The Journey of the Hereafter part 2

Asalamu Alikum

Taking time to clean our Hearts

Our women think that they have attained their purpose if they complete their housework on time for the day. Housework and cooking is not what woman was created for, but she was created to live her life according to the sunnah[2] of the Messenger of Allah and to please Allah. Allah wants that we should spend our lives according to the laws of Islam so that He rewards us on the Day of Judgment. If we cannot find the time at night, we should try and spend as much of the daytime in worship as we can and protect ourselves from useless talk such as backbiting and slander. The Holy Quran curses people who seek out and publicize faults within others; for finding fault is one sin, but publicizing it is another. We are so absorbed in fault finding and backbiting that it seems that we cannot rest unless we find something negative in a person.
Today if we correct a person from backbiting, he turns around and says that he is speaking the truth. The definition of backbiting is that the specific talk would hurt the person being spoken of if said to his face, be it true or false. However, if the talk is false, it is called slander. The Holy Quran states very clearly that backbiting is a worse sin than adultery. Allah can always pardon adultery, but forgiveness for backbiting must be sought from the person who has been slandered.
Housewives today spend their whole lives cleaning their houses and making everything neat because guests visit their houses. These women take pains to make sure everything is clean so that the house does not seem unkempt. However, these same women forget that Allah is looking into their hearts every day, and this heart deserves more attention because it is filled with more filth than their houses. Today we cannot find the time to fulfill our daily tasbeeh but we find the time to clean the house in which people have to live in for this lifetime. The house in which Allah looks is neglected; it is constantly filling with new sins and becoming hard because we have become heedless of Him. We have forgotten our priorities and do not pay attention to how dark and filthy our hearts are becoming.
Allah says that neither the earth nor the skies can contain Him, but He can be contained within the believer’s heart. We become absorbed in house cleaning at the coming of an ordinary guest almost to the point of obsession. We must ask ourselves why we do not pay the same, if not more attention to our hearts, where Allah says He can be contained.

Rights of Worship

If our women meet someone in the street or at home, or receive a phone call from a friend, their useless gossip takes hours and they have no clue where the time goes. However, this same woman will become restless when listening to a speech about Quran and Hadith, and will find it hard to find time for prayer. These same women do not find time to open the Holy Quran but find time for useless gossip with their friends and they must seriously examine their lives if they seek to change for the better.
A hadith says that the Holy Quran will be presented in the form of a young man on the Day of Judgment. This young man will say to Allah, “O Allah, You sent me as a guest to these people but they did not see any value in me. They used to wrap me in beautiful covers and kept me away in shelves. People used to pass by me everyday and spend time in useless talk, but I was left all alone. No one would ask after me, take me in their hands, or read me, but I was left to gather dust. I am Your Word and today I demand my right over these people.”
Allah describes the Holy Quran as “stubborn”, and continues to say that it will fight with Allah for its rights until those who neglected it are thrown into Hell and those who valued it are sent to Paradise.
The ulama have written that the Holy Quran’s right over us is two completions in one year. This is the least that every Muslim should do, and whoever can do more is more fortunate. Today our women find it hard to sit for prayer, and even then their prostration is alike a rooster pecking the ground. We should get in the habit of praying and reading the Holy Quran regularly with fear and respect of Allah.
Why don’t we have time to spend for Allah if we have time for our worldly pursuits? Most of us who do pray delay the time of prayer until it is almost over, constantly thinking that we have time, which is a very clever delaying tactic of Shaitan. We hurry when the time is almost gone, whereas we should try and pray at the earliest. We should make a habit of completing Allah’s orders before tending to our own worldly affairs. The Messenger of Allah said that a woman who obeys Allah and pleases her husband would be able to enter Paradise from any gate she wishes on the Day of Judgment