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| Self-Inventory:
al-Muhâsabah Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi Excerpt from: "Time in the Life of a Muslim" It
is necessary for an individual to pause at the end of each day that has
passed, in order to check himself and run through his achievements: What
has he done in the course of the day? Why has he done it? What has he
omitted? Why has he omitted it? How
excellent it would be if this self-criticism were to take place before one
retired to bed. This
period of self-criticism and appraisal should certainly be counted among
man's moments of progress; it is a moment when man impartially sits as a
judge over himself and reviews his yearnings and inclinations, his
instincts and motivations. It is a moment when the believer appoints, out
of his conviction, a policeman to watch over himself, an investigator to
probe him, and a judge to condemn or acquit him. In this way he progresses
from the state of "the soul that incites to evil" to the state
of "the self- reproaching soul" which reproaches its owner
whenever he plunges into sin, or falls short of expectation. In
a hadith we quoted before it was said: "It behooves any sane person
to have four periods of time" and one of the four periods is "a
period in which he engages in self-criticism." The
Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar bin al-Khattab says: "Criticize and
appraise yourselves before you are criticized and appraised on the Day of
Judgment, and weigh out your deeds, before they are weighed out for
you." "On
that Day will men proceed in groups, sorted out, to be shown their Deeds.
Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And
anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it." (Qur'an
99:6-8) `Umar
himself, may Allah be pleased with him, used to whip his foot at night and
say to himself: "Tell me, what have you done today?!" Maimun
bin Mahran, a famous companion of the Prophet, used to say: "A pious
person scrupulously examines and appraises himself more than he would a
tyrant ruler and a tight-fisted partner!" Al-Hasan
said: "A believer polices his own Self; he criticizes and appraises
it for the sake of Allah. The Final Appraisal (Hisab) may turn out to be
mild on some people simply because they were wont to appraise themselves
in this life; and the Final Appraisal on the Day of Resurrection may turn
out to be rigorous on a people who took this life with levity, and thought
they would not be called to account". Then
he described how this self-criticism and appraisal operates in practice:
"A fascinating thought (or idea) suddenly comes to the mind of a
believer. He says to himself: 'By Allah this is fascinating, I need it!
But no, never. Get lost! I am prohibited from executing you!'" (This
is self-criticism and appraisal before the event). And:
"A believer may inadvertently do something. He would then turn to
himself and say: 'What do you mean by this? By Allah, I cannot find an
excuse for this. I shall never repeat it, insha'Allah!'" (This is
self-criticism and appraisal after the event). If
a Believer fails to observe this brief period of soul-searching daily,
then he should at least try to do so once every few days, or once a week.
In this way, he draws up his life balance sheet, depicting to him his
(spiritual) assets and liabilities. A
Believer should also have a longer period of this practice at the end of
each month, and an even longer period at the end of the year, when he bids
farewell to one year and prepares for and welcomes another. This
is the time to critically review the Past and plan for the Future. This is
the (spiritual) equivalent of his final accounts for the year. One
blameworthy innovation initiated by the West and unfortunately imitated by
some Muslims, is the annual birthday celebration, where people are invited
to a party and served with delicious food and drink. At
times, people obsequiously yield to meaningless rituals and imitative
practices for which Allah has sent down no authority. For example, they
light a number of candles, each one representing a year in the lifetime of
the celebrant. Having lit the candles, the celebrant then histrionically
proceeds to blow them out. Gifts are presented and pleasantries exchanged
on the occasion. Rather
than this blind, useless imitation, it is better for an intelligent and
sensible person to seize this occasion, which marks the expiry of one year
of his lifetime, to reconsider and reflect upon his life. At the end of
every year, a careful trader applies the brakes in order to measure his
performance over the past year, and establish his financial position at
the end of it. He wants to know his profit or loss, and his assets and
liabilities; i.e. his claims and the claims against him. An intelligent,
sensible person ought to do likewise, in respect of his life. More than
that, he should beseech Allah to bless his life, make his day better than
yesterday, and his tomorrow better than today. It
is worthier for an intelligent and sensible person to call himself to
account for one whole year of his life that has expired, in respect of
which Allah, the Exalted, will question him. A year is not a short time.
It is a period of twelve months; a month is on average thirty days; each
day has twenty-four hours, each hour sixty minutes, and each minute sixty
seconds. And every second should be counted as a blessing, a favor upon
him from Allah and a trust from Allah in his hands. It
is worthier for this intelligent and sensible person to commiserate with
himself over the turning of a page in the book of his life. Each day that
passes is, as it were, a leaf that has withered and fallen from the tree
of his life. May Allah have mercy on Al-Hasan al-Basri when he says:
"O son of Adam! You are but a bundle of days. As each day passes
away, a portion of you vanishes away!" Abu
'Ali ad-Daqqaq used to chant the following lines: Another
poet says: Yet
another poet says: This
is the view that every intelligent and sensible person ought to take.
However, intelligent and sensible people are few in this world. COURTESY:
Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, "Time in the Life of a Muslim" |