Allāh ta‘ālā - The True Cause and Effect

[ummtaalib]

Allāh ta‘ālā - The True Cause and Effect

By Hadrat Mawlānā Muhammad Saleem Dhorat hafizahullāh

 

I was recently invited to impart the final lecture of the most authentic book after the Qur’ān, Sahīh-ul-Bukhārī, at a Madrasah in Réunion Island. After reaching Paris on Tuesday 12th July 2016, the onward flight to our destination was cancelled due to some technical fault. As the fault could not be repaired in time we were rescheduled to fly the next day. However, this later flight would not have allowed us to reach Réunion in time for the gathering; hence I aborted my travel and returned to the UK, as my principle objective for travelling was no longer achievable.

 

Life brings many unexpected incidents and a person faced with such situations should reflect upon and benefit from any lesson that can be learnt. Therefore, I thought it opportune to share with my readers some pertinent lessons which came to mind, so that we can use them to relate to the many instances and events that take place around us and in our lives.

 

Allāh ta‘ālā states:

 

Say: ‘O Allāh, O Lord of the Kingdom, You give kingdom to whom You will, and take kingdom away from whom You will; and You bestow honour on whom You will, and bring disgrace to whom You will. In Your Hand lies the betterment (of everyone). You are surely powerful over everything. You make the night enter into the day, and make the day enter into the night; and You bring the living out from the dead, and bring the dead out from the living, and You give to whom You will beyond measure.’ (3:26-27)

 

The above verses were revealed to Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam at a time when the Muslims were in an extremely dreadful and poor situation. It was the occasion of the Battle of Al-Ahzāb. On the apparent, from every side, failure and disgrace was dawning upon the Muslims. The Muslims were poverty stricken to the extent that stones had to be tied to stomachs to remain upright. The enemies with strength and vigour and a determination to crush the Muslims were merely a stone’s throw away. The Muslims were less in number with hypocrites amongst their midst. Allāh ta‘ālā captures the scene in the following verses:

 

O you who believe, remember Allāh’s favour to you, when the forces (of the disbelievers) came upon you, and We sent upon them a wind, and the forces (of angels) you did not see. Allāh is watchful of whatever you do. (Recall) when they came upon you from above you and from below you, and when the eyes were distracted, and the hearts reached the throats, and you were thinking about Allāh all sorts of thoughts. At that occasion, the believers were put to a trial and were shaken with a violent convulsion. (33:9-11) 

  

 

During this extremely troublesome period, whilst digging the trenches as a defence from the enemies, Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam was shown a vision of the palaces of Persia, Rome and Yemen and was given glad tidings of the liberation of their empires and treasures coming to the feet of Muslims. The hypocrites made this a point of fun and amusement, upon which Allāh ta‘ālā revealed:

 

Say: ‘O Allāh, O Lord of the Kingdom, You give kingdom to whom You will, and take kingdom away from whom You will; and You bestow honour on whom You will...’

 

There is no ambiguity in the message of these verses. It clearly explains that Allāh ta‘ālā is the ultimate being who decides the fate of everyone. As humans we can only endeavour to achieve leadership, honour and respect but the results are only in Allāh ta‘ālā’s hands. A person should never find himself confident and feel ‘in control’ of his situation, as Allāh ta‘ālā can turnaround situations within minutes and seconds; a king today can become a pauper tomorrow, the rich can become beggars, the honoured can become disgraced, the free can become enslaved and vice versa. There are many examples before us of rulers that were toppled, only to be replaced by the formerly disgraced, who took the thrones and seats of power.

 

Allāh ta‘ālā substantiates this point further by demonstrating His complete power and control over things in this world and bringing to our attention His power in creating something which is seemingly contradictory and incompatible:

 

You make the night enter into the day, and make the day enter into the night…

 

Night and day are conflicting phenomena. Yet Allāh ta‘ālā has the power to change one into the other; as the summer months roll over into winter, the night begins to enter the day and when summer begins to approach, the days begin taking over the night. There is no being who can stop or change this phenomenon.

 

Further Allāh ta‘ālā states:

 

...and You bring the living out from the dead…

 

He is the being who has the power of creating a live creation from dead matter and create dead matter from a live creation. This has been explained by the mufassirūn by the fact that He is the being who creates a living chicken from an apparent dead egg and creates a living, flourishing tree from an inert and apparent dead seed. An egg seems lifeless to us and similarly, the seed does not show any signs of apparent life. Yet what comes forth from both is paradoxically alive and flourishing.

 

Further Allāh ta‘ālā states:

 

...and bring the dead out from the living…

The live chicken lays a seemingly dead egg demonstrating the power of Allāh ta‘ālā in bringing out a dead item from a live creature, and similarly the green, blossoming trees and vibrant fields of crops give a harvest of apparent dead seeds. Such phenomena demonstrate the complete control and power of Allāh ta‘ālā over bringing a change to any situation.

 

Likewise, in the spiritual realm, Allāh ta‘ālā creates a ‘live’ believing child in a non-believing i.e. spiritually dead, household where there is no sign of belief, and a non-believing child is given birth by believing parents. A household of piety breeds a disobedient child and disobedient parents find their child reaching the peaks of piety and wilāyah, i.e. the friendship of Allāh ta‘ālā.

