الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ الْمَلَـئِكَةُ يَضْرِبُونَ وُجُوهَهُمْ وَأَدْبَـرَهُمْ وَذُوقُواْ عَذَابَ الْحَرِيقِ

And if you could not see when the angels take the souls of those who disbelieved… striking their faces and their backs and saying, "Taste the punishment of the Blazing Fire." (Surah Al-Anfaal: 50)

Recompense and questioning starts in the Barzakh (transition phase between this life and the Aakhirah) itself. One will go through what he/she deserves on account of his/ her deeds in this world. The questioning will be a cake walk for the true believer. It dies not matter whether one knows the answers to the questions that the Angels Munkar and Nakeer will ask, in this world. At that time, only the one who died with strong emaan, and the one who pleased Allah Azza Wajal will be able to answer the questions. There is no time factor in the Hereafter. Two people who are equal in their status of emaan and in deeds, but lived and died in different times, will experience in their Barzakh what they deserve equally. We ask Allah SWT to protect us from the 'Adhaab of the trials and horror in the Barzakh (grave), aameen. And we ask Allah to always keep us on the straight path, living by His commandments.

The true believer and the righteous, the one who will be accepted into Jannah, will have his grave roomy and spacious and filled with light. He is shown what would have been his abode in Hell - had he been a wicked sinner - before a portal is opened for him every morning and evening showing him his actual home in Paradise. He will have a blissful journey and the angels will be waiting to welcome him in the heavens. Allah SWT says:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ قَالُواْ رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ثُمَّ اسْتَقَـمُواْ تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَـئِكَةُ أَلاَّ تَخَافُواْ وَلاَ تَحْزَنُواْ وَأَبْشِرُواْ بِالْجَنَّةِ الَّتِى كُنتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ - نَحْنُ أَوْلِيَآؤُكُمْ فِى الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِى الاٌّخِرَةِ وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا مَا تَشْتَهِى أَنفُسُكُمْ وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا مَا تَدَّعُونَ - نُزُلاً مِّنْ غَفُورٍ رَّحِيمٍ

Verily, those who say: "Our Lord is Allah,'' and then they stand firm, on them the angels will descend (saying): "Fear not, nor grieve! But receive the glad tidings of Paradise which you have been promised! We have been your friends in the life of this world and are (so) in the Hereafter. Therein you shall have (all) that your souls desire, and therein you shall have (all) for which you ask. An entertainment from the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.'' (Surah Al-Fussilat: 30-32)

However, for the doomed, his experience in the grave will be a torturous one. The floor of his grave is set alight with some of Hell’s fierce fire, and his grave is made narrow and constricted to the extent that his ribs become intertwined as his body is crushed. Then, an incredibly ugly being, wearing ugly garments and giving off a foul and offensive odor comes to the disbelieving soul and says: “Be grieved with what displeases you, for this is your day which you have been promised.” The disbeliever will ask: “Who are you, with your face so ugly and bringing evil?” The ugly one will reply: “I am your wicked deeds!” The disbeliever is then made to taste bitter remorse as he is shown what would have been his abode in Paradise - had he lived a righteous life - before a portal is opened for him every morning and evening showing him his actual home in Hell. Allah mentions in His Book how the wicked people of Pharaoh are, at this very moment, suffering from such an exposure to Hell from within their graves:

النَّارُ يُعْرَضُونَ عَلَيْهَا غُدُوّاً وَعَشِيّاً وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ أَدْخِلُواْ ءَالَ فِرْعَوْنَ أَشَدَّ الْعَذَابِ

The Fire, they are exposed to it, morning and afternoon. And on the Day when the Hour will be established (it will be said to the angels): "Admit Fir`awn's people into the severest torment!'' (Surah Al-Ghaafir: 46)

Zaid Ibn Thaabit Radhiyallahu anh narrates that when the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions were once passing some graves of polytheists, the Prophet’s horse bolted and almost unseated him. The Prophet Sallallahu alihiwassalam then said:“These people are being tortured in their graves, and were it not that you would stop burying your dead, I would ask God to let you hear the punishment in the grave which I (and this horse) can hear.” (Sahih Muslim)

May Allah SWT always guide us on the Sirathul Musthaqueem, and grant us high positions in Jannathul Firdaws. May He save us from the torment of the grave and the Hell-fire, aameen.

