Sadullah Khan – Developing an Qur’anic Personality To be and What not to be. #7

Developing Quranic personality,

to be and what not to be.

We today pay attention to the importance of

positive thinking.

In the Quran,

among the people that Allah

praises.

He compliments

and commends those

who use their sensory perceptions,

the conceptual,

the moral faculties,

in order to appreciate the realities around them

so that they can be heedful of the

signs of Allah as well as learn lessons

from what they observe.

In fact we're encouraged throughout this Quran in

numerous verses to think, to ponder, to reflect

upon the creation, to reflect upon the celestial

spheres and the earthly sphere, to reflect upon

the operations

of of nature, upon the alternation of night

and day, about natural water and its life

sustaining properties,

and upon the varieties of life forms that

we find on earth, and also the diversity

of the vegetation.

All of these vegetation come from one water,

one source. Yet the diversity of the plants

that emanate from that. All this reflection,

in order that human beings may reflect and

that they may think.

The term

to think,

to understand,

to

contemplate.

In order to exercise your reason or your

common sense. These are all terms used very

regularly in the Quran, as well as in

the hadith.

And they are all collectively emphasizing

a particular aspect. And that is the faculty,

the use of the faculty of reasoning, and

the faculty of thinking.

We must realize of course, that the thoughts

we hold in our mind

over time becomes our attitudes.

And these attitudes become the blueprint of our

life experiences.

So thinking in itself is not sufficient.

It must be positive,

or correct, or good thinking.

And therefore, Aamir ibn Abdikayes,

one of the Tabi'in,

the people who met,

those who met the sahaba. And he met

numerous sahaba and he said, I met at

least 3 of them. And they told me,

He said, I was told by these companions

of Rasulullah,

sallallahu alaihi wasallam, the radiance of faith or

the light of faith is in thinking and

in reflection. This is documented by

Imam al Suyuti in Istafsir. So successful living

most often emulates from having a positive attitude.

And if you

have positivity in your thought, you go as

far as you can see. And the further

you go, you'll see

the further you move forward, the further you

can see.

Remember,

all the achievements,

all the inventions,

all discoveries

began with a thought.

And because good thinking always precedes positive and

good results.

So good thoughts,

positive thinking, great ideas,

these are all vital assets of successful people.

Very often we teach our children and try

to make them brilliant, try to improve their

marks.

It's very important for them to develop the

capacity for critical thinking. And it comes from

within the home and the society in which

they're mixed. You see, the more one values

thought,

the more one values thought, the more valuable

one's thought becomes. And valuable thoughts are among

the most empowering

features

of any human being.

So the art of positive thinking is to

realize that life yes, it is a rollercoaster

ride with ups and downs.

Positives and negatives.

Hardships and ease.

And to focus on the positive,

but also to deal effectively with the negative.

You see, how you think

affects your reality.

One of the great poets of the 10th

century Arabian poets, Mutanabbi,

he said,

He said, To a sick man, water tastes

bitter.

Not because there's a problem with the water,

but because of the sickness of the man.

You see, some of our thinking is sick.

That is why they say small things occupy

small minds. You think small, you see small,

therefore you may act small. You think negative,

you see negative, and you may react negative.

It was the same with Anabbi who said,

when you think positively,

aim positively, then you aim high. He said,

He says,

when you aim for something worthy, aim high.

Do not be satisfied with anything

except the stars itself. In other words, aim

as high as you can if you are

positive.

So positive thinkers have a winning attitude.

Though they recognize their limitations.

Be realistic.

We have limitations.

Recognize your limitations

but focus on your strengths.

Little wonder, Imam Jafar As Sajid has said,

Good thinking for an hour is better than

worship for a year.

So let us be

let us not be negative in our thoughts.

Let us not be negative in our thoughts.

But let us be of those who think

optimistically

and insha'allah

behave positively.