Reminder: Islam does not suit you, o you enamoured of comfort!
O you who are infatuated with comfort! O you who prefer safety above all, who delight in food and are devoted to drink, living as though created for ease and intoxicated by pleasure!
Islam does not suit you. It is a faith of sacrifice, the refuge of hearts that have understood the meaning of self-giving, and have accepted trial in hunger, in loss of wealth, of lives, and of fruits. None but those of towering resolve knock at its gate; none but those of far-reaching ambition raise its banner. How vast the gulf between it and the base of spirit and diminutive of soul.
Islam is no table spread for the satiated, nor a shade beneath which fugitives from obligation may rest. It is a rugged path, hemmed in by thorns yet adorned with stars. Along it walk those who have sold this world seeking the next; those who have deemed pleasures small in pursuit of God’s good pleasure. It is patience in adversity, steadfastness amid upheaval, a resolve unbending though spears be shattered and dust fill the air. It is the standing of night prayer while the heedless sleep; a tear of awe when the heart has grown hard and neglect has enshrouded it; a prostration that extinguishes the fire of desire and kindles within the soul a light that does not fade.
If you prefer ease, love safety more than honour, and choose the shade over the blaze of the sun, then remain where you are. The religion of God is not borne by tender hearts, nor upheld by submissive spirits.
But if within your breast there surges a longing for the heights, if in your depths there trembles a desire for true immortality, then rise. Cast off the cloak of weakness, break the fetters of pleasure, and come to a field where souls are tempered as iron in the fire. There you shall know the taste of dignity, savour the sweetness of faith, and learn that true well-being lies not in the body’s comfort, but in the soul’s elevation and the faithful keeping of one’s covenant with God.
(by: Dr Mohammed Akram Nadwi, Oxford, 12 Ramadan 1447)
