MORAL AND SPIRITUAL
DEVELOPMENT
# Salaat # Fasting # Other forms of purification and
personal development # Personal qualities and habits
Bodily needs normally
come before other needs of man. This is why the Prophet warned that poverty may
lead to unbelief or why a person who steals food while facing starvation is not
to be punished according to the Shari’ah. However, as
we have seen, physical strength and fitness is not an end in itself. Man has
other basic and crucial needs.
Side by side with looking
after his bodily needs, man has the need to keep his imaan (faith and awareness) alive and to strengthen
it. He must strive to preserve and develop his innate goodness. Quiet clearly,
it is not enough for you to say, ‘I believe’ and expect
that your moral sense will remain sharp. It is easy to be forgetful and become
engrossed in the business and cares of life. Through neglect or even deliberate
disobedience, the moral sense can also become so blunt that the ugliness of
vice may seem beautiful and attractive. There is need then for a code or
pattern of behaviour that is a natural outcome of
your beliefs, a code or pattern that will not leave you to grope or wander
about aimlessly.
Throughout the day and
throughout the year, Islam provides such a pattern of behaviour
and the institutions of control and dynamism to strengthen the innate goodness
of the human being and keep him on the straight way. The most important
institution in this regard is the Salaat. (top)
There is no English word
for Salaat. It is not ‘prayer’ since the word is in
the limited sense of the random turning to God in invocation and supplication.
The Arabic word for supplication is du’aa. But for the sake of convenience and to denote
its special character we refer to Salaat as ‘Prayer’
with the capital P. But sometimes we would use the word Salaat
itself.
Salaat may only be performed in
a prescribed form and under certain conditions as assigned to it by the Prophet
Muhammad. Any change in its form nullifies it.
Salaat must be preceded by
ablutions. ‘The key to
Salaat is compulsory since it
is connected to definite times of day – between dawn and sunrise, early
afternoon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. It is also connected to a fixed
geographical direction – the Ka’bah in Makkah. Salaat is thus bound to
nature and its movements, to space and time. It creates a natural rhythm in
one’s lifestyle. We may note that the development of astronomy among Muslims
was conditioned by the need for accurate definition of space and time. Again
you can see in this the truth that it is impossible to be a Muslim and live in
a state of ignorance and barbarity.
Salaat needs to be performed on
time. It should not be delayed or abandoned deliberately. The abandoning of Salaat puts a person outside the pale of Islam.
Salaat consists of units or rakaats. Each rakaat consists of
the pronouncement of Allahu Akbar (God is Most Great0, of
the Opening Surah of the Qur’an,
of praising and glorifying God and invoking His blessing on Prophet Muhammad
and on His righteous servants in specific terms. All words in the Salaat are always recited in Arabic.
Salaat also consists of precise
bodily postures – standing, bowing, prostrating and sitting. The sight of a
person in a crouched position with his forehead, hands, knees and toes touching
the ground may sometimes be perplexing and amusing to a non-Muslim. But the postures of Salaat is a vivid
indication of man’s relation to his Creator – a relation of uprightness,
reverence, submission and gratitude.
In the midst of your
daily activities and preoccupations, Salaat comes as
a regular reminder of
your relationship with God, your place in the scheme of things,
your responsibilities and your ultimate goal. Through the prescribed reading of
the Qur’an in Salaat, you
link yourself constantly with the source of all creation and you stand firmly
within the worldview of Islam. Salaat requires you to
recite the Faatihah at least seventeen times a day.
Salaat keeps your moral sense
sharp and prevents it from blunted and corrupted. It should protect or insulate
you from obnoxious and destructive acts and practices. It is stated in the Qur’an ‘Salaat indeed prevents a
person from shameful and reprehensible deeds’. (29: 45)
Salaat is purifying both body
and soul. The ablutions before the Prayer with fresh water act as a refresher
and cleanser. The Salaat itself, properly performed,
purifies the soul of arrogance and hypocrisy, shirk and kufr.
The Prophet, peace be on him, likened a person who regularly performs Salaat to a person who washes himself regularly in a stream
of clean running water five times a day.
Salaat leads to success or
felicity in this world and the next. This is the meaning of the resounding
phrases in the Adhan or Call to Prayer, Come
to Felicity. It brings mental satisfaction and emotional fulfillment.
Despite all these
possible benefits, there is a risk of Salaat becoming
merely repetitive, a series of motions and the uttering of set phrases in which
the heart and mind are not present. This is a risk which you should guard
against by spending some more time in preparing for Salaat,
for example by sitting quietly before the Salaat
reading the Qur’an. One way of focusing the mind on Salaat is to perform each Salaat,
in the words of the Prophet, as if it is your last Prayer, your farewell Prayer
on this earth. (top)
Every year, for one
complete lunar month – the ninth month on the Islam calendar, you as an adult
Muslim are required to fast. From dawn to sunset in the month of Ramadaan, you are required to refrain from all food and
drink and sexual relations with your spouse. If you are sick or on a journey you are
allowed not to fast but you must make up for it by fasting the same number of
days missed during the month Ramadaan.
The main purpose of
fasting is described in the Qur’an as ‘so that you
may attain taqwa or God’s consciousness’.
Fasting is thus yet another instrument for bringing us closer to our natural
state, out state of fitrah and for cleansing this
state from the dross of any disobedience and corruption.
‘Fasting is a shield’, said
the noble Prophet so simply and eloquently. And he also said, ‘Whoever spends
the month of Ramadaan in complete faith and
self-rectification, his previous sins will be forgiven’.
Ramadaan is a month of heightened
devotion. In it, Salaat is performed with greater
intensity. There are Salaat at-Tarawiih, perform during the
nights. For the last ten night of the Ramadaan, some
retreat to the mosque to perform I’tikaaf, a period of intense reflection and devotion,
seeking guidance and forgiveness, and reading the Qur’an.
Ramadaan is a great opportunity
to get closer to the blessed guidance of the Qur’an
which was revealed in this month. That’s why the month is also called the month
of the Qur’an. The same month also is the opportunity
to develop qualities of endurance and self-restraint, to control anger and a
fiery or malicious tongue. It is an opportunity to fine tune the body and shed
it of obesity and sloth, and to benefit from any
therapeutic effects fasting may have.
This is the time to
awaken compassion and solidarity with others and in particular with the poor.
We are urged to be more liberal in giving during Ramadaan
and are required at the end of fasting to give Sadaqatul Fitr, an amount to enable all to share in the spirit
of warmth, affection and brotherhood.
Fasting in Islam is in no
way related to penance for sins nor is it regarded as
a means of appeasing God’s wrath as in some religions.
Although the month may
appear a hard and difficult month, it is in fact an enjoyable time. A special
atmosphere prevails in homes, in mosques and in Muslim communities as a whole.
Muslims look forward to the coming of Ramadaan with
great longing and expectation and feel a certain
sadness when come to the end.
It may also be possible
that Ramadaan be taken as a time when normal work
during the daytime is reduced or suspended. It should be borne in mind that
normal work activities should continue during Ramadaan
and it should not be taken as an excuse for sluggishness and idleness. Means,
you need to be careful that the true benefits of fasting, of self-restraint and
control, are not lost through gluttony on the one hand or idleness on the
other.
Voluntary fasting
Outside Ramadaan, the Muslim is also advised to fast voluntarily to
maintain a state of self-control. It is Sunnah to fast six days in
the month of Shawwaal, the month next to Ramadaan, the ‘Aashuuraa (9th,
10th, 11th) in the month of Muharram, and in the month of
Sha’baan in preparation for the month of Ramadaan. This voluntary fasts may also be observed on two
days a week – Mondays and Thursdays, or three days a month. But it is not
recommended to fast voluntarily on Fridays as it is considered to be a day of Eid or celebration. Voluntary fasts may be broken if one
has guests or for any reason without any requirement to make amends. (top)
Other forms of Tazkiyyah (Purification and Personal Development)
Apart from the major
institutions of Salaat and Fasting in Ramadaan, there are a number of practices recommended in
the Qur’an and the example of the noble Prophet for
strengthening man’s awareness of God and moulding his
thoughts and actions into the natural mould of ‘ibaadah
or worship of God.
Dhikr
This is one of the
instruments, which literally means the remembrance of God. This may be through
the conscious repetition at any time of meaningful phrases like:
·
Alhamdu lillah – All praise and thanks
is due to God;
·
Laa ilaaha illa Allah – There is no god but
Allah;
·
SubhaanAllah – Glory be to God;
·
Astaghhfirulla – I seek God’s
forgiveness;
·
Laa hawla wa
laa quwwata illa billah – There is nor power
might except with God.
