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Iman And Aiming Mental Peace
Hello there Assallam u alaikum.
my question is that often it is said that some things are to be done only and only for seeking Allah’s pleasure and no any other aim should be targeted through those things. like namaz, Hajj, following directives of Allah with intention to fulfill his commands, as well as Iman (belief o regarding tenets of faith and their corollaries). But many of the times people remind themselves of beliefs of Iman with aim that once this beliefs comes in my mind, my mind will feel calm and peace after thinking on it. in a way he refreshes his Iman not to please Allah but so that this Iman in his thoughts produces an effect of mental peace. (here I’m not talking about the concept of a person doing something that’s exclusively for Allah, so as to please Allah, so that Allah blesses a person some blessing in this world like increased provision). I’m talking about doing or manifesting a thing which is only for Allah, with an aim that this thing directly will cause him a worldly benefit (the link of pleasing Allah in between is not present).
to illustrate the difference a person praying namaz so that someone else notices him and gives him money, is a bad thing. but the same action of praying namaz for the aim of getting money is halal, if a person thinks that he’ll pray to earn Allah’s pleasure and so that Allah gets pleased with this action and then bestows me money through any means.
coming back to question, sometimes many people remind themselves (refresh their state of Iman) with aim to achieve mental peace. like a person who gets anxiety for some action and something, wants to get some information and thought belief in his mind so that it would subside his anxiety or give him the strength to face the challenge about which there’s anxiety. he asks questions to sheikhs so that they answer something “Allah does not do such such ….. Allah does such such….” he wants to know and gain knowledge of them so that when it comes in his mind, it will be soothing to hear. often a times he himself tries to remind himself to refresh his Iman with an intention to calm himself down, not with intention to please Allah by refreshing his İman. his aim is to stop those racing thoughts, feelings, anxiety so that he can go about his day normally. And many scholars including Ghamidi Sahab also suggest such things like reminding oneself to get sakoon. here in this link
https://youtu.be/fJLQ3TYBAtE?si=q6p8NrQLLZuMjKKM
Amin ahsan ıslahı also says about the importance of Iman in the sense that it produces a state of mental peace and relaxation. which sort of suggests what he should be doing to get that mental peace
https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=afd39536930ab954c&q=https://ask.ghamidi.org/forums/discussion/1587/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjk34eB3JOEAxWyVaQEHb00AjMQFnoECAYQAg&usg=AOvVaw32-dvcjz7SLusWI0eYzOo8#post-68015
Ghamidi Sahab on his video about depression, says that such belief in Allah should be there as it helps in those depressive states. so automatically a person who’s in that depressive state would try to seek calmness by reminding himself of things of Iman (like Sunnah of Allah, concept of his mercy, the belief of akhirah, the concept of that this is temporary place made by Allah as a test).
so how to reconcile between such things? namaz is only for Allah, so only the aim of Allah’s pleasure should be sought. similarly beliefs of Iman are for Allah, so only Allah’s pleasure should be sought, but then why when someone tries to refresh such belief to gain a worldly benefit directly like feeling calmness and stop anxiety (which is analogous to someone knowing these for first time and believing in them for first time, in order to stop his anxiety and achieve calmness) why in this domain this thing is said to permissible, what thing am I missing? what is the missing puzzle? what is the explanation? please explain -
17 Replies
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Iman And Aiming Mental Peace
updated 4 months, 1 week ago
2 Members
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17
Replies
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To believe in certain things is an act of heart or mind which results in producing feelings. This is required. This is not like meditating but understanding ways of God. This is not a worldly benefit which is forbidden or rival to God but what is required Ans told that in the remembrance of God hearts feels satisfaction.
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@Irfan76 sir there’s a thought I want to share. when it is said Iman is to understand something to be true.
So Islamic Iman is to have those thoughts/understandings in mind i.e Allah is God (all the attributes of him), His Sunnan, His angels and books (and their respective details). So this understanding in mind is what we call Iman.
