The Wrappings of Gratitude

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

Introduction

This is a true story about the journey of a stone, a young pebble born in the foothills of the mountain from which it came, and the trials and tribulations it faced as it navigated its way in the streams and rivers of its life on its epic journey back to the ocean. How it made it to the ocean and the difficulties it faced is the tale I would very much like to recall to you today – I hope you are ready for our story of courage, wisdom and adventure.

Beginning

Once upon a time on a cold early spring’s morning high up in the hills where the air was fresh and clean all was still and peaceful. The sun had just arisen above the mountains and its rays shone, on the glissening the newly laid carpet of white snow which stood out even moreso against the brillant blue of winter’s late sky. The landscape was epic and breathtaking but what was even more breathtaking was the journey of our young intrepid explorer, a young but brilliant stone full of energy and enthusiasm. As the sky rose over this special morning so our young stone rolled gently down the slopes of the mountain, from the arms of its mother, and laid quietly in the pure waters edge next to the stream that was to be its home from now on. In anticipation the stone prepared himself for the journey into the unknown, for until now he had only known the safety of the mountain and its gentle slopes, now he must descend to lands unknown to him, not knowing what to expect so far away from home. But he knew it was a journey he had to make for every stone born of a mountain, like every snowflake that melted to a drop, must find its way to the sea. Made of brilliant stuff was the stone because the mountain from whence it came was an object of beauty, but yet the stone was rugged and unrefined as it gently entered the stream thus beginning its formative journey of wisdom and discovery. At the beginning the stream was gentle and timid, flowing and gliding smoothly, bending and swaying as it came upon obtacles too difficult for it to negotiate – the stream much like the stone was young and yeilding.

The Tribulation of the River

So the journey continued and as time passed so the stream began to grow into a river and as more rain fell and more tributary streams joined it so they added to its weight and with that speed. Stronger grew the stream and ever faster did it flow down the mountain until it could no longer contain its desire to become a proud river. Until now the stone had skillfully floated along in the smooth current of the stream without much bother but he noticed that things were not as easy as they were before when the stream was still a stream and its waves were ripples. Now its size and speed tossed the stone hither and thither and sent it crashing against the rough stone bank and gravel bed. As much as he tried he could not avoid colliding into the other stones in the river all of whom were also trying to make their way back to the ocean. Each time they did collide against one another each of them lost something of themselves but also gained something as well. They began to lose their rough edges in doing so they also gained something which was smoothness and roundedness. With each collision with the bank or river bed or with other stone, with the action of the river, with all of this energy did not diminish the stone but gave it shape and purpose. From a rough and indistinguishable object did begin to appear a discernable object shaped by the hands of the river and time. By the elements within which it was subsumed did begin to emerge a beautifully polished stone gleeming in the light, purified by the water.

The End of the Journey

Just as the river did begin its life as a gentle stream so its long journey and life were nearly complete as it came upon the final part of its journey on the plains that reside before the ocean, and with that journey we have come nearly to the end of, at this portion, of the life of our stone. A stone that did begin its life so roughened and without shape, had now, not only shape, but direction. It had been carried hundreds of miles over the land quite often unaware of the dangers the river protected it from as that river overcame one obstacle after another, turning this way and that it charted its difficult path down from the slopes of the mountain to the sea from where it once came. As the river enters the sea so do all the stones shaped by their own individual journies, who will now begin a new life in the sea. What that life may be is perhaps a story for another time but for now let us reflect on the signs of this story and let us reflect on its meaning.

The Meaning That Shaped Our Existence

The signs provided are from Allah and the meaning contained within this story is one that reflects so much that is analogous to human existence on earth. We began our journey high up at the foot of a magnifcent mountain from which our stone came. The stone as you may have gathered represents human beings, who begin their lives, much like this stone, with roughened edges, without shape nor direction. The mountain from which it came represents the parents of the stone which are so highly praised in the Qur’an and Sunnah. Thus the stone will forever be a physical and spiritual part of the mountain and will itself become a mountain one day from which will come other stones. The mountain in our story also represents the soul, or the Light of Allah as contained within every human body. The reason why the mountain represents both the Light of Allah and parents is because life for a child begins with the soul which is breathed into the body of the unborn child at five months. This is the spiritual component of the human being, his physical component are his parents through which his spiritual self enters the physical world. However, there are pure souls that come from less than pure souls and visa versa, hence what flows does not have to represent from whence it came and visa versa, such is the Mercy of Allah.

At the beginning of the journey we began with a gentle stream. This stream represents two things, firstly it represents our parents that are there to guide us at the beginning of our journey. Life is at that time gentle and forgiving as we spend our time immersed in the garden of youth, playfulness and innocence which is what our parents seek to protect. The stream and then latterly the river also represents the prophets and also Divine Guidance and the land through which the river passes represents Divine Will. Divine Guidance is composed of Divine Mercy and Justice, but just as Allah has said, “Verily My Mercy has overcome My Anger” (Bukhari). In other words whilst one of the name of Allah is Al-Adl (The Just), He is also Ar-Rahman (Most-Compassionate), and whilst Allah can exact justice from His servants He has chosen as His dominant quality forgiveness, mercy, love and compassion. Within the river is the guidance, protection and mercy of Allah and without is His Will and Justice. This it is that the land represents His Will and Justice and the river which softens that land represents His Mercy. Only the river can guide itself, the stones within it are at the mercy of the power of the river and the direction it takes and that direction is a path only the prophets and messengers have been given as they have come to either renew the river or to forge a new one. The river does not seek its own path to the sea and nor does it impose its own will on the land but yields to the force of the land which shapes its direction back to the sea.

The sea in our story represents the hereafter but it also represents Allah, the Light from which we came, and back to Whom we dearly desire to return. One aspect of the journey from the mountain is that every stone will reach the sea, or in other words, every human being will return to Allah but in what state depends entirely on one condition, submission. Our entire journey and story was about the submission of the stone to the river, or the submission of the will of the stone to the guidance and direction of the prophets. Some stones yield entirely their selves and hence become smooth and refined, and yet other refuse to be smoothened but instead become even rougher through their experiences. They are the ones who refuse to yield their souls to their Lord, who refuse to bend their will to the Will of their Lord, who refuse to bow before the Power and Majesty of their Lord. They have not yet realised the journey they are on and have not realised the futility of the stone fighting the power of the river, the might of the land and strength of the sea. But the wise amongst those stones know who they are, where they have come from and where they are going. Insha’Allah let us be amongst those wise servants who return to their Lord in a state of submission and humility, refined and smooth. There is much more that we can draw out of our analogy here but I hope that insha’Allah the more we think about this analogy more knowledge and wisdom will flow into our hearts. Ma’salaama.

يَوْمَ لَا يَنفَعُ مَالٌ وَلَا بَنُونَ
إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ

“The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail,
But only he (will prosper) that brings to Allah a sound heart” (Qur’an, ash-Shuara 26:88-89)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

In our previous post we wrote about the need for balance and its essential connection with justice. We also learnt that justice does not exist in and of itself, that justice as it was practiced by the Messenger of Allah (s) entailed a large degree of compassion and forgiveness in the absence of which one cannot claim to be dispensing true justice. In other words justice does not simple comprise a literal adherence to Qur’anic injunction without sensitivity, without compassion to those that may have committed a sin, or simply made a mistake. Simplistic and idealistic interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunnah, which run entirely contrary to the spirit of Islam, are unfortunately what face us today even though Allah has stated very clearly in the Quran about the necessity for compassion, tolerance and understanding. To be compassionate is not simply a Sunnah, or in other words a praiseworthy action which is rewarded as opposed to being punished if not undertaken. Compassion is so deeply embedded within the message of Qur’an that it becomes an imperative rather than something additional we do when we’re feeling especially good. Compassion is the single defining characteristic of what truly makes us human, and this sets us apart from the creatures God has created with compassion, hence we care because we choose to, not because we have to:

وَلَا يَأْتَلِ أُوْلُوا الْفَضْلِ مِنكُمْ وَالسَّعَةِ أَن يُؤْتُوا أُوْلِي الْقُرْبَى وَالْمَسَاكِينَ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلْيَعْفُوا وَلْيَصْفَحُوا أَلَا تُحِبُّونَ أَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

“Let not those among you who are endued with grace and amplitude of means resolve by oath against helping their kinsmen, those in want, and those who have left their homes in Allah’s cause: let them forgive and overlook, do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? For Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful”. (Qur’an, Nur 24:22)

“Do you not wish that Allah should forgive you”, is a rhetorical question because of course every believer would want to be forgiven especially, if brought in front of him, were the results of his actions. It is also an injunction to forgive others if we too want to be forgiven. If we seek mercy from Allah then we must also be merciful to others. If we seek kindness from others then we too must be kind, if we seek patience from others for our faults then we too must be patient with others. As the Prophet (s) said, “Love for humanity what you love for yourself”. (Al-Bukhari). In other words be consistent, not arbitrary. To be arbitrary would be for someone to pray all their prayers one day and the next day overlook them completely whilst still expecting that Allah would be, to them, kind, generous, forgiving, overlook their faults, and forgive their shortcomings. If these are our expectations of Allah, and indeed they should be, for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most-Merciful (Ghafur-ur Rahim), then they can only be so if  we are consistent, for in consistency is found sincerity. If we know this to be true, that we as human beings err, and we absolutely rely on the forgiveness and compassion of Allah, then we ought to be able to find compassion in our hearts for the suffering of others. How can we possible claim for ourselves this religion and yet not adhere to its most fundamental cornerstone of compassion?

To forgive and overlook is to be compassionate and that compassion stems from the knowledge that we could very easily find ourselves in the same situation in which case we would want others to be compassionate with us. Hence in order to achieve the justice of the Qur’an actually entails, in its greater part, our ability to be balanced which will enable us to be tolerant, overlook the faults of others, be patient, and above all else, compassionate, all of this equates to the justice of the Prophet (s). And if we are truly sincere in achieving the same justice for ourselves, our communities and our Ummah then we must begin by seriously examining how compassionate we are towards the suffering of other people whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim. Umar ibn al-Khattab the second Caliph of Islam said,”My greatest concern is the suffering of animals. If an animal in Baghdad is being mistreated I want to know about it”. Imagine that in the young Islamic State with so many important considerations and so many matters of State to deal with, the greatest concern of the Head of the Muslims was the welfare of animals, which demonstrates that if his concern for animal welfare was so great then clearly his concern for people would be one-hundred fold greater. What, I wonder, is our greatest concern?

The Nickell Story

A case which you may have read about recently in the news is about the long campaign for justice by the Nickell family whose daughter Rachel Nickel, at the age of twenty-three, was murdered whilst out walking one morning in Wimbledon Common, South London in 1992. She left behind a grieving mother, father, brother, husband and a two-year old boy who was found clinging to his mother’s body repeating the words, “wake up mummy!”. His mummy did not and it took sixteen painful years and considerable suffering, which is an understatement, before the family finally received their true justice in the capture and prosecution of the real killer. The pain however continues. May Allah ease their suffering.

It is difficult for someone that has not been through the pain of injustice and suffering to know what it is like to suffer, what the heart experiences, and the impact it has on the self. Our own prophet (s) went through tremendous suffering, with not only the rejection of his tribe, but spent a life without his father who died before he was born. He suffered the loss of his mother around the age of five, lost his grandfather, and two close uncles both of whom protected him, Khadijah (ra) his beloved wife of twenty-five years, countless of his closest friends, and six of his seven children. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala did not need to put the him (s) through such loss and suffering because he was already beloved to Allah and had already been granted paradise. But yet he suffered more than any other prophet or human being in human history for his heart was the most sensitive and his love the purest, so when he felt pain it was the most severest of all. Why then did Allah test him in this way? One of the primary reasons for this was to show those that were present and those of later generations, that the truly exalted are those who Allah places through suffering. That, hearts are only truly born through suffering, and the hearts of those that suffer are not like the hearts of those that, do not or have never, suffered deep pain. The capacity of the hearts of those chosen to suffer is quite unlike the capacity of other hearts and hence their status is much greater, their rewards much higher, their understandings much more rarefied. And this is evident to see in the lives of all the prophets (s) that had to suffer some great hardship or other, hence the only reason why they were chosen to be prophets and messengers was because of the hearts they possessed. If one answers this by saying that it stands to reason they were able to withstand their suffering was because of the hearts they were given – has either never suffered or does not understand suffering. The very reason for the exalted status of prophets, peace be upon them all, is because they were not only able to withstand the considerable pain of their suffering, the like of which we cannot ever imagine, but that despite all of their pain and suffering they still remained steadfast in their test and even moreso, grateful to their Lord.

