True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”
Bismillah
Humility (Part 1)
Who Gets Allah’s Mercy? – Part 1
There is a passage in surah Al-Furqan that describes a special group of people: Ibad-ur Rahman. They are the special slaves of Ar-Rahman who will get immediate & special Mercy from Allah.
And the (faithful) slaves of the Most Gracious (Allah) are those who walk on the earth in humility & sedateness & when the foolish (Jahilun) address them (with bad words) they reply back with mild words of gentleness.
{Surat Al-Furqan 25: Verse 63}
•They are those who are humbled in the way they walk and talk. Sometimes speech is not the only means of being arrogant. Arrogance can also manifest in the way we look down at someone with the face. Know that Allah honors all children of Adam {Surat Al-Israa’ 17: Verse 70}. Who are we to look down on another human being, both Muslim & non-Muslim?
•There is a litmus test to check if we’re humble. When Jahilun, i.e. people who have no control over their emotions eg. arrogant / insulting people talk to them, they say “salaam”. They forgive, overlook & say nothing but good words. This is the Sunnah of Rasulallah (Salallahu Aleyhi Wasallam).
•There are times when we ourselves get angry with our family if they’re not close to the Deen. Don’t be furious at them, speak peacefully. If someone speaks to you angrily, would you start praying or will it drive you away? Think about that. Fir’aun tried to kill Musa (Alayhi salaam), killed thousands of babies every year, called himself God! Yet Musa was commanded by Allah to be nice to him. {Surat Ta-Ha 20: Verse 44} What then about our family? They deserve the softest responses from us.
•And notice that Allah didn’t say “If the Jahilun address them…”, but He said “when” indicating that it will happen to us. We will face a lot of temperament from a lot of people.
•But we have to speak to people calmly & peacefully. Speak to disarm. Learn to be merciful & courteous to people. Tell yourself when you’re calming yourself from anger: I’m doing this because I want to be ibad-ur Rahman.
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Gems extracted from “Who Gets Allah’s Mercy?” lecture by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan