‘What is al-Ihsaan?’ Is there something after Imaan?

Ihsaan

Why should Allah, Most High, send down one more revelation after He said, ‘This day I have completed your deen and completed My favour unto you’? The answer appears to be that in this subject of riba or usury lies one of the greatest dangers that can face the world. It means, ‘don’t neglect the study of this subject’. I live in the capital city of riba, New York City. I have been teaching this subject for the last six to seven years being the only one in the capital city of riba, to be teaching this subject. As I teach this subject, I am amazed at how little knowledge of this subject our people have. We now turn to the second event which is the subject of our talk tonight.

It is within these 81 days, shortly before the death of the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) that he (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) was sitting in the Masjid.

The companions report that they were sitting with him, when something strange, mysterious, dramatic and unforgettable happened. A stranger entered into the Masjid. He was dressed all in white and his hair was black. No one knew him, so he could not have been from Madinah. He had to be a stranger from outside. Travel in those days was by camel or horse through the desert. If one had traveled, one would have sand in ones hair, clothing, and beard and all over ones person. This stranger had no dust upon him sop this was baffling. He is not a resident and there is no evidence that he had traveled, who is he? The stranger walks into the Masjid. This is at a time when Islam had already conquered Arabia and the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) is the head of state of the whole of Arabia. So one would expect even more security than there was before to protect him from those wanting to harm him.

This stranger walks through the gathering and goes directly to the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam). It was strange that nobody stopped him. He then sits down so close in front of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) that his knees touch the knees of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam). He was within range to inflict harm, if that was his intention. This was a breach of security so why did none of the companions attempt to stop him? They were all immobilized. These dramatic moments were unforgettable.

Then the stranger began to question the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam). He is questioning the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) about the deen! Who is this man and where did he get this authority to question the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) from? The Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) submits to the questioning. This was strange and even stranger was the response of the stranger. On receiving the answers from the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) he responds like a headmaster or a principal saying that the answer is correct. At the end of the five questions and answers, he got up as unceremoniously as he had come and he left. None of the companions would ever forget that day. The companions asked the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam)   as to whom the stranger was? The Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam)   said that it was the angel, Gabriel (‘alaihi al-Salam) who had come as a human being.

He had appeared as a human being before Maryam (‘alaihi al-Salam) but no one else could see him. He had told her that she would give birth to a baby boy. She said, ‘How can I have a baby boy, when no man has ever touched me?’ On this occasion everybody could see him. Why did Allah, Most High, do this? There must be a very important reason that He sent this angel in such a dramatic and unforgettable way. There must be something tremendously important in these five questions and five answers.

Since this visit came at the last stage of the life of the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) perhaps it also implies that in this is guidance for us concerning the awesome challenges of the last age, The Age of Dajjal.  

1. Question One!   What is Islam?     
2. Question Two!   What is Imaan?    
3. Question Three!   What is al-Ihsaan?    
4. Question Four!   When will the Last Hour come?    
5. Question Five!   What are the signs of the Last Hour?    

Had question one been posed while we were still in Makkah, before the Heigra, the answer would have been, ‘Islam is the declaration that there is no God, but Allah, Most High, and Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) is His Messenger’. But the question is posed now after revelation had come down establishing the fast of Ramadan; the system of Zakaah as a compulsory tax which is collected by the state, since it is not a voluntary tax; after the liberation of Makkah; and after the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) had performed the hajj. So the answer is, ‘Islam is the declaration that there is no God, but Allah, Most High, and Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) is His Messenger; performance of salaah – if I neglect my salaah I am not a Muslim.  Allah, Most High, says in the 3^rd Surah, al-i-Imraan in verse 102:

Fear Allah, Most High, as He should be feared, and die not except as a Muslim

 [Qur’an 3:102]

Do not die except in a state of submission to the supreme authority of Allah, Most High. Not the supreme authority of the state. Islam is that you must fast in the month of Ramadan, so if I don’t fast in the month of Ramadan, and I don’t have a proper excuse for it then I am not a Muslim. Islam is that I must pay the Zakaah when the state is established to collect the Zakaah.  Which state is authorized to collect the zakaah? The state over which amir-ul-mumineen presides! That state is authorized to collect and pay the zakaah. Islam is that I must perform the hajj if I have the means to do so. In order to have the means, I must be free of debt which I have not the means to repay. This was the answer to question one.

Then he asked, ‘What is Imaan?’ The Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) replied that Imaan is that you must have faith. Be it in Allah, Most High,, His messengers, His books, His angels and the Last Day. But in the Qur’an, Allah, Most High, had taught us that the dwellers of the desert, the Bedouin, they declared a bit to quickly (49^th Surah, al-Hujeraat in verse 14):

We have faith!

