Ihsan: The Pursuit of Excellence

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle

Ihsan….just saying the word in my head has a special ring to it, brings a certain unique, inspiring feeling to my heart. This word, this topic moves me. I hope it has that effect on you as well.

Our religion, our way of life is composed of three parts:
(1) Iman
(2) Islam
(3) Ihsan

To discuss ihsan, I must briefly go through the first two, iman and Islam.

IMAN
Iman must be mentioed as the first part of our deen because iman serves as our roots. For many years of the Prophethood, Allah revealed nothing except the concept of taqwa, ikhlas, and iman. It was not until the hearts of the first Muslims were saturated and strong with true iman did Allah (swt) begin introducing the next concept – Islam, to the ummah.

ISLAM
After our roots are firmly in place and take hold within rich soil that is watered and nourished continually, we can begin understanding and encouraging the practice of Islam or submission to the will of Allah. This Islam, or submission, is like the trunk of the tree, sturdy, reaching up to heights. Children are not required to pray until they are 7. Why? Because these first seven years are to be used by parents to plant the seed of iman and help this seed to grow strong roots by teaching their child about Allah (swt), about jannah, about the miracles and the angels and preparing them to have a strong, balanced character. The “rules” of Islam come more easily to those who have prepared their hearts with iman.

IHSAN
This is the forgotten, the neglected 1/3 of our deen. Yet, it is like the “cherry on top.” Ihsan is the fruit, the blossoms of our tree that show up when the roots and nourished and the trunk is free from disease and harmful insects. If we fail to nourish our iman or practice our submission to Allah, we will bear no fruit and our soul will die. But look into our history. It is rich with ihsan. All the achievements in art, science, architecture, literature, geography, politics, economics, social movement, philosophy, medicine and more came from the Muslims’ desire to attain ihsan. Ihsan is our lost treasure that we must unearth and revive.

“When a man says I cannot, he has made a suggestion to himself. He has weakened his power of accomplishing that which otherwise would have been accomplished.”

Muhammad Ali

Ihsan….what does it mean? Like so many other Arabic words that I have mentioned, it has a vast array of meanings. It cannot be summed up prettily in one English word or phrase. Ihsan is excellence. It is perfection. It is beauty. It is balance, harmony, discipline, good character, softness, gentleness, improvement, drive, will power. Ihsan is a human reflection, a human attempt to achieve a high level in the areas covered by the 99 beautiful names of Allah (swt).

In Surat Ar-Rahman, one of my favorite surahs, Allah (swt) uses one of the most powerful and difficult to use literary devices – the rhetorical question. If you have studied literature to any extent, you will know that the rhetorical question can only be used in very special, particularized situations and it can only be used when the author has much confidence and much leverage in the answer and the motivation for asking the question. The rhetorical device is amazing because, as it gives the answer to the question away, it leaves the reader to contemplate deeply on the meaning of the question, the profound reasons behind the obvious. Allah (swt), in Surat Ar-Rahman, conquers this literary device and uses it in truly miraculous ways.

In Surat Ar-Rahman, the most frequent rhetorical question asked is, “then which of the favors of your Lord will you deny?” which is asked 31 times out of a total of 78 verses. However, stuck in between 2 of these 31 rhetorical questions is another, more subtle, yet incredibly powerful ayah. It reads, “Is there any reward for ihsan except ihsan?”

This rhetorical question is amazing on myriad levels. I would like to share three levels of meaning for this rhetorical question:

(1) Those who sincerely strive in Allah’s Cause and attain ihsan in both their worship and their everyday activities will be rewarded for this excellence by being blessed by Allah (swt) with the sweetness of faith. They will be some of the few people who have walked the face of the earth and tasted this level of faith. God-consciousness will be continuous, and everything these few do will be geared for a higher purpose. They will have attained ihsan and in return, they will feel ihsan in their hearts.

(2) Those who sincerely strive in Allah’s Cause and attain ihsan in both their worship and their everyday activities will be rewarded for this excellence by being blessed by Allah (swt) with success in this dunya. This can be seen in our history, in our Golden Age. The Muslims of that time attained ihsan in their rituals and in their other activities. Allah rewarded this ihsan with ihsan – the excellence in this dunya that we read about – the amazing art, architecture, philosophy, medical advances, etc.

(3) Those who sincerely strive in Allah’s Cause and attain ihsan in both their worship and their everyday activities will be rewarded for this excellence by being blessed by Allah (swt) with the ultimate success, the ultimate ihsan – that of jannah in al-akhira.

