Not a mosque-based faith
By Mahjabeen Islam
The beauty of Islam is the ease with which it meshes with life. It is not a mosque-based religion, hitting home only on Sundays; nor does it propose ascetism, for leaving the world aside and zoning in on meditation cannot be too terribly difficult. On the surface there are rituals and there are people that get lost in the rituals, losing the forest for the trees in essence.
Prior to prophethood, Muhammad (Peace be upon him) would ponder and meditate in the cave of Hira. It is indeed the inherent nature of man to seek out God and fortunate are those that come to the conclusion that the sine qua non of inner peace is connecting with Him and making Him the focus of one's life.
A very endearing aspect of Islam is the concept of moderation. In a belief system this is even more important, for belief can lead to rigidity of thought. Muslims come in varying shades of practice. On the ultra-right are the people who practise the five pillars to the exclusion of all else and the last detail of ablution, or one hair strand peeking out of Hijab can become a federal case.
On the ultra-left are the people who negate the need for actually praying or fasting, and living footloose and fancy-free. The former have lost the heart of Islam and the latter can teeter on disbelief. The true practice of Islam pulls the two extremes toward a wholesome middle.
Prophet Muhammad integrated the mundane and the spiritual into a vital symphony. Though he spent long hours praying in solitude, when leading congregational prayer he read short verses so that the mothers of restless young children were not unduly inconvenienced.
When he learned of one of his companions spending the entire night in prayer, he admonished the faithful for there must be a balance between huqooq-Allah (the rights of Allah) and huqooq-ul-ibad (the rights of family and friends).
The schedule of prayer that has been laid down for us should be used as a template for time management. Instead of the prayer interfering with our work and school, it should be the five points that our worldly schedule is built upon.
Use it to centre you; to focus you for it has the amazing power to calm you down when you are having a hellish day. Use it to connect with God and a great equanimity will descend upon you. That a five-minute ritual can be the best of Valiums is a very real concept, one must allow it to be so though.
One must concentrate on what one is reading and as though God is watching you, for indeed He is, truly pleased with this harried and hassled person that dropped all the demands on time and took time out to connect with Him.
The blessings of the month of Ramazan are another untapped resource for us. That darned devil is tied up for the month and all that we ask for is granted. We have to pray with this in mind and remember that the time schedule that God has in bringing to fruition what we ask for is always in our best interest. For no one can love us more.
Hazrat Rabia Basri, acknowledged as one of the great saints in Islam, has a beautiful saying: "If I worship You for the fear of hell burn me therein, and if I worship You for the hope of paradise, exclude me therefrom, but if I worship You for Your own sake then withhold not from me Your Eternal Beauty".
Rabia Basri epitomizes the concept of "disinterested love" or the development and nurturing of a relationship with God for the sake of God alone, for the sake of His love alone. And in practice if our sole aim is His pleasure we are placing ourselves automatically on the straight path. And that path is directed to paradise.
In the six esoteric aspects of faith "committing things to God" is a very difficult but a very tender concept. We must work towards what we want and pray for it. And after that leave the net result to Allah.
Consider your effort and your prayer wrapped in a lovely package and given up to Him; he does with it what is His Will and we must accept that with thanks if our desires come true or forbearance if they do not, remembering that Allah is All-Knowing and there is always some benefit for us in His Will.
Like one nurtures a plant with sunlight and water, we must first plant the seed of a relationship with God within our hearts and then nourish that with prayer, fasting, Hajj, charity and most vitally with remembrance or zikr. In Al-Ahzab 33:41 "O ye who believe celebrate the praises of Allah and do this often."
In Surah Baqara 2:152, Allah says: "then do you remember Me; I will remember you". In an established hadith Prophet Muhammad illustrates the same saying that then we remember Allah he mentions us in a better gathering, when we are as though walking toward Him, He runs toward us.
Whilst the relationship with Allah is developing, there is the simultaneous development of patience and contentment. The Quran exhorts us in Surah Baqara 2:145 seek Allah's help with patient perseverance and prayer.
Some have interpreted "detachment", the sixth esoteric manifestation of faith, as just a sense of detachment and others as true ascetism. If the example of the Prophet is to be followed, however, and remembering that monasticism is not recommended is Islam, the preferable interpretation is that this should be a sense of detachment.
"A sense of perspective" comes close to explaining what this means. Stepping out of a situation mentally and emotionally, getting a bird's eye view, dropping material and emotional links whilst examining a situation and all the while keeping the Will of Allah as a backdrop, is a viable explanation of this concept.