Author: The Fig Tree Group

Our Islamic Duty in a Pandemic

The sincere believer, who has been taught by Allah, takes the necessary means and steps to achieve things, as if they are everything that matters. Then he depends on his Lord, as if these means are nothing. There are some nations that have taken the processes and means of achieving things as if they are everything, to the highest degrees. However, at the same time, they have become completely dependent on these processes and means and deified them. Their world has fallen into idolatry (idolizing and worshiping things other than Allah), major and minor. They have fallen into the trap of disbelief and partnering things with the Creator.

Then there are other nations that have fallen into disobedience. They have not adhered to or paid respect to the means and processes of things. They fell into the trap of sin (as Allah has commanded us to adhere to the means and processes to achieve things). So, on one hand, you adhere to the means and processes, fully depend on them, and deify them, while forgetting the Creator, and on the other hand, you neglect the means and processes and depend completely on Allah.

Allah said: “And none knows the soldiers of your Lord except Him.” (Quran 74-31)

A miniscule and unseen creature, such as this virus, has cancelled prayers in Mecca and has affected every corner of the world. Consider the priceless words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “There is no contagion and no omen…”

Contagion is possible as we know. This means there is no contagion except with the permission of Allah. Allah has everything in His power, ability and control including this creature (virus) that is unseen by the naked eye. Allah is Great. No matter how strong, powerful, and superior you think you are to others, you are still under the dominion of Allah. In one moment, all the odds that were in your favour, all your luck and circumstances, can be flipped.

Look at how this disease has changed our daily life completely. We cannot meet, cannot go out freely, and we cannot even shake hands. The most powerful leaders in the world avoid shaking hands out of precaution. You would have been ridiculed if you had predicted any of this a few months ago. “And none knows the soldiers of your Lord except Him.” (74-31).

If you have an employee and he is doing his job properly, you keep him. However, if he keeps making mistakes, you can either let him go, discipline him, or perhaps marginalize him. These are some of the options you have as an employer. On the other hand, our Creator has infinite options when it comes to us. You only have to look at this small creation of His which first appeared in China and reached America, bringing the entire planet to a halt.

What is our duty then?

Our duty is to stay on the straight path that Allah has guided us to and to depend on Him. We have to adhere to the means and processes of achieving things as if they are everything, and finally, we have to depend on Him as if these means and preparations we have taken are nothing. This is not easy to do.

For example, you have an upcoming road trip. You check on your car engine, the oil, the brakes and everything in the car. At this point, you have adhered to the means and processes of preparation as if they are all that matters. Then, you depend on Allah as if they are worthless. That’s why it’s not easy; adhering to the processes and preparation delude you into thinking that you will be successful and thus you forget Allah. At the same time, if you don’t prepare properly, this will cause over-dependence on Allah.

In reality, we have no one there for us except Allah, but where is our adherence to His path?

Is our home adhering to His laws? Are our interactions and meetings in accordance to them? Is our night Islamic? Is our income Islamic? Are our social relationships Islamic? Is our free time Islamic?

Allah loves all of us. He created us to have mercy on us. He created us to make us happy. He has created us for a Paradise that is as wide as the skies and Earth. It contains what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, or has not occurred to the mind of any human being.

Knowing all this, we are asked to adhere to the means and processes of life as if they are everything, and then depend on Allah as if they are nothing.

Back to the hadith where it says that there is no contagion. There is negation in this statement, but in fact, contagion is there. Therefore, there is no contagion unless Allah allows it. We even hear this in the news; some people can be carriers of the disease without being affected themselves and that is one of the main reasons behind social distancing. Therefore, rationally speaking, your relationship has to be with Allah!

Let’s clarify this with an example; if there are 20-30 wild hungry beasts and all these beasts are leashed firmly in the hands of a merciful, knowing and wise individual, with whom would your relationship be? The beasts themselves or with the one who is controlling their leashes? If he releases one of the leashes, the beast will immediately head in your direction. If he takes it out of your way, you will be rescued. Then, with whom should your relation be? The clear answer is Allah!

Thus, the only thing we should fear is our own sin, and we should only plead our Lord!

This is the core and concise summary of what we are trying to say. Your relation and focus should not be with the hungry, wild beasts. Your worry should not be with the virus or the economic impact of the pandemic. Yes, take the necessary precautions and do what you can to survive. However, your focus and concern should be with the one holding the beasts’ leashes, the creator of all creatures. The leashes are in the hands of Allah the Almighty.

This Quranic verse is very detailed in stating that: “Indeed, I have relied upon Allah, my Lord and your Lord. There is no creature but that He holds its forelock. Indeed, my Lord is on a path [that is] straight.” (Hud 11:56)

Abu Ja`far said in the explanation of this verse: I seek protection in Allah, who is my owner and your owner, and the custodian of all His creation, from you and other creations that will cause me harm. There is nothing that turns on the earth except that Allah is its owner, and is in His hold and power, submissive and yielding to Him.  

