A buzurg (holy man) once said, "Moderation is such an attribute that if someone manages to achieve it then they do not need to achieve anything else."
اعتدال ایسی چیز ہے کہ جس کو زندگی میں یہ حاصل ہو جاٴے اسے زندگی میں کچھ بھی حاصل کرنے کی ضرورت نہیں۔
But what is moderation and how do you know whether you have achieved it or not?
In my younger days, like everyone that age, I used to be very emotional and single tracked. It is an age when you can get very excited about something and if you do not have good mentoring it is very easy to get sidetracked and lose one's way.
Once I said to the buzurg, "Hazrat (sir), I feel like I want to keep doing Allah's zikr (recitation of Allah SWT's nam) all the time and don't feel like studying."
I thought the buzurg being a religious scholar himself would be very happy but his response stunned me. He said, "What did you just say? Do you think worldly affairs and Islam are two different things? If your niyyat (intention) is good then all your studies are Allah's zikr. If you keep the intention that you are becoming a doctor to help people and to serve them your studying, your thinking and worrying about studies, your preparing for and appearing in exams, it will all be counted as zikr."
The buzurg further said, "It is a misconception that somehow taking a fee is against serving people. What your niyyat should be that after becoming a doctor while you will charge fee from those who can afford it, you will never turn away a patient because he or she cannot afford to pay. If your niyyat wasn't right as yet then correct it now. But once you start studying with that niyyat of helping people then every moment of your studies is being spent in doing Allah's SWT zikr."
On another occasion the buzurg explained that it is a misconception that religion and our worldly affairs are two separate things and that to do Allah's SWT ibadat (prayer) you have to get away from everyone, go to some remote place and keep reciting Allah's SWT name all the time. He said that if one corrects one's intentions then all our studies and our jobs become Allah's SWT zikr and ibadat and there is no difference between the two.
On another occasion I complained about being unable to balance between religion and studies. The buzurg chided me kindly saying, "At the moment you are single. You have no responsibilities besides having to study. Later on in life you will have a job, wife, kids, parents to look after, your career. How will you balance between all of these conflicting demands of life?" He then advised me that life is all about balancing conflicting responsibilities so that no one aspect of life is neglected at the expanse of the other. You can't be a good Muslim unless so you are also a good worker (at your job), a good husband, a good father, and a good relative and friend. Life is all about balance.
I will end with just one more of his quotes that has been a guiding beacon all my life. Some people use religion as an excuse not to achieve anything in life. They feel very proud that they spend all their time praying, while in reality someone else is doing all the hard work and earning a meal for them. Once we were discussing post graduation and someone saying that they did not want to study any further because of religious reasons. The buzurg said, "Whatever you choose to do in your life try to reach right to the very top in your career. A person should always try to reach the peak in whatever they do." Then he smiled and said, "A person should be tarik-ud-duniya (a person who has given up on worldly possessions), not matrook-ud-duniya (someone the world has given up on). Look, Hazrat Ibrahim Bin Adham gave up on his kingdom for Allah SWT, but he had a kingdom to give up. But if someone doesn't have anything anyway what is he going to give up for Allah SWT?"
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