Self-Improvement Study Guides - Study Guide 7: Building The Will - Part III
THE NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MOST HONORABLE ELIJAH MUHAMMAD
AND
THE NATION OF ISLAM
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL.
I BEAR WITNESS THAT THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH
AND I BEAR WITNESS THAT MUHAMMAD IS HIS MESSENGER.
As-Salaam Alaikum.
Dear Helper in the Cause of Allah:
After nine (9) weeks of study and practical application, we should begin to see changes in our pattern
of thought, reflecting itself in changes in our behavior.
I hope that you are not discouraged by the ups and downs of the struggle with Self. Remember,
the race is never to the swift, but to the one who can endure to the end. Whether you realize it or
not, you have embarked upon the greatest struggle of all and that is to master Self.
That which is happening to us can be likened to the vision of the King of Babylon which was
interpreted by Daniel. The King had dreamed of a great image of gold, silver, bronze and iron. He
then saw a stone, “cut out without hands”, which destroyed the great image by breaking it into
pieces. Then the stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Allah (God) blessed
Daniel to understand the meaning of this dream, which was the establishment of the Kingdom of
God and the destruction of all kingdoms of this world.
There was no sound of hammer or chisel, yet the workers were in the quarry and the stones were
being prepared. As we improve ourselves, we hear no tools being used to shape us to be placed into
the structure of the “Great Mosque”. But the Bible says of us, “Ye also, as living stones, are built up
a spiritual house, an holy priesthood...” (1 Peter 2:5).
Through our continued self-examination, self-analysis and self-correction, according to the standard
or criterion given to us by Allah (God), we are doing that which the Christians sing of: “Working on
the building, laying a new foundation.”
May Allah (God) continue to bless each of us not to get weary or faint in this great struggle for Self-
Mastery. Best wishes for your continued success,
As-Salaam Alaikum.
Your Brother
STUDY GUIDE 7
BUILDING THE WILL
PART III
READING MATERIAL
Holy Qur'an
Surah 58 "The Pleading Woman"
(Verses 14-22)
Surah 70 "The Ways of Ascent"
(Verses 19-35)
Self-Improvement
Pages 12-16
The Will of God (Part 1)
Pages 8-12
FACT (S)
Again, I am quoting from the Holy Qur'an; the Holy Qur'an says the "Jinn" was created before Man. (15 -.27) Some scholars say that 'Jinn' means a being of fiery nature and temperament. "If the "Jinn" comes before the Man, you must come through the Fire of Emotion before; you can become a developed human being. You have to learn to control these forces within your own being that come from Allah (God) Himself, before you can,/become a human being...
"Man can be an animal or Man can reflect Allah (God). You start in this world, like a fish, swimming in a bag of water. You evolve out of that and you come forth crawling; like other crawling things on the Earth. Allah (God) never intended for you to be an animal. He wanted you to be a perfect reflection of Himself. (11:7) But, there must be a coming out of the animal stage of development into a moral consciousness, where you have (a spirit in you that accuses you for what you do, based on that which you know instinctively is right." (75:2)
SELF-IMPROVEMENT (Excerpts: Pages 14-16)
DISCUSSION
1) Please review the GLOSSARY. Remember to make an effort to incorporate terms from the study guides into your "functional vocabulary" (conversation).
2) In Study Session 6, we looked at some of the ways Allah (God) has given us to support and direct us in the ultimate goal of our meeting with Him. We also looked briefly at some of the forces that impede us in our journey.
Please read Surah 58, verses 14-22. What is the significance of these verses as they relate to our struggle to overcome the internal impediments to obtaining our desire (s)?
3) (a) Read verse 19 of Surah 70. Now read verse 5. What is the natural force within that has the ability to extinguish the light of our desire (s)?
(b) Why does Allah (God) create us impatient, then exhort us to be patient?
What relationship does this struggle within have to building the Will?
(c) Read verse 20. What does "fretful" mean? In what way does this emotional force adversely affect the Will?
(d) Read verse 21. What does "niggardly" mean? In what way does this force adversely affect the Will?
4) In view of tonight's lesson, why must we be "constant" at our prayer? Discuss some of the natural forces which are impediments to prayer. Why are we told to 'guard' our prayer?
5) Read verse 26 of Surah 70. What are the impediments within us that may cause us to reject the truth of the Day of Judgment?
6) Read verses 27 and 28. What are the natural impediments to our need to remain fearful of the chastisement of our Lord?
7) Read verses 29-31. In what way does the force of sexual passion adversely affect the Will?