So in summary, that one little rhetorical device in 55:60 is hidden, but it packs a huge punch. Those who realize the value of ihsan, who reach and strive and work for ihsan, who nourish their roots and groom their trunk in order to bear plentiful, amazing fruit will be rewarded with Allah’s forms of ihsan – the sweetness of faith, success in the dunya, and the ultimate success in al-akhira.

So how does this relate to us right here, right now? We’re high school, college, grad students. We’re young people in the workforce. We’re newly married, engaged, or waiting our turn. We’re brothers and sisters and aunts, uncles, cousins, and children. We’re youth group leaders or mentors or committee heads in MSA/MSU. What does ihsan mean in our lives?

It means that every day, when you’re in a boring class or you get handed an assignment for a 15 page paper or you learn about a comprehensive final exam or you get a huge project from your boss or your mom asks you to make dinner or clean your room or your brother or sister asks for help with homework or to play with you outside – that you stop…that you stop the immediate negative reaction that we’ve been trained to play over and over again when it comes to these sorts of things.

We stop, and we realize that this is our opportunity for ihsan. That this is another opportunity for us to make our intentions for Allah (swt), to please Him. That this is a chance for us to add something to our Life’s Book that Allah (swt) will open on the Day of Judgment and look upon us with joy and be proud of us. For, as Yusuf al-Qaradawi has mentioned,

Allah loves when one of you is given a task, that he or she does it in the most excellent manner.

Sheikh al-Qaradawi didn’t say that Allah “likes” when you do things with ihsan. He didn’t say that Allah thinks it’s “ok” or “cool” or “alright.” One of the greatest scholars of Islam says that Allah “LOVES” when we do things with ihsan. Allah LOVES. Think about that for just a second and let it set in. Think about the last time someone you respected/admired told you that they loved something you did. How did that make you feel? You were beaming for days, most likely. You remembered what they said and how they reacted and you kept replaying it in your head again and again. Imagine then, how amazing it would feel to do something that Allah (swt) LOVES. Imagine standing in front of Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgment and having Him tell you all the things that you did that He LOVED. Imagine how you would feel.

So when you have a test or a paper or you have to mow the law or you are going to the gym or playing football or doing an MSA event, do it with ihsan! Don’t just “be,” don’t just get by, don’t just pass. Be EXCELLENT, strive for PERFECTION, be the BEST in your class, show the world how Islam inspires you to attain ihsan!

We are given just a few moments in this dunya. Each breath is a priceless jewel and when it passes it never returns….make this moment, this breath, this heart beat one that resounds with ihsan!

IMAN…………………………ISLAM……………………………IHSAN

Sisters’ Halaqa: Thursday, March 15th

Asalamu’alaikum Girls,

I know, I know, finals are fast approaching…that’s precisely WHY it’s so important for you to take an hour out of your week to come to this week’s halaqa.

WHEN: Thursday, March 15th, 5:30pm
WHERE: Meet behind Kerkoff to pray maghrib

This week’s topic directly relates to your exams…we’ll be talking about the concept of ihsan!

Make sure to check out the previous post about the One Ayah A Day Campaign and let me know on Thursday if you’d like to pledge! In the meantime, you are all in my du’aa!

Cassie

“One Ayah A Day” Campagin

Asalamu’alaikum Ladies,

I would like to start having some interactive beneficial projects for you all to work on through the upcoming quarter. I know you are entering your last weeks of the semester, so we’ll wait to begin, but I wanted to introduce you to the plan.

The “One Ayah A Day” Campaign is my way of helping you and your way of helping me become closer to Qur’an al-Kareem. If you choose to join our efforts for this noble cause, you will pledge to read and insha’Allah  memorize one ayah of your choice each day.

I hope that by making this effort “public” that I will better be able to maintain my own pledge to keep Qur’an part of my daily life and learn as much of it as possible.

In order to make this effort more consistent, and perhaps to assist your efforts, I will be writing about whatever ayah that I am supposed to be reading/memorizing, and I will do a little reflection about it each night, insha’Allah. I hope to be consistent with this. So we’ll see how it goes.

If you would like to memorize or review the particular surah/ayat that I am writing about, feel free. Either that or you can go at your own pace and choose your own Qur’an verses to read/memorize.

I hope that this is a tool that we can use to encourage one another. Please, ladies, feel free to make comments about whatever verses you are reading so that you can allow the rest of us to have insight into your experience with the Qur’an. By sharing together, we will gain so much more than by going at it alone.

Insha’Allah I will begin this tonight or tomorrow, so I will keep you updated on my progress.

Until next time….

