- How to control your desires -

[sunniboy]

- How to control your desires -

A man came to Ibrahim ibn Adam (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) and said, "Abu Ishaq, I am unable to control my lower self. Please give me something to help me with it." "If you accept five conditions," said Ibrahim, "and are able to put them into practice, your disobedience will not cause you any problem." "Just tell me what they are, Abu Ishaq!" the man said.

"The first is that when you want to disobey Allah you do not eat anything He provides." "Then how will I get anything to eat? Everything on the earth is from Him!"
"So is it right to eat His provision and disobey Him at the same time?" replied Ibrahim. "No, it is not. What is the second condition?"

"When you want to disobey him, move off His land."
"That is even more difficult! Exclaimed the man. "In that case where will I live?" "Is it right to eat his provision and live on His land and then to disobey Him?" asked Ibrahim. "No, it is not. What is the third condition?"

"When you want to disobey Him in spite of eating His provision and living on His land, find a place where He will not see you and disobey Him there." "What do you mean, Ibrahim? He knows everything that happens even in the most hidden places!" "So is it right to disobey Him when you eat His provision and live on His land and when you know that He can see everything you do?" "It certainly is not!" the man replied. "Tell me the fourth condition."

"That when the Angel of Death arrives to take your soul, you say to him, 'Give me a reprieve so that I can repent and act righteously for Allah.'" ''But he won't listen to me!" "Then if you cannot ward off death long enough to give yourself time to repent, and you know that when it comes there will be no reprieve, how can you hope to be saved?" "What is the fifth?"

"That when the angels of the Fire come to you to take you to the Fire, you do not go with them." "They will take me whether I like it or not!" exclaimed the man.
"So how can you hope to be saved?" "Enough, enough, Ibrahim! I ask Allah's forgiveness and I turn to Him!"

The man's repentance was sincere and from that time on he was assiduous in his worship and avoided acts of disobedience until the day he died.

[shamshuddin]

Alhamdililah brother, an absolutely superb story.

Definitely one i shall have to download and keep.
Jazakallah.

[ahmedabad]

shamshuddin said:

Alhamdililah brother, an absolutely superb story.

Definitely one i shall have to download and keep.
Jazakallah.

SubanAllah, great thread. It is surely a test of our faith and spirit, if we were to commit a sin. The important thing is how we react though afterwards ?

Hadrat Abu Bakr Al Siddiq (May Allah be pleased with him), narrated:

"I heard the Beloved Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam) saying: ‘There isn’t a man who, when he commits a sin, rises, makes ablution, and offers two rak'as of prayers, but Allah forgives his sins.’

[aabassi]

Ibn Mas'ood (Radi allahu tala anhu) said: Indeed, the believer sees his sins as if he was standing at the foot of a mountain fearing that it will fall upon him and the sinner sees his sins like afly which passes by his nose so he tries to remove it by waving his hand around. [Bukhari]

[Qadiri Ashrafi]

Excellent post Sunniboy ! The surest way of controlling your nafs is by strengthening your Iman, and the best way of doing that is increasing your Ibadaat towards the Almighty.

Allah Almighty says in a hadith qudsi, "O My servant! If you take one step toward Me, I take ten toward you." Therefore we are in need to be active for His Sake. Make your steps more firm on the Straight Path and more powerful, day by day.

[Muhammad Sadiq]

Allah ta'ala acts out of Infinite Knowledge and Justice.

Great thread brothers and sisters, and well said PAshrafi. Sincere repentance and worship through Salaah is the key. Fortunately, Allah (subhanahu wah ta'ala ) is most Forgiving and Most Compassionate.

[Sajid Karim]

Nive thread, simple but effective analogy brother Sunniboy.

[simnani]

You must have heard of Hadrat Junaid Baghdadi (rahmatullah alayhi). He rose to become one of the pious predecessors with such a towering status that he is known as 'Sayyid-ul Taifa' (leader of the Sufis). Hadrat BayazId Bastami (rahmatullah alayhi) said that Hadrat Junaid Baghdadi's (rahmatullah alayhi) status is like that of Hadrat Jibreel (alayhi as-salaam) over all the other Angels.

There are many amazing stories about this great Shaykh. Here's an example of how Hadrat Junaid Baghdadi (rahmatullah alayhi) controlled his nafs. Allah (subhanahu wah ta'ala) is pleased when the nafs is controlled for His sake.

Someone once asked him, "Allah has given you such a high rank, what worship or sacrifice did you do to achieve this?" Hadrat Junaid Baghdadi (rahmatullah alayhi) replied, "I didn't do any special worship. One night I wanted to worship Allah and the nafs tried to prevent me from doing this. The nafs said, 'Go to sleep, as this is not obligatory worship.' Then I became weak against my nafs, and didn't worship Allah but fell asleep. However I got my own back on my nafs and I did not give myself cold water to drink for a whole year. After that one complete year, I asked my nafs, “Do you want to drink cold water or do you want me to engage in Allah's worship?” After this punishment on my nafs for one year, I gained the nearness to Allah ta'ala.”

Alhamdulilah !

[furqaan]

prestonashrafi said:

Excellent post Sunniboy ! The surest way of controlling your nafs is by strengthening your Iman, and the best way of doing that is increasing your Ibadaat towards the Almighty.

Allah Almighty says in a hadith qudsi, "O My servant! If you take one step toward Me, I take ten toward you." Therefore we are in need to be active for His Sake. Make your steps more firm on the Straight Path and more powerful, day by day.

Another great thread, the surest way of controlling your desires is to increase your worship of our Lord and Master, good post PrestonAshrafi.

[sunnipath]

By simply looking into the sources of Islam, one is able to know that the true meaning of jihad is to strive/make effort in the way of Allah. Thus striving in the way of Allah can be both peaceful and physical. The Prophet Muhammed (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam) said:

"The best jihad is (by) the one who strives against his own self for Allah, The Mighty and Majestic"

In the Noble Qur'an, Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) also says:

"So obey not the disbelievers, but make a great jihad (effort) against them (by preaching) with it (the Qur'an)" (Surah Al-Furqan 25:52)

By controlling and fighting against ones desires, the Muslims can then also physically exert themselves in the path of Allah. It is this physical or combative jihad which receives so much criticism. Because of the sheer ignorance of this type of jihad Islam is regarded as terror, and Muslims are regarded as terrorists. However, the very purpose of this physical jihad is to raise the word of Allah uppermost. By doing this, it liberates and emancipates all those who are crying out for freedom all over the world. If the likes of the pacifists of this world had their way, then the world would indeed be full of anarchy and mischief. The combative jihad seeks to correct this as Allah says in the Qur'an:

"And if Allah did not check one set of people by means of another, the Earth would be full of mischief. But Allah is full of bounty to the worlds"
(Surah Al-Baqarah 2:251)

[Mohammed Khan]

"Enough, enough, Ibrahim! I ask Allah's forgiveness and I turn to Him!"

Great post Sunniboy, nice follow ups too.