All of this creation, from the tiny ant to the grand whale, yield to His will. Let’s take Prophet Younis who was swallowed whole by a whale. “And he called out within the darknesses, “There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.” So We responded to him and saved him from the distress. And thus do We save the believers.” (Quran 21:87-88)

Pay attention to this story that was transformed into a law. Is there a situation worse than finding yourself inside the belly of a whale? Is there hope? The hope of being rescued is next to zero. And so he called in the darknesses (darkness of the night, darkness of the sea, and the darkness of the inner whale’s belly), “There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.” So We responded to him and saved him from the distress. And thus do We save the believers.” He pleaded with Allah to forgive him.

If Allah is with you, who is against you? And if He is against you, who is with you?

What have you lost if you have found Allah? And what have you found if you’ve lost Allah?

This text was based on the translation of a speech by the Muslim scholar, Mohammed Rateb Al-Nabulsi. Here is the link to the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/LlzjMJuXdu0

Wisdom No. 1 & Understanding Our True Identity

Now let’s get into the Wisdoms of Ibn Atta’illah right away with wisdom number one…

Just a reminder that this text is mostly a translation of Imam Al Bouti’s books explaining Ibn Atta’illah’s wisdoms. If you’ve missed the introduction to the purpose of these blog posts, you can read it here.

  1. One of the signs of relying on one’s own deeds is the loss of hope when one slips into wrongdoings.

Is relying on our deeds considered a good thing in Islam?

Ibn Atta’illah is saying, don’t rely on your deeds such as prayer, fasting, and charity to receive Allah’s approval and the reward He has promised you. Rather, depend on His compassion, kindness and generosity.

Is there proof for this? Yes, it’s the saying of the Prophet (pbuh): “The good deeds of any person will not make him enter Paradise.” (i.e., None can enter Paradise through his good deeds.) They (the Prophet’s companions) said, ‘Not even you, O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)?’ He said, “Not even myself, unless Allah bestows His favor and mercy on me.” (Hadith)

Accordingly, deeds are not a price to pay to enter paradise. Whenever you perform any kind of deed or worship, you are required to covet Allah’s approval and reward hoping for His kindness, forgiveness and generosity not for His compensation for the deed itself.

And here Ibn Atta’illah says, the most obvious proof of your dependence on your deeds and not on Allah’s kindness is your loss of hope in His forgiveness when you slip into sin and serious offenses.

This means that at the times when you did have hope in Allah’s generosity you were dependent on your deeds, and so when those deeds decreased, and your sins increased, you lost that hope.

That is the gauge which proves that you are basing your hope on your deeds and not on Allah’s kindness and generosity. That is the summarized meaning of this wisdom of Ibn Atta’illah.

This wisdom has a couple of important dimensions within faith, the Sunna, which is the mode of life of the Prophet (pbuh) and his sayings, and moral education. We will clarify all this.

Let’s start with the dimension of faith and its analysis in this first wisdom:

Allah rewards us purely by His bounty and kindness, and He punishes us purely by justice.

This is the belief that every Muslim needs to be dyed with. And that’s how the righteous predecessors of the Prophet and his companions were raised.

One might say, it appears that the reward that we receive is for the good deeds we perform.

However, if we contemplate the relationship between the servant and his Lord, we would understand that the matter is not so.

What does it mean that Allah rewards me for my deeds and that he allows me into heaven via my deeds?

This would mean that Allah has set a price for heaven, not represented in financial value but in deeds, worship and avoiding sin. Accordingly, if you obey Him and stay away from what He prohibits, you have then paid the price and are therefore worthy of the goods you have bought.

Is that the case in reality?

In other words, if you perform Allah’s commands that He asked of you, you become worthy of heaven and own it by the sweat of your brow just like you would buy a piece of land for a certain amount that you pay its owner who has put it up for sale.

Again, if you contemplate this, you will see that there is a huge difference between the two. When you pay the value of that land to its owner, you lawfully and by default become the rightful owner without any favour from the seller. And you have the right to tell him to exit the land since you paid him the amount in full.

That is the case between humans among themselves. However, when Allah holds you responsible to obey Him, forbids you from certain prohibitions that He warns you from, and then helps you in performing those duties and avoiding those prohibitions, then the matter is completely different. Who has given you the capability to perform the prayers, the fast or any deed? Who has opened your heart to faith? Is it not Allah? Allah is truthful when He says: <<They regarded it a favor to you that they have submitted. Say “Do not consider your submission a favor to me; it is God who has done you a favor by guiding you to the faith.”>> (Quran 49:17)

Hence, there is a big difference between both cases. Who has made faith beloved to you and made disbelief, sinful conduct, and disobedience hateful to you? It is Allah. Who has brought you here to listen to that which makes you closer to Allah? It is Allah. So, what makes you think that the obedient duties or deeds that you have performed are a price you have paid on your own in return for the ownership of Allah’s heaven and this is comparable to who has paid out of his own free money to own a piece of land?

