Friday Lessons

Which two characteristics should you establish to protect your deen?

by: Shaykh Zafar ul Hasan
Which Two Characteristics should you establish to Protect your Deen?

So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah . That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know. [Adhere to it], turning in repentance to Him, and fear Him and establish prayer and do not be of those who associate others with Allah [Or] of those who have divided their religion and become sects, every faction rejoicing in what it has. (Ar-Rum 31: 30-32)

If you understand Istiqamah, you will love to achieve it

The above verses Allah has spoken about Istiqamah and how to achieve it. Istiqamah means being constant in obeying and following the commands of Allah and His Messenger while overcoming whatever hurdles come in the way and bearing them with patience. It can be summed up as holding fast and firm to the Deen. That is what we mean when we supplicate those verses in Surah Fati’ha: Lead us to straight path. Consider this: The day you offer your first prayer in your childhood you asked,” lead us to straight path”, and when you are old praying regular, you still ask in your prayer, “Lead us to straight path.” It is a supplication to be guided to remain firm on the straight path till you die.

Being a Muslim is not enough but it is essential to remain one till he dies

If you study the last verse of Surah Al e Imran, Allah gives a trait of good believers, “Pick us up among the Abrars.” They pray to die in the state of Deen. Even Ibrahim (peace be upon him) instructed his both the sons who were Prophets themselves, “Do not die except in the state of Islam.” Our own Prophet (peace be upon him) used to plead, “ Allahumma Inni As’aloka alhuda, watTuqa, wal afafa wal Gheena. O Allah bestow us with Guidance, Taqwa, Afiya and Gheena.” 

Direct your face towards the Deen e Hanifa

Whoever seeks another Deen besides Islam never will be accepted from him and his end would be a destruction. (Al e Imran verse 3)

Imam Shaf’ee said, “Among the biggest bounty is, a person achieves Istiqamah.” Directing your face towards the Deen e Hanifa here means maintain your focus on religion. The way we direct  our face towards Qiblah when it is the time for prayers no matter whether it is summer winter or rain. This is called focus in prayers. Thus direct your face towards Religion means look at religious injunctions when you seek for guidance. No matter which situation you pass through hardship,poverty or comfort, focus your attention on the commands of Allah and His Messenger. Islam is one which is found in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah, this is a unanimously agreed by all the people of knowledge. Therefore it is said that in order to face the Deen e Hanifa your focus should be on Qur’an and Sunnah and avoid new inventions in Deen or blind following of your forefathers’ rituals which clashes with Deen.

What is Deen e Hanifa?

Linguistically Hanif means to avoid and move. In Shariah terminology it means to bunk all types of innovations and haram and move on Qur’an and Sunnah. Hanif is one of the titles given to Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) “He was a true Muslim” (Al e Imran: 67) and also “And follow the Millat e Ibrahima Hanifa” (The Religion of Ibrahim ) An-Nisa: 125

Before the advent of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) all the three major communities that lived in the Arabian Peninsula,  The Jews, the Christians and the Makkans claimed themselves to be the followers of Ibrahim. The Jews worshipped their Prophet Uzair as God incarnated the  Christians worshipped Jesus as God and the Makkans had hundreds of idols in Kabah. Refuting all the claims of the three communities the Qur’an declared Islam to be Millat e Ibrahima Hanifa. All the three communities were into deep human worships whereas Ibrahim (peace be upon him)  was a straightforward Muslim who never associated any partners with Allah. In one stroke Allah refuted the claims of all the three communities, Ibrahim was neither a Jew nor  Christian, but he was a true Muslim Hanifa and he was not even a Idol worshipper Al e Imran : 67

Today many Muslims do recite the Kalima but they are not Hanif

This Ummah is honoured to be the real followers of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). Surely those of humankind who have the best claim to relationship with Abraham are those who followed him (during the term of his mission), and this (most illustrious) Prophet, and those (in his company) who believe.

Doing shirk while believing in Allah is not Hanif. Appointing others parallel to the Messenger for being obeyed is not the characteristic of being Hanif. To be remain connected to Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) is through remaining steadfast on the teachings of Ibrahim (peace be upon him)