Can you imagine your name being mentioned next to the name of Allah Almighty?
It’s time to meet the slaves of the All-Merciful and find out how you can strive to be of the elite human beings raised in status in this world and the next, insha’Allah— by being humble!
Allah Ar-Rahman says:
The slaves of the All-Merciful are those who walk with humility on the earth… (Quran 25:63)
The Benefits of Being a Slave of Allah
The characteristics of ibadur-rahman, the slaves of the All-Merciful, are mentioned by Allah Himself in the last verses of chapter Al-Furqan.
We often give a negative connotation to the word slave, however it only takes the right knowledge to realize that being a slave can be the most honorable position.
Realize that we are all slaves; it is our choice if we become slaves to our nafs (by following our desires) or slaves to Ar-Rahman.
How many times do we fear losing our provisions, death, humiliation, reputation, and respect? If you truly become a slave of Ar-Rahman you will be freed from these fears and you will realize that everything in this world is temporary and in the hands of Allah alone. The only thing you will fear is Allah being displeased with you!
7 Ways to Live by This Verse
1. Know That Allah Loves Humility
Some people see humility as a weakness. First realize that Allah Himself loves to see you humble and He will reward you for it. The Prophet Muhammad said:
Whoever humbles himself before Allah, Allah will raise his degree. (Muslim)
2. Keep Reminding Yourself to Be Humble
Do you consider yourself humble? We live in a time of boasting and competition in material things, and we have become proud of our money, knowledge, and even the number of children we have.
Another common example is parents boasting about their children: “My son is at this level…”
The problem lies here: we should not be proud of our achievements or belongings, rather we should be grateful for them! Try to really remind yourself throughout the day to be humble and not to boast about anything. Don’t compete in the amount of clothes or bags you have; compete in good deeds!
3. Follow the Examples of the Prophets
How many people start feeling proud and even above others when they reach a high position in their career, or even when they start gaining Islamic knowledge?
Look at the Prophets; they knew that prophethood was not something to boast about— they saw it as an honor, and they were humble before Allah. The Prophet Muhammad was the most humble of men.
What are examples we can copy? Serve yourself regularly (even though there are those willing to serve you), and share your car with someone when you drive somewhere (the prophet would ride on a donkey and would have someone ride behind him on it). Sit with people and accept the invitation of people who are less “rich” or “fashionable” than you consider yourself to be. Some people do not want to be seen with “poor” or “lower class” people because they are scared it will harm their reputation.
5. Know That Pride Can Kill
The hereafter is only for those who are humble, and this should be a massive eye-opener. Korah was proud of his wealth and Allah had the earth swallow him up, Pharaoh was proud of his power and Allah drowned Him. The Prophet taught us that people with even a tiny bit of pride will not enter Paradise. So let’s start begging Allah now to protect us from pride, to forgive us for it, and to increase our humility!
A person ate in the presence of the Prophet with his left hand, whereupon he said:
Eat with your right hand.
He said:
“I cannot do that.”
The Prophet said:
May you not be able to do that. It was vanity that prevented him from doing it, and he could not raise it (the right hand) up to his mouth. (i.e. his hand became paralyzed). (Muslim)
6. Know Allah’s Perfection
One practical way to increase your humility is to study about Allah and how we are fully dependent on Him. Another way is to come to know ourselves, where we come from, and all our weaknesses and short comings.
A way to be even more humble is to constantly seek Allah’s forgiveness. Increase in saying astaghfirullah– I seek Your forgiveness and really feel that you are sorry.
7. Fight Arrogance
The opposite of being a servant to Ar-Rahman is arrogance, or kibr. Allah says:
… Indeed, He does not like the arrogant. (Quran 16:23)
You can be arrogant towards other people by looking down on them, but also in how you deal with Allah’s commands. For example when you think, I’m too busy to read Quran. Ask Allah sincerely to protect you from kibr in all its forms and increase in saying Allahu akbar, truly realizing He is greater than anything or anyone.
May Ar-Rahman bless us with humility and protect us from pride and arrogance, ameen!
How Should Believers View Worldly Life? The Prophet (PBUH) Answers
`Abdullah bin `Umar narrated:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took hold of my shoulders and said,
“Be in this life as a stranger or a passerby.” (Al-Bukhari)
Imagine that we are all riding on an airplane. Some are sitting in first class while most of us are crammed in the back.
We look forward to arriving at our destination, a beautiful resort where all will enjoy themselves regardless of where they sat on the plane.
Some people, however, think that the airplane is all there is to the vacation. They fight over the bags of peanuts and envy those in better seats.
They get mad at their fellow passengers for ruining the trip one way or another, since this is their only chance at a vacation.
Also, they forget that it is only a few hours of patience and discomfort before the airplane lands. When we become too enveloped in this world, it is as if we are making the airplane trip the whole vacation instead of waiting until we arrive at an eternal, majestic place.
This world is simply a means to an end. It will fly by so quickly that you will look back at it and think it was only a few hours or a day.
Because this world was not meant to satisfy our deepest longings, the Prophet tells us to pass through it purposefully without becoming too distracted.
Like a stranger or a passerby, we walk through the earth with a sense of purpose, towards a clear destination, without getting sidetracked. Whether God has written that we would be entrusted with a great deal of wealth, beauty, or influence, or whether He has written that we go through life with very little, it truly does not matter because we are only passing through on our way to another place.
That is not to say that the journey does not matter. It matters tremendously! How we utilize what we have been entrusted with, or how patient we are with our smaller portion, will determine how great our place in the next world will be.
