Resilience

 As a software architect, non functional requirements often weigh in decision making when it comes to design, choice of language , frameworks etc. One of the things that customers look in most distributed software solutions today is rnd fault tolerance. It is amazing how these two qualities have implications in human life too. 

Human lifecycle can be analogous to the software lifecycle in many ways. However, one of the qualities that successful human beings tend to have is resilience. In the human resilience can take different connotations based on the context of usage. However, it is definitely a quality that helps us to go on even in the toughest times of our lives. 

How do you build resilience ? In software, we ensure what is needed to achieve a functionality is always made available by some sort of redundancy. However, is redundancy found in human beings ? Can one individual really fill in for another ? A close approximation would be community support but then is it still fully redundant. That is where my theme of Taddabur comes into play.

The Quran talks about Salah and Dua as a way to achieve resilience. Resilience against loneliness, resilience against the feeling of fear or the resilience you need when faced with loss. The Almighty says in Chapter 14 Verse 28  - "Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured"

Dua and Dhikr when made a daily part of one's routine allows one to build resilience through Sabr and Tawakkul. These are qualities the Prophets all exhibited. Look at the Duas of Zakkariya (AS) or the resilience of Maryam (AS). The Sabr of Ayub (AS) when tested with extreme difficulty comes out in his beautiful dua. The beloved Prophet Muhammed (SAW) has shown in multiple instances how Dua is so powerful in acknowledging our reliance on the Almighty. That reliance is our redundancy and hence our source of resilience.  

Prophet Yusuf (AS) and the digital prison

When I started to think about what I wanted to put in these posts of mine, I decided to introspect a little bit into certain Ayahs or Surahs of the Quran. In fact, I then decided to see if I could explain some of the events of my life or to be more accurate figure out how to handle day to day events and their impact. There are a few Surahs of the Quran that I absolutely adore. One amongst them is Surah Yusuf. The beauty of narration is amazing and the life lessons from this are one of patience and the use of God given intellect in a manner pleasing to the Almighty. 

The concept of patience is extremely important to the believer as outlined in many places in the Quran. In fact Sabr (صَبْرٌ) has many interpretations and explanations. It is one of those quintessential qualities that most of the prophets and messengers have. A notable exception is Yunus (A.S) who gets reprimanded by the Almighty and is swallowed by a huge whale. Of course he regrets and goes back to preaching his people. In fact this quality appears in many anecdotes including the one of Yaqub (A.S), the father of Yusuf (A.S.). The adjective used for patience in the context of this story is Jameel which translates to beautiful. 

A very related quality is Hikmah (حكمة). This is also a quality that the Almighty endows his messengers or prophets with. Once again, Yusuf (A.S) is provided this through his interpretation of dreams. In fact the way he handles, the return of his brothers to his life and the continued accusation on him and his brother shows a version of Hikmah through that beautiful Sabr that he has and his amazing Tawakkul in the Almighty.

The digital world today essentially works as a prison of the mind. As we consume more and more digital content, we tend to rely on it for validation. It essentially trumps instant gratification over the beautiful qualities of Sabr and Shukr which comes as a result of prolonged Sabr. Social media can distort the truth, can help win elections through spreading of false propaganda. The computational power of AI can result in a skewing of the reality of this life. So how do you escape from this prison ? After all it is not easy to live under a digital rock if you will. I guess that is where the art of introspection into the ultimate truth helps us to moderate our responses to impulses.