8) Read verse 32. What impediments within us cause us not to be faithful to our trusts and our covenants, or upright in our testimonies?
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PRACTICAL APPLICATION
This week we want to test impatience.
1 Each morning, let us rise and pray at 5:00a.m. Let us resist the power of sleep and pray with Allah (God) on our minds instead of sleep. During the day, no matter how busy or involved we are in our work, let us excuse ourselves after the noon hour to remember our Lord.
2) Let us take some of the money from our pockets and regardless of the forces which press us to withhold our money and be niggardly, let us think of the right that the poor have in what Allah has given us and give to the Cause of Truth.
3) When something happens to annoy us and make us irritated, let us be calm and remember patience. Allah will help us resist the powerful emotional force of Anger.
MAY ALLAH (GOD) BLESS US ALL WITH SUCCESS!
DISCUSSION
SUPPLEMENT
1) See GLOSSARY.
2) In these verses, Allah (God) is describing an enemy which moves among the Believers, taking "shelter under their oaths, so they turn (men) from Allah's way..."
In this way, Allah gives us a picture of what is taking place inside of ourselves. Just as He is "wroth" with our taking the "devil's party" for friends, He is displeased with our following our low desires, which make us "forget the remembrance of Allah.'
The correlation here is that we must guard against the internal enemy that moves within the circle of Believers and we must guard against the internal enemy that moves within the individual Self.
3) (a) "Impatience" is defined as an "eager desire for relief or change; intolerance of anything that thwarts or hinders." Thus we see that it is a force which is natural and which is characterized as a desire. Desire feeds the Will, therefore, the desire to be relieved from the irritation of waiting over a protracted period of time comes into conflict with the desire for any goal which requires patience to obtain. One force must win over the other.
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There is a law in physics which says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In creating us impatient, Allah (God) has insured that the struggle he has ordained for us in order to achieve anything of consequence or acquire anything of value, takes place.
In Study Session 3, we saw that the ever-present difficulty factor increases as we grow closer to our desire (s). In overcoming the natural forces of resistance within us, we develop the discipline necessary to obtain what we want.
(b) Through the natural friction between our desired goal (s) and the conflicting desire for relief from waiting which is impatience, Allah (God) has provided each of us with a means of building the Will. In Study Session 5, we saw that the Will (Power) is developed by overcoming resistance, just as the muscles of the physical body are working against resistance.
In our study of the prophets, we saw that patience was a pervasive virtue. They were mocked and ridiculed by the disbelievers for long periods of time, but were instructed by Allah (God) to bear patiently what they say. In overcoming the natural force of impatience and developing the attribute of patience, they were rewarded with vision, or the ability to see beyond the present. They could "see", through their patience, that the ends for which would ultimately come about.
Impatience, or the desire for relief or change, may be removed from us, not by yielding to this natural force, but by seeking refuge in Allah (God).
Whenever impatience threatens to cause us to turn away from a desired goal, we must go to Allah (God), the Lord of the ways of Ascent, in prayer. Prayer will give us the security and peace of mind that will relieve our irritation. It is in that frame of mind that we then must re-identify with our desired goal. The desire (and the willingness to be patient in order to obtain it) will then return.
Prayer is the re-affirmation of desire. We endure by reaffirming and reidentifying our desire until we reach the goal.
(c) Verse 20 of Surah 70 says that we are 'fretful' when evil afflicts us. That is, there is a natural force within us that brings about suffering from disturbing thoughts and torment of ourselves with worry when we are afflicted with evil.
Persecution is an evil which afflicts the righteous in the struggle for justice. When this evil is practiced against us, it stimulates this force, "fretfulness", which suggests to us that we retreat and turn our back from our goal in order to obtain relief from our mental anguish.
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Remember these words form page 3 of Self-improvement: "Brothers and Sisters, each time we turn away from the struggle to overcome difficulty, there is deterioration of character and there is destruction of the Will."
(d) In Study Session 6, we defined the word "niggardly" as meaning "reluctant to give or spend; stingy." It is natural for us to attempt to hold on to whatever good we obtain, that we might not relive the suffering we have undergone when we were without.
However, the natural base inclination to hoard things becomes an enemy to us when it impedes the fulfillment of our duty to give charity, in the Cause of Allah. We must keep uppermost in our minds that the beggar and the destitute have a right to a wealth. That right is fulfilled when we give charity.