If we are ever tested by Allah in the loss of our family and loved ones, in the loss of our wealth and standing, in the loss of our health and well-being then we ought to know that this is one immense reward from Allah as its His raising of us to a new station. But we if, on top of and despite our suffering, not only bear that suffering but are increased in our love for our Lord and increased in our gratitude to Him then we ought to know of His immense love for us for purifying our hearts and granting us stations we do not deserve. Below is a statement made today by the father of Rachel Nickell which captures so profoundly the depth of the suffering felt by this family at the loss of their daughter. May she rest in peace and may Allah grant her family peace and sakeen and peace and sakeen to all those in a state of suffering whoever they may be. Ameen.

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوفْ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الأَمَوَالِ وَالأنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ

“Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere.” (Qur’an, Baqarah 2:155)

A statement released by Andrew Nickell, father of Rachel, on the impact his daughter’s murder has had on the Nickell family – 18 December 2008

We have been asked to provide an impact statement to try and describe how Rachel’s murder has affected us. This is a bit like trying to describe how you felt after being run over by a very large truck. In both cases you come out of a coma months/years later, having lived through a period when you were not really conscious of what was going on but you keep on automatically breathing and eating. When you come to, you gradually realise what you have lost.

The greatest loss is your future. All the things that any family hopes for and expects are completely smashed. There will be no daughter to talk to in our old age, no grandchildren to love and admire. At a stroke all this has been removed.

The next loss is your anonymity. Your life is trampled on by the media. You are “gawked at” in supermarkets. You are avoided by so-called friends who think some bad luck will rub off on them. Your son is devastated as he is very close to his sister. He avoids any close relationship because he fears losing someone else. Your mother, in her eighties, cries every day and wished she had been taken instead.

The greatest loss is your future. All the things that any family hopes for and expects are completely smashed.

Your daughter’s partner retreats into pain and blame without the guidance and love of your daughter. After a few years he moves abroad and later you are stopped from seeing your only grandson. You become ever more wary of strangers. You reveal nothing because they might be media or have contacts with the media. Copies of your phone bills are obtained and friends abroad ring up to try to discover where your grandson lives.

You fight the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board for recompense for Alex for losing his mother in horrible circumstances and the loss of her love and parenting skills for the 15 years until he is 18. After seven years he is rewarded a derisory amount. The home secretary tells you that there is no appeal against this award.

You deal year after year with the machinery of the Crown and the ever-changing teams of police and specialists. Some of them care deeply, but they come and go. To say one man has destroyed our lives is too strong. But that one man has changed it forever. You learn to accommodate these changes, but the pain remains with you every minute of every day. Every day Rachel’s name is mentioned, her photograph published or her home videos shown, everything comes flooding back.

We hope the man who committed the crime will spend the rest of his life in prison. That is the sentence he has given us.

A. Nickell

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/law_order/andrew+nickells+impact+statement/2888002

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

Photograph: Earth from the Air (http://www.wecommunic8.com/EarthFromTheAir/) Bora Bora, Polynesia

God’s creation always reflects the same universal principles – beauty, simplicity, balance and symmetry

Introduction

The subject of our thesis here is the importance of the development of balance as a means of governing and regulating our lives as good Muslims desiring to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet (s). Following in the footsteps of the Prophet (s) denotes that only he knows the way, only his direction is the best direction, that we give up our claims to be able to guide ourselves, that we firmly commit ourselves to following the best of creation (s). Balance is a topic whichis not often discussed or mentioned in modern Muslim literature because Muslims have taken to mostly dealing with the effects of problems rather than their root causes, and tend to react to problems rather than having the confidence to guide others through the wisdom of the Noble Messenger (s). If we as Muslims truly believe in the Quran and Sunnah, if we truly believe in Allah and His Messengers, and if we truly believe in the Prophet (s) then we ought to be completely committed to the idea that the myriad of social problems occuring in the world today is because we as individuals are falling considerably short in implementing the wisdom of the Prophet (s). The responsibility is ours and we should consider the responsibility to be ours because no other people in human history have been granted the immense honour of possessing the Quran and Sunnah or having been chosen to belong to the most esteemed and noblest of prophet’s, whose Ummah will be the first chosen to follow him (s) through the gates of paradise. It is my desire that we live up to the highest ideals of this great religion through bringing the wisdom and humanity of the prophet Muhammad into the lives of Muslims and non-Muslims alike because what humanity lacks today is humanity and I believe with all of my heart that we do possess an answer to each and every simple and complex social problem we witness in the world today. We have the opportunity to change this if we truly believe through implementing the wisdom of the prophet (s).

