19. THE VIRTUE OF SEEKING A HIGH STATUS
When a person focuses in on his thought, it will guide him to seek the most lofty and noble of status. It will make him reject any form of shortcoming. Abu’l-Tayyib al-Mutanabbl said (in poetry):
I have not seen a worse fault in people,
than for capable people not to (strive to) be perfect.
An intelligent (‘aqil) should try to achieve as much he can because if it were possible for humans to fly to the heavens, remaining on earth would be one of the worst deficiencies.
Was becoming a Prophet attainable through hard work (ijtihad), those who fall short of attaining it would be of the lowest levels. However, if attaining the highest status is not possible, a person in such case must try to seek what is possible.
Renowned pious people always discussed how the “self’ (nafs) should reach its highest levels of perfection in both knowledge (ilm) and deeds (‘amal). I will explain this concept in further details to highlight the nuanced meanings of it:
As for physical appearance, a person cannot determine how he looks like since it is beyond his power but he can beautify it. It is therefore not meritorious for an intelligent person to neglect his appearance.
To this end, religion entirely points out to best practises, i.e. it orders us to trim our fingernails, pluck out armpit hair and shave pubic hair. It also forbids us from eating garlic and raw onions [when attending to the prayer] because of the bad odour. A person must therefore try to take these examples mentioned in our religion and apply them at large and try to be as clean and beautiful as possible.
People used to know that the Messenger was coming from smelling his fragrance as he was very clean [in his body and clothes] and always avoided everything that may be dirty [his body or clothes].
I do not mean by this to encourage people to become compulsive in their cleanliness; rather I only ask people to be moderate for moderation is praised.
A person then must be gentle with his body as it serves him just as his ride serves him. He should not diminish its strength as it will diminish his own strength accordingly. I do not mean by this to encourage people to eat to the point of burping; rather I ask people to be moderate for the strength of a person is like a running fountain— it benefits its owners and others as well.
That being the case, the words of compulsive ascetics who were extreme in their eating practices to the point of becoming too weak to perform obligations should be discarded because this kind of practise is not from religion, nor reported from the Messenger (s^g) or his Companions (radiy Alldbu ‘anhum).
They only used to feel hungry if they did not find food, and they used to practice patience whenever it was necessary.
Furthermore, a person must only feed his ride (i.e. body) whatever benefits it for it may happen that a single bite may prevent a person from eating numerous bites.
A person should not consume anything that may harm his body, and rather look for the best of food and drink that can maintain his health.
He must not pay attention to anyone pretending to be ascetic saying, ‘you must not let yourself fulfil desires because a person must only investigate the lawfulness and health levels of his food and then take from it the right measures.’
It was not reported that the Messenger and his Companions (radiy Allahu ‘auburn) abandoned all the desirable things as those compulsive pretentious people advocate.
They only abandoned such desirables because of suspecting the lawfulness of such desirables or because they were concerned that their ‘self would become accustomed to and seek these desires at all times.
A person must work hard [to earn enough money to sustain himself] and be the upper hand to help people instead of being the lower hand that receives help.
Yet he must not busy himself to the point of becoming unable to seek knowledge; he must seek knowledge to reach the ultimate level of it [i.e. reach the level of ijtihad| because taqlidis the worst of shortcomings.
If his zeal becomes stronger, it will elevate him to the level at which he can have his own niadhhab and not follow anyone else’s views.
This is because a blind follower (muqallid) is like a blind man being led by his leader. He must seek the highest levels of knowing Allah and working to please Him.
In brief, a person must not abandon a virtue that he is able to acquire because contentment is the character of those with lowly status.
Be a man whose feet are on the ground,
but whose head is in the highest of stars.
If you are able to exceed all scholars and ascetic people then do so for they were men just like you are a man. Those who do not work to better themselves are of weak and low endeavours.
Know that you are in a race with time running out. Do not be apt to indolence because laziness is the reason for missing out on all the virtues. Hard work is the pathway to success and strong lofty endeavours boil inside the heart just as water boils in a kettle. One of the righteous predecessors said (in poetry):
I have no wealth except my generosity;
with it I become alive from nothing.
I am content with the sustenance that is written,
but my zeal has reached high levels.
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
Comments
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.