Hajj and Inner Peace - III

25/10/2011| IslamWeb

… Continued

Repentance entails true knowledge and overwhelming faith and certainty in the heart. If a believer's repentance is complete, his heart is pained and grieves over the sins and misdeeds that he committed.

The Muslim fully believes that Allah The Almighty accepts repentance and forgives sins, and that Allah The Exalted fulfills His promises, leads him to seek forgiveness, repent and keep away from acts of disobedience, hoping to attain the forgiveness and pleasure of Allah The Almighty. If the Muslim repents sincerely, adheres to obeying and worshipping Allah The Almighty by good deeds, his heart will be comfortable, his soul will be assured and the sense of guilt that gives rise to psychological worries and character disorders will vanish.

Hajj is a great opportunity for the negligent soul and the heedless heart and for a person to reconsider his thoughts and cleanse himself from sins, misdeeds and offences so that he becomes upright and starts obeying Allah The Almighty – which helps him acquire new habits and good morals. However, if the slave does not repent or seek the pardon of the one he has hurt or wronged, his injustice or abuse to others remains suspended until the Day of Judgment when Allah The Almighty judges his case. That is to say, that he may be granted the reward of Hajj if Allah The Almighty wills, but his injustice remains hung around his neck till the Day of Resurrection when Allah The Almighty reckons him for his injustice to others. This is the justice and Mercy of Allah The Almighty. He is the Judge, the utterly Just and the Ever Merciful. Justice is the balance of the Most Merciful by which He takes retribution from the wrongdoer and supports the wronged.

Discussing the issue of injustice makes us pause for a moment of reflection hoping to attain the reward of Allah The Almighty. The wronged person hopes to attain the reward of Allah The Almighty for what others did to him.

Hoping to attain the reward of Allah The Almighty is a virtue and an elevated rank of faith which requires one to possess certain behavior and strive against himself. It requires, for example, behavior such as restraining anger, pardoning and patience – all of which is behavior in the Path of Allah The Almighty which keep man in a state of constant struggle with the self, which is a state that requires patience. Indeed, patience with the harm of people is one degree of Ihsaan.

Never think that those who hope to attain the reward of Allah The Almighty have lost their rights. No, their rights are preserved with Allah The Almighty till the appropriate time comes when He wishes to support His wronged slave. This is the promise of Allah The Almighty, and the promise of Allah The Almighty is true.

Entrusting affairs to Allah The Almighty and seeking His reward grants man great power; a power that he derives from his love and trust in Allah The Almighty; a power that gives him the capacity to have patience and grants him serenity, tranquility and security which lead to peace of the soul and the mind.

Inner peace is one degree of faith where man feels as if flying in the sky, that the world is small and its days are short, no matter how long they last. Inner peace leads one to believe that winning the love and pleasure of Allah The Almighty is a great prize which is not equivalent to anything and not compared to the treasures and pleasures of the life of this world.

Peace is a blessing from Allah The Almighty which He bestows upon His believing and loving slave, upon which the slave feels that there is a light spreading inside himself and running in his blood; a light that disciplines, refines and directs him to everything that is good, virtuous and noble.

Inner peace requires of man special behavior such as pardoning, truthfulness, patience, sincerity, restraining anger, Ihsaan and satisfaction, all of which drive man to adhere to the Quranic morals. A person who is fortunate to have Quranic morals, coupled with correct knowledge of them, will find that they protect him from the evils and sins of this world.