The Wrappings of Gratitude

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

What does ‘La Il-laha Il-lal’la’ – there is no god but Allah – really mean and how do we truly live according to its meaning? These words which comprise the essence of Muslim belief are beautiful words which, as this belief requires, are embodied through the words and actions of Muslims in their daily activities. However, we also find that when this simple yet profound statement begins to become eroded from the hearts of the believers, it has a corresponding and profound effect on every aspect of a persons life. But how do we know whether we are living according to an idea that forms our core belief – that of believing only in the One true God. It stands to reason that we ought to know how to live according to this principle and we ought to also know when we’re not living according to it. Both points will be examined in this post so that insha’Allah it may cause us to hold ourselves to account according to the highest ideals before we are one day held to account.

On one level La Il-laha Il-lal’la, the Shahada, is an affirmation of our belief that there is literally no god worthy of worship except Allah, which is an affirmation of the truth that there is only One God – He is absolute and eternal – and hence cannot be compared to anything of the created world. On another level it also means, for all of the pursuits in life, nothing may be comparable to that of the existence of God and that everything else is contingent on His power, His authority and undertaken by His permission. Nothing should be placed before Him because as Allah says:

أَيَحْسَبُ أَن لَّن يَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ أَحَدٌ

“Think he, that none hath power over him?” (Al-Balad 90:5)

Nothing we do, whether it is permissible or impermissible is possible without His power, because all power comes from Him. Hence our ability to study is based on possessing an intellect, granted to us by Him. Our ability to travel is dependent on our desire to want to travel, which comes from Him, as well as the means of doing so. Our ability to work, both the work and our capabilities have been created by Him, and so on. So everything is dependent on His power and from that power, from His mercy, He grants to whomever He wills. Hence to say there is no god but God, is to affirm that everything is contingent and dependent on the power of Allah, and that the means in themselves have no power to gain success. However, the necessity of addressing the Shahada here has arisen because we find many Muslims today not living for Allah, not living according to the absolute belief in La Il-laha Il-lal’la, but instead are deluded into thinking that if they imitate the non-Muslims they will acquire success in this life and next. Many Muslims today are living in their own world where they are competing with non-Muslims and seeking to compete with them on their own terms rather than the foundational principles brought by the prophet, peace be upon him, that there is no god but God, and hence our only concern. Many Muslims today take it almost entirely for granted that simply being Muslim, simply believing in Allah and His messenger will be sufficient for them to gain the mercy of Allah, and in doing so they neglect the Quranic verse:

أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُون

وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ

“Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, “We believe”, and that they will not be tested? We did test those before them, and Allah will certainly know those who are true from those who are false” (Ankaboot 29:2-3)

One of the main reasons why Allah took away from the Jews and Christians their scriptures is because they grew arrogant in thinking that their chosen status would grant them success without accountability, they were mistaken. The same standards applied to them as they did to non-believers. In the same way, the Muslims today are living under the same misconception that they will not be held to account, that a different set of rules apply to them on account of their beliefs. This is entirely false, a miscalculation of immense proportion because nothing could be further from the truth as the above verse indicates. But how does, not living according to, La Il-laha Il-lal’la manifest itself in peoples lives? The most serious way in which this error manifests itself is found in its opposite, which is to consider oneself self-sufficient and independent of Allah, which is the exact definition of a disbeliever.

أَن رَّآهُ اسْتَغْنَى

“…he looks upon himself as self-sufficient” (Iqra 96:7)

A disbeliever is not a disbeliever because he performs acts of goodness which many do, but because he considers himself independent of the power and authority of God, and by doing he is actually denying a fundamental truth, that God exists. In this respect what difference is there between a Muslim that acts as though he is independent of God and a non-Muslim that performs good deeds without knowledge of them? Who then is deserving of greater mercy from Allah? Whereas to say La Il-laha Il-lal’la affirms that we are in complete and constant need of Allah, conversely, to consider oneself self-sufficient is to make oneself independent from Allah, which is a delusional and false state. Given that most Muslims know this to be true, we find over and over the same situation of Muslims competing with non-Muslims as though their success and failure was entirely dependent on the same means that non-Muslims consider will bring them success, such as education, a career, wealth, possessions, splendid houses, children and so on. How do we guard ourselves from falling into the pitfalls of the illusion of self-sufficiency? Consider for example the Quranic injunction continually enjoined that of constant charity:

وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِلزَّكَاةِ فَاعِلُونَ

“Who are active in deeds of charity” (Al-Mu’minoon 23:4)

And yet amongst the non-Muslims we will find those that donate considerable amounts of their wealth to charity and considerably out-do Muslims in the same regard. Can the Muslims in this situation consider themselves as better than the non-Muslims? Take for example the environment. The prophet, peace be upon him, said, “Tread lightly on the earth”, one interpretation of which is that one should minimise ones impact on the environment. If Muslims sought to compete with non-Muslims in this regard they would unable because amongst the non-Muslims we find people that devote their entire lives towards the implementation of this hadith, such as climatologists, environmental activists, environmental engineers and so on. Whereas it is common to find Muslims amongst some of the least educated and most ignorant people when it comes to environmental matters. Consider another example, that of excellence in manners, considered very highly in Islam, called Adab in Arabic. We will find in general non-Muslims people possess much higher levels of Adab, etiquette, manners, protocol, than many Muslims. And the comparison may be made with morals, principles, fairness, equality, and justice, in that non-Muslims are implementing the Quran and Sunnah much better than the Muslims themselves. Hence can and should Muslims really consider themselves to be better than non-Muslims? If on the basis of these criteria non-Muslims outperform Muslims, on what grounds do Muslims consider they are better or superior than non-Muslims? Islamic history has demonstrated, what Allah has warned us about over and over in the Quran, about what will happen if we abandon our beliefs and traditions and seek to compete with the non-Muslims. The result is that Allah will humiliate us for seeking, not only to abandon His guidance, but to exchange His guidance for life in this world. Our history, and that of countless powerfeul civilisations testifies to this truth – that neglecting the very core of our religion, ‘there is no god but God’, does not lead to success but failure. This is not a new idea, it has always been this way from the beginning but we seem to love to forget.

Hence, many Muslims, both in the East and West, today are living under the illusion that simply being Muslim will grant them the mercy of Allah and that they will enter paradise without any accountability, without striving in the same way as the first community of Muslims did. Hence they are making the same mistake as the Jews and Christians made which was to think they were better than everyone else. And yet over and over again Allah is showing us that we will not gain any success by competing with the non-Muslims whilst thinking that competition alone, and in itself, will bring us success. What I have mentioned thus far represents a large segment of the Muslim population that has become extreme through their belief in imitating the non-Muslims. There is also another majority that has occupied an extreme at the other end of the spectrum, people who see the latter group and develop their position relative to theirs. Hence there is a over- corrective reactionary position which inclines itself to excessiveness and thereby intolerance. Neither of these reactions are part of normative Islam because the normative position of the religion as commanded by Allah is a balanced middle-course.

وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِّتَكُونُواْ شُهَدَاء عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ

“Thus, have We made of you an Ummah justly balanced” (Al Baqarah 2:143)

However, when the heart loses balance, perspective and context the results are always identical in that people begin to occupy the extremities of the religion and eventually fall outside of its limits. Their hearts are no longer occupied with Allah but with the dunya, and Allah will not occupy the hearts of those occupied with the dunya. This has been the lesson in particular for the past five-centuries, that failure will be the result of placing others before Allah, of not living according to the Shahada. So how do we modify our state, how do we help ourselves and the Ummah to ensure that we not only have success in this life but in the next? The only sure way to do this is to have a heart which is full of La Il-laha Il-lal’la and nothing else. One that not only believes in La Il-laha Il-lal’la but lives it. A heart which believes without any doubt that it is only through a whole-hearted commitment to La Il-laha Il-lal’la that success will come, because all success comes only from Allah. As Allah says:

