Theological Philosophy

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Three Topics in Theological Philosophy

by Dr. Ahmad Ahmadi

1. Proof of the Contingent and The Necessary
2. Human Nature: A Proof
3. The Attributes of God


# Chapter 1

Proof of the Contingent and The Necessary

Before taking up this proof it may be necessary to consider the problem of causality as a prerequisite; for understanding the argu­ment of contingency and necessity is difficult without understand­ing causality.

Principle of Causality

One of the most important problems which in all philosophical schools has given rise to a great amount of debating is the question of cause and effect, or the principle of causality. It is this principle that is said to be the basis of all man's intellectual and practical efforts, for we can see that the work of scientists and their endeavours are aimed at either finding causes and effects, or determining how they correlate. A chemist, for example, who undertakes a chemical experiment, hopes to discover the real properties of the substance he is working on, or to find the effects that can be related to an element under experiment. Like­wise, a historian looking into the events responsible for the outbreak of the two World Wars is after the relationship of these historical pheno­mena with the causes and reasons which might have led to them.

In the course of his search, the scientist wishes not only to see that two things have some kind of relationship, but he also wants to discover which one is the cause or originator and which is the effect or product. This is also true of human actions; for whatever man does is either voluntary, that is, according to his will and desire, or involuntary, that is, natural and forced. If it is voluntary, then we may say that the act is the effect of a thinker's thought, since it is he who, through thought, deliberation, and after weighing various alternatives, has made his choice, whereas involuntary actions are those which come about as a result of some bodily or natural causes. It is impossible to conceive of a thing as coming into existence without a cause and by itself. Therefore, we may say that for a thing to exist there has to be something which is a cause of its existence. Thus, to define `cause', we may say that a cause is something from which some new thing called `effect' is born. We may add that as long as the cause (that is whatever is required for origi­nation of the effect) is not fully realized, the effect will not come to exist. On the other hand, if an effect comes into being, we can immediately assert that a cause has pre-existed it. From what we have said we can conclude that causality is a relation between two beings to the effect that the existence of one is a prerequisite for the existence of the other. In this interdependence, the effect is sequential and depen­dent on the cause. The principle of causality can be concluded from the following analysis:

There can be only two basic explanations regarding existence of a phenomenon:

a) It comes into being accidentally or by chance; [1]

b) It is the effect of a cause on which it depends.

If the first assumption is accepted, then we have to accept also, firstly, that there is no provable connection between things, or the effects produced by them. For example, there is no way of proving that the fruit is born of the tree, or a man's actions are attributable to him, and, as a result, one can deny one's acts to be one's own and readily regard them as being without causes or as being accidental.

Secondly, we must accept that there can be no valid scientific law; for every law of science is based upon the principle of causality and on the notion that every phenomenon is the product of a cause and depen­dent upon it.

Thirdly, it should also be accepted that no event can be predict­able, that is to say we must allow that many things are probable to occur at every moment, for nothing is a precondition for any other thing.

It is obvious that the above three conclusions are invalid, and the assumption that chance and accident is responsible for emergence of phenomena cannot adequately explain the problem. Thus, we have no alternative except to accept the second assumption, which entails the acceptance of the causal relationship between things. The principle of causality was looked upon by almost all philosophers except the empiricists as a reasonable way of explaining all phenomena, whether social or natural. It was the English empiricist David Hume who rejec­ted the principle of causality, claiming that causal relationship is not what its exponents assert as an objective reality, but a subjective notion based on conjunction conceived by the mind between impres­sions. But it has been proven that such an interpretation of causality leads to pure solipsism and complete denial of the external world. Incredibility of such a view is self-evident. [2] On the other hand, some Islamic philosophers hold that ideas such as causality and the like are intuitively obtained by the self through its direct knowledge of itself (`ilm huduri). So, it is claimed that not only the ideas of causality and substance, but all the basics of human knowledge are rooted in ‘ilm huduri . [3]

On the basis of what has been said, it is evident that causality is an objective, real and external relation, not a subjective formulation as empiricists claim it to be. Therefore, whenever a complete cause-a cause which possesses all conditions necessary and sufficient for exis­tence of the effect-is realized in the external world, it is necessari­ly followed by the effect. Likewise, whenever we observe the effect as existing, we can conclude that its cause has already been existing. [4]

Types of Causes

Causes are of different types; amongst them are: complete and incomplete, simple and compound, real and preparing, contiguous and distant, internal (matter and form) and external.

A complete cause is one which has in itself all necessary and suffi­cient conditions for the realization of the effect. On the other hand, the incomplete cause is one which lacks some of the necessary factors for realization of the effect; it is not sufficient for creating an effect. In short, the absence of cause (whether complete or incomplete) implies the absence of the effect.

A compound cause, is one which has parts. These parts may be either material or rational (formal); for instance, the idea of species is a compound of the ideas of genus and differentia. A real cause is like causality of the self in relation to its own states such as knowledge. An example of the preparing cause is situation of a moving body at preceding positions in space for arriving at a successive position.

A contiguous cause directly acts to produce an effect, as, for example, the movement of a hammer is the direct cause of driving in of a nail. But the distant cause is an indirect cause, such as the movement of one's hand by exercise of one's will; the will acts on nerves, the nerves on muscles and muscles move to cause the movement of the hand.


Material, formal, efficient and final causes can be explained by the example of a chair: wood is its material cause; the shape its formal cause; the carpenter its efficient cause, and the purpose for which it is made, namely, to sit on it, is its final cause. The first two of these are called `internal' causes, and the latter two are termed `existential' causes (al-`illah al-wujudiyyah).


Relation between Cause and Effect


Now that we understand the meaning of causality, we can enter into a more elaborate examination of the relation between cause and effect. Following are some important points.

1. Relation of Necessity

As was pointed out, once the complete cause is realized, the effect will also be realized; and whenever we come across an effect, we reach the necessary conclusion that there must have been a cause previously realized. Therefore, the relation of necessity between cause and effect is a real one; that is, it is a kind of relation which cannot possibly be changed into some other kind of relation. In other words, the relation between cause and effect is like the relation between natural integers. Just as it is necessary for number 4, for example, to occur between the numbers 3 and 5, or otherwise the series is rationally distorted, so also the necessary relation between every cause and effect is that of succes­sion in which the position of any element in the series cannot be changed. According to what has been said, any doubt about the exis­tence of necessary relation between cause and effect is, in fact, a doubt about the validity of the principle of causality itself.

2. Relation of Homogeneity

A state of homogeneity exists between cause and effect; that is to say, every effect has some kind of agreement and consistency with the cause which has produced it, which it does not have with all other things. Or else, anything could be a cause for anything else, or anything be an effect of anything else, whereas it is not so. Certain effects result from certain causes only, and this relation, which is a necessary one, can in no way be upset or altered. And this is what we call the relation of homogeneity between cause and effect. As a matter of fact, negation of homogeneity is, in fact, negation of the whole system of necessity of causality and admission of disorder and chaos in the scheme of the universe.

3. Impossibility of Endurance of Effect without Presence of Complete Cause

Commonly we are inclined to think that it is possible for the effect to survive the cause. In this regard example is given of enduring of a building after its builder or enduring of artifacts after a craftsman has made them. But if the meaning of cause and effect and their rela­tions is really understood and the true concept of causality is known, then it will be seen that the effect is like the shadow or reflection of the cause, so that it can never be separated from it, as it is not possible to separate the shadow from its object. Such examples, which are erro­neously forwarded, concern types of incomplete cause, not the complete cause. In the case of a building's survival after its builder, the existence of the builder alone is not the complete cause for the building's endu­rance; rather, it is the quality and composition of the construction materials (along with other factors) which constitute the complete cause for the building to endure.

Having dealt with the nature of causality, now we shall return to our main subject: the argument of contingency and necessity, a theo­logical argument to prove the existence of God by demonstrating dependence of all contingent things on the Necessary Being.



Contingency

If we consider the nature of a thing, we cannot say of it that it should necessarily have existed or not existed. To our rational mind its relation to existence or non-existence is neutral. If the object exists in the external world, then there must have been a cause which has brought it into existence. For, on the basis of the principle of causality nothing can come into existence without a cause, and that for every phenomenon or event there has to be a cause. A being which has the characteristic that its existence depends on that of another, is called a contingent being (mumkin al-wujud).

A Necessary Being (wajib al-wujud), on the other hand, is such that no reason can be found for attributing its existence to that of another being. Therefore, necessity, when applied to existence, means independence of existence; it is characteristic of a Self-existing Being, which is self-sufficient and independent of other things for Its exis­tence.

Having briefly explained these two terms, let us now see how we can employ the contingent and necessary argument to prove the exis­tence of God. There is no doubt that some things in the universe come into being which did not exist before.

We can see many examples of this in nature, such as blossoming of trees in spring after falling of their leaves and flowers during autumn, passing of nights and coming of days, ending of spring and beginning of fall, youth is followed by old age and old age by death, and so on. Right at this moment, I perceive sounds, flavours, sensations of touch which did not exist few moments ago (acquired knowledge or `ilm husuli).

At this very moment I have a feel­ing of love and affection for the people around me, and I am moreover conscious of such feelings; while only a few moments ago I did not have such sentiments, nor was I aware of them. Now, I have awareness of my own self and I am aware of this awareness (`ilm huduri).

All these things which did not exist before and are now existent are called phenomena. It is self-evident that no phenomenon can be without a cause. This means that the existence of every phenomenon is entirely dependent on that of another, and, therefore, it is contingent. Now the question arises whether or not the cause of a phenomenon or any contingent being can also be a contingent being dependent on other beings, or if it has to be self-existent, independent, or, what is called, a Necessary, Self-existing Being.

In answer it may be said that both cases are possible; that is, the cause may be either contingent or necessary. Now, if this cause (the producer of the contingent effect), is itself a necessary being, then our claim of necessary cause is proven. But if it is contingent, then we are faced with two alternatives:

1. either it is the effect of another contingent cause, which in turn is itself the effect of another cause, and so forth till infinity (a linear or infinite series);

2. or the chain of cause and effect is not linear but circular; that is the cause at the beginning end of the chain of causation is itself the last effect at the end of the chain.

Therefore, in the case we accept the second alternative, that is, if we consider all causes in the chain of causation as being contingent, there are only two plausible hypotheses: (i) an infinite series (ii) or a vicious circle. Accordingly, the existence of the Necessary Being cannot be proved unless we follow Ibn Sina in showing that an infinite series or a vicious circle of causation is absurd and that the chain of causation should necessarily end in the Necessary Being. In other words, we have to show the impossibility of a linear or circular chain of causation which does not end in the Necessary Being.


Falsity of Circular and Infinite Series in Causation

The invalidity of circular series can be proven in this manner. There can be two or more elements in the circle of causation. If there are only two elements A and B, we may represent the causal relation­ship by writing . If there are more than two elements, for instance A, B, C and D, we may represent the causal relationship in this way: . In this case, A is the cause of B, B is the cause of C, C is the cause of D, and D is again the cause of A. Both the cases are, however, invalid, since it entails that A should be existent and non­existent at the same time: it should exist to create B and not exist to be created by B. This is self-contradictory and stands refuted. Also, the circle with more than two elements implies a succession of several effects without a cause, which is also seen to be invalid.

As to the infinite series, there are many reasons for considering it invalid. We shall discuss two of them here.

a) If we consider a chain of causes and effects whose last link is an effect which has not yet become a cause of another thing-for example, a slight movement of the hand, which we consider as an effect of preceding causes, but it is not yet a cause for another effect - we shall see that every preceding link of this chain, which precedes this last effect, must at the same time be a cause for its next link and an effect for its previous link, and so on. Thus, every link of this chain is at the same time a cause and an effect, and we know that if a link in the chain is the cause of its succeeding link that does not excuse it from the need of a cause preceding it. Therefore, every link in the series is an effect dependent on a cause.

Now supposing that this chain is infinite and there is no First Cause, it implies an infinite number of middles with no sides [5], which is of course impossible.

For example, in the chain we take A to be the last effect (the slight motion of the hand which has not yet become a cause for another thing). [6]

The link B (the muscles, in our example) is the cause for A and is also the effect of C or the effect of nerves). Link C is the effect of D (the effect of will, in our example). Thus every one of the links of the chain is both a cause and an effect at the same time. As has been argued, though every link is the cause for the following link, it does not mean that it can itself dispense with a cause preceding it. Therefore, every link is necessarily an effect, too. So we may overlook the causation of all links and illus­trate them thus: ; this means that we have an endless chain of effects without coming across anything which is a cause without being an effect; as we have already shown, it is impos­sible.

b) We said that the existence of an effect or phenomenon is dependent, not self-existent, or in other words, it is a contingent being or an intermediary existent. Now the supposition that there is an end­less chain of contingent beings, implies an infinite chain of dependent and intermediary beings which do not depend for their existence on an independent, self-existent being, and this is impossible.

From what we have said, we can draw this conclusion: first, that we perceive the existence of phenomenon or the contingent being either through our acquired knowledge or through introspection (`ilm huduri); i.e. we perceive the external world through acquired know­ledge (`ilm husuli) and the inner states of the self through introspection (`ilm huduri); second, that every contingent being is dependent on a cause, otherwise it cannot possibly be existent; third, the chain of contingent beings and causes must inevitably originate from the First Cause, the Self-existent Being, that is, God.

Khwajah Nasir al-Din al-Tusi has formulated the argument of the Necessary Being in this statement:

Which means, if we accept the cause of all existence as the exis­tence of the Necessary Being, we have reached the desirable conclusion; otherwise-that is, if we do not accept the Necessary Being as the first cause- the existence of the Necessary Being is necessitated by the impossibility of a causal circle and a causal linear series.


Notes:

[1]. By `chance' here we mean occurrence of a phenomenon without cause. The word is also used for two other meanings: i) occurrence of a phenomenon through the agency of an unusual cause; ii) an unexpected outcome of an action which was not the premeditated goal of the doer.
[2]. See Paul Foulquie's Treatise on Metaphysics; Persian trans. by Y. Mahdawi. See also Comparative Ideology published by Dar Rah-a Haqq Organization.
[3]. For more details see The Principles and Method of the Philosophy of Realism by `Allamah Tabataba'i, footnotes by Murtada Mutahhari, vol. 2.
[4]. It should be noted here that causal precedence is not the same thing as temporal precedence. For example, when we move a pen, while writing, we usually say that the hand moves first, and then the pen follows the movement of the hand, or that the motion of the hand precedes that of the pen. However, they both move simultaneously. This type of precedence is called `causal precedence'.
[5]. Ibn Sina, and other Muslim philosophers after him, termed this argument as the "middle and side argument"
[6]. Here `c' stands for cause and `e' for effect.



# Chapter 2

Human Nature: A Proof

The human nature offers one of the most important ways to demonstrate the existence of God. When we say that human nature is disposed toward the knowledge of Divine, we mean to say that every human being's nature and disposition is so constituted that it is natural­ly disposed to acquire Divine gnosis or knowledge. In other words, in the same way as all living creatures are driven by urges of hunger and thirst, or craving for love, likewise all human beings are by instinct inclined to seek the knowledge of God. As the presence of those ins­tincts does not need any explanation, in the same way no reasoning is required to prove man's inclination to know God. A bird, without any prior learning, knows by instinct how to make a nest and how to feed its young and how to take care of them and love them, likewise man also, without any acquisition of prior knowledge, is attracted towards the omnipotent and omniscient Being by way of his heart and conscience. Rumi describes this similitude in a beautiful verse:

Like an infant unaware of its craving for the mother's milk,

Like the novice's unthought respect for the adept sage,

Like a thinking particle of the universal intellect,

Like the swaying shadow of the flower bough,

Decreases as it merges with the tree trunk,

Effacing itself, discovers the secret of its love.


It has already been mentioned that human beings possess a prior knowledge of God. The presence of this unacquired, pre-existent inclination towards God is also attested by several psychologists. They have counted this inherent quality of human nature among the sublime tendencies of the human mind for the following reasons:

1. Search for truth, or inclination to fathom the reality of being, which is the fountainhead and source of love, wisdom, and philoso­phy. In the words of Aristotle, a philosopher first falls into a state of wonder and perplexity, and afterwards, in order to overcome this con­dition he goes in search of reality by the means of speculation and philosophizing.

This tendency exists much before intellectual ma­turity-even during early childhood-sometimes making a child to pose so many questions as to exhaust the answering elders. Sometimes the child's questions are concerned with such problems as have still re­mained unsolved for humanity, and are apparently likely to remain so. However, with a little variation of degrees, this tendency is present in all human individuals to a greater or lesser extent, and is regarded as natural.

2. Inclination towards moral perfection and human virtues such as benevolence and kindness to others, truthfulness, sincerity, self-sacrifice, solidarity, etc.

3. Attraction towards beauty in all its forms and shapes, from the beauties of nature, such as flowers, gardens, mountains, to values of spiritual beauty and moral grace.

4. Inclination towards absolute perfection, or towards the One Being, who is the origin and source of all things. Presence of this insight and un-acquired vision is posited by religious philosophers, in the sense that man possesses a direct knowledge which is not gained through the senses. This type of knowledge is `knowledge by presence' (`ilm huduri) and stands against `acquired knowledge' (`ilm husuli). As already explained above, `knowledge by presence' is the self-knowledge of the self of its own states and causes of its acts and deeds, through immediate experience, such as consciousness of one's own feelings of love, fear, hope, etc. Knowledge by presence also includes the immediate recognition that man himself is an effect of a cause and that his being originates from a divine source and absolute perfection on which his being depends.