Therefore, you cannot believe that you deserve Allah’s heaven and His reward just because you performed what He has asked and made dutiful, and avoided what He has prohibited. And if you do believe so, it would be one of the most dangerous kinds of polytheism; associating partners with Allah.

That’s because that ideology means you believe that your prayer is of your own ability and that you have graced Allah with it. It would mean that your obedient deeds are of your own bodily movement and that your body, ability, and deeds belong to you, and all of it is of your own creation and invention, while Allah has nothing to do with any of it. It’s as if you are offering Allah your deeds on a platter and saying: here are Your commands that I have achieved as You want with my own ability, so give me the heaven that You promised.

And that’s how the whole thing turns into a trade deal consisting of buying and selling; I have given you the requested value and it’s my right to ask You for its worth. Does this seem reasonable between a servant and his Lord?

Where would this place you from the reality of your servitude to Allah? Where would this place you from what the Prophet (pbuh) taught his companions: <<There is no power and no strength except with Allah>> (Hadith)? Where would this place you from the certainty in faith that undoubtedly, Allah is the creator of the actions of His servants?

It is the belief and creed of the righteous predecessors and the people of Sunna that when we thank Allah with our tongues, we have to thank Allah for the ability to move our tongues for that act of gratitude itself. And if we wake up in the middle of the night to pray, we need to pay tribute to Allah for waking us up and giving us the ability to do so and if it wasn’t for His love for us, His care and kindness, we would have stayed in slumber and He would not have graced us with the ability to stand in front of Him in prayer.

Al Bouti narrates that there was once a righteous servant girl who worked for a family. One night the man of the house woke up in the middle of the night and heard her say in prayer: O Lord, I ask by Your love for me to bring me happiness, health, and so on to the end of her prayer. The man was offended by what she said and waited until she was done and told her: what is this flirtation with Allah?! Why don’t you say: O Lord, I ask by my love to You to bring me so and so? She replied: Sir, if it wasn’t for His love for me, He would not have woken me up at this hour, made me stand in front of Him, or made me utter these words.

Please note that this is the monotheism (Tawheed) that we need to be dyed with. How can you consider your prayer a favour upon Allah while He’s the one Who graced you with the capability to perform it?

The following question can come to mind: if this is the case, then what does it mean when Allah says: “enter Paradise, for what you used to do.” (Quran 16:32)? Allah has repeated this in other verses as well. The answer to this question should increase your love for Allah and your feelings of servitude towards Him. The decision in this verse above, to enter heaven, is not based on a contractual agreement between two parties, rather it comes from one party and that is Allah. He graces you with the capability to perform deeds, inspires you with the reward, then you call onto Him saying: there is no power and no strength except with You, my destiny is in Your hands, You do with it as You wish, take it on the road of happiness and consciousness. Then Allah answers your prayer, opens your heart to goodness, helps you accomplish good deeds, then tells you on the day of judgment: “enter Paradise, for what you used to do.”

Do these words from Allah reflect an execution of a consensual contract between you and Him like that between a seller and a buyer?

No, God forbid. When He made your deeds a reason for you to enter heaven, He only did that out of kindness and compassion.

Perhaps the closest example to what we are saying is what a father does with his son when he encourages him to be generous and do good deeds. The father tells his son: if you give this poor person some money, I will reward you with a present. Then the father secretly places some money into the child’s pocket. The son then responds to his dad’s request hoping for the reward he was promised and so he gives the poor person the money that his dad had placed in his pocket and then runs to his dad with the good news. The father expresses his admiration for his son’s generosity and says: you have done a great humanitarian deed and undoubtedly need a great reward.

Obviously, this a tactful educational and nurturing exercise by the dad for his son. And there is no doubt that the son will later come to know that the money that was in his pocket was his father’s and that the generous reward he received for his good deed is a kind of endearment to push him towards more humanitarian work. Allah’s word’s “enter Paradise, for what you used to do” is the same thing.

If you look closely at the countless divine blessings that you enjoyed during your worldly life or even if you pick just one such as eye sight, you would realize that one moment of enjoying those blessings is worth more than all the obedient deeds that you have accomplished. You are a servant to Allah, your ability to obey Him is from Him, you manage to head His way and get closer to Him by His mercy.

We need to recognise that we enter heaven purely by His grace. We complete the tasks that He assigned us with a sense of responsibility of His rights upon us. Even if we accomplish what He has asked of us in the requested fashion, we need to understand that we seek Allah’s generosity without meriting it. We only possess our hope in His mercy and forgiveness.

Do you now see the logic of our servitude? We are His servants and we don’t own anything to offer Him because everything we have is from Him. We only approach Him in hope for His forgiveness, generosity and nothing else. If you don’t recognise this now, you will recognise it sooner or later.

