[15Praxanant]

A question posed by a brother/sister and the spectacular answer that was given..

I have read that 'One of the qualities of ignorant persons is that they are not aware of the various ways in which they can utilize their goodness.' Can you please explain?

Answer
Some people talk about another's goodness but what is the value of this goodness when it does not benefit that person and the others around? We can apply this to relationships and other social dealings as well. This goodness is of no value. An ignorant person is never surrounded by commendable people; in fact an ignorant person actually rebuffs the good people and welcomes the detestable ones. We as Muslims are supposed to love, hate, give and deny for the sake of Allah (swt). We know that companions of the Prophet SAW, after developing Iman, completely immersed themselves in the way of Allah (swt) and discovered that the moment they had the loyalty towards Allah (swt) nothing else really mattered, not even their parents or families etc.

Many Muslim women suffer from this. From the past twenty years of my experience in da'awah around eighty to eighty five percent of Muslim women living with their Muslim or non-Muslim husbands, are unable to live as devoted Muslims. The reason I mentioned non-Muslims is that most of these men only carry a Muslim name but are almost atheists without any belief in Allah (swt) and the Quran. How many women can actually put their foot down and say that they do not want to be in a relationship that is haram because according to Shari'ah the marriage contract is off.

Some of them only pray when they are threatened of being deserted by their wives. There was a sister who said that her husband in a period of twenty five years prayed only a few times. This sister was a wonderful woman, but she had wasted all of her time, love, quality and her devotion for an atheist. What is the matter with us?

So how do we apply this, i.e. utilize our goodness in the right way?

This can be determined only if we have Iman. Iman helps us to distinguish right from wrong. This takes us back to the topic ofniyyah (intention) and the sincerity of our intention.

If we belong to Allah (swt), we can ask Him and He will help us distinguish between right and wrong. But if we have not attained that level of knowledge and iman, or are not sure of our intuition, then we can ask a knowledgeable person about which of our good deeds are higher in rank. Very few people can actually do that because it requires absolute humbleness and humility to Allah SWT as well as those who carry the knowledge of Allah. Moreover, the answers we receive are usually against our own desires therefore, it requires humility to subdue our egos and accept the message of Allah SWT.