But the struggle of a believer does not end here. Once he is on the straight path, then he should never part with the following four actions ever in his life, for these are the four actions that will earn him continuous bounties and blessings of Allah, thus peace of mind and felling of contentment and happiness:
1. Remembrance of Allah
If ever we have a glance over our life, we will realize that the bounties Allah has bestowed upon us are far greater than the reward points we may have earned of our deeds. Therefore we should always be thankful to Allah for His blessings on us. And those who remember Allah and are thankful to Allah, they are promised that Allah shall always be near them, listening to their supplications and would never leave them, as promised by Allah in the 152nd verse of Surah 2. Al Baqarah (The Cow) shared as under:
فَاذۡكُرُوۡنِىۡٓ اَذۡكُرۡكُمۡ وَاشۡکُرُوۡا لِىۡ وَلَا تَكۡفُرُوۡنِ
(2:152) So remember Me and I shall remember you; give thanks to Me and do not be ungrateful to Me for My favours.
In its verbal signification "remembrance" implies: to remember; to praise by frequently mentioning; to rehearse; to celebrate or commemorate; to make much of; to cherish the memory of as a precious possession. SO we must remember Allah as much as we can and talk to Him as if He is somewhere very near and attentively listening to us.
2. Thankfulness
If we look around, there is so much in abundance that Allah has created just for us for our sustenance. And those who have a lot of it or even a small portion of it should ever be thankful to Allah for there are many who are deprived of these blessings. Just compare the lush green yielding fields to vast stretched dried up lands and deserts where living is devoid of bliss.
In the 7th verse of Surah 14 Ibraheem (Abraham), Allah promises that if your are thankful of me, I shall bless you with much more:
وَاِذۡ تَاَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمۡ لَـئِنۡ شَكَرۡتُمۡ لَاَزِيۡدَنَّـكُمۡ وَلَـئِنۡ كَفَرۡتُمۡ اِنَّ عَذَابِىۡ لَشَدِيۡدٌ
(14:7) Also call to mind when your Lord proclaimed: "If you give thanks, I will certainly grant you more; but if you are ungrateful for My favours, My chastisement is terrible.
In the above said verse, both a pleasing promise and harsh verdict is given. Pleasing tidings for those who are thankful of blessings of Allah and are thus promised more. But very harsh tidings for those who despite enjoying bounties of Allah are thankless and ungrateful - for them a terrible chastisement is promised. So let us always be thankful of Allah and be always contended with what has been given to us, lest we fall prey to chastisement of Allah.
3. Repentance
No one can claim to be utter pious for despite one's utmost, one may fall prey to Satan's machination and commit sin knowingly or even unknowingly. So even if one is very sure of one's strong and dot less character, one should still repent for the sins one may have committed in ignorance , the one's only Allah knows. And quite certainly those who sin knowingly must immediately repent and ask for forgiveness for Allah promises that even one has sins as high as space between the earth and the heavens, He would forgive him, provided he sincerely repents.
Repentance or penitence is the feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong. In fact whenever we sin or faulter, a feeling of guilt or moral scruple triggers in us a counter action that instantly compels us to feel bad and ashamed of our sinful actions and repent. Those who are habitual sinners, this feeling by and by fades away from their conscious and then they fall into an immeasurably deep gulf or great space where nothing but darkness engulfs them forever.
Here we would like to share the anecdote of Prophet Younis (Jonah, peace be upon him) who when being dejected by the negative attitude of his people, abandoned them and went to a ship and was then thrown into the sea, only to be gulped by a whale. There he remained in the dark belly of the whale. He then repented and ask for forgiveness with sincerity. God accepted his repentance and forgave him and was delivered alive on the coast. Read the complete story of in our earlier post: Prophet Younis (Jonah) and Allah's Displeasure
Please find a number of verses from Qur'an in our series of posts: Selected Verses from Qur'an under heading Forgiveness/ Repentance.
