"Do You Not Think?" - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

"Do You Not Think?" — The Quranic Call to Reflection and Contemplation

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Ever Merciful. One of the most common commands of Allah in the Quran to me and you is the command that we should think, that we should ponder, that we should reflect, that we should contemplate. It is mentioned in countless verses throughout the Quran.

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned in one of his works that the essence of all good and all evil is a thought. From that thought, you are motivated to worship Allah and obey Him or to disobey Him. From that thought, you love someone or you hate someone. From that thought, you become attached to something or you distance yourself from something. It all comes back to that thought. And that is why throughout the Quran in different ways and using different terms, Allah tells us to be people who think and reflect.

Not people who only look, but people who see and observe. Allah says in the Quran: Do they not travel upon the earth so that they may see the result of those nations that came before them? People who observe, people who don't just walk by idly without thinking and pondering and reflecting, but people who when they look, they see and they observe. And people who when they hear, they listen. Indeed within that there are signs for a people who listen.

Not only people who use their senses to observe what is around them, but then they think about what they observe. They go that step further and they think. Allah says: Say, are those who are blind equal to those who can see? Do you not think? To think, to ponder, to reflect, to go to that deeper level of contemplating. Not just to think, but to sit there and to deeply reflect over what is the deeper meaning of what it is that you're thinking about.

Allah says in relation to the Quran: Do they not contemplate and reflect over the Quran? People who when they think deeply and they reflect and contemplate, they take the lessons that Allah has placed in the Quran. They take those lessons and those principles and they apply them within their own lives. They use them as a way to come closer to Allah and to strengthen the iman in Allah.

Allah says in the Quran: Indeed within that there are signs for a people of understanding. Why? Because when you observe and when you listen and when you think and when you reflect and contemplate and when you draw those lessons and you apply them within your own life, then at times when your iman is weak, at times when Shaytan overcomes you, at times when you're tempted to sin, you are reminded of Allah. You remember your Lord and Creator. Indeed those who are conscious of Allah, when Shaytan prompts them, tempts them, comes to touch them with sin, they remember their Lord and they see what is correct and straight.

They are reminded of their Lord because they are people who when they walk, they don't just pass things by. When they observe, they take lessons from them. When they read and they hear, they don't just read and hear without contemplation.

And that is — in the time that we live in — counterintuitive. It is something that we've become disengaged from and lost that connection with, because we live in a fast-paced age. We live in a place and a time when there is instant access to information. At the click of a button or the swipe of a screen, you can access anything. So when someone tells you, as Allah does in the Quran, to stop, to think, to reflect, it is difficult to do. To find that time and build it within your routine — that you don't just walk around like a machine or a robot or some type of implement, but you stop and you think and you observe.

That is what makes the difference between us and the other creations upon this earth, the other species that Allah has created. We are people who understand. We are people who reflect. We are a creation that when those lessons come to us, we take from them benefit and we apply them within our lives.

What Allah Commands Us to Reflect Upon

So Allah in the Quran, in His book, tells us a number of things that we should reflect over — verses dispersed throughout the Quran. I want to mention a number of them for you. Things that surround us every day, things that we come into contact with. There are things that when we see them, we hear them, we observe them, they should make us stop and they should make us ponder.

1. Reflecting on the Universe and Allah's Creation

From the greatest of those things that Allah mentions in the Quran that we should reflect upon and contemplate over is the universe — the creation of Allah, from the heavens to the earth, from the seas and the mountains and the rivers and the trees, from the animals and the birds and everything that Allah has created within this universe.

He is the one who expanded the earth and placed within it rivers and mountains. And from every single plant Allah placed within it a couple. The night overcomes the day. Indeed within that, there are signs for a people who think.

Allah tells us to be from amongst those people who when we see what is around us, we think. It's raining right now. Allah says:

He is the one who causes the rain to descend from the skies. From it you drink. And from it there is water for your shrubbery, your vegetation, from which your animals eat. And from it does it grow your grain and your olives, your date-palm trees and your grapevines, and all of your crops.

Indeed within that, there are signs for a people who understand.