 

Further Allāh ta‘ālā states:

 

...and You give to whom You will beyond measure...

When Allāh ta‘ālā has the absolute power over everything and He holds the key to all goodness, then who can question His decision to grant someone goodness and deprive another and who can object to Him making a pauper into a king and vice versa. All in all, it is only Allāh ta‘ālā who has complete power to grant good and cause harm, to honour and disgrace, to grant wealth and make someone destitute. Rather, Allāh ta‘ālā can grant goodness in situations of harm and can grant honour and respect in the climate of disgrace and can favour someone with wealth despite all the odds.

 

Therefore, it is imperative that we take heed from these verses of the Glorious Qur’ān and practise on the following lessons they give us:

 

1.  Instil this belief deep in our hearts that it is only Allāh ta‘ālā who holds the power to grant someone good and to deprive, and without His will no one can face any harm or be safe.

 

     Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam has stated in a hadīth addressing Sayyidunā ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Abbās radhiyallāhu ‘anhu:

 

...And if all of mankind were to gather to cause you harm they will not be able to do so except that which Allāh has allotted for you and if they gather to give you goodness, they will not succeed except that which Allāh has allotted for you... (At-Tirmidhī) 

 

2.  We should believe and have total reliance on Allāh ta‘ālā that He can change any situation as He is the only being who can make the impossible possible. We only need to reflect on the fact that it was He who made a path way for Sayyidunā Mūsā ‘alayhis salām in the sea, who prevented the knife from slitting the throat of Sayyidunā Ismā‘īl ‘alayhis salām, created a camel from a rock for Sayyidunā Sālih ‘alayhis salām, caused the moon to split in two for Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam. Therefore, even in the most adverse situation, we should never think that it is the end of the world for He is All-Powerful; He can awaken the one who is in a coma, He can make the disabled walk, He can cause the blind to see and He can bring the dead back to life – He has every ability to cause what He desires.

 

3.  Never become despondent in any situation and give up beseeching Him. Continually turn to Him and beseech Him with this belief that He will surely shower His Mercy. Allāh ta‘ālā states:

 

Only the disbelievers become despondent in the Mercy of Allāh... (12:87)

    

Allāh ta‘ālā is ever ready to accept our prayers:

 

...Call Me, I will respond to you... (40:60)

 

When My servants ask you about Me, then (tell them that) I am near. I respond to the call of one when he prays to Me... (2:186)

  

  One should reflect on the incidents of the Prophets ‘alayhimus salām and take lesson that they never gave up beseeching Allāh ta‘ālā and always hoped for acceptance. Let us look at a few examples:

 

a.  Sayyidunā Mūsā ‘alayhis salām, having become despondent in Fir‘awn, turned to Allāh ta‘ālā; Allāh ta‘ālā accepted the prayer of Sayyidunā Mūsā ‘alayhis salām after forty years but never did Sayyidunā Mūsā ‘alayhis salām become despondent even for a moment. For forty years he called Allāh ta‘ālā with full conviction. Allāh ta‘ālā finally said, “...The prayer of the two of you (Mūsā ‘alayhis salām and Hārūn ‘alayhis salām) has been granted...” (10:89)

 

b.  Sayyidunā Ayyūb ‘alayhis salām was afflicted with such an illness that everyone had left him yet he did not give up hope and continued calling Allāh ta‘ālā. Sayyidunā Ayyūb ‘alayhis salām said, “...Here I am, afflicted by pain and You are the Most Merciful of all the merciful.” (21:83) Allāh ta‘ālā accepted his prayer and said, “So, We answered his prayer and removed whatever pain he had...” (21:84)

 

c.  Sayyidunā Yūnus ‘alayhis salām called out to Allāh ta‘ālā in the midst of three darknesses; the night, the sea and the stomach of the fish; yet he did not lose hope in Allāh ta‘ālā. Allāh ta‘ālā states, “...Then, he called (Us) in depths of darkness saying, ‘There is no god but You. Pure are You. Indeed I was among the wrongdoers.’” (21:87) When he did not lose hope and continually beseeched Allāh ta‘ālā with hope, faith and conviction Allāh ta‘ālā responded. Allāh ta‘ālā says, “So We responded to him and rescued him from the distress...” (21:88)

 

4.  Never become complacent or independent from Allāh ta‘ālā when in comfortable situations for He can change any situation in seconds. Always fear Allāh ta‘ālā and never think that the situation will remain favourable forever and that no one can remove this goodness from me. Rather remain humble that whatever goodness there is in my life, it is due to the sheer Grace of Allāh ta‘ālā.

 

5.  Be content with every situation, for Allāh ta‘ālā is All-Wise and every situation is good for us. During adverse circumstances, be patient and if the situation is favourable, then be grateful. Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam has stated:

 

How astonishing is the condition of a believer; every condition of his is good, and this is only for a believer. If he receives khayr (goodness) then he is grateful and this is good for him. If he is afflicted with hardship, then he is patient and this is good for him. (At-Tabrānī)

 

May Allāh ta‘ālā grant us all the tawfīq and understanding. Āmīn.

 

© Riyādul Jannah (Vol. 25 No. 7, July 2016)