Compete With the Competitors

When we wake up from sleep we praise Allah.
 الحَمْدُ لِلهِ الَّذِي أَحْيَانَا بَعْدَ مَا أَمَاتَنَا وَإِلَيْهِ النُّشُورُ 
All praise is for Allah, the One who gave us life after causing us to die, and unto Him is the resurrection. 

We start our day by praising Allah for giving us life. Today, we were all dead, but then Allah gave us life. So, we should ask the question, why did Allah give us our lives back? Why did Allah give us life after he gave us death? Did Allah give us life this morning because he wants us to watch TV, play games, and make money, so we can buy a house, and then a bigger house, and then a big car, and then we can live life however we want? Or did Allah give us life so we can worship Him and compete with each other to please Him. We need to ask ourselves, especially in the morning when we wake up, why did Allah give me back my soul? What is it that Allah wants from me? O Allah, why are you giving me life and then giving me death, and then giving me life, and then giving me death, before, one day, ending the cycle? 

To help you answer this question, Allah says in the Quran:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ 
“And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” [51:56] 

Allah has created us to worship Him, and He advises the believers to compete with each other in worshipping Him. He uses words like “rush forth” (sa ree’o) and “race” (sabiqoo) to encourage this mindset and attitude of competition. Such a strong approach will help you and me go far in life and attain high positions in both Paradise and in this world, in sha Allah. 

One day the Prophet ﷺ was telling the Companions about a group of people who will enter Paradise without any form of accountability. They won’t be asked any questions, nor will they go through any punishment. One of the Companions by the name of Ukasha immediately jumped up and said, “O Messenger of Allah, make dua that I am one of them.” So, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “You are one of them.” Another Companion jumped up and said, “Me, too (i.e. make Dua for me as well).” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “Ukasha has beaten you to it.” [Bukhari] 

One of the Companions from Ta-if visited Makkah in the very early days of the Prophet’s ﷺ message. He saw a man come out from a tent and move in a strange way. He was followed by a woman and another young man. They were all performing the same actions. So, this man asked Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, “Who are these people and what are they doing?” Abbas said, that man, the first one, is my nephew Muhammad ﷺ, and he claims to be a prophet sent by Allah. The women is his wife, and the young boy is Ali, and they are his followers. The narrator said, “I left. I didn’t pay much attention to the incident.” This man never became a Muslim until Ta’if was opened, probably 15 years later. After he became a Muslim, he thought to himself, “If only I became a Muslim then! I would have been the fourth Muslim on the face of the earth. Now, where am I? There are thousands of people who became Muslim before me. I missed that golden opportunity.” 

From these stories, and from many other ones, we can see that the Companions always competed with each other for good deeds. Likewise, we should also have a similar mind set. We should compete for salah. Who can come first? Who can bring their friends to prayer? If every person brings just one person, just one, then the number of people praying Jumu’ah will double. Imagine how much reward and benefit everyone would receive! 

Allah made us Muslims, and this is one of the greatest blessings one can be gifted. We need to thank Allah for this blessing and all the other blessings we receive. One of the ways in which we can thank Allah and show gratitude is by worshipping Him with every single part of our body. Allah gave you two eyes; use it to read the Quran. Allah gave you a tongue; use it to utter good words. Allah gave you hands and legs; use them to physically help people. 

There was a time in which we did not exist. Around 60 years ago, none of us existed in this world, and then He brought us to existence. Then Allah bestowed his favour upon us by making us Muslims. Therefore, we need to thank Him and worship Him. Imagine, if someone needed a kidney and you donated one of your kidneys to him, then after the operation, he doesn’t say thank you or show any appreciation for it. Well, Allah gave us eyes, ears, a nose, a tongue, kidneys, a heart, and everything else. So, not worshipping Him is like being the man who doesn’t appreciate the people who helped him. 

We are living in a time whereby people like to compete for bad things, things that are of no benefit. People compete for money, cars, houses, and albums, but they don’t compete for Jannah and they act like they have no time for Allah. We shouldn’t be of those who don’t have time to worship Allah. Rather, we should be from those who actively find time and energy to worship the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. We should actively compete with each other for good, such as coming to prayer, memorising Quran, going to talks, and other noble activities. 

We ask Allah to give us the tawfeeq to compete with each other in good deeds, and to make us amongst those who worship Him, day and night, in secret and in public. Ameen.