Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Intentions and Motives
Muhammad, Sura 47: Verse 12 (Partial)

"Those who disbelieve, take their comfort in this life and eat even as the cattle eat, and the Fire is their habitation."

Muslim jurists and scholars have proclaimed that good intention changes acts of habit (adah) into acts of worship (ibadah). Good intention creates a world of difference in human life. It is owing to an absence of purity of intention that there are people who eat and drink and satisfy their animal desires and while doing so simply live on the same plane as animals do. The reason for this is that their actions are actuated by no other motive than the gratification of their animal desires.

Conversely there are others, apparently similar to those mentioned above, in so far as they also satisfy their desires and enjoy the pleasures of life. Nevertheless, thanks to the noble intention which motivates their actions, even their physical self-fulfilment becomes an act of worship for which they merit reward. The reason is that the motive behind all their actions is to live in compliance with the will of God. Their sublimity of motive is manifest in their day-to-day conduct and reflects the fact that they distinguish between good and evil.

What a world of difference it makes when we decide to orientate our lives towards God and purify our intentions. For it is this, and only this, which can transform our pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment into acts of worship, earning the eternal rewards of the hereafter and the satisfying pleasure of God.

This, then, is the Islamic philosophy of worship. Without saying 'no' to any of a person's legitimate physical needs and desires, Islam seeks to elevate humanity to a place which befits its dignity and status.

Compiled From:
Islam: The Way of Revival, "The Islamic Concept of Worship" - Mustafa Ahmad al-Zarqa, pp. 160, 161

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Entertainment

Entertainment is indeed an important dimension of life, but it should constitute "a pause" between two more important things: its function is primarily to give rest to the mind, heart, and being, to divert them in Pascal's usage, so as to enable people to return to more important things, to their responsibilities regarding life, society, work, justice, and death. This is exactly the meaning the Prophet of Islam had given it when he had been questioned by his Companion Handhalah who, on the contrary, saw in entertainment evidence of his hypocritical disposition before God (since it led him to forget). The Prophet, peace be upon him, answered him: "By He who holds my soul in His hands, if you were able to remain in the [spiritual] state in which you are in my company and in permanent remembrance of God, angels would shake hands with you in your beds and along paths. But it is not so, Handhalah, there is a time for this [devotion, remembrance] and a time for that [rest, distraction, entertainment]." [Bukhari, Muslim]

Compiled From:
"Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation" - Tariq Ramadan, p. 196

Blindspot!

Five Degrees of Prayer

With respect to prayer, there are five levels of people. [The lowest] is he 'who wrongs his own soul'; who is remiss; who curtails his ablution and the times, limits and essential elements of prayer.

At the second level is he who keeps the times, rules and elements of prayer; who keeps its ablution but is taken away by distractions, which he lacks the inner strength to resist.

At the third level is he who keeps the limits and essential elements of the prayer, and struggles against distractions. This person is preoccupied with striving against his Foe, 'lest he rob him of his prayer'. In prayer, he is in sacred combat [jihad].

At the fourth level is he who, standing in prayer, completes its requirements, its essential elements and its limits. His heart is absorbed in safeguarding the rules and requirements of the prayer 'lest he miss any of them'. In fact, his entire concern becomes performing the prayer as it should be, completely and perfectly. In this way, his concern for the prayer and for worshipping his Lord absorbs his heart.

At the fifth level is he who, standing in prayer, performs it in the manner of the fourth, but in addition places his heart before his Lord. With this he beholds God - ever vigilant before Him, filled with His love and glory - as if, seeing Him, he were physically present before Him. Therefore, the distractions vanish, as the veil between him and his Lord is lifted. The difference between this person in his prayer and everyone else is as vast as the distance between heaven and earth, for he is occupied [only] with his Lord Almighty in prayer, in which he finds his source of gladness.

[Of these five persons], the first will be punished, the second admonished, the third redeemed, the fourth rewarded and the fifth brought near to his Lord - for his source of gladness has been placed in prayer. And whoever is gladdened by the prayer in this world will be gladdened by nearness to his Lord in this world and the next. He who finds gladness in God, gladdens others [in turn]. But whoever does not, leaves this world a loser.

Compiled From:
"The Invocation of God" - Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, pp. 29, 30