Servanthood is an Honour

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted from a swuhbah by Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) on 26^th February 2010. 

Allah (s.w.t.) Teaches us to live in tranquility and harmony.  Shaythan whispers to us to live with hatred and conflict and to inflict pain and suffering when we feel offended.  We seek Protection from the Accursed One, who was Banished from the Divine Presence.  We need not fear the devils even if their numbers are in the billions for as long as a servant seeks Allah’s (s.w.t.) Protection, He will Send His Help to that servant.  We must be wary of Shaythan’s tricks and traps.  He likes to distract us so that we become heedless of Allah (s.w.t.).  Once that is established, he then whispers to us to deny Allah's (s.w.t.) Rights and defy Allah’s (s.w.t.) Commandments. 

What does it mean to be heedless?  It is to be one who does not think.  Day and night, such a one is in pursuit of wealth and pleasure.  He is one who is so intoxicated with this life’s enjoyment that he does not pause to smell the roses.  He does not think about where he came from, how he came to exist in this world, Who Fashioned him in the womb, where he is going from here and how does death arrive.  Thinking is the most important step to realisation.  At one time, we were infants.  How did we grow physically and spiritually?  A person who goes through life without asking these questions, never achieves any real honour. 

Shaythan teaches us that all this happens naturally, that it is the work of nature and these are merely phenomenon.  Far too many today believe in Mother Nature but reject God.  Ironically, many calls this the golden age of human advancement.  Humanity must awaken from its deep slumber, shake off the hang-over of its drunken existence in dunya for we are standing amidst veils that blind us from our true self and our true mission.  Beyond the veils, we will see Reality.  Allah (s.w.t.) Sent thousands of prophets with the message to call people to their Creator, to listen and to obey, and to become servants of Allah (s.w.t.).  The greatest honour for us, the highest maqam, the ultimate pleasure is to become His Servant.  Servanthood is the Most Distinguished dressing for us. 

Allah (s.w.t.) Grants renewal to His true servants all the time.  They are Bestowed with new Blessings and new knowledge always.  Allah (s.w.t.) Gives unstintingly to them.  Because everything new brings such untold pleasure and happiness, Allah (s.w.t.) Gives endless gifts, to keep His Servants in felicity.  When Allah (s.w.t.) Gives new gifts, He never takes back the previous gifts.  He Adds to what had been Given previously, building on it, and after tasting the next level, no servant wants to move back down to a lower level. 

We must be proud to be Allah’s (s.w.t.) servant.  We should rejoice if we have attained servanthood.  Allah (s.w.t.) Created us to attain unrivalled honours by offering us servanthood but we are always running away from this glorious honour into the arms of a gleeful and beckoning Shaythan.  People reject servanthood to Allah (s.w.t.); they prefer slavery to Shaythan.  Slavery is an abject humiliation for us, it is the lowest and most degraded state of a human being.  We look at people who have become addicted to smoking, drugs, sex, gambling, violence... they are slaves of their desires to a point they have lost control, they destroy their lives and that of their loved ones.  There is no honour in being slaves. 

سُوۡرَةُ الفُرقان

أَرَءَيۡتَ مَنِ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَـٰهَهُ ۥ هَوَٮٰهُ أَفَأَنتَ تَكُونُ عَلَيۡهِ وَڪِيلاً (٤٣) 

See you such a one as takes for his god his own passion (or impulse)?  Could you be a disposer of affairs for him? (Surah al-Furqan:43) 

Our lives are moving forward at break-neck pace, and like a candle burning and growing shorter by the minute, it will soon come to an end.  In that very short time, we must build our spirituality and attain true servanthood to Allah (s.w.t.).  If we succeed, we attain eternal blessing and happiness.  This is our only chance, the single golden opportunity for us to achieve an eternity of tranquility and exaltation.  If we die in a disgraceful manner, in darkness and in defiance, we remain at that worthless spiritual point on the Day of Rising.