Self-Accountability and Futuwwah in the Journey Toward Allah: Shaykh Hammad Mustafa Al-madani Al-qadri

If we allow the desires of our Nafs to fester within us, we can never cultivate a true desire for Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Shaykh Hammad Mustafa Al-madani Al-qadri
The great Sufia and the noble youth on the path of Futuwwah spent their lives in deep self-analysis, self-criticism, and recognition of their own shortcomings. Shaykh Hammad Mustafa
The first moment of realization on the spiritual journey toward Allah is awakening from the long sleep of ignorance: Shaykh Hammad Mustafa

Shaykh Hammad Mustafa al-Qadri emphasized the critical journey of self-purification and spiritual awakening. He highlighted that our lives are often dominated by the lower desires of the Nafs cravings for wealth, comfort, recognition, and power, which distract us from our ultimate destination: closeness to Allah سبحانه وتعالى. The path toward Allah requires rigorous self-analysis, recognition of our weaknesses, and the conscious effort to eliminate these desires. This spiritual journey begins with al-Yaqzah, the awakening from the deep sleep of ignorance, followed by identifying and removing the sources of indulgence, and culminates in al-Muhasaba, the practice of self-accountability. Just as a company conducts internal audits to ensure its records are sound before an external audit, the seeker must act as their own internal auditor, preparing for the ultimate accountability before Allah on the Day of Judgment.

The Struggle Against the Nafs: A Path to Divine Proximity

Shaykh Hammad Mustafa al-madani al-qadri said in his speech about the spirit of chivalry in the 21st century. He said that we will be speaking about two concepts that are interrelated and that affect how we live our lives, how we shape our priorities and our relationship with Allah سبحانه وتعالى in this world. Respected brothers, we live in a society filled with various luxuries, distractions, comforts, and amenities. And unfortunately, we have stooped down to the level of occupying ourselves with the lower desires of our Nafs. These desires include our desire for food, for drink, for luxuries, for comfort, for influence, power, respect, a place in society. All these desires are the desires of the base soul and the Nafs. And as one traveling towards Allah سبحانه وتعالى our duty is to eliminate these desires. If we allow these desires to fester in ourselves, we cannot cultivate the desire for Allah سبحانه وتعالى. So the great Sufia / Saints and the great noble youth on the path of Futuwwah, they spent immense time in their lives self-analyzing being self-critical observing their shortcomings looking at their own weaknesses. For you, my dearest brothers are the best judge of your character and your own weaknesses. If some of us rest too much or sleep too much, more than necessary, then you yourself know this is your shortcoming. If one indulges in more food than necessary, then this is a shortcoming. You know yourselves. If you have a lot of ambition for wealth, for money, for properties, then you yourself know this weakness exists in you. If you have desire for recognition, for virility, for power, if you want to be famous, then you yourself know this desire lies deep within your heart and your ego. So respected brothers, the job and responsibility of the salic traveling towards Allah سبحانه وتعالى is to identify is to emphasize and highlight these shortcomings that fulfill and engulf our Nafs. After pointing them out, then we strive against them. We push against them. We try to break these habits and it is only those who truly fight against these habits, these desires are brought to Allah subhana wa ta'ala's proximity. This is why Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

﴿وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَى o فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَى﴾

“But as for him who feared standing in the presence of his Lord and forbade (his ill-commanding) self its appetites and lusts. Paradise will surely be (his) abode.” ]النازعات : 40-41[

