Submission to Will of Allah

 Submission to Will of Allah

S.M.A. Ashraf

The main purpose of the revelation of the holy Quran on Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (ﷺ) was not to usher the believers into an era of prosperity and achievement hitherto unknown to the world but to inculcate in them a spirit of unreserved submission to the will of Allah.

The very word Muslim means one who submits (to the will of Allah). Since He is the One and the only Creator and Sustainer of all the worlds, His pleasure is to be sought at all cost and no sacrifice is to be regarded as too great for this purpose. This is clear from the following:-

“Among the believers are men who have been true to their Covenant with Allah, of them some have completed their vow to (the extreme), and some (still) wait: But they have never changed (their determination) in the least." (Surah Al-Ahzab: Verse 23)

His pleasure can be obtained only through devotion to Him and following in the foot-steps of His Prophet (ﷺ) i.e. Hazrat Muhammad (ﷺ). The result of all this strife will be known in the Hereafter (یوم الحساب  or یوم الآخرۃ ), although good tidings come in this world also. Thus 'Tawhid,’ ‘Risalat’ and ‘Maad’ or Aukherat' are firmly linked with each other. Only as a consequence the Ummah reaches the height of moral values, which in turn causes ascendance in the community of nations. The relationship between following the commandments of Allah and worldly happiness is clear and undeniable.

“If only they had stood fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that was sent to them from their Lord, they would have enjoyed happiness from every side. There is from among them a party on the right course but many of them follow a course that is evil.” (Sarah Almaidah: Verse 66)

But worldly gains are never the goal of a believer, because once a person starts seeking anything other than God's pleasure, he strays away from the path of Islam.

Deep-rooted, firm and unflinching faith in the Oneness of Allah, the prophet-hood of Hazrat Muhammad (ﷺ) and accountability before Allah on the Day of Judgment are the sine qua non of the acceptability of all good deeds for reward in the Hereafter. The primary and all important reward will be the pleasure of the Creator. This will be evident from the following:

“God hath promised Believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in gardens of ever-lasting bliss. But the greatest bliss is the Good Pleasure of God: That is the supreme felicity. (وَرِضْوَانٌ مِنَ اللَّـهِ أَكْبَرُ ۚ ) (Surah Al-Tawba: Verse: 72)

The secondary reward will be a life of eternal bliss. But, in this world also every good deed has a good reward and every bad deed has a bad reward, although it may not be apparent, because other forces may be working in ‘counter-direction. The principle that every action is followed by a reaction holds good in this case also. Just as force is defined in physics as a thing which moves or tends to move a mass. If the mass is 100 big for the force applied or forces from other directions are also working on the mass, it will not move.

Generally speaking, good deeds are well known, that is why these are called. “Maroof” (Known) and carry their own reward. But their full reward on the Day of Judgment depends on Iman. Prayer, Fasting, Hajj and- all that is considered to be ‘Ibadat’ is not acceptable without Iman, Indeed Iman is the fountainhead of all righteousness, as will be evident from the following: “Seest thou not how God sets forth a parable? A goodly world like a goodly tree whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches (reach) the heavens brings forth its fruit at all times by the leave of its Lord. So God sets forth parables for men, in order that they may receive admonition:”

[Here ‘Goodly word’ means the words that are recited to reaffirm ‘Tauhid' and ‘Risalat’ The words in the text are Kalimatan Tayyebatan (كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً)'.] (Surah Ibrahim: Verses 24 and 25)

The question arises why many societies who are void of Iman on ‘Tauhid’, ‘Risalat’ and ‘Maad’ have been able to evolve a just and equitable system? The phenomenon cannot be explained satisfactorily, because it relates to the complex causes of rise and fall of nations. One possible explanation, may be that human faculties have tremendous potential for training. Habits, good or had, are cultivated till they become second nature and a part of one’s character.

If leaders of a society set up good traits by their own example and by constantly telling others why it is essential for them to acquire these traits, gradually public opinion is built up in their favour. In the beginning, it requires a lot of hard work and personal sacrifice on the part of those who wish their fellow men to acquire these qualities. Once a good quality becomes a part of the character of a society, it requires no effort by the members of the society to adhere to this and it is passed on from generation to generation.

If today we find some societies with high moral values or with a high sense of social justice, it is because they have been trained to give up short-term advantage and pleasure for the sake of achieving long-term goals. These long-term goals are as articles of faith with them and nobody questions the utility of these goals. Unfortunately, leaders who influence the thinking of the society in countries where Muslims are in majority, have failed to sacrifice personal gains or pleasures for the sake of Allah or even for the sake of giving an equitable and just social order to future generations.

The next question that arises is that if societies can acquire good or bad values, whether it is a Muslim society or a non-Muslim one, where lies the superiority of Islam? The advantage of the Muslim Ummah over others is that while others have to evolve their code of behaviour through experience and have to work hard for decades to get this codes fully accepted by the society, the Muslim Ummah has a code of behaviour laid down for it by Allah and His messenger and it will not have any difficulty in following this code once the Iman of its members starts motivating them. It is possible for believers to keep on practicing moral virtues at the cost of personal inconvenience and injury for all times to come, even if it brings no result during their lifetime, because they expect their reward in the Hereafter.

Another aspect of the matter which needs a close look is whether Muslims are even outwardly practicing their religion as vigorously as they were 1400 years ago. If one does not go by numbers, it would be apparent that only a small percentage of Muslims are observing the obligations laid down by Islam. In an average Mohallah hardly five per cent Muslims offer their prayers with jamaat i.e. congregation in the mosque, which, according to the most lenient view, is Sunnat-e-Muakkada. The same would be true more or less in respect of Fasting, Zakat and Haj. As far  as obligations other than prayers, Fasting, Zakat and Haj are concerned, the percentage of those who are carrying out these obligations is negligible. Most of us are not even aware of these obligations For example, how many of us know that parking a car so as to block the exit of another car is a sin? How many of us know that speaking ill of even people having bad character in their absence, more often Than not is Gheebat, which is regarded as a sin more grievous than adultery. These things are part of Shariah and all the commentators on the ‘fatwa’ given by various Imams are unanimous in this.

Going to the question as to how one can improve the quality of his Iman and intensity of belief, one very important point to be noted is that one should seek the companionship of persons who have attained a high degree of piety (or ‘taqwa’), not only in the observance of the outwardly manifestation of religion, but also in complete submission of their will to the Will of Allah. In the holy Qur’an there is an injunction to the effect that the Muslims should be with the truthful. Acquiring a high degree of piety is more important than reading the holy Qur’an in one’s own language. The Arabs read the holy Qur’an in their own language, but it has not made them better Muslims as compared to Muslims of other countries.

Another point that needs to be emphasized is that a person’s first obligation is to himself, then to his kith and kin, and then to others, if instead of lamenting upon the failings and miseries of the society, each one of us starts looking inward and preparing himself for the sacrifice which Islam wants from him, the society will automatically be reformed. Exhorting each other to pursue righteousness and to persevere (وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ) is no doubt obligatory upon all of us; but the first duty is towards ourselves.