TOWARDS A BALANCED L I F E

1. “...and moderation lies between these [extremes]” TOWARDS ABALANCEDL I F E AL-FURQAN (25) : 67 Prepared for Yaseen Educational Center Muharram 1432

2. BALANCE IN ISLAM

3. Balance and Moderation in the Words of the Ahlul Bayt (a) • Imam Ali (a): The believer has a balanced lifestyle. • Imam Ali (a): One who forbears is not extreme in his affairs and lives among people in a praiseworthy fashion. • Imam Ali (a): From the traits of the muttaqeen: Their speech is truth, and their clothing is balanced (meaning that they are balanced in all of their affairs). • Imam Ali (a): Every ignorant person is either excessive (mufriṭ) or lax (mufarraṭ).

4. A Society out of Balance • All around us we see individuals who seem successful but whose lives are plagued with problems. • Health issues, marital and family problems, depression, dissatisfaction; these are just some of the issues we face • What is missing from our lives?

5. Possible Solutions • Work harder, longer days so we can earn for our families and allow them to lead a comfortable life • Pursue further education, additional degrees, so we can advance in the workplace • Devote our lives to our children in the hopes that their lives can be better than ours • Devote our lives to community service; this way we can make a difference in the lives of others • Stop paying attention to food, sleep, and exercise for these are just material diversions – spend all extra time in ‘devotional’ activities

6. Proposed Solution • Understand what our responsibilities are with God and rearrange our schedule accordingly • Take a balanced approach to various aspects of our life • Take the Ahlul Bayt (a) as our guide in all matters of life

7. Inspiration • Prophet (s): When Allah (swt) desires goodness for a family, He • Gives them deep insight into the religion • Gives them an balanced lifestyle • Makes their expenditures balanced • Makes their young respect their old but when He wishes otherwise, He leaves them

8. BALANCE IN TIME MANAGEMENT

9. The Universe Operates According to Schedule • Surah Yunus (10): 5 • It is He who made the sun a radiance and the moon a light, and ordained its phases that you might know the number of years and the calculation [of time]. Allah did not create all that except with reason. He elaborates the signs for a people who have knowledge. • → Observing a universe with so much precision encourages us to operate according to plan and precision as well in order to achieve our purpose • Surah Mulk (67): 3 • He created seven heavens in layers. You do not see any discordance in the creation of the All-beneficent. Look again! Do you see any flaw? • → Why should I be the odd one out and try to work against the system?

10. Qur'an (ii) • Surah al-Layl (92) : 4 - 11 • Your endeavors are indeed [many and] unlike [= uncoordinated]. • As for him who gives and is God wary • and confirms the best promise, • We shall surely ease him into facility. • But as for him who is stingy and self-complacent, • and denies the best promise, • We shall surely ease him into hardship. • → God promises ease and desired results to those who have coordinated efforts • → Tawhid in a practical sense = aligning a set of different actions according to a single purpose

11. A Believer Has an Organized Life • Imam Ali (a): I enjoin upon you to have taqwa of Allah and that you should be organized in your affairs. • Imam Ali (a): Finish a day's work within that day, as every day is (allocated) for whatever (you have planned) for that day. • Attaining taqwa relies on being organized • Finishing a day's work requires planning for that day • Our time is not our own, it is a gift from God. • We are accountable for how we use this gift

12. Dividing the Day • Traditions from 1st, 6th, 7th, and 8th Imam (a) indicate that the day should be divided into four parts: Worship, securing one's livelihood, in the company of good friends, and enjoying halal pleasures. → Ahlul Bayt (a) wanted us to enjoy the highest quality of life, in this world and the hereafter → Dividing a day into parts requires planning and not mixing one part with the other → The division of time into these parts does not need to be equal!

13. Practical Strategy for Scheduling • Activities are divided into two categories: • Activities whose time is fixed and can't be moved (Sleep, eating meals, salaat, career-related: work / school / home) • Activities that need to be scheduled: • Increasing Knowledge • Acts of worship (other than salat) • Exercise • Social relationships • Cleanliness • Entertainment • etc.

14. Before Proceeding Further... • Surah Room (30): 8: Have they not reflected in their own souls? • Personal Reflection: List all the activities that you do in a typical week. See handout.

15. Balance in Dealing with the Material World

16. The delicate balance • Imam Sadiq (a): One who leaves aside his worldly affairs for the religion is not among us – nor is one who leaves aside his religion for his worldly affairs. • Imam Sadiq (a): Give yourself from the dunya what you long from those pleasures which are halal as long as you are not a) excessive b) present where you have been prohibited and absent where you have been commanded.

