I had read some parts of my roommate magazine. He's not here anyway. Just having a glance. I found out interesting stuffs. I'm just sharing it and adapting it again for other brethren. Just a community service for English audience. It is also for me to take heed. If brethren have anything to share please suggest it to me. I would be glad to read them and trying to get into practice as well, inshaallah : )
Introduction
The article talks about the God knows what is harmful for His servants compared to servants themselves. When the God prohibit something whether in the form of articles, matters, or acts, there must be virtues and wisdom lies behind them. Prohibitions do not mean to burden or tyrannizing human-being but for the benefit of human-being itself.
The God reminds His creatures in surah Ta-Ha verse 124, whomever turns away from His reminders, indeed for them a difficult life.
Says the God : "But whosoever turns away from My reminders, verily, for him is a life of hardship, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection."
Why the God prohibits vices?
- It brings disaster to everyone not only in this life but also in the hereafter.
- A person who commits vices and crimes will be tortured in two hells which are the hell of the world and the eternal hell of hereafter.
- Human will lose blessings such as hidden from knowledge, sustenance fade away, lost the sense of humility, being shameless, always in doubt, feeling a burden to perform worship, always in doubt and anxiety, losing the blessings of natural health.
A person who commits vice will feel poor while he is rich. He will feel occupied while he is free. He will feel alone while he is surrounded by people who idolize and admire him. Ibnu Kathir elaborates more about the condition of those who commits vice by stating:
"He will never feel peaceful and never getting tranquility. His heart will feel anxious for going astray. Physically he looks like in pleasure, he can get anything he wants to eat, he can live anywhere he wanted to, but as long as he is not getting the guidance and faith, his heart will be in anxiety and doubt. This is the life which tortures."
Division of Vice
Vice is divided into two and both of them are harmful for health... They are:
1. Physical Vice
For example stealing, adultery, drinking liquor, gambling, robbing, killing, murdering, genocide, massacring, and etc.
2. Spiritual Vice
These are concluded in the categorization of Mazmumah characteristics by honorable Imam al-Ghazali such as envious, arrogant, greed, attachment to the world, craving for praises, and others.
Explanations on Physical Vices
Adultery vice for example, will cause direct diseases such as AIDS, syphilis, and others. Perhaps there are also contraceptives to avoid these diseases but the God knows what will happen. That is why we have preventive causes. Preventing is better than curing. Drinking liquor, drug addiction, and other stuffs which could make someone high or intoxicated will make someone lose his sanity and exposed to acts which are harmful to themselves, and most importantly, others.
Avoiding tithe will cause rifting in social relation and damaging the relation of the poor and the rich. It will cause higher rate of physical vice and crimes such as stealing, pickpocketing, drug dealing, prostitution and others. They directly harm health and the life of society. To explain this fact, there is a hadith narrated and reported by Abdullah bin Umar which says, the prophet Muhammad s.a.w said:
"Dear migrants, there are five things that will happen to your groups. I seek protection from the God when these will happen to you:
I. When a group committing adultery in the public, thus they will be attacked by diseases in which their ancestors had never experienced it before.
II. When they decrease scales and measurement, they will be punished with poverty and being tyrannized by the authority.
III. Each one of them who are reluctant to pay the tithe for poor people, they will be prevented from rain of the heaven. If not because of poultry and livestock animals, rain would cease away from the earth.
IV. Each of them who breaks the commandments of the God and His messengers, they will be colonized and plundered by other nation who will steal some of their property.
V. And whilst leaders of society do not keep, observe and implement commandments of the God as what had been mentioned in His Words, they will never be in accordance amongst them."
(Reported again by Ibnu Majah)
Explanations on Spiritual Vices
Spiritual vices such as grumpy, envious, and grudge are also harmful for ones health. They silently kill as they cause many dangerous diseases such as hypertension, high blood pressure, cancers, and heart failure as examples.
How these happen? To answer this, we have to look at what are the effects of sins (vices) on one self. When a companion was asking the prophet Muhammad s.a.w : "What is sin?" The noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w answered : "It is something which brings your heart into anxiety."
It means that those who commit sins will feel anxious haunted by the feeling of guilty. He is not only feeling guilty to the God but also to his self. This happens because the "nature" of human-being who are inclined to goodness and trying to be far from evil. When ones commit evil, he is not only opposing the God but also opposing his own "nature." This could explain why a sinful person feel not at peace.
The Effects of Restless Soul and Heart
When heart is not at peace, ones will have irregular heart beats and blood pressure. This is the same physiological change that happened to a person who is tested with foolin' around polygraph test. Fooling around is also a sin. Sin and vice brings effect to physiology.
There are effects for other vice and sin as well. They effect blood flow and digestion system. Vitamins absorption and antibody will decrease. Nervous system will not properly function and the whole organs in ones body will be in pain.
