Deeds to Habit
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Reflecting on Nature
When did you last spend time in nature? Dr. Osman Umarji describes the prophetic habit of reflecting on the creation of Allah and practical advice to start this habit today.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. My dearest brothers and sisters, I'm sure we can all remember many days in our lives where we were sitting inside, confined by the walls of our home, our offices, our cubicles, our school classrooms, or some other buildings in the city. The modern world we live in is built of concrete and of asphalt, and far too often many of us don't get to experience the beautiful world that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He has created. Although there is numerous guidance from the Prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam and the verses of the Qur'an that encourage us to look and reflect over nature. The good habit I want to speak about today is this prophetic habit of reflecting upon the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The reason why it's so important my dear brothers and sisters is that it's good for our hearts, it is good for our souls, and it is good for our brains actually, our attention. The Prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam, he used to go to the cave of Hira and he used to have that natural atmosphere to reflect over the realities of this world. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Qur'an in dozens of ayat. One of those in Surah Qaf Allah says, وَلَمْ يَنظُرُوا إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَوْقَهُمْ كَيْفَ بَنَيْنَاهَا وَزَيَّنَّاهَا وَمَا لَهَا مِنْ فُرُوجٍۢ وَالْأَرْضَ مَدَدَنَاهَا وَأَلْقَيْنَا فِيهَا رَوَاسِيَ وَأَنْبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍۢ Allah tells us that do they not look, do human beings not look at the sky above them? How it was created, how it was beautified and how there are no imperfections in the sky that Allah has made. And the earth that He has spread out and placed vast beautiful mountains within it and caused all kinds of beautiful plants to grow. Allah tells us in that is what? تَبَصِرَتَ وَذِكْرَ لِكُلِّ عَبَدٍ مُنِيدٍ
There is an insight, there are things that give us a vision as to how to see this world and a remembrance for all those who want to return to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. In order to build this good habit my brothers and sisters, I want to encourage all of us on a daily basis if possible to try and find a few moments within our busy schedules to sit outside. It could be in our backyards if there's trees and there's plants and flowers. It could be we taking a walk in our neighborhood and really if that's not even possible, even looking at pictures. You can pull up your laptop or hopefully a television screen if it's larger and look at some pictures of nature. Why does this matter? It matters because number one is our brains get tired all day long. We're sitting, we're looking at computers, our eyes might be in books, we might be scrolling through our phones and that fatigues our mind. So stopping and looking at something like nature has been proven to improve our focus and to replenish our attentional capacities. They actually call this attention restoration theory. But number two, what it does is it connects the heart and the soul of the human being with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and it allows us to reflect over his majesty. In Surah Luqman, Allah actually challenges human beings when he talks about reflecting over nature. He says, هذا خلق الله, that this is the creation of Allah all around us. The trees, the birds, the flowers, the grass. And then he says, فَأَرُونِ مَاذَا خَلَقَ الَّذِينَ مِن دُونِهِ Now show me, what have others created? Do we get enamored by the creation of man or should we become enamored and enlightened with the creation of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala? So my parting advice is again, please try to find a few moments to build this habit daily. It could be five minutes a day, hopefully more than that. Or either you take a walk in nature or you take a walk in a park, of course, ideally.
Or even look at pictures of nature on a regular basis so that you can fill your heart with the awareness of Allah. And also it can be a source of relaxation because that is what we need in our busy lives. SubhanAllah Rabbika Rabbil Izzati Amma Yusufoon Wasalamun ala al-mursaleen walhamdulillahi rabbil alameen Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
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