17. This World is Necessary in Order to Achieve Perfection • Imam Ali (a): The material world is the marketplace of the special friends of Allah (swt) • Imam Ali (a): Whoever uses it as a means of perceiving [the reality of what lies beyond], it will grant him that insight...

18. But there are those who drown along the way • Imam Ali (a):...And it will blind whoever looks at it [independently and not as a means]. • Luqman (a): The world is a deep ocean and many are those who have drowned in it. So take as your ship “Faith in Allah” and let your provision be “Taqwa of Allah”... → Drowning: Using the material world to rebel against God or becoming overly occupied with it

19. Balance in Earning a Livelihood

20. Good Wealth • Acquired in a halal way • Spent in a halal way • Mustahab, sometimes wajib! • Support family: Hadith of Imam Sadiq (a): One who strives to accumulate wealth in order to support his family is like one who does jihad in the way of Allah. • Charity

21. Bad Wealth • Wealth is haram if: • Acquired in a haram way • Accumulated in a halal way but religious dues are not paid on it • Excess wealth needs to be used in the way that Allah (swt) has specified

22. Importance of Striving to Acquire Halal Wealth • Prophet (s): There are some sins that cannot be atoned for through prayers or charity but can only be atoned for through serious efforts put forth in seeking a [halal]livelihood. • Imam Baqir (a): I toil in farming some of my property until sweat pours down my face – despite having sufficient wealth – so that Allah the Majestic should know that I am seeking halal sustenance

23. Poverty is not Desirable • Imam Ali (a): I married Fatima (a) when I did not have anything but a bed but today I have wealth such that if I were to divide it over all of the Bani Hashim it would suffice them. → The Ahlul Bayt (a) were not (always) poor! • Prophet (s): The state of poverty is close to being a state of kufr.

24. Desiring Wealth is Commendable • Du'a of Imam al-Sajjad (a): O Allah! I ask you for the best of provision, with which I can take care of all of my needs, and use as a means of arriving at You in this world and the hereafter, without my becoming excessively affluent such that I use it to rebel, nor excessively needy such that I despair...

25. How Hard should I work? • Imam al-Sadiq (a): If people had everything already at their disposal, life would no longer be satisfying or pleasurable. • The Ahlul Bayt (a) would bequeath land and housing to their children, not cash. • From the Islamic scholars: Anything that distracts you from Allah (swt) is your idol. • → Hard work is pleasurable and can help an individual and society in achieving perfection • → Hard work is good as long as one does not become occupied from it and practically and spiritually turn away from Allah • → Being focused at work can result in big gains with minimal effort

26. Importance of Charity • Imam Ali (a): Indeed Allah (swt) has placed the daily sustenance of the poor in the excess wealth of the wealthy. A poor person will only go hungry when a wealthy person holds back from giving. And Allah the Exalted shall ask them regarding that!

27. A General Strategy for Spending • Prophet (s): The believer can take a line of action [with respect to spending] from Allah. When Allah expands his provision to him, he spends in a moderate way, and when He holds back, he spends more conservatively. • Aside from spending which is wajib, being generous with the family is also recommended. • From the Prophet (s): Whoever enters the market, buys a gift, and takes it home to his dependents, it's as if he has taken charity to needy people

28. Balance in Sleep

29. Sleep to Live – not for Recreation! • Imam al-Sadiq (a): Excessive sleep destroys one's practice of religion and his worldly affairs. • Shaykh al-Sadooq in al-Khisal: There are four things of which a little amount is plentiful: A little amount of fire is plentiful, a little amount of sleep is plenty, a little amount of sickness is plenty, and a little amount of enmity is plenty. • From Imam Ali (a): Whoever oversleeps at night, will miss out on performing deeds that he will not be able to make up in the day time.

30. But Make Sure to Sleep Enough • Imam Sadiq (a): Whoever stays awake at night til the pre-dawn in order to earn money and does not grant his eyes their fair portion of sleep, his earnings [for that night] are haraam. • → Haraam here does not mean that he can't use them. Perhaps it means makrooh or that what he earns won't profit him • → “Enough” is relative. Average person needs 6-7 hours of sleep in order to not feel sleepy during the day • → Food, exercise, and others factors can decrease / increase amount of sleep that is “enough”

31. When to Rise • Imam Al-Hadi (a): Rising in the pre-dawn results in sweeter sleep and hunger increases the quality of taste in food. • Hadith of the Prophet addressing `Āisha: Rise! For indeed rizq is distributed at this time and sleep between dawn and sunrise prevents rizq. • Other bad effects: yellow face, ugly face • If can’t stay awake the whole time, at least cherish what is possible!

