warning here that it is not the glory of an honest person to have high hopes and become intoxicated with the pleasures of this world. Sayyiduna ‘Ali-ul-Murtada کَـرَّمَ الـلّٰـهُ تَـعَـالٰی وَجۡـھَـهُ الۡـکَـرِیۡم has said, ‘High hopes makes (one) forget the Hereafter and following the desires prevents one from the truth.’

3 Sayings of Beloved Mustafa صَلَّی اللّٰہ تعالٰی علیہ واٰلہٖ وسلَّم

Let’s listen to the sayings of Beloved Mustafa صَلَّى اللهُ تَعَالٰى عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم about the disasters of high hopes:

1.         Six things waste deeds: (1) Fault finding with the creation (2) hardness of the heart (3) love for the world (4) lack of modesty (5) high hope and (6) excessive injustice. (Kanz-ul-‘Ummal, vol. 16, pp. 36, Hadees 44016)

2.         Wise is the one who weakens the desires of his Nafs and performs deeds for the afterlife, and powerless is the one who follows Nafsani desires and has high hopes from Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ. (Shu’ab-ul-Iman, vol. 7, pp. 350, Hadees 10546)

3.         Amongst the things for which I have fear for my Ummah are Nafsani desires and high hope. (Al-Kamil fi Du’afa-ir-Rijaal, vol. 6, pp. 316)

High hope, an obstacle in becoming righteous

Dear Islamic brothers! The high hope of living for a high time makes a person miss his Salahs, makes him delay in paying Zakah and performing his Fard Hajj. High hopes of living a comfortable life forever makes a person suffer troubles and difficulties. High hopes produce the greed for wealth in the heart of a human. It is high hopes that provoke a man to build tall buildings; that remove the fear of being accountable for every deed to Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ on the Day of Judgement and the fear of a bad death. Falling prey to high hopes, a person bears hatred towards Muslims. Due to the hope of repentance, a person starts suffering from the spiritual diseases like backbiting, tale-telling, jealousy and arrogance and Satan rules his heart. (Mawsu’ah Ibn Abid Dunya, vol. 3, pp. 328, Raqm 103) It becomes difficult for him to perform good deeds due to high hopes.