I want to keep this one short.
My half-sister (who happens to be Christian) left up an away message that simply said: "God answers PRAYER!" This made me smile. It's so obvious to anyone, isn't it?
And then today, I came across this beautiful hadith (saying of the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings on him):
Narrated by An-Nu'man ibn Bashir(may God be pleased with him):
Allah's Messenger (Peace and blessings upon him) said:
Supplication (du'aa) is itself the worship. (He then recited:) "And your Lord said: Call on Me, I will answer you" (xI.60).
[source: Sunan of Abu-Dawood 147]
Glory be to God (SubHanAllah). How simple is that. I don't know about you, but I always feel like I just keep coming up short, with my 'ibadah that is (my worship). And then my Lord tells me that He loves most for me to simply... talk to Him. Captain Obvious strikes huh? But of course, God has no need for our prayers and our good deeds; in Islam we reduce nothing from His kingdom (the universe) and we add nothing to it (to Him belongs all things, and to Him all returns) -- which reminds me of a thought I had a while ago that I will continue to bring up here and there.. That God intended the destruction of the universe the moment He created it. That thought is inescapable in the study of physics.
So why are we asked to pray? to worship? The depth of this is actually simple.. Love. There are other elements, but all that drives a true devotee of faith is love. (If I got into that discussion though, I wouldn't be keeping this short, would I?)
The reminder is really about God's love. Nothing is ours and All is His. He says, "Call on ME! I will answer you!" He says, "Ask from me, I will feed you! I will clothe you! I will shelter you!" He loves to hear the complaints of HIS creation. So when we spend so much time complaining.. (on blogs, on the phone with our friends, moaning and groaning to anyone that will hear it), we need to stop ourselves for a minute and think, "wait a minute! no one wants to hear this crap.. except... my Lord!" and complain to the Lord. Meanwhile, we get ajr (good deeds) for doing so. I hope that will provoke you to start invoking (your Lord) ;). Like eating a reeses (i think?) there's no wrong way.. to supplicate!
Muslims know that the central concept behind Salah (the ritual prayer we perform at least 5 times a day) is to show our gratitude to the Lord for His blessings and mercy. So that's what worship is all about, yes? Gratitude.
And yet, here we are told that the opposite of gratitude -- Complaint -- is a form of worship.
... How cool is that?
... Could there be a more Merciful, or a better God?
7 comments:
you're absolutely right...
and in learning to turn to God in good times and bad i think we kind of learn how to show love and appreciation in general and that will reflect in our daily lives especially with the people around us who deserve to be loved and appreciated...
its a good plan and a good lesson ;)
oh and im also craving chocolate now...thanks
I liked this.
I never thought of "complaining" to God as an ajr though.
And I feel like when we are asked why we pray, fast, give to charity,etc.. our answer has come to be "to get into heaven" but that shouldn't be our answer. We do it because God said that if you truly love me you will do these things. It makes God happy when we do those things. We need to remind our selves of this and get our priorities together.
I don't necessarily think that we should "complain" rather just talk to Him. Because if you think about it, complaining just shows us how ungrateful we are towards Him. I think we should go to Him in happy times and sad times as well as times we are absolutely on the verge of killing someone. A lot of people remember Him during difficult times but forget Him during the happy times. In other words WE remember Him when we want/need something; instead of thanking him everyday for everything (even the hardships) He has blessed us with.
I agree with everything said.. the point of the post is to highlight really that Allah is so merciful and loving that He asks us to complain to HIM (and not to others). the ajr is in this -- when we wish to complain we remember to talk with Allah and not with people of the world (unless seeking good advice)!
Of course, a sign of true taqwa (god-consciousness), trust, and love for Allah is to turn to Him in all times and conditions.. I was mostly focusing on the importance of making duaas for anything and everything (I may make another post about this), and when we complain, we do so acknowledging Who our Lord is, what Power is His, and humble ourselves before Him because He will help us. i hope i clarified something..
great comments!
wow..I never thought of it like that. It's so simple yet we forget we can always go to Him and say whatever and complain about our day and it's okay.
i think i'm about to start crying. i think.. i just wrote a poem somewhat related.
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