Ten Steps to Allah. Step 5: Hope
As we get closer to Ramadan, focusing on what we are seeking through our devotions is ever more crucial. The ultimate aim of any Muslim is to gain the closeness of Allah Most High. Shaykh Faraz Rabbani gives us clear guidelines with 10 key steps on the path to Allah Most High elucidating for us how to get closer to Allah.
The fifth article in this series explains what is truly meant by hope.
Step 5: Hope
The fifth step in getting closer to Allah is hope. Hope is commonly misdirected towards one’s own actions and worldly circumstances. This results in losing hope and falling into despair when one makes a mistake or when things go poorly. Rather, the believer directs one’s hope towards Allah Most High alone. The Aphorisms (Hikam) of Ibn Ata’ Allah opens with, “From the signs that you are relying on your actions is losing hope when downfalls occur.” Hope should not be attached to any other but Allah Most High.
Hope is to desire pleasing outcomes having taken the means to acquire them, but one should not seek those outcomes from other than Allah Most High. He Most High tells us, “Truly you have in the Messenger of Allah the most beautiful of examples for whoever hopes in Allah and the Day of Resurrection”. (Qur’an 33:21) Hoping from Allah means one’s hope doesn’t increase with one’s good deeds nor decrease with one’s sins because one hopes in Allah Most High, seeking pleasing outcomes from Him alone.
Allah Most High says, “It is the All-Merciful who is established on the throne.” (Qur’an 20:5). He is All-Merciful to whomever you are. Whoever knocks on His door will find it open, so do not despair.
May Allah Most High realize us in directing our hope towards Him alone.
The episode can be found on this link Ramadan 2020 Reminders | Episode 24: Ten Steps to Allah – 05 – Hope | Shaykh Faraz Rabbani – YouTube
About the Author
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age.
He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of: Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.
