The Philosophy of Islamic Teachings (17)
We concluded the 16th installment by saying: "So the gate is very narrow and the way is very difficult, how difficult it is", referring to the gate and the way to reach God. We will continue to expound on this theme in this installment.
Regarding the difficulty of reaching God, The Holy Quran says:
"Say: "If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your wives, your relatives, the wealth you have acquired, the business whose ruin you fear, and the dwellings you love, are dearer to you than Al'lah and His Messenger, and the efforts for His sake, then wait for Al'lah to come with His judgment; for Al'lah does not guide disobedient people"" (9:24).
This verse clearly demonstrates that those who love their family and possessions more than the will of God are transgressors in the eyes of God, and that because they have preferred other things to God, they will be destroyed. This is the third stage, in which man becomes divine, enduring for God's sake innumerable calamities and turning to Him with such exclusive devotion and sincerity that apart from Him he regards all his relatives as dead. Truly, until we surrender ourselves to death, we cannot see the Living God. The day when our physical life knows death, will be the day of God's manifestation. We will be blind until we see nothing apart from God. We will be dead until we are as a corpse in the hand of God. Only when we stand fully before God will we acquire the steadfastness that will overcome selfish passions, a steadfastness that will bring about the death of life devoted to selfish ends. This is described in the verse:
"No! Whoever submits himself completely to Al'lah, being excellent in conduct, will have his reward with his Lord." (2:113).
This means that God asks us to sacrifice our lives for Him. We will attain steadfastness when our powers and faculties are dedicated to Him and when the object of our life and death is His will, as He says:
"Say (O Prophet!): "My prayer, my sacrifice, my life and my death are all for Al'lah, the Lord of all the worlds" (6:163).
When man's love for God reaches such a degree that his death and life are of no interest to him, being only for the love of God, then God - who has always loved those who love Him - brings His love down upon him, and from the union of these two loves there arises a light within man which the world neither recognises nor understands. Thousands of chosen and righteous men had to sacrifice their lives because the world did not recognise them, and considered them selfish and liars, because the world did not see their shining faces. As the Holy Quran says:
"And you see that they look at you, but they do not see." (7:199).
In short, man becomes a heavenly being from the day the heavenly light illuminates him. The Master of all things speaks within man, manifesting the light of His divinity, and making His heart, filled with His love, His throne. And when, by his brilliant transformation, this man becomes another person, he sees that God is a new God, teaching him new ways. It is not that God becomes another God, nor that the new ways are different from His ways, but that they are different from His usual ways, and worldly philosophy ignores these ways. Man becomes one of those referred to in this verse:
"And among men there are those who would sell themselves to seek the pleasure of Al'lah; and Al'lah is Compassionate to His servants" (2:208).
Therefore, the one who reaches the stage of spiritual life is fully consecrated to Al'lah.
In this verse God Most High teaches us that only he is spared from suffering who surrenders his life to please Al'lah, and who demonstrates his devotion by sacrificing his life, which is God's, who considers that his whole being has been created to obey his Creator and to serve his neighbour, who performs all the virtues related to each of his faculties with zeal and sincerity, as if he sees his True Beloved in the mirror of his obedience. His will is identified with the will of God, and all his pleasure is centred in his submission to God. He performs good deeds not out of compulsion but for pleasure and satisfaction. This is the Paradise that is granted to the spiritual man in this life. The Paradise that will be bestowed on him in the next life will be a reflection of this Paradise, which will manifest itself physically through divine power. This is alluded to in the following verses:
"For the one who fears to appear before the Lord, and respects His Majesty and His Greatness, there are two gardens, one in this world and one in the life to come" (55:47).
"And their Lord will give them a pure drink to drink." (76:22).
Those who dedicate their lives completely to God will drink of the cup that purifies their hearts, their thoughts and their designs."
"However, the virtuous will drink from a cup softened with camphor. A spring from which the servants of Al'lah will drink. They will make it gush forth" (76:6-7).
The meaning of camphor and ginger prepared drinks
We have already explained that the word Kafur کَافُوۡرًا is used in this verse because the Arabic word Kafara means "to suppress" or "to cover". This indicates that such people have drunk so deeply of the cup that separates them from the world and leads towards God, that all their worldly love is chilled. It is well known that all passions have their origin in the heart, and when the heart turns away from impure ideas and never returns to them, the passions diminish and eventually disappear; this is the meaning of this verse, i.e., such persons turn away so far from selfish passions, and are so inclined towards God, that their hearts grow cold in relation to worldly activities, and the passions are suppressed, as camphor suppresses poisonous matter.
He goes on to expound the Holy Quran:
"And there they will be given there to drink a cup softened with ginger. From a spring of that place called Salsabil." (76:18-19).
The Arabic word for ginger (zanyabil) is a compound word made up of "zana" and "yabal". In Arabic, "zana" denotes "to climb" and "yabal" denotes "mountain"; therefore, "zanyabal" means "he climbs the mountain". It should be remembered that when a person recovers from a poisonous disease, he goes through two phases of improvement before regaining full health and strength. In the first phase, poisonous matter is eliminated and dangerous tendencies are reformed, toxic conditions are avoided and the deadly attack is suppressed, but at the same time the limbs are still weak, and the patient walks with fatigue, because he still lacks strength. In the second stage the patient is in full health, his body regains strength, and he feels able to climb mountains and run on the highest peaks. This is the condition reached in the third stage of spiritual progression, and it is this condition to which God Most High alludes when He says that divine men of the highest rank drink from the cup tempered with ginger; that is, when they reach the full strength of their spiritual condition they are able to climb the highest mountains, to carry out great projects and to make great sacrifices for the love of God.
The effect of ginger
It is noteworthy that one of the qualities of ginger is that of strengthening the system, engendering warmth in the body and relieving dysentery, so that the patient becomes capable of climbing the mountains. The reason for the juxtaposition of camphor and ginger is to indicate that when man rises from a condition of subordination of the passions to virtue, the first result is that the flood of internal passions is stilled, and the poisonous matter that attacks him is suppressed, just as camphor removes poisonous matter. For this reason camphor is useful in the treatment of typhoid fever and cholera. Once the toxic matter has been removed, the patient regains his health, although he still feels weak.
In the second stage, the patient gains strength from a warm ginger drink. In spiritual terms, this drink is the manifestation of divine beauty, which nourishes the soul. Invigorated with this manifestation, man is able to climb the highest mountains, i.e. he performs for the love of God acts so difficult that no one can emulate them unless his heart is inspired by the warmth of love. In these verses God Most High uses two words to illustrate these two conditions: one is camphor, meaning "suppression", and the other is ginger, meaning "to ascend". These are the two conditions encountered by those who seek God.
(lpbD) - peace and blessings of God be upon him.
[We will continue with the 18th installment, where we will expound verses from the Holy Quran regarding people who reject the truth.]