And from Hidden Shirk also comes
fear of people or harm done to you.
And this is when a person fears
people or harm not for the Sake of
Allah (swt), like worrying about
death/living a long life, worry
about loss of sustenance and
materialistic possessions and loss of
authority. And all these things I
have mentioned do not have to be
Hidden Shirk if they were instead
for the Sake of Allah (swt) and I will
explain this.
A person has not committed Hidden
Shirk if he worries about death/
long life because he/she thinks they
have not done enough for Allah
(swt) and Islam in their life so far (as
opposed to wanting to “enjoy life”).
And it is okay to worry about loss of
sustenance and materials if you fear
it will lessen your ability to support
Allah (swt) and Islam (as opposed
to personal comfort), and also
worrying about losing authority
because it is helping you to spread
the Truth and reminder of Allah
(swt) (as opposed to pride and
losing glory) is not Shirk.
Self Shirk is the Shirk that all
humans have, and it is the “I”. It is
the part of us that is darkness,
without this darkness nothing
would remain of us; instead there
would be Light from Allah (swt)
and only Allah (swt) will remain.
Now here are some more examples
of Hidden Shirk. Buying an
expensive car to show off to other
people does not count as being for
the sake of Allah (swt) and most
likely will not be helping in
bringing people to Islam. Lashing
out at a non-Ansar Allah because
you had a bad day and were
releasing some anger when you
have the chance to back out. Getting
frustrated when something bad
happens to you and you think that it
should not have; you should remind
yourself that everything happens by
the decree and permission of Allah
(swt), and if it is an act of injustice
or oppression done against you then
you should remind yourself that
Allah (swt) will exact retribution on
the oppressor and reward you
amply for enduring it.
So now what are some of the things
we can do to lessen our Shirk? The
first and most important is 5 prayers
a day, this is the base of your
worship and without it you will not
have protection and help from Allah
(swt) and the Angels (as);
consequently you will fall into
many distractions, your good deeds
are dependent on the performance
of your prayer. Also paying charity
(Zakat and Khums), fasting and Hajj
if you can.
And also remember Allah (swt),
always think about Him and the
Prophets, Messengers, AhlulBayt
(May the Peace and Blessings of
Allah swt Be Upon them all); their
sayings, actions, struggles as well as
the deviations and innovations that
have entered religions. Keep track of
your thoughts; when working,
sleeping, praying, playing and
driving. {Those who remember
Allah while standing, sitting, and
lying on their sides...} {3:191}.
You might think this is impossible ...
one second your thinking about
Allah (swt) ...then you look at the
time and realize two hours have
passed and your mind was in
“cruise control” dreaming about
being a millionaire. There is much
work to do and every day we must
strive to become closer to Allah
(swt) and to improve ourselves
every day.
if it was your boring job,
concentrating on your work will
improve your efforts outside work.
Even if it was shopping with your
mom or wife, there are many good
deeds here and patience and
kindness do a lot more than
impatience and rudeness. And your
prayer, it is such a short time and is
done before you even know it; make
sure you remember what you have
learned about Ahlul Bayt (a.s)
during prayer, or the Blessings of
Allah (swt) to you and the people
on this Earth, or the victories and
tribulations of the Prophets,
Messengers and Ahlul Bayt (pbuta).
Remember try to retain as much of
your time as you can for doing
good, and moving away from bad;
being thankful for the good/
blessings and being regretful for the
evil you have done. Imam Ali (a.s)
said: “The Nafs (self) is like a wild
horse, and you are riding upon him,
if you move your attention for one
second, he will throw you off.”
Whilst writing this article I must
have fallen off at least 500 times.
Every day we must try to retain
more time to analyze our thoughts
and re-align them to the good and
criticize them of the bad ...
“Command the Good and Prohibit
the Evil”. {May the words of my
mouth and the meditation of my
heart be pleasing in Your sight, O
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.}
{Psalm, 19:14}.
And lastly advice from the Yamani
(a.s): “Work, work and work till
your last breath.”
Also another big point is to
concentrate and focus on every task
you are doing at the moment. Even
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