Text of the post:
This clip encourages seeking forgiveness to obtain provision and ward off poverty, treating it as a mathematical equation for achieving worldly aims.
Comment:
1. The clip takes an unacceptable liberty in using seeking forgiveness merely as worldly compensation and a mathematical equation. Yet it is among the acts of remembrance and worship in which a Muslim should first be conscious of servitude: reverence for God, humility before Him and what He has prepared for believers in the hereafter. Whatever fruits result are subordinate and secondary, not the original basis for performing it.
2. Many understand God’s words, “I said: seek your Lord’s forgiveness, for He is ever-forgiving. He will send abundant rain upon you, support you with wealth and sons, provide gardens for you and provide rivers for you” [Nuh: 10-12], as evidence for seeking forgiveness primarily and generally to obtain worldly interests, without considering the hereafter or with worldly interests foremost in the intention. This understanding is deficient. The verses concern unbelievers whose hearts were saturated with love of this world, so encouraging them with immediate worldly benefits was the way to attract them to religion, like those whose hearts are reconciled by being given obligatory alms. Concerning “He will support you with wealth and sons”, Qatadah, may God have mercy on him, said: “Noah saw people whose necks were strained by eagerness for this world, so he said: come to obedience to God, for through it one attains this world and the hereafter.” Al-Tabari’s Exegesis. Al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam, may God have mercy on him, said concerning “abundant”: “Continuous rain. It is said that they suffered drought for forty years, losing their wealth, and their women ceased bearing children. When he knew their eagerness for this world, he said: come to obedience to God, for through it one attains this world and the hereafter, encouraging them to believe.” Tafsir al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam (3/367). The monotheistic Muslim, however, should not be educated permanently on this basis and treated like those whose hearts need reconciling, without being reminded of worship’s reality and purpose.
3. Seeking forgiveness to remove distress or an affliction, or to obtain an immediate benefit, as in the prayer for rain, involves incidental circumstances in which God, through His favour, has made seeking forgiveness a cause for warding off harms and obtaining benefits. Yet the need for sincerity in word and deed must always be emphasised. Sincerity requires a person to intend by his deed God’s pleasure, forgiveness of sins and what is prepared for him in the hereafter: that is the fundamental objective. Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, may God have mercy on him, said in his Exegesis: “His words, ‘I said: seek your Lord’s forgiveness, for He is ever-forgiving’, mean: I told them to ask their Lord to forgive their sins, repent to Him of their unbelief and worship of other gods, affirm His oneness and devote worship sincerely to Him, and He will forgive them. He is ever-forgiving of the sins of those who return to Him and repent of them.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Whoever would like his record to please him should fill it with seeking forgiveness.” Al-Silsilah al-Sahihah (5/377). A person facing an immediate benefit to seek or an actual or anticipated harm to avert may consider those incidental concerns, but his seeking forgiveness must not be solely for worldly gain, abandoning it once his desire is achieved and returning only when he fears for worldly interests. God says: “Whoever desires the harvest of the hereafter, We increase his harvest. Whoever desires the harvest of this world, We give him some of it, but he has no share in the hereafter” [al-Shura: 20]. God’s help is sought.
For more, see:
– Was Worship Prescribed to Protect Souls from Aggression, Oppression and Injustice?.
– People’s Positions on the Benefit and Wisdom of Worship.
– Encouraging Prostration by Magnifying Its Worldly Benefits.
– Supplication and Psychological Anxiety.