====== Self-Criticism======

  * “**Self-criticism** (//muhasaba//) literally means reckoning, settling accounts, and self-interrogation. In a spiritual context, however, it takes on the additional meaning of the **self-criticism** of a believer who constantly analyzes his or her deeds and thoughts in the hope that correcting them will bring him or her closer to God. Such a believer thanks God for the good he or she has done, and tries to erase his or her sins and deviations by imploring God for forgiveness and amending his or her errors and sins through repentance and remorse. **Self-criticism** is a very important and serious attempt to assert one’s personal [[loyalty|loyalty]] to God... Islam introduced humanity to noble feelings and thoughts of **self-criticism**. For individuals who have not benefited from Islam’s resurrecting atmosphere, **self-criticism** and trying to control themselves is nothing but a elementary attempt at questioning the carnal soul.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Kendi İklimimiz (Prizma-5)//, İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2007, p. 45.))

  * “O you who believe! Keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety, and let every person consider what he has forwarded for Tomorrow. Keep from disobedience to God in reverence for Him and piety. Surely God is fully aware of all that you do.” (Al-Hashr, 59:18).

  * “Undoubtedly, a believer possessing a feeling of **self-criticism**, as well as bringing to account and coming to grips with one’s self, is a very important way of thinking with respect to the teachings of the Qur’an and [[sunnah|Sunnah]].”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Kalb İbresi, (Kırık Testi-9)//, İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2011, pp. 150–151.))

  * “As with all issues, one has to investigate the self in a well-adjusted manner, with balance. At the outset, **self-criticism** should in no way be weighted toward despair.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Fasıldan Fasıla-2//, İstanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2008, p. 93.))

  * “One should always be alert for light currents of pride and arrogance, gently pressuring one’s carnal soul with persistent **self-interrogation and criticism**. The easiest way to perform this, I think, is accepting, confessing and announcing that all favors come from God. Otherwise, sicknesses like pride, arrogance and self-complacency would settle in one’s nature, and it would be impossible to remove them in the future.”((Ibid., p. 87.))

  * “Constant **self-criticism** and self-reprimand show the perfection of one’s [[belief|belief]]. Everyone who has planned his or her [[life|life]] to reach the horizon of a perfect, universal human being is [[consciousness|conscious]] of this [[life|life]] and spends every moment of it struggling with themselves. Such a person demands a password from whatever occurs to his or her heart and mind. Self-control against the temptations of Satan or the excitement of temper are practiced, and words and actions are carefully watched. **Self-criticism** is constant, even for those acts that seem most sensible and acceptable. A believer knits the ‘lace of his or her [[life|life]]’ with the ‘threads’ of **self-criticism** and self-accusation. Evening reviews of words and actions said or done during the day are the rule, as are morning resolutions to avoid sins.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Emerald Hills of the Heart: Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism// (vol. 1), New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2011, p. 10.))

  * “In fact, avoiding a stumble and fall in the face of praises and flattery depends upon maintaining a practice of **self-criticism**. That is, a person must criticize himself several times a day, keep himself under self-surveillance, and adjust his relationship with God Almighty, accordingly. Thus, even if others sing his praises and extol his virtues, he still says, ‘I know myself. This can be an intervention of Satan here,’ thereby saving himself from giving into pride and arrogance.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Journey to Noble Ideals//, New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2014, p. 156.))

===== Further Reading =====

  * M. Fethullah Gülen, [[http://fgulen.com/en/fethullah-gulens-works/key-concepts-in-the-practice-of-sufism-1/muhasaba-self-criticism-or-self-interrogation|“Muhasaba (Self-Criticism or Self-Interrogation)”]]

===== Other Languages =====

  * [[https://nl.hizmetpedia.org/doku.php?id=zelfkritiek|Nederlands]]
  * [[https://tr.hizmetpedia.org/doku.php?id=muhasebe|Türkçe]]

===== Footnotes =====