The power of REFLECTION
Have you ever heard of the word audit? which most companies and NGO's go through...
Why do they do so?
Have you ever thought of auditing yourself, your thoughts, feelings, and actions, something like self-audit.
Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu ‘anhu said in one of his most powerful statements:
“Bring yourself to account before you are taken to account (on the Day of Judgement),” and, “Weigh your deeds before your deeds are weighed.” (“Hasibu anfusakum qabla antuhasabu, wazinu anfusakum qabla antuzanu.”)
Ever wondered what was Rasullulah SAWS doing in the cave of Hira? What did Ibrahim AS do when he was in search of true guidance and to know his true Lord.
I presume it's far more powerful than we have imagined - probably it was REFLECTION and MEDIATION.
The power of meditation and the benefits of mediation we know it all but off lately I have been hearing the term reflection quite frequently and also practicing it too and I was just wondering what was it doing to me.
That's when I came across this amazing quote by Umar RA.
Yes, that's the ability to self-assess yourself and take an audit of your day to plan the actions steps for the next day and that's called MUHASIBA.
You can read this article for further clarification and better understanding,
https://islamicspiritualitytranscripts.wordpress.com/2016/01/10/21st-ramadan-after-asr-majlis/
Why is it so important to us as Muslims, because it is a way to keep a check on to your nafs.
Ibnul Qayyim explains the evil consequences of not checking your nafs, or monitoring your nafs, taking account of your nafs.
"The most dangerous thing for a person is to be negligent of taking himself to account. It is the most dangerous thing that he is relaxed, paying no mind to check the nafs. This will surely lead to a person’s destruction. This is the state of the people who are deluded and deceived, and fooled by shaytan because they are heedless, negligent; they don’t bring themselves to account. They shut their eyes at the end result, meaning they don’t look at the reality of the situation. Then it becomes comfortable for him to sin. They don’t consider that this action carries such a reward, or “if I commit this sin, I may be punished.” They rely solely upon being forgiven. They are deluded because they don’t check their nafs. If a person doesn’t check himself – take himself to account – then it becomes easy for that person to sin, and it is comfortable for him to sin.
Imagine the [success of a] man who brings himself to account for every deed!
The person who doesn’t bring himself to account will have a difficult time leaving sins, like someone having to wean himself from a habitual act, or like weaning a baby from his mother. And if he only came to his senses, then he would understand that protection is easier than weaning. Why not protect yourself? Don’t fall into it [at all]. Protecting yourself from it is easier, because it is difficult to stay away from that which you are used to, and that which is habitual.”"
A practice that goes back to more than 1400 years ago but I doubt if it is still a deliberate practice in any Muslim household.
There are various ways and various tools for reflecting and we are practicing that at our family Halaqa, as a parent, as a child, as a family.
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