FINDING BALANCE AS A MUSLIM YOUTH

Asalamu’alaikum Bruin Sisters,

The topic for the halaqa last night was “Finding Balance as a Muslim Youth.” Jazakum Allah Khairan to the sisters who attended and brought such wonderful, stimulating conversation to the table. Each week, you inspire me and help me to become a better Muslim. I hope that these few hours we spend together benefits you in the same sort of way.

I’d like to recap the topic for the benefit of those who were unable to attend our halaqa. I hope, insha’Allah that we will get more girls to come on a regular basis, as I would like to begin Qur’an memorization and other interactive activities with you that would be more stimulating with a larger group. Please try to make the time to come to these halaqas. I know that you have studying to do, etc., but your work will be so much more blessed if you take a few hours each week to sit around a table with your sisters in Islam and talk about Allah and how to better live in His Deen.

Before I begin, I want to emphasize that these exercises of writing in this blog and expounding upon lessons applicable to our lives is as much if not more a benefit to me as to you. I write first and foremost as an advisement to myself, so that I might improve as a Muslim and as a friend to each of you. The ideals that I write about, I do not claim to possess. Every word that I write, if it is good, it is from the mercy and will of Allah. And if I write anything offensive or negative, the blame is mine. I am a work in progress, and I ask for your prayers that I may have pure intentions in this endeavor, for it is always difficult to maintain purity in the face of any type of leadership position. Again, the words that follow, I hope and pray that I may benefit from them, just as I hope you will so that we all may say in unison with confidence that our lives, our living, our dying, our every breath has been for the sake of Allah.

“Finding Balance as a Muslim Youth”

Our lives are hectic. We have difficult classes and drama with friends and work to juggle and family commitments and our future to plan and worry about and credit scores and LSAT/MCAT/GRE scores and marriage concerns and MSA issues and….the list goes on and on. Often we’ll get a headache or feel overwhelmed or ill or exhausted from the tumult of “stuff” going on in our lives. Often, we just feel “lost” or out of whack. Our mind isn’t at peace and we don’t feel that harmony and joy that all the yoga-zen-tai chi masters are talking about.So how do we get from the craziness and lopsidedness of today to the peace and contentment that we long to feel, that we yearn for?

The answer is to seek balance. The next question is…how?

Balance, as the ultimate goal of Islam (the middle road), is really a three-step process. I will list the steps and then discuss each in more depth.

1. Purify your intentions
2. Establish your priorities
3. Arrange your time

These three steps are not steps you will go through once in your life and then be done. On the contrary, in order to achieve and maintain balance in our lives, we must be continuously going through these steps from now until it is our time to leave this world and travel to our next and final destination.

Step 1: Purify your intentions
Most of us have heard the hadith narrated by Umar bin al-Khattaab, who relates,

‘I heard the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, saying, “verily actions are by intentions, and for every person is what he intended. So the one whose hijra was to Allaah and His Messenger, then his hijrah was to Allaah and His Messenger. And the one whose hijrah was for the world to gain from it, or a woman to marry her, then his hijrah was to what he made hijrah for.” (Related by Bukhari and Muslim)

What many of us do not know is that the scholars of Islam unanimously agree that this is the first hadith ever narrated. Imam Bukhari, the most famous collectors of hadith commences his sahih with this hadith and the scholars of Islam also have said that this hadith is one of the hadith around which the whole religion revolves, and it is related from Imam ash-Shafi’i that he said, “this hadith constitutes a third of all knowledge.”

Why are these facts about this hadith so important? Well, first of all, they are important facts because they shed some light on just how important purification of intentions is. Secondly, I wanted to re-emphasize how vital it is that we make purification of intentions our first step when we are seeking balance in our lives. We need to first sit down quietly in the sanctity of our own thoughts, go into the presence of holiness and flush ourselves of all the “stuff” that is jumbled inside our head and declare our intention to Allah that our search for balance is for His sake so that He will be pleased with us when we stand in front of Him on that inevitable day.

If Imam Bukhari commenced his book with this hadith about intentions and Abdur-Rahman al-Mahdee announced that the chapters of any book written should include this hadith at its beginning, how necessary then is it for us to commence our search for balance with pure intentions? I assert to you that the most valuable asset in this world is the purity of your intentions behind your good actions.

Step 2: Establish Your Priorities
Once we have cleared our intentions (and I want to emphasize again that we will never be done with this first step…the purification of intentions is so important and so easy to lose that we must continually be in the process of purifying our motives), we can begin to establish our priorities. To illustrate this step, I’d like to relate a story to you.

