All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all creation. May Allah extol the mention of the Prophet in the highest company of Angels and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his family, his Companions and all those who follow him exactly till the Day of Judgement.
Dear brothers and sisters! Allah the Almighty says:
“Quite a number of the People of the Book (Ahlul Kitab) wish they could turn you (people) back to infidelity after you have believed, out of their inner selfish envy, after the truth has become manifest to them: But forgive and overlook, till Allah accomplish His purpose; for Allah Has power over all things.” [Qur’an, 2:109]
My people! When I read the above Qur’anic verse (Ayah) I felt that it is giving us a solution to one of our topmost problems – dealing with negative minded people!
You must have experienced that it is so much easier to make goals than to act on them. And when you analyse the reason for it, you will see that most of the time, the barriers that hold us back are not physical but emotional. Because we keep getting disturbed by other people’s behaviour, and sometimes it puts such a burden on our hearts, that we do not feel the motivation or enthusiasm, which we need to work towards our goals, with consistency and discipline. But how are we supposed to deal with these things?
For example, sometimes people can be in very tough situations where they are surrounded by animosity, hatred, envy and jealousy from others. Now imagine that if you are immersed in such an environment where people cannot bear to see you happy, where they are bent on letting you down whenever they get a chance, where they are constantly thinking and planning to harm you, then it can be extremely painful to endure, and you might start thinking to retaliate and reciprocate their evil attitude… but no!! You cannot stoop to their level, because you have to maintain your good character. So what are we supposed to do? If you see in the above verse (Ayah), Allah has given us two key words to deal with all negative minded people:
– Forgive.
– Forget.
So don’t keep blaming them, just forgive and put your affairs in Allah’s hands. Keep reporting them to Allah. Let Him take care of them.
And second, instead of focusing on every hurtful word they say, just forget it, because there are far better things that should be occupying your thoughts; and what are these?
“And be steadfast in prayer and regular in charity: And whatever good you send forth for your souls before you, you shall find it with Allah: for Allah sees Well all that you do.” [Qur’an, 2:110]
So another pair of key words for us to inscribe on our hearts!!
– Salah.
– Zakah.
Seek the closeness and protection of Allah by praying with deep love and concentration, and experience the deeply satisfying pleasure, of helping the needy, through giving zakah.
And what should be the driving force behind everything that you do? Again two things to remember from the above verse (Ayah):
Whatever good you do is for your own benefit, and as no favour to anyone!
Whatever good you do, you will find it with Allah; hence no need to find approval from people.
What usually happens is that when people see that you are busy seeking Allah’s pleasure by doing many good deeds, then they will start taunting you that you cannot go to Paradise (Jannah) because you don’t belong to this group or that. The way people come up with their self-invented theories on who can go to Paradise (Jannah) and who will be deprived is absurd.
“And they say, ‘No one shall enter paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian.’ Those are their [false] hopes! Say, ‘Produce your evidence, should you be truthful.” [Qur’an, 2:111]
The answer to this crazy attitude is in this verse (Ayah):
“Yes! whoever submits himself entirely to Allah and he is the doer of good (to others) he has his reward from his Lord, and there is no fear for him nor shall he grieve.” [Qur’an, 2:112]
So remember two things:
– Submission to Allah.
– Unconditional goodness towards His creation.
What will be the reward? Freedom from two things:
– Fear.
– Sadness.
So it all boils down to one thing: having a positive outlook in life. And it cannot happen until we learn to ignore the negative things. Acquiring a positive attitude cannot happen like magic, rather we have to develop in into our characters through pondering on the words of Qur’an and acting on its timeless advice.
And all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allah be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad, and upon his family, his Companions and his true followers.
