Está en la página 1de 271

Preface

Fill, fill the cup with sparkling wine, Deep let me drink the juice divine,

(Hafiz)

To soothe my torturd heart; For love, who seemd at first so mild, So gently lookd, so gaily smild, Here deep has plungd his dart.

Writing on religion is difficult, on Islam more so. First, religion is a divine experience. Gaining it is a tedious job. The more it is gained, the more it gives a feeling that nothing substantial has been gained. Once God opens the heart, it gets drowned into the sea of meaning. It is attended by bewilderment, or liptightedness. Second, religious experience, to whatever extent gained, cannot be shared easily with others or at least with everyone. Knowledge and maturity go side by side with each other. Just as those who do not have strong teeth and developed stomach cannot chew and eat bones, similarly those who do not have the capacity to seek inner meanings must not read the books of flower petals and butterflies to see therein the image of God. It has always been the law of life that secrets are not shared with all and sundry as they are shared with equals or friends. Once such attempts are made, unnecessary troubles are invited. We can take the example of Mohammad (peace be upon him and his progeny). When he shared his Night Journey with some people, some of them began to advise him not to reveal

this to people in general. He did but at the same time some people began to whisper or mock at him or carry tales between their friends and so on. No doubt MohammadSAW could not remain silent by the pressure of his mission and message but he had to face even persecution for his honest exposition. It does not mean, however, that the most important aspects of religion should remain unknown or obscure. They must, on the other hand, be carried on or communicated to others who need them, who have a passion for them. But the communication as suggested by Rumi should be intelligently safe, should be told in the words of others. The Quran, also, speaks very clearly but in the language of metaphor which is safe. MosesAS, for instance, seeks fire but the Burning Bush tells him that his God is speaking to him. Similarly, Yosofs shirt is rent apart but its meaning is revealed to the reader only through an allusion. The Quran mentions silken cushions in paradise provided for those who enter there. What silk is, what cushions are, is known to those who take the hint. (Must be appreciated that silk is more pleasant, warmer than the cushion). Moreover, as we said it is maturity both in the biological and the intellectual sense that take in meanings and secrets. Also, unearned food causes indigestion and carries infection to others. Third, religion is a very vast field the depths of which make it more comprehensive and absorbing. Its insights are gained slowly and steadily. Passion, constant seeking, hard work, investment in terms of time and money, preparedness for successes and failures, endurance for pleasure and pain, and above all else, close guidance of one who is an expert in religious knowledge are some of the important requirements for one who

treads upon the path. Hardly it happens that Manna comes to you from heavens but even that is not impossible. The heart ravished lover may send a tearful sob to the skies of truth wherefrom everything he must have may descend. But normally, efforts upon efforts are needed to gain a merciful glance of God. He may give food and fruit and a good home for good health but if you want to play hide and seek with twinkling stars, you may have to spend sleepless nights. But ah, how sweet are the wailful moonlit nights spent sleeplessly for the beloved who may not come even when the dawn smiles at you. This given, we have taken upon ourselves the hard task of writing on Islam. We would require enough of time to plan, to think, to write, to seek opinions, to print, to proofread, to correct and so on. But we have no time. What we do today is done. Who knows what happens tomorrow, more so at a time when things are not favourable for any serious work including reading and writing. Our world is going certainly from bad to worse. Powerful people are falling upon resources of wealth like mad wolves. They are spoiling everything worthwhile, including religion, to make sure that their bad designs are not detected and observed. Lofty educational institutions and information technology have been brought within the game of power and power hunt. Religion has also not been left alone to play its part creatively and independently. Unfortunately, Islamic history, too, shows that kings have always tried to buy clerics and clergymen to remould religion to their political needs. Tragedies upon tragedies in this respect stand recorded. Today the clutches of power are more dangerous, more

frightening. Hence doing an honest job is like walking on sharp thorns in a sun scorched desert bare footed. With all that we have done our bit as much conscientiously as God has given us the strength of. The author has throughout his life of about 71 years tried to see the world with his own eyes. No doubt he has tried to observe nature and natural phenomena in their various moods and colours. Born luckily in Kashmir, he has right from childhood enjoyed the company of flowers and birds, plants and trees, sun and shower, brooks and springs, rain and snow; youth and age. He is grateful to God in numerous ways for having been blessed with a keen eye to observe everything around including the poor innocent women working in fields under the hot sun. He has tried to measure the glances of small children with his palpitating heart, more so when they look at their mothers toiling hard. He has seen abject poverty around and also how women are fighting it with their endurance but dismay. He has seen all kinds of people living at various levels with various socio-economic positions, men and women, young and old; has tried to talk to them to form an estimate of personality types. He has visited institutions of various types, tried to participate in institutional activities to feel the impact of participation. He has seen students and teachers with different approaches to learning-teaching processes, seen also people involved in informal ways of learning or influencing. He has, according to his capacity, tried to read and understand reading materials on different subjects. Above all, he has participated in religious practices including of mystics and has marked strange

things happen to him also intensely. But never has he allowed himself to be swayed by opinions normally based upon cheap populism. He has tried to accept churned ideas though tentatively so that they can further be churned and baked as much as possible. Often he has seen sour faces around him expressing displeasure and at times he has faced persecution as well as slander. But he has kept his pace normal seeking truth and thanking God for steadfastness. Religion of Islam, basically spiritual, is a very sensitive religion. It hardly leaves anything unattended. Its scope, therefore, is very broad. In no case does it reject the material base of life but if refuses to compromise with anything that interferes with its main purpose spirituality! It enjoys life as best as possible because life is only an expression of God. Hence it becomes a mirror for a true Muslim. Taken as a whole life becomes a ground on which the spirit of man nourishes itself for further growth and flowering. Mans onward march has never been measured exactly but it has been admitted widely that life does not regress. It only takes forward steps, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. Even in future its progress cannot be measured or estimated objectively. Thus the Quranic idea that this world has not been created in vain sport has well been taken in. Each bit of dust, each blade of grass; each insect, each animal, each human being sings the praise of God. There is no God but Allah is the rhyme and rhythm of life taken as a whole. Everything that has been created by God is a part of this universe, an inseparable part but everything that exists constitutes the universe to sing the hymn of unity. For us human beings, growing a plant is as much necessary as going to the moon or

discovering something new which shows God appears every moment with a new glory. What is death is life and what is life is only a preparation for a fresher life. The day and the night sing the same divine chorus as does the light and the darkness. We count things as long as we are immature. When we mature, we see nothing but one grand show. One day we find that thou, I and we merge in that One. This book is divided into five chapters. The first chapter pays homage to MohammadSAW. He is the springboard of at least1 Islamic action. We have to bring in his whole life to seek inspiration from. That is Sunnah. We will have to see how he earned, ate, lived a normal human life, behaved with others, dealt with public affairs and above all conducted himself in relation to God. In fact whole of his behaviour was conditioned by his religious conviction which is explained in the Quran mainly. Jenab AishaRA, very appropriately said the Quran is Mohammads character and his love. The problem for us is solved there. Then, he eats simple food when he gets it. He goes without food when he doesnt get it. He is not a glutton at all. He does not attend to getting money so that he lives luxuriously. That is Abu Lahabs job. He is absolutely moneyless. He doesnt have a house to live in. He lives in the cells of UmmahatulMominin. He behaves softly and kindly, never beats anyone. A bad word never comes to his tongue or lip. He is free from ill will and gossip. Morally he is perfect. Nor even once he slips. Sure about himself, he doesnt wear garbs. He doesnt take refuge in wealth
1

At least Islamic Action because others may not believe that he is all in all, the source of everything that happens.

and goods but in Allah. He has no property, no gold, no diamond and his hands are absolutely clean. He is good even to his enemies. When he is in power1, he pardons everyone. Should we therefore, not copy him in toto and not only in beard-wearing? The second chapter like all other chapters springs from the first one. The main purpose of all religious activities is to seek nearness to God. Man has to go back to his original source- God. That is the return. That is Tawba. Without the real source of life everything is useless. We have come to this world only to grow things for the hereafter. What we sow here we reap there. And we have to sow. We have absolute guidance for our role in life. We have the Quran and the Sunnah. We have the Quran within the Quran.We have nature and history to guide us. That is the third chapter. We have the signs of God provided in nature and the nature of man. Each sign is to be read carefully and applied in life. Life does not grow on trees like flowers and fruit. It is to be earned diligently. The more we read, understand and apply the Quran, the Quran within the Quran, the more we realize God, the more we enjoy union with God. But our action, the Islamic action in particular, is social. Islam cannot grow in a society in which man exploits man. We cannot be brutes. We have to live like brothers. We are right brothers, all of us; without any prejudice to anything. We are one, our life-situation is one and our God is one. Even these three dimensions are the dimensions of one God. There is no God but Allah. We cannot but share everything for His sake. He does the
1

He is powerful always; He will be powerful always. His power is not worldly. It is divine. Rahmatal Lilalmin he is, SAW.

same thing. We have to obey Him in sharing too. Social harmony therefore is the fourth chapter. The fifth is on women. For what sin was the buried babe done away has been borrowed from the Quran to explain the pathetic story of the mother who gives us birth. She has suffered endlessly in Jahiliyyah and in all Jahiliyyas. What we call modern society is also unfair with women. Islam has a special concern for them. Good Muslims, lovers of God, do not treat them badly, should not do so. That is equal to genocide. MohammadSAW has a great love for three things. Women, fragrance, prayer. We are with Shaikh-i-Akbar who points this out. God will bless us if we pay the tribute due to our mother who gives us her blood and her heart. The Quran begins with ALAQ. We must respond to the Quranic sense positively. But all the chapters in the books are interwoven. They are a single unit. They pronounce all together: Allah-o-Akbar! The author seeks apology for his limitations. He is no scholar, has no scholastic achievements. This presentation is an expression of his love for God and His people. His regard for women is due to their suffering and motherhood! He has chosen only a few areas for writing this book within a short time of forty days, leaving many other areas for other people. Creative criticism within the areas chosen is welcome. May God guide us all to the Right Path! Amin! Syed Habib Zabarwan, Srinagar July 3, 2010

Mohammad SAW Mustafa

What first appeared from out the Unseens depth Was his pure light no question, no doubt! This lofty light unfolded signs The throne, The footstool, Pen and tablet appeared. One part of his pure light became the world, And one part Adam and the seed of man When this grand light shone up, it fell Before the Lord, prostrate in reverence. For ages it remained in prostration And eras long in genuflection too And year by year it stood in prayer straight, A lifetime of profession of the faith Tis prayer of the secret Sea of Light Gave the community the prayer rite!

(Shaikh Farid ud din Attar)

When the ardent desire and the strong will to get known takes on to action, when action takes the form of an imperative and an unending occupation; when passion mingles with toiling and boiling blood, MohammadSAW is born. He is born to play the game of life together with its uncountable and indescribable aspects which give birth to restlessness and pain. We cannot easily and successfully explain life. In the Quranic metaphor if we design pens of trees in woods and use the water of oceans as ink to describe life and its rich attribute, we will be doing an exercise in futility. If we 10

repeat the exercise, we will be reaching nowhere. We will be placing ourselves in situations which will cause us bewilderment. Still then songs of praise on Mohammad1 SAW, (who is the sum-total of life and also something more than that) have been composed and sung abundantly by men of ability and great repute all the world over. They have used fiery poetry and imagination together with the art of metre, refrain, rhyme and rhythm. But they havent reached to its depths. This is not a hyperbole but a reality, a reality which

These are known as encomiums. Persian and Arabic poetry has a rich stock of encomiums which, if understood well, will throw light on aspects of MohammadsSAW life not covered in simple prose. Unfortunately very little effort has been made by those who study religion or lead a puritan life to do research on encomiums. As a result many aspects of MohammadsSAW life remain hidden or unknown. In our times religion has been hijacked and a very superficial view of Islam is presented to suit politicians self interest. Lot of money has been poured to produce literature that proves that MohammadsSAW personality is neither mysterious nor in that way extraordinary. If encomiums were detailed out in terms of their hidden meanings, the efforts of political religion would be frustrated. Here are given some lines to show how marvellous his personality is and absorbing for lifetime. The whole world is effulgent with MohammadsSAW beauteous light. Paradise regains freshness as MohammadSAW stands therein upright.


In forms

Manifested the hidden treasure manifold Mohammads face a pleasure

See if thou art bold

11

should not disappoint us, should on the other hand, make us happier because that speaks of the richness of his personality. This given, MohammadSAW is born, in Mecca, but, he is born everywhere, everywhere where there is light, his WADUHA, the brightness of his face, his love and his guidance. He can be felt and seen by all and sundry provided that they have a palpitating heart and a visionary eye. He can be seen even by the lowest of the low, by the depressed and the diseased, by the orphan and the handicapped, by the poor and the needy. Economic status, political position, educational and cultural awareness, social prestige or even religious piety are no necessary qualifications to see where he is born and where he lives. He lives in the souls of his followers, of the lovers of humanity men, women, young, old; eastern, western;


Juicy dates like pearls shine smiles divine


Reason observe


Seek water

All flowers to sustain and grow from thy streams flow.


Its

(Sahib) What an astonishing beauty thou art! charming glow strikes me a lot!

12

white, red, black or whatever. His gates are open even for those who sin and do the worst. His responsive love seekest the humblest criminal wherever he is in the mire of defame of bad name. He does not seek palaces and banquet halls if these do not conform to his standard. His movement is not restricted and no barriers of authoritarian rule whereunder human beings are crushed bar his way. Like morning breeze he is free to enter any place even if the place is fettered or barred under whatever conditions of omission and commission. Like the smiling and joyful spring he finds his way into the mountain cot of the shepherd and the shepherdess amidst thunder, lightening, rain or hail. He is born mysteriously in the soul of those who passionately seek him and ardently greet him.
He is there, he is here Everywhere he peeps Silently Like the morning beams Through the eyes Of Lovers The windows Of their heart. (Author)

He is born when even Adam was not born, when Adam was dust soaked in water.1 He is everywhere, where individuals stand upright to give an account of what they do. He sees what we do and
1

This verse of Sadi Shirazi occurs in his famous classics BOSTAN. In the book Sadi has a very famous encomium on Mohammad. We quote some of its lines.

13

how we conduct ourselves in our daily affairs. He is reality personified or closer to it than no distance. He permeates the whole universe, the ebb and flow of circumstance, the glow and glory of lifes romance. The creation began, says Ibn al-Arabi, with Nur MohammadSAW, the Lord brought the Nur from His own heart. Jami, the lover, says:
Welcome to Rose Garden With many a winkling glance

Honourable in character, beautiful in qualities, The Prophet of people, the mediator of followers.

The Imam of all prophets, the leader of the way The trustee of God, the descending place of Gabriel.

The interlocutor whose Mount Sinai is the whole universe And all rays are the reflection of his light. (Cont.)

One night he rode and rose to high heaven, And in worth and rank was elevated above angels.

He rode so swiftly in the land of proximity to God That Gabriel was left behind at sidreh ony. (Alaedin) The verse that was quoted first is based on a tradition which has been quoted even by Martin Lings in Muhammad. The heavens above Feel small Before thy grandeur Thou wert created When Adam Himself Was in clay and water still. (Author)

14

Of ramblers walking romance Roses rip red robes To have perchance Thy bodys warmth Glorious but sublime.

In Germany Goethe feels this warmth and composes a famous song of Mohammad1SAW: MOHAMETSGESANG. A possible transcreation of the song is attempted here:
Far beyond these clouds From under the rocks yonder Bubbling fresh waters spring To fall on marble beds Unearthed yet though Reared and looked after By angels in babyhood Innocences sweet sleep! Murmuring through bush and plant Jumping up to the sky In ecstasy and song.

Its Arabic origin:


1

The song is German. Prof. Mohammad Mujeeb and Sir Mohammad Iqbal have attempted its translation. Mujeeb Sahabs translation is found in Urdu prose and Iqbals rendering in Persian verse. Mujeebs translation appears in Iqbals Mujeebs version.

Iqbals in The title of and . rendering is We have transcreated .

15

From above the peak tops Into passes it flows Jumping from stone to stone On beds colourfully gay From the earliest days An urge prophetic Divinely schemed and bestowed It sweeps along its kind Towards the goal destined! Down there in the valley Touch of its feet Cause flowers bloom Its breath sends life To fields green Unchecked by shade and touch Welcoming love glances of flowers It flows on and on Surging curling turning! Smaller springs embrace its skirt To flow and glow It shines through plains Like silver liquid Plains shine with its bright Rivers in plains springs in hills Implore with this refrain Brother take us to thy Lord

16

Cause us reach the fathomless sea That spreads welcoming arms For us to reach In love though we are Far from its restful lap Above us the sun our blood sucks A hilly pass may turn us Into a pond somewhere Stopping us on our way Brother take us to our Lord! Come, come and join It grows in full swing Glorious tides rise and fall All its kind upon shoulders They take and flow It conquers everything On its way Wherever it treads Cities flourish! Its flow doesnt stop Leaves past shining Buildings in marble Flows on in creative fervour The whole world whirls On its surface Flags to show its glorious pomp!

17

Iqbal has also a very beautiful poem in his masterpiece, PAYAM-I-MASHRIQ: FASLAY BAHAR or the spring tide, on the subject. It is a metaphorical poem, however. Metaphors help us to say what we cant say in plain and simple words. The metaphorical poem narrates the whole story of creation and the beatific story of loves play, the play that is not mundane, is spiritually pure because it reflects MohammadsSAW light. We give our own transcreation of the poem so that an estimate of MohammadsSAW beauty through Iqbal is made:

(1)
The Spring clouds In hill and dale Pitched tents Get awake The bird with myriad notes The parrot The pheasant The crane Compose orchestra they all hearken The brook on its banks grows Fields of tulip and rose Come see with eyes wide awake! The Spring clouds In hill and dale Pitched tents Get awake

18

(2) In gardens and meadows Long rows of roses grow Caravan- like at best See and stand upright Spring winds blow Birds songs flow Poppy drops petals Beauty a fresh rose plucks Love generates for itself pain In gardens and meadows Long rows of roses grow Caravan - like at best See and stand upright (3) Nightingales sing Orioles still louder! Hot blood in the bed-vein Ah! Silent you remain Break wisdoms law Take meanings drink Wear rose-red robe Sing! Nightingales sing Orioles still louder!

19

(4) Leave the hermits cot Take to the open field Sit on a brooks bank Watch running-waters prank Proud though Narcissus is The springs lovely child Print on its forehead a fond kiss! Leave the hermits cot Take to the open field

(5) Unaware of the manifest Thou art in slumber Open thy eyes wide Behold meanings Row and row tulips Sparks in bosom have Pour on their hot blood Mornings dew-like-water tears Look stars in twilight. Unaware of the manifest Thou art in slumber Open thy eyes wide Behold meanings

20

(6) Gardens ground Stole away Divine secrets In full array All what happens All what is yet to happen Call it birth Call it death Is wrought by change Change, the infinite, the eternal Gardens ground Stole away Divine secrets In full array

But let us retreat from this state of trance and see what happened in Mecca where MohammadSAW was born. What happened there to convince us he was born great, born to become the Prophet, not only of Arabs, who were in the mire of Jahiliyyah, but of the whole world where everything exists stones, rocks, dust, sand, mountains, valleys, water courses, seas; gold, silver, diamonds, ornaments and ornamental shows; ships, sails, boats and boatmen with their loads; winds and clouds and rain and showers; vegetation and foliage, plants and trees, fruit and juice, animals and beasts and birds; human beings of all colours and creeds, men, women and children; old and young and weak and strong. He was

21

the RAHMATAN LILAALAMIN for all, to love and to be loved above all else! SALLALAHO ALAIHI WA AALIHI (Peace, O God, on him and his progeny). KhadijahAS is one of the most honourable ladies of the world. There is no god but Allah and MohammadSAW is His Prophet is a confession on her tongue but the tongue seeks inspiration from her heart which is pure and clear. This confession makes her a Muslim certainly the first one. However, she knows MohammadSAW before the confession is made and before she becomes the first Muslim. She employs him to be in her business. She has been watching him and hearing about his behaviour. She is impressed by his personality and by his demeanour as everyone else is. But perhaps she is more impressed because she is destined to become more than an Ummul Momineen (Mother of believers). 1 She calls him Al-Amin, the faithful, the trustworthy, the one who can conduct business affairs very successfully and honestly, the man who is sincere and truthful. Perhaps his friends called him so too. Who began first, KhadejaAS or they, is hard to say. But KhadejaAS was more concerned about him as al-Amin.2 She used to go to Waraqa bin Nowfal. He was her cousin, a christian monk, a
1

Carlyle, the Western scholar, quotes the prophet of AllahSAW about KhadejaAS. by Allah she believed in me when none else would believe. In the whole world I had but one friend, and she was that! If at all anything more about Khadeeja is required, Carlyle has that too: He was twenty five; she forty, though still beautiful. He seems to have lived in a most affectionate, peaceable, wholesome way with this wedded benefactress; loving her truly, and her alone.

22

scholar in his own right and for genuine reasons, a sage who could interpret dreams and foretell. He it is who told KhadejaAS that MohammadSAW will be put to much trouble. He it is who expressed a wish that he would help this prophet if he were alive. Waraqa knew his qualities and worth. He knew MohammadSAW was potential. He had once interpreted a dream to Khadeja AS that she will be wedded to a great man. This must have burnt a candle in her
2

Annemarie Schimmel has given a legendary story in verse form in her book: And MohammadSAW is His Messenger (pp 77-78). We quote it here to show that MohammadSAW was really al-Amin: Her call was heard by the princeAhmad came close to her. He said: Why do you call for helpWhat happened to you, O gazelle? She said: Lord, I have left hungry My two kids in the desert. Help me, poor me, please, Be my bailsman, O Ahmad! Ill go, Ill come back very soon, Just give them a little milk! The excellent lord, with his noble hands Opened quickly the snare, And the gazelle ran swiftly away To where her kinds were waiting. Then came the stupid hunter back And asked the Messenger: (Cont.) Look, I have done this cruelty because Ive fun in huntingWhy did you tear apart the snare? Why did you send off the gazelle? Who are you, where do you come from, And what is your name? Tell me that! Either youll produce the gazelle, Or give an answer to me! The Messenger rose before the man,

23

imaginative heart. KhadejaAS may have shared many things about religion with Waraqa, the sort of guide that he was. He may have told her that MohammadsSAW being is extraordinarily rich. He may have told her that his inner is far more richer than his outer. Like Rumi, the Sufi, the Persian, the poet, Waraqa must have known that the whole universe will be lost in MohammadSAW.1 She may have known from Waraqa that MohammadsSAW breast is a universe in which are treasures of divine secrets. She may have known that he
The Lord of patience full: Mohammad Amin, the faithful, Im calledThat is my proper name. The gazelle promised me to return And to offer herself to you, But I am in any case for you Her bailsman in her place, And when the gazelle does not return I shall be her substitute This allegorical legend has very deep meanings. Amin promises to provide for the souls that individuals have. He liberates the souls from bondage. In the eyes of his lovers who love him ardently, MohammadSAW is the first and the last, he is the Quran, the Furqan (the chapter discrimination or the Quran potential), the Yasin and the Taha (two chapters of the Quran), the 36th and the 20th respectively). He knows all the ways, is the last of the chain of prophets, the master of everything. He taught the path dust manners of the mount Sinai (where MosesAS saw the burning Bush.) These are the impressions of Iqbal, poet of the East, about MohammadSAW in BALI JABRAEAL. The Urdu verses:


24

is as expansive as Baladil Amin or even far more than that.1 MohammadsSAW own saying, later, proves that he is very capacious, very mysterious and very secretive. KhadejasAS title AlAmin is therefore apt and real. Perhaps the aforesaid is not sufficient to satisfy the ardent lover that MohammadsSAW personality is by nature and by birth extraordinary. We shall therefore attempt to collect more evidence to satisfy the thirst of the lover. We shall, first, go back to MohammadsSAW mother, Jenab Amina (may God bless her) to
1

Later when the Quran was revealed, the Baladil Amin got almost defined. Says the Quran: By the Fig and the Olive And the mount of Sinai, And the city of security We have indeed created man in the Best of moulds, (95: 1-4). And the city of security appears to be an improper translation. BALADIL AMIN is the vast expanse that contains everything potentially. So MohammadsSAW breast or his being contains the whole universe in it. It is as broad as outside put together. German scholar and sage, Immanuel Kant, says that he is overawed by two things: a starry sky above and a moral universe within. MohammadSAW has both the worlds in his being. And the Quran is very clear about the expansive quality of mans soul in general. God says He breathed into man from His own soul. MohammadSAW being the soul of souls, has Divine soul in him to the fullest capacity. All lights, says Jami, have been created out of his light

Hence Al-Amin means that he carries . everything in him; secrets and sources, productivity and creativity, role and responsibility, time and tide, matter and soul, energy and power. (Cont.) So in the words of the Quran he bears the trust which nothing or no one dared to bear. The trust is there in his Breast,SAW!
25

whom we are indebted in uncountable ways. It is said that marvellous events had happened during her pregnancy and layingin. Says Martin Lings: She was conscious of a light within her, and one day it shone forth from her so intensely that she could see the castles of Bostra in Syria. And she heard a voice say to her Thou carriest in thy womb the lord of this people; and when he is born say I place him beneath the protection of the One, from the evil of every envier. Then name him MuhammadSAW.1 AminaAS once said to Halima, Mohammads foster-mother, the demons wiles are powerless to do him harm, for a glorious destiny is in store for him.2 Abdul Muttalib too believed that a great future is in store for MohammadSAW. He used to seek his opinion even when he was a young child.3 His wet- nurse, weak and poor, took his charge and found certain strange things happen to her. Her milk in her breasts welled up miraculously and when she offered him her right breast he found enough milk to satisfy his hunger. She offered him left breast too but he refused to take it, leaving it to his foster-brother. He always behaved like this even afterwards. Not only this, their she-ass returned swiftly leaving others behind, others who had chosen children from rich families to foster and on their way to Mecca had found that Halimas she-ass was too weak to carry herself at the speed their animals did.4 Halima and her husband were very happy. Their conditions of living had changed or even improved. They were delighted that a remarkably strange child was
1 2 3 4

MuhammadSAW, p.21. Sliman bin Ibrahim: The Life of Mohammad, p.26 Martin Lings, p.28. Sliman b Ibrahim, p.24.

26

being looked after by them. Though a child, he behaved very nicely, not normally possible for the children of his age. He always had a smiling face and a strange type of light could be seen on it by Halima while she embraced him or fed him lovefully. While we write about this, we also feel that his behaviour was not childlike: he appeared to be maturer than his age.1 Around the age of six MohammadSAW was taken back to Jenab AminaAS but seeing that Halima was very keen for him and he himself would be happier and healthier in the open air, she returned him to Halima. One day while he was looking after the flocks of his foster parents or leading them to the pasture, two men in white robes came and took him away at about noon and split his chest open. This in Islamic history is known as Expansion,or in Arabic (Quranic) language, INSHIRAH. It is said that a black spot from the heart of MohammadSAW was taken away by those who opened his chest. The Quran alludes to this event in these verses:
Have we not expanded (for) you your breast? And removed from you your burden Which weighed down your back? And raised the esteem (in which) you (are held)? So, verily, with every difficulty there is relief: Therefore, when you are free (from your immediate task), still labour hard. And to your Lord turn (all) your attention.

(91:1-8)

He was always ahead of his age. Even today one can feel how matured he is!

27

The Quran does not make a mention of any black spot that was removed from the Prophets heartSAW. The burden which weighed very heavy upon his back is something very mysterious; perhaps no translator of the Book can explain it because like other secrets it also seems to be a mystery. What relief MohammadSAW must have experienced after having been ensured that his burden has been taken off. With difficulty there is relief and then verily must have pleased him furthermore. With the repetition of this verse and with the word of assurance verily he must have flown high and also forgotten the pain, all the more, which forms the subject matter of ADDUHA (Chapter 93). It is said that the expansion of breast is very important, particularly for those who seek to know secrets of self, who have a strong desire to know and also see truth. For is anything comparable to seeking a close tie with God? Shouldnt His friendship be sought to know what man doesnt know? And when man begins to know what he knows not, he begins to feel the pressure of things that are extraordinary. Patience, tolerance, selflessness, dedication at the cost of ease and comfort, preparedness to forget things that tie one with the mundane, brushing aside in love habits and beliefs and dependable merriments that provide protection and security before friendship ties with God are established. Above all, spending hours and hours, day and night, mostly alone and cut off from the madding crowd, in observation and deep thinking, sometimes solving things but often getting confused and tangled in things interwoven,1 in conditions of sun and
1

Poets usually use ZULF to allude to the intricacies and labyrinthine situations of life and love. Jami in singing the praise of MohammadSAW uses this metaphor

28

shower, at times without eating and drinking and also sleeping are some examples of these pressures. To resist demands of common men, ANNAS in the Quran, and the drift against ways of living established in a society, is like putting oneself on sharp thorns and trying to sleep on them, MohammadSAW seeks refuge1 from the Lord of common men whose established ways of living can very hardly be challenged. He also seeks refuge from the whispering of the devil who joins the crowd to make change impossible. The Quran mentions INSHIRAH in Chapter six also but in a different context. It seems that breasts are rendered open whenever God wills that individuals should be put on the right path for reasons some of which have been hinted above. By reading and understanding this verse of the Quran the point becomes clear.
So whosoever Allah intends to guide,

commonly. For instance:

The Quranic idea of (see Chapter 92 in particular) has been brought forth by Jami to show what happens when invisibility makes understanding truth difficult or even impossible. Like a lover one has to undergo this ordeal by suffering and pain very patiently, is also Jamis painful expression which shows what happens. Zanjeer, Qullab similies show (1) long chains (2) hooka one gets suspended on like butchers flesh-weight. MUSHKI KHUTUN then adds fuel to the fire of longing and the lover of Mohammad SAW becomes restless rolling and tossing about, inwardly or even outwardly. I have seen his lovers and the lovers of Allah weep piteously when caught by the situation. Patience only helps! See Chapter 114 of the Quran.

29

He expands his breast for Islam and Whosoever He intends to leave in error, He makes his breast strait (and) narrow.1

Islam as used in this verse, means submission to Allah who is the first and the last, the inward and the outward of things, who has absolute power over everything that exists in this universe. Human beings apart, there is nothing in this universe that does not submit to Him and His powerful glory and there is nothing in this universe that exists except He. There is no God but Allah prevails everywhere and rules. We may now refer to the first journey that Mohammad SAW undertook to Syria in a caravan in the company of his loving uncle Hazrat Abu Talib. It seems that there was no plan for this journey of MohammadSAW.2 Abu Talib seeing the restlessness of this young boy decided to take him with and they started. The young boy was nine that time but some say he was twelve, some fourteen. When they reached Bastra they stopped because the Meccan caravan stopped there always. This place was known because a Christian lived there generation after generation. The monks cell had some important but old manuscripts. One of these manuscripts contained
1

The Quran, 6:126 Moses also prays to God that his breast be opened and his problems solved. His problems usually were related to Pharaoh whom Moses confronted. The boy was emotionally upset at the departure of Abu Talib. Abdul Muttalib was no more in this world. Seeing the emotional state of MohammadSAW Hazrat Abu Talib decided to take him with. See Zainul Abideen Rehmnumas book Payamber.

30

the prediction of the coming of Prophet to the Arabs. Bahira who now lived in the cell, was well versed in the contents of this book.1 It was interesting that both Bahira and Warqa bin Nowfal were the contemporaries of the Prophet of AllahSAW. Since the caravan destined for Syria stopped near the monks cell at Bastra, Bahira got a chance to meet MohammadSAW, the Arab ProphetSAW. Lings describes the meeting2 and we quote him fully:
1 2

Martin Lings, p.129. The meeting has been quoted by Zainul Abideen Rehnuma also. He produced the whole dialogue between Hazrat Abu Talib and Bahira and Bahira and Mohammad. Some interesting things in the dialogue are: Bahira: Have you left anyone behind? Abu Talib: All have come except a youthful boy who is the youngest in the caravan. Bahira: Call him too. (When MohammadSAW was brought, Bahira addressed him thus:) Bahira: Draw near please. Let us have a chat. (He took him aside. Abu Talib followed) Bahira: I have to ask you something. In the name of Lat and Uzza speak truth. MohammadSAW: These two are the things I dislike most. Bahira: In the name of Allah speak truth. MohamamdSAW: I always speak truth. Ask what you want to. Bahira: What do you like most? MohammadSAW: Solitariness. Bahira: Which of the scenes you like most? MohammadSAW: Thy sky the stars! Bahira: Do you see many dreams? (Cont.) MohammadSAW: Yes, many, even in wakefulness. Bahira. Content of dreams?

31

He (Bahira) had often seen the Meccan caravan approach and halt not far from his cell, but as this one came in sight his attention was struck by something the like of which he had never seen before; a small lowhanging cloud moved slowly above their heads so that it was always between the sun and one or two of the travelers. With intense interest he watched them draw near. But suddenly his interest changed to amazment, for as soon as they halted the cloud ceased to move, remaining stationary over the tree beneath which they took shelter, while the tree itself lowered its branches over them, so that they were doubly in the shade. Bahira knew that such a portent, though unobtrusive, was of high significance. Only some great spiritual presence could explain it, and immediately he thought of the expected ProphetSAW.1 MohammadSAW: (Remains silent) Bahira: (Bahira, too, says nothing) Bahira: Can I see your back between your shoulders? MohammadSAW: Come and see yourself. (Bahira observes the mark between his shoulders which appears like an apple. Whispers Yes, he is the one. Abu Talib: What is it? Bahira: It is a mark which is mentioned in our books. Who is this boy? Abu Talib: My son! Bahira: No, his father shouldnt be alive. Abu Talib: How do you know? Yes, he is my nephew. Bahira: His future is very important. The things that I have seen if seen and understand by others, will cause him death. Save him from Jews. Marting Lings, p.29.

32

In fact, Bahira invited them for a meal. While they were eating, Bahira was observing the boy, including his face. Everything that he saw was written in his books. Then he saw the seal of Prophethood between his two shoulders in the back, exactly there where it was described in his books. In a cordial manner he was pleased to ask MohammadSAW certain questions most of which we already described quoting Z.A.Rehnuma. Bahira, also, told Abu Talib to be careful about this boy because he has a danger of severe enmity from the side of Jews.1 Great things are in store for this brothers son of thine, said Bahira to Abu Talib. From Bahira we know MohammadSAW saw dreams. We also know that he does not reveal their content to Bahira. There may be many reasons for this secrecy. One, the Quran narrates that JosephAS reveals his dream to his father JacobAS. He advises his son that he should not reveal his dreams to his brothers who carry an ill will and enmity against him. They may harm him if they know the truth. MohammadSAW had many more enemies. Would he reveal his dreams to Bahira, he would disclose the richness of his soul, thereby would endanger himself. Or at least he would gain nothing by disclosing the assets of his soul. Two, Bahira confirmed what he wanted to confirm by the silence of MohammadSAW. Hence when things are achieved by silence, why give them a verbal expression. Three, since MohammadSAW is the soul of souls, he would have not thought it proper to disclose the secrets imprinted on his potential
1

All these things have been quoted by Sliman Bin Ibrahim in The Life of Mohammad. Sliman also writes that Jews would kill MohammadSAW if they knew what Bahira saw. Sliman also confirms seal of Prophecy in his book.

33

soul. Secrets should not be disclosed because even God does not disclose secrets to all and sundry directly. People in general may not tolerate their intensity and the whole game of life may get disturbed. Four, if secrets are disclosed, there remains nothing for lovers of God to strive for. Life becomes dull and listless. Great souls enjoy doing things and solving their problems themselves. Earned bread is sweater than unearned one. Unearned things do not get registered well. Free gifts are not honoured also. People show carelessness to things which are showered at them freely. Life is very sweet, very precious, very colourful if it is earned. Five, MohammadSAW was in the early period of his life. He would have been more careful. Losing precious things is very painful. Six, sharing secrets of dreams with those who are not trained may not be in the fitness of things. Very close friends deserve to be closer. Seven, dream secrets may not benefit everyone. God has created people differently with different capacities, potentialities, likes, dislikes, temperaments, attitudes and so on. Eight, secret sharing may cause troubles in the social, moral or even spiritual sense. It is better to be careful. Nine, it is improper to be assertive to the extent that self-assertion gives a feeling of I-am-ness. MohammadSAW never gave anybody feeling that he is the master of the universe. God addressed him that way but he himself said that he is a BASHAR. He didnt claim extraordinary powers. Ten, beauty needs no ornaments and ornamentation. Man is known by what he does. Exposing dreams may not be necessary. These reasons are not absolute. These are only an estimate; God knows better. But we think that Mohammads sleep was far more visionary than our wakefulness

34

and his dreams carried the richness of his mind which was more than a universe certainly. It was Balad-ul-Amin that is mentioned elsewhere in this book. Nature and society has been the centre of attention for many who are interested in life and its improvement. Poets, philosophers, scientists, social scientists, reformers, saints and sages have absorbed themselves in social and natural affairs according to their level and approach. How can prophets remain aloof when their minds are more inclusive seeking betterment of life at a larger and more intense scale? From the earliest days of his life due to his God given gifts of heart and head, MohammadSAW was seen seeking seclusion or retirement to absorb himself in thinking and pondering over the phenomena of nature and society. His eyes were very sharp and keen and his perceptions never and in no case less intense. What happened in his inner being is unknown mostly but the way he cast his eyes on things showed his seriousness and gravity. Silently and attentively his moments of life would pass gazing and thinking even during the days he would play or go out with his foster-brother or wet-nurse. Before that many a time Abdul Muttalib would observe and record his response to environment of Mecca and at times would seek his opinion in matters of life as if he were seasoned through observation and experience. His wet-nurse had also seen that the child would seek pleasures of observation and observational thinking when in the lap of nature, more so if left alone.1 She once told his mother, Jenab AminaAS, that he would be better off in open-air circumstance than in the pestilence of Meccan
1

Sliman bin Ibrahim, p.24.

35

city. Whether it was a plain statement or much deeper than that one does not know but the spectacle and grandeur of nature absorbed him so much that he would soar high limitlessly. The Quran provides ample evidence to this fact. Not that he sought some solace in it because he was orphan or away from his mother under the care of his wet-nurse or not having peers around him for game and sport, song and skip and prank and pleasure. He was not lost in loneliness caused by circumstance and family condition, nor bitten by grief or remorse or helplessness that orphans in families living under economic strains experience. No, no, no! He was a different kind who told us later that those who remember Allah standing and sitting and (lying) on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord, thou has not created this in vain! Glory be to thee! Save us from the chastisement of Fire. 1 He was sure that clouds, for instance, have a message for us and also a direct but profound utility- while they drift and toss up and down, causing rain and shower over the hill and the dale, the sand and the thorny desert, the palm and the palmy grove in which sweet and rich fruit of dates for Arabs grows. He knew the value of water, this unlettered orphan, peace be upon him and all those who love him (or even do not love him for reasons of prejudice or desperateness) at a time when science was in its infancy and the arid land of his birth was shrouded in Jahiliyyah.2 He knew that water is the
1 2

The Quran, 3:190. The worse kind of Jahiliyyah prevails over the world now when in spite of what is known as the advancement of science and technology, the marvels of computer and internet, the facility of transport and travel and the abundant network of the written material, water is

36

medium of life and also that man himself exists in it and through it And we made from water everything living.1 culminates in His Throne of Power is ever on water.2 He enjoyed observing lightening and thunder amidst awe and wonder that these natural phenomena cause in the minds or hearts of people. He knew their value and also that everything that exists is set in order and for specific purposes. He was not a recluse away from the realities of nature and life living in mountains and saving himself from changing moods of life but passed every moment in definite ways meaningfully, purposefully and in absolute ecstasy. Strange outbursts in absolute liaison with Allah, the most graceful and sublime, would be heard in ARABIEN MUBEEN (clear Arabic language) and the listener if sensitive like Ummar, the friend, would simply do nothing but wonder! Wonder he would, not only because of the beauty of expression of these outbursts but also because of the burden of the metre and meaning that these strange
getting scarce and scarce for drinking purpose. (Cont.) Women, the desperate lot of Muslim community, in rural areas, can be seen flocking together, pitches on their heads and running in desperation in search of drinking water for miles and miles together for fear of intestinal and stomach troubles that have grown over the years due to water scarcity. Stomach and intestines are more important than skin in rural areas because the value of skin as related to beauty or aesthetics is beyond the understanding of people who are shrouded in poverty, ignorance and miss-rule. Water as a symbol of gnosis does not touch the imagination of people in spite of religiosity and religious fervour. There are many aspects of modern Jahilliyyah which if explained, will cover volumes of books and other media means. The Quran, 21:30 The Quran,11:7.