For example, when one of us decides to give charity to the poor, it’s known that the money is Allah’s money and there is no rightful owner of that money except Him. Didn’t He say: “And give them of God’s wealth which He has given you.” (Quran 24:33)? He also said: “Who is he who will offer God a generous loan, so He will multiply it for him manifold.” (Quran 2:245). He gives you from His wealth and generously assumes you are the real owner and He places Himself as the borrower from you, saying: lend Me some of your money and I promise you, I will return it manifold.

So, do you really believe that you are the rightful owner and Allah is in need from you to borrow? Will His generous and loving ways delude you to believe that you are the real owner, He is the borrower, and assume that you have the right to ask Allah for what He has borrowed in addition to the interest that you agreed on with Him? It’s insane to believe so.

However, we can ask: is there a contradiction in Allah promising you to enter heaven by His mercy and to command you to worship Him at the same time?

There is no contradiction because worship is a right upon you by your depiction as a servant to Him. While heaven is a grant and gift from Him to you by His depiction of being merciful and forgiving of you. He has ordained that those that have a priority to His mercy are those who have done the most by His rights upon them. He announced this when He said: “My mercy encompasses all things. I will specify it for those who act righteously.” (Quran 7:156)

Now, let us return to the words of Ibn Atta’illah to stop at an important point of which he warns: << One of the signs of relying on one’s own deeds is the loss of hope when one slips into wrongdoings>>

Meaning that one of the most dangerous ramifications of relying on your deeds for Allah’s reward, is the loss of hope in His forgiveness when you engage in sin. There is a constant correlation between both those things. The only way not to lose hope in Allah’s mercy and forgiveness when you lack in deeds or fall into sin is not to depend on your deeds to begin with when they are abundant. Only then will you be looking forward to Allah’s kindness in both cases as much as being afraid of His wrath simultaneously.

Thus, fear of Allah’s wrath and punishment must be present with the constant hope for His mercy and kindness. Human beings, no matter who they are, will never cease to default on Allah’s rights upon them in all circumstances.

Consequently, if one feels that he is weak and incapable of fulfilling any of Allah’s rights upon him, he will go through both emotions equally in any case; one is a feeling of hope in Allah’s kindness and forgiveness and the second is a feeling of shame and fear for defaulting on the divine rights that are upon him. The first emotion will not rise or strengthen if he sees himself successful in obedient deeds and worship. Similarly, the second emotion will not flare up if he sees himself lacking in fulfilling his divine duties and negligent to Allah’s rights because in all cases he does not value his deeds and does not depend on them in the hope for Allah’s mercy and kindness. Accordingly, in all cases, he is in between fear and hope.

Based on the above, some might think that being obedient and getting close to Allah have no role in Allah’s kindness and therefore there is no difference between approaching those deeds or refuting them. Allah says: “My mercy encompasses all things.” Did He follow that by saying, I will specify it for all people, or did He say: “I will specify it for those who act righteously.” (Quran 7:156)?

The reality of our servitude to Allah does not escape these two subjects; to walk the path of guidance, commit to Allah’s commands and stay away from what He prohibits, and secondly to understand that it is by Allah’s mercy and kindness not by our deeds and efforts do we receive His reward.

That is the collective meaning of what Allah says: “And I am Forgiving towards him who repents, believes, acts righteously, and then remains guided.” (Quran 20:82). In other words, faith and good deeds are a duty while reward comes because of forgiveness and not through compensation and merit.

It is by virtue of our servitude to Allah, that we execute His commands. That is the tax of servitude to Allah that is chained around our necks.

Some might ask: but Allah warns the disobedient and sinners of his wrath and punishment, so how can our hope in his forgiveness and kindness not dwindle when we have committed the things that should diminish that hope especially when Allah made faith and righteousness conditions to receive His mercy?

The answer is that the sinner who is asked to remain hopeful in Allah’s mercy and forgiveness cannot approach Allah in hope unless he enters through the door of repentance (Tawba).

If a sinner approaches Allah in hope for forgiveness, would it make sense that he does so while he is insistent on his sin and comfortable in his unconsciousness and wrongdoing? Obviously not. As much as his hope in Allah’s forgiveness rises, his incentives to repent, emotions of guilt, and his wanting to end his wrongdoing will also rise. If he genuinely repents then his hope in Allah’s forgiveness must grow and not diminish.

This sinner must have also heard the Prophet’s (pbuh) saying: “Allah, the Exalted, and Glorious said: ‘A slave committed a sin and he said: O Allah, forgive my sin,’ and Allah said: ‘My slave committed a sin and then he realized that he has a Lord Who forgives the sins and punishes for the sin.’ He then again committed a sin and said: ‘My Lord, forgive my sin,’ and Allah (SWT) said: ‘My slave committed a sin and then realized that he has a Lord Who forgives his sin and punishes for the sin.’ He again committed a sin and said: ‘My Lord, forgive my sin,’ and Allah (SWT) said: ‘My slave has committed a sin and then realized that he has a Lord Who forgives the sin and punishes for the sin. I have granted forgiveness to my slave. Let him do whatever he likes”. (Hadith)

Therefore, repentance is a must and it is a means to keep that hope alive in the soul of the sinner. As for those that continue in their wrongdoings and repentance does not cross their minds, then hope in Allah’s forgiveness cannot cross their minds either.

