As Muslims, we are supposed to be striving hard to worship Allah and please Him. We want to gain a closeness to Him and have Him enter us into the reward that He has prepared for the believers. Our goal should be to be granted entrance into the Paradise. May Allah aide us all in this, Allahuma ameen.
Allah and His Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) have explained to us, that the paradise is a reward that has to be worked for in order hope to be entered into it. Islam is the religion that explains to mankind how this is done. There are various pieces of advice that we could be talking about today that deal with this subject. But we want to focus on one in specific. This is this hadeeth of the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) when he explained some of these things that the believer should do in order to achieve this reward.
So let’s take a look at the hadeeth we want to discuss today;
عَنْ عُبَادَةَ بْنِ الصَّامِتِ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ:
” اضْمَنُوا لِي سِتًّا مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَضْمَنْ لَكُمُ الْجَنَّةَ: اصْدُقُوا إِذَا حَدَّثْتُمْ، وَأَوْفُوا إِذَا وَعَدْتُمْ، وَأَدُّوا إِذَا اؤْتُمِنْتُمْ، وَاحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَكُمْ، وَغُضُّوا أَبْصَارَكُمْ، وَكُفُّوا أَيْدِيَكُمْ “
رواه الإمام المنذري و حسنه الشيخ الألباني
On the authority of Ubaadah bin as Saamit (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“(You all ) Guarantee me six things, and I will guarantee you Paradise: be truthful when you speak, fulfill your promises, honor your trusts, protect your private parts, lower your gaze and refrain from harming others.”
Reported by Imam al Mundhari. Classified as ‘good or acceptable’ (hassan) by Sheikh al Albaani.
We see here, that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) made the believers a promise, or guaranteed us something. We know that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him), was not of those that went around making guarantees or promises that he could not keep. Therefore, we need to really take heed the fact that this is something that all of us should be trying to obtain. Who do you know that does not like the idea of, pray for and dream about having a house in the paradise? If this is the case, then we know that we must try all that we can do to obtain this reward. We should be trying to the best of our ability to uphold our end of this, so that the promise or the guarantee of the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) will come about.
I know that this seems as though it is something that at first glance seems easily done, but you should take a look again. Many people have a hard time going a few hours, let alone a whole day with out being dishonest in some way or another. In no way am I saying that many people purposely and maliciously lie to the people on a regular basis. Many people do not take into consideration that even many of our jokes and things of this sort include the telling of lies and other untruths. It has become a normal part of some peoples lives, and some have even taken it as a career. This is not something that is as easily left off as some might think.
Fulfilling your promises is something that you would think is a normal action that any and all Muslims would pride themselves on doing. Look around you thought. How many Muslims do you know that do work hard at keeping all of the promises they make? Now weigh this number against those that are known for just making a bunch of empty promises. As said earlier in this article, these things seem like they are easily upheld, but they are more difficult than we think. They are things that needed to be focused on and worked on day by day.
As a Muslim, when people give you things to keep safe for them, it’s upon you to do just that. Many times, people will give their friends money or some other type of wealth to hold on for them. They do not give this to them for the sake of using it as a loan. They do not give it to them for any reason other than keeping it safe until they return back to pick it up. This used to be a common practice among the Muslims. But as time passed, and people became less trustworthy and responsible, this practice began to die out. Your brothers and sisters should be able to come to you because they trust you. It is so important that you see it mentioned among those things that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) asked the Muslims to promise him, if they wanted to receive his promise.
One thing that is known by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike, is that we are commanded to protect our private parts. This hadeeth is a proof of not only it’s importance, but it’s virtue in Islam. We see that it too, is one of those things that if we uphold along with the others, then the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) guarantees us a place in the Paradise. Everyone says, that this is normal. They say that it is easy. They say that it is not difficult. But the reality is that it is very difficult, as mankind is driven at times by their desires. The desire for this type of gratification is one that is not only natural, but also very strong.
Another one of these things that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) requested from the believers in order to obtain this guarantee is the lowering of ones gaze. This is something that when heard, sounds like it is something that any and everyone can easily control. Though when you look around, especially in our society today, you see that it is something that is easier said than done. This particular action is usually one that is done by those that are striving hard to control their nafs (soul). They are trying to train it to only look at those things that Allah is pleased with them looking at. This is something that takes self restraint and discipline. But, if you want to be of those that fall under this guarantee that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) gave you. than you will need to try to get hold of being able to lower your gaze.
Not harming others is from among those characteristics that we should not even need to discuss. The reality though, is that this is just difficult in terms of it’s application as these other things that were mentioned in this hadeeth. This is because of the fact that harm comes in many different forms. People harm one another physically, emotionally, mentally, financially and the list goes on. As a Muslim, we are not supposed to be of those that willingly harm others. This is a characteristic that we should be trying to hard uphold, because not only is it one that says a lot about us as individuals, but it has a devastating effect on the love and affection that is supposed to be there between the people. Leaving off this aspect of our religion is from those things that causes much of the unnecessary dissension in the Ummah, as well as outside of it.
So what I wanted to say in conclusion, is that the reward of Allah (entrance into paradise) is an expensive one that we have to work hard to obtain. It is not one that comes easily just because we say that we want it. We need to begin to try to uphold those commands that He has commanded us with both in His book as well as on the tongue of His Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him). By training our souls to do this, we may gain His pleasure, forgiveness and even pardon. May Allah bless us all to be from those that obtain these things along with His reward on that day. Allahuma ameen.
