Lecture 26 delivered on 7 July 2016 by Mowlana Syed Aftab Haider at the Ahlul Bait (a.s) Islamic Centre, Ottery, Cape Town
CENTRALITY OF DUA IN LIFE OF SERVANTS OF RAHMAN
After having discussed 11 of the most outstanding attributes of the Servants of Rahman, we have now reached the 12th and final attribute that is referred to in Surah Furqaan which is the fact that the institution of Dua is critical in their life.
The Quran speaks about the philosophy and need for Dua in numerous places and narrates the Duas of Prophets and the Pious which start with the call of “Our Lord.”
And the ahadith of the Prophet (sawa) have numerous further references to the philosophy and importance of Dua. For example:
“Dua is weapon of the believer” or in another hadith – “Dua is the core/essence of worship” and so on.
And we then observe that from a practical perspective that the upholding of the institution of Dua is one of the outstanding qualities of the Ahlul Bait (a.s) with its extremely rich culture in this regard.
The duas of the Ahlul Bait (a.s) are sufficient to satisfy the seeker of truth of how they are the leaders in spiritual development.
Their duas teach us the analysis of the human personality, how to develop morality and ethics, how to repent to Allah, etc.
The Sahifa Sajjadiyya of Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) is a comprehensive compendium of Duas wherein the Imam teaches us all of the above mentioned knowledge and virtues and more.
There are also the recorded Duas of the other Imams like the great Dua Kumayl of Imam Ali (a.s) or Munaajaat Shabaniyya that is recorded to have been read by all the Infallibles or even Dua Iftitah of Imam Mahdi (a.s) which has a great social-political message in it and much much more. It’s a never ending treasure with spiritual value hidden it.
Dua is the communication channel between you and your Lord which ascends to Almighty Allah, while the Quran has descended from Allah to us. And thus the last verse of this Surah concludes with an eye opener regarding the impact of our Dua in that it is the one Reality that causes Allah to care for us! Thus Verse 77 says:
قُلْ مَا يَعْبَأُ بِكُمْ رَبِّي لَوْلاَ دُعَاؤُكُمْ فَقَدْ كَذَّبْتُمْ فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا
“Say (to the disbelievers: ) ‘My Lord would not care for you at all were it not for your prayer (unto Him), but you: indeed have belied (the Truth), and soon you shall be (in) the grip (of the inevitable).”
DUAS OF SERVANTS OF RAHMAN ARE PITCHED AT THE ULTIMATE LEVEL
Given the depth of understanding of the Servants of Rahman of the Institution of Dua, we thus see as the climax of their Hallmarks that Verse 74 records their Dua as follows:
وَالَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَاجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّاتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا
“And those who say: ‘O’ our Lord! Grant us from our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us for the pious ones (their) Imams.”
We learn from this one verse, that besides the importance of Dua itself, that the contents of your Dua is also extremely critical! Thus we find in this Verse that the Servants of Rahman ask for those things that really matter! So what matters? In Verse 74 there are 3 duas included in it:
– Dua for a good spouse;
– Dua for good offspring; and
– Dua for leadership of the people of Taqwa
The reason for first asking for a good spouse, is because we understand from another Dua in the Quran and the ahadith of the Prophet (sawa), that the “best of this world” is a good spouse and that success in life is influenced by he support of a good spouse.
Secondly, they ask for good offspring as they are the beauties of this world and one of the best legacies to leave behind from which they continue to benefit after they leave this world.
Allamah Muhammad Taqi Majlisi (r.a), who was the father of the famous Allamah Baqir Majlisi (r.a) says that one day he made salaah and Dua and felt that he is in a condition where Allah will listen to his Dua, so he started to think of what he should ask from Almighty Allah.
At that stage, Allamah Baqir Majlisi was still a very young baby in his cradle and so his father thought that the best prayer he could make was to ask Almighty Allah to grant his son who was in a cradle to be someone who will serve Islam and who will spread the Message and Mission of Prophet Muhammad (sawa) and the result was that Allamah Baqir Majlisi became such a great scholar who wrote many books including Biharul Anwar which has over 110 volumes and who wrote many other books!
The third Dua that the Sevants of Rahman make is that they don’t ask to be pious, which by itself is a great Dua, but ask to be the leaders of the pious! They don’t sell themselves cheap but go for the maximum available.
After highlighting the 12 Hallmarks of the Servants of Allah, the next verses indicate how they will be rewarded
Thus verses 75 and 76 say:
أُوْلَئِكَ يُجْزَوْنَ الْغُرْفَةَ بِمَا صَبَرُوا وَيُلَقَّوْنَ فِيهَا تَحِيَّةً وَسَلاَمًا
خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا حَسُنَتْ مُسْتَقَرًّا وَمُقَامًا
“Those (servants of the Beneficent) shall be rewarded with the high stations (in Paradise) because they were patient, and they shall be met therein with welcome and salutations.”
“Abiding therein; how excellent the abode, and the resting-place.”
“Ghurfa” means “room” or “chamber” but in terms of the ahadith we understand it to be a very high position as there is a class system which only they will have access to. From their high position they will oversee everything.
This station has 3 qualities:
- it is eternal;
- it is the best residence; and
- they are regularly and continuously greeted with peace….as Surah Yasien says “Peace, a word from a Lord, Most Merciful.”
This reward is not Jannah (heaven) – it is more than Jannah! Allah is greeting you which is the highest reward people receive as their worship was not out of fear of Jahannam or greed for Jannah.
ADDITIONAL HALLMARK OF THE SERVANTS OF RAHMAN
After mentioning 12 Hallmarks of the Servants of Rahman, and while mentioning their reward, Verse 75 includes a reference to one more attribute or Hallmark being one of “Sabr” or “Patience”.
Why is this quality of “Sabr” mentioned separately when referring to their reward instead of being included in their list of attributes which were mentioned before their reward?
And the reason is that to achieve all 12 of those outstanding attributes, you require the underlying common quality of “sabr”! Because all those qualities like humility, forbearance, etc. cannot be achieved without Sabr. Remember the Verse says that their reward is “high stations” and from this we derive that achieving anything that is lofty requires much patience or Sabr.
What is the meaning of Sabr? It certainly does not mean being silent. Though Sabr has various levels, it never means to “keep silent.”
Sabr means to persevere, remain focused, having courage, never giving up.
Sabr also means to control your “self” from its desires.
There’s a hadith which says “there are three types of sabr – sabr in difficulty, sabr in performing compulsory obligations, sabr in refraining from that which is impermissible”.
It is an attribute close to “istiqaama” which means being “steadfast.”
Thus we even see in war that the Quran refers to the quality of sabr when it says “20 people with Sabr will overcome 200 of its enemies”, etc.
Another hadith says that “Sabr is a treasure from the treasures of jannah.”
The final Verse 77 says:
قُلْ مَا يَعْبَأُ بِكُمْ رَبِّي لَوْلاَ دُعَاؤُكُمْ فَقَدْ كَذَّبْتُمْ فَسَوْفَ يَكُونُ لِزَامًا
“Say (to the disbelievers: ) ‘My Lord would not care for you at all were it not for your prayer (unto Him), but you: indeed have belied (the Truth), and soon you shall be (in) the grip (of the inevitable).”
And we alluded to the meaning of this Verse in the introduction to this lecture.
In conclusion, May Almighty Allah grant us the tawfiq to acquire some of these attributes of the Servants of Rahman and include us in their company in the next world, Insha’Allah.
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