A Formula For Success

Dr. Pasha

 

It Is All You

Life seems to continually throw you into situations and among people that require answers to all kinds of questions. Often, these are questions that you may have wrestled with at one point or another in your own life.

And then Allah guides whom he wants to the kind of answers he pleases.

Best answers are found in the Qur’an.

But to get to the Qur’an is not given to everyone. No one comes to the Qur’an without a personal invitation – directly from God.

And then the Qur’an is like an ocean.

Each gets from the Qur’an what they want – and what they can. And what they are able to take away from it depending on the motivation they have and depending on the equipment and the container they bring to it.

So, what you get from the Qur’an is not so much a function of the ocean, but of the vessel that you bring to it.

In that sense, it is all you.

“In that case I will bring a whole tanker,” said a friend of mine when he first heard me say this during a Qur’an program I was conducting – called for convenience sake, Dr. Pasha’s International Qur’an Program.

What I am trying to say is, there are limitations on your part and there are barriers and hurdles you need to cross – to get to the Qur’an and to be able to successfully interface and communicate with the Qur’an.

That is why I say when it comes to the Qur’an it is all you.

It Is All Qur’an

But looked at it from another angle, and in another sense and context, it is all Qur’an.

It is almost as if to say that the Qur’an will talk to you when, where and how it pleases.

And on its own terms.

The challenge then becomes not only to locate the answers in the Qur’an, but also to read and understand them right.

Everybody reads the same Qur’an, you may think. But do they really? They don’t. Even though the Qur’an is the same changeless, immutable, eternal word of God that it has always been and that it always shall remain.

Yet the Qur’an is like the one whose immortal speech it is.

As for him, who can say in what state of glory he is on any given day.

Kulla yaumin huwa fe sha’n, is how the Qur’an puts it.

Implication: Everyday the Qur’an is new, fresh and in a different state of glory even though its permanence is eternal and constant.

In this sense, it is all Qur’an.

That is why not all those who read the Qur’an get the same answers from the Qur’an. It is because they are who they are and they bring to the Qur’an what they do.

That is also because the Qur’an is what it is: God Almighty’s own immortal word in mortal human hands.

When the right interface occurs, right answers emerge in the human domain.

Some of What It Takes to Communicate with the Qur’an

Here is some of what it takes to communicate with the Qur’an – some of what it takes to be able to read the Qur’an properly and receive the rights answers from it:

1. First of all, you should know that the Qur’an is read with your heart and not just with your mind, even though having a sharp and cultivated mind a basic requirement of coming to Islam in the first place.
    
2. That means Iman - lots and lots of Iman. No Iman, no Qur’an. This may appear a bit circular, but it is not. People who come to the Qur’an are generally those whose Iman is already in a working condition, or those whose hearts and minds are hardwired for Iman, even though for the time being their Iman may be pointing in the wrong direction and focused on the wrong objects.
    
3. Superior human qualities such as true humility and personal integrity and the courage required to submit to the superior logic and evidence of the Qur’an. Without these things a person may not get far with the Qur’an.

   Unless, of course, Allah has already decided to bring this person in anyway and the Qur’an breaks down this person’s arrogance and personal barriers and overwhelms   him and drags him bound hand and foot to the mercy of Allah.

   This the Qur’an does when and how and with whom it pleases.

Some More Requirements for Communicating with the Qur’an

1. An insatiable curiosity about the world; a brain full of all kinds of questions about life; and a general and indomitable hunger for knowledge – for truth. Without these things a person is more or less brain dead. And life and its challenges and their solutions mean nothing to dazed, bemused and befuddled individuals like that.

   Such people live on the margins of space and time and they wander the vistas of  life like zombies, getting out of it only the dregs and refuse life throw away from time to time. Qur’an and non-Qur’an, life and death, success and failure, are all the  same to such people.

2. An underlying discomfort with the surrounding darkness of social injustices, moral wrongs and general human degradation and wretchedness. A general aversion to what the Qur’an calls Zulm - all the terrible things people do to people.
    
3. And an active and growing knowledge base - Ilm. All kinds of knowledge. Knowledge without limits or borders. And that includes knowledge of all the accumulated common wisdom of the present and the past as well as of all the sciences and historical facts.