Dhikr is not difficult. While
one is traveling, on a bus or on a rain, while one is studying, eating,
playing, working, a few minutes, a minute or even a few seconds, to say Alhamdulillah will provide a person
with a natural mental climate and orientation.
Apart from these phrases
repeated orally, dhikr deals with all aspects of work
and leisure. Every work that is done consciously in accordance with the
guidance of God is dhikr. The difference between the
one who makes dhikr and one who does not has been
likened by the noble Prophet to the difference between the living and the dead.
And God gives us the assurance in the Qur’an:
‘As you remember Me so shall I remember you’.
Du’aa
Literally, means ‘calling
upon’ or supplication is another instrument of purification and rectification.
Your du’aa upon God for knowledge and guidance, for
health and strength, for sustenance and healing, for forgiveness for wrongs commited, or protection from such evils as anxiety and
sadness, laziness and incompetence, cowardice and miserliness, overpowering
debt and oppressive men – are all experessions of
your human state of need and dependence and of your essential ‘human-ity’ before your Creator.
Your du’aa
may be couched in your own or any language. It is the outpouring of your heart
to your Maker and an expression of your innermost aspirations and ambitions.
The du’aa
of the Prophet and other supplications in the Qur’an
however show us in the most beautiful and moving way possible what we should
pray for and how. In fact there are du’aas
of the Prophet for almost all occasions. (top)
Personal qualities and habits
‘I was sent to perfect
the best in moral characteristics’, said the noble Prophet describing his
mission. While this points to the fact that the message he brought was not a
new one, it also shows that the main purpose of this message is to make man
live according to the highest moral standards which he is capable of.
This saying of the Prophet
may be linked to many verses in the Qur’an such as:
‘Consider the human self and how it is formed in
accordance with what it is meant to be.
And how it is imbued with moral
failings as well as with consciousness of God. He shall indeed attain to a happy state who couses this self to grow in
purity. And truly lost is he who buries in (in darkness)’. (The Qur’an, 91: 7-10).
From this we can see that
each person has a duty to cultivate good and desirable qualities which are
parts of his natural make-up. Some of these qualities which are stressed in the
Qur’an and the Sunnah are:
Truthfulness, honesty,
reliability in fulfilling trusts
Gentleness, politeness,
courtesy
Generosity, compassion
and forgiveness
Purity, modesty and
decency
Humility, patience and
steadfastness, courage, thankfulness
Dignity, honour, self-respect
Warmth and lovingness,
cheerfulness and good temper
Striving
and hard work.
On the other hand, each
person has a duty to strive against noxious qualities and habits. Some of these
are:
Lying, dishonesty,
deceit, untrustworthiness, hypocrisy
Harshness, rancour, niggardliness
Miserliness, envy, hatred
Brashness, shamelessness,
self-conceit
Cowardice and opportunism
Laziness.
Bad qualities and habits are
like rust on a pure heart. The more rust accumulates, the more insensitive a persons’s heart will become. The covering of rust may
eventually obscure all good and a person might reach a state where vice and
noxious qualities become not only acceptable t him but beautiful. If there is
still a spark of good left, the door for repentance or tawbah (which literally means
returning to your original state) might still be open. The weeds in your garden
must not be allowed to stifle and smother the flowers and the fruit.
In cultivating good
qualities, it is important to remember the saying of the Prophet that the best
deeds are those done regularly even if they are small. This stresses the need
to develop good habits, whereby the practice of goodness becomes a matter of
course, easy and natural.
Refer again to the life
pattern of the Prophet. When he was in private he would worship his Lord with
such intense devotion, standing for long hours in Salaat,
that his feet would become swollen; in matters pertaining to truth and justice,
he did not care about anyone’s opinion, seeking only the pleasure of God. But
in his living habits and dealings with people, he was a human being, enjoying
good things, participating in small talk, smiling and joking, yet never departing
from the truth.
Islam does not require of
people that their speech should consist entirely of pious utterances,
that their silence should be a meditation, that they should listen to
nothing except the Qur’an or that they should spend
all their leisure time in the mosque. (top)