Thursday, August 03, 2006

The Lives of Man by Imam Al Haddad

amazing book. pick it up, if you have the chance.

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"And the Messenger of God, may blessings and peace be upon him, included among the seven that God will shade with His shade 'on the day when no shade shall exist save His,' a 'young man who grew up in the service of God." It has been related that God the Exalted said: "O young man, who has abandoned his passions for My sake: you are to Me as are some of My angels."

later, Imam al Haddad continues: "Ibn al-Jawazi divides the human lifespan into five periods. The first, childhood, ends at the age of fifteen; the second, youth, extends to the age of thirty five..." and "Other scholars provide more or less similar divisions."

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"The lifespans of the [Muslim] Nation are among the shortest they have been. Some people in bygone nations lived near to or in excess of a thousand years. Some scholars have said that in some long-vanished communities, puberty was reached at the age of eighty. It is also said that one of Adam's sons died aged two hundred, and other people felt sorry for him having had such a brief life; and that Abraham the Friend, upon whom be peace, was circumcised at the age of eighty at God's command. And it is related that when the Messenger of God, upon whom be blessings and peace, considered the lifespans of his nation short in comparison to other nations, he implored and beseeched God on their behalf, for if their days were short, then their time spent in obedience and in preparation for their Hereafter would be short likewise, and they would thus miss many of the rewards and high degrees granted by God. So He gave him the Night of Destiny [ laylat al-qadr], which is better than a thousand months, [97:3] thus [in effect] extending their lives and multiplying their rewards so that any one of them who spends it in religioius observance during this night will be as if he had done so for a thousand months: namely, for eighty-three years and four months. If he does this every Night of Destiny for twelve years, for instance it would be as if he had lived one thousand years or more in God's obedience. Reflect on these calculations, for they are evident! This is what God has given this Nation through the baraka of His Messenger and the greatness and honour in His sight, and because of the tremendous concern which the Prophet has, upon him be blessings and peace, for his Nation, and his zeal to see them obtain what is good."
~ The Lives of Man, p. 25-26

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