In a meadow of memories, my mind is a mosquito. It flies from flower to flower, and separates the colors from the petals [1], sucks the warmth from the sun. It finds no house in the darkness, no home in the ever-changing seasons. Flowers cease to flower, but in a memory, they bloom to infinity. The mosquito calls this knowledge, hope. It wears this hope, its home, in the fine fabric of its wings. My mind weaves itself a blanket from life’s moments, hammers in pegs in different places, and pitches a tent. It crouches inside and bathes in the warmth that radiates. It calls this comfort, home.

My mind had grown up ready to pack me, and my life, into a box. It thought that those flimsy cardboard boxes, wrapped twice round with industrial tape, felt more like home, than “home” did. Houses changed, in more ways than it cared to count, and the common factor was the boxes. It, in its youthful simplicity, deduced that my home was hidden somewhere there. The boxes that menacingly threatened mildew when starved of attention, but when you gave them just that, would launch dust grenades that made you sneeze. And my mind had tried to carve out a home amongst them, with box cutters, but the cardboard never budged. Then it attempted to fit my life there, to squeeze an infinite quantity of warmth into a finite volume.

It worked, for a while. As a temporary, makeshift home. One that burst at the seams when the houses stopped changing. My mind then concluded that, if my home could not house my life, I did not need one. It left my belongings strewn across the floor of the soaked cardboard, and looked elsewhere, as comfort oozed away like lava seeping back under the earth’s crust. It left its life in disarray, and banished itself to a desert, as it could not bear to look at trees. It did not want to be reminded of the home it had found, the home that had then abandoned it. It walked around, kicking about loose stones, while the sun pelted heat upon its wandering back. It had never felt colder than there, and it discovered that a place that housed warmth, was not automatically its home.

It went back to thinking that home was somewhere with four walls, and it jumped from place to place. This is how it became a measly mosquito, one who did not know what food source it was meant to look for. It tried to find home in the bottom of cereal boxes, in crates of oranges, and in tins of stationery. But no matter where it flew, it could never find anything concrete to stick to. Nothing had enough grip for it to puncture its proboscis into. My mind found nothing of substance to hammer its roots into. And here – beneath the dried-out cheerios, the stinging orange peels, and the empty ink cartridges – a home was not found.

My house was never a home because it was a cage, and then school became a cage, and then the world became a cage. And in my mind, the only way out of this cage was to become an astronaut. A mosquito’s wings flying through space, dressed in a white, padded, sealed suit. I wanted to find home, to look for it somewhere, because it had to be out there. Somewhere on some planet, maybe Mars, maybe Pluto. It was somewhere. I was adamant. I had searched everywhere else, yet, I had forgotten about the four walls of my mind. The vacant, desolate home that belonged to me. The walls littered with propaganda posters, slogans of all the words that I had heard that had stung enough to stick. The memories scattered in little cardboard boxes, packages of warmth waiting, not to be moved, but to be opened. But the mosquito did not know of these.

In the depths of space, the mosquito heard a faint buzzing sound, a sound that could not be heard elsewhere. It was not the background static of space, nor was it the broadcasts transmitted from nearby spacecrafts. It was not the voices that were pleading for it to come back “home.” The mosquito did not know what to do, since it had no concrete sense of direction in space. So, it simply hoped that it would find the things it was looking for. And a match, dipped into a basin of hope, was struck against the all the resistance that space had to give.

The mosquito’s internal compass sought out the source of the sound. It guided them both out of space, while its eyes remained closed, and led it to my mind. It did not notice the barriers, it did not notice the scaling walls, it simply flew. It did not look around – until its head hit a wall and it stumbled into a stupor, spiraling backwards, downwards, and side to side. Piles of boxes tumbled over. The sky cracked open, no longer withstanding the heat that seeped out from the cages made from cardboard. The mosquito shielded its shut eyes, wings quivering from the warmth, and it dared to investigate the boundaries of the four walls of one box. Inside was a flower, sitting neatly in a mound of earth. It was no less alive than a flower in a meadow, and did not shy away from the glaring lights of the mind.

