{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_73140/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_73140","id":"gutenberg_73140","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73140","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Islamic ethics -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"_The Gaekwad Studies\n                                    in\n                       Religion and Philosophy_: X\n\n                         SOME RELIGIOUS AND MORAL\n                         TEACHINGS OF AL-GHAZZALI\n\n         Printed by Mr. K. G. Patel at the Lakshmi Vilas P. Press\n          Co. Ltd. and published by A. G. Widgery, the College,\n                            Baroda, 5-1-1921.\n\n\n\n\nOther Works by Professor Nawab Ali\n\n\nMAA\u2019RIJ-UDDIN.\n\nThe Ladder of Religion. A Comparative Study of Religions.\n\nTARIKHI-SOHAF.\n\nHistory of the Holy Scriptures.\n\nTAZKIRAL-UL-MUSTAFA.\n\nLife of Prophet Mohammed.\n\nMay be had from The Seminar, The College, BARODA\n\n\n\n\n                         SOME RELIGIOUS AND MORAL\n                         TEACHINGS OF AL-GHAZZALI\n\n                      Being brief extracts from his\n                           _Ihya-u-Ulum-id-din_\n\n                     Freely rendered into English by\n                           SYED NAWAB ALI M. A.\n                Professor of Persian, the College, Baroda.\n\n                         With an introduction by\n                          ALBAN G. WIDGERY M. A.\n             Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions,\n                           The College, Baroda.\n\n                                  BARODA\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe perusal of the constructive treatises of the foremost leaders of the\ndifferent religions should help to promote at least more mutual respect,\nif not, indeed, actual co-operation, among their devotees than the study\nof the critical discussions of lesser minds. For this reason the present\nsmall volume of extracts from the chief constructive work of Al Ghazzali\nhas been included in the Gaekwad Studies in Religion and Philosophy. The\npurpose of that series is to be constructive rather than critical, and\nfurther, it is meant to contain volumes appealing to the general public\nas well as to the scholar. For a wider and more correct understanding and\nappreciation of the spirit of Islam, it is to be regretted that there\nare so few English translations of Muslim works in Arabic and Persian.\nIt is to be hoped that in future more attention will be turned in this\ndirection. In the meantime the present volume may serve at least to\narouse some interest.\n\nThis work was undertaken at the request of Professor Widgery, to whom I\nam indebted for several suggestions and for going through the whole of\nthe manuscript and the proofs.\n\n                                                                 NAWAB ALI\n\n_Baroda, 1920._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    Preface                                              _Page_ 5\n\n    Introduction                                                9\n\n    List of Al Ghazzali\u2019s works                                30\n\n       I. The Nature of Man                                    41\n\n      II. Human Freedom and Responsibility                     53\n\n     III. Pride and Vanity                                     78\n\n      IV. Friendship and Sincerity                             95\n\n       V. The Nature of Love, and Man\u2019s highest Happiness     116\n\n      VI. The Unity of God                                    138\n\n     VII. The Love of God and its Signs                       145\n\n    VIII. Riza or Joyous Submission to His Will               164\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe Comparative Study of Religions, interesting as a form of intellectual\nresearch, has for many a further value in the influence it may exert upon\nthe widening and the deepening of the religious life. The practical value\nmay become more and more acknowledged, if, as signs suggest, the reality\nof the religious experience is more keenly felt and mankind recognise\nthe place of religious goods in the highest type of life. Though it is\ncertainly premature to say that there is much serious acknowledgement and\nrecognition of these values amongst the peoples of the world, there are\nreasons to think that tendencies of thought and feeling in this direction\nare increasing in power. One of the best means of aiding the Comparative\nStudy of Religions and promoting these tendencies is by the publication\nof important books connected with the religions, representing the views\nof leading thinkers and saints.\n\nIf we turn to Islam, we find that some Western writers describe it as in\na condition of progressive decay, while others would have us believe that\nits onward march is a menace. It is well to be able to avoid the obvious\npurpose which lies behind both contentions. Nevertheless, to the present\nwriter it appears true to say that there is much stagnation in Islam (In\nwhich religion is there not?), and that its spirit is often lost and\nits real teachings neglected owing to the general use of Arabic in the\nrecitation of the Quran by persons entirely ignorant of that language,\nand also to the prevalent mechanical conception of the character of the\nQuran as a form of divine revelation. We believe that the Comparative\nStudy of Religions will help to turn the attention of Muslims away\nfrom these to the emphasising of the essential spirit of Islam. This\nshould be central and normative in the rising movements of reform and\nrejuvenescence. In this connection, as bringing out this spirit, it is\nespecially appropriate, both for the students of the religions and for\nthose directly interested in the spiritual revival in Islam, to publish\nin an easily accessible form some of the religious and moral teachings of\nGhazzali. A Western scholar has written of him that he is \u201cthe greatest,\ncertainly the most sympathetic figure in the history of Islam ... the\nonly teacher of the after generations ever put by Muslims on a level\nwith the four great Imams.\u201d[1] And he goes on to remark further; \u201cIn the\nrenaissance of Islam which is now rising to view, his time will come and\nthe new life will proceed from a renewed study of his works.\u201d[2] But\nDieterici says of him: \u201cAs a despairing sceptic he springs suicidally\ninto the all-God (_i.e._ all-pervading deity of the Pantheists) to kill\nall scientific reflection.\u201d[3] To justify such a judgment would indeed\nbe impossible if the whole course of Ghazzali\u2019s works is taken into\nconsideration. The greatest eulogy is perhaps that of Tholuck: \u201cAll that\nis good, worthy, and sublime, which his great soul had compassed, he\nbestowed upon Muhammedanism, and he adorned the doctrines of the Quran\nwith so much piety and learning that in the form given them by him they\nseem, in my opinion, worthy of the assent of Christians. Whatsoever was\nmost excellent in the philosophy of Aristotle or in the Sufi mysticism,\nhe discreetly adapted to the Muhammedan theology. From every school he\nsought the means of shedding light and honour upon religion, while his\nsincere piety and lofty conscientiousness imparted to all his writings a\nsacred majesty.\u201d[4]\n\nOne feature of Ghazzali\u2019s attitude has considerable significance in\nlooking to an increased study of his works as a factor towards the\nrevivification of Islam: his tolerance. Although regarding Al Hallaj\u2019s\nexpressions, (for example, I am the truth, _i.e._ God) as incautious,\nhe helped to defend him and to save him from execution on a charge of\nblasphemy. He wrote a treatise on tolerance: _The Criterion of the\nDifference between Islam and Heresy_. In this teaching of tolerance he\nfelt himself to be pointing back to the policy of the earliest Muslim\ntimes and to the greatest authorities of early Islam. He \u201cstrove to\nattract the souls of his fellow Muslims to spiritual faith which unifies,\nto worship at the altars which are in the hearts of men\u201d.[5]\n\nThe influence of Ghazzali has been represented by Mr. Macdonald as\nchiefly that he led men back from scholastic labours upon theological\ndogmas to living contact with, study and exegesis of the Quran and\nTraditions; gave Sufiism an assured position within the Church of Islam;\nand brought philosophy and philosophical theology within the range of the\nordinary mind.[6]\n\nAl Ghazzali has given some account of his own religious development in a\nwork entitled: _Munqidh min-ad-dalal_. This account is significant, but\nas the Baron Carra de Vaux remarks, his eventual explicit adoption of a\nSufi mysticism was not merely a consequence of the failure of his other\nattempts to find a solution to life\u2019s profoundest problems but a result\nof his early influences. For, soon after his birth at Tus in Khorassan in\n450 A.H. (1059 A.D.), his father died and he was brought up by a Sufi.\nNevertheless his mystical leanings did not assert themselves vigorously\ntill he was well on to maturity. Up to that time he devoted himself to\nthe usual studies of canon law, the orthodox theology, the doctrines of\nthe Mutazillites, and a variety of other subjects including the works of\nthe Sufis. For a time he was a student of the Asharite Imam Al Haramayn\nat Nysabur. He himself represents his attitude as at this time that of\none working and wishing for reputation and wealth. In 484 A.H. he was\nhonoured by appointment to the \u201cUniversity\u201d or \u201cAcademy\u201d of Baghdad,\nwhere he soon acquired great renown as lawyer and theologian.\n\nOn the threshold of maturity he was afflicted by doubts as to the\nvalidity and worth of the theological and philosophical bases of his\nreligious belief. The strain of his reflection and the intensity of\nhis anxiety to reach a secure faith seem to have caused a breakdown of\nhealth. With unexpected suddenness he left Baghdad. That was in 488 A.H.\n(1095 A.D.) He had examined in all details the traditional orthodox\nscholastic system of the _Kalam_, the positions of the Mutazilites and\nthe philosophers, and in the light of his new doubts and experiences\nturned again also to a closer study of the writings of the leading\nmystics, such as Abu Talib, Al Muhasibi, and Al Junayd. His early\ntraining had predisposed him to the acceptance of mysticism, and this\nacceptance was led up to by the conclusions of his reflection, in which\nit has been maintained he carried doubt as far back as did Descartes.\n\nThus he himself writes: \u201cA thirst to comprehend the essential natures of\nall things was, indeed, my idiosyncrasy and distinctive characteristic\nfrom the beginning of my career and prime of my life: a natural gift and\ntemperament bestowed on me by God, and implanted by Him in my nature\nby no choice or device of my own, till at length the bond of blind\nconformity was loosed from me, and the beliefs which I had inherited,\nwere broken away when I was little more than a boy.\u201d[7]\n\nCarra de Vaux[8] thus graphically describes the process in Al Ghazzali\u2019s\nmind, as he himself suggests it to us: \u201cReligious beliefs, he reflected,\nare transmitted by the authority of parents; but authority is not proof.\nTo arrive at certitude it was necessary for him to reconstruct all\nhis knowledge from the very foundation. With a vivid feeling of this\nnecessity, he aspired to certitude, defining it in a purely psychological\nfashion as a state in which the mind is so bound up with and so satisfied\nwith a piece of knowledge that nothing might henceforth deprive him of\nit. This curious definition, which is applied to religious faith as well\nas to scientific knowledge, does not escape from being purely subjective.\nAs one might foresee, the great desire for certitude only led him at\nfirst into a series of doubts. As he sought this state of perfect\nassurance, step by step he saw it recede before him. He looked for\ncertitude in the perceptions of the senses, with the result that he could\nno longer trust his senses. Sight, the most powerful of the faculties\nof sense, for example, led him to the perception of an immovable shadow\non the sun and an hour afterwards this shadow was gone. Sight showed\nhim a star which is very small, and geometry made him recognise it to\nbe greater than the earth. Then he turned to the first principles of\nreason; but the perception of the senses took its revenge in saying to\nhim: \u2018Previously you believed in me and you abandoned me when this judge\nreason presented itself. If this judge had remained hidden you would have\ncontinued to believe in me. Who can tell you that beyond the reason there\nis no other judge, which if it made itself evident, would convict reason\nof falsehood?\u2019. That is a movement of thought which is dramatic enough,\nthough perhaps a little artificial.\u2014The thinker continued his search for\nthe certain. He halted and concerned himself with the famous comparison\nof life with a dream and death with an awakening. Perhaps after that\nawakening he would see things in a different manner from that in which he\nthen saw them. Mysticism thus suggested itself to him: This actual dream\nof death could be anticipated by the condition of ecstasy, by less than\necstasy, by a light which God pours into the heart. In this light, he saw\nnot only the truth of the dogmas of the faith or the beauty of the moral\nlife, but he was assured of the truth of the first principles of reason,\nthe basis of all knowledge and all reasoning. He doubted no longer; he\nwas cured of his pains; he had found certitude and peace.\u201d\n\nOn leaving Baghdad, he retired to meditate in the mosques of Damascus,\nand is further reported to have made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Hebron\n(the burial place of Abraham), Medina and Mecca. In abandonment to his\nimmediate religious experience of the love of God he found more peace. In\nthe course of time he associated again more definitely with his family.\nEventually in 499 A. H. (1106 A.D.) he was ordered by the Sultan to teach\nin the Academy at Nysabur. After a life in which he had written a large\nnumber of independent treatises and indeed brought about a great change\nin the tendencies of Islam, he died at his native town of Tus in 505\n(1111 A.D.).\n\nIf in his initial process of doubt Ghazzali resembled Descartes, in his\nview of causality he reminds us of Hume; in his general attitude he\napproaches Kant and Schleiermacher. On the one hand he insists on the\nlimitation of the efficiency of the theoretical reason, on the other he\nfinds in will, in the moral and the religious experience a more immediate\navenue to real knowledge. For the study of religion in our day it is\nimportant to note that Ghazzali (here unlike Kant) sees in religious\nexperience a way to certitude. But in this he is led to acknowledge that\nthe advance of the human mind towards its goal of real knowledge and\npeace is dependent upon an active influence of God upon man. It may be\nmaintained that he puts here in religious terminology the central idea\nof the Aristotelian conception of Scholastic times, the relation of the\n\u201cActive Intelligence\u201d to the minds of men. His view enabled him to give a\ndue position to the Prophet and the Quran. For the knowledge of God is to\nbe conceived as coming not in immediate mystical intuition to all alike,\nbut while in some degree to all, to some in a special degree. These are\nthe prophets. The position which Maimonides presents in his _Guide to the\nPerplexed_[9] with relation to religious knowledge and the functions of\nthe prophets is parallel with that of Ghazzali.\n\nFrom the accompanying list and classification of the works of Ghazzali,\nit will be seen that he was a writer on all sides of the theory\nand practice of his religion. He was an authority on canon law and\njurisprudence, and a commentator of the Quran. He examined the positions\nof the Scholastic theologians, and found that they depended entirely on\nthe acceptance of their initial dogmatic assumptions. The disputes of the\nScholastics amongst themselves appeared to have little or no relation\nwith religious life, rather if anything they were a hindrance to true\nreligion. And in face of the philosophers the Scholastic theologians\nwere almost helpless. But the books which exerted the greatest influence\nboth within and beyond Muslim circles, and the books that still retain\ntheir interest today are the Maqasid ul Falasafa (The Aim or Goal\nof the Philosophers) the Tahafat ul Falasafa (the Refutation of the\nPhilosophers) and the Ihya-u-Ulum-id-Din (The Renovation of the Sciences\nof Religion.) In the first of these he gives an account of the different\nphilosophical positions which were more or less prevalent. In the second\nhe critically examines those positions. In the third he gives a general\nsurvey with a constructive purpose chiefly moral and religious. It\nis due to this last work more than all others that Ghazzali has been\ncalled \u201cThe Regenerator of Religion\u201d, \u201cThe Proof of Islam\u201d. The _Ihya_\n\u201cexpounds theology and ethics from the moderate Sufi school\u201d. Though it\nwas committed to the flames, chiefly in Spain, probably by those holding\nopinions which Ghazzali had bitterly attacked, it soon established its\nposition in the Muslim world, in which it has been widely studied up\nto today. From it the passages translated in this book are taken. The\nfollowing table of contents will show the range of the subjects with\nwhich it deals.\n\nTHE RENOVATION OF THE SCIENCES OF RELIGION.\n\nPART I.\n\n    1. On Knowledge. Articles of Faith.\n    2. On Purification.\n    3. Prayer and Its Meaning.\n    4. Zakat and Its Meaning.\n    5. Fasting and Its Meaning.\n    6. Pilgrimage and Its Meaning.\n    7. The Reading of the Quran.\n    8. Varieties of Orisons.\n    9. The Order of Praying, and Vigils.\n\nPART II.\n\n    1. On Eating.\n    2. On Marriage.\n    3. On Business.\n    4. The Lawful and the Unlawful.\n    5. Social Relations and Etiquette.\n    6. On Retirement.\n    7. On Travel.\n    8. On Music.\n    9. On Enforcing Good and Checking Evil.\n    10. Good Living: Description of the Prophet\u2019s Mode of Living.\n\nPART III.\n\n    1. Psychological Description of the Nature of Man.\n    2. On Virtues and the Purification of the Heart.\n    3. On Appetite and Passion.\n    4. On the Tongue: Its Goods and Evils.\n    5. On Anger: Enmity and Envy.\n    6. The Evils of the World.\n    7. Parsimony and the Evils of the Love of Wealth.\n    8. On the Evils of Reputation and Hypocrisy.\n    9. Pride and Vanity.\n    10. Self-deception.\n\nPART IV.\n\n    1. Repentance.\n    2. Patience and Thanksgiving.\n    3. Hope and Fear.\n    4. The Poor and the Hermit,\n    5. Unity of God, and Dependence on Him.\n    6. On Love, Ecstasy, and Joyous Submission to His will.\n    7. On Intention, Sincerity and Truth.\n    8. Meditation.\n    9. Contemplation and taking a Warning.\n    10. On Death and the After-Life.\n\nAgainst the philosophers he argued for the belief in the reality of the\ndivine attributes and against the view of the eternity of the world. He\ncontended against the theory that there would be no physical punishments\nand rewards hereafter, maintaining, as he did, the doctrine of the\nresurrection of the body. He virtually denied that there is real causal\nconnection in events as experienced by us: but only sequence: in this he\nadumbrates the theory of Hume. For Ghazzali, God is the only efficient\ncause. From the scepticism to which his consideration of philosophy led\nhim he turned to the acceptance of revelation, this as found in the\nmystic experience and in the words of saints and prophets, especially the\nProphet Muhammed.\n\nThe knowledge of moral principles Ghazzali conceived as coming not\nthrough rational reflection but by immediate intuition of the divine\ncharacter revealing itself. Moral truths come especially through moral\nand religious teachers, as the most fit persons for the transmission of\nthese revelations. He possessed great skill in psychological analysis\nof moral conditions, and passages in illustration of this have been\nincluded here, treating of pride and vanity, friendship and sincerity. As\nalmost all great practical moral and religious teachers, Ghazzali makes\nconsiderable use of apt stories, and of striking sayings from the saints\nand prophets. He continually harks back to the time of the Prophet and\nhis \u201cCompanions\u201d.\n\nGhazzali\u2019s abandonment of his academic position at Baghdad, his\nretirement to mosques and journeyings on pilgrimage, are sufficient\nevidence that he recognised that the truth of mysticism could not be\ntested by theoretical reflection but only by an attempt at practice.\nOnly the experience itself could prove its own reality. He appears\nto have held that for the attainment of the condition of ecstasy the\nmeans of asceticism and meditation should be used. But it does not\nseem quite correct to suggest as does Carra de Vaux that Ghazzali did\nnot recognise the fact of divine \u201cgrace\u201d, though he did not use a\ncorresponding term. The beatific vision of the mystic certainly depended\nin part, for Ghazzali, on God\u2019s mercy in removing the veil. How far he\nhimself was successful in attaining the bliss of the mystic vision it is\nimpossible to tell: in this direction he gained no such reputation as\ndid several other Sufis. He taught that repentance, a moral conversion,\nis a necessary preliminary to the mystic life, and he fought against a\ncommon tendency of mystics towards antinomianism. Similarly he tried to\navoid the danger of interpreting the union of the soul with God as its\nidentification with God in a pantheistic view of the universe. Goldzieher\nsays he differed from the Sufis generally in the rejection of their\npantheistic aims and low estimate of religious ordinances.[10]\n\n\n\n\nA LIST OF WORKS BY AL GHAZZALI[11]\n\n\n                              A: CANON LAW.\n\n  _Title._                    _Subject._                _Place and date\n                                                         of publication._\n\n  _K. Wajiz_ (_Compendium_).  Canon Law.                 Cairo   1317 A. H.\n\n  _Risalat-ul-Qudsiyya._      (Transcendence of God)\n                              included in Ihya as the\n                              3rd section of the 2nd\n                              Chapter of its Book 1.\n\n  _Anqud ul Mkhtasir._        Summary of Jowim\u2019s\n                              Mukhtasar.\n\n  _Ghait ul Ghor fi Masail    Divorce.\n  il dor._\n\n  _Gaur ul Durar._\n\n  _Qanun ul Rasul._           The Canon Law of the\n                              Prophet.\n\n                            B: JURISPRUDENCE.\n\n  _Al Mustafa._               Jurisprudence.             Boulac  1322 A. H.\n\n  _Al Manhul wal Muntahal._   Doctrines falsely\n                              attributed to others\n                              and falsely claimed\n                              by some. Jurisprudence.\n\n  _Wajiz fil Furu._           Jurisprudence.             Egypt   1305 A. H.\n\n  _Khulasat ul Fikh_          Jurisprudence.\n  (Quintessence of\n  Jurisprudence).\n\n  _Al-durr ul Manzum fi       An Exposition of\n  sirr il Muktum Wasit._      Shafite Jurisprudence.\n\n                                C: LOGIC.\n\n  _Mizan ul Amal._            Logic.                     Cairo   1328 A. H.\n\n  _Mihakkul Nazar fil         Logic.                     Cairo\n  Mantaq._ (Whetstone of\n  reflection).\n\n  _Maayar ul Ilm._            Logic.\n\n  _Al Maarif ul Aqliyyah      Discourses on Logic.\n  wal Allahiyyah Al\n  Mutaqid._\n\n  _Mayar ul Ilm Fannil        On Logic.                  Cairo   1329 A. H.\n  Mantaq._ (the weighing\n  scale of the science).\n\n                             D: PHILOSOPHY.\n\n  _Ihya u-Ulum-id-Din._       (The most important        Cairo   1322,\n                              book for his philosophy).          1324 A. H.\n                                                         Egypt   1282   \u201d\n                                                         Lucknow 1281   \u201d\n                                                         Meerut  1280   \u201d\n\n  _Maqasid ul Falasafa._                                 Cairo   1326   \u201d\n  (The aims of the\n  philosophers).\n\n  _Maznun bihi ala Ghairi     Exposition of Ghazzali\u2019s     \u201d     1328   \u201d\n  Ahlihi._                    own views.\n\n  _Kitab-ul-Arbain._          Abridgement of Ihya.         \u201d     1328   \u201d\n\n  _Risalat ul Luduniyya._     Knowledge (Ilham and Wahi)   \u201d     1328   \u201d\n\n  _Al-Kashfu-wat-Tabyin fi    On the delusion of men in    \u201d     1324   \u201d\n  Ghurur il khalqi Ajmain._   general. (On the margin of\n                              As-Shurain\u2019s Tanbihal\n                              Mughtarrin.)\n\n  _Faysalut-Tafriqa baynal    Refutation of Atheists.    Cairo   1325 A. H.\n  Islami-wa-z Zandiqah._\n\n  _Al Fikratu al Ibrah._      Meditation and Contemplation.\n\n  _Tahafat ul Falasafa._      Destruction of the           \u201d     1321   \u201d\n                              Philosophers.\n\n  _Iljam ul Awam._            Abbreviation of the Ihya.\n\n  _Al-Imla-u-\u2019 an             Statements on disputed     In the margin of\n  ishkalat-il-Ihya._          passages of Ihya.          1334 edition of\n                                                         Ihya.\n\n  _Mustazhiry._               A guide for novices.\n\n  _Al Hikmat-u-fi-            Wisdom of God.             Cairo   1326 A. H.\n  Makhluq-i-Ilahi._\n\n  _Hakikat ul Ruh._           On Soul.\n\n                               E: ETHICS.\n\n  _Badayat ul Hidayah._       Ethics.                    Cairo   1317,\n                                                                 1326 A. H.\n\n  _Kimiya i Saadat._          Ethics.                      \u201d\n\n  _Tibr ul Masbuk._           An ethical mirror for        \u201d     1317   \u201d\n                              princes. A letter.\n\n  _Ayyuh al Walad._           A letter of faith and        \u201d     1328   \u201d\n                              conduct.\n\n                 F: THEOLOGY: EXEGETICAL AND DOGMATICAL.\n\n  _Al durr ul Fakhira._       On eschatology.              \u201d     1322   \u201d\n\n  _Yaqut ul Tawil fi Tafsir   A commentary on the Quran\n  il Tanzil._                 in 40 vols. Not found.\n\n  _K. Iqtisad fil-I\u2019tiqad._   Exposition of Faith.        Cairo\n\n  _Fadhaih ul Abahiya._       The exposure of the\n                              Doctrines of the\n                              Free-thinkers\n\n  _Al Quistas ul Mustaqim._   (No Imam is necessary        \u201d\n                              except the Prophet\n                              himself).\n\n  _Al Qual ul Jamil fil       Criticism of those who\n  Raddi Ala man Ghayyar       have changed the text\n  al Injil._                  of the Bible.\n\n  _Haqiqat ul Qualain._       An Exposition of truth\n                              of two sayings.\n\n  _Tadlis Iblis._             The intrigue of the devil.\n\n  _Jawahir ul Quran._         A collection of the best     \u201d     1329 A. H.\n                              verses of the Quran.\n\n  _Risalat ul Wahdah          A brief letter on preaching\n  wal-I\u2019tiqad._               and Belief.\n\n  _Risalat-ul-\u2019Aqaid._        Doctrines of Islam and     Cairo   1325 A. H.\n                              the duties of rulers.\n\n  _Al Maqasid ul Khilaf       Different theories of\n  fi fan il Kalam._           Kalam.\n\n                               G: SUFIISM.\n\n  _Al-Adab-fid-din._          (Fitting behaviour in        \u201d     1328   \u201d\n                              religion).\n\n  _Al-Qawaid ul-Ashara._      (A very brief summary        \u201d     1328   \u201d\n                              of general advice of\n                              religious matters).\n\n  _Maqasid ul Hasana Sharh    An exposition of Divine      \u201d     1322   \u201d\n  Asma i-illahi\u2019l Husna._     names.\n\n  _Minhaj ul Abidin._         The path of the devout.    Cairo   1313 A. H.\n                              (Said to be the last of\n                              his work).\n\n  _Nasihat-ul Talmiz._        An Epistle.                  \u201d     1295   \u201d\n\n  _Kitab Asrar al Anwar._\n\n  _Madkhal ul Suluk ila       A Guide for kings.\n  Manazil il Muluk._\n\n  _Al Munqid min ad Dalal._   Autobiographical statement    \u201d    1303,\n  (Deliverer from error).     of his spiritual progress.         1320 A. H.\n\n  _Tajrid fil-Kalimat il      Exposition of Kalima.         \u201d    1325   \u201d\n  Tauhid._\n\n  _Murshid ul Talibin._       A Guide for novices.\n\n  _Mishkat ul anwar fi        Esoteric exposition of the    \u201d    1325   \u201d\n  Lataif il Akhbar._          verse \u201cGod is the light of\n  (Niche for the lights).     heaven and earth.\u201d\n\n  _Kitab ul-Madnun-i-Saghir._ Esoteric exposition of     Cairo   1328 A. H.\n                              the verse \u201cThen shaped\n                              him and breathed of His\n                              Spirit into him.\u201d\n\n  _Makashifat-ul-Qulub._      (Abridgement of a work     Boulaq & Cairo\n                              of doubtful authorship             1360 A. H.\n                              ascribed to Al Ghazzali).  Cairo   1306 A. H.\n\n\n\n\nMORAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS OF AL GHAZZALI\n\n\n\n\nTHE NATURE OF MAN[12]\n\n\nThough man shares with the other animals external and internal senses, he\nis at the same time also endowed with two qualities peculiar to himself,\nknowledge and will. By knowledge is meant the power of generalisation,\nthe conception of abstract ideas, and the possession of intellectual\ntruths. By will is meant that strong desire to acquire an object which\nafter due consideration of its consequences has been pronounced by reason\nto be good. It is quite different from animal desire, nay, it is often\nthe very opposite of it.\n\nIn the beginning children also lack these two qualities. They have\npassion, anger, and all the external and internal senses, but will\nfinds its expression only later. Knowledge differs according to the\ncapacity for it, according to the latent powers in a man. Hence there\nis a variety of stages amongst Prophets,[13] the Ulamas, the Sufis and\nthe Philosophers. Further progress is possible even beyond these stages,\nfor divine knowledge knows no bounds. The highest stage is reached by\none to whom all truths and realities are revealed intuitively, who by\nvirtue of his exalted position enjoys direct communion and close relation\nwith the Most Holy. The real nature of this position is known only to\nhim who enjoys it. We verify it by faith. A child has no knowledge of\nthe attainments of an adult; an adult is not aware of the acquisitions\nof a learned man. Similarly, a learned man is not cogniscant of the\nholy communion of the saints and the prophets, and of the favours\nbestowed on them. Although the divine blessings descend freely, those\nare fit recipients of them, whose hearts are pure and wholly devoted to\nHim. \u201cVerily,\u201d says the Hadis, \u201cthe desire of the virtuous is to hold\ncommunion with me, and I long to look at them\u201d. \u201cHe who approaches me a\nspan, I approach him an arm\u201d.[14] The divine favours are not withheld,\nbut hearts bedimmed by impurity fail to receive them. \u201cHad it not been\nthat the devils hover round the hearts of men, they would have seen the\nglories of the Kingdom of the Heaven\u201d.[15]\n\nThe superiority of man consists thus in his being cogniscant of divine\nattributes and actions. Therein lies his perfection; thus he may be\nworthy of admission to God\u2019s presence.\n\nThe body serves as a vehicle for the soul, and the soul is the abode\nfor knowledge which is its fundamental character as well as its\nultimate object. The horse and the ass are both beasts of burden, but a\nsuperiority of the former is found in its being gracefully adapted for\nuse in battle. If the horse fails in this it is degraded to the rank of\nmere burden bearing animals. Similarly with man. In certain qualities\nman resembles a horse and an ass, but his distinguishing trait is his\nparticipation in the nature of the angels, for he holds a middle position\nbetween the beast and the angel. Considering the mode of his nourishment\nand growth he is found to belong to the vegetable world. Considering his\npower of movement and impulses he is a denizen of the animal kingdom. The\ndistinguishing quality of knowledge lifts him up to the celestial world.\nIf he fails to develop this quality and to translate it into action he\nis no better than a grunting pig, a snarling dog, a prowling wolf, or a\ncrafty fox.\n\nIf he wishes for true happiness, let him look upon reason as a monarch\nsitting on the throne of his heart, imagination as its ambassador,\nmemory as treasurer, speech as interpreter, the limbs as clerks, and the\nsenses as spies in the realms of colour, sound, smell, etc. If all these\nproperly discharge the duties allotted to them, if every faculty does\nthat for which it was created\u2014and such service is the real meaning of\nthanksgiving to God\u2014the ultimate object of his sojourn in this transitory\nworld is realised.\n\nMan\u2019s nature is made up of four elements, which produce in him four\nattributes, namely, the beastly; the brutal, the satanic, and the divine.\nIn man there is something of the pig, the dog, the devil, and the saint.\nThe pig is the appetite which is repulsive not for its form but for\nits lust and its gluttony. The dog is passion which barks and bites,\ncausing injury to others. The devil is the attribute which instigates\nthese former two, embellishing them and bedimming the sight of reason\nwhich is the divine attribute. Divine reason, if properly attended to,\nwould repel the evil by exposing its character. It would properly control\nappetite and the passions. But when a man fails to obey the dictates of\nreason, these three other attributes prevail over him and cause his ruin.\nSuch types of men are many. What a pity it is that these who would find\nfault with those who worship stones do not see that on their part they\nworship the pig and the dog in themselves: Let them be ashamed of their\ndeplorable condition and leave no stone unturned for the suppression\nof these evil attributes. The pig of appetite begets shamelessness,\nlust, slander, and such like; the dog of passion begets pride, vanity,\nridicule, wrath and tyranny. These two, controlled by the satanic power\nproduce deceit, treachery, perfidy, meanness etc. but if divinity in man\nis uppermost the qualities of knowledge, wisdom, faith, and truth, etc.\nwill be acquired.\n\nKnow then that mind is like a mirror which reflects images. But just as\nthe mirror, the image, and the mode of reflection are three different\nthings so mind, objects, and the way of knowing are also distinct. There\nare five reasons which may prevent the object from being reflected in the\nmirror. 1. There may be something wrong with the mirror. 2. Something\nother than the mirror may prevent the reflection. 3. The object may\nnot be in front of it. 4. Something may come between the object and\nthe mirror. 5. The position of the object may not be known, so that\nthe mirror may be properly placed. Similarly, for five reasons, the\nmind fails to receive knowledge. 1. The mind may be imperfect, like the\nchild\u2019s. 2. Sin and guilt may bedim the mind and throw a veil over it. 3.\nThe mind may be diverted from the real object. For example, a man may\nbe obedient and good, but instead of rising higher to the acquisition\nof truth and contemplation of God is contented with bodily devotions\nand acquirement of means of living. Such a mind, though pure, will not\nreflect the divine image for his objects of thought are other than this.\nIf this is the condition of such mind, think what will be the state of\nthose minds which are absorbed in the gratification of their inordinate\npassions. 4. An external screen, may as it were, come before the objects.\nSometimes a man who has subjugated his passions still through blind\nimitation or prejudice fails to know the truth. Such types are found\namongst the votaries of the Kalam. Even many virtuous men also fall a\nprey to it and blindly stick to their dogmas. 5. There may be ignorance\nof the means for the acquisition of truth. Thus for illustration, a man\nwants to see his back in a mirror: if he places the mirror before his\neyes he fails to see his back; if he keeps it facing his back it will\nstill be out of sight. Let him then take another mirror and place one\nbefore his eyes and the other facing his back in such a position that the\nimage of the latter is reflected in the former. Thus he will be able to\nsee his back. Similarly the knowledge of the proper means is a key to the\nknowledge of the unknown from the known.\n\nThe divine dispensation is liberal in the distribution of its bounties,\nbut for reasons mentioned above, minds fail to profit by them. For human\nminds partake of the nature of the divine and the capacity to apprehend\ntruth is innate. The Quran says: \u201cSurely we offered the trust to the\nheavens and the earth and the mountains, but they declined to bear it\nup and were afraid of it and man took it up. Surely he is not just (to\nhimself) and is ignorant\u201d.[16] In this passage the innate capacity of man\nis hinted at and refers to the secret power of knowing God, latent in\nhuman minds by virtue of which they have preference over other objects\nand the universe. The Prophet says: \u201cEvery child is born in the right\nstate (Fitrat) but his parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.\u201d\nAnd again: \u201cHad it not been that evil spirits hover round the hearts of\nthe sons of Adam they would have seen the kingdom of heaven\u201d. Ibn Umar\nreports that the Prophet was once asked as to where God is found either\non earth or in heaven. \u201cHe is in the hearts of his faithful servants\u201d,\nreplied the Prophet.\n\nIt will not be out of place to throw some light here on the following\nterms which are often vaguely applied while dealing with the question of\nhuman nature.\n\n1. Qalb (heart) has two meanings. (_a_) a conical shaped piece of\nflesh on the left side of the chest, circulating blood, the source of\nanimal spirits. It is found in all animals. The heart thus belongs to\nthe external world and can be seen with the material eyes. (_b_) A\nmysterious divine substance which is related to the material heart like\nthe relation between the dweller and the house or the artisan and his\nimplements. It alone is sentient and responsible.\n\n2. Ruh (spirit) means (_a_) a vapoury substance which, issues from the\nmaterial heart, and quickens every part of the body. It is like a lamp\nwhich is placed in a house and sheds its light on all sides. (_b_) The\nsoul which is expressed in the Quran as \u2018divine commandment\u2019[17] and is\nused in the same sense as the second meaning of Qalb, mentioned above.\n\n3. Nafs (self) which means (_a_) the substratum for appetite and passion.\nThe Sufis call it the embodiment of vices. (_b_) The ego which receives\ndifferent names in accordance with the qualities acquired from changes\nin its conditions. When in subjugating passions it acquires mastery\nover them and feels undisturbed, it is called _the peaceful self_\n(Nafsi mutmainna). The Quran says: \u201cNafs that art at rest. Return to\nthy Lord well pleased with Him, well pleasing.\u201d When it upbraids man\nfor his actions it is called _conscience_ (Nafsi lauwama). When it\nfreely indulges in the gratification of his passions, it is called _the\ninordinate self_ (Nafsi ammara).\n\n\n\n\nHUMAN FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY[18]\n\n\nActions are either voluntary or involuntary. The difference between them\nis not of kind but of degree. Analyse the process of an involuntary\naction and you will find that if, for example, a man intends to thrust\na needle in your eye or draws a sword to strike on your head, your eye\nin the former case will at once close and in the latter your hand will\nsuddenly be raised up to shield your head. This prompt action on the\npart of your eye and hand is due to your consciousness of the evil to\nbe evaded, and this gives rise to volition which moves the eye and the\nhand without the least delay. There are, however, cases the desirability\nor rejection of which needs meditation, but the moment mind decides,\nthe decision is carried out as promptly as in the above example. This\nmeditation translated into choice or rejection constitutes will. Now will\nmakes its choice between two alternatives and takes its cue either from\nimagination or reason. For example, a man may be unable to cut his own\nthroat, not because his hand is weak or a knife is not available, but\nbecause will is lacking which would give the stimulus to suicide. For\nman loves his own life. But suppose he gets tired of his life, owing to\nhaving harrowing pains and unbearable mental sufferings. He has now to\nchoose between two alternatives which are both undesirable. A struggle\ncommences and he hangs between life and death. If he thinks that death\nwhich will put an end to his sufferings quickly is preferable to life\nwith its lingering intolerable pains, he will choose death although he\nloves his life. This choice gives rise to will, the command to which,\ncommunicated through proper channels, would then be faithfully executed\nby his hand in the manner of suicide. Thus, though the process from the\ncommencement of mental struggle for the choice between too alternatives\ndown to the stimulus to physical action is uniformly determinate there is\nat any rate a sort of freedom traceable in the will.\n\nMan holds the balance between determinism and freedom. The uniform\nsuccession of events is on the lines of determination but his choice\nwhich is an essential element of will is his own. Our Ulamas have\ntherefore coined a separate phrase: _Kasb_ (acquisition), distinguishing\nit from _Jabr_ (necessity) and _Ikhtiyar_ (freedom) They say that\nfire burns of necessity (Jabr) but man may acquire fire through the\nappropriate methods, while in Almighty God is the ultimate cause of fire\n(_Ikhtiyar_). But it must be noted that when we use the word Ikhtiyar for\nGod, we must exclude the notion of choice, which is an essential element\nof will in man. Let it be here recognised once for all as a general\nprinciple that all the words of man\u2019s vocabulary when used for God\u2019s\nattributes are similarly metaphorical.[19]\n\nThe question may be asked: If God is the ultimate cause why should there\nbe a causal connection in the orderly succession of events? The answer\nto this lies in the correct understanding of the nature of causation.\nNothing causes anything. Antecedents have consequents.[20] God alone is\nthe efficient cause, but the ignorant have misunderstood and misapplied\nthe word _power_. As to the orderly succession of events, let it be\nunderstood that the two events are conjoined like the relation between\nthe condition and the conditioned. Now certain conditions are very\napparent and can be known easily by people of little understanding, but\nthere are conditions which are understood only by those who see through\nthe light of intuition: hence the common error of miscalculating the\nuniformity of events. There is a divine purpose linking the antecedents\nto the consequents and manifesting itself in the existing orderly\nsuccession of events, without the least break or irregularity. \u201cVerily\u201d,\nsays the Quran. \u201cWe did not create the heavens and the earth and what is\nbetween them in sport. We did not create them both but with truth, but\nmost of them do not know\u201d.[21]\n\nSurely, there is a set purpose pervading the universe. The uniform\nsuccession of events is not at random. There is no such thing as chance.\nHere again it may be asked: If God is the efficient cause, how will\nyou account for actions attributed to man in the scriptures? Are we to\nbelieve that there are two causes for one effect? My answer to this will\nbe that the word cause is vaguely understood. It can be used in two\ndifferent senses. Just as we say that the death of A was caused by (1)\nB. the executioner, and (2) C the king\u2019s order. Both these statements\nare correct. Similarly God is the cause of actions as He has creative\npower and efficiency. At the same time man is the cause of actions as he\nis the source of the manifestation of uniform succession of events. In\nthe former case we have a real causal connection, while in the latter\na relation of the antecedent to the consequent after the manner of the\nconnection between the condition and the conditioned. There are passages\nin the Quran where the word cause is used in different senses.\n\n\u201cThe angel of death who is given charge of you shall cause you to die:\nthen to your Lord you shall be brought back\u201d.[22] \u201cAllah takes the souls\nat the time of their death\u201d.[23]\n\n\u201cHave you considered what you sow?\u201d[24] \u201cWe pour down the water, pouring\nit down in abundance. Then we cleave the earth; cleaving it asunder. Then\nwe cause to grow therein the grain\u201d.[25]\n\n\u201cFight them: Allah will chastise them by your hands and bring them to\ndisgrace\u201d.[26] \u201cSo you did not slay them, but it was Allah who slew\nthem, and thou didst not smite when thou didst smite, but it was Allah\nwho smote, that he might confer upon the believers a good gift from\nhimself\u201d.[27]\n\nThese passages show that the word, cause, signifies creative power, and\nmust be applied to God alone. But as man\u2019s power is the image of God\u2019s\npower the word was applied to him figuratively. Yet, just as the death of\na culprit is caused by the actual killing by the hand of the executioner\nand not the king\u2019s order, so the word cause actually applied to man is\ncontrary to fact. God alone is the real efficient cause, and the word\nmust be applied to him in its root sense of power.\n\nIt may be asked then, why man should be rewarded for his good actions and\npunished for his misdeeds. Let us consider first the nature of reward\nand punishment. Experience tells us that things have natural properties\nand that physical laws operate in a uniform manner. Take, for example,\nthe science of medicine. Certain drugs are found to possess certain\nqualities. If a man swallows poison of his own accord he has no right\nto ask why poison kills him. Its natural property has simply operated in\nhis system and caused his death. Similarly actions make an impression on\nmind. Good and bad actions are invariably followed by pleasure and pain\nrespectively. A good action is its own reward of pleasure and a bad one\nof pain. The former works like an elixir; the latter like poison. The\nproperties of actions have been discovered, like discoveries in medicine,\nbut by the physicians of the heart, the saints and the prophets. If you\nwill not listen to them you must suffer the consequence. Now hear a\nparable:\n\nA certain king sent a horse, a robe of honour, and travelling expenses to\none of his suzerains in a distant land. Although the king had no need of\nhis services, the royal gift was a favour shown to his suzerain, so that\nhe might come to the king\u2019s court and be happy in his presence. If the\nsuzerain understands the king\u2019s intention from the nature of the gift and\nutilizes it properly with a grateful heart, he will wait on the king and\nlive happily, but if he misuses the gift or takes no heed of it, he will\nprove an ungrateful wretch.\n\nIt is thus that the boundless mercy of the omnipotent and omniscient\nGod bestowed on us the gift of life, providing us with bodily organs,\nmental and moral faculties, so that we uplift ourselves by utilizing\nthem properly, and be worthy of being admitted into his holy presence.\nIf we misuse them or pay no regard to them, surely we shall be (Kafirs)\n(literally \u201cungrateful\u201d) for his blessings bestowed on us for our good,\nand thus be doomed.\n\n\u201cVerily,\u201d says the Quran, \u201cwe created man in the best make. Then we\nrender him the lowest of the low. Except those who believe and do good,\nso they shall have a reward never to be cut off\u201d.[28].[29].\n\n\n_The Allegory of the Pen_\n\nA certain devotee who was on the way to illumination saw a piece of paper\nwith lines written on it. \u201cWhy\u201d, said the devotee, \u201chast thou blackened\nthy bright face?\u201d \u201cIt is not fair to take me to task\u201d, replied the\npaper, \u201cI have done nothing. Ask the ink why she has sallied forth from\nthe inkstand where she was quite at ease, and forcibly blackened my\nface\u201d. \u201cYou are right\u201d said the devotee. Then he turned to the ink and\nenquired of her. \u201cWhy do you ask me\u201d, she said, \u201cI was sitting still in\nthe inkstand and had no mind to come out but this truculent pen rushed at\nme, drew me out and scattered me over the page. There you see me lying\nhelpless, go to the pen and ask him\u201d. The devotee turned to the pen and\ninterrogated him about his high-handedness. \u201cWhy do you trouble me\u201d,\nanswered the pen, \u201cLook, what am I? an insignificant reed. I was growing\nby the banks of silvery streams amidst shady green trees, when lo: a\nhand stretched at me. It held a knife, which uprooted me, flayed me and\nseparated my joints, hewed me, cleaved my head then, chopped it off. I\nwas sent headlong towards the ink, and have to serve abjectly. Do not add\ninsult to my injuries, go to the hand and ask him\u201d. The devotee looked\nat the hand and said: \u201cIs it true? Are you so cruel?\u201d \u201cDo not be angry,\nSir\u201d replied the hand \u201cI am a bundle of flesh, bones, and blood. Have you\never seen a piece of flesh exerting power? Can a body move of itself?\nI am a vehicle used by one called vitality. He rides on me and forces\nme round and round. You see, a dead man has hands but cannot use them\nbecause vitality has left them. Why should I, a mere vehicle, be blamed?\nGo to vitality and ask him why he makes use of me.\u201d \u201cYou are right\u201d, said\nthe devotee, and then questioned vitality. \u201cDo not find fault with me\u201d,\nanswered vitality, \u201cMany a time a censurer himself is reproved, while\nthe censured is found faultless. How do you know that I have forced the\nhand? I was already there before he moved, and had no idea of the motion.\nI was unconscious and the on-lookers were also unaware of me. Suddenly\nan agent came and stirred me. I had neither strength enough to disobey\nnor willingness to obey him. That for which you would take me to task I\nhad to do according to his wish, I do not know who this agent is. He is\ncalled will and I know him by name only. Had the matter been left to me I\nthink I should have done nothing.\u201d \u201cAll right\u201d, continued the devotee, \u201cI\nshall put the question to will, and ask him why he has forcibly employed\nvitality which of its own accord would have done nothing\u201d. \u201cDo not be in\ntoo great a hurry\u201d, exclaimed will, \u201cperchance I may give you sufficient\nreason. His majesty, the mind, sent an ambassador, named knowledge,\nwho delivered his message to me through reason, saying: \u2018Rise up, stir\nvitality\u2019. I was forced to do so, because I have to obey knowledge and\nreason, but I know not why. As long as I receive no order I am happy, but\nthe moment an order is delivered I dare not disobey. Whether my monarch\nbe a just ruler or a tyrant, I must obey him. On my oath, as long as\nthe king hesitates or ponders over the matter I stand quiet, ready to\nserve, but the moment his order is passed my sense of obedience which is\ninnate forces me to stir up vitality. So, you should not blame me. Go\nto knowledge and get information there\u201d. \u201cYou are right,\u201d consented the\ndevotee, and proceeding, asked mind and its ambassador, knowledge and\nreason, for an explanation. Reason excused himself by saying he was a\nlamp only, but knew not who had lighted it. Mind pleaded his innocence\nby calling himself a mere _tabula rasa_. Knowledge maintained that it was\nsimply an inscription on the _tabula rasa_, inscribed after the lamp of\nreason had been lighted. Thus he could not be considered the author of\nthe inscription which may have been the work of some invisible pen. The\ndevotee was puzzled by the reply, but collecting himself, he spoke thus\nto knowledge: \u201cI am wandering in the path of my enquiry. To whomsoever\nI go and ask the reason I am referred to another. Nevertheless, there\nis pleasure in my quest, for I find that everyone gives me a plausible\nreason. But pardon me, Sir if I say that your reply, knowledge, fails to\nsatisfy me. You say that you are a mere inscription recorded by a pen. I\nhave seen pen, ink, and tablet. They are of reed, a black mixture, and of\nwood and iron, respectively. And I have seen lamps lighted with fire. But\nhere I do not see any of these things, and yet you talk of the tablet,\nthe lamp, the pen and the inscription. Surely you are not trifling with\nme?\u201d \u201cCertainly not\u201d, returned knowledge, \u201cI spoke in right earnest. But\nI see your difficulty. Your means are scanty, your horse is jaded, and\nyour journey is long and dangerous. Give up this enterprise, as I fear\nyou cannot succeed. If, however you are prepared to run the risk, then\nlisten. Your journey extends through three regions. The first is the\nterrestrial world. Its objects pen, ink, paper, hand etc. are just what\nyou have seen them to be. The second is the celestial world, which will\nbegin when you have left me behind. There you will come across dense\nforests, deep wide rivers and high impassable mountains and I know not\nhow you would be able to proceed. Between these two worlds there is a\nthird intermediary region called the phenomenal world. You have crossed\nthree stages of it, vitality, will, and knowledge. To use a simile: a man\nwho is walking is treading the terrestrial world: if he is sailing in a\nboat he enters the phenomenal world: if he leaves the boat and swims and\nwalks on the waters, he is admitted in the celestial world. If you do\nnot know how to swim, go back. For, the watery region of the celestial\nworld begins now when you can see that pen inscribing on the tablet of\nthe heart. If you are not of whom it was said: \u2018O ye of little faith,\nwherefore didst thou doubt?\u2019[30] prepare thyself. For, by faith you shall\nnot simply walk on the sea but fly in the air\u201d. The wondering devotee\nstood speechless for awhile, then turning to knowledge, began: \u201cI am in\na difficulty. The dangers of the path which you have described unnerve\nmy heart, and I know not whether I have sufficient strength to face\nthem and to succeed in the end\u201d. \u201cThere is a test for your strength\u201d,\nreplied knowledge, \u201cOpen your eyes and fix your gaze on me. If you see\nthe pen which writes on the heart, you will in my opinion, be able to\nproceed further on. For he who crosses the phenomenal world, knocks at\nthe door of the celestial world, then sights the pen which writes on\nhearts\u201d. The devotee did as he was advised, but failed to see that pen,\nbecause his notion of pen was no other but of a pen of reed or wood.\nThen knowledge drew his attention, saying: \u201cThere\u2019s the rub. Do you not\nknow that the furniture of a palace indicates the status of its lord?\nNothing in the universe resembles God,[31] therefore his attributes are\nalso transcendental. He is neither body nor is in space. His hand is not\na bundle of flesh, bone, and blood. His pen is not of reed or wood. His\nwriting is not from ink prepared from vitriol and gall. But there are\nmany who ignorantly cling to an anthropomorphic view of Him, there are\nfew who cherish a transcendentally pure conception of Him, and believe\nthat He is not only above all material limitation but even above the\nlimitation of metaphor. You seem to be oscillating between these two\nviews, because on the one hand you think that God is immaterial, that His\nwords have neither sound nor shape; on the other hand you cannot rise to\nthe transcendental conception of His hand, pen and tablet. Do you think\nthat the meaning of the tradition \u201cVerily God created Adam in His own\nimage\u201d[32] is limited to the visible face of man? Certainly not: it is\nthe inward nature of man seen by the inward sight which can be called\nthe image of God. But listen: You are now at the sacred mount, where\nthe invisible voice from the burning bush speaks: \u201cI am that I am;\u201d[33]\n\u201cVerily I am thy Lord God, put off thy shoes\u201d.[34] The devotee, who\nlistening with rapture, suddenly saw as it were a flash of lightning,\nthere appeared working the pen which writes on hearts-formless. \u201cA\nthousand blessings on thee, O knowledge, who hast saved me from falling\ninto the abysm of anthropomorphism (Tashbih). I thank thee from the\nbottom of my heart. I tarried long, but now, adieu\u201d.\n\nThe devotee then resumed his journey. Halting in the presence of the\ninvisible pen, politely he asked the same question. \u201cYou know my reply\u201d\nanswered the mysterious pen, \u201cYou cannot have forgotten the reply given\nto you by the pen in the terrestrial world\u201d. \u201cYes, I remember,\u201d replied\nthe devotee, \u201cbut how can it be the same reply, because there is no\nsimilitude between you and that pen\u201d. \u201cThen it seems you have forgotten\nthe tradition: Verily God created Adam in his own image\u201d. \u201cNo, Sir\u201d,\ninterrupted the devotee, \u201cI know it by heart\u201d. \u201cAnd you have forgotten\nalso that passage in the Quran: \u201cAnd the heavens rolled up in his right\nhand.\u201d[35] \u201cCertainly not\u201d, exclaimed the devotee, \u201cI can repeat the\nwhole of the Quran by rote\u201d. \u201cYes, I know, and as you are now treading\nthe sacred precincts of the celestial world I think I can now safely\ntell you that you have simply learnt the meaning of these passages from\na negative point of view. But they have a positive value, and should be\nutilised as constructive at this stage.[36] Proceed further and you will\nunderstand what I mean\u201d. The devotee looked and found himself reflecting\nupon the divine attribute omnipotence. At once he realised the force\nof the mysterious pen\u2019s argument, but goaded by his inquisitive nature\nhe was about to put the question to the holy being, when a voice like\nthe deafening sound of thunder was heard from above, proclaiming: \u201cHe\nis not questioned for his actions but they shall be asked\u201d. Filled with\nsurprize; the devotee bent his head in silent submission.\n\nThe hand of the divine mercy stretched towards the helpless devotee; into\nhis ear were whispered in zephyr tones: \u201cVerily those who strive in our\nway we will certainly show them the path which leads to us\u201d[37]. Opening\nhis eyes, the devotee raised his head and poured forth his heart in\nsilent prayer. \u201cHoly art thou, O God Almighty: blessed is thy name O Lord\nof the universe. Henceforth I shall fear no mortal: I put my entire trust\nin thee: thy forgiveness is my solace: thy mercy is my refuge.\u201d\n\n(Light may be thrown on the matter by consideration of the unity of\nGod.[38])\n\n\n\n\nPRIDE AND VANITY[39]\n\n\nWhen a man feels a superiority over others and with this a sort of\ninward elation, this is called pride. It differs from vanity in as much\nas vanity means consciousness of one\u2019s elation while pride requires\na subject, an object and a feeling of elation. Suppose a man is born\nsolitary in the world, he may be vain but not proud, because in pride\nman considers himself superior to others for certain qualities of his\nself. He allots one position to his self and one to another, and then\nthinks that his position is higher and is therefore elated. This \u201cpuffed\nup\u201d feeling which imparts a sense of \u201ctouch me not\u201d is called pride. The\nProphet says: \u201cO God save me from the puffing up of pride\u201d. Ibn Abbas\nsays that the sentence in the Quran \u201cAnd they have pride in their hearts\nand will fail to reach it\u201d means that the thought of inward greatness\nwill be denied to them. This thought is the source of inward and outward\nactions, which are so to speak the fruits of it.\n\nA proud man will not tolerate any other to be on equal terms with\nhimself. In private and in public he expects that all should assume a\nrespectful attitude towards him and acknowledging his superiority treat\nhim as a higher being. They should greet him first, make way for him\nwherever he walks; when he speaks everyone should listen to him and\nnever try to oppose him. He is a genius and people are like asses. They\nshould be grateful to him seeing that he is so condescending. Such proud\nmen are found especially among ulamas. Sages are ruined by their pride.\nThe Prophet says: \u201cHe who has an atom of pride in his heart will fail\nto enter paradise.\u201d This saying requires explanation, and should be\ncarefully listened to. Virtues are the doors of Paradise, but pride and\nself esteem lock them all. So long as man feels elated he will not like\nfor others what he likes for himself. His self esteem will deprive him\nof humility, which is the essence of righteousness. He will neither be\nable to discard enmity and envy, resentment and wrath, slander and scorn,\nnor will he be able to cultivate truth and sincerity, and calmly listen\nto any advice. In short, there is no evil which a proud man will not\ninevitably do in order to preserve his elation and self-esteem. Vices\nare like a chain of rings linked together which entangle his heart.\nTherefore, an atom of pride is Satan\u2019s spark, which secretly consumes the\nnature of the sons of Adam.\n\nKnow then that pride is of three kinds: 1. Against God; 2. Against\nprophets and saints; 3. Against fellowmen.\n\n1. Against God. It is due to mere foolishness when a biped creature\nconsiders himself as if Lord of the universe. Namrud and Pharoah were\nsuch types, who disdained to be called God\u2019s creatures on earth: \u201cVerily,\nVerily,\u201d says the Quran, \u201cthe Messiah does by no means disdain that he\nshould be a servant of Allah, nor do the angels who are near to Him,\nand whoever disdains His service and is proud He will gather them all\ntogether to Himself.\u201d[40]\n\n2. Against prophets and saints. It is due to unwarranted self esteem when\none considers obedience to any mortal being as lowering his own position.\nSuch a person either fails to reflect on the nature of prophetship\nand thereby feels proud of himself and does not obey the prophet, or\nrefuses to consider the claims of prophetship as being derogatory to\nhis elated self and therefore pays no regard to the prophet. The Quran\nquotes the words of such persons:\u2014\u201cAnd they say: what is the matter with\nthis Apostle that he eats food and goes about in the markets, why has\nnot an angel been sent down to him so that he should have been a warner\nwith him. Or (why is not) a treasure sent down to him or he is made to\nhave a garden from which he should eat\u201d. And those who do not fear our\nmeeting, say: \u201cWhy have not angels been sent down to us, or (why) do we\nnot see our Lord? Now certainly they are too proud of themselves and have\nrevolted in great revolt.\u201d[41]\n\nOur Prophet Mohammed was an orphan and had scanty means of livelihood, so\nthe Koraishite chief Walid bin Moghera and Abu Masood Sakfi used to speak\ncontemptuously of him.[42] And when people believed in him and accepted\nIslam, the proud Koraishites used to say: Mohammed is surrounded by poor\nmen, let him send them off and then we of the aristocracy of Mecca will\nlisten to him. But God spoke to Mohammed \u201cAnd withhold thyself with those\nwho call on their Lord morning and evening, desiring His good will, and\nlet not their eyes pass from them, desiring the beauties of this world\u2019s\nlife, and do not follow him, whose heart we have made unmindful to our\nresemblance, and he follows his low desires, and his case is one in which\ndue bounds are exceeded.