The willpower

Something that normally seems difficult may be achieved with ease if one has the will. The will emanates from the interest that one has for the thing. If there is no interest, it means that there will also be no will and consequently, something easy will then become difficult.

We notice that the effort that we can make for the Dunya, the same amount of effort we cannot make for our Deen. We accept to make sacrifices for the Dunya. We are happy to wake up early and walk a long distance to take the bus to go to work but we find it very heavy and hard to come to Masjid and yet the Masjid is located next to our house. If we analyse both in terms of facility, we will see that it is much easier to go to the Masjid than to go to work. But we go to work because we see benefit in it. And going to Masjid is very easy but we do not care about it because we do not know its importance. In a Hadith, Nabi (Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasallam) said that if the hypocrites knew what benefits there are in performing 'Isha Salaah and Fajr Salaah in the Masjid, then no doubt they would have been present even if they had to crawl for that purpose.

Thus, the most essential thing in all this is to develop the love for Allah Ta'ala that will create the interest of Deen and Aakhirah in us and this, in turn, will create the required will to practice the Deen. After this, we will not find anything difficult, ridiculous or illogical in the Deen. We will find this way of life as a way advocated and appreciated by our true beloved, Allah Ta'ala.

The development of love for Allah Ta'ala does not come all at once. One must use one’s will power to acquire it. It is acquired through our commitment to certain practices of the Deen. We make effort to perform our 5 times Salah. We take out a little time to do Zikrullaah in the form of Tasbihaat, Durud Shareef and Istighfaar. We make it a point to do it every day. We should take out some time to do the Tilaawat-ul-Qur'an. Among the most effective way is to keep the company of the Deendaar. The most effective means to get the love of Allah Ta'ala is by staying in the company of the Deendaar. After some time, these practices will form part of our system and we will not feel at ease as long as we have not done them. This is the point where we can say that our heart has started to be connected to Allah Ta'ala.

[English version of "La volonté" – Al Jamiat – Vol.7 No.4]