|| || o || _o_,_\ ,;: .'_o_\ ,;: (_|_;: _o_,_,_,_; ( .. / (_) / ( . Bismillah irRahman irRaheem In the Name of Allaah, The Most Gracious, The Most Kind ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hijri date: Sunday 24 Jumaada al-awal 1420 A.H. Continued.. Allah, ta'ala, has said in Suratul 'An'aam: 1, "... yet those who disbelieve hold others as equal with their Lord." and "... verily, joining others in worship with Allah is a great sin", and because of that, Allah does notforgive it unless the person makes "tauba" - repentance. In the hadith, it said "al ya's min rauhillah", that is, despairing of being with Allah / being cut off from all hope or expectation from Allah of what he fears and hopes for. This is having a poor opinion of Allah (denying His qualities of Mercy, Justice and Forgiveness) and igorance of Him, the wode scope of His Mercy, His Presence and His Forgiveness. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, also said in the hadith, listing some of the major sins, ". . . wal 'aman min makrillah", referring again to the aspect of "al istid-raaj", the gradual seizing of a person, or persons, or nation and his/their negation of what they have been given of faith and we seek refuge in Allah from that, and, in reality, it is ignorance of Allah, His attributes, especially His Might, and self-trust and conceit. It is pointed out that this hadith only names 3 major sins; there are many others; however these 3 are the most serious of them mentioned in Qur'an and Sunnah and recorded by the Sahaabah, Taabi'een and Tabi' Taabi'een who recorded what he said -- every sin results in Allah's pun- ishment with fire or a curse or anger or punishment. Sheikh Ibn Taymiyyah added, "and it nullifies emaan." The author reminds us that the Messenger of Allah often said that who ever does this act or that act is not of us. Ibn Abbas said, in reference to the major sins that there are more than 700 and that there is no "kabeera" with forgiveness and no minor sin with insistence or willfulness. The author calls attention to "ar-rajaa' " hope and "al khauf" fear: If a person fears Allah, then he should not despair and give up all hope; rather, he should hope for Allah's Mercy. The Salaf (the pious predecessors) used like to strengthen their fear of Allah, especially in times of sickness, one should be hopeful -- and this was the way of Abu Aulaimaan Ad-Daarani and others. He said that fear should be very dear to the heart. If hope overcomes the fear, the heart is spoiled. Allah' ta'ala, said in verse 12 of Suratul Mulk, "For those who fear their Lord (and don't see him), there is forgiveness and many blessings" and Allah said in Suratun Nur: 37 "They fear a Day when hearts and eyes will be overturned [14:37 and in Suratul Mu'minoon: 60 and Suratul Zumar: 9 and it the ayah, it is noted that warning or fear precedes ar'rajaa' - hope. * [Omm Rafiq's note: I feel it necessary to point out that in the explanation of the word "is-tid-raaj", we see that the dictionary meaning of it is: to make gradually, to advance/rise gradually, to promote something by degrees, to lead someone gradually, bring someone around to..., to lure into destruction" [Hans-Wehr's A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic] However, we cannot say that "Allah lured them to their destruction. No, what is meant here is that He gives them time plenty of time to either take the straight path, the path of Allah, or to continue in their rejection, sins and refusal of guidance. We know that Allah is just but sometimes we may tend to look at the Kufaar as "getting all the breaks", "living the life", "having it all", but we must remember, as it is explained to us here, that this is for a purpose. It's like giving someone enough rope to hang himself, in a sense. Allah has given them every opportunity and more than enough time. He gives them time to think of the blessings He has bestowed upon them and to realize that they have been doing is wrong. On the Last Day, no one will have been oppressed in receiving the punishment or reward for his actions during his life. You know how when a child gets caught at something, he will offer all kinds of excuses for what happened, how there wasn't enough time, how he didn't know, he didn't realize -- then he will even try to say that what is happening to him is unfair. On that Day, the Kufaar, and everyone will know, that there will be no excuses made because there will not be any to be made. He cannot say , I didn't know or I didn't realize or THERE WASN'T ENOUGH TIME!] Omm Rafiq Makkah The above was based upon this book and the course notes I have from "Ayaatul Aqeedah", Umm Al Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Allahumma, akthar maali, wa waladi, wa baarik li fima 'ataitani, w'atil hayaati ala taa'atik wahsin 'amali waghfirli O Allah, increase my wealth and offspring and bless me (give me baraka)in what You give me And make the rest of my life in Your obedience, make my deeds the best deeds, and forgive me. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Allahumma,I seek refuge in You from knowledge that does not benefit, from a heart that is not subdued, from a supplication that is not answered, and from a soul that is not satisfied. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------