Now, it has to be seen that when we say that man is naturally disposed towards God, whether we mean that man is naturally inclined to seek God, or if man has a natural insight and vision of God, or if both these senses are meant. With reference to what we have said, it must be stated that both these senses are included. That is, both of them are natural: inclination towards God as well as intuitive and immediate knowledge of His sacred Essence. It means that within the profound depths of his being, man fully realizes, without any prior instruction, his dependence and reliance on the Supreme, Perfect and Self-existing Being. Man also realizes that only under the guidance of such a Being can he attain perfection and enlightenment, and that the instinctive attraction towards that Sublime, Perfect and Self-existing Being is ingrained in his nature and temperament. However, how can one demonstrate that such a natural inclination underlies human nature? In truth it does not stand in need of any rational demonstra­tion, because the truthfulness of it is obvious for every individual by direct and intuitive knowledge of his own self and also from the indica­tions and signs he observes in others which attest to this directly experienced fact. The natural vision of the Divine Being is obtained through `knowledge by presence' (`ilm huduri), and like awareness about such feelings as love, fear, anxiety and hatred, does not require any reasoned demonstration whatsoever.


The Quran and Natural Knowledge of God

There are several verses in the Quran which prove that the know­ledge of God and inclination toward the Divine are part of natural tendencies of mankind. Two verses are often cited in this regard. We shall discuss them now.

First Verse

So set thy face to the religion, a man of pure faith-God's nature upon which He originated mankind. There is no changing God's creation. That is the right religion, but most men know it not. (30:30)

Now, we shall see what this `religion' is, turning towards which is regarded as a natural human inclination. `Religion' may be interpreted in one of the two following ways:

a) Agreement and harmony of human nature with the principal and basic tenets of religion. Religious instructions such as the command to eat pure and good things and to abstain from impure and corrupt things, to be kind and benevolent to others, especially one's father, mother and other relatives, to lead a wholesome married life, to act with justice, to refrain from tyranny and repression, to refrain from taking into possession any property belonging to orphans, to refrain from doing harm to anybody, especially the weak, to be humble before the creator and to worship Him, to refrain from jealousy, malice and hypocrisy, and to cultivate a purity of heart and sincerity of mind-all these things, specially the worship of God, are among the most impor­tant tenets of religion that are in complete conformity and harmony with our nature. We are constantly attracted towards its doctrines and teachings consciously or unconsciously, even though it may appear that we do not show any considerable interest in them.

b) The state of absolute obedience and submission before God is named by the Quran as 'Islam' and one committed to it is called a `muslim'. Ibrahim (‘a) is reported to have said:

Our Lord, make us submissive to Thee, and of our seed a nation submissive to Thee ....(2:128)

Ya'qub (‘a) is quoted as addressing his sons:

God has chosen for you the religion; see that you die not save in [a state of] surrender [to Him].(2:132)

Even the most implacable Pharaoh, as he is engulfed by waves in the sea, says:

I believe that there is no god but He in whom the Children of Israel believe; I am of those that surrender [to Him]. (10:90)

There are many instances like these in the Quran, and everywhere it means the same state of absolute submission, veneration, and humble­ness before God Almighty. The religion of Islam (lit. submission) has its name because it stands for absolute submission and resignation towards God's command and will-something which has been a charac­teristic of all the prophets of God from the first to the last. This call for submission to Divine will has underlain all prophetic missions, although it has received its most articulate and pronounced form in the religion brought by Prophet Muhammad.

If we consider the two above-mentioned interpretations of the term `religion', there are two meanings which can be attributed to the statement that `religion' constitutes a natural tendency ingrained in the nature of every human being. It may mean that inclination to worship the Almighty and to obey His commands is ingrained in the human nature. It may also mean that the human being, by nature, has a prior knowledge of God. Now, the question arises whether, in addition to the above-mentioned tendencies, the knowledge of God is, also, a natural attribute? Our answer to this question is in the affirmative; because the existence of every kind of tendency implies some kind of awareness of the object of attraction. Attraction can take place between two objects devoid of consciousness-such as between a magnet and a piece of iron-or between a conscious being and something which may be either a being endowed with consciousness and awareness or something devoid of it. In the second condition, it is not possible that the attraction should occur without some kind of awareness and knowledge about the source of attraction.

So, on this basis, when we accept that affinity to God is natural to man, we must also admit that the knowledge of God, which it necessi­tates by the presence of that affinity should. also be natural. Because it is not acceptable that an inclination towards something should be natural, while its knowledge and awareness, which is its necessary counterpart, should be unnatural and an acquired one. Thus, it is evident that natural `theophilia' in man requires and necessitates instinctive `theology' as well, and both are ingrained in human nature. It should be remembered that this kind of `knowledge' is distinct from knowledge in its usual sense and must not be confused with it; because it is something similar to animal instinct which fulfils its function without any prior training or learning.

Second Verse

And when thy Lord took from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their seed, and made them testify touching themselves `Am I not your Lord?' They said, `Yes, we testify'-lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, `As for us, we were heedless of this,' or lest you say, Our fathers were idolaters aforetime, and we were seed after them. What, wilt Thou destroy us for the deeds of the vain-doers?'(7:172-173)

There exists some diversity of opinion regarding the interpretation of these verses. The two most important among them are as follows:

a) God has created mankind in such a way that if they ponder over their own creation and their perpetual dependence on their Sustainer, and if they keenly observe and meditate about the manifestation and signs of His wisdom, power, and providence, they will confess and bear testimony to His existence as the One God, who creates them and sustains them. In view of this statement, this verse is expressive of the human situation: like a thirsty animal after water, like a hungry human being or beast in search of food, or like the longing of one suffering from sickness for a healer, the situation of the human being is such that it speaks eloquently of his constant need for a Sustainer and reminds man of his Wise Creator.

His situation is such as if his Creator keeps on questioning him: `Am I not your Sustainer, your Lord? Am I not the One God?' and man with his entire being replies to his Creator, `Yes. I bear testimony that You are my God. Yes, You are the One God.' This bearing of testimony, this constant acknowledgement of a covenant between man and his Maker goes on throughout his life. And this is what represents the Divine testimony against man, so that on the Day of Judgment he may not excuse himself for lack of knowledge and justify his not being a monotheist because he inherited the religion of his ancestors who were idolaters or polytheists.

b) Every human being has an incorporeal and immaterial being as well, which is the cardinal reality of his being; his physical and cor­poreal existence is subsequent and subordinated to his real, spiritual existence, and is merely a shadow or an image of his spiritual being. In other words, every human being, and even every creature, follows a cyclic course with respect to God: it originates from God and returns unto God.

However, this course and existential journey varies according to its merits and shortcomings. Prior to this worldly existence a human being has some kind of a more perfect, a more un­restricted and a sublime existence, which becomes imperfect, infirm and restricted after entering the material world; however, again when he leaves it, he returns to that prior state of perfection.

Quran: “Naught is there, but its treasuries are with Us, and We send it not down but in an appointed measure.”(15:21)

That verse is cited as evidence that every being had a more extensive existence before its material stage, and becomes more confined as it enters the material world.

Quran: “His command, when He desires a thing, is to say to it Be', and it is. So glory be to Him, in whose hand is the dominion of everything, and unto whom you shall be returned.” (36:82-83)

Quran: “Our commandment is but one, as the twinkling of an eye.” (54:50)

The late Allamah Tabatabai commenting on those verses of the Quran, says that these, and several other verses like them, prove that the gradual emergence of all living beings, including man, is consequent to God's command (`Be'). It is with the utterance `Be' that existence is conferred at once and without gradualness upon things. On account of this, all existents have two visages: one is physical and this-worldly, associated with their gradual emergence from potentiality to actuality and from nothingness into being; the other visage is with respect to God and is non-gradual. According to the first visage, a thing is imperfect at its beginning, but involves during its passage though the world of matter, until, ultimately, it returns to God. The second visage, which is with respect to God, is ungradual; it means that a thing has from its beginning everything it needs to acquire actuality. These two faces, though they are different aspects of the same thing, are nevertheless two different facets. These verses imply that despite all its enormous vastness the universe possesses a unified, unitary existence before God, and every part of this whole is present simultaneously for God. In fact, it is not possible that a creation should not be present for its creator or an act for the doer. This is the thing referred to as `kingdom' in the Quran:

So We were showing Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and earth, that he might be of those having sure faith. (6:75)

But the worldly visage that we behold of human life, a visage in which all things are different from one another in their conditions, circumstances and behaviour, their varying situation in time and space, engages the senses and alienates human beings from their God. This material visage is a secondary derivative of the other and a by-product of the original visage. The relationship between these two is that bet­ween Kun (`Be') and Fayakun (`and it is'). The first represents `alam al­amr, the `world of command', a world of incorporeal and abstract existence free of the fetters of space and time. The second, the `alam al­khalq, `the world of creation', is the world of gradual physical birth, subject to the restrictions of space, time and matter. This explanation is sufficient to show that this world (alam al-khalq) is preceded by another existence (`alam al- amr), which is similar to it, except that in the second there is no screen separating creatures from the Creator. In that world, the knowledge of God and testimony to His Divinity and Unity are not based on acquired knowledge (`ilm husuli), but on direct experience and knowledge by presence (`ilm huduri).

Now, if we study the verse 7:172 in the light of this discussion, we will see that there is a distinct allusion to the existence of `alam al- amr (`world of command')',,a world prior to that of physical existence where mankind existed before taking birth in this world. There God had already made the human individuals distinct from one another, made them witnesses to His Divinity by asking them, `Am I not your Lord?' to which they replied, `Yes, we testify."

In short, every human individual, before stepping into this physical world of change, transi­tion, decay and motion in space and time, had a kind of immaterial existence, devoid of all the dimensions of material change and move­ment. It was a mode of existence immersed in knowledge, and aware­ness in which he experienced the Divinity and Unity of God. In that mode of existence, he had experience of God, not through any acquired rational knowledge based on concepts and arguments, but on direct experience. God spoke to man, made him bear testimony to His Divinity and Unity, made His covenant with man, and did not leave any room for pretexts and excuses.

It is obvious that a claim is established only when there is no room for any denial, or for explaining away the claim. As mentioned, that claim has to be based on evidence experienced directly through ‘ilm huduri, not on evidence based on `ilm husuli. For acquired knowledge is based on general concepts and ideas, which cannot establish the verity of a particular truth or fact.

On the other hand, the verity of a truth directly experienced by a knower is indubitable. Thus, in the above verse (7:172), the Divine address to man is one directly experienced by him, and man has attested to God's Divinity and Unity directly without any intermediary or mediator.

Therefore, there is no room for any denial of this primordial testimony. However, if God had taken this testimony through an intermediary (i.e. through acquired knowledge), there was room for him to deny or debate something which he had not directly experienced.

So, the purport of the verse is that there has taken place a certain kind of dialogue or encounter between every human being and God. As a result of that experience, man had direct knowledge of God's Divinity and His Unity. During this dialogue or encounter, God has taken from him a confession to His Divinity and Unity, and man, too, confessed to it as an evident truth imbedded in his own nature. As a result, there is no room for any pretext or excuse for denying that once directly experienced truth.

However, it is possible that man's natural vision may be clouded by forgetfulness and negligence, which may engulf his being and obscure his natural sense of godliness. But once he removes the dust of forgetfulness from his heart, he is able to regain his vision, recollect his real self, and hear the echoes of that sacred dialogue in the depths of his being-the first dialogue between his Creator and himself, and his original covenant with God.

This natural voyage of the self or the heart was the `path' used by various mystics and saints. When Hafiz says: “Love has an abode higher than that of reason”, he is referring to a state of direct religious experience reached by means of self-purification and achievement of a beatific vision of Absolute Love, Beneficence, Power and Beauty, which surpasses the reach of rational understanding, conception and imagination. Those who are not satiated by rational, philosophical arguments can quench their spiritual thirst and obtain the peace of mind and spirit through the way of nature. Even those who are not in quest of truth to this extent, and are not interested in purely rational pursuits, or those who are not capable of such endeavours, they approach God through this way of nature, as Rumi puts it:

A relationship free of categories and syllogisms,

exists between the Lord of Men and souls of men.


# Chapter 3

The Attributes of God

Hitherto, some of the proofs of the existence of God were discussed. We shall now examine briefly the attributes of God, an issue which is one of the most important topics of theology, and which, if properly understood, can remove doubts of those who negate His existence and resolve their difficulties.

The attributes (sifat) of God are of two kinds: affirmative (thubu­tiyyah) and negative (salbiyyah). The former kind of attributes are posited for God, and the latter are those which are negated of Him.

Likewise, the affirmative attributes are of two kinds: attributes of Essence, and attributes of Divine Acts.

The attributes of Essence are those which are inherent in His Essence by Itself, without taking into consideration His relation to creation, and, therefore, always qualify It. For example, the attribute of power is an attribute of Divine Essence, because power is an inherent quality of God; it cannot be affirmed of Him at one time and negated at another.

However, the attributes of Acts are those which, with respect to the relation that exists between the Divine Essence and any one of God's creatures, are derived from that relation, and it is obvious that whenever one side of this relation-here, that particular creature undergoes a change, then the attribute applicable to the other side-in this case, God-also changes. For example the attribute represented by the epithet `Provider' (al Razzaq) is derived from the relation between God, as the Provider, and His creatures, who are provided by Him.

Now, whenever a creature (which is one side of the relation) provided and maintained by Him dies, then that relation also ceases, and pro­vidence of God with regard to that creature comes to an end.

It should be remembered that although numerous attributes, affirmative and negative, are mentioned in revealed religion and in theological philosophy, they all are reducible to a single affirmative and a negative attribute. That single affirmative attribute is that God is complete perfection (i.e. every imaginable quality of perfection is attri­butable to Him); and the single negative attribute is that God is devoid of every imaginable defect or shortcoming.


Some of the affirmative attributes of God are as follows.

Power

In defining power, it can be said that one is powerful if he can act whenever he wants to and refrain from action. whenever he doesn't. Therefore, `powerful' is one who, firstly, has will (by virtue of this definition, power cannot be attributed to stones, plants, and, in short, all things devoid of will), and, secondly, the freedom to act or not to act, or both. Thirdly, his will only confirms either one of the two alternatives of action or inaction. Therefore, the domain of will is more restricted than that of power. Fourthly, since will is always related to some action of which one who wills has some kind of knowledge­, because one cannot will to do something which is unknown to him-it could, therefore, be said that knowledge and awareness precedes will.

Moreover, since will has been included in the definition of power, therefore, in accordance with this definition, every `powerful' being, in relation to what it wills, possesses knowledge of it as well.

Now, let us see how we can demonstrate the attribute of power in relation to God. In the proof of the existence of the Necessary Being, it is shown that the chain of possibilities and causes originates from the First Cause. The existence of all phenomena is ultimately derived from the First Cause and, therefore, they have, in some way or other, a pre-existence in the First Cause. If the First Cause were totally devoid of them, that is, if It had no power over their creation, they could not have come into existence. Therefore, the coming into existence of a thing is also a sign of the existence of the attribute of power in its creator. The more expansive the domain of creation is, the greater the power of the creator. Accordingly, the proof of the First Cause includes the demonstration of the attribute of power in the First Cause. If the First Cause were devoid of power, no effect could result from It, and thereby It could not have been the First Cause.

On the other hand, it is clearly evident from the proof of order in the universe that the Creator of order must have power-in the sense as has already been mentioned; that is, power embracing knowledge and will. For, if He lacks knowledge, He cannot shape and arrange the ingredients of an orderly system in such a manner that a network of necessary relationships is established between the ingredients, and some kind of definite purpose is realized within that system.

Moreover, if His power is not accompanied by will (that is, inclina­tion which arises from freedom) but, like the force of gravity, is exer­cised automatically without exercise of will, it necessitates that the system be eternal (qadim) and not created (hadith); because, the First Cause as the fountainhead of power-and, likewise, power itself, which is Its essential attribute-is eternal; therefore, the universe, as the order arising from the First Cause, must also be eternal and without beginning. However, we have proved that the entire animate and inanimate worlds are incessantly in the process of creation.

This was a brief discussion about the meaning of power and affirmation of the attribute of power with respect to God. Now let us consider its scope and extent. According to philosophical proofs, Quranic testimony, all revealed Scriptures, and also according to the traditions of the blessed Household (Ahl al Bayt) of the Prophet (S), the power of God is infinite and absolute. That is, God is omnipotent; for Him nothing is impossible. The following statement is recurrently made by the Holy Quran:

Indeed God has power over everything.

The Quran also states:

His command, when He intends [to create] anything, is only to say to it, Be', and it is. (36:82)

Here, very often, this question is asked: Does God have the power over any and every thing imaginable? Can God, possibly, make two plus two equal to five, or insert a bigger body into a smaller one without the bigger body becoming small or the smaller one becoming larger? Certain philosophers, such as Descartes, have maintained that the meaning of Divine omnipotence is that God's power encompasses everything and that nothing is impossible for Him. Therefore, they say, God can ordain that 2+2 should equal 5 or 7, and so bring about things which to us appear impossible. Of course, in the present world, He deems not to do such things, but if He wills to do so, He can. In order to answer the above question, and to examine the view of Descartes, the meaning of `impossible' in all its various senses must at first be examined; then it must be seen which of these meanings pertains to the power of God.


