Thinking first, Prayer
next
The holy Quran emphasizes in most
of its crystal clear verses on inviting man to give rein to
mental thinking and contemplation for, in its blessed chapters,
such verses which urge man to employ deep insight into Allah's
Creation and constant meditation on the essence of things - have
been repeated with regard to the affairs of the heavens and
the earth:" Those who remember Allah (always and in prayers)
standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and think deeply
about the creation of the heavens and the earth (saying): "Our
Lord! You have not created (all) this without a purpose, glory to
You! (Exalted are you above all that you associate with your
partners). Give us salvation from the torment of the
Fire.(Al-An'am:191) (…..This He has commanded you so that you may
understand)" (Al-An'am:151) (Say: "Bring forward your witnesses
who can testify not you (O Muhammad) with them and you should not
follow the vain desires of such as treat Our Ayat (proofs,
evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations etc.) as
falsehoods, and such as believe not in the Hereafter and they
hold others as equal to them (in worship) with their
Lord."(Al-An'am:151).
"Say: O Muhammad! I don't tell you
that with me are the treasures of Allah, nor (that) I know the
Unseen. I say not that I am an angel. I attend only what is
revealed to me. Say: "Are the blind and the one who sees equal."?
Will you not take thought?" (Al-An'am: 50).
These noble verses will get to
meet in their content of directing the Moslem a sound direction
by putting between his hands the keys of the right combination
with the message of Islam so that his faith will elevate to the
level of understanding, satisfaction and maturity because that
will undoubtedly, protect his faith from what causes suspicion as
long as the foundation on which faith is built strong and
deep-rooted which won't be affected by the crises of suspicion,
worry and disturbance.
On this basis, Islam rejects the
faith and belief of the Moslem believer who has acquired them
both by way of inheritance. For this reason, Allah demanded from
His subject to profoundly think and contemplate for He wants his
belief and faith in life and behavior have both sprung from
within his heart and from the depth of his insight - quite away
from the stubbornly imposed faith and belief or to get them stuck
in his life as part entirely strange and that which there is no
association, reaction and harmony.
And from here, we find the Prophet
(P.B.U.H.) and all his pure progeny while throwing their lights
on the spirit of the rightful worship , they signify for us and
emphasize , too that it is incumbent on us to know that sound
thinking is worship and that no prayer is accepted by Allah,
Glory to Him especially of the person whose prayer in his whole
life is but mere words uttered within the prayer by the performer
without paying the least attention to what he is saying –
entirely empty of content.
Imam Ali (P.B.U.H.) says: "Best of
worshipping acts lies in deep thinking of Allah, His Creation and
Omnipotence. Deep thinking about Allah, the universe the human
self invites man to give charity and be helpful to people. Imam
As-Sadiq (P.B.U.H.)
Imam Ar- Ridha (P.B.U.H.) , in
this respect, says: "Worshipping does not mean an increase in the
number of prayers and the days of fasting but in thinking of
Allah-and His Creation to Whom be ascribed all glory and
perfection.
Why? …because the human being who
worships Allah (Glory to Him) through his intellect, reason and
thought will get to know the broad right way to the truthful,
typical example whose fruits will be yielded together with the
moral consequences in all aspects of life. Islam aims at growing
the mind on permanent awakening to get self-guided to the light
of the truth and right.
It seems that the tragedy which
man is living through in this age is the feebleness of mental
activity as well as its spiritual weakness. Man's modern mind
twistingly live inside the jail of absent-mindedness like a
drunkard who can't distinguish between light and
dark.
On account of that, the vitality
of his senses which has been considered as the dynamo of diverse
knowledge went out of work and this state of being made man turn
his attention towards the verses of the heavens and the earth
which began to move along like a passing cloud which could stir
no lesson or a sermon in him.
And as such, he ignorantly
abandoned and blindly turned away from them where he wishfully
was not eager to see the bitter truth of the matter itself which
is now standing erect in front of him but before that it has
slipped his mind at the time being that the truth had been
recognizably before him but his eyes couldn't see the truth
well.
And from here, we find the Quran
threatens those who do not invest the energies of the mind and
don't use the bliss of the senses in an excellent image: "And
surely, We created many of the jinn and mankind for Hell. They
have hearts wherewith they understand not, and have eyes
wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear
not (truth) they are like cattle; nay, even more astray; those!
They are the heedless ones."(Al-Araf:179).
History tells us that once a man
was lying on his bed with eyes looking up in the sky and the
stars and felt amazed at what he had seen and meantime said: "I
bear witness that you (i.e. the sky and the stars) have got a
Lord and a Creator; O Allah! Forgive my sins wherein Allah had
looked at him and forgiven him."
The notion of "thinking" which
Islam invites people to pursue in seeking knowledge is not
restricted to one aspect without another but invites the whole of
mankind to resort to thinking about life on the whole within its
spectra of dimensions and phenomena.
Sat -
18 Rajab 1446H -
