STRIVING AND MAKING DU’A TO ALLAH TO MAKE US AS HIS “FEW SERVANTS”
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE MOST MERCIFUL
Today, even with the modern technology and social media, everyone is copying each other blindly on their practice of Islam. Most recently in Iran, when some women protested against wearing of the hijab, others simply followed that led to some even burning the hijab. Instead of looking up on proper Islamic knowledge and principles, and understand why Allah Ordered the Muslim women to be modest and cover their awrah, many people simply imitated and followed the majority, and thought that this action is the correct action. Instead of preserving the religion of Allah which He has completed many years ago, some simply wish to “modernise” it at the expense of diluting the religion.
Allah has completed the Deen when He revealed the verse in Qur’an surah 5 verse 3:
ٱلْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِى وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلْإِسْلَـٰمَ دِينًۭا
“…This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion…”
Therefore whatever we are practising today in 2022 should be the same as what was practised 1444 years ago in the time of prophet Muhammad SallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.
However, instead of looking up on evidence for acts of worship- in the Qur’an and authentic hadiths, everyone is following each other blindly, saying to each other that “everyone is doing it, so this must be the correct way to practise the Deen”. Therefore,
- when doing Umrah, when you see others wiping their prayer mats or their clothings on the maqam Ibrahim to “get the blessings of it” people started to follow.
- When some so-called ustadh or elderly recited al Fatihah after receiving the news of a death of someone, people started to recite al Fatihah, even though there is no hadith.
- When many household have a tahlil session and recitation of surah Yaseen after 40 days or one year anniversary of someone’s death, everyone followed blindly.
- When many mosques celebrated the birthday of prophet Muhammad SallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, everyone comes to the mosque and chanted the salawat on him in unison.
- In the culture of Malaysia and Singapore, when someone started to shake hands immediately after the prayer ends to the person on the left and right, everyone started to do so.
You see many brothers greet by hugging and kissing on the cheek, but look at the hadith narrated by At-Tirmithi and Anas ibn Maalik, who said:
“A man said: O Messenger of Allah, when a man amongst us meets his brother or his friend should he bend down to him?” He said: “No.” The man continued: “Should he hug him and kiss him?” He
said: “No.” The man again asked: “Should he take his hand and shake it?” He
said: “Yes.”
The scholars said that the instruction not to embrace or kiss the person one meets entails that it is disliked and not prohibition.
Allah Warned us in the Qur’an in Surah 6 verse 116:
وَإِن تُطِعْ أَكْثَرَ مَن فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ
“And if you obey most of those on earth, they will mislead you far away from Allah’s Path. They follow nothing but conjectures, and they do nothing but lie.”
So, Allah informed us that most people are in the wrong path, who will lie to us about the Deen because they have no evidence from the Qur’an and sunnah but simply guess and follow the most common and popular way to practise the Deen, whereas the Deen was completed many years ago. No one bothers to look up for evidence in the Qur’an and authentic hadiths,
In another issue on the majority’s behaviour, Shaytan Informed Allah about us, the children of Adam in Qur’an surah 7 verse 17, as he tries to deceive and trick us:
ثُمَّ لَـَٔاتِيَنَّهُم مِّنۢ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَـٰنِهِمْ وَعَن شَمَآئِلِهِمْ ۖ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَـٰكِرِينَ
“Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them as thankful ones (i.e. they will not be dutiful to You).”
So, iblis/shaytan informed Allah that the majority of the sons of Adam will not be grateful to Allah. How accurate he is. Out of 8 billion people in the world today in 2022, the number of people who submitted themselves to Allah (Muslims) are around 1.9 billion. Even out of these 1.9 billion Muslims, the number of Muslims who are praying the minimum 5 times a day may be at most 20%. Clearly, the majority of the sons of Adam are ungrateful to Allah by forgetting Allah’s Command when He Forced Adam and his wife to leave Paradise, as Allah Reminded us in Qur’an surah 2 verses 38-19:
قُلْنَا ٱهْبِطُوا۟ مِنْهَا جَمِيعًۭا ۖ فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّى هُدًۭى فَمَن تَبِعَ هُدَاىَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ وَكَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَآ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَـٰبُ ٱلنَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَـٰلِدُونَ
“We said: “Get down all of you from this place (the Paradise), then whenever there comes to you Guidance from Me, and whoever follows My Guidance, there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve.