32. How to Sleep • Remembering Allah (swt): • Surah Room (30): 32: And of His signs is your sleep by night and day, and your pursuit of His grace. There are indeed signs in that for a people who listen. • Surah al-Naba' (78): 6, 9-11: Did We not make the earth a resting place?...And make your sleep for rest? And make the night a covering? And make the day for livelihood?

33. How to Sleep • Etiquette: • Perform wudhu after relieving oneself

34. Balance in Food and Drink

35. Balanced Approach to Food and Drink • Imam al-Kadhim (a): If only people were balanced when it came to eating, their bodies would become well-formed. • Imam Sadiq (a) tells a doctor from India: What I have with me is better than what you have … I apply what the Prophet (s) said and I know that the stomach is the house of all sickness and its remedy is moderation. • Attributed to Imam Ali (a): Eat to live and don't live to eat

36. Guidelines • Eat halal, meaning • It is not coming from an illegal source • doesn't intrude on other people's rights • has to be pure (according to what's acceptable in society) • shouldn't be harmful • shouldn't cause societal corruption (like eating at a table where alcoholic drinks are being served)

37. Effects of Overeating • Heedlessness and feeling remote from God • Disinclined towards acts of worship • Hard-heartedness • Unhealthy, both physically and spiritually • Increases Shahwah • Body odor • Dulls the aql • Makes the soul dark • Causes troubled sleep • Being full in the dunya → being hungry in the hereafter

38. Benefits of not overeating (but still eating “enough”) • Healthy body • Clear thinking • Illumination of the soul • Escaping from the trap of Shaytan • Benefiting from the malakoot of existence • Getting closer to Allah • Inclination towards worshiping • The houses of such a family to be illuminated • Angels yearn for you • Freshness of the face • Longer life (story from Allamah Majlisi)

39. Putting it into Practice • Prophet (s): Eat when you are hungry and stop eating when you are hungry

40. How many meals a day? • And therein they will have their provision morning and evening (Maryam (19): 62). • Summary of traditions: Breakfast (before leaving home) and dinner (in the nighttime) are two primary meals that are recommended • Consequences of not eating breakfast: Sickness • Consequences of not eating dinner (even a small amount): Premature aging, body gets destroyed, and weak. • Recommended to go to sleep having recently eaten (especially for one who is aging)

41. Keep third meal Simpler • Switching to having only two meals a day can cause severe problems, such as standing out in the crowd, disrupting the system, and troubling one's family. This is not recommended by teachers of spirituality. • Better to keep three meals but keep one of them simple and the other two primary

42. BALANCE IN LEARNING

43. Importance of Learning • Imam al-Baqir (a), Imam al-Kadhim (a): If I were to find a young person from our Shi`ah who is not pursuing knowledge of the religion I would surely punish him.

44. What to learn • Islam is divided into three categories: • Beliefs: Need to arrive at certainty regarding the fundamentals • Practice: Need to know the laws that apply to my current situation • Ethics: Need to be aware of the ethics that apply to me. For example: ethical issues relating to spousal interaction for those wanting to marry.

45. BALANCE IN RECREATION

46. Importance of Halal Recreation • Imam Sadiq, Imam Rida (a): The time spent in pursuing halal pleasures helps someone with the other aspects of life (including worship) • Prophet (s): Enjoy yourselves and be playful for I despise that roughness should be seen in your religion. • Examples of halal recreation: travel, meeting others

47. BALANCE IN TRAVELING

48. When is it good to travel? • The Prophet (s): It does not befit a rationally thinking man to travel except at three times: 1) when earning a livelihood 2) [for spiritual reasons] in order to stock up for the hereafter 3) for halal pleasure. → Examples of spiritual reasons to travel: religious education, hajj, ziyarat, visiting family, maintaining family ties (silat al-rahim), going to see a place struck by a major natural disaster

49. Establishing Family Ties • The Prophet (s): Even if your parents are a journey of two years away from you, go to visit them and do good to them. Even if your womb relatives are a journey of one year away from you, go and maintain your ties with them... • → When maintaining family ties, being there for them when they are in need is more important than merely visiting

50. What to Avoid when Traveling • Imam Ali (a): One should not go on a journey in which he fears [losing] his religion or [missing his] prayer. • Imam Khumayni would only agree to travel on Fridays with his friends if a) they recited prayer on time b) there was no gheebah