Be pleased with Allah

 

Along with having faith in the phrase, "I am pleased with Allah as my Lord, with Islam as my religion, and with Muhammad as a Messenger," you must also be pleased with Allah's commandments and decrees.

 

When you are selective in your belief in pre-ordainment, your belief is incorrect. Being selective means to be pleased and contented with only those decrees that are compatible with your desires, while complaining against and begrudging those decrees that go against your desires.

 

Some people would be pleased with their Lord when things were easy, but they would begrudge His decrees when things became tough, and Allah said about them:

 

(lf good befalls him, he is content therewith; but if a trial befalls him, he turns back on his face [i.e. reverts back to disbelief other embracing islam]. He loses both this world and the Hereafter)           (Qur'an 22: 11)

 

The Desert Arabs announced their Islam openly, and when they found ease and profit in what was revealed, they would say, "This is a good religion." They would then obey commandments and observe their religious duties.

 

But when they found the opposite --- draught and poverty, for example --- they would turn away in disdain, abandoning their religion. The one who practices Islam in this way always expects ease in fulfilling his personal desires.

 

Whoever is chosen by Allah to worship Him and to carry the flag of Islam, and then is not pleased with this honor, deserves a perpetual and eternal torment.

 

(The story of him to whom we gave Our Aayaat [proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.], but he threw them away, so Satan followed him up, and he became of those who went astray)

(Qur'an 7: I75)

 

(Had Allah known of any good in them, he would indeed have made them listen, and even if he had made them listen, they would but have turned away, averse [to the truth].)                         (Qur'an 8: 23)

 

Contentment is a path that is followed by people who want to live according to a higher code, a code that is followed by those who are close to Allah.

 

The Messenger of Allah (bpuh) distributed the spoils of war after the battle of Hunayn. He gave most of the spoils to the chiefs of different tribes and to those Arabs who were late or slow in accepting Islam. He excluded the Ansaar, confident in the degree of contentment and faith that each one of them had. Perhaps some of them did not fully perceive the noble reason for their being excluded from this distribution, so the Messenger of Allah (bpuh) gathered them together to explain to them why they were left out. He informed them of his love for them and that he only gave to the others in order to bring them closer to Islam, an action that was based on their weak level of faith, which was in need of strengthening. He said to the Ansaar:

 

"Are you not contented that the people are leaving with camels and sheep while you are leaving with the Messenger of Allah! The Ansaar are (like) inner- garments (for me) while others are like outer-garments (meaning that the Ansaar are very close to the Messenger of Allah and high in ranking with him). May Allah have mercy on the Ansaar, the children of the Ansaar, and the grandchildren of the Ansaar. If all people were to tread in a valley or a mountain pass, while the Ansaar traveled through another valley or

mountain pass. I would tread the mountain pass and valley of the Ansaar."

 

They were then satisfied; pleasure and tranquility descended upon them. Moreover. Allah and His Messenger (bpuh) were pleased with them.

 

Those who truly find Allah's pleasure will not then trade it for even the entire world; there is nothing comparable to the reward of Allah's pleasure.

 

One Desert Arab accepted Islam in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (bpuh), who then gave him some money. The Arab said, "O' Messenger of Allah. I did not pledge to follow you for this." The Prophet (bpuh) asked, "Then why did you pledge to follow me?" ‌ He answered, "I pledged to follow you to have an arrow strike me here (he pointed to his throat) and to exit here (he pointed to the back of his neck)." The Messenger of Allah (bpuh) said, "If you are truthful with Allah, He will be truthful to you (in His promise)."

 

The man was present at a battle and an arrow struck him just as he desired. He met his Lord, pleased and joyful.

 

On another occasion, the Messenger of Allah (bpuh) distributed some wealth. He gave to those who were weak in their religion, and he did not give to those whose swords were stained with blood from lighting in the way of Allah, those who used their wealth and bodies to defend the Religion. The Messenger of Allah (bpuh) stood before the people and said:

 

"I give to people because of the covetousness and anxiety that Allah has put into their hearts. I don't give to others because of the faith --- or goodness --- that Allah has put into their hearts. From them is 'Amr ibn Taghlab."

 

'Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "These were words (from the Messenger of Allah) for which I would not trade all that is in the world." This is the epitome of contentment and of seeking what is with Allah, the Exalted. The whole world to one of them was not worth as much as a smile from the Messenger of Allah (bpuh).

 

The promises of the Messenger of Allah were these: the reward of Allah, His pleasure, and Paradise. He did not promise them castles, positions, or land. He would say to them, "Whoever does such and such, his reward will be Paradise." Arid he would say to another,

"Whoever does such and such, he will be my Companion in Paradise." The tremendous sacrifices and efforts of the Companions could not be compensated by paltry worldly tokens; a just reward for them could only be given to them in the Hereafter.

 

Tirmidhi related that 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) went to get permission from the Messenger of Allah (bpuh) to make pilgrimage to Makkah. The Messenger of Allah (bpuh`) answered:

"Do not forget us in your supplication, O' my brother."

 

The speaker of this request was the Messenger of guidance, who was free from sin and who spoke not from desire but from revelation.

'Umar said of the Prophet's priceless and cherished words, "l wouldn't trade these words for the whole world."

 

Imagine that the Messenger of Allah (bpuh) had said to you, "Do not forget us in your supplication, O' my brother." How then would you feel?

 

The level of the Prophet's contentment and pleasure with his Lord is beyond our ability to describe. He was pleased with his Lord in richness and in poverty, in health and in sickness, in harsh circumstances and in comfort.

 

He experienced the bitterness and sadness of being an orphan. At times in his life he could not so much as find the pit of a date to eat; to alleviate the pangs of hunger, he (bpuh) would tie a stone around his stomach. He had to leave his armor with a Jew as collateral in order to borrow wheat from him. His bed was straw, which would poke into his side and cause pain. Sometimes three whole days passed before he managed to find anything to eat. Despite all of these hardships, he was pleased with Allah, the Lord of all that exists.

 

(Blessed be He Who, if He will, will assign you better than [all] that, ---- Gardens under which rivers flow [Paradise] and will assign you palaces (i.e. in Paradise).)                                                                        (Qur'an 25: I0)

 

He was pleased with Allah during the most difficult of times in his life: the early years of his mission. The whole world stood against him, with their numbers, their wealth, and their power. During this period, both his uncle --- Abu Taalib --- and his wife --- Khadeejah (may Allah be pleased with her) --- died. The Quraysh inflicted all kinds of punishment upon him and his followers. His people slandered him, accusing him of being a liar, a magician, a soothsayer, a madman, and a poet.

 

He was pleased with his Lord even on the day that he was driven out of Makkah, the city wherein he played as a child and grew up as a young man. Tuming towards Makkah, his eyes swelled with tears and he said:

 

"You are the most beloved of Allah's lands to me. If your dwellers had not expelled me from you, I would not have left."

 

He was pleased with his Lord when he went to Ta'aif to deliver his noble message, and instead of receiving a welcome, he was greeted with stones that were thrown at him and that made his feet bleed.

 

The Messenger of Allah (bpuh) was wounded in the battle of Uhud, his uncle was killed, many of his Companions were slaughtered, but immediately after the battle he said:

"Line up behind me so that I can praise my Lord."

 

In short, at every moment of his life, he was pleased with his Lord, the reward for which is mentioned in this verse:

 

(And verily your Lord will give you [all i.e. good] so that you shall be well-pleased.)                                                                                        (Qur'an 93: 5)