Islam teaches you to appreciate what you have

Usually my writings on this blog are inspired by refuting some negative remark about Islam so for this post I thought I would offer an insight into the religion which I hope will depict Islam in a positive light and which I hope will be of benefit to all readers irrespective of their belief.

How often do we consider our lives and think that we are hard done by? How often do we suffer setbacks and feel sad, depressed and despondent? I would imagine that all of us have feelings of sadness from time to time and that on occasions we feel that we are generally worse off than perhaps we should be.  We all have issues, problems, worries and I am sure that we probably worry about the same things, health, wealth, relationships etc.

So what is the Islamic perspective on this?  In general, the Qur'an prescribes Mankind to be grateful for what he has, to be thankful to Allah for what Allah has provided and in this context Mankind should not worry - indeed worry has no benefit.  I am sure you will agree with this - has worrying ever made any of your problems better?

Surah Al An'am (6) Ayat 17

"If Allah touches you with harm no one can remove it except He, and if He touches you with good, then he is able to do all things"

Indeed, the Qur'an notes that Mankind, by their very nature are ungrateful.  Surah Ar Rahman (55) repeats "Then which of the blessings of your Lord will you deny".

Is this true? Are we in denial of the blessings of our Lord?  Or is it that our lives are truly miserable and there is nothing to be thankful for? I mean look at the suffering in the World? Should we be thankful for this? What of when we lose a close family member? Lose our job? Lose our health should we be thankful for this?

To assess whether we should be thankful I would like you to try out the following exercise:

Imagine in front of you a large piece of paper. You have a pen in your hand and I would like you to draw a vertical line in the middle of the paper creating two sections. Label the section on the left hand side reasons not to be grateful and on the right hand side reasons to be grateful.

Write away. List whatever you feel should go on either side of the piece of paper.

I am sure when you complete the exercise you will come to a conclusion as to how your life is.  I am sure some people who are going through a difficult time at the moment will think that their life is particularly difficult and perhaps on balance nothing to be grateful for.

But wait a minute? Did we do the exercise properly? Did we properly record all the items we should be grateful for? Did we list gratefulness for our eyesight? Sense of smell? Taste, touch, kidney, heart, ability to think, ability to walk, ability to move. Did we list all of our relationships, our family members, our close friends? Did we list all of our capabilities?

To put this into perspective, what if we move a benefit such as a physical ability or a relationship from the right hand side to the left hand side of the page and assume we no longer have it? I am sure for most of us the movement of that item will become the biggest problem on the list on the left hand side of the page.

The point I am trying to make is that by our nature we are ungrateful for what we have - we take it for granted.  But as soon as we lose it, we miss it terribly. Just like our families and our relationships. How we take each other for granted. The beauty of the Qur'an is that it encourages us to ponder and contemplate what we have not least so that we can enjoy it while it is here. The Qur'an also teaches us that what we have in this World will leave us so we need to prepare for this however such preparation doesn't mean worry ourselves silly - no - we should reflect on the life we have led and have enjoyed - we should be thankful to Allah and pray for a better life in the Hereafter.

What I find so attractive and appealing about this aspect of Islam - being thankful - is that when you reflect on what you have and that you only have it for a finite period of time - you will feel grateful - you will (or should) feel that there is no benefit to worrying and fretting.

To give another example, a close relative that you love dearly. We can rage against losing such a person but why not reflect on the happy times you spent together? Don't waste your time worrying about what you don't have or what you might lose - use your time now to enjoy what you have.

Explanation of evil - an Islamic perspective

A common remark I hear is that there cannot be a God because surely if there was a God he wouldn't have allowed "evil" (i.e. bad things). The logic follows that as there is "evil" on Earth, there must be no God. Stephen Fry in his recent interview with Gay Byrne referred to "evil" things such as bone cancer in children and used this as one of the bases for his disbelief.

Of note here is that we all seem to expect God to be "good". Why do we have this hot-wired into our minds? Why also do we seem to be in a perpetual dilemma as to what is "good" and "evil"?  Why is this relevant?

Well, the Islamic perspective on this is that God (Allah) is all powerful. He is the "Creator" and everything else is His "Creation". God (Allah) is in complete control of everything and knows what will happen.  It follows that "good" and "evil" are the creations of God (Allah).