1 2

37

compositions would carry with them.1 (A sample in Quranic Arabic given in the footnote for those who read)! This language, Arabic would however, not be understood by those whose hearts and ears would be sealed and whose eyes would not see because of a covering on them. It was not an easy language because it carried so much divine in it that those who would listen carefully and understand mindfully would melt with extraordinary warmth of it
1

For example see the Quran, 78:6-15; 86:5-14. (Cont.)

38

and see as if streams full of murmuring water are flowing within their breasts. And we reveal of the Quran that which is a healing and a mercy to the believers, and it adds only to the perdition of the wrongdoers.1 Had we sent down this Quran on a mountain, thou would certainly have seen it falling down, splitting asunder because of the fear of Allah. And we set forth these parables to men that they may reflect.2 This language known as Arabic was beyond the comprehension of many who lived in that arid land, Abul Hikm and the chieftains of Meccan oligarchy included. (But strangely this Quran, this Arabic language, would very severely touch Shaikh-ulAalam of Kashmir who would burst out saying:
Why didnt you die, reciting the Quran Why didnt you burn to ashes doing it? How did you (avoid death) to continue living? Didnt Mansoor consume himself in its fiery flame?

We have to be receptively sensitive to see streams of meaning flowing through nature and falling down like cascades of perfume on Mohammads soul to come out finally through the tongue of the Prophet in the shape of the melodious Quranic verse. This is not an ordinary verse. This is divinity, in nature, in MohammadsSAW being pouring itself to cause full bloom of the Universal Soul. We must not forget that MohammadsSAW eyes caught a full view of the miserable conditions of the weak and the downtrodden in a community of Arabs dominated by the Meccan oligarchy and backed by the privileged Jews and Christians. Women and children and orphans and the hungry and the slaves
1 2

Quran, 17:82. Quran, 59:21.

39

produced an orchestra that added fuel to the fire of love that this Prophet of AllahSAW had brought with him to shape mankind according to his divine order!

He attained the height of eminence by his perfection; He dispelled the darkness by his grace; Excellent were all his qualities; Pray for blessings on him and his prosterity; (Sadi Shirazi)

Apart from what has been said so far, three events in the life of MohammadSAW are extraordinary and significant: the night of power, when the Quran was imprinted on his mind, the beginning of revelation on Mount Hira and the Night of Ascent. All the three events are neither objectively detailed out nor explained satisfactorily fully. No secrets can be exposed to the masses, ANNAS in Arabic, openly. Religion must approach people according to their level of understanding, power of endurance and absorption, and capacity to secret. The essence of religion, the gnosis, (or MORIFAT in Arabic language) must be bought for each drop of blood by the seeker of truth if he is restlessly ardent and devotedly committed. The brilliance of the Beloveds presence needs a welcome of pearls and diamonds and His countence the whole world and its absorbing lust. Love is a consuming flame which demands everything of the lover, with the lover and about

40

him. Those who are consciously careful about themselves and afraid must stay away and aloof! The Night of Power, the LAILATUL QADR in Arabic, stands mentioned in the Quran. It happened in the month of Ramadhan and is upto date celebrated in the last week of this month, on the 26th or in certain cases on 21st, everywhere in the world by all Muslims, particularly the devoted. It has a chapter in the Quran, 97th, which reads:
We have indeed revealed This In the Night of Power: And what will explain To thee what the Night Of Power is? The Night of Power Is better than A thousand months. Therein come down The angles and the Spirit By Allahs1 permission On every errand: Peace! ... This Until the rise of Morn!

Registered on the mind of MohammadSAW the Quran was slowly revealed during twenty three years to him. The first revelation, amidst shaking, wonder and fear came to him when he
1

Not Allah but Rub is mentioned in the original text. To me Rub is correct and more appropriate to the occasion.

41

was over the mountain near Mecca in the cave Hira. Jibrael appeared to him and pressed him in his arms twice telling to RECITE and recite in the name of Lord. The unlettered ProphetSAW knew not how to read but he was commanded to read and he read. He read not only the verses that were revealed to him that day on Mount Hira but everything that is contained in the Quran, in the whole universe as a matter of fact. He read what man knew not and he understood the value and the power of pen, the pen which is mentioned in a separate chapter, the Pen. Al-Qalam is the 68th chapter in the Quran which mentions not only the pen but pens. It means there are many pens besides the Pen which write, record and design. The Prophet knows it with great pleasure and says that the first thing that was created was the Pen followed by the creation of the Tablet. So the Qalam and the Lowh are the first creations! The ProphetSAW read that man is created out of blood or the blood mated. So KHALQ ALAQ go together and significantly so. In another chapter of the Quran, AL-TARIQ (No 86), the creation of man is repeated:
So let man consider of what he is created, He is created of water pouring forth, Coming from between the back and the ribs.

(86:5.7) Pouring forth is not a proper translation of MAEN DAFIQIN. Jetting out is because the liquid comes out in jets. It causes wonder and the wonder reveals a lot of meaning. So the ProphetSAW was very conscious of the act of creation which is a divine process. It is conducted by the Lord Himself.

42

MohammadSAW was amazed but overawed by the first revelation which gave him a shake. The appearance of Jabraeal, too, was amazing and awful So MohammadSAW rushed down to his home where KhadejaAS was there. She too, was worried to see MohammadSAW in that state. She knew the whole happening from MohammadSAW, covered him with a blanket, said to be black, and set off for Waraqa bin Nawfal, the scholar and the sage, to confirm what it was all about. And Lo! MohammadSAW was now the Prophet of Allah, the ProphetSAW of the Arabs, the ProphetSAW who had to change everything amidst hard work and suffering, amidst poverty and pain, facing almost alone in the beginning the terrible opposition and persecution of the established order at the hands of those in particular who thrived on it and led a life of power, ease and comfort, enjoying everything that was materially good, that cooled down their nerve and eased their flesh. KhadejaAS was with him to see everything and take part in whatever concerned him, peace be upon him and his friends! She was there when nobody was there and she was the only friend when everyone, almost everyone in that Jahiliyyah, opposed him and blocked his way. She was his companion bringing from Waraqa a good news, a very encouraging news that he is the Prophet of Allah SAW who is praised by Allah and His angels and therefore should also be praised by those who believe! She really praised Al-Amin from the depths of her being! MohammadsSAW opposition was neither simple nor without reason. He was now the Prophet of Allah openly, challenging the manner and method of those who sold God in His House, Kaba. They had designed idols to strengthen their instrument of exploiting

43

the poor and innocent people whom they used for their merriment and comfortable living. They had created a social order in which ritual was everything that defined gods and the chief god. The ritual meant no improvement, no advancement in living or of life. Life was caught in the mire of bread-earning and bread-winning, no matter in what ways and with what methods. Not that hard efforts or means employed for fulfilling vital needs bore fruit! Many people including their women and children slept without food living in cells or tents that in that arid land suffocated due to everything unhygienic and disease-breeding. Even if shame were necessary, scarcity of means caused its non-observance. Men and women, children and elders slept almost together, either in the open air or in cells or tents, like animals that were reared by Jahiliyyah and its conservators. MohammadSAW was pained to see it, wanted to relieve the common people of this drudgery of poverty, ignorance and dismay so that the masses would also some day see the dawn of reality or something that corresponds to it. He didnt want people to run away from pestilence of poverty and live on mountains in cells or tents or whatever, counting beads or practicing magic fruitlessly. He wanted a definite improvement in living so that people would be relieved of demons, of bad living and hunger to present themselves before Allah who had no equals, no rivals, no assistants, no agents or comrades whatever. There is no God but Allah he wanted to sow in the minds of people to reap the reward of life that would pronounce Allah-o-Akber, there is no God but Allah, MohammadSAW is His Prophet, attend to prayer and deliver yourself to be in peace and prosperity! He wanted to unite people in real

44

brotherhood and in an atmosphere of social justice. He had no ill will for anyone unless anyone would block the way of his people in marching towards the welfare and well-being goal. All this was intolerable. What was important in the eyes of the keepers of Kaba was the establishment
SAW

and

the

Meccan

Oligarchy!

But

Mohammad

, forced by his mission and lettered in the name of

the Lord who created man and taught him abundantly, made his way through ultimately to success that puzzles everybody and frustrates modern Jahiliyyah.! His mission made an important and creative headway when he began experiencing Ascension recorded in the Quran as a mysterious travel between two places in the company of God. It is said that God lifted him away to show him wonders that are qualified by the Quranic verses in chapter 53, AL-NAJM (The Star). Sarmad, the Indian saint, commenting on this travel, said:
The mullah says that Ahmad went to heaven Sarmad says that heavens descended into Ahmad.

For real and truthful statements as this he was executed in Delhi in the year 1661. But Al-NAJMs first 18 verses are secretive as well as wonderful. One mighty in power had taught him. The Lord of Strength. So he attained to perfection. Then he drew near, drew nearer yet, so he was the measure of two bows or closer still, So He revealed to His servant what He revealed, And certainly he saw Him in another descent, At the farthest lote-tree, Certainly he saw of the greatest signs of His Lord. In yet another chapter of the Quran the event of Meraj or Ascent or Ascension is referred to. Only a single verse is given there, the first one (see

45

chapter 17). Ascension is ASRA there. There it has been pointed out that the precincts were blessed so that he is shown the signs of God. SUBHAN AL LAZI ASRA BIABDIHI, in fact carries the same meaning as given by Sarmad. It is God who travelled with MohammadSAW, not MohammadSAW with God. God is everywhere as a matter of fact. One wonders why only one verse is given to Meraj in this chapter. But like other chapters, Taha in particular, Moses AS has been mentioned. Significantly MosesAS also sees the Bush illuminated whereon God talks to him. It is also a meeting between God and Moses. Abraham is also said to have talked to God several times. So rapport between God and Prophets is not rare. It is very sad that historians on MohammadSAW and doctors of Islam, especially those who interpret the Quran, do not investigate into matters related either with Meraj or with revelation and its place in our life. The times have so changed that the attention of the interpreters is more towards political and moral affairs than to the reality of religion direct experience with God. The Quran is very clear on the point. God is nearer to man than his jugular vein. Wherever, we turn, we see the face of God. When we remember God, He is at once there to respond to our call. Gods face can be seen provided that we make efforts and spend in His way. We must develop in us the same qualities as God has. The powerful night, the Revelation and the event of Meraj and many other Quranic descriptions, though brief and allegorical, stress the dirct-experience. Like MohammadSAW and following his path of SUNNAH we must attend more to this aspect of religion than to

46

flogging people in the open market. This is the demand of our age when religion is politicalized and institutionalized too much. Regarding Meraj one more point needs be taken up. The body-soul or body-mind controversy is there too. It is said that Meraj was a psychological or spiritual experience merely. But God mentions precincts and lote-tree and another descent and Gabriel and Buraq and carrying and bridging distance and nearness and eyes and highest place in paradise and so on. Why then do we insist that Mohammads body didnt participate? Iqbal calls the material and the phenomenal world as the habit of God, the Aadat-ullah in the Quranic sense. If God in spite of His LIGHT METAPHOR in the Quran needs a body to be known why doesnt MohammadSAW need to be seen in the Heavenly Journey bodily too? Are we still not comfortable about MohammadSAW? Are we the keepers of Kaba who want to see him buried? Ah! What can be said about those who do not love MohammadSAW more than their ownself? Certainly he experienced body and soul and certainly legends are true, even the Buraq with the shapes that it has! Those who practice gnosis see! There is a lot of mystic literature on Meraj available even today, not only in Persia and other countries but here in India also, Kashmir certainly included. Attars Ilahi Nama is a significant example! Just one ray from the event of Meraj is enough to serve a death blow to the lust and desire of wealth and power generated by the commercial civilization of today! MohammadSAW found himself in the sea of hardships and difficulties soon after he was born. His troubles multiplied with the passage of time, as his field of action expanded. His life was a bed

47

of thorns on the whole, at least in the common sense. Not that roses did not touch his feet but that they were of a different hue and a different colour. By a keen observation of his living conditions one can easily say that great works of great men are attended by ordeals that test their endurance and courage and also the seriousness of their purpose. His purpose was serious beyond any doubt and his determination of facing odds verified that he was not a weakling, nor even one who could not understand lifes ruthless moods. He cut his way through and wrote on everything he faced that MohammadSAW is the Prophet of Allah whose life and death and all that is between these two extremes is in the hands of God before whom we should do nothing but submit. This is no rationalization but a hard fact which characterizes his life and of his progeny who dyed the sands of Kerbela with their rosy red blood! Peace be upon him and upon them all ever and evermore! He could not see even the face of his father, nor even his fondling with a child in MohammadSAW. He was deprived thereby of even a sweet smile that the fondling would add to his pleasant face. He saw his grave once, in the company of his mother when he was around six, while standing by her sobbing and wailing near the grave. Absolute silence of the child marked the scene while he observed the emotional outburst of his bereaved widow-mother, Jenab AminaAS. What was passing through the heart and soul of young Amina is the mystery of widowhood but what the silence of MohammadSAW, the orphan, denoted is known to Allah alone, Allah of MohammadSAW who had called Abdullah back before his son was born. We only consciously wonder why MohammadSAW was left

48

orphan when Allah proclaimed But for thee, but for thee, I had not created the heavens1 and verily Allah and His angels shower praise on MohammadSAW; we should follow suit sending him adoration, wishing him peace! And lo and behold, soon after this the mother too was taken away, MohammadSAW sitting by her side, near her bed, dumbfounded. That left him absolutely either in the lap of aged Abdul Muttalib, the grandfather, or in the protective arms of Abu Talib, his uncle, the father of Ali, the Lion of Allah, against an oligarchy utterly unconscious of the Merciful Lord of Mercy. MohammadSAW sought consolation in the unending recitations of the Divine word:
O ye who believe! Seek help with patience and with prayer, for God is with the patient. And say not of those who are slain on Gods path that they are dead; nay, they are living! But ye understand not. With somewhat of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth, and lives, and fruits, will we surely prove you: but bear good tidings to the patient. Who when a mischance chanceth them, say, Verily we are Gods, and to Him shall we return: On them shall be blessings from their Lord, and mercy: and those! They are the rightly guided. (2:153-157)

Trials and ordeals of MohammadSAW, after his mothers death, assumed intensity. First pressures upon pressures of all kinds that
1

Meaning of quoted from Selected poems from the Divani Shamsi Tabriz, edited by A.A. Nicholson.

49

test the nerve as well the character of a person, a human being for that matter, were laid upon Abu Talib. He was addressed with soft but pleasant words and made conscious of his position and prestige in that tribal society, was also promised that his position will get strengthened if he paid a head to what was being said to him regarding MohammadSAW and his non conformist behaviour. Wealth and power or whatever is alluring to flesh and blood was offered to him if he agreed to leave MohammadSAW alone. He was still young, too young to stand upon his legs so that he could resist the force or power that the Quraish used to browbeat him with for conformity and submission. He had no friends, no relatives, no kin, nor even sympathizers to stand by him, to strengthen him at least through consolation and good word. He had no money, nothing of that sort, to impress people or to attract them to his side. He was alone besides being straight forward and honest, not using the methods that wordly-wise and clever people use to straighten things and to win favour. He would be more lonely would Abu Talib, in consideration of his position or for the sake of power promised, leave him in the lurch and abandon him. But Abu Talib didnt waver, didnt accept the advice of the chieftains of Mecca and continued supporting MohammadSAW. By no means and under no circumstance shall I leave you at the mercy of these people. Forget your worries. I shall not leave you alone before I reach the grave. Almost these words were spoken by Abu Talib to MohammadSAW when he advised him to listen to what chieftains said and when MohammadSAW got worried about Abu Talibs apparent tendency towards them. Hearing this the chieftains approached Abu Talib to

50

convey to MohammadSAW to abandon his stand or face consequences. But neither the greed of worldly benefit nor the threat of confrontation or persecution affected Abu Talib. His character did not allow him to spare MohammadSAW either for this or for that. His love for this boy was real but profound. Come what may he was with him as ever before. He was MohammadsSAW uncle but this relation alone does not explain his attitude and support. Abul Hikam or Abu Jahal was his uncle too but both were of different make and different nature. Abu Talib was soft and kind, Abu Jahal rough and crude. The one was humble but large-hearted, the other conceited and prejudiced, jealous and chicken hearted. The one loved MohammadSAW passionately and sincerely, the other hated him and wished him death so that his pride would win him and his kind power for which he was desperate. Besides Abu Jahal, Abu Lahab, Abu Sufyan were also MohammadsSAW relatives but MohammadSAW sought Allah far above any relationships or worldly ties because nothing other than God interested him. It was the verdict of God that he should suffer for great ideals that made him the greatest man of history! The swiftest fleet to carry him to perfection in the absolute sense, was suffering! Before his persecution openly and exactly MohammadSAW was approached by Abu Sufyan, Abu Jahal and others for a compromise with them. He was to make sure that he did not challenge their gods, nor even the status-quo that made everything for them possible belief and ritual and commerce and all. The gods protected their life and interest Hubul, Lat, Manat, Uzza and others. They attracted people from all sides, even from neighbouring places. People would come in great

51

numbers to worship gods in Kaba but would also meet in Mecca for trade and commerce. Hence Meccan economy, which benefited Meccan oligarchy most, depended upon these gods and the activity they generated. If MohammadSAW did not interfere with their gods they would not merely share power with him but would be pleased to bestow upon him an honourable position so that among other things he would enjoy money and materials, comfort and luxury. Some of the chieftains had offered him any possible medical assistance he would require to get cured from the ailment he was struck with. Really it seems that they believed he was ill (I beg his pardon for writing this) and therefore talked the way none else did. They also thought that the ailment was extraordinary and mysterious.1 MohammadSAW had told Abu Talib that he was not interested in anything, particularly when it interfered in his belief about God or disturbed his idea about an ideal society. He had told him if the sun would be placed in his right hand and the moon in his left, he would not accept to budge an inch from his vocation that was divine and therefore imperative categorically. He must have passed on his opinion to Meccan chiefs. But when MohammadSAW heard them patiently and silently, he at last told them. I am not interested in anything except God and His ways. I am not interested in wealth and power, services and goods. I have entrusted myself and my affairs to Him and Him alone. Only one confession you have to make. All else is solved. There will be no heart-burning, no
1

They said more and more about his illness and coined names for it: madness, epilepsy, mental disequilibrium and all that. They also said he was fanciful and haunted by ghosts. Some said he practised magic, (I seek Gods refuge for writing this.)

52

envy, no jealousy, no conflict between us. I seek no favours, no gains from you. Only confess to there is no God but Allah and.1 He had not completed his confession Article (Kalma in Arabic) when the chiefs shouted at him. So, said they, You are stubborn and dont change. We burn our boats with you. Nothing now to be said.2 So they left to hatch plots against him. The persecution takes a definite shape now. They are out to kill him. He knows it full well and also Abu Talib and AliAS and all. They could not kill him. They could not harm him substantially. They could not stop him from spreading the message of God in spite of all what they did: hiding on his way to stone him to death, poison him for the same design indirectly, spreading thorns in his way, persuading people to make his walking impossible3, throwing rubbish on him in streets, abusing him and taunting him, telling him that he says nothing new but collects information about Jews and Christians, and other prophets
1

This is what MohammadSAW said but this is not his direct speech. Zainul Abidin Rehnuma describes him for this in Payamber. Even these are not the direct word spoken by them. See Payamber. It is said that Abu Lahabs wife used to place thorns in his way so that he is either wounded or debarred from going about to spread Gods message. There is a chapter in the Quran that condemns both Abu Lahab and his wife the IIIst. We quote it: Abu Lahabs hands will perish and he will perish. His wealth and that which he earns will not avail him. He will burn in fire giving rise to flames And his wife the bearer of slander, Upon her neck a halter of twisted rope! (III:1-5)

53

Abraham and Ishaq and all and welding them together to compose a book of poetry, naming this as divinely revealed Book, the Quran. They find fault with him even when he lives a normal married life, they abuse him and his partners-in-life, Ummahat-ul-Mominin (the mothers of believers), they express their joy when his sons pass away and with malice call him ABTAR (the one whose condition is bad), they enter his ranks and try to torture him by undesirable activities, they try to divide his followers, they criticize him at every step, but they fail and fail absolutely. They fight battles against him even after he leaves his home, Mecca, and they use whatever means they have and whatever war strategy they can engineer to crush and kill him and his faithful companions. Each effort brings them failure and utter disappointment and each time they grind their teeth against him. Light, God as it is, cannot he stopped from illuminating and warming everything that exists between the heavens and the earth and in the underworld. He spreads it successfully ultimately.
Truth is come and falsehood is vanished. Verily, falsehood is a thing that vanisheth. (17:81) Verily, we have won for thee an undoubted VICTORY (48:1)

Strange enough they build a mosque to create a parallel Islam, in spite of his being amidst them, with sufficient strength gained by him in all respects for all purposes. He frustrates them by designating the mosque as MASJID-i-DORAR, the mosque causing schisms and damage. He refuses to accept their design of using houses of God (mosque) for purposes of dividing and distorting Islam. 54

MohammadSAW bore hardships silently but sometimes he offered prayers imploring God to help him and to make his role easy and successful. In Taif great many troubles were inflicted upon him, so much so that he bled on the wayside and almost swooned. REHMATAN LILAALAMIN being treated as such is something which appears to be incomprehensible (let our blood be poured and sacrificed on his sacred feet indeed)! This Rehmat slightly moved offers a prayer. We quote himSAW:
O Lord! I make my complaint unto thee, out of my feebleness, and the vanity of my wishes, I am insignificant in the sight of men. O thou most merciful! Lord of the weak! Thou art my Lord! Do not forsake me. Leave me not a prey to strangers, not to mine enemies. If thou are not offended, I am safe. I seek refuge in the light of thy countenance, by which all darkness is dispersed, and peace comes here and hereafter. Let not thy anger descend on me; solve my difficulties as it pleaseth thee. There is no power, no help, but in Thee.1

Several opinions have been expressed about the persecution MohammadSAW was subjected to and about dangers he dared to face. The hardship trials, it is said, were nothing but sign posts to show the great work he undertook to bring about a revolution in the world, a revolution that in no way concerns Arabs only but the whole mankind. Even life at the sub-human life owes much to this mysteriously great man whose steadfastness and courage never wavered. Passing by roses and rose bushes and numerous kinds of
1

Amir Ali, The Spirit of Islam, p.42.

55

other flowers it was natural for him to get the prick of a thorn here and a thorn there which sometimes scratched him, taking drops of blood out of his body to show their colourful richness and fragrant quality. In fact even the thorns prostrated in his way while he walked.


Fond of him Even the thorns Kissed his feet He himself unmindful Took them easy Like soft silk Carpeted below.1

Says Gani Kashmiri: No fruit is possible in this world unless it has a stone in it or a bark around it or a shell.2 Let us attempt a brief summary of the opinions expressed about Mohammads troubles:
1. We did indeed offer The trust to the Heavens And the Earth And the Mountains; But they refused
1

Jamis verse is given in Persian. A transcreation of it attempted by the author with utter humility and meekness Authors transcreation.

56

To undertake it, Being afraid thereof: But man undertook it: And he was indeed unjust1 And Unmindful.2

This is the Quranic trust. It is Gods AMR (order) which has to be carried. Man has no choice. There is but to do and die is written on the gates of prophets cottages. They have to plunge into action. It has to be and it is. Angels cannot object. They cannot
1

The trust was to be taken by man because he was decreed to be the vicegerent on the earth. Unjust he was because he did not know that this trust-bearing responsibility was going to be difficult for him beyond measures. He was attempting There is no God but God solution of the problem of life. He was therefore a ZALIM for himself. While all others were restful, he was carrying the heavy trust. JAHOOL or unmindful he was because he was trying to do it quickly. Jahal is quick action, without proper thinking. Jahal is quick because strong desire to do something triggers it off. Hence man was right. See also TAFSIR-I-HUSSAINI for more detailed discussion on the subject.


Nimrods fire Frightens not Abraham His strong passion Jumps into carelessly The intellect still watching On the safe side (Authors translation)

Ibid

57

counsel God about what He decides. MohammadSAW has to face money power of Mecca, better say, Meccan oligarchy. He has to release Abrahams Kaba. The job is very tough. He is alone but how does that matter. God is with him and that is enough

the goad. And also My prayer and my sacrifices is


and my life and my death are surely for Allah, the Lord of the worlds

Mohammads

SAW

job was far more difficult, for more heart-breaking because he is the seal of prophets, more expansive, more incorporating, selflessly giving what no one can give. He is love for all and his love knows no bounds. Rehmah is always on his tongue and Rehmah triggers off his action. Greater the job, harder the problems attending it!
2. Mohammads role on the scale of prophethood is very great.

It is inclusive, tolerant, multi-dimensional (bringing the spiritual in close touch with the economic, the political, the social, the moral and the aesthetic, the personal and the psychological) and dynamic. Prophets with lesser responsibilities in less evolved societies have suffered hardships Adam, Noah (Nuh), Abraham (Ibrahim), Ishmael (Ismail), Jacob (Yaqub), Joseph (Yusuf), Job (Ayyub), David (Dawud), Yonah (Yunus), Moses (Musa), Zacharias (Zakarriyya), Jesus (Isa), Gods blessings upon them all and our praise showered at them! They have confronted people fallen in sin and vice, anti-social and immoral action. They have faced kings and their unbridled power and pride. They have been tortured and troubled,

58

some of them have been even frightened for life. According to some, great Isa (Jesus ChristAS) has been crucified. This list is not enough or sufficient. Outside the folds of Islam also great men, the men of God, sages and saints have suffered either
SAW

persecution

or

execution.

Since

Mohammads

job is more important, bigger and harder,

he is exposed to greater troubles.


3. Love is far more difficult, far more troublesome. To love

even the most forgotten man, the most bereaved man, the most neglected child, the most tortured spouse, the most miserable slave and the poorest man is love in the real sense. To be careful even about animals and insects and to join the world of birds is love. To seek nearness of God in domains beyond the untrodden ways is love and to enjoy life in its deepest form is love passionate. MohammadSAW adopted love in its extremity. He enjoyed food, lived married life, played with children, brought mundane life close to the quarters where he lived with Ummhat-ul-Mominin, washed himself very regularly, enjoyed subtle jokes also to help solving mysteries and lived in the company of men and women to boost social life and to encourage best of human relations. This way of loving must have frustrated many who misused it or thought it against the then existing norms. Hence troubles! Even after him those who followed his love-track suffered greatly. Mansoor Halaj is one. But before him the greatest sufferer was Hussain, his grandsonAS.

59

4. Mohammads

efforts

were

always

gigantic

and

extraordinary. One of such efforts was ushering a social change which was historical but wholesome as well as multidimensional economic, social, moral, attitudinal, psychological and religious. No doubt, the change triggered off smashed those who thrived on conditions existing or prevailing before the coming of MohammadSAW. It brought unease, discomfort, insecurity and uncertainty to Meccans who worshipped many gods in Kaba. The change threatened trade, commerce, economic welfare and also Jahiliyyah that profited the keepers of Kaba who had full control over everything. Conflict between the forces of change and of conservation was inevitable and it brought more sufferings, more hardships to MohammadSAW, the leader of the movement. But he would measure his achievements step by step. Each achievement would bring him joy and satisfaction; his thanksgiving to Allah would multiply. Allahs words would assure him that ensuing events would be better for him than the earlier ones1 and verily with every difficulty there is relief.2 Hence he would gather fresh courage and revitalize himself, forgetting his woes in the light of his remarkable attainments. He would like to climb heights still out of sight or undiscovered. Suffering would be his vehicle and he would

1 2

The Quran, 93:4. The Quran, 94:5.

60

reach wonderlands that would confirm his undaunted sacrifice and uncommon will.
5. MohammadSAW observed suffering in various forms. He

observed it in stone cutters picks and shovels that bring streams of water to arid lands for vegetation and crops, for food and fruit. He saw it in gardeners hard labour who thereby lay gardens of fruits and flowers in lands spoiled by sand and stone, thorns and thorny bush. He found it in travelers ceaseless travels in sandy deserts in the company of camels whose hoofs and humps are designed to suit the desert.1 He felt mothers suffering labour pain and the wear and tear of child rearing attended by woes and wail. He saw suffering in orphanage, in widowhood, in poverty, in hunger, in womanhoods drudgery under male domination. Usury, gambling, corruption, intrigue, crafty persecution, deceit. Cheating yawned before him as demons and he resolved to face them always with renewed courage in productive and creative action. Above all, he found it in love, in REHMAH, and he always refused to abandon it! MohammadsSAW suffering gave him power to brush aside any weakness for home or children, name or fame, wealth or prestige. It hardened his ego for patience, endurance, steadfastness, tolerance, open mindedness, forgiveness, humility and mercifulness. These values he cultivated by his blood which at times stultified by
1

Do they not look At the camels How they are made? (88:17)

61

deceit and deceitful betrayal. But he used these values in his frequent historical action to establish the kingdom of God on the earth. He carried with him all and sundry, high and low, friends and foes, Arabs and non-Arabs, bright and dull. Women received his sympathetic attention, haply because of their suffering but definitely owing to their decency and goodness. Men, however, he didnt forget and bore them with in spite of their roughness and dominating habit. Village and town, crudity and culture, labour and love, fear and freedom were brought on a single plan to make life a gift of God. Where there were brutes, human beings with their nails; where mercilessness was considered a strength, he was considerate and tolerant and soft and patiently watchful, working hard tirelessly at the cost of everything personal, to tame people for a harmonious living. No wiser, no better friendly person than MohammadSAW could have achieved success so brilliant, so historical that even today people bite their nails in amazement and wonder. Let us therefore adore him morning and evening, waking and resting, standing and sitting, alone and in company and salute him saying you are the greatest of all human beings, all praise to you and your progeny and to those who stood by you in absolute faith!!! We now come to hypocrites hypocrisy to show that it consumed MohammadsSAW attention all through his career. It disturbed him in the beginning when he announced his faith, in the middle when he got busy in thousands of ways of uplifting mankind to the highest position, and, at the end of his age when an all round success touched his glorious feet. It continued gnawing at the body and soul of Islam even when he disappeared from the public gaze

62

into eternity, undoubtedly damaging severely the solidarity of Islam emphasized by MohammadSAW and his Allah repeatedly. It weakened the message of Islam and culminated in the tragedy of Kerbela which is the saddest event in the history of mankind judged by any standards of historical criticism.1 Those who were responsible for Kerbela forgot everything about MohammadSAW and his efforts of giving believers a place of honour in history. These
1

Apart from Ali wa Nabbowah and Al-Fitnatul Kubra of Taha Hussain of Egypt, Maudidi shows very clearly how Islam was weakened and how tragedy of Karbala took

place. See Maududis book Iqbal and . Maulana Azad have also alluded to Bani Umayya tyranny and shown that the misrule damaged Islam. Amir Ali, Reza Arsalan, Mohammad Charfi, Akbar Ahmad, Milton viorst in The Spirit of Islam, No God But God, Islam and Liberty, Journeying into Islam, In the Shadow of the Prophet respectively can be quoted as sources on this point. There are others also whom we do not quote for brevity. Viorst calls Umayyads the dynasty of usurpers and Iqbal the liars. The author does not agree with these authors at each point but Kerbela they explain well. Amir Ali is genuine, however. The presence of hypocrites in Muslim societies of today is not a sorry scheme of affairs merely. It is very horrible and dangerous. Prophet of IslamSAW had to fight one big leader of hypocrites in his time but today we have many Abdullah Ibni (Cont.) Ubays to fight against. They are more invisible than Ubay. They divide Muslims on a very large scale. They generate ever new FITNAS (problems causing confusion, chaos , unnecessary uprisings and violence: issues that solve nothing but create abnormal conditions) in order to gain power or prestige. They earn huge amounts of money and some of them become rich all at once. Usually they try to abrogate Islam by inventing theories of reform and change. Many of them work under foreign powers and are controlled by systematic plans of spies

63

hypocrites didnt care even to see ladies and children suffering for water and food in the terrible heat of Kerbela desert. One by one HussainAS and his relatives were hacked mercilessly and the ladies from prophets home were wailing, crying and suffering. The Quran mentions hypocrites and their way of damaging Islam in many ways and at many places. Of the people there are some who says: we believe in Allah and the Last Day but they do not (really) believe. Fain would they deceive Allah and those who believe, but they only deceive themselves, and realize (it) not! In their hearts is a disease, and Allah has increased their disease: and grievous is the penalty they (incur), because they are false (to themselves) when it is said to them: Do not make mischief on the earth, they say: Why, we only want to make peace! Of a surety, they are the ones who make mischief, but they do not realize (it). When it is said to them: Believe as the others believe, they say Shall we believe as the fools believe? Nay, of a surety they are the fools, but they do not know.1 The nefarious activities of hypocrites are so vicious that the Quran has a separate chapter2 to point out these. We list some highlighted in that chapter. They say they believe but they dont. They cheat. They confess with their tongue that MohammadSAW is the Prophet but their hearts refuse to accept it.
and diplomats. They work under various organizations but wear garbs so that they are neither seen nor even detected. Their principal motive (as of their masters) is to weaken Islam so much so that it loses all what positive and creative is left in its system. The Quran, 2:8:13. Seel also 2:14-20 Chapter 63

1 2

64

They obstruct people from the path of Allah. They are liars and take oaths in order to convince others. They are uncertain. They have no legs to stand upon. Their appearance is deceptive. They are arrogant who think they require no prayer for their forgiveness. They are rebellious transgressors. God wont forgive them even if the Prophet prays for their forgiveness. They do not want to spend on those who are with the ProphetSAW. They think economic strain will force them to leave Madina. At other places in the Quran some more vices of hypocrites are

mentioned. For example: -

They mock, jest and joke at believers. They try to divide believers. They carry tales They try to create weakness in the minds of people who believe.

They create fear as well. Thus they try to keep believers away from the path of Islam.
-

They spread rumours to weaken MohammadSAW and They raise false issues to consume ProphetsSAW precious time

his family. They are slanderers.


-

in superfluous matters.

65

Even in battles they play mischief to allow enemies overcome

believers. MohammadSAW would try his best not to offend them and would avoid them very softly. In his heart of hearts he knew, however, how much of harm they do to Islam and in what way they weaken the character of common men. Indirectly he would warn believers to be careful not to be swayed by their craft. Education: It is absolutely wrong to say that MohammadSAW was uneducated or even unlettered. Perhaps being unlettered and unschooled1 was his feeling which God liked and addressed him as UMMI. But God removed this anxiety by saying:
And He found thee Wandering, and He gave Thee Guidance. The Most Gracious! It is He who has Taught the Quran. (55:1-2) (93:7)

At many places in the Quran, almost everywhere, it is clear that MohammadSAW was educated by God, by one Mighty in Power, endued with wisdom.2 This education became the basis of his BASHIR, NAZIR and SIRAJAN MUNIRA. All his names and
1

Even unschooled he was not. The whole universe was a school wherein he would learn lessons which puzzled everyone and continue doing so even today. He learnt these lessons with ecstasy and great pleasure. The Quran, 53:5-6

66

positions depended upon his direct perception, direct vision of God.1 And of what value or worth are the letters of the languages that we use in this mundane world? Do these letters lead us to the sanctuary of God, to intimacy which is attended neither by intellect nor by anything our knowledge is capable of2? And MohammadSAW was not unlettered too. He could read or cognize the letters with which the signs of God are written everywhere in the universe, from the heavens to the earth, in the movement of winds and clouds, in rains and showers and snow, in the sudden sprouting of grass in spring, in the flowers and the ripening of fruit these signs he read even in animals in whose body both the dung and milk are produced in quite a proximity. He read these signs in the water that is thrown in the womb of mothers to give a start to new life, the brief story of which puzzles even biologists who research into evolution.3 MohammadsSAW understanding of these letters or signs given, even mystics have a very astonishing experience in recognizing these letters and sounds. It is, among other things, due to this fact that Rumi, the Sufi Persian poet said:

This direct vision has been hinted at when we pointed out Prophets Night of Journey. See chapter 17 and 53 in particular. See also chapter 20 wherein Moses Burning Bush has been mentioned. We do not mean to say that knowledge which in modern world has created wonders is of no worth. But it is insignificant before Ludun and Lee Maallah, states which are purely visionary and direct. See Chapter MUMINOON (23), verses 12-14. Maulana Azad has expressed wonder in explaining these verses in his commentary.

67

Throw hundreds of Books, spread over hundreds of pages and letters into fire. Turn your face towards your beloved and go on enjoying the glory and grace of his countenance.

Had MohammadSAW not been benefited by direct observation and vision, had he not had the good fortune of perfect knowledge, he would have not prayed:

(20:114)
O my Lord! Increase me in knowledge.

Even in regular prayers he would bow in benediction thus:


O God grant us the pleasure of looking at your Holy Face and the desire of meeting you. O God! Enable us to judge the truth in its reality and to follow it; and enable us to judge the untruth in its actual shapes and to keep away from it. O God! Show us the reality of all things as they really are

Praising him in his encomiums Jami says:


The secrets of Existence As they are Are seen by thine eye Eye that sees God.

We know that MohammadsSAW knowledge is ample and unbounded. It includes everything, exterior and interior, exoteric and esoteric, mundane and extraordinary. It covers the whole life, from the inorganic to the organic, culminating in man who has been seeking superhuman perfection for ages now. The scenes of paradise and dwellers therein create wonder and MohammadSAW 68

enjoys the descriptions of these in the Quran in ecstasy, pure joy and peace. Tasting its extreme sweetness, enjoying its melody and promoting himself by its spiritual benefit, he very aptly announces that each verse of the Quran is knowledge and a heal to the wounds of man who loves God! See how he understands paradise and its spiritual grandeur:
Gardens enclosed, and grapevines; Maidens of Equal Age; And a cup full (to the Brim). In a garden on high, Where they shall hear No (word) of vanity; Therein will be couches A bubbling spring; (of dignity), raised on high, Goblets placed (ready) And cushions set in rows, And rich carpets (All) spread out. (88:10-16) (78:32-34)

The descriptions, these and many others, in the Quran are both auditory and visual but some are so important that they are only seen and felt and not narrated in speech. So, MohammadSAW is enlightened enough to perceive and to enjoy everything worthwhile! His unletteredness is only a reference to show that his knowledge is mysterious, mystical, prophetic and therefore absolutely extraordinary. It is a phenomena to which human intellect has no direct access unless it is developed into intuition.

