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Class of 2009!!

The People of Jannah

The Four traits of the people of Jannah (Refer to verses 31- 33)
(May Allaah honor us to be among them, ameen!)

 ”And Paradise will be Uzlifat to those who had Taqwa, not far off.” (31)

 As an honor to the pious, Jannah will be *uzlifat*- i.e. it will be brought close and near to them.

 Who are these honorable, elite people?

1. أواب:  Those who return back.
   
   1. They are continuously repenting, and returning back to Allaah.
   2. They are in a constant state of awareness. When they commit an error/sin, they hold themselves accountable and repent right away; when they fall in a state of despair, they return back by awakening their hope in Allah; when they become forgetful, they remember Allaah; when they sense fear in others, they return back to fearing the one Most Worthy of fear; when they sense their attachment to others, they purify their hearts by loving the Most Worthy of love. They err but their secret is that they return and remain firm and committed to Allaah’s Laws.
      
2. حفيظ : The ones who preserve
   1. They preserve their sins so that they can repent and amend their ways. For a believer, it is hard to forget his owns sins as he is continuously holding himself accountable with hope and fear in Allah.
      
   2. They guard and preserve the laws and commandments of Allaah by remaining within the boundaries set by Him. That is, they follow all laws set by Allaah by fulfilling the obligations and staying away from all the prohibitions. 
3.  من  خشىالرحمان بالغيب: They fear Allaah without seeing Him. They fear Him regardless of their surroundings.  They are many who may appear fearful of Allaah in presence of people, but true fear is apparent when one is alone- away from the sight of others. Subhan Allaah – one of the people who will be under the shade of Allaah’s Throne is the one who remembered Allaah while alone, and his eyes became tearful.
4. وجاء بقلب منيب: A repentant heart. They will be the ones who meet Allaah with a heart turned in repentance. They died in a state of repentance, and hence, they will be raised in the same honorable manner. On that Day, the only thing that will matter is the state of our hearts. Only a pure and living heart will enter Paradise – a heart pure from all sicknesses.
   

Action steps from these verses:

•  

   Recite this profound dua regularly as it carries the essence of all our duas: 

   Allahumma innee as’aluka jannata wa ma qarraba ilaiha min qawlin wa ‘amal. Wa a ‘udhu  bika minan-nari wa ma qarraba ilaiha min qawlin wa ‘amal.
  O Allaah! We ask you for Paradise, and for any saying or act that makes us closer to it, and to  protect us from hellfire and from any saying or act that makes us closer to it. Ameen.   
•  

  Another important dua that we need to constantly ask Allah at all times is to keep us firm and steadfast in the right path till the day we die. Also, we should pray for a noble, righteous end as we will be raised on the Day of Judgment in the same state as we died in. 

•  Fervently seek forgiveness, purify and keep a check on our hearts, and work on instilling the above qualities of the people of Jannah. 

 

Reflections from Surah Qaf (Part 2)

Throughout the surah, we are being exposed to minute details – the wonders of creation of the heavens and earth,  Allaah’s knowledge of our every thought , the exhaustive and thorough recordings of our deeds by the two angels – in a manner where not a word escapes from our mouth, but its recorded by them…and now to the details of the Day when we will be assembled before our Lord.

Why the details? Why these descriptions?

One of the reasons is so that the reality of these verses sinks in the depths of our hearts in such a way that we can feel it, hear it and see it before us… hence, it instills the necessary fear, hope and action required from these verses.

 Continuing on to the horrid scenes on the Day of Judgment… (Verses 27-30)

 Dispute between man and Shaytaan in front of their Lord.

 The wretched man who will receive the news of his humiliating and painful end will look for an escape, a way out from his misery. He will be quick to blame shaytaan for his evil acts during his life.

 What will the accused Shaytaan do in return?

He will disown him, saying,“Our Lord! I did not push him to transgression, but he was himself in error far astray.” (27)

In another surah, we read, ” And Shaytaan will say when the matter has been decided: “Verily, Allaah promised you a promise of truth. And I too promised you, but I betrayed you. I had no authority over you except that i called you, and you responded to me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can you help me. I deny your former act in associating me as a partner with Allah. Verily, there is a painful torment for the wrongdoers. (14:22)

How easily and guiltlessly we blame shaytaan or even other people to justify our actions! We do this without realizing that the evil whispers of ourselves are even more destructive and harmful than the whispers of the accursed devil.

 “….ever feeble indeed is the plot of Shaytaan (Satan)” [al-Nisa' 4:76].  

 Allaah, the Exalted, will say, “”Dispute not in front of Me, I had already in advance sent you the threat (the warning).” (28 )

The warning of eternal punishment for the disbelievers and hypocrites were crystal clear during the life of this world. And indeed, on that Day, it will be too late to repent and mend one’s ways. The books of records will be sealed and handed over to the Lord of the Worlds.

” The sentence that comes from Me cannot be changed. And I am not unjust to the servants.” (29)

After a lifetime of opportunities to return back to Allah, can anyone have any reason or excuse to ask Allaah for another chance?

We learn here that Allaah, the Most Honored, is not Unjust to His slaves.  Two of His Most Beautiful Names are: الحكم   (The Judge, the Arbitrator) and  العدل (The Just).

Indeed, He is the Most Just when it comes to recording our evil actions. When a sin is committed, it is recorded as one sin- not a degree more and not a degree less. On other hand, He is فضل  , i.e. He is extra generous with regards to our righteous deeds because for every good deed done, the reward is 10 till 700 times over!

Hellfire Speaks

“On the Day when We will say to Hell: ‘Are you filled?’ It will say: ‘Are there any more?’” (30)

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Jahannam will be asked, “Are you filled?” and it will say, “Are there any more?” Until the Lord, the Blessed and Most Honored, puts His Foot over it and it will say: “Enough! Enough!”(Al Bukhari)

May Allaah protect us from the horrors of Hellfire, ameen.

Aqeedah issue:Here we affirm that indeed Allaah has a foot (and that it is one of His Attributes), but we don’t know and cannot comprehend the ‘howness’ of His Foot. (For further details, ask Eman ;) )

 For more jewels from this surah, click here: The People of Jannah