Righteousness:

 Dear brother, we continue with the lesson no. 19 in the series “Creed and Miraculousness, and we are still tackling the major facts of faith.
In the last lessons, we talked about the noble Quran, but today we are talking the good deed. Such subject needs an introduction through which I will clarify few fundamental facts in the believer’s life.

Straightness is one of the essential bases of faith:

 Dear brother, there are thousands of departments in the country, but to narrow them down we can say: there is the legislative authority, the executive authority and the judicial authority.
We have thousands of kinds of food, which can be classified into carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
 Similarly, the great faith contains wide fundamental concepts, but the question is: can we classify these wide concepts into major bases for Islam to be based one?. There are thousands of Shari’ah laws, and hundreds of thousands of good deeds and many divisions and parts; Islam is a very wide religion. Is it possible to narrow down the components of Islam to certain bases? This matter has to do with Ijtihad (opinion), so Allah knows better.
 The first major base is straightness, without which we reap none of the fruits of this religion. This base has a negative nature; the one who is straight says " I have never lied to other people, I have never cheated on them, I have never backbiten sh3er or I have never earned ill-gotten money." Straightness is about abstention from doing bad deeds and evil things
Hence, following Allah’s Path is one of the major bases of faith and one of its greatest foundations. Unless you keep straight to Allah’s commands, you will not be able to reap any fruit of this religion. Stop wasting your time and work on keeping yourself straight.
 What are you supposed to do if there is no straightness? As you know, there are Islamic culture, Islamic sentiments, Islamic concerns, Islamic background, Islamic ground, Islamic aspirations, Islamic decorations, Islamic arches and Islamic shapes. These things make Islam nothing but a tradition and folklore; someone may sayaccording to the Islamic culture we have so and so.

Whosoever neglects Allah’s Orders will be neglected by Allah:

 The bitter reality that breaks the heart is:

((Twelve thousands cannot be defeated because of being few))

[Tirmizi by Ibn Abbas]

 Let me tell you something, Muslims are one billion and five hundred millions, yet, they don’t have the upper hand nor the control on their own affairs, because the other party controls them in thousands of ways. I am not being pessimist, but I want you to be realistic. Being disillusioned with this bitter reality is better than being illusioned with the wonderful mirage.
 Someone may ask, what is the proof you have? I will give you a proof; when the U.S President visited this region, one of his main target was to visit the family of the Israeli captive in Gaza. What about the eleven thousand and eight hundred Palestinian captives in the Israeli prisons in Gaza? Are not they humans? All what the president cared about was visiting the family of the Israeli captive not the Palestinian captives. I tell you again I am not pessimist, but I just want you to realize the truth. Do you understand now the meaning of the following Hadith,

((Twelve thousands cannot be defeated because of being few))

[Tirmizi by Ibn Abbas]

 The number of Muslim is about one billion and five hundred millions, yet they are controlled by other parties in many ways. Stop being illusioned, because you will get nothing by your Deen as long as you are not straight. Islam is no more than folklore and culture if Muslims are not straight.
 By Allah, the only God, Quran was reauthord in France as an Islamic folklore of the Middle East, not as the words of the Creator of heavens and earth.
 Straightness is missing in our Deen, therefore Allah has neglected us. Allah stops caring about us, because we do not care about keeping straight to His Commands. Unless you acknowledge the disaster that might afflict you, you won’t be able to put an end to it. We, as Muslims, are in big trouble.

Muslims are pioneers as individuals but they are worthless as a nation:

 So the first point is: you will never reap the fruits of this Deen unless you follow Allah’s Path.
 There are amazing Masjids that attract your attention. One of them is in Casablanca; it is located on sea water, for its designer was inspired by the following ayah: "and His Throne was on the water." You can see the sea water if you look out of the openings of its Haram (sanctuary). As for the M’ezanah (Minaret) it is a university. I once visited that Masjid.
 There is another terrific one in Constantinople (Istanbul recently). You can see outstanding ornaments and advanced technology, needless to say that there are Islamic conferences, Islamic TV channels, Islamic lectures, books, and encyclopedias. However, Muslims, as a nation, are worthless.

 Muslims have great accomplishments as individuals, for example, the architect who has built the tallest building in Chicago is Muslim. Alsothe head chief of the Atomic energy in the United States is Muslim. These are individual achievements, but when it comes to the Muslim World, Muslims are worthless. In brief, they neglect Allah’s Orders, so they are neglected by Allah.. We, as Muslims, own the solution and the ball is in our court:

((And if you return (to the attack), so shall We return))

[Al-Anfal, 19]

 We have the same God the companions had, and Allah, who granted victory to the prophet PBUH and his companions, can grant us victory too, once we get back to Him.