69

Nothing is far from his Presence and Intimacy provided that the seekers heart and head converge together in loves lift.

70

Seeking Nearness To God

71

I love thee! I love thee: Is all that I can say It is my vision in the night, My dreaming in the day: My blessings when I pray, I love thee: I love thee: Is all that I can say? (Baba Farid)

All things return to their origin. The pond, the well, the lake; the fountain and the waterfall, the brook and the brooklet, the stream and the streamlet, the river and the rivulet, the spring and its playful but gushing waters seek to join a bigger whole the sea. Seas too all together like to join the earth in order to form a larger whole. Then the earth together with her seas looks around to feel that it a part of the universe in which stars and planets, plaids and galaxies float. The sun and the moon swim too, so does the whole solar system. The solar system way be in search of more systems which to this day remain a mystery. How great is this whole show! It has puzzled many including one of the greatest mystic saints of Islam, Shaikh Farid-ud-din Attar (God be pleased with him), who wrote a famous book1 to express his idea on this grand show. But the search for the
1

MANTIQ UT TAIR or Conference of Birds is his famous Persian classics. In this book the idea of wholesomeness or Unity has been explained allegorically. In their translation of the book Afghan Darbandi and Dick Davis have given the following gist:

72

whole and the wholesomeness of life itself does not solve the problem unless we, human beings, have a fuller perception if it, unless our intuitive eye unfolds and has a dominant role in this perception. Lucky we are that we have the Quran, a complete guidance in principle, with us to unfold our eye and to help a comprehensive perception of the whole. But some people are in the habit of seeking political in the Quran, and also an authoritarian strictness to suit their political urge forgetting that the book is basically spiritual and wants mankind follow things which lead to mans nearness to God.1 This basic motive of the Quran has from
(Cont.) The allegorical framework of the poem is as follows: The birds of the world gather together to seek a king. They are told by the hoopoe that they have a king the Simorgh but that he lives far away and the journey to him is hazardous. The birds are at first enthusiastic to begin their search, but when they realize how difficult the journey will be, they start to make excuses The journey itself is quickly dealt with and the birds arrive at the court of the Simorgh. At first they are turned back; but when they are finally admitted and find that the Simorgh they have sought is none other than themselves. The moment depends upon a pun only thirty (si) birds (morgh) are left at the end of the Way, and the Simorgh meet the Simorgh, the goal of their quest. Like Attar more people have dealt with Unity, both in the East and the West. Shaikh-i-Akbar has written a very famous book to battle with this idea. It is said that MohammadSAW guided him in a dream to write this book. Mahmood Ahmad Shabistari has also written a very small but significant book, GULSHAN-I-RAZ. This also explains oneness or unity. This is also true that man alone does not seek nearness to God. Everything that exists seeks it but in its own way. If this were not true the Quran would not at

73

time to time been best observed by prophets whose understanding is naturally the highest. They have taught their people to follow it. Their observations have been alluded to by the Quran though not in detail. And the Quran has not mentioned all the prophets. However, prophets only do not point out spirituality of the Quran. Others do too. All the people of God whom we in our language call Auliya categorically say so. They work for it together with their disciples and the record of work that they leave behind them constitutes a good source of understanding the spirituality of Islam. In no way can their understanding and the record of their work be ignored or undervalued. Doing so will amount to blurring the Right Path which Islam in itself seeks in the very opening chapter of the Quran, the FATIHA. But besides Auliya-ullah or the people of God, great many scholars belonging to the East and the West, in all times, explain how the Quran is essentially a spiritual Book. They give historical and literary proofs to augment their claim. Their works have been accumulated too and the literature thus produced is of utmost importance to modern man.1 It has recently been seen that
places invite our attention to everything that exists between the heavens and the earth declares the glory of God. If we understand how everything declares the glory of God, we shall ourselves benefit from this understanding. We shall, draw nearer to God than before. Besides, when everything offers praise of God, everything joins with us in seeking nearness to Him. The whole becomes a wider whole then. Maulana Jalal-ud-din Rumi, Sadi Shirazi, Hafiz Shirazi, Nizami Ganjwi, Ummar Khiyyam, Sanai, Naziri, Urfi and many others have produced literature which once ignored can deal a great blow to the most creative aspect of Islamic culture. Marshall Hodgson and Davood

74

some people all over the world and working under usurpers of peoples power have launched a movement to prove, though in a perverted way, that the Quran wants only

to
1

follow. No doubt the Quran has a very sound and strong moral system and very emphatic dos and do nots but the system is neither separate nor overriding the spiritual. This is to be put in practical shape to realize the ultimate goal, i.e. the nearness to God. All rituals, all practices, lose meanings if intimacy or at least nearness to God is dropped out or ignored. That way Islam loses it brilliant appeal and inclusiveness as a revealed religion and is reduced to a mere political ideology. Hazrat Junaid Baghdadi (God be pleased with him) who laid the foundations of mysticism or Sufism in Islam2 held that the
Rehbar have greatly praised this cultural treasure. To Dawood the spirituality of Islam is bound to receive a blow if this treasure is written off or ignored. In our own country Amir Khusroo, Mir Taqi Mir, Galib, Asgar Gondwi and Iqbal can be quoted to have done a great job to water the rose-garndens of Islamic spirituality. Sufi poets of Kashmir, again, have transcreated the Quran in their language simply and easily. If there were researchers and Sufis to translate or present the work done by Kashmiris, a great service to Islam and to mankind would be done. It means carrying orders for positive actions and forbidding behaviour that is morally and socially unacceptable. In short it means dos and do nots. This view is expressed by a Western author. It appears that this is not correct. Prophethood and sainthood or Nabuwat and Wilayat are not separate from each other, nor are they contradictory. Hence MohammadSAW knew mysticism very well. The proof is Meraj or Ascension. Even AliAS knew it very well. After

75

ultimate concern of man is to enter the kingdom of God wellpleased and well-pleasing.1 This return is achieved when the soul is at rest and is attended by all the spiritual blessings which in the Quran are metaphorically described as paradise. Some of these descriptions are:
a garden whose width is that of the heavens and the earth.2 a garden-beneath it flow rivers: perpetual is the fruits thereof and the shade therein.3 a garden where there is no vain discourse but only salutations of peace.4
1

2 3 4

them all others preceding JunaidRA . (To the righteous soul will be said): O (thou) soul, In (complete) rest And satisfaction! Come back thou To thy Lord, Well-pleased (thyself) And well-pleasing Unto Him Enter thou, then, (Cont.) Among my Devotees Yea, enter thou My Heaven. (The Quran, 89:27:30) The Quran, 3:132; Ibid., 13:35. Ibid., 19:62

76

gardens in which rivers flow.1 gardens with rivers flowing underneath an eternal dewelling.2

Home of peace.3 Gardens and fountains, peace and security raised couches, no sense of fatigue.4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

delights of the eye.5 Home that will last : no toil, nor sense of weariness, shall touch therein.6 Pleasant shade raised couches.7 Fruit they have whatever they call for.8 Sustenance determined, fruits gardens of delight a cup from a clear flowing fountain, crystal white delicious free from headiness intoxication chaste women with big eyes9 lofty mansions, one above another.10 Ibid., 2:25. Ibid., 3:135. Ibid., 10:25 The Quran, 15, 45:48. Ibid., 32:17. Ibid., 35:35. Ibid., 36:56. Ibid., 36, 57-58. Ibid., 37:41-50. Ibid., 39:20.

77

Rivers of water unstaling, rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy for those who drink; and rivers of honey pure and clear all kinds of fruits.1 Eternal life for them therein All that they wish and

there is more with us.2 An achievement, gardens enclosed and grapevines, maidens of equal age, a cup full (to the brim) no vanity no untruth.3

two springs flowing fruits of every kind, two and two, carpets whose inner linings will be of rich brocade: the fruit of the gardens near (maidens chaste, restraining their glances, whom no man or jinn before them has touched like unto rubies and coral.4

two other gardens dark green in colour two springs pouring forth water in continuous abundance in them will be fruits and

1 2 3 4

The Quran, 45:15. Ibid., 50: 34-35. Ibid., 78:31-35. Ibid., 55:48-58.

78

dates and pomegranates fair (maidens) good, beautiful maidens in pavilions whom no man or jinn before them has touched reclining on green cushions and rich carpets of beauty.1 Where they shall hear no (word) of vanity; Therein will be a bubbling spring. Therein will be couches, (of dignity) raised on high, Goblets placed (ready) And cushions set in rows, And rich carpets (all) spread out.2

It needs to be imagined that gardens, rivers, springs; fruits of various kinds; cups and drinks, overflowing containers; water flowing in streams and springs and rivers; pearls and diamonds; silk and silken cloth, brocade and carpets; cushions and pavilions; young maidens with attractive eyes, virgins untouched by advancing males; are all representations of a very deep psychological or better say spiritual experience. The Quran does not rule out their physical existence or physiological value but that physical or physiological cannot be grasped unless one has the actual experience of the soul qualities or attributes, the blessings of which these are concrete examples.3 Imagine all these things plus And
1 2 3

The Quran, 55:62-76. Ibid., 88:11-16. It is only the vulgar who think that these are baits placed before the greedy to attract them to Godhood. A blind man is no judge of colours.

79

there is more with us dance before the eyes of a blessed soul. What joy, what satisfaction, what elevation he may require, furthermore. But yes these are the things which a true lover of God does not require. He requires nothing less than God! See what Rabia Basri says:
O my joy and my desire and my refuge My friend and my sustainer and my goal, Thou are my intimate, and longing for thee sustains me. Were it not for thee, O my life and my friend. How should I have been distraught over the spaces of this earth. How many favours have been bestowed, And how much hast thou given me Of gifts and grace and assistance Thy love is now my desire and my bliss. And has been revealed to the eye of my heart that was athirst I have none besides Thee, Who dost thou make the desert blossom? Thou art my joy, firmly established within me If thou are satisfied with me, then O Desire of my heart, my happiness has appeared.1

Let the recluse be given the gift of paradise, says Iqbal, I want nothing less than thy presence.2 Even the Quran explains this
1

Margaret Smith: Rabia Basri: The Mystic and Her Fellow Saints in Islam, p.28.

But Iqbal has a very beautiful poem in Payam-i-Mashriq on this theme. The poem has a source in Geothe, the German poet, who Iqbal was very fond of. The poem entitled as HUR-O-SHAYIR shows restlessness of a

80

restless quest of lover of God in the story of Prophet-Abraham (peace be upon him and his progeny). The story:
When the night was dark, Abraham saw a star; He said to himself, this must be the Lord. But soon the star set and his faith was shaken. Then he saw the moon rising in the sky. This is the Lord, he said. However, when it waned, he lost faith in it. Likewise when the sun rose, brighter than everything. He was convinced that it was the Lord. But the sun also set, and Abraham cried: I set my face against all these. I repudiate every kind of worship Except the worship of God. Creator of all that is in the heavens And on the earth.1

Rabia Basri is reported to have said:


I prefer to be with my Maker rather than behold what He Has made. And: lover even in paradise. Since he is caught by a never ending passion, he doesnt attend even to the most beautiful maidens of paradise. He moves from one thing to the other and the movement keeps his fire burning. When the spring comes with its glassfuls of wine for him, he craves for yet another spring, not for wine but for his thirst for ever new things. His heart dies in a paradise that gives him rest and deprives him of struggle and pain of passion. He lives on an endless goal-seeking. See Payam-i-Mashriq for this Persian melody. The Quran, 6:76-79

81

The more a man knows God, the more he is lost in Him.1

Hazrat Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani (peace be upon him) attacked the excessive material attachment of the rulers and the ruled. He stressed that it was only through mystic intuition and inner introspection that man could receive knowledge about the Ultimate Reality, and only through Kashf (vision) and mushahadah (experience) could be obtained peace of mind and inner fulfillment rather than through material pursuit or intellectual argumentation.2 Going back to the Quran, again, let us see where and how the Book urges us to be spiritual or mystical and seek this far more than anything else because everything else is only a means towards this end. The great mystic of the west Louis Massignon, after having spent more than fifty years of his life in finding out the spiritual, said that the Quran is basically spiritual. Cragg says about him:
He was convinced that Muslim theology was essentially a mystical structure deriving from the Quran itself as the primary source of its development. These immediate features of the book and of the Prophets career, which seem to place them both squarely in the sphere of dogmatism, autocracy, power, and sharp contrasts aspects proudly incompatible with the true mystical temper Massignon was bold to claim, in their proper perspective, as the very proof of his case. Quranic vocabulary as the vocabulary of mysticism was the central clue of his scholarship. The prophetic figure behind it and within it he saw as the intense

1 2

Rafiq Zakaria: Discovery of God, p.179. Rafiq Zakaria: Discovery of God, p.181.

82

focal point of a sense of religious destiny a contraction of truth within historic time.3

Let us substantiate Massignons view: The Quran or in fact Islam stresses Tauhid for more than anything else because it is vitally important. There is no God but Allah, there is no God but Allah and Mohammad SAW is His Messenger, and this goes on expanding. MohammadSAW has sought nearness to God for him as well as for his people. Other prophets who have been before him have also sought nearness to God for themselves and for their people. MohammadSAW says God is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. He has to be sought through his attributes. The off repeated key of the Quran, In the name of Allah, the Merciful Lord of Mercy carries the rhythm of the attributes, Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim all along. The Quran stressing on one hand the oneness of God and on the other mentioning His attributes time and again is not suggesting a multiplicity, is only stressing that He is to be sought through attributes which are the modes of His activity. Scholars list 103 to 105 modes. We take the case of Hazrat Mir Syed Ali Hamadani for reference who has mentioned 105 in his famous gift Aurad-iFathiyya for the people of Kashmir, (God be pleased with Amir). Common people believe these are only 99. If Allah is added to the list, the number rises to 100. But the Quran says that the attributes are so numerous that these can hardly be counted. We shall quote almost all the names of Allah as given by Hazrat AmirRA: Allah
3

Compassionate

Merciful

Kenneth Cragg: The Mind of the Quran, p.163.

83

Sovereign Security Subduer Maker Supreme Opener Enlarger Honour-bestower All seeing Incomprehensive Great High Preserver Wise Riser Keeper Friend Author Destroyer Discoverer Unique Omnipotent First Hidden Beneficent

Holy Protector Exalted Fashioner Bestower All knowing Depressor Abaser Judge All-aware Forgiving Greatest Reckoner Loving Witness Powerful Praiseworthy Repeater Living Glorious Independent Provider Last Ruler Causing Return

Peace Mighty Creator Forgiver Sustainer Controller Exalter All-Hearing Just Forbearing Appreciating Guardian Bountiful Honourable True Strong Recorder Life-Giver Everlasting One Powerful Postponer Manifest Highest Sin-Effacer

84

Favour-Bestower Compassionate (kind) Majesty and Bounty Enricher Punishing Guide Inheritor Truthful

Punishment Awarder Sovereignty Lord Self-Sufficient Giver Benefactor Originator Director Shielder1

Sustainer Equitable Gatherer Withholder Light Survivor Patient

It is this list or broadly speaking the numberlessness of His attributes that makes God the Lord of Bounty.2 Throw a glance upon the expanse, if possible see how grand, how gracious, how sublime it is! But a single glance wont do. One has to constantly be in touch with what is happening in the phenomenal world, in this void all around us. We must quote Voltaire:
One must be blind not to be dazzled by this spectacle; one must be stupid not to recognize the author of it; one must be mad not to worship Him3

Iqbal calls this universe, the phenomenal world, the Habit of God (

in the Quranic language. It is therefore, the best means to )

All these names have been taken from Aurad-iFathiyyah. They are all in Arabic. Given that the translation is not easy we have made an effort to bring them in English. No. God is Lord of Bounty in spite of attributes. This has been written only to show how important the attributes are! Rafiq Zakaria, p.205

85

understand God. MosesAS also had to take the help of the mountain to see Him following the guidance of his Lord. The Quran reads:
When Moses came to the place appointed by Us, And his Lord addressed him, He said: O my Lord! Show (thyself) to me, that I may look upon thee. Allah said: By no means canst thou see Me (direct); But look upon the mount; If it abide in its place, then shall thou see Me. When His Lord manifested Himself to the Mount, He made it a dust, And Moses fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said, Glory be to thee! To thee I return, and I am first to believe.1

Besides, when one observes the Beauty of God, one forms a real idea of His personality. Many poets understanding this rightly use attributes or names of God to present their own ideas about the possibility of vision. They see Him through the mirror which rightly they call the phenomenal world and everything that exists in it. We have a separate chapter on this issue; therein we shall be discussing reflection of God in the phenomenal world or nature in detail.

The Quran; 7:143. There is no question of repentance on the part of MosesAS. He returned to his Lord. Tauba from which TUBTA has been taken is the RETURN. The mountain is a metaphor. It stands for the phenomenal. MosesAS swooned because (Cont.) of the wonder and the power of experience. The mountain could not remain in place because there is no God but God. Everything perishes when God appears.

86

We shall now take up SIBGATULLAH1 which carries significant importance for our discussion on seeing Gods face. TAFSER-I-HUSSAINI interprets it as falling in love with God and achieving highest state in mysticism. As is evident, falling in love with God and making Him the object of love is not easy. It consumes the life of the lover leaving no trace of his behind. With all that it is so worthwhile that nothing is comparable to it. When the lover is annihilated there remains nothing but God. Blessed are those who achieve this goal.2 So far so good but how to fall in love with God and how to be a mystic? What colours does God have? Again the answer is far from being simple. While all the colours belong to God and all the colours and their perception is necessary to reach the coloureless, the lover of God has to grind himself in the

(We take) Allahs colours, and who is better than Allah at colouring, and we are His worshipers. (The Quran, 2:138) See how Hazrat Junnaid BaghdadiRA feels about this state: God gives to the adept the sharp desire to behold His essence, then knowledge becomes vision, and vision revelation, and revelation contemplation, and contemplation existence (with and in God). Words are hushed to silence, life becomes death, explanations (necessary for finite minds in this world) come to an end, signs (a concession to those who are weak in faith) are affaced, disputes are cleared up. Perishability (fana) is ended and subsistence [baqa] is made perfect.. Weariness and care cease, the elements perish and there remains what will not cease, as time that is timeless ceases not. This has been taken from Margaret Smiths, The Mystic and Her Fellow Saints, p.92.
87

mill of life. He has to use all his faculties, all his powers to seek the light ultimately, Which in the Quran is defined as God:
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp. The Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star. Lit from a blessed Tree, and Olive, neither of the East not of the West, whose oil is well nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to his Light! Allah doth set forth parables for men and Allah doth know all things.

It must be noted that Noor (light) as the definition of God or his colour has been metaphorically described by God. The metaphor is only a guide to reach God. The guide is divinely provided for the sake of people in general. So ANNAS is mentioned in the verse. Commentators of the Quran give a lot of importance to Olive tree which is blessed and belongs neither to East nor to West. They also say that the glorious light cannot be measured or even described fully. It has grades upon grades through which the lover has to pass in order finally to reach the regions of spiritual light. Hence the Quran only awakens mans consciousness to reach the ultimate light which by means of the blessed olive tree can be aspired for. Mystics, all of them, seek this Blessed tree and this Light (SIBGATALLAH) with the help of the guide. No scholar has so far given the objective meaning of the tree and the light nor given of the Niche and the lamp within it. It has only to be followed carefully secretly.

88

In addition to 24:35 (the Light verse) the Quran points out at various places the importance of eyes, ears, skin and heart as the gateways by which the Light of God (which is His colour) can be pursued as well as perceived. The Quran uses FOAD or QALB for heart even in the most important verses of AN-NAJM (53) which reveal Night Journey of MohammadSAW but which journey is a single step for the wilful and the daring in the eyes of the famous philosopher-poet, Mohammad Iqbal He says:
The Night of Ascension leads to the Highest Heavens The ascent is too tedious and long The willful and the daring, however Cover it in a single step The morning with its radiance Bows before it in adoration.1

What happened to MohammadSAW in this night happened with the help of seeing and feeling and revelation. But the role of FOAD or heart is emphasized by The heart in no way falsified that which he saw.2 So it seems that the three faculties work together in developing vision or approaching God. The Quran makes man conscious that these qualities are bestowed upon him and for this he should be thankful to God. If he does not offer thanks duly he is ungrateful to his Creator. Read the verses.
1

The Quran, 53:11.

89

Many are the jinns and men We have made for Hell: They have hearts wherewith they Understand not, eyes wherewith They see not, and ears wherewith They hear not. They are Like cattle, nay more Misguided: for they Are heedless (of warning).1 Do they not travel Through the land, so that Their hearts (and minds) May thus learn wisdom And their ears may Thus learn to hear? Truly it is not the eyes That are blind, but the Hearts which are In their breasts.2 It is He who has created For you (the faculties of) Hearing, sight and feeling And understanding: little thanks It is ye give!

1 2

The Quran, 7:179 The Quran, 22:46.

90

Verily We Have set veils over their hearts So that they understand this not, And over their ears deafness. If thou callest them To guidance, even then Will they never accept guidance.1 At length when they reach The (fire), their hearing Their sight, and their skins Will bear witness against them, As to (all) their deeds. They will say to their skins: Why bear ye witness Against us? They will say: Allah hath given us speech .. Ye did not seek To hide yourself, lest Your hearing, your sight And your skins should bear Witness against you! But Ye did think that Allah Knew not many of the things That ye used to do!2 Say: It is He who
1 2

Ibid., 23:78 The Quran, 41:20-22.

91

Has created you, And made For you the faculties Of hearing, seeing And understanding: Little thanks it is ye give.1 So we gave him (the gifts) Of hearing and sight.2

In his famous book FORTY SECRETS ( Mir Syed ) Ali HamadaniRA points out that the people of God, once they develop their ears for mysterious sounds, receive as if discourses from even the mountains and valleys. They also hear secrets full of musical grandeur from the middle currents of streams.3 And the Quran says that the blessed will not in paradise hear anything that is vain nor will whatever they hear be a lie. In other words their ears will receive only meaningful and true messages from God.4 Most of the Muslims, even if they are not well versed, know that Solomon heard even birds and trees speaking the names of Allah in His praise. The whole nature in fact passed messages to him. Kashmiri sufi poets, Ahmad Sahab Batwari for example, says impressively that men of God, the Gnostics, hear sermons from all the six sides. Sufis call it SHASH JEHAT or SHASH KAL.

1 2

The Quran, 67:23. Ibid., 76:2

3 4


The Quran, 78:35.

92

A study of the history of mankind, of nations, are as important as travels so that deeper insights gained therefrom are utilized for god-consciousness. The awakening and enlightenment of a person depends upon the depth of such insights and the extent to which these are assimilated in God-consciousness. Perhaps we need not go here into details in the history of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Christ and other prophets (peace be upon them all) to understand how they battled for their self-consciousness and against their foes in order to enrich themselves and their communities on their way to God. The Quran has many more stories woven around the seekers of truth which, again, help us to gain God-consciousness. These stories for example are woven around the Tree of life, the Arc of Noah, the Fire of Nimrod, the River wherein Pharaoh and his army drowned the rending asunder of Josephs shirt, his Prison story, the Well he was thrown into, the Burning Bush and so on. In modern times these sources of Godconsciousness Mohammad
SAW

assume

more

importance

because

after

prophetic guidance cannot come to mankind and so

our sole dependence on them is unavoidable. A probe into these rich sources is neither impossible nor futile as some very cunning people who are against the spirit of religion and solidarity of man believe. Man has conquered nature to a great extent and has invented machines like computers. Nothing is impossible for him because Quranically he is the master of the universe wherein everything has been left in his hands for his unending travel to divinity. Unveiling secrets in the sources aforesaid, therefore, is both possible and vital. Our life needs this unveiling far more today than ever before.

93

We must now turn our attention to WAJHULLAH, which means Face of God, because it is the ultimate goal of the drama of life being played by God through man as the best creation. The stress in the Quran on the Face of God is repeated several times so that we do not neglect its importance nor miss it as the ultimate meaning of life. Moreover, the Quran makes us aware that we cannot remain blind and pass from this world in that state. For in the hereafter also we shall be blind, not seeing the Face of God.1 Let us look upon these Quranic verses in order to form an idea how the Face-of-God idea is stressed.
Whatever of good ye give Benefits your own souls, And ye shall only do so Seeking the face Of Allah.2 God is One God: whoever expects To see his Lord3 Everything exists Will perish except His Face To Him belongs the command
1

2 3

And whoever is blind in this (world) he will be behind in the Hereafter, and further away from the path. (The Quran, 17:72) The Quran, 2:272. Ibid., 18:110 (Here LIQA rather than WAJH has been mentioned)

94

And to Him will ye All be brought back.1 All that is on earth Will perish: But will abide (for ever) The face of thy LordFull of Majesty Bounty and honour.2 And they feed, for the love Of Allah, the indigent The orphan and the captive (Saying) We feed you For the Face of Allah alone: No reward do we desire From you, nor thanks.3 Those who spend their wealth For increase in self-purification And have in their minds No favour from anyone For which a reward Is expected in return But only the desire To seek for the countenance Of their Lord Most High
1 2 3

Ibid., 28:88 Ibid., 55:26-27. The Quran, 76:8-9

95

And soon will they Attain (complete) satisfaction.1

The Face of God is to be sought in many ways. First through prayers. But prayer is formal as well informal. Five times a day a believer is asked to offer prayers. He or she has to face Kaba which among other things stands for unity. There is no Eastern, Western or black and white or any other division in this brotherhood. All stand together before Allah and all have the same soul. Men are there, women are there to bow before one God. What is to be said or read while in prayer has, however, to be lived. For instance the praying believer says: in the name of the Merciful Lord of Mercy. He or she has to understand and live Mercy of the Merciful. He/she has to see with his/her eyes (which we shall explain soon) that in this universe whatever is is because of Rehman, the Beneficent, the Merciful. He/she has to visualize how He operates. Similarly, the praying believer has to understand and see how He is the providence. He provides not only for man but for all creatures at any stage of development. He provides for the believer and the non-believer.2
1 2

Ibid., 92:18-21

(Cont) Thy benevolence deprives none of sustenance Thy unseen treasure is Open both for the monk and the fire-worshipper How that thy friends return Empty-handed dismayed From thee who takes care

96

Prayer therefore involves the whole universe. We observe this and also how God provides for everyone and everything, living and (what we call) non-living. Prayer leads us to a grand workshop wherein we see the functioning of God through His providence. Similarly prayer helps us to understand the Right path (Siratal Mustaqim) which is followed by all except by those who are deviated and deranged. No names of those who follow the path are mentioned. The most sacred Being, the great of the greatest is worshipped by all. He is praised and He responds to the praise. He hears him who praises Him. But prayer and praise is not a lip service. To hell with those who offer prayers unwillingly or only as a lip service, says the Quran (see chapter 107:5). Prayer is also an activity of mind. Those who offer prayes do so with the core of their heart. They feel and realize the uncountable manifestations of God in prayer and before and after it in nature and everything. Besides all this, in prayer MohammadSAW is saluted as the Messenger of God. He is praised for his deeds and his role. Angels and those who adore God are also appreciated at the end of prayer. Those who are to our right and left are also saluted, be they angels who record or those who are mentioned in the Quran as the Rightist and the Leftist. This is formal five-times-a day prayer which may extend to long hours of Ramadhan Nights to recite passionately and collectively:
O ye who opens our heart and eyes and create periods of light and darkness, illuminate our hearts with thy knowledge and gnosis. Thou art the most sacred and the Even of the deadly enemy. (Sadi)

97

Most powerful. Purify us with thy purity and forgive us for our wrongs. Grant us an entry into paradise which is thy presence. We seek blessings for MohammadSAW and his progeny in this state of oneness with thee!.1

Prayer, however, is not a mere five-time-a day ritual. It is far more than that. It may be NAFL which is mandatory and offered for several reasons. It may be offered as thanksgiving for something achieved by the grace of God. It may be offered for something we crave for. It may only be an extension of compulsory prayer in love and passion for God. There is no ending to it. We may offer Nafl prayers during nights in order to attain nearness to God designated by the Quran as MAQAM-i-MEHMOOD. This is a blissful state wherein the visage of God is seen and a constant rapport with God is made. Sufis mention this state a lot. They are passionate about its extraordinary pleasures. The Quran mentions this state thus:
And as for the nights Keep awake a part of it as An additional prayer For thee: soon will thy Lord Raise thee to a Glorious State (Of thy soul)2

The central prayer or

is

also mentioned in the

Quran. For some fortunate souls this prayer carries a lot of significance as it is a means for rapid spiritual development. Such a
1

The chant in the nights of Ramadhan during Ramadhan prayers is melting, it has been seen. The translation is free, not a word-for-word one. The Quran, 17:79

98

prayer for them is attended by pleasures that in common Quranic language is paradise. For some, however, this prayer remains obscure. As for our interpreters, most of them either maintain silence about it for the sake of secret-keeping or know it not. Whatever prayers, in short, are observed must be observed not as mere rituals but as acts that carry practical meaning in our life even after the ritual is over. The Quran says:
And when the prayer Is finished, then may ye Disperse through the land And seek of the Bounty Of Allah: and Remember Allah frequently That ye may prosper.1

Salat or prayer in no case must be taken as a non-serious matter. Those who offer prayers for meeting with God cannot but be those who are united with the whole mankind of all places and times and with nature and society. Greed or greedy ways of living do not touch them either in individual capacity or as a nation. No political frauds, no economic exploitation, no hijacking of religion for greed and greed of power, no selfish motives at the cost of peoples lives, no discord, no intrigues, no violence, no small scale or large scale killings in the most ruthless and brutal manner are possible there with those men and women who pray passionately. They know prayer is an ascension for a believer and it blocks his way to grossgess, indecency and evil deed. They know being in the act of prayer every time and always means being united with God. God
1

The Quran, 62:10.

99

forbid if they are not, then it is not prayer, nor even a ritual. There are very many people there, hypocrites in particular, who use prayer only as a pretext, even in lofty prayer buildings. Yet another dimension of prayer is that it must be offered standing, sitting, walking, sleeping or in whatever conditions we are. We have to be in Gods presence always in order to be true believers, true lovers of God. Hence our giving, our taking, our earning and spending; our eating and drinking, our wearing and dressing, our planning things and executing them, in fact all what we do in our individual or collective capacity should not forget that we are in presence of God seeking His visage. Our body and soul, our private and public life, our worldly and non-worldly affairs must be geared to this goal and to this goal alone. Such a prayer has not to be formal necessarily. Rumi, the mystic saint of Islam, was asked how many times and when should we offer prayers. His reply was as apt as his glorious poetry and poeting, meaningful and Godconscious. He said: How many times and when we should not remember God and avoid being in the act of prayer. Let those who seek God and His countenance remember that our life and our death and whatever is possible between these two should do nothing but be in the act of prayer. Perhaps drunken from the tavern of Rumi Iqbal also extends prayer to our day to day as also to our creative life. In his lecturers he says that a student learning in a school, an observer of nature observing natural phenomena and its beauties, a traveler traveling far and wide through deserts, valleys, fields and gardens, a farmer toiling under the hot sun and producing at least eatables, a woman

100

humming at the pillow of her sleeping child, a mother looking at her childs face touchingly and tenderly, a medical man trying to find out or discover a vaccine for a fatal disease or epidemic and a scientist experimenting in a laboratory are all examples of forms of worship. Kenneth Cragg also plays with this idea in his The Mind of the Quran. He says that a Muslim in his position of standing in prayer is free to look right and left, up and down to ponder over the mysteries of nature amidst which he lives and offers his salutations. He may marvel at the vastness of the expanse and doing so develop the habit of constantly thinking about all marvels that define God as mystery. Cragg also things that prostration in Muslim prayer is recognition of the magnificent role the mother earth has been playing in throwing man out of its womb to discover God and His gorgeous activity. This recognition includes the story of the march of man from a helpless state to this state of mastery which defines modernity. Iqbal and Cragg or anyone else, this universe is a puzzle of God. Whosoever tries to solve this puzzle finds God in the solution whatever and is therefore in the act of prayer. We are conventionally aware of fasting and we know almost all religions have prescribed this method for self-control. But in Islam, besides discipline and self control, fasts or Ramadhan carry more meanings. We have not merely to abstain from eating and drinking and enjoying sex but to exercise control on hearing, seeing, talking, touching, thinking, reasoning and feeling as well. All idle talks are neither to be heard nor spoken, let apart abusing, shouting, quarreling and so on. The tongue is to be trained for the best use it can be put to in the vein of visualizing the face of God. Nothing is

101

to be heard which does not correspond to the requirements of self purification. We cannot plot against humanity. We cannot harm anyone by word or dead, nor can make anyone uncomfortable by way of insult or abuse or bitter remark or ill will. All good morals are to be practiced to help ourselves or people. All morals therefore have to be functional rather than theoretical. Words are to be used sparingly and positive deeds are to be done frequently. Self-help and self-supporting activities are to be promoted and first come first serve habit formed. Full attention has to be given to God consciousness and whatever one feels necessary for this purpose has to be done. Far more important than anything is that some sort of rapport if not a complete one is to be developed with God because the month of Ramadhan marks the revelation of the Quran to Prophet MohammadSAW. If receptivity of inspiration is not cultivated, the month of Ramadhan may not involve a Muslim actively in observing its significance and sanctity. In view of this active participation Maulana Jami sings:
Friends Visage thee didnt see The Event passed ah! O Jami How come thou welcome Eid then An exercise in futility!1

We have already seen, though very briefly, how wealth can be a right brother to spirit. Spending is good for brotherhood of mankind, for also piety that breeds itself on giving fearlessly and
1

102

with love. We cannot claim righteousness, says the Quran, unless we give what we love or what is very dear to us.1 But spending is a key to enter the kingdom of God for a full view of the Most Beautiful, the Most Graceful and The Sublime. We seek visage of God or His Face. Money, cash or kind, in silver, gold or diamond, is not important. We submit to God together with all that we posses. This submission, this God-love, is important. Hence spending does not aim at fame or name or thanksgiving or boastful self-importance or anything else that allures in the mundane world and its social settings. We do not seek indirect favours from those whom we oblige. We give humbly and in utmost humility. Our hearts melt in the process of giving and the joy thereof appears on our faces. It is only for the sake of the beloved God that we give. We give from what He has been kind enough in giving us. While we give we bend in benediction: O God gracious and compassionate, we seek nothing but thy countenance:
O ye who believe! Be God-conscious, And let every soul look To what he has Sent forth for the marrow. Yea, be God-conscious For Allah is well acquainted With (all) that ye do.2

3:91

The Quran, 58:18

103

This Be God-conscious is alluring! How passionately alluring it is, indeed! So the countenance of God is to be sought in actively responding to the needs of the neighbour. But is that not the individual way of looking at the matter. Is that also not the conventional behaviour of the believing giver? We may have to pick up this divine guidance for a broader extension in the modern world. In the Islamic world of today there are a few very rich countries who with the grace of Allah are bestowed with immense wealth. Such is the extent of the immensity of this wealth that it cannot be easily brought into counting and for specific reasons. In the spirit of the Quran this great resource is to be brought under the most creative and most beneficial way of spending, more so when the wealthy part of the Islamic world claims a leadership role for the entire Ummah as they call it. Necessary but huge grants require to be sanctioned and passed on to the needy communities wherever they are. These grants need not be spent in haphazard manner. These need to be placed in the hands of responsible bodies who in their own turn need to be made answerable for their role in planning creative spending. Poverty, health, education, food-production, industrialization and upliftment of weaker groups need to be earmarked as goals. All through the granting, the planning, the spending processes transparency needs to be maintained at various levels everywhere. This way poor societies may get released from the mire of poverty and utter backwardness so that opportunities for spiritual well-being are released simultaneously. No spirit grows wherever there is hunger, disease, ignorance and the consequential

104

violence. Seeing the Face of God is a significant and essential milestone in that developmental well-being. We cannot ignore underprivileged people. The price for that is bound to be very heavy. Then we shall be laying the foundations of a system that shall be catering for the top brass of Muslim society and their luxurious living. We cannot also leave money and wealth in the hands of people, Muslim or non-Muslim, who grab resources of Ummah. Our God is one, we believe in all prophets, all of us offer prayers, observe fasts and if strong enough financially, perform Hajj. We believe in angels and the hereafter. We bow to God in the same direction and we not only propagate but are the Muslim Brotherhood. We have to hold the rope of Unity and we cannot ignore Gods command of standing united. When all these things are common, our resources are also common. There is no division in Islam, no separate nationhood. Hence we have to share money, material and wealth equitably. Like Bani Umayya we cannot ignore Islam for power and politics. Our first task, therefore, should be to declare assets and resources in Islam. We should stop crushing the weak and the poor under feet and declare them as inferior or slaves. We must stop all activities that in the name of Islam we have launched all over the world to keep Islam backward. Our world does not tolerate Pharaohs or Nimrods or Abu Jahals or for that matter Changez Khans of modern technology playing nefarious role in disguise even in the so called Islamic countries. Unity of Islam has another dimension, unity that brings us closer to God. This is assembling together once a year in the month of Zilhaj in the sacred land of Mecca where Muslims from all over

105

the world perform Hajj. Prophet AbrahamAS has been instrumental in providing this opportunity and Muslims have adopted his way of assembling and circumambulating round Kaba, the House of God. Muslims in Mecca circumambulate round Kaba chanting in Unison: Here I am at your service O Allah, you stand alone without any rival whatsoever. The Iranian revolutionary Dr Ali Shariati describes the circumambulation in the following words:
As you circumambulate and move closer to the kaba, you feel like a small stream merging with a big river. Carried by a wave you lose touch with the ground. Suddenly, you are floating, carried on by the flood. As you approach the centre, the pressure of the crowd squeezes you so hard that you are given a new life. You are now part of the people, you are now a man, alive and eternal the Kaba is the worlds Sun whose face attracts you into its orbit. You have become part of this universal system. Circumambulating around Allah, you will soon forget yourself You have been transformed into a particle that is gradually melting and disappearing.1 This is absolute love at its peak.2

Kaba has the Black stone in it. The stone has been used by great Sufis in order to explain an important secret in metaphorical form. They relate

the

Black Face with it. I personally

consider that without discovering the Black Face and understanding the real meaning of the Black stone no Face of God can be
1

An individual is never a particle though. He merges into a bigger whole to reemerge as the strongest and the most powerful creative individual. Karen Armstrong: A History of God, p.188 (Armstrong has taken the quote from Ali Shariatis book Hajj.

