Illness

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (ra) reported that the Prophet (saw) said:

“Whenever a Muslim is afflicted with a hardship, sickness, sadness, worry, harm, or depression --even a thorn's prick, Allah expiates his sins because of it.”

Illness is something we all go through as human beings. It is an evolutionary process that our bodies use in order to adapt to our external environment. This short post will briefly explore the concept of illness in Islam and attempt to understand its deep wisdom.

We can only truly appreciate well being if we have experienced ill health. Similarly, we can only truly be happy, if we have experienced a degree of sadness. What is interesting is that the extent to which we feel happy is directly proportional to the depth of sorrow we have experienced. This experience of the opposite negative leaves us with a deeper appreciation of the positive, be it health or wellness.

The Hadith I have cited above is one of the most known ahadith and a very beautiful one too. Once I read this, I began to make a habit of saying ‘Alhamdulilah’ each time I was afflicted with any hardship, illness or injury. The Hadith explains that the hardships we go through are a means of Divine forgiveness. It elaborates on the many ‘types’ of affliction which ranges from physical, to mental even to spiritual afflictions which we are inevitably going to experience in life.

For me personally, I like to get to the deep core and explore the tangible reality of Islam. By this, in the context of this particular article, I mean exploring the reality of what it means to be ill and what we can derive from it as a human species. What do we go through when we are afflicted with an illness, when we are worried about something or when we get pricked by a thorn? What avenues are there that we can use to our disposal in order to get a positive and lasting outcome?

First, I would like to cite two beautiful verses of the Holy Qur’an:

“So, verily with hardship there is relief.” (94:5)

And

“And certainly, we shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to the patient.” (2:156)

In the first verse, Allah has said that it is only through hardship that we can truly appreciate ease. Like I mentioned earlier, we cannot appreciate health unless we experience illness. This is a general rule which can be applied across the board. For example, many people wonder why converts to a religion are always more stern in belief than those who were born into that faith. The answer is simple under this verse. It purports to say that those who had converted experienced a level of no-faith or a lack of it which ushered a concentrated effort towards it compared to those who have been surrounded by it since birth. This makes logical and practical sense.

Patience is one of the hallmarks of a believer, and rightly mentioned in the second verse because a true believer is always resigned with Divine Decree- the notion that God has a plan for each of us and that plan is ultimately good. In this light Muhammad Rasulullah (saw) said:

“How wonderful is the affair of the believer, for his affairs are all good.  If something good happens to him, he is thankful for it and that is good for him.  If something bad happens to him, he bears it with patience and that is also good for him.” (Bukhari)

The Arabic of the second verse also points out that ease, or wellness can only be experienced through hardship. The use of “ma’a” (with) in the verse points to the dependence on hardship itself as a means to an end. You don’t get something for nothing. It is a scientific and religious fact!

When we come to understanding illness on this basic religious level, we come to know that illness is a means to a higher gnosis of God. This gnosis is strengthened by the core belief that illness, although seemingly preventing us from carrying out our daily activities, has a greater benefit; and in my opinion, that is to realign ourselves with our natural needs as humans. Or in other words, to bring us back to God. With this in mind, we can firstly deduce that in Islam, we are taught to always see the good in things, especially things which seemingly have caused us a loss. Psychologically, this practise helps us on a subconscious level because our brains get used to dealing with situations in a positive manner. This enables an individual to practise a practical and universally beneficial Islam on a much deeper level and reap the benefits therefrom.

So naturally, one can ask, what are the tangible benefits of being ill? Well, firstly, as human beings, we are prone to over-work. We have all experienced a burnout when we get close to exam time. We have all experienced the feeling of working towards a deadline we only wish we had more time to finish. I think you know where I’m going with this… It’s time! The most valuable asset to us!
Being ill gives us the time to mentally and emotionally realign ourselves with God and the world. Sometimes we all need a ‘reality check’ or simply some time off our daily lives in order to benefit us in the long run and I believe that illness is one of the means through of which we can do so.