The Hadith of Aisha and the Final Verses of Surah Ali 'Imran

In the hadith of Ata' — the famous scholar of tafsir and student among the companions — in what is collected in the Sahih of Ibn Hibban, he says that he entered alongside the scholar Ubayd ibn Umayr, one of the great scholars of Islam from the leaders of the tabi'in in knowledge. He said that both of them entered upon the mother of the believers, Aisha رضي الله عنها. They asked her a question, and it is an amazing question: "O mother of the believers, what is the most amazing thing that you saw from the Prophet ﷺ?"

What an insightful question. When you have a limited amount of time with someone of that type of knowledge, experience, and wisdom, you don't just waste it on something insignificant. They said the question made her cry, brought tears to her eyes. And then she said: that night the Prophet ﷺ said to me, "O Aisha, don't disturb me this night. Leave me to worship my Lord."

She said he began to pray and he cried. He cried so much that his cheeks became wet from his tears. And he continued to cry until his beard became moist from his tears. And he continued to cry in the different positions of salah until the ground around him was wet and moist from his tears. He continued to be in that state — crying and worshipping Allah, reciting the Quran — until it was nearly the time of Fajr.

So Bilal sought permission to enter, to tell the Prophet ﷺ to come out to lead the salah. He came in and he saw the state of the Prophet ﷺ. And he said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, do you do this when Allah has forgiven you for all of your sins, past and future?"

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Ibn Hibban)

"Should I not be a grateful servant of Allah? This night, verses were revealed to me. Woe to those — woe, in the Arabic language, means destruction — may destruction befall those who read those verses and they don't ponder over them."

Allah says:

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of the day and the night, are signs for a people of understanding — those who remember Allah as they stand, as they sit, as they lie upon their sides, and they think about the creation of the heavens and the earth, and that leads them to say: "O our Lord, You did not create this in futility. Glory be to You, so save us from the punishment of the fire."

Woe to those who read those verses — the final passage of Surah Ali 'Imran — and they don't ponder over them, they don't contemplate. Allah says from the signs that are around you — and those that are sufficient for you — that if you were to spend time thinking about them, they would remind you of Allah, they would increase you in your iman, and they would strengthen your worship and your relationship with your Lord and Creator.

2. Reflecting on Our Own Creation

Then Allah specifies a type of creation that we should give further thought and time and contemplation to, and that is our own selves, our creation — me and you. The way that Allah formed us, the way that Allah made us, the way that Allah has placed within us abilities and skills and talents that are unrivaled. Something that Allah has done to make us unique — created us in the best of form and fashion.

He is the one who created you from soil, then from a drop of semen, then from a clingy form, then you come out as children, then you reach maturity and adulthood, then you reach old age. But from amongst you will be those who will die before this. And so that each of you will reach their pre-appointed time. And so that you will be people of understanding.

People who reflect. People who when we see around us people who are giving birth to others, children coming into this world, it makes us marvel at Allah's power, His creation, His ability. And just as so, when we see around us people who die — people who die suddenly, people who die of old age, people who die because of some accident or some disease that has affected them — it makes us stop and ponder and think as well.

We will show them Our signs in every region of the earth and within themselves so that the truth will become clear to them.

Allah has given us those signs, has given us everything that we need for us to connect to our Lord and Creator. How often have we stopped to think about the way the blood circulates around our bodies and the way that our mind and our brain has this amazing ability to process millions of pieces of information — how our memory works, how our different organs and body work, our limbs, everything that Allah has placed within us.

To lose a single one of those blessings from Allah is debilitating. To be affected by a harm or pain in a single part of the body is something which stops you in your tracks and it's difficult for you to continue to move. A single toothache, a headache, a joint ache is something that you find it difficult to bear on a daily basis. That is how perfect Allah's creation is. But that is how fragile we are as humans — so that we may reflect and think, and that thought may lead us back to Allah.

3. Reflecting on Allah's Blessings

And from that which Allah then tells us to think about are the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon us. The blessings that Allah has given to me and you are not only our bodies and our health, but the wealth that Allah has afforded to us, the peace and security that we live in, the families that Allah has bestowed upon us — our children, our grandchildren in some cases — all of the blessings that Allah has given to us. When if we were to look across the world, in many communities, in many places around the world, even in places like Australia where they're going through those terrible fires at the moment — it is something that makes you thank Allah for the blessings that you have, things that you take for granted.

