Practising Piety and Dutiful Devotion

Auzubillahi minash shaitan ir rajeem,

Bismillah ir rahman ir rahim,

And help one another to practise piety and dutiful devotion.

And do not help one another to practise sin and enimity,

And be careful to observe your duty to Allah;

Surely Allah is stern in retribution (5:2)

The Quranic verse contains an implicit instruction, demanding reverence for all that Allah has magnified, be it the time, the place, or one�s brethren. He has distinguished certain months, days and moments above others, just as He has distinguished some of the messengers and religious communities over others. He has done so in order that hearts may be quick to respect them, that spirits may yearn to be revived by serving them, and that creatures may long for their special virtues.

He has distinguished certain places above others, in order to magnify the reward for residing in them, Allah has created human beings both fortunate and unfortunate, but what is important is the ultimate outcome. Every creature is good, by virtue of the fact that he is the creature of Allah. The unbeliever must therefore be viewed from the standpoint of his unbelief, even though his unbelief does not meet with approval.

It is thus incumbent, on someone whose viewpoint is the affirmation of Oneness [tawhid], to see the best in everything, not to disparage any if Allah�s creatures, and not to preoccupy himself with enmity and hatred.

When Allah extolled the Prophets (peace be upon them), and assigned a particular attribute to each Prophet, He said to him,

So follow their guidance (6:90)

and he did so, and thus came to combine perfection of all good qualities, Each Prophet was distinguished by a special virtue. In the case of Noah (AS) it was thankfulness. In the case of Abraham (AS), it was forbearance. In the case of Moses(AS), it was sincere devotion. In the case of Ishmael(AS), it was being true to the promise. In the case of Job(AS) and Jacob (AS), it was it was patience. In the case of David(AS), it was readiness to apologize. In the case of Jesus(AS), it was pious abstinence.

By following their example he [ our prophet Muhammad (SAW)] became a combination of all of them.

As for you, O believer, you belong to the community of the Messenger (SAW). You must therefore practise dutiful devotion to Allah, and feel a sense of Modesty before Allah�s Messenger (SAW), so that you may escape the severe chastisement and the lengthy torment, so that you may attain to eternal life in everlasting bliss, and so that you may obtain what is obtained by the owner of a sound heart (Ref: Ruh al Bayan)

Piety means doing what you have been commanded to do, while dutiful devotion means abstaining from what you have been forbidden to do. It is also said that piety means compliance with the Sacred Law, while dutiful devotion means apposition to passionate desire. As for helping one another to practise piety, this is said to be done by giving good advice and fine counsel to believers. As for helping one another to practise dutiful devotion, this is a matter of restraining sinners, as the situation may require, by offering them fine admonition and eloquent reprimand, and preventing them completely, provided that can be achieved in accordance with religious knowledge. As for helping one another to practise sin and enmity, it means you set an example of which religion does not approve, by claiming that your conduct, which is followed by others, represents a traditional custom [sunna] that you are demonstrating, though you must bear the burden of sin involved. The exemplary aspect is likewise important in the case of helping one another to practise piety and dutiful devotion, in the sense that various qualities should be presented as examples to be followed (Lata�if al-isharat).

You must exert yourself strenuously to seeking out the group that will help you to practise piety and dutiful devotion, because such people have become very rare at this time. As for those who will help you to sin and transgress, they constitute the vast majority. You must struggle with your lower self, while avoiding the company of this class of people, because they will damage your religion and your worldly interests, especially if they belong to the party of those who support their passionate desire with arguments based on Sacred Law. You must seek out those who help you to practise piety and dutiful devotion, for they will direct you not to themselves, but to Allah.

Once Allah has honored you with their fellowship, you must stay in touch with them constantly. You must turn a deaf ear to the speech of their enemies. Do not say: �The righteous person has no enemies�, but recite the words of Allah:

Thus we have appointed to every Prophet an opponent from among the guilty; but your Lord suffices for a Guide and Helper. (25:31)

You must realize that companionship with these people calls for dedicated struggle against the lower self, because they are not at ease with self-centered desires and passions. By its very nature, the lower self loves those who applaud it, not those who admonish it.

We beg Allah to show us our faults, to inspire us with a sense of our right direction, and to enable us to make ourselves endure with patience. Ameen. (Shaikh Ahmad Fathullah Jami)