The Meaning of Impossibility

The word `impossible' is used in three different senses:

(a) Inherent impossibility (muhal dhati),
(b) Impossibility of occurrence (muhal wuqui),
(c) Habitual impossibility (muhal adi).

(a) Inherent Impossibility: It applies to a statement which, if assumed to be true, would imply self-contradiction. It refers to situa­tions which are logically impossible. That is , it necessitates that some­thing should be both existent and non-existent at the same time. It applies to statements like the above-mentioned example relating to insertion of a bigger body into a smaller one without the larger one becoming smaller or the -smaller one larger; because, if true, it would lead to the conclusion that the bigger body in its state of largeness should not be large, since a larger body can be inserted into a smaller one only if it becomes smaller itself; that is, it should not be large, and this is a contradiction.

Similarly, the proposition 2+2=5 is necessarily self-contradictory, because if 2 books are added to 2 other books, and if instead of 4 we have 5 books, it means that 2+2 is and also is not 2+2, because when 2+2=5, it means it is not equal to 4. So 2 books plus 2 books makes at the same time 4 and not 4 books.

(b) Impossibility of Occurrence:The mere supposition of this kind of impossibility does not necessarily lead to contradiction as such, but if it occurs in reality, its occurrence necessarily leads to contradiction.

For example, if we know that some effect B must necessarily be an effect of cause A, and that existence of A is necessary for causing the existence of B, now if B comes into existence without A, we are con­fronted with a contradiction between what we know to be true and what we observe (namely existence of B without A). However, there is no self-contradiction in the supposition itself that B can exist without A. But if A is known with certainty to be a necessary cause of B, emer­gence of B without the presence of A (the necessary cause of B) involves a contradiction. This kind of impossibility refers to situations involving necessary causation.

(c) Habitual Impossibility: Here, an effect B, as a rule, is observed as originating from a particular cause A, but, in fact, occasionally, it might possess another cause C, as well. A case that may be cited as an example is that of the healing of sick by means of miracles. Healing, customarily, has its specific cause like medicine; but when it is caused by a miracle, it is due to the special powers of saintly figures, granted to them by God on account of their piety. This kind of impossibility depends on habitual association between cause and effect.

From among these three kinds of impossibility, the first and second do not apply to Divine power; because the first kind, or inherent impossibility, is something the mere supposition of which involves a self-contradiction, and occurrence of anything involving a self-contradiction is also, of necessity, contradictory.

However, the second kind of impossibility, that is impossibility of occurrence, also necessarily involves contradiction like the first kind; since even if the supposition itself is not self-contradictory, but because if it is known with certainty that emergence of a particular effect B depends on a particular cause A, if B emerges without A, it implies a contradiction; because, the observation that A does not exist is incon­sistent with the deduction that A exists (a deduction derived from the statement known to be true that A is always the cause of B). In these two cases (i.e., the first two kinds of impossibilities), there is no `thing' involved (with reference to the Quranic verse 36:82 quoted above) so that God may command it to be.

The third kind, habitual impossibility, is, strictly speaking, not an impossibility at all; rather it is our ignorance of the actual causes of an event that makes us think so. Therefore, events and effects in this class are subject to the power of God.


Knowledge

Knowledge, like power, is another attribute of Divine Essence. On the basis of the proofs forwarded for demonstrating the existence of God, it can be said that God is omniscient. Moreover, it was stated in the discourse on power that it is deduced from the proof of order that God, who confers order and regularity on a system, must, of necessity, be aware of the characteristics of its components, their number, composition, and their connection with the system's purpose. Creation of an orderly system of phenomena without knowledge of the compo­nents of which it consists is something irrational, which the Holy Quran rejects by this interrogative negation:

Shall He not know, Who created, and He is All-subtle, All-aware? (67:14)

The proof of the Necessary Being demonstrates that God is the First Cause of all creation, and in the discussion of the proof of contin­gent and necessary it was stated that an effect depends on and arises from a cause, or, in other words, the effect is present for the cause. Accordingly, it is impossible that the cause should be unaware of its effect, which itself depends on the cause. Of course, God's knowledge is "knowledge by presence" (`ilm huduri) not acquired knowledge (‘ilm husulli), since in the discussion on the difference between these two kinds of knowledge it was stated that the former kind is directly present for the knower without the need for any intermediary, whilst the latter kind is gained by means of the sense organs.

From an epistemological viewpoint, in `knowledge by presence' (‘ilm huduri) the known object is itself, in its entirety, present in the mind of the knower, not just the idea of its form. However, in acquired knowledge (‘ilm husuli) only the form of the known thing is present in the mind of the knower, not its complete essence-like our knowledge of sensible objects in the external world acquired by means of the sense organs.

With this brief explanation, we come to know that knowledge possessed by God cannot be the acquired type of knowledge, but is `knowledge by presence'; since the existence of every object and all effects caused by the First Cause depends on Him and is `present' for Him, and this is the same as what we call `knowledge by presence'. Besides, acquired knowledge comes through sense organs, and since God is free of any kind of organs whatsoever, the idea of acquired knowledge is inapplicable to Him. Therefore, we may conclude on the basis of what has been said that God's knowledge is `knowledge by presence', not acquired knowledge.

Some other attributes such as hearing and vision are also related to the attributes of knowledge. When we say that God hears and sees, what is meant is that God is knowledgeable about things that can be heard and seen. He knows the attributes and qualities, perceived by creatures by means of hearing and seeing, by means of His `knowledge by presence'.

However, the knowledge of God encompasses all things--those which can be seen and heard, and all other things as well. The greater emphasis laid on the attributes of vision and hearing of God is apparent­ly due to the fact that these two faculties are more manifest and perfect in creatures endowed with the power of perception; in addition, their relationship with the body and bodily members, like the other faculties, is not as evident and conspicuous. On the other hand, faculties such as taste and touch and their relationship with the body is very intense and their imperfection is more conspicuous. Perhaps it is due to this that in theological parlance, from among the faculties pertaining to the senses, these two faculties of hearing and seeing- disregarding the fact of their being senses-are attributed to God, although God has absolute and unlimited knowledge by presence not only of the visible and the audible but also of taste, touch and all other characteristics posses­sed by things.


The Attribute of Free Will

By free will is meant that a conscious and aware creature is able to select one way which is the most expedient from amongst all imagin­able alternatives for accomplishing of something, and in reality the only thing that may compel him to do something is expediency. However, insofar as it pertains to God, the meaning of free will is that no agent outside His Essence can compel Him to do something, since there is no cause above the First Cause which may influence It and cause It to do something. Hence, all the Acts of God originate from His free will, or, in other words, God is a free doer. As opposed to free will is compul­sion and determinism. What it means is that an agency or impetus influences a creature having will, compelling it to do something without exercising its own free will or capacity of choice. In other words, such a creature is divested of the exercise of free will in its action.


Divine Unity

One of the attributes of God is Unity, which is stressed by certain religions, especially Islam. Monotheism and belief in Oneness of God is one of the prominent characteristics of Islam, for which it has been

named the religion of monotheism. Theological philosophers have also always believed in monotheism, and have resorted to following argu­ments to prove the unity of God.

1. Necessity of existence leads us to conclude that there must not be more than one Necessary Being; because whenever we talk of two or more things, it is necessary that those two things should possess some points of similarity, on the one hand, and some points of difference, on the other. For example, when we talk of two books, it is necessary that, firstly, they have something in common in that they are both `books', and, secondly, differ in at least one respect; otherwise, if they are similar in colour, appearance, weight, size, author, paper, subject matter, time, place and all other peculiarities, they cannot be consi­dered as two books and can only be one and the same book.

Therefore, every sort of plurality has certain points in common, on the one hand, and differences, on the other. Now if we suppose that two or more gods exist, then they must have at least one aspect in common and one or more aspects of difference. That is, each one of them must have one thing in common with the other and also have a point or points especial to itself. Therefore, each one of them has a compounded being com­posed of at least two aspects or characteristics, and each compound would require its own components on whose existence its own exis­tence depends. It is obvious that a being which is compound is depen­dent for its existence on its parts, and hence is not self-existing. This is contradictory to the definition of the Necessary Being. Accordingly, the assumption that there can be two or more Necessary Beings leads to a self-contradiction.

2. The orderly state of the universe, of necessity, shows that its creator cannot be more than one; because, if such were the case, there would have been a difference of essence and natures between creators. Moreover, two or more creators of differing essences and natures will necessarily produce different and divergent effects depending on the manner of relationship of these effects with the differing will of the creators.

Further, it is obvious that two or more different entities possessing differing wills would offer differing schemes for the order of the universe-an order which in reality is an interconnected, integrated unit. Also, their varying wills and plans for creation would necessarily cause disorder, leading to ultimate destruction. The Holy Quran states this point:

If there had been in them (heavens and earth) any gods except Allah, they would both have certainly been in a state of disorder. (21:22)

The late Allamah Tabatabai, in his commentary on this verse, writes:

“In our commentary on Surat Hud, and also subsequently, we have made it clear that the controversy between the idolaters and the monotheists does not relate to the issue of unity or plurality of the Necessary Being; because, that the Necessary Being is one and without divine associates is not a matter of dispute; rather, the dispute concerns God as the deity worthy of worship. Idolaters contend that administration of the world with its multiple affairs has been delegated to noble beings such as god of the heavens, god of the earth, and god of human beings, all of whom have nearness and access to God; they must be worshipped, so that they may intercede with God on behalf of their worshippers and thus bring them near to God. They are gods of beings inferior and subject to their authority, and Allah, the god of gods, is the creator of everything. As the Quran, in this regard, says: "And if you ask them `who is the creator of the heavens and the earth, they will say `Allah',... and if you ask them who has created the heavens and earth they will say `the Powerful and the Wise has created them'."

The verse under discussion negates these gods in this sense, not in the sense of their being creators or makers; for no one had insisted on a belief in plurality of creators.

However, the obvious import of the verse is that if there were more than one God, they would differ as to their essence and nature, and such difference would be tantamount to departure in their schemes, resulting in their mutual destruction and disorder throughout the system of the heavens and the earth. But the existing order of the universe is a unified one, whose parts and components are in coordi­nation and harmony with one another and in conformity with its purposes. Therefore, there cannot be more than one God.

Another verse cited in relation to the proof of the Unity of God, is the following:

God has not taken to Himself any son, nor is there any god besides Him; for then each god would have taken off that he created and some of them would have risen up over others; glory be to God, beyond that they ascribe [to Him]. (23:91)

The purpose of this verse is apparently to state that if we suppose two gods as existing, some kind of difference between them is inevi­table; for two distinctly separate beings entail that they differ at least in one respect. As stated in connection with the preceding verse, will is also one of the essential characteristics of these two beings. Accordingly, a universe subject to two differing wills, would inevitably result in disorder and discord; because each one of the gods with a separate will of his own would act independently of the other and in accordance with his own will. That is, the verse implies that if there were two gods, each one of them would have governed his creation according to his own will, and, consequently, no order whatsoever could be established in the universe, since the creation of each god would differ from that of the other, and, as a consequence, integration, order and coordination would not exist, or granting that some kind of order could be achieved, sooner or later it would come to naught and would not endure. This is the case if neither of the two or more gods is subordinate to another but each one of them administers a part of the universe independently. But the observable order of the universe is the best witness of the fact that the universe is governed by a single hierarchy of laws; that is, though some sections of the universe are subject to some special laws (such as the plant kingdom and animal kingdom), they, in addition to their particular laws, are governed by the general laws of the universe (the law of gravitation, for example).

Now if we attribute each one of these kingdoms with their special, more general, and most general laws to each of the gods, each one of them would inevitably be subordinate to the superior god, and, as a matter of course, each would become a tool for realization of the actions and objectives of the superior god. However, such beings cannot be called `gods', since they are effects among various effects. This is what is meant when the above verse states `some of them would have risen over others.'

This proof of monotheism, which was obtained from the proof of order, demonstrates the Unity of Divine sovereignty (tawhid rububi); that is, by demonstrating that there is a single unitary order prevailing in the universe, it proves that the universe is administered by one Designer and Sovereign. The unity of the Divine Sovereign, of necessity, leads to monotheism in worship; because worship is directed towards a Divine sovereign, and if He is one, then worship is addressed solely to Him-not to numerous sovereigns. Accordingly, unity of divinity­, divinity being a necessary counterpart of sovereignty, and sovereign of the universe being the same as its god-is proved: the universe has one God and one Sovereign.


Monotheism and Human Nature

In the discussion on the proof of the existence of God, it was said that one of the ways of knowing God is through natural instinct. It was pointed out that just as God is known by means of `ilm huduri, know­ledge of Divine Unity is also obtained by the same means. Because when we, by means of our knowledge by presence, discover that our own existence is a relative one, dependent upon that of a Self-existing Being, by means of the same knowledge we also find that the Self-existing Being, who constitutes the other end of this relation, is one and unique.

If there were more than one self-existing beings, then by means of knowledge by presence we would have found them to be multiple, whereas the fact of the matter is that it is not so. In the verse 7:172 it was pointed out that God had obtained humanity's confession in regard to His sovereignty, in a world which preceded this world. The reason for this was that there should be no valid excuses on behalf of poly­theists on the Day of Judgement. Therefore, in this confession, God must have been experienced as the One Sovereign by every human individual through his knowledge by presence; otherwise the confession would not be valid.


Divine Speech

We know that human speech derives from the vocal chords causing vibrations in the air and these vibrations are heard as meaningful sounds or `speech'. However, `speaking', in this sense, does not apply to God, because He has no corporeal form that He should have vocal chords to cause vibrations and sound. Therefore, we must find some other mean­ing for Divine speech.

Some contend that Divine speech is through creation of sound impressions in the hearer. This is true in the case of intelligent beings with a physical constitution which enables them to hear sounds. However, in the case of incorporeal beings such as angels or human spirits, the creation of sound is not feasible; that is, it is not possible to convey an audible message to the addressee, since he lacks the auditory equipment. Besides, God has also spoken to inanimate things like the sky, the earth, fire, etc., and has commanded and prohibited them. Can such `speech' be also said to be caused by the agency of sound? Obviously the answer is in the negative.

Therefore, it must be asserted that Divine speech, when addressed to man and other creatures, is in the sense of induction or creation of meaning resulting from speech. That is, the same meanings that human beings convey to one another by means of speech, God induces similar kind of meanings in the intellect of a human being without the need of a voice, larynx etc. Sometimes the speech of God with creatures is in the sense of an act of creation, as in the verse:

His command, when He intends anything, is only to say to it Be', and it is.(36:82)

Because saying `Be' to something which does not exist, can only mean creation. Apart from the two meanings stated above, other cases of Divine speech are mentioned in the Quran, as God's commanding the sky and the earth: "Come", to which they replied: "We come willing­ly." (41:11)


Divine Wisdom

Allamah Tabatabai-may God's mercy be upon him-in his exposition on Divine Wisdom says: [8]

The various movements originating from us can be considered as our actions when they are related to and dependent upon our will in some way. There­fore, health, illness and other involuntary movements cannot be considered as our actions. It is obvious that we will an action only in the event of a pre­ference; that is, when we see that it is better to do something than not to do it, and the benefits accruing thereof exceed the drawbacks, and would be a step towards perfection for us. Therefore, the advantage related to our inten­ded action, which persuades us to prefer action to inaction, is the very good which is the cause of our activity. That good is what is called the end of an action. and it has been demonstrated in philosophical discussions that an action, voluntary or involuntary, is not without purpose. This good proceed­ing from an action, is what is called the `wisdom' of an action by society, and this `wisdom', considered so by reason, is what causes the doer of that action to be depicted as `wise'. If there were no wisdom in an act, it would be considered futile and vain.

It is obvious that the benefit or good which follows an action has no external existence prior to the act, and it is the idea of a benefit which compels or inspires the would-be doer to act, in the sense that each one of us has some idea of a benefit derived from our experience of the external order and the general laws governing it. This order guides our actions to their perceived ends and objectives. Likewise, this idea of benefit is the result of our experience of interrelationships between things and, undoubtedly, this system of ideas is dependent upon and derived from the order prevailing in external reality.

It is characteristic of our voluntary actions that they are per­formed in accordance with our system of knowledge, and our will is dependent upon the good or benefit which we perceive in our actions. Now, if there is conformity or correspondence between an action, on the one hand, and perception and knowledge, on the other, then such an action is considered as judicious and wise and its doer is said to be `judicious' or `wise'. But if we default, whether due to some short­coming or neglect, then the action is considered as futile and erroneous and the doer is considered unwise.

Therefore, wisdom is the quality of the doer of an act whose work conforms to his subjective understanding, which, in turn, corresponds to the order prevailing in external reality. The `good' or `wisdom' of an action is also its correspondence to subjective understanding that is derived from external reality. So `wisdom' implies conformity to external reality, and is a characteristic of a doer whose acts, through the agency of the mind, conform to the external reality. So; also, the objective or benefit of an action depends on correspondence of sub­jective knowledge to external reality.

However, this is true in the case of those actions in which conformity of subjective knowledge with the external reality is im­plied- like our voluntary actions. But an act of God is external reality itself, and stands in no need of correspondence to the order prevailing in the external world. Therefore, when it is said that the acts of God are based on an objective, it is meant that the `objective' of His act is derived from the act and not vice versa. [9]

In brief, one is said to be wise if he carefully examines the external reality, and from among the various options available, selects one which promises a maximum amount of benefit.