\u201d[43]\n\n3. Against fellowmen. A proud man considers himself a superior being\nand would like to see everybody humbled before him. He is therefore\nquarrelling with God, trying to share with Him His attribute omnipotence.\nGod is spoken of in the Hadith, as saying: \u201cOmnipotence is my mantle, he\nwho quarrels with me for it, him will I crush\u201d. Surely men are all His\nservants and no servant has a right to treat his fellow servants as their\nmaster. But a proud man in the intoxication of his elation takes himself\nas God on earth. He is too haughty to listen to truth from the lips of\nany of his fellowmen. Ibn Masud says: \u201cIt is enough for sin if a person,\nwho is advised to fear God answers his advisor: Look to thine own self.\u201d\n\nThe consciousness of superiority which begets pride is due to certain\nattributes or accomplishments which can be summed up as:\n\n    a. Spiritual, divided into (1) knowledge; (2) devotion.\n\n    b. Worldly, of five kinds: (3) pedigree; (4) beauty; (5)\n    strength; (6) wealth; (7) kith and kin.\n\nThere are thus seven causes in all, and these need some description.\n\nKnowledge is power. Consciousness of power easily elates a man, who\nconsiders himself superior to others and treats them in a supercilious\nmanner. If he accepts the greetings or the invitation of his fellowmen\nor receives them in audience he thinks they should be thankful to him\nfor his condescension. People should obey and serve him, for by virtue\nof his knowledge he thinks he has a right over them. Such a proud \u201cAlim\u201d\nis sorry for the sins of others but unmindful of his own condition.\nWhile he freely distributes Heaven and Hell among his fellowmen, he\nclaims salvation and Heaven for himself. The question is whether he is\nreally justified in holding the title of Alim. For an Alim is one who,\nknowing himself knows God, who fears the Lord most, who holds himself\nmore responsible for his actions for he knows good and evil and feels\nthe awful presence of a mighty and just Being who looks to righteousness\nalone.\n\nLet us consider why men of knowledge become proud. There are two main\ncauses which should be noted. First there is a false conception about\nthe nature of real knowledge. Devoted to certain sciences and arts such\nas mathematics, physics, literature, and dialectics, they think that\nproficiency in them makes a man perfect. But real knowledge means the\nlifting of the veil from before the eyes of the heart so as to see the\nmysterious relation between man and his maker and to be filled with a\nsense of awe and reverence in the presence of an omniscient holy Being\nwho pervades the universe. This attitude of mind, this enlightenment is\nreal knowledge. It produces humility and repels pride.\n\nSecondly, there is an indifference to moral training during student\nlife. Wicked habits thus produce bitter fruits of pride. Wahb has well\nillustrated this point, when he says: \u201cKnowledge is like rain falling\nfrom above, so pure and sweet but the plants when they absorb it,\nembitter or sweeten it, according to their tastes. Man in acquiring\nknowledge acquires power, which gives strength to the hidden qualities\nof his heart. If he was prone towards pride and paid no attention to\nthe subjugation of it, he would prove more proud when he acquires\nknowledge.\u201d \u201cThere will be men,\u201d says the Prophet \u201cwho will have the\nQuran on their lips but it will not go down their throats. They will\nclaim knowledge of it, calling themselves learned Qari. They will be\nfrom among you my companions, but woe to them, for they will see the\nconsequence of it in Hell\u201d.[44]\n\nWarned by their Prophet, his companions lived a life of humility and\ntheir example taught its lesson to their successors. A person came to\nKhalif Omar after morning prayers and said: \u201cI should like to give public\nsermons\u201d. \u201cMy friend\u201d, said the Khalif, \u201cI am afraid you would soon be\npuffed up with pride\u201d. Huzaifa, the companion of the Prophet, was a\nleader of prayer. One day he said to his congregation: \u201cBrethren, have\nanother leader, or go and pray alone, for I begin to feel puffed up with\nyour leadership\u201d.\n\nThus, the companions of the Prophet lived meekly, the humble servants\nof God on earth, keenly watching the changing phases of their Hearts and\npromptly seeking the remedy. But we who call ourselves their followers\nnot only do not try to purify our hearts but do not even think it worth\nwhile to consider the means for their purification. How can we expect\nsalvation? But we ought not to lose heart. The apostle of mercy for the\nworlds (Rahmet ul lilalamin) has said: \u201cSoon a time will come when if any\nperson will do even one tenth of what you are doing now, he will have his\nsalvation\u201d.[45]\n\nDevotion and religious service elicit admiration and praise for the\ndevotee, who finding himself respected by the people is elated. This\nelation quietly develops into pride and then the devotee considers\nhimself a superior being and favoured of God. He despises his fellow men\nand calls them sinners, who will be doomed for ever. But he does know\nthat he himself will be doomed for despising his fellowmen and thinking\ntoo much of himself. The Prophet says: \u201cWhen you hear any person, saying:\n\u2018Woe to the people they are doomed,\u2019 know that he himself will be doomed\nfirst\u201d.\n\nIt is recorded that a certain sinner among the Jews passed by a well\nknown Pharisee. Struck with the appearance of the Pharisee\u2019s piety and\ndevotion, the poor sinner sat down by him, believing in the saving grace\nof his holy touch. But the proud Pharisee disdainfully spoke out: \u201cTouch\nme not thou filthy sinner, and leave my presence\u201d. Whereupon God sent\nHis word to the prophet of that age: \u201cGo and tell that sinner; thou art\nforgiven. As for that Pharisee, his devotion is cast aside and he is\ndoomed\u201d.\n\n3. People are usually proud of their lineage, and look down on men of low\nbirth. They refuse to treat them on equal terms, and boastfully speak of\ntheir ancestors in the presence of men, who are treated by them in a\nhaughty manner. This evil lurks even in the hearts of good and virtuous\nmen, although their manners and actions throw a veil over it. But in an\nunguarded moment of excitement and fury, this demon of pedigree is let\nloose from the innermost corner of the heart.\n\nThe Prophet\u2019s companion Abuzar says: \u201cI was quarrelling with someone in\nthe presence of the Prophet when suddenly in a fit of rage I abused the\nman; Thou son of a negress!\u201d On this the Prophet coaxingly said to me:\n\u201cAbuzar, both the scales are equal. The white has no preference over the\nblack.\u201d Hearing this I fell and said to the person: \u201cBrother come and\ntrample on my face and then forgive me.\u201d\n\nIt is reported in the Hadith that two men were quarrelling before\nthe Prophet. One said to the other; \u201cI am the son of such and such\nillustrious man, tell me who thy father is?\u201d The Prophet, addressing\nthe boastful man said; \u201cThere were two men in the time of Moses who\nboastfully spoke of their pedigree. One said to the other: \u201cLook how\nmy nine ancestors all in one line were men of renown.\u201d And God said to\nMoses: \u201cTell this man: All thy nine ancestors are in Hell and thou art\nthe tenth.\u201d\n\n4. Women generally feel proud of their beauty. This leads to finding\nfault with others, and this gradually assumes the form of contempt and\ndisdain. Ayesha, the wife of the Prophet, says: \u201cOne day a woman came to\nthe Prophet and I said to him: \u2018Look at this dwarf.\u2019 The Prophet turned\ntowards me and said: \u2018Ayesha, repent of what thou hast said, for it is\nslander.\u2019\u201d\n\n5, 6, 7. People feel a sort of elation at the sight of their possessions.\nA merchant is elated with his stores, a landowner with his fields and\ngroves, and a nobleman with his retinue and riches. In short, every\nperson feels proud of his worldly possessions and looks down on those\nwho are lacking in them. He believes in riches and worships mammon.[46]\nHe has no idea of what is meant by: \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit: for\ntheir\u2019s is the kingdom of Heaven\u201d.[47]\n\nWe may quote a parable from the Quran. \u201cAnd set forth to them a parable\nof two men. For one of them we made two gardens of grape vines, and\nwe surrounded them both with palms, and in the midst of them we made\ncorn-fields. Both these gardens yielded their fruits and failed nothing.\nWe caused a river to gush forth in their midst. The man possessed much\nwealth and he said to his companion while he disputed with him: I have\ngreater wealth than you and am mightier in followers. While he entered\nhis garden he was unjust to himself. He said: I do not think that this\nwill ever perish. I do not think the hour will come, yet even if I return\nto my Lord I shall most certainly find a place better than this. His\ncompanion said to him, while disputing with him: Do you disbelieve in Him\nwho created you from dust, then from a small germ life, then he made you\na perfect man? But as for me, Allah is my Lord and I do not associate any\none with my Lord. When you entered your garden, why did you not say: It\nis as Allah has pleased. There is no power save Allah. If you consider me\nto be inferior to you in wealth and children, perhaps my Lord will give\nme something better than your garden, and send on it a reckoning from\nheaven, so that it shall become even ground with no living plant. Or the\nwaters may sink into the ground so that you are unable to find them. His\nwealth was indeed destroyed, and he began to wring his hands for what he\nhad spent on it. While it lay there (for it had fallen down from the\nroofs) he said: Ah me! would that I had not associated anyone with my\nLord. He had none to help him besides Allah nor could he defend himself.\nIn Allah, alone is protection, the True One. In the bestowal of reward\nand in requital he is best.\n\nSet forth to them also the parable of the life in this world. It is\nlike the water which we send down from the clouds on account of which\nthe herbs become luxuriant. Then these become dry, break into pieces\nand the winds scatter them. Allah holds power over all things. Wealth\nand children are an adornment of the life of this world. The good\nworks, the ever-abiding, are with your Lord better in reward than in\nexpectation\u201d.[48]\n\nHow fleeting are our worldly gains, and how foolish are we in feeling\nproud of them! Let us then, live as meek and humble servants of God on\nearth.\n\n\n\n\nFRIENDSHIP AND SINCERITY[49]\n\n\nFriendship is one of God\u2019s favours, says the Quran. And hold fast by the\ncovenant of Allah all together and be not disunited, and remember the\nfavour of Allah on you when you were enemies, then He united your marts\nso by His favour you became brethren[50]. The Prophet says: Those amongst\nyou are my close companions who have good dispositions, are affectionate\nand tenderly love each other. And again: \u201cGod when He shows His kindness\ntowards any person gives him a Good friend.\u201d[51] \u201cVerily God will say\non the day of resurrection where are those who loved each other for my\nsake; today they shall rest under my shelter when there is no other\nshelter.\u201d[52]\n\n\u201cSeven kinds of men will, on the Day of Judgment, rest under His shelter\nwhen there will be no other shelter:\u2014(1) A just Imam, (2) An adult who\nis devoted to God, (3) A man who after coming out from the mosque finds\nhis heart attached to it till he enters again, (4) Two friends who lived\nand died in their friendship for God\u2019s sake, (5) He who for fear of the\nLord wept in secret, (6) He whom a beautiful woman of good birth allures\nbut he replies: I have fear of my Lord, (7) He who gives alms in a manner\nthat his left hand does not know what is given by his right hand.\u201d[53]\n\nFriendship, then, is God\u2019s favour and should be cultivated for His sake.\nBut if we shun the company of our fellowmen let it also be for God\u2019s\nsake. \u201cThe strongest rope of Faith\u201d, says the Prophet, \u201cis love and hate\nboth for God\u2019s sake.\u201d\n\nChrist says, \u201cLove God by avoiding the wicked; seek His nearness by\nshunning their company and please Him by courting their displeasure.\u201d\n\u201cWith whom should we keep company, O Word of God\u201d, asked the people. And\nChrist replied, \u201cSit with those whose appearance reminds you of God,\nwhose words add to the stock of your knowledge and whose actions serve as\nan incentive for acquiring the kingdom of Heaven.\u201d\n\nGod spoke to Moses saying, \u201cSon of Amran be up and find out a friend for\nthee and he who would not be with thee for my good will is thy enemy.\u201d\n\nChoose a friend who has five qualities viz: wisdom, good disposition,\nabstinence from sin, heresy and greed.\n\nA fool\u2019s company gives no good, it ends in gloom. Good disposition is\nnecessary in as much as a man may be wise but be subservient to his\ninordinate passion and hence unfit for company. And a sinner and a\nheretic are to be avoided for the simple reason that they who have no\nfear of the Lord and are regardless of committing forbidden actions are\nnot to be relied on. Besides contagion will secretly spread and he too\nwill think of sin lightly and gradually lose power of resisting it. And\na greedy worldling is to be avoided because his company will deaden the\nheart in the quest of the kingdom of Heaven.\n\nAlkama on his death bed gave a fine description of a friend. \u201cMy son\u201d,\nsaid he, \u201cIf you wish to keep company try to find out such a friend who,\nwhen you live with him defends you, adds to your prestige, bears the\nload of your hardships, helps you in your doings, counts your virtues,\ndissuades you from vices, readily responds to your requests, inquires\nhimself for your needs when you keep quiet, shows his deep sympathy\nin your sufferings, bears witness to your sayings, gives good advice\nwhen you intend to do some work and prefers you to his own self when\ndifference arises between you and him.\u201d This piece of advice gives the\nqualities of a friend in a nutshell. When Caliph Mamun the Abbaside heard\nof it, he said, \u201cWhere should we find such a friend\u201d. And Yahya replied,\n\u201cAlkama\u2019s description means that we should live in retirement.\u201d\n\nImam Jafar \u2018Assadiq\u2019 (the veracious) gives a negative description of a\nfriend. \u201cDo not keep company with five sorts of men viz: a false man who\ndeceives you like a mirage; a fool who cannot benefit you, (even if he\ntries to do so he would do harm through his foolishness;) a miser who\nwhen you need his help the most, severs himself from you; a coward who\nwill leave you when you are in danger; a wicked sinner who will sell you\nfor a piece of bread.\u201d\n\nSahl of Taster says, \u201cAvoid the company of 3 kinds of men, (1) tyrants\nwho forget God, (2) Ulamas who practise dissimulation, (3) Sufis who are\nignorant.\u201d\n\nIt must be remembered here that the above passages serve as an ideal but\nfor purposes we should look to the present practical conditions and try\nto get as much good as may be had from them. For man\u2019s life seems dreary\nwhen he has no friends. And men are like trees. Some are fruit-bearing\nand shady, some are shady only and some are mere thorns and thistles.\nSimilarly some friends are a blessing both here and hereafter; some are\nfor worldly gain for the world is a shadow, and some are of no good in\nthis world and the next as if they are scorpions in human form.\n\n\u201cAnd they were not enjoined anything except that they should serve\nAllah, being sincere to Him in obedience, upright, and keep up prayer\nand pay the poor rate (zakat) and that is the right religion\u201d.[54]\n\u201cThen serve God, being sincere in religion unto Him, Aye, God\u2019s is the\nsincere religion\u201d. Musab says that his father Saad was considering\nhimself superior to other poor and destitute companions of the Prophet.\n\u201cGod\u201d, said the Prophet, \u201chas helped my people with my poor and humble\nfollowers\u2019 prayer and sincerity.\u201d[55] \u201cSincere action,\u201d says the\nProphet \u201ceven if it be little will suffice for thee.\u201d[56] The following\nsaying of the Prophet is reported by Abu Huraira: \u201cThree persons shall\nbe questioned first on the day of resurrection. One will be the learned\nman who would be asked as to what he had done with his learning\u201d. \u201cDay\nand night,\u201d the learned man will reply \u201cI tried my best to propagate\nit, O Lord\u201d. \u201cThou speakest falsely\u201d, God will answer and the angels\nwill also join with him. \u201cThy sole aim was to be called a learned man by\nthe people, and the title was thine\u201d. The second will be the rich man\nwho would be asked about his riches. \u201cDay and night\u201d, the rich man will\nreply, \u201cI gave it in charity.\u201d \u201cThou speaker of untruth\u201d, God and his\nangels will say. \u201cThou wishest to be labelled a generous man, and it was\ndone\u201d. The third will be the martyr who too will be asked about his deed.\n\u201cO Lord\u201d, the martyr will reply, \u201cThou didst command us to wage Holy\nwar (Jehad), I obeyed thee and fell fighting\u201d. \u201cThou liest,\u201d God and His\nangels will answer. \u201cThy aim was to be trumpeted as a hero and it was\ndone\u201d. \u201cThen,\u201d says Abu Huraira, \u201cthe Prophet after finishing the sermon\npressed me and said: These three would be the first to be thrown into the\nflames of hell\u201d.\n\nIn the narratives of the Israelites, a story is told of a certain devotee\nwho had served God for many years. Once he was informed of the apostacy\nof a tribe, which, forsaking the true worship of Yahweh had taken to tree\nworship. The hermit filled with the spirit of the \u201cjealous\u201d God took an\naxe and set out to level the tree to the earth. But the devil in the\nshape of an old man met him on the way and inquired of his intention.\nThe hermit told him of his determination, whereupon Satan addressed him\nthus: \u201cWhy on earth are you leaving aside your prayers and vigils and\ndevoting yourself to other work!\u201d \u201cBut this too is a sacred cause\u201d\nreplied hermit. \u201cNo, nor will I allow you to do so\u201d exclaimed the devil.\nWhereupon the hermit in the white heat of his pious rage caught hold of\nthe devil and forcibly held him down. \u201cSpare me Sir\u201d, begged the devil,\n\u201cI have something to say to you.\u201d The hermit let him go. Then spoke\nSatan; \u201cI think God has not commanded you to do this thing. You do not\nworship the tree, you are not responsible for the sins of others. If\nGod wills it he will send some prophet, and they are so many, who would\ncarry out his order. So I think it is not your duty, why then trouble\nyourself?\u201d \u201cBut I belong to the chosen people of Yahweh, and I am in\nduty bound to do so\u201d, replied the hermit. Whereupon they again began to\nwrestle and eventually Satan was thrown down. \u201cO! I see\u201d cried Satan.\n\u201cAn idea has just come into my mind; let me go please, and I will tell\nyou.\u201d Thus obtaining his release, the Evil One addressed him as follows:\n\u201cIs it not the case that you are poor and have to live on the alms of\nthose who are devoted to you? But in your heart of hearts you would like\nto shower your bounties on your brethren and neighbours so generous and\ncompassionate is your nature. What a pity that such a noble soul lives\non alms\u201d. \u201cYou have read my mind aright,\u201d quietly responded the hermit.\n\u201cMay I hope,\u201d said the Evil One entreatingly, \u201cthat you will be pleased\nto accept two golden dinars which you will find at your bed side every\nmorning from tomorrow. You will then be relieved of depending on others\nand be in a position to do charity to your poor relations and brethren.\nAs for that wretched tree, what if that be cut down. Surely your poor\nneedy brethren would get nothing and you would lose the opportunity of\nhelping them while the tree would grow again\u201d. The hermit pondered over\nthese words and said to himself \u201cThis old man speaks quite reasonably,\nbut let me think over the pros and cons of the case. Am I a prophet? No,\nI am not; therefore I am not bound to cut it down. Am I commanded to do\nso? No. Then if I do not do it I shall not be guilty of the iniquity.\nShould I accept his proposal? No doubt from the religious point of view\nit is more useful. No doubt. I think I should accept it: yes, I must.\u201d\nThus the two pledged their words and the hermit returned. Next morning\nhe found the two dinars at his bed side and was highly pleased. Another\nmorning the glittering gold was there, but on the third morning the\nhermit searched for them in vain. His fury knew no bounds. He rushed for\nhis axe, and hurried with it towards the place of idolatry. Satan again\nmet him in the way as before. \u201cThou wretch, thou arch-devil\u201d, cried out\nthe hermit \u201cwilt thou prevent me from my sacred duty?