When ALLAH RABBUL IZZAT sent man to the earth, ALLAH bestowed man with two qualities. This is an indication of how much love and mercy ALLAH has for man, ALLAH bestowed him with Aql (intelligence) and Iemaan. The reason for this is that man will be faced with different forms of difficulties, hardships and problems; he will be engaged in things which will not be good for himself nor for the pleasure of ALLAH, therefore ALLAH gave him Intellect and Ieman so that he
can utilise them to assist and aid him. Therefore, the inherent quality of the intellect is to be obedient unto ALLAH. When ALLAH created the intellect and commanded it to come forward, it came forward, then commanded it to go back it went back, this shows us that the inherent quality of the intellect is to be obedient unto ALLAH. When ALLAH created Jahl (ignorance) and commanded it to come forward it went backwards, then commanded it to sit down it stood up. This shows us that the inherent quality of ignorance is to be disobedient unto ALLAH.
Therefore our Akaabireen and Mashaaikh taught us that when a person is disobedient to his Ustaadh, parents or Shaikh, something is wrong with the Aql. Such a person is not normal because the intellect of a normal person will tell him to be obedient to his parents, Ustaadh and Sheikh. If this is so, imagine how much more obedient should we be to ALLAH RABBUL IZZAT? In spite of our weaknesses ALLAH’S Fadhl and Mercy is so great that ALLAH does not deprive us of anything. We look at our daily lives and we see how much sin the eyes, ears and tongue commit, yet you find every day when we sit at the table, our food, sustenance, clothes, safety and security are all there, in spite of our faults and weaknesses. Therefore, looking at this it is the duty of Insaan who has Aql to drown himself in Shukr (thanksgiving) unto ALLAH and utilise this as a turning point in his life to do good deeds.
Therefore it is said that, the Nafs is an important factor in the development of your Taqwa and Ieman. Today the Nafs has overpowered the Rooh and the Nafs has fed the Rooh with entertainment, lust, pleasure and desire, so we tasted the side of our Ieman that has always been interfered with by the Nafs. In the month of Ramadhaan the Shayaateen are imprisoned but it does not mean that you will not commit sin, the Nafs is still alive and active and between the Nafs and Shaytaan the Nafs is more stronger. Shaytaan is the councillor of the Nafs. When the Nafs needs assistance then Shaytaan is there to assist it and he will tell the nafs how to do things. But the Nafs is the king and Shaytaan is the advisor. In like manner the Rooh is the king and the advisor of the Rooh is the Aql or intellect. For this reason you find that 24 hours out of every 24 these two armies are fighting.
I have said that we tasted the Nafsani side, the lust and pleasure, for example: we find that the Nafs puts it into our minds to always look at wrong things and get enjoyment thereof, or to listen and speak wrong things and get enjoyment from it, but on the other side the Rooh and Aql wants the Taqwa of the eyes, that is to only look at good things. If it encounters wrong things it should lower it’s gaze. The Taqwa of the ears is that when it hears something wrong it must shut down immediately, the Taqwa of the tongue is as the Hadeeth explains; that fasting is a shield which protects you from wrong and evil until you destroy this shield by speaking lies and backbiting. These two examples are common, but it includes any wrong speech. So what happens? The shield is destroyed. Thus, we cannot protect our Ieman from evil.
Never the less, we said that as long as we taste the Nafsaani side it will be difficult for us to taste the sweetness of Ieman and obedience.
The example our Mashaaikh gives us is of a person while walking in the forest came across a mirror and picked it up, after looking at the mirror he said to himself, “No wonder people threw you away, you idiot. You are so ugly!” He took the mirror and threw it aside.
My Shaikh rahmatullahi alayh said that this is exactly the image of our Ieman: he was ugly but thought that something was wrong with the mirror. In like manner, according to the way one conducts one’s life that is how his Ieman will be effected. Like the example of a person bitten by a snake. Whatever he eats will taste bitter to him, even the most sweetest of things. Now there is nothing wrong with the item he had eaten however, it is his system that has been affected. In exactly the same manner, when sin overpowers us and effects us, you will find that obedience becomes very difficult. A simple example is that of clothes; when it is dirty we are not particular to prevent it from becoming dirtier. This is what sin does to us. When we engage in sin without repentance then blacks spots start accumulating on our Rooh. Eventually when we realise the Rooh is dirty we are now not careful of further sin. Therefore, Nabi Eesa Alaihis Salaam gave advice saying: “When man commits sin I am not amazed. Yes! When man commits sin and breaks his relationship with ALLAH that amazes me.” That means it is a natural quality in man to commit sin and for this reason ALLAH gave man Aql and Ieman because ALLAH knew we would come across various temptations and we will fall prey to it but what is important is that our relationship with ALLAH must not break. And how does it break? By us not going back to ALLAH and acknowledging our sins repenting and making Taubah. So the month of Ramadhaan is as the Hadeeth explains that unfortunate indeed is that person who witnesses this month and cannot secure his Maghfirat. Therefore the first step towards our Taqwa is to increase Istighfaar and also to acknowledge our sins.