{Two-Part Post - - - 1/2} Excerpt from The Healing Light of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam) The Diagnosis: There are two main possibilities to account for the lack of progress on the Path or in life. These two main possibilities even underlie the disinclination to make the effort to make progress. The first is the fear of change. This implies anxiety over situations, which are by their nature dynamic, and demand an inner as well as out flexibility and confidence. [The second is a history of negative and self-destructive circumstances that have fashioned a persons character, which can also indicate a lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, indeed, a lack of ability to be sure in ones self.] The symptoms of this state are many. To name a few: the reluctance to make decisions, or to have decisions questioned; the feeling that one is being judged by others, and that one is always being questioned, the fear of failure, or the inability to deal constructively with apparent failure (that is, the inability to see apparent failure as a learning experience or an incentive to reach higher and try harder). Other symptoms include the sense that others are better than oneself, or are more efficient, or are more sensitive to an issue, or more personable. These-along with the underlying attitude of uselessness, fear, and apathy toward making an effort to change or be inspired by others---are certainly some of the symptoms that account for lack of progress. Before you identify yourself with all the symptoms that are listed, make sure you understand the previous sentence (in brackets above). Life is a continuous and dynamic process, and as such is a challenge. For a human being to be as free and as divinely motivated as possible, one must know how to meet that challenge. The life of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam) is full of wisdom and guidance on how to meet the challenges of life. But often, we create unreasonable expectations as the basis for progress toward his example, which allow us to avoid effort, change and challenges. As a result, conditions develop internally spiritually, which then manifest outwardly, and signal to oneself and others the fear, the unwillingness to change, and the anxiety over change. Individuals choose many avenues of avoidance: some retreat into near total inactivity, or retreat into a rigid schedule or frenetic activity. Others retreat to compulsive behavior, or venture out less and less frequently into any new areas - creatively, intellectually, socially, emotionally, and certainly spiritually. Taking fewer and fewer new responsibilities , one loses ones taste for life, or becomes entrenched in narrowness and in a detachment from the Trust (Amanat), and thus, from the nearness to ones Creator and purpose for existence. Surrounded by opportunity, one is unable to see the good of life, the unlimited storehouse of knowledge that is at ones beck and call. Or, equally as destructive, one becomes more and more distracted by worldly desires and less aware of the ayaatu-Llaah (signs of Allah) that characterize the Divine Presence in the world (the beauty of nature, the compassion in the hearts of beings). by ~Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid~ (hafithahuAllah)
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 14:53:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015