Then he so organizes his actions that he can attain the desired objective with minimum amount of effort. Wisdom is the conformity of an act with its objective or the desired benefit, which it is considered to yield. This interpreta­tion of wisdom assumes the pre-existence of an external reality which guarantees the attainment of premeditated objectives on the basis of conformity of the actions of the doer with it. It is obvious that `wis­dom' in this sense could only apply to one whose acts are performed against the background of external reality and which fit into its perspective.

However, in the case of God, whose acts are external reality itself, the attribute of wisdom is riot applicable in this sense, but solely implies that God never does anything futile, devoid of benefit or in vain. However, it does not mean that God has to -conform His acts to the external reality in order to make them useful or purposeful. He does not do anything futile or useless, because He is a free actor with free will. We stated that free will is attributed to someone who selects one out of the many possible courses of action which would fulfil his objective better than others.

Now if this doer possessing free will is a creature other than God, its objectives are those which fulfil some of its needs or bring it some kind of advantage. But if the free doer is God, who is free of every need and necessity, then, in His case, He cannot have an `objective' in this sense. Rather, He acts for the sake of an objective or purpose whose gain and benefit accrues to others. In other words, God acts solely out of beneficence and grace; not for achieving any good for Himself in order to satisfy some need of His own, nor in order to attain some advantage:

I did not bring forth creation to profit by it,

But to bestow My Beneficence upon My creatures.

And this beneficence and grace are essential to Divine Essence, because He is absolute perfection. Without beneficence God would not be perfect.


Notes:

[8]. Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn al-Tabataba'i, al-Mizan, vol. 8, pp. 335-6.
[9]. Ibid., vol. 16, see verses 21:16-33.


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Spiritual Methods

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ARTICLES ON SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

By Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali (2010)

# CONTENTS:

Outcomes of the Spiritual Journey
Key Spiritual Concepts: Love, Thankfulness and Humbleness,
A Glance at the Process of Self-development
Practical Instruction for Spiritual Journey
The Significance of Self-control and Self-purification
Different Methodological Approaches to Spirituality
Different Treatments of Spirituality

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# Outcomes of the Spiritual Journey


It is clear that the ultimate aim of the spiritual journey is to get as
close to God as much as possible. However, the notion
of closeness (qurb) to God may appear to some as abstract,
especially for those who are not trained in philosophy. This paper
attempts to shed light on the notion of closeness to God
by describing what happens to those who are undergoing the
spiritual journey towards Him. All the ideas mentioned
henceforth are derived from the Quran and Sunnah and therefore
are hoped to be welcomed by all Muslims from different schools
of Islam. Reflection on these outcomes can encourage everyone
to embark on this journey and, if they have already done so, to
continue following this luminous path. It can also serve as a test
for the wayfarers to assess how much progress they have made.

Outcomes of the spiritual journey

1. Complete support:

One of the outcomes of living a life of
piety and having a pure and pious heart is that we will be given
complete support by Allah. He will listen to us, will give
us what we want, and will be our ears, eyes and hands.

In the well-known divine saying, we read:

None of My servants can seek proximity to Me by
that which is dearer to Me than things that I have
made obligatory on him. Then, with the performance
of voluntary devotion, he continuously
attains proximity to Me, so that I love him. When I
love him, I will be the ear with which he hears, the
eyes with which he sees, and the hand with which he
strikes. If he calls Me, I will answer his call, and if
he makes a request, I will grant it.

2. Perfect knowledge:

There are many holy sayings [words of Prophet and sacred imams]
which indicate that one of the results of having attained
spiritual nearness to God is to be endowed with
great knowledge of the realities of the
world, including many mysteries that can never be known
through ordinary methods of learning and teaching. On the topic
of the servant who has attained proximity to God, Prophet
Muhammad reports Allah as saying:

I will love him when he loves Me and I will make
him loved by My creation, and I will open up his
inward eyes to My glory and grandeur, and I will not
hide from him [the knowledge of] the select of My
creation. So in the darkness of night and in the light
of day, I will tell him secrets, so that his
conversations with creatures and with his
companions will be cut off. I will make him hear My
words and the words of My angels and I will reveal
to him the secret I have hidden from My creation.

3. Exclusive devotion to God:

To be cut off from everything
other than God (tabattul or inqita‘) means to be free from
reliance on anything other than God, and to see everything
as His sign and as a manifestation of His power and grace. The true
servants of God live within society while remaining totally
mindful of God, and they remember Him continuously. The
Quran praises a group of people “whom neither business nor
trading distract from remembering God, keeping up prayer, and
giving alms” (24:37).

In the well-known ‘Whisper of Shaban’, Imam Ali and other members of
the household of the Prophet called upon God, saying:

My God! Make me completely cut off from all else but
You, and enlighten the vision of our hearts with the
radiance of looking at You, until the vision of our hearts
penetrates the veils of light and reaches the Source of
Grandeur and set our spirit to be suspended at the glory
of Your sanctity.

In this supplication, the Imam is asking Allah to
enable him to be related only to Him and to be detached from
anything that stops us from being in His presence.
Unfortunately there are many actions that can hinder our
devotion, which could be apparently good or bad. Of course, bad
actions and sins can keep us away from Allah’s remembrance,
but good actions can also become corrupted, for example, by
arrogance and pride. Therefore, we should not let anything
become a barrier or a veil between us and Allah, the
Source of Light and Grandeur, whether it be our sins and
attachment to the material life or our good actions and
characteristics. If we are not careful, even good actions and
qualities can preoccupy our mind and heart, therefore diverting
our attention away from God. It is interesting that Imam Ali
asks to “penetrate the veils of light.” According to Ayatollah
Khomeini, “the veils of light” refers to those veils which are in
and of themselves light, but prevent us from beholding the main light, which is God.
This is why knowledge, which is so highly
regarded in Islam and everyone is required to seek it, can become
“the greatest veil” (al-hijab al-akbar). It is like someone who has
a pair of glasses to help him read, but instead of using it to read,
he simply holds it in his hand, enjoys looking at it, or plays with
it. Of course, the knowledge which comes after the purification of
one’s soul is different. According to holy sayings, this type of
knowledge is a light that God projects into the heart of the one
with whom He is pleased (a-‘ilm-u nur-un yaqdhif-uhu’llah fi
qalb-i man yasha).

The following story, narrated in the biography of Allamah Sayyid
Mohammad Husayn Tabataba’i, relates to this point. Once
Allamah was given an instruction for a specific practice by his
spiritual teacher, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Qadi Tabataba’i, and was
advised that “when you are doing this special practice you may
start seeing angels, but you should continue with your practice
and should not be distracted.” Once Allamah was conducting his
worship and he saw an angel coming towards him. He
immediately remembered what his teacher had told him and
continued worshipping. Then the angel went around him as if he
wanted to start a conversation with Allamah, but he did not pay
any attention, so the angel sadly left him. Allamah remarked that
he would never forget the sadness of that angel, but this is the
way a true servant devotes himself to His Lord. We should not let
anything get in the way of our focused devotion.

4. Entrance into the realm of light.

The above holy sayings and many others refer to the fact that one of
the results of progress on the spiritual journey is the elimination
of darkness and entrance into the realm of light. The realm of
light is a reality mentioned in the Quran and holy saying:

Allah is the guardian of those who believe. He brings
them out of the darkness into the light (2:257)

With it Allah guides him who will follow His pleasure
into the ways of safety and brings them out of utter
darkness into light by His will and guides them to the
right path. (5:16)

Light is also requested in many supplications, such as in the
prayer which should be recited after the Ziyarah of Aal-i Yasin:

O Allah, surely I ask You to send blessings upon
Muhammad, the prophet of Your mercy and the
word of Your light.
And fill my heart with the light of certainty
And my chest with light of faith.
And my thinking with the light of intentions.
And my determination with the light of knowledge.
And my power with the light of action.
And my tongue with the light of truthfulness.
And my religion with the light of understanding from
You.
And my vision with brightness.
And my hearing with the light of wisdom.
And my love with the light of friendship for
Muhammad and his progeny. Peace be upon (all of)
them!
Until I meet You, while certainly I discharged Your
promise and Your covenant. So You cover me with
Your mercy, O Master! O Praiseworthy.


In the realm of light, everything is clear and the true reality of
everything is known. One of the main challenges we face is to
understand everything the way it really is, and to treat each thing
appropriately.

5. Immense love for God:

One of the strongest ways to
strengthen our relationship with Allah is through love for
Him. Once one has tasted this love, there is no other substitute.
The Imams were consumed with love for Allah. Imam
Ali b. Husayn says:

Nothing will cool my burning thirst but reaching You,
quench my ardour but meeting You, damp my yearning
but gazing upon Your face, settle my settling place
without closeness to you.

The mystic is not the one who just loves God; rather he is the one
who loves God alone, because his love or dislike for anything
else is only for the sake of God. He wills and desires only what
his Beloved wills and desires. He has no will or desire other than
His. The mystic’s love for God permeates his love for anything
else. Imam Sadiq says:

The pure heart is the one that meets the Lord while it is
free from anyone else.

6. Witnessing God in everything:

The real mystic is the one
who witnesses God in everything. Allah constantly shows
Himself to us in different ways, and if our hearts are pure, we can
witness Allah through all things. In Dua of ‘Arafah, Imam
Husayn says:

O my God! Through the variety of Your signs (in the
world of being) and the changes in states and
conditions, I realised that the purpose is to make
Yourself known to me in everything, so that I would
not ignore You in anything.

Imam Ali says:

I saw nothing except that I saw God before it, with it,
and after it.

It is obvious that the vision in question, for God, the Almighty, is
infinitely exalted beyond the range of the physical eye. God
cannot be seen by the physical eye, neither in this world nor in
the hereafter.
Being busy usually means that we forget Allah and
become consumed with our dealings. However, for Imam Ali,
it meant that he remembered Allah all the time: before,
during and after each thing; as Allah is the Creator,
Preserver, and the one who will remain after all things.
One who has reached a high stage in the spiritual journey will
find God in everything. For example, even if someone tells us
something bad or our enemy tells us something, we can still
manage to find a good message inside that which only we are
able to de-code and understand. Other people may listen to the
same thing but they do not get any message from it. However, we
will understand the message from Allah even in the words
of our enemy.

7. Internal peace:

Whenever a man gets close to Allah,
all other things appear light and small to him. He feels that he is
under Allah’s protection, and nothing can harm him. He
understands that he does not suffer any pain or difficulty except
that they are to his own benefit, and that he will be rewarded by
God “without measure” (39:10).

There are many people in the world who have comfortable lives,
but they suffer from a lack of peace and tranquillity, to the extent
that some of them resort to alcoholic drinks or narcotic drugs to
decrease their spiritual pain and self consciousness. However,
nothing short of reaching God can satisfy human beings. The
Quran says:

Surely! With the remembrance of God hearts come to
rest. (13:28)

One reason why nothing can disturb people who are mindful of
God is that they are not afraid of losing anything. Everything
becomes easy for them, since they have appreciated Allah’s
greatness, nothing else is important in their view. For
example, if you are on a beach next to the ocean, you would not
pay any attention to a small glass of water. Describing the pious
(al-muttaqin), Imam Ali says:

The greatness of the Creator is seated in their hearts
and so everything else appears small in their eyes.

Conclusion

The outcomes of the spiritual journey are too many to describe in
this short paper. The journey rewards those who travel on its path
with exclusive devotion, entrance into the realm of light,
immense love for Allah, being able to witness Allah
in everything, and internal peace. Once we take a step
towards Allah, He will reward us with these invaluable
blessings, which will make it easier for us to travel farther.

--

Love, Thankfulness and Humbleness
The Key Concepts in Islamic Spirituality

#

Love, thankfulness and humbleness are three very important or
perhaps even the most important concepts in Islamic spirituality.
In this paper, they will be discussed briefly. These three concepts
are chosen not only because they are theoretically important, but
also because they are practically rewarding. If we want to grow
spiritually, we can easily do this by developing these qualities in
our lives.

Love

According to Islamic holy sayings supported by rational arguments,
the entire reason for having faith or lacking faith is based on love
for Allah, and for whatever is related to Him. For
example, we read in holy sayings that once the Prophet asked his
companions: “What is the strongest handhold in Islam?” The
companions gave different answers: some said prayers, others
said fasting and others hajj. After they gave their answers, they
said: “The Prophet and Allah know best”. So the Prophet
answered: “To love for the sake of Allah and to dislike for the
sake of Allah.”

We must ask: what is the difference between one who is a
believer and one who is not? It is not enough to know certain
truths: Satan knows all those truths but he is still considered to be
disobedient. Allah says in the Quran that there are people
who know everything and yet disbelieve:

They impugned them —though they were
convinced in their hearts— wrongfully and
defiantly… (27:14)

Similarly, to declare the truth is not sufficient to be a believer, as
hypocrites declare the truth frequently. Describing such people,
the Quran says:

And there are some people who say: “We believe
in Allah and the last day; and they are not at all
believers.” (2:8)

Love for the truth is the main distinction between a believer and a
non-believer. Love requires knowledge and readiness to declare.
This readiness to declare the truth does not include circumstances
where a person must exercise taqiyyah, or the hiding of one’s
faith in order to safeguard his own life or the life of other believers.
One might wonder why Islam focuses both on love for the sake of
Allah and dislike for the sake of Allah. One might
question the need for disliking and say that we should only have
love in our hearts. However, Islam is a rational religion, and it is
rationally understandable that when we love something we must
necessarily dislike its opposite. How can we love the honest
without disliking the dishonest? Or love truth without disliking
falsehood? If you love a virtue, you cannot help but dislike the
vice. Similarly, if you love Allah, you automatically
dislike His enemies. Of course, a believer should not have any
personal dislike for anyone. If we dislike someone, it is because
of their bad qualities. We might love someone as the servant of
Allah, but we cannot love the bad qualities in him. This is
the rational implication of loving good things.
Even if these two concepts are considered separately, they imply
each other like two sides of the same coin. If we want to improve
ourselves, we should try to increase our love for Allah and
those who are close to Him, and increase our love for the acts
which are loved by Allah. This can be achieved by
gaining more knowledge and then reflecting on it.
One interesting and practical way of improving ourselves is by
reading biographies of people who have loved Allah
immensely and developed a close relationship with Him.
Their life-stories reveal many hidden secrets about their lives,
which can help and inspire us to be more inclined to their way of
living. This is a naturally inspiring process.
Any knowledge that one gains must be coupled with reflection in
order for that knowledge to come into practice. Reflection brings
about a harmony in one’s self, as one’s emotions begin to support
their knowledge. For example: if I know that telling lies is wrong,
I might still tell lies. I need to take a few minutes every day and
think about why telling lies is wrong, and realize, for example,
that it brings about no benefit.
If we reflect on the people we love we may ask: why do we love
these people? If someone gives you a job, you would not forget
them for as long as you live; if someone teaches you something,
you would be grateful and remember them; if someone helps you,
or gives you money, or if your neighbour smiles at you or is kind
to you, then you would love them. We do not need great reasons
to love people: just a little caring and affection is enough. So how
can we not love Allah when everything we have is from
Him and nothing bad is from Him? We know these things, but we
just need to reflect on them. If our love for Allah
increases and intensifies, then we cannot disobey Him. How can
you disobey the one that you love and make Him unhappy?
Love for Allah is therefore a very important concept
which can help us practically to develop spiritually, and become
closer to Him.

Thankfulness

The virtue of thankfulness is very much related to love for Allah
. If you are thankful you will certainly love Allah because
of all His favours and if you love Allah you will believe in Him
and obey him. Thus, thankfulness is the core of iman (faith). It
may not be accidental that in Arabic the terms used to signify
ungratefulness and disbelief are identical, that is, kufr. Here are
some verses of the Quran where a contrast is made between
thankfulness and unthankfulness:

If you are ungrateful (takfur-u), indeed Allah has
no need of you, though He does not approve
ingratitude (al-kufr) for His servants; and if you
give thanks He approves that for you. No bearer
shall bear another’s burden; then to your Lord will
be your return, whereat He will inform you
concerning what you used to do. Indeed He knows
best what is in the breasts. (39:7)

So when he saw it set near him, he said, ‘This is by
the grace of my Lord, to test me if I will give
thanks or be ungrateful (akfur). And whoever
gives thanks, gives thanks only for his own sake.
And whoever is ungrateful (kafar) [should know
that] my Lord is indeed all-sufficient, allgenerous.’
(27:40)

Certainly We gave Luqman wisdom, saying, ‘Give
thanks to Allah; and whoever gives thanks, gives
thanks only for his own sake. And whoever is
ungrateful (kafar), [let him know that] Allah is
indeed all-sufficient, all-laudable.’ (31:12)

A very striking verse is to be found in the Chapter Man (76:3),
where thankfulness (to Allah for His guidance) is considered to
be identical with faith and to be unthankful is the opposite:

Indeed We created man from the drop of a mixed
fluid so that We may test him. So We made him
endowed with hearing and sight. Indeed We have
guided him to the way, be he grateful or
ungrateful. (76:2)

Therefore, shukr (thankfulness) is a very significant concept. It is
a primary issue related to the core of iman. It is also practical and
uncomplicated. Moreover, if we are thankful, we can achieve
many things as Allah says in the Quran:

When Moses said to his people, ‘Remember
Allah’s blessing upon you when He delivered you
from Pharaoh’s clan who inflicted a terrible
torment on you, and slaughtered your sons and
spared your women, and in that there was a great
test from your Lord.’ And when your Lord
proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely
enhance you [in blessing], but if you are
ungrateful, My punishment is indeed severe.’ (14:7)

Imagine a teacher who has a thankful student. That student
appreciates the teacher and knows the teacher is doing a good job
of helping him. Furthermore, the student declares that he is
thankful, and then puts into practice what the teacher has taught
him. The teacher would love to teach this student whatever he
knows, as the teacher would not feel that his knowledge is being
wasted. This is the example of a thankful servant who in his heart
appreciates, with his tongue declares, and with his body,
practices. Allah will give such a person more and more
and He has no limits. The more He gives, the more you receive.
In the Dua of Iftitah we recite:

O the one that abundance of giving does not
increase Him save generosity and bounteousness!