A professor stood before this Philosophy 101 class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a jar of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open spaces between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They again agreed it was full.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar and, of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous yes.

“Now”, said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children, your friends, your favorite passions – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.”

“The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house, your investments…”

“The sand is everything else – the small stuff, always present but not too important.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first”, he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.”

“The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Sit and have a nice dinner with your parents. Give your best friend a card or in some way express your love and appreciation for them. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your wife or husband out to a movie. Play games and see the world. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, watch tv and fix the garbage disposal. Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

This story is a wonderful illustration of the second step that we must undertake if we are to achieve balance in our lives. Sometimes, because of all the “stuff” cluttering our lives, we put too much emphasis on stuff that, in the long run, really doesn’t matter. How many times has a night been ruined because you forgot to TiVo Grey’s Anatomy? How many times have we beat ourselves up because we had a Snickers bar and didn’t go to the gy? How many times have we snapped at our moms or dads or siblings or best friends or gotten into an argument for no good reason? How many times have we looked into our past and realized that we hadn’t been very diligent at setting our priorities?

We have this problem all the time. All of us. Nobody is perfect at setting priorities, but in order for us to be the most effective Muslim youth, for us to go out into the world and change the ummah for the better, for us to revive the legacy of the Prophet (pbuh) and the sahaba, we must purify our intentions and establish very clear priorities.

Everyone will have different “golf balls.” Obviously, one that we should all have in common is practicing Islam to the best of our ability and moving forward in our iman and ibaada. Another that we should all have in common is being a loving, valuable member of our families. Since we are all students, another golf ball should be doing our very best in our classes and showing the value of Islam through our work in all our academic pursuits.

The other golf balls are yours to figure out. I can’t name them for you. So I encourage you to take the time to purify your heart and then to physically write down the golf balls, the pebbles and the sand in your life, and to remember these various aspects with that imagery in mind. When you feel yourself starting to fill your life’s jar with sand, you might want to slow down and rearrange your priorities.

Step 3: Arrange Your Time
Once you know your priorities and you have a basic list of the important (and not so important) things in your life, it’s time to make a schedule. Obviously, I’m not talking about accounting for every single second of every single day. I know that there are random things that come up that prevent us from being able to keep a precise, to the second calendar. However, that being said, we also cannot be too loose with our time and too willing to live our lives “off the cuff” so to speak.

Imam al-Ghazali says it amazingly:

You should structure your time, arrange your regular devotions and assign to each function a set period of time during which it is given first priority but which it does not overstep.

For if you abandon yourself to neglect and purposelessness, as cattle do, and just do anything that may occur to you at any time it happens to occur to you, most of your time will be wasted.

Your time is your life, and your life is your capital; it is the basis of your transactions [with God], and the means to attain to everlasting felicity, in the proximity of God the Exalted. Each of your breaths is a priceless jewel, and when it passes away it never returns.

The words of Imam al-Ghazali really need no interpretation or addition. He is one of the Muslim scholars who really understood this cornerstone of the Islamic way of life – this concept of time. Time is everything. Each moment, each breath is an opportunity that we either seize or forfeit. In order to find true balance as Muslim youth, we must forego the dangerous but widespread feeling of invincibility that plagues the youth and we must realize that no amount of time is guaranteed for us.

How many of our young brothers and sisters must we witness dying before we realize that longevity is not certain? How many teenagers and elementary aged youth must leave this world before a we come to fully understand the value of each moment?

To illustrate in a very powerful manner the concept of time, I’d like to relate to you this anecdote:

Imagine there is a bank in which you have an account. Each morning, the bank credits your account with $86,400.

It carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day.

What would you do?
Draw out every cent, of course! No one in their right mind would ever leave one penny left for the bank to take away in the evening.

Well, everyone has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.

It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.

There is no going back. There is no drawing against the “tomorrow”. You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success! The clock is running. Make the most of today.

What an amazing analogy and how apt to this exercise of finding balance. Allah is the most just, the most fair. Every single person the world over is given exactly the same provisions each day. 86,400 seconds to do with as we choose. The “rich” are those who are greedy with their time and never allow moments to pass without reaping reward from them. The “poor” are those who squander their time with “sand,” with useless, petty activities and do not invoke Allah’s name or purify their intentions when going through their days.

Yes, we are all given equal provisions, until one day….one day, you will have 86,400 seconds, but I will only have 72,340 or some other unknown amount. And on that day, on the tic of the very last second, my bank account will be closed forever, and all the seconds which came before will be relived and will tell the story of my life.

Will I be crying for one more second, one more day to show Allah that I really meant well? Or will Allah see my account as blessed, as pure and worthy of eternal reward?

