THE YOUTH…. Which one are you?

Allah, glorified be He above all else, questions us;

‘Do you think that the people of the Cave and the Inscription were a wonder among Our Signs?’

Surah Al-Kahf, the Cave, Chapter 18 ayah 9

So, the popular story of the youth that Allah, the exalted, had kept in the cave is a great sign to us. From it, we must derive lessons. This is a surah that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, recommends that we read every Friday.  

Allah, the Almighty, tells us about how these young men had fled from their people in order to stay on the tawheed. He says;

ALLAH: Remember when the young men fled for refuge to the cave. They said…

YOUNG MEN:  Our Lord! Bestow on us mercy from Yourself, and facilitate for us our affair in the right way!

ALLAH: Therefore, We covered up their hearing causing them to go in deep sleep in the cave for a number of years…

Ayah 10-11

Subhaanal Laah! Indeed, when we run away from that which distracts us from Allah, He provides us with an unimaginable refuge. These young men were afraid of going against the dictates of their Creator. They were afraid that if they stayed among their people, they were going to end up like them, worshipping other gods besides Allah; Subhaanal Laah! So they had fled and they called upon Allah for His assistance which He gladly gave them.

Are we the youth of Islam like these young men whose story are supposed to be a sign for us? Do we quickly run away from our peers provided they are going to lead us astray? How many of us do not end up doing the bad things that our peers do just because we do not want to offend them even though that earns us the wrath of our Creator? So we must indeed ponder!

What did Allah do for them after sending them into a deep slumber and waking them up years later? He worked on their ‘heart’ that which when guided, the whole body gets that guidance and when led astray sends the whole body astray.

ALLAH: And We made their hearts firm and strong when they stood up and said…

YOUNG MEN: Our Lord is the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth, never shall we call upon any god other than Him; if we did, we should indeed have uttered an enormity in disbelief. These our people have taken for worship gods other than Him. Why do they not bring for them a clear authority? And who does more wrong than he who invents a lie against Allah?

Ayah 14-15

And indeed, who does more wrong than he who invents a lie against Allah? Subhaanal Laah! May Allah, the exalted, save us from ourselves and bless us with a firm and strong heart. Ameen. So these young men showed steadfastness and conviction in their belief in Allah. Their belief in tawheed was unshakeable. Are we like that these days?

Narrated Amr ibn Maymun al-Awdi

‘Allah’s Messenger, peace be upon him, said to a man in the course of an exhortation, ‘Grasp five things before five others;

1.      Your YOUTH before your DECREPITUDE

2.      Your HEALTH before your ILLNESS

3.      Your RICHES before your POVERTY

4.      Your LEISURE before your WORK

5.      Your LIFE before your Death

Allah says;

‘It is Allah who has created you in a state of helplessness as a baby, then gave you strength to come out of helplessness in youth, then after strength again helplessness and grey hair in old age…’

Surah Ar-Rum, The Romans, Chapter 30:54

Are we taking advantage of our Youth before our Decrepitude (old age)? Well, that is something we should answer individually. I see old people who have lost control of their movements from one point to the other. In difficulty, they do  sualaat. They could not do the ups and downs of prayer as efficiently as the young people anymore. My grandmum is one typical example. She is so tuned to worship yet in difficulty she does sujuud and ruku’. She has to sometimes sit through the sualaat. When walking to Jum’a that is so close to the house, she has to stop so many times on the way due to the difficulty in walking. Her youthful strength is totally drained.

Allah tells us about the youth who had believed in Prophet Musah’s message of Tawheed. He says in Surah Yunus, Jonah, Chapter 10:83 that;

‘None but a few youth from his own people believed in Musah…’

Do you take notice of the old people you see around? Some of them are still lost in the sweets of this Dunya. They lack awareness of the fact that time suddenly caught up with them and that they should be careful. Yet there are some who have misused their youthful exuberance by involving in all sorts of worldly-inclined activities and now that they are old, they turn to Allah in worship, in their very feeble states. Yet there are some who have worshipped Allah in their youth and are still doing so in their old age. May we be like them. Ameen.

Allah, glorified be He above all else, also tells us about how Prophet Ibraaheem (pbuh) scorned the gods that his people used to worship whiles still in his youth. He says in Surah Al-Anbiyaa, The Prophets, Chapter 21:60 that;

‘… We heard a youth speak of these gods with scorn; he is called Ibraaheem.’

Now, from the lecture video of Sheikh Nouman Ali Khan entitled; ‘Contradicting Community,’ he states three kinds of Muslim youth which I would like to write briefly about. I would add one from my own perspective.

1.      The Messed-Up Muslim Youth

2.      The Middle Muslim Youth

3.      The Seemingly Religious Muslim Youth

4.      The Religious Muslim Youth (Mine)

The Messed-Up Muslim Youth is the Muslim young man or young lady who has a contrasting personality. The person is Muslim but does not do what Islam requires of him/her. This youth goes about doing all kinds of things that Allah hates; not doing sualaat, not fasting, drinking alcohol, smoking, disrespectful, dressing provocatively, vulgar in talk, watching profane stuffs, sexually immoral and promiscuous and every other bad thing one can think of. Yet he is Muslim! Subhaanal Laah! May Allah save us from being such a mess ever. Ameen.

