Expectations

EXPECTATIONS
by Murshid Shaykh Taner Ansari

Your expectations are very important. What are you expecting? Can Allah give you both? Yes. At the end of the prayer, we say, “Rabbanaa ‘aatinaa fid-dunyaa hasanatan wa fil ‘Aakhirati hasanatan wa qinaa azaaban naar.” This means: “Allah, give us goodness in this world and in the Hereafter and protect us from the torment of fire.” Remember that Allah is able to do all things. It’s all up to you. What do you want? Which program do you want to sign up for?

But each program has a consequence. In the ehli Dunya (people of the world) program you work hard, but you don’t get anything at the end when you die. In the ehli Akhira (people of the hereafter) program you get a little bit of this and a little bit of that. But in the Sufi program you get a lot of this, none of this, and all of that. Which one?

In the Suratal Waqi’ah (Chapter: The Event), Allah says that Allah divides people into three groups on the Judgment Day: the ones whose books are given from the right hand, the ones whose books are given from the left hand, and the ones whose books are sent before. We’d like to be in the group whose books have been sent before. In other words, paying our dues here and NOW, not in the Hereafter or in Hell.

As Sufis we make sure that when we die, we don’t owe anybody anything. We have paid for our mistakes here. We want to pay our dues here and be free and clear because we just want to be with Allah. We don’t want to talk about our debt before Allah.