An action done without Ikhlaas

“An action done without Ikhlaas & without following the Messenger is like a traveler whose sock becomes filled with sand, which weighs him down, & has no benefit.” 

Ibnul-Qayyim – ‘al-Fawaid’

Ibnul-Jawzi’s Remarkable Comments on Supplication

“I have reflected over an interesting situation: that a calamity may befall a believer & so he supplicates, going to great lengths in doing so, but he sees no sign of an answer.  So when despair comes close, at that time his heart is looked at, thus if it is in acceptance of the [many] decrees of fate, not having despaired of Allaah the Mighty & Majestic’s Bounty, then in most cases at that time the response is hastened, for it is there that eemaan is qualified, & the devil vanquished, & it is there that a man’s worth is shown.

And this has been alluded to in His Saying, the Most High, 

“… until [even their] messenger & those who believed with him said, “When (will come) the Help of Allaah?”

[Baqarah 2:214]

Ibnul Jawzi on the Dying Person’s Alertness

The Shaikh, the Imaam, the Allaamah, the Shaikh of Islaam, Abul-Faraj Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Jawzi, said:

 

“From the most interesting things is the alertness of the dying person at the time of his death–for he becomes perceptive to a degree which cannot be described, and worried to an extent that has no limits.

And he yearns for his times of old, and wishes that he be left so that he can make up for what passed him by, and so that he can be truthful in his...repentance in accordance with the level of certainty he [now] has about death. 

And he–out of grief–almost kills his own soul before its [actual] death.

And if a [single] atoms weight of these things were found at the time of health and well-being, everything that is intended by doing pious deeds would be achieved.

Fundamentals of achieving a Good Life

                                     By: Imaam Abdur Rahman As-Sa'dee رحمه الله

Edited by: Umm Hasna bint Jabir as-Saylâniyyah

The greatest and fundamental means of achieving a good life are Eemaan (certain belief) and good deeds. Allaah سُبحانه وتعالى said:

مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَى وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَيَاةً طَيِّبَةً وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُم بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ

"Whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, while he (or she) is a true believer (of Islâmic Monotheism) verily, to him We will give a good life (in this world with respect, contentment and lawful provision), and We shall pay them certainly a reward in proportion to the best of what they used to do (i.e. Paradise in the Hereafter)."

(An-Nahl 16:97)

So Allaah سُبحانه وتعالى informs and promises whoever joins true belief with good and righteous deeds, that He will give him a good and pure life in this world, and a good reward in this world and in the Hereafter. 

The reason behind this is very clear. This is because true believers in Allaah سُبحانه وتعالى, have a sound belief that gives rise to righteous deeds, and mends the heart and corrects human behaviour, and makes good both this world and the Hereafter. Such a people have the basic elements that guide them in dealing with situations of happiness and joy, and situations of anxiety, sorrow and grief. 

Click to read..