25 Promises of Allah to the Believers by Anwar Al-Awlaki

1. Jannah

Allah says,” And give glad tidings to those who believe and do righteous good deeds, that for them will be Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise). Every time they will be provided with a fruit therefrom, they will say: "This is what we were provided with before," and they will be given things in resemblance (i.e. in the same form but different in taste) and they shall have therein Azwajun Mutahharatun (purified mates or wives), (having no menses, stools, urine, etc.) and they will abide therein forever.” (2:25)

The promise of Allah to the believers of giving them Jannah is sufficient. Because when you think about what the Jannah is about and compare to what the Dunya is, and compare to the other option which is Jahannam, this is sufficient. In fact this is more than what you could ask for and what you deserve.

Rasulullah SAW said, “No one will enter Jannah except through the mercy of Allah. (Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol.8 p.315 no.474)
Our deeds do not qualify us for that except through the mercy of Allah.

Rasulullah SAW said, “On the Day of Judgment Allah will bring the believers who suffered the most in Dunya and Allah will give that believer in Jannah for one moment. And then Allah will ask him,”Oh My Servant, did you ever feel suffering in your life. He said, “Oh Allah I have never felt any suffering at all. So, one moment in Jannah is sufficient to make him forget all the suffering and pain in Dunya. On the other hand, Rasulullah SAW said, “Allah will bring the Non-Believer to have the best life in this world and Allah will give him one moment in Jahannam. And He asked the disbeliever, “Did u ever have any enjoyment in your life?” He will say no. One moment in Jahannam is sufficient to make him forget all the enjoyment he has in Dunya (Saheeh Muslim, 6738).


Rasulullah SAW described Jannah and after that he gave an elaborate description.
Narrated by Abu Huraira, Allah's Apostle said, "Allah said, "I have prepared for My pious slaves things which have never been seen by an eye, or heard by an ear, or imagined by a human being." If you wish, you can recite this Verse from the Holy Quran "No soul knows what is kept hidden for them, of joy as a reward for what they used to do." (32.17) (Bukhari, Book #54, Hadith #467)

Think about Jannah as long as you like, as much as you want, you will never going to get there. It’s way above all of your expectations. Watch the best Hollywood movie that talks about pleasure and enjoyment, it’s not going to be a fraction of what you are going to get in Jannah. Rasulullah SAW saw with his own eyes, and he tried to describe it the best he could, but he knew it very well that a Sahabah wouldn’t be able to give it the right estimate because if u didn’t see it, u can’t imagine it. The language can’t even express what is in Jannah. Even if you try to imagine it, you can’t even comprehend it. For example, you can understand what a million mean, and you can understand what a billion mean, but what does infinity mean? So when it says that you are going to live in Jannah forever, you will never going to die, there is no end, your mind cannot understand that. You know the implication of living in Jannah forever. It means that if you see something that you like in Jannah, for example, you are walking next to this river and you see a bird on this river and you like it, you could just sit there and watch this bird for a million years. You don’t have any appointment, no work; you are free to do whatever you want. Let say you read about the story of Musa and Qarun and you want to know more about it, you can make an appointment to stay with Musa AS and go spend a few years with him. There wouldn’t be any few moments like, “Sorry I am busy I can’t spend a time with you”, but you can spend time as much as you want. You can go and spend time with Muhammad SAW as much time as you want. He’s not in a hurry and neither do you.


When you think about the categories that you’ll be given in Jannah, Rasulullah SAW said about the lowest level in Jannah. He says that the last man who enters the Jannah, he owns ten times the earth and everything in it (Muslim).

Hence, the lowest level in Jannah is at the highest level of a person in Dunya that no one can ever dream of. Why would you work your whole life and deal with interest and riba just to own a portion of land when all you have to do to get a mansion in Jannah is to pray Nafl 12 rakaat prayers a day. Twelve Rakaat Nafl Prayers a day, i.e 2 rakaat before Fajr, 4 before Zuhr, 2 after Zuhr, 2 after Maghrib and 2 after Isya’ will give you a palace in Jannah.

2. Light

Allah SWT says, “On the Day you shall see the believing men and the believing women their light running forward before them and by their right hands. Glad tidings for you this Day! Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise), to dwell therein forever! Truly, this is the great success! (57:12).

On the Day of Judgment, it will be dark, and you will be asked to cross over a bridge that is thinner than hair and sharper than a razor blade. And there be no light. So, it is impossible unless you were given light by Allah. The power of the light that Allah will give you will depend on how much light was in your heart in Dunya. So this light which is in your heart is not a physical light but a spiritual light that will come on the Day of Judgment in a physical form with powerful beam and thousands of Watt. Some people will have bulb with thousand of Watts, some will have small bulbs, some will have bulb which is so weak which goes on and off. It depends on how much Iman was in your heart. Iman will come out in the Day of Judgement in the form of light. Some people will have so much light that they could just run over the bridge like breeze, so fast. While some of them can run, some of them can walk, some of them, they have to talk a step and then stop until they get the light again. While some them will start walking on the Sirat but the light is not sufficient to get them far. We ask Allah SWT to make us of those who will reach to Jannah. The Iman that is in your heart today will be your light tomorrow. So you make up your mind on how much light you want to have.

3. Allah will be with you

Allah says,” For verily Allah is with those who believe” (8:19).
When Allah is with you, what does that mean? It means that you are not with anybody else. Musa and Harun were asked by Allah to go and meet Firaun. Musa AS said that he has committed a crime so he is afraid that they will kill him. Musa killed someone in Egypt by mistake. However the injustice system of Firaun sentenced him to execution. They decided that he was guilty of murder so they wanted to execute Musa, hence, Musa ran away. He flew from Egypt. Now Allah is telling Musa to go back. Not just to go back but to meet Firaun and tell him, “Listen, you are wrong and you have to follow me”. But obviously Musa AS was concerned, so Musa and Harun told Allah, “We feared that he could harm us or transgress against us” (20:45)

What did Allah tell them, “ Do not fear because I am with you, I hear and I see”. (20:46) Be mindful of Allah, Allah will be mindful of you. Be mindful of Allah, Allah will be with you. If you think about Allah, Allah will think about you. If you forget about Allah, Allah will forget about you. Get to know Allah in the moment of ease, Allah will know you in moments of difficulties. You seek guidance from Allah; Allah will give it to you. Allah will give you according to what you are doing.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger SAW as saying that Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, thus stated: I am near to the thought of My servant as he thinks about Me, and I am with him as he remembers Me. And if he remembers Me in his heart, I also remember him in My Heart, and if he remembers Me in assembly I remember him in assembly, better than his (remembrance), and if he draws near Me by the span of a palm, I draw near him by the cubit, and if he draws near Me by the cubit I draw near him by the space (covered by) two hands. And if he walks towards Me, I rush towards him.” (Sahih Muslim)
Allah will give you what you deserve and more if it’s good and if it’s not, Allah will punish you strictly with the sin. So Allah will be with you if you are a believer.

4. The grace of Allah

Allah says, “Allah is full of grace to those who believe”. (3:152)

You believe in Allah but Allah is so generous that He gives you what you work for.

For example, Musa AS, before he became a Nabi, he was lost in a desert. He was trying to find his way and suddenly he sees a fire. Apparently, only he sees the fire, and his wife couldn’t. So he said, “I’m going to go next to the fire so I can bring some of the fire to warm up in this cold night or I can find some guidance there.” (27:7) If there’s a bonfire in a desert, meaning there are people there, hence, he can ask for direction from there. This means that Musa is lost, so he wants to get direction. So he goes there, and he does find direction but not direction to Egypt, but direction to Jannah. And that’s when Allah speaks to Musa and gave him Prophethood. So Musa was looking for something and Allah gave him something better.

Another example, when Allah SWT and the Sahabah went out for Badr. They had no idea of what they will be facing. Rasulullah SAW and the Sahabah were in pursuit of a caravan belonging to the Quraishy. They wanted to raid the caravan taking their belongings to compensate for the wealth of the Muhajirun that were taken in Mekah. And here they are end up facing the army of Quraisy. And it turns out to be the most important battle with Rasulullah SAW. So Rasulullah SAW and the Sahabah wanted the ghanimah, they ended up getting victory and ghanimah. This shows that if you want something from Allah, Allah will give you something more. Allah gives that to the believers.

5. The Wilayah of Allah


Allah says, “Without doubt, among men, the nearest of kin to Abraham, are those who follow him, as are also this Prophet and those who believe: And Allah is the Protector of those who have faith.” (3:68)

Allah is saying that He is the Wali of the Believers. Wali means friends, protector. A believer has Allah as their Wali. Therefore the Believer does not need anyone else besides Allah SWT. If Allah is your Wali, who else would you need? Why would a Muslim seek a wilayah of a Mushrikeen when Allah gives you the option? You want Me to become your Wali all you have to do is to believe. We ask Allah to make us his Auliya’ because Rasulullah SAW says in a Hadith Qudsi, “If anybody takes my Wali as enemy I will wage war against him” (Sahih Al-Bukhari). Allah has only waged war twice. He has waged war against the one who deals with interest and he has waged war against the one who takes His Wali as enemy.

6. The Mercy of Allah

Allah is very merciful. You could have mercy, but the name of Allah is Ar-Rahim, so the mercy of Allah is on different level and to give you an analogy for example, so that you have the right understanding of the names of Allah. Because some of the names of Allah are attributes that we could describe humans with. For example, Allah is Al-Kareem, we could also be Kareem, Allah is Ar-Rahim, we could also be Rahim. But it means different things. For example, let’s say that you have a child and a friend who is from a royal family who is wealthy. If your child gives you a chocolate bar, you will think that the kid is being generous. But when you want to borrow from your friend, you are expecting him to give a huge amount of money since he’s very rich, then you’ll consider him generous. This is due to the capability of the king as compared to the child. So when Allah SWT tells you that He is generous, that is on a level that you can’t imagine. When Allah says that He is Al-Kareem that means He is at the peak or pinnacle of Kareem. When Allah says He is Ar-Rahim, He is at the peak of Rahmah (Mercy). So Allah is Merciful with the believers.




Allah says, “Then, as for those who believed (in the Oneness of Allah Islamic Monotheism) and did righteous good deeds, their Lord will admit them to His Mercy. That will be the evident success. (45:30). Sometimes at the moment when you feel under pressure, you feel to have someone who is merciful towards you. This Ummah is hungry for mercy and justice. So when Allah is telling you that He will have mercy on you and that is the greatest achievement that would mean a lot to the believers.

When Rasulullah SAW says that, Allah has splits mercy into 100 parts, one out of 100 was distributed over the whole world. And that is the mercy a mother would have on a child whether a human or animal, and Allah has reserved 99 portions of the mercy for the Day of Judgment. Every act of mercy that you find on earth is a part of 100 while 99 is reserved on the Day of Judgment (Saheeh Muslim)

7. Victory


Allah says in the Quran, “Verily, We will indeed make victorious Our Messengers and those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah Islamic Monotheism) in this world's life and on the Day when the witnesses will stand forth, (i.e. Day of Resurrection)” (40:51).

 

And also, “And it is due from us to give victory to those who believe” (30:47).

