The words khalq (creation) and khuluq (nature) are derived from the same root word. Khalq relates to the external form or appearance, the visible, material, and experienced dimension of existence; khuluq is concerned with the spiritual dimension, meaning, or content. An individual cannot be judged or known by his or her outer appearance, for one’s real identity lies in one’s character, temperament, and natural disposition. However many different images one may project; one’s true character or temperament eventually will reveal itself. How meaningful are the following words of an Arab poet of the pre-Islamic Age of Ignorance:

If a man has a bad quality, sooner or later it will reveal itself;

Let him continue to think that it can remain hidden.

In other words, the outer appearance is deceiving, for one’s natural disposition removes or corrects all deceptions and thereby reveals one’s true nature. Since one may acquire a second nature through education and habituation, moralists divide nature into good and bad. In the present context, we use “nature” to mean “good nature.”

The most correct standard of a good spiritual life, one that Sufism uses to describe or qualify a person, is good nature. One who has taken a few steps forward in good nature may be regarded as advanced in the spiritual life. Although miracles, dazzling stations, and superhuman actions may be acceptable when they issue from good nature, they are worthless if not combined with good nature.

When asked which believer was better on account of his or her belief, the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, answered: “The one who is better in conduct or nature.” This is natural, because God praises and consoles His most distinguished servant the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, not with His extraordinary favors but with his laudable virtues and praiseworthy qualities, declaring: You stand on an exalted standard of character (68:4). His nature was the aim and fruit of his creation. Since the Prophet’s conduct embodied Islam and the Quran, when his wife Aisha, may God be pleased with her, was asked about his conduct by Sa’id ibn Hisham, she answered: “Do you not read the Quran? His conduct is (the embodiment of) the Quran.”

The verse: You stand on an exalted standard of character (68:4) shows that the incomparable conduct of the Prophet was based on the Quran. In addition to his outer and inner faculties and senses, and the material and immaterial aspects of his creation and character, the Prophet was endowed with all potentialities needed to be the most forward and greatest representative of human virtue. Developing these potentials to the highest degree possible, he attained the highest degree of human perfection.

Not content with this state, as is declared in the verse: Surely, in the Messenger of God you have a good example for him who hopes for God and the Last Day, and remembers God much (33:21), he established the most excellent example for his followers and thereby gradually transformed them into the most virtuous community of all time. With such sayings as: “The most perfect in belief among the believers are the most perfect in conduct” ; “A man can cross with good conduct the distances which he cannot with acts of worship and adoration” ; and: “The first virtue to be weighed in the Balance (in the other world) is good conduct,” and by employing the perfect, fruitful principles he brought to perfect humanity, he guided his followers to the realms where angels move.

The signs of good nature have been summarized as follows: a person possessing this quality does not hurt anybody by either word or deed, overlooks those who hurt him or her and forgets the evils done, and returns evil with good. The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, who is praised with the verse: You stand on an exalted standard of character (68:4), is the most excellent example of these virtues. He was not offended by the one who stood before him and told him to be just, by the one who pulled his robe from the back and hurt him, by the one who threw dust on his head and insulted him, or by the one who slandered his innocent and beloved wife Aisha. In fact, he visited each of these individuals when they became ill and followed their funeral processions. He did so because good nature was a dimension of his blessed existence.

Many people seem to be good natured, mild-mannered, and humanitarian, although good conduct and mildness are no more than affectations. When they experience a little irritation, anger, or harsh treatment, their true nature will be revealed. One who has good nature does not change his or her manners even when in a hellish state, but remains mild and shows no harshness. A heart open to good nature is like a very broad space in which one can bury one’s anger and rage. As for those intolerant and impatient ones who display bad conduct, they are, like Cain, more stupid than the raven, and can find no place to bury their anger, hatred, and ill feelings.

Let us conclude this discussion with the following couplet:

It is by good nature that a man can be perfected;

It is by good nature that the order of the world is maintained.