The mosquito, starved, sucked the color from the flower. The flower’s petals did not wilt, and they stayed raised proud, even though they had faded, even though they no longer emitted a single ounce of warmth. And this mosquito was like all mosquitos. It left this flower, without as much as building it a gravestone or gifting it a goodbye. It inhaled all the colors, cycled through all the boxes, and the mind’s artificial lights could not keep up. The colors swallowed, the warmth stolen, and the light, powered by an external generator, flickered. It mourned the memories the mosquito had mistook for flowers. These flowers would not rebloom.

The mosquito was not exiled. It was simply sent to the gates, and set loose. Left, standing on the doorsteps between the mind and a meadow. Filled with mistrust, and seething with shame, it plucked a petal of the nearest flower. Drained from its nature, dampened slightly by the falling rain, the mosquito pressed the petal against its wings, dumping its hue onto their fine strands. It then drank half a flower’s full of warmth, and tread back to the mind. Doors open, it ran in, knelt beside a box, and planted the flower’s roots into the soil. Nothing happened, the lights still whimpered as if they were cold, but it felt right to the mosquito. A dead flower should be accompanied by a not-yet dying one. It imagined that they might hold hands. It fancied they would be happier that way.

The mosquito flew far. Meadows close-by had grown empty, and flowers became scarcer the further it went. It brought boxes with it, towing tools, and tales behind it. It slept in bogs, and sunk into the heat from the fire that its wings created. Its wings wrapped tight around its body, and it watches as colors ripple across. And even in the darkness, even in the wet, sunken ground, it has a home. A home filled with warmth.

The mosquito flies, fueled by the memory of warmth that lives in its wings. It is entertained by the colors that find a festive hat and entertain any of its lonely emptiness. The mosquito lives in its wings and their warmth, and has a constant companion called color. It always flies back to my mind, armed with a garden of flowers in its hands. And my mind, finally having a living and functioning thing to treasure, fashioned the mosquito a tent. It stretched the strings, and nailed four down. One into space, one into the desert, one into the boxes, and the last into that first meadow. And it listens, while it knits a blanket, to the voice of the mosquito recounting its travels. A blanket weaved with the wool of the mosquito’s life; all the moments it saw. And when the mosquito leaves, my mind casts the blanket over its own four walls. Its house finally has a roof, heat takes longer to escape, and my mind had made itself a home.

One day, the flowers will be too far for the mosquito to fly to. There will be a journey that the mosquito undertakes, but never completes. Its fuel will not last. Only the dark sky will bear eye to its fall, and it will die in the cold. Its wings will flicker, flicker, a dying flame at the end of its match. A gust of wind will come along and extinguish its glowing embers. The mosquito’s home had lived with the mosquito’s life, and without the sound of a beating heart to follow, it could no longer send out any waves of warmth. The mosquito ceases to exist, and its home follows in suit.

The flowers in my mind will still exist, faded, and dried out, all their last color used up for that last journey. And my mind will shiver in the cold, waiting for the mosquito to come back. Waiting for it to tell stories of its thoughts, waiting to hear its wings buzz under the tent when the next morning comes. A sound that never arrives. My mind will wonder why the mosquito did not find a home in its walls, why the tent it had sewn was not filled with enough warmth to entice it to stay. And it will seek the mosquito’s corpse out, and bury them both into its blanket. It reckons the dead mosquito needs a dying companion. And its artificial lights blaze with a natural glare, and both the mosquito and my mind are buried with a home above them.

Note

• Male mosquitos feed on nectar.

For years, society has been experiencing a constant deviation of thought and an impropriety that has become more widespread every day, dominating almost all feelings and thoughts. Statements are exceedingly shameless, expressions overly aggressive, behaviors as mean as can be, demeanors utterly torn, and the feelings and reasoning that form the basis of this disorder as dark as what one would expect from scorpions. What are you supposed to listen to, whom can you trust, and which idea can you rely on? In this arena of quarrelsome souls—always fixated on criticism and destruction—even the most innocent thoughts and the most favorable plans and projects are sometimes chewed up between the merciless teeth of conflict and collapse, and the most sacred values are continually trampled underfoot.

What are the reasons that have caused people to lose altitude to this degree in terms of human values? What are the reasons that make us ready to prey on one another? If some are hoping to get anywhere with such impropriety, they are gravely mistaken; and if anyone is foolish enough to think that some lofty ideals can be realized this way, that too is sheer self-deception. Yet, how bitter it is that, for years, we have been through a succession of delusions and continued to make mistakes no one would have imagined. Moreover, we have compounded these mistakes by presenting what we do as great global achievements. So much so that claims of becoming a model for the world, reshaping the globe, or at the very least setting our own house in order, have become common fantasies of this period. But here we are: on one side stand broad-sweeping boasts, and on the other, a society worn down and caught in the grip of unrest.

Actually, amid such disorder, it is neither possible to improve the world’s map of thought, nor to turn our own society’s decline into advancement, nor to open new horizons for our people. In my view, from the thoughts of those depressed circles—each little more than delirium and convulsion—nothing will emerge other than chaos. One thing, however, is certain: this cannot give rise to any renewal. In fact, given that what has happened so far is an unmistakable indication of what is yet to come, it would be pointless to say much more on such a matter.

I do not claim to be analyzing a brand-new topic here; this matter has already been discussed many times in various circles and passed through the filters of diagnosis and assessment repeatedly. It has engaged the attention of many with bright intellects and powerful pens and has been examined through comprehensive surveys. It has been brought to the table on different occasions and discussed from different angles. However, none of these efforts have yielded favorable results to the expected degree—they have not. Even now, many people continue to squander their precious thoughts and intellect for acts of impropriety. They allow their knowledge, culture, courage, and logic to trail behind their emotions, and they nearly spend their lives in a constant struggle against human values.

While such individuals are already deficient in thought, empty in heart and spirituality, deeply inconsistent in reasoning, and devoid of wisdom and true knowledge, if they also possess additional vices—such as deceitfulness, ignobility, fame-seeking, and a weakness for position, status, and gain—it becomes impossible for them to follow any other course. Indeed, far from choosing a different path, people driven by unquenchable thirst and insatiable greed will persistently pursue the targets on which they are fixated, constantly seeking to satisfy this bodily hunger and thirst. Even if they occasionally rejoice in what they manage to achieve, more often than not they will writhe in regret over the opportunities they have missed. As they extinguish, one by one, the lofty sentiments of their souls—each a matchless gift bestowed upon humanity—they will continue drifting through the valleys of carnality.

Indeed, individuals who have lost their human logic and judgment to this degree—who have forfeited their conscience and the divine gifts tied to it, and who are impoverished in heart and thought— can in no way contribute to elevating the world or making it more livable, nor to the happiness of humanity; nor can they offer any benefit to their nations, let alone lead them toward new horizons. They cannot, because such people have never been able to sense their own inner depths or grasp the purpose of their existence. Furthermore, they have forgotten how to love, neglected respect, regarded virtue as a mere fantasy, and continually dreamed only of what they would gain, how they would gain it, from whom they would take it, and by which means they would ascend to the peak of prosperity. Even if, by some chance, they were to form an intention to do good, they would inevitably end up causing harm. For it has never been seen—except in the rarest of cases—that anything pure emerge from sullied souls and polluted dispositions.

Though humanity experienced deviations of thought and shifts of spirit many times before; the issue has never become a social calamity to this extent. This is because today’s human being often directs all intellectual power and reasoning toward serving the carnal self and its desires, while waging an unyielding war against truth and right guidance. Moreover, this is done with the conviction that their intellect and knowledge are sufficient for everything—and can suffice for anything.

In truth, I am not of the opinion that people today are more intelligent or more reasonable than those of the past. In a way, I even think that the so-called champions of intelligence and geniuses of reasoning in our age, when measured against earlier generations, display a thinner depth of thought and a narrower range of intellectual seriousness. Despite all the advantages promised by modern technology and scientific advances, the people of earlier generations—who did not possess even a tenth of today’s resources—were perhaps more capable, more competent, and more consistent.

Within their respective paths of thought and action—whether good or bad—each of these figures was of greater caliber and prominence in their own time. (This comparison is not meant to honor wrongdoing or tyranny, but to illustrate the depth, consistency, and clarity—however misdirected—of earlier forms of thought when set against the confusion of the present age.) Presumably, Cain was a more capable murderer than his modern counterparts; Nimrod, a more dignified despot; Korah, a bolder and more enterprising capitalist; Pharaoh, a more balanced bigot; Socrates, a more disciplined thinker; Leonardo, a deeper and more visionary artist; Shakespeare, a more imaginative and compelling author; Goethe, a more eminent observer of the human condition; Nietzsche, a more daring rebel; and Sartre, a more unreserved and uncompromising analyst of the self.

