بِسْم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Sicknesses of the Heart + Practical Ways of doing Taqwa
[لعلكم تتقون.....]
In [2:183]:
What is the connection between Fasting and Taqwa?
Fasting is something prescribed on all nations. Why? "لعلكم تتقون"
Fasting means الامساك - To control, hold yourself.
The most common meaning of fasting is to abstain from food and drinks. But that can't be just it. Allah wouldn't prescribe mere abandonment from food and drinks. Fasting is struggling against yourself to hold yourself from desires.
Everyone has different desires: Some like talking too much, smoking, etc. But the common desire amongst all human beings is food and drink. In the month of Ramadan, the month of Fasting, we are commanded to not eat and drink. Something that used to be Halal for us becomes Haraam. It's not about you anymore; its eating and drinking when Allah commanded you to eat.
This teaches us if we can control our essential needs, we can control our own هواء. And our هواء teaches us what our weaknesses are. And we're doing this for 30 days, so we leave Ramadan with Taqwa.
What is Taqwa?
The Prophet ﷺ said:
"تَدْرُونَ مَا أَكْثَرُ مَا يُدْخِلُ النَّارَ؟ قَالُوا: اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَعْلَمُ، قَالَ: الأَجْوَفَانِ: الْفَرْجُ وَالْفَمُ، وَأَكْثَرُ مَا يُدْخِلُ الْجَنَّةَ؟ تَقْوَى اللهِ وَحُسْنُ الْخُلُقِ."
Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, "Do you know what it is that makes most people enter the Fire?" "Allah and His Messenger know best," they said. He said, "The two empty ones: The genitals and the mouth. Do you know what it is that makes most people enter the Garden? Taqwa of Allah and good character."
If two things are mentioned together in one Hadith, it means there's a connection between the two. The Scholars said that the common factor between the two is الإصلاح (Reformation).
Taqwa is إصلاح between you and Allah. You fix yourself and your heart between you and Allah.
Good Manners are an إصلاح between you and the people.
There's so much reward for those who practice Taqwa in their lives. They have so high of a status with Allah, that if the heavens closed on the earth, Allah will make a special exit for them.
We think Taqwa is something we perform externally. If you want to meet people, you take care of your appearance, of the food, of your house if they come to your house, etc. You prepare and fix things.
Allah doesn't look at the outer picture. It's how you are inside when you abstain from sins, when you perform acts of worship.
E.g. We may go through oppression in our lives. Sometimes we stay quiet out of our nature, or we're embarrassed to talk, to be praised, etc. But we're not practicing Taqwa here. Perhaps if you had an opportunity to speak, you would. You're considered to have practiced Taqwa when you keep quiet for the sake of Allah. We need to reform ourselves for Allah, because He's watching our hearts. Allah said in [7:26]:
The Taqwa is a gown. We have to beautify our hearts for Allah.
E.g. Sometimes a person may be doing good deeds, but he's not doing it for Allah, but out of his desire - because he likes to do it. He isn't practicing Taqwa in this case.
Another meaning of Taqwa: It's to put a shield, a protection, a curtain, between you and the harm. We have defects in our heart, so we put a curtain, covering it, and beautifying our hearts at the same time.
E.g. A person has jealousy. This is a defect; a sickness of the heart. When we have injuries in our body, we bandage it up.
We can't extract this feeling from our heart completely, so we cover it with Taqwa. Don't let people see that you're jealous - control this feeling so it doesn't come in the form of backbiting, putting others down. etc.
And then while we're bandaging this injury up, we have to make الإصلاح: By going against our nature and desires; to invoke for good for the other person, and for Allah to cure you, rebuking yourself, etc.
E.g. When we commit a sin, we shouldn't talk about it. It'll distract you from repentance and feeling regret. You have to conceal it, and fight against yourself, make الإصلاح. No one else needs to know about it. Your concern is Allah.
The Third Meaning of Taqwa: Worshipping Allah with all the Actions of your Heart
You do everything on the outside, along with all the actions on the inside. Your concern is Allah. So many times we do things just to get acceptance from the people, or just so that we don't feel guilty. And this isn't Taqwa. Taqwa is to do everything for Allah.
In [38:30-33]:
Sulayman عليه السلام made a mistake and let the horses divert him from the remembrance of Allah, so he killed all the horses.
Sometimes our reaction when we practice Taqwa, doesn't make sense to the people outside. We all wonder how Sulayman killed all the horses. The Muttaqeen may be in the bad books of the people, because he may do actions which doesn't make sense to the people, but this is how he's practicing Taqwa.
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Part of the perfection of one's Islam is his leaving that which does not concern him." [Tirmidhi]
You don't know their struggle. Maybe there is something else.
One of the Scholars used to go the Market and if he liked anything and wanted to buy it, he would stop himself from buying it and talk to himself, "يا نفس, I won't give you everything you want". Some might consider him miserly, but he's practicing Taqwa. He knows his struggle and is disciplining himself.
Everyones Taqwa is different because everyone's struggle is different. Sometimes we do actions and can't explain it to others. They wonder why we're reacting the way we are. But it's a struggle inside the person. You want to do this, but you're stopping yourself.
The Muttaqeen care about their imagine in front of Allah, not about peoples perception of them. Wanting peoples praise is a big problem in itself, it makes you perform actions just for people. Don't follow desires - neither the desires of yourself, nor the desires of the people.
Allah said in [2:120]:
And in [2:145]:
And Allah said in [25:43]:
If you follow your desires and do what you want to do, no one will be able to change you. And when you abstain from following your desires and the peoples desires, you'll become humble.
Where is Taqwa practiced?
The Prophet ﷺ pointed to his chest and said:
"التَّقْوَى هَا هُنَ"
"....Taqwa is here...."
It's not what appears to the people.
E.g. How does Allah want us to practice Taqwa when He commanded us with the obligatory prayers? Standing up 5 times a day teaches us to discipline ourselves. We aren't allowed to talk in prayer, there are conditions that have to be fulfilled, we have to focus, etc. We're controlling ourselves.
It's a struggle between your Nafs and the Commands of Allah. Taqwa is to follow the commandments of Allah, and following your desires is to follow your Nafs.
E.g. We acquire knowledge. We shouldn't do it out of habit, or to socialize, etc. We need to constantly fight ourselves inside. This fighting is called Taqwa.
How can I practice Taqwa?
Imagine you're in a Jungle. You don't know what dangers await. You need guidelines and instructions. And you have to follow these guidelines regardless what happens. If you don't have guidelines, you can get lost, get harmed, etc.
We don't take an action without following guidelines. We need guidance from the Qur'an and Sunnah on how to act, what to say, how to feel.
Taqwa has two factors:
1) Knowledge العلم
2) Action العمل
هواء is when you don't have knowledge, or have knowledge but don't like to follow it. The knowledge tells you to go right, and your desire says to go left. So you go left.
Allah said in [103:1-3]:
#1 العلم - Knowledge
What do we need to know?
1) Who Allah is; whom you're struggling for.
Sometimes we have a struggle within ourselves for the people. We don't know whether to say or not say. But people don't see your struggle. That's why we need to know who Allah is; it's a motive which will make all your struggling and fixing correct and worth it.
2) Ourselves / Our Weaknesses
We need to observe ourselves through the decrees and situations we go through. Ask yourself - Why did you become angry or sad in that situation? Your emotions during situations teach you who you are.
We need to know ourselves and our sicknesses in order to cover it with Taqwa. If you don't know your sicknesses, how can you seek a cure?
E.g. You have the sickness of Love of Praise. You'll know you have this sickness through your emotions. You'll become happy when someone praises you, sad if someone doesn't praise you, angry if that person praised someone else. Your emotions revolve around your sickness and weakness.
#2 العمل - Action
This action takes place inside. And it's vital that the action is based on knowledge.
E.g. You know that you're attached to a person, to the point where you can't live without them. And this is very dangerous. It's as if this person is your comfort zone. And all your emotions revolve around them. You understand that you're sick.
How do you practice Taqwa? Your desire is to always be with that person. I negotiate with my heart, and fight myself to do everything for Allah. I reduce the time I spend with her.
She may not even understand why you're avoiding her, but you're practicing Taqwa. And again, people may not understand your reaction.
Musa did this with his people when they worshipped the calf. He took it, burnt it, and scattered it. In [20:97]:
Taqwa protects you from your faults, and protects other people as well. After you're completely healed from the sickness, you go back and associate with her, but with caution.
Why is Taqwa important in our lives?
Because in [3:76]:
In [3:133]:
In [15:45]:
There are so many promises for those who practice Taqwa. They restricted themselves in this life. They prevented themselves from getting addicted to things. Even the Prophet ﷺ would change his type of food, he never got addicted to one. When we do the same thing, we get addicted, and when we get addicted it brings out our desire and ruins our Taqwa.
And he ﷺ would change the companions positions during Battle. And Allah pushes us towards Taqwa. No ones life is always the same routine. We feel secure in our routine, and then something happens in our life which breaks our routine. And we get angry. But it's good for us.
And Ramadan breaks our routine. Taqwa is the struggle in our heart to go against our nature.
A person practicing Taqwa dealing with a person not practicing it will be a disaster. Because they're both on a different page. This one is practicing Taqwa, and the other is concerned about his desires. It'll clash. It's a struggle inside. We're struggling for Allah, and can't see Allah, but we can see the people angry in front of us. That's why the Muttaqeen have such huge rewards with Allah.
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