Saturday, April 30, 2011

Al Hadi - Part 2

As salamualaykum wr wb!

So, this is the part 2 of the Names and Attributes of Allah. We are currently studying about the name of Allah that is Al-Hadi (the one who guides) and IF you have no idea what am I writing about then you can find it all here

Now, In my last post we had discussed about some of my personal experiences with the name Al-Hadi, the places in Quran where it is mentioned, the origin of the word and some more Introduction. Hidayah is a word in Arabic which is used for Guidance.

There are 4 different types of Guidance which Allah has blessed His creation with ;

1. Hidayat-Al-A'mmah (General Guidance) : This type of the Guidance can be experienced by us all around us. This is the type of Guidance whicih is general in it's nature and is for the entire creation. All the creation is Guided by Allah in the best of manner in an appropriate time for what is good for them. Here are few examples of such guidance;

When we look around us, Especially in the nature we can notice that the entire creation is guided in different ways. For example, the bees ; when you look and observe a bee-hive you would notice that it is always perfectly built, mostly in an oval shape there are no holes, no imprefection in between. They construct it without actually having any blueprints or a set of instructions to do it nor have they obtained a bachelors degree in acrchitecture, yet when you observe the bee-hive it is perfect in its construction. The bees also work in groups, they do not take their nectar from any flower, they select their flowers, they have guards at the gates of the bee-hives they smell a bee before letting them in.

What about the stars? The sun and the moon? How are they guided to work in such a synchronized fashion? And trust me when we actually study the way our universe works, then anyone in this world would throw Mr. Darwin's theory of Evolution right in the bin.

What about a birds? The way they build their nests. The way they migrate from one country to another during the time of winter. They don't even have a GPS but they travel from one place to another without losing their way. Even they are all guided by Allah - Al Hadi. Try to check on NAT GEO or Discovery chanel websites to know more about the nature and its exceptional facts. Now, think about this When Allah SWT has guided nature, the entire creation? Then how can he leave the most complicated creation (read : humans) of his unguided? How would he leave us alone?

Now let's briefly look at the General guidance with regards to us;

What about new born babies? Imagine what would happen if a new born baby didn't know how to suckle. But hey, we cannot even blame the baby because it is just few minutes old in the world. Plus, we would not be able to communicate to him instructing on how to suckle because the baby's brain is not fully developed yet. Even the babies are guided by Allah Al-hadi which is why they know how to suckle their mother's bossom right after few minutes of birth.

What about our own body organs? We might think they are with us, in us but guess what? Even they are the slaves of Allah Al-Hadi. Our Brain was never really given a training on what's right or what's wrong or on how to react on certain situations. What about our heart? Nobody taught it how to pump the blood in our body.. Even our limbs and our organs don't go like 'Thats it I am bored of doing this job'

Alright! Now comes the 2nd type of Guidance!


Jinn are another creation of Allah swt just like Humans. Of course, Jinn are different in their existence than that of Humans. And none can interact with eachother but we know that they exist and Just as we have some humans who believe in One God and some who believe in Multiple Gods or some who live in Ignorance, It is the same with the Jinn. They are Good amongst them and they are some bad ones just like humans. Our proof for their existence and our knowledge about thier nature, where does it come from? Well it comes from Surah Jinn, Which is the 72 Surah in the Quran.

2. Hidayat-al-Jinn-wal-Ins. (Guidance for the Jinn and the Mankind)- On the Day of Judgement Allah will ask "Did you think that We had created you in play (without any purpose), and that you would not be brought back to Us?" [Verse 115, Surah Mu'minoon]

