THE KHALIFAH DIARIES Be The Best Muslimah For Allah SWT

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

This world is like a board game. It has rules and you have to play by the rules in order to win the game. Who sets the rules? Allah does – our Creator. Why did He send us into this game when He said in the Quran:

“I did not create jinn and humans but that they worship Me (only). I do not want any sustenance from them and I do not want them to give me food. Verily Allah is the One Who Gives sustenance Who has the Strength of the Very Strong “ – [Quran 51: 56-58]

Allah is telling us that He does not need His creations (Jinn and humans) to keep Him alive or give Him anything. If Allah does not need us to sustain Him, then why did He create us?  Is He playing with us? Nauzubillaminzalik (May Allah protect us)

The answer is: a big NO. 

Allah is NOT playing with us. This is serious. He is Al-Muqsit – The Just One. His justice demands Him to create a just ‘game of life’ that requires us to be accountable for all of our own actions on the day of judgement.

If He did not create this dunya (world), He will not be justly placing us in Jannah (heaven) and Jahannam (hell) based on our actions. Do you believe that there are inherently evil people who deliberately rape, kill, ostracize, and torture innocent people fully on their own will? Is it suffice that they go to jail or some of them don’t get caught at all when they’ve ruined their victim’s lives? How do we give them FULL justice on this earth?

The answer is.. WE CAN’T.

That is why Allah created this temporary life so that we may all live independently by our own choices and decisions so that we may then be judged for all of our actions in the hereafter.

He did NOT create us for nothing. We have a BIG purpose to fulfill as a Muslim. But first, we have to understand the rules of this ‘game of life’.

Let’s see…

1. Life is a test

“Allah has created death and life to test which one of you is best in conduct.” ― [Quran 67:2]

Do you remember your exam at school? Every exam has mostly the same rules…

• Done in a specific time-period (1 hour, 2 hours etc)
• You have to do your best
• You are given what to study for the exam
• Has an evaluation system
• You are not allowed to cheat
• Your result will be given after the exam
• Has a consequence if you get good or bad grades

Well, this world (dunya) is exactly like your school exam only the examiner, Allah – is infinitely more Merciful than your school teacher, it is 100% fair and this is the most IMPORTANT exam you will ever take because there are no resits.

Let’s review. How is this dunya like your school exam?

• Done in a specific time-period 

You must live on this earth for a specific period of time until death comes to you. 

• You have to do your best

During this time, you must do your best to please Allah by obediently following His commands and avoid His prohibitions through the Quran and Sunnah.

• You are given what to study for the exam

Well, this dunya is probably more like an open book test because we are given the Quran and Sunnah in our lifetime to constantly refer to it and find answers. 🙂

• Has an evaluation system

There’s only one evaluation criteria in this dunya exam. And that is how sincere your heart is in worshipping Allah alone without associating any partners with Him and obeying His orders. 

This sincerity is shown by how many good deeds you are willing to do for His sake and how many sins you avoided or repented for His sake.

• You are not allowed to cheat

You cannot see people’s hearts therefore you will never know how sincere people are to Allah except for Allah Himself. But you can share tips and remind each other of the answers to the exam (share Quran & Hadith – like what I’m doing now). 🙂

• Your result will be given after the exam

After we die (when the test is over), we will be judged on the judgment day. All our deeds and sins will be counted on that day. But only Allah’s Mercy can bring us into Jannah (heaven).

• Has a consequence if you get good or bad grades

If Allah is pleased with you, it means that you have passed the test so you will go to Jannah.

If Allah is displeased with you, it means that you have not necessarily failed, but a bad result because there are grades to this. 

If you believe in Allah and His Messenger SAW and worship Him your whole life, no matter how many sins you’ve done, you will still go to Jannah. But only after your sins have been reimbursed with the punishment of hellfire.

Therefore, we must always remember that this dunya is a temporary test. None of us will live forever. We will all die someday.

This dunya is not our true home, Jannah is our true home. How would you like to return to your true home? 🙂

2. Life is temporary

I heard Yasmine Mogahed explained this once. She’s an amazing Islamic speaker. You can check her videos on youtube.

She said (not in exact words)…

Life is like taking a trip. You know everything is temporary because after this trip you will go back to your home and continue your normal routine. During this trip, you stayed in a hotel. Sometimes the hotel room suits your taste, sometimes you don’t like it very much. Either way, you don’t try to fix the room or decorate it to your liking because you know it’s only a vacation, it’s temporary.

