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.