Notes

1. Sulayman ibn Ash’as al-Sijistani Abu Dawud, Sunan Abi Dawud, 4 vols. (Beirut, n.d.), 14; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 2:250.
2. Muslim, “Musafirin,” 139.
3. Abu Dawud, Sunan, 14; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 2:250.
4. Al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, 8:24.
5. ‘Ala al-Din ‘Ali al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Kanz al-’Ummal fi Sunan al-Aqwal wa al-Af ‘al, 8 vols. (Beirut: 1985), hadith no. 5160.
6. Al-Bukhari, “Adab,” 95; Muslim, “Zakat,” 142.
7. Al-Bukhari, “Khumus,” 19; Muslim, “Zakat,” 142.
8. Al-Bukhari, “Shahada,” 15; Muslim, “Tawba,” 56.
9. Abu Dawud, “Jana’iz,” 1.

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Polkinghorne are our guests in Matter & Beyond this issue. Professor Tucker from Yale University correlates the spiritual crisis we face in modern times with the ecological crisis on the Earth. Tucker says we are obsessed with economic growth and this preoccupation is creating a number of different types of alienation, sadness, even addictions, because the emptiness of modern consumer life is suffocating the human soul. Polkinghorne, a Fellow of the Royal Society and the former President of Queens’ College, Cambridge, says that science does not tell us the whole story. For him science “needs supplementation by other forms of insight.” Further, he emphasizes how valuable we humans are when he says, “Obviously on the scale of the universe, we are very tiny creatures, and we inhabit a planet that is just a speck of dust, really in the great universe, but we are greater than all the stars because we know them and ourselves, and they know nothing.”

Each day new innovations in science and technology are introduced into our lives. It is often debatable whether scientific research is conducted for the sake of science to fulfill a human need, or if it is manipulated in a way to boost a consumerist economy by shoveling new products onto the market every day. Still, there are interesting findings and discoveries we can learn from the mass media and journals, which will inspire us each time with an appreciation of the glorious harmony found in the universe. Aiming to be a source of inspiration for those readers who seek knowledge through perceiving this harmony, The Fountain is launching Science Square, a new section which will feature a brief account of some of the most interesting scientific news, compiled from recently released papers and reviews. Proceed to the department and see how running barefoot is less damaging than running with shoes, see how pure water can remain liquid at temperatures down to –40 C, how cancer-causing DNA mutations are deciphered, and how scientists are inspired by the spider web.

An individual’s conduct becomes straightforward by performing religious duties; one’s ego (inner self) becomes straightforward by following the Shari’a’s truth; one’s spirit becomes straightforward by acting in accordance with knowing God; and one’s innermost senses or faculties becomes straightforward by complying with the Shari’a’s spirit. The difficulty of being straightforward in all of these levels caused the Prophet, the most straightforward of people, upon him be peace and blessings, to say: Sura Hud and others similar to it have made me old, thereby referring to the Divine command: Be straightforward as you are commanded, which is in sura Hud (11:112).

The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, never deviated from the Straight Path, and was always straightforward in his deeds, words, and feelings. He guided Companions who sought salvation and eternal happiness to straightforwardness by saying: Declare: “I have believed in God,” and then be straightforward, a saying that concisely sums up all essential elements of belief and conduct.

If people claim progress on the path to the Truth but are not straightforward in their state and conduct, all efforts will be in vain, and they will have to account in the Hereafter for the time spent without straightforwardness. To reach the intended destination, an initiate must be straightforward at the beginning, maintain it throughout the journey, and be straightforward at the end of the path, as gratitude for being rewarded with knowledge of God. Being alert to possible deviation at the beginning, engaging in self-supervision during the journey, being closed to wrong thoughts and actions, and considering only God’s pleasure and approval at the end are significant signs of this state:

I know one among the people of straightforwardness:
He was the most distinct in the realm of guidance.
He sold his soul to the lights of (Divine) Identity,
And died purified of all the dirt of human nature.

