In Sahih Al-Bukhari, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ talked about three men who were trapped in a cave, and were saved by Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala because they made du’a to Him by virtue of an excellent, amazing good deed they did sincerely for Allah.
I want to share with you the story of one of those men. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
“The second man said: ‘O Allah! I had a cousin who was the dearest of all people to me and I wanted to have an intimate relation with her but she refused. Later she had a hard time in a famine year and she came to me, and I gave her one-hundred-and-twenty Dinars on the condition that she would not resist my desire, and she agreed. When I was about to fulfill my desire, she said: ‘It is illegal for you to outrage my chastity except by legitimate marriage.’ So I thought it a sin to have an intimate relation with her, and I left her even though she was the dearest of all the people to me, and I also left the gold I had given her. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present calamity.”
When the woman said “You cannot do this unless through what is halal”, it was then that he fully realized the severity of what he intended to do: ya Allah, this is a grave sin! This is haram! And the man immediately left the woman untouched – even though they were completely alone and no one else was there – with the full amount of money that he didn’t even take back.
We’re living in the era of social media where haram is only a click away. May Allah protect us but if this were ever to happen, first seek refuge with Allah from the shayateen, remember this hadith and say to ourselves: Ya Allah, I could have pressed that play button and no one would have known, but I’m not going to do it for Your sake, ya Allah.
And then one day when we’re in distress, when we’re stuck in a big problem, remember this hadith and make du’a to Allah: Ya Allah, if I left that thing, if I didn’t watch that video, if I didn’t touch that person who was haram to me, just for Your sake, then ya Allah, help me and relieve me from my distress.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala protect us from every major and minor sins, and remove our distress. May Allah make it easy for us to do good deeds for His sake, and leave bad deeds for His sake. Allahumma ameen.
