Reflections On the Glad Tidings of Three Dates

Reflections On the Glad Tidings of Three Dates

إن الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا من يهده الله فلا مضل له ومن يضلل فلا هادي له. وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله. ﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ ﴾ [آل عمران: 102]. ﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالاً كَثِيراً وَنِسَاءً وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيباً ﴾ [النساء: 1]. ﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا * يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا ﴾ [الأحزاب: 70، 71].

Praise belongs to Allah, we praise Him, and we ask Him for help and forgiveness. We seek protection in Allah from the malice of our souls, and the evil of our actions. Whom Allah guides, no one can lead him astray, and whom He makes astray, no one can lead him back to the right path. I bear witness that there is no other deity but Allah alone.

who has no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and messenger.

“O you who believed! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except as Muslims.” (Aali Imran 3:102).

“O mankind, fear your Lord who created you from a single soul, and from it, He created its match, and spread many men and women from the two. Fear Allah in Whose name you ask each other (for your rights), and fear (the violation of the rights of) the womb-relations. Surely, Allah is watchful of you". (Al-Nisa:01).

“O you who believe, fear Allah and speak in straightforward words. If you do so, Allah will correct your deeds for your benefit, and forgive your sins for you. Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger achieves a great success”. (Al-Ahzab:70-71).

To proceed,

The truest of word is the Book of Allah and best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The worst of things are those that are newly invented; every newly-invented thing is an innovation and every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire.

To proceed:

Servants of the Most Merciful,

Admitting in paradise and salvation from the fire is the basis of All success. As Allah the Almighty has said:

﴿ فَمَن زُحْزِحَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازَ ﴾[آل عمران: 185].

“So, whoever has been kept away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has really succeeded”.

Here is a narration which is narrated by Hazrat Aisha, may God be pleased with her, In which it is reported that the Paradise become obligatory for a Muslim woman only because of three dates! Here is the narration:

Muslim narrated in his Sahih on the authority of Aisha, may God be pleased with her, who said: A poor woman came to me along with her daughters. I gave her three dates. She gave a date to each of them and then she took up one date and brought that to her mouth in order to eat that, but her daughters expressed desire to eat it. She then divided the date that she intended to eat between them. This (kind) treatment of her impressed me and I mentioned that which she did to Allah’s Messenger. Thereupon he said: Verily Allah has assured Paradise for her, because of (this act) of her, or He has rescued her from Hell-Fire.

Allahbuakbar, what a short narrative! And how great lessons it has! Let's ponder over some of lessons of this narrative:

•How great Allah's generosity is, that He enjoined Paradise for that woman and freed her from the Fire only because of three dates! Glory be to the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the Forgiving.

• Among the lesson is that we should entertain the poor

.

This house is of the best humankind. Despite this, it happened many times that this house used to be empty from food. (Allah is helpful).

On the contrary, the case in these days is, that the majority of people in our society, who consider themselves poor, has more food than their need, rather, at times, extra food is thrown.

May Allah treat us with his forgiveness and guide us to thank Him.

• Among the lessons is the generosity of Aisha, may God be pleased with her, that she gave preference to the beggar and her two daughters over herself. and giving preference is the highest degree of generosity. Allah the Almighty praised the Ansar:

﴿ وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴾ [ الحشر9].

“And give preference (to them) over themselves, even though they are in poverty”.

• Among the lessons is the justice and fairness of this woman, and her preference over herself. She gave each girl a date and put one for herself, and it is known that the older one needs more food. But despite this. she divided for herself as for them. Then, when her daughters asked for her share, she cut the date in two pieces and divided among them.

• Among the lessons is the intensity of the mother's sanctity. That’s why, Allah the Almighty has dignified the stature of mother by making the reverence of mother mandatory. Prophet said: your mother, (deserves your kindness) then your mother then your mother, and then your father. Almighty said:

﴿ وَإِن جَاهَدَاكَ عَلى أَن تُشْرِكَ بِي مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ فَلَا تُطِعْهُمَا وَصَاحِبْهُمَا فِي الدُّنْيَا مَعْرُوفاً ﴾ [لقمان: 15].

“However, if they force you to ascribe partners to Me about whom you (can) have no (source of) knowledge, then do not obey them. Remain with them in this world with due fairness,”.

And servant of Allah, make frequently these Quranic supplications for your parents.

﴿ رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيَّ ﴾ [نوح: 28].

“My Lord, grant pardon to me, and to my parents”.

﴿ رَّبِّ ارْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانِي صَغِيراً ﴾ [الإسراء: 24]..

“My Lord, be merciful to them as they have brought me up in my childhood”.

• And among the lessons is that a Muslim should not despise anything of goodness. It is mentioned in the Quran:

﴿ فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْراً يَرَهُ ﴾ [الزلزلة:7 ].

“Whoever does any good act (even) to the weight of a particle, will see it”.

• And, sometimes, your insignificant good act brings the auspiciousness in your life in this world and Hereafter.

Wasn’t the adulteress forgiven for watering a dog. And sometimes it happens by removing the throne of branch from the way of people.

It is mentioned in the hadith: Allah’s Apostle said to me: Don’t consider anything insignificant out of good things even if it is that you meet your brother with a cheerful countenance”. Narrated by Muslims.

• Among the lessons is that Hazrat Aisha, may God be pleased with her, was very keen on giving charity and if you contemplate the verses of the Qur’an and the Sunnah you will see that Islam has encouraged a lot on giving charity.

• Among the lessons is that the sincerity has great impact. Ibn Al-Mubarak said: “A small deed, sometimes, becomes great by the intention, and a great deed becomes small by the intention.”

• Among the lessons is the virtue of conveying knowledge, so here we are, after more than one thousand and four hundred years, studying this hadith, and for those who narrated this narrative will be a share of the reward, God willing. And their reward will be increasing while they are in their graves.

• Among the lessons is that the happiness and tranquillity of the heart are not linked to richness and luxury.

May Allah the Almighty benefit me and you with the Qur’an and the Sunnah and the guidance and wisdom that they contain.

Ask Allah’s forgiveness for He is Forgiving and Most Merciful.

Second sermon

Praise be to Allah, the Praiseworthy, the Grateful, the Forbearing, the Patient, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the one who will be intercessor on the Day of Resurrection.

Afterwards,

servants of the Most Merciful:

Among the lessons of the previous short narrative are:

• The goodness is in the destiny planned by Allah the Almighty even if it does not appear to you. So, consider how the poverty of this woman brought into this situation to happen, which caused her to deserve paradise. Allah the Almighty says:

﴿ فَعَسَى أَن تَكْرَهُواْ شَيْئاً وَيَجْعَلَ اللّهُ فِيهِ خَيْراً كَثِيراً ﴾ [النساء: 19].

“Then it is quite likely that you dislike something and Allah has placed a lot of good in it”.

• Among the lessons is that we must have mercy upon younger ones, apprize their hunger, and understand the innocence of childhood. The Compassionate One has mercy on those who are merciful. And the younger ones should be taught and not to be treated harshly.

• It is learned from the story that Paradise may be achieved by a good deed that is not mentioned in a text. This woman received this credit after she did this act. Aisha said: This (kind) treatment of her impressed me and I mentioned that which she did to Allah's Messenger. Thereupon he said: Verily Allah has assured Paradise for her, because of (this act) of her, or He has rescued her from Hell-Fire.

• Among the lessons is to do charity even if it is a small amount, and it is in the hadith: “Do not reject the beggar, respond him even by giving only a roasted hoof. Classified by al-Albani.

And it is mentioned in Bukhari and Muslim: “Save yourself from Hell-fire even by giving half a date-fruit in charity”.

• Among the lessons is that the spending on daughters and striving for their affairs is one of the best acts of righteousness and it will save from the Fire.

The two sheikhs reported on the authority of Aisha, may God be pleased with her, who said: A woman came to me along with her two daughters. She asked me for (charity) but she found nothing with me except one date, so I gave her that. She accepted it and then divided it between her two daughters and herself ate nothing out of that. She then got up and went out, and so did her two daughters. (In the meanwhile) Allah's Apostle visited me and I narrated to him her story. Thereupon Allah's Apostle said: He who is involved (in the responsibility) of (bringing up) daughters, and he accords benevolent treatment towards them, there would be protection for him against Hell-Fire.

In the hadith, there is emphasise on fulfilling the right of girls. Because they often are weak and as well as there is encouragement in hadith on their upbringing.

Some scholars said: the meaning of the hadith is that whoever a daughter is gifted, he may feel some difficulty in her upbringing.

some scholar said: It is possible that the affliction means: testing in this hadith i.e., man will be tested with the daughters whether he will do good with them or not.

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan:

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم ﴿ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ وَاسْمَعُوا وَأَطِيعُوا وَأَنفِقُوا خَيْراً لِّأَنفُسِكُمْ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴾ [التغابن: 16].

“So, observe taqwa (total obedience to Allah in awe of Him) as far as you can, and listen and obey, and spend (in Allah’s way), it being good for you. And those who are saved from the greed of their hearts are the successful”.

Then send peace and salutations...

Translated by: Alamgeer Usmani.