Herein under we share one of the many verses from Qur'an wherein Allah asks His servants to repent immediately if they son, and be rest assured that He is oft forgiving and merciful (ayah 110 of Surah 4. An Nisa):
وَ مَنۡ يَّعۡمَلۡ سُوۡٓءًا اَوۡ يَظۡلِمۡ نَفۡسَهٗ ثُمَّ يَسۡتَغۡفِرِ اللّٰهَ يَجِدِ اللّٰهَ غَفُوۡرًا رَّحِيۡمًا
And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allah's forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful
The above said Ayah 110 tells us that all sins, whether they affect others or affect one’s own self i.e. whether they violate the rights of human being or the right of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, can be forgiven by one’s repenting and praying for forgiveness. But, it is necessary to know the reality of showing repentance and seeking forgiveness. Mere verbal declarations of, “I seek Allah’s forgiveness” and, “I turn to Him in repentance” are not acts of genuine repentance as such.
Therefore, according to a consensus of Ulema / Scholars, the person who is involved in some sin, is not ashamed of it and does not leave it or, at least, does not resolve to leave it in the future, then, his verbal declaration of Astaghfirullah " أستغفر الله " is an open mockery of repentance.
Invocations / Dua " دُعا "
The invocations / supplications (Dua / دُعا) are the powerful tool in the hands of believers through which they are able to connect to their Creator through one-to-one connection by getting into a deeper spiritual state.
In fact Allah loves his servants the most when he is in that spiritual state, with closed eye, invoking His blessings. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is reported to have said "Dua is the very essence of worship." There are many special supplications mentioned in the Qur'ān which believers must remember and often include in their supplications for these have been specially chosen for them. We have listed many of these in our Reference Page: Selected Invocations / Dua " دُعا " from Quran
Herein under we share the 60th verse of Surah Mu'min:
وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادۡعُوۡنِىۡۤ اَسۡتَجِبۡ لَـكُمۡؕ اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ يَسۡتَكۡبِرُوۡنَ عَنۡ عِبَادَتِىۡ سَيَدۡخُلُوۡنَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِيۡنَ
(40:60) Your Lord said: “Pray to Me, and I will accept your prayers. Surely those who wax too proud to worship Me shall enter Hell, utterly abased.”
We have only highlighted the portion of Praying to Allah/making Dua and invocations, and Allah will surely answer the prayers. In this verse it is stressed upon the believers that all forms of worship are in fact a form of invocation and Allah always listens to His servants when they bow in front of Him and also prostrate in sincerity and belief that their prayers will be answered.
It is believed that invocations help ease one's hardships that one is in, but also remove further hardships that were to befall upon him but have been lifted because of his prayers and supplications. Invocations not help ease one's difficult times and also become a reason for increase in one's means of sustenance.
Thus these four actions are a gift from Allah for the believers with which they not only remember Allah all the times, thank Him for his blessings and bounties, but also help them to repent whenever they faulter and help them to rise again and start afresh. Therefore Never part with these four actions ever in your life to be among the blessed.
May Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) help us understand Qur'ān and follow the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which is embodiment of commandments of Allah contained in the Qur'ān. May Allah help us to be like the ones He loves and let our lives be lived helping others and not making others life miserable or unlivable. May all our wrong doings, whether intentional or unintentional, be forgiven before the angel of death knocks on our door.
May Allah forgive me if my posts ever imply a piety far greater than I possess. I am most in need of guidance.
Reading the Qur'ān should be a daily obligation of a Muslim - Reading it with translation will make it meaningful. But reading its Exegesis / Tafsir will make you understand it fully. It will also help the Muslims to have grasp over social issues and their answers discussed in the Qur'an and other matter related to inter faith so that they are able to discuss issues with Non Muslims with authority based on refences from Qur'an.
For more Q&A about Understanding Islam, please refer to our reference page: Understanding Islam - Frequently asked Q&A
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