Lessons from Dua Makarim al-Akhlaq - 1/3

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulil-Lahi Rabbi 'l-Alameen. Wa as-salat wa as-salam 'ala as-Sayyid al-Anbiya', wa khatim al-Mursalin, Sayyidina, wa Nabiyyina, Abil Qasim Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad] wa 'ala ahli baytih, at-tayyibin, at-taharin, al-masoomeen. Wa al-la'anat da'im al-baqi 'ala al-a'da'ihim min 'alan ila al-qiyam al-yawm id-deen. Amma ba'd, Salamun Alaykum.

We just have about two or three evenings. The weekend we will have Qur'an competition, and then Monday probably is the award ceremony. Tuesday night we will be having InshaAllah Amal of Shabe Eid. And so there is not much time to go through a theme which we can prolong for many nights. But for these three nights - tomorrow, tonight, tomorrow and Friday - I was following Du'a Makarim al-Akhlaq which was recited last night in amal. And I thought maybe it would be interesting to go through some of the passages, three themes that I selected, one for tonight inshaAllah.

This is during the early parts of Du'a Makarim al-Akhlaq. This is a very famous Du'a of Imam Zayn al-Abideen, alayh as-salat wa as-salam [Allahumma Salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad], which is part of his book 'Al-Sahifah Al-Sajjadiyyah' and the theme that I would like to share with you this evening is the theme about bala' [problems], bala' in doing good. There is an interesting, you know, theme in the sayings of our Imams, that you have to be careful even when we do good deeds.

Even with goodness, there is a problem attached with it. And so we, when we embark on doing good deeds, first of all, that is a challenge by itself. Once we reach to that point, then we have to be vigilant to make sure that the bala attached with the good deeds do not inflict. And we will see the example in this message of Du'a Makarim al-Akhlaq. For example, we pray to Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, for honour and respect for ourselves among the people. We ask Allah for tawfiq to do the ibadaat in a better way. We pray to Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, that He may make us generous in giving charity to the people.

Then there is a passage where we pray to Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, to give us makarim al-akhlaq, the noble traits and character. And then we go on to the passage where we basically are asking Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, to elevate our status among the people. Now the challenges that come with all these good things that we are asking for, this is what we have to keep in mind. 

For example, if you look at the first theme, the Du'a says, 'wa a'izzini’ O’ Allah. When we talk about honour and respect among people, 'a'izzini' you know from izzat. Izzat actually means power, but power comes with honour and dignity. And so when we say, ’O' Allah make me aziz, make me honourable.’ Then we have to realize that, okay, Allah makes us honourable. But there are problems attached with being honourable. There is a bala', there is a fitna there. We have to be careful that if Allah accepts our Du'a to become honourable among the people, then we also have to be vigilant that the bala' does not come with it. And where is that?

‘O' Allah honour me,’ 'wa la tabtaliyanni bi 'l-kibr.' ‘O' Allah honour me, but do not afflict me with pride.’ Now, the word pride in English doesn't really give that meaning of kibr. Kibr means arrogance. And so, you know, Allah can give honour to people. But if that honour becomes the basis of arrogance, then that is the bala'. And that is where, you know, the Imam is teaching us that pray to Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, that ‘Allah honour me but do not afflict me with pride,’ because with this izzat and with honour, pride and arrogance can come in.

There is a Hadith where we are told that Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, says in Hadith Al-Qudsi that, you know 'Al-kibriy'a ridhai.' To be proud or arrogant, this Allah says, this is my aba. Do not put it on your own shoulders. Kibriya is only for Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala,.

You know, we always have to keep in mind this statement from Amir al-Mu'minin, where he says, very beautifully he says, "I'm amazed at a human being, his beginning is nutfah and his end is jifa.” “His beginning is a sperm drop, and his end is the dead body." Both are technically najis. In between he is a carrier of waste, and still he allows himself to, you know, be proud against others. And so this is where Amir al-Mu'minin is reminding us the issue of humility when we talk about our own honour and dignity.

So that's the first problem, as far as the goodness is concerned. Another one: the opportunity to do ibada. ‘Wa a'bbidni laka,’ ‘O' Allah help me to worship you better.’ 'A'bbidni', ibadat is from there. ‘O' Allah help me to worship you better.’‘ So okay, Allah listens to our Du'a, and gives us the tawfiq to do the ibadat in a better way. But then with doing better ibadat, there is a problem. And where is the problem? 'Wa a'bbidni laka wa la tufsid i'bidati bi 'l-ujub,' ‘O' Allah help me to worship you better, but do not ruin my ibadat by self admiration.’

Ujub and kibr are two different things. Kibr is where we sort of look down at others. Ojub is self admiration where I say, ‘you know, yes, I am something. Mashallah I do all the namaz [prayer] on time. None of my namaz are qadha.’ You know, when that feeling comes in that is ujub and ujub is a spiritual disease. And so the Du'a here is that O' Allah, yes, give me the tawfiq to do your ibadat in a better way, but keep me away from ujub, which is self admiration.

The third one: about becoming generous. 'Wa ajri li 'n-nasi a'la yadayy al-khayr'. It is a good Du'a: ‘Let charity flow from my hands towards the people.’ You know, what better Du'a can we ask Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala? But Imam is saying that if Allah gives you that opportunity, that charity is flowing from your hands towards people, there is another problem there. 'Wa la tamhuqquhu bil-mann.' 'But do not nullify it. Do not make it batil by me making them feeling obliged.’ Allah give me enough so that I can, you know, work in charity. But save me from this spiritual disease, where when I give to others, I make them feel obliged.