Balance and Justice
One of the main reasons for choosing the subject of balance, tolerance, diversity and justice at the moment is because I believe its correct understanding is not only something that Muslims lack at the moment, but I believe that its proper understanding is one of the most important gateways to success in this life and the next. Specifically when we refer to success in this life and the next what we mean is possessing and developing those particular skills and understandings that will enable a whole different world to open up to us by the Will of Allah. One particular focus of ours here will be the verse in the Quran when Allah subhanhu wa ta’ala said:

وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِّتَكُونُواْ شُهَدَاء عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا وَمَا جَعَلْنَا

“Thus, have We made of you an Ummat justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves….”
(Qur’an, al-Baqarah 2:143)

This verse is located exactly in the middle of Surah al-Baqarah so as to further emphasise the essential need to maintain a balanced heart and intellect without which we are likely to develop a whole host of misunderstandings beginning with ourselves. The idea of balance is, in Islam, directly associated with justice as it is in Christianity and Judaism because as a law of Allah, He has determined that true justice can only flow from those most balanced. In order to illustrate this point so as to not leave any doubt in the minds of people He sent to mankind the Prophet Muhammad (s) who was the most just and balanced of all human beings. But what gave rise to that balance that enabled him to be fair, just, compassionate, tolerant, honest and sincere with everyone no matter who they were or what they had done? The answer to this is already contained in the previous sentence, for in order to describe balance we need the use of adjectives such as just, tolerant, honest and sincere besides many more. In other words balance comprises a host of additional understandings which we may think of if we consider a set of traditional scales often the same scale used to dipict justice. When those scales are balanced we get justice, and when they are imbalanced or in other words, biased towards any particular direction then we get injustice. The composition of balance is, as we have said, the acquisition of these pre-requisites where each of these pre-requisites have in themsevles some weight. Hence if we have an over-balance of compassion we will not be dispensing justice according to the Quran and Sunnah. In this respect the Prophet (s) who was the most compassionate human being to have ever been created did not allow his compassion to prevent him from obeying the command of Allah. This did not mean that He applied the laws of Allah literally so that if a person stole something he would lose his hand. But rather it was the desire of the prophet (s) to make the lives of people as easy as possible and to give them the greatest leaniancy he could, so that in the case of theif he would consider the social circumstances of the person and what led him to steal. If he had to steal as a result of poverty then he would not carry out the punishment but would provide the person with the means to be able to earn for himself a living. As a result of this example set by the prophet Muhammad of the need to understand people and to formulate complex judgement through a balanced application of good characteristics, ensured that the law of taking the hand of those that stole was enacted very rarely for centuries.

Now if we consider that justice flows from balance and balance is comprised of the good traits mentioned above, then it stands to reason that how just we are with other people is directly related to how balanced we are as individuals. This means that whilst we remain imbalanced we are also very likely to be acting unjustly with people and more than likely without our realisation. In society in general we tend to find that Muslims, even educated professional Muslims, tend to lag behind their European counterparts vis-a-vis their social awareness, tolerance and justice because they lack balance. But what has led to this state, what is maintaining and what can we do to remove it? These are three very important questions that most Muslims will agree with because the idea of justice is one which permeates throughout the Quran, and as He mentions many times:

وَعَمِلُواْ الصَّالِحَاتِ فَيُوَفِّيهِمْ أُجُورَهُمْ وَاللّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ الظَّالِمِينَ

“And as to those who believe and do good deeds, He will pay them fully their rewards; and Allah does not love the unjust”. (Qur’an, Al-e-Imran 3:57)

Truth, Right and Rights
Also, in a Sahih hadith (a hadith with sound and irrefutable narration) the Prophet (s) that he would be an advocate of the Dhimmi on the day of judgement that spoke the truth against a Muslim that did not. This is a very strong statement intended to leave no doubt in the mind of the believer that one of the reasons why he has been accorded the privelidge of being a believer is because he stands for what is true and just. His being a Muslim accords him absolutely no rights and priviledges with God if does not speak the truth and act according to it, and in fact the disbeliever is elevated above him for that he spoke the truth. Rarely does Allah refer to Himself in the first person in the Quran, but in one very simple yet profound statement in Surah Saad He says:

قَالَ فَالْحَقُّ وَالْحَقَّ أَقُولُ

“He said: The Truth is, and the Truth I speak”
(Qur’an, Saad 38:84)

Allah not only speaks the truth but one of His names is al-Haqq, The Truth, from which comes the word Haqqiqa which means rights. In other words the rights of others, of people comes from speaking the truth. For example the rights of those suffering from poverty comes from those that speak the truth regarding the suffering of these people. Conversely, if people did not speak the truth but simply turned away from this suffering, this would not diminished their God-given right to food, water, shelter and protection but would result in their loss of rights and hence justice. What we should have seen so far is the connectoin between balance, justice, truth and rights and their inter-connectedness and inter-relatedness. In other words what is ‘right’ usually refers to ones ‘rights’, or to put it another way, ones ‘rights’ are those truths that we know to be ‘right’. That is the reason why rights can, in the Eyes of God, never be diminished is because if a person does not get their rights here on earth then they will get them with Allah in the hereafter. Hence rights are eternal and universal because they come from Him and He never diminishes.

One of the key reasons why I am presented this suite of connected ideas is because they cannot be considered alone. One cannot be committed to the truth without being committed to justice, and one cannot be committed to justice if one is not committed to rights, one cannot be committed to the rights of others without being balanced and one cannot have balanced without understanding diversity and tolerance.

Application
Why are the skills I mentioned and this commitment to the truth so important? Well to begin with they are more than just skills, in Islam they are considered essential for the success of individuals and societies. In Islam the society in not atomised and Islam does not encourage people to live individual lives separate from their other fellow human beings hence we find a host of practices in Islam orientated around the community and social engagement. These include congregational prayers the merits of which were said by the Prophet Muhammad (s) to be twenty-seven times greater than individual prayer. The obligatory Friday Prayer (Jumu’ah), and obligatory Eid Prayers – all performed in congregation. The obligation and immense merity of giving charity (Sadakah and Zakat) which connects those people that lack basic material needs including food, water and shelter is also intended as a means by which we become whole, connected human beings part o a much greater tapestry of human existance which does not begin and end with us but one which is part of a continuation of the same ideals and principles enjoined by the first prophet Adam (as) and the last prophet, Muhammad (s). As Allah says:

الزَّكَاةَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

“Establish the Prayer and pay the zakat and obey the messenger, that you might find mercy”
(Quran, an-Nur 24:56)

Hence in aspiring towards a more connected life Muslims seek to follow, for want of a better word, a “radical” life, which literally means “rooted”, that is to say rooted in the Sunnah, whose leaves draw their sustanance from prophetic wisdom and whose branches have the potential to reach the highest heavens, we connect ourselves. Hence the idea that we are drawing upon is that balance is something that can only be achieved through ones feet being firmly rooted in the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) which is a tradition than spans an unbroken chain of narration and transmission all the way back through those that took their knowledge from those that took their knowledge those that heard it from the noble Messenger (s) himself. Balance cannot be achieved through isolation which can and does have the opposite effect of causing imbalance within a person which in turn results in a very biased perception. Whereas as a just and tolerant perception results in a thoughtful and considered approach to every thought, word and judgement. One tends to listen more than speak, and one tends to think more than act. When actions are undertaken it is with a view to their honesty, sincerity and truthfulness which invariably means that one places the needs of other before oneself and always seeks to aid others. In doing so one lives by one of the highest ideals of being a Muslim which is contained in the words of the Prophet (s) when he said, “The best of you are those that are the most benefit to others”. We cannot live according to this principle through thinking only about ourselves but in fact we begin to learn to balance, on our own scales of justice, the noble attributes the prophet (s) came to teach us so that we may be most balanced and just in the application of those attibutes. And in doing so we lose ourselves and begin to reflect the names of our Lord through our character, because in reality there is no us, there is only Allah and in order to literally reach Allah we must first reach Him here on earth through the perfection of ourselves.

Conclusion

Imam al-Ghazali narrates a saying about God not taken from Islam but perhaps from Judaism but one which still reflects the truth of His magnificent existence when He said, “I was a hidden treasure, I wanted to make myself known so I created the universe”. In reality this universe is not about us but about Him, He is to us the entire universe, He is our universe, but in order to reach Him we must go through His most beloved whose name He wrote next to His on His Throne. Whose name He placed next to His in the Basmallah. If we aspire to be the vision with which Allah created us,then we must lose ourselves, our nafs, and live according to the highest ideals of the prophet Muhammad (s) and then and only then might we be in a position to be drawn near to Allah, the longing of every soul, such that,

“My slave does not cease to draw near to Me with devotions of his freewill until I love him; and when I love him I am the hearing with which he hears, the sight with which he sees, the hand with which he grasps and the foot on which he walks”.