Yet today, neither the intellectuals who consider themselves completely free from superstition nor those devoted to spirituality and meaning, who believe they have grasped religion and metaphysics in all their depth, have achieved any success remotely comparable to that of their predecessors—despite all the modern means at their disposal. More than mere lack of success, both groups – the materialists whose reasoning is reduced to what their eyes can see and who seek everything within the material world, and the spiritualists who view themselves as tasked with reducing everything to abstract meaning, prove to be strikingly shallow in judgment, exceedingly indecisive in resolve and willpower, far behind those of earlier civilizations in regard for human values, and are exceedingly capricious in their whims and desires.

Each morning, they fall captive to one current, and each evening they become enamored of another sentiment; thus, always in flux, perpetually unstable. At times, they are atheistic and nihilistic; at other times capitalistic and liberal. Sometimes they are meek, bent double before powers they cannot overcome; at other times unruly and rebellious. Yet, in all cases, they remain unbalanced and without direction. It is therefore inevitable that such people will, at any moment, be swept away by a different tide and dragged into the unknown, or be crushed beneath the weight of some error. And no one will be able to save these unfortunate souls, scattered and reduced to nothing like autumn leaves blown by the winds of their dark fortune.

Presumably, those who can perceive this social derailment—perhaps better described as a kind of societal paranoia— with its looming future ramifications must have already begun to tremble at the thought. Yet no matter how much one trembles, the ideas put forward in the name of remedy and solution always circle back to doctrines like socialism, capitalism, and liberalism. Until the true center of the dysfunction and the real causes of these deviations are identified, I believe we will continue to revolve within this vicious circle, and society will never truly escape crisis.

Indeed, as society frees itself from political turmoil, it will drift into economic crises; as it overcomes military impasses, it will be dragged into administrative chaos. Within these suffocating “vicious cycles” that continually consume us, society will perish and crumble. If, in the coming days, actions continue to proceed with this same reasoning—or rather, this lack of reasoning—we will not make the slightest progress. Panels and conferences will inevitably return to the familiar dichotomy of “individual” and “state.” Debates on what to choose, a libertarian order or a statist system, a capitalist structure or a socialist administration, will never be surpassed. And afterward will come endless dialectics, endless logical games, until we finally see that we are merely tracing circles around our own egotism with so many years lost and possibilities wasted.

If you wish, let us now try to present some of the matters that humanity, over the past few centuries, ought to have addressed but, for various reasons, has failed to accomplish.

Despite numerous attempts at renewal over the past one or two centuries, societies have struggled to establish coherent moral systems rooted in their own cultural foundations and have been unable to develop and systematize sound metaphysical frameworks. They have not produced artistic visions capable of reflecting the inner world in relation to God, the universe, and the human being; nor have they succeeded in developing models of education and moral formation aligned with the deeper roots of their spiritual heritage.

At the heart of nearly every moral system lie three essential elements: sound belief, a well-established sense of freedom, and a deeply rooted sense of responsibility. All of these are closely connected to metaphysical thought. In a society where belief is rejected, individuals are deprived of their sense of freedom, and where responsibility is stripped from the heart, it becomes impossible to speak meaningfully about metaphysics. And without metaphysics, morality itself cannot survive.

When societies fail to develop a coherent metaphysical framework, and when individuals cannot shape their inner identity in light of deeper meaning, the result is inevitable. Over time, they lose their spiritual vitality and guiding beliefs, and eventually they struggle even to sustain their moral and cultural continuity.

Yet we ourselves have dried up the once-abundant sources of life that nourished us throughout history, and having done so, we turned almost entirely to reliance on borrowed ideas. So much so that the strange notion of nationalism we brought from all corners of the world and tried to impose on everyone, along with peculiar philosophies of life and distorted understandings of art that wound the spirit, have confused our collective memory. By extinguishing our own torches that had been shining for thousands of years, we surrendered to darkness, much like bats retreating from the light.

Now, what we need is not this or that person, nor this or that philosophy, but a vital prescription that can restore our lost spirit—one that will rescue us from the whirlpools of uncertainty and guide us toward a renewed love of truth, a renewed understanding of science, and a deeper mode of thought, all within the framework of our own moral foundations, understanding, and inherited wisdom. This prescription is drawn from metaphysical reflections distilled from centuries of lived experience, an otherworldly-oriented philosophy of life, and a voice grounded in Prophethood that speaks to the reality of God, the universe, and the human being. I believe that until we reclaim these lost values, it will not be possible for us to find our own style, determine our true position, or free ourselves from deviations of thought.

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.

Seeing is one of the luminous Attributes of God Almighty, and one’s insight, as declared in: We have shared among them (43:32), is proportionate to one’s ability to receive the manifestations of this Attribute. The greatest portion belongs to the one who, having benefited from that Divine Source to the fullest, poured his inspirations into the hearts of his followers, namely Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. He is the most polished mirror of the manifestations of the Ultimate Truth, and is unequaled in receiving them. The Divine declaration: Say: This is my path. I call to God on clear evidence and by insight, I and whoever follows me (12:108) points to the greatness of the share of that Divine gift belonging to the prince of the Prophets and his followers.

This matchless perceptiveness allowed that holy traveler on the path of Ascension to reach in one breath the realms beyond corporeal existence, which those devoid of any amount of perception regard as dark or unknown or the existence of which they categorically deny. He studied those realms like a book, and traveled on the “slopes” of the Unseen where the archetypal tablets are exhibited, and the melodies of the pens of Destiny, which make one’s heart jump, thrilled him. He visited Paradise accompanied by heavenly servants, and received a Divine welcome on the border between the created realm and the infinite realm of Divinity. That is, he rose as high as any created being can rise and acquired such nearness to God that it is described in the Qur’an metaphorically as the distance between the strings of two bows (put adjacent to each other), or even nearer (53:9). It was a point where space and location are undefined or undifferentiated.

The pleasure of observance given by insight sometimes acquires a new, deeper dimension when the believer begins to discern and discover the spiritual dimension and meanings of objects and events. His or her spirit experiences other dimensions in this three-dimensional realm, and his or her conscience becomes the eye of existence with which it sees, as well as its pulse and intellect.

In addition to perception and understanding, discernment (firasa) denotes the deepening of insight when perception becomes a source of certain knowledge. Those who discern the manifestations of the light of God, the Ultimate Truth, possess such a radiance that they see everything, every issue, in its full clarity. They are never confused, even when encountering the most intricate elements, elements that are extremely similar, and do not become lost in particularities. Simultaneously seeing the sugar contained within the sugarcane and the hydrogen and oxygen contained within the water molecule, they refrain from all deviations (e.g., pantheism and monism) and recognize the Creator as He is, and the created as it is.

From the face of each individual believer to the face of the universe, every point, word, and line in existence is a meaningful sentence, even a book for those to whom the verse: Surely in this are signs for those having insight and discernment (15:75) refers. Those who can look at existence from the point stated in the Prophetic Tradition of: Fear the discernment of a believer, for he sees with the light of God,¹ make contact with reality, become familiar with the invisible side of existence, and shed light on events, revealing the true face of everything. While others spend their lives in “black holes,” these people are enraptured with increasing pleasures on Paradise-like “slopes.”

For one endowed with such discernment, existence is a book of countless pages, with each animate or inanimate part of creation being a word shining with thousands of meanings, and the face of existence and that of each person expressing many hidden realities. Those of true spirituality see such things in the “verses” of that book and in the luminous “phrases” of those verses, and receive from them messages that even the greatest of the minds devoid of spirituality are unable to discern. The unimaginable surprises awaiting believers in the other world are according to the rank of each, and are revealed to them along with all the spiritual pleasure that they give.

O God! We ask You for hearts tender, devoted, and everturning to You in penitence for Your sake; and bestow blessings and peace on our master Muhammad, the leader of Your way, and on his Family and Companions, all of them.

Note

1. at-Tirmidhi, “Tafsiru Sura 15,” 6.

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.