What is Tafakkur?
What is Tafakkur?
By the inspiration of Allāh ta‛ālā and the blessings of my Shaykh, I wish to say something about the reality of tafakkur. Tafakkur means to think and ponder.
Allāh Ta‛ālā says:
These are the parables which Allāh expounds for mankind so that they may reflect.
Allāh ta‛ālā provides examples and parables in the Qur’ān so that man may ponder and reflect over them. Once he ponders and reflects, he will be able to recognize what is beneficial to him and what is harmful. May Allāh ta‛ālā bless us with concern, and that too, of the Hereafter.
There are two things which are of utmost importance in this path, viz. dhikr wa fikr. A person must become engrossed in dhikr. He continues remembering Allāh ta‛ālā, and then sits down and thinks to himself: “My Allāh has showered me with so many favours…He has given me so many bounties!” Once he becomes fully settled in these thoughts, he automatically starts to remember Allāh ta‛ālā again. If he experiences any weariness after this continuous dhikr, he must revert to fikr. This was instructed to us by Hadrat Masīh al-Ummat dāmat barakātuhum [rahimahullāh].
The Importance of Tafakkur
Rasūlullāh sallallāhu ‛alayhi wa sallam said in a Hadīth:
Ponder and reflect over the bounties of Allāh.
Every favour of Allāh ta‛ālā makes a demand on us, saying: Look! What are you thinking about me? Who is it who sent me to you? What is the manner of using me?
Pondering and reflecting are most essential. A person cannot be grateful without reflection; he cannot truly recognize Allāh ta‛ālā. There are many benefits in reflection. When a person reflects, he saves himself from matters which are harmful to him, he saves himself from things which would cause him loss, he safeguards himself from people who would harm him, he will do things which are beneficial to him, he learns the essence of what is beneficial. Pondering and reflecting over the bounties and favours of Allāh ta‛ālā is indeed a very great bounty in itself.
The Benefits of Tafakkur
A Hadīth states that a single moment’s tafakkur is better than a hundred year’s worship. A single moment refers to the blink of an eye. Look at the great reward for just a single moment’s reflection!
Reflection Over Favours and Bounties
Reflection is indeed a very great treasure. The person who earns it, and protects it after earning it has indeed safeguarded himself against worry. Whatever he earns through dhikr, the different acts of worship, and his lawful means of income will all be safeguarded against worry. Nothing is safeguarded through heedlessness. Man can just ponder about his own self and look at how many bounties and favours Allāh ta‛ālā showered on him. His mere existence is one of the greatest bounties. Then look at the countless favours within this one bounty. Allāh ta‛ālā created the head, He placed the brain within it, and then gave the brain the ability to think. Look at a mad man; does he not have a brain? He certainly has a brain, but the ability to think and understand has been taken away from him. So we must thank Allāh ta‛ālā that our brains are functioning properly. Hadrat Wālā once said a unique thing: The mere fear that Allāh ta‛ālā will take away a certain bounty from you is also included in gratitude [to Allāh ta‛ālā for His bounties].
O Allāh! I seek refuge in You from Your bounties being removed from me. [And from Your bounties coming to an end on account of my heedlessness and sins].
When a person is seated in an assembly, he must address his self saying: “Listen carefully to what is being said, and compare it to your condition.” He must continue reflecting in this manner. The speaker must address his self, while the listeners must address their selves. Full attention must be focused towards your heart. Continue taking stock and account of yourself. Only then will you benefit from whatever you hear. If you allow something to enter from one ear and exit from the other, what benefit will you gain? May Allāh Ta‛ālā inspire us to ponder and reflect.
A mad man also has a skull, a head and brains. Yet he is of no use. So how grateful we have to be that Allāh ta‛ālā blessed us with a normal and fully functional brain. He gave us a machine which is working properly so that it could carry out its tasks in the proper manner. Does the One who has the power to give us such a machine not have the power to render it useless? Does He not have the power to snatch it away from us? He has the power to do all this.
Just as Allāh ta‛ālā has the power to bestow favours and bounties, He has the power to take them away. Man should be constantly fearful; he must not be proud. Does a man who is deaf not have ears? He also has ears but the power to hear has been taken away from him. He does not have the ability to hear. He has ears but cannot hear. So what a great favour of Allāh ta‛ālā! He gave us ears and also placed the ability to hear in them. He gave us a hearing machine which is functioning properly. Could Allāh ta‛ālā not have made us deaf? He certainly could. He has the power to do it.
We have eyes. Do blind people not have eyes? Every blind man has eyes. He also has eye-lids, the eye-ball, the pupil of the eye and the white of the eye. What a great favour of Allāh ta‛ālā – He blessed us with eyes and placed light in them with which they can see. Now He is the Being who gave us the eyes, placed light in them, showed us how to use them, and thereby did us such a great favour. Does He not have the power to snatch away this favour from us? He certainly has.
Allāh ta‛ālā gave us a tongue. Does a dumb person not have a tongue? He also has a tongue, he also has thirty two teeth. He also has jaws and lips like ours. But look at the great favour of Allāh ta‛ālā for having given us a tongue and placed in it the power of speech, placed in it the ability to speak. Now does the Being who blessed us with such a great bounty not have the power to snatch it away from us? He certainly has the power to do it.
Allāh Ta‛ālā gave us hands. Had He willed, He could have paralysed them, rendered them incapable, or caused the joints to become attached to each other [preventing us from folding and extending our hands]. What a great favour of Allāh ta‛ālā for having given us hands, keeping the joints correct and sound, and for not paralysing them. After having blessed us with these bounties, is He not able to snatch them away from us? We ought to fear Him.
Allāh Ta‛ālā gave us legs and then attached feet to them. He made the feet sound and functioning. He neither paralysed them nor made them insensitive and numb. If we were to place them on something cold, they would become powerless. Does a lame person not have legs and feet? A person whose legs have been amputated is different from a lame person. It is solely Allāh’s ta‛ālā favour for having placed the capability of walking and sensation in our legs and feet.
So this is the demand of pondering and reflecting. This is also the demand of the teachings of Hadrat Maulānā Thānwī rahimahullāh: A servant [of Allāh ta‛ālā] must ponder and reflect. He must think to himself: I was not worthy of the favours and bounties which Allāh ta‛ālā blessed me with. He gave them to me without my deserving them. It is now my duty to use them according to His will.
A Hadīth states: Give preference to what is going to remain forever over what is going to come to an end.
What is this world? This world is temporary while the Hereafter is everlasting. Hadrat Thānwī rahimahullāh defines tafakkur as: A person is conscious of two things in his mind, and then brings a third thing into his mind. For example, he knows that the Hereafter is everlasting, and he knows that preference must be given to the thing which is everlasting.
So from these two points, he concludes that the Hereafter is worthy of being accorded preference, and therefore gives preference to it.
Allāh ta‛ālā says:
Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, in the alternation of the day and night are signs for the intelligent. Those who remember Allāh standing, sitting, lying on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. They say: “O our Sustainer! You have not created this [creation] in vain [rather, there is much wisdom in all this]. You are pure from all defects. Save us, then, from the punishment of the Fire.1
