Sacrifice - Get Something Better

I need all of you to think of someone you love, respect, want to be like and will do anything if that person tells you to. For some of us it might be our parents; we love our parents so much that if they tell us to leave something, we will. For some people it might be a football player; if Ronaldo specifically mentioned your name and told you to stop smoking you probably would do it. For some, if a famous actor or the richest man on earth or any other legendary person says to stop doing something bad, then most likely the person will leave it.  

Now what if the Creator of you, me, our parents, the king of Dubai and the richest man on earth, or Allah Almighty tells us to do something, will we do it? What if Allah tells us to leave something, will we do it? What if Allah tells us to leave something and promises to give us something better in return, will we do it? The Prophet ﷺ  has given us the good news my brothers. The Prophet ﷺ  said, “Verily, you will never leave anything for the sake of Allah Almighty, but that Allah will replace it with something better.” [Ahmed] 

 All of us are on the same journey in this life. A journey to earn the mercy of Allah and be admitted into Jannah. On this journey there will be many distractions; the distraction will try to deviate our pursuit to obey Allah and earn His mercy. We all know our own distractions. They may be things that Allah has made haram, such as looking at the haram, listening to haram, engaging in impermissible relationships, wasting time in games for hours and not caring about prayer and obedience to our parents. It is upon us, O servants of Allah, to reduce these distractions, slowly, one after the other. For whom? For the sake of Allah. 
 
You might be thinking, I really want to leave some bad things that I do, but how do I stop? A person can leave something bad using one of two methods; either by feeling motivated due to the reward of leaving something bad or fearing the punishment of doing the bad action. In terms of the reward of leaving something for the sake of Allah, as we said before, Allah promises us to get something better as a replacement. The Prophet ﷺ said,“Verily, you will never leave anything for the sake of Allah Almighty, but that Allah will replace it with something better.” (Ahmed) 
 As explained by the hadith, you really need to give it up for the sake of Allah with the reward in mind. The main reason should not be due to money, comfort, health, family status or what the people will say. The primary reason should be due to the love of Allah. Ibn Qayyim said that the reason why people find it difficult to stay away from haram is because they do not really leave it for the sake of Allah.  

Remember, if you leave a sin for the sake of Allah, Allah promises to replace it with something much better. Better in the dunya and better in the akhirah. And you do not need to worry, if Allah promises something, He will fulfill it. The story of Yusuf demonstrates how Allah gives something better when one leaves something for the sake of Allah. Yusuf was seduced by the wife of the king. Instead of giving in, Prophet Yusuf remained steadfast and as a result Allah made him the finance minister of Egypt. So, from being a servant, Allah made him the finance minister of the country. The take home message is that if we leave anything for the sake of Allah then Allah will replace it with something better. 
 
In a hadith, the Prophet ﷺ  said, “Whoever gives up argument when he is in the right, a palace will be built from him in the middle of Paradise.” (Ibn Majah) 

 Imagine that, giving up something as simple as arguments for the sake of Allah will earn you Paradise.  

 
We said that a person can leave something bad using one of two methods; either by feeling motivated due to the reward of leaving something bad or fearing the punishment of doing the bad action. If the reward does not motivate you to leave something for the sake of Allah, then the punishment is there to act as a deterrent and help us leave the bad things for Allah’s sake.   

Jahannam is made for those who fail to leave something bad for the sake. There are many hadith about how people will be punished for persistently committing sins. There are severe punishments for those who lie, cheat, swear, backbite, slander, miss prayers, do not respect parents, harm others and waste their life. Just by reading some of the punishments of hell should help us leave bad things for the sake of Allah.  

In another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever drinks alcoholic drinks in this world and does not repent, he will be deprived of it in the hereafter” [Bukhari] 
So, Paradise will be forbidden for the one who cannot, for the sake of Allah, stay away from consuming alcohol. The general message is clear, if you do not give up bad things for the sake of Allah, then know that there are punishments associated with that decision.  

Remember that one day you will stand before Allah, where your good deeds will be weighed up against your wrongdoings. Allah says, 
 فَأَمَّا مَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ ﴿٦﴾ فَهُوَ فِي عِيشَةٍ رَّاضِيَةٍ ﴿٧﴾
﴾وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ ﴿٨﴾ فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ ﴿٩
Then as for one whose scales are heavy [with good deeds], (6) He will be in a pleasant life. (7) But as for one whose scales are light, (8) His refuge will be an abyss [101:6-9] 

No one is saying that you can change your bad habits overnight, it takes time. You will have to make small changes, make dua to Allah, start having good friends and most importantly know that Allah will give you something better in return. A motivational speaker once said we must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. So, do you want to suffer a bit and let go of the bad things in life or do you want to suffer in Hell? 

To summarise, all of us have distractions, whether they be looking at haram, listening to haram, engaging in impermissible relationships and others. We should leave these things for the sake of Allah, as the Prophet ﷺ said,  
“Verily, you will never leave anything for the sake of Allah Almighty but that Allah will replace it with something better.” [Ahmed] 
 
We ask Allah to give us the tawfeeq to decrease the number of distractions in our lives and to forgive our sins and mistakes. Ameen.