106

visualized. Hence the stone has to be discovered and understood by the pilgrim. We must point out here that Ali Shariati has pointed out an important historical fact in his book Hajj. That is about Hazrat Hajras burial. Shariati says she is buried in the Kaba because her burial ground has now been enclosed with the Kaba. Needless to say that Hazrat HajraAS was given to AbrahamAS by Hazrat SaraAS, his wife. Then IsmailAS was born of her. We should also know that Hajj is the best means to realize the idea of Allah-o-Akbar without which collective consciousness and total intelligence cannot perhaps be understood. Rumi takes up the idea of Black Face in a poetically cautious way and says:
One single heart is more pleasant Than hundred-thousand Kabas Mind thou then to bring it Back to its original position For only in that case O pilgrim Thou shall perform a great Hajj.1

Let us now turn our attention to yet another requirement which helps us in seeking the Face of God and thereby drawing close to Him. We have already mentioned seeing, hearing, feeling and touching but we have not discussed them as basic gateways of knowledge. As long as we are in this material world, we have to have a knowledge of all the things around us. To have it we need to make a full use of the capacities and powers provided in our being
1

107

or body and soul by God. Are we making a proper use of our eyes, ears, nose tongue, skin and heart in order to understand and appreciate the grand workshop God has placed us in?1 Or do we pass by this world like the blind and the deaf and the dumb and the stone-hearted? Do we smell things and taste them properly? Do we make a full and appropriate estimate of colours, smells and tastes? Do we feel with our hands the delicacy of the petals of a flower? If we touch the wings of a butterfly and also a stone placed somewhere on the roadside or in our lawn, what difference do we feel? Can we relate the blend of the colours of trees and flowers with the blend of colours in our being? Can we understand the role of the sun in all the colour blends that we observe? Can we see how our smelling power helps us to relate ourselves with God? Do we differentiate between tastes and see common factors in them? How does our nose and our tongue work together? A pat on the cheeks of a baby, of a baby girl, attempted, what affects do we observe in us? In the child? Do effects last long, how long? How does our heart carry us far away into the twinkle of stars and the silent hide and seek of the moonlight? Why do we weep and wail and cry and why do we see with doleful eyes? What is the meaning of our laughter? Can we seek answers to these and to similar questions from our heart? How do feelings play and how do poets and prophets make us fly like birds and birds of paradise? The list of such questions related to our own organs, to our own system, to this divinely designed machine, is too long. Answers are had but not the final ones and the answers
1

We shall give a fuller detail of this workshop in a separate chapter.

108

knock at the door of divinity time and again. Our mind based on our sensory-perceptual games is a workshop of God, nay Gods home itself. Let us enter it and see how gloriously sublime He is. If we do not make use of our organs of knowledge, we are doomed. God, as Iqbal says, will ask these organs what role they have played and how. In fact every moment He asks these organs to give an account to their functioning but most of us understand not. Certainly these organs lead us, God willing, to paradise or, God forbid, to torture hell. We carry heaven and hell upon our own shoulders! Given thus the importance of eyes and ears, nose and tongue, skin and heart and also of thought processes of thinking, reasoning, imagination, judgement, analysis, synthesis we move with their help to INTUITION which as Bergson says is only a higher form of thought. But we need to cultivate all these things appropriately and satisfactorily, particularly in Islamic countries where they are left almost unattended. Thanks to Europe and America where tremendous progress is made for the development of these faculties. Television, computer and bomb-making we copy from the West but we do not care to see our sensory- perceptual organs fully developed. For this development we need proper food, rest, health and recreation first. We need schools (not shops where money is minted in the name of education and childrens minds are stuffed with information and rote-learning) to train natural endowments and faculties. Under nourishment, mal-nutrition, adulterated food, contaminated drinking water or insufficient health-care hamper growth and check development. God does not stop the supply of these things, nor does He issue economic sanctions, He is very kind

109

and the Quran is clearly showing that He has placed the whole universe under our command. This subservience of nature ensures our fuller development so that we use whatever we require in order to be able to use our capacities, powers and faculties to draw near to Him. No one is such a sustainer, caretaker, friendly and compassionate as God Himself. How on earth, therefore, can any sensible person imagine that He has made 2 to 5% people to grab the whole wealth of the world, say 75% to 80%, and leave 20 to 25% for the rest who are less powerful, less priviledged! Before Islam does anything else let Muslims believe this grabbing of wealth amounts to fraud and loot which hampers or even makes impossible the physical, the intellectual, the emotional, the moral and the spiritual development of mankind. This sheer exploitation of economic resource needs be stopped forthwith before huge mosques like those of Cordova are built all over the world to train soldiers and spies to guard this unearned, unjustified wealth. Wealth is a great FITNA or even the greatest because it does not allow people to live a fuller life in order to seek nearness to Allah on the Right Path. We know that mass communication and information technology have made tremendous progress in modern times. Almost every home in one form or the other has its impact. The Internet covers both information and education. But alas these brilliant devices are absolutely functioning under the control of those few people who involve millions upon millions of people in war and war-like conditions. The world is a furnace now. Anytime anything can happen. One doesnt know how these modern

110

resources can be freed from the clutches of the Hitlers and the Stalins of today. These heartless dictators are in league with Abu Lahbas, Abu Jahals and Marwans of todays Muslim oligarchy. No chance for the visibility of Face of God as long as this state of affairs continues to exist. Those who believe in productivity and creativity should take immediate steps for personal and collective improvement in whatever form possible. The road is tedious as well as dangerous but hope is our guide and Gods compassion our deliverance! Let peace and love prevail!
Greed has devoured all The plaintiff, the jurist The pleader, the judge Where to go and why To seek justice but how?1

So all this for WAJHULLAH, the Face of God! Not that God cannot be seen by man but the eyes with which he can be seen or better say is seen are not mans, are Gods! Mans insight is so sharpened by Divine Grace that the whole kingdom of God with God in the centre is visible. The idea is substantiated in the Quran:
So you slew them not but Allah slew them, and thou smotest Not when thou didst smite (the enemy),
1

111

But Allah smote (him)1

Therefore, what you see is not seen by you, is seen by God Himself.

reminds us of Mahmood Ahmad

Shabistari in Gulshan Raz wherein he says:


If it is permitted for the bush to Say, I am the Real, why then is It not permitted from the mouth Of an excellent man?2

The Burning Bush spoke to MosesAS, I am your Lord. It was his own heart that was illuminated. The voice came from his own heart therefore.3 The traveling, the travel and the traveler all become one and the distance between thou and I cease to be. In Bali Jabril Iqbal says:
Believers hand is the hand of God Creative, skilful, dominant, accomplished.4

It is this stage of awakening and awareness that explains non-being (

of a man who remains not silent or dormant but active, in the )


Being of God. This stage only explains that this universe is neither
1 2

The Quran, 8:17. Gulshan Raz, p.62.

When he saw a fire, he said to his people; stay I see fire; haply I may bring to you therefrom a live coal or find guidance at the fire. So when he came to it, a voice came: O Moses, surely I am thy Lord The Quran, 20:10-12.


112

independently existent nor functionally confronting. The visage of God reflected everywhere in each bit of matter gives it a status which in no way is material or the other. This can be read in chapter 55.
All that is on earth Will perish: But will abide (for ever). The Face of thy Lord. Full of Majesty Bounty and Honour.1

A strong desire or an urge to have a direct access to God is responded well. Even a single tear shed for the sake of beloved God has its positive effect. Restlessness and wail of a lover determine his status but the beloved at the other end, so to say, is shaken with each sigh of the lover. The warmth felt here is a warmth issued forth from there. Before Lailas curls get loose, Majnoons night becomes darker. When Farhad digs a canal amidst mountains, a murmuring stream begins to flow like the springing love of Shirin. There is always a hide and seek being played. Children play it in a child like manner but the lover and the beloved do it in the most exciting way, depends upon what the lover seeks and how serious he is about the beloved. When the earth is dug, bed made, seeds sown, water given, flowers bloom one day bringing smile to the face of the flower lover. Send a deep sigh up into the cosmos, you will see angels will bear it on their wings to place it before the one who broke your heart! A stone becomes an image, an idol, a god to a sculptor who chisels it passionately and artfully. It may seem absurd to us who
1

The Quran, 55:26-27.

113

believe in no God but Allah, but it will be the fruit of the sweat and blood of the stone carver. May be his hands get bruised, may be he works under the sun without shade, may be he goes without food and drink several times while he is working on the stone, may be his eyes swell because of sleeplessness, may be he burns mid-night oil thinking and imagining, may be he is sometimes alone and loneliness frightens him, may be people mock at him taunting and laughing, may be someone used to ritual calls him a senseless idler, but one day he finds his heart poured on the stone. Love is greater achievement but love of God the greatest and the best. Ask the sculptor he will tell you that his image on the stone is not stone; it is far more than that. It is subtler, smother, finer, beauty ingrained in stone. See beauty with the eyes of lover beholder, you will be amazed and lost. Ask him what beauty is, he will say:
My Love Ceaseless bounty of God Poured in sweat and blood Eternal and infinite!

Ask Rumi what is means, he will tell you the story of the shepherd and MosesAS. He will tell you God understands language of the wanderer lover only. He will tell you MosesAS gets a rebuke!
Have you come to unite O MosesAS Or to cause a schism Between Me and My beloved.1
1

114

Love is a strange world. Here there is no haste, no waste. Here all the theories melt away and all stories end with a positive sweet note:
It is the Lover Who is everywhere He is the wail The painful tale He is the seeker And the sought Ultimately he is one Who seeks none But Him!

But if all efforts go waste and blood is spilt like water and the lover dies on the sand of passion, he is the winner! Let Farhads beloved Shirin remain heedless in her palace tower grand, is it not enough that Farhad does his best? Is it not a very great achievement that he strikes his pick against his head and pours his red hot blood in the murmuring stream he cut in rocks and mountains? The music he produces cannot be heard by the wanton ear. Shirin or no Shirin, his job is done. The murmuring stream turns into melody by his blood. That is the visage of God to him, if not of the God of Mercy, of the God of blind love indeed! That is enough! Let us come back, we were carried to states which words fail to describe! Call on Me, I will (answer your prayer), says God in the Quran. He is with you, wherever yoy may be, is again a Quranic reward. This goes simultaneously with the visage-of-God urge. This goes with the callers call which emerges from the depths of heart. A call is never a lip service. It is a serious matter, a matter that consumes body as well as soul. The more the passion of the caller, the quicker the response I am with you. The call is not

115

verbal only, it is the expression of the whole being of the caller. The eye, for instance, may call Him with a deep glance over the petals of a flower and will see Him there! It may see Him in the flutter of wings from bough to bough of a bird fluttering in His search. It may see Him in the designs of a butterfly whose wings are never at rest. The caller may hear the sound of a thrush singing stealthily amidst plants and grass notes that know no end. Touch of a fragrant flower may be a call from God to make His seeker restless with a deeply sensitive message that it may send down into his nerve. The tongue has tastes that carry you with into the sublimity of God who is present in food and fruits and preparations of vegetables and meat. But He is present everywhere, with you also when no one is there! He shows His visage in myriad forms! That is the glow of His Being. That is where thou and I melt together into We. That is where multiplicity and diversity is finished. The single unity is born and the visage of God remains! Rumi sings:
It happened that we made a trip without We There our heart bloomed without We That moon which was hiding from us Put a face on our face without We. Not having died in the grief of the beloved We were reborn in his grief, without We We are always intoxicated without wine We are always happy without We Dont remember us ever, We are our own remembrance without We. We are happy without We saying Oh we shall always be without We

116

All doors were closed to us When the road of justice Opened without We With the existence of We, the heart of King Kai Qubad becomes a slave. If the slave is without We he Becomes king Kai Qubad. We have passed beyond right and wrong For the prayers and sins of existence without We We are intoxicated from the cup of Shams al Din; His cup of wine will never be without We.1

It is a state which speaks itself in the words of the Quran: God is pleased with them and they are pleased with God. It is here that contradictions are resolved by harmonies attending the state of absolute union in simple and understandable ways we may say that mans own heart becomes a Kaba and he submits through Salat (prayer) to his own self. The self takes a creative form and it gets involved in human affairs through constant guidance flowing in intuitive rapport. It is a never ending affair in which creativity and revelation take the shape of eternity. To allude to this state, we quote Hazrat Abu Yazid BistamiRA from Muslim Saints And Mystics:
On one occasion Abu Yazid set out on the journey to Hejaz, but no sooner had he gone forth when he returned. You have never failed in your purpose before, it was remarked. Why did you do so now? I had just turned my face to the road, he replied, when I saw a black man standing with a drawn sword. If you
1

A.Reza Aresteh: Rumi, the Persian, The Sufi, pp 7172.

117

return, well and good, if not, I will strike your head from your body. You have left God in Bestam, he added, and set out for the Holy House. A man encountered me on the road, Abu Yazid recalled. Where are you going?, he demanded. On the pilgrimage, I replied. How much have you got? Two hundred dirhams? Come, give them to me, the man demanded. I am a man with a family. Circle round me seven times. That is your pilgrimage; I did so and returned home.1

A.J. Arberry, P.114. (This is a short form translation of Tazkirat-ul-Auliya by Shaikh Farid-ud-din Attar).

118

The central prayer or

also mentioned in the Quran. For is

some fortunate souls this prayer carries a lot of significance as it is a means for rapid spiritual development. Such a prayer for them is attended by pleasures that in common Quranic language is paradise. For some, however, this prayer remains obscure. As for our 119

interpreters, most of them either maintain silence about it for the sake of secret-keeping or know it not. Whatever prayers, in short, are observed must be observed not as mere rituals but as acts that carry practical meaning in our life even after the ritual is over. The Quran says: Salat or prayer in no case must be taken as a non-serious matter. Those who offer prayers for meeting with God cannot but be those who are united with the whole mankind of all places and times and with nature and society. Greed or greedy ways of living do not touch them either in individual capacity or as a nation. No political frauds, no economic exploitation, no hijacking of religion for greed and greed of power, no selfish motives at the cost of peoples lives, no discord, no intrigues, no violence, no small scale or large scale killings in the most ruthless and brutal manner are possible there with those men and women who pray passionately. They know prayer is an ascension for a believer and it blocks his way to grossgess, indecency and evil deed. They know being in the act of prayer every time and always means being united with God. God forbid if they are not, then it is not prayer, nor even a ritual. There are very many people there, hypocrites in particular, who use prayer only as a pretext, even in lofty prayer buildings. Yet another dimension of prayer is that it must be offered standing, sitting, walking, sleeping or in whatever conditions we are. We have to be in Gods presence always in order to be true believers, true lovers of God. Hence our giving, our taking, our earning and spending; our eating and drinking, our wearing and

120

dressing, our planning things and executing them, in fact all what we do in our individual or collective capacity should not forget that we are in presence of God seeking His visage. Our body and soul, our private and public life, our wordily and non-worldly affairs must be geared to this goal and to this goal alone. Such a prayer has not to be formal necessarily. Rumi, the mystic saint of Islam, was asked how many times and when should we offer prayers. His reply was as apt as his glorious poetry and poeting, meaningful and Godconscious. He said: How many times and when we should not remember God and avoid being in the act of prayer. Let those who seek God and His countenance remember that our life and our death and whatever is possible between these two should do nothing but be in the act of prayer. Perhaps drunken from the tavern of Rumi Iqbal also extends prayer to our day to day as also to our creative life. In his lecturers he says that a student learning in a school, an observer of nature observing natural phenomena and its beauties, a traveler traveling far and wide through deserts, valleys, fields and gardens, a farmer toiling under the hot sun and producing at least eatables, a woman humming at the pillow of her sleeping child, a mother looking at her childs face touchingly and tenderly, a medical man trying to find out or discover a vaccine for a fatal disease or epidemic and a scientist experimenting in a laboratory are all examples of forms of worship. Kenneth Cragg also plays with this idea in his The Mind of the Quran. He says that a Muslim in his position of standing in prayer is free to look right and left, up and down to ponder over the mysteries of nature amidst which he lives and offers his salutations.

121

He may marvel at the vastness of the expanse and doing so develop the habit of constantly thinking about all marvels that define God as mystery. Cragg also things that prostration in Muslim prayer is recognition of the magnificent role the mother earth has been playing in throwing man out of its womb to discover God and His gorgeous activity. This recognition includes the story of the march of man from a helpless state to this state of mastery which defines modernity. Iqbal and Cragg or anyone else, this universe is a puzzle of God. Whosoever tries to solve this puzzle finds God in the solution whatever and is therefore in the act of prayer. We are conventionally aware of fasting and we know almost all religions have prescribed this method for self-control. But in Islam, besides discipline and self control, fasts or Ramadhan carry more meanings. We have not merely to abstain from eating and drinking and enjoying sex but to exercise control on hearing, seeing, talking, touching, thinking, reasoning and feeling as well. All idle talks are neither to be heard nor spoken, let apart abusing, shouting, quarreling and so on. The tongue is to be trained for the best use it can be put to in the vein of visualizing the face of God. Nothing is to be heard which does not correspond to the requirements of self purification. We cannot plot against humanity. We cannot harm anyone by word or dead, nor can make anyone uncomfortable by way of insult or abuse or bitter remark or ill will. All good morals are to be practiced to help ourselves or people. All morals therefore have to be functional rather than theoretical. Words are to be used sparingly and positive deeds are to be done frequently. Self-help and self-supporting activities are to be promoted and first come first

122

serve habit formed. Full attention has to be given to God consciousness and whatever one feels necessary for this purpose has to be done. Far more important than anything is that some sort of rapport if not a complete one is to be developed with God because the month of Ramadhan marks the revelation of the Quran to Prophet MohammadSAW. If receptivity of inspiration is not cultivated, the month of Ramadhan may not involve a Muslim actively in observing its significance and sanctity. In view of this active participation Maulana Jami sings:
O ye who believe! Be God-conscious, And let every soul look To what he has Sent forth for the marrow. Yea, be God-conscious For Allah is well acquainted With (all) that ye do.1

This Be God-conscious is alluring! How passionately alluring it is, indeed! So the countenance of God is to be sought in actively responding to the needs of the neighbour. But is that not the individual way of looking at the matter. Is that also not the conventional behaviour of the believing giver? We may have to pick up this divine guidance for a broader extension in the modern world. In the Islamic world of today there are a few very rich countries who with the grace of Allah are bestowed with immense wealth.
1

The Quran, 58:18

123

Such is the extent of the immensity of this wealth that it cannot be easily brought into counting and for specific reasons. In the spirit of the Quran this great resource is to be brought under the most creative and most beneficial way of spending, more so when the wealthy part of the Islamic world claims a leadership role for the entire Ummah as they call it. Necessary but huge grants require to be sanctioned and passed on to the needy communities wherever they are. These grants need not be spent in haphazard manner. These need to be placed in the hands of responsible bodies who in their own turn need to be made answerable for their role in planning creative spending. Poverty, health, education, food-production, industrialization and upliftment of weaker groups need to be earmarked as goals. All through the granting, the planning, the spending processes transparency needs to be maintained at various levels everywhere. This way poor societies may get released from the mire of poverty and utter backwardness so that opportunities for spiritual well-being are released simultaneously. No spirit grows wherever there is hunger, disease, ignorance and the consequential violence. Seeing the Face of God is a significant and essential milestone in that developmental well-being. We cannot ignore underprivileged people. The price for that is bound to be very heavy. Then we shall be laying the foundations of a system that shall be catering for the top brass of Muslim society and their luxurious living. We cannot also leave money and wealth in the hands of people, Muslim or non-Muslim, who grab resources of Ummah. Our God is one, we believe in all prophets, all of us offer prayers, observe fasts and if strong enough financially, perform

124

Hajj. We believe in angels and the hereafter. We bow to God in the same direction and we not only propagate but are the Muslim Brotherhood. We have to hold the rope of Unity and we cannot ignore Gods command of standing united. When all these things are common, our resources are also common. There is no division in Islam, no separate nationhood. Hence we have to share money, material and wealth equitably. Like Bani Umayya we cannot ignore Islam for power and politics. Our first task, therefore, should be to declare assets and resources in Islam. We should stop crushing the weak and the poor under feet and declare them as inferior or slaves. We must stop all activities that in the name of Islam we have launched all over the world to keep Islam backward. Our world does not tolerate Pharaohs or Nimrods or Abu Jahals or for that matter Changez Khans of modern technology playing nefarious role in disguise even in the so called Islamic countries. Unity of Islam has another dimension, unity that brings us closer to God. This is assembling together once a year in the month of Zilhaj in the sacred land of Mecca where Muslims from all over the world perform Hajj. Prophet AbrahamAS has been instrumental in providing this opportunity and Muslims have adopted his way of assembling and circumambulating round Kaba, the House of God. Muslims in Mecca circumambulate round Kaba chanting in Unison: Here I am at your service O Allah, you stand alone without any rival whatsoever. The Iranian revolutionary Dr Ali Shariati describes the circumambulation in the following words:

125

126

God Man And The Spectacle

127

Each speck of matter did he constitute A mirror, causing each one to reflect

The beauty of His visage. From the rose Flashed forth His beauty and the nightingale Beholding it, loved madly. From that fire The candle drew the luster which beguiles The moth to immolation. On the sun His beauty shone, and straightway from the wave The lotus raised its head. Each shining lock Of Lailas hair attracted Majnuns heart Because some ray Divine reflected shone In her fair face. T was He to Shirins lips Who lent that sweatness, which had power to steal The heart from Parwiz and from Farhad life His beauty everywhere doth show itself, And through the forms of earthly beauties shines Obscured as though a veil Whereer thou seest a veil, Beneath that veil He hides.1

Nature, man and society, the Face within the veil: let all the three seemingly separate entities merge together to form a whole
1

Yusuf U Zulaykha of Maulana Jami. Copied from Margaret Smith: Rabia Basri: The Mystic and Her Fellow Saints in Islam, p.60

128

which has neither the beginning nor the end, nor the soul nor the body, which is independent, self-sufficient, spotless and pure. This must make the beginning of this chapter which aims at understanding that nothing in the whole drama of life is defective, meaningless and useless, that nothing in nature, man and society is disjointed, that no one has power to assert I unless it means standing upright and awareness to probe in order to expand in knowledgeability and consciousness. What is hidden is not hidden, is apparent but the appearance is so effulgent, so sharply hot that the final word about it is neither spoken nor written nor will ever be so! Let us straightway begin with God and His praise because the Quran also begins with His praise in Shifa chapter. Shifa is called FATIHAH also, the opening chapter with its very important, very essential seven verses. We praise God because we are grateful to Him in countless ways. In this chapter we may mention as many favours of God as we can. But first let us express our gratitude for seven most important things:
1.

He created us and provided us with abilities, capacities,

powers which make us the best creation. 12 These capacities and abilities, potentialities and powers include our sensory-perceptual organs with which we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and feel. Our heart is the main centre of feelings and emotions. Without this basic potential man would not stand upright to face the world of nature and to live in a society. It is not easy to detail out how our senses work and the sensory organs that make their functions possible. It is
1

The Quran, 95:4 (We have indeed created man in the best of moulds)
2

129

also not easy to rationally analyse the working of our heart which as already said is known as FOAD in the language of the Quran. The world of dreams and aspirations, feelings and emotions require volumes for detailed description. Just a beat of our heart, with the compassion of Allah, can gain us insight into whole life and we shall be saved from all problems.
2.

God created us and gave proportion and order to our soul 1 He breathed into us from His own soul2 very

which

compassionately. How kind He is that He made man after His own image and therefore he is supposed to develop in him the same qualities that He has. In the last chapter we have alluded to SIBGAT-ALLAH which is colouring oneself in the Noor of Allah. Moreover, since God has made REHMAT necessary for Himself 3, we should also be compassionate and loving. Since our soul is Gods soul, we are not isolated from Him and will return to Him and Him alone as also because everything returns to its original source.
3.

So fortunate is man that God taught him all the names when

his creation was being considered by Him.4 Knowing names means knowing concepts. Since he knows all the names, he knows all the concepts. This leads as to think that man is knowledgeable potentially. Everything is written on his tablet, the heart. Shouldnt he be grateful to his maker? Is there a better friend than Allah who
1 2 3 4

The Quran, 91:7. Ibid., 5:29 Ibid., 6:12. Ibid., 2:31-33. It is Iqbal who in his English lectures proves that names are concepts. It is he who thinks that Mans mind is the PRESERVED TABLET.

130

taught him names. Angels had not been bestowed with this favour; therefore they could not tell man names the very first day of creation. Perhaps this also is the reason why man is known as the best creation. When he knows all the names how is it possible that anybody will teach him anything thenceafter.
4.

Certainly man is

indebted to his compassionate God beyond measures! Man is so great and so fortunate that he bore the trust which no one, no creature in the whole universe, had the capacity or power to bear.1 It seems God created him only for this great task. Undoubtedly this task is neither easy nor ordinary but man came forward to take the responsibility. Ever since he has been facing hardships and extraordinary trials to prove that he can execute jobs related with it. Suffering is a necessary requirement for bearing the trust because suffering alone makes a man great. One doesnt know why people, particularly Westerners, do not highlight this idea. One also does not know why Muslim scholars do not very clearly explain why the trust-bearing has proved a difficult task and how. Mans thankfulness for this responsible assignment cannot be understood fully unless we know how it has made man great in spite of its perils and dangerous involvements Always the head that wears the crown lies uneasy but this crown has gained man so much that he has forgotten his uneasiness and troubles after his achievements. This is very sad that mans true significance as the trust-bearing trustworthy has remained understated. Perhaps its highlighting would reveal to all and sundry that religion has made man really great and therefore man-God relationships in our times are vitally
1

The Quran, 33:72.

131

important also because today man has to bear things more heavily than in the past. This is evident that suffering makes man great as well as more powerful because he gets hardened on one hand and more powerful on the other to do harder and more dangerous things. Will Durant has briefly hinted at the trust-bearing of man but he has not very clearly given any credit to Islam for having included the things in the Quran. We quote him: Civilization is a union of soil and soul the
resources of the earth transformed by the desire and discipline of men.1 Behind the facade and under the burden, of courts and palaces, temples and schools, letters and luxuries and arts, stands the basic man: the hunter bringing game from the wood; the woodman felling the forest; the herdsman pasturing and breeding his flock; the peasant clearing, plowing, sowing, cultivating, reaping, tending the orchard, the vine, the hive, and the brood; the woman absorbed in the hundred crafts and cares of a functioning home; the miner digging in the earth; the builder shaping homes and vehicles and ships; the artisan fashioning products and tools; the peddler, shopkeeper and merchants uniting and dividing maker and user; the invester fertilizing industry with his savings; the executive harnessing muscle, materials, and minds for the creation of services and goods. These are the patient yet restless
1

Very easily the expulsion of Adam and Eve can be related to it. Man fell on the earth not as a result of damnation but for his tremendous role. See Iqbals



132

leviathan on whose swaying back civilization precariously rides. 1

The responsibility does not involve man only economically; it has many more involvements. Basically it is, bringing all things together in order to lift the veil to see and realize God. Everything is subordinated to the soul of man. Its promotion and strength can never be sacrificed, whatever the gain. 5. Man is not an animal. He cannot live instinctively. God has given him intellectual powers and reason to use his mind. He has the choice to decide between alternatives. That is how he drew near the tree of knowledge. His refusal to depend on nature exclusively like birds and animals means that he used his free will. Now he has the choice of adopting for himself either a positive course of action or a negative one. He is at a loss if he chooses the negative one. But if he adopts positive ways, he is a winner. AMAL-i-SALEH is the positive action. God has given him the powers by the exercise of which he can be in rapport with Him directly.2 His intellect can develop into intuition. Nature is full of signs of God. These signs provide lot of guidance to him to battle with forces that try to deviate him from the Right Path. So he must be thankful to God and praise Him for constant guidance. Even for his mental capacities he must express gratitude.

1 2

The Age of Faith, p.206. The Quran, 2:38-39. God through signs and otherwise sends guidance to him. If he follows it, he is successful This guidance is a common property: plants and birds and animals also receive it. The Bee as in Chapter 16 receives it too.

133

6.

Man is the main actor on the stage of life. He has all the

facilities given to him. We have already said he has ample powers and potential. But natural forces and nature has also been placed at his disposal. In 14:32-33; 16:12; 16:13; 16:18; 31:20; 45:12-13 for instance the Quran ensures him that he has all the divine help available and therefore he can act on the stage fearlessly and confidently. He has no reason to feel depressed or desperate. Lots and lots of praise be to God who is so gracious, so benevolent, so kind to man. Unfortunately the subservience of nature is also not emphasized by our religious preachers. One doesnt know why they are against mans self-confidence and self-assurance. They want to see man weak so that they can ride over him for personal interest? Man is a very strong creature because his best friend God is at his back. He must not stop even for a moment in expressing his gratitude to his nourisher and provider God. 7. God has always helped him or brought him into existence from a state of nothingness. Once he was so unimportant that he was not even mentioned. Then he was created out of a thick substance, a liquid which jets out as a result of union between a man and a woman.1 The union is passionate and totally absorbing because the
1

The story is not only interesting but marvelously amazing wonders upon wonders! First preparations within the bodies of the male and the female are made over a period of time. All kinds of things are geared into work for biological, mental and emotional preparations. Then adolescence sets in and there is fire there. The whole world, the whole universe begins to dance, so to say. Song and music sets in, vocal or non-vocal, this way or that way. Every object appears growing in beauty. Then the pair draws near; all feelings, all emotions begin their interplay both sides and mutually. Then the seed

134

human machine is to be launched for bringing a new life to the fore. Then he was continuously fed by things that God created or produced for him from time to time in the womb1 and after the birth into the world. How on earth can he afford to forget Him! Him who is so kind, so lovely, so protective, so providing, so caring! He does everything for man calmly and quietly. Every moment His work is going on and on; tirelessly, sleeplessly, restlessly. He does what none else does. Praise be to Him but are we able to express our adoration and gratitude for so much of providence and care? No! SUBHANAKA MA SHAKARNAKA HAQA SHUKRIKA. O God how pure thou art! I cannot offer my gratitude and thanks for what thou hath done for me! Exalted is thy pure Being! But thanksgiving and praise is not enough. Understanding His processes of sustenance and look-after are also necessary. We do not we ungrateful beings even understand the role of teachers or guides or helpers or parents in bringing us up. How can we even
and the egg and the jetting out of substances to facilitate production of life in Gods workshop! The whole story of Jene and DNA and food and fruit assisting it comes to the fore. Science, in spite of its wonderful achievements upto date cannot explain the whole story of the wonder. There are more secrets to be revealed. Then the role of the intellect and emotion and feeling in (Cont.) determining the new life and its quality more wonders, many of which unknown. O God! Then the arrangements of food inside the wombs and the mothers endurance and patience! Purpose? Lifes restless urge to manifest itself? God knows! Blood! Blood of the mother, God bless her! Let the faithful son and the daughter kiss her feet! But this food has everything for the growing babe. The machine of the womb is not electronic. Is it fleshy? What kind of flesh? So fine? How?

135

understand the role of our Lord, Our Rub (

with )

the limited

knowledge we have and also the limited experience. 1 And our parents do not do anything for us. Even they are made to work for us by our Lord God! The more we understand the mechanism of sustenance the more we desire to know of it. That is how God is great. The morning breeze comes with a message. Get up, take a bath, go out and feel fresh. Offer prayers to Him who is all around, in the colour of flowers and the fragrance they emit, fragrance of various types from various flowers of various hues and colours, row and row in foothills and on tops of mountains, cultivated or selfgrown. All sustain us because in all of them there is one God, because there is none else! Then begins the play of the sun beam and the sunshine, spreading light all around, over the hill and the dale, on the treetops playing with their lush-green robe and calm seriousness, playing with the zigzag waters flowing in streams, springs and shallow brooks musically dancing all over. The play is on. The fields are waiting for a wonderful sustenance cover-up. The sunbeam, the sunshine and the sunbath grow food and fruitvegetable and vine. They grow us also, directly and indirectly, through the direct touch with our skin and skinny bone, through the sweet fruit we eat, through water and waters provisions. This sustenance drama is all absorbing, wonder creating and if God Wills, riddle solving. We solve the riddle of sustenance if we ponder
1

This does not mean man knows nothing. See what MohammadSAW knows and how much. See what our prophets and saints and scholars know. But God increase me in knowledge, was the constant desire of the ProphetSAW!

136

over things, if we read signs of God in all things that sustain us. Sacred is thy Being O God, all this thou hath not created in vain! Everything sustains us, if not our stomach, our mind, if not our mind, our blood and so on. Everything sustains us because in everything is present God, the Omnipresent! But God is not a Rub only; He is Rabul Aalamin, the nourisher of all the worlds, as some say. Aalamin, they say, is the world of organic and inorganic things, the world of stones and rocks, the world of plants and shrubs and bushes and trees, the world of animals and birds and, above all, the world of human beings who bring everything with them. Variety upon variety is sustained and upkept by the Lord of the worlds. He is everywhere every time, apt and quick and exact. Food He gives, protection He gives, defense He provides and He arranges necessary things for growth and development of every thing. He grows blades of grass for the grasshopper and the insect for the bird who longs for insect feast. The bird is the prey for the fowler and the fowler brings his prey to the market for those who know roasting and eating skillfully and tastefully. The taste is provoked by the smell and the smell is sustained and so to say squeezed by the flame and the cooking art. Somewhere the Lord of sustenance provides a loaf merely but somewhere the substance is abundant, depends all upon what He thinks and for what divine purpose. The Lord is not helped by anything and any one, is arranging for the sustenance of the worlds, nor does He seek any opinion from anyone in doing so. With human beings, as with insects and birds, He is bountiful. So is He with snow and glacier and rain and water. The wind blows, the clouds

137

toss up and down in pleasant as well as fierce moods, the rains shower here and they shower there, on vast fields and barren lands, on thorns and flowers, on stagnant pools and running streams, but the growth is facilitated here quick and there slow, here scarce and there abundant. The drama is on and the Lord of sustenance is in full control of everything! Rabul Aalamin is also the sustainer of this world and the hereafter, some say. The whole drama of life is only a preparation for the hereafter, more permanent, more enjoyable, more meaningful, and more mysterious in spite of being open and unveiled. Never will things be unveiled in the absolute sense at least. Lift a veil now, you will find more veils underneath. And veils upon veils is the sauce of life, a continuous toss and dance of imagination and intellect, feeling and dream. Ones heart may beat with the awe of the continuity and constancy of search, unendingly merciless as it is, but one will learn to pause and pause for a new take-off, refreshing and revitalizing! That is true but this world is as busy as the next one in its own way. We need the sustainer more here perhaps because what we sow here, we reap there. Hence sowing may be more important than reaping. The sowing as well as reaping is not taken in the ordinary and conventional sense. The sowing is mental, psychological and spiritual. This world is on fire. Every bit of it is burning with desire and search and re-search. What we finish today, is unfinished tomorrow. If we sow a seed today, we need a handful of it tomorrow and bagful the day after. There is more smoke than fire in the world, more night than day, more black than white. Once you are upright on your feet, you will never rest. Nothing will let you rest and never. You need sustenance upon sustenance from your Lord because otherwise you the tiny creature 138

have no possibility of coming out of darkness to see things clearly in the hereafter. And who knows whether there is a possibility of rest there or not? But rest we do not require, we who are drunken with passion, passion for life. Lovers need no paradise for rest and eternal song! They want passion and pain!1 Let us now pass pass gently into the world of REHMAT, the universe of providence. It is the most striking phase of Godhood AR-REHMAN, AR-RAHIM. These two phases are one essentially, merge into the oneness of Allah. AR-RAHIM is more active than AR-RAHMAN but the former cannot work without the latter. One hundred thirteen chapters of the Quran open with Allah, Rahman and Rahim and 56 times2 more the AR-RAHMAN is spread over in the Quran. Chapter 55 is named as AR-RAHMAN separately. It defines the concept directly as well as metaphorically. MARYAM, the 19th chapter repeats it several times, one doesnt know why. The chapter number chosen for Maryam is 19th. The number is significant. The Quran in spite of everything is a mystery. And there are mysteries upon mysteries in it. How lucky, how great is the man on whom the Book is revealed and he knows everything about it.!!! Rahman is all creative, the creative process itself. The world of creation is full of colourful amazement, puzzle and wonder. Birds
1

Songs sung by Mir and Iqbal can be referred to: (Cont.)

I have myself checked Rahmans frequency in the Quran but only once. May be I am not correct cent percent.

139

create, animals create, human beings create: even plants and trees create, so do flowers and fruit. Even in mountains under hard and soft rocks the process of creation is one. Strange chemicals interplay and action and reaction give birth to metals and matter. Iron and copper, gold and diamond, zinc and coal, thallium and cobalt1 and many other things are produced in the underworld. Who knows what is happening underground and how many agents are at work with what raw material and equipment. When, for instance, the earth sucks moister, how does it do so and with what intelligence. Every preparation has its own appointed time, and time is therefore a determining factor? How? Does time flower there, pollinate there, produce things like pollen to attract pollinating agents like water, wind and insects and birds and so on? Does time wither like leaves in autumn there too? For what? For a newer life? What happens in freezing cold in regions where the sun does not reach? What agents play the part of sun there? Geologists, miners, geographers may know the answers but better answers are available through the messages that descend here on this earth every moment. The plant gets these messages, the bee gets, all insects and birds get, so get animals. Why not human beings therefore through AR-RAHMAN, again? How do hoopoes know where the male bird is, where the female bird is? Do they sing mating songs? Do we hear them? Is
1

God has lifted Afghanistan up. The for what fault have you been beaten has brought them Mercy from God. They are now rich in minerals more so in gold, thallium and cobalt. One does not know that the west will not steal away these things. However, Afghans can now solve the problems of hunger and thereby problem of blood flow~. Perhaps no brown sugar will be produced there.