   The more you know, the more you would know what the Qur’an is talking about – provided all the other conditions are met.

   And yet, it is the amazing miracle of the Qur’an that the simplest heart and the least  sophisticated of minds can read and understand it. Just like the Bedouins and nomads of 7th Century Arabia.

Hadith: The Next Set of Answers

The next place for answers is the Hadith. And in general what is true of the Qur’an is also true of the Hadith.

The big difference is that now you are not going to the ocean directly but visiting every major and minor river and waterway in the world other than the ocean itself. And if you have done any serious hiking, boating or exploring among woods and rivers, you would know what it is like.

Does that give you a bit of an insight into why there is so much variation in views, opinions and beliefs among Muslims? It is not because they don’t know what they are talking about, but more because of the sheer range, volume or wealth of detailed information that is available to them in the Hadith literature.

The easy thing about these smaller bodies of water is that there is always one next door to you. The challenge you face is that there are often so many of them and you need to pick your way carefully among them.

What do you expect?

Hadith is after all the living, verbatim, eye-witness, real-time record of a quarter-century of the 24-hour life, times, teachings, sayings and doings of Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.

Hadith is the most complete, thorough, authentic, direct and immediate documentation of the life, times and culture of an individual or people that there is on the face of this earth.

Thus, while the richness of the Hadith gives you everything you want, its vastness makes you tread as carefully as you possibly can.

A Strong and Vast Knowledge Base

Sadly, much of the world does not know this. And that includes many of the Muslims.

But Islam is really for those who can think. And it is for those who care about knowledge.

Thus, neither the Qur’an nor the Hadith are truly and fully accessible to those with a narrow, small, deficient or shrinking knowledge base or constricted mind.

Thus, when you are a Muslim, you either already have a broad and strong knowledge base. Or you have dedicated yourself to a lifetime of tireless searching for knowledge – and truth and reality.

And this includes all the hard sciences; all the soft sciences; all the social sciences; all the humanities; all the literatures and languages; all the philosophies and ideologies; all the religions and folklore; and all else.

Both real and simulated. Both past and present as well as everything that can be projected into the future. That is the kind and extent of knowledge Islam expects Muslims to aim at.

It is knowledge of the Dunya in all its forms and complexities. Just as it is also knowledge of Deen in all its details.

Deficiencies in these knowledge areas will show up as problems in your understanding of the Qur’an and Hadith on the one hand and in your understanding of the world of Allah on the other hand.

At worst you will be Daal and Mudil – blind leading the leading blind. At best you will be irrelevant to the march of history – weightless and worthless as the Hadith puts it.

Ghuthaa’ ka-ghuthaa-is-sail.

Take a good look at the condition of the Muslims around the world today and decide in what state you think they are.

A Messy World

The result will be a perfectly messed up world.

That is why till the “pure” understanding of the Qur’an and Hadith is combined with an equally rigorous understanding of the world of Allah, you have neither full knowledge nor understanding of Islam or the world. That is why those Muslims who think they understand the word of God, without a clear and fuller understanding of how God’s world (with the letter “l”) works, have only a superficial and limited understanding of Islam.

That is also why those non-Muslims who think they can unravel the mysteries of God’s creation without recourse to God’s word and the explanation and practical application of that word provided by God’s Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, so often misunderstand and misrepresent the world. Why to them 2 + 2 so frequently seem to add up to all kinds of numbers other than 4.

Thus, in fact, each side may be holding one half of the puzzle. Unless the two pieces of the puzzle are brought together, creation will remain an unsolved mystery and happiness on earth will remain an elusive dream.

Looking for Answers: Islam Lesson One

Thus, life means looking, searching, working for answers. So is Islam. That is why looking for answers – to both the practical problems of life as well as to the theoretical problems of this world – is lesson number one in Islam.

That is why also Islam and life, Islam and knowledge, and Islam and science – when both parts of these equations are understood and done right – provide the most perfect and harmonious realization of all-round existence on earth.

They provide the perfect state of equilibrium on earth. Together, they give us a perfect combination of Ta’leem and Tazkiyah – the best in education and character.

The result is an earthly paradise of perfect living: for Muslims as well as non-Muslims; for humans as well as nonhumans.