Modern specialists are aware about this fact. Too bad that many are afraid and worried about diseases which are diagnosed but not at the root of the diseases which are sins and vices. AIDS for example, causing the world in anxiety and sparked panic situation worldwide. Everyone is told about the danger of this disease and campaigns were launched to tell everyone.
However, the campaign for the danger of the root for diseases such as anti-adultery campaign is not as popular as the later. While the sacrifice of the disease is more than other diseases around the world. Curbing vices actually is more important than curbing physical diseases and epidemics. There are also cases of blood transfusion where innocent people being infected by HIV virus and affected by AIDS. Those who had commit vices and sins had also dragged others into disaster.
Everyone agrees that the factor which lead ones to vices is filthy heart and soul. Ironically, there isn't any serious effort to prevent this problem. These problems come from madzmumah characteristics. These characteristics bring human into vices and physical diseases.
Dale Carnegie wrote in his book "Stop Worried" said that : "A businessman who doesn't know how to fight anxiety will die early." It had already proven that anxiety and feeling afraid of no reason become factor for cancers, heart disease, high blood pressure, and dizziness.
Diabetes is also related to anxiety, worried, and etc. Take this as an example. When economic recession happen and stock market crashed, sugar in corporate figures' blood will increase. They will experience joint pain, tooth ache or sore throat. Medical practitioners had cynically reminded that coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and digestive problem are "siblings" to anxiety.
Famous Greek philosopher, Plato had said: "The error of most medical practitioners is that, they tried to cure a mass without curing its mind. Mind and mass is one and should not be differently treated." It means that if spiritual diseases or whatever is related to mind being first treated, then physical diseases will automatically being healed. That is why we also have psychosomatic treatment to treat both physical and mind problem.
Attachment to the World
It is a fact which could never be denied that medical science had succeeded in curing diseases caused by virus and fungus. However, medical science had failed to prevent mental, soul, and physical destruction caused by anxiety, afraid, hatred, and etc.
Until today, nobody really knows what specifically drives a person crazy. According to religious science, it is due to madzmumah (filthy heart) diseases and mind disorder. To cure them, mind must be attached to the strength of soul. Strength of soul is attached with faith. If mind and soul being detached from faith, destruction will happen like a spinning fan which is not attached to wall or ceiling.
Factors of Mind Disorder and Confusion of Soul
If we ask men, factors perhaps are two which are women and money. If women? Main factors which cause stress and pressure is that they are too much focusing on protecting relationship with their couple, looking seriously at others perception toward themselves or their family, or workaholic to get employers' recognition or higher salary. They could also be in either way because both men and women are human-being, only different in function.
When we conclude all of these factors for stress and pressure, the real factor is actually the attachment to the world. Job, money, salary, position, employers' recognition, family, couple, and etc are considered as the world. Those who are attached too much on these matters will face this problem of mind disorder and confusion of soul.
The God says in His revelation : "It is made beautiful at human-view the love and desire for women, and for children, many properties of gold, silver and best horse, livestock, and farms. Those are the enjoyment of the world. And at the God is the better place to return (paradise)." (surah aali-Imran verse 14)
The God remind every faithful servant with His revelation : "Their property and their children (of those hypocrites) do not be it amazing to you as the God is torturing them with the life of the world and they will be taken their life without any faith." (surah at-Tawbah verse 55)
Judges and sages had said that attachment to the world is the chief of evil. Too much being attached to the world will make people afraid of lost. They will be dying to get and maintain it. The world should only be placed at the hand and not in the heart. The heart of human is only one and it can't hold two love. Love to other than the God is idolatry and polytheism : )
Those who hunt the world will be disappointed if they fail to get it, but will never get satisfied if they get it. They are like drinking salty sea water. They drink lots of water but still feeling thirsty. Soul and heart being exhausted, energy worn out. It leads to chronic diseases.
Western researches themselves showing that corporate figures in majority suffered any of these diseases of coronary heart diseases, diabetes, or high blood pressure. Success in business always come in a package with these diseases. What for the success in this world when we are not healthy? No matter how rich we are, we could only have three times proper meal to not feeling hungry or sleep only on a bed in one time.
John C. Maxwell emphasized that success in business or careers without any clear goal of life will lead ones into adultery and depression. How many celebrities in the Hollywood or in the West live in depression because of feeling empty, depression, boredom and lonely?
Somehow, I think life of ascetics like primitive people is better than today's life. If we live in the mountainous area such as Bhutan, we perhaps are much healthier than in the so-called urban area...
Everyone can humorously talk about 72 virgins beside the river for those who bomb themselves like we care. Why not spread this factor of anxiety widely to everyone no matter to Christians, to Atheists, to Gnostics, to Sceptics, to Communists, to Fascists, to Jews, to Terrorists and to everyone. It is public health. Make videos and fun about this too. We can laugh together. It is more beneficial than just laughing while we waste time and age : )
Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!
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