When we see those closest to Allah they remind us of Allah and this is true because the hearts of those people are with Allah as a famous scholar once said:

“Love entails God’s taking his servant’s heart away from everything but him”

(Imam As-Shadhali)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

My Lord’s House is spacious, my house is small. And although to my eyes it is a House with four sides, its space and volume is one I cannot comprehend just in the same way as I cannot comprehend His wisdom or His generosity. I love the warmth, the warm weather, the sun, the gentle caress of the summer sun on my face, warming my heart and body, the brilliant blue skies, the whitest of clouds as they float like cotton wool through golden fields. Each year I would long for its arrival, would love the glorious sight of spring blossoms, a prelude to the abundance of love and warmth conveyed in the peace found when all is light and bright. And yet as the summer passed through its phases of growth it would draw ever nearer to the time when the leaves of trees would again lose their colour, in an act of final brilliance they would turn every hue of autumn, of bright colours – orange, yellow, crimson and scarlet, and would for a brief moment lighten up the skies just before they rested for the winter. The winter is what is rapidly approaching and the trees have again taken refuge from its harsh wind, and with that hearts sink for the peace found in green is lost, and the sun inspired growth of summer has given way to dormancy and waiting. Or at least this is what I used to think. This year was different. Quite inexplicably, and whilst awaiting that same feeling of retreat it did not arrive – that actually, I felt the warmth of the sun in winter’s breath whilst there was no sun. I found the warmth of the sun, not from the sun, but from within the heart and no longer disdained the dark nights and long shadows. Quite the opposite I found a longing for the rain and cold. Longed to hear the sound of raindrops on my umbrella as I struggled to hold onto it in the driving rain. I see not an early sun and long nights but the long night as a cloak that wraps itself around us as a protective coat as we traverse the winter skies awaiting the dawn of spring. How arbitrary is man. He longs for the things that inspire him in that moment, longs for seasons far away whose time is not nigh, and disdains the moments given to him. My Lord’s House is indeed spacious – we have to embrace that House, live in it, eat of it fruits and know its seasons. Our Lord is Master of all and only He knows the true nature of the universe, it is not a knowledge we possess and so we cannot guide ourselves through the seasons, live according to its meaning, unless and until resides in our hearts, with quietude, the belief that our Lord is One, The Eternal – Seasons change but our Lord always remains the same.

وَكَذَلِكَ نُرِي إِبْرَاهِيمَ مَلَكُوتَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَلِيَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُوقِنِينَ

فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ اللَّيْلُ رَأَى كَوْكَبًا قَالَ هَـذَا رَبِّي فَلَمَّا أَفَلَ قَالَ لا أُحِبُّ الآفِلِينَ

فَلَمَّا رَأَى الْقَمَرَ بَازِغًا قَالَ هَـذَا رَبِّي فَلَمَّا أَفَلَ قَالَ لَئِن لَّمْ يَهْدِنِي رَبِّي لأكُونَنَّ مِنَ

الْقَوْمِ الضَّالِّينَ

فَلَمَّا رَأَى الشَّمْسَ بَازِغَةً قَالَ هَـذَا رَبِّي هَـذَا أَكْبَرُ فَلَمَّا أَفَلَتْ قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ إِنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ

إِنِّي وَجَّهْتُ وَجْهِيَ لِلَّذِي فَطَرَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا أَنَاْ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ

“So also did We show Abraham the power and the laws of the heavens and the earth, that he might (with understanding) have certitude”.

“When the night covered him over, He saw a star: He said: “This is my Lord.” But when it set, He said: “I love not those that set.”

“When he saw the moon rising in splendour, he said: “This is my Lord.” But when the moon set, He said: “unless my Lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray”.

“When he saw the sun rising in splendour, he said: “This is my Lord; this is the greatest (of all). “But when the sun set, he said: “O my people! I am indeed free from your (guilt) of giving partners to Allah”.

“For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah.” (Qur’an al-An’am 6:75-79)