Part One


Praise be to Allah, the Bestower of blessings and favours,


And the One Who has created hearing, sight, and speech.


Whoever gives thanks to Allah will receive more favours.


As for the ungrateful, let them remember that many a blessing has turned into a curse.


I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, Who has no partners, a testimony that will save us from heedlessness, hardness of heart, ignorance, doubts, deviance, and misguidance; and I bear witness that our prophet and master, Muhammad, is His servant and messenger. May Allah bestow His bountiful peace and blessings upon him and upon his family and Companions.


O Muslims!


Fear Allah, for fear of Allah is the best of all gains and obedience to Him is the most honourable source of pride.


O you who believe! Fear Allah (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islam [as Muslims (with complete submission to Allah)]. (Al ‘Imran: 102)


O Muslims!


People with high determination, proud souls, and pure hearts, whom Allah has endowed with good nature and great insight, are always wary of the breeding grounds for heedlessness and seek Allah’s protection from it.


2


Ar-Raghib Al-Asfahani said, “Heedlessness is a kind of forgetfulness which comes over man on account of his lack of vigilance and alertness.” It has also been said that “heedlessness means responding to whatever desires one’s lower self craves for” and that “heedlessness means deserting the mosque and obeying the corrupt.” Heedlessness has also been described as “wasting one’s time in idleness.”


It is established from the hadith narrated by Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to supplicate saying, “O Allah! I seek refuge in You from helplessness and laziness, from miserliness and senility, from hardness of heart and heedlessness, and from humiliation and poverty” (Reported by Ibn Hibban).


Souls only become ruined when whims and lustful desires take the better of them, and hearts only become ruined when heedlessness and hardness overpower them. Allah, Majesty be to Him in His Loftiness, says:


And remember your Lord by your tongue and within yourself, humbly and with fear without loudness in words in the mornings, and in the afternoons and be not of those who are neglectful. (Al-A‘raf: 205)


‘Umair ibn Habib Al-Khatmi, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “Faith (iman) increases and decreases.” Someone asked, “How does it increase or decrease?” He replied, “If we remember our Lord and fear Him, this will increase our faith. If we are heedless, forgetful, and neglectful [of remembrance and fear of Allah], this will decrease it.” If the heart is nurtured with remembrance of Allah, watered with meditation, cleansed of corruption, and purified with the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and if it adheres to pure monotheism and avoids the blemishes of shirk (assigning partners to Allah), innovations in religion, and superstitions, it becomes alert to the breeding grounds for heedlessness and overcomes the pitfalls of error.


The more one succumbs to heedlessness and negligence, the more remorseful and regretful one will be. Those who overlook that which should be remembered will waste their chance and let the opportunity slip by. Those who prefer idleness in seasons where profits are made, who do not sow the seeds at the right time, who walk slowly during a race, and who take it lightly in the competition arena will be deprived of all good and will be blamed for their own negligence.


The human self constantly incites one to lustful desires, discourages one from acts of obedience to Allah, leads men – through its tyranny – to humiliation, and cunningly deceives them with vain hopes. If anyone fails to set his lower self right and bring it back to the right course, he will be overwhelmed by its tyranny and fooled by its deception.


3


... Verily the (human) self is inclined to evil, except when my Lord bestows His Mercy (upon whom He wills) ... (Yusuf: 53)


People who are given to heedlessness are totally neglectful and inadvertent. They turn away from the good that is meant for their best interests. They do not go to the prayer except in a lazy state, perform it rather sluggishly, delay it well past its due time, and do not offer it in congregation. This is how they act towards prayer, which is the noblest and the best of all good deeds. They also desert the Qur’an, i.e. they neither recite or listen to it nor act on its laws and orders. Allah, Exalted be He, says:


... And when they stand up for As-Salat (the prayer), they stand with laziness and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little. (An-Nisa’: 142)


They turn away from gatherings where Allah is remembered, beneficial knowledge is taught, and preaching and goodness are given; hasten to gatherings of idle talk and amusement and to places of singing, dancing, nudity, and obscenity; and race for places of evil, temptation, and heedlessness. They rush to places of unlawful entertainment, or to places where alcohol and other intoxicants are sold and where cannabis is offered. This only causes a nasty smell in the mouth, ruins one’s well-being, corrupts thinking, makes one unmindful of remembrance of Allah, and makes the healthy sick and the honourable humiliated.


