SÜNUHAT 50-51

Again, someone asked: Calamities are the result of crimes and the commencement of rewards. What action of yours has caused qadar to judge you in such a way that it has decreed this calamity1? General calamities happen as a consequence of the majority’s wrongdoing. What is your present reward?

I replied: Its cause is our negligence in three of the important pillars of Islam, salâh, sawm and zakat. For, Khâliq Taâ’lâ requested from us only one out of twenty-four hours to perform the five daily salâh. We were lazy. He made us move and perform a type of salâh with difficulty by training us twenty-four hours a day for five years. He also requested from our nafs only a one-month sawm within a year. We pitied our nafs. He made us hold sawm for five years as a kaffârah. From the property He bestowed on us, He requested only one out of ten or one out of forty as zakat. We became stingy and committed dhulm. So, He took away from us accumulated zakat.  2 اَلْجَزَاءُ مِنْ جِنْسِ الْعَمَلِ