But those who disbelieve and belie Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) such are the dwellers of the Fire, they shall abide therein forever.”
Shaytan is definitely correct when he said to Allah that most people have been deceived by shaytan – because if not, they would surely be seeking Allah’s Guidance continuously in order to be admitted into Paradise.
Therefore, it is important that we ponder about the incident below, which explains the title of this topic today.
From Kitab al-Zuhd by Ahmad bin Hanbal
When Umar bin al-Khattab radi allahu `anhu (may God be pleased with him) was walking in the market, he passed by a man who was supplicating,
اللهم اجعلني من عبادك القليل
“O Allah, make us of Your ‘few’ servants! O Allah make us of Your ‘few’ servants!”
So ‘Umar said to him, “Where did you get this du`a’ (supplication) from?” And the man said, “Allah in His Book says ‘And few of My servants are grateful.'(Qur’an 34:13)” So ‘Umar wept and admonished himself, “The people are more knowledgeable than you, O Umar! O Allah make us of Your ‘few’ servants.”
So be of the “few”, whom Allah says about them:
وَقَلِيلٌۭ مِّنْ عِبَادِىَ ٱلشَّكُورُ
“And few of My servants are grateful.” (34:13)
Allah Reminded us about our ungratefulness in the following verseL
وَءَاتَىٰكُم مِّن كُلِّ مَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَإِن تَعُدُّوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَآ ۗ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَظَلُومٌۭ كَفَّارٌۭ
“And He gave you of all that you asked for, and if you count the Blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count them. Verily! Man is indeed an extreme wrong-doer, – a disbeliever.” 14: 34
وَمَآ ءَامَنَ مَعَهُۥٓ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌۭ
“But none had believed with him, except a few.” (11:40)
فِى جَنَّـٰتِ ٱلنَّعِيمِ
ثُلَّةٌۭ مِّنَ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ
وَقَلِيلٌۭ مِّنَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِينَ
“In the Gardens of Pleasure, A [large] company of the former peoples, And a few of the later peoples.” (56:12-14)
Ibn al-Qayyim (ra) said, “Go on the path of truth and do not feel lonely because there are few who take that path, and beware of the path of falsehood and do not be deceived by the greatness of the perishers.”
Al-Nawawi reported: Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “Do not feel lonely on the paths of guidance because their people are few, and do not be deceived by the great many who are ruined.”
Source: al-Adhkār lil-Nawawī 1/207
In fact, Allah Warned us about the majority and not to be like them. As mentioned right at the beginning of this talk, everyone wants to follow the majority but look at what Allah said about most people:
Most people
وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
“do not know” (7:187),
وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَشْكُرُونَ
“do not give thanks” (2:243) and
وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
“do not believe” (11:17).
And if you look for “most of them”, you will find that most of them are
وَأَنَّ أَكْثَرَكُمْ فَـٰسِقُونَ
“defiantly disobedient/ rebellious” (5:59),
وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ يَجْهَلُونَ
“ignorant” (6:111),
بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ٱلْحَقَّ ۖ فَهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ
“But most of them do not know the truth, so they turn away.” (21:24),
وَهُمْ لَا يَسْمَعُونَ
and “do not listen” (8:21).
أَمَّن جَعَلَ الْأَرْضَ قَرَارًا وَجَعَلَ خِلَالَهَا أَنْهَارًا وَجَعَلَ لَهَا رَوَاسِيَ وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ حَاجِزًا، أَإِلَـٰهٌ مَّعَ اللَّـهِ، بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
“Who is it that made the earth a stable place to live in? Who made rivers flow through it? Who set mountains upon it and placed a barrier between the two seas? Is there another deity besides Allah? Indeed, most of them have no knowledge.” 27: 61
CONCLUSION
We practice the Deen based ONLY on what we read in the Qur’an and authentic hadiths. We must not be swayed by the majority, whom as we have seen above, are completely ignorant with no knowledge of the Deen They simply follow the elderly and the majority, who themselves are practising the Deen based on what the majority do and based on culture.
Therefore, learn the du’a that Umar ibn Khattab has learnt in the market and make du’a that Allah will make us among the few:
اللهم اجعلني من عبادك القليل
“Allahummaj ‘alnee min ‘ibaadikal qaleel”
“O Allah, make us of Your ‘few’ servants!”