Now if we look at the wisdom if Ibn Atta’illah in reverse, it’s also another proof of relying on deeds. In other words, whoever’s hope in Allah’s kindness and forgiveness increases whenever he approaches Allah with more good deeds, that is proof from him that he depends on his good deeds not on the forgiveness of Allah.

The dangers of this correlation between growing hope and increasing good deeds become more evident when a person’s good deeds and obedience increase over time and consequently his trust in Allah’s reward and promise also increases. That’s because the end result for this person based on this correlation, is that at some stage he will start believing that he is reassured of entering heaven. Based on that association between deeds and reward, he must believe that if his deeds have reached such a level, they are all accepted by Allah, and his life is filled with acts of obedience to Allah, therefore he is surely of the people of heaven. That is being presumptuous of Allah which is something the Prophet (pbuh) has warned against many times.

The means to avoid this pitfall is the knowledge that Allah’s rights upon us, His servants, are not fulfilled by deeds no matter how plentiful and great they are. These rights will always remain and if it was possible to fulfil them through deeds, then the most worthy people to do so would have been the prophets and messengers. However, we haven’t seen one of them tie his hope in Allah’s reward with his obedience to Him. Rather, they all used to seek Allah’s forgiveness.

For example, Prophet Abraham (pbuh), Allah’s “friend” as he was called, used to also view himself unworthy of the level of the righteous people for he used to ask Allah to include him with them: “My Lord! Grant me wisdom, and include me with the righteous.” (Quran 26:83). And he used to ask for Allah’s forgiveness: “Our Lord, forgive me, and my parents, and the believers, on the Day the Reckoning takes place.” (Quran 14:41).

The same goes for other prophets. As for our Prophet Mohamed (pbuh), he said as we mentioned: “The good deeds of any person will not make him enter Paradise.” They (the Prophet’s companions) said, ‘Not even you, O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)?’ He said, “Not even myself, unless Allah bestows His favor and mercy on me.” >> (Hadith).

So, when we are successful in achieving some deeds, we are only fulfilling a very small part of the toll of our servitude to Allah and His rights upon us based on all the blessings that Allah bestowed on us in this world which are unquantifiable in number and in kind. Accordingly, we are still burdened regardless of our deeds by the divine rights that are upon us and the rights of the blessings that we have been given. So, how and on what basis do we demand from Allah His heaven in return or on what basis can we even ask to have our worldly blessings increased?

The main point is that after we have acknowledged Allah and recognised that we are His servants, owned by Him, we must worship Allah because we are His servants and Allah is our Lord whether He rewards us for our worship or He doesn’t. Then, we must ask for His heaven out of His kindness and benevolence and we must seek refuge from His hellfire and torture out of His mercy and forgiveness. That was the way of the Prophet (pbuh) during his supplication to Allah.

And if someone decides to worship Allah for the sake of His heaven, then comes to know that his worship will not gain him that reward and consequently halts his worship and ceases to care about the laws and commands of Allah, then he is not a Muslim or a believer in Allah’s wisdom. Based on that, he is announcing that he is not a servant to Allah but a servant to the heaven that he is seeking.

We can now turn to our Lord and say: O Lord, You are our Lord and we are Your servants. We worship You and try to follow Your commands as much as we can, not for anything except that You are our Lord and we are Your servants. We acknowledge that no matter how much we stay true to Your path, we will always be lacking in fulfilling Your rights upon us, not because of any arrogance on our behalf but because You have ordained us to be weak. We will leave this world with plenty of transgressions, offenses and disobedience hoping that we can patch up these shortcomings through genuine repentance. We will come to You poor and bare of anything but our servitude to You and our shortcomings. And if You ask us what we have come with from this world that You have placed us in, we will answer: we have come to You with hope in Your mercy and generosity and without anything but our servitude to You. That is our capital that we hold in front of You and only by the knowledge of Your kindness and our honor in being Your servants do we have the courage to beg for Your heaven and generosity.

That is the essence of monotheism (Tawheed) that has to dominate the emotions of every Muslim after its certainty has settled in our mind.

Ihsan (Benevolence), its importance in Islam and faith, and how it can bring you out of spiritual unconsciousness and into awareness

Before we start looking at the individual wisdoms of Ibn Atta’illah which were introduced in the previous post, let’s start with understanding the concept of the Arabic word “Ihsan” and its relevance to the subject of spirituality as its theme has been maintained throughout the book of Wisdoms which is the focus of this text.