Allah, Most High, responded:

Say to them, ‘Most certainly you don’t have imaan.’

“You should rather confine yourself to say, ‘We have entered into Islam!’

‘For as yet, Imaan has not entered into your hearts’

 [Qur’an 49:14]

So the answer to question one is located on the lips, and then it has to be lived. Question two the answer is that Islam must travel from the lips and must enter into the heart as its location. What happens when faith enters into the heart?

Question three is, ‘What is al-Ihsaan?’ Is there something after Imaan?

The Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) replies and says, ‘Ihsaan is:

An tahbudallaha ka annaka tara

That you should worship Allah, Most High,: That you should live for Allah, Most High, as though you are seeing Him

But can we see Allah, Most High,? When Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam), the Prophet Moses (‘alaihi al-Salam), was on the mountain, Mount Sinai, he spoke and he said to Allah, Most High, [the 7th Surah, al-Araaf, Verse 143]:

Show me Your face, I want to see You (with these eyes)

Allah, Most High, responded and said:

Not possible! You can’t see Me! Not with these eyes!

 [Qur’an 7:143]

Then what does it mean that, you should worship Allah, Most High,, as though you are seeing Him?

 The companions of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) they asked, ‘O Messenger! Will we be able to see Allah, Most High, on the last day, the Last Day?’ He responded and he asked, ‘Do you have any difficulty in seeing the sun when it is mid-day?’ They said, ‘No problem we can see it.’ He asked, ‘Do you have any difficulty in seeing the moon when it is full moon?’  They said, ‘No!’ He said, ‘that’s how you are going to see your Lord on the Last Day.’ 

Allah, Most High, says, ‘You can’t see Me’ and the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) says, ‘you will see Him’?. What is the explanation? Now we can understand that there is no contradiction here. The meaning is, ‘You can’t see Me with these (physical) eyes.’

Do we have any other eyes besides these eyes? The Qur’an says, ‘Yes! The heart can see’,

Welcome to ‘spirituality’. This is our subject. Do we have any other eyes besides these eyes?  Do we have any other means of acquiring knowledge other than through external observation?  National University of Singapore says, ‘No! External observation is the only source of knowledge.’ Harvard, Princeton and Yale say the same thing. These are the only eyes that we have. Theses are the only ears that we have. The Qur’an says, ‘No!’ and it gives a different epistemology from that Godless world out there, which cloaks itself with a mantle of a word called ‘secularism’. I want to take you to Sura Hajj where Allah, Most High, addresses the people who are internally dead, spiritually dead.

Allah, Most High, says to them [22^nd Surah, Verse 46]:

Will they not travel through the earth?

So that perhaps, perchance, (by traveling through the earth) their dead hearts might come alive

 [Qur’an 22:46]

Now with a heart which has come alive they will be able to understand what the intellect could not! What rationality could not! What external observation could not!

When the heart comes alive, it can hear what otherwise could not be heard.

Let me interrupt this verse of the Qur’an to take you to a hadith of the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam). We will come back to the ayah.

The Jews lived amongst us Muslims for 1300 years when no one else in the world would open the doors for them. In Britain it was prohibited for them to live. They were being persecuted all over the face of the earth. The world of Islam opened the doors for them and they lived amongst us, in security- we guaranteed security of life and property. We recognized their religion. We assisted them in the enforcement of their religious law. This is what we did for 1300 years. After all of that had happened, then said the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam), in a hadith cited in Sahih Bukhari, in Sahih Muslim- thus being ‘agreed upon’ - mutafaqun alaih. It is thus a strongest possible hadith. He said:

‘You will surely fight the Jews and you will surely kill them (meaning: you will be successful in that fight). At that time the stones will speak. ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him’    

When the stones begin to speak, with which ears will we hear? Will this be the first time that the stones speak? No! The stones spoke to the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) in his lifetime. They offered ‘salaams’ to him. If we were there would we have heard? No! He was not hearing with these ears. It is when the heart has come alive, has faith in it and submits to the Supreme Authority of Allah, Most High, and not the supreme authority of the state, it is then that the heart can hear.  So we know the stones are speaking now. This prophecy of Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) is being fulfilled now. The stones are speaking in the Land. When stones begin to speak, no one can stop them from speaking. At the end of this a Muslim army will destroy the State of Israel; these are the words of the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam).  

Source: Ihsaan-The Spiritual Essence of Islam

To Be Continued....