Bargaining With ALLAH

By Imam Abdullah El-Amin, MMNS

(10) “O you who believe.  Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a painful punishment?  11)  That you believe in ALLAH and His Messenger, and that you strive in the cause of ALLAH with your property and your persons: that will be best for you, if you but knew.  12) He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to gardens beneath which rivers flow, and to beautiful mansions in Gardens of Eternity:  That is the supreme achievement.

When we speak of “bargaining” with ALLAH, we of course, know and understand that we are only slaves before God and cannot by any stretch of the imagination compel Him to give us anything in exchange for anything else; rather we can use our property and our selves in a way designed to benefit from the promises He has made to us.  Then, and only then, will we be winners.

What do we have to bargain with?  We are to use our human minds, our human heart, our personal desires, even our personal duties to ourselves and our families, in the way ALLAH has instructed us to do.  Everything we possess is to be used with that one intention in mind – to please ALLAH.  He says in Qur`an that the only purpose we were created in the first place is to worship Him. 

Does this mean that ALLAH is so egotistical or in need of adulation that He would intentionally create a man to praise Him?  No indeed!  ALLAH is far above any need of us.  What it does mean is that ALLAH loves us so much that He has made it easy for us to get His greatest gift to us – the promise of eternal life in Jannah.  I say He makes it easy for us because ALLAH is so Merciful that we must really work hard to get into hell. 

ALLAH says if you have thoughts of doing a bad deed, and don’t do it, He will give you credit for having done one good deed – because you actually have done good.  You have consciously restrained yourself and chosen to do what is right.  He further says that if you have intention to do a good deed and actually do it, He will give you credit for having done 10 good deeds. ALLAH is giving you the opportunity to build up a good arsenal of credits for Jannah simply by intending and doing good deeds.

Then ALLAH shows His Benevolence and Mercy by saying that if we think to do a bad deed, and actually do it, He will only apply the chastisement of one bad deed to our record.  So intelligent Muslims strive to build up the good deeds because you don’t know how many you will need to earn your way to eternal peace.

Isn’t it wonderful that ALLAH can bargain with you and, at the same time, give you the tools to win?  Who else do you know that would do that? 

So when you pick your bargaining partners make certain you pick the One who has guaranteed you to win. 

We already know what Satan has promised if you bargain with him.

As Salaam alaikum
(Al Hajj) Imam Abdullah El-Amin

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