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 I was reading Suarah Baqarah today. Came across verse 74 which really made me wonder how beautifully Allah  describes ideas.


"Thenceforth were your hearts hardened: They became like a rock and even worse in hardness. For among rocks there are some from which rivers gush forth; others there are which when split asunder send forth water; and others which sink for fear of God. And God is not unmindful of what ye do" (verse 74, Surah Baqarah)

YUSUF ALI's commentry: "The sinner's heart gets harder and harder. It is even harder than rocks, of which a beautiful poetical allegory is placed before us. In nature we think there is nothing harder than rocks. But there are rocks that weep voluntarily, like repentant hearts that come to Allah of their own accord; such are the rocks from which rivers and springs flow spontaneously, sometimes in small trickles, sometimes in big volumes.

Then there are rocks which have to be split or dug into or blown up with dynamite, and underneath we find abundant waters, as in wells beneath rocky soil. Such are the hearts of a less degree of fineness, which yet melt into tears when some great blow or calamity calls the mind to higher things"


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  Who can know our state more than our Creator?  we all fit into these category one way or the other. Some of us need small blessings to accept the truth which is from Him and Him only. And some of us need major events to open our eyes to reality.
 Sometimes we come across people who change all of a sudden and then when we see them we think oh its just a passing phase.  I think that these are the hearts described by Allah in the first category of people. Iman is just like a graph. It goes up and down, up and down. Sometimes, we go so low in iman that the consciousness mechanism that Allah has built into us wakes up and no matter how much we deny Allah and His message, we fall into prostration. This is when we burst into tears and make an oath to follow the commands of the creator. But the world we live in makes us forget our promises to our very own creator. I was listening to a lecture by Sheikh Kamaluddin who said that the "Dunya is opposite of Allah" Dunya is created for the purpose of pulling us away from Allah. All Allah wants from us is to remember Him only. I read in Iqra Times newsletter that Allah is giving us Sawab for just not doing whatever He has asked not to. For example, if we are fasting and want to eat something, If we are able to stop ourselves from eating,  we get sawab. If we are in a place where everyone is sinning and if we just stop ourselves from not doing that sin, we get Sawaab. How benevolent is our creator! Its just like being rewarded for doing nothing. SubhanAllah!  But the sad reality is that Dunya makes us forget this fact. Allah has so many times in the Quran that man is made weak and that man forgets. We all keep getting attracted to the dunya and when our Iman goes low, we again fall into prostration and no matter how much we deny, we make promises not to follow the path of the Shaitan again. At the end of the day, all of us are still believers and do not give up faith in the mercy of Allah who is the Most forgiving. My friend Ayesha once told me a story about two men.from what I remember it goes like : There were two men and both were sinners. It was judgement day and Allah decided to put them in hell. When they were told about the result, one of them started running very fast to Hell, which was to be his eternal abode. And the other one was going very slowly towards hell. Allah asked the man who was running to hell that why was he in a hurry. the man replied " O Allah, I have never obeyed to you. This is one last chance that I have to obey you so I am running to hell"  Allah was so pleased that He put him in heaven. About the second men, Allah asked why was he going so slow. he said " O Allah, You are so merciful that I havent given hope in your mercy. thats why I am going slow" Allah was so pleased that He also put him in heaven. ...



The second category of people is well explained by Yusuf Ali. for some of us, it takes a major blow up to see the Truth. Maybe death of a loved one, a major car accident or maybe even a miraculous event. I believe that such events are planned by Allah when He plans to bring a person to the right path.  we all believe that there is a reason why everything happens and whatever happens, ussi mai behtree hotee hai.


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 The third category of people describes another genre of peopple. some of us are so fearful of Him that with each and every passing moment, we fall in love with Him so much, it becomes impossible to disobey Him. I think this holds true of the " Faqeers"  The literal meaning of Faqeer is "in need" I am not talking about the beggars here. What I am talking about are the Faqeer of Allah.  Just a few months back, Sheikh Kamaluddin came to IBA and was talking about the identity crisis of muslim youth in turbulent times. He said about Faqeer that "unka bolna ka tareeqa hee aur hai, un ka chalna kaa tareeqa hee aur hai...We are like this because we think we dont need Him. We are arrogant people" This is so true.We walk on earth as if we own it. If we are succesful in anything, we think that it is us who caused it. How can we ever forget that in the eyes of Allah, capability is nothing. It has to be accepted by Allah. As my humble friend, Sobia Qasim says "Qabiliyat is nothing, Qabooliyat bhee tou hou" 
And the fear which Allah Himself is talking about over here is very unique. My friend Sadia was studying philosophy of Islam and I asked her what she was studying. She told me about different kinds of love. With Allah, she said,"our love for Him is love plus fear". It is this very fear of Allah that makes us upset when we disobey Him.True that we should all be fearful of His wrath but this fear also is deeply engraved in our love for Him. As Sheikh Kamaluddin said "Fear of Allah is the fear to lose His love"