Bases of faith

1- Keeping straight to Allah’s Orders:

 The first major base of faith is to follow Allah’s right Path. It does not matter what you look like; what matters is your straightness. It is pointless for someone to have a religious appearance yet use cancerous materials in food industry to earn more money. I myself can’t stand the liar who prays in the first row.

Being a believer means that you have a moral, scientific and aesthetic rank:

 "Believer"” is a great word. Similarly, the word doctor is a great one. When you call someone "Doctor,"” you know that this word is pregnant with a lot of indications. It means that this person knows reading and writing, and that he had acquired Bachelor’s degree, Diplomat, Master’s degree and finally Doctorate. Also it refers tothe books he wrote, the scientific achievements he accomplished, the universities he studied at and the teachers he learnt from.
 Let us get back to the word "Believer;" such word is a moral rank, for the believer never lies, cheats, embitters, builds his triumph on sh3er’ misery, exploits people, or consider them inferior. According to the minimum characteristics, the believer should be honest, trustworthy, chaste, merciful and modest..

 The believer has a moral and scientific rank. He knows Allah, the purpose of his existance. He knows who created him and why he was created. The believer knows what he should do and what he should not do. He knows what is permissible and what is not, and what is Halal and what is Haram. Moreover, the believer knows the religious duties, Haram matters, Sunnah matters, commendable matters and admissible matters. Hence, the believer is a moral person who is distinguished by his outstanding aesthetic taste. Therefore, the word "Believer" embraces a very high rank

Blind imitation of westerners:

 An honorable sister called me last year, asking me about a certain issue. She sent me a letter about what she needed. Her son met me in the Masjid to give me the letter. When I saw her son, I was very sad for his pants have three holes. I thought that his family was very poor. I wrote down in my notebook that I had to get this young man new clothes when I get back from Australia insha Allah. While I was in Australia, I was invited by one of my rich brother to have breakfast in his house. I saw his son wearing a pair of pants with three holes in it, so I realized that this was nothing but a fad (which means that the young man I thought was poor was just into fashion):

((…if they enter the hole of the lizard you will follow them…))

[Al Hakem by Abu Huraira]

 Pay attention to the imitation. You should wear worn pants with holes in it, with patches or with faded colors just to look like fashionable. How could we be honored as a nation?? Do we have an identity of our own?
 Who is controlling the way Muslim women dress up? He is a Jewish designer, who lives in France. When his collection of designs consists of short dresses, women will put on short dresses, and when it consists of long dresses, they will put on long dresses. If his collection consists of tight dresses, women will put on tight dresses. We are merely blind imitators.
 Sorry for being harsh on you, but I am being so, because I cannot bear the pain anymore., Every nation should have an identity of its own. Muslims should never be tempted by a magazine or a designer or anything that violates our Islamic rules.
 Again, the essential base in this religion is to be straight and keep following the right path. Unless you are straight, you will never reap the fruits of this religion, regardless your religious appearance.

Having your glory on other’s misery makes you a big loser:

 You may be a very religious man or a normal one, it does not matter actually. What matter is earning your money legally, stopping exploiting people to have your glory and make your wealth by making sh3er poor.
 Let me tell something about a man who goes to the Masjid regularly. One evening he was sitting with us talking about the house he bought. He said proudly that the price of the house he lived in was seven million pounds, but he paid seven hundred thousand pounds only to the Turkish woman who owned that house and who depended on that house for her living. He considered himself a hero, for he paid only seven hundred thousand pounds to make the house his own.
 I assure you, if you earn your money illegally, and hurt other Muslims by selling them bad goods, your prayers, your fasting, your Hajj, and your Zakat will never be accepted till the end of your life..
 Here is the proof:
 Aishah, May Allah be pleased with her, said once to a companion: "Tell him that he has just invalidated his Jihad (struggling in Allah’s cause) with the Prophet PBUH."
 Stop wasting your time in attending religious lessons, because you will not benefit from them since you are not straight. You will never be rewarded if you are not straight. Once you are straight, you will be blessed by having legal earning, Islamic home, marital bless, dutiful children and a very high position.
 I want to avoid mixing things together, so I do not want to call straightness one of the pillars of faith. All of us know the pillars; therefore I prefer to call keeping straight to Allah’s Commands a major base of faith.

The real status of Muslims and the reason of being abandoned by Allah:

 Dear brother, this concept was summarized by a knowledgeable man called Al Tasaturi. He said,

((Desisting from one Danek of sinful deeds is better than performing 80 pilgrimages after embracing Islam.))

 The Danek is one six of a Dirham, and if we consider one Syrian pound as a Dirham, the Danek will be no more than twenty Qursh (cents).
 Would you like me to tell you the story of the reality of Muslims in few lines, and why they were abandoned by Allah?
 An Imam of a Masjidused to live in London, but he moved later on to live in Manchester, so he had to go to his Masjid by bus. He took the same bus which was driven by the same bus driver every day.. One day the Imam gave the driver a bill of twenty pounds, and the driver gave him the change. When the Imam counted the money, he found out that there were twenty pennies more than what he deserved, so he said to himself: "I will give this money back to the driver before I get out of the bus." However, a while later, an evil thought occurred to him, so he said to himself: “"The company of this bus is a well known one and its returns are very huge. This money will do no harm to it if taken. I need it badly, so I’ll take it." He thought he can go back to a fatwa that would justify his bad deed. However, his piety overtook his logic, and what happened later is that when he was about to leave the bus, he put his hand in his pocket, and subconsciously he gave the extra twenty pennies to the driver, so the latter smiled and said:
 “"Are not you the Imam of this Masjid? The Imam answered, “"Yes, I am. ". Then the driver said: “"By Allah I was thinking about visiting you in the Masjid to worship Allah, but I wanted to test you before I come."”
 This man passed out because he realized the grave crime he would have committed if he had not given the extra money to the driver. when he recovered from his shock, he said, "O Allah, I was almost about to sell the entire Islam for twenty pennies."
 Nowadays, there are millions of Muslims who selltheir religion and their Hereafter for cunning, earning ill-gotten money, extorting a house or a company, I am speechless really.
In the west, they give a monthly salary and a house to the unemployed.. Let me tell you about how people live in Germany in particular. The salary is 1300 Euros, and if this person has a son, he will be given 330 Euros for him. He will be given a house that has water supply and electricity. All these things are given for free. Furthermore, they pay him for the ticket to visit his family once every year.. If he claims that he has lost his salary, he will be given another one instead. If he claims that his refrigerator does not work properly, they will pay him to buy a new one. If he divorces his wife, they will give him a second house, one for him, and the other for her. Also his ex-wife and he will be given salaries. However, Muslims in this country violate the law, so they pretend that they have no income. They lie to take the salary given to their kids in addition to their own salaries. They are given everything; a house supplied with water and electricity.. A Muslim might divorce his wife unofficially in order to have a second house. The German know all these facts and lies, yet they will welcome Muslims because they are in need of manpower.  Even if those Muslims have ten kids, they will be welcomed.
 Do you think that people in Germany will embrace Islam after knowing all about the cheating and the lies of Muslims? Absolutelynot.

Straightness is the essence of dignity:

 You will never be rewarded unless you keep straight to Allah's Orders, so stop wasting your time.. No one will listen to you if you are not straight. Straightness is the essence of dignity, so you have to be straight in order to be able to test the sweetness of prayer, of zakat, of Hajj and of fasting.. The minute you are straight, you will be happy at home and with your dutiful children who are raised to obey Allah. You will be successful in your life if you are straight. This is how your life will be once you are straight. If you are straight, yet cannot feel that you are the happiest person, I will tell you that there is something wrong with your straightness. You should be happy, because you are close to the Creator of the universes, to the One who controls everything, to, the One who if says "Be!" then it is, and if says, "Be gone."” – and it is gone. You will always be with the Absolute in His Potent, in His Wealth and in His Knowledge. If Allah is with you, who will be against you? And if Allah is against you, who will be with you?

 If you are unable to realize that you are the happiest person, because you know Allah and stay straight to His Orders, then your faith is shaky.
Being on the right path saves our time and effort, not to mention that all our deeds will be counted in.

((Desisting from one speck of sinful deeds is better than performing 80 pilgrimages after the obligatory pilgrimages.))

Straightness leads to safety:

 Dear brother, let me be frank with you, straightness grants you only safety.. Being straight means that when you don’t earn ill-gotten money, Allah will preserve your wealth, when you choose your wife according to Allah’s Method, there won’t be any domestic arguments, and when you raise your children according to the Islamic teachings, you won’t be afflicted with undutiful child. Thus, safety is the consequence of straightness. Straightness does not get you happiness, because the price of happiness is generosity and giving.

 I would like to elaborate by giving you an example. A cadet in the army is commanded by a Major General. If this cadet wants to meet the General, he has to get the permission from many ranks that are superior to his. He should first meet a Corporal or first Corporal, then Adjutant or first Adjutant, and a Lieutenant or first Lieutenant. However, the cadet will not need the permission if it happens that the General’s son is about to get drown and the cadet helps him survive. The Major General in such a case will welcome the cadet, seat him beside him, and serve him refreshments. Also he will say, "Allah bless you."

 What do you understand from the above mentioned example? If you want to feel happy by being close to Allah, you should do righteousness.

((So whoever hopes for the Meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness))

[Al-Kahef, 110]

 The good deed is the price you pay for paradise.

base of righteousness:

 Hence:

(("My Lord! Send me back, so that I may do good.. ))

[Al-Mu’minun, 99-100]

 Righteousness is the best thing you do after having faith in your heart.. A good deed is done when you proselytize, when you feed the poor, when you look after the orphan, when you write a book, when you establish a non-profit organization, when you take care of people around you and when you are dutiful to your parents. What exalts you in the sight of Allah and grants you happiness in worldly life is the good deed.
 We have two major bases by now; the first major base is straightness, and the second one is righteousness. You will never get safety if you are not straight to Allah’s Orders, nor will you get happiness if you do not do a good deed..

Drawing closer to Allah and getting more knowledgeable every day is a must:

  Again; you will not be rewarded unless you keep straight to Allah’s Path and do good deeds that will draw you close to Allah.. You will not get safety without straightness nor will you get happiness without righteousness.
 Hence righteousness and good deeds are two fundamental bases.

((And the righteous deeds exalt it (the goodly words i.e. the goodly words are not accepted by Allah unless and until they are followed by good deeds) ))

[Fatir, 10]

 That is why it was reported in some prophetic Du’a (supplications):

((Let it not be a blessed day the day I don’t get knowledge through which I draw closer to Allah, and let it not be a blessed day the day I don’t get more closer to Allah))

[Mentioned in the relic]

 If one day passes without gaining more knowledge and drawing closer to Allah, it is then a great loss for t you.

 Remember dear brother that the prophet PBUH used to say when he woke up:

((All praise and thanks to Allah Who restored to me my soul))

  It means that Allah grants me a new day to live. Many people sleep and do not wake up in the next morning, for they are no more alive. The family my discover that when one of its member tries to wake the dead person up to have breakfast with the rest.. Whenever you are able to wake up, stand up, move, talk, see by your eyes, hear by your ears,, perform ablution and pray, the first thing you should do is saying the following:

((All praise and thanks to Allah Who restored to me my soul, made my body healthy and allowed me to remember Him.))

 If you wake up to perform Fajr Salah, you should know that millions of people come back home after Fajr from night clubs.
 You are blessed by Allah by straightness and by being able to wake up and pray al-Fajr. Unlike you, other people come back home after al-Fajr from night clubs.

((All praise and thanks to Allah Who restored to me my soul, made my body healthy and allowed me to remember Him.))

Righteousness can be done by helping Muslims and defending them:

 We have four or five major bases in the Islamic Deen, and we are tackling these major bases in our lesson today.
 We mentioned earlier that straightness is one of these bases. Actually there are millions of minor religious issues and details that only Allah knows. I want to focus on the major bases such as straightness and righteousness.

 Doing righteousness is a must; you should help other people, feed a starving one, feed a cat and treat an injured animal. These are all good deeds; listen to what Ibn al-Qayyem said,

((The paths through which you reach Allah are as many as people. ))

 I was invited to visit Algeria by the International Committee of Scientific Miracles in Quran. This committee works on making all scientific miracles well known at the universities. In this case a university student will be able to realize that the noble ayat contain many miracles which are now interpreted scientifically speaking although the noble Qur’an was descended about 1400 years ago. The students at universities will come realize that the Creator of all universes is the only One who has descended the noble Qur’an. Thus, we can see how the International Committee has done a great job; this is righteousness indeed.
 I am not exaggerating if I tell you that there are billions of good deeds that can be done. Every deed is a good one if it is done to serve Muslims, to defend them, to keep them safe and to increase their power. Also a good deed can be done by helping an orphan, visiting a sick person, feeding the poor and having mercy on a miserable person.

