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Servants of God
He whom Allah guides is rightly guided; but he
whom Allah leaves to stray; for him wilt thou find no protector to lead him to
the Right Way.(HQ: 18: 17)
It is true thou wilt not be able to guide every
one whom thou lovest; but Allah guides those whom He will (HQ: 28: 56)
Those holy verses might give the impression
that man’s acts; his struggle and endeavors are of no significance. We may
wonder about what such holy verses really imply when we read some other ones
guiding humans to work and to exert themselves:
And say: "Work (righteousness): soon will Allah
observe your work, and His Messenger, and the Believers (HQ: 9: 105)
Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight
of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it
(HQ: 99: 7, 8)
That man can have nothing but what he strives
for;(HQ: 53: 39)
How can man receive such guidance (to work),
with the implied assertion that he has a free will, and, in the meantime, be
told in some other verses about the divine law that: he whom Allah guides is
rightly guided; but he whom Allah leaves to stray; for him wilt thou find no
protector to lead him to the Right Way?
If we gain insight into all of such verses, we
will find out that they are in full harmony with each other, and they carry no
contradiction whatsoever. Holy verses, as a whole, tell about the working Divine
Law on its two levels: the one that is “manifest” to man, and the other that is
“unseen” to him. It is what we always term as the “transcendental or
abstractional” dimension, and the “restricted or particular” one. On the
transcendent level, Allah is behind everything and every action. Nothing in life
that we term as “good” or “evil”, according to our criteria of judgment, occurs
except by Allah’s all-embracing will. That same truth applies to man. Namely, if
a certain person is righteous, then Allah is behind his righteousness and that
person has become a manifestation of “righteousness”. Allah is also is there
behind another who is a manifestation of “iniquity”. This is one of the divine
laws that teach us, on the conceptual level, that “Allah will surely
accomplish His purpose”(HQ: 65: 3) and that there is One All-inclusive
Divine Will in the universe.
However, when we consider the realm of our
“limited” existence, where that “transcendent” dimension is “unseen” to us, we
find that we do not know whether Allah wills to make of a certain person a
manifestation of righteousness, or a manifestation of wickedness. What is
apparent for us is only the law of action, strife and exertion. That is to say,
what is clear for us is that when man performs an act of goodness, he actually
makes himself accessible to Allah’s graces and mercifulness. Also, when man
performs an act of evil, he makes himself available to darkness and its
advocates. Hence, on the transcendental level, you believe that Allah is the One
who guides to righteousness. Also you accept as true that when a person goes
astray, he could not have done it except because it was Allah’s Will.
Simultaneously, on the “limited” or “tangible” level, you believe that you have
to perform a work of righteousness because that is what you can actually see as
leading to virtue and uprightness.
Your faith in the transcendent level (of the
Truth) makes you fear Allah.
Those truly fear Allah, among His Servants, who
have knowledge (HQ: 35: 28)
I am the most pious amongst you, and I am the
one who fears Allah most (PH)
Verily, it is not one’s (good) act per se
that makes him destined to Heaven. (The Companions asked,)”even you Messenger of
God? (He answered,)“even me unless God overwhelms me with His Mercy.(PH)
I swear by God! I am a Messenger of God but,
still, do not know what I am destined to (PH)
It is righteousness in its perfection, andAWE in its splendor, when man is in the depth of virtue, and
still fears
Allah. Man’s fear from Allah, in that sense, is an outcome of his discernment
of the Law of Life; he is aware that he adheres to righteousness today, but he
is never sure of what will happen to him on the following day. We can see
several events in Islamic history that clearly demonstrate that to us. For
example, several companions of the Prophet who had done great good and performed
noble deeds at a certain time, have not performed equally in some other
situations when their understanding and performance were not up to their prior
level of giving, understanding, and awareness. We see this life as having
deluded them. What has taken place throughout our history is a lesson to man;
what happened was destined to happen sooner or later because that is how life on
earth is. It contains devilish, dim, and unjust people who appear in every age,
distort the truth, represent it in a way that serves their own delusions, and
present falsity as if it were the ultimate reality, using their own
justifications and interpretations. Actually, all lessons of history target man
and its events are nothing but messages from Allah to man. If a person learns
from these lessons and finds his way to righteousness, then this will be a great
success to this Earth.
