Musings of a Muslim Lion/Singa: Basis of Inner Peace

Taken from Qur'anic PsychiatryBy Shaykh Syed Mubarak Ali al-Jilani al-Qadiri

"Know that in the thikr of Allah (also following the guidance in the Holy Qur'an) lies the peace of quloob (heart)."

In this ayaat the Creator of the physical and non-physical bodies, Allah Ta'ala, has declared the very basis of the immutable law governing a person's health.

Therefore, the very structure of spiritual health rests on "peace of heart." If this does not exist many psychological disorders, such as nervousness leading to neurosis, and other similar disorders will develop.

The meaning of Islam is peace or total surrender , meaning thereby surrendering one's own will before the Will of the Almighty. The foundation for inner peace rests on the following:

One must acknowledge that he has a Creator who has created him for some purpose in this earthly life.
One must follow the manual of the Creator which the Almighty sent for His creatures-the guidance in the shape of the revealed books, i.e. the Holy Qur'an, and earlier books (now no longer valid).
One must acknowledge that the Creator has been sending guidance and Messengers (peace be upon them) to lead mankind towards physical and spiritual prosperity and the life hereafter.
One must believe that the Almighty has created many other intelligent beings such as angels and jinnbeings.
One must believe that his/her earthly life is very short, so much so that it has been compared with a short nap which one traveler might take under the shadow of a tree while traveling on the road and then goes on his way.
One must believe that this worldly life is full of tests and trials. All these hardships must be borne with patience, steadfastness, taking all calamities, losses, adversities from the Almighty as a test of his Iman (belief). Therefore, he should not grieve over losses or show joy over any gain.
One must not believe in any man or deity as his/her creator. Nor should he deny the existence of the Creator. No one can deny Allah without first affirming Him. By saying "I don't believe in Allah" can only mean that Allah does indeed exists, but one refuses to believe in Him. It also amounts to saying "I don't believe in the sun" --though the sun is there. Therefore all such persons can be compared with bats whose eyes don't open before the sun.

Denial of the Creator takes away peace, and the light of reason and intellect from the heart of a person and fills it with doubt. This is the worst disease of the qalb (heart), which causes every imaginable psychiatric (spiritual) malady.

Those who doubt the existence of the Almighty Creator will manifest all or some of the following characteristics: arrogance, anger, cruelty, cowardliness, miserliness, jealousy, hatred, hypocrisy, greed, ignorance, stubbornness, dissension, sloth, lying, selfishness, ill manners, despair, mischievousness, craftiness, lewdness (lack of modesty) perversion, and overpowering sexual despairs, etc.

Thus when the qalb is diseased then some, or all, of the aforementioned characteristics will be manifested in the conduct of any individual, depriving him of peace, tranquillity, sleep, and good health. Deprived of peace, a person will try to find solace in drugs, alcoholic drinks, sexual activities, hoarding wealth or getting power. Ultimately, they fall victim to the most horrible physical and psychiatric (non-physical) diseases.

Look at the fate of many of the world's multimillionaires, Hollywood film stars, rulers of the world, and even "psychiatrists." What a miserable end they usually have! As long as people keep doubting the existence of the Almighty there will be no end to their psychiatric diseases. The Almighty will keep on increasing their miseries by subjecting them to the control of the messengers of darkness, ignorance and deniers of the truth-the Freudians, pseudo-psychiatrists, and other atheists.

In order to have inner peace one must believe in the hereafter, raising of the dead, accountability, judgment, hell and paradise, and the eventually meeting with the One and Only Lord Almighty of Hazrats Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Daood, Sulaiman, 'Isa bin Maryam, and Muhammad the Last and Final Messenger (peace be upon them all!). Even if the non-Muslims follow the Ten Commandments in letter and spirit they will be saved.

The following will give, in a nutshell, the teaching of all the Messengers mentioned above. Those who wish to have perfect physical and spiritual health, as well as those who are suffering and want to be cured of their diseases, will have to follow this code as explained by the Holy Last Messenger, Muhammad

"You should believe:

In Allah, i.e. in His Person and Attributes and
The Last Day, and
The Angels, and
The earlier (Divine) Books (no longer available with original content), and
All the Messengers, and
The rising after death, and
The destiny, i.e., all that is good or bad is from Allah, and
That you bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger, and
That at the time of each salat you establish the salat it is proper time after performing a perfect wudhu. (Perfect Wudhu is one performed with due regard to ever 'adab [due respects] and mustahibbat [desirable action])
Pay the zakat (obligatory charity on wealth exceeding a prescribed limit), and
Fast during the month of Ramadhan, and
Perform Hajj if you have wealth. (The availability of wealth has particularly been mentioned because want of wealth is generally made an excuse for non-performance of Hajj. Otherwise, evidently, the other prerequisites that make the Hajj obligatory should also exist.)
You should perform the twelve rak'at sunnat-e-mu'akkadah salat every day. (According to other Hadith, the twelve rak'at are detailed as two rak'at before the two fard (obligatory) rak'at of Fajr Salat, four before and two rak'at after the four fard rak'at of Zuhr, two after the three fard rak'at of Maghrib and two after the four fard rak'at of 'Isha).
You should never miss the Witr salat at night, which is wajib (compulsory, but less than fard and more important than sunnat) and is, therefore, specially emphasized.
You should ascribe no partners unto Allah.
You should not disobey your parents (if they obey the Almighty).
You should not devour the property of orphans unjustly. (Unjustly implies that there is no harm in using the belongings of an orphan in a lawful manner as in the case under certain circumstances.)
You should not drink wine.
You should not commit adultery.
You should not indulge in false oaths.
You should not give false evidence.
You should not yield to your base desires.
You should not backbite a Muslim brother.
You should not bring a false charge against a chaste woman (or a chaste man).
You should not bear ill-will towards your Muslim brethren.
You should not indulge in useless amusements.
You should not join the idle spectators.
You should not call a short-statured person "O, you short-statured one!" with the intention of finding fault in him.
You should not indulge in jokes at the cost of others.
You should not indulge in slandering others.
You should be ever grateful to Allah for His bounties.
You should be steadfast in suffering and calamity.
You should not sever your ties of kinship with your (believing) relatives.
You should discharge your obligations to your relatives.
You should not curse any creature of Allah.
You should remember and glorify Allah by repeating SubhanAllah (Glory belongs to Allah), Al-Hamdu lil-Lah (All Praises is for Allah), La ilaha il-Lallah (There is no god but Allah), Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest) with frequency.
You should not miss the Friday and 'Id salat.
You should believe that whatever good or bad lot befalls you was predestined and could not be avoided, and whatever you have missed, you were predestined to do so, and,
You should not give up the recitation of the Holy Book under any circumstances."