Hadith No. 18 – Sahih al-Bukhari

Salam,

Bismillah.

What can you do to save your deen? Can you give up all that you own? Tough question, right? It shouldn’t be!

Volume 1, Book 2, Number 18:

Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:

Allah’s Apostle said, “A time will come that the best property of a Muslim will be sheep, which he will take on the top of mountains and the places of rainfall (valleys) so as to flee with his religion from Al-Fitan (afflictions and trials).”

Al-Fitan (singular: finah) refers to anything that makes you heedless of Allah.

Simply put, the person will prefer living on mountains rather than put his deen in danger.

We’re made to go through tests and trials everyday. Anyone who says ‘La Iaha Illa Allah’ will definitely be tested, to check if he really means what he says. And just like our SAT’s and GCE’s, we get graded on these tests. Our reactions determine our grades. And the top scorers are the chosen ones.

This Hadith doesn’t mean we should start living on mountains. The lesson here is, that we should avoid Fitan (afflictions). Keep the definition in mind and you’ll get a lot of examples. A lot of things make us heedless of our Lord. We forget He’s watching us. Worse, we forget Him completely.

Another important thing: our use of certain things determines their effect. For example, computer isn’t a Fitnah in itself. The way we use it will decide. There are good things and wicked things available on a computer. It’s all about our choice. And it all depends on how careful we are about our deen.

Wassalam.