The Philosophy of E'itekaf
Islamic philosopher of repute Dr. Hossein Nasr says that "contemporary man has lost his essence". The modern day man has lost his axle of life. Modern western philosophies have denied the existence of soul. As a result, he has become a material being. He is on a perpetual treadmill of Pursuit of Happiness, but in vain. How much ever one climbs the ladder, still life is empty from inside. The west has adopted a system of materialism in which man finds no space for the concept of religion, faith or spirituality.
On the contrary, the Eastern philosophies have recognized the existence of soul and the feel that it cannot grow until the material needs are shun. Eastern religions such as Buddhism have given an ideology where man secludes himself from the rest to the world, abandons his family, adapts to solitude and assumes that this road is the path to enlightenment.
Both these extremes are against human nature and man cannot fight his own nature. Man is basically a spiritual being with material needs as well. One cannot afford to neglect any aspect of life. Learning, earning, marriage, having family, up bringing children, doing business, serving human beings, doing politics, etc; Islam encompasses all the spectrum of life. Recognition of God and His divine laws are at the center. How do we connect with Him is the question. First steps taken by God to communicate with human beings and inform them what is right, what is wrong and what he wishes of them. In simple terms, this is the word of God - Quran. That's how he has communicated to us and we keep communicating to him through Dua.
The month of Ramadan throws open abundant opportunity to enrich our souls, like fasting, reading Quran, reading Taraweeh, giving charity, calling upon God to praise Him, doing dua to make our life better. To maximize the effect, one of the methods used is to separate yourself the last 10 days of this holy month and voluntarily confine yourself to the compound of a mosque. Detached from family, business and other worldly activities and just focus on spiritual development. This is called as an E'itekaf.
In the last 10 days of Ramadan where a man or woman seclude themselves from the worldly affairs and draw themselves to the boundary of a Mosque has its own long lasting effect. E'itekaf boosts an individual and motivates him to strengthen the connectivity with God by performing extra nafil prayers such as salat-ul-awabeen and istiqara, which are not prayed during the general busy days. Reading the Quran and making duas keeps him in perpetual remembrance of God. It creates space for an individual to memorize and understand the Quran, indulge in the remembrance of Allah and seek forgiveness for his sins.
The Prophet (pbuh) used to perform 10 days of E'itekaf and instructed everyone to look out for the night of lailat ul qadr, the night of power in these days. Observing E'itekaf has been the Sunnah of almost all the Prophets - from Moses (pbuh) going into the mount Sinai to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) meditating and pondering in the cave of Hira even before Gabriel approached him with Revelations .
The settling down of an individual in the house of God for 10 days emboldens ones faith, cleanses his soul and gives him a chance to introspect about his own life. E'itekaf is undoubtedly the best time for self introspection and to plan a new life ahead.
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