The Humble I

WE READ IN THE Qur’an: And when the [Friday] prayer is ended, then disperse in the land and seek of Allah’s favour, and remember Allah much, that you may succeed. [Q.62:10] The shari‘ah combines between establishing Allah’s rights; like prayer, fasting and dhikr, and between securing benefits to oneself; such as the need to earn a living. This is clear from the above verse. What is also clear is that we should seek aid in earning our livelihood by fulfilling the rights we owe Allah.

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THE PROPHET ﷺ SAID: ‘Whosoever makes the world his main concern, Allah will scatter his affairs, put poverty before him, and nothing of the world will come to him except what is written for him. Whosoever makes the Afterlife his main concern, Allah will gather his affairs, put contentment in his heart, and the world shall come to him even if he is averse to it.’ – Ibn Majah, Sunan, no.4105.

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THOSE WHO PURSUE a life of greed, self-gratification or neglectfulness of God, choosing to expose themselves to inner darkness and a plague of inner demons, will ultimately be cast into perdition with hellish devils!

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‘GREED INVITES YOU to rush blindly into sin; the loneliest are those who are conceited; and the best worldly detachment (zuhd) is to conceal one’s worldly detachment.’ – ‘Ali b. Abi Talib.

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OURS IS AN AGE filled with two kinds of angst or anxiety. The first is an existential angst: an angst or despair born from falsely believing that life is devoid of meaning; everything is here by some cosmic “chance”; and that despite our freedom to choose, death is our ultimate end: thus life is pointless. The believer is shielded from such an angst because of knowing that life has a God-centred purpose; death isn’t the end; and the good we do, seeking God’s good pleasure – even if unappreciated by others – is known by God and is accepted by Him. In this way, the believer is known to God and loved by Him.

The other angst can afflict anyone – believer or unbeliever, saint or sinner – and is a part and parcel of the human drama. This is a clinical angst and is usually experienced in the context of a physical threat, a trauma, or a personal crisis. It can usually be treated with conventional medicine, professional therapy, meditative practices or spiritual healing, or a combination of them. And while some anxieties, like trauma brought on in childhood, is not the individual’s fault, it is their responsibility to try and remedy or cope with it.

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SPIRITUAL MASTERS INSTRUCT that we Muslims, whatever we do or desire to accomplish in life, it must ultimately serve the glory of God.

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ONE OF THE PITFALLS in the path of godliness is ‘ujb: vanity or self-conceit. ‘Ujb is when we fail to realise that the good acts we have done are not of our own doing, but are purely from God’s grace. Only if blinded to such a reality do we then see these works as being of our own accomplishment or doing. We then begin to be vain, egotistical and bask in our own self-glory, thereby nullifying our good deeds and ruining our spiritual heart.

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THE QUR’AN WANTS marital life to be a life of mutual love, kindness and companionship. It says, addressing men: Live with them in kindness. [Q.4:19] And it insists: Give them their dowry in kindness. [Q.4:25] Allah also warns: House them in your own homes, according to your means. And do not harass them, so as to make life intolerable for them. [Q.65:6] So the affair is to be one of kindness. The mark of a real Muslim man is nothing less; all else just isn’t manliness in any true faith-based sense of the word. ‘Her vulnerabilities invite you to stand up for her, not stand up to her.’ – Abdal Hakim Murad, Contentions, 19/18

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A SIGN OF God’s special concern for a person is His inspiring them to repent for their sins and to thankfully acknowledge the blessings they receive from Him. The former nurtures humility in the heart; the latter, a deep and abiding love for Allah.

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AS SOCIAL MEDIA SITES are tweaked to get more and more addictive, and as social media companies are in a war for our  attention, where only the most addictive sites will survive, most people will be little more than lab rats in a huge social experiment. If we don’t learn to cultivate inner restraint or a sense of balance, most will continue to be manipulated by social media sites and content creators to waste far too much time in a way that benefits them, not us; unless we recall that we were created for a higher, more exalted Connectivity and a profounder friendship with the Content Creator of all creation. The choice, then, is ours: where there’s a will, there’s always a way.

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‘RECITE WHATEVER IS EASY for you to do of the Glorious Qur’an, each day or night, in a slow, measured tone; with presence of heart; and by reflecting over it. Recite it in stages, starting at the beginning till you complete it … The secret is in [having] presence of heart and in reflection (tadabbur), not in reciting a lot of the Qur’an.’ – Imam al-Haddad