Now before we proceed further into this type of Guidance, Let us anaylyze two things

a. The nature of a human being : The thing that is the most common these days among the human beings is sadness, depression, life with problems. There is absolutely nobody who can say that there are zero problems in their life. Even if it is a highly-paid actor or un underpaid laborer. Everyone have their own set of tensions and trials and nobody can really escape from it. This is one of the reasons why we as human beings must seek out to know more about our creator. Why, you ask? Well because due to all these trials and tribulations in our life what does our hearts yearn the most for is Peace. And...? "Truly, it is by the Remembrance of Allah that hearts find rest." [Qur'an, 13.28]

I speak from experience and I am sure many people have also experienced it when we get to know more about the creator and when our trust in him grows stronger with each time we know a little more about Him. What happens is that there is a certainity that your heart gets filled with. The certainity that no matter what happens in your life, it is happening with the will of Allah. The certainity that He will make a way out for you no matter how great the trail and He is aware of the burden a trial causes to your soul. And Allah says in the Quran ''No burden do We place on any soul but that which it can bear.'' (6:152)


b. The different types of people and their reactions upon recieving the Guidance from Allah swt.

i) When this type of person is encountered with some Guidance along with a solid proof from the Quran and Sunnah. He/She reject it right away without even giving it a thought and looking for a possiblity of accepting this Guidance. Yet, even with these people Allah swt does not give up, He Guides them from one way to another to an extent beyond which when they turn away then even He swt would also turn away from them. Such are the people whose hearts would be sealed away from the Guidance. Unless they repent and start yearning for it again.

ii) This the type of person who is genuinely confused and is shy to follow a command of Allah swt due to his own weakness. He may know that he has to follow a command like praying 5 times a day, yet he may be surrounded with the kind of people who do not pray and he is shy to do it in front of them. Then, Allah swt will also be shy regarding his case but He will not take away his guidance nor will He turn away from this person. He will continue to reward this person for his deeds. Now, I know that many of us these days can claim to fall under this precise category with regards to following a command or we can say that we are also genuinely confused but Allah knows what is in our hearts.

iii) This type of person accepts when you present the truth to him in form of a guidance. This person accepts the truth immediately and hastens up to work on it. For this case, The more this person wants to go near Allah by performing good deeds then even Allah would hasten up to forgive his past, and to let him draw near to him? Proof?

Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet :sallaAllahuAlaihiwasallam: said, "Allah says: ' When a slave of Mine draws near to Me a span, I draw near to him a cubit; and if he draws near to Me a cubit, I draw near to him a fathom. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running.'''.
[Al-Bukhari].

The one who falls under this category are those with the best of Eman.

So now, we know about this Guidance which is specifically designed from us. The question is How do we Get this Guidance? What do we do to seek it? Very simple, All we need is a heart that yearns for the truth, and Guidance from Allah swt sincerely. Most of us can say 'so my heart is seeking for guidance but i find no change in me' well my lovelies, just seeking it for the heck of it will of course not lead us anywhere. Sincerity plays an important role and as muslims we must the know the importance of sincerity in Islam as a whole.

Allah swt loves the movements of our hearts. How does these movements occur? You know sometimes when we feel so lost, so much in despair, like our own little worlds are hit by cyclones? and there seems to be noway out? And then we sincerely cry, and pray to Allah swt? Yeahh... those are the moments in which your heart moves.

WE might also think, Okay all of this is cool then why must we seek this Guidance or why must we even accept it? well in layman's language if we are not guided, then we are misguided and if we are misguiden then 'We Go To Hell'! Not a nice place to spend an eternity in ;)

Now in the language of those who need a bigger picture, If we turn away from Allah and His Guidance. Then , what other Guidance of this world be of any benefit to us? What other thing in this world would guarantee us an eternally successful life?

2 comments:

  1. ma'shaAllah, I feel like I was right there with you, learning from your teacher. Wonderfully explained.

    I delayed reading this because I wanted it to have my full attention. I didn't want to just skim it. It's excellent, ma'shaAllah.

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  2. Alhamdulillah, Sister E is sooo fantastic, i just jotted down really short notes but when i had to put them up on the blog, so many examples and ideas started flooding my mind.

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