THE COMMONWEAL
‘It is to God that everything in the heavens and earth belongs: God is fully aware of all things.’ [4:126].
Many believe the earth belongs to them and have the right to do with it as they please. This attitude resulted in the European colonial project that subjugated, often devastatingly, the entire earth bar four countries: Liberia, Japan, Korea and Thailand. But then Japan colonised Korea and Thailand during its early twentieth-century imperial campaign. This domination and subjugation of the world’s people lasted until as late as the 1970s. Many former colonies are still haemorrhaging as a result of having been so ruthlessly raped and pillaged.
Today, many still wrestle with the moral and ethical question: Who Owns the Earth?
The question of land ownership tells the story of the ever-widening gulf between the rich and the poor. While we may no longer be under the thumb of our former masters, a new economic imperialism has emerged and settled within our midst.
Virtue ethics and spiritual virtues are related to social life and the common good, while their opposing vices drive individualism, from which the love of private wealth and property flows.
It is time we remind ourselves and everyone else that we are only custodians and that the earth, with its contents and us, will one day have to return to its Owner.
THE MUSLIM’S EMBLEM
Salah is the Muslim’s emblem, the hallmark of surrender, prayer and meditation. Allah has specially placed it at pivotal times during the daily cycle to sever us from the terrestrial and anchor us to the celestial. It is, therefore, no incident that the Prophet (s) referred to Salah as the Mi’raj—celestial journey—of the believer.
This regular interrupter is necessary to keep our gaze focused on the heavens, our eternal abode, and protect us from being weighted down by our temporal home, earth.
The Prophet (s) adored prayer so much that for a third of the night, he would stand praying until his ankles would swell. Aisha (ra), his beloved wife, used to ask: ‘Why do you tire yourself so when God has forgiven you.’ The Prophet (s) replied: ‘Shall I not be a grateful servant?’ [Bukhari 1130]
Self-discipline is more about preventing and deliberate environment architectural design than motivation. We can only resist for so long until we succumb to temptation. We must remove the triggers that lead to negative behaviour and replace them with cues that spur the intended conduct.
I contend that two levels exist for creating favourable contextual architecture: physical and psychological.
If you want to eat healthily, remove all the junk food from view and spread nourishing alternatives across your living space: physical architecture and simultaneously develop the identity of a healthy person: psychological architecture. The latter must precede the former to maintain the impetus.
Allah, the Greatest Architect, has designed Ramadan as a powerful context to shape positive behaviour. It includes both contexts: Our Muslimness creates the mental drive to become a faithful sa’im—fasting person, while Ramadan drives both contexts, creating a super-contextual stimulus.
We cannot underestimate Ramadan’s architecture, for it is the singular most successful month driving positive behaviour.
Until next week, InshaAllah
Zaahied Sallie
Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme
p.s. Red Kufi Courses are now available, Alhamdulillah. Click to learn more.
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