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The title of this post has two meanings, one is the centripetal force in this book called "Remembering God"(i.e. This book helps our journey towards the center: Allah) and the centripetal force in the remembrance of God (i.e. dhikar ).
First I would explain the concept of this centripetal force, as explained by Gai Eaton in this book and I so totally loved his way of explaining a simple concept.
He defines the center as God or Allah i.e. our origin and destination. The forces that take take us towards the center(centripetal) are remembrance of Allah and other religious traditions and rituals. On the other hand the forces that take us away from the center(centrifugal) (distract us in other words) are the love of this world, worldly desires and so on.
So the signal I took from this was that we should be having maximum of centripetal force in our lives to lower the impact of other distracting forces. The heart has been explained as a mirror in many saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W.) and time and again we are required to "polish" the mirror. Gai Eaton in this regard says that in today's world just polishing wont do, we need to scrub this mirror: Here is an excerpt:
"Among the complexities of modern life and the forgetfulness which they encourage, it may take more than polishing to offset the dimming of heart's vision. It needs to be well scrubbed if its inherent purity is to be restored and maintained."
Here I would like to add a personal though that every other thing and the love of things adds a layer of insensitivity on our heart, this insensitivity takes us away from Allah and his remembrance. Getting back to his book this is what he has to say regarding wealth and comforts of life:
"There is nothing inherently wrong with the comforts provided by the modern world, better hygiene better drainage, more convenient means of transport but these count for nothing if their sweet embrace encourages us to forget our origin and our end "
"Wealth if gained through legitimate means, is to be relished like any other gift from above but never squandered, the responsibilities which come with it are a heavy burden. Since the rich man is exposed to temptations which do not gather around the poor, he knows that his good fortune is also a test both profound and severe."
Other concepts worth sharing are:
"There is a 'hot' faith and a 'cold' one; the first is passionate, emotional rather than intellectual, while the second dwells in the mind rather than the breast and is a function of intellect. Ideally, these two go together, each supporting the other"
"Why are muslims commanded to pray five times a day, throughout their lives? To many who stand outside the community of Islam, this seems excessive. It is barely adequate. Prayer is the most effective weapon against the centrifugal force, against the tendency with each hour that passes, to slide downwards, away from the light; it is alo the 'polish' which removes rust from the heart. It halts the slide but only temporarily, which is why it has to be constantly repeated. "
