Future is dim but not hopeless
The rebellion in you is not worthless
Stop listening to songs of cowardice
Act yourself out of the gloom and darkness

Your life is an example of uneven chances
Your birth was every bit of miraculous
Beaten the odds countless times
Believe yourself out of the gloom and darkness

Outwork, outlive, outwill the doubters
Muscles are tired, mind is restless
Snap out and control your emotions
Defy yourself out of the gloom and darkness

Act now you are fearless!
Believe your future is victorious
Defy pessimist thoughts and bitterness
Will yourself out of the gloom and darkness

In the perspective of a believer, time always flows by with fascination. On many occasions, it is adorned with wonders, and for those who truly experience its magic, it whispers many things beyond time and space. Let alone an entire lifetime or year, even a single day of a true believer is so fascinating that we are incapable of describing its various spiritual inspirations and colorful manifestations. We can perhaps attempt to describe them, but those who have not fully tasted the pleasure in the mysteries of faith will listen as if without eyes or ears and will understand nothing. In the same way that it is impossible for one who has not experienced the flavor of honey to describe its taste, or who has not seen or smelt a rose to describe its color or fragrance, it is impossible to describe to a disbeliever how time flows from the perspective of a believer.

For believers, time is always magical. At certain moments, the spirit suddenly becomes vigilant, as if acting upon conditional reflexes. The human faculties begin to act as if they had received a signal, and all the subtle senses awaken with enthusiasm, urgency, hope, and agitation; in every aspect they imply that they are ready for a command. Although all the windows are closed tight and the curtains are drawn, occasionally, the magical breeze of dawn comes through and encompasses our hearts, and in a gentle voice calls us to stand before God. The moment we open our eyes, we are showered with a sonorous musical bath of illuminating words sung from the balconies of the minarets. Then we purify ourselves as prescribed with the special ablutions and head for the place of worship where we will place our heads down and pour our hearts out to God.

Prayer almost always comes in with its own unique charm, much like a familiar guest—a guest warmer and closer than any of the residents of our home. It settles in and greets us on the prayer mat, conveys spiritual pleasures into our souls, and adds its own color to the oncoming hours ahead; this is the first magical distinction of the new day to the perceptions of the believer. Thus we begin the day with our emotions totally exposed to the Creator.

We experience the joy of a morning in Paradise deep in our souls. Worship, words of devotion and remembrance, breakfast, and many other activities and responsibilities are each a continuation of this delicate, gentle, and fruitful beginning. Even if we have no such anticipation, this spreads into each and every one of our pursuits and speaks through them. Then, we observe suddenly our behavior and activities to have refined with an otherworldly subtlety.

While immersed in this state, thanks to our intentions and perspectives, we feel the mystery of God’s trust in each of our move, although in physical terms we share the same time, space, and objects with others. Then we start seeing our environment as pleasant manifestations of God and observe His signs on every face we look. As we do so, we travel back and forth between worldliness and heavenliness, and we can almost sense our belief flowing into our actions and behavior.

Now with an angle from beyond, we perceive everything within our capacity of understanding to be more friendly, cozier, sincere, and meaningful. We embrace every person and every object that appears before us as if they were our own children. Thanks to our beliefs we feel ourselves in a vastly expanded, magical atmosphere where all objects, living or non-living, smile at us as if they have transformed in terms of color, form, design, and character to become spirit and meaning and flow into us. Stones and earth, trees and leaves, roses and flowers, birds and insects—everything constantly whispers things from the horizons of our hearts into our souls. Each command of creation in the nature is transformed into a message, line by line, paragraph by paragraph, and they convey sermons, with no letters and words but with simple, deep meanings, and wisdom. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the sustenance we eat, and the beauty conveyed from our eyes to our hearts preach us with rivers of wisdom about how our human nature relates with all of these, the connection between our senses and the pleasures we sense, and how life and society move about in concordance based on the same arithmetic and geometry.

From the first moments of the day, we feel our lives mindfully and begin to constantly act upon the mode of the daybreak. With the passing of time, when this joy and enthusiasm begin to fade, the cooling shade of the noon prayer (dhuhr) descends upon us with a breeze of eternity during that busy episode of our daily pursuits and calls us to the mosque, which is a projection of the Divine throne of compassion. As we obey this call and start walking to a mosque to prostrate in the shade of the heavens, we are offered at almost every step cups of wisdom, awe, and affection from which we drink abundantly. We reach our destination in a state of immense joy, and when we step through the entrance of the courtyard, we shiver with a totally different delight. Beside the fountain, we are refreshed with a different exhilaration. We reap the joy and pleasure of being among the radiant faces who share the same emotions as ourselves, take a deep sigh with the thoughts of the world beyond, and then advance once again at noon to experience the distinct spiritual inspirations of faith (iman) and practicing it (islam).

This is like a long spiritual repose of the heart by engaging in things like eating and drinking, chatting with friends, and going to places, and by doing so unloading the burden imposed by our corporeality, the body, and the carnal mind (‘aql maash). This further restores the connection with our heart and we return to our daily duties with a high spiritual motivation. Then we strive to pursue our duties while keeping one eye on this world and the other on the next—we work hard like those working for this world only until the illuminating moments of the afternoon prayer arrive. We work and sweat, write and paint, read and think, teach and learn, buy and sell, make plans and put them into action, call on people and comfort them, and virtually live a worldly life but in a state of devotion and aspiration for the world beyond.

Who knows how much more inspirations these magical moments and hours stir but we may not be feeling! But I feel the shame of my inability to fully describe and portray these magnificent, enjoyable, and profound moments at the level of their own preciousness. Describing these moments the way a true believer would experience them requires sharp poetry skills, a capacity to imagine the abstract so one can portray the harmony in all actions of the believer, and the talents of a musician so to experience the charm of time the magic of which we constantly feel. I am not equipped with such gifts or talents; so, perhaps with these confusing words of mine I have quite likely shadowed the believer’s radiant vision of time. I will find consolation if somehow my broken words will prompt real literary masters in this matter.

Time flies by one hour after another, and as we become tired, so does the day. As the sun starts to fade and the day moves forward with a host of changes and transformations along with connotations of hope and sorrow, the signs for the afternoon prayer (asr) begin to appear on the horizon, which comes with a loud “attention!” command. This middle prayer (salat al-wusta) shows our spirits the horizon of a scented mercy, so we can relieve from our physical exhaustion. It calls us to the sphere of peacefulness and prosperity where time is never exhausted. As the sun fades away at dusk, it is replaced by a radiance from the source of light, and our souls that yearn for eternal life are left with the magic of the realm that lies beyond the horizon. Thus, in the final quarter of the day, we once again greet our prayer-mats. It is in fact much more than just greet; as we embrace them, we entrust our utterances, breaths, and pleas to them. We stand in respect before the One who commands the moon, the sun, and stars, in the name of the entire creation and in a manner befitting the exalted position of being human.

This respect and exaltation grow deeper when we bow in prayer, and we clear our remoteness from Him with prostration. The yearning for the evening dusk, which begins to seep onto our horizon, is relieved in the hope that this is found in the tranquility and presence of God. The sad end to the day is disguised in the colors of farewell, and by transforming this into a new chapter of reunion with the Beloved, we knock on the gates of that Divine Court and say, “Here we are.” In these moments when everyone experiences loneliness, we are absorbed by joy and exhilaration. With an intense contemplation from deep within the soul, we become utterly engrossed in the vastness, the boundlessness of our perception. As we continue to experience this spiritual bemusement, the call for the evening prayer begins.

During the fading of the sunset, whose joy prevails its sadness, the heavenly sounds which emerge from the minarets and flow into our hearts transpiring like a call to nearness, a reunion with God. Most of the time, it is almost as if we are paying attention to the language of symbols, and we perceive this as a transition, a performance of migration: the transition from day to night, from mobility to tranquility, from various activities to relaxation, and as we clearly perceive, we will migrate from this world to the world beyond, from the turmoil of corporality to the sphere of tranquility and prosperity to obtain reward for our servitude and duties. As we hear and pay attention to all of these, warm intentions and meanings flow from our eyes into our hearts and from our hearts into our senses, minds, and perceptions. During this process, in these extremely delicate and dreamy moments, with our inner observations we virtually experience the pleasure of opening to another realm. On one hand, everyone and everything is silent, as if succumbed to a deep tranquility; on the other, time and those who live within that time and become more emotional in these hours which seem bleak, can become confused. Existence, in all essence, becomes exactly like a spirit, and humans virtually transform into spiritual beings.

Night gradually becomes darker with the meaning it evokes in the believers’ souls. In these mysterious moments when day and night converge, once again we find ourselves standing upon the prayer mat amidst the magical sounds from the heavens and the rays of light from beyond. In response to the weariness of our biological life, the human soul seeks the pleasure of concluding the day in worship during these moments. We sense our humility and deprivation before the greatness of God even deeper, as we are filled with enthusiasm and thankfulness at the same time. We hurry, totally overwhelmed with emotion, to prostrate and submit our supplications to Him.

