IVThe mountain of four conditions
Two wings and two wheels
Before becoming a traveller on this path there are four pre-conditions. The book is blunt about it: otherwise this journey cannot be accomplished.
The wings of the plane represent aqeedah and fiqh. If one’s belief or one’s knowledge of the law is not correct, the aircraft will not fly. Both wings are needed — no wings means no flight, and if one wing is broken then one shall drift towards destruction.
The wheels represent tawbah and mujahadah. The wheels are the direction, and the first point of the plane that moves. They are what gathers the speed that makes lift possible. Repentance is the direction of the wheel; striving is the effort that turns it. Through direction and effort together there is speed, and with speed the plane has the potential to lift.
The first condition · Wing of belief
Aqeedah
The beliefs of a Muslim should be in accordance with the doctrine of Ahlus Sunnah wal-Jama’ah. Aqeedah informs a person what he should believe in, and also how he should practise those beliefs. It has seven foundations.
Allah
To believe in Allah's essence and all of His attributes, and not to associate anyone as partner with Him in His attributes or His actions. To believe that He does not resemble any of His creation and neither do they resemble Him; that He is not part of any creation, nor is any creation part of Him; and that He is beyond all thoughts and imaginations.Angels
To have faith in all of the angels — that they are sinless, that they do not disobey their Lord, and that they fulfil all of the commands of Allah.Books
To believe in all the divinely revealed books sent by Allah, including the Gospel, the Torah and the Psalms — but to follow only the Qur'an, as the previously revealed books have been abrogated over time.Messengers
To believe in all the prophets and messengers, that they are the greatest of all creation and completely free from sin. It is incumbent upon a Muslim to follow only the footsteps of the Leader of both worlds and Imam of all the prophets, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.The Day of Judgement
To believe that all of mankind and jinn, those who have passed and those yet to come, will be assembled in the presence of Allah on the Day of Reckoning; that Allah with His infinite grace will bestow reward and with His justice will punish the wrongdoers; and that on that Day no one will be unjustly treated.Fate and destiny
To hold that the knowledge of Allah encompasses all time and places, and that He has power over all things. Whatever Allah wills He does, and the actions of all people are within His knowledge. Yet Allah has created freedom of choice, and a person acts according to his own free will — Allah does not force anyone. He is the Creator of all things and actions; He is pleased with good deeds and displeased with sin; and He is free from all deficiency.Life after death
To hold the belief that everyone will be resurrected after death, which will be the final chapter in a person's life, lasting forever.
Also settled here
Four things the book fixes at this stage
The finality of prophethood
The companions and the family
The friends of Allah
The friends of Shaytan
The greatest of all miracles is to remain steadfast on the prophetic way of life.
The second condition · Wing of fiqh
Islamic law
Belief and faith are contained within a person’s heart and mind, and testified to by the body. So an important question follows: how can this body, which we have been entrusted with, fulfil its duty? Which actions will please Allah and which will displease Him, and how should one engage in worship?
The answer is the knowledge called fiqh — in other words the do’s and don’ts, the lawful and unlawful acts of worship. The most important aspects a seeker must learn and act upon are the obligatory, necessary, recommended, preferred, forbidden, disliked and nullifying acts in relation to: the ritual bath, ablution, prayer, fasting and pilgrimage.
The book gives one small worked example, to show the grain of detail intended. The three obligations of the ritual bath are: rinsing and gargling the mouth; rinsing the inner part of the nose to the soft bone; and pouring water and washing the entire body, leaving no part dry.
The third condition · Wheel of repentance
Tawbah
It is highly commendable that a person now wants to spend his remaining life in the total obedience of Allah. However — if in the past he violated the rights of Allah, of His Prophet ﷺ, of his own self, or of the rest of creation, then he must fulfil them and ask forgiveness. Repentance is not only remorse. It is repayment.
Tawbah means to return: to return from a sinful life to the righteous ways, from evil to goodness. It is a door which one enters, and a safe haven for the believer, because Allah loves those who repent. One should never abandon it — for if one cannot amend the relationship with Allah, then no other relationship will benefit him.
Whose rights must be repaid
Rights of
Allah ﷻ
Rights of
The Messenger ﷺ
Rights of
Oneself
Rights of
People, and all creation
O my Lord, whoever’s rights I have violated that I am unaware of, please do not hold me to account for this — but rather, with Your grace and mercy, forgive me.