Al-Yaqzah: Awakening from the Sleep of Ignorance

Shaykh Hammad Mustafa Al-Qadri explained the above verses of the Holy Qur’an and said: the one who fears Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's glory his station and then prevents his desires from overcoming him for indeed it is only this person who receives a high station in paradise. So, today's session is about challenging these desires. He said that Hazoor Sayyidi Shaykh ul Isalm’s book that we are studying al-risalah al-Qadriayyah, he says: the first moment of realization on your spiritual journey towards Allah subhana wa ta'ala is called “اليقظة”. It is if you have been sleeping for a thousand years 10,000 years of ignorance and suddenly you wake up that moment of realization from the sleep of ignorance is called “اليقظة”. So when we are preoccupied and busy in work, in education, in our 9 to5 job, placing food on the table, seeking betterment and comfort and amenities for our families, and those who push forward and have more ambition beyond what is necessary, they start accumulating wealth, money, properties, nnd then they start devouring and accumulating valuable possessions. These are people have truly lost their way. Their aim and their destination is this world. Respected brothers, our destination was never meant to be this world. Our destination was meant to be that world. The world of proximity and nearness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So those who are lost when suddenly they have a realization that we are lost we are aiming towards the wrong direction. This moment of realization is called “اليقظة”. Allah says in the Holy Quran:

﴿قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَعِظُكُمْ بِوَاحِدَةٍ أَنْ تَقُومُوا لِلَّهِ﴾

“Say: I advise you to do only one thing that you rise for Allah subhana wa ta'ala's sake.”  [سبأ : 46[

We are sleeping in a deep state of ignorance. My brothers, we need to stand up. Awaken from this state of and enter into the state of remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, after you wake up the second stage is called “مطالعة الجناية والتمحيص من خبثها”. So once you've realized that these are shortcomings in my life indulgence in sleep over eating gluttony you have a desire for wealth, power, influence, valuable possession. Then you identify these shortcomings and you remove them from your life. If someone has an interest in sports cars for instance, the way you remove this desire from your life is to separate yourselves from all those avenues where that interest develops from. Whether that is social media, YouTube reals, videos where you watch endless videos of sports cars or reviews of sports cars. What's can happen inevitably is that if you don't have something, you start watching reviews. You watch videos on that product or that valuable object.

Identifying and Eliminating the Desires of the Heart

Shaykh Hammad al-madani stated that: If not today, over a few years, that desire to acquire that thing will come in your heart. So spiritual way is you must realize that this is my weakness, they try their level best to separate themselves from that avenue where that desire emerges from. Social media is one avenue. The other avenue could be friends who have sports cars. It could be colleagues who have such valuable obsessions and possessions. If you feel that they are the source of this influence, you separate yourselves from them. And I gave you one example. There can be various other indulgences and desires that you and I have. It is for you and I ourselves to look at what we desire deep in our hearts, identify it, then remove the source of interest and inculcation. and then remove that desire from its source. Respected brothers, and then the next step it's called “المحاسبة”. Once you have identified that this is my weakness and shortcoming, then you engage in a process of self-accountability, self-criticism. Those of you who study accounting or finance, you know that when companies want to ensure that their financial records are clean, they go through two processes. First, they go through an internal audit. They hire financial officers within their company. They offer them their financial statements, their balance sheets, their receipts, their bills, their expenditures. And then loyal financial officers they go through that they observe all the expenses they look at the loss they look at the profit and then they tell the CEO the head these were the mistakes these were the issues this is what you did well and then they write a report before a financial company goes to an external auditing team they go through a process of internal audit. Respected brothers, on the spiritual path a way fairer towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala must be their own internal auditor because there will come a time on the day of judgment when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will conduct an external audit in front of maybe a trillion people on the day of judgment.

Conclusion

Shaykh Hammad Mustafa al-madani al-Qadri emphasized that the spiritual journey toward Allah سبحانه وتعالى requires a conscious struggle against the lower desires of the Nafs, which include cravings for wealth, comfort, recognition, and power. True progress begins with al-Yaqzah, the awakening from the deep sleep of ignorance, where one realizes that the pursuit of worldly pleasures has led them astray from their ultimate destination: nearness to Allah. Once these shortcomings are recognized, the seeker must identify their sources, whether social influences, media, or personal habits, and separate themselves from them. The next stage, al-Muhasaba, calls for rigorous self-accountability, like an internal audit, where one examines their actions, weaknesses, and indulgences critically. Just as a company prepares for an external audit by conducting thorough internal checks, the believer must prepare for the ultimate accountability before Allah on the Day of Judgment, ensuring that the soul is purified and oriented toward its true purpose.

Blogger: Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Chishti (Research Scholar, Social Media Live updated Cell)