Allah gives promises and the promises of Allah is true and sure. Allah gives true promises and Allah never lies. When Allah gives promises, the promises are true. We also give promises but sometimes we lie in our promises. Promises are made upon completing certain conditions or upon fulfilling certain requirements. Allah also gives promises when we can fulfil certain conditions. Unless we fulfil the conditions, the promises will not be fulfil. When we cannot get what has been promised to us by Allah, it is not because, Allah lies to us, but it is because we cannot fulfil the conditions stated by Allah in the Quran and Hadith. All of the promises of Allah are fulfilled by Allah on the condition we have correct iman. We have never come across in the Quran that promises of Allah are to those who have only entered Islam and not having correct iman but the promises of Allah are to those who have correct iman and good actions. There are many Hadiths that mention about the rewards, Allah promises to give to us upon doing certain amals or actions. All these Hadiths are collected by the learned scholar of Tabligh Jamat and the book is given by the name of Fadhail Amal. This book of Fadhail Amal has become the main and the only textbook read by the members of Tabligh Jamat when they are spending times for 3 days, 40 days and 4 months. All the verses of the Quran and sayings of Prophet Muhammad saw on the promises of Allah, will only of beneficial to the readers if it is read with correct iman. When the verses of the Quran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad saw are read without correct iman, it will bring harm to the readers. We will tend to do amals with the intention of getting the rewards promise by Allah and not with the intention to please Allah. When we do amals with the intention of getting rewards, ours intention of doing the amals is not sincere and our amals or actions will not be accepted by Allah. Similarly when we eat, our intention should be to please Allah but instead we eat with the intention of satisfying our hunger. We seldom have the intention to please Allah because we believe that foods can satisfy our hunger and not Allah.

When we have a strong iman, we will do amals or actions only with the intention of pleasing Allah and we believe in the promises of Allah. As for example at times of difficulties, when we perform prayer and ask Allah for help, Allah has promised to help and solve all our problems. However when we perform prayer and ask Allah for help, our problems is not solved by Allah. Is our prayer wrong or the promise of Allah is wrong? It is unlikely that the promise of Allah is wrong. What is most likely to be wrong is our prayer. It is possible that the quality of our prayer is not up to the standard that Allah want or our intention in doing the prayer is not sincere. We could be praying with the intention of solving our problems and not to please Allah. In the Quran it is mention that Allah will solve our problems with prayer and patient. It is also possible that our problems are not solved by Allah because we only have done the prayer but we do not have the patient. Allah says in the Quran; seek help from me with prayers and patients. What is patient mention in the Quran? Allah says in the Quran that those who are patients are those who react to wrong actions done to him with good actions and Allah further says that who has been given patient are indeed has been given something very great. Who can react to wrong actions done to him with good actions other than a good person? A good person will always do good actions in all circumstances and a bad person will always do bad actions in all situations. A good person will always do good actions and will always speak good words. What is speaking good words means? Allah says in the Quran, Whose words are better than those who calls people to Allah.

What is the meaning of calling people to Allah? We call people to Allah is when we call non-Muslims to recite the Great Kalimah, there is no God except Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah and to those who have recited the Great Kalimah, to remind them about the Great Kalimah and to invite them to obey the orders of Allah. In other words, Allah will only give us the quality of patient when we do the work of calling peoples to Allah. Allah will only solved our problems when we asked Allah to solve our problems by performing prayer with the intention to please Allah and we also have patients and we can only acquire the quality of patient when we do the work of calling peoples to Allah ,the way done by Prophet Muhammad saw. Nowadays, our problems are not solved by Allah, even though we perform prayer, because we do not do prayer with the intention to please Allah and we do not do the work of calling peoples to Allah which is the same of the work of inviting peoples to good and forbidding peoples from evils.

When we read the verses of the Quran and Hadiths about the rewards, promise by Allah, it does not mean we should do the amals or actions with the intention of obtaining the rewards mention in the verses of the Quran or Hadith. We must believe in the promises of Allah as it part of the requirement of iman. It is our mistakes, when we pray with the intention of solving our problems. Our prayer is also the creations of Allah. As a creation of Allah, our prayer cannot solve our problem. The only one who can solve our problems is Allah. When we pray to please Allah, we can get the pleasure of Allah. When Allah is pleased with us, Allah will solve our problems. When we pray with the intention to solve our problem, Allah is not pleased with us and when Allah is not pleased with us, Allah does not solve our problems. In order to have sincerity or ikhlas in our actions, we must have the correct iman and to have correct iman, we must do the work of calling peoples to Allah and obey all the other orders of Allah. When we can solve all our problems with prayers and patient, we will be the most fortunate person in this world as so many peoples in this world live with so many problems and yet they cannot solve their problems. Many peoples in this world who have abundant of wealth and power, yet they live with problems which are not solved by their wealth and power. In the end they live with so many unsolved problems and they died carrying with them the problems to the graves. When they enter the graves, their problems increases and the problems continue to increase as they enter the hell fire.

There are many verses of the Quran and Hadiths on the promises of Allah but are not read by many Muslims. Many Muslims scholars are only concentrating on the verses of Quran and Hadith on the Islamic Laws. On the other hand, some Muslims are only reading and hearing the rewards promised by Allah, with weak iman and so instead of making amals with the intention of pleasing Allah, many Muslims are doing amals with the intention of getting the rewards promised by Allah. As we know, making an amals with the intention of getting the rewards promised by Allah is not sincere or ikhlas. An amals which is not ikhlas are not accepted by Allah. Believing in the promises of Allah is known as ihtisab. Many Muslims do not know the different between sincerity or ikhlas and believing in the promises of Allah or ihtisab. When we do an amals we have to do it with sincerity and ihtisab. Doing an amals with ikhlas is to do an amals with the intention of pleasing Allah. Doing an amals with believe in the rewards promised by Allah is known as ihtisab. When we read or hear the rewards promised by Allah for doing the amals, we have to believe in the promises. However we cannot make the promises as our intention in doing the amals. Some Muslims think that the purpose of reading the verses of the Quran and Hadith on the promises of Allah is to motivate the Muslims to do amals. Muslims will do amals when they have correct iman. Correct iman will start to come to the Muslims when they start to convey the Great Kalimah to non-Muslims and remind Muslims about the Great Kalimah and invite them to obey the orders of Allah. Allah wants actions or amals done sincerely and not motivated by the promises made by Him. We must trust Allah that Allah will never lie in His promises. When we do any good amals or actions, certainly we will get the rewards promised by Allah. When we do amals and actions with the intention of getting the rewards promised by Allah, Allah dislike it and it is regarded as insincere. Allah wants us to do any actions or amals only because it is the order of Allah and is only to please Allah. We are allowed to believe in the rewards promised by Allah by doing the actions or amals but our intention is only to please Allah.

Allah says in the Quran that He will make those who have the true iman and good actions the rulers that will rule the world. This is the promise of Allah to those who has the true iman and good actions and not to Muslims who has weak iman and incorrect actions. When none of the Muslims, Allah has made the rulers of this world, it shows that none of the present day Muslims has achieved the level of true iman and good actions. Allah is true in His promise but since none of the Muslims is having the true iman and good actions, none of us is made by Allah the rulers of the world. Why none of the Muslims in this world has true iman and good actions? There are about 1.3 billion Muslims in this world but unfortunately none of us is having the true iman and good actions. What is the reason that this can happen. It has happen because none of the Muslims in this world has done the work of the Prophet Muhammad saw the way the Prophet saw do. The work of the Prophet Muhammad saw has long vanished from the routine of all Muslims in this world. When in this world there is not even one Muslim that has the true iman and a good action, Allah promises does not apply. When there is even only one Muslims that has the true iman and correct actions, Allah will make him the ruler of the world. This is not a prediction or only a dream of a mad man but this is the promise of Allah which Allah mention in Sarah An-Nur verse 55 and the promises of Allah is true.

Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
June 2011
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre