Seeking Dangerous Short-cuts in Life.

Assalamalikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

So today is Friday(well when I wrote it was), my favorite day of the week for as long as I can remember even though the reasons of why its my favorite kept changing :D I got to go to the masjid today, and Alhamdulillah made in time to hear the whole Khutbah and I feel so blessed to hear the reminders in it. While I was listening to it I felt like a lot of people should be listening to this people I know who could have greatly benefited from the reminders. But Allah in His Infinite Wisdom did not wish for them to be present at the time but I was present so who am I to say that who needed to hear it more or who didnt.

Anyway today's topic was on Aaqeedah and it was a wonderful reminder of one of the many ways I feel we cling on to this worldly life and sever ties with Our Lord and Cherisher Allah swt. When a person has the wrong aaqeedah one of the ways he is led astray by Shaitan and his own nafs is that he starts attaching importance to those things that hold no power over him and have no share in benefiting him or bringing him harm . One form of this is to believe in bad omens such as the one the following hadeeth negates:

"There is no superstitious owl, bird, no star-promising rain, no bad omen in the month of Safar."

 (Sahih Muslim).

Prophet (pbuh) came and discarded the beliefs that the people held about omens that had been attached to certain occurrences, animals and the month of Safar. These are all beliefs of the people of jahilliya but we find them present even today not only among the non- Muslims but Muslims too. Apart from this people also strongly believe in their horoscopes and often refer to their favorite magazines or astrologers to find out how they can expect their week to turn out for them. Another form of this negation of the trust in Allah is when people  visit palmists and this has been condemned in the ahadith in the following way:

“Whoever approaches an oracle or fortune-teller and believes in what he says, has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad (pbuh).” 

 (Sunan Abu Dawud) 

Some even take the help of precious stones in the false hope that these will help them prosper in life and provide refuge from calamities and diseases. To place such high hopes on things and to not place it in the One who created everything is destined to bring us no good. People may tell you that look  the stone doesn't have any power Allah gave it the power but when the fundamental principal a Muslim has to adhere to trust in Allah alone that how would it be right to spend precious time and money buying stones and other so called charms that have no control over our future?

“If Allah helps you, none can overcome you: If He forsakes you, who is there after that, that can help you? In Allah then, let the Believers put their trust.” 

(Al-Quran 3: 160)

In the Khutba, the speaker mentioned that all these forms of belief are a way of people looking for short-cuts in life to all that they wish to achieve. And I totally agree, it is like that. I also think that people who had made this belief a part of their lifestyle are not at peace in reality, from personal experience I know that when a person is constantly clinging to these beliefs every little problem, every illness becomes a matter of great distress and not to mention the suspicion that it breeds amongst relatives thinking that it is their evil intention or worse the act of dark magic that a calamity has befallen someone.

It is true that it is part of our faith as Muslims to believe in the existence of dark magic as Allah has clarified its existence to us the Quran but there is certainly no indication of  wearing lucky charms and believing in omens to be the solution to this problem. To ward of evil we need to Trust Allah and seek His Help when we are worried, sad or scared. We need to remember that nothing in the world can bring us prosperity if He doesn't wish for it to be given to us. And nothing in the world bring us harm if He doesn't wish it for us.

I think in life we often become too scared of what lies ahead. We are scared of the problems that will come our way and scared that the joyous moments in life will be snatched away from us. Allah in His infinite wisdom gives us problems sometimes to test us, sometimes to punish us but even in the darkest hour there is some Hikmah in the situation that you and I can never understand. While in the midst of the calamity we are silently wishing for a different outcome of the event, did we ever stop to think that had it been that things always turned out okay, the way we wanted that it would have been even more harmful for us? Well I never thought of it that way, till now. Alhamdulillah.

Lastly, its important to remember that no matter what good comes our way or bad, to fall pray to believing in omens or any other object or act to have the ability to avert evil is the worst outcome of all because the ultimate end of such a belief is distress in this world and the next.