A man asked the Prophet (pbuh), “O Allah’s Messenger (pbuh). What is Faith?” The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Faith is to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Apostles, and the meeting with Him, and to believe in the Resurrection.” The man asked, “O Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) What is Islam?” The Prophet (pbuh) replied, “Islam is to worship Allah and not worship anything besides Him, to offer prayers perfectly, to pay the (compulsory) charity i.e. Zakat and to fast the month of Ramadan.” The man again asked, “O Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) What is Ihsan?” The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Ihsan is to worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not achieve this state of devotion, then Allah sees you.” (Hadith)

What is Ihsan? It’s usually translated as benevolence or perfection.

The Prophet (pbuh) defined Ihsan as “worshiping Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then Allah sees you.”

This is the basis of spiritual consciousness; to be aware of your creator.

Consider how people behave in the presence of an authoritative figure whether it is a law enforcer or a manager at work. They tend to be on their best behaviour and perfect what they are doing. Now, consider being in the constant presence of your Creator. It’s a much greater sense of responsibility to be genuinely on your best behaviour in all matters.

Have we asked ourselves, what is the importance of Ihsan, why it’s mentioned along with faith and Islam, and where is it positioned in relation to them?

The autobiographies of the Prophet (pbuh) and his companions emphasise the need for Ihsan. When we compare their lives to ours as Muslims and believers today, there is a clear lack in Ihsan on our behalf.

It is known that faith instils certainty in the mind, whereas Islam is a behavioural code of conduct with which the human being and his body are dyed with. However, what is it that transmits this mental certainty as an influential stimulus to the organs and the body to behave accordingly? In other words, what is it that conveys our belief to our actions?

You could say that there is no need for such a conveyor since mental certainty to some extent is enough on its own as an incentive to induce the appropriate behaviour.

However, this perception is false from both a scientific perspective and the enduring reality that we see in front of us.

There are plenty of people whose minds have believed in Allah, but their behaviours have contradicted the requirements of this faith and were at odds with it.

A large portion of those people lived during the era of the Prophet (pbuh) and an even larger portion of those same people fill the world today. They are the ones that Allah says about them: “And they rejected them (Allah’s enlightening signs), although their souls were certain of them, out of wickedness and pride.” (Quran 27:14)

The scientific reason for this is the fact that the mind is not the only stimulus for behaviour within the human being. Rather, obsessions, desires, long-term goals and emotions like love and hate compete with the mind in influencing behaviour.

That is where the role of Ihsan is needed; to convey faith from the mind and let it manifest into behaviour of the body.

If Ihsan is not extended between the mind and the human body, then the mind must ultimately end up losing the reign of influencing human behaviour to these other factors represented in obsessions, desires, goals, and the winds of emotion.

Look at the reality of most people and you will find that it verifies this.

For Ihsan to extend to the behavioural actions of a Muslim such as his worship and his means of closeness to Allah to the point where he genuinely worships Allah as if he sees Him, a link of effective stimulus must flow from the mind to the surrendering body so that he becomes spiritually conscious of the manifestation of his faith and emotionally responsive during his worship. Otherwise, the act of prayer or worship just becomes a bodily exercise lacking any consciousness.

So, what is this link of Ihsan between the mind and the body and what is it made of?

It starts with increasing your remembrance (Dhikr) of Allah, being mindful of Him, and always being alert to Allah’s observance of us. The best means to this constant remembrance is by continually linking your blessings to Allah, the Provider of blessings. Whenever, a blessing comes your way, remember the Lord who graced you with it. It’s impossible for the chain of divine blessings that continuously come our way to be interrupted. The human being is precious to Allah and is therefore surrounded by an uncountable number of blessings on this Earth which he lives upon, in the sky above him, and is satiated from head to toe with blessings within him. Endless blessings are continuously coming his way that cannot be tallied by their quantity or kind.

If you can get yourself into the habit of always remembering the Providing and Generous Lord whenever one of those blessings comes your way or whenever you deal with one of them, a great love for this Generous Lord will inevitably arouse within you. The spirit of human beings is accustomed to love those that are good to it. As you become more aware of the blessings that you are submerged in and remember your Lord who provided you with them, your love for Him will become more ingrained and amplified in glorification and reverence.

This unchangeable love of Allah that we develop in the manner mentioned above plays a big role in driving out the love of all changeable things (fleeting worldly materials) from the heart or will at least minimize them as the heart fills with the love of Allah and His manifestations. Consequently, the egoic and ideological obsessions that previously occupied you will dissolve, the dominant authority of your desires will also regress, and the bestial emotions that previously controlled your being and actions will fade.

This is a critical mindset transformation for mental well-being. All your hopes and obsessions that were pinned on impermanent worldly materials and ideas, and the resulting insecurities and anxieties that naturally come along with that will gradually be replaced by a firm dependency on Allah, Who is permanent. Would you rather pin your hopes and place your love in various things that you have no control over and are impermanent by nature or on the Everlasting Creator of all things? This transformation comes as a relief from being continually pulled in different directions by various and constantly changing whims and desires, to the solace of focusing on one love. We will look at this relation and it’s dynamics in more detail in later posts.