One might wonder how it is possible that Allah’s
generosity increases by giving. When Allah gives you
something and you are thankful and can maintain that state, your
capacity to receive increases. There is no limit for divine
generosity except our limited capacity. The more Allah
gives, the more capacity we have to receive, and so His
Generosity accelerates into this infinite Mercy.

The concept of thankfulness has been explored by many Muslim
scholars who have made various useful distinctions between the
various types of thankfulness. According to Khajeh Abdullah
Ansari in his book Manazil al-Sa’irin (The Stations of the
Wayfarers), there are three main types of thankfulness:

• Thankfulness from the heart: knowing that something is a
gift from Allah;
• Thankfulness with words: declaring that you are thankful
for divine bounties;
• Thankfulness in practice: doing something with your
hands, feet, eyes, etc., as acts of worship. This is practical
thankfulness.

The first type of thankfulness is the most important, as it brings
about the other two types. He also mentions that thankfulness
consists of three main things:

• To know something is a gift: for example, one might
know everything about health, but to know that health is a
gift from Allah is to know something additional.
• To acknowledge that this is a gift from Allah: this means
to admit that what one has been given is a gift, and that
he/she is the recipient. Sometimes one might know
something is a gift, but refuses to acknowledge it out of
arrogance. One might think that he has earned it, or that
he could live without it.
• To praise Allah for it.

Lastly, Khajeh Abdullah Ansari studies the notion of
thankfulness and asserts that being thankful has different levels:

• Some levels are shared by ordinary people: they
understand that there are some gifts from Allah that we
are thankful for, and try to be pleased and praise Him.
• On higher levels, people are not only thankful for what
they consider to be gifts that Allah has given them, but for
whatever happens to them. Even a bad thing that occurs to
a believer is not caused by a lack of love from Allah,
and so a believer is thankful for that.
• Some people are very concerned with Allah’s presence:
they feel no ease or pain as they do not have any time to
think about whether they are in the state of ease or pain.

This is the power of love. Similarly, if you are watching
an interesting film, you might forget that you are hungry.
Or if we are in the company of someone we love, we may
forget the time and do not want the meeting to end. People
who love Allah to this extent are completely
distracted and absorbed by His Essence. Khajeh Abdullah
Ansari calls it the thankfulness of the elite.

Love and thankfulness are two intertwined concepts which can
help us practically on our journey to self-improvement. Imam
Khomeini in his book Forty Holy sayings points out that the
appearance of the effects of love and thankfulness become
apparent in the heart, on the tongue and in the bodily acts and
movements. As for the heart, one becomes filled with humility,
awe and love. As for the tongue, the effects are among praise and
glorification for Allah alone. As for the body, the effects consist
of obedience and the use of the body for the sake of Allah. May
Allah increase our love for Him by increasing our understanding
of Him, and may He inspire us to be thankful in all situations.

Humbleness

Another key concept in Islamic spirituality is ultimate
humbleness or spiritual poverty. This means to strengthen our
understanding of the need for Allah and achieve a sense of
complete reliance on Him. This means that even saying, “Allah
has been very kind to me” or that “Allah has been very generous
to me” is not enough. Who are we without Allah’s favour and
grace? We are nothing! It is not that Allah has been generous to
something independent of Himself. We are nothing else than
what He has created. All good things come from Him; in the best
scenario we are just recipients, contingent creations of Allah, not
independent from Him in any way.
One might compare this to humbleness: but it is more important,
more intense, and at a higher level. Sometimes people try hard to
be humble. For example, if they feel very important because they
have been successful they try to control themselves so that they
do not become arrogant; this is a struggle. But if one achieves
spiritual poverty there is no need to struggle, as one would feel
they had nothing of their own to be proud of except the gifts of
Allah. Reflection on our limits and absolute need for and
reliance on Allah leaves no place for any kind of arrogance or
self-admiration. Whatever we have, or is at our disposal, belongs
to Allah. We are given things as trust for a short period of time
and will be questioned on the Day of Judgement about the way
we have dealt with them. Indeed, we ourselves belong to Allah in
our very existence. Rene Guenon (1973) writes:
The contingent being may be defined as one that is
not self-sufficient, not containing in himself the
point of his existence; it follows that such a being
is nothing by himself and he owns nothing of what
goes to make him up. Such is the case of the
human being in so far as he is individual, just as it
is the case of all manifested beings, in whatever
state they may be for, however great the difference
may be between the degrees of Universal
Existence, it is always as nothing in relation to the
Principle. These beings, human or others, are
therefore, in all that they are, in a state of complete
dependence with regard to the Principle "apart
from which there is nothing, absolutely nothing
that exists"; it is the consciousness of this
dependence which makes what several traditions
call "spiritual poverty".
At the same time, for the being who has acquired
this consciousness, it has, as its immediate
consequence, detachment with regard to all
manifested things, for the being knows from then
on that these things, like himself, are nothing, and
that they have no importance whatsoever compared
with the absolute Reality.

Imam Husayn prays to Allah:

What can I bring when I want to come to
you?…Can I come with my ears, my eyes, my
tongue, my hands, my feet? Is not this the case
that all of these are your blessings that you have
given me?

Elsewhere Imam Husayn says:

O My Lord! I am poor in my richness so how
can I not be poor in my poverty?

Whatever I have is a sign of my need, a sign of my dependence.
What about that which I do not have? Suppose that there is a
person who has taken a loan, say, of one million dollars from a
bank and another person who has taken one hundred thousand
dollars. Which one is richer, and which one is not? It seems
obvious that the one who has taken more money is more indebted
and more responsible and must have more concerns and worries.
Whatever Allah gives us puts us more in debt. There are many
many things that we do not have and even those things that we
have do not belong to us so how can we feel proud and free from
needs.

Imam Husayn says:

With respect to my knowledge, I am ignorant.
How can I not be very ignorant in respect to what I do not know?

What we know is very limited and surrounded with lots of
questions. The more we know, the more questions we will have.
This is why those who are more knowledgeable are more careful
and cautious in their claims and farther from arrogance. Also,
over time, we can easily lose what we know. There are people
who cannot even remember their own names or the names of
their closest relatives.

Imam Husayn also says:

O Allah! Verily the alteration of your affairs and
the speed of progress of your decrees prevent
those servants of You who know You to be
confident when faced with your favour or to feel
despaired when challenged with calamities.

Everything changes quickly in this world. Sometimes we are
happy and sometimes sad. Sometimes people respect us and
sometimes no one respects us. Sometimes our children are good
to us and sometimes not. There are lots of ups and downs. What
is the reason for this? We need to learn that we cannot trust
anything except Allah. No one knows what will happen and,
therefore, we should not trust anything. As the sayings of Imam
Husayn shown above teach us, we should not trust anything
or anyone other than Allah and at the same time we should not
despair. We should not be hopeless or feel helpless when bad
things happen. The key is in the hands of Allah and He can
change our situation to betterment in any moment. Having said
all this, Imam Husayn says:

I appeal to You with my poverty and need for
You. And how can I appeal to You with
something which is impossible to reach You? Or
how should I mention my complaint to You
while it is not hidden to You? O my Allah! How
can I not be poor when You have put me
amongst the poor? And how can I be poor when
you have made me rich with your generosity?

This shows that the means (wasilah) that the Imam uses to get
closer to Allah is his dependence on Allah and his deep
understanding that he is poor and nothing before Allah. Thus, the
valuable means that Imam Husayn finds and wants to use is
‘poverty’. According to the Quran, we are all needy. The Quran
says:

O mankind! You are the ones who stand in need
of Allah, and Allah—He is the All-sufficient, the
All-laudable. (35:15)

We are all needy and it is only Allah who is rich and free of need.
Many people do not understand this. Imam Husayn declares
that he understands and admits this and wants to use it as a means
to get nearer to Allah. Then the Imam describes that when he
wants to come with his poverty there is a problem, in that poverty
does not reach Allah. This is to emphasise that poverty is only
from one side; poverty cannot reach Allah. This may also mean
that the one who goes with poverty will meet Allah whilst he is
rich. To become rich you must take poverty with you, but the
people who feel that they are the poorest people are the richest
people in the eyes of Allah. Whoever is the most humble, Allah
will raise him more than anyone else. As we find in a holy saying,

‘whoever tries to be humble for Allah’s sake, Allah will elevate
him.’

In a divine saying we find that Allah told
Moses the reason why He made him a Prophet is that He
looked into the hearts of all people and saw that Moses was the
most humble one.

According to a well-known holy saying, the person who avoids
arrogance and chooses to be humble before Allah and serves Him
sincerely is no longer a slave of others or of his own whims. He
will achieve some kind of lordship: The servitude to Allah is a
substance whose essence (core) is the lordship.

In another holy saying, we read:

My servant, obey Me. [If you do so] I will make
you an example of Myself. I am alive and never
die so I make you alive and never die. I am rich
and never become poor so I make you become rich
and never poor. Whatever I want it will be, so I
make you in the way that whatever you want it
will be there.

Reflecting on his life, one can see in the Prophet Muhammad
the perfect example of humbleness. Indeed, the reason why the
Prophet Muhammad was chosen to be the ‘Seal of the Prophets'
and was given the final message of Allah lies mostly in the fact
that he was a true servant of Allah and the most humble person
before Allah and His people. At least nine times a day in their
prayers Muslims bear witness that the Prophet Muhammad was a
servant of Allah and His Apostle. This means that among all his
qualities there are two that are exceptional: first, he managed to
be a servant of Allah and second, he was rewarded by being
appointed as the Apostle of Allah.
The Prophet was so humble that he never admired himself; he
never felt superior to others. He never separated himself from the
masses and always lived a very simple life. He maintained the
same conduct while he was both alone and powerless as well as
when he ruled the Arabian Peninsula and Muslims were wholeheartedly
following him. He lived very simply and was always
with the people, especially the poor. He had neither a palace nor
guards. When he was sitting with his companions, no one could
distinguish him from others by considering his seat or clothes. It
was only his words and spirituality that distinguished him from
others.
Just before his demise, the Prophet announced in the Mosque:
“Whoever among you feels that I have done injustice to him,
come forward and do justice. Surely, enacting justice in this
world is better in my view than being taken account of in the
Hereafter in front of the angels and the Prophets.” Those present
in the Mosque wept, for they were reminded of all the sacrifices
that the Prophet had made for them and the troubles that he had
undergone in order to guide them. They knew that he never gave
any priority to his own needs and never preferred his comfort and
convenience to others. They therefore responded with statements
of deep gratitude and profound respect. But one among them,
Sawadah b. Qays, stood up and said: “May my father and mother
be your ransom! O Messenger of Allah! On your return from
Ta’if, I came to welcome you while you were riding your camel.
You raised your stick to direct your camel, but the stick struck
my stomach. I do not know whether this strike was intentional or
unintentional.” The Prophet replied: “I seek refuge from Allah
from having done so intentionally.”
The Prophet then asked Bilal to go to the house of Fatimah and
bring the same stick. After the stick was brought, the Prophet told
Sawadah to retaliate by hitting him back. Sawadah said that the
stick had struck the skin of his stomach. The Prophet therefore
lifted his shirt so that Sawadah could in return strike his skin. At
that moment, Sawadah asked: “O Messenger of Allah! Do you
allow me to touch my mouth to your stomach?” The Prophet gave
him permission. Sawadah then kissed the stomach of the Prophet
and prayed that because of this act of his, Allah would protect
him from fire on the Day of Resurrection. The Prophet said: “O
Sawadah! Will you pardon me or do you still wish to retaliate?”
He replied: “I pardon you.” The Prophet then prayed: “O Allah!
Pardon Sawadah b. Qays as he pardoned Your Prophet,
Muhammad!”

Thus, in Islamic spirituality it is very important to feel humble
and that we are nothing in front of Allah. Not just as a claim that
we may utter without firm belief, but as a deep sense of
nothingness. Once a person saw Imam Sajjadin Masjid al-
Haram, next to Ka‘bah at Hijr of Isma‘il. He said: ‘I went to Hijr
Isma‘il and saw Ali b. Husayn there saying his prayer. Then
he went for Sajdah (prostration). I told myself: this is a pious man
from a pious family, so let me listen to him while praying in his
Sajdah.’ Then he quoted the Imam praying:
My Lord, your small and little servant has come to
your door, your captive has come to your door, the
one who is poor has come to your door, the one
who begs you has come to your door.

In the Quran, Allah warns the believers that if they turn away
from His religion, Allah will soon bring forward a people that
among their characteristics is their humbleness before the
believers:

O you who have faith! Should any of you desert
his religion, Allah will soon bring a people whom
He loves and who love Him, [who will be]
humble towards the faithful, stern towards the
faithless, striving hard in the way of Allah, not
fearing the blame of any blamer. That is Allah’s
grace which He grants to whomever He wishes,
and Allah is All-bounteous, All-knowing. (5:54)

In Islamic literature, especially that by Persian poets, great
emphasis has been put on spiritual poverty. For example, in a
long poem in his Mathnawi, Rumi illustrates the significance of
this feeling of nothingness and humility and the fatal danger of
pride and arrogance. Rumi argues that whomsoever people flatter
and prostrate before indeed poison him. If he is not spiritually
strong, he may be deceived and feel proud of himself. In this
way, he may become arrogant and damage himself and lose his
humility. When people flatter someone who is clever he will
realize that this can be detrimental. Rumi goes on praising those
who are humble in contrast to those who are arrogant. The
example of someone who has not established humbleness in
himself is like the one who drinks a poisonous wine. In the
beginning he may feel happy and joyful, but after a few minutes
he will collapse.

Another example that Rumi provides is the fight between two
kings. When one king wins the battle and becomes victorious he
will either imprison the defeated king or kill him, but he will
never punish the beggars or the poor subjects of the defeated
country. Indeed, he may help and promote them. Rumi says that
the reason is that these types of people are humble and have no
ambition of becoming a king and therefore they do not pose a
threat to the new king. Another example is a caravan which is
going from one place to another. When the thieves come to rob
the caravan, those who have no money will be safe. Or when
wolves attack they may attack anything that comes before them.
They may even attack each other and this is why when they want
to sleep they sit in a circle so that they can carefully watch each
other. But Rumi says if there is a dead wolf they will not attack
him. We know that the Prophet Khir made a hole in the bottom
of a boat because there was an unjust ruler in that area who used
to confiscate every boat or ship passing by. Thus, the only way
for that boat to be saved was to make it unusable. If a mountain
or hill has lots of valuable minerals inside, people will excavate
the area to bring out all the soils, sand and minerals out of it. But
an ordinary hill or mount which has nothing special inside will
remain intact. Someone who is walking is standing on his feet
and his neck is straight. Therefore, the enemies may cut off his
neck with their sword, but no one would cut off the head of a
shadow person, since the shadow is so “humble” that no one
thinks that it may pose any threat. When a ladder is going to
collapse the one who climbs higher is very stupid. When the
ladder collapses his bones will be damaged more severely.
After mentioning these examples, Rumi finally asserts that
whatever he said were like the branches whose root or principle is
much deeper. The underlying principle is that to feel arrogant is
to associate one’s self with Allah. This is polytheism (shirk).
Rumi goes on saying that since you have not yet died and again
gained life through Allah, you are not enjoying a spiritual life.
Without such a death, whatever position you take is shirk. But if
you die and become selfless, that is, if you are revived through
Allah you may go higher and higher. In such condition, whatever
you possess is for the sake of Allah and will be spent for the sake
of Allah. This is pure tawhid or monotheism.

It has been suggested that poverty means to not possess
something and at the same time to have the desire to possess it.
For example, he who feels in himself a certain lack of human
perfection and sincerely desires to remedy this lack is a 'faqir'.
Furthermore, it has been suggested that in Sufism “the longing of
love is born of faqr ('spiritual poverty')”.13 I think there are some
problems with this understanding of poverty. First, poverty is
much more than not to possess and then desire to possess. I think
poverty is an awareness of our absolute need and dependence on
Allah and as long as we are what we are this need cannot be
removed. Second, this sense of poverty is a spiritual gift and
virtue that should be maintained forever. Poverty is not a
transient station towards richness or affluence. Rather, poverty
itself is the greatest wealth and fortune that human beings can
ever have. The Prophet Muhammad is quoted as saying:
My honour is from spiritual poverty. I have been
honored over and above all prophets by being
graced with spiritual poverty.

