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What does “sakînah” mean?
Sakînah سكينة is an Arabic term of great semantic richness, which can be translated by: inner peace, quietness, serenity, tranquility, and rest. It thus designates a state of inner being characterized by great peace, absolute quietness, a feeling of inner security, etc.
Sakînah, universal discourse;
Sakînah is a universal ideal and object of the inner quest of men in very diverse cultures since the origins of History. In pre-Socratic Greek philosophy, sakînah takes the form of ataraxy, a word coming from the Greek ataraxia, absence of disorder. Ataraxy defines an absolute quietude of the soul, conceived in epicureanism and stoicism as the principle of happiness. Sakînah is also an ecumenical ideal, shared by the three monotheisms, the Arabic term having the same semantic relationship with the Hebrew shkhinâ and the Aramaic (language of Jesus) shkhîntâ.
Sakînah and its semantics
As in these languages, the term sakînah comes from the root skin, which has two main notions:
That of quietude, immobility, and rest. The Holy Qur’an says:
[It is He Who causes the dawn to split forth, and has ordained the night for repose, and the sun and the moon for reckoning time. All this is determined by Allah the Almighty, the All-Knowing.]
(Qur’an, 6: 96).
We find this notion in the term sukûn, silence, which also designates in the Arabic language the sign in the form of a circle surmounting certain letters to indicate the suspension of pronunciation, its closure. A universal symbol, the circle thus represents the rest of the language, silence as a beyond of language, but an afterlife that nevertheless arises after speech, that is to say, not without it. No rest of the soul without words to overcome the evils, seems to suggest the Arabic language from the outset!
- That of dwelling, of installation, of residence:
Thus, the verb Sakana, he inhabited, is linked to the word maskan which precisely designates what in French is called “la demeure“, in the double meaning of dwelling, of domicile, but also of “what remains” in this dwelling, that is to say, what remains stable, fixed, immobile: namely rest, calm. Maskan is, therefore, the house as a “haven of peace”, a “place of rest”, where one can feel sheltered from the movement and jolts of the world. Conclusion: From this etymological investigation, we can metaphorically deduce that sakînah is the state of the soul which, after the daytime agitation, finds its inner shelter to taste the “sakînah” of “sukûn al-lay “, literally the “rest” of the “silence of the night”.
The Qur’ân explains the concept of tranquility in sixty verses:
Firstly, it considers that the tranquility gained in this world is unreal because the spirit of man is eternal and this world is ephemeral therefore they do not agree, as it is recited below:
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَرْجُونَ لِقَآءَنَا وَرَضُوا۟ بِٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱطْمَأَنُّوا۟ بِهَا وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا غَـٰفِلُونَ ٧
أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ مَأْوَىٰهُمُ ٱلنَّارُ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَكْسِبُونَ
"Those who do not hope to meet Us, who are satisfied with the present life and feel secure in it, and those who are inattentive to Our signs [or verses], their refuge will be Fire, for what they acquired. "
(Surah Yunus : Ayat 7-8)
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِینَ لَا یَرْجُونَ لِقَاءَنَا وَرَضُوا بِٱلْحَیَو ٱلدُّنْیَا وَٱطْمَأَنّوا َُا ٰةَّذِینَ ِهُم عَنْ ءَایَٰتوَٱلَا غَٰفِلُونَ أُولَٰئِکَ مَأْوَىٰهبِه بِمَا ُِن یَکْسِبُونَ
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِینَ لَا یَرۡجُونَ لِقَاۤءَنَا وَرَضُوا۟ بِٱلۡحَیَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡیَا وَٱطۡمَأَنُّوا۟ بِهَا
“Those who have believed, and whose hearts are at peace with the remembrance of Allah.” Is it not through the remembrance of Allah that hearts are tranquilized? “
(Qur’ân 13:28).
But of course, He emphasized that it is necessary, first of all, that men, themselves, begin to change their inner states as He expresses it hereafter:
لَهُۥ مُعَقِّبَـٰتٌۭ مِّنۢ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِۦ يَحْفَظُونَهُۥ مِنْ أَمْرِ ٱللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا۟ مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ ۗ وَإِذَآ أَرَادَ ٱللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍۢ سُوٓءًۭا فَلَا مَرَدَّ لَهُۥ ۚ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن دُونِهِۦ مِن وَالٍ ١١
“For him are angels ranged before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's command. Lo! Allah changeth not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts; and if Allah willeth misfortune for a folk there is none that can repel it, nor have they a defender beside Him. " — M. Pickthall “
(Surah Ar R'ad: Ayat 11).
Allahﷻ, Himself, has ensured that He sends down tranquility into the hearts of the believers:
هُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ ٱلسَّكِينَةَ فِى قُلُوبِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ لِيَزْدَادُوٓا۟ إِيمَـٰنًۭا مَّعَ إِيمَـٰنِهِمْ ۗ وَلِلَّهِ جُنُودُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًۭا ٤
[He it is Who sent down peace of reassurance into the hearts of the believers that they might add faith unto their faith. Allah's are the hosts of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is ever Knower, Wise -]
— M. Pickthall
(Surah Al Fath : Ayat 4)
When a man is at rest, he will never feel fear or sorrow:
[Truly, the beloved of Allah will be safe from fear, and they will not grieve. ]
(Surah Yunus:Ayat 62)
The believer is prudent and takes care to control himself when he finds himself in any situation, whether he is rich or poor, If the feeling of tranquility is created by trust in Allahﷻ, it will be deep and stable; therefore, hearts are tranquilized only by evoking the true source of tranquility.
The believer might feel anxiety because of a threat or a situation of failure, but this kind of anxiety is quite normal. Nevertheless, we must not forget that Allahﷻ does not secure believers from their ploys;
أَفَأَمِنُوا۟ مَكْرَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ فَلَا يَأْمَنُ مَكْرَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَّا ٱلْقَوْمُ ٱلْخَـٰسِرُونَ ٩٩
[Are they then secure from Allah's scheme? None deemeth himself secure from Allah's scheme save folk that perish.] — M. Pickthall “
(Surah Al Araf: Ayat99)
Rasulullahﷺ
Allahﷻ
صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه
رضي الله عنه