This Ummah wants victory and Allah will promise to give victory to those who believe. So the moment we get our belief right, Allah will give this Ummah victory. It’s a promise from Allah, but we shouldn’t be in a hurry, but be patient.

Once, Khabbab bin al-Aratt RA reported: "We complained to the Messenger of Allah SAW while he was resting in the shadow of Ka'ba, saying, "Why do you not ask Allah to help us? Why do you not pray for us?" Then he said, "Before you, there were people who would catch a man, bury him half-way in a hole dug in the ground, then saw his head until it splits in two; or would comb with iron combs between his flesh and bones; yet this would not turn him away from his religion. By Allah! Allah will bring this matter to completion, and a time will come when a rider will ride alone from San'a to Hadramut and he will have no fear except of Allah, or of a wolf against his sheep; but you people are in a hurry". (Bukhari) 

Now this Sahaba, he didn’t go through some light punishment. He went through a lot. There was a time of Umar al-Khattab, he was asking the Sahaba of Muhajirun of what they went through, so he uncovered his back without saying anything. So Umar looked at his back and say I never saw something like this, what happened to you? He said the Mushrikeen of Quraish would burn rocks over fire for a very long time and then they put on my naked back, my flesh would burn and I would smell my fat burning. So it left some very deep hole in his back. And Rasulullah SAW tells him he shouldn't be in hurry, he should be patient.

What have we gone through? We are living in a very comfortable life. We haven’t been through anything. So we shouldn’t be in a hurry. We should be patient and the victory of Allah SWT will be on its way.

8.  Allah will erase the evil

 

Allah SWT says, “Those who believe [in the Oneness of Allah (Monotheism) and in Messenger Muhammad SAW , and do not apostate because of the harm they receive from the polytheists], and do righteous good deeds, surely, We shall remit from them their evil deeds and shall reward them according to the best of that which they used to do. (29:7)

Jannah is pure, hence it can only be admitted for someone who is pure. Jannah and impurity cannot go together. In this Dunya, things are mixed up. Everything is contaminated. But in Akhirat, those with pure evil will be in Hellfire. So Jannah can only admit you if you are purified. But the problem is there’s none among us who is free of sins. So we are all contaminated. So how can we get cleaned up? How can we wash away this sins? Allah SWT promises that He will erase some of the sins for the believers. There are various ways in doing that. Taubat, istighfar, pains and diseases you go through, the suffering of the grave, Sakaratul Maut, the pain and suffering in the Day of Judgment and if it’s still not enough, a person has to spend some time in the Hellfire until they are cleansed. So there must be a cleaning process. But to some people Allah SWT loves them so much that Allah makes some of their sins in this Dunya hidden and also hidden on the Day of Judgment.

Rasulullah SAW talks about a man who comes on the Day of Judgment and will be given a book of deeds. So this man, his knees are shaking. Because he knows what he did. So he goes through the page of his life and he sees a lot of sins and then he reaches to the end of the book, there’s plenty of sins in there but he realizes that there are some big ones which has been left out. So he asks Allah, he says, “O Allah, there are some sins that I did that I don’t see here”. Allah tell him, “O My Servant, I’ve concealed them for you in Dunya and I’m going to conceal them for you today.” (Narrated by al-Bukhari, 4408; Muslim, 2768). Nobody’s going to know about it. This is between Me and you. It’s not even going to show up in your account.

So if you have committed a sin that nobody knows about it, don’t go around and speaking about it. Ask Allah for Taubat and make Istighfar and move on. As long as you make istighfar with sincerity and you repent to Allah, Allah is willing to raise anything.

What more mercy he wants when a man of Bani Israel who has killed 99 innocent human beings. But eventhough he’s such a criminal, there were still some good lurking in his heart, so he wants to know if he can make Taubat. So he went to go and ask he was directed to somebody he is pious but has no knowledge. He asked that person, whether Allah can forgive him. But the man said, Allah can never forgive such a person”. So he kills him. It shows you how terrible the situation of this man was. He didn’t like the Fatwa, he ended up killing the man. That shows how easy killing was for him. But still there are some goodness in his heart, hence he wants to try again. But this time he was shown to a knowledgeable man, a scholar. The scholar tells him, “Who can prevent you from making Taubat? Allah will accept your Taubat but you have to leave this town because this is a town of evil that will remind you of your sins. The other town has good people that will assist you in worshipping of Allah. So this man left, he sacrificed and he made Hijrah. But it was the Qadr of Allah that he dies before he reached the town. So the Angel of Mercy and the Angel of Punishment come down and each of them is claiming his soul. The Angel of Punishment says “that he belongs to us” because he did not reach the other town yet. So he should go to Hellfire. But the Angel of Mercy says that he belongs to them because he came out with the intention of Taubat. And they couldn’t solve this dispute. So Allah send down another Angel to solve this dispute and he says,” The way you solve this problem is to measure the distance between the place where he dies and his original town and the other town. If it’s closer to his original town, then he will go to Hellfire, if it’s closer to the other town, he will go to Jannah”. He was actually closer to the town of Taubat, hence, he goes to Jannah. Rasulullah SAW said, “When then Angels were measuring the distance, Allah ordered the earth to change its dimensions so that the distance between him and the town of Taubat is expanded, hence he went to Jannah. (Bukhari)

Allah could make him died closer to his original town but Allah wants to show us how willing He is to give mercy on a servant who wants to make Taubat to Him. So what can stand between you and Taubat? Nothing. Ask Allah for forgiveness, He will forgive you. Make Taubat to Allah and He will accept it as long as you did it sincerely. Rasulullah SAW said, “Taubat is regret”. (Ibn Majah, Ahmad, Al-Baghawi, Al-Hakim). The most important element of Taubat is to feel sorry for what you’ve done.

