Sound decision-making expresses the point of the culmination of a successful personality. But the issue is that a human being isn’t a self-sufficient entity to reach at good decisions purely by his own. This is because human beings have knowledge but n little (Bani Israel 17:85). Though positive, human nature is negative also like hurry, impatience, cruelty, ignorance etc. Further, human beings are often overwhelmed by worldly attractions and thus take pleasure in their state of deception. This is the reason that human beings need counseling. Meeting of minds and experiences of different people can be hoped to produce something fruitful. Beside consultation, there are some other issues which are of equal consideration on the question of sound decision-making
There is an issue of the cleanliness of heart. Evidence suggests that brain does the job of thinking, pondering and reasoning. But without any definite direction, all that thinking, pondering and reasoning would be absurd and even harmful. So question of this ‘direction’ is fundamentally important. On the basis of this ‘direction’, a person decides to do or undo a certain thing. This direction comes from the heart, depending on its various states. These states in fact cause particular states has an effect on the cleanliness of the heart. If the heart is unclean that a person doesn’t care of God’s commandments, the state of heart will be corrupted or polluted, resulting in his intellectual life as a whole (thinking, pondering, imagination, conceptualization etc.) to be polluted and damaged. Usually, there are identified three states of Nafas’ I .e, Amara, lawama or mutmaina. And, the core-self turns as per the directions of these states of Nafas or self. Indulging in attractions hiding evil in them is most cherished to Nafas, but a person successfully avoids such attractions due to the grace of God, as Hazrat Yousuf (Peace on him) concludes in the matter when Zulikha tries to lure him. God allows those entering in His grace whom He wills i.e., in those whom God find the strong motivation or aspiration or a sincere desire to seek the grace of God. And, tyrants are those who openly cross into the boundaries of God in the pursuance of the attractions of the world and at the end of the day when failing and finding these were mere deceptions, would blame to their destiny that this fate was written for them, as refuters of God will say while entering into Hell that this punishment was pre-destined to them Al Mummar 39:71(). The same was uttered by an elder of the tribe of Jews expelled from Medina after doing all mischiefs against the Prophet of God (PBUH) that this fate was to befall on Jews.
Another issue is that a self or ‘Nafas’ is able to best utilize its potential of decision-making, if it continues to exist as a single organic whole, that is like a building fully protected by a strong four walled boundary. A self continues to exist like this, if its imagination is not polluted, making it cross into the boundaries prescribed by God as sanctioned (Halal) and forbidden (Harram). This causes cracks to appear in the fully protected boundary of the self. Now, through these cracks, devil is allowed by men and women to enter in their lives. Though devil keeps bombarding men and women all the time in different guises and forms as explained in the previous workshop, but it doesn’t succeed entering in their life as long as they remain free from these cracks So if you are now able to immune yourself from the constant bombardment of devil, you are on the verge of enriching your decision-making capability. Since devil is the source of suspicions and fears, as the path to devil is shun, the big hurdles in the way of decision-making are successfully removed.
Exercise
If you really want to protect ‘self’ in you in its boundaries i.e., capable of existing as a unified organic whole, you need to do many things, some of which belong to you and some belong to others around you. Your need to 3Among the factors belonging to you, first, don’t allow your imagination to be corrupted by the beauty, charms and glamour offered on social media or on your computer screen. Reasons are obvious and wellknown. “Everything that glitters isn’t gold”.
Second, struggle hard to overcome your desires, lust and greed. These are major hurdles in the way of fruitful and just decision-making. God commanded to the Holy Prophet Daood (peace on him) to decide among people with truth and don’t follow your desires, otherwise it will cause you divert you from way to God (Suwad 38:26).
Third, there are always available different options of action while making a decision. To choose the best option as per the given circumstances and the resources in hand is where a person’s intellectual strength is tested. To choose the best option, one needs to be careful about: correct knowledge of the issues related with the matter to be decided, correct knowledge of resources available and needed, capability to places checks on your desires and greed, controlling over the elements of domination, impatience and hurry found in human nature, competency to listen others attentively and with consideration.