Secondly, being ill has many benefits to us on a spiritual level. Whenever we go through a trial or hardship for the sake of Allah, we experience such a joy that we would gladly endure pain for His sake again and again. The crippled hand of Hadhrat Talha (ra) bears witness to this. If we lower our gaze when an attractive person walks past us, we feel like Allah has drawn so much closer to us on account of the sacrifice of the self. Likewise, when we get up for the Fajr prayer, for the sake of Allah alone- we are sent through a deep spiritual motion of peace and serenity while in prayer and sometimes it lasts throughout the whole day! These are the glad tidings mentioned in the second verse but they are only accessible to those who show patience; for it is only through the garment of patience that we can embellish our spiritual selves.

Allah says that “Man has been made of haste…” implying that it is in our very nature that when we want something, we want it immediately. Especially when it is something to do with God- we are prepared to wait for an expensive delivery in the post, but when we pray to God with the most valuable desires close to our heart we want an answer immediately! Later on the verse goes on to say “… I will show you My signs, so do not impatiently urge me.” (21:38) How beautiful is this verse in that Allah has said that he will answer prayers in due course and how beautiful is it that Allah has exhorted patience in so many places in the Qur’an. Indeed this is a lesson we must learn from illness and any type of affliction- that it is a means to test our patience and to expand it. For how do we truly know our limits if we do not exceed them?

To close, I would like to mention that in your current state, I would like you to just pause and think of what you have. even if you are ill at the moment. Allah has blessed you with the intellect to read this very article when there are so many people who are born blind. Allah has blessed you with hands so you can operate the mouse you used to click on the link of this very article. Allah has blessed you with the intellect to comprehend that He has given you so much without you even asking. He is the Gracious God Allah who has given you this body so that you can travel in the Earth and praise Him and spread His teachings. What is a little illness for a few days. It is our gratefulness which will ultimately help us recover and come back stronger than ever.
I'd like to leave you with this very powerful Hadith from Tirmidhi (1570)

Jabir ibn Abdullah narrated that Allah’s Messenger (saw) said, “On the Day of Resurrection, when people who have suffered affliction are given their reward, those who are healthy will wish their skins had been cut to pieces with scissors when they were in the world.” 

May Allah enable us to show such patience and dedication in His way that any trial or affliction becomes a means of drawing nearer to Him. May Allah enable us to exemplify the teachings of Islam and to follow the most beautiful example of the perfect man, Muhammad (saw) so much so that the Angels in Heaven are amazed at our steadfastness. May we be grateful for what we have so we can allow room for Allah to bless us more. May this article be a source of guidance and benefit for all those who read it, amin.

Does religion allow music?

I think the very question of whether religion 'allows' music needs to be understood. I find that exploring the questions we have normally leads to a profound understanding of the essence of the question itself. This is because as religion is generally concerned with guiding us towards building a living relationship with God, music is generally and seemingly a worldly past-time.
The question if whether music has any positive or negative effects in pursut of the purpose of our life must also be explored. For what are music and religion besides two words? For me this is a journey of understanding through definition.

Now to define music is interesting. Hinduism says that the SOUND that created everything was 'Om'. There are beats in nature we can not deny that exist from the mating calls of some animals, to the communication melodies of whales in the oceans and even to the very beating of our own hearts there seems to be a kind of melodious and 'musical' root. I do find it fascinating however that Allah has created Man to recognise beauty in the sounds we hear and I am in no doubt that this is also a natural miracle of Allah that in the complexity of the universe He has created humans with the ability to create the most complex  and beautiful beats through music. Think of a radio player in deep space playing tchaikovsky- the very thought of it send one into praise of Allah and His power to create!

The question of what is the state of our soul after listening to music is a good one.
I give my personal experience...
I spent one year at Kingston College studying post GCSE. I used to spend a total of one hour on the bus going there and one hour coming back totalling just over two hours travel time every day. During that time I used to listen to hip-hop and artists such as Tupac for the entire journey. One morning I was talking with my friends outside college and used foul language. Immediately I noticed and felt that I had done so, and felt extremly uneasy. During the course of the day I realised that it was because of the company I was keeping (2 hours of Tupac) on the bus, which had subconsiously had an adverse effect on my speech and thoughts.
For me, that was that was the line crossed and crucially, understood. At that time I was (and still am!) studying the books of the Promised Messiah (as) namely "The philosophy of the teachings of Islam" in which he states the reason for the prohibition of swine in Islam is because of it's effect on our various faculties. The same thing, in my opinion, is with music because it is a type of mental sustinence which some religions have taken to substitute the spiritual reality of worship.
Bruce Lee said "The mind is like a fertile garden in which anything that is planted, flowers or weeds, will grow."
This is a brilliant quote which further highlights the condition of our souls when dealing with external influences including, but not limited to, music. The mind as a fertile garden connotes that if we listen to music of a pure nature, we will benefit from it's pure qualities which when seen in light of human nature can be described as healing. Also, in light of my own experience of being influenced by music, connotes that sooner of later, the subjet matter, underlying message or background energy will come to frutition and manifest itself in various forms.
In my experience, music does effect us on a subliminal and hence spiritual level. The state of ones soul is, hence, influenced by the music we listen to. The state of our soul after we listen to music is not apparrant immediately, but over time it is as clear as the day light.

Now when it comes to giving a kind of 'ruling' on whether this influence of music is 'right', I look at it from the bigger picture of our existence as a human race as well as a personal one.
It really does depends on which kind of music one listens to. There is such a vast array of music generes that it is simply narrow minded to refer to music as one specific type. This means we must look at it a as concept. Look, nature has also varying sounds dependent entirely on purpose. The warning sound of some animals, for example, to ward off predators is starkly different to the sounds of those used when calling offspring. All however are used in different places at different times to fulfil the objective of their life at that given time.
One can understand this in light of sound because at different times of the day those who listen to music gravitate towards different types of music. At times of rest in the morning and evening we (at least I do) find, at times, it relaxing to listen to classical music. While when working out or racing we (athletes) would die of boredom if it wasn't for energetic music. However... here are days where I do not listen to music at all- it all depends!

There is also the phenomenological approach which is that if In Islam music was to be officially and openly banned across the board, then how will Islam remain a religion that is universal? Will this mean that whenever we are shopping and go into a department store where there is music playing, we will have to run outside because its haraam!? What a ridiculous notion and religion if that were the case!
Islam seeks to bring harmony between all religions and cultures. This is why we see no clear cut ruling in the Qur'an about music!
Also, as I remember Khalifatul Masih 4th (ra) once explain in a majlis-e-'Irfan sitting that in Islam there are prohibitions and injunctions. There is also a "grey area" in which our own level of righteousness can be nurtured to develop to higher states of gnosis.

Following on from this salient point raised by huzur (ra), I agree that music lies within this "grey area" of Islam where we can, through our choices, use music as a meduim to fulfil the purpose of our life. We don't have to, but it is a choice.
Yes, the purpose of life CAN be achieved without music, after all, didn't people survive when music wasn't as we know it today? Just as all humans have varying levels of understanding at different points in their lives, music may help to enhance the purpose of life at one given time. When I was younger I had a bout of depression and I would listen to songs that would 'help me through' the tough times, at times weeping because of the message in the songs related to my own circumstances. This is something not to do with my spirituality, but mentality- and there was and is nothing wrong with that.
It is also worth noting that no prophet preached the listening of music which proves that it is a paradigm which comes forth through the cultural development of a society. It is something that we see very apparant in today's society, especially in the West where we are living through the largest population boom in history. We also need to understand this through the current age of mankind and in doing so can appreciate the views and opinions of our fellow seekers!