Then suddenly, darkness embraces the entire environment; everything appears black, and the objects and everything around us gradually begin to fade away. And at that moment, with the need of eternal light in our souls, we feel the day we left behind with even greater intensity. With our entire essence we begin to experience the thought, reckoning, and anxiety of whether we utilized every hour, every moment, every second of this long day in a manner sufficient to attain eternal bliss… Murmurs of worry for eternal punishment and deprivation seep through the ports of our carnal nature and attack our spirit. In the face of this, we react by saying, “We have a long night ahead of us,” take position on our prayer mats, and begin to wait for those blessed moments of Divine acceptance and spiritual rewards. Then the magical darkness of night arrives, and releases us all into the profoundness of reflection.

Sacred days and nights imbue everything and everyone with their own color, their own distinctive taste, and their own accent; they soften everything within their embrace, add to them a dream-like quality, and enable them to attain an unfathomable profundity. In those times, there is a deep charm sensed almost everywhere, from the streets and marketplaces, homes and places of worship, schools and barracks—a celestial gleaming on the countenances of the believers, and a holiness trickling from their gaze. The multicolored lights beaming into our eyes during the hours of the night, in particular, ceaselessly whisper to us the songs of residence in another dimension. Every countenance we encounter in homes, places of work, places of worship, sometimes ripple with sorrow, but they also occasionally surge with hope and expectation, as though perpetually experiencing a journey to union and becoming a cascade of emotion. Then we flow forth to eternity.

As the fervor for worship and devotion increases in our hearts, our ability to sense and experience everything in a different way bubbles over, so to speak, and draws us into its own ocean. At such times, our material connections weaken, our spirits are freed from mundane attachments, and we suppose ourselves to have ascended to a point from which we can wholly observe all creation. From now on, we embrace and love the plains and prairies, mountains and foothills, the houses in which we were raised, the places of worship in whose climate we prepared for the life Hereafter – in short, we love everything animate and inanimate as favors which have come forth from His hand. We breathe them into our lungs like oxygen and release a sigh of relief.

During these luminous days and nights, which rise forever like a flood of light, an enchanting belief, an intimate knowledge of the divine, love, and otherworldliness glisten in the comportment and general manner of believers. These spiritual delights surpass all material delights and pleasures, and everybody sets out towards the sacred horizon of their own unique axis. On this path, every believer attains a small union as they pass one more level each day, and thus crown, as it were, their blessed journey. As they experience reunion on a daily basis, they are reminded of the “great reunion” the dreams of which they nourish their souls with. They beam with the beauties filling their emotions, with the hopes burgeoning in the bosom of worship, and the meanings cascading in the eyes and hearts of all believers. Then, they descend into an otherworldly silence as if swimming in a magical stream which channels out to timelessness.

These fortunate ones have now reached the sea of pleasure sought by their spirits. Now, the eye of their hearts witnesses eternal beauties in the form of flowers blossoming in the gaze of the Beloved, or beams of light projecting from His beauty. They find themselves in a garden abounding with diverse fruits, roses, and flowers, entranced with the warmth of the welcome and reception of the One to Whom they devoted themselves for a lifetime. In their inner world they even sense the winds of promise in another dimension, of some of the bounties they are unable to reach in this realm, the flowing forth of reward. They sense being embraced by the profound and eternal mercy of the Owner of Infinite Mercy. With this state of mind, they experience life anew; they love everything more deeply, embrace others with tenderness, and they smell everything that reminds God like a rose.

During sacred days and nights, everyone—women and men, young and old, those who know and those who do not know, common people and the learned—takes on the spiritual beauties of this blessed time with their utmost elegance and refined manner in a more resplendent way than those existing in fables. They drape upon their faces, like a veil, the awe and splendor of having believed. They open and shut their eyes with the lights of the realms beyond, imbue their own scent and color to everyplace they visit. They become celestial, so to speak, in the depths of their feelings, and each believer becomes angelic. One cannot help but imagine the lamps of the minarets and in the streets to be emanating from their refined looks, pearls and feelings scattered all around – they are nothing but angelic beings in the eyes of others.

Indeed, these pure countenances ripple with belief, love, yearning, dreams, hope, pleasure, and reunion. Robust, enamored, blissful, and silent. The attitudes, behaviors, and looks which express the meaning in their spirits forever become manifest in their surroundings like the unreachable dimension of otherworldliness within the human being, and this enthralls all those who sense and perceive it.

During sacred days, some of us release ourselves by shedding our usual restrictive logic, and we give in to joy, elation, thrill, and tears, as though we have been invited to a heavenly realm. Some of us imagine ourselves to have embarked on a journey among the stars and come head to head with the sun and moon, and are overtaken by the impression that our breaths have blended into the breaths of the angels. Our hearts soften, our eyes water, the knots we have frequently felt within us loosen, and the nodes of the self are untied to be freed from carnality. Thus, our tears sweep before them all the problems pervading our spirits, and our consciences breathe a great sigh of relief, exclaiming, “All praise be to God.”

Everyone begins to sense, to the extent of the meaning filling their own heart, certain profundities they were hitherto unable to see, due to the carnal constraints: the young awaken with a sense of doing justice to their strength, power, and vitality; the middle-aged strive to be more productive in accordance with the self-possession procured by their experience and knowledge; and the elderly overflow with the joy of preparation for eternal bliss and the realms to which their spirits flutter. Everyone opens the eye of their heart, as though feeling their own destiny, which they were unable to sense completely before this time. They are exuberant or sorrowful with their own lot and turn to their own future; their eyes smile with the promises of their time, and their countenance deepens with meaning.

The sounds of public proclamations rising from mosques and minarets add a unique flavor and richness to this general state, such that everything—from the blowing wind to the pouring rain—brushes past our faces with His perfume and permeates our hearts with the elixir of immortality. The morning breeze makes itself felt like a breath from eternity and thrills our hearts like tidings and favors coming from Him. These enchanting minutes in which we thus turn to Him appear, by virtue of our belief, love, and hopes, as drops of the truth of eternity. They pour forth into our souls, stimulate the seeds of the tree of paradise in the depths of our spirit to yield fruit, and allow us to travel incessantly on the heavenly slopes in our hearts.

God is always beautiful and gracious, but we feel this meaning more deeply during particular periods of time. During such periods, which are considered to be the springtime of our spirits, He draws the entire rhapsody of our heart to Himself, makes His beauty and attraction felt to an irresistible degree, and revitalizes us each moment with a separate bounty and new favor. I do not think these blessed hearts have another pleasure greater than this one, for this spiritual pleasure springs from the Divine love innately found in humans and the Infinitely Merciful’s honoring them with His grace. His regard and favors are infinite and endless to the degree of the person’s love and connection being both from the heart and eternal.

An ordinary person has to make up to 35,000 trivial decisions every day. Two hundred twenty-seven of them are about food alone. If you make the wrong choice, it is not a significant event in your life if it comes to your coffee; you make a face and move on. What about your decision to choose your soul mate, health, or work? Errors in decision-making lead you in the wrong directions. Your choices can irreversibly impact not only that day but also the years after.

Some choices can be easier than others. Let’s say there is a bicycle behind one door and an expensive car behind the other. Before asking you which door you would choose, you also know which door the bicycle is behind and which door the car is behind. There is a bicycle at door A and the car door is B. Now let’s ask our question: Which door would you choose? A or B? The answer is pretty obvious: of course, you would choose door B. 

Let’s make the decision a little harder: things might not be as they seem. We have doors A and B again. There is a possibility that there is a bicycle behind door A and a car behind door B. There may or may not be a bicycle and a car behind doors. I don’t think your choice will change. In the end, the chance of them existing or not existing is the same, but because the car’s worth outweighs the bicycle’s worth, it is the most sensible decision.

We can prove what we said by calculating the expected value in probability. First considering door A: there is either a bicycle behind it or there is nothing. The chance of getting a bicycle is ½, and let’s say the bicycle is worth $100; the profit will be $100. If there is no bike behind door A, the probability of this happening is ½ again, but there is no profit this time. In statistics and probability analysis, the expected value is calculated by multiplying each of the possible outcomes by the likelihood each outcome will occur and then summing all of those values. So, expected value in this scenario is calculated as:

E(A) = $100 x (1/2) + $0 x (1/2) = $50.

The expected value of door A is $50. The expected value for door B is also considered and calculated in the same way. Let’s say the price of the car here is $100,000. From the same formula:

E(B) = $100,000 x (1/2) + $0 x (1/2) = $50,000.

The expected value of door B is a thousand times that of door A. If a choice is to be made between two doors, the wise choice will undoubtedly be door B.