Indeed, it is a basic principle of the Islamic faith that a Muslim believes in this.  This concept is known as "qadar". The best way to define "qadar" is destiny, fate or pre-destination. Meaning, everything is already planned by God (Allah). God (Allah) has written everything down. God's (Allah's) will cannot be frustrated.

Sahih Muslim (1) The Book of Faith

When asked what is faith, Prophet Muhammed answered:

"...it is to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Day of Judgement and the Qadar (divine destiny) both the good and the evil thereof..."

[Bold emphasis added]

In his commentary on the Hadith about "qadar" in Sahih Muslim an-Nawawi says:

"In all of these Hadith there is clear evidence that supports the view of Ahl as-Sunnah concerning the belief in qadar, and that all events, good and bad, beneficial and harmful, happen by the will and decree of Allah, the Exalted."

[Sharh an-Nawawi 'ala Muslim, 16/196] [Bold emphasis added]

God (Allah) is all powerful and whatever happens can only happen because of God's (Allah's) will. It follows that "good" or "evil" may only occur by the will of Allah. Such occurrences are decreed by Allah and he had knowledge of them in advance (the concept of pre-destination). God (Allah) is all knowing.

Accordingly, we can expect that "evil" things can, will and do happen....but this raises further questions which I will try and briefly provide the answer from an Islamic perspective.

Why?

In essence, our life on Earth is a test.  We are to worship God (Allah) and strive to do "good" deeds, forbid "evil" and seek forgiveness for our "evil" deeds. Why did God (Allah) give us this test? We don't know, but this is the test.

At this point I would like you to ponder, why do we have this dilemma between "good" and "evil"? Why do we persistently ask what is "good" and "evil"? Why is this relevant to us? Certainly, I am sure we all have this dilemma in everything we do.  Animals do not have the same concern.

How free is man given that God (Allah) has already decided things?

If God (Allah) has determined everything, what is our test? Do we (humans) have any choice in the matter? Well, certainly, it seems that we are capable of deciding matters for ourselves. We make decisions every day. We, ourselves, decide should we do this or should we do that.  I don't think there is any doubt here. Certainly, we have the freedom of choice whether we believe in God (Allah), whether we worship, whether we do "good" or "evil".

The Islamic perspective is that God (Allah) has allowed us to live our lives, we are free to lead them as we want. At the same time God (Allah) knows what we will do.  If you imagine an all powerful God I am sure we can imagine a God who can have prior knowledge of what his creation will do. A computer programmer will know what his/her computer programme will do. The same can be said of a designer of a machine.

What should humankind do?

In Islam we are commanded to strive and seek God's (Allah's) guidance and in turn we will fulfil our destiny.  The Quran and Hadith explain the type of people who will go to Paradise and Hell and so it is for each one of us to determine whether we believe and whether we want to strive accordingly.

Some people will reject belief, others will accept.  This is the test.  I don't believe that the test is an academic exercise. It isn't about how much you have read of religion, science or anything else. It is purely guidance from God (Allah) and the knowledge you will learn from your study will affirm your belief or if you are inclined to disbelieve it will affirm your disbelief.

"Verily, Allah is not ashamed to set forth a parable even of a mosquito or so much more when it is bigger (or less when it is smaller) than it. And as for those who believe, they know that it is the truth from their Lord, but as for those who disbelieve, they say "What did Allah intend by this parable?" By it he misleads many, and many He guides thereby. And he misleads thereby only those who are Al Fasiqun (i.e. rebellious, disobedient to Allah).

Quran - Surah 2 Al Baqarah, Ayat 26

Conclusion

The observation that there is "evil" in the World isn't a basis for a Muslim to disbelieve in God (Allah). In fact, on the contrary, it is a requirement of Islamic faith that we believe in God's (Allah's) command (decree) and this includes the "good" and the "evil" of such decree. This isn't to say that God (Allah) is "evil". "Evil" is the creation of God (Allah) and we are forbidden to do it but that isn't to say we are unable to do it.

To revert back to Stephen Fry's comment about bone cancer in children. This isn't a basis for disbelief. It is to be accepted and the best way to understand this is that this is part of the test. Bearing in mind that if for a moment we assume that God (Allah) exists, the time we spend on the Earth is short and transitory. There is a much longer life afterwards. Would the child who dies of bone cancer but attains Paradise feel so aggrieved? Would be interested to hear alternative explanations as to why we are here and why we have "evil".