\u201d \u201cYou cannot do it,\nyou dare not do it\u201d, retorted the Evil one. \u201cHast thou forgotten the\ntest of my powers\u201d, sharply replied the infuriated hermit and rushed at\nhim. But to his great discomfort and humiliation the hermit instantly\nfell flat on the ground like a dry leaf from a tree. The devil planted\nhis foot on his chest, holding him by the throat, dictating the following\nterms: \u201cEither swear not to touch that tree or be prepared to die\u201d. The\nhermit finding himself quite helpless said, \u201cI swear, but tell me why I\nam so discomfitured\u201d. \u201cListen\u201d, answered Satan. \u201cAt first thy wrath was\nfor God\u2019s sake, and zealous vindication of his commandments. Hence I was\ndefeated, but now thou art furious for thyself, and worldly gain\u201d. The\nstory illustrates the saying \u201cI will certainly cause them all to deviate\nfrom the way except thy servants from among those who are sincere\u201d. A\ndevotee cannot be immune from Satan\u2019s temptation except by sincerity and\ntherefore saint Maaruf of Karkh used to upbraid himself, saying: \u201cIf thou\nwishest salvation, be sincere\u201d.\n\nYacub, the Sufi, says: \u201cHe who conceals his virtues like vices, is\nsincere.\u201d In a dream a man saw a Sufi who was dead and inquired about the\nactions of his previous life. \u201cAll those actions\u201d said the Sufi, \u201cwhich\nwere for God\u2019s sake I was rewarded for, even the least of them. For\nexample, I had thrown aside a pomegranate\u2019s peel from the thoroughfare.\nI found my dead cat but lost my ass worth one hundred dinars, and a\nsilken thread on my cap was found on the side of iniquities. Once, I gave\nsomething in charity, and was pleased to see people looking at me,\u2014this\naction has neither reward nor punishment for me\u201d. \u201cHow is it that you\ngot your cat and lost your ass?\u201d said the man to the Sufi. \u201cBecause\u201d,\nresponded the latter, \u201cWhen I heard of the death of my ass I said: \u2018Damn\nit\u2019. I ought to have thought of God\u2019s will\u201d. Saint Sufyan Saori, when he\nheard of this dream, said, \u201cThe Sufi was fortunate as no punishment was\nmeted out to him for that charity which pleased him when people watched\nhim\u201d.\n\nThere is a report that a man, putting on a woman\u2019s dress used to frequent\npurdah parties in marriage and funeral processions. Once a lady\u2019s pearl\nwas lost in a party. Everybody was being closely searched, and the man\nwas very much afraid of the disclosure of his identity, as it would mean\nthe loss of his life. He sincerely repented in his heart, never to do the\nsame thing again, and asked God\u2019s forgiveness and help. Then he found\nthat it was now the turn of himself and his companion to be searched. His\nprayer was heard, the pearl being found in his companion\u2019s clothes and he\nwas saved.[57]\n\nA Sufi narrates the following story: \u201cI joined a naval squadron which was\ngoing on holy war (Jehad). One of us was selling his provision bag, and I\nbought it, thinking it would prove useful in the war, and that when the\nwar was over I might dispose of it with profit. That same night I dreamt\nthat two angels came down from heaven. One of them said to the other:\nMake a complete list of the crusaders. The other began to write down: So\nand so goes on a trip; so and so for trading, so and so for reputation;\nso and so for God\u2019s sake. Then he looked at me saying: Put this man down\nas trader. But I spoke: For God\u2019s sake do not misrepresent me. I am not\ngoing for business. I have no capital, I have simply started for the\nholy war. \u201cBut Sir\u201d, said the angel \u201cDid you not buy that provision bag\nyesterday, and were you not thinking of making some profit?\u201d I wept and\nentreated them not to put me down as a trader. The angel looked at the\nother, who said: \u201cWell, write thus: This man set out for the holy war,\nbut on the way bought a provision bag for profiting: now God will judge\nthe man\u201d.\n\nSaint Sari Saqati says: \u201cTwo rakats of prayer offered with sincerity in\nseclusion are better than copying seventy or seven hundred traditions\nwith the complete list of authorities. Some say that one moment\u2019s\nsincerity is salvation, but it is very rare. Knowledge is the seed,\npractice is the crop, and sincerity is the water nourishing it. Some say\nthat God\u2019s displeasure is revealed in a person who is given three things;\nand is denied the same number. He gets access into the society of the\nvirtuous, but derives no benefit therefrom. He performs good actions but\nlacks sincerity. He learns philosophy but fails to understand truth.\u201d\nSays Susi: \u201cGod looks to sincerity only, and not to the action of his\ncreatures\u201d. Says Junaid: \u201cThere are some servants of God who are wise,\nwho act as wise men, who are sincere when they act, then sincerity leads\nthem to virtue.\u201d Mohammed, son of Said Marwazi, says: \u201cThe whole course\nof our actions tends towards two principles, viz. (1) His treatment\nmeted out to thee; (2) thy action for him. Then willingly submit to what\nis meted out to thee and be sincere in all thy dealings. If thou art\nsuccessful in these two things thou shalt be happy in both the worlds\u201d.\n\nSays Sahl: \u201cSincerity means that all our actions or intentions\u2014all the\nstates of our minds whether we are doing anything or at rest, be solely\nfor God.\u201d But this is very difficult to acquire as it does not in the\nleast attract the ego itself. Rowim says: \u201cSincerity means disregard of\nrecompense for action in both the worlds\u201d. In this he wishes to point\nout that the gratifications of our sensuous desires whether in this\nworld or the next are all insignificant and low. He who worships God in\norder to attain joy in paradise is not sincere. Let him act for God\u2019s\n\u201cRiza\u201d. This stage is reached by Siddiks (Sincerely devoted to God), and\nis sincerity _par excellence_. He who does good actions for fear of hell\nor hope of heaven is sincere in as much as he gives up at present his\nsensual worldly enjoyment, but wishes for the future, the gratification\nof his appetite and passion in paradise. The longing of true devotees\nis their Beloved\u2019s Riza. It may be objected here that men\u2019s motive is\npleasure, that freedom from such pleasures is a purely divine attribute.\nBut this objection is based on misunderstanding. It is true that man\ndesires pleasure but pleasure has different meanings. The popular view\nis gratification of sensuous desires in Paradise but it has no idea of\nthe nature of higher pleasures of communion and beatitude or the vision\nof God, and hence fails to consider them as pleasures. But these are\nthe pleasures and he who enjoys them will not even look to the popular\npleasures of Paradise for his highest pleasure. His summum bonum is the\nlove of God.\n\nTufail says: \u201cTo do good for men\u2019s sake is hypocrisy; not to do is\ninfidelity; sincere is he who is free from both and works for God only\u201d.\nThese definitions suggest the ideal of sincerity aimed at by noble souls.\nLet us now look to the practical side of it for the sake of the average\nman.\n\nActions make an impression on the heart, and strengthen that quality of\nit which served as a stimulus for them. For example, hypocrisy deadens\nthe heart and godly motive leads to salvation. Both of them will gather\nstrength in proportion to the actions which proceed from their respective\nsources. But as they are intrinsically opposed to each other an action\nwhich gets an equal stimulus at one and the same time will be stationary\nin its effect on the heart. Now take a mixed action which draws the doer\nnearer to virtue, say, by one span, but removes him away by two spans,\nthe inward result of his progress will be that he would remain where he\nwas, although he would be rewarded or punished according to his motive.\nA man starts for \u201cHaj\u201d but takes with him some articles for trade, he\nwill get his reward of pilgrimage but if his motive was trade only, he\ncould not be considered a \u201cHaji\u201d. A crusader who fights for his religion\nwould have his recompense although he acquires booty, for so long as his\nsole motive is to uphold the cause of religion the latent desire of booty\nwould not come in the way of his recompense. Granted that he is inferior\nto those noble souls who are wholly absorbed in Him \u201cwho see through Him,\nwho hear through Him, who act through Him,\u201d (Hadis) He still belongs\nto the good and the virtuous. For if we apply the highest standard to\nall, religion will be considered a hopeless task, and will ultimately be\nreduced to pessimism.\n\nAt the same time we must sound a note of warning for those who are\nsatisfied with the low standard. They are very often deceived. They\nconsider their motive is purely for God\u2019s sake while in reality they\naim at some hidden sensuous pleasure. Let a doer, after he has\nexerted himself and pondered over his motive, be not over-confident\nof his sincerity. With the fear of its rejection let him hope for its\nacceptance\u2014this is the creed of the righteous who fears the Lord and\nhopes from him.\n\n\n\n\nTHE NATURE OF LOVE[58]\n\n\nExperiences are either agreeable and therefore desired or disagreeable\nand avoided. Inclination towards a desired object when deeply rooted and\nstrong constitutes love. Knowledge and perception of the beloved is the\nfirst requisite for love which is consequently divided according to the\ndivision of the five senses each of which is inclined towards its desired\nobject. Thus the eye apprehends beautiful forms, the ear harmonious\nsounds, etc. This kind of experience we share with the animals. There is,\nhowever, one more sense, peculiar to man, which delights the soul. The\nprophet has said: \u201cI desire three things from your world, sweet smell,\ntender sex, and prayer, which is the delight of my eye\u201d. Now prayer is\nneither smelt nor touched\u2014in fact its delight is beyond the scope of the\nfive senses and yet it has been described as the \u201cdelight of my eye\u201d,\nwhich means the inner eye\u2014the soul with her sixth sense. Concepts of this\nspecial sense are more beautiful and charming than sensuous objects\u2014nay,\nthey are more perfect and strongly attract the soul. Is it not, then,\npossible, that One who is not perceived by the five senses may yet be\nfound and felt attractive by that sense and loved by the soul?\n\nLet us now enumerate the circumstances which excite love. 1. Every living\nbeing first of all loves his own self, that is to say, the desire for\ncontinuity of his existence as opposed to annihilation is innate. This\ndesire is augmented by the desire of the perfection of his self by means\nof sound body, wealth, children, relations and friends. For all of these\nserve as a means to the end of the continuity of his self and therefore\nhe cherishes love for them. Even \u201cunselfish\u201d love of his dear son, if\nprobed, smacks of love for the continuity of his self, because his son\nwho is part of his self serves as a living representative of his self\u2019s\ncontinuity.\n\n2. The second cause is the love for one\u2019s benefactor towards whom the\nheart is naturally attracted. Even if he be a stranger, a benefactor will\nalways be loved. But it must be remembered that the benefactor is loved\nnot for himself, but for his beneficence, the extent of which will be a\ndominating factor in determining the degree of love.\n\n3. The third cause is love of beauty. It is generally supposed that\nbeauty consists in red and white complexions, well proportioned limbs,\nand so forth, but we can also say \u201cbeautiful writing\u201d, \u201cbeautiful\nhorse\u201d, etc. Hence beauty of an object consists in its possession of\nall possible befitting perfections. It will vary in proportion to the\nperfections attained. That writing in which all the rules of caligraphy\nare properly observed will be called beautiful and so on. At the same\ntime there can be no one standard for judging the beauty of different\nobjects. The standard for a horse cannot be the same for, say, writing\nor man. It must also be remembered that beauty is not connected with\nsensible objects only but is also related to concepts. A person is\nnot always loved for his external beauty, but often the beauty of his\nknowledge or virtues attracts the heart. It is not necessary that the\nobject of such kind of love be perceived by the senses. We love our\nsaints, imams, and prophets but we have never seen them. Our love\nfor them is so strong that we would willingly lay down our lives for\nupholding their good name. If we wish to create love for them in young\nminds we can produce it by giving graphic accounts of their virtues.\nStories of the heroes of any nation will excite love for them.\n\n    \u201cLove looks not with the eyes but with the mind; and therefore\n    is winged Cupid painted blind\u201d.\n\n4. The fourth cause is a sort of secret affinity between two souls,\nmeeting and attracting each other. It is what is called \u201clove at first\nsight\u201d. This is what the prophet meant when he said \u201cThe souls had\ntheir rendezvous: Those who liked each other, then love here; those\nwho remained strangers then do not join here\u201d. If a believer goes to a\nmeeting where there are a hundred manafiks (hypocrites) and one momin\n(faithful) he will take his seat by the side of the momin. It seems that\nlikes are attracted by their likes. Malik bin Dinar says: Just as birds\nof the same feather fly together two persons having a quality common to\nboth will join.[59]\n\nLet us now apply these causes and find out who may be the true object\nof love. First, man who is directly conscious of his own self in whom\nthe love for continuity of the self is innate, if he deeply thinks on\nthe nature of his existence will find that he does not exist of his own\nself, nor are the means of the continuity of his self in his power.\nThere is a being, self-existent, and living who created and sustains\nhim. The Quran says: \u201cThere surely came over man a period of time when\nhe was not a thing that could be spoken of. Surely we have created man\nfrom a small life germ uniting. We mean to try him, so we have made him\nhearing, seeing. Surely we have shown him the way, he may be thankful\nor unthankful.\u201d[60] This contemplation will bear the fruit or love for\nGod. For how could it be otherwise when man loves his own self which is\ndependent on Him, unless he be given up to the gratification of his\npassions and thereby forgetting his true self and his sustainer.\n\nSecondly, if he thinks over the aim and scope of beneficence, he will\nfind that no creature can show any purely disinterested favour to another\nbecause his motive will be either 1. praise or self-gratification\nfor his generosity, or 2. hope of reward in the next world or divine\npleasure.[61] Paradoxical though it sounds, deep insight into human\nnature leads us, inevitably to the conclusion that man cannot be called\n\u201cbenefactor\u201d, in as much as his action is prompted by the idea of gain\nand barter. A true benefactor is one who in bestowing his favours has\nnot the least idea of any sort of gain. Purely disinterested beneficence\nis the quality of the All-merciful Providence and hence He is the true\nobject of love.\n\nThirdly, the appreciation of inward beauty, that is to say the\ncontemplation of any attractive quality or qualities of the beloved\ncauses a stronger and more durable love than the passionate love of the\nflesh. However such a beloved will still be found lacking in beauty from\nthe standpoint of perfection because the three genders are creatures and\ntherefore cannot be called perfect. God alone is perfect beauty\u2014holy,\nindependent, omnipotent, all-majesty, all-beneficent, all-merciful. With\nall this knowledge of His attributes we still do not know Him as He is.\nThe prophet says: \u201cMy praise of Thee cannot be comprehensive, Thou art\nsuch as wouldst praise Thyself\u201d.[62] Are not these attributes sufficient\nto evoke love for him? But beatitude is denied to the inwardly blind.\nThey do not understand the attitude of the lovers of God towards Him.\nJesus once passed by some ascetics who were reduced in body. \u201cWhy are\nyou thus\u201d? he said to them. And they replied \u201cFear of hell and hope of\nheaven have reduced us to this condition\u201d. \u201cWhat a pity\u201d, rejoined Jesus,\n\u201cyour fear and hope is limited to creatures\u201d. Then he went onward and saw\nsome more devotees, and put the same question. \u201cWe are devoted to God and\nrevere him for his love\u201d, they replied with downcast eyes. \u201cYe are the\nsaints\u201d exclaimed Jesus, \u201cyou will have my company\u201d.[63]\n\nFourthly, the affinity between two souls meeting and loving each other is\na mystery, but more mysterious is the affinity between God and his loving\ndevotee. It cannot and must not be described before the uninitiated.\nSuffice it to say that the souls possessing the higher qualities of\nbeneficence, sympathy, mercy, etc. have that affinity hinted at in the\nfollowing saying of the prophet: \u201cImitate divine attributes\u201d. For man has\nbeen created in the image of God, nay he is, in a way, akin to Him, says\nthe Quran. \u201cAnd when the Lord said to the angels: Surely I am going to\ncreate a mortal from dust, so when I have made him complete, and breathed\ninto him of My Ruh (soul), fall down making obeisance to him\u201d.[64] It is\nthis affinity which is pointed out in the following tradition: God said\nto Moses \u201cI was sick and thou didst not visit Me\u201d. Moses replied \u201cO God,\nthou art Lord of heaven and earth: how couldst thou be sick?\u201d God said \u201cA\ncertain servant of mine was sick: hadst thou visited him, thou wouldst\nhave visited me\u201d. Therefore our prophet Mahommed has said: \u201cSays God:\nMy servant seeks to be near me that I may make him my friend, and when\nI have made him my friend, I become his ear, his eye, his tongue.\u201d[65]\nIt must, however, be remembered that mystical affinity vaguely conceived\nleads to extremes. Some have fallen into abject anthropomorphism; others\nhave gone so far as to believe in the airy nothings of pantheism. These\nare all vagaries of the imagination, whether they take the form of \u201cIbn\nAllah\u201d, (Son of God) or \u201cAnal Haq\u201d (I am God).[66] They are to a great\nextent responsible for the evils of superstition and scepticism.\n\nThese four causes when properly understood, demonstrate that the true\nobject of our love is God and therefore it has been enjoined: \u201cThou shalt\nlove the lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with\nall thy mind\u201d.[67]\n\n\nMan\u2019s highest happiness\n\nThe constitution of man possesses a number of powers and propensities,\neach of which has its own distinctive kind of enjoyment suited to it\nby nature. The appetite of hunger seeks food which preserves our body\nand the attainment of which is the delight of it, and so with every\npassion and propensity when their particular objects are attained.\nSimilarly the moral faculty\u2014call it inward sight, light of faith or\nreason\u2014any name will do provided the object signified by it is rightly\nunderstood\u2014delights in the attainment of its desideratum. I shall call it\nhere the faculty of reason (not that wrangling reason of the Scholastics\nand the dialecticians)\u2014that distinctive quality which makes him lord\nof creation. This faculty delights in the possession of all possible\nknowledge. Even an expert in chess boastfully delights in the knowledge\nof the game however insignificant it may be. And the higher the subject\nmatter of our knowledge the greater our delight in it. For instance\nwe would take more pleasure in knowing the secrets of a king than the\nsecrets of a vizier. Now delights are either (a) external, derived from\nthe five senses, or (b) internal, such as love of superiority and power,\nlove of the knowledge, etc. enjoyed by the mind. And the more the mind is\nnoble the more there will be a desire for the second kind of delights.\nThe simple will delight in dainty dishes, but a great mind leaving them\naside will endanger his life and his honour and reputation from the\njaws of death. Even sensuous delights present an amusing example of\npreference. An expert in chess while absorbed in playing will not come to\nhis meals though hungry and repeatedly summoned, because the pleasure\nof check-mating his adversary is greater to him than the object of his\nappetite. Thus we see that inward delights and they are chiefly love of\nknowledge and superiority are preferred by noble minds. If then a man\nbelieves in a perfect being, will not the pleasure of His contemplation\nbe preferred by him and will it not absorb his whole self? Surely the\ndelights of the righteous are indescribable, for they are even in this\nlife, in a paradise which no eye has seen and no ear has heard.\n\nAbu Sulaiman Darani,[68] the renowned Sufi, says: \u201cThere are servants of\nGod whom neither fear of hell nor the hope of heaven can deviate from the\ndivine love, how can the world with its temptations come in their way?\u201d.\nAbu Mahfuz Karkhi was once asked by his disciples: \u201cTell us what led you\nto devotion\u201d but he kept quiet. \u201cIs it the apprehension of death.\u201d said\none of them. \u201cIt matters little\u201d replied the saint \u201cIs it due to hell\nor to paradise\u201d, inquired another. \u201cWhat of them\u201d said the saint \u201cboth\nbelong to a supreme Being, if you love him you will not be troubled by\nthem\u201d. Saint Rabia[69] was once asked about her faith: \u201cGod forbid\u201d,\nanswered Rabia: \u201cIf I serve him like a bad labourer thinking of his wages\nonly\u201d. And then she sang: \u201cLove draws me nigh, I know not why\u201d. Thus we\nsee that the hearts of those who ate and drank and breathed like us felt\ndelights of divine love which was their highest happiness.