HAPPINESS IS THE FRUIT OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ALLAH
HAPPINESS IS THE FRUIT OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ALLAH
Before anything else, Allah loves you very much, and what He wills is only your happiness. There are people who are constantly occupied with making people fear Allah. However, the relationship with Allah is built upon a design of love. Allah Almighty wants to be a loved Allah, not a feared one. As you all know, the one who loves runs toward the one he loves, but the one who fears runs away from what he fears. You must run toward Allah, you must rise toward Allah. You must experience every beauty together with Him. Indeed, Allah Almighty brings forth the most beautiful of all things.
Islam comprises 7 stages and 4 surrenders. Within this design of 7 stages and 4 surrenders, you first become pleased with Allah, then you love Him, then your love for Him deepens, and finally you admire Him profoundly—and you experience endless happiness.
1ST STAGE: WISHING TO REACH ALLAH Your spiritual life begins by wishing to reach Allah. A warm wish that will reach Allah from your heart:
Ash-Shura-13: In the religion, what He (Allah) had enjoined upon Noah (the Law (the Shariâa)), He had enjoined, by saying: âMaintain the Religion and in it (in religion, in faith) do not divide into groups," upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus, and by revealing to you, made it a âLaw (Shariâa) for you too. What you have called them upon for (to wish to reach Allah before death) had been very difficult for the disbelievers (mushriqun). Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills, and he will deliver to Himself (their spirits before death of) those who turns to Allah (yuneeb ones).
Allah has made a promise: whomsoever wishes to reach Allah, Allah will deliver that person to Himself. In other words, the person does not reach Allah by their own power; rather, Allah delivers them to Himself.
A person who does not wish to reach Allah has chosen to block all the systems that Allah created for happiness. No matter what title or level of knowledge they may represent in this world, such a person is heedless of the verses of Allah.
Yunus-7: Surely they do not wish to reach Us (they do not wish their spirits to reach Us before death). They are pleased with the life of the world and are satisfied with it, and those are the ones who are heedless of Our Verses.
Yunus-8: As for those, their abode is the Fire for what they have earned (negative degrees).
Wishing to reach Allah is a turning point, the most important decision of your life. The moment you wish to reach Allah, He manifests to you with His Name ar-Rahîm (Most Merciful) and grants you 12 divine favors (ihsân).
1- He removes the hidden veil (ḥijâb al-mastûrah) from the eyes.
2- He removes the veil called ghishâwah covering the faculty of baṣar (seeing).
3- He removes the heaviness (waqrâ) in the ears that prevents hearing.
4- He removes the seal from the faculty of samî (hearing).
5- He removes the seal from the heart’s faculty of comprehension (idrāk).
6- He removes the obstacle called akinnat from the soul's heart, which blocks comprehension.
7- He places within the person’s heart a system called ihbât, which enables comprehension.
Allah Almighty reaches the person’s heart with guidance (hidâyah).
He turns the heart’s gate of light (nûr) toward Himself.
10- He expands the person’s chest and opens the path of light (nûr) to the heart.
11- Through the lights (nûr) that enter the heart together with dhikr (remembrance), the person reaches khushûʿ(attains awe and humility).
12-The one who is filled with awe asks Allah for a murshid, and Allah Almighty shows him his murshid (religious/spiritual guide).
2ND STAGE : THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (REPENTANCE)TO THE RELIGIOUS GUIDE (MURSHID) The person asks Allah for his religious guide (murshid) through the special prayer of need (salat al-hajat), reaches the religious guide shown by Allah and kneels before him and repents. This time, he receives 7 blessings from Allah and beginsthe practice of dhikr (repetition of the name of Allah). His spirit sets out on a journey towards Allah by ascending through the 7 heavenly floors over the Sirat Al-Mustaqîm, to reach the Essence of Allah in Non-Existence. With the start of dhikr, the nineteen illnesses within the soul (nafs) — such as hatred, anger, oppression, jealousy, gossip, rebellion, and miserliness — begin to be cleansed.
3RD STAGE : SURRENDER OF SPIRIT TO ALLAH As the level of dhikr increases, the love within the heart of the soul (nafs) also grows. Throughout the seven levels of cleansing of the soul (tazkiyat an-nafs), the soul passes through different states: first, the soul that takes commands from Satan (Nafs al-Ammârah); then it begins to blame itself (Nafs al-Lawwâmah); it starts receiving inspiration from Allah (Nafs al-Mulhimah); it becomes satisfied with what Allah has given (Nafs al-Muṭmaʾinnah); it becomes pleased with Allah (Nafs al-Rāḍiyah); Allah becomes pleased with it (Nafs al-Marḍiyyah); and finally the soul becomes cleansed (Nafs al-Tazkiyah). When the soul is cleansed through these seven levels, it becomes freed from 51% of its vices. At this point, the spirit (rûḥ) returns to Allah and reaches Him.
4TH STAGE: SURRENDER OF THE PHYSICAL BODY TO ALLAH. You should become such people that only goodness and happiness spread to those around you. You should dedicate yourselves to other people and work for their happiness. What enables these beautiful qualities to emerge is the gradual removal of the vices of the soul (nafs). The surrender of the physical body to Allah means that the physical body fully carries out everything Allah commands and refrains from all actions He has forbidden.
5TH STAGE: THE SUBMISSION OF THE SOUL TO ALLAH A person who reaches continuous dhikr attains lasting and endless happiness. In continuous dhikr, since the (lights of) virtues (fadl) of Allah reach the heart without interruption, no vices remain within the soul, as they are transformed into virtues. Hatred disappears, envy disappears, hostility disappears; hostility is replaced by friendship, and hatred is replaced by love. At this stage, the soul (nafs) surrenders to Allah.
6TH STAGE: BEING MUHLIS (PURE AND SINCERE) The post of Ikhlâs (sincerity) means that the soul is sincere, refined and utterly pure. At this stage, through the beauties shown to the eye of the heart, a person becomes gradually aware of the divine secrets of Allah.
7th STAGE: SURRENDER OF THE WILL TO ALLAH The one who becomes a slave of Allah in this way is among the happiest people in the world, because they love. Loving those who love them is already in accordance with human nature — yet they also love those who do not love them. They seek opportunities to respond to wrongdoing with goodness. All those who followed the prophets possessed these qualities.