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Obsession with acting on religious practices

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 2 August 2024

“Allah does not impose on any soul a duty beyond its ability. To its benefit is what (good) it earns, and to its detriment is what (evil) it works. Our Lord, do not punish us if we forget or make a mistake. Our Lord, do not lay on us a burden as You did lay on those before us. Our Lord, do not impose on us (afflictions) which we have not the strength to bear. And pardon us! And grant us protection! And have mercy on us! You are our Patron, so grant us victory over the disbelieving people.” — ch. 2, Al-Baqarah, v. 286.

لَا یُکَلِّفُ اللّٰہُ نَفۡسًا اِلَّا وُسۡعَہَا ؕ لَہَا مَا کَسَبَتۡ وَ عَلَیۡہَا مَا اکۡتَسَبَتۡ ؕ رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذۡنَاۤ اِنۡ نَّسِیۡنَاۤ اَوۡ اَخۡطَاۡنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَ لَا تَحۡمِلۡ عَلَیۡنَاۤ اِصۡرًا کَمَا حَمَلۡتَہٗ عَلَی الَّذِیۡنَ مِنۡ قَبۡلِنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَ لَا تُحَمِّلۡنَا مَا لَا طَاقَۃَ لَنَا بِہٖ ۚ وَ اعۡفُ عَنَّا ٝ وَ اغۡفِرۡ لَنَا ٝ وَ ارۡحَمۡنَا ٝ اَنۡتَ مَوۡلٰىنَا فَانۡصُرۡنَا عَلَی الۡقَوۡمِ الۡکٰفِرِیۡنَ ﴿۲۸۶﴾

“And We do not impose on any soul a duty beyond its ability, and with Us is a book which speaks the truth, and they are not wronged.” — ch. 23, al-Mu’minūn, v. 62

وَ لَا نُکَلِّفُ نَفۡسًا اِلَّا وُسۡعَہَا وَ لَدَیۡنَا کِتٰبٌ یَّنۡطِقُ بِالۡحَقِّ وَ ہُمۡ لَا یُظۡلَمُوۡنَ ﴿۶۲﴾

The first verse which I have recited is a well-known prayer in the Quran. The second verse which I recited begins with the same words, to say that Allah does “not impose on any soul a duty beyond its ability”. There is a third place in the Quran as well, where these words are exactly repeated in the middle of a verse, in ch. 6, v. 152. In that verse, both before these words and after these words various commands are given to Muslims about behaving honestly, truthfully and with justice towards other people when they are depending on us for their rights. In a fourth place, where the Quran makes it a duty to spend money to support others in a certain context, it says in slightly different words: “Allah does not lay on any soul a burden beyond what He has given it” (65:7). Therefore, the Quran has repeated at least four times that Allah does not require us to do more than what we are capable of.

This principle is relevant to a news item I read earlier this week (see link) about a young woman in the USA who had become obsessed with following the Christian religion to the extent that this obsession hindered her in her normal daily activities. She was a teenager in school at the time. She developed an “overwhelming fear of committing a sin”, and, to quote the news item, she: “became ‘obsessed’ with doing anything and everything she could to ensure that she would have eternal afterlife.” At the beginning, she would say a prayer before meals and before going to bed, and avoid bad speech and doing any bad deeds. Then she started regarding her prayers as inadequate and not good enough and began to spend several hours of the day in prayer, neglecting her worldly work, and saying a prayer between every single bite of food that she consumed. She said: “If there was a bowl of chips I had to pray before every chip that I put in my mouth.”

She stopped conversing with her friends because they used swear words in their conversations, and she regarded it as a sin not only to swear but to hear someone swearing. She became obsessed with getting into heaven. She said: “You had to be a certain way in order to get yourself a spot in heaven, that’s what I believed.” When this got too much, she sought counselling help, and with that and with medication, she was able to control her condition. It turned out that her obsession with strictly following her Christian religion to the minutest detail was not due to any religious teaching but due to her personality.

Reading about this woman’s suffering reminded me of some verses of the Quran. Among them are the four I mentioned, which contain the statement that Allah does not impose on any soul a duty or burden beyond its capacity to bear it. In carrying out any religious obligation, how do you know that you are going further than what Allah requires, and placing upon yourself a burden which Allah has not placed? I will answer this at the end.

Here I would point out that in the first verse, the long one, which I recited, and people frequently recite it at various occasions, it is said after this that the soul benefits from the good it earns by its efforts, and is harmed by what is puts upon itself by earning what is bad. When someone does good deeds to the extent of his ability, it becomes a credit to his soul and he becomes a better person. He cannot do more than the extent of his ability. When someone does not use the ability of his soul to refrain from bad deeds, whatever that ability might be, strong or weak, the bad deeds are like a debit or negative mark on his soul. Again, this is only when he did not exercise his ability to refrain from wrong-doing.