140

this the functioning of AR-RAHMAN, the power of creation? Animals attract animals, birds birds, insects insects, flowers butterflies and human beings human beings. Birds have colorful feathers. Developed by Rahman? Animals have strange shapes and sounds. Developed and provided by Rahman? Horses run and neigh, mares neigh in response. Does Rahman whisper in their ears? What happens to snakes, to snails, to peacocks, to butterflies? Are their sounds, their body moisture, their design and colour, their softness and delicacy involved in creation and are all these things plus many others of the sort defining Rahman? Rahman makes men create more men but Rahman makes them create many more things to make life worth living and better. Whatever has been created in modern age has been created by Rahman. If Asians do not follow Ar-Rahman, Europeans will. If Europeans do not, Americans will. Ar-Rahman does not confine his activity of creation to particular regions. Wherever there is response, there is follow-up, he goes there.1 If Muslims do not create a social order in which possibilities of conquering nature are provided amply and sufficiently, ArRahman will create some other people who will do it. God belongs to all and all belong to Him. Rahman is no special prerogative of anyone, any people, any nation, any time! This activity of Ar-Rahman passes on. He creates speech. Speech of birds, of animals, of human beings, OK! But do other creatures of God also speak. One thinks yes. The moon asks a poet to come out and compose a song on it. Iqbal writes a song, rather
1

If your turn back (from the path), He will substitute in your stead another people; then they would not be like you! The Quran, 47:38 (This is in Sura MohammadSAW)

141

songs. He communicates with the moon and the moon corresponds with him. The dialogue spreads over many things.1 But the moon is in correspondence with the sun and with God too. Everything in this universe is in praise for God. Plants receive light and change their directions, if needed, to receive it. They get minerals from the earth. They are in touch with other creatures. Similarly animals have fur because they know it protects them from environmental dangers. Bees have beehive for many purposes. How do they make it and with which material? Who guides them for gathering materials and for building beehives? Which language have they to communicate with flowers wherefrom they collect honey? We have hands and eyes and other parts of body to make gestures which is also language. What gestures are made by other creatures and with what? Swaying in breeze is a gesture for plants, flowers and trees too? So is swaying a dance, as good as of human beings, worse than that or better? These questions are strange but not meaningless! Is our language the same everywhere? Do our languages differ? Why? Due to which factors? Is silence also a language? Is the language of looks and eyes the best one? Or is there any other language? How did Solomon build rapport with animals and birds? Do springs and brooks and rivers sing? Do pebbles and stones sing too? Do we hear the language of Zabarwans and Mahadevs? Do we correspond with stars and planets? Does milky way create turbulence in our mind?
1

Read Iqbals meaningful poem.

in

Bang-i-Dira. It is a wonderfully


142

What words, what similes, metaphors and alliterations and allusions we use in listening to the songs of the sea, the wind, the zephyr and morning-evening calm? Does the whole universe speak? If yes, woe to those who do not listen to the music of the universal language or the language of universe! How poor, how dead they are! See how Ar-Rahman works in creating vocal cords and tongue to produce not merely sounds but songs and song-styles. See how our vocal apparatus works at various occasions, in ordinary language or in language we speak at special occasions with various types of people. We quarrel, we express anger and joy and love and feeling but every time our speech ability shows its feats according to the situations and requirements. At such occasions as extreme grief and sudden elation our language is almost a reflex action. All these things reflect Ar-Rahman and we adore his excellence! This excellence can be seen in many more ways. It can be seen in the course that the sun and the moon adopt. The poet says that the moon is in love with the sun and therefore there is always an attraction between the two. The scientist says that the movements of all natural objects floating in the void are regular, computed and perfectly errorless. The philosopher may say that the moon gets the borrowed light and therefore is dependent. All borrowing is dependence! Besides, moons light is a reflection of the sun. When we look at the moon, we form an idea of the sun. We can see less intense glamour and grandeur of the sun. More tolerable is the moon therefore. Similarly prophethood is more tolerable than Godhood. God is Jabbar and Qahhar also, sublime and powerful and at times ruthless and difficult. The best way to face God is through

143

adoration, praise, benediction and submission. It is very difficult, very dangerous to say I . Mansoor Hallaj said I. He was hacked and burnt. His place was not here. It was there where habit and phenomena are not there, a realm where intensity can be experienced and enjoyed with. The Ar-Rahman play can be seen in the animal world and in the sphere of vegetative growth; both interdependent. The corn, the seed and the husk are found in abundance from earliest times, and also fruits, wild and grown. In between these things the earth, the sun and the sunlight work essentially and vitally. Without water and warmth, light and lights benefits there is no growth, no development and therefore no life possible, whether of animals, of birds, of insects and tiny organisms. Even plants cannot grow basically to provide for others. But winds and gales, trees and plants, sun and suns heat all play and interplay to make seasons, weather, rain and rains-element, clouds. They are always there, with Rahman, to work wherever they are in need of. Excellent but when this interplay goes on, moods and looks of nature change and also lifes phases, at various levels. Colours and colour blends, shapes and shaping, forms and formal looks, scenes and scenery add flavour and fragrance to life and its pleasure and pain. The tiniest and what Wordsworth calls the meanest1 flower or its bud tells us the saddest story and sings us the most impressively melodious song. So Rahmans providence is also a source of beauty or in other
1

If I were Wordsworth, I would not use the word meanest. No flower is mean, perhaps nothing is mean. Wordsworths full line: To me the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

144

words Rahman is beauty himself! But this beauty makes the whole universe beautiful! We should not forget to mention deep waters and sea, not only to praise and adore Rahmans provisions for the fish but for all sorts of water bodies. Fish are not of one kind only; the biggest and the smallest fish are there, swimming and twisting or perhaps dancing, mating and praying. The discovery channels show us wonders of the sea and we get lost when we see and hear discourses on them. I call it a discourse because the commentaries are not less important than religious discourses. Gods greatness can be seen and also His providential grandeur in the world of fishes how they take water and other living substances, how they see and hear and feel and understand and mate and multiply and so on. But they are a food for human beings and the food is rich. To make the food abundant we rear fish in fish forms where we can see them every time as we see birds and fowls. Fish in waters have food in animals but they are themselves food for their enemies. One doesnt know why death in that sense snatches life from these beautiful creatures? Do they get any discount for this type of death? We know man dies not but joins a better life in the hereafter. But what happens to fish when they become food for others. This is no poetry, is philosophy of religion, is Ar-Rahmans riddles to be solved by our intellect and meditative intuition. The sea life or the life in waters does not end with fish. We chose one animal. There are other animals also. Some are very dangerous for man. But sea has pearls and corals and other valuables. We wear them and adorn ourselves. Perhaps we join the Beautiful by adorning ourselves with beauty aids. The adornments

145

of pearl and coral trigger off our emotion, may be lust also and perhaps the warmth produced affects our blood and bloods role in reproduction. Ar-Rahman sharpens our thinking and imagination to understand hidden secrets of divinity and to benefit from them. Then in the sea and waters are boats and ships, exactly and in metaphorical sense. We know that these serve an important means of transport even today. Supremacy on the sea depends much on boats and ships. There are no sails now. The navigational feats are easier and safer. May be ships do not help us in trade only, they widen our horizons too. It is an adventure to be on the sea, and if possible, in it, better mechanically. But boats sail like the Ark of Noah also. They help us from drowning or sinking into the sea of life. That is more dangerous and more perilous. We must be grateful to Rahman who provies us boats to be safe from sinking. The greatest benefit of Rahmans providential play is not easy to achieve. The providential game or drama or whatever you call it liberates man from earth-rootedness and takes him to unending flights. He is not a bird but he has wings to fly and those wings are provided or developed by providence. Once he conquers space and time and whatever is in them, he becomes powerful to fly with the wings that he develops thereby. The skies are opened for him and he travels beyond mundane sights and horizons. The skies are not physical necessarily, not the ones that are conventionally known to people, the blues all around us. They are mental flights and imaginative excursions but mental or imaginative is not mental or imaginative absolutely; they are accompanied by concrete realities that we see with our eyes normally or touch or taste or whatever.

146

Our paradise also becomes streams and springs and shades and fruits and drinks and it is. While we are here in this phenomenal world, we have to use language and language without materials of expression is impossible. Hence Ar-Rahman, while helping us soar helps us with concrete realities also. The state of being in a position to soar is pleasant and we offer our gratitude to God for this! We may have not said enough about Allah, the Lord of the universe and man , the sustainer of life and the provider of everything, material and non-material. But in the sense of this book we have tried to deal with essential things so far. We shall now attend to hallowing of the earth which Islam took upon itself. The earth till the coming of Islam was controlled by gods and goddesses and nothing was left in the hands of man. People believed in the sun-god, the rain-god, the river-god, the god of disease and pestilence. Beauty and carnal love was also managed by a god, so was manly valour and strength. Even behind mountains and rocks and trees and in springs, wells and graveyards spirits dwelt. No place was left empty. Islam sent all these gods away declaring there is no God but Allah. Then, as before, everything began to be controlled by Allah and there was no need of making sacrifices, human or animal, in cash or kind. Now the sun is the source of light and Allah Himself is defined as Light. Now the river is not controlled by any supernatural deity but harnessed into life-givig and life-supporting natural power. It began to be used as to metaphor for life which is continuously flowing, regularly providing support to growth and development. Love becomes a great force to burn like fire everything that is impure and it provides a bond

147

between human beings on one hand and between man and the universe on the other. Beauty envelops the whole world and pushes aside everything so that nothing but God can be seen in anything charming, graceful, proportional, symmetrical, harmonious, attractive and bewitching. Through His signs God becomes visible in the expanse that wraps us up. So what is light in the sun is glow in the moon, is twinkle in the star, is vastness in the void, is silence of the night, is chirp of the cricket, is croak of the frog, and is twitter of the owl. The dawns evanescent smile, the mornings brisk laughter, the days warbling brightness, the evenings brooding calm and the nights soothing sleep are all as good expressions of the same reality as is childs innocent play, adolescents busy revelry, mothers selfless love and husbands fondling gaze. We see Him appear in the youth and age, growth and decay, life and laughter. He aspires, hopes, fails, wails, succeeds, delights and shares love and living. His is the day and days toil, His is the night and nights dream and when He wakes up, He feels fresh and fine. His moods are numerous and his modes visible every moment in His skilful work and creative role. Exhaustion touches Him not nor does He wink or sleep. He is wet and dry, soft and hard, thick and thin, sweet and sour; sometimes a wound, sometimes the pain, sometimes the balm but always busy. We see Him everywhere but He is very near to us, nearer then our jugular vein! In order to hallow the earth we cannot throw stones out, nor wooden blocks, nor paper and pencil and colour and brush. He is the stone, He is the rock, He is the woods, and He is the wood. Not only pen and pencils but everything that is needed to draw, He is that and

148

that abundantly. On each leaf you see His drawing and on every fruit His colour. He is the colour of the egg and the hue of the blonde eye. He is the pattern of the autumn and the bloom of the spring. He melts like snow and flows like torrents of water. His cascades are many and his spring fountains countless. How can we count His art because His art knows no bounds. We astonishingly praise Him for His majestic Hand! The earth is sacred because it is beautiful. Beautiful God is reflected everywhere. For instance He is reflected in stones: round, flat, rough, coloured, multicoloured, cheap, precious stones. Taj Mahal is beautiful, so is Red fort and Fatehpore Sikri. Ajanta is famous for its beauty, so is Elora. The whole of Rajasthan is historically known for its stones. But only India is not beautiful for stones; other places are too. Iran for Asfahan, Mashhad and Shiraz. Even Turkey has stone grandeur! Where do we not have stones? Go to Cordova, the mosque there built by Muslims is a great piece of art. It is one of the wonders, also for its stone work. Even in Western countries we have stones, precious as well as ordinary. But ordinary stones are also precious in the eyes of the beholders of beauty. Precious ornaments, also in the crowns and thrones of kings, queens and monarchs are extremely beautiful. Stones find their place around necks and on breasts. So even some great men like Akbar and Khusrov bow their necks for diamond necklaces or chains or what have you. Real grand beauties salute stones and wear them even in their hair. But stones enrich kingdoms and kings palaces. Rich mans pride and honour is measured by stones too, so is of the wealthy tradesman and bureaucrats. Stones are found

149

everywhere in mountains and hills, barren lands and roadways too. They are natural decorations. Some look like snakes, also due to mass that gathers round them; lines upon lines of such stones are found in stone walls presenting the most beautiful sights. Stones in streams and streamlets, rivers and rivulets, brooks and brook banks are a world of their own, to play with weed and water, fish and frog. They produce music with water but without water too their music has been heard and enjoyed with. Some people claim direct communications with stones in the broad day light, but in the moonlit nights in particular. If you doubt ask poets and see their poetic compositions around stone. It is not only one Wordsworth, one Azad of Kashmir who play their imaginative feats with stones, thousands of other poets do as well. So do stone cutters, builders, pebble-designers. Farhads also do for their Shirin sweethearts. Noose and noose-trap is a story Heart and heart-beat a sweet melody Heart brings Moses to the Mountain Seeing Gods face! Can it be easy?1 Stones are beautiful but snakes are beautiful too, in spite of their bites and poison. If you play with snakes mischievously, they will cause you sleep to death. Their long, thin as well thick coiling bodies are colourful and grand, designed and beautiful, their tongue presents the grandest view, with its constant flick. Their hiss and their zigzag move is not something that your constant attention and gaze can miss. But snakes are not only this much. One wishes one
1

An attempt at translating Iqbals


150

could be a snake charmer to play on a snake charming flute to make them enjoy music and dance. One would rob them of their consciousness by giving them a heavy dose of musical charm Ah! Snakes are charmed by music. But music charms cows two. They give more milk. This is one relation between the snake and the cow. Another is that they are a part of nature, both of them. Yet another that they produce sounds to correspond with their kind and to cheer us. We can also interpret some of their sounds. If we are more fortunate, we can understand more about them, perhaps everything depends how your soul is awakened. If your soul is awakened you can understand everything about cows, snakes, snails, birds, bumbles, bees and beetles. You will enter the body and soul of tigers, bears, wolves, lions, elephants and buffaloes those who are wild and enjoy their freedom licenciously but spontaneously. So beauty is found in all creatures who enjoy not only their graceful form and manners but of others of their kind as well or of those of different make. For instance birds make their nests with particular kinds of straw because the straws are functionally beautiful and comfortable. Some use colour paper-bits and pieces of cloth that have prints. Perhaps all this to increase their passion for beauty and to please their kind. Can be said their sense of beauty is divine in spite of their little tiny bodies and little tiny eyes! But birds alone arent pretty. The beauty of waters, of clouds, of rain and snow, of hail and frost is superb. But what is not superb in nature at its own place? Even a very small plant growing in a forest corner over a peak has its grandeur and grace. Here you are, with your wonder and quest, to see how God plays hide and seek. A

151

lonely violet by a mossy stone near Gangbal or Tarsar or Marsar squeezes your hearts blood if you throw at it glances upon glances. But why? Do you know the language of flower? Does your heart know it? Why does it get involved through its window the eye? God takes you to the mountains to see lonely flowers but He makes you spend sleepless nights too, to watch stars, millions upon millions of them, shinning like precious diamonds or fancy light bulbs. If you get familiar with the lights of these stars, doomsday at a starry sky night will befall you, doomsday not to finish with you but to awaken you to seek a beautiful, extremely beautiful, phase of God! Which of the favours of thy Lord, then, will thou deny! The sense of beauty is restless to mention more and more objects of nature plants, trees, bushes, flowers, fruit, corn and seed. Tiny plants have tiny roots to take less food from the soil, to grow in abundance. Perhaps they are required more than trees by many creatures, insects, animals and human beings. Their trunks are tiny too. Some of them, require support. Sometimes they get it spontaneously. A tiny plant may grow on a tiny tree or over a wall or a support that you may not provide for it. Some plants are shortlived as compared to others. Some are very useful, some, as we think, harmful. But nature knows whether they are harmful or useful or useless. We have already said nothing is useless or sportive merely. Plants are more frequent than trees. Is frequency more beautiful or rarity or are both equally beautiful. The more you step up on the ladder of life, the more you become rare. Rarest is the Chinar that grows for many years. Plants have flowers and seed but only some have fruit for man. Fruitless plants also may have fruit

152

but not for human beings. Flowering seasons or flowering time is more beautiful than other periods of growth. Bees and butterflies and bumbles and bulbuls have a busy time in flowering season. Like wanton boys and girls these pleasure-loving creatures think that flower season is only for them. They may be husbands but not the masters of the whole process. They may, like bridegrooms wear drapery, as do flowers wear to attract them and also like brides but how do they know that the game is more complex than simple as they see it. They think they only are important but do not know that God is far more important or better say most important of all and the whole game of life including of flowering is for God and God only. Gods beauty seeks seeds and corns to perpetuate life but seed-production requires song and dance of the bird and colour and hue of the flower too. Beautys play and at times songs and dances of the play make beauty more intense, more sublime and therefore more overwhelming for the beholder or the lover. One is fascinated by the flowering season of plants and trees but one is aghast when one sees bunches of fruit hanging and slowly and steadily developing colour simple or blended. With colour developments seeds too develop and when it is ripe time, fruits either fall suddenly or automatically or are collected by men who trade with them. Even the busy days of the trader from the days of budding and flowering and growing and ripening are a long story of beauty because of waiting, watching, curing disease and watch-keeping against birds and other thieves who want to have their share of fruit not in an orderly manner. In this preparation of growth, flower and fruit, hundreds and thousands of workers employed by God, the

153

Beautiful, play their role and also the sun, the wind, the cloud, the rain, the day, the night, the weather and the season. The methodical and mannerly management is beautiful, so is regularity, timely provision, quantity of provision, proportionate distribution of requirements and food for this growth and development. Beauty needs no ornaments but plants and trees develop their ornaments in the process of growth and atmospheric and seasonal change. Very attractive colours have been seen in tiny branches, in twigs, in boughs, in leaves and in trunks in all seasons. In springs colours are more fascinating but in autumn blends and juxtaposition are so subtle, so charming and fine that one is simply spell bound to see them. Even in winter one can see a strange ornamentation in bare boughs and branches which look like an interwoven network. Trees are not ghosts, nor ghost like. They are a fine work of bark and branch. A symmetrically formal shape is seen from the lower trunk to the upper and from the upper to the branch-spread. Thick and thin meet together from the root to the leave. The softness of the twig with colours on it makes the view so pleasant that the eye does not like to return. In spring season and when fruits are ripe the ornament is more visible than it any other season. From a distance one can see flowers and their shapes and colours creating a marvel of decorational grandeur. Pruners and shape makers get lost in beauteous wonderland if they understand how the hand of nature take care of this harmonizing wake-up. Beauty is a dance the swings of which take care of time and tide. Babble of babe changes into pleasing shouts of a child who frisks with language as small girls frisk with new born lambs. Songs

154

of adolescence, full of passion and pain, pass into sermons and sobs of middle age and then into brooding memory. What is a toy in early childhood become a tombourin in adolescence, a tool in adulthood and a trough of hot water in which old age warms its feet. Children are not so fond of hair dress and hair oil as are boys and girls passing through colourful age of puberty. Eye brows and collyrium lose our attention when we pass from youth to age. Family and family welfare programmes and involvements appear more charming to married life which seeks more morals than romantic songs of the Persian poet or of Rasul Mir of Kashmir (God be pleased with this faqir of melody)! The seductive jingle of bangles lose their colour when age ripens into wisdom and flowers into fruit. Children appear more beautiful than spouses and their education and health invite the attention of parents most. This is how joys and joyous days of adulthood turn into passing-shows and the worries and anxieties of old age set in. Old age, however, has its own attractions in scriptural heavens wherein youthful girls with downcast eyes play around streams and gushing fountains and cupfuls of wine are offered by attractive and bewitching eyes in fearless and free atmosphere. There in that world are no policemen with long moustaches to frighten out the demands of passionate love and absorbing beauty. Beautiful women become heavier due to childbirth and childrearing but childrens beauty absorbs them so much that their minds become smarter than their bodies and their kiss and hug assumes lofty details around the necks and breasts of their lovely babes. Food preparations for children and childrens fathers turn into occupations where frisking plays and beauty aids of

155

early days melt down into lost memories. House decorations and decorating materials so dear in post-marital periods fade away into diapers and pads which modern age has invented to lessen the strains of motherhood. The colourful silken scarves of haughtiness get drenched with the sorrowful tears of childrearing! But many a woman become ladies with productive and creative sophistication that await them in this age in which children are getting neglected more and more. Mothers, moreover, show more interests in their husbands than in friends with whom they shared their pain and pleasure when unmarried and young. But if friends are more reliable and interesting than husbands in the post marital period due to the dominance of psychological urge and the overdose of greed, then friendship assumes meanings more real, more enduring and everlasting than of any other relationship! Human heart is too childish and too jumpy but when it cultivates serenity and wisdomdepth, it becomes infinitely surpassing everything! But that was about human beings. In lower forms of life too age does not disturb beauty or its changing colour. The crow of a hen begins to fade away when she sits on eggs in order to hatch beautifully feathered chickens or young ones out of them. She is wiser now because her frequent crowing or singing does not disturb the human beings who do not understand the productive impulse of song and music. A steed runs and neighs at the sight of a mare who throws backward glances at him even when she is grazing but when the mating season is over, the running and neighing seek other directions and glances become feebler. Pups play more frequently than dogs and when age overtakes them their speed of running gets

156

lessened. One day you may see them hardly move. The fur on dogs bodies is smoother and more beautiful in their youth than when they grow old and like ruffled plumes of a bird their skins grow unpleasant. But they say an aged dog is a better friend that one who runs after its mate even when it is not a mating season. A cats mew is pleasant even to frightened children but when it prowls for rat, its playing paws get more sharpened than the nails of a preying bird, the kite. The vegetable plant looks very attractive in its dark green leaf but when like tomato and bringel, pepper and carrot it assumes colourfully rich form, we get amazed, not simply but meditatively. Cauliflower and pumpkin, radish and red been play their own pranks but when they enter the kitchen to seek preparations in oil and ghee and spice and garlic, they shoot up imagination for tongue and taste. Apple in its variety has busied Persian poetry and beloveds are addressed in its language, not only for its fragrance but also for colour and sugary balm. Seek the company of orange and strawberry and pomegranate and pineapple and cherry, the apples singularity will increase for blended taste and delicious flavour. The peer does not go waste because its juice is as perennial as its shape drawn in oil colour for Londons Art gallery. Give juicy pears to farmers toiling under the sun of dry September, they will remember its March flower when in their adolescent play they would may around flowered pear trees. Let us visit the skies and the stars, the moon and the Milky way to see how beauty plays hide and seek with changing time and its timetable. The morning stars passage over the dawn starts

157

smiling because she knows the bright sun with its grand appearance is soon to come. The twinkle twinkles because the moon is shy though its moonlight peeps through the nights veil. When the night passes into its late hours the dogs bark is heard more and the shooting stars anger goes out of control. The restful silence behind the curtain of a drawing room begins to change sides when the fragrance of rich mustard flower grown in vast fields is carried by the gentle breeze into the privacy of early wake-up. The full starry sky plays a competitive match with moon beams in clear November skies over saffron fields the purple petals wherein hide the real saffron from the eye of insects perhaps because their greed may rob the plant of its valuable wealth. The delicate thread of saffron like the tongue of a snake does not flick, as it is too shy to tolerate the full moons eye. But when it is gathered into compounds by the saffron grower, it is peeled off from its purple cover and left to dry up. Times hand places the same saffron into the market place where it is seen even by those who do not like to buy it. The saffron fields go bare one day and the starry skies that used to shower their lustful smiles over them are overtaken by frequent cloud-cover which in its own way presents yet another beautiful scene, more so if in intervals the cloud formations are interrupted by the moon beam. The cooling atmosphere down on the earth seeks warmth from the stars and the milky way and the newly married couples begin to twinkle like the luster of love! The winter is not a disturbing factor for youth whose warmth of passion has hundreds of starry skies in it to shoot up like the full bright shooting star! But ah, age! It reads poetry wherein imagination and metaphor take the shape of allegories full of Yusofs

158

and Zulaikhas, Sheerins and Ferhads, Lailas and Majnoons, Heers and Ranjas and Rumeos and Juliets. These allegories float in the starry skies and the moonlit nights of their own kind and we forget all about the fullness of this seeming void. Beautys changing moods are in itself a great beauty. One of its moods is when it takes a formal interest. Though Islam in Abraham vein took no interest in shapes carved on stone, it never lost interest in the shades of shady trees where paradise-dwellers fondle with untouched virgins of equal age. Keats liked the Grecian Urn and its shapes which to him assumed everlasting life. Wordsworths Lucy was to him as attractive as his highland lass whose absorption in reaping and singing was as much divine to him as the growth of uncountable daffodils over the lakes bank. Iqbals beauteous form was Cardova mosque whose formal beauty was loves passion and passionate love, a never ending engagement of the noble soul. The Qurans interest in rains and sudden growth of flower and fruit; in mountains and mountains colourful rocks; in seas and pearls that divers get, is astonishing but meaningful. Allahs eyes are also keen to seek form. Therefore He created this world of plant and tree, fruit and foliage. He follows games of pairs and therefore And we have created you in pairs. His interest goes on and on to appreciate his own Hand in grapes and clover, olive and palm, fruit and herbage; fountains and flowing waters, thrones, cushions, carpets and silks and so on. One must be sensitive enough to feel the Quranic interest in form and formal beauty! Beautys intensity can be realized and felt when we leave the forms proportionate make and harmonious look. But proportion

159

and harmony, line and length, figure and ground and many other hues and colours of beauty are more inner than outer. Perhaps more intense inner is the sap of the tree that provides it food and colour and also uprightness and grandeur. Perhaps this too is a form. Then we remember an Indian sage who told his disciple to bring a fig to understand the soul. What the disciple could not see with the external eye in the fig was its soul. We quote Will Durant who relates this story in The Story of Civilizataion
Bring hither a fig from there Here it is, Sir Divide it. It is divided, Sir What do you see there? These rather five seeds, sir Of these please divide one. It is divided, sir What do you see there? Nothing at all, sir. Verily, my dear, that finest essence which you do not perceive verily from that finest essence this great tree thus arises. Believe me, my dear one, that which is the finest essence this whole world has that as its soul. This is reality. That is Atman that are thou Do you, sir, cause me to understand even more? So be it, my dear one.1

So innerness of beauty is loves flame in the bosom of the mother, in muscles bread-winning vigour in the arms of the father, in doleful play in the glances of a lass and in welcoming thrust in
1

Our Oriental Heritage, Vol.I, p. 414.

160

the steps of a lad. We see hearts elation in the colour of the cheek and the glooms evil in the dilation of the eye. The colour of the soul appears in the henna of the bride and the jingle of her bangles is the expression of the music that the strings of her soul produce. Your grief may appear in overeating or in fasting or in crying or in reducing tension in whatever play you pick up for yourself. Your dreams may appear in choosing song and music or in digging beds for flowers or in arranging things in your room or in writing stories or in stroking your paper with colourful pens or brush. The inner beauty does not remain hidden even in veils that conservative society forces upon its female folk. Nor can beards hide the love that priests have in their bosoms because the styles of trimming will tell onlookers the whole story. Leave the inner and outer of beauty, come to it wholesome. Sleeplessness is beauty when it becomes fondness for stars and sky, moon and moonlight spread over tree tops and mountain peaks. Beauty is basking in the sun of a blonde-eyed youth who has come from a far away- Western land to feel the touch of the sun on the shores of Gangbal lake in Kashmir. The blonde eye is beauty, so is the youth, as are the waters and the heights on which the lake is situated. Differentiate the lake over a mountain peak from the swimming pool of a five star hotel in a hot city, you will feel beauty in various styles and moods in natural and mechanical form. The waterfalls of Kashmir can be compared with the waterfalls of Shiraz and the poetry of Hafiz with that of Rasul Mir or Mahjoor of Kashmir and when you do it you will be singing a song for beauty in its subtler ways. But stop for a moment and see how the child

161

plays with dolls and delightful designs, see also how busy she appears in her innocent days, you will forget the collections of a youthful lass around the days of her marriage. The dolls are beautiful so are the drapery and the dress being wedded into the pleasures of the union of souls! Nights get shorter and days longer when you hear the flutes of love being played by the flesh and blood of human soul. Flowers appear more attractive, more fragrant when henna covered hands place them round the necks of husbandry that appear prettier if they are high and lofty. Beauty throws its charmful nets whenever and wherever it finds a chance! The sounds vowels, consonants, diphthongs, nasal of the Quranic words is a world which needs special attention of expects who are not seasoned only in sounds but also in music that these produce. Mehadan, Autadan, Azwajan, Subatan, Libasan, Kiraman, Sirajan and many other words of this kind produce notes as if of nymphs of paradise which we have neither seen nor heard. Similarly, yalamoon, talamoon, gafiloon, yooqinoon, warisoon, jahiloon kinds of words do not lag behind to produce surpassing melody. Sunaa, Mashhooda, Ahada, Furuta, Abada, Rashada, Shatata when compared with ghafirin, Salihin, rashidin, Rahimin, Qanitin, Muslimin give effects which produce turbulence in the minds of sound experts and instrumentalists. We are giving examples of individual words with their combination of sounds an effort which does not give us a complete idea of the sound schemes of the Quran. Read the verses of the Quran and see how you feel but if you know how to recite them, the feeling is doubly intense and effective. The rise and fall of your voice together with the help that

162

it receives from such sounds as long AAA ( the repose ) disturbs of angels, so to say, and they descend to hear you and your Quranic melody. Angels and melody? This is also a wonderful gift that the Quran can offer, believe it or not. Recite the Quran, with your heart in it, you will feel tone and tune embrace each other to lift you into realms of peaceful ecstasy! But the Quran is not only sound; it is also meaning put through words and expressions. Again a field of experts but we outsiders of the language can feel how carrying natural backgrounds and historical settings the words and expressions create linguistic paradise. The meanings are lofty as choices of words and expressions are apt and appropriate but the effect they produce on readers heart and soul is tremendously forceful and seductively alluring. One is certainly carried to a world which is definitely not mundane but mundane plays its part to make it what it is. YosefAS, for instance, is thrown into the well but immediately he is carried to a palace in which he is taken in various ways and welcomed through need, reason, passion and wonder! Words and phrases, expressions and allegories accompany the chariots of meaning which lift us into the heavens of Godhood or divinity. The human, it seems, is not at all involved but the human and the divine join together is such a melodiously transcendental form that you are wonderfully spell bound and aghast! YosofAS only is not there, MosesAS is also present , with Burning Bush and Lustrous Hand to narrate the story of Egyptian king who thought he can replace God but, lo, saw Him in the deep waters when he lost his life and lifes meaning together with his army of men and power.

163

Meanings of the Quran carry the realities of world along particularly when nature provides appropriate settings to them. The nature verses that we find in the Quran, therefore, stir our imagination and unfold meanings which otherwise remain obscure. We quote here some:
Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the Night and the Day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah sends down from the skies and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth; (here) indeed are signs for a people that are wise.1 He it is who sends down water from the clouds for you; it gives drink, and by it (grow) the trees on which you feed.2 He causes to grow for you thereby herbage, and the olives, and the date palms, and the grapes, and all the fruits. Surely there is a sign in this for a people who reflect.3 And He has made subservient for you the night and the day and the sun and the moon. And the stars are made subservient by His command. Surely there are signs in this for a people who understand.4

1 2 3 4

The Quran, 2:164 Ibid., 16:10 Ibid, 16:11-14 The Quran, 16:11-14

164

And what He has created for you in the earth is of varied hues. Surely there is a sign in this for people who are mindful.1 And He it is Who has made the sea subservient that you may eat fresh flesh from it and bring forth from it ornaments which you wear. And thou seest the ships cleaving through it, so that you seek of His bounty and that you may give thanks.2 And surely there is a lesson for you in the cattle; We give you to drink of what is in their bellies from betwixt the faeces and the blood pure milk agreeable to the drinkers.3 And of the fruits of the palms and the grapes, you obtain from them intoxicants and goodly provisions. There is surely a sign in this for a people who ponder. And thy Lord revealed to the bee: make hives in the mountains and in the trees and in what they build. Then eat of all the fruits and walk in the ways of thy Lord submissively. There comes forth from their bellies a beverage of many hues, in which there is healing for men. Therein is surely a sign for a people who reflect.4

The sign values of these verses is vitally important. We cannot pass by these natural phenomena casually and unmindfully. We need to be very careful and vigilant or otherwise we miss them.
1 2 3 4

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid, 16:66. Ibid., 16:67-69

165

Their understanding is vital too because the meanings hidden in them are to be applied in life mainly to understand the working of divinity in nature and therefore to understand Allah. They are sure to create wonder in us because the setting is so designed that it is in no way simple or ordinary. The wonder is there because the worship is highly interwoven and intricately interdependent. The formation of clouds, for instance, is caused by the heat of the sun, is facilitated by the wind and also depended upon the alternation of day and night. The temperature variations caused by this alternation are also significant. The clouds are not an independent phenomena too. These have to go from one place to another to shower rain. They have to make no difference between the hill and the dale, between the spring and the pool on the road, between the heap of garbage and the rose beds of a garden, between the poor mans vegetable garden and the rich mans orchard. The wind, the cloud, the night, the day, the sun, the varying temperature are all geared together for a shower of rain, mainly to facilitate vegetative growth. Only one kind of food is not to be arranged for: the root is to suck minerals from the land, the insect is to take its own share, the sparrow and the kingfisher have to have water as well as food, the crow has to steal away fruit due to watchmans dozing but certainly owing to the compassions of the Providence. On and on and on goes this cycle going day and night, resting never. Take yet another example of the bee. It goes from flower to flower to do its own job of collection of honey. But before that is done, it is attracted by the flower. All the arrangements of delicacy of the petal with different hues and colours on them and also attractive designs are there. Fragrance is carried

166

around by the soft movement of breeze which also makes gardens dance very artfully and subtly. May be the bee is invited to draw near the flower by the fragrance of the particular flower too. May be the movement of the plant and the tiny branch shows it the way. But the bee anyhow goes there, draws near, sits at the centre of the flower and sucks the thing it wants. But how does it see the centre of the flower? Does it find its way to the flower-centre only as the bird finds its track in the skies while it flies or does something else, like its smell or its vision help it find the place, one doesnt know. The expert of birds and insects as also of flowers, may know. However the wonder is there. The wonder reaches its zenith when we observe the beehive or the honeycomb of the bee. The dexterity of building is superb and marvellous. A tiny creature and this skill of building and sense of material collection! A tiny creature with such a mind and feeling! God! Only thou can produce and teach or train such creatures. The climax is that the bee is guided by revelation. It builds homes where no one builds, safely and PRIVATELY? Wonder! Other wonders are also alluded to in these verses, like the production of milk in the bodies of animals! On one side is the most delicious, most useful thing produced-milk! On the other, the dirtiest and the most harmful thing the faeces! The animal belly is the production centre. There is no possibility of infection carried to milk. All kinds of creatures take milk agreeably. No one, nor even human beings refuse to take it. What we call animals are our mothers in the sense of providing milk. But, our illtreatment to them! Beverage! From grapes particularly! Intoxicants! What does it all mean? What far is the beverage? If it is for

167

intoxication, why is intoxication required? Have we to understand the utility value of beverage or its moral impact? Can the two go side by side with each other? Or is beverage mentioned only as a gift of God which tones up? God is great! He entangles us in strange webs! Our attention is drawn to nature through nature verses. That is right. But why should we understand them and if not what will happen? We are given to understand that these verses are a part of the Quran. They are a Quran within the Quran. If we do not understand them, apply them in our life, we will be denying to accept divine guidance. And when we deny guidance of God, we blaspheme. We are KAFIROON, the heretics. By this denial we shall be deprivating our own selves of the benefits of divine guidance. Hell or not, we shall not be making ourselves a candidate for seeing the face of God. We shall not be trying to approach Him and to draw near Him. We shall be by own negligence missing the paradise of union with God. We shall, therefore, be failing ourselves as human beings worth the name. Hence there is no possibility of being blind in the sanctuary of God which is nature. We have already referred ourselves to hallowing of nature. But before we hallow nature, we shall have to hallow ourselves. We shall have to build such relations with nature as help reach God, as much as God Wills, as much as we deserve, as much as we try. We shall have to seek un understanding of how nature, man and God are one. The failure of man as man is due to divisions in his own personality. Our observational stock, our own hearts are so defective

168

that we see many things instead of one. And that One is God. As long as we do not see oneness, we are impure! A difficult questions! Do all of us have the capacity of observing nature, seeing the signs of God in it, understand the signs and then apply them in day to day life? Most of the people today, as in the past, are so absorbed in bread and butter, in the ordinary business of life, that they cannot undertake the task. The Quran, in spite of common mans claim to it, is already proving to be a book out of his reach. When another difficulty of seeking the book of nature is added to it, its comprehension as well as applicability becomes harder. But what then is the remedy? We have seen and experienced that men of letters only do not enter the kingdom of God; people with no education, no skills to read and write, have also been claiming maturity in religious and spiritual matters if not as puritans and recluses, certainly as mystics and Gnostics. And many people of humble background believe and practise things which even scholars do not have an idea of simply because God opens up their intuitive eye and they lead a very meaningful life. We have seen such people in different places at various times. Even now our world is not without people who enjoy God-given gifts of head and heart. However, in spite of all this the guardians of our religion and society should very seriously understand that empty stomachs find it hard to approach God and that ignorance is the greatest evil that keeps people away from the house of God which nature is. Instead of keeping themselves busy with authoritarian control of the innocent people, these self-appointed guardians should employ the spirit of Islam and fight against economic backwardness intensified

169

by ignorance, lack of education and culture. In the light of modernity they should take creative and productive steps towards this direction. We have in this book given certain definite and practicable suggestions to follow. Another difficulty of understanding Ayat or signs of God in nature crops up when they take a metaphorical or allegorical form. If like idols, however, metaphors are broken, strange meanings will get unfolded. Water, for instance, takes the meaning of gnosis or knowledge and Tree of occult understanding. Similarly sowing of seeds becomes whispering secrets in the ears of a disciples heart and sweeping is regarded as cleaning ones heart of the effects of bad deeds through prayer and alms-giving. Thunder is taken as Gods wrath and dark clouds are bad moods that blur understanding. Islam is idol-breaking religion and Muslims should learn to be iconoclasts also in the sense of breaking idols around them in nature and society. People of humbler birth and background should continue trusting God who one way or the other opens their inner eye and intuitive insight so that they understand the symbolism of nature in their quest for God. Much depends on their sincerity and warmth of heart in seeking Him who sees them and hears their lament and prayer! Sanctuary of God as nature is, it saves us from blasphemy and superstition. As we discussed before we see God in the form of beauty reflected everywhere. Each leaf we see is a mirror and also each dew drop on the petal of a flower. Shelley is great as he sings:
All the earth and air With thy voice is loud,

170

As, when night is bare From one lonely cloud The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflowed. Like a glow-worm golden In a dell of dew, Scattering unbeholden Its aerial hue Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view:

But Shelleys song is in praise of the skylark whom he finds everywhere. Our song is in praise of Allah who is present in the sanctuary of nature. The Bulbuls twitter is He, the flowers hue and colour is He. He is the winged joy of the butterfly who tosses from flower to flower, now here, then there, enjoying flowers and collecting honey. He is the bud, buds opening, the flowers soothing smile and the fragrance borne by the wind to olfaction awake. He is the music and dance of nature, in woods, through swaying bough and branch, in the sea where tides rise high to embrace the glowing and the peaceful moon. He is the heart of the sensitive poet whose imaginative composition seeks Him both in the rosy bush and the thorny prick. He is the astonishing splendour of the dew whose mirror has in its bosom all that is delicate, colourful, pleasant and marvellous. He is the eye of the bumble-bee whose musical tunes are triggered off by the wonders of things provided in the paradise of gardens variety. He is the serious heavy sound which when mingles with the wetness of gardens atmosphere becomes heavier and ever more melodious. He is everything which knows no end, no languor, no rest, no sleep. It is a continuity that absorbs everything, 171

everywhere, everytime, a full time absorption for the worshipper who is thereby engaged in the stillness of his act of faith. There is no question of monotony much less of superstition and superstitious fear that involves only the idolatrous mind. Let us now come to love, the source of man and nature, the fountainhead wherefrom everything springs. Some say God Himself is Love because He is involved in it. And (have We not) created you in pairs

speaks of the drama of life which He is


1

Himself playing because He has produced it. Let Rumi speak:


One night I asked love, say truly who are you? She replied: I am everlasting life; the succession of happy life! I tasted everything, I found nothing better than you. When I dove into the sea, I found no pearl like you. I opened all the casks, I tasted from a thousand jars, Yet none but that rebellious wine of yours Touched my lips, and inspired my heart. Hail! O love, that bringest us good gain Thou that art the physician of all ills, The remedy of our pride and vain glory. Our Plato and Our Galen! Through love the earthly body soared to the sky. The mountain began to dance and became nimble Love inspired Mt Sinai, O lover, (so that) Sinai (was made) drunken and
1

The Quran, 78:8

172

Moses fell in a swoon. Through love thorns become roses, and Through love vinegar becomes sweet wine Through love the stake becomes a throne, Through love the reverse of fortune seems good fortune, Through love a prison seems a rose bower, Through love a grate full of ashes seems a garden Through love a burning fire is a pleasing light. Through love the Devil becomes a Houri. Through love the hard stone becomes soft as butter. Through love grief is a joy. Through love ghouls turn into angels, Through love stings are as honey, Through love lions are harmless as mice, Through love sickness is health, Through love wrath is as mercy.1

Rumis revelry is not only Rumis: millions of millions of lovers sing with him and for the sake of nothing but God. Prophets have sung loves song, saints and seers have, mystics and sufis have, poets and philosophers have. Even scientists sing love songs, not only in their private apartments which are a part of nature, but in their laboratories and observatories also. Stone cutters are singing love, so are farmers in the open on their farms under the hot sun. Frisking girls sing its praise, so do wanton boys who run after flies
1

Rumi, The Persian, The Sufi, pp. 76-79. Once easily understand that love turns this mass earth into a paradise in which there is no God but Allah. And that is true!

