BENEFITS OF LOWERING THE GAZE: WHAT I INTEND TO ACHIEVE

My first encounter with this topic is a lecture delivered by Sheikh Abdurrazzaq bn Abdulmuhsin Al-badr. He explained the benefits enumerated by Ibn- Al- Qayyim in his book ‘The Illness and the Medicine’. Listening to the lecture led me to buy and read the book. Here, I make an attempt to list out the benefits of lowering the gaze given by Ibn- Al- Qayyim in an attempt to motivate myself towards attaining the benefits. In sha Allah, I’ll do my best to lower my gaze in all my day to day activities and these benefits would be my motivation in sha Allah. Ibn- Al- Qayyim listed out ten benefits of lowering the gaze and these are:

1. It is a submission to Allah’s command which causes happiness to the servant in his life and the hereafter. Submission to Allah’s command is the best thing a servant has in his life and the hereafter and the people do not feel sadness except by disobeying Allah’s command.

2. It prevents the poisoned arrow from reaching the heart of the servant which may cause destruction to the servant

3. It makes the servant feel closeness with Allah, because releasing the sights lead to separating the heart from Allah, and making it far from Allah, and there’s nothing more harmful for the servant than releasing the sights since it leads to distance between the servant and his Lord

4. Lowering the eyes from looking at the forbidden strengthens the heart and amuses it, and releasing the eyes weakens the heart and makes it sad

5. Lowering the eyes makes light spread in the heart and releasing the sight makes it fill with darkness. This is part of the wisdom behind Allah mentioning the ayah of light after the command of lowering the gaze, where Allah says: 

“Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and to guard their private parts” Suratun-Nur, verse 30. The verse of the light came just four verses after that of lowering the gaze. 

“Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp…”. Suratun-Nur, verse 35.

6. Lowering the gaze provides the servant with truthful insight which will enable him distinguish between truth and falsehood. Allah rewards the servant upon his deed by the requisite reward. Whoever leaves anything for the sake of Allah, he will be compensated with what is better than it and if he avoided looking at the forbidden matters, Allah would compensate him with releasing the light of insight, since he imprisoned his eyes for the sake of Allah, and Allah will open for him the doors of knowledge and truthful physiognomy will avail upon him. Allah says: 

“By your life [O Muhammad], indeed they were, in their intoxication, wandering blindly” Suratul Hijr, verse 72. Intoxication here refers to the corruption of the mind and blind refers to the corruption of insight. 

7. Lowering of the gaze leads to making the heart firm, brave and strong. Victory, argument, competence and strength are present in the heart of the one who lowers his gaze. Conversely, humiliation, meanness, and self-disgrace are found in the heart of those who disobey Allah. Allah has made honor to be attached to obeying Him and humiliation to disobeying him. Allah says in the Qur’an:

“And to Allah belongs all honor, and to His Messenger, and to the believers” Suratul Munafiqun, verse 8.

8. Lowering the gaze blocks the satan’s entry to the heart. This is because satan enters the heart with the gaze faster than the penetration of the air in a vacuum

9. Lowering the gaze makes the heart consecrated to thinking about Allah’s interest and being interested in Allah’s teaching. Releasing the gaze on the other hand makes the servant forget about Allah and deter the servant from Allah. Eventually, the servant will fall into following his whims and desires and forget to mention Allah. Allah says:

“…and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever [in] neglect” Suratul Kahf, verse 28.

10. There’s a pathway between the eye and the heart which necessitates that one of them will transmit to the other and become corrupted by it. If the heart is corrupted, the vision will be corrupted and vice versa. If the heart is righteous, the vision will be righteous and vice versa. If the eye is corrupted, the heart would be corrupted and it would be like the dunghill which is a place for impurities and dirt, such a heart would not be qualified to be inhabited by knowing Allah and loving Allah and returning to Him.

These are a summary of the ten benefits of lowering the gaze listed by Ibn-Al-Qayyim in his famous book. I always find myself in need of these listed benefits. May Almighty Allah give us the ability to lower our gaze from the forbidden and may we become worthy of the listed benefits. Ameen. 

TRYING TO CLOSE OUT THE YEAR ON A SPIRITUAL HIGH

I have found that it is extremely difficult to maintain the same high spiritual commitment at all times. This is because iman rises and falls and there's nothing we can do about that except to make sure that we maintain a base level of iman that is high enough to keep us away from sins during our spiritual lows. 

As I navigate through life, I want to improve my connection to Allah. One way to do that is by increasing my supererogatory acts of worship. I am working on that. Another way is to avoid sins as much as possible, which is a difficult thing in this modern age. Just existing in this modern age is a trial. For instance, moving on the road, a person can be confronted with so many temptations, from skimpily dressed ladies to all sorts of haram acts. It never gets easy. 

One way I have discovered that helps towards reducing sins is identifying and avoiding triggers. This is super important. All sins have triggers and identifying and avoiding them would lead to a cleaner life that is devoid of sins. May Allah make it easy for us.

As I close out the year 2021, I would want to write a year review and I would want ending the year on a positive note to be part of my submission. This is why I have to do all I can to remain on the straight and narrow and obey Allah, avoid sins and repent from the ones shaitan made me commit. 

The life is a constant struggle against shaitan and the only time it will end is after death. The goal is to strive towards ultimately defeating shaitan and dying as a true muslim. Hence, my sub goal of finishing the Gregorian year on a spiritual high and trying to maintain a high base level of iman. 

O Allah, crown all my struggles with the ultimate success of jannah.

SINCERE REMINDER TO A BROTHER

 As you prepare to enter the great institution of marriage, I find it pertinent to share a few words of reminder to you, dear brother, despite knowing that you are far more knowledgeable than I am about this institution both theoretically and in practice. Yet, a few words of reminder will be beneficial in sha Allah.

As you plan your wedding, I advise you to make sure you always put Allah first in your life. Think about Allah's ruling on an action before embarking on it. In simple terms, I implore you to do your best to resist the temptation of things like pre-wedding pictures and wedding events that encourage free mixing of the genders. This is very vital as the goal is for our marriage to be blessed.
In addition, you should work on you and your spouse looking at marriage through the lens of worship. Marriage as a way to attain closeness to Allah. Once you renew your intention, taking marriage as a worship, it will be easier to have sabr through the inevitable challenges that you may face once you enter the great institution.
Remember that marriage is important to Allah. It completes half of your deen. It is the sunnah of all messengers, including Prophet Muhammad SAW, as mentioned in Qur'an 13:38.
Fear Allah in your dealings with your spouse and try to overlook her faults. However, do your best to correct her in areas where she falters in the deen. In addition, encourage her to also correct you anytime you err upon the deen. Make yourselves sincere advisors to each other, this will help you both improve your practice of the deen.
Once you make the deen the goalpost of your marriage, Allah will ease your path to a happy married life.
In conclusion, I pray that Almighty Allah blesses your marriage and grant you the peace and tranquillity that we all expect to attain after marriage.