During the khutbah on 18^th January 2013, the khatib relates to us a story in which during a gathering, Rasulullah (S) tells his companions of a man who would be a dweller of Jannah and that we would appear before them. On the first day, a man of Ansar whose beard was wet from taking ablution appeared. The same man appeared again for the next two days as well.
After the third day, Abdullah Bin Amr Bin ‘Al-As (RA) followed the man and managed to convince the man to let him stay at the man’s house for three days.

In the three nights that Abdullah stayed with the man and observed him, he found that the man did not do anything apparently special. All the acts of worship that the man did, Abdullah and the other companions had done as well. Abdullah then made known to the man that he had hoped to observe and then follow what the man did so as to achieve the same status as the man.  The man then told  Abdullah that whatever that Abdullah saw was exactly what he had done except for one thing:

He never had any ill intentions towards another Muslim nor was he jealous of what Allah has given to that person.

This really struck me. It’s no wonder why the man was given such a status after I heard that. The reward justifies the monumental difficulty of achieving such a feat. If we were to look at the example of Rasulullah (S), we could see many instances in which Rasulullah (S) displayed his pureness of heart.

In the time of the 1^st Hijrah, Muslims were forced to move to Madinah to avoid persecution from the Quraish and when they were able to return back to Mecca, Rasulullah (S) did not repay the Quraish in kind for the treatment they gave Muslims.

Rasulullah (S) visited the elderly woman who cursed him and threw rubbish at his house when she was sick.

During the time when Rasulullah (S) went to Taif, the children there cursed him and he was pelted with stones. When malaikat Jibrail offered to mete out punishment to them, Rasulullah (S) made du’a for them instead.

These are only a few examples that I can recall off the top of my head. I then asked myself in my hearts of hearts:

[box_light]If I were to be put in the same situations, how would I have reacted?
Can I honestly say that not once have I ever held any contempt or was envious of another person?[/box_light]

While performing physical deeds may be easy, it’s in the heart where the challenges lie. Forgiving someone who has wronged us can’t be done in a blink of an eye. Having good thoughts, holding ourselves back in anger and being happy for other people for the things that Allah has given them instead of us aren’t things that come naturally. They require constant and conscientious effort.

Fadhuli Taufek
Fadhuli is an aspiring writer and believes in putting in the time and effort into meaningful causes. He strives to improve himself as a person and as a Muslim.