You know when the person on the receiving end feels humiliated. And so that is the bala' of charity and doing khair. And so these are some of the examples that the Imam mentions. And then one more. 'Wa habli ma'ali al-akhlaq’. These are all in one passage in Makarim-Al-Akhlaq, Du'a Makarim al-Akhlaq. 'Wa habli ma'ali al-akhlaq’. Before that, let me just mention a point about charity. Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, in Surah Baqarah, at the end of the Surah, especially if you look at ayat number 263 and 264. You will see Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, talks very forcefully and in detail about how to give charity. He is not concerned about how much you are giving. He is more concerned about how you are giving charity.

And then there is an ayat there, which is very interesting. You know, we do namaz, we do wudhu, we do roza [fast]. And we know in the masail, if you do this, your namaz is batil; if you do that, your wudhu is batil; if you do this, your roza is batil. We rarely hear the term that if you do this, your charity is batil.

There is an ayat in Qur'an, ayat number 264 Surah Baqarah, 'Ya ayyuha al-ladheena amanu la tubtılu sadaqatikum bil manni wa al-adh'a' (2:264), 'O' you who believe do not make your sadaqat/your charity batil, null and void, by giving it in such a way that you are making the recipient obliged, or you are hurting the feelings of the recipient.' And so this is what we are asking. 'Wa ajri li 'n-nasi a'la yadayy al-khayr' , ‘O' Allah let charity flow from my hands to the people, but do not nullify it, by me making them feeling obliged.’

The next Du'a there, 'Wa habli ma'ali al-akhlaq’, O' Allah bless me with the best of akhlaq.’ Allah accepts the Du'a, gives me the good, the best of akhlaq. But then with that, the issue of arrogance comes in. You know, ‘Oh, I'm so good.’ And so you have this good thing Allah is giving to us, but there is a bala attached with it. 'Wa habli ma'ali al-akhlaq’, 'bless me with the best of akhlaq, wa a'simni min al-fakhr', 'but protect me from boasting.’ Fakhr is when, you know, people boast against others. "Oh, I'm this and I'm that,” you know, and this is where we come to realize that it is not really, it is not a good thing, this is actually a bala', if a person has good akhlaq.

And then going back to the issue of respect and honour, 'wa la tarfa'ni fi 'n-nasi darajatan,' ‘O' Allah do not raise me a single degree in the eyes of the people,’ 'illa hatattani i'nda nafsi mithlaha,’ ‘but that you lower me equally in my eyes.’ You know, there is contradiction here. On the one hand, we are praying to Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, that ‘O' Allah raise me in the eyes of the people. But for each degree that you are raising me in the eyes of the people, make me humble at the same level in my own eyes.’ And so respect from the people but humility in one's own life.

And this is repeated: 'wa la tuhdith li i'zzan thahiran illa ahdathtali dhillatan batinatan i'nda nafsi biqadariha.' 'Do not bring about an outward exaltation for me' ('i'zzatee zahiree'), unless you create for me an equal 'dhillatoon batina,’ ('dhillatee batinee’), 'inner humility in myself.’ And so by looking at it, you know, the first statement and the last two ones are emphasizing on this point that we can always pray to Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, to have honour, dignity, status in the eyes of the people.

But we have always to be careful with the bala' which comes with it. And the bala' is of arrogance, fakhr, boasting. And this is where we have to pray to Allah, Subhanah wa Ta'ala, that to whatever degree you raise me in the eyes of the people, make me humble in my own eyes. Salwaat. [Allahumma Salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

InshaAllah we will look at another theme tomorrow from Du'a Makarim al-Akhlaq. To end tonight's session, I have a question for you. Can you see the question on the screen? I would like you to read that and just think about it for a moment.

Mustafa did wudhu before before coming maghrib, before maghrib, before coming to the center. A majority of the people do wudhu at home and then they come. It is not yet maghrib time. Then at the time of maghrib, given three choices there. A: he must do a new wudhu for maghrib; or [b] he can pray with his existing wudhu; or three [c] he must do a new wudhu with the niyyat of wajib. Because at home it was not yet maghrib, so wudhu was not wajib, he had done the wudhu with the niyat of sunnat. Now he comes here. Now it is maghrib time. Namaz is wajib. Think about it and see which is the right answer. Is it A, B, or C?

How many of you go for A? What about B? And those who did not raise their hand? They go for C? The correct answer is B. You can pray with your existing wudhu. I was asked this question, you know, on ladies side, these issues come up. You know, somebody was told that ‘no, if you did not do it with the niyat of wajib, your wudhu was not valid. So all your namaz, done for so many years, it is all batil, you have do it again.’ No. Don't make your life more difficult than what it is. You know, the issue is that if you are already in this state of wudhu, all those things which require wudhu, you can do it.

You just felt like keeping yourself in wudhu all the time, so you did, you do with the niyat of qurbatan illa Allah, or sunnat qurbatan illa Allah. Then it's time of namaz. You stand up, when you're already in wudhu, you do not need to do the wudhu again. Even though that was done with the niyat of sunnat and the namaz is being done with the niyat of wajib. Or, for example, you wanted to come for the Qur'an Khani before maghrib.

And so you did wudhu with the intention of doing it so that you can touch the wordings of the Qur'an and then it is time of maghrib. You do not have to now go into a separate wudhu for namaz of maghrib. Otherwise, then you have to go again for the nafila of maghrib another wudhu and for isha, you know, another wudhu, and we will have a one-hour maghrib and isha prayers. There is nothing like that, you know, be relaxed. Once you are in the state of wudhu, you are in the state of wudhu, irrespective the niyyat done for the wudhu. Whatever can be done in the state of wudhu, you can still do it with the existing wudhu that you have.

"Rabbana atina fi 'd-dunya hasanatan, wa fil akhirati hasanatan, wa qina adhaba an-Nar" (2:201), bi rahmatika ya Arham al-Rahimeen. [Allahumma Salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].