The 78th Syarah of Wisdom – Syarah al-Hikam

 

78th WISDOM OF WISDOM, AL-HIKAM

Bismillahirrahmaanirrahiim

Assalamualaikum wr. wb   

"The purpose of sadness followed by joy, or joy followed by sadness, is for you to be attached to Allah alone."

This wisdom motivates us not to be too dependent on the conditions we are experiencing. Not tied to the profession involved. This wisdom also wants to inform that only Allah has the right to regulate His creatures. And nothing but Him.

Let us begin with a discussion of the majesty of God's attributes. Mainly from quotes that are informed directly by the Koran. That some of God's attributes are strong and superior, at will. For example, Allah is All-Mighty and All-Powerful.

Consider the following series of verses. First, Allah is the sole ruler of all humans and jinn. Surah 55:31 "We will pay full attention to you, O mankind and jinn. "

Allah has full power to torment all of His creatures, Allah wills. See Surah 35:45 "And if Allah had tormented people because of their efforts, He would not have left on the surface of the earth a creature that crawled on, but Allah suspended (torture) them, until a certain time; then when their death comes, then surely Allah is All-Seeing (state) of His servants. "

The torment that God has inflicted is so painful. It is very easy for Allah to inflict even the greatest calamity.

But as a counterbalance, Allah also has good characters  , full of love and forgiveness for all His beloved servants. Notice the following series of verses of the Qur'an: that Allah always loves those who want to repent, QS 39:53 "Say: "O My servants who transgress against themselves, do not despair of Allah's mercy. "Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, He is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful."

Allah also always repays His servants who like to do good with goodness too, see Surah 55:60 "There is no reward for good except goodness (too)."

Allah's forgiveness is always wide open to all His servants. See the following verse of QS 20:82 "And verily I am Most Forgiving to those who repent, believe, do righteous deeds, then remain on the right path." 

Now, because of these two characteristics of Allah's attributes, humans as His servants also have two almost the same characteristics. Human attitudes when faced with their god (Allah), will usually be separated into two characters: hope (king') or worry (khauf).

Raja 'for always hoping for Allah's forgiveness and heaven. Khauf for fear of being hostile and thrown into the hell that Allah has prepared. Sometimes, when a servant is controlled by feelings of love for Allah, what stands out from his personality is always happy and joyful. Vice versa. When he is overcome by fear and worry, he will usually be quiet who likes to contemplate alone.

Uniquely, it turns out that God's destiny has a close relationship with our lives in the world. God's destiny is the decider. Every situation that we experience today is purely God's destiny. Difficult / happy, rich / poor, everything is a certainty from God. God's character traits are the same. On the one hand, Allah is All-Mighty, while on the other hand Allah is also All-Merciful.

Allah has the power to inflict the most painful calamities, Allah is also the power to bestow unexpected sustenance on all His servants. The Quran often mentions this. Allah is called the Merciful to all His servants, QS 15:49 "Tell My servants, that I am the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful,"

But in the next verse, Allah mentions that he will not hesitate to inflict a painful torment on the servant of sin. Surah 15:50 "And that My punishment is a very painful one."

In a different condition, Allah narrates the pain of Hell in QS 50:30 “(And remember) the day (on that day) We asked jahannam: "Are you full?" He replied: "Anything else to add?"

But in the next verse Allah describes the beauty and enjoyment of heaven, QS 50:31-32 "And bring heaven closer to those who fear a place not far (from them)."

The essence of the verses above, Allah wants to inform that naturally every human being has two important emotional characteristics in him: namely feelings of pleasure (Basthu) and feelings of sadness (Qabdu). These two human emotional characters alternately complement each other. This means that neither pain nor joy will last long. Long sadness will be replaced with joy later. And vice versa, the next joy must be erased by sadness.

So we should realize that trials and God's grace are necessary things in this life. Which we cannot avoid. There must be a feeling of sadness or joy in us too. As long as life's trials are still there, sadness will always be there.

What is unique, it turns out that the two emotional characteristics of humans can make the heart closer to God. The heart is tied to God. When a person is struck by a serious disaster, for example, he will usually run to Allah. His only focus is Allah alone. When he feels happy because he gets windfall, he will pray gratefully to Allah. May his sustenance be full of blessings.

This is where the essence of Ibn Athaillah's words of wisdom was tweeps. Try to reflect on the following wisdom

"The purpose of sadness followed by joy, or joy followed by sadness, is for you to be attached to Allah alone."

So the essence of God in making us sad or happy is so that we know that everything has been arranged in such a way by God. Let our hearts focus on God. So that we can have more faith in God. So that we only love Allah alone. Life is full of divine love. There is nothing that we should take precedence over our love for Allah, because that is fitrah.

Wassalamualaikum wr. wb