Pascal’s stake is very similar to this game of chance. Blaise Pascal was a scientist and mathematician who lived in the 17^th century and developed his own theory of probability. His theory was quite successful. Using his own approach, he showed the existence of God and the necessity of believing in God. Instead of the door metaphor we used, he used two people, one who believed in God and one that didn’t believe in God. We assume that there is a fifty percent chance of God’s existence—that God either exists or he doesn’t. People that believe in God would pass through door B, similar to the example above. Under these conditions, if a person believes in God and God doesn’t exist, they lose or gain nothing. If God does exist, the believers go to Heaven and achieve infinite happiness. When we formulate this situation, we find out that the expected value of believing in God is infinite. We consider the probability of not believing in God is fifty percent, and there is no gain if it is true. On the other side, the existence of God is also fifty percent, and one gains infinity of happiness. Therefore, the expected value of believing in God, E(Believing), is calculated as above in the car/bicycle example:

E(Believing)= 0 x (1/2) + ∞ . (1/2) = ∞

Remember that half of infinity is also infinite.

So, even if God doesn’t exist, the faith that the believer has is priceless.

For those people who choose door A (not believing in God), there is nothing so beneficial for them. Even if they are correct, there is no gain for them in the end. If there is no God, then there is no afterlife. They receive finite pleasure from this life: choosing the bicycle still has some value but choosing the car is way more sensible. What if the other possibility happens? If a person does not believe in God and God exists, they will be deprived of all believers will get. When we think of the second option, that is door A, we formulate the expected value of not believing as:

E(not Believing)= 0 x (1/2) + (-∞) x (1/2) = -∞

Not believing in God also has infinite value but in the opposite way. You are in debt, bankrupt.

One of our choices is God existing, which is fifty percent. Someone may say that it is a high probability. So, despite all the evidence to believe in God, what if we reduce the probability of His existence to one in a thousand? Then the chance that God does not exist is 999/1000. In this case:

Probability of God not existing: 999/1000 and no gain.

Probability of God exists: 1/1000 and the gain is infinite.

E(Believing)= 0 x (999/1000) + (∞) x (1/1000) = ∞

As can be seen, the expected values do not change. Likewise, an atheist will get the same negative infinity. According to possibility calculations, belief in God means an infinite gain in any case. According to mathematics, believing in God, even if the likelihood is one in a googolplex, is still profitable. This topic leaves no room for choice. The chance to gain infinite value is infinite, and the value you lose is finite or, more likely, non-existent. There is no doubt that you have to give everything in this game of life that you are obliged to play. There is no other way to end it than to risk your finite life to win eternal life. Preferring the other option is like resigning from one’s mind.

On the other hand, you may say that the profit is uncertain, and everything is left to luck. But when considering the infinite distance between the certainty of the misery endured and the uncertainty of gain, it makes no sense to argue that the finite life we have should be used to endanger the infinite gain. Everyone who enters a game of chance tries their luck by putting in something sure, but it is always doubtful whether they will win. He puts something limited and negligible in danger without offending the mind. As Pascal states, “Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.”

The following story is related to Pascal’s argument. Someone came to Ali, the Caliph. The man denied resurrection, reckoning in the hereafter, heaven, and hell. He asked Ali:

“Ali, you believe in hereafter; we don’t. You worship, spend a lot of money, and go through the trouble to be saved from hell and enter heaven. Is it worth it? And how do you know that there will be a resurrection after death?”

Ali (R.A.) listened to the man calmly, then gave him the following answer:

“Let’s first assume that what you say is true. If there is no afterlife, we are in the same situation as you. We are even, and there is no gain for you or us. In the meantime, our prayers, good deeds, good morals, and charity we give for the sake of God will not harm us. On the contrary, it will be beneficial for improving the community. But what if there is an afterlife, and what we say turns out to be true? What will you do?”

Your correspondent was musing just the other day. Enter one’s wife.

“Are you thinking, dear?” she asked.
“I am reflecting, receiving,” I replied.
“What about, then?” she asked anew.
“Atheists,” I replied, succinctly.
“Oh, Lord, must you?” she expostulated.

She is right, of course. Atheists and their reasons to be could be a matter of anxiety. The traditional three taboo themes at a gathering in Britain are politics, sex and religion, to which atheism has been seen to form a relationship. This quartet of human strife is what gets people all riled up, and the nicest party is likely to end up as a brawl unless etiquette prevails. I shall nevertheless attempt to give you the lowdown on those among us who would deny the existence of God. The real task, however, is to write a few thousand words without being rude.

First and foremost we must explain to one’s atheist acquaintances that the God they deny loves them. The species atheos, however, is a being sometimes relying on second-hand ideas and that because the thrust of his or her reasoning tends often to be about the mistakes made by other people! That is where they are coming from. Your average atheist is a creature possessing great guile and often a vast measure of sophistry. This may be sufficient for talking up a storm, but without the possibility of bringing other people and their errors into things there is a decided lack of acumen.

“See,” they will exclaim, “religion leads only to war. History proves it.”

To be fair, this reasoning does give credence to the cautionary advice to button up given by partying Brits. It means resting in faith and exercising an inability to leave each other alone. But there is no excuse! We have, indeed, and to our unmitigated shame, committed all of that mayhem. We often err, and after all, only God is good. The peoples of religion have sometimes reversed the dictum. To proclaim that war is justifiable because “God is on our side,” is otherwise to be understood if one were to suggest that we should, in fact, be on God’s side. One way is the way of submission and the other is expecting God to submit to us.

What is really of the essence is that we must provide for the atheists reasonable proof of the existence of God. Believers talk about God. But one seldom encounters someone who has offered a definition of the God some believe in or the God that some do not. Acceptance of our lack would require humility, which is closely related to submission and the guidance we seek.

One wonders at this point about blind faith and can only surmise that such people simply believe in ultimate goodness and they would be wonderful. One can’t really blame the atheist for his or her frustration. But on the other hand it is our atheist friend who would tell us that common sense and a rational attitude fostered by reason is sufficient unto the day. Criticism is of the past and if you have never made a mistake you are qualified to point a finger, accuse, belittle, denigrate, criticize and even kill. Thus personal responsibility is the name of the game.

Simplistic? Of course. It leaves little space for the philosopher, for those who would debate, for experts of all kinds.

Wind up and make an atheist go and he will speak and say lots of things that are curiously related to those uttered by those of the opposite persuasion. Nevertheless, we are concerned here with Who makes things and people and what keeps all of the universes up and running.

As an aside, one must add that both atheists and theists are often unable to resist playing to a crowd. A crowd has its own Eigendynamik and is prone to being rowdy. In other words, being a mob. Mobs are easily swayed. A clever speaker, one whose stream of consciousness is well under way, can wind up a mob and get a few laughs; but get a mob excited and it will be hard to contain. It is all about jumping from one verbal thrust to the next until a deep-rooted nastiness takes over. There is also something thrilling involved, which lacks any semblance of conscience.

But back to the Divine Spirit! Not only is the Divine Spirit the Who in this essay, it is also the prime mover, methinks, of every single aspect of human endeavor, and plenty more besides. God is, actually, and quite reasonably, a force that enables. We have been given free will, and even if we presume that God does not control us (some would say unfortunately) in the accepted sense of the word, He does enable us. By this reasoning it is God Who is instrument in permitting the atheist to say “I don’t believe there is a God.” To deny God thus means a denial of one’s own existence.

If one has ever countenanced the probability of a mystical experience one is at least showing an open mind. But mystical experience must be verifiable or the mystics will always be called liars. On the other hand, mystics seem generally unwilling to explain things and, anyway, don’t give a hoot about being called liars.

Atheists are unlikely to investigate anything that would appear to be unreasonable. Again, one can’t blame them, and true to the casting of the first stone story one shouldn’t blame them because they would be asked to admit a universal truth that places thought into a secondary position.

Contrary to common belief, mystics deal with absolute reality, which is perhaps why they are usually so reticent. Our mystics, the Prophets, told it like it is. The way it is can be what we are pleased to call our collective history, which is quite obviously an ongoing event. It is physically what Charles Darwin, a nice old gent who was misused by atheists and abused by theists, called evolution. The human mind, regardless of whether you accept it as biologically evolved or believe in its unique, unchanged state from the time of creation, has now become, you might say, uppity. It has seen itself to be the boss. Deep inner feeling, the whisper from the soul, as it is known within Islam, has become irrelevant. The ideal human would be one who is able to work, create, play one’s part in furthering the science of life for the common good – but with a feeling of patience, trust, and sincere submission.

If we can accept that there is a primal force that could be likened to the fuel of the universe, we must be prepared to be unable to describe it because it is not of a physical nature. One might say it would be like trying to describe the appearance of wind, which does not actually have an appearance, but we can see its effect, like bending trees, or helping sailors. It is the same with the primal force! You can’t see it, but you can see, feel and experience its effect.

One must, of course, be prepared to believe that the Spirit is not just a bunch of molecules. What some seekers have done has been to sit still and watch what happens. This does not necessarily imply meditation but prayer may arise as a spontaneous burst of hope.

