If you are in doubt
{ Say: O mankind! If you are in doubt concerning my dīn (religion)[1], then (know that)
I worship not those[2] whom you worship instead of Allah!
But I worship Allah Who causes you to die[3] and I am commanded to be of the Faithful.[5]
10-104
{ And set your purpose resolutely for the dīn hanifa…} 10-105
[1]: For dīn, the way to be followed: The Meaning of Dīn.
[2]: These can be antique gods or idols, today they are the postmodern[4] gods and idols. They are everything which people look up to or construct an imagined reality. They try to emulate and think they can derive some benefit or inspiration of any kind. These are all false hopes subsumed under the demands of the lower self/ the nafs, mostly for emotional, superficial, fleeting satisfaction ignorant of the states of felicity and closeness to Allah. TSQ
[3]: (wfy, yafī to perform a promise),
tawaffā to receive or take to one’s-self, as God takes/ receives the soul of one who dies.
[4]: Go deeper: Postmodernism
[5]: Individual Faith is good, but it is completed and strengthened by joining of forming a Righteous Society, in which the individual can develop and expand. Islam was never a religion of monks and anchorites. It laid great stress on social duties, which in many ways test and train the individual’s character. Yusuf Ali
.
Embrace Islam
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to a man, “Embrace Islam!” The man said, “I find that I dislike it.” The Prophet said, “Even if you dislike it.”
Musnad Aḥmad 12061
Quran
Re: ”dislike it”
{It can be that you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not.}
2:216
This was revealed in the context of fighting the enemy in the cause of Allah, but it can be taken as a general statement {perhaps you love a thing}:
To enter or 'embrace' Islam, meaning to accept the supreme authority of Allah (may His Majesty be exalted) and His all-encompassing wisdom { إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ} in all matters of life implies sincere dedication.[1]
For the faithful believer (al-mu'min) what is necessary is strong and consistent effort and the price is closeness and inimacy to Allah (may His Majesty be exalted!) and what can be better than that!
This is what the Messenger of Allah, the Beloved of God (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was told in the Revelation to say:
{Say… and I am commanded to surrender/ submit (uslima) to the Lord of the Worlds.}
40-66
Everyone submitting to Allah will be a Muslim and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the one who submitted most clearly and and confidently.
[1]
{ رَبَّنَا وَٱبْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلكِتَبَ وَٱلحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلعَزِيزُ ٱلحَكِيمُ }
{Our Lord! Raise up in them a Messenger from them (who) will recite to them Your Verses and will teach them the Book and the wisdom and purify them. Indeed You! You (are) the All-Mighty the All-Wise.}
2-129
Comment by Ibn Wahb: ”In this verse 'wisdom' is the Sunna.
[Also] wisdom is obedience of Allah, observance of Him, superlative understanding in the Religion, and deeds in conformity with it.”
FIS174
.
Where are you going?
{So where then are you going?
It is not except a reminder to the worlds,
So let those who want, choose the right guidance,
And you do not will except that Allah wills - the Lord of the worlds.}
81-26--29
v.26 The essential question which is asked in this verse is where will you turn? - You who do not follow God and His messenger, for none guides but Allah - God.
v.27 refers to the Quran: that it is {a reminder to the worlds} is taken to indicate that it is a universal revelation[1] for any people who desire guidance.
Tabatabai, TSQ
v.28/29 alternative interpretation:
{For those who wish to walk straight,
your only will is the will of God, Lord of all beings.}
81-29
21-107
.
One who controls his tongue
“Blessed is one who controls his tongue, whose house is spacious enough for him, and who weeps for his sins.”
al-Mu’jam al-Awsaṭ 2398
Control of Lower Self (nafs)
Controlling the tongue by prohibiting foul or useless speech is just one part of controlling the nafs. Without struggling against the nafs or 'ego', which commands evil (blameworthy actions, sins, and base qualities), and resisting it, spiritual progress cannot be made.
Islam offers the Muslim multiple ways[1] to counter and eventually overcome this problem of deficient adāb, bi-idhni-LLah. One of these ways is fasting, another is the daily prayer, also charity and paying the poor-due (zakāt). And then the prayer on the Prophet ﷺ if one makes it a consistent practice.
Fasting is very effective. It has been prescribed by the Lawgiver, (may His Majesty be exalted) and it will check the lower self (nafs) and improve the station of the believer ( al-mu'min), for whom it is a kind of reset and a great blessing.
Quran
{ يَٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ }
{O believers! Fasting is prescribed for you - as it was for those before you - so that you will become mindful[2] (of Allah).}
2-183
[1]: In Islam purifying the soul is individually obligatory, see Purifying And Striving Against The Ego
[2]: mindful: (tqw) Taqwa is Reverential fear of Allah
It is the piety which comes from the awe of God. Also to be mindful, on guard against the tricks of the nafs and the schemes of Shaytān.
.
I was sent to perfect good manners
The Prophet ﷺ also said:
“The nearest of you to me on the Day of Judgement will be the one who is best in character.”
Bukhari
For good character (akhlāq) it will be easy to have ”good behaviour or manners” (adāb).[2] However, adāb is not fully translatable from Arabic to English. It encompasses all the good things a Muslim must do. Linguistically it means to invite people for food or a gathering around a table. Adāb hence includes all that is good; every noble characteristic, habit, or trait that is included within the scope of adab.[1]
Ibn Al-Mubarak said, “Mukhlid Ibn al-Husayn once said to me, ‘We are more in need of acquiring (adāb) than learning Hadith’.
Traditionally, adāb was not taught but acquired and embodied between people’s interactions. The mother of Imam Malik رحمة الله عليه would place an imama (turban) on his head and send him to his teacher Rabi’ah ibn Abdurrahman, to learn first from his manners, his adāb and then his knowledge.[1]
Indeed the dīn of Islam is itself manners, where anyone that surpasses you in manners, is better than you in dīn.
Ibn al-Qayyim
From the Quran
An example of good manners adāb in the divine scripture:
See how in Islam worship of Allah and respect towards parents go hand in hand:
{ وَقَضَىٰ رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوٓا إِلَّآ إِيَّاهُ وَبِٱلوَلِدَيْنِ إِحْسَنًا إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ عِندَكَ ٱلكِبَرَ أَحَدُهُمَآ أَو كِلَاهُمَا فَلَا تَقُل لَّهُمَآ أُفٍّ وَلَا تَنْهَرْهُمَا وَقُل لَّهُمَا قَوْلًا كَرِيمًا}
{Your Lord has ordained that you must not worship anything other than Him and that you must be kind to your parents. If either or both of your parents should become advanced in age, do not express to them words which show your slightest disappointment /say not to them so much as "uff”. Never yell at them but always speak to them with kindness.}
17-23
[1]: What is Adab? | Adab In Islām
[2]: And the first - good character (akhlāq) - is infinitesimal more than the second, it has to do with purification of the soul - nafs.[3]
[3] Related
* On the Soul - Nafs
* Purifying And Striving Against The Ego (nafs)
* It is most important to first be a Muslim and then to be a good person. Someone might be a Muslim and yet not a good person - not every Muslim is good. Someone might be Muslim, fulfilling all of Islam's obligations, yet lacking good manners. Such a person is in need to polish his heart by means of tazkiyya - purification.
Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani
Chapter on Adab
Mercedem aut nummos unde
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