Tug of War

[ummtaalib]

Tug of War

 

by Hazrat Maulana Yunus Patel Saheb (rahmatullah alayh)

 

Once, I had the opportunity to spend time, at a park, with some young boys. They were all students of a Hifz class and were having a picnic. …We all require rest, exercise and some entertainment – but of the Halaal kind.

 

One of the games that these youngsters were playing was ‘Tug of War’.

 

After their game, I mentioned that in tug of war, there are two parties pulling a rope. Winning is based on the side that pulls stronger. And I mentioned that we should take a lesson from this:

 

In life, there is always a tug of war. There is the pull of temptation and sins, and there is the pull of Deen and Shari’ah; there is the pull of the nafs and shaytaan, and there is the pull of the Rooh (soul).

 

From our side, we have to suppress and overcome the pull of temptation towards Haraam. We have to resist the nafs when it demands and commands to anything Haraam.

 

To be able to come out as the victorious party – as the champions – we will have to strengthen our Imaan, Istiqaamah and Yaqeen in Allah Ta’ala. In this way, we will be the dominant and stronger side.

 

If we do not give any attention to building our spiritual stamina, strength and prowess, then we will easily be defeated by the other side. Nafs and shaytaan will not have to pull very hard to defeat us because we have neglected our spiritual training.

 

So, to maintain the upper-hand at all times, we draw our strength – and great spiritual strength will be drawn by establishing Salaah, five times a day. For us men, this must be performed in the Masjid, in Jamaat (congregation). Together with this, we need to maintain our identity as Muslims and work towards fulfilling the Commands of Allah Ta’ala and staying away from all those actions which are displeasing to Him.

 

Jamiatul Ulama (KZN)