9. Love among the believers



“Verily, those who believe [in the Oneness of Allah and in His Messenger (Muhammad SAW)] and work deeds of righteousness, the Most Beneficent (Allah) will bestow love for them (in the hearts of the believers).” (19:96)

Allah makes the believer love each there but it’s a struggle to get there. Shaytaan does not care about the enemy of Allah, he doesn’t care if they are united, in fact he loves it when they are united. But the Shaytaan doesn’t like it when the believers are united. So he keeps on trying to cause dissent among them. Allah SWT says, "Shaytaan is trying to cause disunity amongst them” (17:53). So Allah is warning us that Shaytaan is out there to get you and to cause disunity among us. But if you feel that you are strong in your Iman, Allah will not give Shaytaan to overcome you. And you will find the believers will reach the level where they have so much love for the Mukmineen. They just love the believers and they are willing to die for their brothers. They are willing to give up their entire world for the brothers. Allah describes them in the Quran, “they are very humble and kind with the believers (26:215) and they are very stern and harsh to the enemy of Allah.” (9:123)

It was a sign of Nifaq to criticise the believers, to hate them, and to always praise the believers.

You should love a person because of his Iman and because he loves the Sunnah of Rasulullah SAW. So if he dress in a certain way because he wants to be like Rasulullah SAW, that is something that we should love. Rasulullah SAW says, “You will be with the one who you love” (Hadith Al-Bukhari). If you love the disbelievers you will be with them on the Day of Judgment, if you love the believers you will be with them on the Day of Judgment.

10. No efforts is wasted



Allah says, “Verily! As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, certainly! We shall not suffer to be lost the reward of anyone who does his (righteous) deeds in the most perfect manner.” (18:30)

Nothing is wasted because sometimes you feel that your effort is not paying off. For example, when you are doing da’wah, nobody is responding to your effort. You feel like you are wasting your time. Or if you are giving another brother Nasiha, but he doesn’t want to listen. But we have to keep in mind that none of our efforts is wasted. And we have to keep in mind that success is not about numbers. Rasulullah SAW says, I have seen on the Day of Judgment a Prophet with 10 followers, a Prophet with 5 followers, a Prophet with 2 followers, and a Prophet with no followers. So this means all these Prophets are making da’wah for all of his lives but no one is responding to him. So he comes down on the Day of Judgment alone. He succeeded eventhough nobody believes in him because he did what he has to do. So you continue with your work and be assure that Allah will not waste your effort. Allah will give you more than what you did.

11. Protection from Shaytaan

 

“So when you want to recite the Quran, seek refuge with Allah from Shaitan (Satan), the outcast (the cursed one).” (16:99)

Put your trust in your Lord, Allah will protect you from Shaytaan. Allah will protect you from Shaitan when you go to sleep if you recite Ayat Kursi. Because the Mukmin is using the weapon that Allah has given them. "A’oodhu Billaahi min ash-Shaytaan ir-rajeem."  is a sword, the Dzikr of Allah is the sword and Ayat Kursi is a sword against the Shaytaan. So when you use all of these arms that Allah has provided you with, they will protect you from Shaytaan. He has no control over you. While with the Kuffar, the Shaitan is in control of the Kuffar, herding them like cattle. With a lot of things that happen around us, like when the enemy of Allah is fighting the Ummah, some of their decisions are made by Shaitan. The Imam of temple of evil is Iblees. Shaitan can benefit from some human beings and some human beings can teach Shaitan. For example, when the Quraisy was making Syura on how to deal with Rasulullah SAW, it was Abu Jahal who give the right opinion and he was so good at giving the opinion that even Shaitan accept and go along with his opinion. Hence, we need protection from Shaitan and only Allah can give you protection from Shaitan. 


12. Allah will give you steadfastness

You will need this as there are lots of trials waiting for you as believers. Rasullullah said, "Surah Hud made my hair grey". (At-Tirmidhi).  He said that “this Surah concerned me so much that it changes the colour of my hair.” What was the ayat in Hud? "Stay on the straight path as you were commanded". It 's very easy to be on the straight path in this moment but you should have the consistency to remain on it for years without diverting one way or the other. So Rasulullah SAW used to make Dua "O the one who overturned the hearts make our hearts steadfast on your religion". (Authenticated by al-Albanee in al-Jaam'i as-Sagheer 1323/7988)

Hearts can flip or change. For example, your children whereby they could be crying, and when you tickle them, they laugh in a quick moment. So the heart can change, and we need to ask Allah SWT to give us steadfastness.


Allah says, “Allah will establish in strength and steadfastness to those who believe with the words that stands firm in this world and the Hereafter but Allah will leave astray those who do wrong, Allah does what He will" (14:27).

13. Allah will promise us with good ending

The beginning might be sour but the end is good.




Allah says," For those who believe and work righteousness Tuba is for them and a beautiful place of final return" (13:29)

 

The end belongs to the believer. Allah says, "The earth belongs to Allah, and Allah will give it to whomever He wills and the end belongs to Al-Muttaqin" (7:128)

Don't worry about what's happening now because Allah will give the believers a good ending. Think long term and plan ahead. And be assured that the end belongs to you if you are a believer.


14. Allah will save you

In this world, imagine that you are in a boat, in the middle of ocean in a storm, windy and cold. That's the ultimate image of desire for delivery (safety). Allah says about the Mushrikeen that when they were in the sea and waves are pushing them and they realize that there is no one that can save them but Allah, then whose name do they invoke? Allah. But as soon as they are delivered to safety, they go back to their Shirk. An experiment was done on Non-Muslims, Christian and they were asked, "When you are in deep trouble, whose name do you invoke? Do you invoke the name of Mary or Jesus or do you say "Save me Lord". Naturally the human being in that moment will go back to the Fitrah and would ask Allah. But soon as they were delivered to safety, they would go back to Shirk again. To be safe, you need to believe that Allah will deliver you to safety.