The Middle Muslim Youth is the one who is not so messed up like the Messed-Up youth. This person is sometimes obeying Allah and at other times disobeying Him. He/she does the right thing this minute and the wrong thing the other minute. Sometimes he/she is seeking religious knowledge to better him/herself and the next moment he/she is letting the worldly pleasures carry him/her away. So you see him/her well-dressed today and the next day he/she is totally a disaster. Today he/she is talking about religious stuffs and the next day he/she is talking about immoral things. This is the two faced Muslim youth who has no one inclination. Sometimes, such a youth emanates from the Messed-Up stage. After being messed up, he or she does some thinking sometimes and then becomes better at sometimes and bad at another. May Allah save us from such uncertainty about Islam in our lives. Ameen.

The Seemingly Religious Youth is the one who, alhamdu lil Laah, studies Islam and abides by its teaching. He/she tries his/her best to do as Allah says and stays away from that which Allah dislikes of him/her. This kind of youth sometimes also emanates from the Messed-Up stage, passes through the Middle stage and then finally settles to being Religious. This youth is filled with so much passion to correct his/her pass wrongs and prove to him/herself that he/she is a totally changed person. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this kind of ‘Seemingly Religious Youth.’ Even though this youth sometimes emanates from the messed up stage through to the middle or straight from the middle stage, he/she becomes so judgmental. He/she is quick to put another in the hellfire. He/she is quick to criticise others for their wrong doing in an inappropriate manner and he/she thinks that he/she is better than others in the sight of Allah. This person learns a lot only to prove to the people how much he/she knows of the deen and does not make what is learnt impact on him/her first. He/she begins to make it very uncomfortable for others to be with him/her because they fear that they would be condemned to doom. It is this kind of Religious Youth who makes the religion difficult for others to follow and does not call to goodness with hikma. May Allah prevent us from being this kind of youth. Ameen.

The Religious Youth is the ideal youth. He/she studies the deen and makes it have an impact on him/herself and transmits his/her knowledge with hikma, wisdom. He does not condemn others to Hellfire but makes them understand that there is hope for change for all of them just as he/she has been guided and is being guided by the Creator. This youth might have also emanated from the messed up, through to the middle and sometimes the seemingly religious stage to become who he/she is. This youth fears for his/her sin more than that of others. He/she does not see him/herself as better than others but rather as someone who is striving to be better each minute in the sight of Ar-Rahmanur Raheem. This youth believes that guidance is with the Owner of the Universe and all that it contains and that his/her duty is to do as the Creator wills and call others to do the same. This kind of youth does not compromise his/her deen and yet he/she does not make it difficult for others to follow it. He/she draws to him/herself all kinds of people due to his/her leniency. He/she would tell the people who do wrong the truth but in an appropriate manner and he/she loves it when others point out his/her wrong to him/her. Subhaanal Laah! May Allah make us like this kind of youth. Ameen thumma ameen. This kind of youth is obviously following in the footsteps of the Noble Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. He is following the advice;

‘TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR YOUTH BEFORE YOUR OLD AGE.’

Which of the youth are we? Messed Up, Middle, Seemingly Religious or Religious? Which one should we be? Of course, we need to ponder. It is not impossible for the Messed Up or the Middle or the Seemingly Religious to become Religious overnight. No, it is not impossible because indeed Allah is able to do all things and if we ask of Him, He listens. Why don’t we pray to Allah with sincerity for Him to guide us to become Religious Youth so we can take advantage of our Youth before our Old age? Indeed, we stand to lose if we do not hope to move from all the stage of youthfulness to the Religious stage.

It is not too difficult to take up the challenge to get better at all. All we need to do is to make up that sincere intention to get better in the sight of Allah only for the sake of Allah and Allah will definitely give us the strength to draw closer to Him. Let that bell of the desire to get better for the sake of Allah click now before it is too late. May Allah see us through this. Ameen thumma ameen.

By

Rubaba Mmahajia Rahma Sabtiu

THE MAN WHO CAME RUNNING...

‘Invite to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.’

Surah An-Nahl, the Bee, Chapter 16 ayah 125

We are commanded by Allah, the Supreme, to call people unto His way, which is Islam. We are however cautioned to do so with ‘wisdom’ and ‘fair preaching’ and even though we could argue with those who have not accepted Islam in any manner at all, we are required to do so in a ‘way that is better.’ Subhaanal Laah! How great is our religion Islam! Do you and I then follow these simple rules of ‘calling unto the path of Allah?’ Do we not just pick up our bags of knowledge and throw it at anyone in any way that we please? Well, Allah, the Exalted, says; ‘bil hikma’ ‘with wisdom.’

