All this sounds good in theory, but it is only put to the test once you try to implement all of the above principles. This starts with cleaning the core of your heart. Like a weed filled garden, all the infestation must be uprooted first before something new life can grow. If the soil is contaminated, then it has to be replaced with healthy soil. Good seeds will never be survive in corrupted soil.
Hence, the seed has to be good, the water and farmer and soil have to be good. There must be consistent care, with no neglect in water or sunshine.
We can’t tell Allah that we want a journey of faith but we don’t want to clean up the weeds. And once planted, you have to guard and water the tree.
Think of someone who has given you a fragile sapling. It has the potential to grow into a tree which yields beautiful fruit and provides abundant shade, yet during its tender years, the plant needs constant care. It cannot be exposed to the harsh elements, for it will die. It cannot be ignored for it will wither. Instead, it needs regular attention, and protection from the storm, drought, weeds and pests, until the roots are firmly embedded in the soil and its branches have reached the sky. This process takes years.
It is an ongoing process, requiring constancy, patience and dedication. It is the same with nurturing and safeguarding our spiritual knowledge.
“Have you not considered how Allah presents an example, [making] a good word like a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed and its branches [high] in the sky? It produces its fruit all the time, by permission of its Lord. And Allah presents examples for the people that perhaps they will be reminded. And the example of a bad word is like a bad tree, uprooted from the surface of the earth, not having any stability. Allah keeps firm those who believe, with the firm word, in worldly life and in the Hereafter. And Allah sends astray the wrongdoers. And Allah does what He wills.” (Al Qur’an 14:24 – 27)
If we could know the unseen, we would accept the present. When we belong to Allah, we know that everything has a wisdom. But because of the temptation and weakness, and because we are blinded by the glare of dunia, we do not see the wisdom of Allah. Maybe the wisdom is to give humbleness and humility to us. Maybe we are the kind of person who, when we have dunia, we are spiritually destroyed. We have to be practical and still have our affairs of the dunia, but we also need to attain spiritual stability first.
Achievement has no end until we go to the grave because we don’t know what will be accepted and what will rejected. So the effort continues.
Quality comes from your heart and goal. The Companions were ready to do anything to elevate the name of Allah. Today, we are ready to sacrifice the name of Allah, the deen, everything for a piece of material.
This journey is something that we have to live and die for. Who will be accepted?
