The Gates of Paradise are Opened for You, Will You Enter? - I

01/08/2018| IslamWeb

"And the forerunners, the forerunners…"

Join the procession and catch up with the caravan. Ride with us aboard the ship of salvation. Make your steps firm and quicken your pace, perchance you would be saved from destruction.

From the time you get up from sleep, you are in battle with the devil, and in a clash with such evil companions as the world, your evil inclinations, false hopes, and winged fancy.

Open your book of deeds just after dawn, and organize the hours of the day. Stick to the first row (in prayer), memorize some verses of the Noble Quran – even if it is one, two or three verses – as evidence of your love and desire. Renew your repentance and seek forgiveness as it is the forerunner of acceptance. Supplicate for a beneficial need as it is a sign of good fortune. Give charity to a poor person, perform a two-Rak‘ah (unit) prayer a short while before dawn, and a two-Rak‘ah prayer at forenoon to come near to the Knower of the Unseen, abstain from the perishable chattels (of this World) and set your sights on the imperishable high rank and ask for it, making it your goal.

{Those are the ones Allah has guided, and those are people of understanding.} [Quran 39:18]

Repentance

Let us enter upon Allah The Almighty, and be in His presence in the abode of peace, with no trouble, fatigue, or suffering, but through the nearest and the easiest way. You are now between two times; I mean your lifetime; your present time between the past and the future.

As for the past, you could amend it with repentance, showing regret, and seeking forgiveness, which entails neither trouble, nor fatigue nor suffering nor hard work – all you need is a resolute heart.

You could also refrain from future sins; this is not merely abstaining from them by the physical organs, which is difficult for you, but it entails determination and a decisive intention that relieves your body and heart.

You could then amend the past with repentance, and the future by refraining (from sins), determination and intention. The physical organs suffer neither fatigue nor trouble in both (the past and the future). What matters is your lifetime, which lies between those two times. If you waste it, you will waste your eternal happiness and salvation; and if you preserve it, along with amending the past and future by the afore-mentioned means, you will attain salvation, comfort, pleasure and bliss. However, to preserve it is more troublesome than to amend the past and the future. Preserving it is to abide by what is more advantageous to you, and more likely to bring about your happiness.

There is great disparity among the people in this respect. Your bygone days are those on the basis of which you collect the provision for your time of return: either to Paradise or to Hellfire. If you take a path to your Lord, you will attain the ultimate happiness and felicity in this short time, which is insignificant compared with eternity. If you prefer desires, comfort, diversion and amusement, they will end very quickly, and leave behind a permanent and severe pain – which is far more troublesome, difficult and enduring than bearing the proscriptions of Allah The Almighty patiently, practicing obedience, and opposition of one's inclination for His Sake.

Prohibitions concerning the physical organs

Each part of body has a command (to do), a forbiddance (to desist from), a favor (to give thanks for), and a benefit and a pleasure (to obtain). If he does the command and avoids the forbiddance due on him in this part of the body, he will have given thanks for His favor on him in it, and endeavor to utilize and take pleasure in it perfectly. However, if he neglects Allah's command and forbiddance concerning it, Allah The Almighty will cause him to fail to obtain benefit from his body, and make it one of the greatest means of his pain and harm.

It is incumbent on a person to engage in acts of worship, which move him forward and bring him closer to Him. If he engages his time in the worship of the Lord, he will progress; and if he engages in whims and desires, comfort or idleness, he will be in loss. A slave is either in a state of progress or retreat; he can hardly remain at a standstill on the way. In confirmation of this, Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {To whoever wills among you to proceed or stay behind.} [Quran 74:37]

To be continued …       The Gates of Paradise are Opened for You, Will You Enter? - II