The Holy Qur'an teaches us that we "cannot attain to righteousness unless you spend out of what you love." So hoarding and niggardliness are natural forces which have the power to actually bar us from a state of righteousness altogether, unless they are overcome.
4) In Study Session 5, we defined the word "constant" as "not changing or varying; continuing without pause or letup; recurrent; faithful, unswerving in love or devotion; steady." Throughout the Holy Qur'an, Allah tells us that He loves the "steadfast".
Constancy is required in order to overcome the natural forces which keep us from prayer. Sleep is necessary and good for us in its place. but it is such a powerful force that it will hold us in its embrace far beyond its normal function until it impedes us from prayer, the first pillar of Islam which supports our belief in the One God.
Another powerful force within us is the inclination to do that which gives us personal satisfaction. We generally love what we do best and do best what we love; and what we love to do most is what we were most likely born to do. When we are doing what we love: business, writing, music etc., whatever we love, we do not want to stop doing it for anything, even the remembrance of Allah (God).
Whatever we feel we are born to do, we must never put that above remembrance of Allah (God). For it is only the remembrance of Him, the Lord of the ways of Ascent, that empowers us to attain excellence in that which we are born to do.
This is why we must not only be constant in our prayer, but we must "guard" our prayer. We must shield it from that which would usurp its place of prominence in our nature and in our behavior patterns.
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At the end of the day, we are naturally tired from hours of exerting physical and mental energy. As this natural force, tiredness, can keep us from remembrance of Allah (God) as we go to bed, we must summon the strength to praise Him before retiring.
5) Verse 26 exhorts us to be of "those who accept the truth of the day of Judgment." The natural forces within which may impede us from the acceptance of the truth of judgment are our personal desires.
Judgment takes place each and every time the Truth comes to us, in that its Light shines on our motives, secret desires and actions; which ofttimes, we don't want to see illuminated before ourselves and others.
There is nothing between a man and his heart (desires) but Allah (God). To accept the truth of Judgment is to accept the Truth He gives us which aids us in correcting our behavior when it is contrary to what is right. Each time we reject the truth that illuminates our faults, we reject and deny the truth of the day of Judgment.
6) We are warned in verses 27 and 28 that chastisement of our Lord is "a thing not to be felt secure from". We must always keep in mind the Power of Allah (God) and His ability to punish. We cannot secure ourselves from His Displeasure by isolated acts of righteousness.
An illustration of our relationship with Allah (God) is that of the child to the father.
There is the child who loves his father and knows his father loves him; the child also knows of the awesome power of the father to chastise him when the father is displeased with acts of disobedience. This awareness serves to facilitate goodness for the child does not wish to engage in conduct which will bring punishment.
On the other hand, the child may become spoiled in the security and comfort of parental love. Even though he witnesses the chastisement of a brother or sister, he may think to himself, "I am his favorite, he won't whip me." This thinking causes the child to do something in the way of disobedience and that brings about the chastisement that he thought he was secure from.
So we must strive daily to act in the way of righteousness, for we are always susceptible to incurring the displeasure of our Lord if we -act contrary to what is right.
7) In verses 29 and 30, we are told to restrain our sexual passions (a natural drive). In its place, this force is a good force that serves the procreation of
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man, but it also conflicts with the desire for self-improvement; it demands satisfaction "now".
The desire to satisfy the sex drive conflicts with the desire to go forward in the way of righteousness. It is powerful enough to actually use the Will to serve a low desire. Though Allah tells us that if we are patient, He will satisfy us out of His Grace, the sex drive tells us to ignore our unmarried state or ignore the fact that we are married to someone other than the one we are about to engage in this activity with; it says, "Go ahead. Why should you wait on God?"
And so the Holy Qur'an asks the question, Have you seen him who takes his low desires for God besides Allah?
8) Verses 33 and 34 exhort us to be faithful to our trusts and covenants and to be upright in our testimonies.
There is a natural force within us which causes us to do and say that which will facilitate obtaining the object (s) of our desire (s). This results in making false promises in order to lead others to give us things, even though we may have no intention of fulfilling the promise. Or, we may intend to fulfill our promises at the time we make them, but when the time of fulfillment comes, we ignore the promise if it conflicts with the immediate personal desire. We borrow money; promising to pay it back; when the due date comes, there is something else we would prefer to do with the money.
We must overcome the forces within which impede us from keeping our word.
9) As the guidance in the ways of ascent opened with the exhortation to pray (verse 22), it closes with an exhortation to guard our prayers (verse 34).
Remember, Prayer is the Alpha and Omega of all success.
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