Khutbah #12 - 22/05/98

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Alhamdulillahi rabbil'alamin wa salaatu wa salaamu ala Rasulihi  

The other day, I finally couldn't avoid some really physical work in the garden - lifting a lot of heavy sacks, and pushing a heavy wheelbarrow up a long steep hill a lot of times. I felt tired, but not really aware of any difference to my posture afterwards. Until I prayed, and in Ruku my back cracked back into its natural position all the way up, in a way that many of you will recognise.

Last week I was starting to talk about the benefits of the Salaat in this life, but I really only talked about physical benefits, like the flexing of the spine. But the body is integrally linked to other aspects of our being which are much less tangible, the mental and emotional aspects of our well-being.

The cyclic rhythm of exercise and rest in the Salaat is clearly good for us physically, but it does require discipline. And that self-discipline is also good for us in other ways. As with exercise, we need to work, but there is no room for the self-indulgence of blaming your work for your having to get up in the morning if you are getting up at the crack of dawn for nothing more tangible than the pleasure of Allah.

As our minds drive us on, even at times of physical exhaustion, it is a time for stopping other things and putting them in perspective. It is a time to ignore things that are really not very important. A time to learn to trust that the person on the other end of a ringing phone will probably phone back later. It is a time for remembering that God is in command, and recognising His provision, that He feeds us as He does the birds.

Once, in the wilds of India, I was sitting in a stifling stationary bus for about an hour or so in a traffic jam that seemed to have no end. But there was a tap nearby, and I thought it was safe enough to make my Prayers - the bus didn't seem to be going anywhere. But of course, seconds after my takbir wasn't there a rumble of engines starting all along the line, and didn't I hear the whole queue of traffic driving off? So I finished my prayer with a vision of being stuck somewhere near Dharamsala with nothing more than a prayer mat. But when you've got nothing to carry, you can run fast - and the queue of vehicles had only moved a couple of hundred yards. I knew it would be OK.

A time of stopping other things, and even in Jummah, a time of solitude. Alone with your Lord. We need such times to examine what goes on inside ourselves, a time to think, and a time to examine the way our minds work (but I think I might develop that more next week). For in the same way that we need to regularly detach ourselves from the physical hurly-burly of life, we also need to look for some kind of detachment from the hurly-burly that takes place within our minds. And finding a way to disengage from mental effort is often the key to solving a problem. Inspiration, that distant cousin of Prophethood, when the Spirit guides us to an answer.

When grappling with a puzzle, how often does an answer come with ease, when you are relaxing after it has been put to one side. How often does an answer come during the prayer, when you are trying hardest to put your puzzles our of mind. Despite man's determination to claim the credit for good ideas, they all too often come out of the blue, devoid of any conscious intention - in fact, we can even get inspiration in our dreams, like the hydrocarbon ring structure.

Qur'an says: "It is God that takes the souls at death: and that which has not died in its sleep; He withholds that against which He has decreed death, but looses the other until a stated term. Surely in that are signs for a people who reflect. Or have they taken intercessors apart from God? Say: 'What, even though they have no power whatsoever, and no understanding?' Say: 'To God belongs intercession altogether. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; then unto Him you will be returned." - from Qur'an Surah 39.

*****

Is Life but a Dream, as the old song says? Clearly dreams could be important to the Prophet, for as Aisha said: "The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah's Apostle was in the form of good and righteous dreams in his sleep. He never had a dream but that it came true like bright day light."
And his Companions certainly looked to their dreams for guidance. In Bukhari, there is a charming story told by Ibn Umar, as follows:

"The Companions used to see dreams during the lifetime of the Prophet, and they used to narrate those dreams to him, and he would interpret them as God wished. I was a young man and used to stay in the mosque before my marriage. I said to myself, 'If there were any good in myself, I too would see what these people see.' So when I went to bed one night, I said, 'O God! If you see any good in me, show me a good dream.'

So while I was in that state, there came to me (in a dream) two angels. In the hand of each of them, there was a mace of iron, and both of them were taking me to Hell, and I was between them, crying out to God, "O God! I seek refuge with You from Hell." Then I saw myself being confronted by another angel holding a mace of iron in his hand. He said to me, 'Don't be afraid. You will be an excellent man if you only pray more often.'

So they took me till they stopped me at the edge of Hell, and behold, it was built inside like a well and it had side posts like those of a well, and beside each post there was an angel carrying an iron mace. I saw many people in there hanging upside down with iron chains, and I recognized some men from the Quraish there. Then the angels took me to the right side. I told this dream to (my sister) Hafsa and she told it to God's Messenger. The Prophet said, 'Undoubtedly, Abdullah is a good man.'

(a Hadith to which is appended a comment by Nafi', who said, "After that 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar used to pray a great deal.)"

God willing, we will be able to keep to our prayers without the need to be shown a vision of Hell-fire.

O God, forgive us, and have mercy on us, and guide us, and grant us security, and grant us sustenance.