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Islam, the
Religion of Ease
Allah,
subhanahu wata'aala, is the creator of mankind and therefore
knows his nature more intricately than mankind himself.
Allah, subhanahu wata'aala, has therefore chosen for us a
religion best suited to the nature of mankind, a religion
that goes neither to the extremes of hardship nor of laxity,
but instead provides a middle path; in other words, a
religion of ease. Allah, subhanahu wata'aala said; "…Allah
intends for you ease, and does not want to make things
difficult for you..." [2:185]; and "…Allah does not want to
place you in difficulty..." [5:6]
Such easiness
is well explained in the hadeeth reported by Abu Hurairah,
radiya Allahu 'anhu, that the Prophet, salla Allaahu 'alaihe
wasallam, said: "Religion is easy..." [Bukhari], he also
said; "The best of your religion, is the easiest." [Ahmad]
The easiness of this religion was put into practice by the
best of humanity, the one who came to deliver the message, as
Allah subhanahu wata'aala said: "Verily there has come unto
you a Messenger from amongst yourselves, (i.e., whom you know
well). It grieves him that you should receive any injury or
difficulty. He is anxious for you (to be rightly guided, to
repent to Allah, and beg Him to pardon and forgive your sins
in order that you may enter Paradise and be saved from the
punishment of the Hell-fire); for the believers He (pbuh) is
full of pity, kind, and merciful." [9:128*] This
understanding is clarified in a hadeeth in which the Prophet,
salla Allaahu 'alaihe wasallam, said: "...Allah did not send
me to be harsh, or cause harm, but He sent me to teach and
make things easy." [Muslim] This understanding is further
implemented by the mercy sent to mankind, Muhammed, salla
Allaahu 'alaihe wasallam, in the hadeeth reported by his
noble and pure wife, 'Aishah, radiya Allahu 'anhu, who said:
"Whenever the Prophet, salla Allaahu 'alaihe wasallam, has a
choice between two matters, he would choose the easiest,
unless it is (a) sinful (act)." [Bukhari]
Many hadeeths
have been reported on the matter of easiness: "Allah likes
for this nation ease and hates for it hardship and
adversity." [Tabaraani]; "We have been given a privilege over
other nations...we have been given verses that no one else
has been given." The last two ayats of Surah Baqarah (2:
285-286) "We hear, and we obey. (We seek) Your Forgiveness,
our Lord, and to You is the return (of all)." "…Our Lord!
Punish us not if we forget or fall into error…Our Lord! Lay
not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear…"
[Muslim]
To further
emphasize this understanding to his companions, when once a
Bedouin stood up and started urinating in the mosque, the
people caught him; but the Prophet, salla Allaahu 'alaihe
wasallam, ordered them to leave him and to pour a bucket or a
tumbler of water over the place where he had urinated. He,
salla Allaahu 'alaihe wasallam, then said, "You have been
sent to make things easy and not to make them difficult." [Bukhari].
An example
that illustrates this point is Salah, an act so important and
vital to Islam that the Prophet, salla Allaahu 'alaihe
wasallam, said; "Between a person and disbelief is discarding
prayer." [Muslim] He also warned against leaving salah, even
at the time of his death, in his very last breaths before
departing from this world. Yet in this worship Allah has also
prescribed easiness. At first, the number of prayers was
fifty in number, but they were reduced several times until
they were five. Then it was proclaimed, 'O Muhammad, the
order is not changed. These five are (equal in reward) to
fifty' [Tirmidhi].
Causes of
Hardship
If Islam is a
religion of ease, why do we find many Muslims not practicing
it? Why do we find them doing very little of what they ought
to be doing, and why do even those who practice their
religion sometimes find it difficult?
There are
reasons why the practice of Islam becomes hard:
(1) Lack
of piety
When we speak
about Islam being easy we are, in reality, speaking about the
easiness of its acts of worship and morals. Religion by
definition means commitment and an obligation; to a master.
Therefore, being a religious person means to be always aware
that we are slaves to a master, Allah, subhanahu wata'aala.
From here we see the mistake of those who want 'ease' to mean
'doing nothing', other than to say "I am a Muslim,"
committing themselves to nothing. It is obvious that they
want it to be easy, but what exactly do they want? They want
an easy life, a life without any religious practices. The
idle belief of 'existing only to live' has long ago been
negated by Allah subhanahu wata'aala. He said: "Do you think
you have been created for nothing and that you will not be
resurrected and brought back to Allah again!" [23:115].
Islam is easy to practice; but those who do not understand
the reasons behind their existence, who do not understand the
concepts of religion, but meanwhile are striving to secure
themselves in this life; then surely they will find its
practices difficult.
The easiness
of Islam is felt in all of its commandments. Some people find
this or that commandment hard to follow but this does not
mean that the command is in itself hard; often it is the
person who is the cause. For example Salah; it is an easy
act of worship, as Allah, subhanahu wata'aala, has made
clear: "And seek help in patience and prayer and truly it is
(prayer) extremely heavy and hard except for Al-Khashi'un
(i.e. the true believers in Allah)…" [2:45].