A servant should seek straightforwardness, not wonderworking or the power of spiritual unveiling or discovery. God demands straightforwardness; however, a servant desires extraordinary spiritual abilities. When they told Bayazid al-Bistami about a man who walked on water and flew in the air, he said:

Fish and frogs also float on water, and insects and birds fly in the air. If you see a man float on his rug on water without sinking and sit cross-legged in the air, do not show any interest in him. Rather, consider whether he is straightforward in his state and conduct, and whether they are in accordance with the Sunna (the way of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings).

What Bayazid advises is that a believer be straightforward and completely humble as a servant, not one flying in the atmosphere of wonders.

Straightforwardness is the last step on a three step stairway leading to nearness of God. The first step is consistency, where a traveler strives to embody Islam’s theoretical and practical dimensions. Success in this continuous effort brings one’s carnal self under control. The second step is settlement or tranquility, where an initiate purifies his or her inner self of the vices contaminating the spirit and heart (e.g., show, fame, and vanity, all of which cannot be reconciled with servanthood), thereby purging the heart of all that is not God. The third step is straightforwardness, where the doors of Divinity and creation are slightly opened to the traveler, and the Divine gifts are bestowed in the form of wonderworking and blessings, although he or she neither desires nor seeks them.

Straightforwardness, the last station of the way, means living without deviation from loyalty to God and under His direct protection; it is an environment in which Divine gifts and favors are bestowed. Flowers never fade away and hills and slopes do not experience winter, for it is an environment of eternal “spring.” This is what is pointed out in: If only they were straightforward on the path, then, assuredly We would give them to drink of “water” in abundance (72:16). So long as people pursue straightforwardness on the path of belief in Divine Unity and fulfill their covenants with God and His Messenger by fulfilling the Divine ordinances, Divine gifts and bounties will flow abundantly.

Our master, upon him be peace and blessings, declares: So long as the heart of a servant is not sound and straight, his belief cannot be true and upright; so long as his tongue is not true, his heart cannot be sound and straight. He also declares: Every morning, the parts of a man’s body warn his tongue, saying: “Fear God concerning us. For if you are true, we will be true and straight; if you are crooked, we will also deviate.”

Finally, let us hear from As’ad Mukhlis Pasha a very significant warning:

Straightforwardness requires always being true and steadfast;
Fix one of your legs in the center, and let “the free arm of the compass” [your other leg] travel around.

Notes

1. Al-Tirmidhi, “Tafsir al-Qur’an,” 57.
2. Muslim, “Iman,” 62; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 3:413.
3. In other words, he submitted himself wholly and without reserve to God.
4. Al-Qushayri, Al-Risala, 397; Ahmad ibn ‘Abd Allah Abu Nu’aym, Hilyat al-Awliya’ wa Tabaqat al-Asfiya’, 10 vols. (Beirut, 1967), 10:40.
5. Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 3:198.
6. Al-Tirmidhi, “Zuhd,” 61; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 3:96.
7. In other words, one is to be well-grounded in Islam and to keep the company of those who can provide proper guidance.

Virtues such as sincerity (ikhlas¹), loyalty, refraining from backbiting or suspicion² are among the essentials of good conduct every believing person must adopt. I think everybody agrees on that. However, my personal assumptions do not mean much in practical life. What matters is each individual’s adopting this understanding and striving for its establishment in society. Naturally, this cannot be expected to happen all of a sudden.

Internalizing good or bad conduct as part of our nature is a very long process.

