Sunday, September 30, 2007

Declaring yourself free- Reflections Ramadan 18

Yesterday....I was quite overwhelmed with the Imam recited the verse:

11:35 Or do they say, "He has forged it"? Say: "If I had forged it, on me were my sin! and I am free of the sins of which ye are guilty!

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ قُلْ إِنِ افْتَرَيْتُهُ فَعَلَيَّ إِجْرَامِي وَأَنَاْ بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تُجْرَمُونَ
The word baree-un means to become free or be cleared from guilt or blame.
Here, Allah (swt) is telling Muhammad (pbuh) to declare that he is completely free of the sins which the disbelievers accuse him of.
I thought about how difficult it is to have a clean record. Can we say about ourselves, that we never:
  • lie?
  • backbite?
  • gossip?
  • tell on someone?
  • check someone out?
  • betray someone's trust?
  • share a secret?
  • ...

Can we declare a 100% on all the things disliked by Allah (swt)?

Often times we resolve to change our bad ways, but sometimes traits of that remain. If today we were to make a declaration to Allah (swt) about our actions and deeds, so that He may answer our duas and make our situations easy, what would that list contain? How confident are we about our 100-percent-ness of our virtues, etiquettes and moral values?

Are we completely shirk-free? Or is it that, we ocassionally brush off our sins to clean ourselves instead of getting rid of them completely?

In another verse, in Surah An'aam, Allah (swt) tells Muhammad (pbuh) to declare what he should:

قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاَتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَبِذَلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ قُلْ أَغَيْرَ اللّهِ أَبْغِي رَبًّا وَهُوَ رَبُّ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَلاَ تَكْسِبُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ إِلاَّ عَلَيْهَا وَلاَ تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَى ثُمَّ إِلَى رَبِّكُم مَّرْجِعُكُمْ فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَكُمْ خَلاَئِفَ الأَرْضِ وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَكُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ لِّيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي مَا آتَاكُمْ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ سَرِيعُ الْعِقَابِ وَإِنَّهُ لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ


Say: "Behold, my prayer, and (all] my acts of worship, and my living and my dying are for God [alone], the Sustainer of all the worlds, in whose divinity none has a share: for thus have I been bidden-and I shall [always] be foremost among those who surrender themselves unto Him."

Say: "Am I, then, to seek a sustainer other than God, when He is the Sustainer of all things?" And whatever [wrong] any human being commits rests upon himself alone; and no bearer of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden. And, in time, unto your Sustainer you all must return: and then He will make you. [truly] understand all that on which you were wont to differ.
For, He it is who has made you inherit the earth, and has raised some of you by degrees above others, so that He might try you by means of what He has bestowed upon you. Verily, thy Sustainer is swift in retribution: yet, behold, He is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.
[6:162-165]

Such a beautiful declaration.

2 comments:

Hafsa said...

in the shafi school, this verse [inni salati wa nusuki] is the introductory dua in the salah, i.e before surah fatiha...

u know how we hanafis recite, [inni] wajah tu wajia.. or Subhanakalla humma wa bhi hamdika

Sh Hamza said you are allowed to switch between them to remove the monotony from the salah. Also you pick whichever one puts in a higher spiritual state.

you have to take the supplication course on SunniPath..it's jus amazing. May Allah gime the tawfeeq to apply what I learnt! (it's become a norm for me to make duas on ur blog..lol)

Humairah Irfan said...

Ameen :) !!
Inshallah I'll take the course, you gotta stop tempting me so much!