Forgetfulness & its Remedy

وَلَا تَكُوْنُوْا كَالَّذِيْنَ نَسُوا اللّٰهَ فَاَنْسٰهُمْ اَنْفُسَهُمْ اُولٰٓئِكَ هُمُ الْفٰسِقُوْنَ (19)

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Quran Ayah Data not found….for Surah:59, Ayah:19 and Translation:24

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Quran Surah:59 Ayah:19

“Do not be like those who forgotAllah, so He made them forget theirown selves. Those are the sinners.”

One of the inherent and intrinsic characteristics and traits of a human being is forgetfulness. As for the merits and demerits of this characteristic, it has been a topic of hot discussion. Once a man forgets something, he deems it to be disadvantageous while on the hand,when he experiences its positive aspects he regards it to be most advantageous which seems to be a greatest favour of Allah, bestowed upon humanbeings.

Just imagine what would happen when someone does not forget the shock got on the death of his parents or offspring? Wouldn’t he feel his life a burden? Of course, only if a man ponders over this fact, he would surely come to a conclusion that forgetfulness is certainly a favour of Allah, the Almighty. In fact, this characteristic is like two-edged sword.

Forgetfulness is caused due to different reasons. They are as follows:

• It is caused due to the confusion as a result of abundant knowledge and information with regard to something as also was the same case with the Holy Prophet ﷺ. When he would hasten to remember all that was being revealed to him, he was solaced by Allah, the Almighty in the words:

“We will make you recite, then you will not forget.”

• Occasionally, the same case happens due to some immediate factors. Taking for instance, when the Holy Prophet ﷺ came to his blessed companions with intention to inform them about the fixed date of Shab-e-Qadr, he forgot it when saw some of them quarreling with each other.

Similarly, when Hazrat Musa (A.S.) went to visit HazratKhidar (A.S.), he was instructed by him to observe patience and raise no query or question when he saw something taking place inconceivable. It was then that though he promised to comply by his request, but he forgot it all whenever he saw him doing something inconceivable. After all, he asked his pardon at the end in the following words:

لَا تُؤَاخِذْنِيْ بِمَا نَسِيْتُ

“Do not hold mepunishable for what I forgot.”

In the same way, we should also overlook others lapses as a result of forgetfulness, since as a human being no one has a control over it. It is for this reason that even Allah, the Almighty does not bring a man to task based on such a lapse, rather overlooks it as that of something taken by someone when he is on fast.

• Normally, a man is not subject to forgetfulness naturally; rather he does so with view to neglect something due to a certain reason. Though he does so deliberately but it amount to forget something intentionally, hence, at times, it is literally paraphrased as forgetfulness. Taking for instance, when a conflict takes place between a wife and husband to such extent that it tends to divorcing. As a result, they begin to disregard each others’ rights.

Obviously, this act of disregarding rights is the outcome of doing it deliberately rather than doing it forgetfully.It is for this reason that the Holy Qura’n admonished one against it in the words:

“And do not forget to begraceful to one another.”

In fact, it is not in the sense of forgetting something naturally rather deliberately and hence it is counted to be a sin, the perpetrator of which is regarded to be a sinner. The same sense is meant when it is referred to the person of Allah, the Almighty. God forbid, though Allah, the Almighty is never supposed to forget anything but when someone forgets Him intentionally, it causes to earn Allah’s displeasure and provoke His anger. As a result, Allah, the Almighty too begins to disregard him as also appears in the verse under discussion.

In reality, through this verse having described the conduct of the People of Book they have been warned to avoid such a heinous act. As for the conduct of the People of Book, they would disregard Allah’s rights despite being fully aware of them. Since, it was done intentionally; it was regarded to be a heinous sin which could never be forgiven. However, when they did not cease doing so, Allah, the Almighty deprived them of all the favours conferred on them by Him. Similarly, even the believers are recommended not to practice the same thing, or else, Allah, the Almighty will forget them too and thus deprive them of all the favours conferred upon them by Him.

It is no doubt true that, these days, even the Muslims are subject to the same condition. Though as a Muslim, we profess our faith in Allah, but disregard His rights intentionally which He can never forgive. It is for this reason that we are deprived of Allah’s mercy. Certainly, we can never be worthy of receiving His favours unless we don’t try to change our conducts.

Now, here the question arises as how can we bring about that change in our conducts and safeguard ourselves against the harm of forgetfulness? Allah, the Almighty Himself directed us toward its solution in the following words:

“And remember your Lord if you forget.”

In other words, the remembrance of Allah, the Almighty alone is a remedy to forgetfulness. In fact, we can’t attain our object by performing this act only twice or thrice, rather we require to do it as much as possible. The more we remember Him the safer we are against forgetfulness and ultimately success will be ours.Further, Allah, the Almighty says:

“And remember Allahabundantly, so that you may besuccessful.”

As He says at another place:

وَاَ قِمِ الصَّلٰوةَ لِذِكْرِيْ(طہ: ۱۴)

“Andestablish Salah  for My remembrance.”

Even the act of performing Salah  is obligatory five times a day. The repetition of these words indicates that the remembrance of Allah, the Almighty is utmost required.But, regrettably, most of us don’t abide this injunction by being neglectful of Salah .Even if some of us perfomSalah  they do it only once i.e. the Salah  of Eidain annually during the period of 360 days or probably that of funeral prayer during the entire lifetime. We can hardly find some of us who perform Salah  five times a day regularly. Then, how can we get the remedy to our decease of forgetfulness?