Ramadan Thoughts

Islam teaches that all humans are the vicegerents or ambassadors of God on earth. The Quran, which is the Word of God, teaches that everything on earth has been created by God for the sake of us humans and that we have been appointed as God’s ambassadors to use the blessings of God for our own benefit.

We have freedom of will and action—of course, within limits. So, we can choose what to do or what not to do. Unlike other creatures of God, we can observe closely the world around us, use logic and reason, do research, think, calculate, speak, write, dream, sing, and pray. God commands us to make use of our God-given faculties to lead a good life here, indeed to create a better world.

When we become aware of the fact that our life and the world in which we live are the gifts of God, we become responsible beings. Then we do not waste any one of these gifts of God. One of the things for which we are answerable is the wasting of the resources available to us. Knowledge, skills, technology, and even time are immensely valuable resources for us to use carefully and wisely.

Even while we are reasonable beings, we commit mistakes, we forget, we slip, we fail, we make wrong choices and decisions. In fact, we are badly in need of guidance in many things, particularly in the matter of making the great choices of our life.

And God has given us guidance through His prophets. That was how religion was born. Those who imagine that they can do without divine guidance, or ignore that guidance, are the arrogant ones who do serious and fatal wrongs in life and waste the gifts of God. They are answerable before God.

There is a Judgment Day when all of us will have to stand before God and account for all our actions. Those who have accepted God and His guidance are the successful ones on that Day. Those who rejected God and His guidance are the losers. Now where do we find the guidance of God?

It is in the Books of God and the teachings of His prophets that we can get divine guidance. They teach us that we have to acknowledge our origin, that we have been created by the One and Only God.

Once we accept this, we have to lead a life in obedience to God. How do we do this? The prophets taught generations of people who lived in times of old, how to lead such a life.

Prophet after prophet came to teach God’s guidance, and finally one prophet came to complete and perfect the divine guidance; he was the Last Prophet, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

The Word of God revealed to Muhammad, (peace and blessings be upon him), is known as the Quran. The whole corpus of the teachings of the Prophet, which forms an example and explanation of the Word of God, is called the Sunnah of the Prophet.

Islam teaches that all of us must order our lives in the mold of the Quran and the Sunnah. This means that we have to believe in God, the Prophets, and the Day of Judgment, to mention the most important of the beliefs.

And then we need to live a life of obedience to God as commanded by God in the Holy Quran and shown by Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, in his Sunnah. Those of us who fail in this go to hell, and those who succeed in this get to heaven.

Thus in Islam, both faith and good works are of equal importance; indeed they are two sides of the same coin. In other words, faith without good works is a dead letter; and good works without faith are not really good works, for they are utterly futile.

Abu Sa’id (may Allah be pleased with him) reported:

Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: Allah, the High and Glorious, would say:

O Adam! and he would say: At Your service, at Your beck and call, O Lord, and the good is in Your hand. Allah would say: Bring forth the group of (the denizens of) Fire. Adam would ask: Who are the denizens of Hell? It would be said: They are out of every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine. The Prophet said: It is at this juncture that every child would become white-haired. As the Quran says what means:

“… and every pregnant one will drop her load, and you shall see mankind as in a drunken state, yet they will not be drunken, but severe will be the torment of Allah”.

(Al Haj 22:2)

The narrator said: This had a very depressing effect upon them upon the Companions of the Prophet and they asked: Messenger of Allah, who among us would be that fortunate person who would be admitted to Paradise? He said: Good tidings for you, Gog and Magog would be those thousands who would be the denizens of Hell and a person selected for Paradise would be among you.

The narrator further reported that Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) again said: By Him in Whose hand is my life, I hope that you would constitute one-fourth of the inhabitants of Paradise. We extolled Allah and glorified Him.

The Prophet again said: By Him in whose Hand is my life, I wish you would constitute one-third of the inhabitants of Paradise. We extolled Allah and glorified Him. The Prophet again said: By Him in Whose hand is my life, I hope that you would constitute half of the inhabitants of Paradise. Your likeness among the people is the likeness of a white hair on the skin of a black ox or a strip on the foreleg of an ass.

(Reported by Muslim.)

So according to the previous hadith, nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every one thousand will be in fire, but Muslims do not need to be afraid from this as the Prophet (PBUH) said that Gog and Magog would represent the nine hundred and ninety-nine and he (peace be upon him) hoped that Muslims would represent half of the inhabitants of Paradise.

The Prophet said: If anyone testifies sincerely from his heart that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His Bondsman and His Messenger, Allah immunizes him from Hell. The narrator then added: I asked the Messenger of Allah: Should I then give the tiding to the people? The Prophet said: Do not tell them this good news, for they would depend on this alone.

(Reported by Muslim.)