 

Allah says, "In the end we save our Messengers and those who believe, thus it is incumbent upon us to save the believers." (10:103)

With Al-Mushrikeen in Mekah, when they were in deep trouble, they wouldn't involve the name of Lat or Uzza, because they know when in difficulties, the veil of darkness is lifted and they come to terms with what they already know that these are stones so they can do them no good. And for somebody that believe Jesus as their Lord, how could somebody asked Jesus for help when in trouble, how can Jesus help them when he himself was crucified (according to their belief) and couldn't help himself at that time. In fact, according to the Bible he made the statement on the cross, "Oh God, how come you have forsaken me".

But Yunus AS who was in deep trouble, and as far as we know, apparently no one that we know was in trouble as he was. He was in a stomach of a fish under three layers of darkness, i.e the darkness of the stomach of the fish, the darkness of the night and the darkness of the sea. Yunus AS as was said in the Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, he fell unconscious due to he was swallowed by the whale. And when he woke up maybe initially he thought that he was in his grave. But as soon as he touched around him he would come to realize that he was in the stomach of a fish. Now we should know that a stomach of a fish is not a comfortable place to be in. It is designed to digest food. The most powerful stomachs are those of fish because it doesn’t have to chew its food. It just swallowed it as a whole and the digest of enzyme is so powerful and strong that the flesh just dissolves and melts. And that exactly what was happening to Yunus AS. His skin was peeling off and the enzymes were hitting his muscles and flesh. How come he was protected and alive without skin? Allah says,” And We caused a plant of gourd to grow over him” (37:146). As Yunus was in a difficult situation, he knew that only Allah could save him from the danger. So he made Sujud to Allah. He said," O Allah, I am making Sujud to you in a place where no one has ever made Sujud to you before." And then he said, "O Allah glory be to you, I have wronged myself" (21:87).

Rasulullah SAW said in a Hadith, that the Angels see the Halaqah of the Dzikir in this world like you would see a star in the Heavens. So that Dzikr of Yunus, eventhough it was coming from the depth of the ocean, in the darkness of the night, it is like a beam of the light in the Heavens, and the Angels could see it. Yunus had some very good connections with the Angels because of his Dzikir of Allah and his Amal Soleh before. They would always see this light coming from Yunus AS so they knew him very well. So the Angels went to appeal for him to Allah, "Is this the sound of your servant, Yunus?" Allah said yes. The Angels ask, "Aren’t you going to have mercy on him?" Allah says, "Yes, I'm going to have mercy on him". And Allah tells the reasons why. Allah says, “If it wasn't because Yunus used to make Tasbih before, he would have remained in the stomach of the whale until the Day of Judgment" (37:143-144). Because of the Iman, his track records, his good deeds of Yunus AS, that's why Allah helped him in that difficult of moment.

Be mindful of Allah, Allah will be mindful of you. Get to know Allah in the moment of ease; Allah will know you in the moment of difficulties. And memorize the Dua as the Dua of Yunus is so powerful that Allah mentioned in the Quran, "And this Dua saved you (Yunus AS)" (21:88). One of the Sahaba came to Rasulullah SAW and said, "O Rasulullah, is this Dua special for Yunus or it's for every believer? Rasulullah SAW said, "No, this Dua is for every Believer, don't you see that after Allah mentioned the Dua, Allah said, and thus We saved the believers (21:88).

So this Dua is not going to work only for Yunus, but will work for every believer. When you are in trouble, say this Dua and comprehend its meaning, “O Allah there's no God but You, Glory be to You, I have wronged myself. “

You need to admit your guilt and Allah loves when you humble yourself.

15. Allah will guide you

Even if you are a believer, you still need guidance from Allah. In fact, you need His Hidayah so great that the only Dua that is mandatory for you to repeat is "Guide us to the straight path" (1:6) or your Solat will be invalid without that. You still have to ask from Allah, the minimum is 17 times in your Fard prayers.

 

Allah says, "Those who believe and work righteousness, your Lord will guide them, because of their faith" (10:9). If you are true to your faith, Allah will guide you.


16. Blessings

 

Allah will bless you. “If the people of the town had but believe and feared Allah, We should indeed open out to them all kind of blessings from Heaven and Earth, but they rejected the truth so We took them for what they used to earn." (7:96).

Allah promised to the believers Barakah, but this more of a collective effort. When we believe, we shouldn't believe for blessings in Dunia. Rasulullah SAW would not promise the Sahaba Dunia. When the Ansar came to Rasulullah, and he said I want from you to protect me like you protect your wealth and family, the Ansar said this is our duty but what is your part of the bargain? Rasulullah SAW said, Al-Jannah. (Refer to As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah As-Saheehah). I can promise you nothing but Jannah. I am not going to promise you government or wealth but I can only promise you Jannah. So when we work, we should do it for the sake of Allah and getting reward from Allah in Akhirat. But Allah tells us that if this Earth has sins, this sins will take away the Barakah. If it is filled with Iman, it will bring the Barakah.

It is in the time of Isa AS that this world is ruled by Islam. Rasulullah SAW said there were so much Barakah in those days that the milk coming from a cow will be enough for an entire tribe. And one fruit will be enough for a plant and there is so much Barakah on earth that Rasulullah SAW said if you throw a seed on solid bedrock, it will grow (Saheeh Muslim). Why there is so much Barakah on the land? It is because the world was governed by Islam. But because of the Zulm (Shirk) the Barakah was taken out.

