By
Khawlah bint Yahya
Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu dear brothers and sisters,
This week we are going to look into our hearts and be really honest with ourselves.
In the last weeks we’ve discussed our situation on the siraat (the
bridge over the hellfire), our situation in dealing with stress and
worries in Islam, and, last week, the positive benefits of remembering
death.
Now all of these come together in this week’s topic: the importance of forgiving
others!
Did You Really Forgive That Person?
Most of us know there are several ayaat (often translated as
“verses”, but “signs” is a more appropriate word) about the importance
of forgiving others in our lives.
Then the interesting bit comes— bringing it into practice. To be
really honest with yourself, have you always forgiven others for the
wrongs they’ve done to you? Or have you just said, “I forgive you,”
while ill feelings lingered in your heart?
Let’s look at one part of this beautiful ayah:
“. . . and let them pardon and overlook. Would you not like that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” [Quran 24:22]
I read many times over this ayah, but one day I really “reflected” on
it. Allah subhanahu wa ta’alaa created us and He knows what is best for
us. This is something we often seem to forget. Allah knows it can be
very hard to really forgive someone who hurt you and in this ayah we are
given the greatest motivation to push ourselves to forgive; it’s
Allah’s forgiveness.
Forgive to Be Forgiven!
Allah ‘azza wajal is telling us here what the big motivator is for us
suppressing our nafs (ego) and forgiving other people, even when they
don’t even ask for our forgiveness.
We do it for Allah.
That is the importance of forgiveness. There’s no space for a big ego if you want to be forgiven by Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
When we think of forgiveness we mostly think of Allah’s forgiveness
and we forget how important it is that we also forgive. We need to
remember both, because if we don’t forgive we do wrong in our
relationship with Allah as well as in our relationships with each other.
How can we expect Allah subhanahu wa ta’alaa to forgive us, while we
are not even willing to forgive others?
The Miracle of the Quran: the Benefits of Forgiving Others
American scientists recently discovered that stress-related backache,
insomnia and stomachaches were significantly reduced among individuals
who had the habit of forgiving others.
So forgiving others improves your physical ability and lightens your
heart, which makes it the recipient of a great source of reward from
Allah ‘azza wajal— also an amazing productivity tip!
The Struggle, the Reward
Our journey to the Hereafter is full of difficulties and tests, this
is our way to prove who we are and this process includes injustice being
done to us at the hands of others. If we truly want Allah’s love and
forgiveness we must remember that the hurts of this world are only
temporary.
Look at this beautiful treasure:
I guarantee a house in Jannah
(Paradise) for one who gives up arguing, even if he is in the right; and
I guarantee a house in the middle of Jannah for one who abandons lying
even for the sake of fun; and I guarantee a house in the highest part of
Jannah for one who has good manners. [Imam Abu Dawud]
To motivate us to be the first in showing our good behaviour, there
is a beautiful hadith. How many of us know that it is not allowed to be
in an argument and keep away from another Muslim for more than three
days?
The Prophet salallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam said:
It is not
permissible for a man to forsake his Muslim brother for more than three
days, each of them turning away from the other when they meet. The
better of them is the one who gives the greeting of salaam first. [al-Bukhari, 5727; Muslim, 2560].
To Conclude
Forgiving others is crucial for our success in the Hereafter; one
forgives to seek forgiveness. But forgiving others also brings lots of
physical and spiritual benefits in this world!
To inspire us to fight our ego and really try to forgive with our hearts and not only with our lips,
Abu Sa’id al Khudri reported Allah’s Messenger as saying:
When the
believers pass safely over (the bridge across) Hell, they will be
stopped at a bridge (the siraat) between Hell and Paradise where they
will retaliate against one another for the injustices done among them in
the world, and when they are purified of all their sins, they will be
admitted to Paradise. By Him in Whose hands the life of Muhammad is,
everybody will recognize his dwelling in Paradise better than he
recognizes his dwelling in this world. [al-Bukhari, Fath Al-Bari]
So think about Allah, your Most Beloved, and think about your ego. The choice is yours.
Homework:
Imagine that moment on the siraat when those who you wronged will be
free to take away your hasanat and you might end up not having enough
left to pass to Jannah!
1. Ask forgiveness from others and forgive those you have ill-feelings for asap.
You can make a
general email or a text for all your
friends/family/colleagues saying eg : “ Dear brother/sister, please
forgive me if I ever said anything which made you upset or hurt you, I
love you for the sake of Allah. May we be reunited in Jannah.”
2. If there are
specific people you are in an argument with, to whom you haven’t spoke for a while, take action.
Phone them or visit them to ask for their forgiveness and tell them you
forgive them! A beautiful idea is to give especially these persons in
your life a little gift, suffice is the statement of RasulAllah:
“Tahaaddu tahaabbu (Give gifts and you shall love one another)”
(Bukhari).
May Allah subhanahu wa ta’alaa give us all the ability to forgive
others for the wrong they do to us and make us more productive Muslims
through this and may Allah forgive us all for our sins– Ameen.
I pray you will benefit,
(Source: http://understandquran.com/weekly-jumuah-special-how-forgiving-others-can-make-your-body-and-soul-more-productive.html?utm_source=Free+Membership&utm_campaign=5c1ce377b6-2012_12_07&utm_medium=email)
