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Don’t make the dunya your priority – Tarawih reflections 4

Don’t make the dunya your priority - Tarawih reflections 4
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March 13, 2024
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Allah challenges Bani Israil

In ayah 94 of Surat al-Baqarah, Allah challenges Bani Israil, after they repeatedly betrayed their Messenger, Musa (peace be upon him) and reneged on their covenants with Him. Feeling a sense of superiority, they claim that Jannah is exclusively for them, and Allah asks them,

‘If the Home of the Hereafter with Allah is exclusively for you out of all humanity, then wish for death if you are truthful.’ [2:94]

If they truly believe that they are certain to go to Jannah, why are they suffering in the dunya? They should wish for death and go and enjoy it. But in the next ayah He answers why they will never do this:

‘But they will never wish for that because of what their hands have done. And Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of the wrongdoers.’ [2:95]

Allah knows who are the oppressors and the wrongdoers.

Humans like to live

This fact is not exclusive to Bani Israil. It is not just them who want to ‘live for a thousand years’ [2:96] It is human nature. Indeed the first trick Shaytan played on Adam (peace be upon him) was to tell him that the forbidden tree would make him immortal.

فَوَسۡوَسَ إِلَیۡهِ ٱلشَّیۡطَـٰنُ قَالَ یَـٰۤـَٔادَمُ هَلۡ أَدُلُّكَ عَلَىٰ شَجَرَةِ ٱلۡخُلۡدِ وَمُلۡكࣲ لَّا یَبۡلَىٰ﴿ ١٢٠

Then the Satan instigated him. He said, “’Ādam, shall I guide you to the tree of eternity and to an empire that does not decay?”  [Ṭā-Hā, Ayah 120]

Humans like to live. This is what Allah created in us in order for us to stay on this Earth and produce new generations through our offspring. We have to live and love life.

We can’t escape our own actions

Even if you were to live one thousand years, it would not distance you from what you have done. Eventually you will die, and you will face Allah and the consequences of your own deeds. However long you live, it will not prevent Him from giving you the punishment.

Netanyahu is prolonging this genocide in Gaza. Those who are killed will go to Jannah inshallah. But he will face the consequences in dunya and akhirah, no matter how long he lives.

Don’t make dunya your priority

We should not be too attached to life, but also not dismissive of it either. Allah says Muslims should be a ‘moderate Ummah’ [2:144] – i.e. people who are in the middle, between two extremes.

In the hadith, a man came to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and asked him, ‘Show me a deed which, if I do it, Allah will love me and people will love me.’ His response was, ‘Be indifferent to worldly life, and Allah will love you; and be indifferent to what people have, and people will love you.’ [Ibn Majah]

He was telling us not to hold the dunya in our hearts, and not to compete with other people. This doesn’t mean you can’t for instance conduct business in a professional manner, even if you have competition, but don’t make this your purpose.

Make the akhirah your purpose, and use dunya to achieve your purpose.

May Allah enable us to make the akhirah our priority. Ameen

Based on the reflections of Shaykh Haytham Tamim

Transcribed by Hana Khan

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Shaykh Haytham Tamim is the founder and main teacher of the Utrujj Foundation. He has provided a leading vision for Islamic learning in the UK, which has influenced the way Islamic knowledge is disseminated. He has orchestrated the design and delivery of over 200 unique courses since Utrujj started in 2001. His extensive expertise spans over 30 years across the main Islamic jurisprudence schools of thought. He has studied with some of the foremost scholars in their expertise; he holds some of the highest Ijazahs (certificates) in Quran, Hadith (the Prophetic traditions) and Fiqh (Islamic rulings). His own gift for teaching was evident when he gave his first sermon to a large audience at the age of 17 and went on to serve as a senior lecturer of Islamic transactions and comparative jurisprudence at the Islamic University of Beirut (Shariah College). He has continued to teach; travelling around the UK, Europe and wider afield, and won the 2015 BISCA award (British Imams & Scholars Contributions & Achievements Awards) for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Teaching.

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