Prayer is an
easy act of worship except, of course, for those who do not
truly submit to their Lord; they will find it toilsome. Why
do they find it so? The answer is that it is not the prayer
that is difficult, but it is the hearts of these people which
have changed from good to bad, as Allah, subhanahu wata'aala,
mentioned: "Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah,
but it is He Who deceives them. And when they stand up to
pray, they stand with laziness and to be see of men, and they
do not remember Allah but little." [4:142]. In another verse
He subhanahu wata'aala, said; "…And that they came not to
prayer except in a lazy state..." [9:54].
(2)
Ignorance
The rules of
Islam did not come as mere do's and don'ts. Each obligation
has wisdom and motivation behind it. It should make no
difference to us if the wisdom for that particular practice
is known or not, because if it is not known to us today, then
if Allah wills, He will reveal it to future generations. What
is primarily expected from us is to fully submit and
implement every command.
For example,
the giving of charity, which apparently decreases the wealth
of the giver: Islam did not say "Pay charity, pay charity,"
as this would not motivate people and therefore make it
difficult to act upon. Instead Allah says; "Who is he that
will loan to Allah a beautiful loan, which Allah will double
unto his credit and multiply many times? It is Allah that
giveth (you) want or plenty. And to Him shall be your
return." [2:245]
The Prophet,
salla Allaahu 'alaihe wasallam, said; "Verily, wealth does
not decrease because of charity." [Muslim]
It seems
Muslims often ask why this act or matter is Halaal or Haraam.
With such an attitude they will never achieve their goal,
because behind each injunction there is an aspect of wisdom.
Without understanding this, practicing Islam becomes a heavy
burden. With strong belief, we do not even have to ask
whether this or that is halaal or Haraam, but rather if it
pleases Allah. Therefore we should take the rules seeking the
pleasure of Allah subhanahu wata'aala. If pleasing Allah
subhanahu wata'aala, is, always, our aim, then undoubtedly
the practice of religion becomes easy, no matter what
apparent hardships we may encounter.
(3)
Inappropriate Environment
It is true
that sometimes we find it difficult to practice the religion,
even those who are committed to it! The reason behind this is
that we are practicing our religion in a non-religious
environment. The practice of the religion is not meant to be
in a society immersed in Kufr (disbelief). Its practice will
indeed be difficult in such an environment. Therefore, the
difficulty cannot be blamed upon Islam as a religion, but
rather on the circumstances of the society.
Returning to
our example of prayer, we see that prayer by itself is easy,
but if you have to stand alone to pray amongst non-Muslims,
all of them watching you, it will suddenly become difficult.
The obvious conclusion is that the prayer in itself is not
difficult, but the environment has made it difficult.
Another
example is that of a woman who wears hijaab and is happy to
cover herself. If this were an Islamic society, it would have
been difficult for her not to be covered, or for a man not to
respond to the call to prayer and pray in a mosque. Thus
difficulty is not the nature of our religion, but we are
trying to be pure in a decadent and immoral environment.
These realities are not unknown to Islam, because the
Prophet, salla Allaahu 'alaihe wasallam, already warned his
companions some fourteen centuries ago, and by that has also
warned us by saying, as reported by Abu Tha'laba, radiya
Allahu 'anhu "...Ahead of you are days that will require
endurance (in the practice of religion), in which he who
shows endurance will be like him who grasps live coals. The
one who acts rightly during that period will have the reward
of fifty men who act as he does." The hearers said, "The
reward of fifty of them, Messenger of Allah!" He replied,
"The reward of fifty of you." A companion said about this
difference in reward, "Now you find people helping you to do
good deeds, but then they will not find things to help them
but they will find things to resist and oppose them." [Tirmidhi].
So Islam is
the religion of ease. If we accept it as a religion to start
with, then we should take it with its concepts, and practice
it in a pure environment (as opposed to a corrupted and
decadent one); it will then become an easier religion to
practice.
As it is not
possible to have a 100% pure society, we have to strive to
achieve this by being surrounded by good Muslims. In doing
this, the religion will loosen the burdens around it. The
enemies of Islam have even testified the easiness of Islam.
This was apparent in the statement of the Jews at the time of
the Prophet, salla Allaahu 'alaihe wasallam, when a man and a
woman from amongst them committed fornication. Some of them
said to the others: "Let us go to this Prophet, for he has
been sent with an easy law..." [Abu Dawood].
So may Allah,
subhanahu wata'aala, make us amongst those who "Listen to the
Word [good advice La ilaha illallah – (none has the right to
be worshipped but Allah) and Islamic Monotheism] and follow
the best thereof (i.e. worship Allah Alone, repent to Him and
avoid Taghut) those are (the ones) whom Allah has guided and
those are men of understanding." [39:18]
(Courtesy
Al Muntada Al Islami LIBRARY)
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