The word · The heart
التَّفَكُّر
Tafakkur
Deliberate reflection on creation and on your own life, treated as an act of worship.
Also written · Tafakur · Tefekkur · Tafkir · Tafakkur fi khalq · Reflection · Contemplation · Pondering · Deep thinking · Meditation in Islam · Thinking about creation
The meaning
What Tafakkur means in Islam
The Qur'an describes people of understanding as those who remember Allah standing, sitting and lying on their sides, and who reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth (Qur'an 3:190-191). Scholars direct tafakkur outward at what has been made, and inward at one's own conduct, rather than at the nature of Allah Himself, which the mind cannot hold. A short honest stretch of thinking counts for more than a long distracted one.
Evidence · Qur’an · Stated directly in the Qur’an
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- TadabburSlow reflection on the Qur'an, letting a verse work on you instead of passing over it.التَّدَبُّر
- MuhasabahTaking account of yourself: a regular, honest review of what you did and why.المُحَاسَبَة
- GhaflahHeedlessness: not the denial of the truth, but the habit of never getting round to it.الغَفْلَة
- YaqinCertainty: knowledge that has settled to the point where doubt no longer disturbs it.اليَقِين
More from The heart
- 'AfwPardon: dropping a wrong you are owed, without the other person having to earn it.العَفْو
- Ghadd al-BasarLowering the gaze: turning your eyes away from what you are not permitted to look at.غَضُّ البَصَر
- IstiqamahStaying straight: keeping to the path steadily, over years, without dramatic swings.الاسْتِقَامَة
- MuraqabahLiving with the awareness that Allah sees you, at the moment you are acting.المُرَاقَبَة
- RuqyaReciting Qur'an and prophetic supplications over a sick or afflicted person as treatment.الرُّقْيَة
- SuhbahCompanionship: the people you sit with, treated in the sources as a cause of what you become.الصُّحْبَة