Averting Ghamm (Grief) and Hamm (Worry) – Imam Ibn al-Jawzi

Ghamm Occurs Due To Misfortunes that happened in the past while hamm occurs due to an expected misfortune in the future.

When someone has the feeling of grief in regard to his past sins, his grief will benefit him, because he is rewarded for it. Whoever worries about a good deed he wishes to do, his worry will benefit him as well. However if someone grieves for something that he missed from this world, then [he should know] that the missed thing will not return and that grief harms, so practically he is adding harm to harm, as I have mentioned in the previous chapter.

A resolute person should protect himself from what brings about grief, and that is losing an object he loves. Therefore, whoever has many objects that he loves, his grief increases, and whoever decreases his objects of love his grief decreases accordingly. Someone may say, when I have no objects of love I also still have grief, we affirm this but we say to him; your grief over not having a loved one is not even a tenth of the grief experienced by the one who has lost a loved one. Have you not noticed that the one who does not have a child lives in grief but not as much as the one who lost his child?! Moreover when a person becomes accustomed to what he loves and enjoys it for a long period of time, it takes over his heart, therefore when he loses it he will feel the bitterness of his loss which will be greater than all the satisfaction he had during his lifetime. This is because the loved one is corresponding to the self just as health corresponds to it, which causes the self not to find satisfaction except in it, for its absence disturbs it. This is why the self grieves for its loss much more than it rejoices in its presence, because the inner self believes that what it had was its given right to possess. Therefore a wise person should monitor the closeness between himself, his beloved to ensure it remains moderately balanced, however if he requires that which brings about grief [i.e. loving some object or person], this causes grief then the cure is first to believe in predestination and that whatever Allah predestines is going to happen. He should then know that life is founded on distress, all constructed buildings shall eventually be ruined, all gatherings shall eventually depart, and whoever wants the lasting of what does not last is like he who wants what does not exist to exist. Therefore he should not ask of life what it was not created for.

A poet said:

It [worldly life] is founded on distress yet you want it, Free of harm and distress

One should imagine that what befell him is multiplied, for this is when what he suffers will be easier on him. It is a habit of smart porters to put something heavy on top of what they are carrying, and then after taking a few steps, to remove the heavy object as that makes what they are carrying feel lighter.

One should also wait, in times of prosperity for an attack of tribulation, so that if any tribulation befalls him, he should think of what remains instead of what he has lost so that when part of that befalls him it becomes very easy on him. Such as when some- one loses some money so he counts what remains, and then considers the remaining as a profit. Or if someone imagines that he loses his eyesight, so that when he has ophthalmia, it becomes easy on him to bear this illness, likewise with the rest of harmful matters.

A poet said:

The prudent imagines in himself,

his tribulations before they befall him.

If they suddenly befall him,

they do not surprise him because he had already imagined them.

And the ignorant trusts the days,

and he forgets the demise of those who came before him.

So when trials of times surprise him,

with some trials he becomes lost

Though if he was strict in his affairs,

patience would have taught him boldness

A member of the righteous predecessors said, “I saw a woman, whose youthfulness surprised me, I said, ‘[There is no doubt] This face has never suffered from sorrow or sadness.’ She said, Do not say that! For I do not know anyone who has suffered from what I have suffered. I had a husband who bought a sacrificial animal and slaughtered it, and we had two sons. The eldest told the one younger than him, ‘Come and I will show you how our father slaughtered the ewe/ So he slaughtered his brother. When we started to look for him, he ran away and my husband died while looking for him/ I said, ‘So how are you handling your sorrow?’ She said, ‘If I could find aid in sorrow I would have employed it.’

Section One: Treating Sorrow, Sadness and Grief

Sorrow, sadness and grief may befalls one due the prevalence of blackness, which should be treated with what will remove this blackness; which are the things that bring about joy. Grief freezes the blood while happiness heats it until its intrinsic heat is raised, both of them (happiness and grief) can harm, and may lead to death, if they are not immediately kept within moderate levels.

