Lesson 3: What is Muraaqabah? What things cause a servant to be forsaken by Allah? by Alhuda Bolton

Sunday 28 Jan
✏️ Remedying the Heavy and Tight Chest
Lesson 3: What is Muraaqabah? What things cause a servant to be forsaken by Allah?
• Brief Recap of lesson 2, what things weaken or strengthen a person’s Tawhid?
• Recap of why Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami mentions Tawhid alongside Eemaan
• What is Muraaqabah?
o It is to worship Allah being conscious of him watching you, as though one sees Allah and so finds closeness to Allah and his chest feels opened
• When a person sins or commits a mistake, the heart of a believer has certain symptoms
o Every Human commits mistakes and sins
o When the person who has Muraaqabah commits sins, he feels alone
o Such a person as above should run back to Allah when that occurs
o Why does he/she run back to Allah? = So Allah can save him/her from the evil of the person’s own self and own desires
• Where are the acts of worship manifested?
o The heart (e.g. fear, love)
o The tongue (e.g. reciting the qur’an)
o The limbs (e.g. prayer, hajj, fasting etc)
• The acts of worship of the heart (e.g. fear, love etc), do they have levels or are they absolute/discrete?
o The actions of the heart can increase and decrease and have levels#
o How can the acts of worship of the Heart be increased?
 Ibn Qayyim says: Whenever Muraaqabah (Being conscious that Allah is watching you) increases, then this brings about shyness, shame, tranquillity, fear, hope and submission before Allah that is not attained by anything other than it (i.e. Muraaqabah)
 Therefore increasing Muraaqabahn will increase the acts of worship of the heart
• Allah Says: “And whomsoever Allah wills to guide, He opens his breast to Islam, and whomsoever He wills to send astray, He makes his breast closed and constricted, as if he is climbing up to the sky. Thus Allah puts the wrath on those who believe not.” [Surah An’aam (6):125]
• Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami mentions that there are two types of guidance:
o Guidance of directing and making things clear for a someone
 Does this type of guidance mean a person is a Muslim? = No. This is because this type of guidance can occur by Allah but can also occur by others e.g. prophets and messengers etc.
o Guidance of Allah granting success and inspiration
 This is when a person’s chest is opened to Islam as Allah mentioned in the verse above. This guidance can only occur by Allah and so if someone finds this in their heart, then this means Allah has guided him/her
 This type of guidance must come after the first type
 In this guidance the chest of a person is opened to sincerity in performing the worships and in accordance to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم)
 NOTE: Some Muslims say, “Muslims in the world are in a dire state, lets unite as a large umbrella group and not concern ourselves with what we believe (e.g. Sunni, Sufi, Shia, etc), let’s just get together”. This is FALSE and goes AGAINST the Sunnah of our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم).
• The opposite of the above is one whom Allah misguides and so his chest becomes tight as though he is ascending in the heavens, see above verse.

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