In the name of Allah, the Most-Merciful, the All-Compassionate

 

"May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon You"

 

Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala Rasulillah

As-Salaam Alaykum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakaatuh

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) The Search for Inner Peace

The topic of inner peace addresses a universal need. There is nobody on this planet that does not desire inner peace. People have taken a variety of different paths in trying to achieve inner peace, some through accumulating material possessions and wealth, others through drugs; some through music, others through meditation; some through their husbands and wives, others through their careers and some through their children’s achievements. In our time we have been led to believe that technological advancement and modernisation will produce for us physical comforts and through these we will attain inner peace.

The statistics show that in America some 20 million adults suffer from depression yearly; and what is depression but a total lack of inner peace? Also more people die from suicide in America than from homicide, and the homicide rates themselves are massive.

So the reality is that technological advancement and modernisation have not bought inner peace and tranquility. Inner peace is for the most part of our lives very elusive; we never seem to get our hands on it.

Many of us mistake personal pleasures for inner peace; we achieve elements of pleasure from a variety of things, be it wealth, sexual relations or other than that. Yes we have personal pleasures from time to time and we are pleased with various things from time to time, but this is not inner peace. True inner peace is a sense of stability and contentment which carries us through all the trials and difficulties of life.

W need to understand that peace is not something that will exist in this world around us because when we define peace according to the dictionary definition it states that peace is freedom from war or civil strife. If we look at peace in terms of the state level then peace is freedom from public disorder and security, but where in the world do we have this in a complete form? If we look at peace on a social level, family and work, then peace is freedom from disagreements and arguments, but is there such a social environment that never has disagreements or arguments? Allaah says:

“Verily, I have created man in toil (struggle).” (Al-Balad 90:4)

This is the nature of our lives; we are in toil and struggle, ups and downs, times of difficulties and time of ease.

It is a life full of tests as Allaah says:

(Al-Baqarah 2:155)

We are living in a world of toil and struggle, but yet within ourselves it is possible to attain inner peace, peace with the environment, with the world in which we live.

Obviously there are some obstacles which prevent us from attaining peace. So first we have to identify the obstacles in our lives which prevent us from achieving maximum inner peace and develop some kind of strategy to remove them. The obstacles will not be removed just by thinking that we need to remove them; we have to develop some steps to achieve this. So how do we go about removing these obstacles so that we can achieve what is possible of inner peace?

The first step is to identify the obstacles themselves. The second step is to accept them as obstacles within ourselves. For example anger is one of the biggest obstacles to inner peace, for example. If a person is angry worked up and has blown a fuse, how can he or she have inner peace in that circumstance? If we look at the obstacles in life we can put them under a variety of headings: personal problems, family issues, financial dilemmas, work pressures and spiritual confusion. We have so many problems, so many obstacles that they are like illnesses. If we try to deal with them one by one we will never get through them. To do this we have to first of all remove obstacles that are beyond our control. We have to be able to distinguish which obstacles are within our control and which ones are beyond our control. For example, in this time one might find oneself born black in a world that favours white people over black people; or born poor in a world that favours the rich over the poor, or born short, or crippled, or any other physical condition which is considered a handicap.

Allaah told us:

Allaah knows but you do not know.” (Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:216)

So the obstacles that are beyond our control, we may dislike them and we may want to change them, and some actually people spend a lot of money trying to change them. Inner peace can only be achieved if the obstacles that are beyond our control are accepted by us patiently as part of Allaah’s destiny.

When Khidr made a hole in the boat of the people who were kind enough to take him and Moosaa across the river, Moosaa asked why he (Khidr) did that.

There are other obstacles or rather things which are perceived as obstacles in our life. For some people this drives them into disbelief. If one listens to an atheist he has no inner peace and has rejected God. Allaah says:

“So set you (O Muhammad) your face towards the religion of pure Islaamic Monotheism Hanifa (worship none but Allaah Alone) Allaah’s Fitrah (i.e. Allaah’s Islaamic Monotheism), with which He has created mankind. No change let there be in Khalqillah (i.e. the Religion of Allaah Islaamic Monotheism), that is the straight religion, but most of men know not.” The Prophet Muhammad (sally-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:

“Every child is born with a pure nature (as a Muslim with a natural inclination to believe on God)…” (Saheeh al-Bukhaaree & Saheeh Muslim)

If a tragedy happens in their life they have no explanations as to why it happened.

No explanations! Going back to the story of Moosaa and Khidr, after they crossed the river they came across a child and Khidr cut that child’s head off. The child was innocent and Khidr cut his head off! Khidr told Moosaa that the child had righteous parents and if the child had grown up (Allaah knew that) he would have become such a terror for his parents that he would have driven them into disbelief, so Allaah ordered the death of the child.

This child honoured them and was good to and for them, but the parents would always have a hole in their heart due to losing their first child, right until the Day of Judgement when they will stand before Allaah and He will reveal to them the reason why He took the soul of their first child and then they will then understand and praise Allaah.