\n\nIf we think over man\u2019s gradual development we find that every stage of\nhis life is followed by a new sort of delight. Children love playing and\nhave no idea of the pleasures of courtship and marriage experienced by\nyoung men, who in their turn would not care to exchange their enjoyments\nfor wealth and greatness which are the delights of the middle aged men\nwho consider all previous delights as insignificant and low. These last\nmentioned delights are also looked upon as unsubstantial and transitory\nby pure and noble souls fully developed.\n\nThe Quran says: \u201cKnow that this world\u2019s life is only sport and play and\nboasting among yourselves, and vying in the multiplication of wealth\nand children\u201d. \u201cSay, shall I tell you what is better than these? For\nthe righteous are gardens with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow,\nto abide in them and pure mates and Allah\u2019s pleasure and Allah sees the\nservants\u201d. \u201cThose who say: Our Lord, surely we believe, so forgive us our\nfaults, and keep us from the chastisement of fire; the patient and the\ntruthful and the obedient and those who spend (benevolently) and those\nwho ask forgiveness in morning times\u201d.[70]\n\nLet us now point out some drawbacks which hinder the path of the divine\nlove.\n\nMan from his infancy is accustomed to enjoy sensual delights which\nare firmly implanted in him. Blind imitation of the creed with vague\nconception of the deity and his attributes fails to eradicate sensual\ndelights and evoke the raptures of divine love. It is the dynamic force\nof direct contemplation of his attributes manifested in the universe that\ncan prove an incentive for his love. To use a figure: a nation loves\nits national poet, but the feeling of one who studies the poet will be\nof exceeding strong love. The world is a masterpiece; he who studies it\nloves its invisible Author in a manner which cannot be described but is\nfelt by the favoured few. Another drawback which sounds like a paradox,\nshould be deeply studied. It is as follows: when we find a person writing\nor doing any other work, the fact that he is living will be most apparent\nto us: that is to say, his life, knowledge, power and will will be more\napparent to us than his other internal qualities, e.g. colour, size,\netc. which being perceived by the eye may be doubted. Similarly stones,\nplants, animals, the earth, the sky, the stars, the elements, in fact\neverything in the universe reveals to us the knowledge, power and the\nwill of its originator. Nay, the first and the foremost proof is our\nconsciousness, because the knowledge that I exist is immediate,[71]\nand more apparent than our perceptions. Thus we see that man\u2019s actions\nare but one proof of his life, knowledge, power and will, but with\nreference to God the whole phenomenal existence with its law of causation\nand order and adaptability bears testimony of him and his attributes.\nTherefore, He is so dazzlingly apparent that the understanding of the\npeople fails to see Him just as the bat pereeaes at night fails to see\nin daylight, because its imperfect sight cannot bear the light of the\nsun, so our understanding is blurred by the effulgent light of his\nmanifestations. The fact is that objects are known by their opposites but\nthe conception of one who exists everywhere and who has no opposite would\nbe most difficult. Besides, objects which differ in their respective\nsignificances can also be distinguished but if they have common\nsignificances the same difficulty will be felt. For instance if the sun\nwould have shone always without setting, we could have formed no idea of\nlight, knowing simply that objects have certain colours. But the setting\nof the sun revealed to us the nature of light by comparing it with\ndarkness. If then light, which is more perceptible and apparent would\nhave never been understood had there been no darkness notwithstanding its\nundeniable visibility, there is no wonder if God who is most apparent\nand all pervading true light (Nur)[72] remains hidden, because if he\nwould have disappeared (which means the annihilation of the universe),\nthere would have been an idea of him by comparison as in the case of the\nlight and darkness. Thus we see that the very mode of his existence and\nmanifestation is a drawback for human understanding. But he whose inward\nsight is keen and has strong intuition in his balanced state of mind\nneither sees nor knows any other active power save God omnipotent. Such a\nperson neither sees the sky as the sky nor the earth as the earth\u2014in fact\nsees nothing in the universe except in the light of its being work of an\nall pervading True One. To use a figure: if a man looks at a poem or a\nwriting, not as a collection of black lines scribbled on white sheets of\npaper but as a work of a poet or an author, he ought not to be considered\nas looking to anything other than the author. The universe is a unique\nmasterpiece, a perfect song, he who reads it looks at the divine author\nand loves him. The true Mowahhid is one who sees nothing but God. He\nis not even aware of his self except as servant of God. Such a person\nwill be called absorbed in Him; he is effaced, the self is annihilated.\nThese are facts known to him who sees intuitively, but weak minds do not\nknow them. Even Ulamas fail to express them adequately or consider the\npublicity of them as unsafe and unnecessary for the masses.\n\n\n\n\nTHE UNITY OF GOD[73]\n\n\nThere are four stages in the belief in the unity of God. The first is\nto utter the words: \u201cThere is no God but God\u201d without experiencing any\nimpression in the heart. This is the creed of the hypocrites. The a\nsecond is to utter the above words and to believe that their meaning\nis also true. This is the dogma of ordinary Muslims. The third is\nto perceive by the inward light of the heart the truth of the above\nKalima. Through the multiplicity of causes the mind arrives at the\nconception of the unity of the final cause. This is the stage of the\ninitiates. The fourth is to gaze at the vision of an all-comprehensive,\nall-absorbing One, losing sight even of the duality of one\u2019s own self.\nThis is the highest stage of the true devotee. It is described by the\nSufis as Fanafittauhid (i.e. the effacement of one\u2019s individuality in\ncontemplating the unity of God).[74] To use a simile these four stages\nmay be compared with a walnut which is composed of an external hard rind,\nan internal skin, the kernel, and oil. The hard rind, which is bitter in\ntaste, has no value except that it serves as a covering for some time.\nWhen the kernel is extracted the shell is thrown away. Similarly the\nhypocrite who, uttering the Kalima, is associated with the Muslims and\nsafely enjoys their privileges, but at death is cut off from the faithful\nand falls headlong into perdition. The internal skin is more useful than\nthe external in as much as it preserves the kernel and may be used, but\nis in no way equal to the kernel itself. Similarly the dogmatic belief\nof the ordinary Muslim is better than the lip service of the hypocrite,\nbut lacks that broad clear insight which is described as \u201cHe whose heart\nAllah has opened to Islam walks in his light\u201d.\n\nThe kernel is undoubtedly the desired object, but it contains some\nsubstance which is removed when oil is being pressed out. Similarly the\nconception of an efficient final cause is the aim and object of the\ndevotees, but is inferior to the vision of the all-pervading Holy One,\nbecause the conception of causality involves duality.\n\nBut the objection may be urged: How can we ignore the diversities and\nmultiplicities of the universe? Man has hands and feet, bones and blood,\nheart and soul,\u2014all distinct\u2014yet he is one individual. When we are\nthinking of a dear old friend and suddenly he stands before us, we do not\nthink of any multiplicity of his bodily organs, but are delighted to see\nhim. The simile, though not quite appropriate is suggestive, especially\nfor beginners. When they reach that stage they will themselves see its\ntruth. Words fail to express the beatitude of that highest stage. It can\nbe enjoyed, but not described.[75]\n\nLet us consider the nature of the third stage. Man finds that God alone\nis the prime cause of everything. The world, its objects, life, death,\nhappiness, misery, all have their source in his omnipotence. None is\nassociated with Him in this. When man comes to recognise this, he has no\nfear of anything, but puts his trust in God alone. But Satan tempts him\nby misrepresenting the agencies of the inorganic and organic worlds as\npotent factors independent in the shaping of his destiny.\n\nThink first of the inorganic world. Man thinks that crops depend on\nrain descending from clouds, and that clouds gather together owing to\nnormal climatic conditions. Similarly his sailing on the sea depends\non favourable winds. Without doubt, these are immediate causes, but\nthey are not independent. Man who in the hour of need calls for God\u2019s\nmysterious help, forgets Him and turns to external causes as soon as he\nfinds himself safe and sound. \u201cSo, when they ride in ships, they call\nupon Allah, being sincerely obedient to Him, but when he brings them safe\nto land, they associate others with Him. Thus they become ungrateful\nfor what we have given them, so they might enjoy: but they shall soon\nknow\u201d.[76] If a culprit, whose death sentence is revoked by the king,\nlooks to the pen as his deliverer, will it not be sheer ignorance and\ningratitude? Surely, the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, in fact,\nthe whole universe is like a pen in the hand of an omnipotent dictator.\nWhen this kind of belief takes hold of the mind, Satan is disappointed\nin covertly tempting man, and uses subtle means, insinuating thus:\n\u201cDo you not see that the king has full power either to kill or favour\nyou, and though the pen, in the above simile, is not your deliverer,\nthe writer certainly is\u201d? As this sort of reflection led to the vexed\nquestion of free will, we have dealt with it already at some length.\n\nAt the outset, let us point out that just as an ant, owing to its limited\nsight will see the point of the pen blackening a blank sheet of paper\nand not the fingers and hand of the writer, so the person whose mental\nsight is not keen will attribute the actions to the immediate doer\nonly. But there are minds, which, with the searchlight of intuition,\nexpose the lurking danger of wrongly attributing power to any except the\nall-powerful omniscient being. To them every atom in the universe speaks\nout the truth of this revelation. They find tongues in trees, books in\nthe running brooks, sermons in stones. The worldling will say: Though we\nhave ears, we do not hear them. But asses also having ears do not hear.\nVerily there are such ears which hear words that have no sound, that are\nneither Arabic nor any other language, known to man. These words are\ndrops in the boundless unfathomable ocean of divine knowledge: \u201cIf the\nsea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would surely be consumed\nbefore the words of my Lord are exhausted.\u201d[77]\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOVE OF GOD AND ITS SIGNS[78]\n\n\nLove of God is the highest stage of our soul\u2019s progress and her summum\nbonum. Repentance, patience, piety, and other virtues are all preliminary\nsteps. Although rare these qualities are found in true devotees and the\ncommonality, though devoid of them, at any rate believe in them. Love\nof God is not only very rare: the possibility of it is doubted, even by\nsome Ulamas who call it simply service. For, in their opinion love exists\namongst species of the same kind, but God being ultra-mundane and not\nof our kind, His love is an impossibility and hence the much talked of\necstatic states of the \u201ctrue lovers of God\u201d are mere delusions. As this\nis far from truth and impedes the progress of the soul, by spreading\nfalse notions, we shall briefly discuss the subject. First we shall quote\npassages from the Quran and the Hadith testifying to the existence of\nthe love of God.\n\n\u201cO you who believe, whosoever from among you turns back from his\nreligion, then Allah will bring a people: He shall love them, and\nthey shall love him, lowly before the believers, mightily against the\nunbelievers, they shall strive hard in Allah\u2019s way and shall not fear the\ncensure of any censurer: this is Allah\u2019s grace, He gives it to whom He\npleases and Allah is ample-giving, knowing.\u201d[79]\n\n\u201cAnd there are some among men who take for themselves objects of worship\nbesides Allah, whom they love. Allah and those who believe are stronger\nin love of Allah.\u201d[80] These passages not only refer to the existence of\nthe love of God but point to the difference in degree. The Prophet has\ntaught us that the love of God is one of the conditions of faith. \u201cNone\namong you shall be a believer until he loves Allah and his apostle more\nthan anything else.\u201d[81]\n\nTrue, as the Quran says \u201cIf your fathers and your sons and your brethren\nand your mates and your kinsfolk and property which you have acquired and\ntrade, the dullness of which you fear, and dwellings which you like, are\ndearer to you than Allah and His apostle and striving in His way, then\nwait till Allah brings about His command, and Allah does not guide the\ntransgressing people.\u201d[82]\n\nA man came to the Prophet and said: \u201cI love thee, O Apostle of God\u201d.\n\u201cBe ready for poverty.\u201d replied the Prophet. \u201cAnd I love Allah\u201d, said\nthe man. \u201cPrepare to face tribulations\u201d[83] replied the Prophet. The\nfollowing tradition is narrated by the Khalif Omar: The Prophet one day\nsaw Masah, son of Umair coming to him with a lambskin round his loins.\n\u201cLook\u201d said the Prophet to his companions, \u201chow God has illumined his\nheart. I have seen him living in ease and well provided by his parents\nbut now the love of Allah and His apostle has wrought a change in\nhim.\u201d[84]\n\nThe Prophet used to pray thus: \u201cMy God, give me thy love and the love of\nhim who loves thee and the love of that action which will bring me nearer\nto thee and make thy love sweeter than cold water to the thirsty\u201d.[85]\n\n\u201cVerily Allah loves those who repent and those who purify\nthemselves.\u201d[86] Say \u201cIf you love Allah, then follow me. Allah will love\nyou and forgive you your faults, and Allah is forgiving, merciful\u201d.[87]\nWe have said before that love means yearning towards a desired object\nand that beneficence and beauty, whether perceived or conceived, equally\nattract our hearts. But in using the word love for God, no such meaning\nis possible as it implies imperfection. God\u2019s love towards men is the\nlove of His own work. Someone read the following verse of the Quran: \u201cHe\nloves them and they love him\u201d in front of Shaikh Abu Said of Mohanna,\nwho interpreted it saying: \u201cHe loves Himself because he alone exists.\nSurely an author who likes himself; his love is limited to his self.\u201d\nGod\u2019s love means the lifting the veil from the heart of His servant, so\nthat he might gaze at Him. It also means drawing him close to Himself.\nLet us give an illustration. A king permits some of his slaves to\napproach his presence, not because he requires them but because the\nslaves possess or are acquiring certain qualities which are worthy of\nbeing displayed before the royal presence. This privilege, this lifting\nof the veil, brings us nearer to the conception of God\u2019s love. But it\nmust be remembered that approaching the divine presence should entirely\nexclude the idea of space, for then it would imply change in Him, which\nis absurd. Divine proximity means the attainment of godly virtues by\nabstaining from the promptings of the flesh and hence it implies approach\nfrom the point of view of quality and not of space. For example, two\npersons meet together either when both of them proceed towards each other\nor one is stationary and the other starts and approaches him. Again a\npupil strives to come up to the level of his teacher\u2019s knowledge who is\nresting in his elevated position. His uphill journey towards knowledge\nkeeps him restless, and he climbs higher and higher till he catches a\nglimpse of the halo which surrounds his master\u2019s countenance. The nature\nof divine proximity resembles this inward journey of the pupil; that\nis, the more a man acquires insight into the nature of things, and by\nsubjugating his passions leads the life of righteousness, the nearer\nwill he be coming to his lord. But it must be remembered that a pupil\nmay equal his teacher, even be greater than he, but as regards divine\nproximity, no such equality is possible. God\u2019s love means that which\npurifies the heart of his servant in a manner that he may be worthy of\nbeing admitted before his holy presence.\n\nIt may be asked: \u201cHow can we know that God loves a certain person?\u201d My\nanswer is that there are signs which bear testimony to it. The Prophet\nsays: When God loves his servant, He sends tribulations, and when He\nloves him most he severs his connection from everything. Some one said\nto Jesus: \u201cWhy do you not buy a mule for yourself\u201d? Jesus answered: \u201cMy\nGod will not tolerate that I should concern myself with a mule\u201d. Another\nsaying of Mohammed is reported thus: When God loves any of His servants\nHe sends tribulations, if he patiently bears them, he is favoured, and if\nhe cheerfully faces them, he is singled out as chosen of God. Surely it\nis this joyous attitude of his mind whether evil befalls him or good,\nthat is the chief sign of love. Such minds are providentially taken care\nof in their thoughts and deeds and in all their dealings with men. The\nveil is lifted and they live in wrapped communion.\n\nAs for the signs of a man\u2019s love for God, let it be borne in mind\nthat every body claims His love, but few really love Him. Beware of\nself-deception; verify your statement by introspection. Love is like a\ntree rooted in the ground sending its shoots above the starry heaven; its\nfruits are found in the heart, the tongue and the limbs of the lover\u2014in\nfact his whole self is a witness to love just as smoke is a sure sign of\nfire burning.\n\nLet us, then, trace the signs which are found in the true lover.\n\nDeath is a pleasure to him, for it removes the barrier of body and lets\nthe fluttering soul free to soar and sing in the blissful abode of his\nbeloved. Sufyan Thauri and Hafi used to say: \u201cHe who doubts dislikes\ndeath, because a friend will never dislike meeting a friend\u201d.[88]\n\nA certain Sufi asked a hermit whether he wished for death, but he gave\nno answer. Then the Sufi said to him: \u201cHad you been a true hermit you\nwould have liked death. The Quran says: If the future abode with Allah\nis especially for you to the exclusion of the people, then invoke death\nif you are truthful. They will never wish it on account of what their\nhands have sent on before, and Allah knows the unjust\u201d.[89] The hermit\nreplied: \u201cBut the Prophet says: \u2018Do not wish for death\u2019\u201d. \u201cThen you are\nsuffering\u201d, said the Sufi, \u201cbecause acquiescence in divine decree is\nbetter than trying to escape it\u201d.\n\nIt may be asked here: Can he who does not like death be God\u2019s lover? Let\nus consider first the nature of his dislike. It is due to his attachment\nto the worldly objects, wife, children, and so forth, but it is possible\nthat with this attachment, which no doubt comes in the way of his love\nof God there may be some inclination towards His love, because there\nare degrees of His love. Or it may be that his dislike is due to his\nfeeling of unpreparedness in the path of love. He would like to love\nmore so that he might be able to purify himself just as a lover hearing\nof his beloved\u2019s arrival would like to be given some time for making\npreparations for a fitting reception. For these reasons if a devotee\ndislikes death, he can still be His lover, though of inferior type.\n\nHe should prefer, both inwardly and outwardly, God\u2019s pleasure to his\ndesires. For he who follows the dictates of his desires is no true\nlover, for the true lover\u2019s will is his beloved\u2019s. But human nature is\nso constituted that such selfless beings are very rare. Patients would\nlike to be cured but they often eat things which are injurious to their\nhealth. Similarly, a person would like to love God but very often\nfollows his own impulses. Naaman was a sinner, who being repeatedly\nexcused by the Prophet was at last flogged. While he was being flogged a\ncertain person cursed him for his iniquity. \u201cDo not curse him\u201d, said he\n\u201che has a regard for God and his apostle\u201d.\n\nExperience tells us that he who loves loves the things connected with his\nbeloved. Therefore another sure sign of God\u2019s love is the love of his\ncreatures who are created by and are dependent on him; for he who loves\nan author or poet, will he not love his work or poem? But this stage is\nreached when the lover\u2019s heart is immersed in love and the more he is\nabsorbed in Him, the more will he love His creatures, so much so that\neven the objects which hurt him will not be disliked by him\u2014in fact the\nproblem of evil is transcended in his love for him.