Request To Get Books
  • home
  • Islam for Muslims

Islam for Muslims

The Ideal Qualities of a Muslim: Piety & Proficiency

47. IDEAL QUALITIES OF A MUSLIM: PIETY & PROFICIENCY

Introduction: A good Muslim requires attainment of two basic types of virtues: piety and honesty on the one hand and skill and proficiency on the other, in order to make successful contributions to Islam.  Unfortunately, such combination of both virtues (piety needed mainly for the success in the Afterlife and skill in the present life) is a rarity among the present Muslims. The pious ones among them are too weak to face the challenges of the real world while the educated and skillful ones seldom care for Islam. 

(1) The Prophet Was Both Pious & Proficient: Separation between the above two sets of virtues is a denial to Islamic tradition.  The Prophet despite being the greatest religious leader did not forget to emphasize the need for physical fitness in order to live a healthy and successful life on earth.  This explains his success as a holy warrior and his triumph over the mighty Arabian wrestler 'Rokana' in a duel.  Similarly, he inspired his followers to be effective members of the society through practices like exercise, sprint, wrestling, horse racing, arrow throwing, game hunting etc.  They included the legendary warrior Khaled Bin Walid who set an example by not forgoing prayer even on the horse back in the battlefield.  Other companions of the Prophet maintained more or less similar standard that won them God’s praise: "Those who are with him (the Prophet) are strong against the infidels (but) compassionate amongst each other" (48:29). 

(2) Importance of Worldly Skills:  Intellectual qualifications and professional achievements are of no less importance in Islam. That is why the Prophet said: The ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr. Accordingly, the Muslims should hone their skills not only in physical and mental fitness but also in every other aspect in order to become successful members of the society. Thus a good Muslim should master both piety and skills as well as become kind and strong according to the need of circumstances.  For example, you should “ready your strength to the utmost of your power including your horse ready for riding, to strike fear into (the hearts of) enemies of God and yours” (8:60). By contrast, for the sake of Islam, you also should be social, friendly and helpful to people and not become one of those who are stone-faced, reserved and unwilling to talk for natural ego. In short, you should be religiously qualified for becoming an Imam of the mosque as well as accomplished to be a Caliph of the Muslims at the same time.

(3) Prophet’s Ideal Time Table (Night Mainly for Rituals, Day for Actions):  A Muslim can develop a combination of piety and proficiency by adhering to the daily time-table of the Prophet.  Normally he filled up the day time mostly with non-ritualistic challenging tasks like executing leadership decisions, fighting injustice, preaching Islam and providing social service etc., in addition to fard prayers. Likewise, he used up a good part of the night mainly for ritualistic pursuits like nightly prayers, meditation, recitation of the Quran etc.  He was in the “habit of sleeping little at night and up for parts of the night for praising (God)” (51:17; 52:49).

    However, the Muslims coming after him in most cases are not able to act upon the above dualism of the Prophet’s time table.  Now we see a pattern that one group of Muslims specializes only in Prophet’s nightly rituals (prayers etc.) by overdoing them throughout day and night without caring much about socially beneficial pursuits etc.  Another group almost exclusively adheres to the Prophet's day-time schedule (e.g. settling disputes, helping the poor etc.) but remaining less enthusiastic about prayers etc. 

As a Muslim, however, you should maintain a balance between the above two sets of virtues in keeping with the above time table of the Prophet.  At day time, you will not only respect your compulsory prayers but will also perform other types of good deeds like household works, attending school, doing scientific research, working for a living, patching up a quarrel, doing social services etc. This is all what God said to the Prophet, “Truly, there is for you by day prolonged occupation with ordinary duties” (73:7). Factually, this type of engagements may be a key to success for advancing the quality and standard of your living and enhancing your influence on the earth. Likewise, at restful time of the night, besides your fard prayers and sleep, you should also perform extra nightly prayers, Quranic recitation, making dua etc. helpful for your spiritual growth.
 
(4) Earthly Success Is Not Negligible: Spiritual and worldly success often go hand in hand. Make no mistake that if you are successful in this world with higher education, better income etc., you can also better succeed in religious performance such as through spending in charity, building mosques, discovering life-saving medicines etc.  Islam therefore gives simultaneous importance to your “betterment both in this life and the Hereafter” (2:201). You should keep in mind, “man can have nothing except what he strives for” (53:39). Accordingly, you should be equipped with the right kind of virtues in order to be fruitful in achieving success in personal life as well as advancing economic and political standing of the Muslims. 

(5) Virtues for Earthly Success: Some of the qualities and virtues recommended by God for your worldly success include: gaining knowledge (7:199), “working hard” (94:7), being “firm and steadfast” (3:146), being hard against unbelievers and compassionate to fellow beings (48:29), being fearless about unfair criticism (5:54), not “losing heart or falling into despair” (3:139), being “reverential” and “humble” (21:90), avoiding “loyalty to the sinners” (76:24), “remember God” for success in difficult times (8:45), be in “readiness with your utmost power” (8:60), be “patient and persevering” that my enhance your power 10 times of your enemy (8:65) and so on.  What’s more, you will learn foreign languages, acquire western technical know-how, invent beneficial devices and acquire eminence in intellectual pursuits.  These match with the tradition of the Prophet who wanted his fellow Muslims to be a good fit for this world.  For example, he advised secretary Zaid to learn Hebrew to remove any communication barrier with the Jews.
 
(6) Selective Borrowing from Modern Cultures: It is therefore advisable that you will imitate from the modern society all that is good and discard the bad ones.  With this end in view, you have no problem to travel to the West and other sources of the modern knowledge, as Islam encourages both the quest of knowledge and exchanging goods and ideas.  In fact, viewing this world as belonging to God, Islam does not stand in the way of your “being scattered across the land” (62:10).  Particularly, if you go to a non-Muslim society as a perfect Muslim with solidified faith, you may have the power to ‘change the world without being changed’, without risking your spiritual erosion from exposure to un-Islamic cultures. Don’t forget how the followers of the Prophet, particularly the merchants among them traveled far and wide and spread Islam across three continents and made 5,000 miles distant Indonesia the largest Muslim country, as one example.     
 
Conclusion: The above discussion focuses on the ideal qualities of a good Muslim. If you can master them, you may achieve success in both phases of your life.