17. Peace and Security

 

Everyone claims that they want to bring peace to the world. Only Allah can give you peace. Allah says, " It is those who believes and confused not their believes with wrong, truly in security for they are on right guidance. (6:82)

In the time of Isa AS, Rasulullah SAW says, "And all religions will perish in his time except for Islam. And peace will descend on land." (Sunan Abu Dawood). He says that lions will play with camels and tigers will play with cows and wolves will play with sheep and children will play with snakes and nobody's harm. So the peace will transcend and will go beyond humans even to the animal world. Not only that Islam benefits the life of man but even benefits the ecosystem. Peace surrounds the entire planet. Lions will be so well fed that they could play with camels. Peace will come down on earth.

18. Forgiveness

 

Allah will forgive you. Allah says, "To those who believe and do deeds in righteneous has Allah promised forgiveness and great reward" (5:9)

19. Allah will pay you in full



Allah says, "As to those who believe and do righteousness, Allah will pay them in full their reward but Allah loves not those who do wrong" (3:57)

20. No fear and no grieve



Allah says, "On them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve" (2:277)

21. Allah will protect the believers



Allah says, "Verily Allah will defend those who believe, verily Allah loves not any that who is traitor to faith and shows ingratitude (22:38).

Allah will protect his religion. And Allah will preserve Quran and as Rasulullah SAW said, "There will be a time in my Ummah who will be carrying the banner of truth on the Day of Judgment. (Saheeh Muslim). We have to worry on our role in this religion not the safety of the religion. This religion doesn't need us but we need the religion because this religion is protected by Allah.

22. A good life



Allah says, "Whoever works righteousness man or woman and has faith verily to him will We give a new life, a life that is good and pure (16:97).

Don't be deceived by the life in Dunia. For example, a disbeliever who is very wealthy and who seems to be very happy but he doesn’t know what's going on inside. And he doesn’t know what the believers are feeling because he never felt it. He doesn't know something which is much better than what he already has. Ibn Taymiyyah says, "If the kings know the happiness and pleasure that we have, he will try to take it away from us by the tip of their sword." But they never experience it.

Allah says,” You turn away from the remembrance of Allah, you will have a very distressful life" (20:124).

While for believers, when some of them are suffering, Allah is giving them some feeling in their heart that could not be bought with the wealth of this Dunia.

Ibn Taymiyyah says, "If my enemy throws me in jail; that is a chance for me to make Dzikir of Allah, if my enemy drives me out of my land that is Feesabillah, I will make contemplation in my travel. If my enemy killed me, then my killing is Shahada. So what can my enemy do with me because I carry my Jannah in my heart. They could do whatever they want with this body, but they can't take away my Jannah from this heart because it was given to me by Allah".

23. Establishment




Allah says, "Allah has promised to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds that He will of assurity grand them in the land inheritance of power as He granted it to those before them that He will establish in authority their religion the one which He has chosen for them and that He will surely give them in exchange a safe security after their fear (provided) they (believers) worship Me and do not associate anything (in worship) with Me. But whoever disbelieves after this, they are the Fasiqun. (24:55)

Rasulullah SAW says, "Allah has brought the whole Earth in front of my eyes and he told me that the kingdom of my Ummah will reach to all of it."(Saheeh Muslim)

24. Deliverance from darkness into light



Allah says,” Allah is the Wall of those who believe. He brings them out from darkness into light. But as for those who disbelieve, their Auliya are Taghut, they bring them out from light into darkness. Those are the dwellers of the Fire, and they abide therein forever (2:257)

25. Allah will never grant the disbelievers a way over the believers




Allah the Most high, says, “And never will Allah grant to the unbelievers a way (to triumph) over the believers” (4:141)

Allah says in the Quran, "It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad SAW) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it superior over all religions even though the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) hate (it)." (9:33) Meaning nothing can overpower Islam.

So if we don’t see this happening, and we see the disbelievers having an upper hand over the believers, then we shouldn’t question the promise of Allah, but rather we should question ourselves and our Iman (faith). Are we behaving like true believers, or the other way around.

Culture Confusion by Abdur Raheem Green

The best speech is the book of Allah that is the Quran and the best way and in fact the only way to live your life is to follow the religion of Islam by the way of Muhammad SAW. And of all the things in religion, the worst of them are those matters that people newly introduced into the religion, matters that have not been taught to us by the Prophet Muhammad SAW. But people have introduced those things into the religion. These are the worst things in religion. And these new things that have been brought into the religion practices, attitudes and beliefs were not practiced and believed in by the Prophet Muhammad SAW and his companions. It is called in Arabic, Bidaah or religious innovations. And all of these newly invented matters in the religion are misguidance, and are going away from the straight path. And everything that goes away from the straight path, it is only leading to the direction of Hellfire.

Hence, this topic is so important to the Muslims today because most Muslims today, what they are following today is not so much Islam but as their culture. It exists everywhere. Many Muslims are Muslims because of culture but not because of conviction. There are Muslims who are Muslims because of tradition not because of learning or studying, reading, understanding and comprehend it.

Islam is not a family alum that you pass down from generation to generation. Islam is a guidance that has been revealed by Allah, the All-Knowing and Most-Wise, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. He knows us better than we even know ourselves. And in His Mercy, He has send down guidance, in the form of the Quran. And He gave us a Messenger, a human being like us. A man who ate food, breathe air, who was born and who died and who had desires and forgot things and who made mistakes. He is a human being, but a very special human being. He is the most honest and the most truthful and the most trustworthy and the most sincere and the one with the most high and noble character. This man is Muhammad SAW.

