Ramadhan Reflections 8

"Allah is the One, the Victorious " Quran 13:16

Hassan's reflection

Our sights must always be placed on Allah and what Allah wants from us. Sometimes other things seem so important in our lives, such as getting the right job, making lots of money, having the latest fashion or toys, or even having our kids score well on their exams. In reality the other things are not really that important, only Allah. Allah has created everything in this world, and has a plan for us.

Suriya's reflection:

Allah the Victorius. What the word victorius here means is the one who always has the upper hand. Al Qahhar means the irresistable Subduer.

This hadith Qudsi shows us the meaning :

“O My slave! You will, and I will. If you surrender to Me in what I will, I suffice you in what you will. But if you do not surrender to Me in what I will, I tire you out in what you will, and then, nothing shall be except what I will.”

We cannot win , only Allah can win , so might as well give up trying to get what we want against Allah's will and go with the flow. We will be much happier and , we will be aligned with the winner.The most essential part of us is in alignment with Allah but the ego part of us, the skewed part of us makes mistakes in what we want and we think we want something else. Like a mirage however , what we want keeps going further and further in front of us that when we reach it , it turns to sand. Have you ever felt like " If I get this , I will be happy", and then you get it , and you are still not happy. That which will really make us happy is to be happy to be "subdued" by Allah by willing surrender.

wa-llāhu yuḥibbu l-muṭṭahhirīna "And Allah loves the pure" Quran 9:108 Hasan's reflection: Allah loves those of us who love to be purified and make ourselves pure. We all have sins and are not pure, some more than others. Perhaps that is not the point though. Perhaps the point is the intention and the direction we are on. Perhaps Allah loves it when we strive to be pure, strive to avoid sins, striving to follow Allah’s rules and regulations, out of love for Allah. Dr Suriya is right in that someone who doesn’t have much sin, but is arrogant and doesn’t see the need for following Allah’s command is also not needed and loved by Allah. Shaiton comes to mind here, as shaiton had arrogance in worshipping Allah and would not bow down to Adam, as he didn’t understand the command. This implies that love is the pureness implied here, that if we truly love Allah we will follow the commandments even if we don’t quite understand. Like children who follow their parents commands, it is done out of love, not out of understanding of why they need to avoid playing near the street and whatnot. As parents these types of children just melt our own hearts and we naturally love them. Even if there is a child who is always forgetting and getting into trouble, if we see his sincerity and love for us and his trying to do what is right we love him dearly even though another child might have done less sins. I understand this now, even though it breaks my heart to be the child causing so much trouble, with so much ego and arrogance still getting in the way. Suriya's reflection:

Muttahirin means those who always purify themselves. They are always cleansing away their sins and wrongs and always realigning themselves with God's purpose, always returning . Their tears of repentence cleanse them , their prayers cleanse them , their charity and their good works cleanse them . Allah loves them , not because they are sinless but because they are always on the lookout for what they do and how they do it and they do self correction while sending a prayer for forgiveness to Allah and then moving on to compensate and correct themselves. Allah loves them and reward them by giving them peace and joy and attainment for all their efforts.