On the back cover of the 2017 May-June edition of this magazine we were reminded of the knot that binds us to the tangle we have made of human existence. Releasing the knot, one would contend, requires first an awareness of the nature of the knot, which means knowing what caused the tangle.

We are horribly aware of what is, but hardly aware of why. Your correspondent rather fears to suggest that in respect of human history, and as far as the current terrorists are   concerned, they are not even par for the course. This not an apology and is by no means a suggestion that they are anything less than undesirable, but they do have a long way to go to equal our collective bloody past. You don’t need a list.

It may be reasonable to suggest that frustration is at the root of most human folly. The terrorists are frustrated by their own need to find release from persecution perceived, but more likely a purpose for their lives. It amounts to the adoption of a system, a philosophy, a reason to be. It is often similar, in albeit psychological content, to what we often undertake in the name of “our interests.” Humans are also frustrated by the need for some of us to be rude, as in the appalling attacks of the good name of the Prophet Muhammad, which were used as an excuse to release ingrained frustrations. Should we really be aghast when we end up with a bloody nose after insulting someone? We do not discuss right or wrong because we are confronted by simply what is. Our lack of comprehension when being hit tells of an equal lack of awareness of human decency and that really means our own lack because, after all, you generally get back what you engender. The Hindus call it karma. All right, let’s tell it how it is. “Keep your dirty mouth off me, buddy, or you’re gonna get a smack in the eye.” Thus, however crass, crude or unsophisticated, that is how things stand. We must possibly consider that the human fuse is longer or shorter according to the individual. Even if so inclined, one would perhaps risk an oblique thrust against an educated, worldly wise person, but I will hesitate to walk into a black neighborhood shouting about white supremacy. This by no means supposes that people in a black neighborhood are unsophisticated, but it does suppose common sense, as opposed to being either cowardly or brave, or downright silly. Quite obviously, speaking one’s mind is often far removed from exercising common sense. To be fair, there would seem to be a need for a study about what to do with thoughts that are less than useful. The “freedom to be me” set would protest, but I am suggesting a universal creed, borrowed again from one of the mystics, of being able to do anything you like in this world, as long as you don’t hurt anybody.

Don’t think about it: only God is good.

The peoples of this world have been insulting each other since the beginning of time. Nevertheless, there must be more to the matter. History shows us that most nations have at one time or another been at the top of the pile politically, culturally, and naturally financially. The top nations were then seen to slide right on down again (Rome is the obvious example.) How come? They had it all! It is a common notion to say that wealth brings responsibility with it. But with tons of money available, decadence is a beguiling and easy option. Above all, we are bound to admit that the exhilarating, albeit disastrous, slide down is likely to be made rapid to the extent of a nation’s financial means.

One could also suggest that as far as the terrorists are concerned, they may well be running on a sort of universal “now is my time” program. The wheel of human endeavor has turned – someone has even suggested that there is a noticeable historic cycle in social change – and we are now faced with another bully thrusting to the fore. Please remember that none of the so-called advanced nations have ever succeeded without bullying, usually some other country’s indigenous peoples. This brings about frustration and an arising group urge. First comes the insult perceived, then comes the instinctive, then the planned, fight back.

Please consider that terrorists have, in one guise or another, littered the lives and existence of humans for thousands of years. The name, the cause, the flag under which they kill may have been superficially varied, but the root cause, the why, has always been the same. Humans have an appetite for anger. To be precise, anger is an appetite!

Has anyone ever investigated appetite? The mystics deal with it. The Islamic mystic, Sheikh Jilani, has pinpointed our lower instincts, for which the Arabic word is nafs. Our nafs are not merely our egos, but are somewhat akin to the appetites we attach to our lower impulses. Am I splitting hairs, here? Nevertheless, whether from the Arabic or otherwise, nafs, our lower impulses, are universal one way or another to all of humanity.

The ego is indeed pure until it acquires a less than useful appetite. Our motivating forces (often animal or material in nature) may well be necessary for navigating our daily lives, but there are few among us able to use them under the governance of a human attitude, read God’s guidance. Nevertheless, it may seem to be confusing the issue somewhat to suggest that our lower impulses are also needed to get out of bed in the morning with a purpose. In other words, an ego is little more than a mechanical function that has somehow acquired enormous clout in the minds of humans. The ego is very useful for undertaking work, for getting you to the train on time, for making money, but not for using money for matters of detriment. Such as having a war supported by a war industry. Thus, doing what you truly feel guided to do and nothing else is demonstrably tricky. Your mind will always find a reason for you to indulge in your appetite for sex, drugs and… (ok, let’s keep rock ‘n’ roll), the world, the world. One of the problems arising when discussing ego is that it is loaded with connotation. Everyone will tell you that egoism is bad, but that is not true! It is what you do with your ego that is often out of context. That’s the point, it is the notion of what you do that is of the essence. The big idea, of course, is to keep your self separate from your ego. In other words: my ego, my servant, and not the other way round. Moreover, my mind, my servant, and not the other way round, would suggest relegating the mind to its proper position within the human frame. This perhaps sounds like a good idea, on paper, and one should be able to exercise free will to undertake it. The problem is that not many wills on this earth are actually free. (Ask any parent struggling to put a child through school.) There always appear to be the add-ons, coloration engendered by experience. The Hindu maintains that “…to live life according to experience is the most bitter of ways.” Another mystic has also said that people make most mistakes when feeling happy. That may sound weird, and this writer apologizes for not offering an example. I would need a month on a desert island to figure that one out.

