Ayatoullah As - Sayyid Dr Fazel H
Milani
T
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he
world in which we are living is witness to eternal motion and it is
consistently and persistently moving towards a goal. Contrary to what the ancient thinkers and
philosophers have maintained, motion and change from one state to another is
evident in every thing. However, in the
material world motion necessitates annihilation. The objects that are confined in the prison
of measures and limits, 1 are in continuous motion, and this motion
is all the time creating new forms. It
is this factor that has led the Muslim philosophers to define motion in the
following terms: "Motion is a gradual exit of potential to action." 2
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| Prayers |
The smell of a flower is delightful, it
creates joyous reaction. The freshness
of a bud gives rise to happiness. The song
of a nightingale makes one's spirit cheerful.
But, neither the flower is aware of delightfulness, nor is the bud of
happiness and freshness. They all are moving in the realm of unconsciousness
and incomprehension. However, when one
considers human being, then, one enters the tumultuous uproar in fixing the
standard of evaluating humanity which is actually to be located in the region
of sensation and perception (intelligence).
All the beauty in nature reflects itself in the mirror of human vision,
and it is he who perceives it. His light
of intelligence and will is manifest in all the particles and motions in the
Universe.
Humanity,
which represents a part of the total universe, is moving toward
perfection. In order for humanity to
attain perfection it needs to move, and this movement ought to be in the
direction of continuous accretion and not decoration. This accretion has to be essential and
internalized, and this movement toward development and in order to attain that
development is possible through one particular growth. This growth is known as self-cognition. 3
The
Qur'an has fixed a definite goal for this movement towards perfection in the
following verse:
O human being! You are in continuous
search towards your Lord, so that you meet Him.
(Quran 84:6)
Thus,
the collective purpose of humanity is to move on the path of development and
perfection so as to reach the Lord. And,
every step that a human being takes and every breath that he inhales is a step
towards death. Death, here, ought to be understood as a prelude to the ultimate
meeting with the Lord.
In
this connection Imam 'Ali b. Abi Talib
has said :
A
hidden breath is step towards his death. 4
It
is important to bear in mind that death in the lexicon of religion is not
destruction or annihilation; rather, it is very accurately described as a
passage from this material world to the eternal world. Imam 'Ali has explained the difference
between the two worlds in a sermon delivered to the Muslims in seventh century.
He says:
Everything
in the world is more audible than visible; whereas, everything in the next
world is more visible than audible.
Thus, it is sufficient for you to hear about that which is visible and
to be informed about that which is invisible. 5
In
other words, what appears to be invisible will become visible and what was only
in the state of audibility will become actualized in the next world. Thus, it
is important to maintain faith in what one 'hears'.
Since,
the movement towards perfection does not end with this life on earth, man's
spiritual journey must continue in the world, more spacious than this world as
Imam 'Ali reminds people in another sermon:
You
will be tested [in this world], but you have been created for other than that
[purpose of being tested]. 6
It
is evident that the purpose of creation is not being afflicted with the
hardship of being tested; on the contrary, it is taking works as a purifying
agent for the higher purpose for which humanity has been created. This journey
towards the higher goal, which is a spiritual journey, needs provision. This
provision in nothing else but the righteous deeds of a person that accompany
the traveler of this journey faithfully until it reaches the destination. The Qur'an says:
Whosoever
does right, whether male or female, and is a believer, him verily We shall
quicken with good life, and We shall pay them recompense in proportion to the
best of what they used to do. (Quran
16:97)
The
religious leaders of the world attach tremendous significance to the matter of
religious act. Imam Hasan, the second
Imam of the Shi'ite Muslims, has related that whenever he remembered death (the spiritual journey) he cried out:
Alas!
How very little provision for such a long journey! 8
However,
there are among people those who do not care to remind themselves of this long
journey and who are in the state of heedlessness. Imam 'Ali in reference to this latter group
says thus:
If
you have the same knowledge of things about life after death, things which are
hidden from you and revealed to me, the information would have made you leave
your hearth and home to disperse in the world weeping over your sins, putting
yourselves to torture for the evil deeds committed by you and, leaving your
wealth and property in such a way that there will be no one to look after it,
and none to inherit. The apprehension
about the future and the remorse over the past would have so affected every one
of you that no body would have had time to think of anything besides his own
future. But you have forgotten what has been taught to you and [wrongly]
believe yourselves to be well protected from the things of which you were
warned. The result is that your plans
are upset and your affairs are confused.9
From
what has been said above it becomes evident that a man like Imam 'Ali had
reached the highest peak in his spiritual journey, and had made it clear to
everyone the level that humanity is capable of attaining in the realm of
spirituality by continuously striving.
