*🛑TO THE YOUTH 🛑* It has been mentioned that one of the students of Imam Ghazali (rahimahullah), who acquired a lot of knowledge and spiritual benefits from him over a number of years, had a thought in his heart. He thought that he spent a lot of time learning from Imam Ghazali (rahimahullah) over a number of years from different branches of religious knowledge and gave a lot of sacrifices towards that end. *However, he still did not know which branch of knowledge from among the branches of knowledge he studied, would be of real help to him, it would illumine his grave, it would be beneficial to him on the Day of Judgment and which branches of knowledge would not be of benefit to him on the Day of Judgment,* so that he could refrain from those branches of knowledge because the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّى أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ لاَ يَنْفَعُ *“O Allah, I seek Your refuge from knowledge, which is not beneficial.”* (Sahih Muslim, Hadith: 2772) This disciple of Imam Ghazali (rahimahullah) kept thinking along these lines for a few days and then wrote a letter to Imam Ghazali (rahimahullah) with the view of getting an answer to his dilemma along with some other questions. In reply to his letter, Imam Ghazali (rahimahullah) sent him the following advices. ✉️ *Imam Ghazali's Response to the Letter* In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate and the Most Merciful. All praises belong to Allah alone, the Lord of all the universes and blessings and peace of Allah be upon His messenger Muhammad ﷺ and upon all of his descendants and followers. My dear beloved son and true friend! May Allah, the Exalted, grant you a long life for His worship and obedience and may He enable you to walk on the path of His beloveds. You should know that the fountain of all good counsel is the holy existence of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ because the constitution of all counsel is based on his Ahadith (traditions) and Sunnah (outward character and conduct as well as internal states). Every counsel (advice) contrary to his Ahadith and Sunnah will be of no benefit. Countless accounts of advices have been written and told in the light of the Ahadith and Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. If you have received any guidance from them, then you do not need any advice from me. However, if you have not received any counsel from the counsels of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ then tell me, in all these years, what knowledge have you acquired from me? My dear beloved son! Among the most important advices to heed is: من علامة إعراض الله تعالى عن العبد أن يجعل شغله فيما لا يعنيه *“A servant of Allah’s involvement in useless things is an indication that Allah has removed His special favours from him/her (or has removed him/her from His Grace).* And if the servant is spending even a moment from his/her life on things other than for which Allah has created him/her for, then it’s a matter of great sorrow.” The Prophet ﷺ has furthermore said: مَنْ أَتَى عَلَيْهِ أَرْبَعُونَ سَنَةً فَلَمْ يَغْلِبْ خَيْرُهُ شَرَّهُ فَلْيَتَجَهَّزْ إِلَى النَّار *“An individual whose state, even after forty (40) years of age, is such that good in him/her does not prevail over the evil in him/her, then [this individual] should get ready to go to Hell.”* My dear beloved son! It’s very easy to give this advice to all the people of the whole world but it’s very difficult to act upon it oneself. It’s because, those in whose hearts the pleasures of the world and following of their desires [from the lower-self] dominate, they find the advice and guidance bitter. These people’s hearts are trapped in the worldly desires and pleasures. In this respect, this individual is worthy of special mention, which learns wisdom, philosophy and worldly learning like that and thinks that this knowledge will be a cause of salvation for him/her in the life of the hereafter along with earning for him/her fame and prestige in the world. He/she thinks that it’s not necessary to act on this knowledge and that he/she is exempt from acting upon it. This belief, which is wrong, is of those who study philosophy. All Glory and Honour to Allah the Great. This individual does not even know this much that the knowledge that he/she acquires on which he/she does not even act upon, will be a reason for punishment for him/her on the Day of Judgment. Does this person not know that the Prophet ﷺ said: وَعَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «إِنَّ أَشَدَّ النَّاسِ عَذَابًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مَنْ قَتَلَ نَبِيًّا أَوْ قَتَلَهُ نَبِيٌّ أَوْ قَتَلَ أَحَدَ وَالِدَيْهِ وَالْمُصَوِّرُونَ وعالم لم ينْتَفع بِعِلْمِهِ Ibn ‘Abbas (radhiyallahu anhu) reported the Prophet ﷺ as saying, ‘The one who receives the severest punishment on the day of resurrection will be he who kills a prophet, or who is killed by a prophet, or kills one of his parents, those who make representations of things, *and a learned man who derives no benefit from his learning."* [Mishkat al-Masabih, Hadith: 4509] i.e., On the Day of Judgment, the most severe torment will be given to the scholar (person of knowledge) to whom Allah had not benefited from his/her knowledge (i.e. he/she did not act upon the acquired knowledge).” It has been narrated in the traditions of the Walis (friends/saints) of Allah, that one saint saw Shaykh Junaid Baghdadi (rahimahullah) in his dream after his death and asked him: “O Abu al-Qasim! Inform me about your state after your death!” Shaykh Junaid Baghdadi (rahimahullah) responded: *“Worships and signs (Isharaat) all turned out to be useless. But some Rak’at (units) of prayers I did at the time of Tahajjud (third part of the night) were of benefit.”* 🔸 *To the non-youth* عَنْ أَنَسٍ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ كَانَ غُلاَمٌ يَهُودِيٌّ يَخْدُمُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَمَرِضَ، فَأَتَاهُ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَعُودُهُ، فَقَعَدَ عِنْدَ رَأْسِهِ فَقَالَ لَهُ ‏"‏ أَسْلِمْ ‏"‏‏.‏ فَنَظَرَ إِلَى أَبِيهِ وَهْوَ عِنْدَهُ فَقَالَ لَهُ أَطِعْ أَبَا الْقَاسِمِ صلى الله عليه وسلم‏.‏ فَأَسْلَمَ، فَخَرَجَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَهْوَ يَقُولُ ‏"‏ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنْقَذَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ ‏"‏‏.‏ Anas (radhiyallahu anhu) reported: A young Jewish boy who was in the service of the Prophet fell ill. The Prophet ﷺ went to visit him. He sat down by his head and said to him, *“Embrace Islam.”* The little boy looked at his father who was sitting beside him. He said: *“Obey Abul-Qasim (i.e., the Messenger of Allah).”* So, he embraced Islam and the Prophet stepped out saying, *“Praise be to Allah Who has saved him from Hell-fire.”* [Sahih Bukhari, Hadith: 1356] (رسالة الحق) 📚 𝙇𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨 🔹 1. Make sure the youth in your care benefit from your company, so that when they pass away, they become inhabitants of Paradise. 🔹 2. When they need attention, give them the attention needed or they may get lost. 🔹 3. The boy looked at his father for guidance. We should be lighthouses of guidance for our children. 🔹 4. Training the youth to be service orientated, i.e., to serve their parents, the ulema, the pious and the elderly is a very important ingredient in Deen. Nowadays, they are spoilt and deprived of this great service. __________________________________ Allah ﷻ Knows Best and to Him do we turn to. 🖊️ م. احمد بن محمود ميا 𝕸𝖆𝖞 𝕬𝖑𝖑𝖆𝖍 ﷻ 𝖒𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖚𝖘 𝖋𝖗𝖔𝖒 𝕳𝖎𝖘 𝖈𝖍𝖔𝖘𝖊𝖓 𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖘. 🤲 آمين •●◆◈❖❀✤✿❀✿✤❀❖◈◆●• *♦️REMINDER AFTER REMINDER* *Channel:* https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaQef4VBFLgQ1ZaVon0g *🌹Share the Khair*