In Paradise, it is reported that everyone will get what they desire. Actually, I do not know what you mean by “something that is not considered good in this life” but if it is haram (prohibited) like wine, for example, in our earthly life, it will not be forbidden in Paradise, as God Almighty says in the Quran:

“Here is a parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised: in it are rivers of water incorruptible; rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink; and rivers of honey pure and clear. In it there are for them all kinds of fruits; and grace from their Lord. [Can those in such bliss] be compared to such as shall dwell forever in the Fire, and be given, to drink, boiling water, so that it cuts up their bowels to pieces.” (Muhammad 47:15)

Pleasures in Paradise are different and they are not the same, so everyone will get what he or she desires. For example, those who were not granted children in their lives can desire to have children in Paradise and they will get what they desire.

As for women and the blessings they will have in Paradise, it was stated that they would be prettier than houris, and except for men having houris in Paradise, both men and women are equal in the blessings they will enjoy. Regarding having more than one husband, no hadith has stated this whatsoever; it is against the nature of women and the modesty women enjoy. (compiled from www.onislam.net)

Nothing relieves the heart and makes one happy more than thinking well of others. It protects one from the harm of worrisome thoughts that disturb his peace of mind and exhaust the body. Thinking well of others leads to a sound heart, strengthens the ties of cordiality and love among the individuals of a community, and frees the hearts from hatred and rancor. The Prophet, , said: “Beware of assumptions, for assumption is the falsest of speech, and do not be inquisitive, and do not spy upon one another, and do not vie with one another, and do not envy one another, and do not hate one another, and do not shun one another; be fellow-brothers and slaves of Allaah.”If only the members of the Muslim community would adhere to this sublime behavior, their enemies would never dare to attack them and their famous policy of “divide and rule” will never succeed because the hearts are united and the souls are pure.

Ways to Think Well of Others

There are certainly many ways that a Muslim can think well of others; some of which are:

Supplication

Supplicating to Allaah The Almighty is the gate to every goodness. The Prophet, , would ask his Lord to grant him a sound heart.

Putting Oneself in the Place of Others

If each one of us puts himself in the place of his brother when the latter does or says something, this will help him think well of others. Allaah The Almighty directs His slaves to this meaning in the verse where He Says (what means): {Why, when you heard it [the falsehood against ‘Aa’ishah ], did not the believing men and believing women think good of one another?}[Quran 24:12] In another verse, Allaah The Almighty makes the believers feel as if they are one single entity, to the extent that when one of them meets his brother and greets him, it is as if he is greeting himself. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {But when you enter houses, give greetings of peace upon yourselves - a greeting from Allaah.} [Quran 24:61]

Interpreting the Words of Others in the Best Possible Way

This was the habit of the righteous predecessors. ‘Umar  said, “Do not think ill of a word that your believing brother utters as long as it can be interpreted in a good way.”

Imaam Ash-Shaafi‘i  was ill once, and some of his brothers came to visit him; one of them said, “May Allaah strengthen your weakness [He intended to supplicate to Allaah in order to eliminate his weakness].” Ash-Shaafi‘i  said, “If Allaah strengthens my weakness, it would kill me!”  The man said, “By Allaah, I intended nothing but goodness.” Ash-Shaafi‘i  replied, “Even if you insulted me, I know that you sought goodness.” Thinking well of others is true brotherhood, even in things that cannot be interpreted in a good way.

Making Excuses for Others

When anyone says or does something that annoys or grieves one, he should try to find excuses for him and recall the status of the righteous who used to think well of their fellows and make excuses for them. They would say, “You should make seventy excuses for your brother.” Ibn Seereen  said, “If you come to know that a brother has harmed you with either a word or a deed, you should make an excuse for him; if you did not find one, you should say, ‘There may be an excuse that I do not know of.’” When you exert your utmost to make excuses for the words and deeds of others, you will save yourself the trouble of assuming and you will avoid blaming your fellows excessively.

Abstaining from Judging the Intentions of Others

This is one of the greatest causes that help one think well of others. One leaves the intentions to the only One who knows them: Allaah The Almighty, for He did not command us to check each others’ hearts and intentions, and thus we have to avoid harboring ill-thoughts about others.

Recalling the Harmful Consequences of Evil Assumptions

The one who thinks ill of others lives in endless trouble and grief, to say nothing of the fact that he loses all those who socialize with him, even the closest people to him. It is natural that people make mistakes, even unintentionally. Accusing others along with thinking well of oneself is one of the evil consequences of thinking ill of others. This is one way a person may be guilty of ascribing purity to oneself that Allaah The Exalted forbade in His Book. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {So do not claim yourselves to be pure; He is most knowing of who fears Him.} [Quran 53:32] In another verse, Allaah The Exalted criticizes the Jews when they ascribed purity to themselves. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Have you not seen those who claim themselves to be pure? Rather, Allaah purifies whom He wills, and injustice is not done to them, [even] as much as a thread [inside a date seed].} [Quran 4:49]

Thinking well of others requires extensive training and striving against one’s self, particularly because the devil is inseparable from man like the blood that runs through his body. He never stops his attempts to sow dissension within the Muslims and stir up disputes among them. Thinking well of others is one of the greatest means to block this way before the devil. We ask Allaah The Almighty to Grant us sound hearts and Help us to think well of our brothers and sisters.

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