Severe is the slightest of its ills:


Immorality, madness, or dirt.


They fool around and play, commit all kinds of evil, transgress the limits that Allah has set, and search for corruption.


O heedless! Wake up before you die,


Before the sinners are seized by their feet and forelocks.


Tomorrow all people will be staring in terror,


Unable to speak, though neither deaf nor dumb.


Gathered together, all people will be occupied with their own affairs,


And Allah will question them about their good and evil deeds.


Allah, Exalted be He, says:


Draws near for mankind their reckoning, while they turn away in heedlessness. (Al-Anbiya’: 1)


4


People are indulged in their heedlessness,


While the mill of death leaves nothing unground.


From the way to death, there is


No fortress for those who seek protection.


O dwellers of palaces!


You will have no abode but your graves.


Today you are piling up riches,


Boasting about your wealth, and wearing elegant attire;


But on the morrow you will be embalmed


And enshrouded in your grave.


Turn to your Lord in repentance,


While that is within your reach.


O Allah! Help us awaken from heedlessness and grant us repentance before death, O All-Hearing, O Ever Near, O Responsive to prayers!


5


Part Two


Praise be to Allah, Who guides those who ask for His guidance, safeguards those who fear Him, and protects those who seek His good pleasure. All praise is infinitely due to Him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, Who has no partners, and other than Whom there is no deity worthy of worship. I also bear witness that our prophet and master, Muhammad, is His servant and Messenger. May Allah’s bountiful peace and blessings be upon him, his family, his Companions, and those who follow his way and his guidance.


O Muslims!


Fear Allah and be watchful of Him. Obey Him and do not break His commands:


O you who believe! Be afraid of Allah, and be with those who are true (in words and deeds). (At-Tawbah: 119)


O heedless! Wake up! Wake up!


Whoever does wrong will have the recompense thereof.


Wake up from every sleep that makes you heedless,


And fear the Lord, Who has blessed you with countless gifts.


Follow the Chosen Prophet and take his way,


For it is light for whoever takes it.


Trust in your Lord and be a slave to Him,


For Allah’s slaves in this world are the true masters.


Renew your repentance of the sins you committed


At a time you were entangled in wrongdoing.


Make of piety your pure garment,


For piety is the best clothing to wear.


Show humbleness and submission, be steadfast, and prostrate to Allah


Faithfully, so that He will open the doors to good for you.


In the dark of night sail along the sea of repentance


To the One Who has granted you all gifts.


Humbly say: “O Most Merciful of all the merciful!


O Whose gifts save those who are lost!


Grant pureness, righteousness, and guidance


To a sinful servant praying to You;


I resorted to Your door, so far be it from being seen miserable,


When all matters are determined by You.


Save us from all distress and hardship,


When the servants see what was written by the angels.


Grant us Your protection and do not disgrace us,


O Allah! And pardon those who ask Your forgiveness!


6


O Most Forgiving! Ease for us our affairs,


And settle our debts to Your creation and to You.


Bestow upon us Your gifts, by Your generosity;


You are our Lord and the worthiest One to be the King!”


O Allah! Make us among those who often turn to You in repentance and among those who will be admitted into Paradise without being held to account and without prior punishment.


Ask Allah to bestow His peace and blessings on Prophet Ahmad, the guide and the intercessor of all mankind, for whoever invokes Allah to bless him once will be blessed for it by Allah ten times over.


O Allah! Bestow peace and blessings upon your servant and messenger Muhammad. O Allah! Be pleased with all the Prophet’s family and Companions, and with those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment, and also be pleased with us together with them, O Most Generous!


O Allah! Grant power and glory to Islam and the Muslims, subdue polytheism and the polytheists, and destroy the enemies of the religion. O Allah! Make our country and all other Muslim countries safe and secure.


O Allah! Guide our leader to what You love and accept and lead him to the way of righteousness and piety. O Allah! Guide him and his two Deputies to do that which gives power and glory to Islam and that which realizes the good of Muslims.


O Allah! Cure the sick among us, relieve the distress of the afflicted among us, have mercy on our dead, release our prisoners, and grant us victory over our enemies.


O Allah! Help the weak among Muslims, O Lord of the Worlds!


O Allah! Answer our prayers and supplications. O Most Generous! O Most Great! O Most Merciful!