Worship and Inner Peace

Worship

Tasnim Asgharali Jaffer (Moshi,Tanzania)

The number of months in the sight of Allah is twelve… Of them, sacred months are four (At-Tawba:36) 

For, without doubt, in the remembrance of God do hearts find satisfaction.(Ar-Raad:28) 

Again, in (Al Bakara:152) is stated “So, you remember me, l will remember you”.

It is the norm of the daily life that you can provide only that which you yourself possess, not that which is required from you without it being in your possession.

For a peaceful life to be obtained in this world, l need to have peace within me, not a turmoil, only then will l be able to live in peace and so too create a peaceful environment with the mutual co-operation of others holding that same peace within themselves

This inner peace is essentially obtained through sincere worship of the One, Just God, our Creator, understanding that He is always present in all places and at all times. This belief, with an understanding that since He is our Sole protector and so too, the Sole Provider of our necessities, it is incumbent upon us to obey His commands and regulate our lives by His commandments, which have reached us through the preaching and teachings of His Holy Prophet (s.a.w) and his successors (a.s).

Pondering over the above verses of the Holy Book, we can easily deduce that worshipping one God will create tranquillity within ourselves, for it is like living beings that find peace when they are in a secure place and situation. They have a certainty that they have supporters upon whom they can rely and depend in their time of need.

Humans, being the best of creation, definitely require the support and attention of their Creator, which is obtained by their trust and faith in His being present and a Witness upon all of their affairs in all of their matters. But, to obtain that attention, we too are required to attend to his commands placed upon our shoulders, as it has been placed in the human nature that to achieve something, we must return something as well. 

He, being the Creator, has prescribed some duties upon us which must be fulfilled by us. But then, it is possible that due to our circumstances or shortcomings, we fail to observe our duties sincerely, which then causes neglect on our part. This neglect, if harmful to ourselves, will also become a cause of the wrath of Allah and hence a loss to ourselves as all the commands placed upon us are for the benefit of ourselves, and not the Creator. 

But, since the Lord Almighty is also the source of mercy for us, so here too, to help us reinforce our commitment to His worship, he has made four months sacred out of the twelve, which help us enliven our spirits, as in these four months, the blessings are increased manifold on performing our extra duties and at the same time the punishments too, are increased on account of going against the teachings of our Holy Prophet (s.a.w). 

These four months were sacred even before our Holy Prophet (s.a.w) began preaching the message of Islam. In these four months, the Arab tribes, which were usually engaged in wars, used to stop their wars and some peace was restored in their tribes and communities, which at times resulted in some cool-minded thinking and many disputes were then easily settled due to the good counselling of the elders. 

Even after the spreading of Islam, the Almighty Lord kept their sanctity intact, which shows that Islam is a peaceful religion that regards the peaceful teachings in high esteem, even if they are related to the pre-Islamic period. Not only that, but these correct teachings are endorsed in the religion and become a part of it. 

These four months are as follows :-

1.  Rajab
2.  Zil qaad
3.  Zil hajj
4.  Muharram 

In these months, wars were prohibited unless fought in self-defence, which resulted in safe travelling from place to place and eased the lives of the common people. 

Also, the acts of remembrance of Allah were encouraged and performed, due to which many evils were wiped out of the inner selves of the lawless men and some humanity was restored. In short, people had an inner peace knowing full well that they were secure in all ways during those sacred months. 

After the establishment of the religion of Islam, the laws which were enacted during the pre-Islamic days were kept in place with some changes in the ways of worship, providing man with the means of earning greater rewards for the life of this world and the hereafter as well. These ways of worship were explained to us by our Holy Prophet (s.a.w) and the Aimmah (a.s). 

It is in human nature that when he accomplishes something well when undertaken as a challenge, or else, given to him as an urgent task, he feels an inner satisfaction and contentment, for he considers that his life has been worthwhile for a good cause. Man has been created by One who is All Good and expects all good from His creature, whom He has created in the best form and placed as His vicegerent upon this earth. 

So, all the forms of worship which He has prescribed for this precious creation benefit the man himself, which help elevate him to greater heights in the sight of his Lord and Creator. But, man sometimes loses his sight of pursue due to the love of the world, or else, the harshness, injustice and cruelty of the fellow men, and it is then that these sacred months come to his aid as his damaged faith is then rebuilt, his aim to achieve his goal of pleasing his Lord and so attain His blessings here and in the hereafter as well, is reinforced in his inner self. These months help him revive the truth about his Creator and the purpose of his creation, together with his duties towards the Lord, who is most kind and just, desiring only the best for His creation, just as parents desire the best for their children. 

We can easily conclude that whatever we had lost in our other days due to our negligence, whatever the cause had been, can easily be recovered during these sacred months, provided we attend to our duties sincerely having complete faith and trust that the Lord is just, kind and merciful and that he will not only forgive our past mistakes, but bestow even more blessings upon our selves. This will result in the contentment of our inner selves, and we will be at peace not only with ourselves but with our contacts as well. 

Finally, may the Lord Almighty grant us the will and strength to not only obey his commandments every day, but to exert more strength in the sacred months as well. Ameen. 

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