Third: An Honest Look at One’s Relationship with Allah

Seeing and recognizing Allah as the King of the Day of Judgment, alongside being the Most Merciful and Most Kind, it is important to take an honest look at our end of our relationship with Him. Expelling the obsessions with the dunya ultimately involves unconditional obedience to Allah.

We know of the story of Ibrahim who was placed in a very difficult situation, even as a young child.

Growing up and playing with the idols that his father manufactured, Ibrahim knew deep inside that worshipping pieces of wood and cement was not the correct code of conduct.

It is no surprise that Allah then chose Ibrahim as a Prophet, and knowing that Ibrahim (peace be upon him) was a person with faith, Allah Almighty tested him relentlessly, encouraging him to do da’wah to his people – an entire village of pagan worshippers.

Due to his obedience to Allah, he took upon the task of breaking the idols (but one) in the village’s temple, to prove that their gods were false. This led him to incur the wrath of his people, and was tossed into a massive fire as a punishment.

When he emerged alive, by the grace of Allah – the majority of his people decided to believe that he was a magician of sorts and Ibrahim was kicked out of his own home at a very early age.

Despite all these hardships, Ibrahim remained steadfast in his beliefs and would not turn them over to please those who participated in disbelief (kufr), and took it upon himself to travel to nations far and wide, in attempts to spread Allah’s word.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t very successful, only gathering a handful of followers, but never forgoing his faith in Allah. Allah recognized this and called Ibrahim an “ummah of his own,” and “Khalilullah,” – a very close friend of Allah.

Understanding the story of Ibrahim reminds us to not be afraid or ashamed of our faith in a world where shirk still exists. Shirk may not materialize in the form of statues and idols, but money and materialistic haunts take away the Muslim’s love for the akhirah, and channel it towards the piling up of wealth in the dunya.

Releasing one’s self from these obsessions – no matter how difficult – is a testament that we can be Muslims of the middle path, making good use of this dunya, to accumulate points for the akhirah.

Fourth: Balancing the Dunya and the Akhirah

Consumerism is one of the driving forces of one’s obsession with the dunya over the hereafter. Arguably, it has become a disease in society, that the way people rush for new gadgets, line up for new movies, talk about their cars, renovate their home, and try to keep in the “in crowds” to please people rather than Allah, come close toshirk, especially when there is no check and balance.

The stories of Asiya, Khadijah, and Ibrahim, are amongst those inspirational stories in the Quran and seerah that relay the rewards of giving up this dunya for theakhirah.

While their stories are of the “extreme” cases, it reminds us, that we, as lay Muslims, will also be able – within our capacity – to give up materialism, increase our provisions for the less fortunate, and continue to please Allah, in a world that is riddled with materialistic shirk.

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