Is the one who creates like the one who doesn't create? Then will you not remember?

And if you were to try to enumerate Allah's blessings, you would be unable to do so.

Do you not see that Allah has subjected for you everything in the heavens and everything in the earth, and that Allah has lavished upon you all of His blessings — that which is outwardly and that which is inwardly.

And that is why in the hadith in al-Tabarani of Abdullah ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما, our Prophet ﷺ told us:

(al-Tabarani, al-Mu'jam al-Awsat)

Think, contemplate, ponder over Allah's blessings upon you. Think about those blessings that Allah has bestowed upon you.

4. Reflecting on the Quran

And from the greatest blessings that Allah has given to all of us — every single one of us sitting here — the greatest blessing that Allah has given to us is the blessing of Iman. The blessing of knowing Allah and worshipping Him alone. The blessing of the Quran being revealed to us. So Allah tells us time and time again: reflect over the Quran, ponder over its verses. Don't be from those people who read them and they don't think about them.

Do they not contemplate over the Quran, or are their hearts locked and sealed? Locked and sealed from deriving its meanings, from understanding its words, from deducing its lessons, its morals, and its principles. Are you people who when you read the Quran, you're like those that Allah described from the past nations — that simply read them without understanding, read them without any benefit, read them without any spiritual enhancement?

Allah tells us to be from those people who benefit from the Quran, because from the greatest objectives of the revelation of the Quran is that you will be people who ponder and think. Yes, it's recitation. Yes, it's memorization. Yes, it's application. But it's contemplation.

This is a blessed book that We revealed upon you, that they may ponder over its verses and that it will serve as a reminder for a people of understanding.

This Quran is so amazing. Allah tells us that if it were to be revealed on one of the greatest creations upon the face of the earth, it would split and it would crumble into dust because of the gravity of these words.

Were this Quran to be revealed upon a mountain, it would tremble out of the fear of Allah and it would be rent asunder. And those are the parables, the illustrations that We set forth for mankind so that they may ponder and think.

How often does Allah in the Quran conclude verses with these types of endings — so that you may think, that you may ponder, that you may see, that you may reflect, that you may remember, that you may be reminded — over and over again. And how often when we read those verses of the Quran and we come across those passages, we don't reflect.

Because Allah in the Quran gives us story after story from the past nations, mentions the stories of the Prophets of Allah and His messengers, mentions the different trials that they went through — some of them with their nations, some of them personal to themselves, some of them with their families and their loved ones. Every one of us can find a lesson within one of those stories, if not all of them. Something that resonates with me and my situation. A Prophet of Allah — they went through a similar trial and challenge that I am facing today in the UK in the 21st century.

Indeed within their stories there are lessons for a people of understanding.

But in order to deduce those lessons, in order to take benefit from them, you have to be from the people who think. And that doesn't mean that none of us have the ability to think, that none of us are unable to contemplate. It's that we haven't trained our minds to do so. We don't spend enough time thinking about those things that Allah tells us are important.

Narrate to them stories that they may be people who think. People who when they read the Quran, who hear the statements of our Prophet ﷺ, when lessons or khutbas are given to them, reminders — they are people who benefit from them. People who take stock of them and take heed from what is being mentioned therein.

Thinking About Our Final Destination

Over and over again we're told to think about all of this — think about Allah's creation, think about our own selves, think about the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon us, think about Allah's revelation and the stories therein, and everything that Allah has contained therein. Why? Because all of that serves as a reminder for where me and you are ultimately heading. Where each and every single one of us will go. And that is to our final destination.

O you who believe, fear Allah and look forth to that which you're preparing for tomorrow. Look at what you're doing for your standing before Allah, for your accounting before Him.

