The Lifelong Battle

Ye kushti to hai umr bhar ki
Kabhi tu daba lai, kabhi wo daba lai...

Jo naa kaam hota rahe umr bhar bhi
Bahar haal koshish to aashiq na chore
Yeh rishta muhabbat ka qayim hi rakhe
Jo so baar toote toh so baar jore

"This battle is a lifelong one
At time you will overpower, at times it will overpower
Oh you who keeps failing, the lover must continue making effort
This relationship of love should remain firm
If it breaks 100 times, it is put back together 100 times"

One of my good friends mentioned these verses of Khwaja Majzoob Rahmatullahi ‘Alayhi today, and I also remembered hearing them like a week ago in a Majlis of Moulana Yunus Patel sahib.

They really touch the heart, these verse, they give hope. Tests will come, temptations will visit us. This is normal, and it’s normal that the nafs will wage battle against us so that we may succumb to its wishes. And, at times because of a moment of weakness, we may succumb to the wishes of the nafs.

But the ‘aashiq knows that because of a mistake, it does not mean that we give up hope. The relationship we have with Allah Ta’aala is that we are His lowly slaves and He is our Master. But, what a Master He is, so Merciful, so Loving. If we make a mistake one time, two time, three times, ten times... eventually a person will become tired and no longer accept our apology. But Allah Ta’aala... ah... how to describe the One who brought us into existence. There are no words to bring that bring can do justice in describing His Mercy, His Love, His Forgiveness.

Allah Ta’aala mentions in the Qur’aan,

قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

“Say ‘Oh My servants who have transgressed against their souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah, verily Allah forgives all sins, and He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.”

Allah Himself tells us the above, He gives us this glad tiding, that no matter how many sins we may have committed, if we make sincere tawbah before him, then surely He will forgive us.

So we should not despair and become depressed, rather realize that the time we have to despair and grieve in is the time given to us by Allah to repent, to seek amnesty, to once again have a clean slate. Let us not waste the precious time given to us by Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’aala. Every moment He allows to live us is a gift to change our ways. Every moment in time is a present in which we may strengthen that bound we have with the Supreme Maker.

Agar che pur khataa hai par kahaan jaye tera banda?

Tere dar par tera banda ba ummeed-e-karam aaya.

"Even though he is amassed with sins, where else can Your slave go?

To Your house Your slave has come with hopes of Grace"