Imagine having a mind in abeyance. A mind that is modest, a mind that is no longer the boss. My mind, my servant! What atheist could argue with that?

The monotheist prophets, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, were appalled to see humans groveling before idols, bits of wood and stone constructs. They called for a return to the one universal common denominator we have; our life, our Spirit, our universal fuel, our dependence on life itself. I would ask you to please not confuse life with what people do. See life as that which enables people to do what they do. What they do with this life is a matter of personal capacity, and heaven help us!

It would be wishful thinking to suggest that atheists should investigate this unexplained, perhaps unexplainable energy. From a purely psychological point of view it is evident that humans “need to be right about something.” This “need” is likely to be fostered by the ego’s (self-esteem) fight against “losing,” which in turn could engender depression. Depression (if it has not become pathological) is fought against by the mind, and that in turn “strengthens” that which probably caused the depression in the first place. It could be worth remembering that any child leaving the womb brings genetic baggage that could – and history shows that the human condition has been pretty dismal – hinder the child from growing up well and healthy. In other words, the parents are to blame! Oh, dear, as it happens your correspondent has five children. And yet the parents are not really to blame because they are simply part of the chain. Thus, one could say that the best “laboratory” for research is the one you are living in, one’s self. After all, you don’t need lots of expensive equipment. You do not need an office or the need to commute. You are already there. But how is this relevant to prosocial behaviour following adverse experience? Well, in the pursuance of prosocial behaviour the participant feels “absolutely sure” that his or her attitude is correct. Experience fosters it. This “being sure” of something is of paramount importance to counter uncertainty, which is a large part of the human condition, and which leads to all kinds of often dubious endeavours. It is a widespread belief among most social groups that “doing right” is a good thing. It will make us acceptable; it will foster self-esteem. But above all the altruistic way will help one to feel right. We seem to need to prove a point about something, but actually it is all about how one feels. One wishes to feel good. One dreads feeling bad. People will go to many extremes in the pursuit of feeling good. The trouble is that the intellect tells some of us that we need a reason to feel good. There has to be an explanation. The ideal state, one may suppose, is to feel good for no reason whatsoever. That state of feeling good without reason could mean “no baggage.” But we know that having no baggage is not possible. We bring it with us into the world. Thus, genetic memory must be the point of investigation. An amusing take on altruism is about a person who has a deep feeling that money should be donated to a worthy cause. The mind switches in and argues that one is merely trying to placate one’s conscience. The deep feeling department struggles with the mind. Then, with a bit of luck, an even deeper deep feeling takes over and says “placate as much as you want, as long as you send the money.” Thus the ways of the Lord are indeed mysterious. The only real loss is to the value one places on one’s mind. This is a tricky business because one is then in the process of putting one’s mind back to where it belongs, as a servant and not a boss. It may be worth remembering that a new-born baby’s mind is anyhow in abeyance.

Carrying on and somehow making our way in life requires faith. The faith required is given through experience and that through something akin to basic research. (The world is our lab.) When learning to swim you must first experience the fact that water will support you. (You can do this in shallow water for starters.) Then having experienced the irrefutable fact that water will support you, you simply have to make a few movements to get somewhere. A slight problem is that one needs to place this knowledge into one’s memory bank, where it could be misconstrued and misused; but that is going a bit far at this stage. The second part of the need for faith through experience is when learning to live. To begin with, like the fact of learning to swim, we need to believe that life will support us, for it is made to do so. But believing that life will support us first needs irrefutable proof. This is difficult to attain. But one could simply plant a few potatoes and watch them grow into something edible. Common sense and a deep feeling for a possible answer to our existential dilemma could be given. It would, however, require a degree of modesty in respect of our needs.

The atheist would keep us earthbound. Not a bad place to start, but there is more that can be revealed within the human frame. Unfortunately, I can only offer an experience, of which I have no right to expect anyone to believe. I once waited at a large, noisy railway station for the arrival of a Muslim man of some mystic experience. The man and two others seemingly floated the length of the platform after leaving their train. I lurked behind a pillar and when they had passed me I hopped on behind their group. The moment I was within their proximity (a bubble-like zone surrounding them) the hectic noise and clamour of the railway station faded away (no shouts or whistles and all of the rest that make up the noisy experience of a London railway station). We were, indeed, in a bubble. Like a fool I could not resist dropping back to see what happened. Of course, the clamour returned.

The “message” was obvious: I needed to experience something I could not explain. Many of my spiritual doubts fell away. The experience was not to be denied. Here was a reality that I had previously not anticipated. I feel truly grateful for knowing that there really are such things unexplainable. Such as the peace that passeth (beyond) all understanding. Or being in the world but (literally) not of it.

If this essay is of any worth the quest for God is quite logically not really in our own hands, and as the railway-station mystic was once heard to utter, “Don’t try to go faster than God.”

Question: Oppression is everywhere and exists in almost every form. How should believers respond to oppression when they have to face it?

Oppression, at its most basic form, is a transgression of boundaries and a violation of others’ rights. Killing an ant is oppressive, for nobody is authorized to take an animal’s right to life unjustly. If it is human who is being unjustly treated then it is definitely a form of oppression of a much higher magnitude. As for the oppression committed against a collective group of people, that is an incomparably greater and more horrible misdeed.

Irrespective of its exact nature, believers are seriously warned not to oppress others. Otherwise, it will appear on the Day of Judgment as a manifold darkness that will suffocate and distress the one who oppresses (Bukhari, Mazalim 9; Muslim, Birr 56). Each act of oppression and injustice – be it against animals, people, or even God – will appear before that person as a separate trouble in the Afterlife.

Oppression, according to some insightful scholars, is among one of the obstacles that can prevent a person from embracing faith. While it is an obstruction to having belief in God, it is similarly a significant reason that causes believers to drift out of the realm of faith.

Preventing oppression

Given that oppression is evil to this degree in regard to how other people are treated, it definitely needs to be prevented. According to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, everyone should try to prevent oppression depending upon their capability, power, and position be it by direct intervention or via verbal objection. In the event that a person cannot resist oppression physically or verbally, it is at least necessary to protest the oppressor in one’s heart (Sahih al-Muslim, Iman 78; Tirmidhi, fitan 11; Abu Dawud, salat 239). Likewise, it is a famous old adage that “(the) one who remains silent before oppression is a mute devil.”

Preventing oppression on a smaller scale is within the capability of individuals, but there are some forms of oppression that can only be prevented by the state. In this contemporary world when justice and democracy have wide – though not perfect – prevalence such oppressions are committed at degrees big enough that even states are not able to tackle them. Preventing those oppressions and successions of atrocities, by which people are swept away in floods of blood, families are shattered, children are orphaned, and spouses are widowed, can only be possible through the hands of certain international establishments and organizations. In this respect, those who remain silent before oppression while they have the power to stop it—be they individuals, a state, or an international establishment—in a way have a share in that oppression by turning a blind eye to it and not taking the preventive action that they could have, and they will be treated accordingly on the Day of Judgment.

As it is very important to take a stance against oppression and to prevent it, determining the correct strategy to follow while not making any mistakes with the method is no less important. People must reckon well from the beginning how they can prevent unfairness, be aware of their capabilities, and also must not exacerbate problems while attempting to prevent oppression. They must not commit evil by thinking that they are doing something good.

Nothing good can come from oppression

It is a gross delusion to think that one can reach any positive goal via oppression and injustice. While it is not possible to obtain any favorable outcome with oppression, it is not possible to reclaim one’s violated rights via oppression either. If people try to move themselves or their societies in a new direction, or try to reclaim the rights that they lost by means of oppression, then this will give way to new acts of oppression, violations of rights, and a shattered system of justice. If these demands are for rights to be upheld and for justice to prevail, then strict adherence to a righteous course is needed from beginning to end. Just as the end should be lawful, so should be the means and ways to that end.

We do not know exactly to what degree we can prevent any oppression and injustice in our time. What matters most is being on the path to setting things right and correcting previous misdeeds. The duties that befall the wayfarers of the righteous path are that they must always be representatives of what is right and truthful, open one’s heart to everyone, and also not respond to oppression and injustice committed in the same wrong way. To put this in the words of the Poet Nabi:

“Do not trouble anyone with oppression
Even if they did oppress you, you do not be unjust to them
Do not arrive at God’s door with complaints
As for those who oppressed you, leave them to the Divine.”

Be like Rumi

In many instances, we quote, with a little bit of boastful considerations, the names of masters such as Jalaluddin Rumi, Yunus Emre, Ahmad Yasawi, or Haji Baktash Wali and bring their tolerance to attention. It is easy to make mention of Rumi, but it is difficult to be like him. At a time when you make mention of Rumi, are you really able to open your arms for all people, even for those who insulted you? When they come upon you, do you seek ways to settle issues in a peaceful manner? Are you able to make those who bear hostility against you share the same peaceful considerations after a while? This is how you become a Rumi in the real sense.