And all of the Messengers are human beings. As the Quran quite clearly tells us, “If there were angels walking and living on the Earth, then Allah would have sent to them an Angel “ (16:95), but it is humans. So Allah gives us a Messenger who is a human being. Why? There is an important wisdom behind this. The reason is because psychologically, (and Allah understands the mind, because He is the Creator of it,) the human being would say, "Oh you are an Angel, and you are telling me not to do this and not to do that, that is very easy for you to say because you are an Angel. You don't have desires like me; you don't need to eat like me.” Hence, we have so many excuses not to follow what that Angel is teaching us. This is because that he will never represent a living example. But because Allah has chosen and made the Prophets and the Messengers human beings, that means we human beings can follow their example. We don't have an excuse. We have a physical example in front of us of a human being who is behaving in a certain way, which means that we know psychologically that we can also follow that example. Maybe not to the same degree, but certainly we can follow that examples. This is the wisdom of Allah sending the Messenger as human beings. Muhammad SAW was such human being. He is the practical example for us of how we should worship Allah. His example is and his life in reality is Islam. It is the Sunnah, the way, the teaching, the approval of Muhammad SAW that constitutes the basis of our worship and our lives as Muslims.

This is very important to understand because to be a Muslim, means that we are submitting ourselves. We have surrendered ourselves to Allah SWT not to our desires, not to our culture, not to our parents or tribes, not to the ideas prevalent to the society. Being Muslim means, I willingly choose to obey Allah and submit myself to God by following the examples of Prophet Muhammad SAW. This is the essence of Islam. This means Islam is what we can call Taufiqqiyah. It is based upon guidance from Allah. We cannot invent for ourselves and imagine for ourselves how to worship Allah. It is not permissible. Worshipping Allah is based upon the guidance of the Quran and the example of Rasulullah SAW.

And this is the case of every other Prophets and every other guidance that Allah gave. That is the case with the guidance that Allah gave to Isa ibn Maryam to whom Allah sent the Injeel. But the religion of Isa was Islam, the same religion as the religion of Muhammad SAW. And the guidance that Allah gave to Musa AS was in the form of Taurat. But the religion that Musa AS followed was also Islam that is willing in submission to the will of God. So the guidance of all the Prophets was based upon this. Allah also sent guidance to Ibrahim AS. Allah mentioned Prophet Ibrahim AS a lot in the Quran. He was mentioned as a great example for us to follow. The Quran tells us, "Who abandons the way of Ibrahim except a person who makes a fool of himself" (2:130). Ibrahim Hanifan, the one who surrendered himself to God and who follows the natural religion, submission to God. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad SAW told us that every child is born upon the Fitrah, Hanifan, naturally incline to worship Allah alone, it is only their environment that takes them away from that (Sahih Muslim). It is the influences from the outside that take them away from that nature upon which they were born.

So, what is culture? From my research, there's no easy definition of culture. Culture is the things that people do, or believe, the customs that people follow; it is in fact the social and physical environment in which people live. Culture can be good or bad. As Muslim, the criterion or the means that we should judge our behaviour therefore is not based upon culture. It not based upon what the people around us do. It is not based upon what our parents do. That is not what our religion is based upon. The religion of Islam and being a Muslim is based upon what we have already said, the guidance of Allah in the Quran and the examples of Rasulullah SAW. This is the basis of being Muslim and Islam.

Some people will say, "Are you telling me that my ancestors are misguided?" In response to this, we should ask them back, "Are you telling me that your ancestors are infallible, that they can make no mistakes that they could possibly fail to misunderstand Islam?" If you know that you have made a mistake, will you follow their mistakes? If you know that they have done something wrong, will you keep following them in wrong? If that is your choice, how can you claim to be a Muslim? If you know of what your ancestors did and what your cultures teach are against the Quran and the teachings of the Prophets Muhammad SAW, then what does it mean by "Muslim"? Do you submit to Allah, or do you submit to your Culture? Make your choice, because no Prophet came to his people except they said to the Prophets exactly this, "We are following our ancestors".

We should read and understand the Quran. The first word that Allah SWT reveals to Prophet Muhammad SAW was to read. Read, in the name of your Lord who created you from a clot. Read and your Lord is the Most Generous. He taught mankind by the use of the pen that which they did not know.

Reading the Quran in Arabic is an act of virtue that you will be rewarded even you don't understand it. It is the speech of Allah in Arabic. However, in the Quran, Allah tells us in Surah al- Baqarah (1-2). "Alif Lam Mim. This is the book, without doubt, it is guidance for the pious people." But people have a habit where some people would wrap the Quran in cloth and put them in a high place or shelves. And they say that they are honoring the Quran. They didn't understand Islam from the Quran, but they only understand Islam from their parents that have taught them. So they look at Islam as something that is part of their culture. Muslims should learn the Quran by reading in the language that they understand. 

Culture is usually a type of systemized way that human being developed in order to cope with their environment. For example, food which is usually associates with our culture. Originally, the food is based upon what we could get from the land around us. Hence, the flavour, the taste and style of the food is based upon what is available around us. In another words, our culture is influenced by our geography, like the trees, plants, amounts of water, etc . Or by the political and social geography. For example, many people's culture is something that is a product of one group of people imposing their authority on another group of people. For example, a system of control, like feudalism in Europe. Or maybe like a class system in India. So our culture develop how do we behave or what is our attitude. These are things that stay with people. These ideas are very hard to remove. Some of them are survival mechanism, where people adapt with to in order to survive in their environment. But other things from culture are not to do with that. Some of them are really misguided and wrong things. They are very detrimental and harmful to the human affairs. Let's see how it relates to us Muslims. Being Muslims, we should look at ourselves.