The most important point to pay attention to is our actual determination on the matter. Take sincerity for instance. It is something that almost everyone who regularly prays requests from God in their prayers day and night. We pray to God saying, “O God, please make me attain sincerity in faith, or make me one of those whom You have rendered sincere.” But how sincere are we in our wish? Being a loyal servant to God and attaining sincerity in faith… how important are these for us? How deeply do we ask for-and this is another dimension of sincerity in faith-attaining the good pleasure of God? Even if we mention it in our words, what about our actions for the sake of achieving that? While making a decision about a matter in real life, from marriage to having children, or continuing with our job or not, are we able to comfortably say that we make our decisions in the direction which we think pleasing to God? Can we even say we prefer the good pleasure of God over Paradise-though they are not opposite things-or over viewing the “Face” of God? We can extend the questions in this direction. Now, if we are not able to choose sincerity and what is pleasing to God, and if we are not acting in the way that we prayed for, then it definitely means we are being disrespectful toward God, or worse, it means that we are “lying against God.” In the Qur’an (Anam 6:21) fabricating a lie against God is mentioned as the ultimate wrong.

If we do not really wish to attain virtues like sincerity, the good pleasure of God, loyalty, and faithfulness as much we wish to marry, have children, have worldly possessions-a car, a house, a summerhouse and so on-or to have our business run smoothly… or if these virtues do not have as great a place in our hearts as the worldly matters, please let us not be disrespectful against God and let us avoid paying lip service about being sincere in faith. Attaining the good pleasure of God is an incomparably greater aim than any other. So, we should not hold these worldly matters, which we are supposed to keep under our feet, at the same level as attaining the good pleasure of God. As I repeat many times over, we need to value matters of this world and the next as they deserve.

What I have explained so far is only one aspect of the issue. Another aspect is that we should not fail to ask for high virtues in our prayers. There might seem to be a conflict between this sentence and what I have previously said. In fact, there is no conflict at all. The issue explained above points toward a certain perspective and provides us with a target. Until reaching that target, a natural process will be experienced as mentioned at the beginning. While proceeding toward the target, the one thing we should never give up is praying. Praying sets a target for us, it feeds the conscience, lets our hearts take wing, makes us comprehend the finiteness of our power, and makes us feel a need to take refuge in an Omnipotent One. As Nursi puts it, supplicating to God in a heartfelt and sincere way is already a profound form of worship in itself. Sooner or later, God accepts the prayers of people who believe in such a way.

I would like to cite two examples here concerning how prayers set targets for us. Here is the first example: One day God’s Messenger saw Abu Umama al-Bahili sitting in the mosque, looking shaken. When he asked for the reason, the reply was “poverty.” Upon hearing this, the Prophet taught him the following prayer:

“O God, I take refuge in You from worry, grief, incapacity, sloth, cowardice miserliness, the burden of debt, and subjugation by men.” We can consider these one by one and see how each sets a target in order to free oneself from poverty:

“I take refuge in You from worry, grief….” Now think about it please. Does someone who wishes to be free from worry and grief just sit there and worry? Does he get entangled in things that lead him to grief? Or, on the contrary, does such a person get up and seek ways to overcome them?

“…from incapacity, sloth….” Complaining about poverty and passively sitting in the mosque-even if it is the Prophet’s Mosque-this just means incapacity and sloth, doesn’t it?

“…cowardice, miserliness,” and finally “the burden of debt, and subjugation by men.” As it is seen, every component of this prayer sets a target for a person who suffers from poverty and takes refuge in the mosque and shows him the ways to free himself from that situation. After that phase, what falls to the individual is to put into action what he prayed for.

The second example is about one of my childhood memories. My father once told me that “anyone who recites the sura Nasr (Qur’an 110) two thousand times at night will see the Prophet in his dream.” I believed this with the heart of a child and recited the sura two thousand times and went to sleep. That night, even if it lasted until the morning, I would recite it again; for my desire to see the Prophet in my dream could make me sacrifice not just one night, but hundreds of nights. So, if a person’s heart is truly in something, then he should definitely seek ways to obtain it.

To conclude, as much as wishing to attain good conduct, our efforts to realize this purpose are important. These two are the halves of a whole. And prayer, in many respects, is such an important act that it cannot be substituted by anything else.

