APM: Double Jeopardy, The Slave Apostle, and Blameworthy Prayer

Allah

DOUBLE JEOPARDY

Making our desires our god and wanting to be desirable are doubly injurious to the soul. They are a favourite yet deadly cocktail that many drink.

God warns us to flee those given to the drink: “Do not yield to those whose hearts We have made heedless of Our Quran, those who follow their own low desires, those whose ways are unbridled” [18:28].

Instead, God wishes us to fear Him, to speak plainly, straightforwardly, and truthfully, and to obey Him and His Messenger (s). And if we align with God’s desires, He will ennoble our character, forgive us our sins, and grant us the great victory: eternal salvation. [33:70-71]

The Prophet (s)

THE SLAVE APOSTLE

Slavery ended. But many are still treated like human chattel.

In some places, it’s as crude as colonial times, though today, it mostly takes the form of tyrannical corporations legally renting our minds and bodies.

Nobody wants to be enslaved. And rightly so. It’s undignified. Unless the master you serve is God, and not some corporation or your wily desires leading to your demise.

For those whose servanthood with God is faltering, which makes most of us, the new moon of Rabi al-Awwal provides the impetus to reorient our hearts to God through the Prophet’s example.

Rabi al-Awwal bore us the greatest man to walk the earth, but the Prophet (s) would never arrogate to such credentials. Rather, he said: “Do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians praised the son of Mary, for I am only a slave. So, call me the slave of Allah and His Apostle.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 3445].

The Prophet (s) was God’s humblest creature, as the above statement attests. We would do well to heed his advice by memorialising and eulogising him less this month, and eternalising and internalising his message more.

And we should begin by striving to earn the Prophet’s title: slave of Allah.

Blameworthy Prayer

Prayer is the least we can do in the face of tyranny and injustice.

When I say least, I don’t mean that it is the last resort. Prayer must be ever-present, but not the primary course of action. We view it as critical, though supplemental.

When prayer becomes an excuse for laziness or cowardice, it becomes blameworthy.

So!

Act, speak, pray.

Until next week, InshaAllah

Zaahied Sallie

Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme

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