WAKE UP UMMAH

 

Before Starting The New Year

Check The Gains & Losses

And Mark The Lessons Learned!

Don’t Forget The Hereafter

While Chasing The Illusion!

(M. Javed Naseem)

 

"Evil has become rife on the land and at sea
because of men's deeds; so He (Allāh) may
let them taste part of what they have done that
perhaps they will turn back (from evil)."
(al-Quran 30:41)

Man is a social animal who cannot live alone – by himself. He needs others and that makes us a community and a society. It is up to us if we want to make it a material society or balance it with spiritual and sentimental feelings. For that, the rules and regulations have been laid out. There are man-made rules and then there are God-made rules or laws that the Almighty Creator has conveyed to us through His Messengers or the Prophets. While a man judges other people’s success on material wealth, the Almighty has declared His own criterion. God judges us on the scale of righteousness or piety and commands us to do the same.

If we look around, we find evil and misery everywhere. Man is not happy with what he's got, so he tries to amass as much wealth, property or material things as possible. We have forgotten that this world is a test for us. This is an opportunity to work on our next life in the Hereafter which is everlasting. We commit sins and crimes, without any regret. And then we don't repent or ask Allah for forgiveness. This attitude merits punishment.

Today’s world is full of misery, injustice, hate, wars, death and destruction. The powerful and rich are corrupt. They are using the poor to make their lives successful and comfortable. They have lost compassion, sympathy and sense of justice. It is their greed and temptation of this material world that is creating all sorts of problems. And they are not even in a healthy state of mind to realize what they are doing to the world. They are destroying their own world in trying to get rid of the poor and the minorities. Man has become an evil animal in pursuit of his lusts and temptations. He does not remember God nor does he want to read the Scriptures. The obvious result is chaos, injustice, misery and discontentment. Allah commands us to maintain justice, peace and to help the poor. That will curtail the disparity, injustice and eventually the crimes too. It will encourage the righteousness and that’s what is needed today.

The Word of God, the Holy Quran, tells us what is liked by our Creator and what merits God's punishment. We all commit sins but those sinners are better in the eyes of Allah who repent and beg for Allah's forgiveness and mercy. That's the way to move forward. Allah the Most Merciful never closes the door of mercy. It's up to us how we benefit from it.

Say, "O My servants who have transgressed
against themselves [by sinning], do not despair
of the mercy of Allāh. Indeed, Allāh forgives
all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving,
the Merciful."
(al-Quran 39:53)

In today’s material world, success is measured with money. Anybody who is wealthy and who owns buildings, is considered ‘successful’ while the poor are labeled as losers or failures. Money is the yardstick used to measure people’s success. But, as they say, money is not everything. And it is true too. You can buy a lot of things with money and make your life more comfortable with wealth, but the true wealth is not measured with the yardstick of money or material. You righteousness, your love, your sincerity, your honesty, your wisdom, your knowledge and your sense of justice are a lot more valuable than money.

Allah has drawn the line between winners and losers; and success and failure. Believers with good deeds, who follow and promote the Truth and Patient Perseverance, are the winners or the successful. Everybody else is a loser!

"And those whose scales are heavy
(with good deeds), it is they
who are the successful."
(al-Quran 23:102)

At the end of the day, it is your good conduct or righteousness or piety that counts. Allah loves righteousness and rewards it with mercy, blessings and forgiveness. That's the way which leads us to Paradise and protects us from the Hellfire. 

 

Before the turning over the page, from 2023 to 2024, we should look at the balance sheet of our deeds. We should analyze what we gained and what we lost during the last 12 months. If we are wise people, we won’t repeat the same mistakes that we committed in the past. If we are intelligent, we’ll underline the important lessons we learned from our failures and mistakes. We need honesty, sincerity, compassion and determination to pursue our noble goals for the future and leave our children in a world worth living. Good luck!

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