Thursday, December 30, 2010

Hope is the Guide & Fear is the Driver – The Journey to Allaah

[The Journey to Allaah : -Ibn Rajab al Hanbali ; pg 62 ]

And worship your Lord till the certainty comes to you . [al Hijr :99]

al Hasan said,

Persistence, persistence! Surely Allaah has appointed the time of cessation of deeds to be just before death,”

and the he recited the above verse. He also said,

Your souls are your mounts ,so tend to your mounts, in this way they will convey you to your Lord, Mighty & Magnificent.”

The meaning of tending to one’s mounts is to be easy on them, to keep them fit & healthy, & not to overburden them.

Therefore if one feels his soul is coming to a halt in its travel, he tends to it by inculcating in its the desire to finish the journey,as the situation may demand .

One of the salaf said,

” Hope is the guide & fear is the driver & the soul will stop & it will then need gentle treatment & song to provoke it to into recommencing its journey”.

In this respect the camel leader, who drives on his herd by singing,said,
“its guide gave it glad tidings saying: Tomorrow shall you see bananas & mountains.”

Fear is like a whip & when a person is excessively whips the animal, it could die.As such one must also strike it with “songs” of hope that would encourage it to eagerly revitalize its efforts until it arrives at the destination .

Abu Yazeed said,

” I have persistently guided my soul to Allaah without letting up, it weeping all the way, then i urged it to on until it laughed”

it is said,

“When it complained of the burdens of the journey,
he promised it Of the relief of arrival so it revitalized of its efforts.”

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