Recently I’ve been thinking about how completely discordant
our modern lives are with the Prophetic model.
The more one tries throughout one’s day to earnestly adhere to the
various acts of Sunnah, the more it becomes clear that life in the 21st
century is quite inhospitable to the ideal Islamic way of life.
Before I continue, let me be clear here. The Shariah has incorporated, by way of
Allah’s Divine Mercy, mechanisms that tolerate and accommodate, throughout all time
and space, the countless extremes found in human life. So I find nothing
inherently anti-Islamic about life in the fast-paced Internet age we find
ourselves in today.
That being said, when I try to mimic the life of my dear
Prophet (saw) in this day and age, the incongruity between the two becomes very
clear. My pace of life simply doesn’t
afford me the luxury to dutifully carry out all the voluntary acts of worship.
For example, most Muslims perform their five daily
prayers void of the due reverence that the Prophet and his companions displayed. From performing the Wudu with peace and
serenity to attending congregational prayers at the Masjid to praying all the
Sunnah/Nafl prayers, it would take at least 30 minutes for each prayer. Now, who can afford two hours (not including
Fajr) out of their busy daily schedule *solely for their prayers*?
Furthermore, what about the various Prophetic litanies,
especially after Fajr and Maghrib, which would take an additional hour each day?
Then there is the Sunnah of staying awake from Fajr to
Sunrise, reciting Quran/Dhikr, and finishing with the Duha salat.
And let’s not forget waking up for Tahajjud in the last
third of the night.
Oh and then there are the Sunnahs of sleeping, such as
sleeping immediately after Isha and reciting Surah Mulk and Ayat al-Kursi
before sleeping.
I’ve mentioned some of the daily Prophetic acts of
worship - acts which, in past generations, even the most casual of Muslims
vigilantly maintained. But beginning
with our parent’s generation, I’m convinced that that number has dwindled down
to only the select few.
How can one possibly perform all these deeds while
equally maintaining a productive role in 21st century society?
How am I supposed to ensure my place in the first row of the masjid for every prayer? How am I supposed to stop whatever I am doing when the
adhan is called, repeat after the mu’adhin, and then immediately rush to the
masjid?
What of visiting close relatives and the sick, as well as
helping the needy? When do I find time
for other Islamic acts such as dawah, gaining knowledge, and teaching others?
In order to loyally observe all the above, I would need
to drastically alter the way I live my life. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING,
would have to take a back seat to my adherence to the Sunnah – family, friends,
work, play, rest.
I am coming to believe that the two - the Sunnah way of
life and the modern life - are unconditionally irreconcilable. In order for one to thrive, the other must be
sacrificed.
Personally speaking, my only extended moments of adherence
to the Sunnah way of life have occurred when I visited Mecca or Madina, where
the entire day’s schedule revolved around worshiping Allah (swt). Only when I have withdrawn myself from the
modern life have I been successful in recreating a daily schedule even remotely close to that of the Prophet's.
Obviously, such an indulgence is not available to the
vast majority, so we must make (major?) adjustments to our daily lives if we
wish to faithfully imitate the life of our beloved Prophet (saw).
I’m not simply referring to incorporating a handful of
Sunnah acts into our daily lives. In
order to holistically actualize the Prophetic way of life, we
have to adopt his worldview when designing and molding our
lives. This includes our priorities, our
pace of life, our modes of entertainment, our sources of sustenance, our
relations, and so on.
Where to begin?
I’m open to suggestions.
10 comments:
You ask many a question... how about an answer every now and then?
The great thinkers in the history of man have been people who gave answers... not just questions!
Man has always been busy with magnetic primordial pursuits of this world.... even Adam (alahee al salam) was distracted by Lucifer in the name of a fruit.. which thru us all here.
Even our forefathers i.e. go back 5-6 generations where mere 'no-bodies'. Y is it that not only does the world not remember them, but also we are unable to even NAME them yet we know of Newton, Pythagoras, Tesla and the like?
The world remembers all those prophets (alahem salam) and our beloved prophet (S) regularly. The world even names child after child after them?
Indeed they were divinely guided, but they they left their mark on the conscience of mankind till eternity - stepping out of their DAILY GRIND!
A small prayer by Yunus, an act of gratefulness by Yusuf or Ayoub, etc anything GREATER than that we all face in our daily struggle to keep food on the table, etc makes man the best of creation.
Becoming the viceroy of God - now that's another story!
Great question.
I myself also thought a lot about this issue and have come up with the following answer:
Everything comes with a price tag. Jannah comes with a price tag. Prophetic life style comes with a price tag. The price is duniya. If we want to execute our life like that of the Prophet, we have no other option but to abandon this duniya. We have to abandon this eight hour work. Period. When we will abandon this eight hour work, we will also have to abandon many things naturally-our cozy homes, our luxurious car, our cool i-phones--the list goes on.
For example, my work currently takes 11 hours of my day everyday. 3 hours transport + 8 hours work + 1 hour of post work tiredness + 1 hour in bathroom + 1 hour to eat + 7 hours sleep + 2 hours for computer. How much time left for worship? 1 hour. Now suppose I resign from my job. I want to lead a prophetic life. I memorize the Quran, learn Arabic and I get the job of a muezzin. In Qatar, muezzins are paid about 1700-1500 riyals per month with a house. They are allowed to bring their family also. Their job is only to give adhans. They have abundance of time. So by being a muezzin, I can afford a prophetic way of life, but in terms of duniya, I will have to sacrifice my 10k+ salary and many other fancy things.
If there is a will, there is a way. If we truly want the prophetic model, we will have to sacrifice. But the million dollar question is: Are we prepared to make this huge sacrifice? Am I prepared to sacrifice my 10k+ salary and happy with meager 1K+ salary and a non-fancied life? Am I prepared to truly believe that Allah is indeed the provider of rizq and stop worrying if I will be able to eat after 10 years from now and thus stop worrying about my bank balance?
Similar input about this issue here
AA-
@Speedy, "
Becoming the viceroy of God - now that's another story!"
And how do you propose to accomplish that while fully immersed in the modern lifestyle?
@Shard, excellent comment and even better post. You and I are both in full agreement on this issue.
As salaamu alaikum
Your 2nd commenter got it exactly right - if you want that lifestyle, holistically, you need a job that's conducive to it, which means sacrificing a lot. But if everyone did that, there'd be too many muazzins and not enough masjids ;)
But really - we can't have a society with everyone doing that. Because then who would do the other, necessary work of the society? Doesn't a hadith say that trade is the best profession? What about building roads, teachers, etc?
The sahabah r.a. were the perfect example - they had those normal jobs (for their time), but they sacrificed of their time and sleep, and found creative ways of acquiring knowledge (i remember a pair of them who would alternate - one day one would work while the other stayed with the Prophet s.a.w. to learn; then he'd come back and teach it to the other; and the next day they'd swap roles).
What you say about Makkah and Madinah being the only places you can have that kind of schedule - i'm finding it true. We're on our Hajj trip now, and what struck me so much in Madinah was this immense change of lifestyle (i wrote a post on that recently). It's really like another world - where life revolves around the salaahs. It's awesome - but can't be maintained, because we're here as visitors only - which means we don't have responsibilities (work, kids, house, etc).
The people that live and work in those places - ask them how easy it is to live that kind of life you speak of. I've come to the conclusion that workers can't - unless they have an awesome boss. Beyond that, only the boss - e.g. the shop owner - can do that; because he can set his own schedule and spend all those hours and shape his life that way.
Look - the thing is, Allah knows the time we live in. Near the end of times. Each era has different challenges and lifestyles. And aren't there hadiths about how difficult it would become to live the Islamic life in these last days? I vaguely remember one about how the people later would only practice a small part of the Sunnah / Islamic lifestyle, yet their reward would be greater than those before them - this because of how hard it'll become. Have you heard of that hadith?
What about the one about the person who revives one sunnah, in the tough times / end times - and the reward for that?
What about the one about "holding onto hot coals"?
The Prophet s.a.w. knew it'd get difficult for us. I don't think he expected us to imitate him exactly until the end of times. But that's just my guess.
I think it's very important to capture the ESSENCE and SPIRIT of the Sunnah life, rather than obsess about imitating it exactly - hour by hour. Because 100% pure imitation is not possible today. Society is different. Times are different. The demands of life in this era are different.
Live the spirit...focus on that. I would think that's more realistic.
Then again, Allah can make anything happen. Umar r.a. wanted to die as a martyr in Madinah - two things which seemed mutually exclusive at the time. Yet it happened for him.
I've given no definitive answer here - but i hope my contribution has helped stir some thoughts that'll drive you to resolution of the issue in your life.
i think yur complicating it a bit. OR possibly u are trying to change it overnight.
it is simple. islam is simple. once u incorporate it in your life, you will love it more than anything. and keeping up something u love is not so difficult.
tahajjud, fajr, morning adhkar, unless yur going to work SUPER early, this is all possible.
duha...um dont ppl take smoking breaks at work? or bathroom breaks. its not hard to take 5 minutes to pray 2 rakahs of duha.
or u can obviously wait from fajr till shurooq and then do yur duha around that time.
same goes for all prayers till isha.
then at isha time, lets supose isha is at 8, u can train your household to sleep at 9. at the latest 9:30?
i know ppl who are very particular about morning and evening adhkar. it does not take an extra hour :=)
it takes about 20 minutes max.
i think its more important than vaccinations. im not too into vaccinations but for ppl who are into it, they are very concerned about it. they will take their kids, pay huge amounts of money etc etc. same for cleanliness. look how we keep our homes clean, and hire maids. we dont just have two clothes, we have 10 or 20 to make our life easier. it means working more, making more money, spending more time shopping, buying more detergent to wash the clothes, more folding, more everything. but we do it cuz WE BELIEVE IN IT.
so going back to adhkar,
just like we schedule tutors for our children or time to cook or whtever, u SCHEDULE THAT IN. period. and u involve your children in it.
its easy..when they're young. u can play the adhkar morning and evening on the computer for instance.
its about making small changes and changing our perspective.
consider this: the prophet saw was sent as an EXAMPLE and Allah knew what times we would live through.
If something is impossible to do in OUR SPECIFIC SITUATION , we need to sit down and figure WHAT we can change.
it doesnt mean getting dirt poor. if u can be patient with little money, nothing wrong with that. and if yur not and u find another way thats fine too. it does mean thinking OUTSIDE THE BOX.
surah mulk and stuff before sleeping is not hard also. IF U MEMORIZE THEM no problem. u just lie down and do them total w/ the adhkar in 5 minutes.
the problem is because yur thinking of your CORE life as your life and these things as EXTRAS to slap INTO your LIFE. and its all so overwhelming them.
have u considered that worshipping (ritual as well as any other form) is WHAT WE WERE CREATED FOR.
THIS IS what we gota do and THEN if we have time we do other things.
u live in saudi. why is it difficult to schedule yourself, have wudu and go to salah? and repeat after muadhin. c'mon its not rocket science br naeem. u can do it!
ENTERTAINMENT in your life has to have specific purposes: such as giving u spiritual/physical rest so u can then feel strong/rejuvinated and motivated again to worship your Lord for which u were created.
and to forge a good relationship with your family/wife/kids, muslims neighbors freinds. etc.
AA-
@DL, I appreciate your comment and I get where you're coming from. I realize that for most people, implementing a handful of Sunnah's is a great accomplishment (and right now, I acknowledge I am one of them), but ought we not strive for 100% imitation of our dear Prophet?
"I think it's very important to capture the ESSENCE and SPIRIT of the Sunnah life, rather than obsess about imitating it exactly - hour by hour. Because 100% pure imitation is not possible today. Society is different. Times are different. The demands of life in this era are different."
I agree. Times are different. But that doesn't absolve us from TRYING to live the Prophetic life.
@Umm BudiMary, very nice comment. I must admit that while Shardul-Allah's comment represents my heart and the direction I really wish to go in, your comment is akin to my brain and its logical attempts to steer down the middle path.
Everything you say is truly practical and I believe the way most Muslims should aspire to. But acknowledging this reality should be done while simultaneously realizing that our pristine model is the Prophetic way of life which cannot be actualized in this modern life.
If we lost sight of this perfect model, instead focusing on your patchwork approach (which I'm not deriding, but acknowledging for its pragmatic value), we may end up too far removed from the ideal.
Am I being even remotely clear? :-)
nice disc. Br.Naeem, these are issues that most spiritually-oriented Muslim. As was mentioned before, if you are in a situation where your lifestyle leads you to Ma'ssiya then, you have no option but to do Hijra out of that situation, if not, then it comes down to your Himma, if you want to be of the Muqarrabin, you should center your life around that which brings you to live i.e. the ridwan of Allah, if u want to pursue a more luxurious lifestyle, you should work extra hard to avoid all ma'siyya, and always work on niyyah, the prophet (saw) lived a live of subsistence, a life of poverty because, his live was centered around that which pleases Allh(swt),that is the kinda poverty that is praised in Islam, if riches come your way, as happened to the sahabah in later years, you take it as a fadl minallah. have seen people who compomise themselves morally or compromise their dignity, familial, neighborly, or friendly relationships because they have a lifestyle to maintain, those are 'abd Dinars, may Allah protect su from being of them.
AsalamuAlikum
You have raised a very important question. I have lived for some time in companionship of very devout sunnah followers in Pakistan. I have also lived in Canada for 3-4 years now. The people successfully following the sunnah put getting provisions, livelihood and job as part time while living according to the sunnah of Holy Prophet (sm) as their full time job. There are very few people like that in Canada or UK. I know a few people who have purchased their own taxis and they lease it. So they can get means to live and practice the sunnah fully. Those people in Pakistan used to farm so they could practice the sunnah fully as their work required a portion of the day.
Also, I came across a weak hadith which stated that Prophet Muhammad(sm)only hunted and gathered supplies one day in a week. According to that hadith other days were reserved for other purposes like constructing on one day, friday for marriages and spending time with family, another day to take problems to the governor etc. But even according to authentic most of the time of Prophet Muhammad (sm) was spent in remembrance of Allah, after that with family, friends and solving problems of Allah's creation. The least amount was spent on rest and personal matters etc, and making money.
So according to my understanding in modern world our priority is worldly matters. Knowingly or unknowingly we spend major component (at least 8 hours) on job etc. So in my view best thing is to create part time income and practice the sunnah if you really want to pursue that. Allah S.W.T give us all the tawfiq and hidayat to do so. Ameen
It may initially be difficult to adopt the Sunnah, for fear of being ridiculed, but this is precisely why one will be greatly rewarded by Allah (swt). It has been narrated that our Holy Prophet (saw) said:
"At the time of corruption, if one revives the Sunnah, one will be rewarded to the equivalent of one hundred martyrs in Islam"
(Baihiqi &Targhib)
AsalamuAlikum
You have raised a very important question. I have lived for some time in companionship of very devout sunnah followers in Pakistan. I have also lived in Canada for 3-4 years now. The people successfully following the sunnah put getting provisions, livelihood and job as part time while living according to the sunnah of Holy Prophet (sm) as their full time job. There are very few people like that in Canada or UK. I know a few people who have purchased their own taxis and they lease it. So they can get means to live and practice the sunnah fully. Those people in Pakistan used to farm so they could practice the sunnah fully as their work required a portion of the day.
Also, I came across a weak hadith which stated that Prophet Muhammad(sm)only hunted and gathered supplies one day in a week. According to that hadith other days were reserved for other purposes like constructing on one day, friday for marriages and spending time with family, another day to take problems to the governor etc. But even according to authentic most of the time of Prophet Muhammad (sm) was spent in remembrance of Allah, after that with family, friends and solving problems of Allah's creation. The least amount was spent on rest and personal matters etc, and making money.
So according to my understanding in modern world our priority is worldly matters. Knowingly or unknowingly we spend major component (at least 8 hours) on job etc. So in my view best thing is to create part time income and practice the sunnah if you really want to pursue that. Allah S.W.T give us all the tawfiq and hidayat to do so. Ameen
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