173

and butterflies. Women in chores of everyday living sing its melodious tune also to see their misery off. Men when alone on a hilltop sing its sweet songs as shepherds sing it out while playing on their classical pipe. Love, glory be to thee, thou hath pierced many hearts unnoticed! Some like to call love fire but when it takes the form of unfulfilled desire, its flames rise high to burn even the sky that fans it like the wind. Its dreams burn men and women like candles alike but when morning dawns at them, there remains nothing of them but ash. Ash is so dear to Gnostics that they rub it on their foreheads to show that their destiny brings nothing for them but it. Love is very hot in the prime of ones age but when the age sets aside the prime and cools down, love seeks meanings that time feels jealous of. Then rise loves flames and sparks so madly that even sanctuaries seek their warmth. Iqbal, the poet, in this vein also felt that his love creates tumult and turbulence in states which we define as the Being of God! Whatever the fire of love, the Gnostics believe that it burns everything to prove its own purity. Loves own moods change. Sometimes it maintains silence but its silence may tell us thousands of stories in sobs and wails. However, when the milder expressions lose their effect, hysterical cries and shouts set in. Majnoons stories are not only yesterdays nor is a stone-throwing show finished with him. Today also love finds Majnoons in new forms who are detected not necessarily in deserts but on the roadside as well. Not stones but shoes are showered at them to tell love that it cannot seek bolder expressions even in the so-called modern age. But modern age has its own methods of protecting love. It gives love garbs of song and dance

174

and poem and poetry and music and art. However, when these garbs exhaust, even drapery and designs, architecture and painting, calligraphy and decorational art provide the deception. Bodily gestures also feed love but when these fail too, plays and activities approved by culture take charge. Mehjoor says:
Every moment beautys dazzling modes change, Loves eyes perceive them in full range. Flowers come and go ever and always Bulbul changes not too its loves ways.1

Love starts with body but when it matures it leaves the body like the soul at the time of death. Our mothers give us birth but when our own romance takes hold of us, we forget them if not easily. Sound minds, however, are grown or developed in a sound body. Similarly mature love receives a good nourishment from physique. This law of nature, of God cannot be changed. And, as Syed Hussain Nasr says, union with the Divine can best be understood through carnal love. If the latter is only a transitory state, the former is enduring and everlasting. Perhaps here, too, love is the most sublime activity. Our wealth is weariness, says Will Durant, and our wisdom is a little light that chills; but love warms the heart with unspeakable solace, even more when it is given than when it is received.2 And Nietzsche says, in true love it is the soul that embraces the body.3
1

2 3

Will Durant: The Pleasures of Philosophy, p.114. Ibid, p.110.

175

To conclude this chapter, shall we now proceed to the creation of man which is mentioned by the Quran in the most wonderful and thought provoking way and which gives us a peep into the nature of man. See what the Quran says:
By heaven and by the night visitor. Would that you knew what the night visitor is! It is the star of piercing brightness. For every soul there is a guardian who watches over it. Let man then reflect how he is created. He is created of gushing water. Which issues between the loins and the chest bones.1

The wonderful story starts with nature here also the heavens and the night visitor. NAJMUSSAQIB is the word used by the Quran. Here the translator translates it as Night visitor. We are not experts. Otherwise we would translate it as the star which shoots or as shooting star. Why the heavens, why the shooting star? Because the verses on the creation of man are following. When the conception in the womb of the female takes place, the flights of the male and female are as birds flights into the sky. They are at the peak of their emotional and spiritual state. Out of this peak like the shooting star, shoots the jetting substances which issue forth from the loins and the ribs. And the shooting star is Noori (of the substance of Light), not physical, not material in the ordinary sense. It is taken care of by the guardian who watches over it, by God naturally! While the male and the female are busy or absolutely involved in the act of creation (as the co-workers with God?), the shooting star, the soul that is
1

The Quran, 86:1-7

176

getting transferred from the loins and the ribs to the ovary, where a new life is starting under Gods control, is also shot. The machine, the human body, is working under the plan of God. The man and the woman are fully participating. The scheme is divinely sacred. The process is sacred too. The agents! Are they divine too? Let man see is a warning suggestion or suggestive warning. It must not be missed. Then creative signs of God will be missed. But are man and woman really so intelligent as to understand the whole process, the whole mechanism, the whole scheme, the whole chemique and the physique of it? Is this sophisticated process understandable by man/woman? What will they understand? Why is the watery substance issued forth in JETS? What is the organic arrangement? How is the organic arrangement made and when? Who makes it? Were any cautious precautions taken and by whom? which foods? Which environmental elements were used for this process? Is there any role of food and facility in the formation of the jetting substance? What are the biological involvements of the substance? What are genes and DNA? Do we know everything about them? Does the man and the woman in the reproductive act know genes and DNA? What effects do emotions and feeling at the time of coitus leave on the gene and the DNA of new life? When that gene and DNA will be asked to give an account of what it did in the world, will that account involve others also who were involved in producing gene through food and emotion, intellect and feeling? All these questions and their answers shoot up agitations in mind and soul before we reach certain conclusions regarding the act of creation! The family and family welfare, the emotions and feelings

177

of all the members of the family and also particularly of parents are very essential in understanding things about human creation here and now. The circle will go on widening bringing in all environmental, political, social and cultural factors in the creation of a human individual. Religion is a serious matter which involves everyone and we must not make it as simple as attending a ritual or buying a loud speaker for our mosque!

178

179

Social Harmony And Islam

180

Those who spend their wealth by night and day, privately and publicly, their reward is with their Lord; and they have no fear, nor shall they grieve1

Those who swallow the property of the orphans unjustly, they swallow only fire into their bellies. And they will burn in blazing fire.2 O you who believe, devour not your property among yourselves by illegal methods except that it be trading by your mutual consent. And kill not your people. Surely Allah is ever Merciful to you.3

Society is a universe of its own kind. Man who lives in it makes it so to a great extent. Man is himself a universe. His needs and urges, his aspirations and ambitions, his dreams and goals may create social problems which may float in social stratifications,
1 2 3

The Quran, 2:274 Ibid., 4:10 Ibid., 4:29

181

playing and interplaying, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly and fiercely, giving rise to changes or at times revolutions. This being so, the subject is very interesting, more so when it gets related to religion or when religion plunges into social drama. Soon after Prophet MohammadSAW appeared on the scene of Arabia, an arid Bedouin land, his encounter with its problems began. But when the Quran came, he announced his social reforms in its chiseled religious language. Let us begin our discussion on this reform with one of the most comprehensive verses of this marvelously musical piece of Divine Literature.
It is not righteousness That you turn your faces Towards East or West But it is righteousness To believe in Allah And the Last Day, And the Angels, And the Book, And the Messengers; To spend of your substance, Out of love for Him, For your kin, For orphans, For the needy, For the wayfarer, For those who ask, And for the ransom of slaves; To be steadfast in prayer, And give Zakat,

182

To fulfil the contracts When ye have made; And to be firm and patient, In pain (or suffering) And adversity, And throughout All periods of panic, Such are the people Of truth, the God-conscious.1

Great and grand the word of Allah as it is, Mohammad SAW declares that nobody in a multiple society has a monopoly to assert as a sole guardian of Truth and Righteousness. No one, however, can deny that God has always been merciful and gracious in providing guidance to people so that they can live a life of purpose and honour and also discover truth saving themselves thereby from Gods displeasure or wrath. The guidance is provided through messengers who have come to various places in various times. There is no difference between a messenger and a messenger though in degree some excel others. Islam has given a list of some of these prophets or messengers. But while the names of all the prophets have not been given, it has been clearly said that no nation can exist among the galaxy of nations without having a prophet to guide mankind there. If we move from general to particular, we will through the Quran learn about the prophets who came to deliver messages from the time of Abraham (God be pleased with him and his progeny), who proclaimed his firm belief in the oneness of God and the unity
1

The Quran, 2:177.

183

of mankind. We will learn that MosesAS and ChristAS were great prophets and also Joseph and David and Solomon and Zachariah. Islam does no deny the teaching of these prophets. One the contrary, what they said or did is mentioned in the Quran which is the Book God revealed to MohammadSAW . The Quran includes even those who are neither Christians, nor Jews, but who in their own way believe in one God and worship Him according to their belief. If these people do good to themselves as to others with whom they live, God is pleased with them and promises them fearless and happy life. The Quran says:
Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good, they have their reward with their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.1

The acceptance of the multiplicity of faiths in a community dominated by idols created by the hands of man is marvellous. Islam is clearly seen laying the foundation of a pluralistic society there in the arid land of Arabia and here in any part of the world provided that the faiths that claim to be sound proclaim their belief in the existence of God and use their faith and resources in the service of mankind and in doing all those things which nourish the soul of man. There is no social chaos, no social disharmony and no social prejudice. There is no force, manual or cultural, economic or political and no social restrictions imposed. Let everyone follow his faith and conscience. The Quran:
You who reject the faith (kafirun)
1

The Quran, 2:62

184

I do not worship what you worship And you do not worship what I worship I am not worshipper of what you worship You are not a worshiper of what I worship. A reckoning (din) for you and a reckoning for me.1

The idol worshippers of Mecca didnt accept even that. They tried to fight MohammadSAW and his faithful followers and annihilate them so that they do not establish a just society in which everyone has a right to live and live his faith. Today also Muslims are frightened out even in their own lands by the so-called Muslims who do not want equality and egalitarianism, who by the exercise of their power and influence want to exploit weaker sections so that they live like kings and enjoy life without caring for values and principles that promise good and smooth living for all. But today also Islam has enough of potential and strength to live and let live amongst the galaxy of nations and amidst varieties of cultures. Today also Islam offers tolerance that is required for colourful and smooth living of peoples with different persuasions and inclinations. It is absolutely horrible to see that the enemies of Islam outside this faith use the so-called Muslims to see Islam either weakened or hijacked or finished with. The most unfortunate aspect of this nefarious design is that pseudo-intellectuals, pseudo-religionists and morally weak people are bribed heavily through money and power to divide Muslims and to either weaken Islam or change it drastically. With all that Islam responds very favourably. It clearly presents its wholistic view that mankind is one and indivisible. All
1

The Quran, 109:1-6.

185

peoples put together and all over the world make human culture worthy of its name and of positive offerings. It does not look down upon any community or any nation provided that it does not face dangers of its own annihilation due to the exploitative designs of commercial greed and its supportive technological supremacy. It extends its hand of cooperation in a world which cannot afford confrontation in the interests of a positive world culture and globalization. However, it rejects any imposition that threatens its hard-earned spiritual glory and historically appreciated cultural excellence. In the light of the comprehensive verse with which our discussion began, perhaps enough is said about derecognition of East and West division and in the respect of one Godhood, one spiritual guidance, one book and one message. Let us immediately attend to hard realities of life that disturb social harmony and create trouble for man. Let us first take money and wealth which is the basic evil if it conquers man through its allurements and greedy offerings. What is to be done with it and how is it to be spent. Islam offers a very convenient solution for the Arabs of yesterday and the world community of today. A share out of the money and wealth that we have is fixed, 2.5 percent. Very easily agreeable, perhaps even for the greedy. This is Zakat, the poor rate, something that makes wealth worthwhile or in Islamic terms purified. Without it wealth or money is impure, is the suggestion provided in the term Zakat. But how does it contribute to social cohesion or social harmony. 2.5 percent is very little as compared to 97.5 percent that remains after the Zakat is given out or paid. True but your wealth

186

may not amount to Rs.100, it may exceed thousands and hundred thousands. For example if it amounts to 1,000,000, you will have to pay Rs. 25000. This amount is handsome and can save many people from dire need. But then the total wealth possessed by the rich in a society may not be only 1,000,000; it may be 100,000,000,000,000 offering millions to the poor and the needy. Imagine a society that was offering nothing, offers millions when Zakat becomes obligatory, the poor and the needy will have a good time. Zakat explains something is better than nothing as well. And God who makes Zakat obligatory knows how much of wealth people have, how much they hide and count stealthily. Therefore, He takes 2.5 percent off it to make a good offer to the depressed and the destitute. Again, to distribute money amongst the moneyless is marvellous. First bond between the haves and the have-nots is established. Envy and heartburning is taken off. Hearts are brought closer than before. Something new is done. Simultaneously love of an impure thing is decreased, even if it is equivalent to 2.5 percent only. Above all, God-man relationship in terms of money spending is established, let us say to the extent of 2.5 percent at least. Zakat is purification of money, may be of character, may be of soul! God is flying many kites with one string and that too in the desert of Arabia where He is seen by many in the form of a cup of water and a pair of dates only. Peace be on MohammadSAW and his progeny. This man in deserts is building a society on sharing little things and building brotherhood! But Zakat is substantiated.

step

is

taken simultaneously. And they ask thee as to what they should spend. Say: whatever is left after your needs are fulfilled, runs the

187

Quranic verse (2:219). This is not as obligatory as Zakat, is only mandatory. Perhaps for those who think 2.5 percent is insufficient, perhaps for those who are more inclined towards a just society, perhaps for those who love dry months, weak children, weak mothers, orphans and slaves, perhaps for those who think money is not as good as winning hearts of those humans who are crushed by the wheel of time. Once the first step is taken, other steps follow. Whatever you can spare after your need is done, serves a death blow to greed. Why should one work for money greedily, night and day, at the cost of human value and brotherhood of mankind, exploiting people and making them work like cart-driving horses and asses. If satisfaction of bare need is the meaning of money, why should one die for it. This psychologically effective divine guidance is carried by

It became really a love dose. The faithful lady .

KhadijaAS abandons everything, even her own self, for the sake of God, to MohammadSAW, the Prince of the two worlds who didnt own even an apartment for himself. AliAS follows and sleeps or stretches on mere and bare sand to be called an Abu Turab which means both the sleeper on sand and master of the earth. Fatima follows, let the noblest things and the sweetest things be her share! She works with her own hands and has nothing even for her sustenance. She gets only suffering for the sake of MohammadSAW and for there is no God but Allah! AbubakerRA follows by drawing very close to MohammadSAW in the cave and to Madina. Bilal follows, Salman follows, Abu Dhar follows. Faithful friends follow! God be happy with them all and be they rest in paradise and peace! They follow because it is the best course to follow. The course that

188

leads to greed and wordily luxuries is not good; one must seek God and follow Him on the right path:
Fair-seeming to men is made the love of desires, of women and sons and hoarded treasures of gold and silver and well-bred horses and cattle and tilth. This is the provision of the life of this world. And Allah with Him is the good goal (of life.)1

If this injection of

goes

to the blood of man as had

gone into the veins of AliAS, he does not seek money or wealth or property in kind or cash or whatever of that sort. He seeks Truth, Beauty and Goodness three things in one God. This is straight and clear but wealths baseness is emphasized in other ways too. Are you gathering money, for What? Dont you know this habit of assimilating money will be of no avail to you at a time when you will be buried under heaps of earth in your graveyards which day by day you are approaching? Do you know that pits of fire are waiting for you if you do not give an account of how you made heaps of gold, pearls and diamonds? Look:
Abundance diverts you Until you come to the graves, Nay, you will soon know Nay, again, you will soon know. Nay, would that you knew with a certain knowledge! You will certainly see hell, Then you will see it with certainty of sight; Then on that day you shall certainly

The Quran, 3:13.

189

be questioned about the boons.2

And do you backbite proudly on the basis of wealth you have accumulated? Do you count your property and exult! Do you think this will remain with you for ever? And of what use is Abu Lahabs wealth along with what it has earned him or given him?2 Very impressive warnings against a danger that we generate for ourselves by falling in love with money, by accumulating it by hook or crook. We should give it away and keep only that much that fulfils our needs. We should not hoard because hoarding is base:
O you who believe! There are many among the priests and anchorites, who in falsehood devour the sustenance of men and hinder (them) from the way of Allah. And there are those who bury gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah: announce to them a most grievous penalty. On the Day heat will be produced out of that (wealth) in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs This is the (treasure) which you buried for yourselves: you then taste

the (treasures) you buried.3 The story does not end here. Whenever the heart-melting verses are revealed to MohammadSAW, suddenly there is something that encourages spending in the way of Allah for the poor and the needy and patting philanthropists whose palms are always open to give and give adequately. And whatever you spend in the way of
2 2

The Quran, 102:1-8. Ibid., Sura 111 which condemns the habits of Abu Lahab and admonishes his wife who was an enemy of MohammadSAW and Islam. The Quran, 9:34-35.

190

God for your own soul-benefit, you will find it with your Allah there as it is good and brings you reward, renders the Quran in the chapter entitled as MUZZAMIL, the cloak. The cloak makes MohammadSAW a messenger of God, the cloak wraps him when he is shivering with heaviness of message, shivering because divinity cannot be borne easily by flesh and blood. This cloak was thrown at MohammadSAW by noble KhadejaAS who realized the value of the man and the message he received. But both

and ideas

are repeated in the Quran several times to register the usefulness of spending. The most important benefit of spending money amongst the deserving is the seeing of the Face of God. A society where the have-nots and the desperate victims of hard days receive such an encouraging treatment, such a life-giving support from their brothers cannot but be an ideal society, something which is a dream of the men of today! So far we pointed out certain ways in which wealth is distributed in a society that conforms to Islam. We have not forgotten to mention another mode of giving out money: lending. Lending money is not to be avoided when someone in need comes and asks for it. Let the borrower bring in writing what he has borrowed and from whom. Let the writing be witnessed by two male witnesses or by four women.1 The conditions of borrowing or/and lending should be put forward by the borrower in order to make sure that he/she is not borrowing under pressure or compulsion. Usury should be absolutely abandoned because usury
1

This is not an Absolute law. Now that women are also strong, their witnessing should be considered by Jurists in modern perspective.

191

has no place in Islam. Islam or better say God blots it out and promotes alms and charity. Once the money is lent out, the lender should not be in a haste to get it back. Possibly the borrower may not be in a position to return the money. He may be in straitness or

The writing is suggested because in its absence the lender .

or the borrower may play mischief the witnessed writing, furthermore, eliminates the possibility of dishonesty. It is also possible that unwritten lending-borrowing may cause quarrels between parties. The quarrels may lead to violence or murder in a community where such things are common due to lawlessness and Jahiliyyah. Giving concessions to borrower is good but the best reward comes to those who do not get the money back from them either because they have enough or they think that their borrowerbrother is financially frail. Writing off loans amounts to kindness and benevolence! All this leads us to think that profiteering is not good living, nor is the habit of usury in any way justified. Better are those who use money for the good living of their weaker brothers. Best are those who work hard to earn money but use it on the poor, the orphan, the widow, the diseased, the down-trodden and the seeker of education and knowledge. Still best is the one who helps those who are busy with God and out of self respect do not ask for help! So far so good but who will receive Zakat or whatever is spent in the way of God? The destitute and the orphan will receive and the underprivileged, the wayfarer, the sick, the displaced, the divorced, the widow, the outcast, the slave and the God-lover who does not ask. The list is so impressive and the pain of want is so acute that

192

whosoever tries to cure it or promises to do so, is also impressive and lovable. The list is far more impressive now when human beings in great numbers, particularly in the world of Islam, are treated as animals or are butchered en masse for no fault of theirs. Those who do not die at once die by inches due to hunger, disease, worry and wail. Look at their faces in Asia and Africa, in cities or in forgotten villages, you will see more bones than flesh but you will see no smile, no glow on these sunken faces. Has God decreed them to suffer and to be tortured incessantly or are unjust society, unjust systems of management and rule responsible for their misery? But Islam is impressive, so is Almighty God who feels the pain and pangs of hunger and want and asks MohammadSAW to plunge into rescue measures. But ones appreciation and the joy attending it knows no end when one sees MohammadSAW helping the lowly and the depressed with his word and action, day in and day out. He is busy with God and His mysteries but that involvement does not decrease his involvement with people and peoples affairs. His interest in paradise is also very strange: he refuses to enter it until each human soul goes through it. He is RAHMATAN LILAALAMIN even today when wants, sin and crime yawn to devour mankind and all that is worthwhile in life in the most horrible way. His love demands that we should sermonize least and plunge into action before it is too late. One of our friends recently asked a question as to who should be called an orphan. Perhaps the question was so painful that no one answered quickly. Mankind is not orphan because God reigns and will continue to reign. We are not orphan because MohammadSAW

193

and his Islam is there to feel, to console and to create hope. But then orphanage continues to be a problem worldwide, more so when people have been killed in recent years in great numbers. The diabolical machine has killed them leaving behind millions of orphans, without resources, without care, without state protection, in spite of Islam, in spite of wealthy Islam particularly. Feed the orphan and dont grab their resources knocks at the door of our heart if it still remains there beating in our breasts. Perhaps we try to feed as many of them as we plan to, perhaps not to protect them as MosesAS and his guide protected the orphan in

(chapter 18) but to use them through


indoctrination and training to guard the conditions that made them orphan. Perhaps the mass orphanage are the new designs of Abu Sufyans and Marwans of today. Perhaps MohammadSAW, Rahmatan Lilalamin, needs be more active and more result producing today when everything else is seized and jammed, seized and jammed also through state power! We need Islam in the appalling conditions of today when economic, political, social, educational or even religious institutions are under strict control of those few whose main concern is power and wealth, who for the sake of it alienate people leaving them at the mercy of circumstances which are far worse than orphanage. Now the wayfarer whose hardships and pain was felt by Islam! Assisting him was proclaimed as righteousness. The miseries of wayfarer, too, affected MohammadSAW and touched his heart. This lovely being soon after he was out of the critical period of orphanage begun traveling with the caravans of noble KhadejaAS and 194

experiencing what traveling in the desert meant. The sun scorched sand, the hot sun, the waterless desert, the barley bread if at all available, walking and walking and perspiring, bearing the dust and the violent storms of wind now and then all these things defined wayfarers life and also his thinking about the people who enjoyed life sitting at home without any toil or hard work, bagging the lot of people who were either wayfarers or toilers, toiling day and night, frequently without sufficient food and rest. Appropriating this wayfaring he is inspired to yoke the wealthy into human service and to seek help for the wayfarer. MohammadSAW would have been knowing about wayfarers and their kith and kin who depended upon their wayfaring. May be the conditions of the Bedouins of the dry land that prevailed after the great Prophet passed away didnt reach us because many things of importance didnt reach us through history. Whatever it was, the conditions of living of wayfarers demanded an immediate attention of the ProphetSAW who wanted to establish an egalitarian social order. Todays wayfarers are not in a better condition though outside Arab or African deserts they are not supposed to walk and walk with their camels, the ships of the desert. In spite of automobiles and their rush on roads, millions upon millions of human beings are bundled up together like bails of cotton and bags of salt and cement, in trains and trucks, not once a while but regularly. The labourers, the peasants, the factory workers and school going boys and girls are huddled up together. In order to run the diabolical economic machine the feeling of their suffocation and pain, the realization of their sub-standard living conditions does not regenerate the spirit of Islam that essentially does not tolerates

195

any human misery, be it in traveling, running, walking, suffering longer hours under tough conditions or wayfaring. To the needy, to the wayfarer, to the hungry, however, continuous to be shouted on loud-speaks of mosques if not five-times a day, at least in Fridays congregational addresses delivered in the length and breadth of the Muslim world including the Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia! The social programme of Islam involves kith as well as kin and money-spending for social harmony includes them as well. They cannot be neglected and have to be taken care of. A wealthy mans wealth is not necessarily his own; it is also of those who are related to him, who have, may be, contributed to his becoming wealthy, one way or the other. Ones brothers are a part of ones life, so are ones sisters, ones wife and children, ones parents or grandparents, ones cousins and so on. Women relatives require a special attention because even now they are in weak condition due to exploitative character of the male world and due to social and economic problems that bind them if not like slaves at least as servants. Moreover, families and family ties are useful in many ways, today also because most of the backward Muslims in backward societies live in large joint families. So if one helps a relative today, he may help in return tomorrow. First come first serve but one doesnt know how much is to be given to relatives. One has to apply ones mind in order to tackle this sensitive issue. It may be necessary that one spends whole of ones money on relatives, depending upon how in need they are and how gravely and critically. But Islam is a religion that follows a middle path, a balanced one. It does not cross limits which the Quran calls . It

196

is not an extremist religion. It is absolutely absurd to spend wealth or money on relatives who need no succour because they are themselves well of, at least to the extent to which they can fulfill their needs comfortably and easily. It is more absurd to pass money to relatives thinking that otherwise it will go to some others. Tax evasion is a greedy and criminal habit and it needs to be discouraged by law or whatever, also in Islam where the clever and the crafty find excuse and pretexts to avoid a situation, also of this kind. Muslims in whatever conditions of distributing Zakat or alms they are, must know that too much concern for or too irrational tendency towards kith and kin may breed nepotism which is the most detestable behaviour and the most harmful mode of corruption. There is no scope for corruption in Islam. Both the corrupt and the corrupted: to hell with them.1 One of the serious concerns of Islam was to provide for the poor and the needy. The concern demands more attention today. Poverty is the greatest curse, it degenerates man, weakens his soul, more quickly than anything else. It can touch even great souls in one form or the other and try to absorb their creative energy and time. It offers least resistance to merciless rulers and their long-nailed claws who really and usually thrive in a land where poverty reigns. It is not for nothing that great saints and Sufis have offered prayers to be
1

In recent years corruption in millions of a guardian of Islam with a longbeard and a short-trouser came in international press but the matter was hushed by a Western ruler in the interests of National Security. The greedy and their greed pollutes everything but when they touch religion, pollution becomes the worst.

197

safe from the clutches of poverty. The Quran condemns those who do not care for the poor and the hungry. The Quran washes off sins of the sinner who feeds the needy, the poor and the hungry. Feeding may not be as important as carrying a message that poverty needs be eradicated because of its dangerously harmful consequences. The attitude of the Quran or its sensibility towards poverty:
Do you see who belies the spirit of religion? Then such is the (man) who repulses the orphan (with harshness) And does not encourage the feeding of the indigent. So woe to the worshippers who are neglectful of their Prayers. Those who (want but) to be seen (of men), But refuse (to supply) even neighbourly needs.1

They say a mans stomach is aflame when the cooking-flame does not light itself. One can imagine what a difficult life those Arab tribes would been living who didnt have enough to eat and drink. Many of them lived in the open may be in tents which were safe from dangers anyway. Moreover, safety of caravans coming and going to and from Mecca, Medina and other places was also seen in the context of poverty and the insecurity that is breeds, even the exploitative habits that were frequent amongst tribes were understood as being the result of insecurity they had. All thefts, all sorts of evils including corruption and corruption of morals were considered to be having roots in economic insecurity, deprivation and want. So distribution of money in whatever form and on whatever principle was not merely a remedial measure taken by Islam to stop poverty or to steadily eradicate it. It was also the most
1

The Quran, 107:1-7.

198

revolutionary step that was taken to establish a welfare society through the most respectable, constructive and peaceful measures. However, the economic revolution through peaceful means that was triggered off by Islam in 7th century points out that social cohesion and social harmony without a sound economic opportunity for all and an honourable happy living for the humblest sections of population is not possible. If the poor who are exploited by the powerful in many ways are not given an assurance, in whatever form and through practical ways, for food, drinking water, proper clothing, habitation, basic health and education1 a clean society with a morally sound Islamic culture is not possible. Will Durant is correct in saying that once stomachs are filled, man raises his head towards the sky. And Muslims are great only when they eat not for the sake of eating merely but to raise their heads towards the sky to throw their net over everything that is obtainable and conquerable. But eating is fundamentally important. If Muslims think whatever Islam did in 7th century in economic field is a final word for today, they are greatly mistaken. But yes what was done by our model society was commendable, is commendable even for today and must be carried ahead. Since wealth and wealth-producing means have greatly increased since then, labour and labour laws have changed, too, all over the world, Islamic societies, particularly those which are amazingly rich and resourceful, cannot remain frigid for taking
1

Everything that we do to make our living possible is not the end of our life. Islam sets education as the most cherished goal without which the basic purpose of life cannot be achieved. Therefore, a scholar is better than a martyr. Therefore, pen is mightier . than the sword.

199

the revolution ahead. If they do Islam will be a laughing stock and the poor Muslims an easy resource for creating violence and war all over the world. This poor lot will be a pawn in the hands of those who want to grab the resources of Muslim countries. The matter needs be looked at from another point of view too. We know that the number of the hungry and the poor all over the Muslim world is increasingly growing, particularly in Africa and Asia where ignorance and abject poverty shoots up this appalling growth. Standards of living of these hungry and poor people are so low that one bows ones head in shame to see it. Though the actual conditions of these people are not exactly known because of the politically motivated mass communication and electronic media, yet one can easily form an idea by what is available in the world press that millions of people are living like animals and leading a severely hard life. This happens at a time when the populations of the advanced countries (advanced in the material sense though) are happily living and enjoying life and culture that has marvelously grown as a result by technological development and easy travel. Even in resourcefully rich Muslim countries large sections of the society are enjoying the fruits of welfare and well being. This is shocking that the miserable conditions of the growing number of poor people are generated by those who exploit them mercilessly and rule over them authoritatively. However, a lot of lip service is done to regret and wail the sub-human living conditions of these millions but no substantial measures are taken to check poverty and to take people out of its frightful grip. Something regrettable and perverse is done instead. Non-issues are raised so that people are

200

kept busy in seeking redress of their conditions of living not productively but theoretically unrealistically. One wonders how the rulers of Muslim countries claim to be the followers of MohammadSAW who initiated social and political change that by any standards of modern life was revolutionary. We must be very honestly clear in saying that Muslims (the poor and the hungry, the homeless and the jobless, the sick and the ignorant) are prone to any kind of living that by any standard is unIslamic. They are forced by circumstances to get deviated from Islam to promote any style and method of governance that directly as well as indirectly brings back tyrannical rulers like Pharaohs, Nimrods and Yazids to rule over them. And modern Yazids do not use swords and poisonous spears only: they have dangerous weapons of destructions to crush the poor so that they do not rise or even use peaceful means of steady development. They are intimidated, terrorized or involved in subversive activities so that their own hands are used to perpetuate the conditions of life responsible for their poverty and degradation. Whatever is happening in Muslim countries today or even in those countries where like India Muslims live in great numbers, the aforesaid methods are applied. Besides, conventionalism, dogmatism, prejudice and narrow-mindedness and ignorance of any kind that obscures life are promoted. Group-conflicts, ideological disputes and cheap methods of social disintegration are also tried out so that all entry points to roads of betterment and good life are closed. The most harmful tactics to conserve backwardness is applied when ruthless and greedy hunters of power appear in the garb of Mehdis

201

to present a perverted Islam and propagate it by all kinds of means so that for hundreds of years the original Islam remains either obscure or buried. Many people are working very skillfully day and night to make the strategy work successfully and very efficiently but trained spies and intelligence men are sent to the field for effective guidance and control. Money and resources are provided at the local and foreign levels so that no chance is left for any positive movement to generate itself or to succeed. Bureaucratic and technocratic machines are also employed and business management, too, is left in safe hands so that fool proof arrangements for the success of the negative mission are made. Educational institutions of whatever kind are particularly controlled so that no dangerous youth is produced in them with no dangerous know-how or knowledge. The whole network, in short, works as a totalitarian system so that wealth and power has no danger whatsoever to face today or tomorrow. Alas, the social revolution of Islam stands hijacked! Bedouins were earth-rooted. They loved their land in spite of its heat, sand and storm. Perhaps they knew very little of vegetation, of flower and fruit, of rivers and streams and springs flowing and watering fields upon fields of corn and grain, of mountains full of forests and forest wealth. They knew the ship of the desert and the date and the olive with barley bread and may be milk. They fed themselves perhaps not everyday. They were blind to the world outside their arid land and also to myriad things of ease and comfort that these things offered. They knew no languages beyond their cherished Arabic in which they composed songs and sang them to

202

ward off anxiety and anger, wail and woe. They had seen no people, known no culture beyond their own, no art, no beauty, no beauteous dance of manners and morals. MohammadSAW broke this earthrootedness, first by Great Migration, the HIJRAT, which turned to be a blessing in disguise; second by emphasizing in the Quranic vein that we must travel far and wide into the world and learn lessons of Gods behavior and peoples rise and fall; third by sending his envoys to other countries with messages that there is no God but Allah and that the best course to lead an honourable worldly and spiritual life is to submit before His Will and Power; fourth by proclaiming that there is no difference between a man and a man, the worldly life is a short life and the most enduring one is the life hereafter, we must seek knowledge even if we have to go to China and that India sends to mankind pleasant and cool breeze. The Quran is emphatically clear in saying that the whole earth belongs to Allah and therefore to belong to a specific place is a refusal to this truth. And earth-rootedness may cause too much love for family and children. The Quran makes us conscious that our main concern is Allah and He is sufficient for us, let our family and our children not be a bondage for us to forget God. We have to love our children and respect our parents obediently but our main objective is Allah and let this objective not be forfeited. If earth-rootedness, or for that mater any permanent tie-up with a particular patch of land, would have been obligatory Islam would have not reached far and wide and Muslims would have not accepted inter-marriages everywhere. All these examples show how Islam has a very broad concept of social relationship and how this

203

religion teaches us to harmonize social relations in broad settings. It also teaches us that earth-rootedness may be an obstacle in participating in broader culture that Muslim of yore have contributed to marvellously or sometimes amazingly. However, they should make a full use of the bounties of earth not only locally but globally and for the sake of God and His people alone. One of the most absorbing issues for MohammadSAW had been FITNAH discord, dispute, divisive issue, pretexts for chaos and confusion. Hypocrites and the people with double standards or who thought Islam emphasized goodness and afterlife too much, backed by envious Jews and Christians whose interests corresponds to the self-interests of the Quraish, created Fitnah. The Quran condemned it openly: Discord is more intense than murder or it has far reaching bad effects than that of murder. These Quranic proclamations made clear that true believers must rule out disputes, divisive problems and oppressive measures because they are socially unproductive and morally injurious for collective living and smooth social health. Murder or bloodshed may be one of its effects but these eat up the very vitals of social fabric. MohammadSAW did his level best to bring people so close to each other that there remained no problem to breed fitnah but still the underground workers did their job of disintegrating people hiddenly. Even Abdullah bin Obay he tried to calm down through a policy of universal tolerance and good personal conduct but all the same the wolf (Obay) did not lose his nature in spite of losing his teeth. The greatest tragedy of Islam is UthmansRA murder and love of wealth and political power which began as early as Islam spread but took

204

the final shape in Kerbela. Todays Fitnahs in the Muslim world are numerous, some of them very serious. We have already hinted that the only measure to nip them in the bud is unflinching faith in God, in Islam and MohammadsSAW practical life. Then economic justice based on equitable distribution of wealth is as necessary as breathing for living. As long as theft of wealth continues and the poor grow poorer, there is hardly any possibility of ruling out fitnah. A great social measure to bring social cohesion and harmony was trust-building also through promises and covenants. The ProphetSAW never wanted any issue of social discord or disintegration to crop up between individuals, tribes, communities or conflicting groups. Practicing himself what he said he stressed that promises be made and kept, covenants mutually agreed upon and kept up and treaties executed and implemented in letter and spirit. The worshipers of paradise are those who:
are keepers of their trusts and their covenant.1

Losers are those:


who break the covenant of Allah after its confirmation and cut asunder what Allah has ordered to be joined and make mischief in the land2

Children of Israel are reminded of their promises:


call to mind My favour which I bestowed on you and be faithful to (your) covenant with Me. I shall fulfill (My) covenant with you.3
1 2 3

The Quran, 23:8. The Quran, 2:27. The Quran, 2:47.

205

And when we made a covenant with the children of Israel, you shall serve none but Allah and do good to (your) parents, and to the near of kind and to orphans and the needy, and speak good (words) to (all) men, and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, then you turned back except a few of you, and you are averse.1 And with those who say, we are Christians, we made a covenant but they neglected a portion of that whereof they were reminded: so We stirred up enmity and hatred among them to the Day of Resurrection. And Allah will soon inform them of what they did.2 And fulfill the covenant of Allah, when you have made a covenant, and break not the oaths after making them fast, and you have made Allah surety. Surely Allah knows what you do.3

MohammadSAW never wanted any confrontation with the enemies of Islam, we have already said that he left them free as he wanted himself to be left free alongwith his friends and followers, in matters of religion and religious conduct. But they didnt keep their covenants and promises always. There was not a single breach of trust on the part of Muslims. Hence Muslims stood for peace and social cohesion through dialogue and consultation. Even amongst Muslims trust, promise and agreements were made a common affair
1 2 3

Ibid, 2:83. Ibid., 5:14. Ibid, 16:14.

206

and disputes were resolved peacefully. Keeping a word became as good a norm as freeing a slave, helping an orphan and so on. In matters of living with others Prophet MohammadsSAW Treaty of Hudaibiyyah stands significantly valid even today. If the spirit of this treaty is kept into view, the most crucial international disputes can be solved easily. If Muslims were self-respecting and self-conscious, they would use all diplomatic resources to get the spirit enshrined in United Nations charter. Amir Ali, the famous jurist of our times writes about Hudaibiyyah in the following words:
After much difficulty a treaty was concluded, by which it was agreed that all hostilities should cease for ten years; that anyone coming from the Koreish to the ProphetSAW without the permission of the guardian or chief, should be re-delivered to the idolaters; that any individual from among the Muslims going over to the Meccans should not be surrendered; that any tribe desirous of entering into alliance, either with the Kureish or with the Muslims should be at liberty to do so without hindrance; that the Muslims should retrace their steps on this occasion, without advancing further; that they should be permitted in the following year to visit Mecca and to remain there for three days with their traveling arms namely their scimitars in sheaths.1

Poverty is my pride,
1 2

is

simple living and high

thinking at its best.2 This off repeated proclamation was lived by the
Maulana Jami. (Poverty lifted thee to such heights that monarchs carried on their heads gifts to submit before thee.)

renders

Amir Ali, The Spirit of Islam, p.89.

207

Master of the two Worlds even in his day to day life. He ate very little, ate very simple food, usually barley bread, dates and honey and sat and slept on very coarse date-palm. Prints of leaves and twigs could be seen on his most sacred body very often. He had no house or hut of his own. His dress used to be very simple. But this poverty was not inflicted upon him by any.1 He voluntarily adopted this style of living for himself. But his standard of living was far higher than that of any king of yesterday or today. But for thee, but for thee, I had not created the heavens was the honour bestowed upon him and also we have not created thee but a Mercy for the two worlds. His character proved every word of the Quran. Ummul Mominin Hazrat AyshaRA is right in saying the Quran is MohammadsSAW character. Let Muslims learn it, also let every lover of MohammadSAW live it. All the evils of modern world will be solved forthwith if

is applied, if simple living and high thinking is taken as a


practice of life. It is hoped that the richest Muslims of today will live this Sunnah, in addition to the beard they wear, in order to raise their own standard of life and the standard of living of their Muslim brothers in the length and breadth of todays world. Nobody should form an opinion that MohammadsSAW followers and friends did not adopt his styles of living. From Ali to Abubaker to Uthman to Ummar to Abu Dhar to Bilal to Salman to

Many of those who propagate Sunnah today live in mansions and lead a luxurious life like those who worked in Bani Ummayya administration or held power directly. That bewilders sensitive Muslims.

