As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah

Something to ponder over:

Dhul-Nun once made this powerful statement: “Do not argue with your Lord on behalf of your soul, rather argue with your soul on behalf of your Lord.”

There’s a lot to take away from this, but what I wanted us to focus on is the tarbiyyah aspect of it. In our societies today, we are never taught such a concept of ‘arguing with one’s self’, and we are never trained to go against the call of our nafs (soul), or practising patience or striving to do the opposite of what we feel like doing (and I’m talking about anything and everything from issues like not praying/laziness in worshipping Allah, social ills such as smoking, backbiting, disobeying parents, or pitfalls in da’wah, bad character, you name it). It’s always a case of ‘Do what you feel like’ and ‘You’re your own boss!’ etc. It’s horrendous the amount of times I’ve heard teens scream at their mothers in the street, ‘Don’t tell me what to do! It’s my life!’ … Subhan’Allah. It’s as if we are being pushed to become our own gods, never bowing to a higher authority, and so in the process, we’re being made to lose all concept of obedience and accountability. In the process, I believe we also lose the principle of ‘strong will’ and ‘determination’ – since all we seem to be doing is giving in to our soul.

Sometimes, we really do give ourselves too many excuses. Dhul-Nun sums it up so beautifully here when he turns the tables slightly to give us a greater view. The issue at hand is not what we want or even what we deserve; rather it’s always a case of what does Allah `azza wa jall want from us?

Instead of making excuses for ourselves (e.g. ‘my nafs is weak’, or ‘I’m a layman and hence ignorant’, or ‘it’s a habit and habits die hard’), we should contend with ourselves and persist against this pitfall of excuses. Next time you find yourself giving an excuse to your bad actions, stop and challenge yourself and challenge the situation. Instead of arguing with your Lord on behalf of your soul, turn the table and actually argue with your soul (heavily!) on behalf of your Lord, the Most High.

That is when we shall be granted authority over our souls, allowing us to lead them to Paradise bi`awnillah…