This is just another personal reflection.
Khalwat or isolation or social distancing has always been good for the soul. But social distancing in the context of a spiritual khalwat is not about keeping a distance of 1 or 2 meters between people. It is about occasionally distancing oneself from the crowd altogether, it is about going into a private retreat where one isolates him/herself at a quiet space, to mind one's own business, particularly one's transactions with the Creator.
It is a common practice for those who are on the spiritual path. They would actively cleanse their souls by committing to khalwat. How do they give value to time during khalwat? They commit to inward and outward servitude. I think even if we can't do a proper khalwat, it is wise to distance our hearts from the mortals and the irrelevance.
It is a common practice for those who are on the spiritual path. They would actively cleanse their souls by committing to khalwat. How do they give value to time during khalwat? They commit to inward and outward servitude. I think even if we can't do a proper khalwat, it is wise to distance our hearts from the mortals and the irrelevance.
All of a sudden millions of people are in khalwat though a majority might not realize it. I was reminded of the term khalwat upon watching a tausiyah by Habib Novel Al-Aydrus two weeks ago. He advised the audience to take advantage of the Movement Control Order (MCO) or the likes of it as practiced in your respective countries.
It is indeed a good opportunity to gear up on one's amal. I must admit as someone who is a recluse, unsociable, an introvert, I have always practiced social distancing LOL. I am loving it!
I hope a sizeable sample of the population who are on quarantine would stumble on this blog and find the postings useful, some of them, if not all. I hope the old yet timeless lessons from the shuyukh would give value to your time.
The present circumstances made me question myself in terms of the value I had given to time in the old world - the world before the C-outbreak. It made me realize even more of the importance of journaling and documenting the lessons and experiences we had. If we did not make an attempt to record the paths trodden be it through photography or writing, it would be just like a blank paper without meaning. Though it might be possible to find some traces of our past smears in a hater's record. Why carry other people's baggage?
I pray so that Allah would give us the strength to ignore matters that are not of our concern. Except maybe the good of humanity in general and certainly not Mr. A's episode B or Miss B's episodes A, B, and C.
The episodes of our lives are indeed unique. How each one of us gives value to time is also unique, it is like a private conversation with the Lord, a private interaction with Him who records even that of our non-movement and silence. So let's use our time wisely.
May Allah keep us safe in His most perfect protection.
Aamiin.
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'Business as Usual' during quarantine = studying, online meetings re office work & MBA assignments and caring for my dear mother. Plus, manually recording in a notebook, my 500 daily selawat and the zikir assigned by Habib Umar bin Hafiz for the month of Shaaban. I am pretty sure there are people who do 1000+ selawat or 3000 zikir a day. I wish more people would openly share their selawat/zikir routine. To me, it is like a good campaign. It is not self-advertising. It is advertising the Prophet (salallah alaihi wasalam) and reminding people to nourish their souls. Unfortunately, the ads on Dalgona coffee has gotten a lot more air-time. LOL.
Anyways, I love appearing in the blogosphere more than I do on other socmed platforms. I think it has got something to do with you, who have husnul zan towards me. Thank you!
Fi amanillah.
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Habib Novel's tausiyah on khalwat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B93-hJGclr4
[in the Indonesian language, though]
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