((And the righteous deeds exalt it (the goodly words i.e. the goodly words are not accepted by Allah unless and until they are followed by good deeds) ))

[Fatir, 10]

 We will be talking about the good deed in more details in our next lesson insha Allah. We should continue with the major bases of the Islamic Deen. They are about four or six bases, and they are very wide if we do know how to apply them properly.

Major bases and minor issues:

 Details are easy to be known once you ask sh3er to give you information about them., however, major issues are something different.. The car, for example has major parts like the engine, the tires, the fuel and the driver. The car also has thousands of minor parts that if something of these parts is missing such as the connecting rod, the car can still run. However, if an essential part, like the engine, is missing then it is no more a car.

 We will tackle the major bases of the Islamic Deen in our next lessons insha Allah, so that we will have a clear idea about the facts of faith and how we could save our time and serve our religion effectively..

The scientific topic:

Having knowledge about Allah and His orders:

  We are moving now to talk about the scientific topic. Our topic is about the essential bases, so we will be dealing with it in details in our next lessons.
 Religion has bases and branches; you know Allah through reflecting on the universe, and you worship Him through the Share’e (Islamic laws) Hence, we should know Allah, and we should know his orders; they are two different matters.
 Knowing Allah’s orders needs studying; it has to do with knowing Halal and Haram, good and evil, rules of renting, rules of debts, of financial transactions, of Judicial guarantee, and of marriage and divorce. All these issues are included in the Islamic laws and they require studying.
 I keep repeating that knowing Allah’s orders are studied in the faculty of Shari’ah at the Islamic universities, whereas knowing Allah’s creatures is studied in the faculty of physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, ekistics, pedagogy, geology, psychology and sociology at the universities all over the world. Thus, you come to know Allah’s orders by studying at the faculties of Shari’ah, and you come to know his Creation by studying at the other faculties. However, knowing Allah is something else; you come to know Him by pondering over the creation of heavens and earth.

Getting to know Allah, His creatures and His Orders:

 Dear brother, knowing Allah’s creatures is studied at the universities all over the world, and knowing Allah’s orders is studied in Shari’ah faculties at the Islamic universities. Both kinds of knowledge need learning, but what do we mean by learning? We mean a book and a teacher. Also learning means reading, reviewing, summarizing, memorizing, tests and finally license after passing the tests.

 Hence, both knowing Allah’s Orders and knowing His creatures need studying and learning. These two fields of knowledge are merely pieces of information that are stored in the brain, and they have nothing to do with the soul.

 Suppose that a professor in the Sorbonne’s university (even if he is Jewish) is studying the prophetic Hadeeth. He needs to get information by reading, memorizing, analyzing and explaining. Therefore, knowing Allah’s Orders and His creatures are accessible to everyone, even to those who are considered Islam’s enemies.

 Basically, the most important books in science history were written by non-Muslims. What a painful fact it is!

 Again, knowing Allah’s orders and Allah’s creatures need studying, good memory, being admitted to a university, attending lectures, reading at home, reviewing, doing research, having tests and getting a license. However, knowing Allah needs striving, and some Arifeen (knowledgeable scholars) said: “"Strive in order to see (in order to have an inner sight)"”, Allah says:

((As for those who strive hard in Us (Our Cause), We will surely guide them to Our Paths (i.e. Allah's Religion - Islamic Monotheism) ))

[Al-Ankabut, 69]

 When you seek Halal, fear the One the Dayyan (the judge), pray perfectly, perform night prayers, reauthor Quran and lower your gaze. As you all these things, you will be paying the price for knowing Allah. However, once you know Allah, you will realize that this knowledge is something different, for its place is not the brain. On the contrary, its place is the heart. Your heart then will glow forth and passes affability, satisfaction and affection to sh3er. A believer turns into a brilliant star with such knowledge:

((The best of you are those who remind you of Allah when you see them))

[Baihaqi by Umar]

 The person who is connected with Allah is like a glowing lamp plugged in power, and spreading light all over people around him.
 Knowing Allah needs striving not studying, needless to say that it needs straightness, good deeds, piety, remembrance, generosity, performing prayer and reciting Quran. You draw close to Allah when you do all these things.

“Strive and you will be able to see (have inner sight)”.

 If we bring together studying and striving, we will be acquiring triumph at its both ends. We know Allah through striving, and we obey Him through studying.
 In our next meeting we will continue tackling this delicate topic insha Allah.