#ghaflah

Ghaflah (Arabic: غفلة) is the Arabic word for negligence, heedlessness. In Islamic context, it is the sin of forgetting Allah and one's divine origins, or being indifferent of these.

 It is to be in a state of forgetting the Day that you will be questioned by Allaah (subhaanahu wa ta'aala). The Day He will ask you for the big and the small, the good and the wrong, the halaal and the haraam, the correct and the mistake – everything will be asked of you by Allaah (subhaanahu wa ta'aala).

The Ulamaa from the Salaf and the Khalaf have said: To be tested by being given from Allaah's goodness is a harder test for you than for Allaah to remove some of your goodness. Because when you have wealth, when you have goodness all around you, you are blinded, you are blinded, you do not actually see that you are committing sins because you think that Allaah is actually pleased with you for giving you money, for giving you wealth, for giving you a job, in essence this is a greater trial than for Allaah to take it from you.

In the history of this world, we find that humankind has questioned the purpose of its existence. And with the advent of al-Qur'an, Allah(SWT) Who created us brought the answer in words that are short in length, beautiful in sound, and like an abyss in its meaning. He, the Most High has said:

 "And I have not created mankind and jinn except for worship"

However, the whispering of Shaytan is like a virulent disease - and we find that most of humanity has become infected with the virus of ghaflah (forgeting about Allah). This disease is like the AIDS virus in that it weakens the human being, and allows other evils to penetrate the heart.

Ghaflah is to be in a state of unawareness of Allah(SWT), and in nearly every place ghaflah is spoken of in al-Qur'an, it is mentioned as a quality of the people who are in despair on the Day of Judgement. In other words, when the people come to stand before Allah(AWJ) and account for what they did in this world, it is then that they see the error of their ways, but at that moment it is much too late.

[The time of] their account has approached for the people, while they are in heedlessness turning away.

No mention comes to them anew from their Lord except that they listen to it while they are at play

With their hearts distracted. And those who do wrong conceal their private conversation, [saying], "Is this [Prophet] except a human being like you? So would you approach magic while you are aware [of it]?"

- 21:1-3

From amongst the symptoms, in fact I would say the ultimate sign of Ghaflah, is taking lightly the orders of Allah, or His Messenger, or both. There are three different levels of this, one of them (and it is the lightest form) is nearly excluded from Ghuflah but not absolutely, and is focused on our demeanor and character of our prophet alaihi salatu salam, the other two are linked to Ghuflah and the most extreme of them is the basis from which ghaflah resides in.

Ibnul-Qayyim is demarcating the salient feature of those who are heedful in contrast to their counterparts that

the successful are successful because they are “aware of the reality of this worldly life” thereby being cognizant of the inferiority of this life in contrast with what comes after. And more importantly,

the key and pinnacle aspect  that wards off heedlessness is “believing in the unseen”

The only cure for ghaflah, is the knowledge and implementation of its opposite which is the dhikr of Allah(SWT).

The Prophet(SWS) said in a hadith related by Abu Musa(RA)

"the comparison of one who remembers his Lord to the one who do not remember his Lord, is like comparing LIFE to DEATH."