Insha’Allah ya rab…grant us all the wisdom to make use of these precious seconds during our youth, ya Allah, when we are healthy and strong and energized….when we have the time and the power to learn about Your Deen and write and talk and fight with all our gifts that You have bestowed upon us for Your sake, for Your perfect, amazing, subhanAllah, for your Cause, ya Allah!

These three steps, they are not arduous or difficult. They take time, and they take a true desire to please Allah and to be a positive force in this ummah. Each of us, every single soul that Allah created is majestic…has some magic, some amazing power that Allah has given specifically to you. Your job, your duty during this life is to look inside of yourself, purify your heart, seek that purpose, and then work very very hard and achieve greatness for the sake of Allah.

When you think about Malcolm X, Hassan Al-Banna, Abu Bakr, Imam Al-Ghazali, Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki…you admire these people…you look up to them as inspirations, as people you would love to be like. Do you know the only difference between these people and you? Self-improvement. These incredible people took the time to purify their intentions, to set their priorities, to arrange their time, to find the special blessing that Allah gave only to them and work day and night to make manifest this gift and use it for Allah’s Cause.

That is the only difference. You can be Malcolm X. You can be Imam al-Ghazali. Stop saying “Yeah, whatever…” I know you’re saying that to yourself. Stop laughing that sarcastic laugh inside your head. To achieve great heights, you must do these basic things each and every day.

The reason why there aren’t many Sheikh Anwar’s out there is because 99.9% of the people lack drive and discipline. We want to chill and have fun and relax. We want the greatness and the success to just come to us without having to struggle for it. But this life, this dunya is about jihad. Jihad is everything. Jihad is withdrawing the good from those 86,400 seconds that Allah has given you.

Do you think that Abu Bakr was relaxin’ by the pool and everyone just decided to praise him as the closest friend of the Prophet (pbuh) and trust him with the amana of the entire Muslim ummah?!

On the contrary, there is a story about Abu Bakr that Sheikh Anwar relates in his CD biography that goes something like this. I’m sorry if I butcher the story because I don’t know it verbatim. But I’ll try to get the point across.

One day, after the fajr prayer, the Prophet (pbuh) gathered a group of the sahaba together to reflect and have something like a halaqa. During their time together, the Prophet (pbuh) asked the sahaba, who of you is fasting? Abu Bakr raised his hand. The Prophet (pbuh) asked, who of you has visited a sick person today? Abu Bakr raised his hand. The Prophet (pbuh) asked, who of you has given zakaat today? Abu Bakr raised his hand. The Prophet (pbuh) asked, who of you has prayed during the night? Abu Bakr raised his hand.

The purpose of this story is to show what separates a person like Abu Bakr from the rest. He made his intentions to seek Allah’s favor, he set his priorities, he managed the precious time that Allah gave him that day, and he worked freakin’ hard. How many of us are willing to get up and go outside to the hospital and visit someone we know who is ill….and do so before fajr?! How many of us are even willing to throw off the comfort and warmth of our luxurious pillow-top mattresses to make wu’du and pray fajr on time? To put it bluntly, Abu Bakr, Malcolm X, Sheikh Anwar, and all those who we admire and look up to…they got to the top because they were willing to work much harder than their peers and they were willing to give up laziness and chillin’ in order to please Allah. And they knew that Allah is just and merciful and kind and wise, and they hoped and longed for His eternal blessings.

We all are not going to attain these amazing heights, but we can attempt to go through these three steps that I have expounded upon and work on ourselves continuously so that we might be a positive speck in the big picture that is Islam. I ask Allah to bless each and every one of you, to instill in you the inspiration to live your life in a manner that is pleasing to Him, and to grant you enough time to bring your account into good standing with Him so that you may attain eternal peace and happiness. Ameen.

Asalamu’alaikum and Welcome to the Club!

Party over here! Party over there! Wave your hands in the air!

Asalamu’alaikum Ladies,

Ok, yeah, so our blog, thanks to Miss Angie is up and runnin’ smoothly, alhamdulilah! This will be our official meeting place where we will have posted updates, reviews of the previous week’s halaqa, and other exciting info that will keep you coming back for more each day! Or at least I hope that’s the case.

This week’s halaqa will be on Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 5:00pm behind Kerkoff. Be there or be….triangle.

The topic for this week’s halaqa will be “Achieving Balance in our Everyday Lives as Muslim Youth.”

I hope to see you all tomorrow! I have a great project I’d like to start with you all so come join me so we can get started!

Much Love for the sake of Allah,

Cassie!