Islamic Thoughts

• ANALYSES
• 1 Behavior code of Muslims toward non-Muslims
• 2 September 11 (2001) attacks on America not compatible with Islam
• 3 Ways To Defuse Religious Tensions
• 4 The Value Of The Ten Commandments
• 5 Bright Spot Of The Us Constitution: Religious Freedom
• 6 Lessons from the prophet's hudaibiah treaty.
• 7 Rulers' roles in promotion of christianity.
• 8 Exploring a model definition of 'religion'
• 9 Where islam stands as a civilized religion?
• 10 Proving god's existence through experimental science.
• 11 Roles of man as necessary & God as sufficient condition.
• 12 Human kindness is a shadow of god's kindness.
• 13 Why islam is the best choice for the Africans?
• 14 In Old Age, All Roads Lead To Death.
• 15 No Creations Are Without Purposes & Uses.
• 16 Prayer Prevents People From Bad Actions.
• 17 When Haram May Be Excusable: Five-Step Conditions.
• 18 Islamization Of Some Un-Islamic Cultures.
• 19 Greater The Faith, Tougher The Test.
• 20 How Science Can Make A Difference For Muslims?
• 21 The Time Gap Reality Between Sin & Punishment.
• 22 Good & Bad Days Alternate In Cyclic Order.
• 23 Let Moon-Sighting Unite & Not Divide The Muslims.
• 24 Faith Crisis Among Some Intellectuals.
• 25 Islamic Policy Toward Animals.
• 26 Improving The Muslim Performance (Aamal) Standard.
• ARGUMENTS
• 27 How Middle Course Better Than Conservative And Liberal Extremes?
• 28 Why God Is The Best One To Be Worshipped?
• 29 Costs And Benefits Of Belief In The Afterlife
• 30 Bible Is Similar To Hadith But Different From Quran
• 31 Defaming Islam: Freedom Of Speech Or Violation Of Rights?
• 32 How Islam Compares With Democracy?
• 33 Who Is Responsible For '0' Small Pox Since 1980?
• 34 Timeliness Is The Leading Condition For Prayer.
• 35 Ten Arguments For Women's Education.
• 36 Why Physical Fitness Matters For The Muslims?
• 37 Homosexuality Vs Adultery: Which Is Worse And How?
• 38 Countering Abortionist Argument
• 39 Which Is Better: Open Or Secret Prayer?
• 40 Small Or Large Recitation: Which Is Better In Prayer?
• 41 Personal Or Social Suffering: Which Is More Painful & Why?
• 42 Cultural Slavery Vs Cultural Diffusion.
• 43 Why Should America Ban Religious Defamation?
• ASSORTMENTS
• 44 Visible Action Of Invisible God: From Author's Diary.
• 45 Optional Good Deeds Are Like Bodyguards For Compulsory Ones.
• 46 The Gravitation Law Of Performance (Not One Of Newton).
• 47 The Theory Of Relativity (Not That Of Einstein).
• 48 In Good Deeds
• 49 "Rob Peter to pay Paul" is not for islam
• 50 Muslims Cannot Be "Penny Wise And Pound Foolish".
• 51 Islam Endorses Salad Bowl & Not Melting Pot Theory.
• 52 100% Homosexuality Means Prospect Of 'O' World Population.
• 53 Sinning In Teens To 40's & Suffering From 50's To Death.
• 54 Revenge May Be Lower But Not Greater Than Harm.
• 55 Why Karl Marx Is Irrelevant Forever?
• 56 Is God The Same One For All Religions?
• 57 How God Controls Economy And Livelihood?
• 58 How Muslim Repression In Myanmar Violates Buddhist Principles?
• MISCELLANEOUS
• 59 Grim Reality of Death: Unfailing Lesson for Everyone

48 : IN GOOD DEEDS "SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE"

The proverb matches squarely with the story of hare and tortoise in which slow-paced tortoise, through steady movement, outraced the swift-footed hare moving irregularly. The same proverb also applies to performing good actions in Islam. In explaining this, let us deal with 2 key words: Slow and Steady.

Slow: Islam often considers slowness to ensure quality of action as a better virtue than otherwise. Hastiness on other hand is responsible for problems like poor judgment, inadequate preparation etc. that contribute to lower quality of actions. The Quran condemns hasty human nature (21:37), often with reference to the infidels who hastened to see the Dooms Day. The Prophet also saw the importance of slowness needed for proper performance of good actions.

For example, he advised against rushing to mosque congregation so fast that makes you tired and inattentive to prayer. In applied sense, slowness, however, does not mean a slow start of a good action. Rather you should start doing good deeds at your earliest such as performing prayer within prime time, or clearing hajj or zakat liability soon after becoming due. But once you get started with them, you should not hurry up; rather you should go slowly and carefully in order to stay focused and follow proper methods for performing them. So "start promptly, and finish slowly" is the right advice.

Steady: A successful performer of good actions also requires steadiness or continuity in practice. The Prophet insisted on regular maintenance of good deeds even if at the lower level. For example, if you like to practice some optional prayers, you should settle on a comfortable level (say 2 or 4 units) that you can steadily practice every day.

Otherwise, if you pray 20 units of optional prayers one day and next day you pray nothing, then you may be a victim of Satan as it will frequently try to change your decision without any set standard and will rob of your mental peace. In another example, if you pray excessively in the fasting month of Ramadan and very little in other 11 months, then that is invariably worse than maintaining your prayers at modest level around the year.