Bismillah, alhamdulillah.
As humans we face a unique and amazing test with tantalizing rewards, Paradise, and the threat of terrible failure, Hell. The test is all the more difficult because of the attractiveness of this world and the seeming distance of the next. As humans our brains are divided into two broad categories when it comes to decision making. We have a thinking side the ‘outer brain’ and an emotional side or the ‘inner brain’. The inner brain technically known as the limbic brain and other associated areas is key in storing our emotional and pleasure side. The outer brain is the one we use to weigh things up i.e. make rational decisions.
Many experiments have shown that consumer behavior is mainly driven by emotional decisions. Once the decision has been made we use our rational capacities to disguise our real reason for making a decision. An example of this as follows: In one experiment a group of subjects are asked to do a task in return for one of two rewards. The first is an immediate reward of cash as soon as they have completed their task and the second is to have double the cash reward but it will be delayed by a week. Unsurprisingly or surprisingly – depending on how you think – the vast majority of people opt for the immediate cash reward. Such experiments have been repeated and form a growing body of evidence in the field neuropsychiatry. The studies reveal the underlying process that lie behind the many decisions that we make.
So what does this have to do with Islam and what could it possibly have to do with swimming? Well we know, having been informed repeatedly in the Quran and the Sunnah of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), that this world is a mere passage to the next. A few fleeting moments compared to eternity. We know that our purpose in life is to worship Allah and fulfill this duty in the most comprehensive sense possible. We have been invited by God to build our hereafter in this world. Yet many a time the attractions of this world prove alluring and divert us from our journey to our final destination. The underlying reason this happens is our emotion decision making process. If we are not vigilant our brains default position is prefer immediate reward over later and greater reward. Being aware of this helps us resist this errant decision making process.
But that leaves swimming. As the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has informed us our provision is destined while we are still in the wombs of our mothers. The reason we are told this is so that we can apportion an appropriate amount of time to preparing our hereafter without being worried by the fact that we may be losing out on our portion of the world. But many a time we forget this hadith because the fear of losing our portion of this world is a powerful emotional motivation that dictates our behavior. So in those moments, for some many and other less so, we focus our greater attention back to wading our way through the world.
So to cap it all off – swimming to me as an interesting analogy of our passage through life. Looking down into the water is the example of a man whose primary focus is the world whereas looking up at the sky is like a man whose main focus is the hereafter. As is well known to anyone swims, doing a breast stroke allows a person to swim quickly but every now and then he needs to grab his little portion of the hereafter and he pulls his face out of the water and takes a short breath but then returns to facing the world so he can proceed quickly to his worldly destination. Speeding to his next acquisition from this world is what dictates his choice of stroke through the water. On the other hand doing a back stroke is like a person who has prioritized his hereafter as his gaze is directed towards the sky. He has traded his ability to speed to the next worldly destination and acquiring his next worldly provision for his ability to concentrate more on the hereafter. The only reason he does not panic that everyone is beating him in the worldly race is his trust and deep belief that God has fixed his provision in this world and whether he races to it or goes at a more measured pace he will get what is destined for him.
In both strokes we go forward, in both we have to make an effort to pass through life. But the wise one realizes that the fear of losing out on our provision of this world is not true. We have to resist our emotional brain. We don’t have to swim face down, swimming face up is as good from the worldly point of view and much better for our Hereafters. May Allah make us realize this fundamental truth and steady our hearts on His religion.
eMuslim 