Memorise and practice a new hadeeth every week!
By Mawlana Junayd Makda Sahib
The Actions leading to Two Different Destinations
حُجِبَتِ النَّارُ بِالشَّهَوَاتِ، وَحُجِبَتِ الْجَنَّةُ بِالْمَكَارِهِ
Our Beloved Nabi ﷺ said, “The (Jahannam) Fire is surrounded by/veiled with desires, and Jannah is surrounded by displeasures/all kinds of disliked undesirable things.”
Sahih al-Bukhari
Explanation
There are two types of actions.
- One type are those which help us towards a life of everlasting joy in Jannah. We refer to these actions as Hasanaat (good actions).
- The other are those which take us towards a very unpleasant and horrible life in Jahannam. These actions are known as Sayyi’aat (bad actions)
Our task is quite simple. We need to carry out the Hasanaat and stay far far away from the Sayyi’aat.
However, we learn from this hadeeth that this task is a little tricky and therefore we will need to be smart, alert and brave.
To test us Allah Ta’ala has disguised the good actions (Hasanaat) with hardships and difficulties, while bad actions (Sayyi’aat) have been made to look fun and easy, so we feel like doing them.
Those who are smart and brave will obviously make their choices not because something looks fun or difficult but because of what Allah Ta’aala wants them to do.
So the trick is to,
1) Find out what Allah Ta’alaa wants us to do
2) Do only that which Allah wants us to do.
Let’s take a very simple example to understand this better. We’ll all have experienced the time for Fajr salah. It’s so cold outside yet so warm in our beds, we’re feeling so tired, and we just want to sleep! Now sleeping in and missing Fajr which seems so enjoyable is from the sayyi’aat and will therefore take us towards Jahannam. However, getting up and braving the cold and standing in salah is from the Hasanaat and will take us closer to Jannah.
So, which should we choose? Get up and perform Fajr of course!
We learn a few very simple lessons from this hadeeth:
1) There are actions which take us to Jannah and actions which take us to Jahannam
2) We all have a choice of which actions we do
3) The actions which take us to Jannah seem harder to do than those which take us to Jahannam
4) Our choice shouldn’t be based on what looks and feels easy or fun but should be based on what Allah wants us to do
5) There is always more that meets the eye, what seems so fun isn’t necessarily fun, it is only a disguise
6) Similarly, what seems difficult isn’t necessarily difficult, it is only a disguise.
7) We will need to be smart, alert and brave to make the right decisions which will take us to Jannah.
A Traveller I Stand
By (Mawlana) Junayd Makda
Two roads I find passing through the woods,
Each one very different, inviting all the same,
Travel can I only one, as destination not the same,
A traveller I stand, deciding which to take,
Both roads being taken, by travellers as I watch,
Each one undertaking, a journey of their own,
Each road with an end, a destination well informed,
A traveller I stand, deciding which to take,
Looking down one of the roads, twisting through the woods,
So green so fresh, so beautiful to the eye,
Full of grass, singing birds, and trees reaching high,
Yet sign posted is this road, saying danger lies ahead,
The other road on the other hand, bending out of view,
No scene, no pleasant smell, no reason to attract,
A muddy path, thorny bushes with little to distract,
But a sign in big bold letters, saying gardens up ahead,
Two roads I find, passing through this world,
Each one seems so different, inviting all the same,
One looking difficult, yet heaven lies ahead,
The other seeming pleasure filled, yet hell waits ahead,
A traveller I stand, deciding which to take…