And Allah knows best.

Surah An-Naml: 87-90 (Day the trumpet will be blown)

In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.

وَيَوْمَ يُنفَخُ فِى الصُّورِ فَفَزِعَ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَمَن فِى الاٌّرْضِ إِلاَّ مَن شَآءَ اللَّهُ وَكُلٌّ أَتَوْهُ دَخِرِينَ - وَتَرَى الْجِبَالَ تَحْسَبُهَا جَامِدَةً وَهِىَ تَمُرُّ مَرَّ السَّحَابِ صُنْعَ اللَّهِ الَّذِى أَتْقَنَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ إِنَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَفْعَلُونَ - مَن جَآءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِّنْهَا وَهُمْ مِّن فَزَعٍ يَوْمَئِذٍ ءَامِنُونَ - وَمَن جَآءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ فَكُبَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِى النَّارِ هَلْ تُجْزَوْنَ إِلاَّ مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ

87. And (remember) the Day on which the Trumpet (Sur) will be blown -- and all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth, will be terrified except him whom Allah wills. And all shall come to Him, humbled.

88. And you will see the mountains and think them solid, but they shall pass away as the passing away of the clouds. The work of Allah, Who perfected all things, verily, He is well-acquainted with what you do.

89. Whoever brings a good deed, will have better than its worth; and they will be safe from the terror on that Day.

90. And whoever brings an evil deed, they will be cast down on their faces in the Fire. (And it will be said to them) "Are you being recompensed anything except what you used to do?''

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Imam Muslim recorded Abdullah bin Amr, Radhiyallahu anh, said that a man came to him and said, "What is this Hadith that you are narrating, that the Hour will come upon such and such people'' He said, "Subhan Allah or `La Ilaha Illallah (or something similar), I had decided that I would not narrate anything to anyone now. I had only said that after a little while, you will see a major event which will destroy the House (Ka`bah), and such and such will happen.'' Then he said, "The Messenger of Allah said: The Dajjal will emerge in my Ummah, and will remain for forty -- I do not know whether he said forty days, or forty months, or forty years -- then Allah will send `Isa son of Maryam, who looks like `Urwah bin Mas`ud, and he will search for him and destroy him. Then mankind will remain for seven years during which there will not be any enmity between any two people. Then Allah will send a cool wind from the direction of Syria, and no one will be left on the face of the earth who has even a speck of goodness or faith in his heart, but it will take him. Even if he entered into the heart of a mountain, the wind would follow him and seize him.'' He said, "I heard it from the Messenger of Allah who said: Then the most evil of people will remain, and they will be as nimble as birds and will be more temperamental than wild beasts. They will not recognize anything good or denounce anything evil. The Shaytan will appear to them and will say, "Will you do as I tell you'' They will say, "What do you command us to do'' He will command them to worship idols but in spite of this their provision will be plentiful and they will lead comfortable lives. Then the Sur (Trumpet) will be blown, and no one will hear it but he will tilt his head to hear the sound. The first person to hear it will be a man who is setting up the tank for watering his camels. He will fall down, and all the other people will also fall down. Then Allah would send or He would cause to send rain which would be like dew and there would grow out of it the bodies of the people. Then the Trumpet will be blown again, and they will get up and look around. Then it will be said: "O mankind! Go to your Lord!'' And they will be stopped, for they are to be questioned. Then it will be said: "Bring forth the people who are to be sent to the Fire.'' It will be asked: "How many are they'' It will be said, "Out of every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine.'' That will be the Day which will make the children grey-headed, and that would be the day about which it has been said:

يَوْمَ يُكْشَفُ عَن سَاقٍ

"On the day when the shank would be uncovered" (Surah Al- Qalam: 42) meaning, the Day of Judgement and the horrors, earthquakes, trials, tests and great matters that will occur during it.