Reformation of the Self

  In Sahih Muslim, Al-Abbas reported a powerful hadith on the impact of a high level of conviction in the Islam of a true Muslim. It goes thus: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “He has tasted the sweetness of faith who is content with Allah as a Lord, Islam as a religion, and Muhammad as a messenger.” May Allah SWT grant us a level of conviction that brings complete satisfaction between us and the only religion acceptable to Allah, SWT. Aameen                                                      

    Our dear Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was sent as the last essenger of Allah Almighty. And his message not only completes the message of all the previous prophets of Allah (ASW) , Allah actually revealed the perfection of Islam at the very end of his mission. In Surah Al-Ma'idah Qur’an 5:3, Allah says: "Today I have perfected for you your religion, and completed My blessing upon you, and approved for you Islam as religion." Therefore, we should abide by the blueprint he has left us with (the Quran and Sunnah) and stay away from all forms of innovation and excesses in acts of worship. We can’t pleasure our Lord with guesses or baseless practices. May He save us from errors of misguidance. Aameen  

    In the hadith collection of Imam Muslim, we are told to cease from excessively praising others, and even stopping anyone who does. If you think deeply about it, you will understand why. But, let’s read the hadith first. Al-Miqdad (RA) reported that: “The Messenger of Allah (SAW) ordered us to throw a handful of dust at the faces of those excessive in praise.” In essence, excessive praise can lead to error and misguidance on the path of the one being praised and the person doing the praising. May Allah (SWT) guide us aright. Aameen.

    The essence of Tawheed is to believe in no other gods besides Allah, SWT. It is basically what differentiates between a Muslim and non-Muslims. However, Sound Tawheed goes deeper than that. It entails that we are cautions enough never to associate anything with Allah in thoughts, words and action on devotions of worship or/and acts of supplication. In the following hadith from Sahih Bukhari, we can learn about the people who have the purest form of Tawheed that Islam expects from every sane Muslim: As narrated by Abdullah: When the following Verse was revealed: "It is those who believe and confuse not their belief with wrong (worshipping others besides Allah.)" (6:83), the companions of Allah's Apostle asked, "Who is amongst us who had not done injustice (wrong)?" Allah revealed: "No doubt, joining others in worship with Allah is a great injustice (wrong) indeed." (31.13) As we can see, joining others in worship with Allah is the ...