and endure the hardships and difficulties we face in doing
so.
There will be times when we will take a wrong step; times
when we will struggle with the nafs or wrestle with the
Shayateen (plural of Shaytan); times when the nafs will
defeat us or Shaytan will knock us down. But there will also
be times when we will overcome the nafs and knock down
Shaytan, in which case we should show gratitude to Allah
by praising Him and saying allhamdulillah. However, if the
nafs or Shaytan overpower us, then we must seek forgiveness
from Allah by saying astaghfirullah. If we continue
doing this, we will soon realize that we are able to defeat
Shaytan more often.
The Quran says, “And those who strive hard for our cause,
we shall certainly guide them in Our ways” (29:69).
Maulana Thanawi often said, “Do you observe how a child
grows up? One does not realize how fast he grows older. If he is
measured every day, the day to day growth will not be noticeable.
Nonetheless, he keeps growing. Soon we notice that he
reaches adolescence. Gradually, a full beard appears, and he
is a grown-up man. Similarly, if a person follows this path (of
overcoming the evil characteristics) with utmost sincerity and
perseverance, he will continue to progress gradually.”
In reality, the gradual process is better than a sudden
change as the latter could result in fingers pointing towards
a person, which could be cause for tribulations (e.g. if he
suddenly becomes pious, people will take notice and praise
him, which may create arrogance and vanity in his heart).
Therefore, a slow and gradual change is better. There is a
blessing in such a gradual change.
At the same time, one must not give up and lose hope,
rather he should demonstrate perseverance and
traverse this path
of resisting nafs and Shaytan until he succeeds. Allah has
promised wa al-‘aqibatu li al-muttaqeen (and the hereafter is
for the righteous, the God-fearing). May Allah enable us to
observe these teachings.
REFORMING DEEDS AND INNER CHARACTER
Maulana Thanawi said, “The method of reforming deeds and
correcting inner character is to go against the sentiments of the
nafs and to accustom it to stern resistance.”
Reforming deeds means reforming the physical deeds, i.e.
the deeds that are performed by our physical body like
salat, fasting, zakat, and hajj, etc.
Correcting the inner character refers to the deeds that are
performed by our hearts such as patience, gratitude, tawakkul
(reliance on Allah), and humility, etc.
Maulana Thanawi means that whether it is the correction
of the outward deeds or reforming the inner character, the
method, in either case, is to oppose the demands of the
nafs. We must stand up to the temptations and inclinations
of the nafs. We must accustom ourselves to this constant
effort.
A MISCONCEPTION
People often think that if they go to a wali of Allah or a
shaykh in hopes of reforming themselves, make bay‘a
with him, or get a single glance of the shaykh on him, it
would do the magic and he would be reformed. We hear
them saying, “The shaykh cast a glance at me and my life
changed.”
We should know that there is no such shortcut
to correct the nafs. We cannot hope that a wali
of Allah would cast a glance on us and a
revolution will take place in our lives. We
will have to bring this change ourselves.
We must be brave, put forth the effort, and
endure the hardships in achieving that goal.
The shaykh merely shows you the way and
methods that make it easier to achieve the
desired reformation. To traverse the path
and to work on those methods is our job. It
is futile to imagine that someone else would
do it for us and take us to our destination.
If that was the case, the Prophets would not
have endured hardships while propagating the
religion. All they would have to do is cast a glance
on the people and everyone would be a Muslim.
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