One of the most beautiful things about Islam is practicing restraint. Any believer who has been a practicing muslim or muslimah knows exactly the beauty of restraint in their life. Islam perfects an individual in even the finest of actions one makes; and this forms a different kind of relationship between him and his creator.
Restraint is a kind of subconscious submission and an agreement with his Lord. And even in the most prosperous of situations practicing restraint becomes the believer’s cornerstone philosophy. The greater a man of piety, the more restraint is apparent. You are free to look everywhere but as a believer can you? What boundaries of sight are you not to cross? You are free to eat as per will but a believer will check the source of that food and whether it is permissible to consume it. This is restraint. This is taqwa. Restraint is the hue that colours the life of a believer. In the way he looks, talks, acts, his dealings, his way of walking, what he hears, what he eats, how much does he socialise. There is a restraint in his choices. And this restraint comes from following the Sunnah of Prophet ﷺ .
While on the outside it might appear as though life is constricted, but once on the inside, the excessiveness is given away and a sense of calm prevails. In this state, there lies a silent and deep bond he shares with Allah.
Your senses are here to absorb things from the surroundings but when excessiveness happens, diseases take place and spiritually one is drained. One has to learn to limit what his senses absorbs and learn the art of switching-off and on.
Restraint forms the bedrock of Islam; and Salah is a clear indication of this restraint in practice. Your body comes into a state of full control. The higher the control practiced the more khushu in Salah. The ability to lose yourself in Salah lies in the ability of practising restraint. When one is able to gain mastery over thoughts and learns how to block them off, a man enters a state of annihilation in Salah.
Restraint glorifies man from animals and brings out the human within.
Giving into all free-will is what has brought man to the level of lower creatures. A sense of control over yourself, your Nafs, Shaytan, Desires aims at mastery of the Qulub. Islam’s success and growth over centuries of leadership and to rule the world for thousands of years when the British and American regime are already failing in under less than 200 years, isn’t there a gap in understanding what works and what doesn’t?
Many might argue what good comes out of restraint? Or that we have been blessed with so much around to enjoy, why then should be control ourselves? I urge you to remind yourself that even if you were to look at one aspect as small of food, if you increase your daily consumption because of what is available then where exactly are you headed? In a generation of fries and bottomless drinks why is obesity a pandemic? The Sunnah of Prophet ﷺ only permits you to consume 1/3rd of your belly. This is restraint at it’s best.
When you practice restraint you are allowing yourself to submit. The acceptance of a larger success hidden in the acts of control today. In something to be bigger than you. More fruitful. Promising. Longer lasting. And hopefully in doing this we become steadfast on the Sunnah of Prophet SWS, and his life that serves as the perfect example of how in a limited span of 22-23 years he set the foundation for Islam without for once compromising on the most beautiful of conduct and display of exemplary character. I doubt with the adversities he faced a life without constraints would have made any of this possible.
All excessiveness comes from Shaytan. For a boundary or two are blurred and action overrides intent.
JazakAllah Khayr
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