عبد

 How to be an عبد

I read somewhere that to be an abd, there are five conditions that one must fulfill, and it was an eye opener for me atleast. 

Condition 1: Unconditional Ita'aat; 

To follow Allah's commands completely and truely. To not pick and choose, but to obey and worship Allah swt however He and His Prophet saw showed us. To control our nafs, and abstain from all that Allah swt has denied us, no matter how innocent and harmless it may seem.

Condition 2: Unconditional love 

Our relationship with Allah swt is NOT a two way street. We obviously need Him far more than He needs us. our love with Allah swt must not depend on how much He gives us in this world, our prayers, our duas, our good deeds must not be because we want something from Allah swt, but because He deserves to be prayed to, to seek refuge from, to be worshipped. 

Condition 3: Complete tawakkul; 

We must believe with all our heart, that Allah swt is the best of planners, that He has planned something for us which is far better than what we plan or want for ourselves. Once we start living with this philosophy, we won't be prejudiced against anyone. We won't long for the things that Allah bestows upon someone else, We won't use unfair means to get any naimat. Every loss, every gain, every joy, every pain is from Allah swt and He knows whats best for us. 

Condition 4: Ultimate sincerity (اخلاص); 

Our every single act, whether done in private or publicly, should be for one purpose only and that is to please Allah swt. Before we do any task, any act, before we utter any word, we must ask ourself, Is this going to please my rab. Imagine how many gunnah, how many broken hearts, how many fights, arguments, tears we could avoid if our actions and words were to be just to seek Allah's raza. 

Condition 5: Complete submission; 

One cannot become an "abd" truly if don't submit to all that what our master swt asks of us. We cannot pray 5 times a day and do haram, speak haram and watch haram and still be an abd. Our lord swt has given us a clear set of boundaries and we must stay inside them. 

So after reading these 5 conditions, we must think and ask ourself, how much of an Abd we are? Is our ita'at for Allah or is it for our nafs? or our society? How many of our wishes, our cravings do we supress for they go against our Allah's commands? Do we love Allah swt unconditionally? Or only when He's answering all our prayers and we have all the joys of the world. Do we love Allah swt when troubles fall upon us? Do we ever forgive, love, show kindness for the sake of Allah? How about tawakkul? Are we content with our blessings, that whatever we have are from Allah swt and that whatever we don't get or lose will sure be replaced by something better inshaAllah? Do we look at people around us and wish we had things that they have? Do we blame Allah swt for our losses, or do we trust his plan? Do we have ikhlaas in our ibadah? Are our actions for the sake of Allah's pleasure or our own? Is our own satisfaction greater than Allah's contentment with us? Are we really submitted to Him or do we obey Him only when it suits US? Do we seek excuses for some of His commands while following others or do we submit ourself to whatever He asks of us? 

May Allah swt guide us all to be an Abd in true sense. Ameen.