Historians mention the following anecdote about the tolerance of Rumi: One day, a rude bigot accosted him and criticized his statements such as, “one of my feet is in the center of Islam, while the other is among all nations of the world.” He accused Rumi of apostasy, misguiding Muslims, and proceeded to let out an invective against him. Without ever interrupting the man, the venerable master listened to him peacefully with God-granted self-restraint. On seeing that the man stopped talking and had no other words to say, he asked if he was done. When the man replied in the affirmative, Rumi spoke with a soft voice and said, “You are most welcome; my heart is open for you too.”

This is the very point at which words cease. In such a situation, all of the negative feelings within the latter melted away. The grudge and hatred suddenly started pouring down in the form of fireworks of love. While it is possible to treat people with showers of light, why should we shower them with meteors instead?

If you are focused on representing the spirit of Rumi, even if those who show hostility towards you commit oppression and injustice against you for one, two, three, or four times, they will give up such acts after some time on account of not having the same kind of response from you. Now, while there is a way to settle issues with mildness and agreement, why should we engage in other behavior that will only spur ill-feelings and hatred?

One thing that needs to be kept in mind is that we can give up on our personal rights and forgive others for their unfair treatment of us. However, we do not have the authority to forgive on behalf of others when there is an offense against values like faith or country. When such an offense happens, we should make plausible explanations to offenders to show them what they are doing is wrong. If they still insist, we deny their claims with denouncements. If they still persist, then we sue them and claim compensation.

We must always act carefully to remain within the confines of laws and ethics, and we must never make concessions on our fairness when responding in these ways. It is paramount that we must always act humanely but assertively. Even while making certain clarifications, corrections, and denouncements, we always try to give positive messages to the other side and never make concessions from our own character. We voice what we are to say not with whisperings of Satan, but with the voice and breath of the Archangel Gabriel. Oppression and assaults only indicate the character of the offender. This situation should not avert people attached to faith and universal human values to act as becomes their own character.

Is it worth it?

This passing worldly life is neither worth committing oppression against others nor responding to their oppression in the same way. After all, each of us is a traveler in this world. After staying in this guesthouse that we call life, we will pass to the Afterlife in order to be brought to account for what we did here. Is it worth it to promote fighting? Is it worth it at all to cause disunity and dissension? Is it worth it at all to commit oppression and injustice?

In an anonymous saying, the simple and transient nature of the world is expressed as follows:

Behold with the eyes of wisdom, this world is but a guesthouse;
Not a single person remains settled, what a strange abode it is.
The share of a king and subject alike, is nothing but a plain shroud.
As for those who fall for it, what else can they be called but mad?

Humankind has oftentimes made use of oppression and hatred in order to solve the problems that we collectively faced. If only we could make use of love and tolerance from now on! If only we were able to open our hearts to everyone so that those who enter therein would never have worries of remaining without a seat. If only we would treat everyone with a deep feeling of respect and reverence, and if only we could read into other’s feelings, their cultural backgrounds, and treat everyone with a serious feeling of empathy! For whatever style of treatment we expect to receive from others, they similarly expect the same from us. If we expect respect, we must show respect. If we expect observance of our rights, we must observe everybody’s rights.

It is necessary to know that the problems in our time have taken a complicated form to such an extent that they cannot be tackled by those with narrow minds and dull thoughts. There is not much that those with radical thoughts, who act out of bigotry in order to pursue arrogant purposes, can do for the sake of conquering people’s hearts and bringing peace to humanity. Particularly with this harsh attitude of theirs, they can never evoke in hearts any love towards their own values. They cannot let others love the Pride of Humanity, peace and blessings be upon him, because they are too captivated by their own worldly, illicit desires.

Therefore, for the sake of solving the problems of humanity, there is a need for people with immense conscience, rich hearts, and profound thought. Just as Rumi brought people together anew with the plausible cures he came up with some 7-8 centuries ago, in the contemporary world when people are so detached from one another, when people cannot agree on anything, and relations are built upon conflict and hostility, the duty that falls to those with faithful hearts is to revive the spirit of Rumi once again. As far as this cannot be done, it will not be possible to put a stop to oppression and hostilities in different parts of the world. This is particularly the case if we consider to what degree world peace is under threat by ambitious tyrants and horrible weapons prepared with vengeful intentions. It will then be best understood how great the responsibility is of the altruistic souls who have dedicated their lives to love and tolerance.

Tafrid (individuality) means seclusion from society or going into retreat to devote all one’s time to worshipping God. More particularly, it denotes that even when initiates have attained states or stations that others cannot, they never see themselves as such, because of their conviction that whatever attainment they have is, in fact, a gift from the Ultimate Truth, submitting themselves wholly to Him, and always being in His company. The verse (24:25), Surely God is He Who is the manifest Truth, contains an implicit indication of this rank.

Although resembling each other in coloring, individuality and isolation express different ranks and states of pleasure. Isolation is the state of cutting off relations with everything else save the All-Beloved and of always being with Him, while individuality is being favored with total self-negation with the needle of conscience pointing to Him exclusively. Isolation is marked by the zeal and pleasure of devoted servanthood to God, while individuality is the consciousness of being a servant bound to worship Him. The depth of this consciousness is in proportion to one’s capacity and varies in degrees with respect to the things initiates feel during their spiritual journey.

Those in the initial stages of the way to individuality—which is called individuality on the way to the Ultimate Truth— are constantly in quest of Him, trying to feel Him and making strenuous efforts to find and see Him. While doing this, they never consider what being in constant quest of Him denotes nor what kinds of things are used as means to reach this goal. Even if they make use of these means in a natural way, they are concentrated on the goal with the whole of mind and heart, and are always thinking of it. They use all their abilities of thinking and contemplation on the way to making contact with Him, and endeavor to reach Him, thus spending their whole life in the climate of this sweet dream.

Travelers dedicated to reaching the goal to such degree always feel the gifts or radiations of individuality coming from their turning to God, from their love of Him, and from their visions during the journey. They also feel the pleasure of seeking only Him Who is the One and concentrating all their love on Him alone. Being freed from wasting their faculties of loving, feeling, and seeking, they sip the sweet water of unity in multiplicity. They feel a great zeal and thirst when they are journeying through the step of advancing toward Him as their sole goal, find themselves in waves of annihilation while they are burning with His love, and are in privacy with Him freed from all others than Him when they reach the peak of the vision of Him.

When halfway on the road to individuality—summarized as individuality in the company of the Ultimate Truth—they feel that they are being favored with abundant gifts from the All-Holy One. However, they should not feel vain on account of these gifts; rather, they should be ever conscious that it is not themselves who are the origin of such gifts, but they have come purely from the All-Holy One. With this consciousness, they remain full of thanks and praises for Him. Those reaching this rank of being perfected or of becoming universal human beings and the most polished mirrors to the All-Holy, Ultimate Truth, cannot help but express that this is purely His favor. The following couplet of Hassan ibn Thabit, a famous poet during the Prophet’s time, is an excellent example of this:

I have not praised Muhammad with my words;
rather, I have praised my words with Muhammad. [1]

He means that his words are praiseworthy because they are about Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. Such a favor should be proclaimed in attribution to God as declared in the verse (93:11), As for the grace of your Lord, proclaim it. Some sayings of the Prophet, such as, “I am the lord of the children of Adam, and the first to be resurrected on Judgment Day, and I am the one who will first intercede (with God on behalf of human beings) and whose intercession will be accepted; but there is no pride,” [2] and comparable utterances of some of his Companions about themselves belong to this category. They do not express self-pride, but rather proclaim God’s favors and are overflowing with the feelings of thanking and praising Him. Such a favor can be regarded as a threshold to the perfect knowledge of God that is for the heroes of knowledge, love of God, and spiritual pleasures. The (third) rank of individuality beyond this threshold marks a different depth of their knowledge of God and suggests an unimaginable attainment.

This third rank, which is called individuality on the way from the Ultimate Truth, and which is supported by God’s unique and most comprehensive appreciations of those who have attained it, is the rank where travelers are favored with the constant company of God due to their perfect expansion, knowledge of God, and feeling of awe and reverence beyond all measure. The heroes of this rank feel in their inner worlds that the whole universe has been annihilated in God, they feel His constant company even when among people, and convey to the creation what they have received from the Creator, opening the door for people in order that they may be enabled to meet with the Ultimate Truth. The main characteristics of such people are that, because of their modesty, they are like other human beings in appearance, they always pursue God’s good pleasure and approval in all their acts and dealings, they live in this world by concentrating on the next one, they always feel the exhilarating company of God, they convey to others what they hear, see and feel, they take an interest in everything other than Him only because of Him, and they see every other thing as a shadow of the light of His Existence.

