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In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to God, the Lord of all men. Peace and blessings be upon the honour of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad, the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and his family. Peace be upon him, and upon him, and upon him.
Today we will start a series of Qatiras on some of the pieces of advice that were given by Sayyidina Hatim al-Assam.
Hatim al-Assam was a very great scholar. He was a scholar and Zahid from Balkh, which is in modern Afghanistan. He died in 851, 237 Hijri. He was a student of Shaykh al-Balqhi, who was another great scholar of the time. He studied under Shaykh al-Balqhi for 30 years.
Hatim al-Assam was also a contemporary of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, Muhammad al-Ali. Imam Ahmad had the highest respect for him and he considered him to be a great follower of the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ and a great Mutawakkil. Somebody who was known for his Tawakkul.
He had a principle in life that he said that anything which he called Zahid al-Zaroori, he would give it away in charity. Zahid al-Zaroori is more than what is necessary for survival. That’s how he lived. He was known for his Tawakkul. He was known for his detachment for worldly pleasures.
He was given the title of Luqman of the Sunnah because of his wisdom.
The story goes that he studied under Shaykh al-Balqhi for 30 years. Then he finished and left and went his way. He was a great scholar. He was a great scholar. He was a great scholar. And some years later, he went back to visit his teacher.
So, Shaykh al-Balqhi, he said to him, you studied with me for how many years? He said 30 years. He said, what did you learn in those 30 years? So, Hatim al-Assam said, I learnt the knowledge of the Quran. I learnt eight things.
So, Shaykh al-Balqhi said, then you wasted your time. You wasted your time. For 30 years you studied, you learnt only eight things. Anyway, what are the eight things? And Hatim al-Assam’s reply and what he said, InshaAllah we’ll see that. Very beautiful.
He said, the first thing that I learnt is that everybody loves somebody. Or something. These things are not just a question and answer. Just reflect on it yourself and say, what do I love? Who do I love? He said, everyone loves somebody or something. Wife, children, husband, property, whatever. Friends. But I know that as soon as he is laid in the grave, the loved ones part company with him. Everyone loves him. Everyone loves something. But he said, I know that as soon as the person goes into their grave, the loved ones leave them. Consequently, I have tried to cultivate the love of good deeds. Of Amal-e-Saleh. So that when I die, they go with me into my grave. Because then I have my loved ones also with me in the grave. Because other loved things will not come. Property won’t come. Friends won’t come. Family won’t come.
And this is according to the hadith of the Prophet in Sayyid-e-Muslim where he said, إذا مات ابن آدم، انقطع عمله إلا من ثلاثة صدقة جارية أو علم ينتفع به أو ولد صالح يدوله The Prophet said, which means, Abu Huraira reported, the Prophet said, which means, when a person dies, when a man dies, his deeds come to an end. His Amal finish. Except three. Sadaqah Jariah, which is some act of charity you do. Which is of a continuous nature. Knowledge which is beneficial. So something which you learnt, which you taught people. And they practice that. Or a virtuous descendant who prays for him, who makes dua.
So only three things go with you. Sadaqah Jariah, Ilm-e-Nafi and Warad-e-Saleh. And then Rasulullah ﷺ in another hadith, Qala Rasulullah ﷺ Yatba’u almayyita thalathatum Fayarji’u ithnan Fayanqa ma’ahu wahida Yatba’uhu ahluhu wa maaluhu wa amaluhu Fayarji’u ahluhu wa maaluhu wa yabqa amaluhu Anad bin Malik reported that Rasulullah ﷺ said When carried to his grave, a dead person is followed by three. Two of which return after his burial and one remains with him. His relatives, his property and his deeds. Three things. They follow him. His property and his deeds. His relatives and his property return. While deeds remain with him.
So we learn from this the hikmah of Ayat-e-Malik So beautiful and so wise that The only thing that remains with us is our deeds. And those deeds, both will remain. Good ones will remain and bad ones also will remain. So it’s not only good deeds. So therefore we must make sure that the deeds that remain with us are the kind of deeds that we need. While we are in this world, we have a chance to do those deeds. Do deeds which will be beneficial for us.
So there are two situations. One is we have the chance to do good deeds. The second thing is that if we do something bad, obviously by mistake. Because for a Muslim to deliberately do something which is haram, this is utterly shameful. Because you know something is wrong, you’re still doing it. Then where is your Iman? What’s the point of calling yourself Muslim? So Muslim will never do something which is haram. Haram deliberately. But if something happens, then the opportunity is to make istighfar and tawbah. فَاسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُبْعُوا إِلَيْهِ In Surah Al-Hud, Shoaib said to the people, Make istighfar to your Rabb and turn towards him. Whatever you did, make istighfar, apologize. Say you are sorry and then turn towards Allah . So if we do something which is good, Alhamdulillah. If we do something which is bad, then we have the opportunity while we are still alive to make istighfar and tawbah. Also Allah said, إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتُ يُذْهِبْنَ سَيِّئَاتٍ Allah said, Verily good deeds wipe out evil deeds. This again refers to minor sins. The major ones require specific tawbah and istighfar. But good deeds. So, Nabi said, The sins between one salah and the other salah are wiped out. The sins between one Jummah and the other Jummah are wiped out. Jummah and salah doesn’t mean that the time comes and goes. It means that you are praying. Friday will come and go. That’s not the point. The point is did you go and pray Salatul Jummah in the masjid. Similarly, the deeds between one umrah and the other umrah, another umrah are, evil deeds are forgiven and wiped away. The evil deeds between one hajj and the other hajj, between one Ramadan and another Ramadan, when we wash our hands, when we make gudu, all of these and so many others.
