Know the Signs

When we sin how do we feel? Do we feel anything? Do we feel any regret, do we keep thinking about it, worrying if we will be forgiven hoping that we will have enough time to repent and do enough good deeds to wipe it out before we meet Allah? Do we feel sick to our stomachs out of remorse for what we did?! Or do we casually shrug it off belittling our sins thinking that Allah will forgive us regardless?

When we knowingly do something wrong or something to anger Allah we sometimes get a negative outcome which makes us form a link between the event and the initial sin we did. For example we go somewhere which is haram or where haram things are happening, maybe a club, we know but we still go and the next day we fall really ill. A Muslim with taqwa will make the association and know that this could be happening as a punishment and warning from Allah because of the night before. Or we lie about being ill to get time off work so we can go out and then we actually get ill and can’t go out anyway! The fact that we get this warning from Allah and get a response through our actions is actually a blessing. Allah cares for us and if he is making us think through our actions which have displeased him then he is actually giving us a chance to repent and turn to him. We should be constantly analysing our actions and their consequences and never complain of pain we are going through. Through pain in this life we are cleansed of sins so we are saved in the hereafter inshallah.

See some people sin and feel nothing, nothing happens to them and they go on in their ignorance with no message from Allah that he is displeased. Therefore they just continue on in the sin thinking nothing of it. Muslims sometimes look at the disbelievers or Muslims who are sinning and wonder why they are not punished, why they have everything, why nothing happens to them and why they go on living a great life with all the power and wealth then look at themselves and at the Muslims who are suffering and don’t understand. We think because these people are ‘getting away’ with their sins in this life that Allah is not angry with them. However this is not the case. The worst punishment that Allah can give in this life is misguidance. The feeling of no love for Allah or his messenger (s) and no passion for Islam. Not wanting to pray or worship Allah, not wanting to please him. Just being caught up in this life and not thinking about the hereafter. Not being able to cry for the sake of Allah or humbling themselves before Him. What greater punishment could there be? Because with misguidance we have nothing, we are nothing and in the hereafter we will get nothing! (May Allah guide us and keep us guided)
People who sin and think they are getting away with it think they are fooling Allah and that there must be nothing wrong with their actions because Allah would give them a sign. They think they are fooling Allah but in fact Allah is fooling them.

‘Allah mocks with them and extends them in their tyranny, they wander blindly’ (2:15)

When someone displeases Allah and feels the regret and gets that sign or something bad happens then he has the opportunity to redeem himself and will stop or change his actions. Through the punishment in this life we are cleansed and saved from the punishment in the hereafter. On the other hand when we do something to anger Allah and no outcome occurs then this is showing Allah’s anger in the greatest form as he doesn’t even want to warn us or for us to repent and so keep on sinning so we meet him with a mountain of sins! Astagfirulla! For example we all know gambling is haram but a Muslim may still do the lottery and then win millions of dollars. Does this mean that Allah is actually rewarding him or that the gambling is not a major sin? No of course not! Now this persons has millions of pounds of haram money that he cannot do anything Islamic with. So he will either see this winning as I mentioned or he can see it as a test and great burden placed on him by Allah. Unfortunately the average man will take the money and feed his desires with material things until he is so engrossed in this life that Allah is a distant memory. May Allah save us all!

"When Allah gives a person whatever he loves of the worldly benefits despite his disobedience, then that is a gradual enticement." (Ahmad)

This punishment is not confined to people who were already in ignorance. Even people who are guided, who pray 5 times a day and live their life for Allah, can be destroyed by the simplest of sinful actions and fall into misguidance and loose all that mercy that Allah had on them. The more we increase in imaan the greater the tests become. Don’t let the devil play games with you. Allah only tests the people he loves so if you are not being tested then fear Allah and seek him. There is a story of a woman at the time of the prophet (s). She got married and after just a few days she said she wanted a divorce, her husband did not understand why so they headed to the prophet (s). On the way her husband tripped and fell, his wife helped him up and said she no longer wanted a divorce, when the husband asked why, she said that they had been married for a few days and she had never seen Allah test him so she thought Allah didn’t love him but when she saw him trip she knew that He did. Subhanallah see how she analysed her husband’s life how worried she was that Allah did not love him and we want peaceful test free lives! A little test in our lives and rather than turning to Allah, we turn away and question him! Through his tests Allah is only cleansing you or wanting more from you. He will not let us walk easily into paradise without us showing him we are for real, that we want it more than anything and are not going to fall into the traps of shaytaan and the luxuries of this world. Remember that ‘This life is a prison for the believers and paradise for the disbelievers’ (Muslim)

Allah gives us chance after chance to stop doing things which anger him and to turn to him he cannot talk to us directly but shows us signs through our destiny, don’t ignore them. Analyse everything that happens to you, even the smallest prick on our finger is a cleansing of sins. We sin day and night without even realising, and Allah forgives so many of our sins without us even asking so don’t build up on the major sins. Ask for guidance with sincerity, analyse your life, see the signs and know what Allah wants from you. We are only here to worship Allah. We will have to go through pain and test after test but our reward is immense inshallah. An eternity of peace, no worries, no problems just eternal bliss beyond what we can imagine or comprehend, Subhanallah!
The best dua we can make is a dua for guidance. If you don’t feel love for Allah and Islam beg Allah to grant it you if you have turned away beg Allah for forgiveness and to be guided again. The time is now while we are still living!

Truly, the life of this world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the Hereafter that is the home that will remain forever." (40:39)

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