Excerpted from the Book “Disciplining The Soul” – Ibn al-Jawzi (d.597AH)
Dar us Sunnah Publishers

The Path To Success And Happiness – Abu Muhammad al-Maghribee [Audio|En]

Listen / Download Mp3 Here (Time 25:28)
[audio https://salafiaudio.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/the-path-to-success-and-happiness-abu-muhammad-al-maghribi.mp3]

How to be a Successful Woman, as described in the Qur’an – Owais al Hashimi [Audio|En]

How to be a Successful Woman
Owais al Hashimi (hafidhahullaah)
[Audio|English]

Dawatul Muminaat Sisters conference Jan 4th 2013

Listen / Download Mp3 Here (Time 55:05)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The brother began with Khutbatul Hajjah

Allaah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned the success -the true meaning of success and being successful is the one who is saved from the fire due to his own sins and his own disobedience of Allah and is admitted into al Jannah where Allah subhanawa ta’ala said (what means):

“Whoever is saved from the fire and admitted into paradise, then he is the one who has been successful.. “

Allah Subhana wa ta’ala many places in the Quran told us His promise that He will admit the believing men and women into Jannah, into paradise, so He linked success and admission into paradise, with having correct iman, faith and belief, which includes practising the religion of Islam and putting it to practice. All those that a person’s faith necessitates or requires of him or her.

So Allah subhana wa ta’ala said in Surah At Taubah:“Allah has promised to believers – men and women – Gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein [forever], and beautiful mansions in Gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest bliss is the Pleasure of Allah. That is the supreme success”. (Surah At-Tauba 9:72)

Allah subhana wa ta’ala said (what means)

Allaah may admit the believing men and the believing women to Gardens beneath under which rivers flow (i.e. Paradise), to abide therein forever, and to expiate from them their sins, and that is with Allâh, a supreme success. (Al-Fath 48:5)

……Secondly, it is a call for us to realize that having faith, have iman in Allah subhana wa ta’ala necessitates certain things. If a person has true Iman, then that must bring about certain actions. It must bring about certain change in the person’s behaviour and lifestyle. So when he or she acts, they do things that are in accordance with the obedience of Allaah Subhanahu wa ta’ala. And that Iman (faith) that a person has -that belief about the truth, also makes a person or should make a person stay away from the things that Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala has told him to stay away from.

Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala describes the qualities of the believers. And in this respect as a rule, we know that when the believers are described in the Qu’ran, this includes both men and women unless there is a proof, there is specific proof, either in the context of the verses or a Hadith of the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wa salam or through the Sunnah of the Prophet which explains the Qu’ran. To show that this particular command or prohibition is specific to the males, men of his ummah or to the women of his ummah. Otherwise the general rule is when the believers are addressed “O you who believe..” and when believers or righteous people are described, this refers to both men and women. So in terms of the obligation upon us all to believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and believe in the hereafter to accept the truth and then act upon the truth, to put it into practice in our lives – all of this ummah, all of the believers, men and women, are the same in the regard. And they have the same obligation and the same promise of success and the same promise of being forgiven for their shortcomings and their mistakes and being admitted into paradise and being saved from the fire.

However, in other places in the Qu’ran, there is also an emphasis given with regard to men and with regards to women. In some places, believing men and women are mentioned alongside each other in the verses of the Qu’ran. And in some places,there is specific address and a specific description about women believers, righteous women, women who have been commanded to d ocertain things, to put certain or obey Allah subhana wa ta’ala in a specific way or to stay away from some specific thing. We can say that all of those are descriptions and aspects of what make as successful Muslim woman.

