GHAFLAH – غفلة

 

Literally: Mental sleep. Blindness to the present and future. To be thoroughly neglectful and heedless. Carelessness. Unconcernedness. Heedlessness.

The state of forgetting and not being concerned about Allah (‘Azza wa jalla) and his commands, the purpose of creation, or the âkhirah due to obeying the desires of nafs. The state of forgetting haqq and haqiqah. Ghaflah is the opposite of hudhur.

There are degrees in each kind of ghaflah. (Qur’an 21:1) (Qur’an 50:22).

 

“ثُمَّ اِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ Al-Khâliq manifested His qoudrah, combining opposites in this 'âlam al-kawn wa'l-fasâd1 for [many] subtle instances of hikmah, and He placed apparent causes and intermediaries to display His dignity, and determined the chains of cause and effect. Then, at the resurrection of the dead when the universe is purified and [opposites] are separated out and join forces, causes will be removed and intermediaries will fall away and the veil shall be raised, and each person will see his Sâni’ and recognize his True Mâlik.” Signs of Miraculousness ( 247 )

 

Al-Qur’an Al-Hakîm reminds us that ghaflah causes us to forget our responsibilities, which will be evidently seen in the âkhirah, and itmakes our aim this worldly life. Qur’an also indicates that in the âkhirah, one of the important reasons of ghaflah, the veil of the apparent causes, will be unveiled and each person will see all haqiqahs.