Those who are in the first rank of individuality are dedicated to reaching the goal of their journey. Those who have attained the second rank voice, as a proclamation of the Divine favor, the fact that they have been favored with the rays of His “Facial” Light and the lights of His Existence that they feel in the hills of their hearts. They constantly thank and praise God. As for others who have attained the peak of this journey, which is in fact beyond all ranks, and who share the indescribable depth of those of the second rank, we can approach them only with respect to their missions and their consciousness of these missions. They receive messages from the Ultimate Truth and convey these to people, calling them to meet with God, trying to remove the obstacles between people and God. They put up with living only for the life of others, and if they cannot do anything for the life of others, they experience life as an unbearable suffering. These are perfect guides and conveyors of the Divine messages. Their first or greatest rank is composed of the Messengers and the Prophets, and their true successors constitute the second rank.

The initial-rank travelers to individuality are the heroes of belief and knowledge of God who are in constant pursuit and who hasten to sincerity and purity of intention. Those of the second rank are the loyal ones filled with a knowledge and love of God, who have fully displayed their faithfulness and sincerity. As for the others, whom we try to know by their tasks and missions, they are the guides and conveyors of God’s messages, those who try to make the Ultimate Truth known to people and to rouse the spirits to meet with Him. Since the heroes of this final rank also have the attributes that are shared by those of the first two ranks, they can also be called the leaders of the heroes of knowledge of God. As for the first and foremost among them, he is our master Muhammad u Ahmad u Mahmud u Mustafa, who is the master of creation and the unique one of all time and space, upon him be the best and most perfect of blessings and peace. There are many other great persons near to his sacred sphere, especially including the other great Messengers, upon them be peace. Each of them has been honored with special favors according to his rank. However, it is Prophet Muhammad, the leader of the holiest of humankind, who was constantly being honored with such favors. Others have been ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of one moment of his relation or togetherness with the Light of Lights. All the beauties and lights with which the others have been honored are mere reflections of the Divine manifestations that he received.

In his famous Qasidatu’l-Bur’a (Eulogy of al-Bur’a), [3] Busiri expresses this highest grace as follows:

All the miracles that the other great Messengers worked by God’s leave,
were caused by the light that reached them from the light of Muhammad.
What we all know concerning him is that he is mortal human being;
but he is the best and greatest of all that God has created.
If the miracles he worked had been in proportion to his greatness,
the rotted bones would be revived when one prays, mentioning his holy name.

O God, bestow Your blessings and peace on him whom You sent as a mercy for all the worlds, and on his brothers among the Prophets and Messengers, and on the angels near-stationed to You, and on Your righteous servants among the inhabitants of the heavens and earth, may God be pleased with all of them.

Notes

1. Ibnu’l-Athir, Mathalu’s-Sair, 2: 357; Imam Rabbani, al-Maktubat, 1:58.
2. Muslim, “Fada’il,” 3; Abu Dawud, “Sunna,” 13.
3. The Bur’a by Al-Busiri is arguably the greatest classical poem in the Arabic language in praise of the character and exalted rank of Prophet Muhammad. Composed by Imam Al-Busiri in the 13th century in Mamluke Egypt, it has been recited ever since throughout the Muslim lands. (Tr.)

Question: While sayings of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, counsel against condemning believers to shame, despising them, and disclosing their faults, they also enjoin not remaining silent and unresponsive before oppression and evil. How is a believer supposed to achieve this balance?

In our previous issue we commented on not subjecting people to shame or scorn, as well as the importance of forgiving their faults. It is important to stress that we do not believe that it is acceptable to remain silent and passive when confronted with mistakes and wrongdoing, and to not take any action against them. “Commending good and preventing evil” is an important responsibility for believers if we take into account the following verse “You are the best community ever brought forth for (the good of) mankind, enjoining and promoting what is right and good and forbidding and trying to prevent evil, and (this you do because) you believe in God” (Al Imran 3/110), it is seen that being a part of the best community, or the one with the most goodness, is dependent upon this fact. Additionally, the noble Prophet ordered a present evil to be eliminated by direct intervention, and if this was not possible then by making verbal warnings, and if this was not possible either then by taking an attitude against it in one’s heart at least (Muslim, Iman 78; Tirmidhi, Fitan 11).

Trying to stop people from committing evil and enjoining them to engage in good behavior is one of the essential attributes of a believer. However, the method, style, and system to be followed in this respect are very important. Such an act cannot be done by embarrassing people and making them turn their faces away in shame. This will make matters worse, particularly so when certain matters rejected in religion such as lying, slander, and libel are also involved in the issue. What really matters here is making hearts genuinely feel the goodness of what is stated as good, and the darkness of what is stated as bad; namely, convincing people that the acts in question are good or bad (respectively), and making them re-orient themselves accordingly. Otherwise, without taking the other person’s condition into consideration, determining the correct manner, or thinking about which method to follow, an unwise approach such as “I say and tell what I believe and do not care about any other factors” has nothing to do with the religious teaching of “commending good and preventing evil.”

If we view the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), we find many examples of the points mentioned. For example, he counseled repentance to his companion Maiz who had committed fornication when he came to him and confessed his sin, saying that there is no sin God will not forgive. Although he turned Maiz down four times, the noble Prophet had to enforce the legal ruling upon the insistence of Maiz. However, he told people to ask for forgiveness for Maiz and pointed out that he had repented in such a way that if his repentance were to be distributed to the all people throughout the earth then it would suffice to purify everyone (Muslim, Hudud 22; Abu Dawud, Hudud, 24, 25). Thus, the Pride of Humanity prevented his community from continuing to hold a negative opinion about Maiz, for he wished Maiz to be remembered not as a sinner but as a person who was absolved from his sin and who had passed onto God’s divine presence in a purified state.

The noble Prophet neither put anybody to shame nor embarrassed anybody by mentioning their fault to them throughout his exemplary life. It is not possible to find examples in his life where he revealed people’s faults, treating fallen ones with contempt, or responded to evil with evil. On the contrary, he urged believers not to spy into others’ private issues. He always counseled covering faults and his entire life was permeated with forgiveness and tolerance. He made the following address to the people of Mecca, who had inflicted every kind of torment and suffering onto him, after him and his community peacefully took over the city: “No reproach this day shall be on you. Go now, all of you are free.” This mildness and magnanimity of his was one of the most important factors that conquered hearts and got people to enter Islam in droves.

If he had noticed a shortcoming of one of his Companions, he would never reveal it in an embarrassing way. He addressed such shortcomings during his public sermons without pointing the finger at that person, and he ensured that the person concerned also received a share from the teaching. Even in situations of meeting serious opposition where some were in a mood of disobedience, he would gather his Companions to make a general sermon that would not incriminate any one person. Hence, problems were solved without hurting and breaking the heart of anyone, without disgracing them, and without letting any grudge and rage be involved in the issue.

In this regard, it is very important, particularly for people who are at the forefront of dialogue and discourse with others, to undertake certain responsibilities. It is critical to know the people in your company and to not remain indifferent to their mistakes. A teacher must know the general situation of their students; in fact, it is an important aspect of their duty and responsibility. Their goals should be to treat everybody humanely, not to break anyone’s heart, and to try to eliminate evil in the most appropriate way. In other words, while eliminating evils as well, a believer is supposed to act in a way that reflects this character while remaining loyal to the path of the Prophet.

A manner appropriate for each person in question needs to be determined for the sake of not breaking anyone’s heart and not letting any problems escalate further, and each case should be taken into consideration separately as no two people are ever truly identical. Instead of giving an immediate reaction when faced with problems, and talking about them here and there, we must definitely mull over the subject and try to find the most appropriate solution. If you deal with matters in a crude and careless fashion and are as blunt as a kick in the shins, then you may risk hurting people and pushing them away from you. It should not be forgotten that the task of spiritual counsel and guidance requires expertise and sensibility. In a way, we can view it as a task that is best carried out by qualified and learned people.

It should also be known that problems may not always be sorted out by talking. In some situations, speaking over some problems might cause the crisis to get worse. As the saying goes, “a believer’s speaking should be wisdom and their silence should be reflection.” We should speak if we are to say words of wisdom. If this is not the case then we should keep silent and wait for the appropriate time. There are certain conditions where one needs to stop and think, for wisdom develops in the seedbed of deliberation. Otherwise, the blurting out of casual remarks will only produce noise. Just as we know the appropriate time to talk, we similarly need to know when to show patience and wait.

Self-interrogation

In one of his sayings, the noble Prophet stated that every child of Adam errs but the best of those who err are those who repent (Tirmidhi, Qiyamah, 49; Ibn Majah, Zuhd 30) and thus pointed out that human nature is prone to mistakes and sins. Accordingly, some give their willpower its due and narrow down this gap or totally eliminate it, whereas some do not succeed sufficiently in this respect. What matters here is that after experiencing a spiritual stumble, or perhaps even a fall, we work to straighten ourselves up right away and be purified in the washbasin of repentance.