Some Practical Advice

Keeping the above backdrop in mind, below are some answers, and some advice, I have given from time to time to some of the questions people keep asking me – my students, friends, those in my Qur’an programs, those in various Islamic and other more general and broader camps, projects, meetings, conferences and activities.

Their questions can all be summed up into one broad problem area: What should I do to make my life better and more successful in this world?

My first response: Why just this world? Why not also take in the next world while you are at it?

So, here is a bit more detailed approach to success and happy living gleaned from the Qur’an, the Hadith and available knowledge in various relevant fields such as psychology, sociology, management and the rest.

No one modeled or exemplified any of these things more fully in his or her life than Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.

That is why Islam spread as rapidly and vastly throughout the world as it did: because Islam taught the world how to live a most perfect life in this world. Not because people went around chopping off people’s heads forcing them to be Muslims.

1. Cultivate Physical Toughness

Don’t be your body’s slave. Don’t work for your body. Instead, make your body for you.

Eat, sleep and drink only as much as your body needs. Don’t overeat or oversleep. That will make you tired, lazy and possibly even unwell.

As much as possible, do all your work by yourself. Ask for help only when needed.

2. Cultivate Mental Toughness

Be an active user of your brain. Don’t be a mental jellyfish. Learn to make the tough decisions. For, living is about making decisions and choosing among alternatives, often imperfect ones.

But always think things through carefully and vigorously. Be logical and rigorous in your thinking. Don’t be a mental slob.

Put your mind to work. Don’t depend on others to do your thinking or to make up your mind for you.

Don’t always lean on others for psychological and emotional support. Try to be the tree on which others can lean.

3. Cultivate Moral Toughness

Morality is what elevates humans above animals. Try to know the difference between right and wrong and take clear moral stands wherever and whenever you can.

But do so not so much to judge, insult, attack or condemn others, but to hold yourself to a higher standard and to do the right thing as much as you can.

Without the right moral compass, you would seriously compromise your humanity.

4. Cultivate Spiritual Toughness

Beyond the complex processes of the mind, there is the even higher and more complex world of the spirit or the soul. It is nothing less than a divine spark inside a corporal human body fashioned out of dingy, smelly clay or a set of highly purified metals and elements.

Put your soul to work. Exercise it regularly and put some muscle on it. Continually fan the flame of the divine spirit in you. Otherwise ashes will cover the embers and light will be engulfed by darkness.

5. Cultivate Social Toughness

People need people. So, learn to live and work with people. And learn to put up with the challenges, discomfort and pain they may cause.

Make social challenges a source of making good things happen in this world – for yourself; for others; and for the entire world. Don’t turn them into an excuse for avoiding your fellow human beings and for running and hiding from this world.

Socially tough people are those who can afford to be tough and demanding of themselves and soft, nice, gracious, loving and caring of their fellow human beings. And to God Almighty’s creation in general.

They are people who can easily forgive others and overlook other people’s faults and flaws. And yet they continually hold themselves to higher standards.

For, to love and fear God above is to love and serve God’s creation below.

Pulling an All-Nighter 

You may ask, how do you demonstrate – and how do you build? – physical, mental, moral, spiritual and social toughness?

Once we pulled an all-nighter. One of many we had done. Its purpose was to demonstrate in practice some of the things we talked about in earlier paragraphs: physical, mental, moral, spiritual and social toughness.

An intense Qur’an Program of several days of night-and-day work had come to a close. It was time for all of us to go our separate ways. But not yet. We needed to do a nightlong session of intense debate and discussion – of all the important things that were on our mind.

The night-long session began with Maghrib Salaah – or was it Asr? – and continued right through Fajr. Yes, there was food and tea and Namaaz. But there was also the staying awake and active and focused and alert throughout the night, talking, sharing, discussing, thinking, planning – and having fun.

Call it a Muslim’s nightlife if you will.

Or call it Qiyaamullail.

Qumillaila illaa qaleela, as the Qur’an says.

Or simply call it Islam Lesson One.

END

© 2008 Syed Husain Pasha

Dr. Pasha is an educator and scholar of exceptional 
talent, training and experience. He can be reached at DrSyedPasha [at] 
AOL [dot] com or www.IslamicSolutions.com.