Notes

1. Doing something purely for the sake of God.
2. See Hujurat 49:12.

always regard

whatever pleases and

displeases yourself as the measure.

Wish that others

may receive those things

that are most pleasing to you,

and do not forget that

whatever conduct displeases you

will displease others.

If you do this,

you will be safe

not only from misconduct

and bad behavior,

but also from hurting others.

In a recent study, Mitroff and Denton asked people what gave them the most meaning and purpose in their job. They found that most people do not list money as the most important thing; rather, the first choice was the opportunity to realize one’s full potential as a person. Contrary to expectations, the interviews revealed that people are able to express their intelligence and their creativity significantly more than their feelings and soul. Recognizing these facts, modern organizations have started to find ways to better reflect human being as a whole and to use the benefits of full and deep engagement of their employees.

Conventional Attitudes toward Work

People have embraced materialism, thinking that possessions will make them happy; they have turned to utilitarian individualism and no longer feel connected to one another.1 This disconnectedness gave rise to a business culture in which organizations respond to spiritual matters and concerns by declaring them inappropriate or out of bounds. Conventional wisdom holds that these issues are far too personal and private to be brought up directly in the workplace. It also declares that spiritual matters have virtually nothing to do with the day-to-day demands of work, and even less with corporate affairs. Hence they are to be dealt with outside of work, on employee’s own time, and as the employee sees fit.

Although corporate America declares spiritual issues out of bounds, it draws upon them with calls for employee energy and enthusiasm. This is a contradiction, for enthusiasm is fundamentally a spiritual concept. There is a mutually supportive relation between an individual’s actions and inner life. Attitudes like determination, perseverance, and resolution illuminate one’s inner conscience; the brightness of one’s inner conscience strengthens one’s willpower and resolve, and stimulates one to attain higher horizons.

Organizations create a wall between their employees’ private concerns and their businesses’ public demands. This is both an external and internal division, for it separates the organization from its members’ deepest sources of creativity and productivity, and also produces a fundamental split in its employees’ souls.

Here is a typical concern, as noted by Covey in his best selling, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: “I’ve set and met my career goals and I’m having tremendous professional success. But it’s cost to me my personal and family life. I don’t know my wife and children any more. I’m not even sure I know myself and what’s really important to me. I’ve had to ask myself-is it worth it?’

Religion or Spirituality?

Today, people demand more than mere professional success in their work lives. They want to attach a deeper meaning to what they are doing, and they ask for a greater spiritual satisfaction. Mitroff and Denton’s A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America is a celebration and analysis of this spiritual revival. Their book seeks to identify how people conceive of spirituality and religion, and which ways these concepts can be reflected in the workplace.

The authors report that 60 percent of those interviewed had a positive view of spirituality and a negative view of religion. These respondents viewed spirituality as relating to creation, meaning, spirit, soul, and essence of life. On the other hand, they described religion as dogmatic, restrictive, narrow, and exclusive. The authors point out that only 30 percent had a positive view of both religion and spirituality. We find these results indicative of the division in the souls of people between their inherent spirituality and the Divine message. Yet, these are two inseparable concepts.

Since the beginning of time, people have found true peace and happiness in religion, the collection of Divine principles that guide people to good, not by force but by appealing to their free will. All principles that secure human spiritual and material progress, and thus happiness in this world and the next, are found in religion. Morality and virtue cannot be talked about in the absence of true religion, for they originate in a good, clear conscience. And religion, the connection between humanity and God, makes one’s conscience good and clear.

Spirituality in the Workplace

The idea that the body and soul are mutually antagonistic and can develop only at the other’s expense has influenced philosophical and religious thought. For the soul, the body is a prison, and the activities of daily life are the shackles that keep it in bondage and arrest its growth. This has led inevitably to the universe being divided into the spiritual and the secular.

