Contentment with Divine Decree

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is an adapted extract of Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali’s (r.a.) Ayyuha al-Walad.  When Shaykh Abu ‘Ali Shaqiq ibn Ibrahim al-Azdi al-Balkhi (q.s.) asked his student, Shaykh Hatim Ism (q.s.), who became a great spiritual master, about the benefits of associating with him, he named eight. 

Of the fifth, he said, “O my teacher!  The fifth benefit is that I looked at the people who were complaining about each other.  It was found that they were doing all this because of envy, jealousy, and enmity and the main cause of that is greatness, grandeur, possessions, wealth, and knowledge.  I contemplated on the following verse from the Holy Qur’an in which it is said: 

سُوۡرَةُ الزّخرُف

.... قَسَمۡنَا بَيۡنَہُم مَّعِيشَتَہُمۡ فِى ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَا‌ۚ ... (٣٢) 

… It is We Who Portion out between them their livelihood in the life of this world ... (Surah az-Zukhruf:32) 

Then I thought that Allah (s.w.t.) has Appointed the possessions and ranks since the very beginning and no one has any control in this matter.  Therefore, I did not compete or had jealousy with anyone and remained content with Allah’s (s.w.t.) Distribution and Destiny and got along with the whole world.”



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