Being an Ameen – Deen on Loan – Part 1

إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَنْ يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنْسَانُ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولً

[33:72]

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ

وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِينَ

وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

[37:180-182]

All of these bounties and blessings have been given to us to be used in Allah سبحانه وتعالى’s pleasure not for our own pleasures.

The meaning of Amaanah:

Amaanah is something you get for a short period of time, therefore you want to use it to the maximum according to the instructions in the time period for which you are given that Amaanah.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى has given us this life ..you can imagine it like when you rent a car…its not yours forever there are certain rules and regulation to how much you can drive the car. If you stay in those guidelines and return the car to the company everything would be fine. And if you don’t i.e. exceed the mileage or damage the car in some way then you will penalized for not fulfilling the Amaanah the way it was suppose to be fulfilled. Just like that our whole life is given to us as a loan from Allah سبحانه وتعالى

Thats why the deen of Islam is called DEEN

It’s the same root letters as ‘Dayn’ i.e. Daa Yaa Nun which means loan in Arabic language; and Deen is the way to fulfill  that loan.

This life has been given as loan from Allah سبحانه وتعالى and deen is the name of instructions and the way to live that life so that when you return that life to Allah سبحانه وتعالى on Yaum-ud-Deen. In Surah fatiha, Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّيْنِ

[1:4]

-> everybody in the world translates that as the Day of judgment; you will not find any translation that translates it as the day of religion actually because it’s the day of deen…the day on which our loan/dayn will be presented in front of Allah سبحانه وتعالى – Our life every second, every statement every emotion every feeling will be presented in front of Allahسبحانه وتعالى and it will be checked that did this person do that according to the instructions or not

…so this is the meaning of Amaanah.

We have a very small, narrow meaning of Amaanah. Especially those who know Urdu.

“Urdu mein log samajhtay hai kay amanaat kisi kay paas 2-4 rupay kee cheez ko chornay ka naam hai”  –  its much more than that! i.e. People think that  Amaanah means leaving something small with someone like leaving your jacket with someone so he may return it to you.

Amanah means much more than that in the deen of Islam.

The opposite of Amaanah is Khiyanah

In Quran Allah سبحانه وتعالى said

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا لَا تَخُونُوا اللَّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ وَتَخُونُوا أَمَانَاتِكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

[8:27]

– Do not do khiaynah with Allah. Don’t think you can betray Allah; Do not think you can be disloyal, disobedient to Allah; Do not think that you can be    negligent and neglectful of Allah سبحانه وتعالى, and do not think you can be disloyal to Nabi karim  صلى الله عليه وسلم; Do not do khiyanah with his Sunnah; Don’t think that the  Sunnah is not for you.

– And also do not betray the trust that others give you. You know well full that your betraying them.. You knowingly and deliberating betray them.

– you know that something has been given to you as amanah and still you are untrue to it.

Types of Khiyanah: 1. Betraying Allahسبحانه وتعالى s, 2. Betraying Nabi karim صلى الله عليه وسلم w, 3. Betraying the trust that others give us.

I already explained to you the first type of khiyanah that is betraying Allah. The second type of khiyanah is with Nabi Karim  صلى الله عليه وسلم

And What is the Amanaah that  Nabi Karim  صلى الله عليه وسلم has given us?

– that is the Sunnah; that is an amanah which has been gifted to every single member of this ummah – the real legacy and heritage of his Nabuwwah is his Sunnah.

So if we were to be khaayen(untrue) to him that would mean being untrue to his Sunnah.

People who know Urdu when they are told something is sunnah..what do they say:

Yeh  toh sirf Sunnat hai!

Instead they should say:  Yeh sirf Nabi hee toh hain

Infact they should to go to the Masjid e Nabwi, stand infront of the Roza, and say it there: Yeh tu sirf sunnat hai.  Jurrat karein nay yeh wahan ja ker!

(or in English people say:) This is only sunnah brother! It means you should say to me that he was only our Nabi saw brother; hes only Imam-ul-Anbiya-wal-Mursalin brother; Hes only Rahmat-ul-lil’aalameen brother!