Conclusion:

In this paper, we have discussed the concept of love
as the strongest foothold in Islam, and as a distinguishing factor
of a true believer. Knowledge, coupled with reflection and the
grace of Allah, can increase our love. Secondly, we
discussed the concept of thankfulness as equal to faith, as taught
in the Quran. Understanding the different levels of thankfulness
can help us to be aware and thankful in all situations.
In this paper, we also discussed humbleness and spiritual poverty,
through which one can attain piety, spirituality and alleviation
from worries and difficulties. This concept is not implying that
human beings have no value, and neither does it underestimate
the value of human beings; rather, it fully appreciates the value of
humans: by serving the Most Perfect and the Most Pure Allah, we
can get closer and closer to perfection.
May Allah help us understand how much we need Him,
how much He has given us, how to really ask from Him in the
best way, and how to make Allah pleased with us so we
can become enlightened and pure. This is the power and will of
Allah, and there is no limit to it. Allah has all the
power and all the reasons to be kind to us, and if there are any
obstacles, they are only due to us.

O Allah, grant me
the riches of poverty
for in such largesse lies
my power and glory.

(Hafez of Shiraz)

--

# A Glance at the Process of Self-development


The process of self-development has different stages. In what
follows, I will try to study briefly the whole process and refer to
its major stages.

Wakefulness or attention to one’s self:

The very first stage is wakefulness (yaqzah), that is,
to awaken from the preoccupation of worldly engagements
and to remove negligence.
To awaken is to remember to look after one’s piety, life and
spirituality. Many scholars such as Imam Khomeini in his book:
Jihad-e Akhbar (the Major Jihad), which is a compilation of
lectures given by him to Hawzah students, state that the first stage
of self-purification is wakefulness. Indeed some mystics believe
that this is only a preliminary stage and that the first stage comes
after wakefulness. However, there is no doubt that this is the
beginning. The departure point is to become awake. We may say
that we are all ‘awake’, but this is a different kind of wakefulness.

According to Prophet Muhammad:

"The people are asleep and only wake when they
die".

When they die, they wake and never go to sleep again. But then it
is too late. Then they are like someone who wakes up when the
train has gone, when the airplane has flown. At that time, there is
no use or benefit in going to the airport because, although you are
now awake, you have already missed the flight. All you can do is
to blame yourself and be regretful. You might say that you will
catch the next flight but unfortunately there are no more flights. It
is the end of the world, that was the last flight and we missed it
because we were asleep.
So, let us be awake. If we become conscious only when we die,
we cannot do anything, as there is no opportunity to come back.
Allah talks of the people who ask to be returned, so that
they can do something good. He replies “this is just some words
that this person says” (23:100). If he is given a chance, he will
not change, and even then, there is no opportunity; they just wait
for the day of resurrection. Unfortunately, death has become so
familiar or naturalised that we do not think we are going to die,
and it will always happen to someone else. According to an
Iranian poet,

“we are like a group of sheep, taken one by one
to the slaughter house; each is enjoying, not
thinking that they will be next”.

According to a holy saying, the Tawrah of Moses says:

“I am astonished that someone who is certain that he
is going to die, can ever be happy”.

So we need to become alert and wake up before we die.
Sometimes this happens through a significant event such as the
loss of a relative, severe illness, or in meeting a pious person.
However we should not wait for something to happen before
changing; we can just change, as there is no guarantee that
something will happen to us.
It is very easy to become awake: it just needs determination and
for us to think about how important and significant this life, this
journey to get closer to Allah, is to us. This is the only
chance that we have to obtain provisions for our eternal journey.
According to a holy saying, Imam Ali said:

“Day and night are constantly affecting you so you
should also try to affect them.”

This means that your life is passing by quickly. Every day and
every night is making you older. In other words every day and
every night is bringing you nearer to your end of life in this
world , so try to do something.
There is a beautiful analogy regarding our situation. Life in this
world is compared to a rope for a person who has gone into a
deep well and is only holding onto that rope. If he loses this rope
he will be finished. There are two mice, one white and one black,
at the top of the well, gnawing on the rope. The time will come
when the rope will definitely break. The mice are very
determined and will not go away. This is our situation. The rope
represents our life. The white mouse represents day and the black
mouse represents night. Day and night are constantly ‘gnawing’
away at our life and sooner or later we will ‘fall’ and die.
So we must be awake and be very careful with this life, with this
golden opportunity that has been given to us.

2. Knowing one’s self:

After becoming awake, we should try to
find out what resources, opportunities and options are available to
us. Now that we are awake, we want to do something. It is like
someone who has no work or business and so has no source of
income. Everyone tells him to be responsible and do something.
He agrees that he should do something but does not know what to
do. He cannot start from nothing. First of all he should discover
what kind of abilities and skills he has. He should know what
options are available. For example, he should try to learn about
the state of the business market. He should find out who has been
successful so that he can take them as role models. He should
also see who has become bankrupt so that he can learn lessons
from their situation and avoid becoming like them. This is what is
called ‘self-knowledge’ (ma'rifat al-nafs) and is considered to be
"the most beneficial knowledge". Why do we always tend to
forget about ourselves and know about other things instead? For
example, there are some people who may spend all their life
studying a rare species of insects but will not spend even one
hour sitting down, trying to find out what God has placed inside
them.
Muslim mystics say that there are two worlds: an external one
consisting of the beautiful natural world of humans, animals,
plants and non-living beings created by God and also an internal
world inside our very selves. And they say that this world inside
us is the greater world. What God has placed inside us is far
greater than the whole physical world outside ourselves. This is
why we read in a beautiful divine saying:

"Neither my heaven nor my earth could contain Me, it
is only the heart of a believing person that has
contained Me.”

From this holy saying, we can understand that our heart must be even
greater than all these stars and planets, than this whole creation
that we can see.
So, we need to know ourselves properly. We often underestimate
the potential that we have for perfection. There is an endless
possibility for perfection before us. Even the most holy people
can still advance. There is always further for them to go because
the distance between man and God is infinite and so there is
always a possibility to go still higher. This is why we pray after
tashahhud, "O God! Please accept the intercession of the Holy
Prophet for us and also elevate his level".
This means that the Prophet can go higher.

Many of us are too easily satisfied with our achievements. We
need to be more determined and have greater expectations. If we
are satisfied with small things, then we will lose out and maybe
we will not even achieve those small things. It is said that once
there was a religious scholar (‘âlim) whose son had become a
student of religion. The father asked his son what he wanted to
become in the future. The son answered that he wanted to become
like his father. The father replied that he felt very sorry for his
son because he himself had wanted to become as much as
possible like Imam Ja'far Sadiq, who was his role model, and yet
his present situation was all that he had achieved. He told his son
that if he only wanted to become like his father then he would not
achieve anything. So, we should always have great ambitions and
indeed God has created us with such a potentiality inside us.
So, we need to know ourselves, we should believe in our
potential and be aware of the different things that can benefit or
harm us.

3. Taking care of one’s self:

After wakefulness and self-knowledge,
we need self-care. It is not enough simply to know
things; knowledge should serve us by being put into practice. For
example, if you know that smoking kills but have no concern for
your health and so continue to smoke, there is no benefit in that
knowledge. In fact it just makes you more responsible and
accountable because you know. Of course, this does not mean
that we should avoid learning. To say we did not know is not a
good enough excuse; we must learn and then put what we learn
into practice. So we need to have self-care. The Quran states:

“O believers, look after yourselves, if you are on the
right path, you will not be harmed”. (5:105)

To look after oneself implies practicing one’s social
responsibilities as well, since Islam is a religion that asks us to be
actively engaged in social life: all with the spirit of wakefulness
and consciousness, and knowing what can benefit and harm us.
However, there is something that often happens to people in this
state. When they become conscious and sensitive to spiritual
issues, then unfortunately instead of being concerned with their
own piety, instead of being mostly busy with their own problems,
they become judgmental about other people. For example, they
start thinking that this person is useless, that one is careless and
another one is not really a believer. This is very dangerous. First
of all and most of all a true believer should be busy with his own
problems. We understand from holy sayings that it is much better for
us if we are busy sorting out our own problems and illnesses
rather than thinking about others and being judgmental. For
example, the Prophet Mohammad is quoted as saying:
Blessed is the one who is so busy thinking about
his own deficiencies that he has no time to think
about the deficiencies of others.
Thus, we must start with criticising and assessing ourselves
before looking at others. Sometimes we have an enormous
problem within ourselves but we are not aware of it and yet we
notice a tiny amount of that same problem when it is in someone
else. For example, we may have eaten something like garlic and
do not realise that our mouth smells and yet when we meet
someone who smells in some way, we are so quick to think or say
something about them.

There is a story in Mathnawi by Rumi that four people had an
appointment with a king immediately after midday prayers. They
were very concerned not to lose this opportunity to meet the king
and did not want to be late. So they decided to say their prayers
quickly and then go to meet the king. They started praying as
soon as they reached the mosque. However while they were
saying their prayers, the one who calls for prayer (mu’adhdhin)
came into the mosque to climb the minaret. They were now
unsure and began to wonder whether they had started their
prayers too early or whether that day the mu’adhdhin had arrived
late. So, whilst praying, one of them asked the mu’adhdhin
whether the time for prayers had already arrived or not. The
second person asked the first why he had spoken whilst praying
because whether the time had arrived or not he had now made his
prayers void by speaking. The third person pointed out that the
second person had now also spoken by asking the first one why
he had spoken. However the fourth person considered himself to
be "very clever". He said: ‘Thanks to God that I did not speak!’
So, in this story we see that four people shared the same problem
but each could only see it in the other people and not in
themselves. In fact they repeated the very same mistake for which
they were criticizing the others. Therefore it is so much better to
be very concerned about ourselves rather than about other people.
Sometimes people think that this means they should be
indifferent to what is happening around them, in their community
or in society. This is not the case. But if we want to be more
useful to our community and to society then we should first start
with ourselves and then we can help others. For example, we see
that when giving instructions on a plane regarding the use of
emergency oxygen masks, they always advise us to attend to
ourselves first and then help those next to us. Otherwise, whilst
we are trying to help the other person with their mask, we
ourselves may collapse.

So, we should have self-care. But how should we care for
ourselves? Should we only pray and recite the Quran? Should we
just serve society by doing community work?

Acquiring appropriate beliefs and faith:

The very first thing that we need to do is to acquire proper beliefs and a proper
understanding of the world. If you want to be a good businessman
you must know the market and the people who are in the same
business. You need to know the present situation, future
possibilities and the factors that work in that particular business.
If we want to be successful in this world we must know Who is
the One who has control here. If we need to get permission to
start a business we should know where to go to get that
permission. In the same way, if we want to start a spiritual
‘business’ we should know from where to get permission. We
should know what laws and regulations apply and should be
observed. We should know what provisions are provided and
what kind of loans and grants might be given to us.
Sa‘di, a famous Iranian poet who wrote Golestan and Bustan,
tells a beautiful story. He says that once a person went to do some
business in another country. He realized that in that country the
bell which they used to hang in the public bath-houses was very
cheap to buy. For example, if the bell would have cost $100 in his
country then in that country it cost only $1. So he sold all his
goods and with whatever money he had, he purchased maybe a
thousand bells. Then he expected to return to his country and
generate $99 profit on each bell. So he transported all these bells
back to his home town. However the problem was that there were
only two or three bath-houses in his town and so no-one wanted
to buy the bells. No-one was interested, even when he offered
them at half price. So he lost all his capital and became bankrupt
because he did not know which were the right kind of goods that
would be purchased in his country.
Many people are like this and invest in things in this world which
will be of no value in the hereafter. We invest our life, which is
the most valuable ‘capital’ that we have been given, in things
which, when we arrive in the hereafter, we will be told were
pointless and thus we had wasted this ‘capital’. Hence we need
to have faith and to know the way in which our life in this world
can secure our happiness in the next world. We must have correct
beliefs and we should be especially careful to understand the
connection between our life in this world and our life in the
hereafter. About one third of the Glorious Quran talks about the
hereafter. There is so much emphasis on it to teach us that the
eternal life is the thing for which we must really prepare
ourselves.
Another useful parable can be found in holy sayings. There is an
example in the story of the person who worshipped day and
night: one day an angel passed by, thinking that with such
dedication, this person must have a very high status. When the
angel went close to him, he realised that the person did not have
proper understanding of God, as he said “I wish you had a
donkey so I could feed him in my field, as I have lots of grass
here”. This person saw God like a human being, who has a
donkey. This kind of faith is not rewarding, and so aqidah is the
first certainty that needs to be secured. We must make efforts to
gain proper understanding of God the Creator, His position in this
world, the belief in Unity, Prophethood, and Resurrection.
Therefore, first we should have correct beliefs, but not the kind of
beliefs that we normally learn and can only repeat in a parrot-like
fashion. It must be the kind of belief that we have completely
absorbed into our very being so that if we say that there is only
One God, then our whole body and soul would declare that we
are monotheist.

[Being a good, kind and caring person is necessary but not sufficient to attain
a place in heaven: we must also have faith. If people are good in their dealing
with others, and have no faith, there is no chance to go to heaven: maybe they
will not be sent to Hell, or their punishment will be reduced, but there is no
way of attaining heaven. To believe in God, as the One and only Creator is a
necessary and fundamental belief.]

Performing acts of piety and refraining from sins and evil
deeds:

We should try to perform our obligations and observe all
the requirements of our faith. Even if we have proper beliefs and
perform all our obligations but do not stop committing sins, we
will not succeed. If someone washes his hands ten times a day but
continues to touch things which are dirty and polluted, he will
become dirty again. It is no use saying that he washed his hands
ten times that day. Daily prayer is like a spiritual bath which
makes us clean but if we do the same things again afterwards then
we are just making ourselves dirty again.
There is a beautiful example of someone who has a carrier bag
into which he puts some purchases in order to take them home.
But there is a big hole in the bottom of the carrier bag and so
whatever he puts into the bag falls out through the hole. He is
surprised and wonders how it could be possible that he has filled
the bag with at least ten times its capacity but it still remains
empty. He wonders where everything is going. In a similar way,
depending on our age, we have worshipped God for 10, 20, 30 or
40 years. But where is the result of this worship? Why are we still
the same kind of people? Why are we the same after the month of
Ramadan as we were before it? It is because we do good things
but in addition to this we also do bad things.

There is another useful example related by Rumi. There was a
farmer who used to harvest his wheat and put it into his
storeroom, hoping to fill it for the winter. But, to his
astonishment, every time he went to the storeroom to fill it with
more wheat he discovered that the level of the wheat would be
lower than before and thus the storeroom was never filled. So he
was surprised, especially as the storeroom was always locked so
that no-one else had access to it to take anything out. He would
always carefully lock the door. So he decided that one night he
would have to stay awake inside his storeroom so that he could
find out what was happening. So one night he indeed remained
awake inside the storeroom, silently watching. After midnight he
realized that there were some huge rats coming and taking all the
wheat out of the storeroom. Thus he realized that they were the
real cause of the problem. So Rumi tells us that we are like this.
There are some rats in our hearts which take away the light of our
good deeds. If there are no rats, then where is the light of forty
years of praying, the light of forty years of fasting, of going for
Hajj, etc.? So we should be very careful not to do any sinful
actions. We should not commit even one single sin. Of course we
are human beings and we may make mistakes, but a real believer
is the one who, if he makes a mistake, firstly always feels sad and
bitter about it and secondly he quickly repents and sincerely
decides not to repeat the same mistake again. So, if we commit a
sin we must repent as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, amongst some people who are interested in
spirituality there are those who think that the religious law
(shari‘ah) is only needed at the beginning and that afterwards we
should be concerned with the requirements of the spiritual
journey (tariqah). Sometimes they say that this is like someone
who has reached the core and so no longer needs the peel. But
this is a wrong idea because we always need to observe the
shari‘ah. The Holy Prophet and Imams of the Household of the
Prophet (Peace be upon them all) always followed the shari‘ah
and there is no one who can claim to be more pious than them.
There is no incident where the Holy Prophet committed a sin and
then said that it was alright for him to do so. For example he
never said that we should not tell lies but that it was allowed for
him to do so. Or that we should not drink alcohol or gamble but
that for him it was acceptable. Unfortunately nowadays we find
that there are some so-called Muslims who follow people calling
themselves masters or imams who do not themselves follow the
requirements of piety and still their followers believe in them and
think that they will never be affected by their unlawful deeds.
However, according to the school of Ahlul Bayt this matter is
very clear. We should observe the shari‘ah but this is not enough.
There are two different ways of looking at shari‘ah. One is to
believe that the shari‘ah is only for the beginner and that after we
reach the higher levels we no longer need it. This is what some
Sufis do. The second way is to say that the shari'a is always
needed but that by only following shari‘ah we will always remain
at the lowest level. If we want to go to the higher levels, in
addition to the shari‘ah we should try to go beyond the
performance of mere rituals to discover the spirit contained
within them. An example which might help is that of a person
who is at primary school. If someone is at primary school and
they feel satisfied with that, then their education will always
remain incomplete. They need to go on to secondary school, to
high school and then to university. But we cannot say that we will
go to secondary school and once there we will forget about
everything learnt at primary school. Or that when we go to
university we will forget about everything learnt at high school.
This will not work.
It has to be noted that nothing can replace performance of the
obligations and refraining from the sins. In Nahj al-Balaghah,
Imam Ali says:

“Do not be one of the people who have hope for the
hereafter without having good practice and who
postpone repentance because he is too ambitious”.

