Importance of Slowing Down: What is it and what it’s not…

1.What do we mean by 'Slowing down'?

What does slowing down even mean? Let’s kick off with that, sounds like a good place to start!

By slowing down, I don’t mean don’t accomplish goals, be lazy or complacent, and get rid of your responsibilities. By ‘Slowing down’ I mean embodying a state of being. It’s a certain quality of life I’m speaking to- how you live life, not necessarily what you do.

Because really and truly, don’t you think the How is the essence of life? I remember listening to this Islamic youtube video, and the Islamic speaker made the point that Islam is not an outcomes-based religion. We get rewarded for our intention and effort in this dunya, not if we’ve achieved xyz material outcome/ situation.

Do you see what I’m saying here?

I think the outcome is still important, don’t get me wrong, and we should aim and strive high but the dunya outcome is not the most important thing. The outcome helps move us in the right direction when we do have halal outcome goals, and helps to organise and give structure to our lives. But really, Allah’s looking at your sincerity, intention and effort. Because ultimately, we know that Allah can, out of nowhere, put any circumstance and material outcome in our lives, and we’re not judged for having that circumstance necessarily, but instead how we deal with it, what we do about it, who we show up as.

Many times, I think that the outcomes to your life can be a manifestation of your intention, sincerity and effort. For example, developing as a reliable and trustworthy business brand to people could be a manifestation of your sincere efforts in trying to please Allah on a micro level and having that Ihsan that Allah is always watching you.

And to answer the question in simple terms, by slowing down I mean living in ‘present-moment awareness’ that distinct experiences we’ve all at least dipped into where our mind is quiet, and our focus is on right now- which could be what’s real in front of you, or on Allah SWT. So in other words, it’s going through life in an awakened state, not one which is numbed by noise in your head whether that be from the outside world, Shaytaan, or the Nafs’ desires.

2.So why is it so important?

Answering this question is well beyond the scope of this article! But here are a few major points which come to mind.

Firstly, it’s important because Allah commands us many times within the Quran towards a state of mindfulness. The reality is, as Muslims, attaining this mindful and awakened state has many roads. We can gain it through Kushu is Salah, Through Dhikr- constantly remembering Allah, Muraqaba- holding that profound awareness in your mind that Allah is always watching you, as well as through deep reflection and contemplation of Allah. There’s also other things like prophetic dua’s- which when done in a way which we are connecting with the meaning and essence of the Dua, grounds us and connects us with Allah- which again, is a mindful state!

It's also important because emulating the life of the Prophet ﷺ means working on this part of our lives- to be more mindful and awakened Muslims. Why? Because the prophet ﷺ was "the most mindful man" on the planet as Shaykh Hamza Yusuf summed up in one of his lectures.
We should seek to be like him ﷺ, so we should seek to approach life in the way he did, which intimately involves this mindful way of being. Living in this conscious state is a part of the prophetic way. And if anyone has ‘The fortress of the Muslim’ book, in it contains many Prophetic Duas on pretty much all aspects of life which support the point that the prophet ﷺ brought this God-consciousness into every aspect of life, even in the most mundane activities.

Many muslims don't give importance to living mindfully because it sounds like a new age western concept, one which is a mainstream hype and is associated with pop psychology and so they reject it altogether without realising that Islam calls us back time after time towards an awakened state. A state of stillness and peace which can be found with Allah. That’s what I mean by mindfulness here, it's this characteristic way of approaching the world, giving you an elevated experience and quality of life.

And yes much of the western popular discourse and usage of mindfulness originates from other eastern cultures like Bhudism- although it’s often stripped of it’s spirituality. But we should not take an uncritical approach and assume that there’s no Islamic concept of mindfulness, and thus reject it from Islam altogether as that's simply untrue.

3. What does it do for us?

So what does it do for us? Peace. And lots of it. The peace found in an awakened state is unparalleled to anything else. Peace is found with Allah as He is As-Samad, the Eternal refuge. He is the source of all peace.

And Allah teaches us this reality…

“Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest” Surah Ar-Ra’d   (13:28)

What’s more, when we are able to be in that mindful state of being, we can connect with Allah better- there are less veils between us and Allah. No distraction. No noise. No worries.

In that moment, it’s just you and Allah.

5. Dunya and Akhira

Being God-conscious and mindful ultimately is a way in which we please Allah and connect to Him. And even though with this mindful way of being we have a level of detachment for desiring worldly life, it paradoxically serves us in our worldly pursuits.

How? You’re probably asking. Well let’s think about this logically.

Being mindful and God-conscious, means less of our time is spent filling our heads with- well junk. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not perfect. But one thing I do know is that the mindful, God-conscious, awakened Muslim is not someone who’s spending hours of their time consuming content on social media or watching hours of Netflix. And the reason being is very clear in my perspective, it’s because the nature of these very activities are distractions, they leave you in a state of heedlessness- it’s a shackle.

So anyway, back to the point, engaging in less of those idle and distracting activities gives you mental space. More space to remember Allah, but also engage in activities which are useful in your life. That could be developing a useful skill that’s going to level up your contributions at work, to your family or to the Ummah, or even networking and forming valuable connections with other Muslims which helps to solve a particular problem in the community.

I also think when we are more mindful and God Conscious, on a regular basis, overtime this makes us less vulnerable in general to distractions as and when they come. I see that as having the ability to focus better in work sessions and keep on track with your goals by staying clear on your vision.

That’s my take on how slowing down or being God-conscious/ mindful is important for us as Muslims- as it’s a bridge to Allah and it has numerous benefits for our Akhira as well as in this Life.

Drop a comment on how you’ve benefited from being a more mindful Muslim!