The four conditions of repentance
- To be regretful and ashamed of the sin committed, regardless of whether it is minor or major — as all disobedience has a darkness which enters the heart.
- To cut the means which lead one towards sin, by abandoning the things that take a person towards darkness. An example is abandoning bad company, television, the internet, and so forth.
- To hold a firm, sincere and resolute intention not to return to a life of darkness, and instead to intend strongly to remain on the straight path.
- To fulfil the rights of Allah, of the Prophet ﷺ and of the creation, and to beg forgiveness for those rights previously violated — including the rights of one's own soul, by no longer abandoning it in the darkness of sin.
The prayer of repentance
The repenting person should make ablution properly, offer two units of prayer for the pleasure of Allah, and then — remembering his sins tearfully, from the bottom of his heart — supplicate with extreme remorse:
O Allah, other than You I have no Lord, and apart from me You have many servants, and no one can forgive my sins apart from You. From Your mercy and grace, forgive me, and protect me from committing sins in the future.
Before and after the prayer the seeker should recite salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ. The best time for this prayer is the last part of the night, in which Allah Himself announces: “Is there anyone who seeks repentance from sin?”
Until when can a person repent?
It is beneficial to repent over and over again. But repentance ceases to be accepted when a person reaches the throes of death, just before the soul is extracted, when he begins to breathe unusually. And the door of repentance will close, near to the Day of Judgement, when the sun rises from the west.
To the person who fears his sins are too many, the book answers plainly: we are not the forgiver — Allah is the One who forgives. Human beings are not sinless like the angels, nor full of evil like the devils. Rather they possess a strong willpower which, exercised correctly, can attain ranks higher than the angels.
O son of Adam, if your sins were to reach the heavens, and then you were to seek forgiveness from Me, then I would still forgive.
A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked about a person who had committed every type of sin, minor and major, and whether repentance was still open to him. The Prophet ﷺ asked him: “Have you accepted Islam?” The man said yes, and recited the testification of faith. The Prophet ﷺ advised: “Do good deeds and leave the evil ones — Allah will transform the bad ones into good ones.” The man responded: “Even my deceitfulness and disobedience?” The Prophet ﷺ confirmed: “Yes.” And the man left, continuously reciting the takbeer.
The fourth condition · Wing of striving & steadfastness
Mujahadah and istiqamah
Striving means to make an effort which is within one’s capacity. Steadfastness means to continue travelling even though one keeps falling — because the real fall is not that a person has fallen, but that he does not get up after falling.
Put another way: striving is to suppress the sinful urge and desire by exercising willpower. Steadfastness is to carry on performing good deeds and refraining from sins, whilst disregarding the inner feelings or the external circumstances.
The real fall is not that a person has fallen. It is that he does not get up after falling.
Verily, those who say “Our Lord is Allah alone,” and then they remain steadfast — on them the angels will descend, saying: “Fear not, nor grieve! But receive the glad tidings of Paradise which you have been promised.”
I said, “O Messenger of Allah, tell me something about Islam which I can ask of no one but you.” He said: “Say — I believe in Allah, and then be steadfast.”
When one begins to get closer to Allah, the servant declares war on the nafs, on Shaytan, on bad company, and on worldly love and distraction. All of these become the fiercest of enemies, and they will also use one’s friends and family to sidetrack him — with criticism, jokes, belittling and peer pressure. If a person is not ready to face and endure that difficulty, it means he has laid down his armoury.
The three conditions of striving
Striving has three pillars. Without them, it is only wishful thinking.
- To seek help from Allah, by attributing helplessness, poverty and powerlessness to yourself, and relying only on Allah.
- To possess the will to avoid sins — not merely the wish.
- To do whatever is within one's ability and capacity to avoid sins, or to practise good deeds.
Wish, and will
The distinction the book draws here is the sharpest in the whole work, and it is worth reading slowly.
Tamanna — a wish. “I wish that Allah becomes pleased with me and that I become His friend, but I am not prepared to pay the price for it, and to sacrifice my sinful lifestyle.”
Iraada — a will. “I will try my utmost to achieve this objective, and I am willing to sacrifice my desires.” In other words, the seeker confirms he is willing to purify his body, mind, heart and lower self from sins, and then to decorate them with the sublime qualities of the Holy Prophet ﷺ.
The wise man is one who holds himself accountable and performs good deeds which will benefit him after death; and the foolish man is one who follows the desires of the nafs and expects forgiveness from Allah.