To remove the obstacles we have to focus mostly on self-change and this is because Allaah says:

“...Verily! Allaah will not change the good condition of a people as long as they do not change their state of good within themselves…” (Ra'd 13:11)

We can even develop patience, although the common idea is that some people are just born patient. A man came to the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and asked what he needed to do to get to Paradise, so the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) told him: “Do not get angry.” (Saheeh al-Bukhaaree)

The man was an individual who would get angry quickly, so the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) told the man that he needed to do change his angry nature. The Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) also said: “Whoever pretends to be patient (with a desire to be patient) Allaah will give him patience.” This is recorded in Saheeh al Bukharee This means that although some people are born patient the rest of us can learn to be patient.

The Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) told us to try to be patient, so externally we should give that façade of being patient even when internally we are boiling. If we are consistent in this then the external image of patience also becomes internal and as a result complete patience is achieved and is achievable as mentioned in the Hadeeth quoted above.

Among the methods is to look at how the material elements of our lives play a major part with regards to patience and us achieving it.

Nowadays the material life is a huge part of our life, we seem to be obsessed with it; gaining all we can in this world seems to be the main point that most of us focus our energies towards. So if one must do this then they should not let it affect their inner peace.

The Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:

(Saheeh Muslim)

We cannot achieve satisfaction in the material world if we are chasing after it in such a way; rather, we should look to those who are less fortunate, this way we will remember the gifts, benefits and mercy that Allaah has bestowed upon us with regards to our own wealth, no matter how little it may seem.

The Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) stated this principle over 1400 years ago and laid this principle down for the believers by saying, “Whoever makes this world his goal Allaah will confuse his affairs and place poverty before his eyes and he will be able to attain nothing from this world except for what Allaah has already written for him…” (Ibn Maajah & Ibn Hibbaan)

Allaah will place poverty before his eyes and no matter how much money he has he will feel poor. The Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:

“Whoever sets the Hereafter as his goal, Allaah gathers his affairs for him, gives him richness of (faith in) the heart and the world will come to him grudgingly and submissively.” (Ibn Maajah & Ibn Hibbaan)

Richness is not about having a lot of wealth, but richness is having wealth of the heart, and what is wealth of the heart? It is contentment, and this is where the peace comes from, when a person submits themselves to Allaah, and this is Islaam.

The inner peace is accepting Islaam in our hearts and living by the principles of Islaam. So Allaah will put richness in a person’s heart and this world will come to him submissively, on its knees and humbled. If the Hereafter was our focus then it would be reflected in our conversation. If we find that our priority is this world, then we need to re-focus, we need to put “first things first”, meaning the Hereafter before the life of this world, and if we do this we can achieve inner peace, and Allaah informed us of this in the Qur’aan, a precise step to take in order to attain inner peace, and Allaah says:

“...Verily, in the remembrance of Allaah do hearts find rest.” The remembrance of Allaah is in everything we do as Muslims. Islaam is living a life remembering Allaah, and Allaah says:

Everything that we do (in Islaam) involves the remembrance of Allaah as Muslims. Allaah says:

“Say: ‘Indeed, my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and dying are for Allaah, Lord of all the worlds’.” (Al-An'am 6:162)

So here is the way to achieve inner peace, to remember Allaah (subhaanahu wa ta’aala) in all aspects of our lives.

This remembrance (dhikr) is not as some people think i.e. to sit in the corner of a dark room constantly repeating “Allaah, Allaah, Allaah…” This is not how we remember Allaah. Yes, such a person is saying Allaah’s name, but if we think about it, if somebody came to you (and for example your name is Muhammad) and kept saying “Muhammad, Muhammad, Muhammad…” you would wonder what is wrong with that person. Some people say that we should remember Allaah by dancing around or swaying from side to side. This is not the way to remember Allaah, as this too is not how the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) remembered Allaah and there is no record of him doing that.

The Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) remembered Allaah in his life. His life was a life of remembrance of Allaah, he lived a life in remembrance of Allaah and this is the true remembrance, in our prayers and in our living and our dying.

In summary, the search for inner peace involves recognising the problems that we have in our lives, recognising our obstacles, recognising that inner peace will only come when we identify those obstacles and understand which of them we can change and that we focus on those obstacles we can change, the ones which are related to our self.

If we change our self then Allaah will change the world around us and give us the means to deal with the world around us. Even though the world is in turmoil Allaah gives us inner peace with it.

Whatever happens we know that it is Allaah’s destiny and that it is Allaah’s trials and we know that ultimately it is for our good. Allaah created us in this world and the world as a means to attain Paradise and the trials of this world is our own spiritual growth. If we can accept all this, accepting Allaah in our hearts then we can find inner peace

Written by Dr. Bilal Philips--01 April 2007
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Prev

Next