This body-soul conflict resulted in two different ideals of human perfection. One was that we should surround ourselves with all possible material comforts, while depriving all spheres of worldly activity (i.e., social, political, economic, or cultural) of spirituality. The other was that the senses should be subdued and conquered, extrasensory powers should be awakened, and the sensory world’s limitations should be vanquished. According to this view, physical self-denial, mortification of the flesh, and withdrawal from the world were necessary for spiritual development and perfection.

Islam’s understanding of spirituality transcends this dualism by functioning as the nucleus of its integrated and unified concept of life. The body was created so that the soul could exercise its authority and fulfill its duties and responsibilities as a human being. Thus the body is the soul’s workshop or factory. If the soul is to grow and develop, it can do so only through this workshop. Consequently, this world is not a place of punishment, but a field in which God has sent it to work and perform its duty toward Him. Spiritual development does not consist of turning away from this workshop and retreating into a corner; rather, we should live and work in it, and give the best account of ourselves as we can.

Islam rejects and condemns asceticism and proposes a set of methods and processes for human spiritual development while living in the world, for it states that such growth can occur only in the midst of life. Religious and secular people work in the same sphere of activity. However, religious people will work with greater enthusiasm than their secular counterparts. Religious people also will be more likely active than secular people, in their domestic and social lives, which extend from the household to the market and even to international conferences.

What distinguishes their actions is the nature of their relationship with God and the goals behind their actions. Religious people act in awareness that they must answer to God for what they do. Thus, they try to secure Divine pleasure and ensure that their actions are in accord with God’s laws. Secular people are indifferent toward God and thus are guided only by personal motives. This difference makes a religious person’s whole life a totally spiritual venture, while the life of a secular person is devoid of the spark of spirituality.

Benefits of Recognizing Spirituality

Today, a spiritual revival is sweeping across corporate America. Executives of all lines are mixing mysticism into their management, importing the lessons usually given in churches, temples, and mosques into office corridors. Since the only thing that really motivates people is that which gives them deep meaning and purpose in their jobs and lives, the only organizations that will survive are those that have a deep value base.

There is mounting evidence that spiritually minded programs in the workplace soothe workers’ psyches and engender greater productivity. A recent research project by McKinsey & Co. Australia shows that when companies engage in programs that use spiritual techniques, productivity improves and turnover is greatly reduced. Mitroff and Denton report similar results: Employees who work for organizations they consider to be spiritual are less fearful, less likely to compromise their values, and more job-focused. People do not want to compartmentalize their lives; they want to have their souls acknowledged as whole persons in the workplace. On nearly every dimension in which they make comparison, researchers find that organizations and individuals who perceive themselves as more spiritual score better than those who perceive themselves as less spiritual.

How Does Religion Affect Conduct at Work?

Morals, which originate in high spirituality, are a set of noble principles governing human conduct. People who neglect spirituality, and so are lacking in spiritual values, cannot sustain conduct in accordance with these principles. All religions encourage good conduct and warn against misdeeds. A sincerely religious person cannot continue unethical behavior in good conscience.

People with strong faith consider themselves and their possessions as belonging to God. They bow their ego, ideas, passions, and thinking to God. They do not dodge responsibility for their actions, and always emphasize doing good deeds, for they believe in their ultimate accountability for those deeds.

The Qur’an states: Work righteously: soon will God observe your work, and His Messenger, and the Believers: soon will you be brought back to the Knower of what is hidden and what is open; then will He show you the truth of all that you did (9:105). The meaning is clear: Be honest and proficient at work, for your actions are being watched and recorded. The concept of honesty and trust can be extended to other dimensions of one’s work as a manager or as an employer. For instance, they cannot mislead their boss or their clients or waste time or organizational resources in performing one’s task, for this would be violating an employer’s trust.2

A similar approach is observed in both Christianity and Judaism. In his Letter to the Ephesians (6:6) Paul says: To those who serve; serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men. In Judaism, the Talmud, which is the body of Jewish civil and religious law, says that the first question people are held accountable after death is: Did you conduct your business affairs with honesty and with probity? All other questions about religious duties come after that question. There is a constant juxtaposition in the Torah between Judaism’s ritual commands and ethical obligations toward other people.