لَهُ مُعَقِّبَاتٌ مِّن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ يَحْفَظُونَهُ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللّهِ إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُواْ مَا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ وَإِذَا أَرَادَ اللّهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُوءًا فَلاَ مَرَدَّ لَهُ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن دُونِهِ مِن وَالٍ

“Allah does not change a people’s condition unless they change what is in their hearts. But when (once) Allah will’s a people’s punishment, there can be no turning it back, nor will they find, besides Him, any to protect”. (Ar-Rad 13:11)

It does not get any clearer than this verse which gives three distinct commands. Firstly it states, begin with yourself and concern yourself only with your own state, and if you alter your own state, only then will the state of your people and society change. In other words, be the change you would like to see in others. Secondly, it commands the altering of ones heart, for all the ills in society are a manifestation of the diseases of the heart, whether those diseases are greed, covetousness, arrogance, pride, miserliness or any other. And thirdly the verse indicates that all change and hence all good ultimately comes from Allah alone. So after we have worked to embody the principles of the Quran, and after we have placed all of our trust in Allah, and after believing that all success comes from Allah – only then might we expect Allah to turn to us aid us, and by His will grant us success both in this life and the next. But even after we have done all this we should not expect success or reward for our efforts but simply be content in living according to La Il-laha Il-lal’la, for in these beautiful words for which the early Muslims had to strive considerably, in these beautiful words is contained all the success we could ever want or imagine.

Conclusion

So what is the difference between Muslims and non-Muslims? On what basis do Muslims consider themselves better than non-Muslims when the latter are actually out-performing the Muslims in living according to the same principles as commanded in their own faith? Out-performing them in charity, care for the environment, knowledge, manners, etiquette, morals, principles, justice and fairness. These are all Quranic injunctions to the Muslims and yet we find that Allah has elevated and honoured the non-Muslims in performing these noble tasks better and with greater sincerity than Muslims. So what is the difference between Muslims and non-Muslims? On what basis do Muslims consider themselves better than non-Muslims? There is only one difference which does not make Muslims superior, but humbler which is to live according to La Il-laha Il-lal’la. This means not competing on the same basis as non-Muslims in terms of good deeds alone, or thinking that good deeds alone will be sufficient, or that being a Muslim will be sufficient, but to perform good deeds with La Il-laha Il-lal’la, is the only difference between Muslims and non-Muslims, and has the potential to elevate anyone to the heavens. Because to truly live for Allah, and to live solely believing in La Il-laha Il-lal’la is the difference between the heavens and the earth. A difference so great that it is possible for the believers to attain the mercy of Allah, because they placed their faith on their Creator and not on His creation, and in doing so they showed humility before their Lord’s majesty.

This is not intended by any means as a message of distress but rather of hope and change, that it is very realistically possible to change our condition but only if we are willing to turn back to Allah, and place nothing before Him or after Him, for He is Al-Awwal (the First, the Beginning), and Al-Akhir (the Last). Finally, humiliation in Islam is a beautiful concept because it means to be honoured through humility before Allah.

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا فِي قَرْيَةٍ مِّن نَّبِيٍّ إِلاَّ أَخَذْنَا أَهْلَهَا بِالْبَأْسَاء وَالضَّرَّاء لَعَلَّهُمْ يَضَّرَّعُونَ

“Whenever We sent a prophet to a town, We took up its people in suffering and adversity, in order that they might learn humility” (Al Araf 7:94)

Thus when Allah wants to honour a person He will bring them low before His majesty, and if Allah wills a person punishment He will cause that person to grow in arrogance as a result of his tribulations. How we respond in both these cases depends entirely on our piety, and it is only on that basis that Muslims can consider themselves different.

“The believers must (eventually) win through,-

Those who humble themselves in their prayers;

Who avoid vain talk;

Who are active in deeds of charity”

(Al Mu’minoon 23:1-4)

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