Contemplating
Since 2012-11-11
Allah Almighty ordered us, in His Glorious Book, to think and reflect. And He praised who think deeply, by His saying: {and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth.
All praise is due to Allah the Lord of the worlds. And prayers and peace of Allah be upon the most honorable Messenger, our prophet Muhammad, and upon all his family and companions.
Allah Almighty ordered us, in His Glorious Book, to think and reflect. And He praised who think deeply, by His saying: {and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth, (saying): "Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose} [Surat Al-Imrân 3:191]
{وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا بَاطِلاً} سورة آل عمرآن: 191
Transliteration: wayatafakkaroona fee khalqi alssamawati waalardi rabbana makhalaqta hatha batilan
He also said: {Verily, in these things, there are Ayât (proofs, evidence, lessons, signs, etc.) for people who reflect} [Surat Ar-Ra’d 13:3]
{إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ} سورة الرعد: 3
Transliteration: inna fee thalika laayatin liqawmin yatafakkaroona
And it is narrated on the authority of Omar ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Contemplate on the signs of Allah but do not think about Allah (Himself)” [Declared good by Al-Albani]
«تفكروا في آلاء الله، ولا تفكروا في الله» حسنه الألباني
Abu Ad-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Contemplating for an hour is better than praying a complete night.”
Wahb ibn Munabih said: “Nobody would contemplate for long time, but he would understand. And when he understands, he would know. And when he knows, he would act upon it.”
Bishr Al-Hafi said: “If people thought about the greatness of Allah Almighty, they would not disobey Him.”
Al-Qirbani said about the saying of Allah Almighty {I shall turn away from My Ayât (verses of the Qur’ân) those who behave arrogantly on the earth, without a right} [Surat Al-A’râf 7:146]
{سَأَصْرِفُ عَنْ آيَاتِيَ الَّذِينَ يَتَكَبَّرُونَ فِي الأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ} الأعراف: 146
Transliteration: Saasrifu AAan ayatiya allatheena yatakabbaroona fee alardi bighayri alhaqqi
“It means ‘I will prevent their hearts from contemplating about Me.’ ”
Dawûd At-Tai once was on the roof in a moony night; he contemplated on the creation of the heavens and the earth, so he fell in the house of his neighbor. The neighbor got up naked with the sword in his hand, and when he saw him, he asked: “O Dawûd, what made you fall?” Abu Dawûd replied by saying: “I did not feel that.”
Yusuf ibn Asbat said: “The world is not created to look at it; rather it is created to look through it to the Hereafter.”
Even more, Sufyan used to urinate blood because of contemplating.
Abu Bakr Al-Kittani said: “The blessing of attention in the time of inattentiveness, the blessing of deserting one of the desires of the self and the blessing of shivering because of fearing abandonment are better than the worship of both men and jinn.”
Paths of thinking and its fruits:
You should know that thinking may be in religious affairs and may be in other affairs, and we mean the thinking that is in the religious affairs. Actually, explaining this may take long time; therefore, the person should look to four things: the acts of obedience, the acts of disobedience, the destructive characteristics and the protective characteristics. You should not be inattentive to yourself or the characteristics that take you away from Allah or that take you close to Him. Moreover, every faithful person should have a record in which he records the destructive characteristics and the protective characteristics along with the acts of obedience and the acts of disobedience, and then daily check himself according to it.
And it is enough to beware of ten destructive characteristics; if the person escaped them, he would escape any other destructive characteristic. These characteristics are; stinginess, arrogance, self-conceits, fame, envy, anger, greed, plotting between people, loving money and love of fame.
And it is enough to care for ten protective characteristics; regret for committing sins, patience for affliction, satisfaction with the destiny, thanking for the grace, balance between hope and fear, not hopping much from the worldly life, sincerity in fulfilling the duties, behaving well with people, loving Allah Almighty and fearing Him.
These are twenty characteristics; good ten and evil ten. Whenever the person gets rid of one of the evil characteristics, he would draw a line over it in his record and stop thinking about it and thank Allah Almighty for supporting him. Also, he should know that it is just because of the help and support of Allah Almighty. Then, he would go to the other nine characteristics and do the same till he draws lines over every evil characteristic. Also, he has to compel himself to adhere to the protective characteristics, and whenever he abides to one of them, such as repentance or regret, he would draw a line over it and care for the rest. Actually, this is needed by any faithful person.
As for the majority of people who are counted among the pious, they should record in their records the apparent sins; such as having the properties that there are doubts round it, releasing the tongue to backbiting and tale bearing, hypocrisy, boast, immoderateness in supporting the allies and antagonizing the enemies, and having flattery leads to not enjoining what is good and not forbidding what is evil. Indeed, the majority of Muslims who count themselves among the pious have some of these sins, although the person would never be busy with developing his heart and purifying it unless the limbs are purified from the sins.
Every group of people has a kind of these affairs; therefore they should think deeply in it and reflect. For example, the pious scholar usually displays his knowledge and seeks fame and reputation, either through teaching or preaching. Actually, he who does this has indulged himself in great affliction none could escape it but the truthful ones. And sometimes knowledge leads the scholars to have change like the change of women. Indeed, this is a result to having the destructive characteristics planted deeply in the heart of the scholar who thinks that he is free from them while he is sunken in them.
