Manifestations of Tawheed in the comprehensiveness of the Mercy and Forbearance of Allah The Almighty:
Forbearance and Mercy are attributes of Allah The Almighty, and when you read the authentic Hadeeth, (narration) in which the Prophet , said: “Whoever performs Hajj without having sexual relations, and without committing disobedience returns free of sin as he was on the day when his mother gave birth to him” you will know for sure that sins do not harm Allah The Exalted, and acts of obedience do not benefit him. The forbearance and mercy of Allah The Almighty are so great, that when people in their sixties and seventies stand at His door shedding tears, showing regret over the sins that they had committed, and turning in repentance to their Lord, asking Him for forgiveness, He pardons them and transforms their sins into good deeds. What a great and indescribable bounty!
If one contemplates the greatness of our Lord, Allah The Almighty, one would recognize the value of this life. This life becomes meaningless if one fails to recognize the Greatness of his Lord. And whoever knows Allah The Exalted, would draw near to Him sincerely, fear and revere Him perfectly, as Allah is the Benevolent and Forbearing Lord.
Whole nations exceed all limits in disobeying Him, and then He forgives them and transforms their sins into good deeds.
He not only forgives, but also transforms the sins into good deeds...Exalted is Allah The Almighty, the Benevolent.
When the slave recognizes the Greatness of Allah The Exalted in His Mercy, Forbearance and Bounty, he will feel that he is well as long as he is with Allah The Almighty.
The slave of Allah would also feel that as long as all these nations supplicate to Allah The Almighty at the same moment and He sees and hears all of them, then, Allah The Almighty will have mercy upon him like them and that He will be gracious to him, as He is to them. All that one is required to do is to believe in Allah The Almighty and surrender to Him. This way, even if anything afflicts him, he will still think good thoughts regarding Allah The Almighty.
Thinking good thoughts about Allah The Almighty is one of the benefits of Hajj. When you see all those people and you know for sure that Allah The Almighty has pardoned and had mercy upon some of them, or even all of them, as nothing is impossible or greater than the mercy of Allah The Almighty, you will have hope that Allah The Almighty has forgiven you too. A prostitute from the Children of Israel, may Allah The Exalted protect all of us, passed by a dog whose tongue was lolling out and he was eating moist earth from extreme thirst. She pitied that dog, filled up her leather sock with water and quenched the thirst of the dog. Allah The Almighty thanked her and forgave her sins -- just because of a drink of water.
A man passed by a branch of a tree leaning over a road and decided to remove it, saying to himself, `By Allah! I will remove it from the way of Muslims so that it would not harm them.' Because of this, he was admitted to Paradise and saved from Hell.
He is really a Great and Mighty Lord and the slave possesses nothing better than thinking good of Him.
Hence, it was narrated in the authentic Hadeeth that Allah The Almighty said, “I am as My slave thinks I am, so if thinks of Me well, he will find but good and if he thinks of me ill, he will find what he thought of.”
Thus, whoever thinks ill of Allah The Almighty (we seek refuge with Allah from that) will suffer the greatest loss. Those who spend their times begging trees, stones and graves exalting the dead and ascribing to them attributes that must not be given except to Allah The Almighty are losers, because they have mistrusted Allah The Almighty and failed to recognize His greatness. If they had known Him, they would not have asked anything from anyone other than Him. We supplicate to Allah The Almighty to protect and save us.
Consequently, when the slave thinks good of Allah The Almighty, Allah will forgive and have mercy upon him.
We beseech Allah the Great, the Lord of the Great Throne, to forgive and pardon all of us.
Manifestations of Tawheed on the Day of An-Nahr (slaughter of sacrificial animal on Thul-Hijjah 10)
On the Day of An-Nahr that Allah The Almighty describes as the Day of Al-Hajj-ul-Akbar (greater Hajj), pilgrims of Hajj throw the pebbles of Jamrat-ul-Aqaba (the major Jamrah). As they do this, they remember one of the incidents experienced by the leader of Muslims, Prophet Ibraaheem (Abraham, may Allah exalt his mention) – the Prophet whose monotheistic faith in Allah The Almighty was tested by Allah. Ibraaheem, my Allah exalt his mention, was truthful and Allah The Almighty rewarded him. All the rituals of Hajj remind one of Prophet Ibraheem, may Allah exalt his mention. Ibraaheem, may Allah exalt his mention, was an exemplar of faith and submission to Allah The Almighty.
On the Day of An-Nahr, a Muslim pilgrim starts the day with throwing the pebbles of Jamrat-ul-Aqba, at sunrise. This brings to minds the memory of Ibraaheem, may Allah exalt his mention, when he saw a vision that he was slaughtering his own son. What a test that was! Ibraaheem, may Allah exalt his mention, had been tested regarding his homeland; so he migrated for the sake of Allah The Almighty. When Ibraaheem, may Allah exalt his mention, did that, Allah The Almighty compensated him with the Holy Land of Makkah. He had also been tested regarding his family and kin and he parted with them for the sake of Allah The Almighty. When he did that, Allah The Almighty blessed him with offspring consisting of prophets and messengers. Then, Allah The Almighty tested him regarding his son; Ibraaheem, may Allah Exalt his mention, was supposed to slaughter his own son and the apple of his eye. Speaking of that incident, Allah the Exalted, Says (what means): {“And when he reached with him [the age of] exertion, he said, "O my son, indeed I have seen in a dream that I [must] sacrifice you, so see what you think." He said, "O my father, do as you are commanded. You will find me, if Allah wills, of the steadfast." } [Quran 37:102]
Have you seen how staunch their faith in Tawheed was and how they submitted to the command of Allah The Almighty? He was still young, but when asked to give his life up he accepted for the sake of Allah. Allah The Almighty Says (what means):{He said, "O my father, do as you are commanded.} [Quran 37:102]. He did not brag about being brave or strong, but he relied on Allahby saying(what means): {You will find me, if Allah wills, of the steadfast.}[Quran 37:102]May Allah exalt the mention of Ismaa`eel (Ishmail). He was ready to give his life up in submission to Allah The Almighty. How great this was! For their sincere Tawheed and submission, Allah the Almighty ended their ordeal.
Manifestations of Islamic Monotheism in Hajj - I