Some scholars of the Quran have interpreted the words Allah “does not impose on any soul a duty beyond its ability” as meaning Allah “does not impose on any soul a duty except to increase its ability”. We find this principle applying to all kinds of human activity, that if some duty or discipline is imposed on you, for example regular training in some sport, then your ability to perform it increases. Similarly, we can learn to give up a bad habit by practising against it, or at least strengthen our ability to control the habit. The same things become easier for us to do which were burdensome before and we feel a sense of satisfaction and achievement.

In the case of this woman whom I mentioned, her doing her duty of prayer and of refraining from any wrong-doing was not making things easier for her, or more satisfying, but in fact more and more difficult. According to the Quran, God does not impose this kind of burden, but it is imposed by people themselves. In the Quran Muslims are told as follows:

“And strive hard for Allah with due striving. He has chosen you and has not laid upon you any hardship in religion — the faith of your father Abraham.” (22:78)

Here “chosen you” means chosen to take the message of God to the world. The “due striving” is to do what you can, as the Quran says elsewhere:

“So keep your duty to Allah as much as you can…” (64:16)

In connection with fasting, which seems hard to do, the Quran says:

“Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire hardship for you…” (2:185)

In a very early revelation, the Quran says:

“Then as for him who gives (charitably) and keeps his duty, and accepts the good teachings — We facilitate for him (the way to) ease.” (92:5–7)

After the initial effort and hurdle in doing your duty as required by God, both your duty towards God and towards other humans, it should become easier and more natural for us to continue doing the same, not harder and harder.

In this connection there are two hadith reports in Sahih Bukhari, right at the beginning of his huge collection of Hadith, where he has quoted the words of the Holy Prophet relating to how to follow religion. The Holy Prophet said: “The religion that is most liked by Allah is that which is moderate and is easy (in its observance).” In a little more detail, the Holy Prophet said:

“Religion is easy, and no one exerts himself too much in religion but it overpowers him; so act aright and keep to the mean and be of good cheer and ask for (Divine) help in the morning and in the evening and during a part of the night.” (hadith 39)

“Religion is easy” here means its practice in terms of its rules and regulations should be easy on you. As the Holy Prophet wisely says, if anyone goes to an extreme in following the rituals of religion, he or she will just be overwhelmed by them. Take prayer. If you look at all the requirements that Islamic scholars have set out, of performing wudu before prayer, what to wear, how to stand, bow, prostrate, sit, which way to face, if anyone tried to fulfil them to the utmost degree, he or she would simply be overwhelmed. They would never be able to meet all the requirements, they would be chasing after the unattainable, and they would be dissatisfied and disheartened, thinking all the time about where they fell short. So the Holy Prophet has advised that we just walk on the right path, keep to the middle, meaning neither neglect your duty nor be excessive in it, be cheerful and happy, and ask for Allah’s help at various times of the day and night.

A little after this in Bukhari, there is another hadith which occurs under the title: “The religion that is most liked by Allah is that which is observed with constancy”. That hadith is as follows:

“Aishah reported that the Prophet ﷺ came to her while there was a woman with her. He said: Who is she? She said: She is so-and-so, and began to speak (highly) of her prayers. He said: Enough! Only that is binding on you which you are able to do. By Allah, Allah does not get tired (of listening to or accepting your prayers), but you get tired (of saying them); and the religion most liked by Him is that in which its follower is constant (i.e., which he can maintain).” (hadith 43)

It is said elsewhere that she used to pray all night without sleeping. The word used here for getting tired means to start disliking something after you liked it. Allah will never say to you: Stop praying to Me, because I need some rest from listening to you. Instead, it is you who will get fed up eventually. This is an important principle in Islam: that only that service is accepted by Allah which you can perform constantly and regularly.

Similarly, there is another incident that a Companion of the Holy Prophet, Salmān, went to stay overnight with his close friend, Abu ad-Darda, who was another Companion of the Holy Prophet. He found that Abu ad-Darda was praying and fasting extensively. Because of this, he was neglecting to support his wife and she was complaining about this, he was neglecting to socialise with his guests, and neglecting his own sleep. Salmān told him, in strong terms, to pay attention to his responsibilities towards others and said to him:

“Allah has a right over you, and your own self has a right over you, and your family has a right over you. So fulfil the rights of everyone who has a right over you.”

Abu ad-Darda went to the Holy Prophet and mentioned this. The Holy Prophet said:

“Salmān spoke the truth.” (Hadith 1968).

We see in the news story about this woman that she stopped being in the company of her friends on the grounds that God has forbidden swearing and she can hear them swearing. So as a brief answer to the question, how do you know if you are placing upon yourself a burden which Allah has not placed, you should know it when you find that that burden leads you to neglect your own bodily and material and domestic and social needs, and to neglect your responsibilities towards others.

May Allah enable us to follow the religion of moderation, the religion that is most liked by Allah — Ameen.

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