We have been gifted the ability to think, our minds are one\nof the greatest gifts given to us by Allah SWT, that distinguishes us from\nanimals and beings that do not possess this ability. This though comes with\nresponsibility \u2013 as this ability means we can distinguish from right and wrong,\ngood and bad, and therefore, we have been ordered not to do anything that ruins\nthe ability of our minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can see the importance given to our mind\/ability to think\nin two ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firstly : Commandments and rules from Allah SWT to stop our\nminds from being idle and from being corrupt,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And these are commandments protect the mind being ensuring\n\u2018its presence\u2019 , and this happens by ensuring it is always active to do what\nits been created to do, with part of this to look and contemplate and reflect\nin all that we see, all that has been created, the miraculous nature and beings\nand all of the wealth from the earth that is of benefit to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allah SWT repeats the theme on being mindful in the glorious\nQuran as we are being ordered to contemplate and reflect using our senses in\nthe world around us. The imam referenced Sura Al-Ghashiyah, ayat 17 to 20 which\nare translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then do they not look at the\ncamels – how they are created?\nAnd at the sky – how it is raised? And at the mountains – how\nthey are erected? And at\nthe earth – how it is spread out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also in Sura Al-A\u2019raf, ayat 185 which is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do they not look into the realm\nof the heavens and the earth and everything that Allah has created and [think]\nthat perhaps their appointed time has come near? So in what statement hereafter\nwill they believe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and sisters, we are being told to contemplate\nand use our intellect to see what this existence is truly about. Unfortunately,\never more we are surrounded by people who are living lives with their eyes shut,\nnot understanding the true purpose of their existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These people are following blindly with the masses, either\nthrough misguided role models or simply following their own parents who were\nalso misguided. And so, generation after generation, people are stuck to\nblindly following a path that they have not thought about, given any form of\ncritical thinking to and as a result will be destined to remain misguided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allah SWT speaks of this in the Quran also. A stark warning\nis given in ayat 170 of Sura Baqara to this effect and it is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when it is said to them,\n“Follow what Allah has revealed,” they say, “Rather, we will\nfollow that which we found our fathers doing.” Even though their fathers\nunderstood nothing, nor were they guided?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and sisters, we need to take stock of this\nreminder and think, are we also guilty of following traditions to some extent\nover the truth. Are we foolishly telling ourselves that we will not be held to account\nfor the actions that we are carrying out in this life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We cannot expect to be judged without account, even as\nMuslims, our responsibility has only begun with the utterance of the shahada aka\ndeclaration of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The true struggle begins once we have made this declaration\nin our heart because every day we are tested in our lives and this test cannot\nbe avoided. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Prophet SAWS taught us this in one of the hadiths which\nis translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Prophet (\ufdfa) said: “There\nare three people whose actions are not recorded, a sleeping person till he\nawakes, a child till he is a grown up, and an insane person till he is restored\nto reason or recovers his sense.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second importance given to our mind is to forbid what will\ndamage the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This point is broken down into two, first of which is that\nwhat damages the mind physically. We are talking drugs, alcohol, excessive\nsocial media, excess in many things that are otherwise lawful. The imam referenced\nSura Al-Maidah, ayats 90-92 which are translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O you who have believed, indeed,\nintoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah ],\nand divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that\nyou may be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satan only wants to cause between\nyou animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from\nthe remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and sisters, take stock of where your day goes\nand what influences your mindset and mood. If there are negative influences in\nyour life then it\u2019s your responsibility to take control and remove them from\nyour life so that their effect is reduced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other thing is to protect the mind from psychological\nharm. What is meant by this is don\u2019t focus on sad news, balance your life with\ngood news and things that bring joy such as charity work and family. Understand\nthat media plays a sinister role in attempting to turn positivity and hope into\ndespair and fear. Just look at their portrayal of Muslims and you can see how\neffective they can be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Replace these with times that involve face to face\ninteraction with others. Revive the lost skill of counselling one another\nthrough conversation. Again, analyse your life and identify actions which can\ncause psychological harm and make a concerted effort to remove them from your\nlife. The responsibility of all this lies with each and every one of us for the\nsake of our mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and sisters, our mindset is key to our behaviour\nand our behaviour will be judged upon by Allah SWT. Let us take the time to assess\nourselves so that we can protect our minds and in turn our souls from misguidance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We have been gifted the ability to think, our minds are one of the greatest gifts given to us by Allah SWT, that distinguishes us from animals and beings that do not possess this ability. This though comes with responsibility \u2013 as this ability means we can distinguish from right and wrong, good and bad, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_regular_price":[],"currency_symbol":[],"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[356],"class_list":["post-2496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-mindfulness"],"blocksy_meta":[],"post_slider_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","post_slider_layout_landscape_large":"","post_slider_layout_portrait_large":"","post_slider_layout_square_large":"","post_slider_layout_landscape":"","post_slider_layout_portrait":"","post_slider_layout_square":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}