If we maintain proper practice, little by little, the light of our
deeds will enlighten our hearts. Even if you do little good things,
it can be built upon, as long as you do not commit sins. The
Prophet Muhammad told Abu Dharr:

“O Abu Dharr, with piety, you need to supplicate just
the amount of salt you have on your food. O Abu
Dharr, the example of the one who supplicates
without practice is like the one who tries to shoot an
arrow without rubber.”

On the other hand, if someone commits sins the performance of
lots of good deeds will not help. We cannot compensate for sins
with good deeds. The Quran says:

“God only accepts from the pious people”. (5:27)

Acquiring good characteristics and removing bad ones:

In addition to having proper beliefs, performing our obligations and
refraining from sins, we need to look into the qualities of our
heart or spirit and find out what good qualities we lack so that we
achieve them and what bad qualities we have so that we can
remove them. This is what we normally learn in the science of
Akhlaq (morality) and is much more difficult than having proper
beliefs or proper practice. We often have bad habits which are
difficult to change or even to notice, because they have almost
become part of us. In this situation we need to struggle and we
need cure. For example a person may be fearful. As soon as it
gets dark, they become frightened. Sometimes the person may be
very determined to overcome this fear but it is still very difficult
and needs some kind of treatment. Somehow it is like a cancer
which needs difficult therapy. Firstly we must identify our bad
habits and then we should try to promise ourselves that we will
not do anything according to that habit because if we act
according to a bad habit it becomes stronger and stronger. For
example we may have a bad habit which we cannot remove
immediately, but if we do not actually act according to that habit
then gradually it becomes weaker and weaker. There are also
specific solutions for particular bad habits depending on what
kind of habits they are. So the general advice and solution is not
to act according to a bad habit but also to apply specific solutions
for the bad habits or qualities. For example if someone wants to
stop smoking there are certain techniques to help break this habit
which would not work for another habit.
Sometimes after decades you can become sure that you are good,
and then you realise that you are bad. An example is someone
who was always attending in the first row in the jamaat prayer,
and after many years he realised it was not for the sake of Allah,
since once when he came late and had to pray in the last row, he
felt ashamed that people would think that he was not in the first
row. He realised that it was for the praise of others that he was
always early and in the first row. On the contrary, one may refer
to an incident about Ayatollah Shaykh Mohammed Husayn
Isfahani Qarawi, the teacher of the late Ayatollah Khu’i. Once
some people on a street in Najaf, saw that he was smiling and
happy and someone asked him why he was happy. The Ayatollah
replied that his bag of vegetables had fallen down, and when he
started collecting them he was not concerned that people were
looking at him. This made him happy, because he remembered
another incident that had taken place in the early years of his
study at the hawza. At that time he had an expensive tasbih as he
was rich, and when it broke, he did not collect the beads since
didn’t want people to look at him. Now he felt content, that even
though he was a great scholar, he did not feel bad that people
were looking at him while he was picking up vegetables. At that
point, he felt that there was no sense of pride in him.
In works such as Mi'raj al-Sa‘adah and Jami' al-Sa‘adah we
learn different faculties of our soul and the corresponding virtues
and vices of each. We also learn the methods for obtaining the
virtues and removing the vices.

Continuing the process of self-development until one
becomes a true servant who meets his Lord:

We should continue this process. It is a lifelong challenge which cannot be
given a time limit of one month or one year or ten years after
which time we could feel that we have completed it and allow
ourselves to relax. On the contrary, as long as we remain in this
world, up to the very last moment of our life, we must be careful.
And we must not waste any opportunity. There is no age of
retirement or graduation, because however much we manage to
acquire, firstly it is not guaranteed that we will preserve them and
secondly, even if we mange to maintain them, they will not
constitute sufficient provision for our eternal journey. The Quran
states, “And worship your Lord till certainty comes to you”
(15:99). Before we meet Him, there is no sense of relaxation,
retirement, graduation or rest. Insha Allah when we meet Him,
then we can rest. So we must continue this process until we meet
Him and He is happy with us.
There is an interesting story illustrating our situation. There was a
group of people who were going to be sent to a dark tunnel. They
were told that when they entered the corridor it would be very
dark and they would not be able to see anything. They were told
that they must go from one end of this tunnel to the other end and
that on the floor there would be some stones which they could
pick up and bring out. They were told that if they took the stones
they would regret it, but that they would also regret it if they did
not take the stones! Then they were sent into the corridor. Some
people thought that it was not worth collecting the stones because
they would regret doing so. Some others thought, out of curiosity,
that they might as well take some stones to see what they were,
even if they might regret it later. Thus some collected stones
whilst others did not and then they all came out of the corridor.
When they were outside again, in daylight, those people who had
collected stones realised that they were actually very expensive
jewels. Those people who had not taken any stones saw this and
became very angry. They started to protest, asking why they had
been told that they would regret collecting the stones. Then they
were told that although those people who do not collect any
stones regretted this, even those who did take some regretted that
they had not taken more and wished that they had collected more
by filling their pockets as well.
So this is what we should do. We should make sure that our
hands and pockets are overflowing with good characteristics and
good deeds, get the benefit of them in this world and then take
them to the hereafter.

Summary

There are various stages one must go through on the path of self
building. We must first awaken from our slumber of negligence
and realise the reality of our existence: only then will we know
ourselves and take care of our actions. This must be coupled with
true beliefs and faith in the One God. Faith is not complete
without good actions and so we must also refrain from forbidden
acts. Lastly, we must rid our soul of bad qualities and habits.
Although the path is difficult to embark upon, Insha’Allah with
Allah’s grace we shall gain the tawfeeq to complete these
stages and achieve proximity to Him with ease.


--

# Practical Instruction for Spiritual Journey


Five important things we need to observe:
Five very easy things that do not cost anything.
Five powerful vitamins for our spiritual health and growth.
If one maintains them for several weeks he will certainly start feeling the difference and see the results.

1. Not to speak unless necessary
2. Not to eat more than necessary
3. Not to sleep too much
4. To have private time to contemplate
5. Constant remembrance of God

--

# The Significance of Self-control and Self-purification


It is a common idea amongst all religious and spiritual traditions that
human beings should have some kind of self-control. Although we
enjoy free will, we need to exercise our free will in a responsible way.
In the same way that we expect others to respect our dignity and
interests, we should respect dignity and interests of others. We should
also safeguard our own dignity and long term interests. Thus, we
cannot simply go after our whims and desires and do whatever we
want. We need to have self-control and self-discipline which leads to
self-purification. If we purify our hearts we will no longer need to
resist our temptations and control ourselves against lower desires and
lusts, since a purified person desires nothing except what is good and
moral for himself and others. In what follows, we will study the
necessity of self-control and self-purification.

Self-control

On the necessity of self-control, the Glorious Quran says:

And as for him who fears to stand in the presence of his
Lord and forbids his own soul from its whims and
caprices then surely Paradise is the abode. (79:40 & 41)

O David! …do not follow the whims of your own soul for
they will lead you astray from God’s path. (38:26)

O you who have faith! Be maintainers of justice and
witnesses for the sake of God, even if it should be against
yourselves or [your] parents and near relatives, and
whether it be [someone] rich or poor, for God has a
greater right over them. So do not follow [your] desires,
lest you should be unfair, and if you distort [the
testimony] or disregard [it], God is indeed well aware of
what you do. (4:135)

Here we find two pieces of advice. Firstly, to observe God's Will, to
fear Him and to try to obey Him. And secondly, to forbid our soul
from doing what is wrong and harmful to us. This becomes only
possible when we have some kind of self-control. In Nahj al-Balaghah,
there is a very beautiful and insightful description of an un-named
brother. Imam Ali. is quoted as saying:

“In the past I had a brother-in-faith, and he was
prestigious in my view because the world was
insignificant in his eyes… If two things confronted him
he would see which was more akin to his whims and he
would do the other.”

We see that one of the brother-in-faith’s qualities was that when faced
with two options, (for example whether to go to one place or another,
one meeting or another or to engage in one business or another), that
is, when he was at a ‘crossroads’ and wanted to choose which way to
turn, he would look at his own soul/heart, trying to discover which
course of action was dearer to his self, his own personal interest and
then he would do the other one. For example, one might have the
option to either watch TV or to help someone with his work. The
soul which is not trained may encourage us to go and watch TV,
saying that it is a waste of time to help the other person. But instead it
is better to spend the time helping the other person.
Of course, we may not always be able to find out what is the right
course of action by just following this instruction. But it is important
to at least try to find out what our selfish desire wants us to do. God
has given us the ability to distinguish between what our egoism or
greediness wants from us and those things which are in our ‘real’
interests. When we work for our ‘real’ interest we also secure the
interests of other people. God has created us in a way that when we
really serve ourselves, then we serve all human beings. But if we try to
be ‘clever’ and only serve ourselves, then we not only damage
ourselves but also others. There are lots of ways to damage ourselves
and others. But it is not possible to truly serve oneself and not serve
others.
There is also another method which we can use when we want to
make a decision and have two or three options to consider and do not
know what to do. In such cases, it is useful to try to imagine that a
person who is very pious, and whose actions you trust and accept, is
in your place. Then try to decide what that person would do if he
were in your place. Since you have information about the way that
person normally makes his decisions and about his intentions and
good will, by keeping that person in mind you may be able to
understand what to do. For example, you could imagine a pious
scholar or pious relative, not necessarily an infallible or saint. You
could then think about what they might do and this would give you
some kind of insight.
So, it is a basic fact that we must have self-control. If we believe that
we should just do what we want by satisfying and gratifying ourselves,
then there is no point in talking about spiritual direction. Of course,
Islam tells us that self-control is just a beginning; it is for those people
who are at the start of the journey. What we need to do is to
transform our soul from one which has an interest in lower desires
into a soul which instead has a yearning for good things. Then our
soul itself becomes a helper and an assistant to us. But this is a matter
of training and purifying the soul.

There is a beautiful story in the Mathnawi by Rumi which shows how
the heart can be transformed in either a good way or a bad way. Rumi
says that once there was a perfume market where every person who
wanted to sell perfumes had a shop. As a result, whoever entered this
bazaar would only sense the beautiful fragrance of perfumes.
Everyone enjoyed it, especially the perfume sellers who of course are
the best people to appreciate perfume due to their refined sense of
smell, whereas we become confused after smelling too many different
fragrances. But one day someone went to the bazaar with a horse and
the horse dirtied the passageway of the bazaar. The people became
very angry because they could not tolerate the bad smell but no-one
had the strength to take the dirt outside. It was like torture for them.
So someone suggested that they had better bring someone there
whose job was to clean horses’ stables. They went to ask a young man
to help them. He said that of course he would be able to do this as
this was his job and what he always did. But when he entered the
bazaar, before even reaching the dirty place, as soon as he smelt the
fragrance of perfume he became unconscious because he was used to
bad smells and so could not tolerate good fragrances.

In a similar way, on one hand, we find people who enjoy praying, who
enjoy having some private time with God. And, on the other hand,
we find people who become angry when they see you praying and it
causes them pain. And when they see you go to the mosque or the
church, they feel troubled by this. There is a holy saying which says that a
believer in the mosque is like a fish in water but when a hypocrite is in
the mosque he feels like he is in prison and always wants to escape.
So these are the different states of the soul that we can reach through
self-training and self-purification.

Self-purification

In the Glorious Quran, God emphasises the purification and purity
of the human soul as follows:

I swear by the sun and its brilliance and the moon when it
follows the sun and the day when it makes manifest the
sun (and her beauty) and the night when it covers the sun
and the heaven and Him who made it and the earth and
Him who extended it and the soul and Him who made it
perfect, then He inspired it to understand what is right
and wrong for it. He will indeed be successful who
purifies it and he will indeed fail whoever pollutes and
corrupts it. (91:1-10)

So, after swearing eleven times, after so much emphasis, God declares
that the person who purifies his soul will be successful and whoever
pollutes and corrupts his soul will fail. On the Day of Judgement
there will be two groups of people: those who are prosperous and
happy because they purified their soul and those who are in an
unfortunate position because they were careless and negligent of their
soul.
Purification of the soul is a prerequisite for closeness to God. Indeed,
the whole point of morality and spirituality is to purify one’s soul. It is
only then that the soul starts shining, receiving and reflecting utmost
radiation and light from God. If we want to meet God, Who is the
Most Pure, then we need to achieve purity. It is impossible to be
polluted and then try to go towards God. If we want to go
somewhere where the people are smart, well-dressed and beautiful,
then we too need to make ourselves clean and tidy, we should put on
good clothes and thus make ourselves somehow compatible with
them. Otherwise they will say that we will spoil their gathering and
damage their reputation.
One of the main tasks of all the Prophets and a major aim
behind all their endeavours in teaching the divine message was to help
people to purify their souls. Referring to the mission of the Prophet
Muhammad, the Glorious Quran says:

He is the one who has sent amongst illiterate people an
apostle from among themselves who recites to them His
verses and purifies them and teaches them the Book and
the wisdom. (62:2)

Certainly God conferred a great favour upon the
believers when He raised among them a Messenger from
among themselves, reciting to them His verses and
purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the
wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest
error. (3:164)

As We sent to you an Apostle from among yourselves,
who recites to you Our signs, and purifies you, and
teaches you the Book and wisdom, and teaches you what
you did not know. (2:151)

Thus we see that one of the tasks of the Holy Prophet, in
addition to reciting the Quran and teaching the Quran and wisdom,
was to help us to purify our souls. Indeed, the appointment of
Prophet Muhammad for such tasks was an answer to the
prayer of Abraham and Ishmael after they raised the
foundations of the House (ka‘bah):

Our Lord! Accept from us; surely You are the Hearing,
the Knowing….Our Lord! And raise up in them a
Messenger from among them who shall recite to them
Your verses and teach them the Book and the wisdom,
and purify them; surely You are the Mighty, the Wise.
(2:127-129)

Just imagine how wise Abraham was! How lovely his supplication
was! In three places in the Quran, God says that He has sent the
Holy Prophet to do the same thing that Abraham and
Ishmael had wanted: to recite for the people the verses of the
divine Book, to teach them the divine Book and wisdom and to purify
their souls. Of course, it must be God Himself who inspired them to
pray in this way. God is so merciful that He first invites us to call
Him, then He inspires us what to ask and then he answers our call
and prayer.
Thus purification of the people was an important task for the Holy
Prophet and, indeed, all the Prophets. These verses
clearly show the great significance of the task of purification of the
soul. It is noteworthy that in the prayer of Abraham and Ishmael the
request of teaching the Book and wisdom is mentioned before the
purification, but in all the three places that God describes the mission
of the Prophet Muhammad, purification precedes teaching the
Book and wisdom. This indicates the priority and great importance of
purification. This also suggests that a prerequisite for learning the
Book and wisdom is to be pure.
There are a number of sources of impurity. A major or the major
source of impurity is the attachment to the materialistic life and
worldly affairs to the extent that the Prophet Muhammad is
quoted as saying:
The attachment to this world is the source for every
wrong. Beware how the one who is attached to this world
has loved what God dislikes. What wrong can be a
greater crime than this?
The materialistic world (dunya) is the least important and valuable
thing in the sight of God. To be attached to it and make it one’s
ultimate end in one’s life is a grave mistake and impurity. Therefore,
one of the major treatments of this problem and a crucial means of
purification of the soul is to ask people to give alms. In some twenty
verses of the Quran, giving alms (al-zakat) is mentioned right after
establishing prayer (iqamat a-salat). For example, Allah says in
the Quran:

And they were not commanded except to worship God,
dedicating their faith to Him as men of pure faith, and to
maintain the prayer, and pay the zakat. That is the upright
religion. (98:5)

Zakat is derived from the same root as tazkiyah (purification) i.e. zaka-
wa which means growth and purity. It has been suggested
that the reason for calling alms “zakat” lies in
the fact that paying zakat purifies one’s money and possessions. It is
also true that paying alms causes growth (nama) and blessing (barakah)
in one’s money and sustenance. It seems more reasonable to suggest
that the main reason for calling alms “zakat” is that it helps in
purifying the soul by getting rid of the love for this world. This is why
God says to the Prophet Muhammad:

Take charity from their possessions to cleanse them and
purify them thereby, and bless them. Indeed your
blessing is a comfort to them, and God is all-hearing, allknowing.
(9:103)

In this verse, instead of the term zakat, sadaqah (charity) is used.
However, the same point is there: Giving money for the sake of God
helps in purification of the giver.2 Elsewhere the Quran says:

he who gives his wealth to purify himself and does not
expect any reward from anyone, but seeks only the
pleasure of his Lord, the Most Exalted, and, surely, soon
he will be well-pleased. (92:18-21)

This in addition to the great emphasis that the Quran puts on giving alms shows
that it is not just a linguistic point or an accident that paying zakat as a religious
requirement and tazkiyah (purification of the people) as a major task of the Prophet
are so closely linked to each other.
Thus when someone spends some money for the sake of God on
things such as giving to the needy people or building places for
common good such as Mosques, seminaries, schools and hospitals
both giver and receiver benefit. However, the main beneficiary is the
giver who is giving some money which is the least valuable thing in
the sight of God and instead achieves purity and pleasure of God.

