With the RIS convention just a few weeks away inshaAllah, the Living the Deen team on the Voice of the Cape has prepared an exciting new series titled Reviving the Heart. It is adapted from a series of very short but effective video talks by Sh. Navaid Aziz called My Spiritual Fix and can be accessed by visiting his website www.myspiritualfix.com. Sh. Navaid Aziz will be presenting at RIS 2011 from the 6-8 of May InshaAllah.
The need to identify the diseases of the heart is an important process in Reviving our Islamic Spirit. This series aims to identify some of the diseases of the heart and remedies which we can implement to cure ourselves from these diseases.
In this article we will be introducing you to the topic of Tazkiyya-tun-nafs (Purification of the Soul) and Riyah (Ostentation), the first of 8 diseases of the heart we will be addressing over the next few weeks InshaAllah.
1. Purification of the Soul – Tazkiyya-tun-nafs
Imagine this scenario you sitting at your computer 12 am the evening trying to meet an 8am deadline the following morning when all of a sudden your computer crashes and your 95% completed work is lost. Are you prepared to suffer the consequences with your boss the next morning? However you come to find out the next day that the computer had a hidden defect in it but was not identified until that night. That hidden defect cost your company a major client and loss of revenue.
In the same way we may have defects in our hearts and when our death approaches us, Allah tests us and without identifying these weaknesses early, our death may come at a time where we are disobedient to Allah exposing this disease in our heart which remained hidden until our death. Are we prepared to lose something far more valuable than revenue? Are we prepared to lose our Jannah?
It is therefore very important that we learn about these diseases of the heart so that we can Identify them and seek the proper cures as prescribed by the sunnah of the Prophet (saw).
2. Ostentation – Riyah
The first diseas of the heart we will be discussing in this series is Riyah or Ostentation. Riyah committing a deed or action for the sake of someone else rather than for the pleasure of Allah’s (swt) mercy. A good deed, recognised by Allah (swt), is any deed done solely for the sake of Allah (swt) or following the sunnah of the prophet (saw). Therefore Riyah only affects those who perform righteous deeds other than for the sake of Allah (swt) or following the sunnah of the prophet (saw).
The prophet (saw) described that one of the first people to enter Jahannam would be:
- the Scholar,
- the Philanthropist,
- the Martyr
Allah will show these groups of people the deeds which were bestowed upon them and they would be asked why did you do these deeds. They would say they did it for Allah’s sake alone but Allah will tell them that you have lied. They will be dragged on their faces and then thrown into the fire of Jahannam.
The complicated thing about Riyah is that it is very difficult to notice it’s symptoms. Even if you do have knowledge of what Riyah is it is still something very difficult to identify among many people even scholars as mentioned above. Therefore Riayh is so inconspicuous, the Prophet (saw) said
“it is like the dark ant on the dark rock in the absolute pitch dark of the night.”
Therefore it is important to know the symptoms of Riyah so that we can identify if we are displaying symptoms. There are two major signs or symptoms of Riyah:
- You will only do deeds in public – eg. You neglect to perform any sunnah prayers at home. You rather do it in the Masjid. Generally if you are never performing your sunnah prayers at home it maybe that you are displaying symptoms of Riyah.
- “I can never be afflicted by Riyah”, or “my sincerity is always in check”, are statements that indicate that you are more than likely falling into Riyah.
Shaytaan takes advantage of these symptoms and therefore always wants you to forget about Riyah where as Allah wants you to remember it.
However it is important to note that allot of people fall into a trap of Shaytaan in that they refrain from doing good deeds out of fear of Riyah. We must always remember that Shyataan’s main objective is for us to commit a major sin, if he can’t get that, he tries to get a minor sin if he can’t get that he will let you perform good deeds that are lesser in value like performing your Fard Salaah at home rather that in the Masjid (for men).
Allah wants you us to always commit good deeds so that we can attain His mercy but he wants us to correct our intentions all the time. Therefore you get the reward for committing the good deed as well as the reward for fighting off Shaytaan.
Guidelines to cure Riyah:
As human beings we have this natural tendency to show off the good deeds we commit to other people. We should therefore look to the perfect example of the Prophet (saw) and how he dealt with Riyah. The example of the Hajjah tul Widdah speech where the Prophet (saw), at the end of his speech, looked up to the sky, raised his hand and said:
“Be my witness, O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people…..”. So if you want to show off your deeds, show them off to Allah.
More often most of our deeds are done in the public arena, therefore the people who we are working with will play an important role in preventing us from falling into riyah. We need to constantly remind one another to check our intentions. When should we check our intentions? Before the deed, during the deed and after the deed. Therefore always encourage each other to check our intention.
Keep track of all the deeds you have committed. Write down all the deeds you have committed in private and those done in public. There may be an imbalance. So we therefore need to correct this imbalance by trying to bring equity to the scale or even tip it over by performing more deeds in private.
May Allah (swt) purify our intentions, rectify all our affairs, protect is from Riyah and may He accept all the deeds that we do.