When you simply meet a brother, a Muslim brother, you meet the person with a smile on your face, because he is Muslim, the evil deeds of both are washed away. Allah is impossible to understand. He is so merciful, Allah .
So, the key thing to do is these two things. One, see and make sure that we do only good. Consciously do only good. And the second thing is, if something bad happens, immediately make istighfar and tawbah. Give some sadaqah, do something good to make sure that it is wiped out, that it does not remain in your book of accounts. As Sayyidina Aisha Siddiqua, she is reported to have said, she said, every human being is an author. Everybody. We are all authors. And everyone is writing his book. And on the day of judgement, that book will be published. See what a beautiful example that is. She said, everybody is an author. And everyone is writing their book. And on the day of judgement, that book will be published. It will become public. So before the book is published, do whatever editing you need to do. Because the book is still being written. Now you can rub out, you can rewrite, you can do your spell check and correction and this and that. While you are alive, your book is being written and you can do whatever you want. Change it any way you like. But when you die, it is now gone for publication. Now it cannot be changed.
So don’t wait until that time. Make sure that what you are sending for publication is worth publishing. Because on the day of judgement, we will get those books. We ask Allah to make us among those who will receive their books in their right hands. Inshallah.
Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala describes in the Quran this beautiful scene. Allah says that they will get their book in their right hand and they will go from person to person and say, I am going to write this book. See, see my book. See, see what happened. See my exam. Result, see. They will be so happy to see this result. We ask Allah to make us among those. Inshallah.
So this is the first lesson that Hatim al-Assam said that he learnt that everyone loves something or the other and therefore he said, I try to love good deeds and I do try to do as much as I can because I know that is the only thing which will go with me in my life. Everything else I will have to leave behind. So why love something which you have to lose? You will lose whatever it is. Whatever it is, if you, other than good deeds, it will go. And so also evil deeds. That’s why don’t accumulate evil deeds. That’s why if you think about it, your car will not go. How you bought the car will go. What was the source of income? The money with which you bought the car, was that halal or haram? The way you bought the car. Did you buy the car on EMIs? On interest based loans? Or did you buy the car? He said, no, no, I want to get a new car. For what? The new car tomorrow is going to be one day old. If you buy a good second hand car, you can buy, you have the money, you can buy it and there is no problem with interest. You buy a new car, you have to take a loan. That will go with you in your khabar. Because dealing in interest is haram. How you built your house, the house will not go, house will stay here. How you built the house, the source of income, that is what we have to answer for. Your marriage will not go with you. Your wife will not go. Your husband will not go. But how you treated yourself, each other. Did you give justice? Did you give raham? Were you merciful? Were you kind and considerate, compassionate? This will go. But the first thing that you have to do is to be kind. how you treated each other.
Your children will not go into the khabar. How you raise them, that will go. To raise the children in a way where they don’t know the deen, they don’t know how to pray, they don’t even know the kalima. What are you expecting? That this child is now going to start praying tahajjud and make dua for you in his sajda? He does not know the meaning of tahajjud. He never prayed in his life. You never told him to pray. So now he is an adult. He does not pray, he does not fast, he does not do anything. He is leading his own life. Alhamdulillah. So what happens? But you will answer, because you never raised him. It’s a different thing. You raised him in the right way and then he goes and later on he gets a new life. He is misguided by shaitan. May Allah protect us and our children. I know these cases also. They were raised in the right way but Allah knows what happened. They went off on a tangent somewhere. Then you are not responsible because you did your job. You are not responsible for them for their whole life. But how you raise them? If you did not pay attention to raising them, how many people are there whose children, cannot recite Surah Al-Fatiha correctly? But we feel no sense of shame, no problem. How will you feel shame? Because even you can’t recite Surah Al-Fatiha correctly. So if the child is not reciting, what is so surprising? Really we have to correct our… I am talking about simple, so called simple day to day thing, but that’s where everything goes. So the day begins.
So raise children correctly where they know Allah . They know Rasool Allah . They are connected with Allah . They are fulfilling the fara’id from the beginning. From the minute they open their eyes, they should be part of their curriculum to say fara’id of Allah must not be neglected. You must fulfill the fara’id. What is halal? What is haram? All of this must be part of the raising of children. Then inshaAllah those children will become the source of grace, khair and blessings. As I told you, Nabi said, the child who makes dua for you, Allah accepts his dua in your regard. So there will be people who, in one hadith Nabi said, the person will, they will be in their khabar, in their grave, and they will feel this beautiful breeze from Jannah, or they will feel the breeze from the Prophet . They will say, what is this? They will say, this is your children making dua for you. When they meet Allah on the Day of Judgement, they will find lots of deeds and lots of Hasanat. And they will say, I never did all this. How did this come into my, oh he’s happy but you know, he wants to know. This is your dua for your children.
And the reason why that is so, see the thing, the three things Allah mentioned, Nabi mentioned, sadaqah jaariya, ilm an nafe, beneficial knowledge which you communicated, and warad al-saleh, children who are naik, who are good, who are saleheen, making dua. Because all these three things are things which you did in your life. Sadaqah jaariya is what you gave and you say, you established a hospital or, you know, whatever you did, right? Doesn’t have to be a big thing, small thing, big, whatever. Similarly, knowledge that you conveyed. And then people are practicing. And children that you raised, this warad al-saleh doesn’t come, it doesn’t drop from the heavens. This is the child that you raised. So you made the effort in your lifetime to raise a child who is sadeh, who is good. And then therefore that child’s actions benefit you.
So we ask Allah to focus on what is really important, which is his rida, which is the pleasure of Allah . And to correct our lives, to change our lives in a way which becomes beneficial for us when we meet Allah, inshaAllah. Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma’in bi rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.