Religion is not sitting still

“Tawba, repentance from sins by returning to the One who conceals faults and the One who knows all hidden things, is the beginning of the path of the wayfarers.”
— Imam al Ghazalli

Religion is not just, sitting still. In fact you can’t sit still, it’s like riding a bicycle. If you try to stay still on a bicycle, you fall over. You have to make constant effort, otherwise some disaster ensues. Religion is all about being in a state of motion. This is what we call sulūk: wayfaring.

Travelling from what we barely remember, through a world that we barely understand, to a future whose outlines have been described to us through revelation but within our hearts we know we cannot even begin to imagine.

That’s the human condition – we remember very little, we know very little, we hope for so much. That’s Bani Ādam, we are created weak. We are forgetful creatures.

— Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad