In that moment where one is just about to commit a sin, where he has been tempted, where he has made up his mind that he is going to do it as he has been struck by the whisper of Shaitan….. Just as he is about to commit that sin, he wakes up! So those are the people that Allah mentions in Quran, “If the God-fearing are instigated by any suggestion of Satan, they instantly become alert, where after they clearly perceive the right way” (Surah Al-Araf 7:201). So they wake up suddenly, pull themselves out of that sin and turn back to Allah in repentance.
That's somewhat the best case scenario, where the man was about to commit the sin and he stopped. The Prophet (Pbuh) said that when one is about to commit a sin and if his conscience and piety reminds him of Allah in that moment, then he shouldn’t ignore this and stop himself right there and then. He shouldn’t let himself be deceived that as he is already half way through the sin, or already at the point of committing it, so he might as well commit it and then later on in some other time may worry about the repentance.
But for a person who just committed a sin for the very first time and he has not become desensitized to it as well, then his feeling of being dirty, impure because of the sin with remorse and regret will bring him back to Allah. Basically what he does in that moment is going to decide whether that sin has become a mean of bringing him back to Allah or that sin is becoming a habit that will take him down the path of Shaitan perpetually. It’s that point where our Prophet (Pbuh) talks about a very unique way in which one interacts with those angels which are on the right and left side of the man: Kiraman Katebeen. These are the honorable recorders or noble writers who write down and record every action, thought, or feeling of a man during his lifetime on this Earth. One angel figuratively sits on the right shoulder and records all good deeds, while the other sits on the left shoulder and records all bad deeds. This is mentioned in the Quran: "And indeed, (appointed) over you are keepers, noble and recording; they know whatever you do" (Surah Al-Infitar, 82: 10-12).
The Kiraman Katebeen are careful not to miss any details of what the man does. Allah has commanded these noble angels to record everything that a man says or does. Quran declares in Chapter 50 "When the two receivers receive, seated on the right and on the left, man does not utter any word except that with him is an observer prepared (to record)" (Surah Qaf 50: 17-18). This description of these angels that is offered in the Quran is not just an interesting fact but it can serve to inspire the heart with awe and wonder when contemplating the nature of these entities. If one can imagine what active role these sublime creatures are playing in his /her life, one can easily turn the most mundane of activities into a spectacle if they view it through the prism of faith. The reality of these angels and the nature of their interaction with the world the man empirically senses, is beyond the purview of the scientific enterprise and cannot be traversed in any certain way through reasoning. It’s a supra-scientific concept, it’s that reality of the unseen world which a human imagination cannot fully grasp and thus its unique essence cannot be entirely captured.
There's not a single word, not a single expression that doesn’t get recorded by these angels. Abu-Assufyan (RA) said that when a person is about to commit a good deed, his soul emits the beautiful scent of musk and when one is about to commit a sin, the soul emits a nasty stench, and so there's a sense that a sin is coming. These angels even sense that and know whether a good deed or a bad deed is coming up while they it write down.
When a person first commits a sin, Allah commands the angel on the left to hold his pen for six hours and delay the recording. Here six hours means six periods of time. If that person repents within that time, then the angel on the left side does not write down that sin, but instead Allah records a good deed for him. If one looks closely, this is such a unique situation where the angel is being told to withhold his pen, not even to document the sin, depicting the leniency, mercy and love of Allah, besides being a reminder of Allah’s constant presence in man’s life. The Prophet (Pbuh) said that these angels write down one sin if a person actually commits it. However, they write a good deed at a minimum of ten good deeds, up to seven hundred, or up to whatever Allah decrees for His man. So from the mercy of the Lord, if one turns back to Allah immediately after committing a sin, on his records, not only will he not have the sin ever recorded, but he will have the good deed of seeking forgiveness from Allah recorded. The good deed of repentance simply wipes out his sins as if he never committed a sin in the very first place. That is how Allah always leaves the door of repentance open to His man. But this is for someone who fell into a sin, then woke up right away with the realization to repent and thus turned back to Allah; this isn't for a person that intended to commit a sin thinking that he will later repent for it. However, if a person goes forth and commits that sin, then the honorable scribes on left side writes down one sin for him.
The belief in the angels and the awareness of constant presence of Kiraman Katebeen with a man is not just an abstract theoretical belief. This belief in the unseen, being the second pillar of faith must be affirmed in a way that its significance is appreciated. It has no doubt the capacity to make a man intentionally choose good over bad, which ultimately leads him to pursue an upward spiritual path giving meaning to his ordinary life.
Comments
Post a Comment