Can we envisage “my mind, my servant”? A mind that serves and does not lead? A humble mind is a rarity, of course. A mind denying its self for most of us would be, well, unthinkable. This writer asks forgiveness for adding sophistry; it is a writer’s test of faith. But it does mean that the true human self should be, but rarely is, separate from a person’s motivating forces. Hence inner conflict.

It has been suggested that to worship God one must make neutral the effects of the heart and the mind. This emptying of worldly influences, which are actually necessary for living in the world, for a period of worship means permitting God to take over. With the heart and mind in neutral, the nafs, our lower motivating forces, are in abeyance. At the finish of worship, the nafs will again thrust to the fore, often with a vengeance. Five times daily in prayer is a constant return to God. Then by the grace of God we may wish to consider the forces within us as they really are. It must be of great value to be able to dissociate ourselves – achieve distance – from our lower forces, get them into focus but not to eradicate them because one may never get off one’s desert island. One may also meditate at lofty Himalayan heights and even “shake” the hand of God, but would be incapable of coming down to the valley where human life goes on.

Our lower motivating forces should be – in fact are – the instruments given at our disposal for work, for undertaking science, for example, for feeding ourselves and our families, thus, for dealing with our worldly responsibilities. Many persons of an ascetic leaning have removed themselves from “the world” in an endeavor to subdue their lower forces. Indeed, Muhammad went to his cave, Jesus went into the desert for forty days and forty nights. Their motivating instinct, however, was submission, for receiving and not conceiving. After all, can we really be wiser than God? These persons then returned to the world to assist the rest of humankind. This writer remembers the story of a Buddhist monk who had received nirvana, after which he returned to the marketplace, the world, to serve humanity. In its simplest form it was all about knowing what makes people suffer, what makes people afraid, what makes people turn to their lower instincts for answers and then makes them fight. The German language offers Existenzangst, which is a good a word as any for describing the root of the human condition.

Jesus returned knowing what makes people be the way they are, Muhammad, too, and he was reported to have cried out in anguish at his knowing. The Buddha came to his realization of what makes people unhappy, which was, of course, desire.

The Islamic tradition leans, quite rightly I believe, on the sciences – the use of the mind to serve for the betterment of human existence. It is not a mystical matter, but it is engendered by a mystical instinct. First the realization, then the serving. Moreover, using the mind to cultivate a garden, harness solar energy, or simply attending to one’s given profession could reasonably be suggested as being God’s preferred way of keeping us out of trouble. Those of theological persuasion may well suggest that one is unable to enter through the gates of heaven through works. This writer would contend, however, that enterprise is not the real meaning of work, or works. It may be reasonable to suggest that anything undertaken through the designs of God has already been blessed, however mundane it may appear. Philosophers, writers in general and those who would delve into higher things are naturally at risk. It is dangerous terrain, often a tightrope walk over a yawning chasm engendered by the heart and the mind, which amounts to the most sophisticated double act to ever enter upon the stage of human endeavor. This writer has also been in the presence of a mystic who once maintained that he had no real knowledge of what he was about to say (lecture notes would be anathema). His inspiration was from above.

Thus, after our daily prayers we return to the world on a hopefully even keel. Our appetites, which, let’s face it, are currently raging around the planet, are for a while governed by a higher force.

It has been suggested – and don’t get me wrong here – that prayer changes nothing. Prayer changes people and people change things. This writer is inclined to equate prayer with a spontaneously arising feeling of hope for betterment in the face of trouble. Thus, to hope for betterment, and not wish to kill, is in itself grace.

The only way to surrender to God, it seems, is to place one’s lower motivating forces in abeyance for a while. But never, ever, try to eradicate them.

This writer finds himself, at long last, reading James Michener’s Iberia. At the beginning of the book Michener tells us about duende (grace recognized) and shibui (aesthetic rightness). Both explanations are approximations. My leaning for such things, my temperament, brought on enthusiasm. The promising beginning was brief, however, and Mr. Michener then takes the reader through 800 pages of small print dealing mostly with the history, art and culture of the Iberian peninsula. Mr. Michener tells us what is or was, but not why.

Ma’rifa is a special knowledge that is acquired through reflective thought, sincere endeavor, using one’s conscience and inquiring into one’s inner world. It is different from (scientific) knowledge (‘ilm). (Scientific) knowledge is acquisition reached through study, investigation, analysis, and synthesis, while ma’rifa is the substance of knowledge attained through reflection, intuition, and inner perception. The opposite of (scientific) knowledge is ignorance, while the opposite of ma’rifa is denial.

Knowledge means comprehending or encompassing something thoroughly, while ma‘rifa means familiarity with or recognition of something—that something may be the Divine Being—in some of its aspects. For this reason, the One of Unity is called the All-Knowing (‘Alim), but He has never been called the One having familiarity with something (‘Arif). In addition, the exacting scholars of truth view ma‘rifa, which also means information, talent, and skill, as the culture acquired by conscience or one’s conscious nature. It has other meanings such as the ability to feel something with the spiritual faculty that humanity has been endowed with, the image of something known in the mind, and the knowledge kept in the memory which gains strength through repetition. From another perspective, it is consciousness, perception, and sufficient information which helps distinguish one thing from another. Ma‘rifa can be summed up as having concise knowledge about something or someone through their acts or works and attributes—knowledge which can be developed and detailed.

