I started reading Jay Shetty’s book, Think Like A Monk, recently and today I came across a passage that summarises my thoughts on why the ‘Mozlamic’ hustle culture is not always commendable. I talked about this in my previous blog post, What I Want For Myself in 2022, where I discussed one main thing was to slow down.
The chapter was about intentions and Shetty introduces an experiment that was conducted in 1973 with a group of seminary students:
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In a 1973 experiment called “From Jerusalem to Jericho,” researchers asked seminary students to prepare short talks about what it meant to be a minister. Some of them were given the parable of the Good Samaritan to help them prep. In this parable, Jesus told of a traveler who stopped to help a man in need when nobody else would. Then some excuse was made for them to switch to a different room. On their way to the new room, an actor, looking like he needed help, leaned in a doorway. Whether a student had been given materials about the Good Samaritan made no difference in whether the student stopped to help. The researchers did find that if student were in a hurry they were much less likely to help, and “on several occasions, a seminary student going to give his talk on the parable of the Good Samaritan literally stepped over the victim as he hurried on his way!” The students were so focused on the task at hand that they forgot their deeper intentions. They were presumably studying at seminary with the intention to be compassionate and helpful, but in that moment anxiety or the desire to deliver an impressive speech interfered.
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To summarise what this experiment was about — these seminary students were preparing to give a speech about what it means to be a good minister. A good minister is someone who helps, does good, etc. While walking to give their speech, they came across someone who needed help. Some helped and some didn’t. Some completely ignored the person in need.
Why did this experiment stand out to me?
This is one of my fears of being involved with so many projects and events. I see this happen countless times around me and I fear ending up being someone like that. Someone who preaches, or embodies the idea of a ‘religious person’ but doesn’t truly embody Islam holistically.
When you’re constantly running around one event to the next, what if you overlook the opportunities of good that are right in front of you. Helping a friend, making someone smile, feeding a stray kitten. What if you turn down opportunities of charity and service because you are focusing on the 'bigger things'
But one could ask —
Isn’t focusing on the 'bigger things’ better? Isn’t changing the situation of the youth of the ummah or inviting people to Islam better things to spend your time on. Things that will leave bigger impacts in this world and lay more heavily on your scales in the Next?
No. They are not.
Because we have no idea what will weight heavier on our scales. And overlooking acts of charity to focus on 'bigger things' shows clearly that we’ve lost sight of our purpose.
Because know the Ahadith of the woman who was a sinner but was gifted Paradise for feeding a thirsty dog and of the woman who was a worshipper but was sentenced to Hell because of her bad treatment to animals.
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The para in the book ends with a reminder.
As Benedictine monk Laurence Freeman said in his book Aspects of Love, “Everything you do in the day from washing to eating breakfast, having meetings, driving to work… watching television or deciding instead to read… everything you do is your spiritual life. It is only a matter of how consciously you do these ordinary things…”
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Slowing down and being present — being mindful of each moment is the way to opening up doors of opportunities of goodness.
As Muslims, we don’t see Islam as a religion with rituals only practiced in the mosque. For us, Islam is a way of life. That means every moment should be experienced with us being actively Muslim — that is in full submission to our Creator.