So an example of the general description of the believers that should be true of the believing woman as well as the man, is the statement of Allah subhana wa ta’ala in surah Muminoon. Where He (what means)

” Indeed successful are the believers, those who are humble and submissive in their prayers and those who turn away from ill and false speech. And those who pay the Zakat. And those who guard their chastity.e. private parts, from illegal sexual acts) (Al-Mu’minon 1-5)

So for a person who want success in this life and the hereafter, he or she should consider the description and the attributes, the qualities that are mentioned in such verses. Again, success has been linked to a person being a believer, and then in this passage, these verses of the noble Qu’ran some of the qualities of the believers are mentioned. The first of them is khushoo in one’s salah. And al khushoo is to be humble and submissive and low in front of Allah subhana wa ta’ala -in one’s heart and physically in the movement and in the settling of the limbs in the prayer. This is really the soul and heart of a person’s salah, that when a person stands in front of Allah subhana wa ta’ala to pray, to establish the salah, that person standing humbly and submissively in his heart and in his body such that she thinks or she thinks about Allah subhana wa ta’ala and about the remembrances that she is saying, what she is remembering Allah subhana wa ta’ala with. And she thinks about the meaning of whats he is reciting which makes her turn to Allah subhana wa ta’ala and perform this act of worship according to, in the best way and hoping to gain forgiveness from Allah subhana wa ta’ala to get the reward of Allah subhana wa ta’ala through the worshipping Him. This should cause the person to pray with khushoo in one’s limbs, to be still and humble of Allah, to concentrate on remembering Allah subhana wa ta’ala in the prayer. And this is the thing that really gives a benefit to a person and is the real purpose of the prayer, to remember Allah subhana wa ta’ala, and to submit the limbs and to submit ones body, to submit your whole self to Allah subhana wa ta’ala.

……..And if we want to generalize,because sometimes it’s true or it’s beneficial to generalize,one of the things that many women are being tried with is false speech. Speech that is that involves disobeying Allah subhana wa ta’ala, and displeasing Allahazza wa jal. So back biting,slandering others, speaking indecently, speaking to males,speaking to men in an inappropriate manner, speaking and arguing and fighting with each other and cursing one another or saying things which involve belittling your fellow sisters. These things have to be considered because they draw you away from Allah subhana wa ta’ala and they draw a person closer to jahannam. These things are forbidden and one of the worse some of the worst sins are related to the sins of one’s speech.

These are also some of the qualities that Allah subhana wa ta’ala described of successful women. They have those same fundamental qualities that men are supposed to have to be successful, that women are supposed to also have, we are the same in this regard. Submitting to Allah subhana wa ta’ala,believing in correct iman and correct aqeedah, correct belief system, correct attitude,believing in all those things that we’re supposed to believe in and not rejecting any of it. To have iman, To be devout, obedient to Allah subhana wa ta’ala, to have this qunoot,, to put one self to the obedience to to Allah subhana wa ta’ala, to be truthful in one’s belief, in one’s speech, and in one’s actions. This is one of the most important qualities, and actually in reality, the quality of truthfulness is not just to speak the truth. This is one important aspect of being truthful. Truthfulness, begins by being true in one’s heart and in one’s actions. Meaning that when a person obeys Allah subhana wa ta’ala openly, they really mean it and they do it sincerely from the heart. Truthfulness in reality is to be the same on the inside a as you are on the outside. Truthfulness is to be the same on the inside as you are on the out side. This is the reality of truthfulness and one part of that and a very important part of that is to always say the truth. When you speak, speak the truth.Those who are patient from the men and the women. Assabr – patience, is to remain steadfast in obeying Allah subhana wa ta’ala, believing and trusting in the reward from Allah subhana wa ta’ala and that Allah will reward you and take care of you if you remain obedient to him. Thats the reality of patience.

Assabr has three aspects to it. The first is to steadfast,consistent, upon the obedience of Allah subhana wa ta’ala, to remain obedient to Allah subhana wa ta’ala so that no matter what hardships you have or challenges you have, you don’t allow yourself to do something or to leave obeying Allah subhana wa ta’ala. You stay obedient to Allah subhana wa ta’ala. When you pray, you remain someone who prays regularly. When you obey Allah subhana wa ta’ala in a certain way, you ensure you try to make sure that you’re always like this. You remain steadfast on this. This is the first pillar of patience to remain obedient to Allah subhana wa ta’ala.

