3. THE DISTRACTIONS OF LIFE
While I was delivering a sermon in my assembly, hearts were present, eyes were running, heads were down in humility, souls were regretful for overlooking their duties, endeavours were made to rectify’ their affairs, tongues of blame admonishing the idle for being careless and slacking; so I asked myself, ‘why does the state of awakening not last?’ I see that the ‘self (nafs) and the state of awakening get along together during the sermon but as soon as we leave the assembly, they depart from each other and become strangers to each other again.
After contemplating this situation I came to realise that ‘the self is always awake and the heart is always aware but distractions are too many and the intellect people should dedicate to know Allah, Most High, is exhausted from being utilised to achieve worldly pleasures and fulfilling the needs of the ‘self.
All the while, the heart is overwhelmed by such a state and the body is a prisoner employed for such a purpose.
While thoughts roam around thinking of food, drink and clothes, and seeking the means from which they can be provided and thinking of what can be saved for difficult future times, the thought of excreting the harmful waste from the body and wanting purity afterwards comes to mind.
The ‘self then becomes busy with how to relieve itself from harmful objects; including semen, thus it calls for the need of marriage. However, it realises it cannot marry without endeavouring to ensure a source of income, so it plans and works accordingly. Then when a person is blessed with a child, he spends all his time caring for and looking after him. At that point, it becomes obvious that the intellect and thoughts are being overwhelmed with all that concerns this Worldly life.
As for when a person attends a gathering [where Allah and the Hereafter are mentioned and remembered] he comes neither hungry nor lustful, but rather determined and focused, and completely forgetting all that which he was busy with from worldly affairs.
Therefore, the heart becomes empty of all worldly distractions and so when the preachment is given or a reminder is delivered, it takes over the heart and reminds the heart of what it is acquainted with and attracts it to what it knows. This encourages the servants of the heart to sail in the river of His knowledge and so brings the ‘self to stand to account for what it has overlooked and blame it for its shortcomings, causing the eyes of regret to run with tears and the will of retraction from such a state to stand up firm.
If this ‘self-disconnects from all the distractions I mentioned, it would have become devoted to worshipping its Lord. And if it fell in the ocean of His love, it would have felt everything as strange while being in His service. This is why ascetics settle in solitude and obstructs all distractions; hence each one of them achieved from their worship according to the level of their striving in this regard, similar to how farmers reap only what they sow!
I however, have noticed a hidden meaning in all this, which is that, if the ‘self was in a constant state of awakening it would have fallen trial to a calamity more than it would have when being heedless sometimes i.e. if the ‘self was in a constant state of awakening, it will become too proud of its worship and despise those whose worship and striving are less. Even worse, it could reach a level at which it says, ‘1 am entitled for such and such and I deserve such and such.’
It is for this reason, it was left to flounder along in the pit of its sins, since then when it stands on the shore of safety it will stand with humility and hence will have fulfilled the due right of true servitude to Allah and that is the best for it. This is indeed the situation of most people, which is the reason why they have been distracted from the actual purpose of their creation.
That said, whoever sows [i.e. worships and obeys Allah] and rectified his affairs, will make a mistake or disobey Allah at some point that the eye of his fear from Allah’s punishment will monitor so that his worship will be sound and his state of servitude to Allah will be correct. This meaning has been indicated in the authentic hadith when the Prophet said, “It you committed no sins, Allah would have removed you and replaced you with other people who will sin and ask Allah’s forgiveness upon which they will be forgiven.”
(source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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