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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi sallam. Tasliman kathiran, kathirahumma ba’da.
Brothers and sisters, there are two ways to live our lives. One is by our own desires, and the other is trying to please Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, by the way He wants us to live. The first path is full of uncertainty; it is full of potential harm because we do not know what our future holds. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said: “And perhaps you dislike a thing and it is good for you, and perhaps you like a thing and it is bad for you.” (Quran 2:216) Allah knows best, while you may not know. This is the reality of life. No one can dispute this, as we have seen in our lives multiple times that we wanted something deeply, yet Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, in His mercy, did not grant it. Then time passed—perhaps a long time—and eventually, that particular thing came before us. We thanked Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala that He withheld it when we were begging and pleading for it. At that moment, we say, “Oh my God, I am so happy that Allah did not give me this when I was asking Him,” realizing that if Allah had granted it then, today we would be in serious trouble.
The benefit of living according to the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is that we are saved from the danger of ending up with something we later regret, which never happens because whatever Allah chooses for us is always, always, always good. Furthermore, the whole process starting from our decision to choose His path means Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will reward us for choosing His way instead of our own.
Secondly, regarding our will and desire, we know clearly from Surah Al-Yusuf what Yusuf said: “Verily, the soul is inclined toward evil unless the Lord has mercy on him.” (Quran 12:53) The nafs leads only to evil, except for the one on whom Allah has mercy. Remember, this is Yusuf, the Nabi of Allah who is protected, yet he says this. So, what do you think is the situation with us? Therefore, living by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is not only the safest way but also the best.
Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyah, rahmatullahi alayhi, said every human is a slave. You are either a slave of your desires or a slave of Allah; you either live life by your rules or the rules of Allah. He asked, how can the heart travel to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala if it is chained by its desires? So we need to break those chains so that our hearts are freed from the shackles of their own desires, allowing them to seek closeness to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
He also said, “O son of Adam, sell this world for the Hereafter and you win both. Sell the Hereafter for this world and you lose both.” I remind myself that selling this world for the Hereafter does not mean depriving yourself of all that you like and love in this life, nor does it mean living a life of hardship and difficulty. That is not the intention, nor is it what Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala demands from us. The beauty of Islam is that it is entirely possible to live a comfortable, dignified, and peaceful life while pursuing the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and preparing for the Hereafter. If we take the right decisions—those that please Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala—they will always result in goodness in this world and goodness in the Hereafter. This is the reason behind the beautiful Dua of the Quran: “Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good, and save us from the punishment of the Fire.” (Quran 2:201) Allah is not saying, “Give me goodness in the next life at the expense of goodness in this Dunya.” No, He says, “Give me goodness here and there.” The only place in the world where you can have your cake and eat it too is with Allahﷻ.
I remind myself that Islam is not a buffet where you pick and choose what suits you. For those who do that, Allahﷻ asks this rhetorical question in Surah Al-Baqarah: “Will you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in another?” (Quran 2:85) Will you bring faith in some parts of the Book and deny the rest because it does not suit you? And Allahﷻ then says regarding those people: “They will be humiliated in worldly life,” meaning difficulty in this life will constrict for them. Then on the Day of Judgment, they will be returned to the worst of punishments, the most difficult and severe. And Allahﷻ is not unaware of what you do.
So Allahﷻ clarifies that speaking and choosing based on personal preference is not beneficial; rather, it harms you. This is why Allahﷻ said, “O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely and do not follow the footsteps of Satan.” (Quran 4:171) Indeed, he is your open and clear enemy. Do not fall into that trap. You have been told who your enemy is; it is not a mystery you must guess. Do not fall into the lap of the enemy. Remember, Allahﷻ commands us not to follow the footsteps of shaitan. When we are told not to follow footsteps, it means shaitan himself is not necessarily there; it is only his footsteps. You just see the mark of where he walked and what he did. Allah is saying, “Do not follow that,” because if you follow that, you have a double problem. Obviously, the footsteps of shaitan cannot lead you to anything good. But even more importantly, you will not be able to say thereafter that you didn’t know or were deceived, because you chose to follow the footsteps. That was your choice.
…the person or the individual, or the thing that made those footsteps, is not there. So you cannot say, “Well, shaytan caught me by the neck and dragged me down his path.” No, he didn’t; he was not even there. You just saw his footsteps and you decided to follow the footsteps. Which means that you have—you cannot blame anybody for this. It is your decision, and you are responsible. And we definitely don’t want to be responsible for decisions like this.
Do not follow the footsteps of Shaytan. I remind myself: when you think about the ultimate and final thing, which is that none of this is something which is a mystery, right? It’s not a mystery. Allah ﷻ has told us all of these things very, very clearly. So we cannot go back tomorrow and say, “When we meet Allah ﷻ, we can say, ‘Oh no, I didn’t know,’ and so on, and so on.” We knew; we chose to do it, or we chose not to do it. That was our choice. That was the freedom that Allah had given us, which we decided to misuse. But you know, we must be—it’s something for us to daily think about. We ask Allah ﷻ to help us to do what is pleasing to Him, and to save us from that which does not please Him, because only in that is khair (khayr). Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma’in, wa rahmatullahi wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, walhamdulillahi rabbil alameen.