If you were a means
of Allah to guide even a single person to righteousness, this will be better for
you than all the allurements of this life (PH)[5]
This is how the events of history may be
explained to people when they wonder how certain events could have taken place.
For instance, some may ask: “How could have the grandchildren of the Prophet
been murdered?” “How can falsehood conquer truthfulness?” “How could have the
advocates of deceit gained such power that they became rulers of a state
carrying the label of religion?” “How could Allah allow such a thing?” God
forbid! Allah will surely accomplish His purpose, in all cases, and what
happened was destined to happen by His Will. However, we have to learn from it
and not confuse the issues, and come to the wrong conclusion that since what
happened was Allah’s Will, then it was what is right. Such conclusion is void
from proper understanding. How many crimes are committed daily that we
disapprove of even though we are certain that, transcendently speaking, if Allah
willed otherwise, they would not have taken place! Also if we think that they
happen in absence of Allah’s will, we will fall victim to having taken partners
with Allah (because it is as if there is a will other than God’s).
Our conviction, on the transcendental level,
that Allah will surely accomplish His purpose, does not mean that we
should approve of whatever happens in actual life. This is because in our
earthly life, we are subject to the Law that governs the “finite” realm where we
naturally accept things and reject others. We accept what we view as “good”, and
we refuse what we judge as “evil” while we are fully aware that Allah will
surely accomplish His purpose. As such, there is no contradiction between
our certainty, on the “transcendent” level, that if thy Lord had so planned,
they would not have done it (HQ: 6: 112) and our disapproval, on the
“restricted” level, of what we see as evil.
But people, alas, have not been able to discern
that simple truth and to realize its depth so that they may not mix issues. For
instance, a group of people defending what happened in Islamic history by
stating that what happened was the rightful thing and that otherwise it couldn’t
have possibly happened, adopt a weak and an unacceptable logic. If we were to
accept such logic, we would see all those on Earth who have power of any kind as
representatives of rightfulness simply because they have dominance, which is not
logical.
If man discerned this matter properly (the two
levels of divine laws related to the infinite and the finite realms), he would
resolve many of the confusions that he faces when considering the history of
humanity, as well as its present and its future. He who reads history
insightfully and the present truthfully, can not be deluded by the thought of a
different future. Earth had been, is and will always be what God has meant it to
be. Namely, the Law that governs it, and that God has taught us the day He
commanded Adam and Satan to come down to earth, uncovers that there will always
be an Adam,
and there will always be a Satan. This is how life on Earth will be as long as
it subsists as such and until the time comes when God will “inherit the
earth, and all beings thereon” (HQ: 19: 40), and “the Earth will be
changed to a different Earth (HQ: 14: 48) according to a Divine Law that is
beyond our perception today. That is what is denoted by “the Day of Judgment”
in the holy verses; the day when Earth will not be what it used to be; it would
then enter into a new phase of its existence according to a sublime Law. When
that Law will come into effect, is something that we cannot know.
They ask thee about the Hour, 'When will be its
appointed time? Wherein art thou (concerned) with the
declaration thereof? With thy Lord is the Limit fixed therefore.
(HQ: 79: 42- 44)
Nor can we absorb “how” that Law will be
effective, for it is only God Who knows His Law that He has made unseen.
He (alone) knows the Unseen, nor does He make
anyone acquainted with His Mysteries, Except a Messenger
whom He has chosen (HQ: 72: 26, 27)
His Mysteries are infinite and even when
He uncovers to us part of them, what is Unseen remains even greater for
this is the Law of life.
Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge
except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and
He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High,
the Supreme (in glory) (HQ: 2: 255)
That is what we learn in our Religion: we know
very little but we should make full use of what we know. We should not neglect
that “little”, for to do our best in the light of the little knowledge we have
is better than ignoring that knowledge because it is little.
There are some people who think that they are
advocates of “faith in the Unseen” by belittling any knowledge man has attained
leading him to despair of what he has learned believing that because what he has
attained of knowledge is very little, it is totally insignificant. How can a
drop of water or a small grain of sand be of benefit to him? A small grain of
sand in a vast and widespread desert! Such logic lacks righteousness. Certainly
a grain of sand compared to what Allah has, is nil; but, for man, the parable of
that grain is as a wide sea from which he can benefit, and through which he can
develop as long as he constantly practices what he has learnt. That’s why we can
say that advocates of physical knowledge who see in it everything, are right in
giving due attention to the significance of what man knows, and can know.