Yes, everyone can fall. However, immediately walking out on, speaking negatively about, and putting to shame a person who is undergoing a spiritual relapse never comply with the virtuous conduct expected in religion nor with the path of the noble Prophet. Instead of busying ourselves with others’ faults we should be concerned with noticing our own faults and busying ourselves with setting those aright because those who cannot see their own mistakes keep looking for faults in others. A person who is fully concentrated on perfecting themself will be much less focused with the faults of others.

Before throwing a stone at someone, we need to take a look at ourselves first. And if we also have similar faults, then we should fear that such a stone may recoil and hit our own head. It is narrated that our master Messiah said the following in an address to a crowd preparing to stone someone to death for punishment: “Let one who is without sin among you throw the first stone…” Naturally, everybody gently lowered the stones in their hands to the ground.

The fact that people do not care about such matters at all and speak about others’ faults and sins in public does not serve as an excuse for us to behave in a similar manner. Even if the entire world engages in such sinful behavior it still does not justify joining them. As it is expressed in a Turkish proverb, “every sheep is hung from its own leg.” Asserting excuses such as “everybody was talking in this manner and I just followed their way” has no validity whatsoever on the Day of Judgment. As it is stated in the verse meaning, “And no soul, as bearer of burden, bears (and is made to bear) the burden of another” (Fatir 35:18) everybody remains alone with the burden of his or her own sins. And if someone defame others with spoken or written statements, that person will also be burdened with the sins caused by those statements, along with other personal sins.

Rather than being crushed under the weight of such sins in the Afterlife, taking our tongue under control while we can in this world and thus not giving way to such very hard to repair problems from the beginning is the wisest way. A person needs to also be careful about the feelings and thoughts that they may hold about other believers in the first place and should work to keep them pure, for what pours from the tongue are simply our thoughts. A person who is focused on the mistakes of others and continually mulls over them in their mind will firstly speak within about these with the inner voice, and then spill them out to others.

A person who is continually busy with others’ faults and speaks about these will definitely deserve punishment in the Hereafter on account of sins such as spying into others’ private affairs, holding negative assumptions, backbiting, and lashing out with insults. It is not possible for such a person to find comfort in this world as well. For a person who pollutes his or her brain neurons with what others did and who keeps talking about these filthy issues all the time, all of those things will turn into a torment.

Kalam Cosmological Arguments of Huduth and Imkan in light of Modern Scientific Discoveries

Humankind has grappled with the questions surrounding God, life, and creation for as long as we can remember (Gülen 2006, 3-4). Historically, philosophers and theologians have sought to produce systematic and rigorous arguments to rationally prove the existence of the Divine through the means of logical deduction (Gök 2018, 10). One such argument that has been synthesized is that of the kalam (the Islamic theology), a cosmological argument which has provided a historical and modern basis for those seeking to validate the existence of God (Gök 2018, 10-13). This argument has come under particular examination in contemporary circles where modern scientific discoveries are seen to both challenge, and support, the existence of God and hence establish a valid basis upon which to argue either case. This essay will thus seek to discuss the validity of the kalam cosmological argument, and its subsets, in relation to two modern scientific discoveries: the Big Bang theory, and the concept of virtual particles.

The kalam cosmological argument consists of two subset arguments: the huduth (cosmological) argument and the imkan (contingency) argument (Craig & Moreland 2009, 101-102). Historically, notable Muslim theologians, such as Imam Al-Ghazali, utilized this argument as a testament to the proof of God’s existence (Copan & Craig 2017, 5-7). Within the modern Western philosophical and theological context, this theory has been refined by the works of William Lane Craig (Waters 2015). Regarding the huduth (cosmological) argument, Craig summarised the premise of the argument as follows: the universe either had, or did not have, a beginning; if the universe had a beginning then it was either caused or not caused; if there was a cause then this was because of an external and powerful being (Doko 2018). As can be inferred, the argument is based on a question of origins, causality, and in regard to the two preceding arguments, validating that the cause of the universe is external.

In assessing the validity of the huduth argument, the Big Bang theory can be utilized. In modern science, the Big Bang theory has been established as the leading paradigm for the origins of the universe (Paulson et al, 2015). The theory purports that the universe, and all that is contained within it, had a singular starting point whereby from this singularity, the universe has been inflating for what has been calculated as 13.8 billion years (Gonzalo 2008, 207-240). The first premise of the huduth argument is one of origins. The Big Bang postulates that the universe was derived from a singular starting point, with the key being that it indeed had a starting point. Scientists have been able to calculate the age of the universe through utilising data obtained through calculation and observation (Paulson et al, 2-3). In knowing that the universe has an age, and therefore a beginning, one can thus logically deduce that it must have had a point of origin. This complies with the first component of the huduth argument in that the universe indeed must have had a “beginning,” thus validating the first premise.

The Big Bang theory also complies with the second premise of causality. It is accepted by scientists and philosophers alike that in order for an effect to manifest itself within the natural world, there must be a cause to bring about the effect (Rabins 2013, 6-25). Upon accepting the first premise that the universe had a beginning, the universe itself must, therefore, be the manifestation or effect of a preceding cause. Though models such as Stephen Hawking’s “no-boundary-proposal” have been theorized to provide contradictory explanations for the causation of the universe, these have been later disproven by physicists (Wolchover 2019). In this regard, the notion that the universe came into existence without a cause is not logical, thus validating the second premise of the huduth argument.

The last premise argues that once it is accepted that the universe has a cause then this cause must be an external, all-powerful being. Studies into the observed universe are based largely on natural laws and observations that are measurable (Paulson et al, 2-3). Any cause beyond these natural laws of the known universe would thus be “unnatural” and potentially Divine (Ergi 2015). Though the multiverse theory has been proposed as an alternative to a transcendent, external being, the fact still remains that there logically must have been a first universe with an external cause that would then cause the proceeding universes that follow. As such, the third premise of the huduth argument proves itself to be valid, thus validating the argument as a whole.

In addition to the Big Bang, the theory of virtual particles can be used to attest to the validity of the huduth argument. Virtual particles are quantum fluctuations that shift between observed existence and non-existence (Daywitt 2009, 27-28). Historically thought to be empty and full of “nothing,” the vacuum of space has been theorised to contain these finite particles [16]. Through calculation, virtual particles come into existence with a measurable beginning and not out of what appears to be nothing (Jaeger 2009, 144). Physicists have conceived that the particles themselves are in fact not independent, rather that they rely on other quantum interactions and certain laws of physics in order to manifest (Falkenburg 2007, 258-260). In this regard, they have a beginning point of origin. As such, they can be seen to comply with the first premise of the huduth argument. Though virtual particles do appear to come in-and-out of existence there are a number of causal factors that must provide the right conditions for their appearance such as the vacuum-like conditions of interstellar space, the interactions of surrounding “real” particles as well as the mass of these “real” particles (Falkenburg 2007, 58). It is thus perceivable that the particles are caused by several factors and do not come into existence out of non-existence without a cause which adheres to the second premise. The third premise of the huduth argument points to an external cause or creator. As was argued above, virtual particles have a cause and this cause is external to themselves. They cannot create themselves from nothingness and manifest due to the interactions of the real particles around them, which give rise to conditions that are conducive to their appearance. As such, this complies with the logic of the third premise of the huduth argument, as virtual particles require external causes in order to come into existence. Thus, the validity of the huduth argument holds firm when applied to this concept.  

The example of the Big Bang Theory and the concept of virtual particles can also be used when assessing the validity of the imkan (contingency) argument. This argument posits that everything that exists is either necessary or contingent (Ergi, 9). When classified as contingent, it is postulated that something can either exist or not exist, and that if it does exist then this existence is dependent upon factors that are external to it (Gülen 2006, 3-4). The idea that creations within the known universe are contingent is logical, as it can be deemed that nothing exists without a cause (Doko 3-4). In this regard, it is possible to say that contingent items within the universe, including the universe itself, are dependent upon that which is “necessary” and outside of themselves (Yaran 2003, 181-187). The Big Bang Theory provides a solid basis on which to assess the validity of the imkan argument. Everything within the universe originated from that moment, thus the universe is perceivable as having temporal existence (Walles 2016). In being a temporal entity, it is thus contingent on a cause that is external to itself. It would seem illogical that time, space, energy, and matter created themselves as they are contingent elements devoid of consciousness and reliant on physical laws hence would not have been able to exist beyond the Big Bang prior to it occurring. As such, the universe, being contingent and unable to necessitate its own existence, must have been created by a necessary agent. Though this necessary agent has been speculated to be a preceding universe, such as in the multiverse theory, this would propel reality into an infinite regress, a chain of causes contingent on the one before it, a notion deemed to be implausible (Yaran, 181-183). Accordingly, these multiverses would also have to be temporal in disposition and hence the same issue of an eventual point of origin manifests. The logical conclusion is thus that the necessary agent must exist beyond what is known, namely a transcendent being that is beyond temporality and materiality, and thus the logic of the imkan argument is valid.