In order that one can be among those who have knowledge of God and who are regarded by God as being one of such people, one should have certain theoretical knowledge about God and the ways that lead to Him, recognizing the obstacles on the way, and knowing how to overcome these obstacles. One should also have enough willpower to apply what one knows. One who has true knowledge of God is a perfect human being who knows the Unique One, Who is the Eternally Besought, with His Acts, Names and Attributes, and is a person in whose everyday life this knowledge shows itself. He or she is also one who always keeps the heart purified and pursues sincerity and purity of intention, who can remain free of negative or evil moral qualities as far as possible, overcoming whatever dark emerges from the spirit and threatens to darken one’s horizon, and thereby demonstrating loyalty to the All-Watchful Guardian. Such a one can bear everything that befalls on God’s way to obtain His approval, and invites others to the way of the Prophets, which shows itself through God’s confirmation in every step, and whose lights he or she always feels with pleasure.

There is another approach to ma‘rifa that ma‘rifa is the ability to perceive something as exactly what it is in itself, in its true nature and identity, and based on the thing itself. According to this approach, knowledge of God is knowing the Divine Being with His Essential and Affirmative Attributes beyond all conceptions of modality. This is different from comprehending, perceiving and establishing other things, and is based on perception and knowing by conscience. This knowledge and perception should not be confused with modern intuitionism. The Divine Being is beyond all concepts and cannot be comprehended, perceived or scientifically known, although a certain knowledge or familiarity can be acquired of Him through His Acts, Names and Attributes.

The acknowledgment that The inability to perceive Him is the true perception, excellently expresses the inability of anything limited to perceive Him and the imperceptibility of the One Who is Infinite. The same meaning is exquisitely expressed in the saying, We have not been able to know You as knowing You requires, O the One Known.

It is only God Whose existence is absolute, and the greatest truth is acknowledging His Existence and Oneness. The first step in acquiring knowledge of Him is the attainment of belief, being a Muslim, and excellence—worshipping Him as if seeing Him. In realizing such a blessed aim, one should continue one’s traveling to the True Source of all gifts and blessings without turning to anything else as a source. One should be able to feel a new joy of reunion in every gift and blessing with which one is favored, and as the final point, gain familiarity with the mysteries of His Names and Attributes, and, if possible, of His Being.

This consideration is expressed as follows in Lutfiya by Wahbi:

Try your hardest and be one who has ma’rifa of Him,
One favored with knowledge of Him!
For the All-Loving declared, “so that I may be known;” [1]
Knowing God is the ultimate cause for the creation of the two worlds;
and knowing God is the adornment of humanity.
Those devoid of knowledge of Him are low in rank.
Knowing Him is a spiritual kingdom,
and Knowing Him is a Divine gift and blessing.
….
When you, O moving spirit, receive this gift and blessing;
the two worlds will be yours.

The following words, which are narrated in books concerning Sufism as a hadith qudsi—a saying, the meaning of which is from God and the wording of which was inspired in the Messenger—are the gist or kernel of all explanations concerning knowledge of God:

O humankind! One who knows his self also knows Me; one who knows Me seeks Me, and one who seeks Me certainly finds Me. One who finds Me attains all his aspirations and expectations, and prefers none over Me. O humankind! Be humble that you can have knowledge of Me; accustom yourself to hunger so that you can see Me; be sincere in your devotion to Me so that you can reach Me. O humankind! I am the Lord; one who knows his self also knows Me; one who renounces his self finds Me. In order to know Me, renounce your own self. A heart which has not flourished and been perfected through knowledge of Me is blind.

Knowledge of God sometimes becomes a source of wonder and astonishment for initiates, as has been said, “One who knows the Ultimate Truth becomes dumbfounded and tongue-tied.” But it sometimes becomes a means of expression for them, as has been said, “One who knows the Ultimate Truth finds his voice.” The voice finds its overflowing expression in one’s excitement and speech and echoes in many other ears. Although opposites, both the saying of Muhammad Parisa, [2] “There is none who knows the Divine Being other than Himself,” and the saying, “I know none else save God,” are true each in its own context.

There is none other than Him who has a true, substantial existence, and there are no true acts other than those done by Him. Other beings have a relative existence when compared with Him, and other acts, which take place in the cycle of causality, is of a relative nature. For this reason, knowledge of God is when an initiate melts away in the light of the Ultimate Truth and gains a new, “true” existence. This may be viewed as self-annihilation in God and subsistence by Him. I think the author of al-Minhaj stresses this fact in these verses:

If you can see with the lights of certainty,
then do not see one who knows and the One Known differently.

Fuduli [3] expresses this depth of knowledge of God as follows:

One who knows God is not one who knows
the wisdom of the world with what is in it.
One who knows God is he who does not know
what the world is with what is in it.