However, they are wrong in thinking that by the little knowledge they have in
hand, they can do without faith in the Unseen. So, the first party is mistaken
when they imagine that physical knowledge is of no value as long as they have
faith in the Unseen and when they assume that this is “having faith”. If we
take a middle path discerning the best of what each party has, we would know
what Islam is. Islam is the middle path that integrates the “manifest” and the
“unseen”; and the “limited” and the “limitless”. Islam guides man to strike a
balance between “taking action” when he can, and “surrendering” to the Unseen
when things are beyond his capability of action. He thus leads a balanced
existence Amr Wasat between the two realms of the “unseen” and the
“manifest”.
If we really discern these issues, our
attitudes, our understanding of our Religion, our lives, our conduct, would all
be set straight. We pray to God to make us among
“Those who listen to the Word, and follow the
best (meaning) in it:” (HQ: 39: 18);
and those who pray day and night:
"Our Lord! not for naught hast thou created
(all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the Penalty of the Fire.(HQ:
3: 191)
To sum up, the relationship
between the “Unseen” and the “Manifest” or the “transcendental” and the
“tangible” has preoccupied man since ancient times. Proper conception of these
two levels of existence leads man to the Straight Path; and to attain a balanced
existence as he is guided in Religion. If he does, then he has “the most
trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks” (HQ: 2: 256) and will not lose his
balance in favor of one of the two dimensions.
And the Firmament has He raised high, and He
has set up the Balance (of Justice), In order that ye may not transgress (due)
balance. So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the balance(HQ:
55: 7-9)
Woe to those that deal in fraud,
Those who, when they have to receive by measure, from men, exact full
measure, But when they have to give by measure or weight
to men, give less than due(HQ: 83: 1-3)
The Balance points to man’s steadiness in his
understanding of the relation between the Unseen and the Manifest. It points to
his consistency when he regards his relationship with people as a manifestation
of his relationship with God “around” and “within”. He seeks balance in dealing
with Allah’s manifestation through what He has bestowed upon him, and also
through what Allah has gifted others.
The Balance signifies man’s justice towards
himself when he does not exhaust his existence and his life in vain. On the
transcendental level, he believes in the “all-encompassing” divine will, and on
the finite level, he believes in his own “partial” will. The “surrounding will”
is Allah’s will for man, ‘Allah will accomplish His purpose,” and the
“partial will” is that of man’s in his finite realm as he decides what he
aspires for, what he perceives, and what he estimates as good and truthful.
His faith, on the transcendental level makes
him certain that he whom Allah guides is rightly guided; but he whom Allah
leaves to stray; for him wilt thou find no protector to lead him to the Right
Way.(HQ: 18: 17). And, on the finite level, his conviction would make him in
accordance with "Work (righteousness): soon will Allah observe your work, and
His Messenger, and the Believers (HQ: 9: 105).
His acts would never gain him arrogance nor
would they make him certain that he has guaranteed salvation; he is conscious
that he does not know what he is destined to the following day.
Man is resurrected in the same spiritual stature
he has attained before his physical death (PH).
Also in case that he were in the depth of darkness,
he would not be hopeless of Allah’s Mercy, “and who can forgive sins except
Allah?” (HQ: 3: 135).
Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed
against their souls! despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all
sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.(HQ: 39: 53)
Man’s straightness in his relation with both
the Unseen and the Manifest would lead him to fear Allah when he is most
righteous, and when he is performing the best kind of action as he perceives.
Likewise, it will lead him never to lose confidence in Allah’s Mercy even
when he is in the heart of heedlessness. So he will not indulge more in his
darkness because he knows that his hope in Allah is that he will relinquish his
current state, because Allah’s forgiveness of him is to lead him back to the
right path. His prayers for forgiveness must actually be associated with an
honest intention for seeking God’s support to put an end to all his acts of
oppression and transgression. If people realize those simple truths, they would
be greatly transformed into better beings and most righteous ones.
Servant of God! Read your Religion with
pure hearts and enlightened minds so that those meanings might touch your souls
and minds. Once you’ve experienced them, you will be transformed into better and
more evolved beings.
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