Thursday, June 27, 2013

Deliberation

 أناة
Allah, the Most Exalted, is All-Powerful. Regarding implementing His Will or in the matter of Creation He has to do nothing more than saying only ‘كن’ (Be) and His Will gets implemented. “When He decrees a matter, He only says to it “Be!”(كن)—and it is(فيكون).” (Al-Imran: 47) In spite of such an unimaginable vastness of His creating Power He applied the rule of deliberation and it took Him six days in creation of the heavens and earth. Gradualness, deliberation, consecutiveness and ‘step by step’ are the law of nature. Creating man’s physique all at once as an adult person is fully at the discretion of the Creator, Allah, All-Mighty, but according to nature’s set laws creation of man, animals, plants and almost all the living beings passes through gradual stages.

“O mankind! If you are in doubt about the Resurrection, then verily, We have created you (Adam) from dust, then from a semen drop, then from a clot, then from a little lump of flesh, some formed and some unformed—that We may show you. And We cause whom We will to remain in the wombs for a specific time, then We bring you out as infants and then (We develop you) that you may reach your (age of) maturity. And among you is he who dies in (early age), and among you there is he who is returned to miserable old age so that he knows nothing after (once) having knowledge. And you see earth barren, but when We send down upon it water (rain), it swells and puts forth every beautiful kind (of growth).” (Al-Hajj: 5)

“We made the Nutfah (semen) into a clinging clot, then We made the clot into a little lump of flesh, then We made out of that little lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bone with flesh, and then We brought it forth as another creation. So, Blessed is Allah, the Best of creators.” (Al-Muminun: 14)

All this shows that the Creator is never in hurry. And He wants us also not show hurriedness in our life. Man, by his nature, is weak and impatient. “Verily, man was created very impatient (هلوعا)” It is in the scheme of the Creator to polish and perfect him through admonitional rituals, guidance and moral practices. Acts of adoration (عبادات ) {five time obligatory prayers, fasting, Hajj and giving alms} are actually multi-purpose practices to give believers spiritual and moral training. On one hand they are means for developing relation between the servant and his Lord and on the other hand they become an effective source of man’s moral carving and reformation.

The Quran points out one of the biggest weaknesses of man. His covetous eyes are always cast on material gains and his desire to amass heavy amount of wealth. و انه لحب الخير لشديد (And verily, he is intense in love of wealth). و تحبون المال حبا جما (And you love wealth with immense love). Getting excessively preoccupied with any of the matters of life occasion a lot of weaknesses. Intensity in love for worldly gains, wealth and eminence, has made man’s life a constant race which ends only on his last breaths. For gaining too much in short time man is always in haste. He runs wildly to cross fast runners, stampede all the slow runners and elbow away all those who are on his sides. In the tasks accomplished so quickly, as it is said, more haste, less speed, there remains probability of grave mistakes, disadvantages more than advantages,  and very often hastily done has to be done over again or proves ruinous not only for him, but also for all around in the surroundings he lives.

Islam has set the standards quite different from those we generally follow in our earthly life. In the Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet, be peace and blessings upon him, we find the principles unlike those we learn for success in our materialistic life. There exists in English literature a proverb “slow and steady wins the race’ but man seldom follows it as a golden principle of life. Materialism teaches us that going late means going in loss, so, be in hurry to reach your material goals. According to the Quran celerity and speeding up proves right only in the matters of Akhirah. يسارعون فى الخيرات (they hasten in all good deeds) is a significant aspect of the character of righteous people.

Rule of hastening in good deeds gets not applied in matters of Ibadat (عبادات). It does not mean we should pray in a speedy way or while performing Hajj and Umrah we should run fast. 'Waqaar' (dignity) is a salient aspect of the believer's disposition. He should not go in loss of this characristic of his morality. Prayer is very significant acts of Ibadah (عباده ). Laziness in matter of prayers displays a woeful lack of devotion. Allah says in the Quran: "So woe unto those performers of prayers, those who delay their prayers (صلاة ) (from stated fixed time)." (Al-Maun: 4,5) Running to join the prayer is strictly prohibited. Our Holy Prophet, be peace and blessings upon him, has taught us to join the congregational prayers in calmness and with  poise.

 In all other cases in our life hurriedness is converse of what we have been taught by our Prophet, be peace and blessings upon him. He liked and approved the moral traits of clemency and deliberation. The ninth year after Hijrah is known to be ‘The Year of Delegations’ because a number of the tribes designated their wise men to visit the Holy Prophet, be peace and blessings upon him. A group of people from Bani Abdul Qais came to Madinah to visit the Prophet, SAW. All the members of the delegation hastened to see the Messenger, be peace and blessings upon him, but Al-Ashajj Al-Manzer bin Amer stayed back in the camp. He sat his own camel and also of all the members of the delegation and tied them, perfected his appearance, took his clean clothes from his luggage to be proper for meeting the Holy Prophet, SAW. The Messenger, be peace and blessings upon him, said to him: O Ashajj!Clemency and deliberation are the two highly significant qualities of your character which are approved and liked by Allah and His Messenger."
   
At one occasion while giving moral training to his companions, he said: التأنى من الله و العجلة من الشيطان (ابو يعلى)  (the quality of patience and calmness is a gift from Allah, while hastiness is satanic trait). Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, be peace and blessings upon him, is reported to have said on another occasion: 
  التودة فى كل شىء خير الا فى عمل الأخرة (Deliberation is better in all the (worldly) matters except the acts relating to Akhirah (life hereafter).


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