Ramadhan dessert (part 7)
أبو حنظلة محمد زهري
اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
Guide us on the right path.

And then on the next verse is the doa for hidayah. We asking Allah swt to constantly guide us and keep us in the straight path, that is Islam- alquran and sunnah. All mankind is in need of guidance from Allah swt day and night. Even if he already a believer there is no guarantee that he will die as a believer. Therefore Allah swt has reminded the believers many times in the Quran on this matter 
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ
O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah with the care which is due to Him, and do not die unless you are Muslims.
In this verse Allah swt address not the non Muslims but specifically to the ones who had already believed not to die unless in the state of iman! Iman is so precious that it has to be constantly guarded and keep in constant watch. The syaithan 24/7 is trying to snatch it and he had trained our evil desires (nafs)to make us go away from iman. 
 
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ مِن قَبْلُ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا

O you who believe! believe in Allah and His Apostle and the Book which He has revealed to His Apostle and the Book which He revealed before; and whoever disbelieves in Allah and His angels and His apostles and the last day, he indeed strays off into a remote error.

In this verse Allah swt has commanded the mukmin (believer)  to believe.- why command the believers to believe when they are already a believer? This for us to ponder on this verse.

In addition as a side note, when everytime we heard or read the verse with the call to the muslims (يا أيها الذين اامنوا) - 'o you who believe', we  who called ourselves muslims Must stop and ponder and prepare ourselves for the next message as the Lord of the worlds is calling us and informing us on an important message. And
Without doubt the message after it is of great importance.Wa lillahi  Masalil ala- just like a king just called you to inform you for something , do we just take his call for granted or put all our ears ready to hear what he is going to convey. 

 There are people who do good deeds but on the last days of his life, he commits sins and die in it. May Allah set save us. And the last deeds is the utmost importance in a person's life. And nobody knows when his life will ends. 

إِنَّ اللَّهَ عِندَهُ عِلْمُ السَّاعَةِ وَيُنَزِّلُ الْغَيْثَ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْأَرْحَامِ وَمَا تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ مَّاذَا تَكْسِبُ غَدًا وَمَا تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ بِأَيِّ أَرْضٍ تَمُوتُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

Surely Allah is He with Whom is the knowledge of the hour, and He sends down the rain and He knows what is in the wombs; and no one knows what he shall earn on the morrow; and no one knows in what land he shall die; surely Allah is Knowing, Aware.

May Allah swt grant us all husnul khotimah and die with the kalimah syahahdah as our last words. Amin

We can understand that this surah also taught us the correct method of making doa. Firstly we make praise and make syukr to Him, and understanding His greatness and His mercy, with conscience of the hereafter and the day of judgement, with the correct ibadah that has been taught by the Prophet saw and tawakkul sole reliance to Him, then it is the time for us to ask Him swt what we want. And what is better than asking to be in constant guidance by Him so that we can get hayatan toyyibah in this world and Jannah in the hereafter.
والله أعلم


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