Therefore, he who feels that he has these characteristics should seek loneness and seclusion and calm along with not giving legal opinions (i.e. Fatawa); the companions used to try not to give legal opinions and every one of them used to hope that another companion would do it instead of him. Then the man should beware of the devilish men, because they may say, ‘This would lead to having knowledge effaced’ and in this case, he should say to them, ‘The scholar should think deeply about these characteristics in his heart’.
And it is mentioned earlier that the Prophet (prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Think deeply about the signs of Allah but do not think about Allah (Himself).” [Declared good by Al-Albani]
«تفكروا في آلاء الله، ولا تفكروا في الله» حسنه الألباني
Indeed, thinking about Allah Himself is forbidden, because the minds are not qualified to think about Him and hearts are not qualified to imagine Him: {There is nothing like Him; and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer} [Surat Ash-Shurâ 42:11]
{لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُ} الشورى: 11
Transliteration: laysa kamithlihi shayon wahuwa alssameeAAu albaseeru
As for thinking deeply about the creatures of Allah Almighty, the Holy Quran encouraged doing this; Allah Almighty said: {Verily! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding} [Surat Al-‘Imrân 3:190],
{إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلاَفِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي الألْبَابِ} آل عمران: 190
Transliteration: Inna fee khalqi alssamawati waalardi waikhtilafi allayli waalnnahari laayatin liolee alalbabi
and He Almighty said: {Say: "Behold all that is in the heavens and the earth,"} [Surat Yunus 10:101]
{قُلِ انظُرُواْ مَاذَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ} يونس: 101
Transliteration: Quli onthuroo matha fee alssamawati waalardi
Among the signs of Allah Almighty is the man who is created from semen; the man should think deeply about himself, because there are wonders in his creation and lives may end without having the ability to know just one percent of those wonders that refer to the greatness of Allah Almighty. Allah Almighty ordered the man to think deeply about himself; He said: {And also in your ownselves. Will you not then see?} [Surat Az-Zariyat 51:21]
{وَفِي أَنفُسِكُمْ أَفَلَا تُبْصِرُونَ} الذاريات: 21
Transliteration: Wafee anfusikum afala tubsiroona
Among His signs are the jewels that are in the mountains along with the minerals (e.g. gold, silver, etc,) and the petroleum, sulfur and tar and so on. Also, among His signs are the great deep seas that surround the planet; actually, if All lands have been gathered together they would appear like a small island in the mid of great sea. And in the sea there are wonders surpass what you may see on the land.
Reflect how He created the pearls and balled them in shells under the water; ponder on how He planted the corals in solid rocks under the water; ponder on the amber along with what the sea throws; ponder on the ships and how Allah Almighty held them above the water and sailed them in the seas by the winds; ponder on the water, which is the most astonishing thing, because it is the basis of the life of whatever lives on the earth, whether it is animal or plant. Indeed, if the person needed mouthful of water and have been prevented from having it, he would spend all land’s treasures to gain it. Therefore, the servant should not be inattentive to this grace.
Among the signs of Allah is air, which is a kind thing that could not be seen by naked eye. Ponder on the air’s strength, power and wonders along with the clouds, thunder, lightning, rain, snow, shooting stars and all other wonders. Ponder on the birds that swim in the air like the swimming of the fish in the water; then ponder on the skies with its greatness, planets, sun and moon. Verily, there is no planet in the universe but Allah Almighty has wisdom in creating it in this shape, color and place. Then ponder on the merging of the night into the day and the merging of the day into the night and reflect the paths of the sun and how they differ in summer, winter, spring and autumn!
And it is said that sun is more than 160 times bigger than the earth, while the smallest planet in the heaven is 8 times bigger than the earth. Hence, if this is about the size of one planet, see how many planets are in the sky! And how your eyes see them although their being very small. The most astonishing thing is that when you enter a house of a rich man decorated with gold, you do not stop astonishing it and still remember it. On the other hand; you look at this great house and do not ponder on the construction of your Creator! You forgot yourself and your Lord and became busy with your stomach and private parts. Actually; you, in your inattentiveness, are like an ant gets out her house that she built in the wall of the king’s palace and meets her sister to talk to her about her house and how she built it and what she gathered in it, while mentioning nothing about the palace of the king and its people! This is you; you know nothing about the heaven except what equals what the ant knows about the roof of your house!
Finally, this is an elaboration on the fields of thinking that the thinkers contemplate on. Life becomes short and knowledge cannot include all the creatures; however, as much as you know the wonders of the created beings as perfect you know the glory of the Creator. Hence, think deeply in what we mentioned, because he who thinks in these things, considering them the creation of Allah, will know the glory and greatness of Allah Almighty. However, if he looked only to their effects upon each other’s, not to how they relate to their Creator, he would be miserable. We seek refuge with Allah from the slip of the ignorant people and from inclining to the reasons of going astray.
And prayers and peace of Allah be upon our prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
Salih ibn Fawzan Al-Fawzan
Al-Qasim House
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