Don't lose

Allah answers the prayer of the disbeliever who is in distress; so how much more can the Muslim expect who doesn’t associate partners with Him?

Mahatma Gandhi, perhaps second in popularity in India only to the Buddha,was on the verge of slipping were it not for his dependence on the strength of prayer. And how do I know this? Because, he himself said, “If I didn’t pray, I would have gone mad a long time ago. This was the effect of prayer, and Gandhi was not even a Muslim. Unquestionably, his falsehood was great, but what kept him going was that he was on a path.

And when they embark on a ship, they invoke Allah, making their Faith pure for Him only, but when He brings them safely to land, behold, they give a share of their worship to others.  (Qur’an 29: 65)

Is not He [better than your gods] who responds to the distressed one, when he calls Him…  (Qur’an 27: 62)

(And they think that they are encircled therein, they invoke Allah, making their Faith pure for Him Alone, saying: `If You [Allah] deliver us from this, we shall truly be of the grateful.  (Qur’an 10: 22)

Despite a thorough search through the biographies of Muslim scholars, Muslim historians, and Muslim writers as a group, I have failed to find a single one of them who fell prey to anxiety, confusion, and mental illnesses. The reason is that they lived in peace and serenity, and that they lived uncomplicated lives that were free from all forms of affectation.

But those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and believe in that which is sent down to Muhammad, for it is the truth from their Lord, He will expiate from them their sins, and will make good their state.  (Qur’an 47: 2)

Contemplate the following statement of Ibn Hazim:

“There is only one day separating kings and me. As for yesterday, their taste of it has vanished, and both they and I equally fear what tomorrow will bring. Thus there is only today. And what will today bring?”

The Prophet (Blessings and Peace be upon him) said:

“O’ Allah, I ask you for goodness today: in its blessings, success, light, and guidance.”

O’ you who believe! Take your precautions…   (Qur’an 4: 71)

And let him be careful and let no man know of you.   (Qur’an 18: 19)

And they said nothing but: `Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and our transgressions [in keeping our duties to you], establish our feet firmly, and give us victory over the disbelieving folk.   (Qur’an 3: 147)

Excerpt from the Book  - Don’t Be Sad – By Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni

The danger of Self Justification

All of us  to a greater or lesser extent  have a tendency to justify and rationalize our mistakes. It is part of our mindset that makes us try to flee from criticism and from having to make amends. At the very least, we sometimes try to find an excuse for our errors instead of shouldering the full weight of the blame.

This mindset can surface in all kinds of situations, even in our most private thoughts. It is a mindset bolstered and nourished by emotion, and if it comes to dominate our thinking, we can lose the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

This is because the power of emotional sentiment and self-interest, when coupled with a self-justifying mindset, is persuasive and dangerous. A person with this frame of mind is always ready to cover up his bad deeds or make them seem less onerous than they really are. The person does this at the expense of reason and logic. He ceases to think clearly. He only sees what serves his selfish interests, what absolves him from blame and responsibility.

In his mind, the fault is always someone else’s. Worse still, it is never just an innocent mistake. That other person is always deliberately and maliciously in the wrong and without any excuse.

When we let our thoughts take us in this dangerous direction, we cease to be self-critical.

Instead of acknowledging our mistakes and resolving to avoid them in the future, we become determined to commit the same mistake again and again.

The most serious problem is a person’s ability to justify to himself his deliberate errors and misdeeds. It is possible for a person to convince himself that his worst transgressions and acts of injustice are true and correct. He can reconcile in his mind the most blatant contradictions with far-fetched interpretations that make integrity and deception synonymous terms. He ceases to distinguish his rights from the rights of others, his personal interests from the needs of society.

The self-justifying mind is one of oversimplifications. It is also very dismissive. It plays down the harm that one’s bad and selfish deeds causes for other people, for society, and for the environment. When it cannot deny that harm, it always finds a way to rationalize it. By doing so, it belies the basic values and ethics that the person would otherwise be very well aware of and that are essential for the proper functioning of human society.

Turning a blind eye to one’s mistakes is an easy way to avoid guilty feelings and a sense of responsibility. However, this means that those mistakes will never be confronted and remedied. They invariably becoming larger, uglier, and more deeply-entrenched over time. Ignoring mistakes or justifying them does not make those mistakes go away. The only way we can make positive changes within ourselves is to be true to ourselves and in our dealings with others.

[exerpted from the Arabic article "al-`Aql al-Tabrîrî fî al-Fi`l al-Ijtimâ`î"]

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