To close, I would like to point out a subtle point to do with sound and the melody of our own human voice. As a student of Arabic, I find it amazing that the sounds of the Arabic language are so fine-tuned. For example, there are four `Z` sounds, there are two `Q`sounds as well as two `T`sounds. Also, the meaning of words can make a world of difference. For example, `Laa`in Arabic means `no`, whereas `la`means an emphatic `yes`! And the difference lies only in the length of the sound we utter. The fine-tuning of the sound we utter in Arabic matters when we want to convey meaning through communication.
When one reads Arabic tajweed keeping in mind all of the rules, yet placing no effort on the melody, it still sounds like a melodious song, which has profound impacts on ones soul. Look at the conversion of Hadhrat 'Umar (ra) when he heard Ta Ha being recited it changed his heart entirely. There was a man who was bent on the death of Rasulullah (saw) yet his reading of the Arabic script no doubt had a deep impact on his entire life!
All of this combined with the notion that the language of Heaven itself is Arabic, in my humble opinion, leaves no room for the concept of music to be seen as something "unislamic" and something to be frowned upon, but on the contrary leaves no doubt that it is something that can enhance certain peoples faith and help them reach their ultimate goal in life.

Love for all. Hatred for none.

Good evening my family
May peace be your light
It is a great honour
to be here tonight

My name is Quddous
A west London kid
And my message is not
To be interpreted

it is simply beautiful
As bright as the sun
It is love for all
and hatred for none

my motto for life
to help me get through
and not only that
it brings me closer to you

See love is for all
So we shouldnt judge
regardless of faith
Regardless of grudge

Love is what binds
two atoms in one
love is the warmth
in the tea youve begun

A muslim i am
yes i do have a beard
I do not go bang
And i am not to be feared

My words are a moral
a moral to be done
i say love for all
And hatred for none

Tell me my family
If i am busy in hate
why would i spend time
through words to relate

I am grateful to you
For lending an ear
And helping me rid
Of islamic fear

My motto for life
Im sure you can see
Is to live a full life
in service to thee

It gives me great pleasure
To love you for Him
It becomes a worship
and frees me from sin

I can sit on the side
sipping tea as i speak
but what ive been taught
has made me complete

My family please
go home with a smile
Go home with a heart
And ponder a while

And ask if the world
Would be better run
if love was for all
And hatred for none ...

The power of prayer

The Promised Messiah (as) wrote that the exercise of reason can only take man as far as concluding that the perfection of creation ought to have a creator and living sustainer. But in order for a person to come to know that God exists with certainty, he must come to that part of Islam that will liberate him from the chains of doubt. He must seek God through prayer. 

Prayer in Islam, is the foremost duty of the believer after his attestation of faith.

It actually is an offshoot of the attestation itself. 

When a person prays, he is physically acting out his declaration of faith by using his time in humble worship; proving that he doesn't hold anything worthy of his worship except God. The result? An unshakable certainty that God exists.

A person usually comes to God for two reasons: 1) after a calamity or trauma in his life seeking answers. Or 2) a person, out of sheer reverence of the world around him finds him compelled to rationally question religion and seek answers from the Source.

But what benefit does prayer give to those who practise it? And how does true certainty really enter the heart?

For this, it is important to know that unless one is sincere, he can never attain certainty. The very least that can be expected of a human is for him to be true to himself- and when one is, the doors of divine gnosis are accessible to him. There are many benefits of prayer. Enough to make a whole new article on. But for certainty to enter ones heart, prayer is beneficial because it acts as a catalyst between our questions and their respective answers.

True certainty enters the heart when we become a part of the conversation between man and God. Many utter the words of prayer but are bereft of true union because they lack the willingness to learn its meaning. It is like being in an amazing conversation with two of your friends and both of them speaking a different language. The Promised Messiah (as) said that the reason why people slack in prayer is because they do not ascribe that level of importance to God as they do other needs. And that, in my opinion, is because they haven't come to God through one of the two avenues previously mentioned.

Once we find that compelling reason to worship God, we make efforts to learn the language and partake if the heavenly conversation that is prayer.

Through prayer one can establish and strengthen ones relationship with the One living God.

Before I close, I would like to quote a Hadith Qudsi which summarises how we should think of God.

"I am to My servant as he thinks Me to be, so he may think what he likes."

It is of utmost importance to know that the God you beseech is All-Hearing so that he can listen to your prayers. What use is there in praying to a god who you believe has not the capacity to listen to or respond?! Our God has marvellous powers and is alive today as he was alive before. He can do today what He did before. The Promised Messiah (as) highlighted the relationship between Rasulullah (saw) and Allah through the power of prayer in the following excerpt-  

‘A strange and phenomenal event took place in the deserts of Arabia, when hundreds of thousands of dead become alive within a few days, and those who had been corrupted through generations took on Divine colour. The blind began to see and the tongues of the foolish began to flow with Divine wisdom. Such a revolution took place in the world as no eye had seen or no ear had heard of before. Do you realise what this was? All this was brought about by prayers during the darkness of the night of one who had been wholly lost in God. This created uproar in the world and manifested such wonders as seemed impossible at the hand of the unlettered helpless person.'

May Allah enable us to strive to establish a genuine desire in our hearts to seek God and may he facilitate for our spiritual   advancement at every stage, amin.

Love of Allah

The love of Allah is something which is mentioned many times in the Holy Qur'an. But how to acquire it is something which is on the minds of every true seeker of Truth.

The Promised Messiah (as) has written such a beautiful discourse on how we can attain his love that it does not do justice to paraphrase or shorten it. I have reproduced it below...

The degrees of nearness to God and love of God from the point of view of spiritual rank are of three types. The lowest degree, and even that is very high, is that the fire of Divine love should warm the heart possibly to such a degree that the warmed heart might acquire the qualities of fire, but that it should lack the brightness of the fire. When the flame of God's love falls upon this degree of love the warmth generated by that flame in the soul is described as contentment and satisfaction and is sometimes named an angel.

The second degree of love is where the fire of Divine love, which is generated by the union of two loves, warms the heart to such a degree that it produces a brightness which is not inflammatory. It is described as Ruh-ul-Qudus—the Holy Spirit.

The third degree of love is where a burning flame of Divine love falls on the eager ribbon of human love and sets it afire and, assuming control of all its particles, makes it a complete and perfect manifestation of itself. In this condition the fire of Divine love not only bestows a brightness upon the human heart, but simultaneously the whole being is set on fire and its flames illumine the surroundings like the bright day, and no darkness is left and the whole of the being is converted into fire with all its full qualities. This condition which is created by the union of the two loves like a laming fire is known as Ruhul-Amin, the Spirit of Security,for it bestows security against every darkness and is free from every opaqueness. It is also called the strong faculty, for it is the most powerful revelation, stronger than which cannot be imagined. It is also called the high horizon, inasmuch as it is the manifestation of the highest form of revelation. It is also described as: He saw what he saw; for an appreciation of this condition is beyond the imagination or thinking of the whole of creation. This condition has been bestowed upon only one human being who is the perfect man with whom the whole human system has come to an end and the circle of human capacities has been perfected. In truth, he is the highest point of the extended line of God's creation which is the ultimate of all grades of exaltation.

Divine Wisdom having started the creation from the lowest point carried it to this highest point, the name of which is Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allah be on him] and the meaning of which is greatly praised, that is to say, the manifestation of perfect excellencies. As by his nature the station of this Prophet was at the highest, so externally also he was bestowed revelation and love at the highest level...

[Taudih-e-Maram, RuhaniKhaza’in, Vol. 3, pp. 62-64]

May God enable each of us to strive to attain and promote these beautiful excellencies and paths of divine love. May Allah enable us to fully understand the significance of running to Allah in times when the world is running away, amin.

A meandering on purpose

Through my childhood and adolescence, I have come to truly love and pursue three disciplines all of which have bought a unique perspective to my outlook on life.