Allah, glorified be He above all else, tells us something beautiful as Muslims. He says in Surah Al-‘Imraan, the Family of ‘Imraan, Chapter 3 ayah 110 that;

‘You are the best nation produced for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah...’

The condition for our being the best is that; ‘we enjoin that which is right in the sight of Allah and forbid that which is wrong in His sight and then we believe in Allah ourselves.’ It sounds simple but upon deep thinking, we realize that we do require a lot in order to belong to the best nation. In this ayah, we see again, the element of calling one another towards Allah’s path ‘Islam.’ That goes to confirm how very important that is in worship.

Now we go to a section of Surah Yaa Seen where Allah, the One and Only God, tells us the story of people who had disobeyed the Messengers He sent to them as guidance.

THE STORY GOES LIKE THIS...

ALLAH: And put forward to them a similitude; the story of the dwellers of the town, when there came Messengers to them. When We sent to them two Messengers, they belied them both, so We reinforced them with a third and they said...

THE MESSENGERS: Verily! We have been sent to you as Messengers

THE PEOPLE: You are only human beings like ourselves, and the Most Beneficent (Allah) has revealed nothing, you are only telling lies

THE MESSENGERS: Our Lord knows that we have been sent as Messengers to you and our duty is only to convey plainly the Message.

(And Subhaanal Laah! The people threatened these noble messengers with a painful torment from them who are only humans. Yet is Allah not ‘the Severe in Punishment?’)

THE PEOPLE: For us, we see an evil omen from you, if you cease not, we will surely stone you, and a painful torment will touch you from us.

THE MESSENGERS: Your evil omens be with you! Do you call it "evil omen" because you are admonished? Nay, but you are a people who are transgressors.

Ayah 13 to 19

Interesting enough, a man who had been far away from this noble Messengers of Allah, had heard about them and he had ran to them to hear their beautiful message and to submit himself to the worship of his and everyone else’s Creator. He did not just do that, he also did as stated in the ayaats above. He enjoined his people who were even closer to the Messengers than he was, to the path of Allah and forbade them from wrong. He reminds me of the father of ‘Allah’s Sword’ ‘Saiful Laah’ ‘Khalid Ibn Al-Walid.’ This man, Walid Ibn Al-Mughira, was being convinced by the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, to accept Islam and he showed reluctance. But a blind and poor man, Abdul Laah Ibn Ummi Maktum, had come pressuring the noble Prophet to tell him about Islam.

Note: I learnt that the man who was being convinced by the Prophet was Walid Ibn Al-Mughira from a lecture by Sheikh Yasir Qadhi entitled, ‘Khalid Ibn Al-Walid.’

So let’s go back to what Allah, the All Knowing, tells us about this servant of his who came running for his own goodness.

ALLAH: And there came running from the farthest part of the town, a man, saying:

THE MAN:

ü  My people! Obey the Messengers

ü  Obey those who ask no wages of you for themselves, and who are rightly guided

ü  And why should I not worship Him Who has created me and to Whom you shall be returned?

ü  Shall I take besides Him gods? If the Most Beneficent intends me any harm, their intercession will be of no use for me whatsoever, nor can they save me

ü  Then verily, I should be in plain error

ü  Verily! I have believed in your Lord, so listen to me

ALLAH:  It was said to him: "Enter Paradise."

THE MAN: Would that my people knew! That my Lord has forgiven me, and made me of the honoured ones!

Ayah 20 to 27

Subhaanal Laah! Subhaanal Laah! This story does not cease to fascinate me. The man’s words are so piercing. They are so very true and apply to each one of us. How many scholars have not cautioned us against the bad that we do and then we turn deaf ears to them? Yet how many people are there who go miles in search of the truth so that they do not say ‘had I known in the end?’ Allahu Akbar! Allah is indeed great beyond our imagination. Do you know the story of ‘Salman Al-Farasi?’ - The young boy who was so dear to his father that he locks him up so that he doesn’t lose him. Yet this boy had run in search of truth, ended up as a slave but finally found the truth and he become one of the companions of the Prophet.

Subhaanal Laah! What are you and I doing? Isn’t it time to wake up from our long slumber? Isn’t it time for us to start walking in the paths of people like this man who came running and the likes of Salman Al-Farasi?

Well, truth indeed has come and falsehood has perished but the choice to walk on the right path and to enjoin people to goodness and forbid them from wrong is solely ours to make. Let’s make the right choice before death comes to us all of a sudden like it did come to Fir’aun and then we are unable to repent. Allah says;

‘And spend from what We have provided you before death approaches one of you and he says, "My Lord, if only You would delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the righteous." But never will Allah delay a soul when its time has come. And Allah is acquainted with what you do.’

Surah Al-Munaafiquun, the Hypocrites, Chapter 63 ayah 10-11

Thinnnnnnnk and do some reflections. In that lies a lot of understanding. May Allah, the All-Seeing, make us among those who run to seek His way and work with it. Ameen thumma amen.

By Rubaba Mmahajia Rahma Sabtiu