Let's look at the Arabs before Islam. They were among the most barbaric and backward and primitive people. In fact in one Hadith, the Prophet Muhammad SAW mentioned that Allah looked upon the people of the world, the Arab and the Non-Arab and He hated them all, except a few from the Ahlul Kitab. Because the world was such in state of corruption and disobedience to God and they are so far away from the guidance that Allah has revealed. Arabs, when they are bad, they are really bad. And when they are good they are really good. And in the time before Prophet SAW came, they had sunk about as low the human being could go. Think about when you take a 5 year old daughter when that's the time this child is the most sweetest, cutest and show you the most affection, but you dug a hole in the sand of the desert and you pushed her into the hole you have dug and you buried her alive. And you go back to your people and you boast about it. You can't get lower as a human being much lower than that. You can't get more perverted than that. These were the people to whom the Prophet SAW said. This is the evil of their religion and this was their culture along with the worship of idols and drinking and fighting. This was the culture of the Arabs before the time of Islam. They called it Jahilliyah or ignorance. And these people claimed that they were following the religion of Ibrahim.

The Arabs in the time of Prophet Muhammad SAW used to pray to Allah. They did not disbelieve in Allah in the sense that they did not deny the existence of Allah. They believed that Allah was the Creator. But that did not save them. They were people who were far from Allah's guidance and they used to worship things besides Allah. They used to believe that the idols were intercessors between them and Allah. And some of the idols were pious people who were buried near to Kaabah and they used to pray to them thinking that they would be intercessors between them and Allah. And because of this, this was their disbelieved. And they attributed it, that is their culture and custom that they invented themselves, they attributed it to Allah. When the Prophet Muhammad SAW came to them, they said to him," Are you criticizing our ancestors? Are you insulting our forefathers? This is the religion of our ancestors and we are going to keep on doing what they were doing". "This is our culture, this is our way".

We should look at ourselves today and look at what we called Islam. We should ponder whether our Islam is really based upon the Quran and the Sunnah.

Many people around the world today think that Muslims encourage forced marriages. That is forcing a woman to marry someone she doesn’t want to. This is not even in Islam. In Islam, it is not valid. It is a condition of the validity of the marriage that the two people who are getting married agree. And yet, Muslims are famous for forced marriages.

In some of the Muslims country, you will find that one of the things that Muslims do is they visit the grave of the dead pious people. First of all, they build huge domes over their graves eventhough the Prophet Muhammad SAW, he said to Ali bin Abi Talib and he ordered him with two things, if you see any grave higher than a handspan, level it. (Sahih Muslim).This is an authentic Sunnah of Rasulullah SAW. But you still find Muslims visiting the graves and making tawaf around them. And they call upon the dead thinking that they will become the intercessors between them and Allah. What is the difference between that and what the pagan Arabs used to do to some of the idols in Kaabah which were dead people? Is this not the same Shirk that the people were doing in the time of the Prophet Muhammad SAW? But people will never think to give it up! Why? Because they think it is Islam. But find the resources where the Prophet SAW ever taught any of his companions used to do these things? None. If it wasn't a religion for them, how it is religion for us??

Another example is where people gather together on the 40th day after a person dies. And they read a Quran together in a Jamaah. No one said this is part of the Deen. But this is something we have invented. Did any of the Companions of Rasulullah SAW do this? No. If they didn't do this, how can you make this part of the religion? From where did you get this information? Did Jibrail come to you and tell you to do this?

It is dangerous to think that these kinds of examples are Islamic and is part of the guidance. This is because when you think it is religion, you will not do Taubah. Why would you repent if you think you are getting close to Allah? You think that this is part of Islam but when you search from the Quran and you look at the actual Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, you will not find that they did this. And if you look at the Sahaba, you will not find that they ever did these things.

If you don't study or read the Quran, even there are people who are alim or they've gone through many courses, but all they know is what their Madzhab says, maybe they never read the Hadith like Bukhari or Muslims which is the basis upon which our religion is the Sunnah.

So we have to ask ourselves, where are we going to go as Muslims and where we are going to be as Muslims in this Dunya and in the Akhirat. We are going to be before Allah and Allah is going to ask us and before that the Angels will question us in the grave. We are going to be questioned about what we did. Some people are ignorant and Allah knows who are the people who have excuse. Some people are ignorant. They don't even know how to know. They wouldn't even know where to start looking in order to know who is the person of knowledge and who is not. Because they don't have enough knowledge who the Scholar is. Maybe this person they have an excuse. Allah knows they are doing their best to follow the right way. But how about the person who has a degree and educated, yet they cannot understand the Quran. They think the Sunnah is too complicated. On contrary, this religion is not complicated. The basics to understand the essential aspects of the religion is not complicated. You can read the Quran in the language that you understand.

In Islam, it is considered everything from the world is good. The general rule is everything from the worldly things is Halal except what Allah and His Messengers have forbid. In the things of the life in the world, our culture is fine. Islam did not come to take away the good things and the Arabs they had some good qualities. For example, they were very hospitable and friendly. So the Prophet didn’t say to give this up. But he told them to keep it and encourage it in them. The British have a sense of punctuality and being on time. This is a good thing and it's a part of our culture. But Islam didn't ask to give this up. So in general, this thing is not a problem. But, you have a filter, and the filter for us is the Quran and the Sunnah. This is the guidance from Allah SWT. In order to do that, you have to know what is in the Quran. Read it, understand and contemplate its meaning and then apply that in our lives. If you don't know, then ask somebody who knows. In general, the religion is not confusing and difficult to understand. And of course we need to refer to true Scholars who apply to the Quran and the authentic teachings of Rasulullah SAW.

We shouldn't become Muslim because of culture or to become part of the culture. But we become Muslim to worship Allah and to follow the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad SAW. Hence we should study this religion and then you will know and you will not have culture confusion.