Will You Still Turn Away? - Day 16 (1444.h)
وَمَنۡ أَظۡلَمُ مِمَّن ذُكِّرَ بِـَٔايَٰتِ رَبِّهِۦ ثُمَّ أَعۡرَضَ عَنۡهَآۚ إِنَّا مِنَ ٱلۡمُجۡرِمِينَ مُنتَقِمُونَ
And who does more wrong than he who is reminded of the Ayāt (proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of his Lord, then turns aside therefrom? Verily, We shall exact retribution from the Mujrimûn (criminals, disbelievers, polytheists, sinners).
Sūrah As-Sajdah, Āyah 22
﷽
How do we feel when we are reminded of the Āyāt (verses and signs) of our Lord? Many times, we get upset or angry when we are reminded about Allāh. When the verses of the Qurʾān do not go in line with our whims and desires, many of us do not want to hear them, or we try to distort the meanings of the verses to fit into our own desires.
We hear of people uttering statements which are totally alien to the Dīn (religion) of Allāh (عز وجل). Statements such as “Only Allāh can judge me”, or “It has nothing to do with you, so focus on yourself”. Know, may Allāh bless you, that Allāh (سبحانه) has commanded us not only to do good but, also to forbid evil. Allāh, the Most-High, tells us in Surah Āl-ʿImrān, Verse 110:
كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ
You [true believers in Islāmic Monotheism, and real followers of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and his Sunnah (legal ways, etc.)] are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin Al-Ma'rūf (i.e. Islāmic Monotheism and all that Islām has ordained) and forbid Al-Munkar (polytheism, disbelief and all that Islām has forbidden), and you believe in Allāh.
ʿAbdullāh Ibn Mas’ūd narrated that Allāh’s Messenger (ﷺ) said:
وَإِنَّ أَبْغَضَ الْكَلامِ إِلَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يَقُولَ الرَّجُلُ لِلرَّجُلِ اتَّقِ اللَّهَ فَيَقُولُ عَلَيْكَ نَفْسَكَ
The most hateful statement to Allāh is for a man to say to another man, ‘Fear Allāh!’ and he says ‘you have yourself (to worry about)’ [1]
We should realize that having people around us who remind us of Allāh, who correct us when we err and aid us in practising the religion, is a tremendous blessing from Allāh. Imagine the one whose friends leave him or her to do as they wish, and they aid that person only in the disobedience of Allāh just as the individual likewise their friends in the disobedience of Allāh. This is indeed an evil predicament, and we seek refuge in Allāh from having and being such a companion.
Allāh tells us in the Qurʾān:
ٱلۡأَخِلَّآءُ يَوۡمَئِذٍۢ بَعۡضُهُمۡ لِبَعۡضٍ عَدُوٌّ إِلَّا ٱلۡمُتَّقِينَ
Friends on that Day will be foes one to another except Al-Muttaqûn (the pious).
Sūrah Az-Zukhruf:67
Befriend the righteous oh servants of Allāh. They will aid you in obedience to your Lord, and continue to aid you when you depart from this Dunyā, as they will invoke Allāh on your behalf and ask Him to have mercy on you.
Do we not want this for ourselves?
How wretched is the one who keeps evil companions! They do not encourage him to do good in the Dunyā, and when he departs from this Dunyā, they are not of any benefit to him, in fact, some of them aid you in accumulating sins as you are in your grave; by sharing their pictures around, sharing pictures of sisters who are not correctly covered, sharing music a person made etc.
Do you want a friend who remembers to make Duʾā (supplication) for you in the last third of the night or one who only remembers you and misses you in music concerts, and forgets about you after a few weeks of your death?
O servant of Allāh, do you not see the importance of being around the righteous? The Owner of Guidance stated:
وَمَنۡ أَعۡرَضَ عَن ذِكۡرِى فَإِنَّ لَهُۥ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا وَنَحۡشُرُهُۥ يَوۡمَ ٱلۡقِيَٰمَةِ أَعۡمَىٰ
"But whosoever turns away from My Reminder (i.e. neither believes in this Qurʾān nor acts on its teachings.) verily, for him is a life of hardship, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection."
Surah Ṭa-Ha:124
Imām Ibn Kathir mentioned in his Tafsīr regarding this Āyah,
فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا // Verily, for him is a life of hardship,
Meaning: his life will be hard in this world. He will have no tranquillity and no expanding of his breast (ease). Rather, his chest will be constrained and in difficulty due to his misguidance. Even if he appears to be in comfort outwardly and he wears whatever he likes, eats whatever he likes and lives wherever he wants, he will not be happy. For verily, his heart will not have pure certainty and guidance. He will be in agitation, bewilderment and doubt. He will always be in confusion and a state of uncertainty. This is from the hardship of life.
The individuals we try so much to please at expense of our Ākhirah (the hereafter) will forget you after we die unless we were righteous friends to each other. You will be alone in the grave with no one but the actions you put forth. Rather submit to The One who created you, sustains you, the one who gave you life and will cause you to die!
In the small treatise titled ‘Nullifiers of Islām” authored by Shaykh Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbdil-Wahhāb, he mentioned that among the actions that nullify a person’s Islām is turning away from and rejecting the religion of Allāh, not learning it and not implementing it, and the evidence for the Shaykh’s statement were the two Āyat aforementioned, Sūrah As-Sajdah Āyah 22 and Sūrah Ṭa-Ha Āyah 124.
Do we see how serious the matter of turing away from the deen of Allāh is? How will one who turned away from the religion of Allāh stand before Him and defend himself? Question yourslef, in reality, what will you say to Allāh?
Indeed the motto of the believers when Allāh and His Messenger command an affair is سمعنا وأطعنا - We hear and we obey.
Allāh says in the last part of the Āyah (22 of Sūrah As-Sajdah):
“Verily, We shall exact retribution from the Mujrimûn (criminals, disbelievers, polytheists, sinners).”
This is a warning to us, to not turn away from the reminders, warnings, and commands of Allāh, so that we do not become one of the Mujrimīn (criminals) whom Allāh will exact retribution from, indeed Allāh is swift in calling His servants to account.
We ask Allāh to distance us from His anger and from His Fire and to make us from the believers He is pleased with.
وصلّى الله وسلّم على نبيّنا محمّد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين
[1] - Al-Sunan Al-Kubrá lil-Nasā’ī, 10205
