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Is Allah Pleased with Me?
| by Sheikh Sālih al-Zahrānī| It should be known that obedience
to Allah is one of the chief reasons for attaining Allah's pleasure, while
disobedience to Him is a reason for being subject to His wrath. This point is
emphasized repeatedly in the Qur'ān and Sunnah. Allah says: "And He is
pleased with Islam for you as a religion." [Sūrah al-Mā'idah: 3] He says: "And He is not
pleased with ingratitude in His servants; and if you are grateful, He is
pleased with this in you." [Sūrah al-Zumar: 7] Allah is pleased with those who
are truthful. Allah says: "Allah will say: This is the
day when their truth shall benefit the truthful ones; they shall have gardens
beneath which rivers flow to abide therein for ever: Allah is well pleased with
them and they are well pleased with Allah; this is the mighty
achievement." [Sūrah al-Mā'idah: 119] He is pleased with the believers.
Allah says: "Their reward with their Lord is gardens of perpetuity beneath
which rivers flow, abiding therein for ever; Allah is well pleased with them
and they are well pleased with Him; that is for those who fear their
Lord." [Sūrah al-Bayyinah: 8]. Allah is pleased with the soul
that is firm on faith. Such a soul will be addressed in the Hereafter by the
words: "Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with him), well-pleasing (to
Him)" [Sūrah al-Fajr: 28] The Prophet (peace be upon him)
said: "Allah's being pleased is in the parent's pleasure, and His
displeasure is in the parent's displeasure." [Sunan al-Tirmidhī (1899)] The Prophet (peace be upon him)
said about the person being pleased with Allah's decree: "Whoever is
pleased, He will be pleased with him; and whoever is displeased, His
displeasure will be upon him." [Sunan al-Tirmidhī (2396)] The Prophet (peace be upon him)
also said: "The mostly hated among men to Allah is the one who is severe,
facing others with enmity." [Sahīh al-Bukhārī (2457) and Sahīh Muslim
(2668)] Allah is pleased with belief, with
Islam, and with our acts of obedience. He likes the believers who obey Him and
is pleased with them. Allah hates and condemns unbelief,
hypocrisy and all other forms of disobedience. He is displeased with the
unbelievers and hypocrites in all of their guises. This is the overarching
principle with respect to Allah being pleased or displeased with us. However,
we should not think it is easy to use this principle to make assessments about
actual people. We cannot describe an individual
by saying that Allah is pleased with him or displeased with him on the basis of
our assessment of that person's obedience or disobedience. Such a statement
cannot be made about someone without direct evidence from the Islamic sources.
By making such an audacious statement about someone without direct evidence
form the Qur'ān and Sunnah, we are making a claim about the Unseen and giving a
ruling from ourselves that is only for Allah to give. A person may do what appears to
the people to be good, but he may face an evil end. In this case Allah is not
pleased with him. Another person may do what appears to the people to be evil,
but he may face a good end. Then Allah will be pleased with him. The Prophet (peace be upon him)
said: "By Him besides whom there is no god, one of you will act like the
people of Paradise until between him and Paradise there remains but the
distance of a cubit, when what is written overtakes him and he begins to act
like the denizens of Hell and thus enters Hell. And another amongst will act in
the way of the denizens of Hell, until there remains between him and Hell a
distance of a cubit, then what is written overtakes him and then he begins to
act like the people of Paradise and enters Paradise." [Sahīh al-Bukhārī
(3208) and Sahīh Muslim (2643)] We cannot make any declaration
about the fate of someone in particular. However, we hope for the person whom
we see performing good deeds and obeying Allah that Allah is pleased with him.
Likewise, we fear for the person whom we see committing evil deeds and acts
disobedience that he is earning Allah's displeasure. It is worth saying that works
alone are not sufficient to earn Allah's pleasure. Works need to be accompanied
by true belief and faith in Allah. Allah says about the deeds of the
unbelievers: "And We shall turn to whatever deeds they did (in the worldly
life), and We shall make such deeds as floating dust scattered about."
[Sūrah al-Furqān: 23] When the Prophet (peace be upon
him) was asked about one of the polytheists who died on unbelief, whether or
not his good deeds and the help he gave to poor and needy will be of any
benefit to him before Allah, he replied: "No. He had never said 'Allah is
my Lord'." A person should never be proud of
his acts and think that Allah is pleased with him and has accepted his good
deeds. Our deeds are assessed in the final outcome. The Pious Predecessors used to
fear that Allah would be displeased with them and would not accept their good
works. One of them said: "If Allah accepts my work, I would like to die,
because Allah says: 'Allah only accepts from those who guard (against
evil)'." (The verse he quoted was to Sūrah al-Mā'idah: 27.) Likewise, we should not give a
decision on behalf of Allah and decide for ourselves that Allah is displeased
with a particular person or that He will not forgive that person. The exception to this is where we
have direct textual evidence attesting to Allah's pleasure or displeasure at a
certain individual. For instance, we have clear evidence
that Allah is pleased with the Companions. Allah says: "And (as for) the foremost,
the first of the Muhājirīn and the Ansār, and those who followed them in
goodness, Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him,
and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide in
them for ever; that is the mighty achievement." [Sūrah al-Tawbah: 100] The same applies particularly to
the Companions who participated in the oath of Ridwān under the tree at
Hudaybiyah. Allah says: "Certainly Allah
was well pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you under the
tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down tranquility on them
and rewarded them with a near victory." [Sūrah al-Fath: 18] Allah declares that he is pleased
with His Prophet Ishmael (peace be upon him). Allah says: "And he
enjoined on his family prayer and almsgiving, and was one in whom his Lord was
well pleased" [Sūrah Maryam: 55] And some of those whom Allah is
displeased with and whom He has openly cursed are: Satan, Pharaoh, Hāmān, Qārūn
and Abū Lahab. We ask refuge with Allah from
displeasing Him and beseech Him to guide us aright and bless us to attain his
pleasure. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aawaz-e-dost/message/5611 __._,_.___ |
