Dying and Living for Allah: The Last Will of Khurram Murad

Khurram Murad

• Publisher: The Islamic Foundation
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9780860374893
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

Dying and Living for Allah: The Last Will of Khurram Murad is essentially a wake up call, not just to his kith and kin, but all the Muslims. This Will is a nasihah - advising, commending and enjoining a life based on loyalty to Allah, striving for the akhira and being particular to one's responsibilities towards others.

II

Message for Successful Living

1

As far as this temporal world is concerned, the first thing I have prayed to Allah for you is that He may grant you the richness of heart, that He may enable you to keep yourselves impervious to the world. Remember, the real wealth of this world and the Hereafter lies in the richness of heart. This is the fountainhead of all good. On the contrary, love of this world is the root of all evil. It is my feeling that Allah has granted all of you some degree of this richness. In other words, my prayers have been answered. This reinforces the belief that many other of my prayers must also have been answered, even those that relate to myself.

Value this wealth – the richness of heart – that you have gained. Protect it, strive to increase it, and attempt to fill in its gaps. Piety lies not in altogether shunning this material world, but in eschewing its love. Do enjoy the legitimate bounties of Allah in full, but do not be a slave of any of them. Never develop an attachment with them of a kind that cannot be broken. Eat well, dress well, live well. You may earn and keep wealth too, but never have your heart in such things. Their availability or absence should be of no consequence to you. Strive to achieve a state of mind in which you accept not just Allah’s bounty but also when He tests you by subjecting you to meagreness of worldly resources. Whether it be a sumptuous meal or a piece of coarse bread, or even the prospect of starvation, each state should be considered as Allah’s gift for you. Be happy and at peace in each state. When the heart is free of the cares of this world, why would you disobey Allah on Whom you are dependent for all your worldly needs? And then, why should you be sad on losing the riches of the world? Never incur Allah’s Wrath for the sake of this world; never make yourself sick and weary on account of this world.

2

The second thing which I have prayed for you with regard to this world is that never may Allah make you dependent upon any of His creatures; may He make you dependent on Himself alone. May you never have to spread out your hand before anyone but Allah. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, had sought a special oath from some of his selected Companions that they would not beseech anyone for anything. The result was that even if they were to drop their whip while riding, they would stoop to retrieve it themselves and not request anyone to pick it up for them.²³ Although I could not act fully on this principle, I have always kept it as my ideal. I desire this same ideal for you. As far as possible, try to act on this principle. The way to achieve this is to simply link all your expectations with Allah and disassociate all your expectations from whatever other human beings may possess or whatever may be in their power; and give up hopes regarding whatever might be in the hands of human beings!

“Make me give up all hope regarding whatever lies in the hand of people

O Allah, instil in my heart all hopes with Thee and cut off all hopes with ought other than Thee”.²⁴

Most of the evils in human relationships and most of the sorrows that we encounter are the result of broken expectations. By severing your hopes from human beings, not only will these relationships be freed from being vitiated but you will also be able to rid yourselves of your grief and sorrow.

3

The third theme of my prayers has been to ask Allah to grant you an abundance of livelihood that is ḥalāl and ṭayyib (lawful and pure); to grant you the means of income that should at least be enough for you to meet your needs with ease, so that while being contented with whatever you have, you may be happy and have a due portion of worldly enjoyments.

A minimum of worldly resources is necessary even for the protection of faith. Do not be negligent in trying to secure some portion of the world. Indeed, this is part of ‘ibādah (worship) and is essential in order to ensure a degree of excellence in the other acts of ‘ibādah. So do try to earn at least this minimum of livelihood, considering it a part of your religious obligations. At the same time, hold fast to the belief that you are bound to receive what Allah has ordained for you. Treading on forbidden paths will not earn you any more than what is your apportioned share. Also keep in view the directive of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: “Be moderate in seeking [wealth]”.²⁵

4

Man is encumbered with a trust from Allah which includes a number of tasks pertaining to the world, to seeking livelihood and meeting one’s obligations to others. Strive to fulfil all these tasks with absolute integrity, while never losing sight of the requirements of honesty. Fulfil all your obligations with a full sense of responsibility. Try to do your work in the best possible manner, seeking to conform to ever-higher standards of excellence. Aim at success even in your worldly efforts, and keep the standards as high as possible. Religious devotion does not consist of disregarding the world. All that you undertake will be reckoned as acts of devotion provided you perform them for the sake of Allah alone, and keep them free of sin and disobedience.

5

My real desire – in fact the only desire – is that you should live your lives as devoted servants of Allah, as His totally dedicated subjects. The essence of man’s servitude to Allah lies in cheerfully carrying out whatever would please Him, and in adhering to His commands and prohibitions. In addition, it also requires that extra effort over and above fulfilling mandatory commands, that engaging in the labour of love which, while not obligatory, leads to His Pleasure. True love makes the lover fix his gaze on the face of the beloved with the result that he carries out all the behests of the beloved, in fact, even those indicated by the movements of the eyelids.

This state of devotion is well-expressed by the recitation of the following words three times after the Prayer:

I am satisfied with Allah as my Lord, with Islam as the true religion, and with Muḥammad as the true Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him).

He who has achieved this state of feeling has truly savoured the taste of īmān”.²⁶

Also accept with good cheer all the events that occur by Allah’s will. In other words, act as He orders you to act, and do so with wholehearted happiness. Moreover, be happy regardless of the circumstance in which Allah places you. To be happy with whatever Allah has apportioned for a person is well expressed in the following words which are usually recited after the Prayer is over:

There is no God but Allah, the Unique One, Who has no associate to Him. To Him belongs all dominion and to Him belongs all grateful praise; and He has power over everything.²⁷

O Allah, no one can prevent anyone from whatever Thou hast granted and no one can grant him whatever Thou hast prevented.²⁸

6

Strive to become Allah’s sincere devotees. On the one hand there should be no worldly act that is not done as an act of servitude to Allah, not even such acts as sleeping, eating, dressing, speaking and laughing. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, engaged in all these acts. But he was God’s devotee par excellence. As a consequence of that, every facet of his life, even the most ordinary of chores, was an act of devotion to Allah. It is important that every act of life should be for the sake of Allah, and for His Pleasure alone, as the Qur’ān says: “And of men is he who would give himself away to seek the pleasure of Allah...” (al-Baqarah 2:207).

Without such spirit, even the most religious of acts – prayers, reciting the Qur’ān, martyrdom, and infāq (spending in the way of Allah) – would all be merely worldly acts. Imbued with this spirit of total dedication, even the smallest religious act, and all acts of worldly life, would stand heavy in the scale of Divine Justice. If you are able to achieve this state of sincerity, even a little effort would suffice in imparting the colour of Allah in your life and soul. All the evils of the world – in men’s souls, in their lives, in their mutual relationships – have their roots in lack of sincerity. Lack of sincerity in matters pertaining to religious activities specially leads to very evil effects.

Designate your niyyah (intent) purely for Allah and strive always to keep it so. This brief and simple prescription is the gist of true religious faith and of the desire to shape your life completely according to that mould. It is also the most effective formula to remember Allah at all times. This is the perpetual dhikr (remembrance), one that suffices for all occasions.

7

Doing everything for Allah’s sake would be easy if you were to always bear in mind that each act of yours will be pre...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• I. Death and Sabr
• II. Message for Successful Living
• III. Journey to Fear and Hope