\n\nIt may be objected here that it follows that he loves the evil-doers and\nsinners. But a deep insight into the nature of such love shows that he\nloves them as creatures of God, but at the same time hates their actions\nwhich are contrary to the command of his beloved. If this point is lost\nsight of, people are apt to be misguided in their love or hatred of His\ncreatures. If they show their love towards any sinner, let it be in pure\ncompassion, and not any sense of taking the sin lightly. Similarly their\nhatred should proceed from the consciousness of His stern law and justice\nand not from ruthless bigotry.\n\nIn one of the Hadisi-Qudsi[90] God has said: \u201cMy saints are those who cry\nlike a child for my love, who remember me like a fearless lion at the\nsight of iniquities\u201d.\n\nA reverent attitude of mind is another sign of his love. Some hold that\nfear is opposed to love, but the truth is that just as the conception\nof beauty generates love, the knowledge of his sublime majesty produces\nthe feeling of awe in us. Lovers meet with fears which are unknown to\nothers.[91] There is the fear of being disregarded. There is fear of the\nveil being drawn down. There is the fear of their being turned away. When\nthe Sura Hud was revealed, in which the awful doom of the wicked nations\nis narrated,: \u201cAway with Samood, away with Midian,\u201d the Prophet heaved a\nsigh and said: \u201cThis Sura has turned me into an old man.\u201d He who loves\nHis nearness will feel acutely the fear of being way from Him. There is\nanother fear of remaining at a particular stage and not rising higher,\nfor the ascending degrees of His nearness are infinite. A true lover is\nalways trying to draw nearer and nearer to Him. \u201cA thin veil covers my\nheart,\u201d says the Prophet, \u201cthen I ask for His forgiveness seventy times\nin day and night.\u201d[92] This means that the Prophet was always ascending\nthe scales of his nearness, asking for His forgiveness at every stage\nwhich was found lower than the next one.\n\nThere is another fear of over confidence which slackens the efforts and\nmars progress. Hope with fear should be the guide of love. Some Sufis\nsay that he who worships God without fear is liable to err and fall;\nhe who worships him with fear turns gloomy and is cast off, but he who\nlovingly worships him with hope and fear is admitted by him and favoured.\nTherefore lovers should fear him and those who fear him should love him.\nEven excess of his love contains an inkling of fear: it is like salt in\nfood. For human nature cannot bear the white heat of His love, if it is\nnot chastened and tempered by the fear of the Lord.\n\nKeeping love secret and giving no publicity to it is another sign of His\nlove. For love is the beloved\u2019s secret: it should not be revealed nor\nopenly professed. However, if he is over-powered by the force of his\nlove, and unwittingly and without the least dissimulation his secret\nis out, he is not to be blamed. Some Sufis say: He who is very often\npointing towards Him is far from Him, because he feigns and makes a show\nof his love of Him. Zunnun[93] of Egypt once went to pay a visit to one\nof his brother Sufis, who was in distress, and who used to talk of his\nlove openly. \u201cHe who feels the severity of pain inflicted by Him,\u201d said\nZunnun, \u201cis no lover.\u201d \u201cHe who finds no pleasure in such pain,\u201d returned\nthe Sufi, \u201cis no lover.\u201d \u201cTrue,\u201d replied Zunnun, \u201cbut I say to you that\nhe who trumpets his love of Him is no lover.\u201d The Sufi felt the force of\nZunnun\u2019s words and fell down prostrate before God and repented and did\nnot talk again of his love.\n\nIt may be objected: Divine love is the highest stage, it would be better\nto manifest it, where is the harm? No doubt love is good and if of itself\nit is evident, there is no harm, but those who give themselves trouble to\nmake it known are blameable. Let our hearts speak, let our deeds proclaim\nit, but not our tongue. Nay, he should always aim at making it evident\nbefore his beloved. The gospel says: \u201cTake heed that ye do not give your\nalms before men to be seen: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father\nwhich is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms do not sound\na trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the\nstreets, that they may have the glory of men. Verily I say unto you they\nhave their reward. But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know\nwhat thy right hand doeth. That thine alms may be in secret, and thy\nFather which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Moreover\nwhen ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of sad countenance: for they\ndisfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I\nsay unto you they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint\nthine head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but\nunto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret\nshall reward thee openly.\u201d[94]\n\nThe essence of religion is love; some signs of which have been enumerated\nabove. The love of God may be of two kinds. Some love him for his\nbounties, others for his perfect beauty irrespective of bounties. The\nformer love increases according to the bounties received, but the latter\nlove is the direct result of the contemplation of his perfect attributes\nand is constant even in tribulations. \u201cThese are His favoured few,\u201d says\nJunaid of Baghdad.[95] But there are many who pose as his lovers and\nwith much talk of his love lack the signs of true love. They are deluded\nby the devil, slaves of their passions, seeking a hollow reputation,\nshameless hypocrites who try to deceive the omniscient Lord their\ncreator. They are all enemies of God, whether they are revered as divines\nor Sufis. Sahl of Taster who used to address everyone as \u201cFriend\u201d, was\nonce asked by a person the reason of his doing so, as all men could not\nbe his friends. Sahl whispered in his ear saying: \u201cHe will either be a\nbeliever or a hypocrite; if he is a believer, he is God\u2019s friend; if a\nhypocrite, the devil\u2019s friend.\u201d\n\nAbu Turab Nakshabi has composed some verses describing the signs of love.\nTheir translation is as follows:\n\nDo not profess your love. Hearken to me: These are the signs of his\nlove. The bitterness of tribulations is sweet to him, he is happy for\nhe believes that everything proceeds from him; for praise or censure\nhe cares not, the will of his beloved is his will. While his heart is\nburning with love his countenance is radiant with joy. He guards the\nsecret of love with all his might, and no thought save of his beloved\nenters into his mind. Yahya bin Maaz Razi[96] adds some lines: \u201cAnother\nsign is that he is up and ready like a diver at the bank of a river; He\nsighs and sheds tears in the gloom of night, and day and night he appears\nas if fighting for the sacred cause of his love. He entrusts his whole\nself to his love and gladly acquiescing abides in his love.\u201d[97]\n\n\n\n\n\u201cRIZA\u201d OR JOYOUS SUBMISSION TO HIS WILL[98]\n\n\nRiza is the quintessence of love and is one of the highest stages of the\nfavoured few. But some doubt its existence, saying, How can man be joyous\nfor what is against his own will. He may submit to God\u2019s will, but it\ndoes not follow that he also shares the feeling of joy. We shall discuss\nthe nature of Riza and prove its existence.\n\nLet us first turn to the Quran and the Hadis. \u201cAllah has promised to\nthe believing man and the believing women gardens, beneath which rivers\nflow, to abide in them, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetual\nabode and best of all is Allah\u2019s goodly pleasure\u2014that is the grand\nachievement\u201d.[99] In this passage God\u2019s pleasure (Rizwan) is described\nas best of all blessings. In another passage this blessing is also\nbestowed on those who joyfully submit to his will, \u201cAllah is well pleased\nwith them and they are well pleased with him; that is for him who fears\nhis Lord.\u201d[100] \u201cWho fear the beneficent God in secret and come with a\npenitent heart, enter it in peace that is the day of abiding. They have\ntherein what they wish _and with us is more yet_.\u201d Some commentators\nwhile commenting on the words in italics say that three gifts will be\ngiven in paradise: (i) a rare gift of which \u201cno soul knows (in this\nworld) what is hidden for them of that which will refresh the eyes\u201d.[101]\n(ii) The salutation as mentioned in the Quran: \u201cPeace (Salam) a word\nfrom the merciful Lord\u201d.[102] (iii) His goodly grace and pleasure as\nmentioned in \u201cwa Rizwanumminallahi akbar\u201d (and best of all is Allah\u2019s\ngoodly pleasure).\n\nThe Prophet once asked some of his companions to point out the signs of\nthe faith which they professed. \u201cO apostle of God,\u201d said the companions,\n\u201cwe are patient in tribulations, grateful in felicity and pleased with\nwhat is ordained\u201d. \u201cYe are Muslims\u201d said the Prophet. Again the Prophet\nsaid: \u201cYe who are poor be pleased with what God has put you in and then\nyou shall have your reward\u201d.\n\nLet us discuss the nature of Riza. Those who deny the existence of Riza,\nsaying that man can be patient in sufferings but joyous submission to\nHis will is not possible, really deny the existence of love and its\nall-absorbing nature. A lover always loves his beloved\u2019s actions. Now\nthis love of actions is of two kinds: (1) Redemption from the experience\nof pain caused in mental or physical suffering.\n\nExperience shows that many warriors while enraged do not feel the pain\nof their wounds, and know it only when they see blood gushing from them.\nEven when a man is engaged in some action which absorbs his attention,\nthe pain of a thorn pricking him will not be felt. If then in such\ncases\u2014and there are many such\u2014pain is not felt, will it not be possible\nthat a devotee who is absorbed in him does not feel pain, which in his\nbelief is inflicted by his beloved?\n\nOr (2) although pain is felt, he would desire it just as a patient who\nfeels the pain caused by the surgeon\u2019s lancet is glad to be operated\nupon and is pleased with the surgeon\u2019s action. Similarly he who firmly\nbelieves that tribulations are like God-sent curatives will be pleased\nwith them and be thankful to God. Anyone who ponders over the nature of\nthe above mentioned kinds and then in the light of them reads the lives\nand the sayings of the lovers of God, will, I believe, be convinced of\nthe existence of Riza.\n\nSaint Basher, son of Harith, narrates the story: In the Sharkia Lane of\nBaghdad, I saw a man who received a thousand stripes, but did not cry\nin his agony. He was then sent to prison and I followed him. \u201cWhy have\nyou been punished so mercilessly?\u201d I asked. \u201cBecause they have found out\nthe secret of my love\u201d. \u201cBut why were you so strangely quiet while you\nwere punished so severely\u201d, I asked in astonishment. \u201cBecause\u201d, answered\nthe poor fellow with a sigh, \u201cShe was looking at me from her balcony\u201d.\n\u201cOh that you might see the true Beloved\u201d, I murmured. Hearing this, his\ncolour at once changed, and with a loud cry he fell dead.\n\nThe same saint tells another story: \u201cWhile I was a student of Sufiism I\nwent to Jazirai Abbadan,[103] where I saw a blind epileptic leper, lying\non the ground while worms were eating his flesh. I sat by his side and\nplaced his head on my lap and spoke gently to him. When he came to his\nsenses, he spoke: \u2018Who is this stranger who comes between me and my\nLord. Even if each and every limb is severed from my body, I will love\nHim.\u2019 That scene of Riza, says the saint, I shall never forget; it is a\nlife-long lesson for me.\u201d\n\nIt is said that Christ once saw a blind forlorn leper who was praying:\n\u201cBlessed art thou, O Lord, who hast saved me from such maladies which\nhave overtaken many of us\u201d. \u201cArt thou not in misery\u201d asked Christ, \u201cTell\nme which is that malady which has not overtaken thee\u201d. \u201cThank God\u201d, cried\nthe leper, \u201cI am not like him who does not know God\u201d. \u201cYou are right\u201d,\nsaid Christ, \u201cGive me your hand\u201d. And the breath of Christ instantly\nhealed the leper, and he became one of his followers.\n\nThe Prophet\u2019s companion Said bin Wakas,[104] lost his eyesight in old\nage, and resigning his post returned to Mecca. People flocked to him for\nblessing as he was known to be one whose prayers were always heard. Says\nAbdullah bin Said: \u201cI was then a mere boy; I too went to pay my respects\nto the venerable Said. He spake kindly to me and blessed me. Then I said:\n\u2018Uncle, how is it that you who are praying for everybody would not pray\nfor the restoration of your eyesight?\u2019 \u2018My son\u2019, answered Said with a\nsmile, \u2018to be pleased with His sweet will is better than eyesight\u2019\u201d.\n\nSome people went to see Shibli[105] at Maristan, where he was imprisoned.\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d asked the saint. \u201cFriends\u201d, they all replied with one\nvoice. Hearing this Shibli fetched some stones and began to throw them at\nthem, and they all fled calling him a madman. \u201cWhat\u2019s this\u201d, exclaimed\nShibli, \u201cYou call yourselves my friends but if you are sincere, bear\npatiently what ye receive from me,\u201d and then he sang: \u201cHis love has\nturned my brain. Have you ever seen a lover who is not intoxicated with\nlove!\u201d\n\nThese narratives point out that Riza or joyous submission to God\u2019s will\nis possible and is one of the highest stages to which the souls of true\ndevotees could aspire. People believe in eccentricities of Cupid\u2019s\nvotaries but give no ear to the ecstasies of the true lovers of God.\nPerhaps they have no eyes to look at the manifestation of His beauty; no\nears to listen to the music of His love, no heart to gaze at and enjoy\nHis sweet presence. Perhaps they are proud of their learning and think\ntoo much of their good deeds but they have no idea of humble and broken\nhearts.\n\nA certain nobleman of Bustam, comely in appearance and lordly in bearing,\nused to attend the sermons of saint Bayazid of Bustam.[106] One day he\nsaid to the saint: \u201cFor thirty years I have been keeping fasts waking\nfor the whole night and offering my prayers, but still I do not find in\nme the animating force of what you teach, although I believe in it and\ncherish love for you.\u201d \u201cThirty years\u201d: ejaculated the saint: \u201cWhy for\nthree hundred years if you do as you have done till now you will not have\na bit of it.\u201d \u201cHow is that?\u201d asked the astonished nobleman. \u201cBecause\u201d\nanswered the saint \u201cthe veil of your egotism has fallen heavily on your\nmind\u2019s eye\u201d. The chief then asked the saint to tell him of some remedy,\nbut he declined saying that the chief would not like to take it. \u201cBut do\ntell me\u201d, entreated the nobleman, \u201cAnd I will try my best to follow your\nkind advice\u201d. \u201cListen then\u201d, calmly answered the saint, \u201cThis very moment\ngo to the barber, get your head and beard shaven, take off this apparel,\nand gird your loins with a piece of blanket; gather children round you\nand tell them that whosoever gives you a slap with the hand will get a\nwalnut; pass through the throngs in all the bazars, followed by those\nchildren and then show yourself to your intimate friends\u201d.\n\n\u201cSubhan Allah\u201d exclaimed the chief, \u201cDo you say that to me\u201d. \u201cHold thy\ntongue\u201d, retorted the saint, \u201cthy Subhan Allah is blasphemy.\u201d \u201cHow is\nthat\u201d, asked the chief. \u201cBecause,\u201d replied the saint, \u201cyou uttered Subhan\nAllah not for any reverence for the Holy Being but out of respect for\nyour own vain self\u201d. \u201cWell\u201d, said the chief, \u201ctell me some other remedy,\nplease\u201d. \u201cTry this remedy first\u201d, continued the saint. \u201cI cannot do so,\u201d\nrejoined the chief. \u201cThere you are\u201d, spoke the saint finally, \u201cDid I not\ntell you that you would not like the remedy.\u201d\n\nOur egoistic tendencies impede the progress of our souls towards higher\nvirtues, and hence some of us go the length of denying the possibility of\ntheir existence. Let the lives of the true lovers of God be our guide.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] D. B. Macdonald: _Muslim Theology_ London 1903. p. 215. This book\ngives the best account of Al Ghazzali\u2019s work yet available in English.\n\n[2] ibid. p. 240.\n\n[3] Quoted in E. G. Browne: _Literary History of Persia_ 1903. Vol. I. p.\n294.\n\n[4] ibid. p. 293.\n\n[5] I. Goldzieher: _Vorlesungen uber den Islam_ Leipzig 1910. p. 185. See\ntranslation in the Indian Philosophical Review by the present writer:\nVol. 1. pp. 260-6.\n\n[6] Op. cit. pp. 238-40.\n\n[7] From Al Munqidh min ad\u2019-Dalal.\n\n[8] _Gazali._ Paris 1902. pp. 44-45.\n\n[9] See the English translation of the Guide by Friedl\u00e4nder; _The Guide\nto the Perplexed_, London, especially pp. 225 ff. Al Ghazzali\u2019s works\nwere so widely studied that it is hardly possible to suppose that\nMaimonides was not influenced by them. The influence may have been\ndirect, as Maimonides was not only a student in Spain but also physician\nin the court of Saladin in Alexandria. Indirectly the influence may have\ncome through the Jewish poet Yehuda Halevi.\n\n[10] op. cit. p. 179.\n\n[11] This list is taken from _A Chronological List of Muslim Works on\nReligion and Philosophy_ which has been for a short time in preparation\nat the Seminar for the Comparative Study of Religions, Baroda, by\nProfessor J. ur Rehman of Hyderabad, and Professor F. S. Gilani of Surat,\nFellows of the Seminar. The list has been compared with that of Shibli in\nhis Urdu life of Ghazali (Cawnpore 1902) whose classification is followed\nwith slight modification.\n\n[12] _Ihya_ III. 1.\n\n[13] This word is used both for _Rasul_ and _Nabi_, but the Muslim notion\nof _Rasul_ differs from that of _Nabi_. Malachi was a prophet (_Nabi_),\nbut Moses was more than a prophet (_Rasul_). Thus in _St. Matthew_ XI. 9\nwe have: \u201cBut wherefore went ye out? to see a prophet? Yea, I say unto\nyou, and much more than a prophet\u201d.\n\n[14] Abuhuraira\u2019s report given in Bokhari and Muslim.\n\n[15] Reported by Abuhuraira in Ahmad\u2019s _Masnav_. Egypt 1300 A. H.\n\n[16] _Quran_ XXXIII. 72.\n\n[17] _Quran_ XVII. 85.\n\n[18] _Ihya_ IV. 5.\n\n[19] It is interesting to note here the following passage from a modern\nEuropean author: \u201cIf we form a conception of a Perfect or Infinite Mind\nit is in this sense that we must speak of such a mind as free. To speak\nof choice between alternatives is to suggest that another than the\nbest might be chosen and this would be inconsistent with the idea of\nperfection.\n\nA finite mind, limited in knowledge and power and distracted by desires\nother than the will to goodness, may yet have a partial measure of\nself-determination which is complete only in the infinite. It is\nincompletely determined by forces external to itself. And if it stand\u2014as\nit does stand\u2014between the realm of nature and the realm of goodness,\nconscious of the good and yet beset by many temptations to fall to a\nlower level, then the relative independence or partial spontaneity of\nsuch a mind may be exhibited in the power to direct its own path toward\nthe goal of goodness or to allow it to lapse into evil. Its freedom\nwill be neither complete independence of external determination nor\ncomplete agreement with the ideal of goodness; but it will exclude total\nsubordination to the forces beyond itself, and it will give opportunity\nfor choosing and serving the good. In spite of its restrictions human\nactivity will be recognized as possessing a core of spontaneity\u201d. W. R.\nSorley: _Moral Values and the Idea of God_. Cambridge 1918 pp. 446-7.\n\n[20] Ghazzali here anticipated Hume. \u201cSeven hundred years before Hume,\nGhazzali cut the bond of causality with the edge of his dialectic\u201d.\n_Journal of the American Oriental Society_ vol. XX. 103.\n\n[21] _Quran_ XLIV. 38, 39.\n\n[22] _Quran_ XXXII. 11.\n\n[23] _Quran_ XXXIX. 42.\n\n[24] _Quran_ LVI. 63.\n\n[25] _Quran_ LXXX. 25-7.\n\n[26] _Quran_ IX. 14.\n\n[27] _Quran_ VIII. 17. This passage refers to the battle of Badr, the\nfirst battle of the Prophet. The Muslims slew the enemy but it is\naffirmed that really they did not slay, but it was Allah who slew them;\nthe meaning apparently being that Allah\u2019s hand was working in the battle,\nwhich is also clear from the fact that three hundred Muslims mostly raw\nand equipped with neither horses nor sufficient arms, prevailed against\na thousand of the most renowned warriors who had come to crush the\ngrowing power of Islam. \u201cAnd Thou didst not smite when thou didst smite\u201d.\nGhazzali points out that negation and affirmation for one and the same\naction throw new light on the nature of causation. Negation affirms God\nas the efficient and real cause; affirmation establishes man\u2019s free-will\nfaithfully executing divine order.