An admonition for the absentninded

A reminder for myself.

"And We will remove whatever ill-feeling would have been in their hearts against one another; canals will be flowing underneath them and they will say, "Praise be to Allah, Who has guided us to this Way: by ourselves we would not have been able to find the Way, if Allah had not guided us. The Messengers sent by our Lord had really come, with the Truth. " At that time a voice will be heard saying, "This is the Paradise, of which you have been made heirs; it has been given to you for the good works you did." (Al-'Araf, 7:43)

This refers to a fine happening that will take place on the occasion of the entry of the faithful into Paradise. On the one hand, they will not be boastful that they have gained Paradise by their good works, but will be grateful and thankful and will praise Allah, saying, "All this is due to Allah's grace, for we did not deserve this. " On the other; Allah will not even hint that it was due to His favor, but will say, "You have gained this by yow services and in return for yow own earnings. This is not a piece of charity but a reward of your own efforts, a fruit of yow own labor; it is a respectable living that you have earned" . To add to His grace, Allah does not say, "We will reply" but "they will hear a voice."

In fact the servants of Allah behave like this in this world also. Unlike the workers of iniquity, they do not become proud of any worldly success and say, "This is the result of ow own ability, work and effort," and then grow even more rebellious, and spread disorder in the world. In contrast to these rebels, the true servants of Allah consider every worldly success as His favor and are thankful and grateful to Him. The more they are favored by Him, the more humble, generous and merciful they become. They do not rely on their good works and say, "We an quite sure that we shall get salvation". Instead of this, they beg Allah's pardon for their shortcomings and rely on His grace and mercy, and they are always filled with the fear lest their accounts should turn out to be unfavorable against them.

A Tradition of the Holy Prophet related both by Bukhari and Muslim, confirms the above-mentioned thing. Once he warned his Companions, saying, "You should know that you will not get entry into Paradise merely by virtue of your works". They asked, "Is it we of you also?" He replied, "Yes, I, too, shall enter Paradise merely by Allah's grace and mercy."