… You can only warn those who fear their Lord in
secret, and maintain the prayer. Whoever seeks
purification for himself, seeks purification only for his
own sake, and to God is the return. (35:18)

Conclusion

It is a basic fact that we must have self-control. There can be no
spirituality without self-discipline. We cannot develop ourselves by
simply doing what we wish and satisfying and gratifying our soul. Of
course, Islam tells us that self-control is just a beginning. What we
need to do is to transform our soul from one which has an interest in
lower desires into a soul which instead has a yearning for good things.
By training and purifying our souls, our soul itself becomes a helper
and an assistant to us. A major task of the Prophets and in particular
the Prophet Muhammad was to help people to purify
themselves. The reason for such a great emphasis on self-purification
is the fact that God is the Most Pure and the Most Perfect and it is
only by purification of the soul that we can achieve our ambition of
getting close to Him. One major way of purification is to get rid of
attachment to the materialistic life by giving out one’s own money for
the sake of God.

--

# Different Methodological Approaches to Spirituality


In the previous paper we discussed about the significance of self-control
and self-purification. In this paper we will review and briefly
discuss different methodologies among Muslim scholars in studying
spirituality in general and morality (akhlaq) in particular. In general, we
can classify the attitudes of scholars into three main approaches:

1. The Philosophical Approach
2. The Mystical Approach
3. The Scriptural or Text-Based Approach

The Philosophical Approach

Many Muslim scholars have found the outlook of some Greek
philosophers, especially Aristotle, to a large extent appealing as a way
in which to speak about the human soul. According to this view, the
human soul has three different faculties (quwwah) responsible for
action; they are:

1. The rational faculty (al-quwwah al-‘aqliyyah) is the faculty
responsible for knowledge. It helps us to understand matters and
enables us to engage in discussion. If this faculty functions
properly, one can attain true wisdom (hikmah). This does not
mean that one should strive for an excess of the rational faculty,
as this is one of the causes of scepticism; rather, it means that we
must be concerned with maintaining a balance. If a person is not
rational enough, he can be too accepting and believe whatever he
hears. This type of person can be easily deceived. Ibn Sinna, in a
profound statement says “Whoever is used to accepting an argument
without any reason is no longer a human being.” This is because a
fundamental part of humanity is rationality and human being is
often defined by philosophers as “rational animal”. Therefore one
needs to strike a balance, and not to be too rational and critical or
too receptive.

2. The faculty of anger (al-quwwah al-ghaabiyyah) is the faculty that
controls our temper. Without this faculty, we would not have the
motivation to protect ourselves from danger. However, if
someone allows this faculty to be extreme, they would be
aggressive and always ready to attack. On the other hand, if a
person lacks the faculty of anger they would be a coward. The
philosophers in this school of thought encourage us to attain a
balance between these two, so that we can attain the virtue of
bravery. A good person, therefore, is one who knows when to
become angry and to the right extent.

3. The appetitive faculty (al-quwwah al-shahwiyyah) is the faculty which
mostly consists of sexual appetite, but also includes our appetite
for food and other things. If the force of sexual desire did not
exist in man, the continued existence of the human species would
be endangered. This faculty must also be brought to a balance
where a person is chaste and modest.
Therefore, if one were to strike a balance in all these faculties he
would have wisdom, bravery and chastity; this is all one needs to
attain justice. This means that one who is just or ‘adil is one who has
attained perfection in every aspect of his soul. Being ‘adil is not merely
about abstinence from sins, but it is also about the perfection of
every faculty.
This school of spirituality sets out a very rational response to the
question of self-building. Although it is rational, some feel that it is
too abstract and lacks the inspirational and emotional qualities that
can really engage people and leave them motivated to change. We are
taught to strike a balance with our faculties but it can be difficult to
know where that balance is in different circumstances. This approach
is useful, but not sufficient; we must add practical and inspirational
elements to our view of self-building.

The Mystical Approach

The mystics consider the whole process of self-building as a journey
towards God or perfection and as a matter of gradual growth. The
difference between the previous approach and this approach is as
follows:
According to the first approach, the relationship of the soul and selfbuilding
can be considered in the following way. Imagine there is a
house which you wish to beautify; there are a number of things you
could do. You could take out the rubbish, then start decorating the
house, and furnishing the house in a wise way. If one manages to
remove the rubbish and all the ugly items from the house, and
furnishes it with beautiful items, then the house becomes attractive.
In the same way we can consider the house which we wish to beautify
as the soul we wish to cleanse and adorn with good character. We
must remove bad qualities from our hearts in order for Allah
to let the light in and furnish our hearts with a good character. For
example, we read in a holy saying, “angels do not enter a house in which dogs are
kept”. In a similar way we must consider the state of our hearts, and
if they are aggressive like a dog, ill tempered or diseased we cannot
hope for angels to enter. Therefore, this process involves three main
stages

1. Takhliyah – clean out
2. Tahliyah - adornment
3. Tajliyah – starts shining (starts to happen automatically after
you do first two).

Although this approach is inspiring to an extent, and can provide us
with a framework through which to self-build, it is not a dynamic
approach, as it does not fully explain where one should precisely start
and finish the spiritual journey. It does not say what we should clean
first or what to adorn ourselves with. Again, this approach is useful,
but not sufficient in itself as a complete plan of self-building.
According to the second approach, the relationship of the soul and
self-building can be considered in the following way. A person is like
a flower, and a flower can grow but not without care. A flower can
grow like any other that has grown in the past; it is not a unique thing.
A flower is gradually growing if everything is carefully looked after.
This is similar to how a child grows into an adult. One cannot be a
teenager before being a toddler. In the same way, one cannot give the
food of a toddler to a teenager or vice versa.
Therefore, the second approach i.e. the mystical approach looks at
spiritual growth in a dynamic way as a carefully planned procedure.
One needs the guidance of the people who have been to this process,
who can provide advice for what to do at each stage. With this
approach, every stage must be undertaken separately. This means that
the expectations in each stage should be different. What is good for
one person at one level may not be necessarily good for another
person at a higher level. For example, if a small child memorises Surah
Al-Fatihah (the Opening) and recites it people would commend the
child and would be impressed, but if the Imam of the prayer recited
the Surah in the same way, people would criticise him and not pray
behind him. Everything is therefore a matter of comparison as to
what we should expect from ourselves in different situations. It is a
constant journey from one level to the next.

The Scripture/Text Based Approach

According to this view, the best approach is to refer to the Quran
and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet and his family. Those
who advocate this approach therefore felt there was no need for a
philosophical framework, and instead they listed the desirable and
undesirable qualities of man based on the Quran. For example, for
the vice of greed they would extract verses from the Quran which
reveal that greed is an undesirable quality and provide evidence and
some solutions from holy sayins.

What should be our own attitude?

All these scholars have made great contributions to Islamic moral
thought. However, each of these approaches have their strengths and
weaknesses and if we wish to benefit the most we must create a
synthetic approach in which the advantages of each school of thought
can be incorporated.

Requirements for an Adequate Approach

1. Our moral outlook should be compatible with the Quran and
Sunnah, as there is no one better than Allah and the Holy
Prophet to guide, as to what is good or bad. All truth is
from Allah, no matter if it is relayed to us, by the mystics
or the philosophers.

2. The ethical system has to be comprehensive. No aspect of the
human being can be ignored. We do not want to have a person
who is only developed in one aspect. A human being must grow
in all different aspects.

3. The ethical system must be rational and supported by rational
arguments, but it also must be practical and engaging.
4. The framework must be consistent and no contradictions should
occur.

5. The ethical system must tell us what to do in different positions
and stations as self-building is a dynamic process and is not static.
In no field of study or practice can a person say they do not need
consultation or advice.

6. Islam is a religion which considers reason to be very important.
There is nothing irrational in Islam. There are many things taught
by revelation, but this is not because they are against reason; it is
because they are above reason. To illustrate the difference between
something being against reason and above reason let us consider
an example. If someone was asked how many people are in the
next room, using their reason alone, they could not tell you. This
answer does not come through reason. However, if someone
answered that there are one million people in the next room,
knowing the size of the room, we could say that this answer is
against reason.

Conclusion

We need a moral system based on the Quran and Sunnah, while at
the same time has rational and philosophical grounds. The system
must also have clear priorities, and if two things are in conflict, the
system must show which is more important. Lastly, we must be able
to find out what we can expect from each stage, usually by those who
have passed the stage we are now in, as their advice and help is
extremely important. Among our contemporary scholars, there have
been brilliant teachers of spirituality who have combined these
schools of thought, and whom we can learn from, such as: Imam
Khomeini, Allamah Tabatabai, Ayatollah Mutahhari and Ayatollah
Javadi Amuli.

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Different Treatments of Spirituality

Previously we studied different methodological attitudes
among Muslim scholars towards spirituality. Now we will
study the ways the Quran and holy sayings have treated the process of
self-development and described man’s effort and struggle to achieve
piety and spirituality.

1. Spirituality as combat with the self:

According to this approach, self-building is an internal battle
against the enemy within.

In a very well-known and inspiring holy saying, we read that
once, in Medina, the Prophet Muhammad saw a group of his
companions who had won a battle approaching. The Holy Prophet
said:
“Well done! Welcome to those people who have
completed the minor struggle and on whom the greater
struggle is still incumbent.” The Apostle of God was
asked: “What is the greater struggle?” He replied: “To
fight one’s own self.”

‘The best struggle is to fight one’s own self.’

The companions had defeated their enemies in a severe battle and
had been prepared to give up the dearest thing to them, their life, to
defend Islam. They were astonished and wondered what could be
greater than that. The Holy Prophet replied: ‘Jihad al-nafs.’ This
means to fight one’s own self, to struggle with your own self.
In a well-known holy saying Abu Dharr asked the Prophet Muhammad:
‘Which struggle is the best?’ The Holy Prophet replied:

“To struggle against one’s own self and lusts”.

The likening of self-development to an internal battle is indeed
rooted in the Quran itself. For example, the Quran says:

“And whoever strives, he strives only for his own soul;
most surely Allah is Self-sufficient, above (need of) the
worlds.” (29:6)

According to many exegetes of the Quran, this striving or struggle
(jihad) which has been mentioned here is a spiritual jihad. There are
two main pieces of evidence that they use to prove this. Firstly, the
use of the word “himself”: this is significant as in a war a soldier
fights for a cause; it may be for the oppressed, for the dignity of
Islam or for his country. However this verse mentions the cause as
“himself.” Secondly, previous to this verse Allah says:

“Whoever hopes to meet Allah, the term appointed by
Allah will then most surely come; and He is the
Hearing, the Knowing.”(29:5)

This concept of meeting Allah is also a spiritual concept and
so it is consistent with the following verse i.e. the verse 29:6 being
about jihad for the self, as this too is a spiritual concept. Of course,
this is not to suggest that this verse does not include the militant
jihad, but that it also includes the spiritual jihad.
The following verses also refer to the spiritual jihad, though they
may also include the militant jihad, since the militant jihad also
needs purification of the intention and the soul:

“And wage jihad for the sake of God, a jihad which is
worthy of Him…” (22:78)

“And (as for) those who strive hard for Us, We will
most certainly guide them in Our ways; and Allah is
most surely with the doers of good.” (29:69)

To fight an internal enemy is the greater struggle because it is more
difficult. When an enemy is found inside it is more dangerous and
more difficult to defeat. An internal civil war is more difficult to
face than war against an external foreign enemy on one’s borders. It
is much more difficult to expel someone who has occupied our
house than to repel someone who is only outside it. If our enemy is
inside us then he knows all our secrets. He knows our weak points
and our strong points and he knows exactly how to ‘play’ with us.
An internal enemy is always with us and allows us no rest. We might
be able to negotiate a cease-fire with an external enemy but with an
internal enemy the fight goes on day and night, unceasingly. And
unfortunately we love and admire this enemy because it is our own
soul. He has done so many bad things to us and yet we still love
him. So this is a very difficult and complex battle. We should be
really determined and fully alert. Indeed, God should have mercy
upon us if we are to win this battle.
We should know that, despite all the challenges to be faced in this
struggle, in the end it is not so difficult. God will guide and make it
easy for those who sincerely want it. It is very important that when
we know something we must put it into practice. If we put our
knowledge into practice, then God will give us knowledge of the
things that we do not know. If we put into practice the small things
that we know, it will enlighten the path before us.

2. Spirituality as a medicine.

Another approach is to consider spirituality as a kind of medicine
for our soul or spirit. Spiritual problems are described as illness and
so we need to treat ourselves with special medicines. We are
patients in need of a cure, in need of medicine. Just like our bodies,
our souls may also become ill. Unfortunately the most difficult sort
of illness is when we suffer deep inside. In twelve verses, the Quran
talks about a group of people who suffer from “disease in their
hearts”. This disease may be increased by God because they do not
want to be cured and insist on being ill. For example, we read:
‘In their hearts is a disease and God has increased their
disease.’ (2:10)

The Quran also talks about hearts which are healthy and pure:
‘Do not disgrace me on the day when people are
revived, the day on which neither money nor children
can help, except the one who comes to Allah with a
healthy (pure) heart.’ (26:87-89)

This is the prayer of the Prophet Abraham. In verses (37:83 &
84), God informs us that this request was granted: ‘Indeed,
Abraham was among his [i.e. Noah's] followers, when he came to
his Lord with a healthy (pure) heart.’

Thus, we can understand that having a pure and healthy heart is so
important that someone like Prophet Abraham, the father of all
monotheistic religions, asks God for it. Indeed, this is the only thing
which will be useful on the Day of Judgement when neither
children nor money will benefit us. In Nah al-Balaghah, sermon 388,
Imam Ali says:
‘One of the catastrophes that may happen to a person is
poverty, but more difficult than poverty is illness. And
more difficult than illness of the body is illness of the
heart.’

Therefore the worst poverty is to suffer from a lack of piety. The
concept of medicine is also a very important related topic. Imam Ali
says in his Sermon of the Pious:
“[Pious people are] those who stand up and recite the
Quran at night, and they try to make themselves sad.
They try to take from the Quran the treatment as
medicine for their illnesses.”

Imam Baqir told Jabir b. Yazid al-Ju‘fi:
“And know that there is no knowledge like seeking
health, and there is no health like the health of the
soul.”

In the case of spiritual medicine, the most important point is that
we must try to prevent illness from penetrating our souls, in the
same way as we might try to maintain a distance from people who
are ill, so that the disease does not affect us; by being close to them
we endanger our own health. However, there are cures to our
illnesses, as Allah is the Most Forgiving. Furthermore, we
need a guide who can show us what to do and how to prevent or
cure our illnesses. One of the beautiful things Imam Ali
mentions about the Holy Prophet is that he was a doctor,
but he did not wait for the sick people; instead he went to them
himself, taking the equipment with him.
The Prophet was like a roaming physician who has set
ready his ointments and heated his instruments. He
uses them wherever the need arises for curing blind
hearts, deaf ears, and dumb tongues. He followed with
his medicines the spots of negligence and places of
perplexity.
There were people who were deaf, blind, or those people who could
not speak the truth, and the Holy Prophet used the
appropriate medicine to cure them. Imam Mahdi who is the
Imam of our age has also a significant role; and if Allah
pleases we can receive guidance and healing from him.

3. Spirituality as a journey.

In Islamic literature, spirituality is also described as a journey. We
should think of ourselves as wayfarers. We have all embarked on a
journey away from God and then we are going back to Him. We
have all been created by God and this creation is a sort of
separation from our origin. Before we were created we were not
separate from God but now we are. However, God has given us the
chance to return to Him. The Qur'an says:

"Truly we belong to God and to Him we will return".
(2:156)

When we depart, our destination is clear. But in order to reach our
destination we must be very careful about our direction. If we are
on the right path, we will certainly reach our destination. However,
if we are on the wrong path, we will not reach our destination and
may even go farther and farther away from it. We are not in a static
or fixed position. Every day and every hour we are moving and
getting either further from or closer to our destination. The
Glorious Quran says:

“O man, you are trying hard to reach your Lord and
you will finally meet Him.” (84:6)

Having read this verse, some may think that there is nothing to
worry about because we have all come from a good place and there
is a good destination ahead. But our status when we meet God is of
utmost importance. There are two states of reaching God: to reach
Him while He is happy with us or to reach Him while He is angry
with us. Human beings are among the very few creatures whose
levels of perfection are not fixed, that is, they have been given the
capacity to upgrade or degrade themselves.
Thus, the spiritual journey consists of trying to increase our
closeness and proximity to God. It should be noted that God is
always close to us, but we are not necessarily close to Him. We can
reach a position in which we can get closer and closer to God
through self-purification, and, as suggested by the Glorious Quran,
“meet” Him. Mystics normally speak of the possibility of losing our
own selfhood, limits and boundaries and then becoming identified
with God. I am not commenting on this concept here, but in any
case it seems obvious that we can get closer and closer to God to
the extent that nothing will remain between us and Him and this is
what we mean by returning to God.
So this life is a journey and we cannot say that we do not want to go
on this journey. We are all on this journey and it is up to us to
gather enough provisions for ourselves. One of the main goals of
self-building is to try to reduce this distance by wayfaring towards
Allah. The path towards Him is infinite and full of
challenges. However, for the people who embark on this journey, all
the support and guidance are provided. In this regard, Imam Sajjad says:
“May you be glorified! What a narrow path it is for
whom You do not guide, and what a clear path it is for
whom you have guided!”

Conclusion:

In this part we have discussed spirituality or the
process of self-building as a kind of battle, medicine and as a
journey. Allah is encouraging and guiding us by
demonstrating many analogies. He is showing us that there is always
hope of reaching Him, and appeals to us in many different ways to
encourage us to come closer to Him. He is the Most Merciful.

[Source: The magazine: "Message of Thaqalayn - A Quarterly Journal of Islamic Studies"]

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