If our life is in balance, we feel content and happy. If our life is out of balance, we will feel distressed, nervous, discontent, unfulfilled. Getting the right balance is essential to living our life with purpose. And to glow with the light of faith Allah has gifted us with.
To Have Balance Means to Have Priorities
Finding, having and keeping balance in our life does not necessarily mean that everything has to be balanced. Rather, to have a balance in our life means that we know our priorities and move towards them as good as we can.
Our main priority as Muslims is Allah and to follow His teachings and commands as good as we can. To have balance in life means that we have a goal that we want to achieve. To keep our balance means that we get up when we fall. We try to keep our balance and move forward even though we stumble. The straight path of the Islamic teachings leads us to our goal: to become closer to Allah.
Balance on the Straight Path
We know that if we would go back to our old life before Islam, we would be destroyed. That is why we keep moving towards our goal. To please Allah. He is the One that gives balance and stability in our life. He is our ultimate balance. If we follow His commands and teachings, everything else falls into place. Everything else becomes balanced. Subhan Allah. That is the blessing in following the straight path.
Balance Between This Life and the Afterlife
What does it mean to follow the straight path and to find balance in it? It means that we try to find a balance between our life in this world and the life that awaits us in the next world.
This world is transitional. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) advised us to be in this world like the stranger or wayfarer who is just traveling through a place.
Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a traveler/wayfarer.
Ibn Umar added:
When evening comes, do not expect (to live till) morning, and when morning comes, do not expect (to live till) evening. Take from your health (a preparation) for your illness, and from your life for your death. (Hadith Bukhari: 6416)
If we know that we are just traveling through, we will not spend too much energy on decorating or chasing this world. Rather, as a wayfarer, we will always plan our journey ahead. We will be busy preparing for what awaits us in the next phase of our journey. Again, balance here means setting our priorities.
- The five daily prayers are an absolutely essential provision for the next world. And a means to balancing our life between this world and the next.
- Giving in charity is another important part in preparing for the next phase of our journey. It helps us to erase the love for this world from our heart. And focus instead on what pleases Allah and helps other people.
- Seeking sacred knowledge is another effective way to balancing our life. It helps us reduce the heedlessness in our life. Because we will often need to reduce time on the screen or time chatting, shopping and the like to make time for acquiring sacred knowledge of Islam. Seeking knowledge brings blessings in our time and energy. And it redirects our focus away from this world.
- Try to be in the company of the pious and/ or the genuine Muslim scholars. There is a lot of blessing in this kind of company because it will support us in remembering our true purpose in this world. It will help us to do good and righteous deeds. And it will have a balancing effect on our outlook on life.
How to Regain Balance
Sometimes, due to different circumstances, we loose balance in our life. How can we regain this lost balance?
As quick as possible, we need to re-connect to Allah on a daily basis. Check your five daily prayers:
- Are you praying all of them?
- Are you praying them in the set time frame?
- Try to pray them as early as possible. Don’t delay. Don’t wait for the movie to finish first and then pray.
- Once the time for prayer arrives, get up, make ablution and pray.
Allocate some extra time that is only for Allah and yourself. Nobody else should have part in this time. Do some extra Sunnah prayers. You can do the pre-noon prayer, dhuha, or the night vigil, Tahajjud. Do some extra dhkir or salawat, praises on our beloved Prophet Muhammad (may Allah shower him with peace and blessings). And try to do abundant istighfar, seeking Allah’s forgiveness.
Now that the Islamic month of Rajab is soon coming up, try to do as many istighfar in this month as possible. Rajab is the month of repentance. And it is a great possibility to strengthen your relationship with Allah. And feel how you regain balance.
