In the Name of Allah, The Most Compassionate, The Most Merciful

RAMADHAN'S REFLECTIONS (5/2)
THE FEASIBILITY OF THE EVERY DAY ACTIVITIES OF THE BELIEVER

In the Name of Allah: No Assistance except from Him. Our praise to Allah: No Gratitude except for Him. I bear witness that there is no Deity except Allah, and I send my prayers and greetings to the best among all creatures Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his family and all his followers.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam, I greet you by the greeting of Islam: Asslamu Alikum Wa Rahmetu Allah Wa Barakath:

The Topic this night Inshaa Allah is about:

THE FEASIBILITY OF THE EVERY DAY ACTIVITIES OF THE BELIEVER

In all the free countries of the world as well as in the core of the Islamic religion, individual responsibility is the factor of weight for each person. In the environment of those communities you can easily feel the sense of:

I produce, develop and invent, so I am alive.

The universe is created to serve mankind in two ways:

  1. First: A kind of creation subjugated to serve you without your asking even if the person is lazy.
    Examples:
    • The air and water we consume all the time without obstacles or obstructions
    • The rays of the sun that provide heat, warmth and light for everybody without requesting the sun to provide any of these bounties.
  2. Second: A kind of creation subjugated to release their bounties at the same rate of human's interaction with these creations.
    Example:
    • The land suitable for cultivation does not give its plants except to those who exert the effort to grow the sustenance produced from cultivation.

So, the creations subjugated to serve mankind are of two kinds:

  1. One grants its bounties without asking or doing any effort.
  2. The other interacts with humans and their efforts. The more effort you exert the more gain you obtain.

A third kind of bounty belongs only to the people who invent and develop. That is when mankind interacts with the first kind of the Creations of Allah that grants its bounties without asking. If you examine the bounties of the sun for example, you will find that:

  • The sun gives heat and light to all humans
  • But, the person who desires the invention and development can interact with the sun by extracting the solar energy.

The believer should observe his/her activities in life so that it will be synchronized with the feasibility of these activities. Let's explain that through a simple example:

When I leave my house in the morning to earn my living; the result of all my activities during the day is called the feasibility or the outcome of exerting the effort. I have to count:

  • Not only how much I earned during the day.
  • But also how much I must deduct from this earning to pay for my expense

The balance between the earning and expense will yield three possibilities:

  1. If my expense is higher than the result of my production, then I await ruin, of a degree dependent on the difference.
  2. If my expense is equal to my earning, then a stagnant status will be my fate; that is, I will not advance towards a better life.
  3. If my gain due to work is higher than my expense, then a happy and better life will be my reward.

That is a case applicable to individuals, families, nations and even the whole universe as one village by the perspective of the new millennium.

So, understanding this universal case, the believer should ask himself/herself every day:

What is my feasibility of this day?
How much did I spend this day?

He/She should compare the outcome of the answers to these questions by one of the three possibilities to see if he/she would be in ruin, stagnation or advancing towards prosperity. When he/she does that, life will be established on a solid base with no future surprises. But, to leave his/her life without an order or regulations is equivalent to living in despair, which is against the Islamic belief.

The believer should also realize that:
When Almighty Allah Commands you to watch your activities in life, that will guarantee the balance of benefits for yourself and for others. When Allah Commands us to do our work in perfection, that command is not directed to you alone. It is a mutual command by which you fulfill your work to others in perfection so that all other people will do the work for you in a similar grade of perfection. If you cheat or deceive in your work to others, Allah Will Throw the same feeling in the hearts of others to cheat in their fulfillment to the work that will benefit you. You can count the outcome of these mutual activities for yourself by listing your activities in life. Count for yourself how many activities you fulfilled by pure sincerity, half sincerity or by a fraction of sincerity. On the other side count how much you spent on disease, disasters and penalties. If you establish a balance of sincerity against unexpected expense you will find that they are equivalent. The lesson is:

Nobody is capable of deceiving Almighty Allah Who Observes the public, hidden and secret of our intentions not only our activities. Whoever thinks that he/she deceives Almighty Allah is, in reality, deceiving himself/herself. Allah Observes all:

  • Whoever deceives a person, another person will deceive him/her.
  • Whoever deceives a community, the community will deceive him/her.

Allah Released a reminder in a Hadith Qudsi as it was narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) had said that Allah Says:

"If you believe that I Am Observing you not, then there is a deficiency in your belief. And if you believe that I Am Observing you, then why did you consider me the least in observing your actions."

That Hadith is explained as:
A person cannot steal or deceive another while he/she is looking at him/her. If he/she deals with individuals like that, then what about the Creator and Observer of all humans at all times and in all places.

If a person counts what he/she accumulated without any right and compares that with what he/she spent in calamities, he/she will find that these are equal. The additional part is the pain in the worldly life and the punishment in the Hereafter. It was narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) had said:

"Whoever acquires wealth without right, Allah Will Cause that Wealth to Vanish in calamities."

Almighty Allah Establishes balance between humans so that they will not spite, bear ill will or covet others. To understand that Bounty of Allah consider the fact of:

If you find a person of superior talent than yourself don't bear spite against him/her. His/her superiority in his/her profession may not benefit him/her in his/her profession in the first place but it will benefit those who enjoy the outcome of his/her profession.

So, if you see a gifted person, consider that his/her talent will benefit you and do not bear ill will against him/her. The gifted carpenter or physician, for example, has talents that benefit others. Also, you find that clearly in yourself. If you are right-handed, when you use scissors to cut your nails you find that the nails of your left hand are cut perfectly but the nails of the talented right hand which is cut by the left hand are not as perfect as the left hand.

In general, when you see any kind of bounty in others, then consider that these bounties will not only benefit him/her but it will extend to others more than the gifted person. That is the Wisdom of Allah to Establish the accurate balance in the universe. To be synchronized with that wisdom as a believer, you have to observe your activities so that any of them would be fulfilled in perfection. That is needed for two reasons:

  1. To Please Allah the Creator of the universe.
  2. To satisfy the owner of the outcome of your activities.

The owner who pays compensation for the effort you exert to him/her may not be skilled enough to judge the results of your effort, may be deceived or may not estimate the flaws in your production. But, you as a believer should never cheat or deceive because Almighty Allah Is Always Observing and never Accepts cheating or deceiving. Also, that owner may not see or estimate what you planned, but Allah Is Always Seeing and Recording.

If you keep this rule in mind, then you are exerting the effort to Please Allah and Keeping His Observance of you in your mind all the time. As a reward in the worldly life, Almighty Allah Will Observe for you all the activities performed for you by others.

So, if you cheat another person, another person will cheat on you and the feasibility of your life will be depleted.

As an applicable example, look at the life of people at a certain period of time. If you find some of them working to Please Allah with the acknowledgment that He Almighty Is Always Observing them, you will notice that righteousness is balanced among them. You will always see in these people that who ever Remembers Allah in his/her deeds always gets acceptance and satisfaction of others. He/she is always successful and endures tough situations better than others. You may be surprised sometimes saying:
How does that poor person live in happiness with that small income?
To imagine that, remember that Allah's Hand Is always Supporting him/her with all the blessings. The reason is that the poor person keeps in mind that Allah Is Observing him/her and considers that he/she is doing the work to Please Allah before pleasing others.

So, all the activities of the believers should be connected to the Observance of Allah. When these activities are Connected with Allah, He, Almighty Estimates the reward at the same degree of the fulfillment and the performance of these activities.

In conclusion, remember at all times that Allah Is Observing your deeds. Remember Verse # 105, Sura # 9, Al-Tawba, where Allah Says:

"And say: Work righteousness, soon Will Allah Observe your work and His Messenger and the believers."

And remember that Allah Grants His Bounties to us at the same rate at which we Remember Him. Remember Verse # 46, Sura # 41 (Fooselat), where Allah Says:

"Whoever works righteousness benefits his/herself. Whoever works evil, it is against his/herself. Nor is your Lord ever Unjust (in the least) to His people."