Ghaflah: The Sickness of Modern Man

Know, O you who believe - that truly this dunya exists only as a temporal state, and that every thing that is dunya if faani, meaning it will come to an end. The only thing in this life we can be sure of is that Allah is Lord, the Qur'an is His Book, Muhammad is His Messenger, and that the Judgement will come, and each soul shall receive that which it has earned.

In the history of this world, we find that humankind has questioned the purpose of its existence. And with the advent of al-Qur'an, Allah(SWT) Who created us brought the answer in words that are short in length, beautiful in sound, and like an abyss in its meaning. He, the Most High has said:

 "And I have not created mankind and jinn except for worship"

However, the whispering of Shaytan is like a virulent disease - and we find that most of humanity has become infected with the virus of ghaflah (forgeting about Allah). This disease is like the AIDS virus in that it weakens the human being, and allows other evils to penetrate the heart.

The only cure for ghaflah, is the knowledge and implementation of its opposite which is the thikr of Allah(SWT).

Allah(AWJ) says in the 45th ayat of Surah al-'Ankabut -

"Recite what has been revealed to you (O Muhammad) from the book, and establish prayer; surely prayer keeps one from obscenities and rebelliousness. And lo, the thikr (rememberance) of Allah is the greatest thing in life, and Allah knows what you do"

The general message of this ayat, is the thikr of Allah(TA). In fact, this word thikr comes from the verb thakara which means "to remember or to mention" and thus it is an action of both the heart and the tongue as evidenced by the 205th ayat of surah al-A’raf

 "And remember your Lord within yourself with humility and fear, and without loudness of words in the mornings and in the afternoons, and be not of those who are ghaafileen (people who forget about Allah)"

Allah(SWT) specifically instructs us that when we do thikr with the tongue, it should be said in a peaceful and non-boisterous manner. This is because the rememberance of Allah should put one in a state of ease, as Allah(SWT) says in the 28th ayat of Surah ar-Ra’d(13) -

"Those who believed and whose hearts find rest in the thikr of Allah; surely in the thikr of Allah(SWT) do hearts finds rest."

Imam al-Qurtubi relates in his tafseer of this ayat of surah al-A’raf, that Ibn Abbas(RA) said that the specific thikr being mentioned is the recitation of Qur’an.

The first ayat we mentioned (29:45) begins with "Recite what is revealed..." And in Surah TaHa(20), our Lord(AWJ) has said -

 "and We did not send down the Qur'an to you as a cause of distress, but as a tathkirah(reminder) to those who have fear and humility before their Lord."

Two of the mufasireen, Ibn Kathir and At-Tabari, state that the Qur’an as a tathkirah is a reminder of what is halal and what is haram; and thus, from its recitation the believer is brought into awareness of what his responsibilities are towards his Lord ('ibadaat) and towards his fellow human beings (mu'amalaat). So this is why Allah(TA) has commanded us to recite His Word.

Then, in 29:45, Allah(AWJ) says "wa aqimu salat" – Establish the prayer.

You see, thikr is a generic term, and the recitation of the Qur’an and the salat are specific types of thikr, and in the salat - we recite al-Qur'an.

So Allah(AWJ) commands us to establish prayer so that we might avoid the fah'sha and the munkar. This word "fah'sha" comes from the verb "fahusha" which means "to become obscene, foul, and indecent." The word "munkar" is translated various ways in different translations, but "rebellion to Allah" sums up the meaning. It is from the verb "nakira" which means "to not know."

Allah created humanity with a pure original nature, and the muwahhideen (those who believe in tawheed) are those that call people to the ma'ruuf, which is translated as "good" but literally means "that which is known." All of humanity has certain values that are universal because they are known due to the fact that they are part of our original nature - and this is where we derive the concept of "common human decency." Those things which are opposite of the ma'ruuf (things known to our original nature), are the munkar (things unknown to our original nature) - and everything that is in contradiction to the good (ma'ruuf) in our nature is rebellion towards Allah (munkar)!

And in a similar statement about the purpose of the prayer, Abu Hurayrah(RA) stated that the Prophet Muhammad(SAWS) said:

 "Do you see that if there was a river at the door of one of you, and he bathed in it every day five times, would he maintain any dirt on him? The companions replied, "he would not maintain dirt on himself." The Prophet(SAWS) said "So this is like the five prayers, by them Allah blots out the sins."

Concerning the statement "and salat restrains from fah'sha and munkar", Ibn Katheer relates a hadith narrarated by 'Imran bin Hussayn(ra) who said that the Prophet(SAWS) was asked about "inna salaat…", and he replied:

"The one whose prayer does not keep him from fah'sha and munkar has not prayed"

And Allah(SWT) goes on with "And the rememberance of Allah is the greatest thing in life..." Qurtubi says in his tafseer, that one of the meanings of this is that your rememberance of Allah in your prayers and in the recitation of Qur'an is the greatest deed. Along those same lines, at-At-Tabari relates that someone asked Ibn Abbas(RA) about this, and he replied that it meant the rememberance of Allah by tasbeeh, takbeer, and recitation of the Qur'an - which are all part of the salat.

And finally, Allah(AWJ) finishes the ayat with "and Allah knows the deeds that you do."

What is interesting here is that Allah(SWT) uses "tasna'un" instead of "taf'alun." Both of these words mean "to do", however tasna'un carries the connotation of manufacturing something, building something. So the question we must ask ourselves, is what are we building in our lives? Are our deeds those that are building a solid Islamic foundation for ourselves, our families, and society as a whole?

"So remember me, and I will remember you, and do not reject faith"

With all of these blessings and benefits that come from the rememberance of Allah(SWT), who among us can afford to go without them? And verily, the abscence of the blessings of thikr of Allah(TA), is a sympton that the person is infected with ghaflah.

 Again, ghaflah is to be in a state of unawareness of Allah(SWT), and in nearly every place ghaflah is spoken of in al-Qur'an, it is mentioned as a quality of the people who are in despair on the Day of Judgement. In other words, when the people come to stand before Allah(AWJ) and account for what they did in this world, it is then that they see the error of their ways, but at that moment it is much too late!!

The Prophet(SAWS) said in a hadith related by Abu Musa(RA) "the comparison of one who remembers his Lord to the one who do not remember his Lord, is like comparing LIFE to DEATH." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol 8, hadith 416)

So let each of us examine that which is in our hearts, and ask ourselves "are we alive or dead?"