Mindfulness.. what is your mind full of? Because one of the most interesting things about the modern concept of mindfulness is actually what we would call dhikrun-nafs - like you're doing remembrance of yourself.

What does this all come from? It came from Buddhism [ and Afghans were great Buddhists who became Muslims... I wrote this article called Buddha in the Quran... Al-Khidr according to our tradition is a prince who escapes the palace and goes on this journey in search of knowledge and then acquires ilm ladunni - not revelation, it's a type of enlightenment ]

What is the word that translates to mindfulness? It's a Pali word, it is called sati - meaning remembrance of the sacred scriptures, it actually means remembrance, so mindfulness is dhikr.

The question is: what are we doing dhikr of? We live in an age of immense distraction, arguably the most distracting age in human history.

Distraction - two meanings: the state of being distracted and, second meaning, the state of mental distress or derangement. If you look for it, there's plenty of people that will help you find it. There are all these merchants out there who are trying to advert (turn your attention toward). Now, social media was designed to keep you on it. They don't call it surfing the web for nothing. First of all, what do you do with a web? You capture flies, you liquidate their inwards and then you suck the life out of them, and then there's just a shell lying there on the web. What's a net (internet)? A net is for catching things. One of the most interesting things about surfing is you're just trying to stay on, the wave has you. You're not controlling the wave, the wave is controlling you, you're just trying to stay afloat. Surfing the web: you're just moving and it's taking you.

Hence distraction creates mental distress.

The third meaning of distraction is: that which divides attention.

The word in Arabic for distraction is اِلْهاء - means to bring someone into لَهو (entertainment, pleasurable occupation of the mind). So who is occupying your mind? What you give your attention to will determine your reality. For example, if you always watch news about crime, you will think crime is far more prevalent than it is and you will be scared. On the other hand, what God is asking us is to give our attention to God.

Meanings of attention in English: courtesy (as in attentive), devotion. In Arabic, one of the words for it is اهتمام , it's your ّهَم - what preoccupies your mind, what your mind is full of.

The Prophet said: The one who gives his attention to one thing, Allah will take away all his other concerns. What is that thing? هم الأخرة .

ِAli said (also attributed to the Prophet): الناس نيام فإذا ماتوا انتبهوا - he didn't say when they die they wake up, but they come to attention. نبيه is someone smart, intelligent, because he is focused, he is giving his attention to what is important. انتباه is what happens when people die. The Prophet saws said: die before you die, in other words come to attention before you're brought to attention. In other words: wake up now. And this is what mindfulness is really about: it's dhikr.

Sursa: Mindfulness in Prophetic Practice