Working for Allah Is Full-Time Business.
And It Is What Allah Created Us For!
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
Revisiting an Old Topic
My recollection is we have talked about this before.
But the topic is so important, and the attention paid to it by Muslims and others so meager and intermittent, that maybe it is time we addressed this topic once again.
What is equally challenging is the fact that those who do discuss this topic seem to get it so wrong so easily and so frequently.
Hence the need for clarifying this issue, over and over again as necessary.
Working for Allah Part-Timers
All too many people think Working for Allah can be accomplished on a part-time basis. They think all we have to do is just do what we can as our time permits.
And as we feel the inclination to do it.
They are wrong. Completely wrong.
Even though Allah's big tree of Rahmat does not exclude anyone from its shade. And even though Allah gives the fullest consideration to and "appreciates" even the merest trifle anyone is able to bring to the table.
The Qur’an says:
Fa-Man Ya'amal Mithqaala Dharratin Khairan Yarah!
Paraphrase:
"Even an atom's weight of good done by someone will not go unrecognized or unrewarded by God."
Being Allah’s Man and Woman on Earth
But the key to Working for Allah is to make up our mind to be Allah's man and woman in this world. And to do so without the slightest hesitation or reservation of any kind.
As did Ibrahim, Alaihis Salam, when he declared that not just his prayers and sacrifices, but his entire life was for Allah.
He said, says the Qur’an:
Inna Salaatee wa Nusukee wa Mahyaa-ya wa Mamaatee Lillahi Rabbil Aalameen!
And not just his life, he said, to paraphrase the above Aayat, but also his death.
Paid in Advance – A Most Generous Compensation Package!
And bear in mind that every single one of us has already been paid in advance for any work that we may ever do for Allah.
This is a fact that most human beings, regardless of whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim, simply do not have a clear grasp of.
The fact is that we all have received the most generous and magnificent compensation package from Allah in advance for the work he expects us to do. And this happened, and continues to happen, before we start to work for him in any meaningful or appreciable sense.
What Did We Ever Pay God for Our Life?
Our life itself is a part of that early compensation package from God Almighty. And it is an early bonus whose magnitude we cannot even begin to comprehend.
And so is our health.
And our entire body with double of everything: two hands; two feet; two eyes; two ears and so on is just one example of what God has given us as our salary advance for the work that we must do for him.
And a whole range of the most sophisticated life-systems from the central nervous system to the circulatory and respiratory systems.
And What a Perfect Command-and-Control Headquarters!
And then all this has been fitted with and placed under the overall jurisdiction of a near-perfect command-and-control unit in the form of our brain which has no parallel to it in the whole universe that we know of.
And then we are provided with natural systems like gravity to make the entire solar system work smoothly and make our own life on earth possible.
And the world in which we are placed to live and work comes fully equipped with water and oxygen and all the other paraphernalia of life.
Our Families and Our Jobs Too
And then we are given our families, both above us in the form of our parents and grandparents, as well as below us in the form of our children and grandchildren.
And all that is so that working for Allah will become easier and smoother for us.
And then we are given education in all kinds of sophisticated ways with regard to all kinds of most amazing subjects.
And then we are given vocations, jobs, businesses, incomes and wealth without which earthly life will not really be possible.
IOUs Signed Away to Allah
What most of us don’t realize is that all this is “Advance Payment” we have received from Allah for the work he expects us to do for him. And these are all IOUs we have signed away to Allah, pledging to work for him.
Not too many of us seem to understand how serious this situation is. We think we have a choice. But we don’t. We have pledged away our freedom to Allah – to work for him.
Whether we realize it or not, by accepting these advance payments, and by signing these IOUs, we have pledged away our entire life to Allah.
The Qur’an says:
Wa Maa Khalaqtul Jinna Wal Insa Illaa Liya’budoon!
Paraphrase:
“The only reason I created you all is to work for me!”
Not Just by Virtue of Creation,
But Because of All Those Advance Payments We Pocketed!
But it is not just by virtue of our creation. But it is also due to all those forms of payments we pocketed on the understanding that we will work for Allah.
And these payments – and all these gifts and bonuses – from God never stop. They keep on coming.
As a result, we are committed to working for God not only because he is our natural master – our Rabb – but also because we received all these advance payments, and because we continue to receive all these gifts and bonuses, from him.
We made a very, very serious pledge to God that we will not run away.
So, this is the reality and the true nature of Working for Allah.
Living and Working:
Not for Your Family or Job or Country or Race, but for Allah!
All too many of us have gotten to thinking that God created us to work for our family; for our job; and for our country or corporation.
And all too many of us think that the sole purpose of our life on earth was to enjoy our leisure and our wealth.
And to rake in the pleasures and blessings of our good health in whatever form we can, while we continue to collect all these payments and all these bonuses and gifts from God to work for him.
Running from Allah’s Debt Collectors and Bounty Hunters
There is no lunacy or idiocy greater or more pathetic than this. For, who among us can escape the reach of God’s Bounty Hunters and Debt Collectors?
How far and how fast will we run, and where exactly will we hide, when every grain of sand and blade of grass and drop of rain and gust of wind is busy giving away our hiding places?
And when our own skins are ready to provide witness against us?
And when our body and brain cells are revealing and publicizing constantly our innermost plans and deceptions and lies to the entire universe?
It Is Time We Got Serious about Working for Allah
So, it is time we all got serious about Working for Allah.
And we all renewed our commitment to do so without any reservation or hesitation whatsoever.
And we did so at least in our mind, even if as human beings we may falter from time to time in our practice.
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