The second thing is to remain patient and staying away from sins and staying away from the disobedience of Allah subhana wa ta’ala. So when you leave and you abandon a sin for Allah subhana wa ta’ala, to be saved from Allah anger and to be rewarded you stay like this. You maintain that and you don’t give up you don’t allow yourself to fall back into disobeying Allah subhana wa ta’ala. And the third pillar of sabr, or patience, is to remain steadfast and be patient in the face of what afflicts or what faces you, what Allah has written to affect you in your life. Trouble, danger,,stress, the loss of wealth, the loss of life, the loss of loved ones, those calamities and problems that may affect a person as a test from Allah subhana wa ta’ala. The third pillar of sabr is to remain patient of obedience. This is also a very important quality of the successful woman. This is a quality of the successful man,the believing man or the believing woman………”

(Must Watch) The Happy Life – Shaykh Saalih Al-Fawzaan [Video|Ar-En]

or watch @ http://www.safeshare.tv/w/EvtxNDAZoS

Useful Ways Of Leading A Happy Life – by:Shaykh Abdur-Rahman bin Nasir As-Sa’di
Printed by:The Ministry of Islamic Affairs,Endowments,Da`wah and Guidance Supervised by:The Ministry’s Deputyship for Printing and Publishing Affairs.

Read or Download the Book [English Book] [PDF]

Useful Ways of Leading a Happy Life – Imam as Sa’di – Dr Saleh as Saleh [Audio|En]

Based on the Book of Shaykh Abdur Rahman bin Nasr As Sa’di (rahimahullaah)
Dr.Saleh as-Saleh (rahimahullaah)

Useful Ways of Leading a Happy Life – Imam as Sa’di – Dr Saleh as Saleh [Audio|En]

Video Chapters:

  • 00:00 Introduction
  • 07:35 Ch 1.1: [No.1] Iman and Righteous Deeds
  • 20:45 Ch 1.2: [No.2] Goodness to creation, by words, by deeds, and by all types of good acts
  • 22:56 Ch 2.1: [No.3] Occupying Oneself With Useful Knowledge
  • 24:45 Ch 2.2: [No.4] Concern oneself with the affairs of the present, and to stop being anxious about the future, or grieving over the past.
  • 29:25 Ch 3.1: [No.5] Remembering Allah Much
  • 30:22 Ch 3.2: [No.6] Proclaiming and mentioning the favours and blessings of Allah on oneself, both the outwardly manifest, and the hidden
  • 32:03 Ch 3.3: [No.7] Look at those that are below you (in worldly positions),and do no tlook at those that are above you (in worldly positions)
  • 34:20 Ch 4.1: [No.8] Forgetting The Unpleasant Things That Have Passed
  • 37:26 Ch 4.2: [No.9] Prophetic dua to Allah seeking the betterment of his future both in terms of his religion and his worldly affairs
  • 40:10 Ch 5: [No.10] By imagining the worst possible thing that would have happened to him
  • 42:58 Ch 6.1: [No.11] Firmness Of The Heart
  • 44:03 Ch 6.2: [No.12] Reliance On Allah
  • 47:14 Ch 7.1: [No.13] By overlooking bad qualities, and bringing to mind the good qualities
  • 51:16 Ch 8.1: [No.14] Do Not Let Grief And Worry Make Your Short Life Shorter
  • 52:37 Ch 8.2: [No.15] When something unpleasant happens to him,or he is afraid that it will happen to him, he should remember the other blessings of Allah
  • 53:44 Ch 8.6: [No.16] Do not pay attention to slander and other evil talk about you
  • 54:18 Ch 8.6: [No.17] Know also that your life is subservient to your thoughts
  • 54:38 Ch 8.6: [No.18] Train yourself not to desire thanks & gratitude from anyone except Allah
  • 56:44 Ch 8.6: [No.19] Make the attainment of useful things your goal,and strive to realise them, and pay no attention to harmful things
  • 57:10 Ch 8.7: [No.20] On the spot accomplishment of the current activities so that the future may be free for you
  • 57:40 Ch 8.8: [No.21] Rank the Useful things and seek help in good thinking and good counsel

There is no doubt that the bliss of the heart, its tranquility and happiness, and the absence of grief and worry from it, is the goal of every individual. It is the means by which a happy,blissful and excellent life is achieved. There are means to achieve this;some of which are religious, some are natural and some are physical.These means are never gathered together except to the believers. The non-believers on the other hand, despite the fact that the earnest endeavours of their philosophers is to lead them to these means, even if they achieve them in certain aspects, they miss the way to them in several other aspects that are more beneficial, more permanent and better in yielding results.