The Ten Commandments, which give the guidelines of good ethical conduct, are observed by both Jews and Christians. The Eighth Commandment is: Thou shall not steal [Exodus 20:15). Stealing also can mean to steal the employee’s or employer’s time, money, or other people’s ideas, and so on. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians [4:28) reads: To those who have been thieves; He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

The Islamic term ihsan means to worship God as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then remember that He sees you. The knowledge that God is watching is likely to prompt any leader or employer to behave appropriately. In contrast to the fear of God and feeling His presence, the love of God motivates the individual to work toward attaining His pleasure. Employees with ihsan push themselves beyond the call of duty; they are energized and willing to make sacrifices. The same concept is also stated in the Bible: Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (Colossians 3:23).

What about the Misuse of Religion in the Workplace?

As the workplace becomes more open to religion and spirituality, differences in perceptions become more pronounced. This may cause conflict among employees and between management and an employee. The potential danger of the latter conflict is seen in the results of The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports: a 29 percent increase in the number of religious-based discrimination charges since 1992. It is the third fastest growing claim, after sexual harassment and disability.

Companies have to focus on the pluralistic, moral messages common to all religions to resolve such issues. People have the right to believe that their religious choice is the best: however, they cannot claim that their religion is the “only right one.” Companies must foster this kind of mutual respect and tolerance among employees and between employees and management.

Footnotes:

1. According to utilitarian individualism, the center of life is the autonomous individual who can choose his or her roles and commitments, not on the basis of higher truths but according to the criterion of life effectiveness as he or she judges it.
2. Islam is very sensitive on this issue. If an employee works on an hourly basis, he or she can perform the non-obligatory prayers on the job only with the employer’s permission. But if he or she works on a product basis, he can perform the non-obligatory prayers freely as long as the work is finished on time. On the other hand, employers are obliged to pay their workers fairly.

References:

• Beekun, Rafik. Islamic Business Ethics. Brentwood, MD: Amana Publications, 1997.
• Conlin, Michelle. “Religion in the Workplace: The Growing Presence of Spirituality in Corporate America,” Business Week (1 Nov 1999].
• Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York, Fireside: 1990.
• Dalai Larna. Ethics for the New Millennium. New York, Riverhead Books: 1999.
• Gulen, M. Fethullah. The Infinite Light. London:Truestar (London] Ltd., 1995.
• Jones, Laurie B. Jesus CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership. New York: Hyperion, 1995.
• Mitroff, Ian I. and Elizabeth A. Denton. A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America: A Hard Look at Spintuality, Religion and Values in the Workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999.
• Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. The Book of Jewish Values. New York: Belltower, 2000.
• Nash, Laura. Believers in Business. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1994.

Virtues such as sincerity (ikhlas¹), loyalty, refraining from backbiting or suspicion² are among the essentials of good conduct every believing person must adopt. I think everybody agrees on that. However, my personal assumptions do not mean much in practical life. What matters is each individual’s adopting this understanding and striving for its establishment in society. Naturally, this cannot be expected to happen all of a sudden.

Internalizing good or bad conduct as part of our nature is a very long process.