\n\n    Whose branches are ever shaken by the wind,\n    And whose fruit is showered on the sleeper\u2019s heads.\n    Fatalism means sleeping amidst highwaymen.\n    Can a cock who crows too soon expect peace?\n    If ye cavil at and accept not God\u2019s hints,\n    Though ye count yourselves men, see, ye are women.\n    The quantum of reason ye possessed is lost,\n    And the head whose reason has fled is a till.\n    Inasmuch as the unthankful are despicable,\n    They are at last cast into the fiery pit.\n    If ye really have trust in God, exert yourselves,\n    And strive in constant reliance on the Almighty.\n\n                (Translation by E. Whinfield. _Masnavi._\n                  2nd ed. 1898. Bk. I, pp. 19-20.)\n\n[28] _Quran_ XCV. 4-6. Whether man is by nature good or bad is a question\nwhich has vexed great thinkers from ancient times. Various answers have\nbeen suggested, which are summed up in three distinct theories:\n\n1. Evil is innate. Education simply muzzles the brute in man.\nCivilisation is mere veneering process. This cynical view of human nature\nis the religion of despair.\n\n2. Man is neither good nor bad. Mind is a _tabula rasa_. Good or bad\nactions leave their impression. Thorns and roses are alike gathered by it.\n\n3. Good and evil are mixed up in man. He has an angelic as well as a\nsatanic nature. The development of this double nature depends on the\nforce of external circumstances and surrounding influences. Good and evil\nare like two seeds: whichever is sown and taken care of will grow into a\ntree.\n\nThe Quranic expression: \u201cwe created man in the best make\u201d emphasises\nthe purity of his nature. He is born with good and for good, but has to\npreserve and to develop his goodness to his full capacity in the struggle\nof life. He has but one seed which is good if it grows and bears fruit it\nis called goodness; if it be crushed or nipped in the bud it is called\nevil. Evil, therefore has no separate entity in him, it is simply a\nnegative which will lose his soul and reduce him to the lower depths.\n\n[29] It is interesting to note a parallel passage from the _Masnavi_ of\nJal al uddin Rumi, who was born in 1207 A.D. ninety-seven years after the\ndeath of Al Ghazzali:\n\n    When a master places a spade in the hand of a slave,\n    The slave knows his meaning without being told\n    Like this spade, our hands are our Master\u2019s hints to us;\n    Yea, if ye consider, they are his directions to us\n    When ye have taken to heart His hints,\n    Ye will shape your life in reliance on their direction;\n    Wherefore these hints disclose His intent,\n    Take the burden from you, and appoint your work,\n    He that hears it make it hearable by you.\n    He too is able to make it within your ability.\n    Accept his command and you will be able to execute it\n    Seek union with Him, and you will find yourselves united.\n    Exertion is giving thanks for God\u2019s blessings;\n    Think ye that your fatalism gives such thanks;\n    Giving thanks for blessings increases blessings\n    But fatalism snatches those blessings from your hands\n    Your fatalism is to sleep on the road; sleep not\n    Till ye behold the gates of the King\u2019s palace.\n    Ah! sleep not, unreflecting fatalists,\n    Till ye have reached that fruit-laden Tree of Life.\n\n                                E. Whinfield, trs, _Masnavi_.\n\n[30] _St. Matthew_ XIV. 55-31. \u201cAnd in the fourth watch of the night\nhe came unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him\nwalking on the sea, they were troubled saying, It is an apparition and\nthey cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying:\nBe of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and\nsaid: Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the water. And\nPeter went down from the boat and walked upon the waters to come to\nJesus. But when he saw the wind he was afraid, and beginning to sink he\ncried, saying,: Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his\nhand, and took hold of him and said unto him: O thou of little faith,\nwherefore didst thou doubt?\u201d\n\n[31] Comp. _Quran_ XLII. 11: Nothing is like a likeness of Him. He is the\nhearing, the seeing.\n\n[32] Comp. _Genesis_ I. 27.\n\n[33] _Exodus_ III. 14.\n\n[34] _Quran_ XX. 12. It is generally supposed that Moses was ordered to\ntake off his \u201cleather shoes\u201d out of respect for the sacred place. But\nRazi in his Commentary calls it an idiom and says that the Arabs used the\nword Na\u2019al (shoe) for wife and family. The command to put off the shoes\nis therefore a metaphorical expression for making the heart vacant from\ncare of family. See _Tafsir-i-Razi_ vol. VI. 19. Stamboul edition.\n\n[35] _Quran_ XXXIX. 97. The full text runs: And they have not honoured\nAllah with the honour due to him: and the whole earth shall be in his\ngrip on the day of resurrection and the heavens rolled up in his right\nhand; glory be to him and may he be exalted above what they associate\nwith him.\n\n[36] Ghazzali has dealt with the question fully in his work entitled\n\u2018Iljamal awam\u2019. He says that every object has four stages of existence.\nTo use a figure: \u201cFire\u201d is (1) written on paper: (2) pronounced as Fire\n(3) burns; and (4) is perceived by the mind to be inflammable. The first\ntwo are purely conventional but have an educational value. Similarly the\nanthropomorphism of the passages of the Scriptures should be studied in\nthe light of the above stages.\n\n[37] _Quran_ XXIX. 69.\n\n[38] See Section vi of this book.\n\n[39] _Ihya_ III. 9.\n\n[40] _Quran_ IV. 172.\n\n[41] _Quran_ XXV. 7, 8; 21.\n\n[42] _Quran_ XLIII. 31. \u201cAnd they say: why was not this Quran revealed to\na man of importance in the two towns.\u201d (Mecca and Taif).\n\n[43] _Quran_ XVIII. 28.\n\n[44] Ibn Abbas.\n\n[45] Trimizi: Abu Huraira\u2019s report.\n\n[46] Comp. _Matt_ VI. 24 \u201cNo man can serve two masters for either he will\nhate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and\ndespise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon\u201d.\n\n[47] _Matt_ V. 3.\n\n[48] _Quran_ XVIII. 32-46.\n\n[49] _Ihya_ 115; IV. 7.\n\n[50] _Quran_ III. 102.\n\n[51] Tibrani and Abu Daud.\n\n[52] Muslim.\n\n[53] Bokhari and Muslim.\n\n[54] _Quran_ XVIII. 5.\n\n[55] Nasai and Bokhari.\n\n[56] Adu Mansur.\n\n[57] Rumi has beautifully described this story of Nasuh in _Masnavi_ Bk.\nV.\n\n[58] _Ihya_ IV. 6.\n\n[59] Bukhari and Muslim.\n\n[60] _Quran_ LXXVI. 1-3.\n\n[61] Ghazzali\u2019s remark should not be confounded with either egoistic or\nuniversalistic hedonism. See his remark on the affinity of souls (pages\n95 ff).\n\n[62] Muslim.\n\n[63] From uncanonical sayings of Christ.\n\n[64] _Quran_ XXXVIII. 71, 72.\n\n[65] See Bukhari _Haddis Qudsi_.\n\n[66] Al Ghazzali condemns all such expressions which are called by\nCardinal Newman \u201ceccentricities of the saints.\u201d He is aware of their\nliability to abuse and points out their error in a manner which six\nhundred years later took the form of Bishop Butler\u2019s dictum that reason\ncannot abdicate its right of judging obvious improprieties in religious\ndoctrines and persons. \u201cIbn Allah\u201d, (Son of God) refers to the orthodox\nChristian view of Jesus. \u201cAnal Haq\u201d (I am the truth, i.e. God) refers\nto the expression of Husain bin Mansur al Hallaj, who in 309 A.D. was\ncrucified in Bagdad for his blasphemy. The poet Hafiz says of him:\n\u201cJurmash an bud ki asrar huwaida bikard.\u201d (His crime was that he revealed\nthe secrets.)\n\n[67] _St Matthew_ XXII 35-57. \u201cAnd one of them, a lawyer, asked him a\nquestion, tempting him,: Master, which is the great commandment in the\nlaw? And he said unto him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy\nheart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.\u201d In the above passage\nthe law referred to is _Deuteronomy_ VI. 5, where instead of mind, the\nword might is used.\n\n[68] Daran, a village near Damascus, where he died in 215 A.H.\n\n[69] A famous Muslim woman saint of Basrah, considered to be an authority\non Sufiism. She died in 801 A. D.\n\n[70] _Quran_ LVII. 20 and III. 14-16.\n\n[71] Compare Descartes\u2019: _Cogito ergo sum_.\n\n[72] Compare _Quran_ XXIV. 35. \u201cAllah is the light of the heavens and the\nearth: a likeness of his light is a pillar on which is a lamp, the lamp\nis in a glass (and) the glass is as it were a brightly shining star lit\nfrom a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof\nalmost gives light though fire touches it not (heads daffor.) Allah\nguides to his light whom he pleases, and Allah sets forth parables for\nmen and Allah is cogniscant of all things.\u201d Al Ghazzali has written a\nseparate treatise called _Mishkat ul Anwar_ dealing exhaustively with the\nabove passage. An excellent summary of his views is given by Razi in his\nCommentary, vol. VI. 393-408. (Stamboul edition). In the above parable\nIslam is represented as a likeness of the divine light, a light placed\nhigh on a pillar so as to illumine the whole world, a light guarded by\nbeing placed in a glass so that no puff of wind can put it out, a light\nso resplendent that the glass itself in which it is placed is as a\nbrilliant star. Just as a fig tree stands for a symbol of Judaism (see\n_St. Matthew_ XXI. 19) the olive stands for Islam, which must give light\nto both the East and the West, and does not specifically belong to either\none of them.\n\nThe doctrine of _Fana_ is misunderstood by many Western scholars.\nTennyson puts it:\n\n    \u201cThat each, who seems a separate whole,\n    Should move his rounds and fusing all\n    The skirts of self again, should fall\n    Remerging in the general soul,\n    Is faith as vague as all unsweet.\u201d\n\n                      (_In Memoriam_ XLVII.)\n\nGhazzali\u2019s vivid description is neither vague nor unsweet. To him _Fana_\nis \u201ca prayer of rapture\u201d. \u201cIn that state man is effaced from self, so\nthat he is conscious neither of his body nor of outward things, nor of\ninward feelings. He is rapt from all these, journeying first to his Lord\nand then in his Lord, and if the thought that he is effaced from self\noccurs to him, that is a defect. The highest state is to be effaced from\neffacement\u201d. E. Whinfield: _Masnavi_, Introduction p. xxxvii.\n\n[73] _Ihya_ IV. 5.\n\n[74] Usually _Fana_ is translated as \u201cannihilation,\u201d but Al Ghazzali here\nmeans what is implied in the statement: \u201cTo live, move, and have our\nbeing in Him\u201d.\n\n[75]\n\n    \u201cAnd thou shalt one day, if found worthy, so defined\n    See thy God face to face, as thou dost now.\u201d\n\n                 Byron _Childe Harold\u2019s Pilgrimage_. CLV.\n\n[76] _Quran_ XXIX. 65-66.\n\n[77] _Quran_ XVIII. 109. Compare Jalal-ud-Din Rumi:\u2014\n\n    Air, earth, water, and fire are God\u2019s servants.\n    To us they seem lifeless, but to God living.\n    In God\u2019s presence fire ever waits to do its service,\n    Like a submissive lover with no will of its own.\n    When you strike steel on flint fire leaps forth;\n    But \u2019tis by God\u2019s command it thus steps forth.\n    Strike not together the flint and steel of wrong,\n    For the pair will generate more, like man and woman.\n    The flint and steel are themselves causes, yet\n    Look higher for the First Cause, O righteous man!\n    For that Cause precedes this second cause.\n    How can a cause exist of itself without precedent cause?\n    That Cause makes this cause operative,\n    And again helpless and inoperative.\n    That Cause, which is a guiding light to the prophets,\n    That, I say, is higher than these second causes,\n    Man\u2019s minds recognise these second causes,\n    But only prophets perceive the action of the First Cause.\n\n                E. Whinfield: _Masnavi_, 2nd ed. 1898. p. 16.\n\n[78] _Ihya_ IV. 6.\n\n[79] _Quran_ V. 54.\n\n[80] _Quran_ II. 165.\n\n[81] Bukhari and Muslim.\n\n[82] _Quran_ IX. 24.\n\n[83] Tirmizi.\n\n[84] Abu Naim.\n\n[85] Tirmizi.\n\n[86] _Quran_ II. 222. Repentance is the first step towards God. Comp.\n_St. Matthew_ III. 2.\n\n[87] _Quran_ III. 30. Keeping God\u2019s commandments revealed through his\nholy prophets constitutes love of Him. Comp. _St. John._ XV. 10 \u201cIf\nye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love; even as I keep my\nFather\u2019s commandments and abide in his love\u201d.\n\n[88] A Sufi of great renown: died at Baghdad in 840 A.D.\n\n[89] _Quran_ II. 94-95.\n\n[90] Hadisi Qudsi is that kind of tradition in which God is himself\nreported to speak.\n\n[91] Comp:\n\n    Let knowledge grow from more to more,\n    But more of reverence in us dwell;\n    That mind and soul, according well,\n    May make one music as before,\n    But vaster. We are fools and slight;\n    We mock thee when we do not fear;\n    But help Thy foolish ones to bear,\n    Help Thy vain worlds to bear, thy light.\n\n                                   Tennyson.\n\n[92] See Bukhari.\n\n[93] Called the \u201cfather of Sufiism\u201d. He founded a sect of Sufis in Egypt.\nHe died in 860 A.D.\n\n[94] St. Matthew VI. 1-4; 16-18.\n\n[95] A celebrated Sufi called Syed Uttaifa (chief of the sect). He died\nat Baghdad in 911 A.D.\n\n[96] A theologian and Sufi of Ray in Persia. He died in 871 A.D.\n\n[97] Comp:\n\n    Good shepherd, tell this youth what \u2019tis to love.\n    It is to be all made of sighs and tears;\n    It is to be all made of faith and service;\n    It is to be all made of fantasy,\n    All made of passion and all made of wishes;\n    All adoration, duty, and observance,\n    All humbleness, all patience and impatience,\n    All purity, all trial, all observance.\n\n                Shakespeare: As you like it. _Act_ V.\n\n[98] _Ihya_ IV. 6.\n\n[99] _Quran_ IX. 72.\n\n[100] _Quran_ XCVIII. 8.\n\n[101] _Quran_ XXXII. 17.\n\n[102] _Quran_ XXXVI. 58.\n\n[103] In Tigris.\n\n[104] He conquered Persia in the time of the Khalifa Omar.\n\n[105] The Arabs address elders in this way.\n\n[106] One of the most renowned of the early Sufis. His grandfather was a\nMagian who accepted Islam. He was born in 777 A. D. and died at a great\nage in 878 A. D.\n\n\n\n\n_Some Preliminary Announcements_\n\n_of_\n\nTHE GAEKWAD STUDIES\n\nIN\n\nRELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY\n\n_Edited by_\n\nALBAN G. WIDGERY M.A.,\n\n_Professor of Philosophy and the Comparative Study of Religions, Baroda._\n\n\nThis Series is established with the sanction and financial support of the\nGovernment of His Highness the Maharajah Gaekwad of Baroda. The aim is\nto provide an opportunity for the publication of works on religious and\nphilosophical subjects. Some of the volumes will be more popular and some\nmore technical in nature. Only books written in the tolerant spirit of\ngenuine scholarship will be included.\n\n                              _The Manager_,\n                           THE COLLEGE, BARODA.\n\n\nTHE GAEKWAD STUDIES IN RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY\n\n_First issues:_\n\nPersonality and Atonement. By the Editor.\n\nHuman Needs and The Justification of Religious Beliefs. By the Editor.\n\nThe Heart of the Bhagavatgita. By Lingesha Mahabhagavat.\n\nZoroastrian Ethics. By M. A. Buch.\n\nKant and Sankaracharya. Prof. C. G. Bhate, Poona.\n\nSelections from Al-Ghassali. By Professor Syed Nawab Ali.\n\nThe Doctrine of Karma. A Volume of Essays by various writers.\n\nImmortality and Other Essays. By the Editor.\n\nThe Comparative Study of Religions. By the Editor.\n\nA Buddhist Bibliography. By various scholars.\n\nA Chronology and Bibliography of Muslim Literature on Religion and\nPhilosophy. By Professor M. Jamil ur Rehman and F. S. Gilani, M. A.\n\nSome Modern Religious Movements. By various writers.\n\nJesus. By the Editor.\n\nGoods and Bads: Outlines of a Philosophy of Life. By the Editor.\n\n\nHUMAN NEEDS AND THE JUSTIFICATION OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS\n\n_The Burney Prize Essay Cambridge 1909_\n\nand\n\nPERSONALITY AND ATONEMENT\n\n_Essays in the Philosophy of Religion._\n\nby\n\nALBAN C. WIDGERY\n\nCloth: Six Rupees\n\n\nTHE HEART OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA\n\nBY\n\nHis Holiness Sri Vidya Sankara Bharati Swami, Jagadguru Sankaracharya of\nKarvir Pitha.\n\nIn this book one of the most enlightened leaders of Modern Hindu\nreligious life discusses the important and ever interesting question:\n\u201cWhat is the value of the Gita as a guide to practical life?\u201d It should\nbe read by all educated Hindus and by all non-Hindus who wish to know the\nreligious attitude of a prominent Hindu scholar and devotee.\n\n                               The Manager,\n                           THE COLLEGE, BARODA.\n\n\nIMMORTALITY AND OTHER ESSAYS\n\nBY ALBAN G. WIDGERY\n\nPaper covers: Two rupees\n\nCloth: Three rupees.\n\n                               The Manager,\n                           THE COLLEGE, BARODA.\n\n\nTHE CONFUTATION OF ATHEISM\n\nTranslated by\n\nVALI MOHAMMED CHHAGANBHAI MOMIN.\n\nThis short treatise which comes down from the sixth Imam, Hazrat Imam\nJafar-us-Sadak, should prove of great interest to all Muslims. It will\nattract others also by the beauty of its style and the remarkable\nlikeness it bears to the arguments of Bishop Butler in his _Analogy of\nReligion_.\n\n_Fourteen annas, post free._\n\n                               The Manager,\n                           THE COLLEGE, BARODA.\n\n\nZOROASTRIAN ETHICS\n\nBY\n\nMAGANLAL A. BUCH M. A.,\n\n_Fellow of the Seminar for the Comparative Study of Religions, Baroda._\n\nCONTENTS\n\n    Introduction.\n    Bibliography.\n\n    Part I\n    I. The Available Zoroastrian Literature.\n    II. The Historical and Social Conditions.\n    III. Psychological Conceptions.\n\n    Part II\n    IV. The General Moral Attitude.\n    V. The Value of Life: Industry and Indolence.\n    VI. Truthfulness and Deceit: Purity and Impurity.\n    VII. The Ethics of Sex Relations.\n    VIII. Benevolence: other Vices and Virtues.\n    IX. The Ethical in Legal References in Zoroastrian Literature.\n    X. Theological and Metaphysical Conceptions.\n    Index.\n\n_Paper covers: Two Rupees._\n\n_Cloth covers: Three Rupees._\n\n                               The Manager,\n                           THE COLLEGE, BARODA.\n\n\n_In the Press_\n\nTHE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGIONS\n\nA Systematic Survey\n\nBy\n\nALBAN G. WIDGERY M A.,\n\n_Professor of Philosophy and the Comparative Study of Religions, Baroda._\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n    INTRODUCTION: Scientific Theology and the Comparative Study of Religions.\n    I. The Sources and Nature of Religious Truth.\n    II. Supernatural Beings, Good and Bad.\n    III. The Soul: its Nature, Origin, and Destiny.\n    IV. Sin and Suffering: Salvation and Redemption.\n    V. Religious Practices.\n    VI. The Emotional Attitudes and Religious Ideals.\n    Appendices; Maps; Illustrations; Bibliography; and Index.\n\nThis volume is meant to be a systematic introduction to the subject.\nMuch of the technical detail being in the form of notes the book is thus\nadapted to the general reader as well as to the needs of students.\n\nCloth, superior paper Rs. 12.; 15s. 0d.\n\nCloth, ordinary paper Rs. 10.; 12s. 6d.\n\n                               The Manager,\n                           THE COLLEGE, BARODA.\n\n\n_In preparation_\n\nAn important volume of Essays on\n\nTHE DOCTRINE OF KARMA\n\nBy\n\nRepresentatives of the different great religions.\n\nThe purpose of the volume is to present for comparison the views of\ncertain writers of distinction from the different religions upon the\ntheory that the suffering and happiness of the individual is due solely\nto his own action, past or present.\n\n_Some Contributors_\n\n    Shams-ul-Ulama J. J. Modi, C. I. E., Ph. D.\n    The Very Rev. Hastings Rashdall, D. Lit; D.C.L.\n    S. Khuda Buksch, M. A., B. C. L., (Oxon.)\n    Champat Rai Jain, Author of _The Key of Knowledge_\n    Israel Abrahams, D. Lit.\n    Alban G. Widgery M. A. (Cantab.)\n\n                               The Manager,\n                           THE COLLEGE, BARODA.\n\n\n_In preparation by Various Scholars_\n\nA BUDDHIST BIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nCONTENTS\n\n_Preface._\n\n_Introduction._\n\nBOOK I.\n\nI. Buddhist Literature in Pali with translations, Commentaries, and\nReferences to specific works in European Languages.\n\nII. Buddhist Literature in Sanskrit with translations, Commentaries, and\nReferences to specific works in European Languages.\n\nIII. References to Buddhism in non-Buddhist Sanskrit Literature.\n\nIV. Buddhism in General with special References to Buddhist Doctrine and\nPractice in European Languages.\n\nBOOK II.\n\nI. Buddhism in India (works in European Languages only).\n\nII. Buddhism in Ceylon.\n\nIII. Buddhism in Burma.\n\nIV. Buddhism in Malay and Java.\n\nV. Buddhism in Siam and Cambodia.\n\nVI. Buddhism in Himalayan Tracts.\n\nVII. Buddhism in Tibet.\n\nVIII. Buddhism in Central Asia and Mongolia.\n\nIX. Buddhism in China. X. Buddhism in Korea.\n\nXI. Buddhism in Japan.\n\nAppendices, Maps, Indices.\n\n                               The Manager,\n                           THE COLLEGE, BARODA.","title":"Some religious and moral teachings of Al-Ghazzali : $b Being brief extracts from his Ihya-u-Ulum-id-din","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":28468}