Ramadan and The Truth Imperative - I

16/07/2012| IslamWeb

An Appeal for Us All

The advent of Ramadan, "the sacred month of Allah Almighty," is Allah's gift to the believers to renew our faith and refresh our spirituality. A loving believer's relationship with Allah Almighty has a thousand dimensions. But the most important of these is truthfulness (al-Sidq). When applied to our relationship with Allah Almighty, it is also called al-Ikhlaas (sincerity).

Based on this, and my observations of the condition of Muslims and our Ummah, what I write now is a plea to Muslims, starting with myself, to acquire this most essential element of faith. Ramadan is the perfect time to start a change. Through fasting and frequent encounters with the Quran, we get a chance to turn down the noises of this life, and focus on actualizing our goals for the eternal life.

Every Ramadan, we have an opportunity to become better, closer, dearer to Allah Almighty. Some fortunate believers pass in this noble pursuit with living colors. For the rest of us, Ramadan presents a short-lived spike in spirituality. After Ramadan, things go back slowly to how they were. There are countless well-intentioned brothers and sisters who want to become perfect, impeccably pious, devoted worshippers during Ramadan. But that change, that bolt of lightning, that epiphany which they wait for in order to start that transformation, never seems to come.

The successful few are those who prepare ahead, make practical plans, focus on first things first, and evaluate themselves with care and discipline.

For this Ramadan, I urge my fellow Muslims to focus on this one most important and most direly lacking—dimension of nearness to Allah Almighty: Truthfulness. It might seem trivial, but it is not. It would be truly revolutionary to be and live and worship—with Muslims who are truthful and trustworthy.

This seemingly small change would completely transform our inner lives, families, communities, committees, organizations, businesses, classrooms, workplaces, relationships, and most importantly, our eternal life.

The Muslim Ummah is bleeding today, materially and spiritually, and the way to salvation and reform is to change from within—and truthfulness is the very first spiritual and ethical imperative. Allah Almighty reminds us again in the Quran that Ikhlaas—sincerity or truthfulness of intention toward Allah Almighty —is all that the mankind has been asked to do. He Almighty Says (what means): {And they have not been commanded but to worship Allah, with sincerity in their Religion.} [Quran 98:51]

Truthfulness can be said to have three dimensions: Toward Allah Almighty, with ourselves, and with other people. In Islam, the true message of One God, all of these dimensions are mutually related. To be true believers, we must be truthful in all of them. Allah is the Truth, and those who believe in Him are truthful in every dimension of their being.

Today, the world is dominated by an ideology (i.e., liberal secularism) that is opposed to truth—that is to say, it is opposed to any ultimate truths. Yet still, society today values truthfulness in human interaction. In order for us to not be deceived by the confusion created by the modern ideologies, it is important for the believers to understand how our relationship to the truth and truthfulness is different from that of the irreligious society. Truth for us is not relative, is it not socially constructed, it is not of merely instrumental and utilitarian value: We worship Allah Almighty, who is the very Truth.

Allah , the Glorified, has divided those human beings who claim to worship God into the truthful ones and the hypocrites, there being no third possibility:

Allah Says (what means): {Among the Believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Of them, some have, fulfilled their vow, and some are (eagerly) in wait—their resolve has not changed in the least—so that Allah may reward the men of Truth for their Truth, and punish the Hypocrites, if that be His Will, or turn to them in Mercy, for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.} [Quran 33:23-4]

On the Day of Judgment, nothing but the truthfulness of a servant will be of any benefit, as the Most High has said (what means): {This is a day when the truthfulness of the truthful ones will benefit them. For them are Gardens beneath which flow rivers, dwelling therein forever. God is pleased with them and they with God. That is the magnificent success.} [Quran 5:119] Allah, The Most High, has also said: {The one who has brought the truth, and the one who has affirmed it: Such are the saved ones.} [Quran 39:33]

Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim says:

"Truthfulness is among the greatest of the stations of the seekers of God, from which emanate all other stations. Truthfulness is the forthright path, and whoever deviates from it is cut off (from God) and ruined. It is the criterion which distinguishes the hypocrites from the faithful, the dwellers of the Gardens from those of the Fire. It is God's sword on earth, which slices and destroys every misguidance and falsehood that it strikes. Whosoever seeks its protection is never left unprotected. Whosoever speaks by it triumphs over his opponents. It is the soul of all actions, the touchstone (mihakk) of all states, which enables one to overcome all situations no matter how difficult. It is the pillar that supports the entire canopy of faith. It is the door wherefrom enter the successful into the presence of the Magnificent. It is the foundation of all of religion (Deen). Its status is right next to the status of Prophethood, which is the greatest status in the universe. Just like in the life of this world the truthful ones, the siddeeqoon had a direct connection with the truth in the hearts of the Prophets, so too in the Garden will rivers flow directly from the dwellings of the Prophets to the dwellings of the truthful ones." (Madaarij al-Saalikeen).

Accomplishing truthfulness is neither easy nor impossible: It is a difficult obligation, without which our lives and afterlives will be in ruins.

Allah is the Truth

One of the names of Allah is AI-Haqq—the Truth. All truths in existence are derived from that one Truth. He is the First, the Last, the Evident, the Hidden, the Living, and the Everlasting. The purpose of human life is to recognize, actualize— indeed live—that Truth. To discover and live by this ultimate truth through His innumerable signs is the ultimate human test. The only moments of our lives that will echo in eternity, that truly matter, that are the proper use of our brief life, are those spent in recognizing and witnessing the Truth of Allah and in actualizing it in practice. Every other moment, every other activity, even those that are not sinful and wicked but simply directed at living our lives without reference to the Truth, will be a cause of regret for us in the Afterlife.

These are two equally important facets of our connection to Allah Almighty: Witnessing His Works and Attributes in awe and beatitude, and practicing with discipline and diligence His commands. The scholars of sulook (the inner journey to Allah Almighty) have called the first type of relationship with Allah al-jamm' (union) —a state of worship when we think about and praise only Allah, the Truth, and that Truth so overwhelms His lovers that they think nothing of the created things; and the second type tafriqa (separation)—when we turn to the created world to put the commands of the Truth into practice.

The highest level of faith, ihsaan, as defined by the Prophet in the Hadeeth of Jibreel, is to live as if you see Allah Almighty. In worship, you see Allah Almighty by contemplating directly his truth and beauty, and respond by praising and beseeching Him in tears and prayers. When you return to your this-worldly life, you see Allah Almighty by seeing His power and His works and respond by obeying and transforming the world for the better.

The good life, the only truly blissful life, is to live while connected to the Truth, Almighty. Any other way of living, either against the Truth or in agnosticism or carelessness toward it, is to lose on the eternal scale.
Allah Almighty Says (what means): {Say, shall We tell you of those whose deeds are all lost? Those whose effort is lost in the life of this world, but they think that they have done well.} [Quran 18:103-4]