Only then will you become the representation of believers that Allah has described as: “Yet among the people are those who take other than God as equals to Him. They love them as the love of God. But those who believe have greater love for God.” (Quran 2:165)

Now, you can already start understanding the true meaning of Monotheism (Tawheed); to love Allah more than anything else. Also, notice Allah’s mercy in saying to “have greater love for God”, rather than to “have love for God only”, which means you can love other things too but just make sure where your priorities lay.

Can you then imagine yourself, while in this state of love towards your Lord, approaching your prayer without being benevolent in performing it or without being emotionally involved? Or can you imagine that your worldly problems and bestial desires come between you and your remembrance and observance of Allah during your prayer?

The state of such a loving human will be in this manner, as long as this link of Ihsan has been extended by the remembrance of Allah between the centre of faith in the mind and the centre of Islam in the body and organs (behaviour).

Now, how can we ignore that this Ihsan that the Prophet (pbuh) called for is the essence of Islam and is actually the common factor between faith and Islam?

And isn’t Islam without Ihsan but like a body without a soul or a sculpture without movement?

When the link of Ihsan between the mind of the believer and his surrendering body is missing or broken, which we can see in the living reality of many people, how can the presence of Islam and its articulation coexist with the lust, desires, and the constant chase of egoic goals and obsessions that are within the believer?

How can Muslims belittle the importance of this cure and even deny it all together when it is a proven means to loving Allah and it’s the essential gateway to self-purification?

And how can a genuine Muslim deny this when the Quran is filled with verses that command us to increase remembrance of Allah, warn us against surrendering to spiritual unconsciousness and negligence as well as verses commanding us to seek self-purification and to cleanse ourselves from impurities which Allah refers to as “inner sin”?

For Muslims to be able to check for themselves that with Ihsan one can genuinely worship Allah as if he can see Him, it’s important for them to embark on this journey of self-purification by means of transforming the faith in Allah from just a certainty planted in the mind to an emotion of love, awe and glorification that dominates the heart. Through remembrance one can exit the state of misguidance and spiritual unconsciousness to the level of awakening and observance of Allah then to the next level of perceptive awareness of Allah or “seeing Allah”.

Muslims today are in desperate need for religious emotion, i.e. spirituality, which they are deprived of due to the rigorous worldly demands and the rampant seductive temptations around them.

There is no doubt that directing those in such need to the book of Wisdoms of Ibn Atta’illah and similar works, if they take this advice upon themselves, it will take them to the lofty level of loving Allah, glorifying Him, being content with Him, in awe of Him and dependent on Him.

Would faith in Allah succeed without all this?

The details of this approach will hopefully follow in the next posts as long as we are genuine in treating our debilitating and destructive psychological troubles by the grace of Allah.

The Forgotten Treasures of Spirituality in Islam

An introduction to the forgotten treasures of spirituality in Islam through the conscious notes of Ibn Atta’illah in his Book of Wisdoms

With the technological advances that humans have experienced in the last few decades, the globalization of capitalism, the consequent consumer culture, the surge of social media, and the subsequent narcissistic behaviour it cultivated in people as they obsess over appearances and compete in worldly matters, there has been a correlated decline in mental health. Studies are consistently showing an alarming rise in reported depression, substance abuse and even suicide. Unsurprisingly, many people are seeking spiritual refuge and self-help solutions to counter these mental challenges that they face in their daily lives. Just look at the size of some of these spiritual industries such as meditation which is estimated at a Billion Dollars. Many, including Muslims, have turned to western spiritual leaders and self-improvement experts such as Eckhart Tolle and Jordan Peterson respectively among many others. Some have turned to older eastern concepts and methods, mostly from India and China, to find solutions such as yoga and meditation as mentioned. There are surely many benefits to such methods in treating stress, anxiety, and depression, but these are merely symptoms while the real cause is not being addressed.

As the modern world becomes more advanced, it unfortunately becomes more secular. Our own development as a species coupled with a growing belief in our abilities, science and technology have arrogantly made us lose faith in our Creator. The fact that many religions were manipulated by man over history to control people has not helped. We only need to look at the rising figures of Atheists around the world to verify this. As a result, our lives have become less and less spiritual and further attached to material and tangible forms of life mainly due to the two reasons mentioned above; a firmer belief in the material world based on advances in science and technology, and a loss of faith in religion and a creator. However, the material world on its own, as many of us know, is not fulfilling and our initial reaction is just to seek more of it to fill the void, such as more things to possess and more ways to entertain ourselves. The real void that we are trying to fill is spiritual which we have deprived ourselves of. That’s why it’s not surprising to see people by their instinct, whether they are religious or not, seeking spiritual answers.

Human beings are created partly of matter and the other part is a formless spirit which is unseen and unknown to us. Both parts need their nutrition and no matter how much we satiate the material part, the spiritual part will be starved of its nourishment. That is the real cause behind the decline in mental health in societies across the globe.

There are plenty of people around the world who still maintain belief in a creator and religion, but for some of them, religion is merely an identity based on rituals rather than a responsible commitment and understanding. There is another group of people for whom religion is more than just an identity and who actually practice religion in their daily lives, but they have somehow also managed to overlook the spiritual essence of religion. Muslims as an example, have generally been too concerned with the outward layer of the Islamic religion; a list of do and don’ts, and meanwhile have neglected the internal spiritual core of Islam. Religion without spirituality is like having a fancy car without any fuel. And this alone is enough to explain the state of the Muslim world today which has lost its way and the heart of its religion to some degree.

The book of Wisdoms of Ibn Atta’illah is a prime example of the forgotten spiritual treasure within Islam which discusses and clarifies popular concepts such as awakening, awareness, consciousness, mindfulness, and self-purification in their true forms among many other concepts. Most importantly it addresses the main cause of some of the psychological ailments contaminating our societies which is the loss of our identity as a species and being oblivious to our true purpose.

The content of this blog is dedicated to those that have lost their way from our Creator, Allah (don’t worry this is just the Arabic name for God), who are genuinely seeking the truth, and are not too absorbed in the material world chasing egoic obsessions, i.e. too unconscious in spiritual terms. It’s also dedicated to those who disbelieve in God, but their disbelief is not obscured by arrogance or stubbornness. One can reason with non-believers who disbelieve due to distorted knowledge or even lack of knowledge, but there is no reasoning with egoic stubbornness and arrogance.  This book of Wisdoms by Ibn Atta’illah, which we will discuss in detail, combines both the balance of mind and spirituality of the soul. Perhaps they, those that are genuinely seeking, can find within this book a shimmer of light and guidance that they didn’t find elsewhere. Islamic spirituality is probably one of the least observed spiritual paths to mental well-being mostly due to the reputation of the religion but arguably because Muslims themselves have neglected this path.

 

A word on the book of Wisdoms and its author Ibn Atta’illah

Ibn Atta’illah is the Imam (a leading Muslim scholar) known as the “Crown Jewel of Religion”. Ibn Atta’illah Al Sakandary is from Egypt and he lived during the seventh century of the Islamic Hijri calendar which is around the thirteenth century in the common Gregorian calendar. He began his career by learning the interpretation of the Quran and Hadith (the sayings of the Prophet Mohamed peace be upon him “pbuh”) as well as the Arabic language and literature. He then specialised in behavioural education and the process of self-purification. His name rose to fame as a scholar with his focus on the spiritual essence of Islamic religion that frees the human from the ego and its desires and raises the self to the path of sincerity with Allah, being completely satisfied with Him, trusting in Him and dependent on Him. Ibn Atta’illah studied Islamic sciences at the renowned religious institution of Al Azhar in Egypt and many famous scholars have graduated at the hands of his teachings. His preaching sermons were very spiritual and known to touch the hearts of many.

The book of Wisdoms is a small book with a huge popularity that has been widely accepted. It is a group of eloquent and concise passages of speech, but at the same time comprehensive of the broadest meanings extracted from the Quran or the Sunna of the Prophet (pbuh).

These passages are broken into three divisions: the first revolves around the real meaning of Monotheism (Tawheed) and the protection of Muslims from various hidden forms of polytheism that can sneak their way into their lives. The second division deals with ethics and self-purification, and thirdly, it discusses behaviour and its different rules.

Many scholars over the ages have written their own books elaborating and explaining this small book which indicates the great influence it had on them and the benefit they obtained from it.

The following text and posts on this blog will focus on one of these scholars, namely Dr. Mohamed Saeed Ramadan Al Bouti and his series of books, The Explanation and Analysis of the Wisdoms of Ibn Atta’illah. They will mostly be a translation of the books which are in Arabic, but not a word for word translation, rather there is some paraphrasing, summarizing and interpreting as well. The book of Wisdoms is very concise, however Dr. Al Bouti, may Allah have mercy on his soul, has successfully managed to dissect the wisdoms one by one and clarify their importance in our lives in five detailed volumes to be exact.

We will try to go through the most important and relevant wisdoms that will help us understand ourselves better, get to know our true identities, our Creator and His purpose for us, and how to deal with our surroundings and at the same time learn to be at peace with all of it by going through the process of self-purification and awareness.

A word on Dr. Mohamed Saeed Ramadan Al Bouti

Al Bouti was a notable Sunni Muslim scholar who was also known as “Shaykh of the Levant”. He was killed in 2013, during the Syrian civil war. He authored more than sixty books on various Islamic topics. His talks were regularly broadcast on Syrian television, but he is also renowned throughout the entire Muslim world. Close to three hundred episodes alone were dedicated to the explanation of the book of Wisdoms of Ibn Atta’illah. You can find many of those videos on YouTube. Al Bouti mentions that he was first hesitant to teach the wisdoms publicly because he thought they would not receive much interest. However, he found the response in reality to be quite the contrary with larger crowds attending his sermons to the point that he was later urged to put his teachings into written form which are the books that we will hopefully delve into.