Every man has a very short time in this dunya and this life is very precious. There is more work and less time. The field is very spacious and everyone’s flight will come to an end. So measure your time and use it efficiently. The job of sleeping, eating and drinking are what even the animals can do. The more you go behind the materialistic things and more you progress in materialistic things, you will become a clever animal. If only eating is your aim, then there are cows and goats that can eat more than you. If only sleeping is your aim and this is your bodily desire, then know that even the animals do this. Eating well, drinking well and sleeping well are not the progress of a good man but the progress of a good animal. The progress we see today is not the progress of insaan (mankind) but of haiwaan (animal).
When the man recognizes the Creator of these material things and the Creator of the mankind, then that is his progress. If a person recognizes his Creator even if he doesn’t have proper clothes to wear, he has progressed. The Prophets (AS) of Allah ﷻ used to lead mankind only towards this path. The more one recognizes Allah ﷻ and more one increases his talluq (c0ntact) with Allah ﷻ, the more he is progressive. Let Allah ﷻ make us more desirous of Allah ﷻ than we are desirous of food and clothes. How much we take zauq (delight) in having food, clothes, house and car! How nice it would be if we get this delight in worshipping Allah ﷻ! Aforetime Muslims used to have a great joy in worshipping Allah ﷻ just like how one enjoys delicious food and this enjoyment comes deep from the heart. Today Muslims worship out of compulsion and there is no enthusiasm in the ibaadat (worship). One should have enjoyment in recitation of Quran, in doing nafil salahs and in waking up for tahajjud. When one is hungry, his hunger is enough to wake him up rather than anyone else. When we have enthusiasm for ibaadat, we will wake up for tahajjud by ourselves without seeking other’s help.
We are so devoid of enthusiasm that we get headache if we are to do some tasbih in solitude. And if we are called to chat we easily spend one hour in talking even if it involves haram talks because we enjoy it. As there is no zauq in ibaadat, remembering Allah ﷻ in solitude has become difficult and so is the recitation of Quran. So whatever progress we see today is that of an animal and the real progress of man is in having zauq in the worship of Allah ﷻ be it the recitation of Quran, performing nafil salahs or the remembrance of Allah ﷻ. So far we have been doing ibaadat thinking that to be a burden and out of compulsion. In the beginning, we should strive to achieve zauq by taking some courage. We should aim to make our salah magnificent. Without having any zauq in ibaadat, if one wants the talluq of Allah ﷻ, how can this happen? The truth is when one gets the talluq of Allah ﷻ, he will search for the time of solitude. When one gets the talluq of a new bride, he will wish that everyone sleeps and he speaks with her all alone. This is the case with anything with which one gets talluq for he will wish for solitude. When a person gets the talluq of Allah ﷻ, the One who deserves more love, he will keep waiting for the time of solitude.
The yardstick to know how much you have talluq of Allah ﷻ is to see how much you desire to sit in solitude in the musallah (the place of prayer). If your heart desires, then Alhamdulillah know that you have the talluq of Allah ﷻ. Fa’idhaa faraghta fansab. Therefore, when thou art free (from thine immediate task), still labour hard. Our beloved Prophet ﷺ so used to do ibaadat in solitude that he ﷺ would get tired. He ﷺ will sit in a place where there is no sign of any human so he ﷺ is left with his Allah ﷻ alone. He will have the view of Kaaba right in front of him ﷺ from his place. More your heart is attached to the time of solitude, Alhamdulillah know that your heart is in a good state and has talluq of Allah ﷻ. With utmost importance and attentiveness, perform salah, recite Quran and remember Allah ﷻ. The truth is we don’t have any zauq for the ibaadat and this is the sign of lack of Allah’s ﷻ contact from deep inside.
Our beloved Prophet ﷺ gave dawah towards humanity and not towards animality. He ﷺ made the man as man. The materialistic progress pushed a man to reach the moon or anywhere but made him forget why he came here, who sent him here and ultimately where he has to go. If your aim is only eating and sleeping, go to jungle you will see animals eating more than what you eat and construct houses suited best for summer and winter better than you. If you take pride in construction and engineering, look at the construction of a beehive. The bees build 70000 cells all of same size and shape in a single beehive. An engineer can fail to construct in same size but this cannot be seen constructed by the bees. So sitting, lying, sleeping, establishing shop are all the job of animals and this is not the progress of man but of animals. The materialistic knowledge is the knowledge of animals and the real knowledge is that which was brought by the Prophet ﷺ through which one recognizes Allah ﷻ, your Creator. Even the animals have medical knowledge. It knows if its kid eats something harmful, it will get remedy if it eats a particular leaf. If its kid gets wounded, it knows the remedy. Even a bird knows when its baby gets sick and to cure accordingly. The animals also have the knowledge of construction and engineering. If you consider the knowledge of storage of food is great then the ants do that. In one season they store food for the rest of the other seasons. They even know how to preserve it. This sort of knowledge is present with both kuffaar and the animals but as far as the knowledge of recognition of Allah ﷻ, this is exclusive to Muslims.
This progress whereby the man recognized His creator was brought by the Prophets (AS) of Allah ﷻ. The man was exalted in position and the earth and everything in it was created to serve him and he in turn was created to serve Allah ﷻ. This serving is not like how a king of this world is served. The Prophet ﷺ brought two ways (Quran and sunnah) without which the administration of this world cannot run. Today the world is restless. The crimes have increased but one is unable to control and the criminals escape easily. When the prison system is made advanced, the number of criminals is increasing day by day. These laws are not really laws and the only law is that of Islam. The condition of non-Islamic law can be seen clearly. The disease is not getting cured but getting worse with the medicine. The Prophet ﷺ brought the message to recognize Allah ﷻ, to believe in Him ﷻ and to take benefit from the commandments sent by Allah ﷻ. Do not think that the Europe progressed by embracing atheism. What sort of progress is that which cannot make the heart peaceful and tranquil? The achievement of progress is peace and tranquility. This is our mistake to think that Europe is progressing and the west is progressing while this is nothing but pain and labor. Look at their nation they don’t have peace. If there is peace and tranquility, it is only in Islam and in complete Islam. If one has five rupees, even five rupees is wealth but no one calls him wealthy. How we will be called Muslims if we have Islam only to the level of five rupees? Today even if one has money in thousands or even lakhs he doesn’t call himself as wealthy because his mind remains at crores. But when it comes to Islam, even if he has only very little Islam and he offers salah only one time a day, he remains very content and says he is a Muslim and he has Islam. Even five rupees is wealth, why don’t you call yourself wealthy?
You can touch the moon or you can reach the heavens but peace and tranquility can be found only in the obedience of the Prophet ﷺ. Mark the words that all this worldly progress won’t fetch any peace. When people adopted the principles of the Prophet ﷺ they remained peaceful and when they left, they were deprived of peace. In fact even the animals remained peaceful. During the reign of Umar bin Aziz (RA), the wolf and sheep used to sit in the same place. Hazrat Maulana Zakarriyah (RA) said he has seen very often in the house of his uncle Maulana Ilyas (RA) that the chickens and the cat used to play together. When one becomes the man of Allah ﷻ and Allah ﷻ becomes pleased with him, then its view comes into picture and Allah ﷻ changes His ﷻ nizaam (sovereignty). Everyone gets security. Today when the man is not getting security how will the animals get? The peace is when each feel secured of one another. This is the teaching of the Prophet ﷺ.
O my honorable ones! The more you advance in Islam, more you will feel peace and secured. The more you advance in Islam, more will be the enjoyment of life. You won’t feel restless but you will feel more peaceful. That is why the nafil salahs you prayed by the blessings of Ramadhan, continue to do that whichever you think you can do, be that ishraaq salah or tahajjud salah. If you cannot do everything that is fine, but make those habitual which you can do. Recite the Quran daily. Do not abandon it. Read at least half a juzz everyday and if you find it difficult then start from quarter of a juzz. Morning time is the best for the recitation of Quran. Do the tasbihaat in mornings and evenings. Try to offer all the salahs in its entirety. Pray all the 8 rakats in asr salah, 12 rakats in zuhr salah and so on. Some say nafil salahs are prayed only by very pious people. Oh dear! Nafil salahs are to be prayed by those whose salahs are not perfect because the nafil salahs make up for the shortcomings in our farz salahs. So people like us are more in need of nafil salahs. Let there be zauq and give more importance to duas recited during morning and evening, when eating, when sleeping, when leaving the house, when going to the market and so on. Let Allah ﷻ grant us all tawfeeq. Ameen
