Month of Ramadan came and passed and as usual, there were a lot many people who tried to cash this occasion to exhibit their so-called love for religious worshipping by saying and posting things on social communication websites like, ‘Alas! The sweet and blessed month of Ramadan passed and we shed our tears in its departure’, ‘Aah! The month passed and I wished it had remained with us for the whole year’ and many others. Like numerous times before I have mentioned on these pages, we must be careful in utilizing religion for our personal benefits. Many other sins might be forgiven but this sin may never be because it is like getting into direct conflict with Allah and using its name for personal gains. Some may claim that they are sincere in their sentiments and they are not misusing it or they may not be aware of their mistake but it should be kept in mind that the desire to be praised and given importance is a hidden but lethal desire that we may never come to realize that when this evil came and trapped us in its claws. It is a general experience that, being noticed by me and you,those who really loved this month silently got benefitted from all its blessings and never made a show of their worships being carried out with a sole intention of pleasing the God and not to win the attention of others. On the other hand, those who could never understand the true spirit of worship and could not carry it out in the darkness of night without any hope of public attention are usually found shouting about religious pithy and elevation.

Other day, I took an electronic device for a technician. This is a small shop near our house where two brothers make everything from an electric switch to air-conditioners and are quite good in their work. One of the brothers made the fan for me and asked me to take it home but at home it did not work and I had to take it back. It was afternoon and one of the brothers had gone for offering his prayers while other was busy in the shop. I understood that he had just returned from his prayers as he was busy in repeating something by heart which was shown by the slight movement of his lips. When I told him about the problem, he did not utter a word and signaled me to sit and wait. I understood and sat on a small stool kept on a side. After some minutes, another man came to the shop by saying loudly, ‘Assalam-o-alaikum’. The technician only nodded his head, as his lips were not free to give the answer. To this, I said ‘Walaikum-assalam’. The man had also brought a device, which was not functioning properly and started telling the technician whose lips were still busy and could not talk. The man did not understand this and got angry and said angrily ‘Will you give me an answer or not if you can make my thing or not?’ The technician, who was greatly disturbed by the interference of the man, said angrily to him, ‘do not you see that I am doing wird? (the repetition of Holy names or words) Now, sit there and wait until I get free.’ The man was also angry and so he took up his electronic device and left the shop.

As I was the direct witness of this incident so it gave me a lot to ponder about the issue, i.e. what is the true spirit of wird/ zikr or other religious tools of worshipping and how ignorance and lack of knowledge can not only take away the true spirit and blessings of these good things rather such good things can create many problems to the person who is busy in them or the people around him. Some may get angry that how a religious worshipping can create problems and I do agree with them but when we see the actual practice of people, we see that when good things are not used according to their merit, they can even be bad. No need to mention here the same philosophy applicable about all the scientific inventions like atomic energy, computers and others. They are very useful for us if used positively but atomic energy can be used to make destructive weapons while a useful machine, computer, can be used to waste your time and energy for so many hours.

The more I read to understand the true spirit of our religion, the more my belief becomes firm that it was religion that aimed to make the life of people easy, happy and blessed and it was the religion that was based on practices and beliefs backed by logic and understanding, even 15 centuries ago. If we take the case of wird/ zikr, it was aimed for making us think about our daily activities, realize our duties and responsibilities regarding Our Creator and people around us and make us more active in all the positive activities of life and free us from the pangs of negative thoughts and actions. When you say, ‘God is the Greatest’, you make yourself free of all the worries of life because you admit that there is the greatest and most powerful God with you that would solve all your problems. When you say, ‘All the praises are to the Almighty God’, you thank the God for all the blessings and realize the true worth of all the good things given to you in your life. In short, all of these make you feel happy, fill your heart with positive feelings and make you a more considerate member of the society who better realizes his duties. It is not like mere repetition of few words like a parrot (though according to Sufis, such repetition can also change our inner world but for this, one needs to have the firm and pure belief of Sufis). After understanding the meaning, it gives us chance to ponder on our lives and draw positive results out of the meanings. This can be understood by the nature of these repetitions as well. When we say, ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ for 4-5 times, our lips can automatically keep repeating them and our mind should be busy in thinking about meanings offered by these words.  This process is similar to the one prescribed by psychologists and business gurus. According to psychology, if a person sits in a comfortable environment once in day and thinks about the good things in his life, he would definitely feel better. In the same way, successful business gurus recommend that for being a successful business executive, one must spare some time in day to think about the things going on in his life and business and he would come up with absolutely unique ideas. 

Our Islamic history shows the people of great thought and action and they knew the true spirit and power of these worships. Unfortunately, in last 5-6 centuries, we moved away from knowledge and education and turned the religion into a tool used for blaming others, utilizing it for our own benefits and hiding our incapability. If we once again practice the religious worships and activities with their true spirit, no doubt we would enter the period of ‘Islamic Renaissance’ but it is only possible by more and more education, understanding and contemplation.