Below are two questions and their answers. Sharing for mutual benefit.
والسّلام
Yawar Baig
Sent:Friday, June 05, 2015 10:08 PM
To: Mirza Yawar Baig
Subject: Balancing Deen and Dunya.
To: Mirza Yawar Baig
Subject: Balancing Deen and Dunya.
Assalamu`Alaykum Warahmatulahi Wabarakatuhu.
Dear Sheikh,
You seem to have achieved exceptionally well in knowledge of this world and knowledge of here after(Deen).While acquiring knowledge of both worlds, Did it not create a clash or friction in your heart.?
For instance – whenever i wanna give exceptional commitment to acquire any skill of this worldly life, it makes me forget ALLAH. Salah is not at its best -Allotting time for Dhikr is constraint. Just the process of acquiring knowledge of worldly life keeps me away from ALLAH. Because you often say Focus- one Good thing at time- Ordinary Light illuminates at best and laser Cuts through steel.
One can say the focus is hereafter – but anything attached to this dunya in Excess or kind of being exceptionally well ,will invariably spoil the heart or at least forget ALLAH in the process.
To be the best at any skill one needs to love it and take it to heart.
Your talks Represent that you have done intense research on skills of this world and well same is true when you speak about deen in your fajr reminders.whats the art of doing that together- how do you partition that in your heart?
Dont knowledge of both worlds contradict each other – at least the knowledge of materialistic world which we are living is mutually exclusive with knowledge of hereafter.?
or
How do you keep that dunya beneath your foot – even after reaching that feet.
Whats the art of laser cutting through steels in this world and hereafter simultaneously.
There is no conflict between Deen and Dunya. Dunya is not the opposite of Deen. Deen is the way to live in the Dunya. There is no Deen after death. So there is no friction or contradiction between the two. On the contrary, you can only attain excellence in Deen through excellence in Dunya. Sadly people don’t see this and they preach the opposite which is a confusion with Hindu theology – Sanyas, leaving the Dunya for spiritual growth. There is no Sanyas in Islam. Rasoolullahﷺ said, ‘La Ruhbaniya fil Islam.’ (There is no asceticism in Islam).
Love of Dunya that people talk about has nothing to do with wealth. It has to do with the love of material things to the exclusion of the love of Allahﷻ. A beggar on the street is not the most spiritual of beings. As a matter of fact he may be far less spiritual than someone who has a lot more but is focused on charity. He loves what little he has and the fact that he believes that he has to beg all day so much that he doesn’t bother to pray. When did you ever see a beggar praying, even when they all go to the nearest masjid on Juma to beg? So love of Dunya has nothing to do with how much of it you have. It has to do with how much you love it in relation to how much you love Allahﷻ. As long as you love Allahﷻ more, you can be the king of the world but the Dunya will not distract you from Deen. So there is no friction between Dunya and Deen. They are intrinsically linked and completely indispensable for success in each other.
Secondly Dunya is the only way that you will attain perfection in the Aakhira. Dunya is the only way to earn Jannah. You don’t earn Jannah by leaving Dunya but by using Dunya. It is like telling someone sitting in a car, ‘The best way to reach your destination is to get out of your car and walk.’ You may still get to your destination but you will get there with great difficulty and very slowly. But if you remained in your car and drove on the right road, you would get there much faster and much more comfortably. This is what the Sahaba did. They had the best of both worlds. The problem is that people only tell you stories of the Sahaba in the days of the inception of Islam. Stories of deprivation and struggle. Not the stories of how they handled Dunya when the conquests started and there was literally money to burn. Did they fall into evil? Did they forget Allahﷻ? Did they leave Salah and sit in their shops? Or did they establish Islam on the face of the earth?
Dunya, lived according to the Deen, is Ibaadah. It is Deen itself. It is the reason for the Deen. If this Dunya didn’t exist there would be no need for Deen. To live in this Dunya according to the Deen is the most powerful way to do Da’awa. Dunya is the way to attain the pleasure of Allahﷻ. Dunya is the tilth for the Aakhira – as Rasoolullahﷺ reminded us. How are you going to get a harvest if you leave your fields fallow? You want a good harvest you have to spend every waking moment in your fields, ploughing, winnowing, planting, watering and praying for success in the harvest. People who tell you to leave the Dunya don’t know agriculture. If you want to learn agriculture, go to a farmer. That is why the importance of Tarbiyya in Islam which we have completely discarded.
You should love the Dunya – but for the right reasons. You should run behind the Dunya – but for the right reasons. You should use the Dunya – in the right way.
That is the way – the ONLY WAY – to attain Jannah.
Thats my first question.?
Secondly.
How do you manage to get applauded on the stage and keep your heart clean?
It’s very difficult – how do you do it.??
I don’t intend to be any speaker or get applauded on stage. In fact on several instances I have chosen to my keep mouth shut even if I know cos am worried that would end me up at Ria based on past experiences.
I am simply curious about latter.
Very simple. Just make lots of Tawba all through and after the stage. That is the benefit of Tarbiyya. You learn these things. Make lots of Tawba and remember that they are not praising you, they are praising the cover that Allahﷻ placed over you. Ask Allahﷻ never to remove that cover.
Your students may consider you to be very wise because they know less than you. But to your teachers you’re stupid and don’t learn even the simplest of things. So which is the correct opinion?
I’d say both. One is the cover that Allahﷻ put over you to hide your faults. The other is the mirror He shows you so that you can correct the faults. Both are signs of His great Mercy. Always realize that and thank Him.
والسّلام
Yawar Baig
My Shaikh added:
My Shaikh added:
Add: to treat all the affairs of Dunya as the Shari’ah demands with an eye on the sense of accountability to Allah. Read: 2:201. Also the Hadith: al-Dunya MAZRA’UL AAKHIRAH (Dunya is tilling land for the Aakhirah). As it is said: TO KEEP DUNYA IN THE POCKET IS OK BUT NOT RIGHT TO KEEP IT ROOTED IN THE HEART. Akbar Ilahabadi says: DUNYA MEYN HOON DUNYAA KA TALBGAAR NAHEEN HOON + BAZAR SEY GUZRA HOON KHAREEDAAR NAHEEN HOON. You have rightly said the Aakhirah is earned through the Dunya. There is no contradiction.