208

Dawood, to Maroof, to Junaid, to Dunoon to Rumi and to Sanai2 and in between them thousands upon thousand of people even upto this day have been living what he said, millions who have been reciting praise of MohammadSAW in the most ardent manner. Sufis in particular have been seen living a very simple and ordinary worldly life but sitting on the throne of power by the Grace of Allah and due to the veneration for MohammadSAW. Even leaders and scholars who havent claimed any transcendental experience have been seen throughout different periods of history living simple but exalted life. This type of life also has contributed immensely to social efficiency and social justice. Physical or manual work has never been considered as derogatory by Muslims, nor has living as parasites been allowed by Islam. MohammadSAW used to do his work himself, would also take part in religiously useful social work. So did his faithful friends do around him. When Medina mosque was being constructed, he would be seen carrying building materials on his shoulders. Once a mischief monger came to him as a guest, spoiled the bed during the night and left away. In the morning the ProphetSAW began washing the bed. When his friends offered help, he rejected saying serving his guest was his duty not of anyone else. AliAS worked, AbubakerRA worked, UmmarRA worked so did all other faithful friends. Since then millions of good Muslims have been working to make their own living as also to enjoy work for the sake of work. Mystics have in particular liked to work manually. But unfortunately in our times
2

May God bless them all, be they praised, as well, for their simplicity and lofty ideals.

209

some people consider work derogatory, avoid it and make others work for them. Servants are being used and also women in the family. Whosoever is privileged avoids work, particularly manual. This has bred a new caste system amongst Muslims. The evil is filtering itself down amongst people who are trying to move up the social ladder. Good Muslims who believe in self-help, selfdependence and self-reliance always dislike to live like parasites on others exploiting them one way or the other. Hence the evil needs be checked so that it does not weaken character and spoil social harmony. Slaves! The Messenger of Allah, peace by on him and his progeny, did all what he could to deliver justice to slaves who were brought and sold like bricks and stones and had no social standing whatsoever. Freeing a slave was an act of righteousness proclaimed by the Quran. A sinner could wash off sins if he would spend money on the poor and free a slave or slaves. MohammadSAW treated slaves very well and humanly. He never gave them a feel that they were different from other human beings. He brought BilalRA very close to him and gave him the important position of MUAZZIN. After the Imam, the leader who leads prayers five times a day and on Friday, the Muazzin is important because he calls people to Salat, to prayer. BilalRA the black slave, was given the status of calling people in his melodiously loud voice:
Allahu Akbar (God is most great, 4 times) I bear witness that there is no God but Allah. (twice) I bear witness that MohammadSAW is the Apostle of Allah (twice) Come to prayer. (twice) Come to success. (twice)

210

God is Great (twice) There is no God but Allah (one time)

Bilal Calls great friends of MohammadSAW to prayer Ali, Abubaker, Uthman, Ummar, Abu Dhar, Salman, Jafer and all (may God bless them all with His love and grace)! But he calls all others too, spreading the message of Islam that God is one, God is the greatest, MohammadSAW is the Apotle of Allah, Salat is the best means to ideal success. The black slave, himself a Muslim in the true sense, stands for and propagates brotherhood of Islam. He rubs shoulders with great Arabs like AliAS and AbubakarRA five times a day submitting with others to the glory and Lordship of Allah. He sits with MohammadSAW to receive divine guidance and light regularly and continuously and enters blissful states. He loves MohammadSAW fondly and MohammadSAW is very fond of him and his devotion. He is freed by AbbakarRA who offers his price as demanded by the cruel master who tortured Bilal RA with lashes and wounds inflicted by them. BilalRA sends a message to humanity of yesterday, today and tomorrow that there is no difference between a man and a man and that any one belonging to any culture or race or whatever is a candidate for Gods love and mercy. Hence by bringing BilalRA very close and assigning him a responsible position MohammadSAW sends a message to mankind that Islam stands for one world, one man, one Truth, one Beauty, one Goodness and it does not for any considerations recognize differences of colour, race, language, nationality, sex or status as basic in presence of God who is one without a rival or a counsellor or an assistant.

211

Writers like Hussain Hykal say the condition of slaves in Arab land was very critical and low. They were treated socially so badly that they were thrown away from Kaba as for as their habitation was concerned. They, therefore, lived in the outskirts of Mecca. They were miserably treated, hardly as human beings, before the coming of MohammadSAW. One doesnt know the average price paid for a slave but one thinks it must have been very low, perhaps depending upon the conditions of a slave man or slave woman. If the slave was healthy and good looking and had some other qualities as well, he would fetch a good price or she. They were subjected to hard work without any consideration to tropical conditions under which they worked normally. Arabs, particularly the rich, more particularly those who constituted Quraish aristocracy, used slave women in addition to their own wives for licentious sex over and above the hard work they did for their masters. Nothing very clearly is said about the privileged woman. Whether they used male slaves to gratify their sexual lust or not has not been mentioned by historians generally. But it appears that the custom was there. But Islam brought a big change particularly when Mohammad SAW was seriously in favour of freedom and social jutice. Will Durant says:
The Muslim had full rights of life and death over his slaves; usually, however, he handled them with a genial humanity that made their lot no worse perhaps better as more secure than that of a factory worker in nineteenthcentury Europe. Slaves did most of the menial work on the forms, most of the unskilled manual work in the towns; they acted as the servants in the household, and as concubines or eunuchs in the harem. Most dancers, singers, and actors

212

were slaves. The offspring of a female slave by her master, or of a free woman by her slave, was free from birth slaves were allowed to marry, and their children, if talented, might receive an education. It is astonishing how many sons of slaves rose to the high place in the intellectual and political world of Islam, how many, like Mahmud and the early Mamlukes, became kings.1

Islam did not free only one slave, BilalAS. Many more were freed, many more embraced Islam and entered Islamic Brotherhood. Those who embraced Islam were treated equally. In addition to freeing slaves and converting them to Islam, rights were given to them. If a slave woman gave birth to her masters child, the child became the heir of the master. Likewise, if the slave became the father of the child of the free woman, the child was treated as free. Muslims took all the care lest the slaves are treated as socially segregated. WA MA MALAKAT AYMANOKUM (and those possessed by your right hands) allowed Muslims to take slave girls to bed besides their own wives and that showed that the maid servants or female slaves could come very close to Muslims. Even in meeting, sitting, talking, eating and so on no social segregation was forced on slaves. The greatest boost slaves received when MohammadSAW delivered his last historical address. In that he said:
Feed your slaves as you feed yourself and clothe them as you clothe yourself, and should they do anything wrong or commit any mistake, forgive them, but if you cant, meaning most probably that if they are incorrigible they
1

The Story of Civilizations: The Age of Faith, vol. iv, p.209

213

cant learn, then free them for they are also creatures of God.

In spite of what Muslims did with slaves and said about them, slavery remained as social and moral weakness of Islam. Perhaps Islam could not bring a revolutionary change by abolishing slavery because neither the time allowed it nor even the people who embraced Islam, but the facilities that were given to slaves, the treatment that they received was encouraging as well as appreciated even by those who were not Muslims or are not. The spirit of Islam shows that there is no difference between a man and a man, between an Arab and a non-Arab or a white and a black. All Muslims are brothers and they should always stand unitedly firm without causing any division or schism in the Ummah. This is enough to say that Muslims showed remarkable broadmindness in accepting goodness, talent, bravery, knowledgeability and other qualities as virtues that make man good and earn him a respectable status in the society. This is also true that some slaves rose to highest positions of power and showed their metal in giving a comparatively efficient administration to the people they ruled. But what we need today is to advance the spirit of liberty and freedom and abolish all kinds of bondage. Today there are no slaves, perhaps no masters as well. But the privileged and the economically powerful have learnt other methods of subjugating people. They treat their servants or employees as slaves, make them work tirelessly for little money they pay them and at times behave with them mercilessly and rudely. The unIslamic habit has infected even government administration where

214

lower grade employees are maltreated or even tortured or harassed one way or the other. Longer hours of work, lack of working facilities, lack of security of service, almost total absence of services like medical, educational and recreational service, underemployment and authoritative treatment can be cited as examples which show the bad lot of people working in government offices or concerns. Even in homes very objectionable treatment is given to helpers and servants. Astonishingly some of these privileged people practice Islam and show mannerism that suggests that they are God fearing and true Muslims. But in spirit they take Islam to levels which when analysed in terms of the Quran and the way of MohammadsSAW day to day living show that Islam stands aborogated. In MohammadsSAW time the issue was not only of slaves: there were other social issues, though slavery was the most ciritical of all them. The tribal society has much tribal arrogance. That arrogance is carried to our times in one form or the other. Even in similar tribes some people thought that they were superior to others and therefore behaved that way. The consciousness of superiority was fanned by economic position of a family, of a tribe. The poor and the downtrodden were mostly looked upon as inferiors. Language was yet another factor that contributed to I am-ness. All this leads us to think that a social stratification was there, though not as acute as it is today. Differences and also pride and prejudice associated with them have not been highlighted by Muslim writers satisfactorily, perhaps also because the art of sociological analysis was not developed as it is now. Muslims thought that these issues

215

were secondary possibly because (1) they all stood upright and together rubbing their shoulders with each other and offering prayers five-times a day. As Iqbal says Mahmud the monarch and Ayaz the slave stood in a single line forgetting the one was a king and the other only a slave. Besides everyone of them repeated the article of faith, offered Namaz or Salat, observed Ramadhan, the month of regular fasts, paid poor rate and performed Hajj at least once in life-time. Everyone believed in the afterlife, the angels, the long chain of prophets broken ultimately by the finality of prophethood; all these essential requirements bound them together as brothers who should stand untied and should never cause schism: (2) they followed the Quranic injection:
O mankind, surely we have created you from a male and female, and made you tribes and families that you may know each other. Surely the noblest of you with Allah is the most dutiful of you. Surely Allah is knowing, Aware.1

This gave no recognition to anything except God-consciousness and dutifulness. Hence what makes man great is neither language, nor region, nor birth, nor colour, nor race, nor money, nor power: (3) they followed the Quran which pointed out that outer references are only for identification, recognition and colourfulness of life but the primary thing is character and knowledgeability that gives light: (4) basically one single soul dwells in the being of man and this is inspired in him by God from His own soul. So the nature of man is one and indivisible. This given and accepted as a manifest truth, our world, including the world of Islam stands divided today, far more than
1

The Quran, 49:13.

216

ever before, in spite of the progress man has made in all walks of life. Standards of living may be of life also have changed for the better, nature has been conquered to a considerable extent, natural forces do not threaten man so much as they used to do in the past, life is more colourful, more enjoyable than it was, possibilities of understanding have also grown, facilities of enlightenment have increased and man to man relationships in terms of travels and mass communications have grown, but divisive problems have grown too and to appalling levels. Our world is more class and caste-ridden today. Tensions on account of these divisive forces have grown so much that peace is almost impossible. Blood is flowing like water in gutters and millions of people are losing life and property. At the social level very tense relationships are seen between communities, families and family ties. Even in families these evils creep stealthily and break our nerve. Man-woman relationship has also assumed caste-class colour. Race is an international issue. Even in USA people are drawn against each other on caste-base. In Europe, Canada, Australia and other advanced countries race and blood boil more often than once, influencing politics and welfare schemes. Fundamentalism of worst kind is not seen only amongst Muslims but amongst Jews, Christians, Hindus and so-called Marxists. Fanaticism reigns everywhere. The East-West controversy remains alive, sometimes yawning like ghosts of evil on internationally famous1 TV channels. The world is sinking day by day and man is losing grip over everything in spite of proclaimed supremacy of machine and material. One doesnt know where we are going.
1

Or notorious?

217

The condition of the Muslim countries is horrible. They fight against each other. When their fights seek truce due to exhaustion, their foes throw dust into their eyes and add oil to the burning fire. Political religion is causing serious damage and heavy loss. When there are no battling issues, something somewhere is either invented or discovered to create a trouble. Bombs are thrown even in mosques and the Islamic Republics concerned are watching to giggle. Money is spilt like water but basic reasons for all fabricated trifles are kept alive. In spite of Friday prayers and the noise caused by loud speakers people pass in lanes and streets, paths and footpaths like deaf and dumb. We have almost forgotten the socialharmony and social-justice message of MohammadSAW and his Islam! There are no Abrahams to extinguish the fire of Nimrod and no Hussains to print SUBMISSION in their blood on Kerbela sands. May the Merciful God of mercy be Merciful to us all! Both AbrahamAS and HussainAS however help us to understand the most controversial issue of Islam today which is fanned for reasons underlying it. If we read history insightfully we will come to know that the issue is based on the fundamental clash between Meccan aristocracy on one hand and MohammadsSAW prophethood on the other. To Meccan aristocrats Kaba is a power-centre because idol-gods kept therein are utilized for money and power and the luxurious living. To MohammadSAW Kaba is Gods House because there is no God but God and one God loves humanity which is indivisible and promotes it basically spiritually through submission. There is no question of exploitation of man by man and no possibility of acquiring money at the cost of human existence and

218

human living. Meccan aristocracy refuse to accept MohammadSAW as the prophet of God because they are sure his success is a danger to their vile interest, exploitative power and arrogant chiefdom. They are not ready to leave gods because on them depends their life of ease and honour. Outrightly from the very start they use all sorts of means either to silence MohammadSAW or to frighten him to submission or to murder him. Every effort brings them failure and every failure prepares them for more intrigues, more tactics against MohammadSAW On the other hand MohammadSAW wins at every step and one day he declares himself as the last Prophet of Allah. Abu Sufyan, Abu Jahal, Abu Lahab and other chiefs come out openly to fight battles against MohammadSAW and his followers and friends. Abu Sufyan as the commander of Quraish aristocracy tries his best to rout him and Islam but fails miserably. One day when Islam appears as winner and the most successful religion Meccan aristocracy give up confrontation and change garbs. A hidden underground movement against Islam is launched and hypocrites are actively but strategically used to help its momentum and success. Every effort is made to cause division in the ranks of Muslims and every weakness of Muslim solidarity is recorded to benefit from. But when MohammadSAW passes away, they reassert. Slowly and steadily they win ground through political tactics and discord, corruption and fraud, murder and violence. Finally MohammadsSAW family is targeted and HussainAS is martyred brutally in Kerbela together with his friends and kin. Bani Ummayyads powr is established fully. The rest of the story to be narrated by Khilafat-oMalookiyat of Allama Maududi though not very satisfactorily. What

219

Maududi finds out is that Islam was weakened by Ummayyas and the system established by MohammadSAW was changed into kingship for the greed of money and power. Todays greedy power, wherever it may be, also likes to rout the spirit of HussainAS in the minds and valour of men wherever they are. Today also Kerbela is hot without water supply and full of poisonous war materials. Hence for a true Muslim and for a true lover of the spirit of Islam each day is an Aashora1 and each patch of land Kerbela. Today also Rumis lament stands true to tell you the story of what happened to Islam.

The wordly wise did their job of straightening wordly affairs. MohammadSAW, Alas, was left even without shroud, the white sheet.

Meanwhile, Kerbela marks the greatest betrayal in human history of the people who were lifted up to the skies by the Master of the two worlds whose family alongwith suckling children were butchered in the desert under the blazing sun and unbearable circumstances. This tragedy will never be forgotten because in spite of the betrayal in the most trying conditions princes reared in the lap of MohammadSAW and on his shoulders gave their life but not their hand to the shameless brute Yazid bin Mauwya who and whose dynasty overrode Islam with tyrannical power and lunatic greed. However, let the hatchet be buried and all the Muslims all over the world be friends and brothers again. Let the lovely and the most revered Prophet MohammadSAW be honoured by word and deed every moment in our day to day life by our deeds and while we
1

10th Moharram when HussainAS was martyred.

220

make our living. Besides, let us resolve to break the idols of wealth enameled with gold and diamonds in our homes and all kinds of institutions. This is not to say that wealth should not be produced and production in all fields should not be increased. Mankind needs production and wealth today for more than ever before also to conquer nature more and more and to make life more and more pleasant and worth-living. But wealth should not be worshipped like neo-gods and it should never, in no case, determine national and international affairs. It should not replace God of Islam nor should it throw Him in the background in charge of non-wordly affairs.1 It should also not be earned or heaped up by hook or by crook, by any means, particularly at the cost of social good and public welfare. That wealth is the basis of the martyrdom of Imams and the ruthless mass killings of today. That wealth should be disdained, should be left unattended. This may appear as a wishful thinking, a utopia and an imaginary castle-building, but this is the way we can finish with all our disputes, Shia Sunni or whatever. Let Shias all over the world continue mourning Moharam and Aashora more than ever before to remind us of God and to condemn wealth and power, the root cause of evil, or evil itself. Let all people who have conscience, love truth and goodness join and condemn brutal betrayal and let all

Who are they to issue verdicts against God and define His role. But that is what they do. They think they cant succeed in their designs as long as God is All Powerful.

221

serve water2 and juice to pay a tribute to MohammadsSAW lap and shoulders, peace be upon him and his progeny. Asslam-o-Alaikum (May God bestow upon you peace)! This is the salutation of Islam, the first vitally important way of meeting people or addressing them! We may or may not join hands and kiss them while we salute but mere Assalam-o-Alikum is enough. We should have begun this chapter with this salutation but this is both the beginning and the end of all collective beahviours. Beginning with Salam is as important as ending with it. Hence let our choice of bringing Salam at the end of the chapter may not be considered as less important. Peace be upon you immediately unites the speaker and the listener (or listeners). It is not merely a salutation, nor only a charity of the tongue; it is something far more than that: an opening of the gateway of soul, to sow love therein, for there is nothing more precious, more important than love in human affairs or in mans relationship with God. The union of an individual with an individual, of an individual with a group of individuals through love produces nothing less than love, more so when Assalam-o-Alikum carries the letter as well as the spirit. This first interaction opens harmonious relationships between people living together in a society. It is the purity of soul that salutes or your salutation aims at purification. Friends become fast friends with Salams and fast friends still faster to seek intimacy. Foes drop down their armour of ill-will, or envy, or hatred, or back-biting, or intriguing when you
2

Water is a symbol of gnosis according to Frithjof Schuon, the Western mystic. Juice is a token of passionate love!

222

wish peace. Strangers start coming near to a person who salutes them with peace be upon you. So Salam is a bond between all people, all types of people living anywhere anytime. People coming from any country, any region, any economic background with whatever culture, manners and etiquette, hear this sweet expression and fall in love, of whatever kind, with the one who wishes them peace. Women, children, relatives, rural, urban; educated, illiterate, old and weak, young and youthfully healthy all join this chorus in the sweetest language, perhaps with a smiling face, and join the blissful state of peace. This is the first gift of Islam! All in their heart of hearts praise MohammadSAW who showed them how to meet and with what sweet language. All join the kingdom of God, the Most High and the Most Praiseworthy peace! God bless us with your Mercy and help us to seek social harmony ever and always!

223

For what sin was the buried babe done away

224

O Prophet of God, I would not wish any doubts or anger to remain in your heart concerning me, but I do not have

the power to remove this black cloud that the talk of men has cast over your mind, but are you not the Prophet of God, then surely you must know the truth better than anyone. O Prophet of God, I am too humble to hope that a verse would be revealed by God concerning my innocence or that my name should be mentioned in the Quran. I am too humble for that, too small, too powerless, nevertheless I pray to the God of Islam that he should reveal the truth to you, so that you may know whether I have done any wrong.1

Zainul Abidin Rehnuma quotes Jenab Aisha Sidiqa (May God shower blessings upon her), the Mother of Believers. She was saying this to MohammadSAW placing her head on his knees and weeping bitterly when she was slandered. Her father Hazrat Abubaker (may God bless him) and her mother were very unhappy over the slander. MohammadSAW was occupied too. He drew a cloak over his head but soon got up throwing it aside. Then wiping the drops of perspiration from his face which showed he was in the state of revelation, he recited the verses of the Quran revealed on this occasion:
1

Payamber,vol.III, p.224.

225

Those who brought forward the lie are a body among yourselves: think it not to be an evil to you; on the contrary it is good for you; to every man among them (will come the punishment) of the sin that he earned, and to him who took on himself the lead among them, will be a Penalty grievous. Why did not the believers men and woman when you heard of the affair, put the best construction on it in their own minds and say, This (charge) is an obvious lie? Why did they not bring four witnesses to prove it? When they have not brought the witnesses, such men, in the sight of Allah, (stand forth) themselves as liars! Were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you, in this world and the Hereafter, a grievous penalty would have seized you in that you rushed glibly into this affair. Behold, you received it on your tongues, and said out of your mouths things of which you had no knowledge, and you thought it to be a light matter, while it was most serious in the sight of Allah. And why did you not, when you heard it, say? it is not right of us to speak of this: Glory to Allah! this is a most serous slander! Allah admonishes you, that you may never repeat such And Allah makes the Signs plain to you: for Allah is full of Those who love (to see) scandal published broadcast (conduct), if you are (true) Believers. knowledge and wisdom. among the Believers, will have a grievous Penalty in this life and the Hereafter: Allah knows, and you do not know.

226

Were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you, and

that Allah is full of kindness and mercy, (you would be ruined indeed).1

The most detestable slander recorded in the history of mankind in general and in Islamic history in particular was over. It was not only directed against one of the most respectable ladies but also against the Mother of Believers who after KhadejaAS was loved most by the Master of the two worldsSAW. It showed to what extend the basest and the dirtiest minds can go to disrespect and to dishonour a lady of very high standing and caliber. It also showed how these people can send a flying dagger into the back of Islam which awarded the fullest respect on womanhood, which stands as a lighthouse for the whole of mankind even today. The Quranic verses that were revealed to Mohammad SAW to exonerate Jenab Aisha SidiqaRA with the fullest honour and respect due to her also extended and deepened the meaning of for what sin

was the buried babe done away ( You may call it an ).


exaggeration but BIAYYI ZANBIN is a liberation charter for women issued by God in His kingdom. It reveals ever new meanings to all people, men and women, male and female, of all ages, in all geographical regions of the world. Being very impregnate it provides chances and direction to teachers and scholars to reveal to the world and to mankind significance of womanhood as at least fifty percent of human life, the other fifty percent being manhood. Let us therefore go direct to BIAYYI

The Quran, 24:11-20

227

ZANBIN to explain its meaning and purpose as much as we have the capacity given to us by God! It flatly refuses the culture1 of Jahiliyya which allowed burying alive of baby girls. What was the reason? Was it a sport that they used to indulge in because they indulged in many sports? Did they think that a woman was a plaything even in the earliest period of her age? Did they think that they could throw her away as they threw away a toy or a rotten thing or a spoiled fruit? Was their sense so blurred that they thought that burying her alive would harm none? Harm not her because she was lifeless? Harm not her mother because she had no mind, no feelings, no emotions to see her die that way? Did they think that the babes mother had not suffered during her pregnancy for giving birth to her? Were the relatives of the babes mother not hurt to see the babe going into the grave alive? Didnt they have a sense of future and also of history that would be written in future also describing as to what happened to their baby daughters at their hands? Did they think that they would be responsible to give an account of their misdeeds to mankind before they would be caught by the strong hands of God to show what they did, particularly to baby girls? Were they grown fully as human beings or were they still brutes to do whatever they wanted to do? Was their humankind different from other human beings who made a difference between brutes and human beings? Were they diseased hereditarily and therefore their minds didnt work properly
1

To call it a culture is madness. Even to call it a way of life in improper. It was living like animals or even brutes. It was irrational a well as totally inhuman. Jahiliyya, therefore, was eternal damnation!.

228

or were they imbalanced mentally, psychologically because of difficult life they lived in that arid land? Did they think that their misdeeds as related to women were so bad that they would be paid back in the same coin but the recipients would be their female offspring? Were they mentally deranged because their treatment with the daughters and wives, mothers and sisters of other people was so bad that their own conscience was pricking them? Did they think that women brought them dishonour because their kind was an evil incarnated and men were basically good and born so? The answers to these questions will show what kind of a people they were and why they buried their babes alive. Even now people will have chances to introspect so that whatever effects of that Jahiliyya are carried today will possibly be removed or remedied. BIAYYI ZANBIN was a bell of alarm for the male world to awaken; to awaken to the new light that had dawned with the coming of Islam. The new light showed to the male world that they were primarily responsible to generate the evils that polluted some of their women. They dragged women to any kind of sport that they thought brought them dishonour. Were male members of that Arab community at least not equal participants in that process of dishonour? Did they think that the dishonoured women involved themselves with robots? But robots were not there at that time. What kind of creatures descended from heavens in order to involve women in that shameful act that brought them dishonour? And a woman who is essentially passive cannot take initiative in such things as are particularly socially prohibited. If pastimes or indulgence were not harmful for men who usually decide norms and

229

values of a society or even of backward communities, why did women participating as passive partners in those pastimes brought them slur or bad name or whatever how? Is it not absolute madness that men punish women and that too so seriously as burying their female babes alive for the same act as they consider justifiable for themselves or even enjoyable? BIAYYI ZANBIN therefore, gives birth to rationality on which human behaviour, whether of a man or a women, should be judged. It serves as a curative movement for a thinking which generates a mental disease in men. This Quranic injection impregnated with meanings awakens Arab Jahiliyya to see that mankind is one and cannot be divided on the basis of sex. Man is as good as a woman and a woman as good as a man. The two are both supplementary and complementary to each other and form a complete whole. They like two wheels of a cart or a machine go side by side with each other to make it go or function. If anything happens to one wheel, the other wont function. The two wheels must both be efficient and of the same stuff and make. Otherwise the cart or the machine wont work. The Quran substantiates this thinking by so many verses, at so many places. First in chapter four:
O mankind! Fear1 Your Guardian Lord, Who created you From a single Person,2
1

Karen Armstrong defines TAQWA as God consciousness. We Muslims understand that it is FEAR. NAFS is translated as soul also.

230

Created, out of it, His mate, and from them twain Scattered (like seeds) Countless men and women; Fear Allah, through Whom Ye demand your mutual (rights), And be heedful of the wombs, (That bore you): for Allah Ever watches over you.1

So how can we say men and women are not alike. The soul from which they are created is one. The world in which they are placed is one. One God has created them both. We have to be God conscious in behaving with each other in this context. If we discriminate against each other, God will be unhappy. He is constantly watching over us and knows what is in our minds while we interact. In spite of this Quranic guidance if we men believe that we are the chosen people, how will God excuse us for our perverted thinking. Now see how Muslim men and Muslim women are treated at par with each other at a different place in the Quran:
Men and women who have surrendered, Believing men and believing women Obedient men and obedient women Truthful men and truthful women Enduring men and enduring women. Men and women who give in charity Men who fast and women who fast, Men and women who guard their private parts Men and women who remember God oft
1

The Quran, 4:1

231

For them God has prepared forgiveness And a mighty wage.1

The eye-opening episode which was the cause for this revelation is also encouraging for men and women both. Umm Salmah (God may shower His grace upon her and her wisdom) shortly after her marriage brought a request from the women of Medina to MohammadSAW. A deputation of women requested her to convey to MohammadSAW as to why they were mentioned in the Quran rarely. After sometime the Prophet received the revelation and Umm SalmaRA passed it on to the women who were pleased as well as encouraged. But we are encouraged also to see that Umm SalmahRA stood by the ProphetSAW shoulder to shoulder to make his work easier and to participate in matters related to the life of Ummah and to that of mankind at large. It is not SalmahRA only who did so, AishaRA also did. We have already noted the role of Jenab KhadejaAS in Islam and its spread, particularly in those days when MohammadSAW lived a very difficult life, also due to persecution. Is that not an enough proof that Islam respects women most and treats them at par with men? It should be noted that in the verses quoted above it is the action of a man or a women that brings him or her a reward. There is nothing beyond that except, of course, Gods Will that makes a man or a woman a candidate for good reward or a punishment. Great amongst those are they who do good deeds needs not be brought here for further explanation. Verses of the Quran can be quoted to show that there is no difference between a man and a woman. In 2:187 women have been
1

The Quran, 33:35.

232

shown as an apparel for men and men as an apparel for women. This is true even in the month of Ramadhan between the breaking and observance of fasts. The first revelation KHALAQAL INSAAN MIN ALAQ (man has been created out of blood mated) shows clearly how man and woman both play parts equally in causing conception. The chromosome from both sides determines life. Still then if it is held that men and women have natural differences, we shall be neglecting Quranic guidance. No doubt biologically they are different but that proves no superiority, no inferiority. Each individual, man or woman, is different too but that proves only richness of life, an appreciable phenomena. If women are not like men, men also are not like women. If spring is not like autumn, autumn is also not like spring. Variety is a quality of life, a very great quality! We now move on to the breaking of shackles which BIAYYI ZANBIN does. It prepares women to stand upright asserting that they have an equal right with men to grow and to be. Growing and being is not only physical but multi dimensional. We may grow mentally, psychologically, morally, socially, culturally and, above all, spiritually. Similarly we have a right to be economically strong to resist hunger, disease, ignorance and other man-eating evils that accompany poverty. Poverty should not be thrust upon human beings. Man should live like a poor man but that is his choice for a lofty life-standard. Similarly in societies where fraternity and equality and justice are held high, we must be politically awakened. This is for men as well as women. Neither of the two has a special prerogative to this kind of life. If, unfortunately, women are thrown

233

into the background and men supersede them as in Jahiliyya, life will be damaged considerably. It is a great sin to force women to live a poor life and allow men to enjoy the fruits of fuller life at the cost of women. Again, think of a woman who is buried alive in the grave of ignorance, is not allowed to see God in the perspective of the Light verse of chapter 24, what will her life be like. She will be like a stone blind and inactive. BIAYYI ZANBIN in the sense of ignorance grave makes us conscious that man or woman is not essentially born for hell which in its real sense is ignorance. If chapter 93 and 94 are not read by the inner eye, if the original meanings of these verses are not discovered, human life will turn into a dead coal. We are mentioning these two chapters only for reference, otherwise many more chapters and verses of the Quran that awaken us spiritually are important chapter 16, chapter 20, chapter 55, chapter 99, chapter 112 and so on. And each verse needs education and awakening in letter, in spirit. To say therefore that women are not able to spiritual awakening is to close gates of Godhood for them. And we must know how spiritual awakening is possible, both for men and women, and then throw ways and means open for them so that both enter paradise of meanings to lead themselves deeper into union with God. We shall have to discover how great saints and mystics like Umm Haram, Rabia bint Ismail, Muadha al Adawiyya, Nafisa (daughter in law of Hazrat Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, peace be his share and glory his award), Ishi Nili, Shuhda Fakhr al-Nisa, Zainab Naishapuri, Aisha bint Mohammad, Zynab bint Kamal, Rabia Basri and many others attained heights of mysticism. This story is very unique and interesting for us who live

234

in this part of the world knowing very little about women in Islam who became imminent figures through gnosis. Thus growth and development in all aspects of life, including of course psychological and spiritual, cannot be underrated or ignored for women who unfortunately stand neglected by the high-handed. An emotionally disturbed person, a morally degraded or depressed human being, a politically crushed individual and a social outcast, more so if it is a woman, cannot reach the level wherefrom she can take off for a nearness to God. And, above all, mental sharpness is basically necessary. That is why the Quran refers to knowing, thinking, reasoning, meditating to all intellectual or mental processes that help all, men and women, to attain meanings of everlasting life. If obstacles are laid in the way of mental development, no fruits of the life hereafter can be grown and tasted. Might is right is absolutely refuted by BIAYYI ZANBIN, particularly when it comes to crush mankind. Islam came to help the downtrodden and the weak so that they stand upon their feet to enjoy the fruits of life as fully as possible. Islams altitude to women in this respect is quite visible in BIAYYI ZANBIN. The might of Jahiliyya which is the physical force of the brute or the outcome of blind ignorance stands condemned and in the most forceful manner. God is delightfully compassionate also in terms of His declaration

. It means He has inscribed


1

for Himself Mercy. But when His wrath expresses itself, the whole universe trembles with fear. That wrath is quite audible in BIAYYI ZANBIN. We cannot subject womankind to brutal discrimination in
1

The Quran; 6:12

235

a world in which nothing but Gods justice and Gods mercy prevails, prevails to save the victims, women, from the sharp nails of Jahiliyya, (Jahiliyya of that time or worse Jahiliyya of today). We cannot leave men free to issue verdicts on women who give birth to them and thereby serve mankind willingly and patiently. We cannot discriminate against those on whose breasts we feed ourselves at a time when we are so weak, so helpless that none else comes to our rescue. Discrimination against mothers amounts to sending nails to our heads so that we are finished with our own hands. Men and women are two sides of a coin as said before. They are like two hands which complete the work force of a human being. BIAYYI ZANBIN awakens us to this as well. Man began his social life when alongwith woman he started living and living in a family. The woman began keeping the house and man went out in search of food. Man took upon himself the task of a gatherer and woman did the creative job of looking after children after they were born of her; that was the first stage but then the activities of man grew more complex and that of a woman also. BIAYYE ZANBIN points out that the complex roles need readjustments and rearrangements every now and then. A full participation of both but prior to that a full recognition of the roles of both is necessary. The more efficient the workforce of both the partners, the more the welfare of family and of mankind at large. It cannot happen that only one hand is allowed to grow and to work: that will mean only fifty percent workforce applied. And work is not manual only. More work is mental or emotional or spiritual or social or moral or what have you. Man does not live by bread alone. He needs more non-

236

physical than physical or material. Similarly a woman needs more non material. She cannot be fastened to a peg for the upkeep of bondage. She cannot be denied variety of life and variety of roles for lifes betterment for herself, for her children and for man. This recognized, mankind will come out of the hell of Jahiliyya, ancient or modern, to enjoy the fresh and frequent atmosphere of free and full life. That is BIAYYI ZANBIN, that is the Quranic guidance, that is RAHMAH! But BIAYYE ZANBIN does not thrust itself upon us. It makes us conscious of togetherness, of mutual cooperation, of mutual sympathy and mutual love so that men and women develop themselves for mutual roles in life and life situations. It shows clearly that the harmony of man-woman togetherness can be heard and enjoyed with to enjoy life and to make its onward march both fruitful and enjoyable. It, like the fresh air of spring season, awakens us to enjoy the bloom of flowers all around. Let us respond and awake! Murder is impurity of soul combined with lack of faith. It is the result of total darkness of mind. BIAYYE ZANBIN points out the worst kind of murder, the burying alive of a female babe. It is only the darkness of mind which does not allow the murderer to see what potentials and powers, what capacities and capabilities the babe comes with to this world. May be those potentialities and powers would give mankind (which is absolutely womankind also) saints, seers, mystics, religious reformers, social reformers, political leaders, scholars, scientists, good mothers, flowering artists, great literary figures and what have you. Each babe that is born in this world is born for hereafter too. Each babe therefore comes with a

237

promise that the ills and evils of this world would be lessened if opportunities of and access to full development of that babe are not withheld or refused. The promise also visualizes improvement of material and non-material conditions that are used in this world for personal, individual and collective improvement and betterment. The opportunity of birth may also discover ways and means that may enlighten minds to see more and more glory and sublimity of soul. Crushing birth and crushing potentialities of the new born babe is standing rudely in the way of God to obliterate His schemes and scheming. Moreover, the babes life may prove to be a new dimension to lifes enjoyment. Being born to this world and to the hereafter is a chance that is given once. If this single chance goes, the enjoyment possibility goes as well. And what right has the rude man to destroy a babe before it flowers? Is man the rude male who kills a baby girl the creator of the babe he kills? If he is not, with what authority does he dare to play the destroyer? Does he create in the same way as God creates, sustain in the manner God sustains, promote in the way He promotes, arrange and rearrange in the same way as God does? Does he create hope in the hopeless, give strength to the weak, console the dejected and the depressed, enlighten the one who is lost and fill the life of those who have nothing with them except belief in Gods mercy? If not, how does he stretch his nailful hands to scratch life out of a babe? And honour and dishonour, richness and poverty, fullness and hollowness, hope and despair is in His hands. How do the hands of a crude male snatch all these powers from God and do away with an innocent babe? Shame!

238

We must never lose faith, faith in the mercy of God, in His numerous ways which prove nothing but His unbounded kindness and love for man (which includes woman equally). Killing a babe is the worst kind of faithlessness. But see how God obliterates or say frustrates this faithlessness. In spite of female-babe-murder attempted in Jahiliyya and later in various periods of times in various other ways, the number of women went on increasing bringing for the faithful various colours of womandhood to the forefront. As said above, woman became saints and mystics, scholars and knowledgeable persons, very kind mothers and daughters, sisters and spouses, playing their role in various ways in life situations and society, proving that God appears every moment with a new glory. Losing faith in God doing all this is to lose ones own worth as a human being. Let us therefore, be faithful enough to see more and more colours of Godhood blooming in the lives of women! Murder of female child in whatever way1 proves one thing clearly failure of man as man. So a murderer is a failed man. He is a failure because he does not dedicate his life to women empowerment through loveful upbringing, through delicate handling of issues related to her health, education, entertainment, housing, social interaction, creative activity and so on. He is a failure because he does not respond to her needs as a human being, as a mother, as a neglected human lot, as a dreamer of good life, as an imaginative person and as one who wants opportunities to show
1

At some other place we will try to show that burying alive of a female babe alone does not kill her. She is killed in other ways too.

