Collective Amnesia: On Forgotten Concepts

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Article 1- Muhasaba: The Tradition of Self Accountability

Introduction

The modern age has left an ethical disequilibrium in its wake. The era we now find ourselves in, of the ‘moralisation’ of Genocide (in the case of Gaza)  of an ethos of cynical nihilism (as embedded within the Global Economy) further coupled with a nefarious drive to attain hedonistic satiation (explicated through the Adult Industry and the recent scandalous Epstein Files); is all indicative of a Post Modern tendency towards civilizational entropy. 

The purpose of this series of articles is to reorient our communities towards traditional morality, through the medium of classical practices, embedding values which the current age shuns: primarily, the virtues of self-discipline, order, tradition, sacrifice and honour.

This series will begin with the concept of Muhasaba, a centric maxim of the Islamic tradition, that alludes to self-accountability. 

This concept is now lost in the modern age, though it was once accorded due credence in the practices of Spiritual Enhancement, often through the medium of State Institutionalised Sufi Lodges and Turuq. 

Primary Evidences 

God States in the Quran:

‘Read your record. Today, your own soul is enough to calculate your account’ (17:14).

This quotation refers to an eschatological scene which will occur on the Day of Judgement, where the angels will address the Sui Juris, with a command to read one’s own Book of Deeds. This is an interesting conceptualisation, for two reasons. Firstly, because it is commonly assumed that one will be read out one’s deeds on the Day of Judgement, with a type of legal judge-jury confrontation scene. Secondly, the fact that there is no need for any externality in judgment is indicative of the deeply embedded desperation in that dimensional plain: one will not think about lying or excusing one’s actions- it will be a miserable submission to the dire reality. That is, for the one who failed to take account of oneself in this world. 

This sentiment is further iterated by the Great Companion of the Prophet of God ﷺ, Sayiduna Umar Ibn Al Khattab, who stated:

‘Hold yourself to account, before you are held to account (in reference to the above scene)’.

This concept of self-accountability is blatantly antithetical to the Western drive to gratify instant desires and failure of ownership to one’s volition, resulting in a systematic desensitisation towards sin and moral corruption.

A classical, oft-recounted narration mentions the Muhasaba of an old sage. He was renowned for returning home every night and writing down every single word that he said and every act that he committed. Whilst this can be seen as a rather extreme form of self-accountability, it demonstrates the significance that the great people of the Tradition placed on this central principle of self-realisation. 

Whilst thus far, this serves as a sophisticated abstract concept to close the lacuna between the volition of an agent of will and the ‘beingness’ of that individual (i.e the personhood), it is pertinent to provide an effective mechanism to translate this concept from mere theory to practice. 

The Method of Muhasaba:

Journalling seems to be the most practical method of enacting Muhasaba in our day and age. Whilst this method has been hijacked by hippies and self-help gurus, it was seen as an effective concept far before such movements ever gained notoriety. 

From my research and experience, the following format for journaling seems to serve optimally. 

One should procure a leather-bound notebook and actually put pen to paper, rather than writing electronic notes- the former is more likely to have a greater psychological impact, if anything, due to the scarcity of writing found in an overwhelmingly technocratic, cyborg society. 

Thereafter, one should structure the journaling in the following way:

Prior to sleeping every night, one should compile a Checklist Activity to complete for the next day. From the vast benefits of this task, two particularly spring to mind. Firstly, it serves as a mechanism to ensure one completes all the tasks that they were aiming to complete. This provides the benefit of internal transparency, bridging the gap between volition and personhood. Secondly, it provides the benefit of ensuring one sticks to one’s words. In this strange era, we speak excessively, yet say so very little, making promises only to forget them in an instant. This is quite a unique phenomenon to the contemporary age, where even the pagan Arabs in 7th Century Arabia, in what is often referred to as ‘the Era of Ignorance’, would honour their word over all else.

This Checklist Activity should also comprise of one’s Wird (daily litany), as shall be elaborated on in another article in this series. 

The second part of the Journalling should be in recollecting the activities of the day that has just passed. First, one must review the checklist and measure the rates of productivity against the goals that they set for themselves, only a night ago. Secondly, one should recount interesting things which occurred on that day; from conversations had with different people, facts and ideas discussed in podcasts and lectures, to empirical observations that one made. This is a very important task in the Muhasaba; in a corporate age, the average wage worker allows days to conglomerate as a single bloc, devoid of complexity and… life. 

This sentiment was profoundly encapsulated by Oscar Wilde, who famously stated: ‘To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.’

The third task for the second part of Muhasaba is for one to recollect the sins that one committed during that day. There is a great centrality that this action plays when building one’s relationship with God and enhancing a theocentric paradigm in daily navigation. 

For one to forget one’s sins exacerbates the delusion of desensitisation, which in turn results in repetition upon disobedience, with a severe hardness of the Internal Heart (i.e the ‘Qalb’).  

In contrast, one should not write down one’s good deeds, despite how tempting that might be. This is to avoid self-admiration and also because one of the signs of one’s good deeds being accepted is one’s forgetfulness of them. 

Summary

In essence, these steps act as an ideal method of holding oneself to account from the microparadigm of human agency, in order to alleviate one’s Major Account on the Final Day.

Whilst this may not have much of an impact overnight, through a prolonged period of time, it has the potential to transform the relationship that one has with their Creator, the Creation, and even oneself. 

A bullet point summary of the Journal Structure may be useful to mention below:

1- Daily Checklist Activity (including the Wird)

2- Personal Experiences which occured in that day

3- Facts or concepts discussed or learnt

4- Sins and mistakes committed on that day