“They would have made some preparation for it…”

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum.

[I’ll post Part 2 of the Habit No.1 post tomorrow, insha-Allah. In the meantime, let me remind all those who are interested in participating that tomorrow is the first day of the challenge (which is to pray Fajr early and stay wake after that).]

Allah says:

وَلَوْ أَرَادُوا الْخُرُوجَ لَأَعَدُّوا لَهُ عُدَّةً وَلَـٰكِن كَرِهَ اللَّـهُ انبِعَاثَهُمْ فَثَبَّطَهُمْ وَقِيلَ اقْعُدُوا مَعَ الْقَاعِدِينَ

“And if they had intended to march out, certainly, they would have made some preparation for it, but Allah was averse to their being sent forth, so He made them lag behind, and it was said (to them), “Sit you among those who sit (at home).” [Surah At-Tawbah (9) :46]

This ayah (verse) was revealed regarding the hypocrites. They were supposed to go with the Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam) to a battle. They didn’t want to go for jihad, so they made up some excuses to avoid going.

Allah tells us that if these people really wanted to go fight in the battle, they would have made some sort of preparation beforehand. However, the fact that they did not prepare at all shows that they had no intention of going to the battle in the first place.

Subhan Allah, this ayah (verse) is something that all of us should dwell over.

Don’t most of us make excuses when it comes to various acts of worships? Many of us are quick to point out why we are unable to do such and such act of worship. However, did we really make a sincere attempt at trying to do that act?

Let’s take a few examples:

1) Many of us claim that we would love to pray tahajjud.

Did we prepare for it?

How? Well, by doing dua, sleeping early, setting lots of alarm clocks, etc.

2) Many of us claim that we would love to memorise the Quran.

Did we prepare for it?

How? Well, by doing dua, joining a Quran centre or getting a Quran teacher, eating “brain” foods, trying to memorise at least an ayah a day, etc.

3) Many of us claim that we are dying to learn Arabic.

Did we prepare for it?

How? Well, by joining a course (onsite or online), buying the required books, scheduling in some time every day to study Arabic (even if it is 5 minutes to study one word a day), etc.

4) Many of us claim that we are DYING to go for Hajj.

Did we prepare for it?

How? Well by doing dua, learning about the fiqh of Hajj, researching about various Hajj groups, trying to save the required amount of money, applying for the visas, trying to get a leave of absence from work at that time, etc.

5) Many of us (women) claim that we really want to wear the hijab/abaayah (jilbaab, the outer garment)/niqaab.

Did we prepare for it?

How? Well, by doing dua, buying the required items so that they can stare us in the face, asking our family and friends to support us in this issue, etc.

6) Many of us claim that we really want our children to become good Muslims.

Did we prepare for it?

How? By doing dua, practicing Islam ourselves first, removing the haram elements from our homes (goodbye to all those movie DVDs!) , putting the children in Islamic schools and not mixed, kuffar ones, etc

You know, anyone can make claims but not everybody can back those claims up with proof.

So, any person can claim that they love Allah and really want to worship Him and gain His love.

However, when that person does not even prepare themselves to do the acts of worship that they claim that they want to do, I think it’s fair to say that perhaps deep down, this person doesn’t want to do it.

As the saying goes: Actions speak louder than words.

So, we should all ask ourselves: Have we put in any amount of preparation for the things that we claim that we want to do?

PS. Here’s another article on this ayah. However, it has to do with the “lag behind” part.