What is the philosophy of emphasis on Pondering in Islam?
In the religion of Islam i.e. in the holy Quran and the Narrations of the infallibles, there is so much emphasis on “pondering”. If you see in different parts of the holy Quran, you can find so much blaming on those who do not ponder, or those who have chosen their religion and belief out of only following their ancestors, and this shows the importance of pondering from Islamic perspective.
We have different Narrations that show the importance of pondering; some of them are in such words:
Pondering for a while is better that worshiping Allah for a year or in another Narration it is mentioned that it is better that seventy years of worship.
Of course the differences in expressions might be due to the matter and subject on which we ponder or due to the effects of our pondering.
One of the Islamic scholars said: “pondering for a while in some cases can be better than thousands years of worship”, and we will mention the reason of such an emphasis in this essay.
It is true to say that the power of intellect is among the most important gifts of Allah and it is the main difference between Human and the animals, the animals are prior to us in different fields, like the power of body, the power of sight, etc. but they do not have the intellect, so you see that through intellect, Human can overcome even the most dangerous animals.
And another point is that the animals are not responsible for their deeds just like the human and that is just because they are not given the intellect.
Allah has created us in a way that we have freedom to choose our path, He has showed us the path of righteousness and the path of falsehood through the religions and intellect, and He has not forced us to accept one of these two ways.
In Islam there are some bases that we must believe in them out of intellectual discussions, like the existence of God. Of course, we can take help from the experts but the thing which gives the last answer and acceptance is our selection.
Yes, there are other minor issues that if we are not Mojtahid and expert to the extent that can derive the Islamic rules from its sources, we follow the Islamic experts called Maraji and it is something absolutely logical and prevalent in every issue in this world because you see those who are not expert in a field, they refer to an expert in that specific field.
Now let’s see some benefits of pondering:
-Through pondering we can have a better and deeper understanding from the existence of God, His attributes, and different religious issues and it is obvious that as much as our understanding gets deeper, we can have more certainty and be deeper in our beliefs (of course if we act according to what we understand, not just thinking and leaving the good deeds.)
-Through pondering, we can get more familiar with the bounties that Allah has given us and be more thankful to Him and as much as we get more thankful, as the holy Quran says, Allah will give us more. Of course it must be added here that the meaning of being thankful to Allah is not just repeating: “praise is due to Allah”, but rather it means that we obey the commands of Allah and do not use His bounties in the disobedience of Him.
-We can be observant of our deeds and do not let Satan to overcome us; there are a lot of very interesting and helpful discussions in this regard that if God wills, we will mention it in an independent essay.
-One of the matters on which we are recommended to think, is the matter of death, and to remind ourselves that we are not going to live here forever, so it helps us to be on the straight path.
At the end we mention that the importance and priority of pondering over other kinds of worship is that pondering can be a means that can change the way and the style of a sinner to righteousness and toward the perfection. You know that a person by the name of Hor, firstly was among the enemies of Imam Hussein peace be upon him on the tragic event of Karbala, but before starting the battle, he thought for a while about the end and destination of himself if he fights the infallible Imam.
It is narrated that Hor said: I saw myself between Paradise and Hell, so at the end, he repented and came to the tent of Imam Hussein and said to the Imam: is there any way for me to repent? And the Imam accepted him, so Hor fought against the enemies of the Imam and at last he got martyr.
Look at this story deeply, the person that till last night was among the cursed people, now has turned to one of the companions of the Master of the worlds, just because of pondering for a while.
On the opposite side, is Satan that it is mentioned in the Narration that he was worshiping Allah for six thousand years, but because he refused from obeying Allah, he got exiled from the Paradise and till the day of judgment he is cursed by the Allah and the infallibles and the people, he could think that why should we disobey such a wise being who has created me and is my Master?
So we understand that sometimes pondering for a while has an effect that worshiping for six thousand years does not have that effect, and it is the reason that I heard from one of the Islamic scholars that he was talking about the Narrations which for example say: pondering for a while is better that worshiping seventy years. That Islamic scholar said: Islam did not say pondering for a while is better than thousands of years of worship, because we may get confused and deny it, but the reality is that this great comparison is also completely true.
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Source:
Akhlagh.porsemani.ir