The first is my current understanding of religion and its role in the world.

The second is my passion for sports and physical health.

The third, is my inherent longing to enhance the former and latter, without of which no true progress can be made.

There is no doubt that we are beings who have evolved for the sole purpose of the development of our physical, moral and spiritual faculties. 

This is a trend we see across the entire observable universe from the formation of galaxies to the spindling of a spiders web. All of creation is never stagnant but forever moving forwards towards a higher purpose.

Even a reader pursuing knowledge has to traverse an intellectual length in order to arrive to a more perfect gnosis.

The question thus arises, with all the complexities of creation can one define a universal purpose in one word or even phrase that would unify the purpose of life?

The answer is written in the Holy Qur'an in verse 22 of Al-Baqarah: "I have not created the Jinn and Man but that they worship me."

This is a common translation however it doesn't do justice to what Islam says about the purpose of creation. To find that answer we must divulge into the etymology of the verse itself and specifically the word translated as "worship"

In Arabic lexicon the root verb used here to describe mans purpose is a-ba-da which means to become a slave, a servant, or to become resigned to the will of another. However this verb has much deeper meanings, pondering of which will bring a great depth to this verse. And in such translation we can begin to see a number of things that we must do as human beings of intellect:

1) An acceptance that we are resigned to natural law... Such as gravity etc. which are unchanging

2) An understanding that we are influenced by our surroundings, however imperceptible they may be.

3) A realisation that we have the inherent capacity to live out what we were biologically, mentally and spiritually capable of and also that we can influence our surroundings through the correct channels.  

The verb a-ba-da is also translated as "to love" 

In essence love can be described as the coming together of two things. The law of attraction exists at every level of the chemistry of the universe. From two atoms coming together to form bonds, to the cohesion of a community to the collective attraction between man and woman.

The way the Holy Qur'an has so concisely given such a comprehensive analogy through the use of the Arabic language is a great sign for me for the existence of an intelligent creator.

In my disciplines of religion and sport, I have found that as long as I keep on pursuing a better understanding or performance, I will increase in every way. The key is extolled throughout nature and the wisdom of it we must learn to comprehend. Only then when we walk outside  we can see the world as we never have seen it before and start to use our vision in a different way so we see a reflection of our creator wherever we look.

The universe is full of divine footprints and while we make our own in this world, we must always remember to strive towards our natural goal which is never  stagnant.

May the forces that be drive us on to develop a deeper understanding of the meaning of words and the wisdoms contained therein, amin.

A single step

Lao Tzu is a major figure in Chinese philosophy. He is widely recognised as the founding father of Taoism.
One of his most famous quotes is:

"A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step."

The impact of this marvelous quote arises from the fact that it is applicable to a wide range of different types of situations where something needs to be done. It is not restricted to physically travelling. There are many other examples of proverbs in which there is an inherent stress on taking the first step towards a goal. This first step is manifested in many ways; it could also be the letter 'L' on a blog!
The force of this quote lies in its final word.

What I find most inspirational in this quote is that it holds so much meaning in such little words. This alone is something which sets one on a journey of intellect and meaning.
One can find meaning in the most insignificant things, but when one does find meaning within them, do they remain insignificant?

Recently, in my journey I have learnt something which puts life into perspective. Just as a staircase constitutes of many sequences of steps in order for one floor to be connected to another. if one wants to climb the entire building, he must traverse each floor and the multiple steps between each one to do so.
Our journey of a thousand miles also has many stops and starts, each containing withing it a plethora of miniature journeys. Sometimes we think we have reached a climax where we feel spiritually resigned and put life on cruise control. We seldom remember the whole building of life and hence our journey through it.

Anne Frank said: 
"How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

Those who want to change the world can do so while those who look on will one day be inspired, perhaps by a random blog, to take the first step and begin their own journey of a thousand miles.

The longest path may prove to be the shortest, in the end.