Shaykh Abdur-Rahman bin Nasir As-Sadi `rahimahullah mention in his treatise the ways and means to achieve this lofty goal that is the quest of every individual. He said that some people are successful in following these ways, and therefore live a good and pure life and enjoy their life. Some woefully fail in following any of them, and they live a wretched and miserable life. Others lie between these two extremes;by the level of their following these means, by that level do they live a good life. And it is Allah `azza wa jall that guides to all that is good, and wards off all that is evil, and it is His Help we seek in this.

The Book in Arabic can be read Here

This book was Published in English by:

Useful Ways Of Leading A Happy Life – by:Shaykh Abdur-Rahman bin Nasir As-Sa’di
Translated by:Bashir Aliyu Umar ; Printed by:The Ministry of Islamic Affairs,Endowments,Da`wah and Guidance ; Supervised by:The Ministry’s Deputyship for Printing and Publishing Affairs.

Read or Download the Book [English Book] [PDF]

The Keys to the Success – Imam Ibn al Qayyim

By Shaykh ul –Islaam Ibn Qayyim aj-Jawzeeyah as-Salafi -Rahimullaah-
Translated by Abbas Abu Yahya

Shamsuddeen Muhammad bin Abee Bakr Ibn Qayyim aj-Jawzeeyah (d.751) -Rahimullaah- said:

Bukhari mentions in his ‘Saheeh’ from Wahab bin Munnabih that it was said to him: ‘Is not ‘La ilaha ‘illa Allaah’ the key to Paradise?’

He said: ‘Of course, however there is no key except that it has teeth, so if a key is brought which has teeth then it will be opened, otherwise it will not open.’

Ibn Qayyim continues:

Allaah Subhanahu has placed keys for everything that is necessary, and they open the way, so Allaah made purification the key for prayer, as the Messenger sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam said:

‘The key to prayer is purification.’ [Saheeh al-Jamia as-Sagheer No.5885] .

Like wise

Ihram is the key to Hajj,

Truthfulness is the key to righteousness,

Tawheed is the key to Paradise,

Asking good questions and being attentive is the key to knowledge,

Patience is the key to victory and triumph,

Gratitude is the key to increase of provision,

Remembrance of Allaah is the key to having loyalty to Allaah and His love,

Taqwa (piety) is the key to success,

Fervent desire and dread of Allaah is the key to being successful,

Dua’ (Supplicating) is the key to being responded to,

Zuhd (Abstaining from the luxuries of the world) is the key to desiring the Hereafter,

Reflecting about that which Allaah calls His slaves to is the key to Eemaan (having faith),

Making the heart accept Islaam and making it secure for Allaah and having sincerity for Him by having love and hate and fulfilling His commands and leaving the prohibitions is the key to going in front of Allaah,

Pondering upon the Qur’aan, and imploring Allaah before dawn and not sinning is the key to giving the heart life,

Being kind to the worshippers of the Creator and striving to benefit His worshippers is the key to obtaining mercy,

Striving to seek forgiveness from Allaah and Taqwa (piety) is the key to Rizq (provisions),

Obedience to Allaah and His Messenger is the key to honour,

Longing for the Hereafter is the key to being prepared for the Hereafter,

Fervent desire for Allaah and the Hereafter is the key to all goodness,

Love for the world, continuously longing for it and turning away from the Hereafter is the key to all evil.

This is a great matter from the most beneficial chapters of knowledge, namely knowing the keys to goodness and evil.’

[Taken from: ‘Haadi al-Arwaaha ila Bilaad al-Afraaha’ by Ibn Qayyim vol 1 p.139]

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