This life is exactly the same but some people live in this world as if they live here forever. 

Here are some examples:

• They work hard to gain wealth until it never seems enough. 
• They’re not afraid to make major sins thinking they’ll get away with it.
• They buy and live in big mansions when there’s only 2 people living in it.
• Their minds are constantly thinking of fulfilling their desires in this world instead of doing good deeds to prepare for akhirah

When you see how temporary this life is, it will help you go through life events according to what Allah SWT and Prophet Muhammad SAW require of us.

Here are examples of what will happen when you remember life is temporary:

• You will live in moderation no matter how wealthy you are because…

• you know you can’t bring it into the grave when you die 
• you will be asked on how you spend your wealth on judgement day

• You make tawbah (repentance) daily because you never know when you’re going to die
• You don’t give in to sinful desires because you know you’ll be accountable for it in akhirah
• When facing life challenges, you remind yourself that this will pass because life is too short

3. This world (dunya) has no value to Allah

“If the world to Allah was equal to a mosquito’s wing, then He would not allow the disbeliever to have a sip of water from it.” – [Tirmidhi]

From this Hadith, Allah shows us how insignificant this world is to Him. It has no value whatsoever because it is created as a test for mankind. 

Think of it this way…

When your teacher created your exam paper, did she think the exam paper or your score was more important? Of course, your score is the most important thing right?

That is why Allah told us in the Quran that after everyone dies from the time of Adam A.S to the last person on earth, He will destroy this world on the day of judgement. It will be as if it never existed.

Yet, here we are hoarding wealth and aimlessly wasting our time on useless things instead of doing more good deeds to please Allah.

That is why Allah says in the Quran…

“Allah Provides sustenance to whom He pleases without measure.” – [Quran 3:37]

We shouldn’t be jealous when Allah gives all His provisions, joy and happiness to the disbelievers (kafir) because this dunya means nothing to Him.

In fact, when Allah loves you, He prevents this world from you so that you can focus on Him instead of this worthless dunya.

4. This world is just amusement and play

Let’s say you go to a fun fair. There are all kinds of rides, merry-go-rounds, the roller-coaster, the flying dinosaur.. whatever.. They’ve got everything fun right? 

Allah is telling us this dunya is full of amusement and play…  just like the fun fair.

This worldly life is nothing but an amusement and play, and the Last Abode is the real life indeed. Only if they know! – [Quran 29:64]

You can go travel the world, buy clothes or whatever you desire because these things make you feel good. They’re designed to be beautiful and desirable.

But even though this life gives us joy and beautiful things, they are fleeting. They are not sustainable because everything is temporary. 

Allah made it as a test for us to continue fighting our desires and return to Him instead. Allah knows it is SUPER HARD. But His reward is worth it in sya Allah. 🙂

Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account [i.e., limit] – [Quran 39:10]

5. We are travelers

Messenger (ﷺ) said, ‘Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler. If you survive till the evening, do not expect to be alive in the morning, and if you survive till the morning, do not expect to be alive in the evening, and take from your health for your sickness, and (take) from your life for your death.” – [Bukhari]

When we’re traveling, our mind is already set to a destination. We know where we’re going, what to bring on our journey, the best and fastest way to get there etc. In other words, we have a plan right?  We don’t aimlessly travel and see where it takes us.

When we live in this world as a traveler, we would have a plan because we know that our ultimate destination is akhirah.

We remember death more clearly, therefore we won’t be busy trying to make this temporary world our permanent place, ie. hoard our wealth, treat others badly or accumulating sins because we know, we can die anytime and in the akhirah we will be judged based on everything we did on our ‘journey’ (this dunya).

The Prophet Muhammad SAW reminded us to remember death often because it will give us the right mindset in handling all our daily affairs. When we remember death often, automatically our minds develop the right thinking and decision-making to treat this world as a temporary transit before we meet Allah in a permanent place (akhirah).

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Frequently remember the destroyer of pleasures,’ meaning death.” – [Ibn Majah]

Conclusion

Living on earth as a Muslim is not a walk in the park. We have responsibilities and we are here to worship Allah and be the best Khalifah (leader) that uphold His religion. Our time on earth is very short, we will not get back the time we had yesterday. So, what are you doing today to be the best Muslim for Allah? 🙂

Any good from this article is from Allah and any evil is from the shaytaan and me. May Allah forgive our shortcomings in practicing His deen.

Wa billahi tawfeeq wa hidayah

(All successes come from Allah and His guidance).