Taking Oneself to Account

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: "Criticise and appraise yourselves before you are criticised and appraised on the Day of Judgment, and weigh out your deeds, before they are weighed out for you." [Transl.: "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 criticises 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 favour 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:
"Each day that passes, a portion of me it takes away, On the heart, a bitter taste it leaves, and then glides away."

Another poet says:
"Man rejoices as long as the nights continue to pass by, Yet, he too, as they vanish gradually perishes away. "

Yet another poet says:
"We take delight in every day that we have lived, Yet each day that passes is a portion (gone) of a lifetime."

This is the view that every intelligent and sensible person ought to take. However, intelligent and sensible people are few in this world.

Ref: Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi Time in the Life of a Muslim © Taha Publishers Ltd. 2000

On Arrogance, Humbleness, and Inferiority Complex

It has been called ummul-amradh, or the root of all sicknesses of the heart. Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, warned that a person having even an iota of it in his heart will never enter paradise. This deadliest of all sins is kibr, or arrogance.

No one likes arrogance --- in others. We never like a person who is haughty, too proud, or condescending. We detest a person who belittles us and has a huge ego. Similarly we love people who are humble, polite, and easy to talk to. We love people who give us respect and honor. Thus if we follow the principle of treating others the way we like to be treated, most of these problems might be cured. In reality, the treatment of ummul-amradh requires a deeper look.

For that we need to appreciate the difference between adab and manners, on the one hand and akhlaq or morals on the other. While adab deal with one’s external disposition, akhlaq as defined by Islam deal with our inner thoughts, feeling, and attitudes. In a healthy personality, the manners and morals are in harmony. But it is also possible to have the former without having the latter. The first concerns itself with how a person deals with others. The second is concerned with what a person thinks of himself.

Two persons showing humbleness in their dealings with others, may have exactly opposite ideas in their minds. One may do it out of his or her "generosity"; the other may do it because he genuinely thinks that he is not better than the other person. The first person only has a shell of humbleness, which will crumble when tested. It is the second person who is really free of arrogance.

Real greatness belongs only to Allah, our Lord, Creator, and Master. Human >beings are just a creation of Allah --- and a very small creation in >comparison to the unimaginably vast universe. Anyone who understands this >will realize that our proper status is only that of servants of Allah. In fact for a Muslim the real human model is none other than Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, who is the greatest of all human beings. His greatness lies in being the humblest of all servants of Allah! It is impossible for any person who has this consciousness to entertain any notions of his own greatness.

This leads us to the definition of kibr, given in a famous hadith: "Kibr is to knowingly reject Truth and to belittle other people." This hadith exposes two strains of this deadly disease, both dealing with our exaggerated ideas of self-importance. The first suggests that I am more important than the Truth. The second suggests that I am more important than other people.

We know about the Quraish and Jews of Arabia who had come in contact with >Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and who knew in the heart >of their hearts that he indeed was the Messenger of Allah. Their arrogance, >though, kept them from accepting it. History has recorded statements from >some of them who said we know he is the Promised Prophet but we will keep >on opposing him to maintain our leadership.

While that was the most blatant form of arrogance, we can witness the same >attitude on a smaller scale in our discussions and arguments. A person >realizes that he was wrong, but then his pride keeps him from admitting it. >No matter how polite or "humble" that person may appear to be ordinarily, this test shows the presence of arrogance in his heart. It is arrogance that keeps a person from saying "I am sorry."

The second strain involves our feeling of superiority with respect to other people. Islam’s teaching is that one should never consider oneself greater than other people, because that Judgment will come from Allah, and Allah >alone, on the Day of Judgment. None of us knows what our end will be, whether we will end up being a winner or loser over there. The person who appears to be nobody here may end up with eternal bliss because of his goodness that only Allah knew. The person who is a big shot here may end up among the sinners who will be punished there, because of his evil that only Allah knew. How foolish, it is then to congratulate ourselves over our fleeting "superiority".

What if a person does have edge over another person in measurable worldly >terms? How then can he not consider himself superior than the other person in that respect? The point is sometimes made in half jest: it is difficult to be humble when you are so great. Islam does not ask us to reject reality and imagine we don’t have what we really do. Rather it asks us to take a deeper look at the reality and not be misled by a superficial perception of it. And the simple reality that escapes many is that our health, wealth, talents, and power are not of our own creation. God gave those to us as a test and He can take them back whenever He wills. Those who are conscious of this reality, their blessings will produce gratitude in them; those who >are blind to it will develop pride and arrogance.

Some forms of kibr are subtle. If a person is embarrassed to bow to Allah in the presence of non-believers, that is a case of "kibr in the face of Allah," says Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi. While throughout history humanity had agreed on the evil of arrogance and the virtue of humbleness (despite its failures in practice), this century has seen new dogmas that aim at changing the definitions of good and evil. >Humbleness is no longer desirable. Rather, one has to avoid "Inferiority Complex." Alfred Adler (1870-1937) gave us that term. According to him, life is a continuous struggle to move from a position of inferiority to a position of significance. Those who fail to make the progress, develop >inferiority complex, which can be treated by increasing self-esteem. Unfortunately today such pseudo-science is accepted as gospel truth.

The truth is that problems arise when we turn away from reality. A humble person is a happy, content, grateful person who thanks God for his blessings and has no notions of his own superiority. False notions of superiority or of one’s entitlements in life, on the other hand, lead to frustrations and complexes.

By Khalid Baig, Albalagh