Sufis have made other descriptions concerning knowledge of God. According to these descriptions, knowledge of God is knowing the truths of the Divine Names and Attributes, grasping the phenomenon of the manifestations in existence and the discovery of the existential mystery, deeply perceiving the truth of existence with its originality and shadows, and understanding and representing in life the truth of religion according to the Will of the All-Desired One, Who is the final goal of those who set out to reach Him. Each of these descriptions requires a voluminous work to explain and is therefore beyond the scope of this study. We will only cite here some verses from Diyaiya (“The Book of Light”) which point to some dimensions of the subject matter:

The third chapter is about knowledge of God, O valiant young one;
to describe it the wheel of speech is unable to work.
….
There is no scribe nor a pen to write about it;
one cannot get his tongue around it to express it.
….
The mirror of reason is veiled from understanding it;
the ability of perception has nothing to say in it.
Only the bird of imagination can fly toward it;
there is no example that we can coin to explain it.
….
Here the gift comes only from God;
this is a light-diffusing, sacred rank.
….
The whole of creation is immersed in this realm,
which is more spacious than all the worlds.
….
There is no true existent save He Who is the One,
perceiving this is the real vision.
Do not interpret this vision in another way, or else,
it will mean unbelief and heresy, O one with body of light.
It is not the eyes in the head which have this vision;
The All-Loving One is all-free from vision by these eyes.
The innermost faculty—secret—discerns this truth,
when you find this faculty in you, you can understand it.
Human scientific knowledge and perception have nothing to say;
the merit is in wonder and helplessness in this field.
Perception of one’s helplessness is perception of the Ultimate Truth;
listen to what Abu Bakr, the truthful one, says concerning it. [4]

The rank of knowledge of God (ma‘rifa) is a rank of wonder, utter astonishment, and awe. It is possible to see this in almost all the reflections of the scholars of Sufism on knowledge of God. Some of them see it in direct proportion to the excess of the feeling of awe and have concluded that the deeper one is in knowledge of God, the deeper one’s feeling of awe is. Others regard knowledge of God as being the base of serenity and peacefulness and emphasize that inner peace and self-possession increase in proportion to the depth of knowledge of God. Still others consider knowledge of God as the heart’s attainment of friendship with God and the initiate’s following a way to nearness to God.

The approach of ash-Shibli opens new windows on the knowledge of God. According to him, it means that an initiate has an essential relation with none save God, making no complaints when burning with His love, is a sincere, obedient and faithful servant of God who avoids any claims of superiority, and one who worries about his or her end. A person with true knowledge of God and who has a strong connection with the sources of this knowledge, one who has taken refuge in the guidance of the spirit and meaning of Prophethood, and who has built sound relations with the truths that lie beyond human horizons, cannot feel any essential interest in transitory things nor does lower him or herself to feel attachment to others than the Lord. The Qur’an alludes to this highest point in (35:28), Of all His servants, only those possessed of true knowledge stand in awe of God, reminding the traveler of the relation between knowledge and awe or reverence of God. The greatest of those who have knowledge of God, upon him be peace and blessings, said concerning the same point: I am greater than you in knowledge of God, and more intense in fearing Him.[5]

In the books on Sufism, in which the intellect guided by Revelation is operative, and which contain numerous gems of wisdom concerning the “garment of piety” of those who have true knowledge of God, with Whom their hearts are deeply connected, we can find many gems concerning knowledge of God. The following are only a few of them:

• In the view of one favored with knowledge of God, the world with its material aspect becomes so small that it seems no greater than a cup.
• The souls that have gained profundity in knowledge of God expand to the extent that it is as if they have no
• Those who taste the pleasure of knowledge of God, which is regarded as the sweetest of all honey, pursue no other wealth than nearness to the Ultimate
• The richness of the honeycomb of knowledge of God in the heart is one of the most essential sources of love and An initiate burns with the zeal of reunion in proportion to how much this source overflows its banks, which he or she sees as the price of the favors received.

The following points which differentiate those who have a sound knowledge of God from others are important. The former have no selfish expectations from whatever good they do, never think of competition for either material or spiritual ranks nor feel jealous of anybody. They do not see themselves as being greater than anyone else, nor do they moan because of missed opportunities, anymore than they feel arrogant because of their accomplishments. Even if they were granted the kingdom of the Prophet Solomon, they would only seek God’s company, regarding it as futile to turn to other things. They feel no relation with beings other than the Almighty with respect to their worldly existence and corporeal selves, and know that one moment of God’s friendship is worth the entire world. They consider being with God among people as a victory that has been granted to their willpower, and see the Divine Will reflected in the face of their determination, recognizing the help of the Lord in the result of their endeavor, alongside many other instances of wisdom and God’s extraordinary gifts. They observe the manifestations of the Divine Oneness in the multiplicity of the creation, and thereby they grasp how a drop is transformed into an ocean, and a particle into the sun. They witness in their conscience how nothingness or non-existence is a fertile land, to be planted with existence and live drowned in ecstasies and intoxication.

Self-possession, steadfastness, seriousness, profundity, and resolution are the clearest and most important signs of perfect knowledge of God. Those who have this degree of knowledge live under the shower of the manifestations of God’s friendship and company. No sign of any flaws can be seen in their inner or outer world, nor is any laxity witnessed in their behaviors. They never show impertinence or conceit, even when favored with the most abundant gifts. On the contrary, they always act in a self-possessed manner, trying to lead a self-disciplined, spiritual life.

