Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Solitude



A big thing that motherhood and having five children around me has taught me is to value 'me time'; to relish solitude since it is something I get so rarely. It seems such a beautiful luxury when there is no sound at all in the house, when the older children are at school and the younger ones sleeping or if it is late in the evening and everyone sleeping.

Remember how the messenger of Allah ( صلى الله عليه و سلم ) used to retire to the cave of hira for a time of solitude and reflection:

A'isha, the wife of the Apostle of Allah ( صلى الله عليه و سلم ), reported: The first (form) with which was started the revelation to the Messenger of Allah was the true vision in sleep. And he did not see any vision but it came like the bright gleam of dawn. Thenceforth solitude became dear to him and he used to seclude himself in the cave of Hira' [...] (Bukhari, Book 001, Number 0301)

Ibn Taymiyyah, Allah yarhamahu, once said:

"What can my enemies do to me? My Paradise is in my heart. Wherever I go it is with me. My murder is martyrdom. My Imprisonment is solitude with
Allah. And my exile is tourism."

and:

"At times, it is necessary for the worshipper to be isolated from others in order to pray, remember Allah, recite the Qur'an and evaluate himself and his deeds. Also isolation allows one to supplicate, seek forgiveness, stay away from evil and so on."

Do you enjoy your own company? Do you take advantage of your moments of solitude?

Time to reflect...

10 comments:

seekingtaqwa said...

i'm a very solitary soul by nature and love being alone and those moments of still calm when you can spend time reflecting..introspection is an important tool for growing as a human, and I think we underestimate sometimes the importace of being alone...blocking out all the noise around us and just....thinking

Najeeba said...

I'm an introvert person and so as usual, I like solitude. I hate it when there are so much noises around ( I don't have any kids yet, and so i have got a peaceful yet boring and sad life now). I like to sit and dream, when I'm alone. when in India, I used to go to the farm or the riverbank by my house in the evenings and spent a lot of time there with my own thoughts. That was the best moments of solitude i ever had in my life.

Anonymous said...

Assalamu Aleykum Dear Beloved Sister,

I have come across your blog and I just love it. the past few times I meant to leave some comments but ended up running out of time (busy-ness). Alahmdulilah, yet again you posted something that I think of most of the time...
so where should I start? the 5-min meals which I usually call "lazy-meals" even though that is almost everything I ever do. Or what one can do in any give 5-min period. What's name got to do with it?! Yea, tell me about it...!
and my solitude is something I always cherish. I like silence, since it is peace...to be one with nature...be, yet be in unison with our inner soul that can only show itself when at peace...
a way to leave a channel open, a way to communicate with the oneself....hmmmmm. it never ends, the answer since the more patiently we dig in, the more there is to reflect upon...(infinite is Allah's wonders...."If you were to count Allah's favors, you will not be able to count." Qur'an.

Your sister in Faith,
H.

Anonymous said...

I know a little something about alone time and boy do I look forward to it every night masha Allah. My alone time is usualy late at night once everyone is sleep(including my husband) . My alone time consist of me doing the following reading quran,night prayer, washing dishes and of course bloging.

Anonymous said...

Assalaamu Alaikum,

I definitely need my own time. No matter how tired I am in the evening I usually won't go to bed before I have cooled down a little bit.
On the other hand I think also my job and my school as my own time and I'm joking sometimes that I'm going to work to rest!

wassalaam Maryam from Finland

Anonymous said...

I prefer solitude to company and almost all my time is spent alone. Since I'm something of a solitary creature, that suits me just fine.

As for whether I turn that 'me' time to good account- that is for others to judge :)

Umm Ibrahim said...

Assalaamu alaikum,

Good to hear that others cherish their alone time rather lamenting their loneliness. :]

Welcome to the blog sister 'H', nice to 'meet' you. :]

WM: no need for others to judge if your 'me time' is put to good use, it's a matter of self-satisfaction... if you're happy with how that time is spent, that's the important thing. ;)

Anonymous said...

salam alaikoum dearest sister,
thank you so much for the nice comments on my blog and for the thoughts about solitude... oh god, how much could I need it...me-time, time to think, be and to reflect... I love my mornings after fajr prayer when I am alone until the kids wake up...this is nearly the only me-time I have- which needs in fact a lot of power and patience to accept...
I wish you much power and blessings with your big family.
may Allah bless you! masalama.

Umm Ibrahim said...

Wa alaikum salaam Itto,

Jazakillahu khair... :) It seems that maybe my commenting problems on myminaret are over, alhamdu Lillah.

It is sometimes difficult finding time to be alone, completely alne which explains why I get too many verrrry late nights!

Aafke said...

It is very imortant to me to be alone and reflect, or do stuff on my own.