The most important point to pay attention to is our actual determination on the matter. Take sincerity for instance. It is something that almost everyone who regularly prays requests from God in their prayers day and night. We pray to God saying, “O God, please make me attain sincerity in faith, or make me one of those whom You have rendered sincere.” But how sincere are we in our wish? Being a loyal servant to God and attaining sincerity in faith… how important are these for us? How deeply do we ask for-and this is another dimension of sincerity in faith-attaining the good pleasure of God? Even if we mention it in our words, what about our actions for the sake of achieving that? While making a decision about a matter in real life, from marriage to having children, or continuing with our job or not, are we able to comfortably say that we make our decisions in the direction which we think pleasing to God? Can we even say we prefer the good pleasure of God over Paradise-though they are not opposite things-or over viewing the “Face” of God? We can extend the questions in this direction. Now, if we are not able to choose sincerity and what is pleasing to God, and if we are not acting in the way that we prayed for, then it definitely means we are being disrespectful toward God, or worse, it means that we are “lying against God.” In the Qur’an (Anam 6:21) fabricating a lie against God is mentioned as the ultimate wrong.

If we do not really wish to attain virtues like sincerity, the good pleasure of God, loyalty, and faithfulness as much we wish to marry, have children, have worldly possessions-a car, a house, a summerhouse and so on-or to have our business run smoothly… or if these virtues do not have as great a place in our hearts as the worldly matters, please let us not be disrespectful against God and let us avoid paying lip service about being sincere in faith. Attaining the good pleasure of God is an incomparably greater aim than any other. So, we should not hold these worldly matters, which we are supposed to keep under our feet, at the same level as attaining the good pleasure of God. As I repeat many times over, we need to value matters of this world and the next as they deserve.

What I have explained so far is only one aspect of the issue. Another aspect is that we should not fail to ask for high virtues in our prayers. There might seem to be a conflict between this sentence and what I have previously said. In fact, there is no conflict at all. The issue explained above points toward a certain perspective and provides us with a target. Until reaching that target, a natural process will be experienced as mentioned at the beginning. While proceeding toward the target, the one thing we should never give up is praying. Praying sets a target for us, it feeds the conscience, lets our hearts take wing, makes us comprehend the finiteness of our power, and makes us feel a need to take refuge in an Omnipotent One. As Nursi puts it, supplicating to God in a heartfelt and sincere way is already a profound form of worship in itself. Sooner or later, God accepts the prayers of people who believe in such a way.

I would like to cite two examples here concerning how prayers set targets for us. Here is the first example: One day God’s Messenger saw Abu Umama al-Bahili sitting in the mosque, looking shaken. When he asked for the reason, the reply was “poverty.” Upon hearing this, the Prophet taught him the following prayer:

“O God, I take refuge in You from worry, grief, incapacity, sloth, cowardice miserliness, the burden of debt, and subjugation by men.” We can consider these one by one and see how each sets a target in order to free oneself from poverty:

“I take refuge in You from worry, grief….” Now think about it please. Does someone who wishes to be free from worry and grief just sit there and worry? Does he get entangled in things that lead him to grief? Or, on the contrary, does such a person get up and seek ways to overcome them?

“…from incapacity, sloth….” Complaining about poverty and passively sitting in the mosque-even if it is the Prophet’s Mosque-this just means incapacity and sloth, doesn’t it?

“…cowardice, miserliness,” and finally “the burden of debt, and subjugation by men.” As it is seen, every component of this prayer sets a target for a person who suffers from poverty and takes refuge in the mosque and shows him the ways to free himself from that situation. After that phase, what falls to the individual is to put into action what he prayed for.

The second example is about one of my childhood memories. My father once told me that “anyone who recites the sura Nasr (Qur’an 110) two thousand times at night will see the Prophet in his dream.” I believed this with the heart of a child and recited the sura two thousand times and went to sleep. That night, even if it lasted until the morning, I would recite it again; for my desire to see the Prophet in my dream could make me sacrifice not just one night, but hundreds of nights. So, if a person’s heart is truly in something, then he should definitely seek ways to obtain it.

To conclude, as much as wishing to attain good conduct, our efforts to realize this purpose are important. These two are the halves of a whole. And prayer, in many respects, is such an important act that it cannot be substituted by anything else.

Notes

1. Doing something purely for the sake of God.

2. See Hujurat 49:12.