This principle is similarly seen within the example of virtual particles. These particles are observed to come in-an-out of existence within the vacuum of space (Jaeger, 144). However, this activity is contingent upon necessary conditions, such as the existence of the vacuum itself, quantum interactions based upon the uncertainty principle, as well as surrounding real particles (Greene, 424-425). If any of the aforementioned factors were not present then the existence of virtual particle would only be a probable outcome and not a necessary outcome, similar to that of the universe, in a way that these particles do not necessitate their own existence and are dependent on an external and necessary cause. In this regard, the concept of virtual particles demonstrates the validity in the logic of the imkan argument thus demonstrating the validity of the kalam cosmological argument.

The success of whether an argument is logically valid can be assessed based on the plausibility of the premise presented by the argument (Doko, 4). As is evident, the kalam cosmological argument has been examined with a discussion of its two subset arguments. These arguments have been contrasted against the two scientific discoveries of the Big Bang Theory as well as the concept of virtual particles. Evidently, by its very nature, the kalam cosmological argument is based on sound deductive logic where both its branches contain premises that reach their respective conclusions using logic and rationality. As such, the kalam cosmological argument proves itself to be valid and this has been exemplified by superimposing the matrix of this argument onto real, modern-day scientific discoveries.

REFERENCES

• Copan, Paul and Craig, William Lane. The Kalam Cosmological Argument: Philosophical Arguments for the Finitude of the Past. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=LtI2DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Kalam+Cosmological+Argument:+Philosophical+Arguments+for+the+Finitude+of+the+Past&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjuxfDOt5fpAhU4lEsFHePeBNIQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
• Craig, William Lane and Moreland, James Porter. The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. West Sussex: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2009. https://www.difa3iat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/William_Lane_Craig__J._P._Moreland_The_BlackwellBookZZ.org_.pdf
• Daywitt, William. “The Source of the Quantum Vacuum.” Progress in Physics 2, 1 (2009): 27-28, http://www.ptep-online.com/.
• Doko, Enis. “Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Modern Science.” Kader 16, 1 (2018): 3, doi: 10.18317/kaderdergi.417640.
• Ergi, Omer Atilla. 2015. Is it Possible to Conclusively Prove the Existence of God? Melbourne: Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilization Charles Stuart University
• Falkenburg, Birgitte. Particle Metaphysics: A Critical Account of Subatomic Reality. Berlin: Springer, 2007.https://books.google.com.au/books?id=EbOz5I9RNrYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Particle+Metaphysics:+A+Critical+Account+of+Subatomic+Reality&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7lt3f8JbpAhWKc30KHbIcDNwQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
• Gok, Hakan. Atheism or Theism? The Perspective of Said Nursi. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2018.
• Gonzalo, Julio. The intelligible universe: an overview of the last thirteen billion years. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co., 2008. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=1193384&ppg=222
• Greene, Brian. The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory Surrey: Vintage, 2000.
• Gulen, Fethullah. The Essentials of the Islamic Faith. Sommerset, New Jersey: The Light Inc., 2006.
• Jaeger, Gregg. “Are Virtual Particles Less Real?. ” Entropy 21, 2 (2009): 144, doi: 10.3390/e2102014.
• Paulson, Steve., Albert, David., Holt, Jim and Turok, Neil. “The origins of the universe: why there is something rather than nothing?,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 13611, 1 (December 2015): 2-17, doi: 10.1111/nyas.12859.
• Rabins, Peter. The Why of Things: Causality in Science, Medicine and Life. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=1103422
• Walles, Mathew. “The Existence of God- According to Muslim Theologians and Thinkers.” Fountain Magazine, 1 May, 2016. https://fountainmagazine.com/2016/issue-111-may-june-2016/the-existence-of-god-according-to-muslim-theologians-and-thinker
• Waters, Benjamin Victor. “Toward a new kalam cosmological argument.” Cogent Arts and Humanities 2, 1 (2015): 2, doi: 10.1080/23311983.2015.1062461.
• Wolchover, Natalie. “Physicists Debate Hawking’s Idea That the Universe Had No Beginning.” Quantamagazine, Jun 6, 2019. https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-debate-hawkings-idea-that-the-universe-had-no-beginning-20190606/.
• Yaran, Cafer S. Islamic Thought on the Existence of God. Washington: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2003. https://fountainmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IIA-16-Contents-4f8.pdf

Literally meaning to separate, abstract, peel away, or to isolate oneself from every occupation and engagement, tajrid (isolation) denotes the state where one isolates oneself from worldly things and abandons all carnal or bodily desires. It also denotes turning away from all else save God and being freed from any attachment to wealth, status or position or any worldly expectations, and setting one’s heart totally on Him without expecting anything in return.

The scholars relate isolation to the Qur’anic statement, Take off your shoes (20:12), and interpret this as the purifying of the heart, which they call the home of God, of all worldly and otherworldly considerations, and preparing it for the visit of the All-Holy Sovereign. Some go a step further and regard this as turning to the Light of Lights with all one’s heart and setting one’s heart totally on Him without leaving any room for anything else in one’s feelings, according to one’s capacity. From another perspective, isolation has been approached as resistance against all carnal or bodily appetites and impulses and against the attractions of the world with whatever is in it. Initiates who have not been able to isolate themselves from carnal appetites, the attractions of the world, the attachment of the heart to anything else save Him, or from any worldly or otherworldly consideration, cannot attain His private company and the spiritual pleasure inherent in this.

Concerning this significant point, the author of al-Minhaj

says:

So long as you do not isolate yourself
from considerations about everything save Him,
You will not be able to reach privacy
with the Beloved in His private room.

Ibrahim Haqqi expresses the same point, as follows:

The heart is the home of God;
purify it of whatever is there other than Him,
So that the All-Merciful may descend into His palace at nights.

Isolation, which, in the words of Sayyid Sharif [1], is cleaning the heart and other innermost faculties from the dirt and dust of attachment to anything save Him, requires that the people favored with a vision of Him should isolate themselves from whatever they see or hear, and that they live immersed in the lights of the Existence of the Eternal Witness. Every initiate feels this and is favored with its gifts according to the individual’s capacity.

When those who are in the initial stages of the spiritual journey find themselves growing in the knowledge of God that is developing in the heart, the information acquired concerning Him gradually fades, and they begin to receive glimpses from beyond things. Then all of their material or bodily necessities, and even the entire world with whatever is in it, gradually lose their importance and value for them and they become polished mirrors to the truth, or function as some misty medium to reflect Him. One who feels this favor sometimes says, like Fuduli,

The way of isolation is a home
requiring full renunciation and sacrifice to settle in,
so abandon whatever worldly things you have,
and do not have a house.

or sometimes cries, like Yunus Emre:

I have found the unique, matchless honey;
Let everybody come and plunder my existence.

One who has reached the final point of the spiritual journey is freed from all considerations concerning other existent beings save God, and is left with no trace that belongs to anything else except Him. If those favored with this degree of isolation do not follow the principles of the Prophetic way or the rules of Shari‘a in their considerations, they may lapse into negating the “reality of things”— the established originals or essences of things in God’s Knowledge. This is a rank where many initiates live in a daze. Whereas, those who strictly follow the signposts and lights of the Prophetic way during their entire journey, though admitting the reality of things, see in everything only He Who is the One, only know the One, only mention the One, only call the One, and only turn to the One in thousands of signs of “dawn,” turning their eyes from all others.

Ahmedi [2] describes this rank according to his feeling as follows:

I have submitted all my being to that Friend, having no home any longer;
And purified my hands of any worldly things I had, being left without both of the two worlds.
For God’s love has come and drawn me to itself: opening the eyes of my heart, awakening me from an intoxicated sleep.
His Unity has become manifest to me, so that I have seen Him with all certainty.
I have driven away polytheism, having no doubt any longer.

As for the state of those who have completed their journey toward God, it is such a deep, indescribable state of pleasure, where efforts toward isolation have ended in perfect isolation and they have all but lost their own being, that those who do not experience it cannot know or describe it. Anybody who attempts to describe it cannot be saved from confusion. Such a relation between the Almighty, Ultimate Truth and an initiate whom He has favored with such a degree of spiritual attainment must be a mysterious gift of secrecy of His to His distinguished servants. What we should do is to feel respect for this gift of secrecy.

O God! Show us the truth as being true and enable us to follow it, and show us falsehood as being false and enable us to refrain from it. And bestow blessings and peace on our master Muhammad, the guide to the truth, and on his Family and Companions, godly, noble and honorable.

Notes

1. Sayyid Sharif al-Jurjani (1339–1413), was one of the leading theologians of 15^th century. He lived in Iran and taught in Shiraz. He visited Istanbul in 1374. Sharhu’l-Mawaqif is his most famous work.
2. Emir Muhammed ibn Emir Ahmedi lived in the same age as Jalalu’d-Din Rumi. He lived in Bayburt, in the Eastern Turkey. He was also the leader of the Ahis (The Brotherhood of Craftsmen and Tradesmen) in the region. (Tr.)