239

her worth. It has been minutely observed that women are poets born. When they talk, they talk in a soft, calm and composed language and as those who are in touch with natural world. Their sense of observation brings them harmony and proportion and when they express themselves in an appropriate setting, this observation speaks itself. They are sympathetic and know how to cure wounds through very delicate feelings because essentially they are mothers and know what wounds are and what their pain is like. Just a pat with their soft and delicate hand, with their soft and delicate fingers, has the capacity of spreading affection in the body of a human being and also in his soul as blood spreads in the whole body. If a male does not recognize and value this quality responding to it promptly and creatively, he is a failed male. Again, his failure proves itself in other ways too. He refers his own faults to others. He is hungry and he destroys his own food. He thinks his passions are bringing him dishnour and dirt because he satisfies them in ways which he thinks are improper. But instead of checking himself, he does away with those who are victims of his own passion. Instead of improving himself he destroys those who are used by him for his self abasement or self degradation. His example is the example of a person who in a rose-garden observes weeds grown around his rose bushes. But instead of clearing weeds he roots out rose bushes. He is not only a failed gardener, he is mad. Beautiful and elegant rose bushes he destroys, ah! The greatness of man, therefore, is proved by his positive role in life. He proves a strong person, a courageous being, when he supports life and promotes it. If he spoils life with his imbalance and madness, he proves he is worse than animals and

240

also the weakest being on the earth. Hence give something to life and wherever you find your hand can improve, can console, can create hope, go there at once and prove that you are a living spirit. Cruelty is an expression of the worst kind of thraldom. When you feel insecure and afraid you become a sadist or cruel person. To call a cruel man a person is also wrong because a harmoniously balanced personality cannot commit cruelty. You become cruel because you dont see positive ways of overcoming your fears. All authoritarian altitudes refer to pathology. To inflict pain on others is as bad psychologically as letting others inflict pain on you. To harm others is harming oneself. The more you move towards cruelty and authoritarian behaviour, the more you prove you are ill or you are deviated from humanity. One day you find you are totally a victim of cruelty, fallen in its trap. Like an alchoholist or an addict of brown sugar you find you are unable to control brutal anger or murderous deign or authoritarian mannerism and so on. So you slip more and more into your morbid habit or pathological condition. Better would have been if you would from the very first day show love and affection to others. Love begets love and affection affection. Authoritarianism and cruelty brings pain and hatred and the vicious circles go on widening. Shouldnt we for a moment consider, therefore, that if good social and moral, religious and spiritual conditions of life are to be generated in a society, we will have to move productively towards these goals through our own behaviour. The best that we can do is to promote rather than destroy, improve rather than spoil, sow rather than reap, love but not

241

hate. That is the positive attitude, the hidden suggestion in BIAYYE ZANBIN QUTILAT! This forceful Quranic shaking shakes us to discover and to value womans nature and worth. We may have drawn subtle hints towards it so far. But let us be more specific and more exact. Motherhood is the greatest endowment of a woman but it is not as natural as it would seem to the crude mind. Unless a girl is fully grown in all respects, unless she is brought up in a free and fair atmosphere, unless she is securely provided with love, affection and attention by her family and surroundings, she is not supposed to be a good mother. A good education (but not indoctrination) is as much necessary as good and balanced food. Take them away from lifes blooming situations or keep them bound with the chores of living, they will not properly develop as human beings. And thwarted growth of a girl is detrimental for motherhood. Jahiliyyah or Jahilliya like conditions of life send a shiver down into the deep of their nerve that they are doubted as human beings and not treated at par with boys. This never goes out of their mind come what may afterwards. Hence their motherhood gets infected even when its Bud has not flowered. A wounded motherhood capacity affects children severely, be they male or female. But motherhood goes on receiving set backs by the constant dos and do nots of parents, by the fables and stories about women that are narrated to them by closed minds, by the food and other things provided to them and, most of all, by the taunts of friends and foes. Girls should not eat much, they should not spend or spend much, they should not speak in presence of men, they should not smile or laught in presence of anybody,

242

they should not go out of their home, much less to play kinds of sermons frighten them. They receive shocks constantly and they develop complexes which weaken them. They begin feeling something is wrong with the very nature of a girl, or a woman. The tragedy gets chronic when girls are not given responsibilities, when their deeds are checked every moment, and above all, when their doings even in the kitchen are not appreciated. They get both discouraged and demoralized. The more the complex Jahiliyya, the more the demoralization of a woman, the more damaged the motherhood. Disappointment sends a death knell to both womans quality and her motherhood. In modern Jahiliyya unwilling motherhood even after two or three children sends waves of fear and suffering into the very soul of mothers, so does promiscuous sex. But motherhood is not the only nature of a woman, nurture is too. She is a born expert to place the child in her lap, in her arms, where there is sufficient warmth there. She nurtures body, she nurtures soul, she nurtures emotion and feeling and intellect. She nurtures value and values dynamic role. Only this is not nurtured by her. She nurtures home and homely peace. Her looks, her manners, her styles produce a home which for any definition is better than even a rose garden and rose bower. East or West, she gives home the best. She nurtures even flowers and flower plants and her hand knows how to arrange them both in and around the lawn and the house. Her soft and motherly hand adds to the delicacy and fragrance of flowers and the greenery of the plant. She may nurture fruit and provide sweet juice to the children of the home, children that she looks after. She may like to see butterflies around her and like the butterfly take

243

delight in honey. Her nurturing hand may not leave even animals and birds, fowls and fawn. She may feed a bulbul and a hoopoe or a maina if she is happy and can place her hands on things she likes to nurture. She may feed even birds of imagination if she is allowed to do so by her husband or even by her own son. She may nurture ideas, and if not ideas habits, habits of cleanliness, of endurance, of hard work, of kindness, of soft speech, of early rising and leaving snoring sleep. All depends upon how she is left free to nurture, how nurturing is welcome, how it is encouraged by words of appreciation, by praise and approving glances. Crude men cradled in Jahiliyya of all kinds do not know how to fondle with the most excellent endowments of a woman. Let us see more of it! The passions of a woman can be felt by the songs she sings or, if songs are prohibited by the patriarchal culture, by the lullaby she murmurs into the ears of her child. One does not really know why her lullaby is so imaginative, so thought-provoking, so sweet. If its words are not caught it becomes more attractive, more thoughtprovoking. Sounds are far more attractive, sweater and deeper with feelings than are words. Words reveal things quicker than sounds. Therefore sounds are more mysterious like the passions of a woman. But women are not rich in passions only; their feelings lift up a sensitive soul to states strange. Return from those states is possible neither for women nor for their sympathetic listeners. Their glances reveal this, their tight-lipped moods reveal this, their downcast eyes reveal this, their brows and the lift of their eyes express this in various ways. They cannot be killed easily but they can be silenced so much that they can be left lifeless. Their sensitivity, to

244

refer to one more nature, is so sharp, so keen that one touches wood when one feels its prick. Sudden outbursts of love and affection that children are fortunate enough to receive from them are so delightful that their delight cannot be measured by the smiles of childrens heart. One wonders why children do not fall asleep when they are touched by these outbursts. Suddenly sometimes, somewhere, these outbursts are expressed to grown up men also if they show real favours to ladies but these expressions take the form of a prayer or a sweet remark or a sharp smile. You cannot measure a womans sensitive soul, nor can you weigh it. Like poetrys inexpressible beauty it is something that you can only feel, as was the sensitivity of KhadejaAS felt by young MohammadsSAW marriage. We have listed some of her virtuous qualities but believe it or not she is the embodiment of virtue which crude men have no realization of. BIAYYE ZANBIN is so comprehensively rich that it has a full perception of her souls quality. What happens to her nature if the crude hand of brutal discrimination and exploitation scratches her soul? Well, it is an untold story; even women do not have the will to express it. We can only say that her motherhood is chopped, her nurturing capacity is frozen, her love, feeling, affection stultified like blood, her sensitivity, her delicacy, her gracefulness blackened by the dark smoke of rudeness and she is left lifeless in the sense of meaningful living. Our world, still needs to learn how to save womanhood from the fierce clutches of power greed! BIAYYI ZANBIN spirit can help us understand qualities of a woman that draw her very close to God and His Creative Activity.

245

Women, for example, are beautiful and like beauty too much. God also is Beautiful and likes beauty. The womans interest in beauty starts with herself. She likes to adore herself as much as she can or as much as she is capable of. She is interested in dress and dress material and she goes on collecting things that she thinks add to her beauty. Related to this is her interest in ornaments. Gold and silver and diamond is her weakness but if these things arent available, she will place her land on glass and plastics. She will perhaps find more interest in these stuffs because machine has made them more colourful, more attractive and easily available. Likewise her interest in house materials, kitchenware, curtains and furniture is tremendous. She will chose things of form and design, colour and art. But if she is too weak financially to have them, she will bring earthenware and wooden things to make her kitchen agreeable to her taste. Things woven of wheatgrass and palm-fibre enter ordinary mans house and women in these households wait for shopping chances in fairs and festivals that enrich the social and cultural life of people everywhere. All these things apart, even the most humble woman in a rural setting will take a broom or a brush in her hand to clean the house and the compound. But cloth drenched in good clay also does not miss her attention. She will paint the walls whenever there is a function around in the home or outside. If there are no functions, there will be a festival or a religiously important celebration like the powerful Night of Ramadhan or the Eid. Women whenever they feel free, engage themselves in spinning and weaving or at least in churning butter if she has a cow. All along one would see her busy and also hear her singing songs which are

246

imaginatively as well as artistically woven round nature. Her taste for and interest in beauty will not end here. She may wear clothes with embroidery or flower-design and one would see her inner by the designs she chooses. She may busy herself with needle work or knitting or sewing and pour her aesthetic taste in these arts skillfully if not artistically always. Like more fortunate women she will take interest in beauteous forms though her materials will be least expensive and handy. The fortunate women may involve themselves in expensive pastimes like gardening, painting, instrumental music and so on. Ordinary women will use pitchers and copper plates as instruments but rich women will buy expensive musical systems pianos or classical sitars and so on. Even cooking and uncooked food-preparations will use the aesthetic sense of women, if not through expensive meat and chicken, at least through vegetables and domestically produced butter and cream. Green and red pepper, mint and cucumber, reddish and carrot together with cream and easily available fruit she may use to prepare food full of flavour and taste. Beauty and beauty aids of this sort colour personality, fan aesthetics and enliven heart and soul for far-greater perceptions of beauty, grace and sublimity. We have left describing womens activities in festival celebrations or religious functions where their chants and chanting abilities can be seen with appreciation. Kashmir is known for womens participation in ceremonial aesthetics an account of which will need a separate treatment. But we must not miss mentioning that beauty and its absorptions are a great help to have a vision of the Absolute very conveniently.

247

Now we come to a very important phase of womens life. Do they have the same duty towards mankind and God as men have? Are they also answerable to mankind and to God for what they do? These questions, no doubt, appear very easy but their answers are difficult. Duty and answerability are ideas that can be referred to free individuals. BIAYYI ZANBIN points out that women are not free; they are like slaves or bonded labour working for mere existence under the strict and barbaric control of a tribal community in which only men matter. We can neither assign nor expect roles in bondage. We must know what we have to do, for what reasons, under which conditions and for which goals. Women who are done away when they are not even conscious to this world are not supposed to know anything about any job or any role. And that Jahiliyya which didnt have any conception about past, present and future couldnt fix signposts for itself. It is due to that slumber that a bolt came from the blue to awaken men that they must not only mend their ways with respect to their treatment of women but also work towards the future of humanity. This bolt was BIAYYI ZANBIN and this warned them that women cannot be treated but as equals and that they should properly be prepared side by side with men to play their role. This preparedness will make them conscious of their existence as human beings and also of collective living. This preparedness will awaken them for their responsibility to group living and also for answerability to God. Men or women, they cannot do good to their souls unless they serve mankind, unless men are for women and women for men, unless individual interest and collective benefit fall in the same straight-line. The first step

248

towards this can be marked only by granting respect and freedom to the babe who is brutally buried alive and done away. BIAYYI ZANBIN QUTILAT very clearly and openly declares that sex is neither sin nor an undesirable behaviour. If it were so the Quran would not teach us that man has been created as a result of union between a male and a female, that union between a couple is not forbidden even in the nights of Ramadhan, the month of fasting, that both men and women should note that pairs are not essential only for the continuation of mans life but also for the life of animals and birds and so on. We have created you in pairs has already been referred to. Verses from the Shooting Star have also been quoted. It has been said that the liquid substance that is issued forth from the loins and ribs of the male and the female is a wonder of wonders. Moreover, necessity of a woman for a man and of a man for a women is essential. Then how is it so that sex is bad or sin or undesirable. We must not fail to note that even in paradise young girls with their downcast eyes and untouched private parts will be offered to the dwellers of paradise as a gift. How then do we develop hate towards baby girls and bury them alive? Not only is sex to be admitted as a very important part of human existence but, it is also to be praised as being a means for Gods creative act. Very great people have come into existence and shown their contributory worth. Mans history is full of their creative and productive record. Even in future we will continue having eminent men and women who will furthermore make life better or even marvellous. It is wrong to say that science and technology hasnt done any substantial work for lovers of God or for those who submit to Him

249

dogmatically and ritualistically. These notable achievements prove how the spiritual richness of man has worked wonders showing that God is beautiful as well as powerful. These achievements of man are utilitarian as much as they are spiritual. They point out that nature has been conquered and secrets hidden in it are exposed as well as utilized for better life and living. Without sex, which is the basis of life, no such natural benefits would have been realized or applied. Men and women that will be born now will discover things that will, in the words of Iqbal, expose God one day.1 In the last chapter we have shown that man and nature are full of signs of God. If those signs are not observed, understood and applied in life, we will be blaspheming. There is a paradise of human emotion and feeling in the life of a man or a woman. If intellect is included in it, the paradise develops depth as well as extension. A woman is more intense in the field of emotion and feeling for both biological and evolutionary reasons. The interplay of all the natural potentialities appears more in sex before and after the act but the act itself denotes its peak. How can a human being in the perspective of the signs be deprived of or detracted from understanding and applying emotions and feelings accompanied by intellect. As already pointed out, we are told to think about the creative act. We are also asked to appreciate how God has brought us into this world. Therefore,
1

250

understanding man-woman relationship in terms of sex is in order. No poetry, no music, no art, no grace and grandeur is comparable to the creative act in which He shapes man and provides the best of fabric in him. The AHSANI TAQWEEM cannot be brushed aside arrogantly and rudely because it is divinely designed. Shall we destroy or even spoil this best fabric in the being of a female babe? Shall we afford to be blind to it in our age which is marked by tremendous progress in all fields of knowledge including the knowledge of soul? Suppose for a moment that sex is shame, it is below the dignity of a human being, is man not an active participant in its processes? Is he not the initiator of the processes? Is he not more assertive and more dominating at least in the historical sense? If yes, why should the female be punished, mocked, slandered and defamed unnecessarily, more wondrously by the male himself? The wolf in the Wolf and Lamb story finds reasons, one or the other, to tear the helpless lamb apart. Similarly, man also tears a woman apart, this way or that way but being a more fierce brute he has to find no reasons to justify his act. He is free to do anything he likes even in the darker age of today, justifiable to be called modern Jahiliyya. BIAYYE ZANBIN denounces ways of subjugating and depressing women therefore! Discrimination against women to the extent of their brutal murder is the greatest sin because it snatches power from God, the Creator, and uses it in the most perverted form. Man who does it is absolutely pathological and in that state he reduces himself to the lowest level of existence, even below the level of animals. Being

251

blind he does not understand the value and meaning of human existence in its male-female form and in that state of darkness commits the most heinous crime against not only women but also humanity at large. The crime gets recorded in history. The criminal goes out of existence carrying with him the burden of his crime but in no way harms Gods kingdom or His laws of life, laws of creativity, laws of wisdom. He is disdained as are the Arabs of Jahiliyya, as are those who like brown-sugar addicts use this crime or try to use it in new forms today. The most detestable thing about their evil deed is that they punish the crime before it is by any definition done. No civilized people, no sane people in any corner of the world appreciate this also in the vein of the Quranic verses that we quote here to register our regard for women:
And those who accuse free women and bring not four witnesses, flog them (with) eight stripes and never accept their evidence, and these are the transgressors Surely those who accuse chaste believing women, unaware (of the evil), are cursed in this world and the Hereafter, and for them is a grievous chastisement, On the day when their tongues and their hands and their feet bear witness against them as to what they did, On that day Allah will pay back to them in full their just reward, and they will know that Allah, He is the evident Truth.1

The Quranic reverence for women can be observed in other verses wherein eminent ladies have been mentioned.2 Hazrat SARARA gives birth to Hazrat IshaqAS from whose line Christ, the soul of
1

The Quran, 24:4,23-25.

252

Allah, comes to mankind with his love and sweet message. From Hazrat HajraRA IsmailAS is born and all Muslims wherever they are fall in his line. The mother of MosesAS receives revelation, suffers at the hands of Pharaoh but succeeds to give mankind something which Muslims value considerably. Pharaohs wife helps MosesAS, so does the aunt of MosesAS. MaryAS, the most respectable lady, has a chapter in the Quran. The chapter recognizes her greatness and honour. She is chaste and sacred and gives birth to Prophet Jesus ChristAS whose contributions to mankind stand recorded in history. MaryAS develops a rapport with God and receives guidance direct from Him through revelation. Saba or Sheba receives attention and honour from SolomonAS, the prophet. So side by side with greatmen, the Quran mentions great ladies and also their contributions to mankind. Then in the history of Islam Jenab Khadeja AS occupies a distinguished position. She is the first person to embrace Islam. She is the one who stands by MohammadSAW through thick and thin. She sacrifices everything for MohammadSAW. Some say the reason for her death is the hard life which she spent with the ProphetSAW when sanctions were imposed on the family. The greatest thing about her is the she gives MohammadSAW FatimaAS, the mother of HassanAS and HussainAS. They stand like a rock against those who hijacked Islam for the sake of worldly power and wealth, who invented all that is vicious and vulgar to gain support for their evil deeds. We
2

Where the Quran does not mention great ladies, history does, and history is a great sign of God. Besides, Iqbal is his lectures says that history together with science and mysticism is to guide mankind in the post KHATAMUL ANBIYA period in the perspective of the Quranic teachings.

253

have already referred to Maududis Khilafat wa Malookiat which exposes Ummayyads for their un-Isalmic conduct of public affairs for which Kerbela tragedy was played. If Maududis analysis needs anything more in support, that can be obtained from Taha Hussains books Ali Wa Nabbowah and Al-Fitnatul Kubra. HussainsAS blood and that of his kith and kin wrote everything honourable and honourably religious on the sands of Kerbela. The flag that he and his innocent martyrs posted in there stands as a lighthouse for good governance and ideal administration of public affairs. But Jenab ZanabsAS role is not less significant. This great daughter of Jenab ZehraAS taught a lesson to all the good sons of good mothers and good sisters of good brothers as to how boldly they should stand in the way of God fighting for truth, not wavering under the most difficult or nerve-breaking conditions. Her story is heart rending as well as soul ravishing. The speech she delivered in the court of Yazid bin Mauwya is a record in human history, for boldness, for truth speaking, for eloquence and for presence of mind. This is the legacy for women and women in Islam; this shows to what extent women can stand firm in the way of God! In the early period of Islam, particularly before the passing away of Rasul-ullahSAW, women enjoyed a considerable freedom in going out of their homes, in attending prayer in the mosque and also in solving issues related to family affairs. They were even bold in expressing themselves. From the family life of the ProphetSAW itself we have evidences to show that the mothers of the faithful were not dominated by him. Jenab AishaRA and Jenab HafsaRA were quite vocal so much so that some of his friends thought that they were too

254

bold. Once Hazrat UmmarRA came to scold his own daughter for being over-expressive. But the Rahmatan LilalaminSAW sent him back with rather a tough word that he would himself attend to his family affairs and that UmmarRA had no reason to take the trouble of interfering. It is also reported that the ProphetSAW would allow women to meet him and to talk to him fearlessly. Once when UmmarRA saw some of them surrounding him, he came and lashed at them. But the ProphetSAW told him that women should not be struck even with a sweet-basil twig.1 To augment this we quote two Western writers. First Will Durant:
But the Moslems of Mohammads century had not secluded their women; the two sexes exchanged their visits, moved indiscriminately through the streets, and prayed together in the mosque. When Musab ibn alZubair asked his wife Aisha why she never veiled her face, she answered: Since Allah, may He remain blessed and exalted, hath put upon me the stamp of beauty; it is my wish that the public should view that beauty, and thereby recognize His grace unto them.2

Will Durant is known both in the West and the East for his insight into history and historical criticism. Though not so known as Will
1

Zainul Abidin Rehnuma has narrated this episode in his famous biography (on MohammadSAW) Payamber. Will Durant, pp. 220-21 (Maulana Rumi supports her view in this verse of Divani Shamas:


quoted:

Rumis view is based on a tradition which Nicholson has


255

Durant, Margaret Smith has done research on Muslim women and has in a scholarly manner pointed out that saints and mystics of Islam (women) have earned a name in gnosis and thereof in drawing near to God. She has very clearly pointed out freedom of Muslim ladies in the early period of Islam. She writes:
There is ample evidence, then, that at the beginning of the Islamic era women had much freedom in the choice of their husbands, that marriage was in many cases an equal partnership and that women could, and did, assert their right to an independent life. Social intercourse between women and men was not restricted to close relatives but women might meet with strangers in society. They went about freely and had the right, as we have seen, to go into the mosques at the time of prayer, to worship in common with the men. Moreover, those who were versed in jurisprudence expressly recognized the right of a wife on marriage to make a condition that there should be no second wife, nor even a concubine, and this right, as we have seen above, was frequently claimed. The woman then, at the beginning of the Islamic period, had a dignity and independence not found later, and early Arabic literature reveals a feeling even of chivalrous reverence to womanhood.1

In out times Benazir Bhutto,2 who was elected Pakistans Prime Minister twice, writes clearly and forcefully.
1 2

Margaret Smith, p.122. God be pleased with her. She was brutally assassinated and her story of assassination is still a mystery.

256

Understanding the role of women in Islam requires that the Muslim Holy text be looked at in the proper context. The Quran was produced at a time in history when women were seen as unequal in almost every society, especially in the Arabian peninsula, and were often considered to be nothing more than slaves. Girl newborns were sometimes buried alive. We were taught Islam stood for the liberation of humanity from the age of idol worship and darkness. Islam prohibited the killing of girls and gave women the right to divorce, child custody, alimony, and inheritance long before Western societies adopted these principles. Islam stresses the importance of education and knowledge, of compassion and taking care of the weak, the poor and the depressed.1 Thus the message of Islam is pro-womens rights.2

She continues writing forcefully and truthfully:


in Islam there is no distinction between the sexes. In fact, it is quite remarkable, given the social conditions of seventh century Arabia, that Islam advocated religious gender equality that took the rest of the world centuries to reach. However, sadly for me, the message of emancipation of women proclaimed by Islam is hardly to
1

Unfortunately if not very surprisingly women are thrown into the cells of ignorance and darkness. I have heard people say that women should neither read nor write so that they cannot express themselves. A bureaucrat in Kashmir said to me that the earnings of a woman are HARAM (denied as impure). People feel very happy and satisfied when they see women weak and serving them as servants. Shame! Reconciliation, Islam, Democracy and the West, pp 39-40

257

be seen in Most Islamic countries. Instead tribal traditions and the values of subjugation spawned by authoritarian systems have robbed women of their Islamic rights to gender equality.1 One of most essential components of religious pilgrimage known as Haj and Umrah is the Tawaf, the circling of the Kabah seven times. And from the birth of Islam to this very day, the millions who circle the Kabah are men and women together, together as equals under Allah. There is no separation; there is no hierarchy. There is equality. The Quran goes further giving women property rights: men shall have the benefit of what they earn and women shall have the benefit of what they earn. Women can earn money, and what they earn is theirs. This gives them an autonomy almost unheard of in many parts of the world in the twenty first century. And the Holy Book, the words of Allah revealed to the Prophet, consistently goes out of its way to make the point of sexual equality... Stylistically and grammatically, it would have been sufficient for the Quran to state that all or all people will be allotted what they earn. But it underscores the deliberate and emphatic gender equality by repeating the prescription for men and for women, making it clear, so that there can be no confusion not
1

One doesnt know for certain and for what reasons ZA Bhutto or Benazir didnt liberate women of Pakistan fundamentally from economic subjugation and drudgery. No radical constitutional reforms were made, nothing practical was done, except of causes to bring S Rehman to the forefront. Was US or the West responsible.

258

only are men and women equal but women are clearly demarked as wage earners. In Islam, a womens place is not necessarily always in the home. It was not true for the ProphetsSAW wifeAS, who was a successful business women, .1

In the following words Benazir Bhutto singles out how the Quran safeguards womens interest, especially of those women whose orphanage is exploited for reasons of money and property. She says:
Men who marry propertied female orphans are also warned against marrying them for their money and then siphoning off their properties. The Quran makes it clear that the property, even after marriage, belongs to the woman and must not be taken over by the husband on the grounds of marital bonds.2

To celebrate the honourableness of women in Islam furthermore, we shall go to the golden period and quote a Sufi or a saint of eminence, Shaikh Farid-ud-din Attar:
The holy prophets have laid it down that God does not look upon your outward forms. It is not the outward form that matters, but the inner purpose of the heart, as the Prophet said, the people are assembled (on the Day of Judgment) according to the purpose of their hearts so also Abbas of Tus said that when on the Day of Resurrection the summons goes forth, O men, the first person to set foot in that class of men (i.e those who are to enter Paradise) will be Mary, upon whom be peace The true explanation of this fact (that women count for as
1 2

Ibid., pp. 44-45. Ibid, p.47 (Benazir quotes the Quran, Chap 4, Verse, 127.)

259

much as men among the saints) is that wherever these people, the Sufis, are, they have no separate existence in the Unity of God.1

Some like Karen Armstrong say that mystics have a reverence for femalehood as incarnation of God and that the inscrutable essence of God al Dhat (

is feminine. Mohi-ud-din Ibni Arabis )

Nizam, the most pure, as he called her, brought him an aura in which be realized Divine Wisdom. Allegories like Yusof Zulaikha, Lala Majnoon, Wamiq Uzra, Shirin Khusroo and many others reveal how important a part women play in the life of men to achieve spiritual excellence. The chapter 12 of the Quran is wholly devoted to the basic idea of the beauty of Hazrat YosofAS and the cutting of fingers of Egyptian women to see his glowing grace. The wife of Aziz (Egyptian king) falls in love with YosofAS and tears his shirt in the back. Had it been possible for Gnostics to explain for every Tom Dick and Harry this Quranic allegory we would know astonishingly important secrets about man-woman creation schemed by God. But certainly Shaikh Samoon in Attars Conference of Birds, Zulaikha, in Jamis allegory, and Shirin Farhad in Nizamis allegory are of utmost significance to those who understand. These three personalites Attar, Jami and Nizami are so great in Islam that we cannot ignore them or avoid them. If we add more to this list, then we have Rumi, Sanai, Sadi and Khiyyam whose Persian poetry is not superb only but very meaningfully fruitful for our spiritual relations with God. We cannot forget mentioning Hafiz Shirazi whose lyrics are far more important than allegories at least
1

Margaret Smith, p.2. (She has herself taken the quote from TAZKIRAT UL AULIYA of Attar).

260

to the lovers of music and love. This is not to deny that thousands of other poets outside or inside Islam have not used love as the primary force to reach God! Only an instance of Kashmiri poetry as of Rahim Sahab of Sopore, Nema Sahab, Shamas Faqir and Rasul Mir is sufficient to say that these are the people who understand manwoman relationship on equal footing as a ladder to reach the heights of spirituality. History records the greatness of many women who due to their ability and skill have empowered their own life but have overbrimmed their personal worth and quality to pour it into common good. Such women besides being creative in arts, sciences and literature have as activists remoulded community experiences, reformed culture or even rediscovered channels through which to pour creative and constructive urge. Some of them have been saints, seers and sufis or pious recluses. While ladies of other religions have left behind them good records of good deeds, Muslim women have not lagged behind. They have been Arabs, non-Arabs, Iranians, Indians, Turks and West Asians, to deal with their prominent works may mean to go beyond the scope of this book. We shall, however, mention some Indian women like Razia Sultana, Nur Jehan, Jahan Ara, Habba Khatoon, Lala Arifa and so on. While Razias father chose her over his sons, Nur Jahan helped Jehangir greatly in matters of administration and scholastic interest. Jehan Aras association with her scholar and mystic brother Darashikoh was of tremendous importance and her interest in spiritual field praiseworthy. She was a great literary woman too. Her dislike for Aurangzebs dogmatic approach and her differences with her sister

261

for being a pawn of the emperor proved that she was not only a Godly person but a brave lady too. Lala Arifa of Kashmir was a great fan of Shah HamadanRA and her spiritual legacy is being honoured in Kashmir with passion and prestige! All what we said so far to open up the revolutionary meanings of BIAYYI ZANBIN QUTILAT does not stop us from knowing that human nature in general is neither an unchangeable phenomena nor something in the making of which environmental forces in the evolution of man have not played a part. Man is not today what he was in the past, nor is woman. As life went on taking forward steps, men continued growing stronger and women weaker in general. Life has always been a power game. Whosoever has might has right also. The strange thing to notice is that wherever women find a chance and an opportunity, they play the same role towards men as man plays towards them. A propertied woman may treat her man as a servant if the poor fellow is poor or weak. Similarly a woman in power may approach the male members of her family toughly or, may be, rudely. It has been seen that even very intelligent women make their husbands hen-pecked1 if the poor fellows are not sharp and smart. It can be said in the same vein that modern woman even in higher circles of Muslim countries may change roles with their men. Sometimes men can take care of women and sometimes women of men. This also may happen that women may refuse to be
1

The most intelligent men, more so if they are strong in all respects, want to see themselves benefited. Then bravest of all men are those who give their wives an idea that they are their soft friends who can be played with. A woman deserves unbounded love by an intellectually grown up man/ husband.

262

taken care of. And mens rough attitudes can also be seen growing softer in such societies, may be because their women prove equal in rank and file, behave intelligently and wisely, go shoulder to shoulder with men to understand and enjoy life equally through thick and thin. We may also see that women are losing their classical grace due to mechanical culture that is grinding them in the same way as it does men. May be they also show signs of stress and stressful behaviour as do the men do. Hollowness of mind and character may hit women as it hits men and they also may behave in pseudo- masochistic way inside or outside the family. Family may lose grip on women because of its static nature or monotony but wherever family may prove that children are less expensive than dance and dancing pranks, both men and women can play table tennis in their own drawing rooms or even bedrooms. But BIAYYI ZANBIN still proves, in more ways than one, that multitudes of women have suffered and are suffering, perhaps more cruelly now than before. As long as selfishness and greed dominate there will be more hide and seek in human relations and more pretexts to rule over the weak, man or woman. There will be more use and throw articles of consumption around than live and let live friends or life-time partners. Above all, as long as man remains lost in his own imbalanced life, he may show more disturbed behaviour traits than existentially matured character-designs in his dealings with people, particularly women! At the end of this chapter we shall now point out the most undesirable shape that man-woman relations have taken in our times, also in the Muslim world. Women are not buried alive but the

263

new graves that have been discovered to bury them are very dangerous. These graves do not devour women at once; they devour them slowly and steadily. One of the horrible graves is ignorance. We have mentioned it somewhere but only as a casual reference. Ignorance is an antonym of awareness or knowledge. It is blindness. It is living like a dead coal. Though there is no absolute ignorance possible with men but we want to show that most people including especially women are awfully ignorant. They are ignorant due to poverty, due to greed, due to exploitation, due to childlabour or caste or backwardness which so-called religions impose upon men and women. When ignorance is imposed on women, for the sake of self-designed religion or gender inequality, it takes the most depressive shape. Many young girls all over the world, even in Muslim countries, are not schooled or are taken off from basic schools earlier with the consideration that they do not require any reading or writing. They are by nature designed and designated as future-mothers and in motherhood responsibilities no education is required. Astonishingly it is said that education damages motherhood because educated mothers read books or write or listen to poetry or song and are careless about family affairs or even husbands. Moreover, devils find their mischievous places in their minds and they plan things against traditions and traditional living. All these behaviour traits, these self-styled ideas are the products of ignorance. Wherever there is education, there is light and wherever there is light there is better family living, better human relations, better culture, better opportunity to enjoy life, better capacity to advance life, and better capacity to seek nearness to God. If there

264

arent, there is not real education; there may be schooling and certification and a false idea that mere reading and writing make education. One who is enlightened will see that man or woman is the best creation of God and should, therefore, be treated as such mutually. But throughout history women have remained uneducated and ignorant as compared to men. Even today they are jostled back and admissions to institutions, particularly higher, are denied to them. How disgusting they are like animals thrown into the cells of homes to breed children, for narcotic drugs and drug trafficking! But even outside schools their eyes are blindfolded. They cant see what men are doing, how they are making money, how they are killing people, how they are involved in violence and mega-death, how they build palaces and turn arid lands into lawns and gardens, how in hotels and houses CD players and recorders engage men in activities that baffle even devils and demons, how side by side with modern Hitlerian criminals Muslims are pouring streams of diamond and goal to hatch plots against the poor, the downtrodden and the weak at a large scale, larger than imagination can cover up. Women cannot object because they cannot see, they cannot see because they are imprisoned into their kitchens where smoke and dirt and childrens refuse make a hell of their life. This is happening day in and day out and will happen tomorrow and the day after and upto eternity. Capitalism and its hostage Islam cannot allow removal of these horrible sights which like fetters bind Muslims in

265

chains everywhere. Let us wait for Mehdi1 who will tear out this HIJAB! Yet another grave to bury woman alive is a well-planned, well programmed propaganda that women and shame, women and morals and women and family welfare are the urgent needs of today which cannot be sacrificed at any cost. One doesnt understand what shame is? One needs take a magazine or a newspaper in hand to see naked pictures of women to boost production and sales of consumer goods produced in machines at a very large scale. Who designs these pictures? Who publishes them? Who is attracted by them? Who are mesmerized by this pictorial nakedness? Who by didnt of this commercial religion of today motivates and persuades to cabaret and immoral traffic? Who is persuaded, male or female? Why are clerics of Islam silent? Dont they have the capacity of reading between the lines or even looking at the newspapers pictures? We are not referring to obscene writings, obscene pictures, blue films and so on. We are also not inviting the attention of the managers of religious institutions to songs of all kinds in which morals are ground like pepper and salt to add pain to the wounds that modern commercial culture has inflicted in humanitys soul! We are only pointing out senility of religions, which pushes back the poor mother to drudgery and tragedy. We are in no way and
1

But who is going to be the Mehdi, I do not know. So far there are no preparations, no signs for this Masiha, this saviour of mankind. The most horrible Satans wearing dazzling garbs only kill time and engage mankind in ever new dramas the tragedy of which is ignorance and open loot, miserable living and megadeath.

266

under no circumstance against creative religion. We honour it because it has always and everywhere helped mankind to seek God and eternal peace. But we are pointing to hijacked religion which is used by the muscleman of the worst kind to conserve and nourish backwardness in which woman is the worst sufferer. Womens suffering leads to semi-genocide because women are the mothers of children who constitute mankind. A backward woman gives birth to an abnormal child. The more the abnormality of children, the more the abnormality of the society in which such children are born. One doesnt understand why morals are thrust on women only. Men go about bearheaded, use half trousers or jeans, wear obnoxiously tight clothes and ill-mannerly printed T-shirts and shoes. They exhibit half naked bodies, dress hair like drug addicts, wear gold chains and iron bracelets like women and drive bikes at a fast speed on roads and lanes conventionally built for conventional traffic. They use pullovers and paints, coats and jackets or any other materials that modern age designs and styles with suggestive make. They can smoke or chew gums in arrogant ways or indulge in loud talking, jeering, shouting, street rocking and unparliamentary language and thoughts particularly where women are seen shopping or traveling or walking or what have you. All this is allowed 1 for Romeos but Juliets have either to keep indoors or wear long robes to
1

This is not to be said that men should not be modern in terms of their dress and habit but they also have a duty to be genuinely respectful to women and elders and not to behave like beasts on roadside and public places. And if modern ways of dressing and going about are good for males, why not for females? Do men have a special prerogative to life and living?

267

show bashfulness and honour that men call female gene. A woman wearing tight clothes is a point of discussion in coffee houses or on the road side or in social gatherings. Well read people may talk very loosely about women who work in hospitals or teach in schools or are seen in TV and radio stations or are detected listening to pop songs. Such men may themselves indulge in corruption in government offices or politics or courts and so on. The same man, be he a brother, a husband or even a father may deliver on women folk of the family all kinds of moral lessons, using often very tough language. Whatever is done by the male world in the immoral sense pricks the conscience of men (if they have it) and then in that mood when they face women, they shower at them morals to their satisfaction. But again their fish-hunts may make moral waters muddy but the mud will be brazenly slung at the face of women. One shivers to the bone when one observes women exploited even for food. Men must eat first and also the best possible preparations arranged by women in conventional kitchens. Whatever is left is then eaten by women most of whom do not mind the discriminatory treatment. After all men are men, they should be given the best, more so if women are religiously faithful and dedicated to husbands and male children, is being exchanged around stream ghats wherefrom village women draw water even these days of public health engineering1 facility. Similarly milk,
1

Women in the village go for miles, pitchers on their heads, to fetch water and make frequent rounds to do it. Their children, especially female ones, play with rubbish and dust till the water drawing business is over. Then they cook, wash clothes, look after animals and go to forms with basketful of foods for males. Many women

268

curds and eggs and fruit is served to males on priority basis. Even women care for male children more than they do for females. Disgust reaches its height when one sees these things with ones eyes. Girls stare with doleful eyes when their siblings or juniors or elders (males) wear fashionably tailored clothes and they themselves find only those garments on their bodies which cover them. Shouldnt under these circumstances those men be considered as saints who with love and affection feed their baby girls and bring them good clothes and other dress materials? But the fault of discriminating girls or women lies somewhere else. It lies with economic systems that take care of middle classes and higher ranks of society where women do not have problems of food and clothing, though where yet very complex ways of discrimination against women can be seen, however. It is so disgusting that even in the writings of Benazir Bhutto discriminations against such women as are born in rich families, of feudal lords also, can be traced out. One does not hesitate in pointing out that even that poor fellow could not save herself from the long nails of her family which too was patriarchal! Islam as we have seen so far, did historically acclaimed jobs of helping the weak and the downtrodden including especially women. Men have always tried to weave webs and snares around them so that their menial subordinate roles are conserved. Islam, very emphatically, has liberated at least their mind to seeing that they are as good human beings as men are in the eyes of God and
work in paddy fields half naked amongst men who are in no way prepared to allow giving up Hijab.

269

that they are like men free to improve upon their life so that they fulfil their promise of returning to their origin God. We fully appreciate that women in Islam are busy in regaining the place Islam has granted them in the Quran.1 But we conclude this chapter with a melancholy strain over Mula Sadras attitude and Hadi Subzevaris support to this attitude as exposed by Abdolkarim Sarosh in his book and notes thereon. We categorically refuse to accept their stand on women. Sarosh writes:
The text of Mulla Sadra is as follows: and (one of the providential creatures of God on earth is the animal kingdom ) some of whom are for eating, some for riding and adornment; some are beasts of burden and
1

Reza Aslan writes in his book No God But God (pp 73-74): Today throughout the Muslim world, a whole new generations of contemporary female textual scholars is reengaging the Quran from a perspective that has been sorely lacking in Islamic scholarship. Beginning with the notion that it is not the moral teachings of Islam but the social conditions of seventh-century Arabia and the rampant misogyny of male Quranic exegetes that has been responsible for their inferior status in Muslim society, these women are approaching the Quran free from the confines of traditional gender boundaries. Amina Waduds instructive book Quran and Women: Rereading the sacred text from a Womans Perspective provides the template for this movement, though Wadud is by no means alone in her endeavour. Muslim feminists throughout the world have been labouring towards a more gender-neutral-interpretation of the Quran and a more balanced application of Islamic law while at the same time struggling to inject their religious and political views into the male-dominated, conservative societies in which they live. Muslim feminists do not perceive their cause as a mere social reform movement; they consider it as a religious obligation?

270

others are for elegance and comfort. Yet others are created for copulation. Others are used to furnish clothes and furniture.

Haji Mulla Hadi Sabzevari adds in the following commentary on the margins of the above texts:
Three is a subtle point in the fact that Mulla Sadra has relegated women to the rank of animals. This means that due to the general defectiveness of their reason, their weakness in perception of details and their inclination towards the trinkets of this world, the women are truly and justly ranked as dumb animals. They are often created with the character of domestic beasts but God has given them a human appearance so that men are not repelled by their appearance and will have intercourse with them. This is why men are empowered by the religious law in such matters as divorce and insubordination of spouses and the like.1

Mohammad, the beloved of mankind, peace be upon him and his progeny, left behind him daughters. To conclude discussions, those who love him should follow his Sunnah and honour and revere womankind!

Abdolkarim Saroash: Democracy in Islam, p.223.

Reason,

Freedom

and

271

También podría gustarte