Call yourself to account - I

Calling ourselves to account is what frees the soul from being captive
to its desires and lusts; it frees it from the darknessof misguidance
and maintains it upon the Straight Path. Allaah encourages the Muslims
to do this by saying)what means(:"O you who have believed! Fear
Allaah. And let every soul look to what it has put forth for
tomorrow…"]Quran 59: 18['Umarsaid: "Call yourself to account when you
are in bliss before the reckoning of that severe Day, for whoever
calls himself to account when he is in bliss will win the pleasure of
Allaah and achieve happiness, and whoever allows his life and desires
to occupy all his attention and cause him to be negligent will be a
regretful loser."
While he was the caliph, 'Umarwould call himself to account.
Anasnarrated: "One day I was walking in the company of 'Umarthen he
entered a gardenby himself; I overheard him from behind a fence of the
garden saying to himself: `O son of Al-Khattaab! I swear by Allaah
that either you maintain yourself upon piety, or Allaah will punish
you.'"
Maalik bin Deenaarsaid: "Allaah will be merciful with the slave who
asks himself: `Didn't you do such and such?` and reproaches himself
for doing so, then forces himself to adhere to the commandments of
Allaah and leads himself to righteousness."
Maymoon bin Mahraansaid: "A pious believerholds himself to account
more severely than a stingy man does with his business partner."
Our Salafwould admonish themselves and hold themselves to account,
while we on theother hand, who are far worthier of such reproach, are
utterly heedless of this, despite us committing actions that are
destructive and despite our being afflicted with diseases of the heart
and soul that require major reformation.
We must ask ourselves dowe fear Allaah as He should be feared? Do we
cry out of fear of Him as ourSalafwould do? Are we moved when we hear
verses of the Quran being recited? Do our hearts shiver and
tremblefrom fear when Allaah is mentioned and thereforerush to obey
and please Him? Allaah Says)what means(:"Allaah has sent down the best
statement:a consistent book wherein is reiteration. The skins shiver
therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then theirskins and their
hearts relax at the remembrance ]i.e., mention[ of Allaah…"]Quran 39:
23[
Once Imaam Al-Maroozisaid toImaam Ahmad: "How is your morning?"
Hereplied:"My morning is that of one whose Lord is commanding him to
fulfilhis obligations, whose Messengeris demanding him to apply his
Sunnah, who has two angels requesting him to reform his actions,
whoselower self is leading him to give in to his desires, who has
Satan beautifying sin and immorality for him, who has the angel of
death awaiting the command to take his soul, and whose family is
asking for provision."
How many times do we hear the mention of the Hellfire without it
moving us? Does it not contain all forms of punishments or terror, the
mention of which would crack a mountain, if it were to hear it, out of
fear of Allaah?
A Muslim should rebuke himself for not being moved or affected when
hearing verses that address the Hereafter, punishment in Hellfire, and
the general mention of Allaah and His might. Undoubtedly, we are
busied by this worldly lifeand our sins are too many, and therefore we
must exert far greater effort in holding ourselves to account. The
following are some matters that one needs topay closer attention to
and hold himself to account regarding:
Sincerity:Our Salafwould prefer hiding theirgood deeds from others, as
this helps a person maintain his sincerity of intention. Conversely,
people nowadays like to show off and love others praising them for
performing good deeds that they witness them doing; this is certainly
something that requires self-rebuke in order to straighten our hearts
andsouls.
A person nowadays rejoices when praised, whereas he may be committing
so many sins that had others known about it, they would haverebuked
him rather than praise him.Our Salafwould hate being praised and would
sometimes even be enraged by it. Once a man praised Imaam Ahmadsaying:
"May Allaah reward you for what you have done in service of Islaam."
Hereplied: "Me? Who am I? What am I?" He lowered and humbled himself
before Allaah. Compare this reaction to ours! They would reject any
praise whereas we listen to it with joy and requestmore.
Wealth:If one of us receives any wealth, he rejoices and his heart
becomes attached to it. Conversely, our Salafwould re-distribute any
wealth they received in every good field in all directions.
People in our time are extremely busy in trade, business and commerce,
endeavouring to collect ever more wealth. Their hearts have therefore
hardened so much that the following saying of the Prophetapplies to
them;Abu Hurayrahreported that the Prophetsaid:"May he be miserable:
the slave ofthe Deenaar and Dirham)gold and silver
currency(."]Al-Bukhaari[ Many people have indeedbecome enslaved to
theirwealth.
The Companionswould only work to get what sufficed them and their
families for their daily requirements and shunned collecting and
accumulating ever greater amounts of worldly wealth. As a mater of
fact,'Umarhad a friend from the Companions who would work his job one
day while 'Umarwould sit with the Prophetin order learn from him; then
they would alternate so that 'Umarwould work while theother
companionwould learn. After each day, each would teach the other what
he had learnt from the Propheton that day.
Submitting to the truth:In general, we do not submit to the truth
easily,and it may be that some of us refuse to submit at all. We may
realise our faults yet refuse arrogantly to rectify ourselves; someone
may advise us about a certain matter, but we would defend ourselves
while knowing that the advisoris speaking the truth.
Some of the people of knowledge nowadays argue and refuse to adhere to
a text presented by another person simply because they have not heard
it from those under whom they studied. TheSalafon the other hand,
would adhere and submit to the truth as soon as it was presented to
them.
Along the same lines, many people nowadays are fearless enough to rush
into passing judgement and giving rulings on certain issues when they
neither possesthe knowledge to do so nor have any evidence
tosubstantiate their statements. This is a dispraised form of courage,
because the same people would not dare address any other topic, such
as a worldly topic like medicine whichrequires specialised and
informed opinion; they would in this case readilyadmit that the topic
is a specialised one that requires a specialist to address it, and yet
they dare to talk about matters of the religion without the slightest
problem, as if religion is of less importance than scientific
knowledge.
Naafi'said: "Once a man came to Ibn 'Umarand asked him a question. Ibn
'Umarlowered his head and began thinking about it. He took so long
that the man thought that he had not heard the question, so he said:
`May Allaah have mercy upon you! Did you not hear my question?` Ibn
'Umarreplied: `Indeed I did, butyou people act as if Allaah will not
question us about what you ask and how we respond. Give me time to
think about your question, andif I have an answer I will let you know.
Otherwise, I will tell you that I do nothave knowledge about the
matter.`" Note the difference between this companionwho was one of the
scholars of his generation, and some people nowadays.
Not glorifying the Words of Allaah:Many people these days memorise the
Quran, which is a praiseworthy matter thatwould delight the heart of
any Muslim, but the problem is that the effectof this has not
materialised in their behaviour. Ibn Mas'oodsaid describing those who
memorise the Quran: "The one who memorises the Quran should be
distinct in his qualities. He should be awake when people are asleep;
he should be heedful when people areheedless; he should be fasting
when people are eating; he should be crying when people are laughing,
and he should be submissive when people are playful." This is another
issue regarding which we must hold ourselves to account.