Allah mentions in the Quran that when the people of the fire will enter into the fire, they will scream therein and they will say:

"O our Lord, allow us to leave the fire. Take us away from this fire. We will do good deeds that we never used to do before." Allah says in reply to them:

Were you not given sufficient time in this life that for those who wish to remember they could have remembered? Did Allah not give you time here that you could have pondered? You could have reflected if you wanted to be from those people who are reminded and who take benefit from the admonition — that you had sufficient time in this dunya to hold yourself to account, to look at where you're going, what it is that you're achieving, where it is that you're heading. Allah will say: didn't you have sufficient time in this life to do so?

There will be no time on that Day of Yawm al-Qiyamah. So Allah over and over again in the Quran gives us this stark lesson and reminder. It is one of the common endings of the verses of the Quran — to think, to ponder, to reflect, to be from amongst those people who when they see and they hear, they take those lessons and they take heed from them.

It is so that insha'Allah you will be from those people who elevate your iman, be from amongst those people who are reminded of Allah, be from amongst those people who stop and they sit and they think and they remember Allah. It is one of the greatest acts of worship — one of the greatest hidden acts of worship of the heart — that you spend time thinking about Allah, and that pondering and contemplation and reflection brings you closer to Allah and it strengthens your relationship with Him.

May Allah grant me and you the ability to do so. May He make us from the people of contemplation and reflection — those people who when they're reminded of Allah's verses, they take heed, and those people who when they come across His signs, they benefit from them.

Second Khutbah — The Practice of the Companions

All praise is due to Allah for His goodness and thanks is owed to Him for His grace and facilitation. I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah alone, with no partner, exalting His majesty. And I bear witness that our Prophet and our master, Muhammad, is His servant and messenger and the caller to His pleasure. May Allah send peace and blessings upon him, upon his family, upon his companions, upon his brethren, and abundant salutations.

It was the practice of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ — and the companions of old, and even our Prophet ﷺ himself — that they would read the Quran and they would ponder over its verses. They would be from amongst those people who when they came across the Quran, they would spend time enjoying its recitation, because they knew that it was for their betterment, that it was for their ultimate salvation.

From the signs of iman, as Allah mentions in the Quran:

When the verses of the Quran are recited to them, they are those who increase in iman. That increase of iman comes not simply from listening and hearing, because most of us can bear testament to the fact that we've heard the Quran being recited, and we recite it ourselves. How often has it led to a true strengthening of iman? And that's because there is a missing ingredient and component.

It is something which the Prophet ﷺ would do, as I mentioned in the hadith of Aisha. But it was a common practice also from amongst the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. Abdullah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما said: to pray two rak'ahs in the night — only two rak'ahs — in which you ponder and contemplate over your recitation, is better than to spend the whole night in prayer with a heart that is heedless. Because the objective of the salah and the Quran is that your heart connects to it and with it.

It is said that Abdullah ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما — that if he wanted to remind himself, he would go out into the desert and he would go to the ruins, the old dwellings that were no longer inhabited. And he would stop and he would think and he would reflect. And he would say to himself: أين أهلك؟ — Where are the dwellers of these old buildings? Where are the inhabitants of these old lands? And he would remind himself of the verse and he would recite:

Everything will be destroyed except for His face.

They would take their normal everyday surroundings as a way of bringing them closer to Allah.

Do they not look towards the camel and how it was created? And the skies, how they were raised above them. And how the mountains are set firm. And how the earth was spread out. So remind them — you are only a reminder.

Allah tells us to be people of admonition and remembrance. The great scholar of Islam and the Muhaddith, Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak — one of the great scholars of hadith — it is said that he would sit and he would spend his time thinking and contemplating. One of his companions asked him one day: "O Abdullah, where have your thoughts led you to?" He said: "I began by thinking about the Day of Judgment, and I have now reached the time when the people will pass over the bridge over the fire."

They would spend their time contemplating and thinking. It is not difficult to do, but it is something that you must train yourself to do. To find 15 or 20 minutes when you stop and you sit and you think. You read the Quran and you contemplate. You look at Allah's blessings upon you, Allah's creation around you, and you think about the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon you and the lessons that you can derive from them.

That type of inner strength and spirituality — it makes your connection with Allah stronger and it strengthens your iman. And at times when your iman is weak and low, one of the most effective ways of strengthening your iman is to contemplate and to reflect and to think.