All material things in this life are meant as tools to people to work hard towards the pleasure of God.
We have to work hard, not in accumulating stuff to enjoy or to show off to others, but in utilizing what we have been given and the opportunities before us to please God.
One of the dangers of becoming too attached to this world is that we lose sensitivity to the blessings God has given us. When we grow permanent roots on this earth, we become frustrated by the lack of contentment material things give us. So we accumulate more and more, trying to fill that emptiness with friends, addictions, or new things.
We become blind to what we do have, and we lose our sense of gratitude. Focused on our next material goal, we hope it will fulfill our need for completion. But it does not, because we were not created to exist in this life for very long. We are only passing through.
Being a stranger or a passerby in this life is a path to peace. When we set our eyes on God instead of busying our hearts with the details of accumulating more and more in this life, we can live our lives free of anxiety and competing with others. We can forgive and let things go more easily.
We can be more generous with what we have and we can be more patient in times of difficulty. We have a stronger ability to nurture the intangible things in this life that matter most such as compassion, humility, gratitude, and God-consciousness. And we appreciate those things more in other people.
When we understand that this whole world is equal to less than a fly’s wing in the sight of God, we see that it is too worthless to drain our energy and youth in its pursuit. Instead, we set our eyes on our real home, our final destination, where we truly belong and where we will find the answers to our deepest, most cherished longings. This life is just a journey to that place, and living with that knowledge will bring us deep, contented peace.
How Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Spoke of Other Prophets
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was fully aware of the bond of faith and message that connects him with the blessed chain of Prophets.
In any relevant situation where any of the Prophets is recalled or referred to, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) affectionately highlights this bond by humbly and positively referring to other prophets as brothers in Prophethood.
He humbly and appreciatively mentioned the merits that other prophets were endowed with. Ibn Abbas narrates, for example that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The first to be clothed on the Day of Resurrection will be Abraham.” (Al-Bukhari)
Far from being jealous, he proudly talks about his brother Suleiman (Solomon) as the owner of a tremendous kingdom, the likes of which no person has or ever will. Abdullah ibn Amr narrated that the Prophet said “Suleiman asked Allah the Exalted for a kingdom that no one after him would have, and he (Suleiman) was given it.” (An-Nasa’i)
Abu Huraira narrated that Allah’s Messenger said,
“Both in this world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all the people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one.“(Al-Bukhari)
Muhammad states that he loves and appreciates `Isa (Jesus), as another Hadith supports, as the messenger that was sent immediately before Muhammad. Furthermore, he commends `Isa because he was not touched by the Satan when he was born as everyone was. Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said
“Satan touches every son of Adam on the moment he/she is born, except for Mary and her son.” (Muslim)
A Bond of Prophethood: Were Previous Prophets Muslims?
Abu Hurairah also narrated that one Muslim and one Jew started to argue and went into verbal fight and abuse. The Muslim swore, “By Him Who preferred Muhammad over all people!” The Jew swore, “By Him Who preferred Musa over all people!”
The Muslim then slapped the Jew on his face as he took what the Jew said as insult to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
The Jew went to the Messenger of Allah and told him about the incident. The Prophet said:
“Do not say I am better than Musa. All Mankind will faint on the Day of Judgment and I will be the first to recover to find that Moses at that time will be holding the side of (God’s) Throne.
I do not know if he would faint and recover before me, or if Allah will make an exception for him because he fainted on earth once“. (Muslim)
In another narration of the same hadith, the Prophet was very angry; anger was manifest on his face features and he commanded not getting involved in such comparisons between Prophets.
One day, Prophet Muhammad went to the city of Ta’if to invite its people to Islam. He was fiercely rejected, stoned even by the children.
He and his servant took shelter near a vineyard. The orchard worker offered them some grapes. The worker heard Muhammad saying uncommon phrases before he was about to eat. The Prophet asked the man where he was from. The man said “I am a Christian from “Nineveh” (north of Iraq).
The Prophet compassionately remembers his brother in Prophethood and said, “You are from the same city as Yunus (Jonah) the son of Matta?”
The man was puzzled by the fact that Muhammad would know Jonah and asked “How do you know him?”
The Prophet responded, “He is my brother, He is a Prophet, and I am also a Prophet.” (Ar-Rahiq Al-Makhtum)
When one person once talked to the Prophet and called him ‘the best of creation,’ he immediately and humbly corrected him saying “That is Abraham (peace and blessings be upon him)“. (Muslim)
Although Prophet Muhammad was honored by being the seal of the Prophets, he lived humbly recognizing other Prophets in appreciation and respect and love. He said
“O people, Fear Allah and do not be tricked by Satan. I am Muhammad the son of `Abdullah. I am the servant of Allah and His Messenger. I do not like that you raise me above the position that Allah the Exalted has given me“. (Ahmad)
Now more than ever, Muslims are required to recall and put into practice the humility achieved through this kind of bond.
Muslims should remember that they are meant to be a mercy to Mankind. They should welcome people from any religious and ethnic background.
When the Prophet migrated to Madinah, he remained respectful of Christianity and Judaism. Madinah welcomed a 60-member Christian delegation from the city of Najran. In a respectful and appropriate setting, both Muslims and Christians debated and discussed their beliefs. When the discussion was over, the Najran Christians made their way home peacefully.
This spirit of mercy and compassion embodied so strongly and consistently throughout the Prophet Muhammad’s life should be an example for not only Muslims, but our Islamic centers, our Imams, our MSAs, and every Islamic association.
We should note what Allah said in surat Al-Ma’idah:
{Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allah is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ. } (Al-Ma’idah 5:48)