Go stand infront of the Roza and say to Nabi Karim  صلى الله عليه وسلم: You are only a Nabi…and this is only your Sunnah. (Al-Amaan Al-Hafeez! )

Can you be an ummati and say only nabi?

Can your son say to you,”Oh, you are only my father” ; Can someone say to their mother, “you are only my mother. O woman! You are only my mother.”

Can you talk like that?

But that’s how people say ..Brother its only Sunnah why do you emphasise so much on those prayers….how can you be a momin and say those two words?

It means we haven’t learnt the meaning of,

Ashadu Anna Muhammadan Abduhu wa Rasuluhu

Theres no ONLY Nabi; Theres no Only Sunnah

Its not like yeh sunnat HEE hai…yeh SUNNAT hee toh hai, O Allah kay banday…This is Sunnah! He is my Nabi  صلى الله عليه وسلم that’s enough for me – its a one step equation.

Okay, so want to tell me it is not fardh? That is what you want to tell me?

Let me go scratch your car outside.  Its not farz to drive a car that is scratched. Let me take a knife and scratch your Mercedes and if you say anything I”ll say ITS NOT FARDH!

You know if I said that to you, you would look at me; You’d want to slap me – that’s how I feel when you tell me its not farz about the sunnah of my Nabi Karim  صلى الله عليه وسلم.

You won’t accept a scratch on your car and you accept scratches on the Sunnah?

This Sunnah is an Amanah.

We’d want to have it pure and pristine and complete and perfect just like Nabi Karim  صلى الله عليه وسلم lived it : pure, perfect and complete and beautiful as

أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ

[33:21]

We dont want even a single scratch to come on it…what do you mean then ‘Its only sunnah’? Allahu Akbar Kabira.

This is khiyanah as an Ummati of Nabi Karim saw; this is being untrue to NabI Karim  صلى الله عليه وسلم

This is the Amanah that the heavens, mountains and earth didn’t want…Yes! It is intense! Its srong..Its deep…Its an Amanat.

In hadith, narrated by Syeddina Abu Huraira r.a,  Nabi Karim  صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

“ Signs of  a Munafiq are three: When he speaks he lies, When he makes a promise he goes against it and when an Amanah is given to him he does Khiyanah.” 

When a trust or charge is given to him he betrays it; he’s untrue to it; he’s disloyal to it; and he disregards it.Nabi Karim saw did no call such a person momin, he called him a munafiq, hes not a true believer. In another hadith narrated by Imam Ibn Hanbal’s Muslim: There is no iman (no perfection in that iman, no value in that iman) for a person who doesn’t have Amanah, i.e. the person who is untrue to the trust that has been bestowed upon him by Allah سبحانه وتعالى, by His Rasool saw and the trust that has been bestowed upon him by other people.

Now, Allah سبحانه وتعالى has given a lot of blessings to us in this world , He is going to take back each and every single blessing back. Every single blessing that has been given to us in this world will be taken back from us. Some of them Allah سبحانه وتعالى takes back from us gradually. Your health gradually starts to fade, your teeth gradually starts to rot as you grow older, that person who use to walk tall now he walks bent now,the strength in your bones start to fade, the person who could walk without anything needs a walking stick now. This is all Allah سبحانه وتعالى giving us signs that gradually Allah سبحانه وتعالى will take back the blessings. The person who use to eat anything and everything, now hes having digestive problems. There are certain things hes not able to eat. That person who could make lots of tawaf now he has high blood pressure cant make more than one tawaf in one day.We don’t realize what ability we have now and what we are going to lose when these things get taken back from us. That person who was strong and use to make many nafl fasts now gradually he becomes weak and cannot make many nafl fasts. That person who use to sleep, use to have the naimah of being able to sleep, sometimes too soundly, now that person maybe restless in their sleep , unable to sleep, tossing and turning in their sleep. So death is the ultimate of taking back all the blessings of life. Death is just another name that Allah سبحانه وتعالى will take back each and every single blessing that he gave us.

To be continued inshaAllah