He informed others of the potential in each individual to attain the
level of development in its entirety.
Now
we should ask the following question:
Where
should we begin our spiritual journey from?
The
answer to the question is two-fold:
First
part deals with the subject of "self-cognition"; and the second part
deals with "self-reckoning" or "self-accounting".
As
for the first part, I will cite several authentic statements that have been
preserved in Islamic sources on the authority of the Prophet Muhammad and his
successors. These citations will give us
an idea of the cruciality of "self-cognition" in our spiritual
journey. The Prophet Muhammad has
declared:
The
one who knows himself knows his Lord. 9
Imam
'Ali has declared that knowing oneself
is the most beneficial of sciences. 10
In
another context he says:
A
person who has succeeded in self-cognition has attained the highest form of
success. 11
And,
that the one who knows himself has reached the end of all knowledge and all
sciences. 12
As
for the second part which deals with "self-reckoning", Imam 'Ali
reports a communication on the subject on the authority of the Prophet
Muhammad, who said:
The
cleverest person is the one who takes account of himself and who strives and
struggles for the life after death.
A person asked Imam ‘Ali as to how does
a person takes an account of himself.
The Imam replied:
From
the time he is up until he retires at night he asks: "O my soul this day
has passed on you and will never return, and Cod will ask you to account for
the day as to how you passed it. What did you do on that day? Did you remember
your Lord and praise Him? Did you attend
to the needs of other believers? Did you help them out? Did you take care to treat their family well
in their absence? Did you take care of
their loved ones after any one of them died? Did you engage is backbiting a
brother in faith, or did you stop someone from doing so? Did you help fellow human being? What did you do on this day?"
At
that time he recalls what he has done on that day. If he has done good he praises Cod and asks
Him to help him further in this direction.
If he has disobeyed Him or has acted wrongly he asks God to forgive him
and make a decision not to repeat that again. 13
The
Prophet has also said that a person will not become a believer in God until he
begins to reckon his own deeds just as a partner in a business seeks accounts
from another partner. 14
Conclusion:
Islam
gives the message that in order to attain perfection it is necessary for all
human beings to strive in the following direction:
1.
To prepare oneself
for the spiritual journey for the perfection.
2.
To visualize death
as a passage to that perfection.
3.
To gather the
provision for this long journey. This provision is righteous deeds which alone
can sustain the hardship of the journey towards the Lord.
4.
To begin the
spiritual quest first, by self-cognition which is most beneficial of all human
endeavors in order to acquire knowledge; and, second, by engaging in
self-accounting which is the important tool for furthering spiritual
development.
5.
To recognize the
need for a leader at all levels in the movement toward the ultimate goal,
namely, the Lord.
In
my own personal quest I have come to acknowledge a guide and a leader who, I
believe, has contributed tremendously toward my spiritual development.
This
leader is Imam 'Ali b. Abi Talib, who, through his personal example has shown
the posterity the way in which one can reach the path of perfection.
End Notes:
1. In the Holy Qur'an it has
been noted: "Lo, We have created everything by measure." (54:49)
2. Sadr, Muhammad Baqir al-,
Falsafatuna (Our Philosophy) (Beirut, 1980), p.231.
3. Nubashshiri, Asad Allah,
Muqaddima Ta'rikh Falsafa-i Islami, by Henri Corbin (Tehran, 1356 Sh.), p. 11.
4. Nahj al-balagha, sermons,
letters and maxims of Imam 'Ali b. Abi
Talib (Tehran, n.d.), p. 673.
5. Ibid., Muhammad 'Abduh's
commentary (Beirut, n.d.), Vol. 1, p. 225.
6. Ibid., p. 471
7. The Qur'an, Chapter 16,
verse # 97.
8. Majlisi, Muhammad Baqir al-,
Bihar al-Anwar (Beirut, 1981) Vol. 43, p.228.
9. Nahj al-balagha, Vol.1, p.
329.
10. Majlisi, Bihar, Vol. 2, p.
23.
11. Amidi, al-, Ghurar al-hikam
we durar al-kalim (Najaf, 1965), p. 319.
12. Ibid., p. 322.
13. Ibid., p. 293.
14. Hurr al-'Amili, Muhammad b.
al-Hasan, al-, Wasa1il al-shi'a (Beirut, 1382 AH) Vol. 11, 379-380.
15. Ibid., Vol. 11, p. 380.
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