Obviously, everyone cannot have the same degree of knowledge of God. Some travel on the horizon of perceiving the Attributes essential to the Divine Being and the favors that accompany His Acts. They observe and avail themselves of His proofs that are found within themselves and in the outer world, with the result that their love of truth and their relation with the Greatest of Truths are witnessed in their manners. They travel between the Divine Acts, Names and Attributes and are thrilled with the different melodies of belief, knowledge of God, love, attraction and the feeling of being attracted by God to Himself. They feel in their conscience the reflections of the Divine Acts or operations in the universe and pursue more and more the pleasure entailed in observing ever new colors and aspects. This is a way bequeathed by the Prophets and it is a way that can be followed by everyone. One who travels along this way of objective truth travels toward the Ultimate Truth under the arches of His regard and compliments.

On this path there are others who feel all the dimensions in existence ending in one dimension, who feel that everything is annihilated in God. It is as if they have reached a point where the lights and manifestations of the Divine Being and Attributes come together from the perspective of humanity and annihilate their very being in the Divine Being, attaining a new existence with the Self-Subsistence of Him Who is the All-Knowing and the Ever-Existent.

While those belonging to the former group travel in the realm of the Divine Attributes and Qualities, others have already directed themselves to the Source of these Attributes and Qualities. Therefore, their observations and sensations are not aimed at either the Attributes exclusively in such a way as to veil the Being in their minds or spirits, nor at the Being exclusively in such a way as to suggest the denial of the Attributes. For this reason, such an approach has been regarded as the way of the perfected and most advanced, and the main path that is followed by those who travel to the greatest nearness to God.

The Book, the Sunna, reason, and the Divine system in creation and human primordial nature bear witness to the truth of this way along which God’s works of Art show themselves brightly. Initiates who have firmly established their feet on this path witness at every step that God witnesses His Existence and Oneness, and they cannot help but utter, God bears witness that surely there is no deity but He (3:18). They hear in their conscience the confirmations of angels and those possessed of knowledge as a reflection of God’s Own witnessing, and continue to utter: and the angels and those possessed of knowledge (also bear witness to the same truth) (3:18). Then, they see that all means and causes that are not essential to His Being having vanished, and they are able to be at perfect rest and to find perfect peace.

There are others who have such abundant knowledge of God that proofs of God are no longer needed in their world; all the things that witness Him are humbled in the face of their being in the Presence of the True Witness; all the means tremble with the shame of making distant whatever is near, and all the heralds are silent and busy with correcting the words that they have uttered. At this point, where everything is seen by the conscious nature as witnessing Him beyond all concepts of modality, the eyes are dazzled by the brightest manifestations of the “Divine Facial Light,” and all other identities save His are lost. Those who have reached this point see that the True Source of existence and knowledge surrounds everything from all sides, tasting the pleasure of perceiving every being’s perception of Him according to their level, and feeling that everything is annihilated in Him. They sense the way in which the manifestations of the Divine Names are combined with those of the Being, Attributes and Acts. The conscience is saved from any feeling of dependence on causality and reaches the horizon of Surely we belong to God (as His creatures and servants), and surely to Him we are bound to return (2:156). But this never means, as some have assumed, “absolute annihilation” or “union with God.”

Our Lord! Grant us from Your Presence a special mercy and arrange for us in our affairs what is right and for our good! And bestow blessings and peace on our master Muhammad, by whom the mysteries came to light and the lights shone brightly, and on his pure Family and Companions.

Notes

1. Here there is a reference to the Qur’anic verse, I have not created the jinn and humanity but to worship Me (51:56). To worship Me has usually been interpreted as “so that I may be known and worshipped.” (Tr.)
2. Muhammad Parisa (d., 822/1419) was a great scholar and saint from Bukhara. He passed away in Madina. Among his books al-Fusulu’s-Sitta (Six Chapters) is famous. (Tr.)
3. Mehmed Fuduli (1490-1556). The greatest poet of the Turkish classical literature. He lived in Iraq. His Diwan, (“Collection of Poems”), Layla wu Majnun (“Layla and Majnun”), and Hadiqatu’s-Su‘ada (“The Garden of the Holy Ones”) are some of his other well-known books. (Tr.)
4. The writer refers to Abu Bakr’s saying: “The inability to perceive Him is the true perception.” (Tr.)
5. 5. as-Sahawi, al-Maqasidu’l-Hasana, 21.

Man can attain inner depth as much as he can discern himself correctly.

It is a well-observed fact that in our lives we have no input or choice in choosing the place and time of our birth, the parents we have, the name we are given, our race or color, or even the time and place of our death. Most of the time, we do not even have control over whom we meet. Most importantly, it was not us who made the decision to be ourselves; our father produced millions of sperm, only one was permitted to fertilize of our mother’s egg. Moreover, we could have not been human at all, but some other animal or plant. Therefore, one can say that we, ourselves per se, have no power in choosing the most important determinants in our lives.

Let us think about our bodily functions. Which biological processes can we control on our own? In reality, none. We cannot control the complex functions of our cells or our organs, our breathing, our digestion, or our hormonal cycles. In fact, these processes occur without us realizing that they are taking place in our body. What about the world in which we live? We do not and cannot control the perfect process of photosynthesis (i.e., the chemical processes that lead to the production of oxygen on this planet) in leaves and other green organisms, the natural occurrence of animals and plants upon which we depend, the water cycle, the movement of clouds, or even the formation of rain. Maybe it would be good to imagine a world without photosynthesis: we would not have enough oxygen; we would suffocate within a couple of hours. It is humbling to know that we cannot even make the oxygen upon which we depend for each and every breath.

What about the process of eating? Many times, without thinking deeply enough we say, “I ate.” However, if we analyze the situation carefully with insight and deep thought, we will come to a conclusion that we do not “eat,” we are fed. How is this possible? First of all, we cannot control the movement of muscles in our arm. Studying the mechanisms of muscle contraction in biology makes this evident. Muscle contraction is a very complex process that no human can interfere with, as countless chemical processes take place in our muscles to enable our hand to move, pick up our food, and place it in our mouth. The biochemistry of muscle contraction involves the interaction of calcium ions and calcium-binding proteins and the energy currency of living cells, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Without the necessary co-ordinate interactions between these biochemical entities, muscle fibers cannot contract. Yet these countless enzymes and proteins that we depend on for life are built in our bodies without our power or knowledge.

The chewing process is equally complex. What if our jaw muscles locked-would it be possible to move our jaw to chew the food? In fact, the complexity of all these processes is so great that the possibility of error is very high. Yet 99.9999…% of the time, they are perfectly effective. However, in contradiction to this basic fact, we seem oblivious and unaware that it is not us who is directly involved in bringing about our actions, as we say, “I did it,” or “I achieved it.”

It is interesting that classical Sufism sees the human body as a transient palace, as a home kept in order by the great host; by a Creator; who built the body to serve the human soul placed inside it. We can also come to this conclusion by reflecting profoundly on the realities of our beings. More often than not, however, we take for granted the complexity of ‘simple’ movement (or service), such as that of our fingers, hands, and arms, occurrences that happen everyday, at every moment of our lives. This does not mean, however, that we are not responsible for our actions. Our responsibility lies in the innermost intentions, thoughts, and motives behind these actions, which will finally determine the true consequences or fruits of our behavior.

There is a very thought-provoking verse in the Holy Qur’an: Truly, mankind is very unjust and very ignorant (Ahzab 33:72). This verse is a poignant summary of the true human condition, because the human consciousness is so weak that it forgets its own ignorance and dependence, and thus becomes arrogant. In reality, however, our needs are endless and we are inherently unable to meet them ourselves. There are endless things we want to do, yet we are so dependent on the help of a force far beyond us that we cannot achieve them ourselves. And all the while, our enemies−arrogance, revenge, hatred, racism, prejudice, envy, vanity, miserliness−are countless. The central duty of a human being boils down to appreciating these processes so as to recognize the inherent inability, weakness, and powerlessness of the self, and to submit to the sole power that is able to control them: the Creator.

Understanding the true identity of the self in the guest-house of the body is the key to solving “the mystery of our existence.”¹ The self provides us with a ‘mirror,’ a reflector that directs us to our Creator and His attributes and that serves to assess our relationship with the Lord and the rest of existence. The “I” is the mysterious entity that sees and understands the Creator as the one with endless knowledge, mercy, power, wisdom, sight, and hearing. The “I” can understand that just as it can “own,” or take care of a house or a child, the Creator owns and takes care of the entire universe. Likewise, the “I” can come to similar conclusions with respect to “its” sight, hearing, compassion, caring, love, and so on. In this manner, the “I” acts like a pointer to a greater truth and reality above itself. Similarly, when the “I” observes the universe, the knowledge it gains enlightens and widens the mind, while it makes the heart softer and more caring. Having achieved this state of unity of mind and heart, “I” becomes a servant of the One who sent it to this world and who sustains it. Moreover, the same unity of mind and heart necessitates being in the service of life and mankind.

However, when the “I” becomes oblivious to its purpose for existence, it becomes a despotic tyrant, destroying and abusing not only itself but also everything else around it (think about some of the world leaders in the first half of the 20th century). Such an “I” grants itself ownership and sovereignty. Likewise, it grants independent ownership of everyone else to themselves, so that the whole world comes to think that they independently, “own” their “self.” The Qur’an calls this action “a tremendous wrong” (Luqman 31:13).

History is filled with scenarios that confirm these two sides or branches of “I.” The Prophets represent the “I” that submitted to the Creator, while the other branch represents the “I” that turned away from the Creator. One is the way of true guidance, while the other is the basis of materialism and atheism, where all existence is described as being composed of matter that is thought to be “absolute.” By giving the attributes of the Creator to matter, mankind commits the greatest crime possible and opens the doors of oppression against his self. Prophethood, on the other hand, teaches mankind to see nature as a collection of divine laws laid by the Creator and illustrating His power; “cause and effect” is a veil covering the reality of His Will. In an active and endless lesson to mankind, the Prophets also teach that the purpose and duty of man is to achieve virtuous character by knowing his own weaknesses and by seeking help from the power of his Creator. He does this by knowing his needs and trusting in the mercy of the Creator and by knowing his faults and seeking His pardon and forgiveness while always praising the perfection of His attributes and actions.

Based on a hadith,² classical Muslim scholars described the root cause of a diseased soul to have excessive love and attachment to this world and self-satisfaction. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi referred to such love as “poisoned honey.” Love for the sake of the worldly pleasures, and the love of power and authority are part of love for this world. The desire to dominate others is as destructive to a human soul as water is to iron. While the diseased soul sees itself as adequate and self-satisfied, perhaps even believing itself to be better than other souls, the soul that knows itself to be inadequate and needy is dissatisfied with itself and ceaselessly seeks to achieve a more virtuous character.

We conclude this matter with the words of a classical Turkish “dervish” or scholar, Yunus Emre, who lived many centuries ago in Central Anatolia:

Knowledge is for knowing the Truth
Knowledge is for knowing the self
If you do not know yourself, then
What a worthless act you commit.

Notes

1. Nursi, Said. The Words, Thirtieth Word, The Risale-i Nur Collection.
2. Love of the world is the source of all errors and sins (Bayhaqi, 7,338).

Where oaks once grew.

Power plants displace our cornfields

On that lovely land.

The breeze roughly sidles and bends

Over the purling brooks,

And all the mockingbirds hush

As the day droops.

Wailing moans heard everywhere

By countless orphans of the east,

Longing for a lofty peace,

Never knowing what fate conceives.

Neither chilly blizzards

Nor scorching sun,

Can lay a trap under its debris.

For those who learned too late, perhaps,

How to defy the pull of the sand.

How Does God Hear and See?

This question raises certain difficulties. If treated improperly, it can lead to denying that God hears or sees, as in St. Anselm’s meditations on God’s Attributes.1 In his Proslogion, he introduces his famous ontological argument for God’s existence and asks: If only corporeal things perceive, because the senses exist in a body and are directed towards bodies, then how can you perceive? For you are not a body but the highest spirit, which is better than any body.(2)

He replies: But if to perceive is just to know, or is aimed at knowledge”for whoever perceives knows according to the appropriate sense, as, for example, we know colors through sight and flavors through taste”then it is not inappropriate to say that whatever in some way knows also in some way perceives. Therefore, Lord, although you are not a body, you are indeed supremely percipient in the sense that you supremely know all things, not in the sense in which an animal knows things through its bodily senses.(3)

The crucial points here are that perceiving is possible through bodily senses and that for God to perceive means to know. He seems to explain how God perceives without bodily senses by claiming that the essential outcome of perceiving is knowing. Therefore, if something were known with all details of its properties and qualities, all consequences resulting from perceiving it already would be obtained. If this were true, St. Anselm’s solution would make perfect sense. However, I argue that this is far from being true.

Perceiving and Knowing

To understand his flawed reasoning, recall the definitions of perceiving and knowing. Since we perceive only through our senses, and whatever we realize through our senses’ operation is perception, we define perceiving as a sensory-based experience. Constructing a precise definition of knowing is somewhat harder, for the word is used for too many purposes and in too many contexts. However, as a working definition of knowing something, we can say that it is having a representation of the object of knowledge in our minds.

The difference between perceiving and knowing something, if we take their meanings in the most general sense, becomes clear if we consider these processes’ temporal properties. We perceive something only when exposed to the sensory data caused by the perceived object. But if we know something, we can access this knowledge at will, provided that we do not forget it. In broad terms, perceiving is dynamic while knowing is static.

St. Anselm is right in the sense that we can know what we perceive, as expressed in: I know how banana tastes or in: I know how it feels But we can know these feelings only because we experienced them before. This is why we cannot explain color to a blind person or sound to a deaf person. Besides, knowing how it feels to see a red rose is not the same as seeing it. Let alone their dynamic versus static character, knowledge of an experience is a faint impression of the experience held in our memories.

Perceiving and Knowing in Relation to God

Our considerations about perceiving and knowing are based on circumstances relevant to human subjects. Due to the immense difference between the Supreme Being and us, we must remember that we can never know how our concepts apply to God. We only can assume that the essence of these concepts are shared by us”God knows and we know, but our knowing is a shadow of a shadow of a shadow of His knowing. So we can talk about God only through metaphors and analogies. Nevertheless, we can talk about God in a meaningful way, for we are taught about the Divine Attributes through Divine Revelation and are told that God created us in His image. Thus, being human lets us at least speculate about His nature.

In the light of the above, my main point concerning the relation between God’s perceiving and God’s knowing is that they are both existent and different Attributes, for the essence of perceiving differs from the essence of knowing. The former is a temporal experience; the latter is a nontemporal Attribute. Hence it follows that perceiving cannot be substituted for by knowing.

Realizing this, we see that St. Anselm’s solution to how God perceives without bodily senses is fallacious. To say that God perceives since He knows everything confuses the meanings of perceiving and knowing, and thus is a veiled denial of God’s seeing and hearing. Since St. Anselm’s explanation for the existence of God’s Attributes of All-Seeing and All-Hearing is invalid, or at least unsatisfactory, we must ask how God perceives without a body.

The Sense Organs

The above-mentioned question presupposes that perceiving is possible only through a body’s sense organs. This seems natural, as it is verified by daily experience. We do not witness people seeing without eyes or hearing without ears. Even though it appears obvious, the connection between perception and the sense organs is tricky. While we can say that the sense organs are somehow necessary for perception, we cannot say that they are sufficient.

To clarify this subtle point: A knife is sufficient for cutting bread, and a calculator is sufficient for multiplying 174 by 303. In other words, apart from discussing the absolute necessity in causal relations and given our universe’s physical laws, it is sufficient to have a knife or a calculator to perform those tasks. However, it is quite doubtful and even impossible for the sense organs to provide such a conscious experience as hearing a sound or seeing a color.

This may sound strange if we do not consider several stages and aspects of perception. Observations and experiments show that perception is a process initiated by the sense organs with incoming sensory data, such as a light pattern (an electromagnetic wave) or a human voice (a kind of pressure wave), and followed by evaluating such sensory data at the appropriate specialized areas in the brain. All stimuli arriving at the sense organs are transformed into nerve impulses”various patterns of electrical activity propagated through nerve cells (neurons).

Even though we do not know exactly how this sensory data is evaluated, all perceptions eventually are correlated with nothing but patterns of firing neurons in the brain. Thus, the brain represents and stores all data (e.g., color, shape, taste, softness), regardless of form, in terms of its neurons’ positions and firing rates. This is verified by stimulating various regions of the brain appropriately and watching the subject experience the corresponding sensations or feelings.

Brains and Computers

Analogous to a brain, a computer can represent and store data on its chips in terms of various electrical potentials. For example, an image can be loaded and stored by transforming its pixels’ brightness and color data into numbers so that a computer can distinguish colors and recognize patterns. Since different numbers represent different colors or color tones, a computer sees them as different objects and can discern them easily.

But unless a computer is programmed to signal when it sees green, it cannot perceive that green. It is not our recognizing, discriminating, representing, or responding to a color that makes us conscious percipients, but rather our experiencing a color. A brain or computer can have the necessary parts or circuits to represent, evaluate, and respond to a color or any other sensory stimulus. However, experiencing something, such as greenness, is a totally different and extraordinary phenomenon of perception.

Conscious Experience

How is it that anything so remarkable as a state of consciousness comes about as a result of irritating nervous tissue, is just as unaccountable as the appearance of the Djin, when Aladdin rubbed his lamp.(4)

To realize fully the essential unaccountability of conscious experience in terms of physio-chemical processes or the organization of brains and sensory organs, this kind of thought experiment might be very useful: Might your experience of red be the same as my experience of green? Sure, you might label grass as ˜green’ and the tomatoes as ˜red’, just as I do, but perhaps you actually see the grass as having the color that I would describe, if I were in your shoes, as red.(59

Considering such unique and intractable aspects of conscious experience, the most reasonable conclusion would be to treat the sentience and feelings in our perceptions as belonging to a distinct domain beyond the realm of this physical universe. Sense experience cannot be reduced to physical activities or replaced by each other. In this sense, they are simple and fundamental, such as the dimensions of space“time or the fundamental forces in physics. They are not produced, but just happen to be correlated with stimulating bodily senses and the nervous system’s resulting activity. This is just as bizarre as correlating a supernova’s explosion with my pushing the button of my pen. The only difference is that we have been accustomed to the former since we were children.

Given this, how can we explain why we have conscious experience? Science gives us no hint. One may deny sentient experience, as some philosophers of the mind do, but this is not satisfactory. The only clue comes from Divine Revelation, which teaches us of an Ultimate Creator Who is Compassionate and Merciful. Reminding us of his bounties, God says in the Qur’an: Say: He has created you and made for you faculties of hearing, seeing, feeling and understanding: little thanks it is ye give (67:23).

Once the true character of perception as a special gift of God is understood, our eyes and ears and other bodily organs cannot be considered the real sources of our bodily senses; rather, we will understand that they are just like windows of the human soul that God breathes into each person: (Remember) when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am creating a mortal out of potter’s clay of black mud altered, so, when I have made him and have breathed into him of My Spirit, fall down and prostrate unto him (15:28-29).

Only in the light of this profound truth can we have an idea of why we have so many remarkable qualities and capabilities. Being human, we are like mirrors on which the manifestations of God’s Attributes are focused. Of course, we have only the faintest copy of His Attributes, such as All-Seeing, All-Hearing, and All-Knowing. As all our knowledge is like a drop in the ocean with respect to His knowledge, our seeing and hearing are insignificant with respect to His seeing and hearing.

Since such elements of perception as seeing and hearing are not products of bodily senses but rather faculties of the human soul breathed into us by God from His Spirit, the perfect modes of seeing and hearing naturally belong to God as the Attributes of All-Seeing and All-Hearing.

Conclusion

As a final point, we stressed that seeing and hearing are temporal experiences. This raises the following question: How can an eternal God have temporal experiences? However, since investigating God’s actions in relation to time is a huge issue, we will consider it as a possible subject of future research. Here, I remark that God’s greatest Attribute is that of All-Living.

Footnotes

1. St. Anselm (1033?-1109) was an Italian prelate, Archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church, and a founder of Christian scholasticism.
2. St. Anselm, Monologion and Proslogion, trans. Thomas Williams (Indianapolis: 1996), 102.
3. Ibid.
4. Thomas Huxley, in Nicholas K. Humphrey, A History of the Mind: Evolution and the Birth of Consciousness (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992).
5. Stephen Pinker, How the Mind Works (New York: Norton, 1999), 146.