Fourthly, while seeking consultation, always choose the righteous and God-fearing people no matter how inferior they may be in their social status. Sometimes, our concern is to seek the support of others particularly the wealthy people so that they may likely extend their support for us to overcome the difficulties linked with the matter being counseled. This is pretentious and is a self-deception on the name of decision-making. Instead, trusting on the strong people around us, we wholly need to devote our trust on God the most powerful.
Fifthly, while decision-making, we don’t need to stretch our hands more than our capacity. We need to ascetic in our attitude on all places. This will help to produce a favorable type of world around us which will never let us lose away our precious resources whatsoever we have.
Sixthly, protect your women as mothers or as wives for fruitful decision-making. This is beneficial in many ways. As mothers are the custodians of the faculty of imagination and innocence of their children. So this will help us to keep our power of imagination and innocence safe from being polluted. Furthermore, since men’s half of the worldly activities directly and the rest of the half in an indirect manner continue to revolve around women-related concerns, so scarce resources can be kept safe by protecting women from being polluted by the outer world. Moreover, the most important in this regard is that we will be better able to exercise restraint on our those desires, greed and lust which we find usually most difficult to be controlled. So by caring and protecting women from the rubbish of the outer world, men can produce a paradise on earth and that is surely there to the extent of their homes.
Above all, the most important among the factors mentioned above is your ability or your habit to have a strong trust on God all the powerful, after once you have made a decision. In almost all cases, a person’s inability to reach at any decision or any strong conviction of the heart is due to his/ her tendency to continue to look here and there in search of some support or resources to overcome the unfavorable conditions which remain necessarily attached with a decision. It is the fear of these unfavorable conditions which becomes a hurdle in the way of sound decisions. This issue can easily be resolved, if one is able to have a strong trust on God. Remember that each decision has its certain losses and benefits attached with it. A person can avoid these losses and can gain benefits only, if he/she is able to handover the whole set of unfavorable conditions and the related expectations to the Almighty Hands of God the Wise and the Irresistible. This is why, the Holy Quran clearly teaches: When you have reached at some determination (decision), so have a trust on God, verily, God loves those who have a trust on Him (Al Tauba 9).
Often we are told about ‘human-related factors’, based on the role of five senses, over which men have a sort of control that these factors are important for making progress and progressive decisions in any field. Factors like the role of devil are perceived to be beyond our control and thus are excluded as a factor. But, if we are spiritually alive (which is the sign of being alive in the first place), we find it the most significant factor since it offers the biggest hurdle and the most powerful stimulant of negativity and anarchy in human nature and at the same time it is more dangerous because of being invisible and hidden. Clearly, devil enters in our life when we cross into the boundaries of Halal and Harram, showing that our trust on God has finally declined to the extent of accepting the instigation of devil.
Now, to stop devil entering in your life, make yourself fully determined on this point that you never exceed the boundaries given by God as Halal and Harrams given by Islam—the last and final message of God to humanity. This is how you can keep your own self intact as a single organic whole—unified, coherent and free from suspicions. On the point of observing Halal and Harram, observe and understand how Islam is the completion of wisdom pertaining to the question of peace and contentment in human life.
Prepare a list of Halals and Harrams as given in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (AWA). Compare this list to the practices of your society and note down the violations, if any, due to the dominant modern Western type of personality and society.
Prepare a list of Halals and Harrams as given in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (AWA). Compare this list to the practices of your society and note down the violations, if any, due to the dominant modern Western type of personality and society.
Note that once crossing into the boundaries of Halal and Harram, you become disentangled into the web—to move out of which becomes increasingly difficult. It is because the chief characteristic of a web is that it becomes the source of many visible and invisible webs which are both ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ since many of them are the result of whispering of devil. Now these webs become the source of options while making a decision. Like these webs, these options are both real and virtual. Hence, to be ever fruitful in your decision, make it the fundamental principle deeply anchored in the core of yourself that there will be no compromise in any way on the question of Halal and Harrams since these reflect the boundaries prescribed by Allah on the earth, as mentioned in the Hadith of Hazrat Norman Bin Muqqarran. Breaking into these boundaries cause a person to invite the devil to invade in.