Now it is human nature that whenever someone talks to us, we show by different actions to them (nodding, saying ‘yes I understand) that whatever they are saying, we are listening and understanding that thing. so that they feel respected, they feel feel satisfied and happy that they are listened/understood. we do this often aiming their pleasure by making them realize that we are listening to them, and understanding them. we do that in both worldly conversation and religious conversation too.
My question is that, sometimes a colleague or an elder when they are talking about some concept of Iman. In an example… an elder is explaining to Arif. “Allah is the Lord of worlds, He created you and me. you understand?” and Arif spontaneously replies “yes yes I understand”. Here what Arif had aimed by saying yes was that, he wanted the elder to think that yes he understands in his mind this thing (that Allah is Lord etc). so that when his elder would know that he understands/beliefs this thing to be true, then the elder would feel satisfied and then he’ll move on forward in conversation.
Here sir didn’t he use the notion of his İman (his understanding that Allah really is true Lord), as a means to make his elder satisfied and then move on to next conversation? because after his uncle asked “do you understand? (do you have the thought in your mind that this thing is true?)”, now until his uncle doesn’t receive an affirmative answer, he won’t feel satisfied and won’t continue conversation forward. So for both of these things to happen, Arif said yes yes. so that his elder would think that he understands this (ie has Iman about this). and then both these aims would happen, satisfaction of uncle and he moving forward…
can you explain me is it wrong? as here his Iman is being made a source to achieve these two worldly things.
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This is fine. It is a normal human way of understanding and communicating.
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@Irfan76 sir but when his uncle said some factual detail, which if thought of and understood to be truth is what is iman, (ie Allah is God and He’s the one that gives provision, Al-Raziq)
When his uncle followed such statement with “am I right or not? (do you think this to be truth? or not?)”
Here Arif then replies with a yes because he wants his uncle to think that yes Arif believes in it to be true, hearing which his uncle will feel satisfied and carry on conversation.
Sir we can put ourselves in place of Arif and see it for ourselves that we also feel a similar intention when we are being addressed or talked to.
So again sir, something which was of Iman for Arif (Ie Arif thinking those details to be true), Arif here intended to use it as a means for such results (his uncle feeling satisfied and then carrying on the conversation). Can you please explain me it sir
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To make him feel satisfied is a good thing. nothing to object here.
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@Irfan76 sir I mean satisfaction here is not like a satisfaction of happiness. it is a satisfaction that a person feels when he gets what he wanted and then proceeds further. And the intention of Arif here was to not do this satisfaction for Allah. it was so that his uncle continues the conversation and we can say sort of avoid the heat situation that would have arose if he had said no I don’t think so
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It is not a worship ritual or anything like that, so he can go with it.
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@Irfan76 Okay sir, but I just wondered that is it not like something only for Allah? I mean I was thinking that if a person thinks such details to be true (Allah is Lord, He is provider, or like He made such thing halal or Haram, He’ll make judgment in the final) such things which are details of Religion. if a person thinks them to be true then is it not like something of Iman? and like isn’t Iman something only for Allah? please guide me if I’m wrong
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Iman is a thing one accepts it as a truth. He accepts it for his own self.
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@Irfan76 Okay sir so here Iman in terms of accepting something as a truth is not like something purely for Allah. unlike in case of worship, where primarily only Allah’s pleasure can be sought with it and no one else. Am I right sir? it’s not like a worship, which is solely for Allah. Right sir?
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Right
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@Irfan76 sir as you told me above that worship ritual is the only thing which is purely for Allah. and iman (in terms of knowing, accepting something to be true in mind) is not something purely for Allah. so if someone who uses this as means to achieve something worldly then it’s okay, just like in the example of conversation between 2 people above
while distinguishing between anything to be Riya or rival to Allah. i used to have this sentence in my mind as a principle (which was my own inference) that;
“the things that are only Allah’s right, should be done firstly only for Allah, and Secondly while doing it for Allah no one else’s pleasure is to be sought with this notion”
for example worship is only for Allah, so if someone worships someone else, he’s doing shirk. on the other hand, if he worships Allah but for some other reason like worldly benefit instead of Allah’s pleasure, this is Shirkiya.
i was going by this statement for long and there was no problem but then i stumbled upon a confusion. a thing that fitted that statement nicely, made me confused.
the thing was that “assuming a creator of universe is only a right of Allah”, so it definitely means that only Allah is to be accepted factually as a creator. this thing is clear and their is no confusion in this;
but then the second condition popped in my mind that, does this mean that in thinking about this knowledge to be fact, if some other aim than Allah’s pleasure is sought like some worldly benefit, then would it be rival to Allah and Riyakari like shirkiya? or not?
worship ritual is only his right. so first condition it won’t be done to anyone else .and second condition, while doing it to Him, only His pleasure is to sought.
Then comes my question that Iman of creator that this thing fits the sentence of ‘only right of Allah’ and obviously it fulfils the first condition that only Allah is to be believed/accepted to be Creator in the knowledge of the person. but would the second condition also apply simply like that?
for example an atheist sees that people believing in God are having better mental peace so he thinks that if he tries to find evidence and his brain really comes to accept as a reality, the existence of God as a creator so this knowledge would give him mental peace. so he tries to find evidence and when he finds, he accepts the knowledge that there is God as a true creator, and his intention behind it was having mental peace. would this intention be incorrect and not suitable?
is having Iman as a knowledge same as İbadah? that both regarding Allah cannot be done for some other reason? you told that it they both are different and iman is not solely something for Allah like that. but will the statement i said above, make it fall under this?
[the statement that something that is right of Allah alone, is only to be done towards Allah, and also while doing it, any other intention would be incorrect…. this statement was just my own inference]
please guide me in this matter sir.
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When he attains the real faith his accountability starts then. Nothing matters before.
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@Irfan76 sir I meant to ask that as you said before that Iman in terms of accepting some details and information to be true in mind (I’m not saying further worship and obedience ), does it fall under the category of things only and solely for Allah like worship?
for example I go to my cousin for having some refreshing conolany with him. my cousin while having different conversations with me, he starts to say “Allah is the creator of this world, Allah is the only one worthy of worship and He alone is God… Do you agree and believe in what I say?” and then I reply with affirmative with intention that when he thinks or feels satisfied that he got his answer in affirmative then he’ll carry on further in conversation. in the back of my mind I thought that if I don’t reply him in affirmative he’ll keep asking again and again and maybe think that about me having doubts in this statement, and he’ll further feel anger and more and more heat in conversation. but if I reply him with yes, then he would think like ‘yes Muhammad Ali agrees with me’ and then he’ll automatically continue his conversation, and we’ll be continuing the enjoyment of each other’s company
Here I try to deliver in his mind that I have Iman in this (hold these details to be true in my mind). so that he feels satisfied enough (not in terms of happiness, but getting his answer in affirmative) and his mind will then automatically shift forward and he’ll talk about something else.
so is Iman (in terms of considering a detail to be true) same as worship in this matter?
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If the one doesn’t believe in God and he casually affirms it to avoid an argument he is out of domain of Islam, his accountability as a believer starts only when he comes into the food of Islam. How he attains faith mater not in his life as a Muslim.
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@Irfan76 sir about Ahmad who actually believes in Allah, but when he is addressed in such a way. his intention while saying yes to other person was that the other person thinks that “Ahmad thinks this to be true” so he would feel a slight feeling of satisfaction so he’ll continue further in conversation. so ahmad was wanting the other person to think about it so that a worldly result is achieved, which is that the friend feels satisfied and conversation continues (the same type of satisfaction a person feels when after explaining something he asks the other man like “do you understand?” and the other man replies yes and then this person feels satisfied and other person understanding what he says, so he continue conversation further).
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It is ok. Nothing to make an objection to it.
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