Saturday 17 May 2008

The Soul Of The Son Of Adam

Ibn Qayyim wrote in his highly esteemed book, Al Fawa'id : ' How perfect is Allah! In the soul of man is the pride of Iblis, the jealousy of Qabil, the insolence of the people of 'Ad, the tyranny of Thamud, the temerity of Namrud, the arrogance of Pharaoh, the wrongdoing of Qarun, the trickeries of the people of Sabt, the rebelliousness of Al-Walid, the ignorance of Abu Jahl, and the impudence of Haman. The soul of man also has many characteristics of beasts. He has the avarice of a crow, the gluttony of a dog, the display of the peacok, the filth of the hog, the malice of the camel, the predatory nature of the lion, the venom of the snake, the frivolity of the ape, the greed of the ant, and the deception of the fox. '

The rigid training of the soul exercises these conditions; however, if one allows any of these traits to and prevail, one then becomes akin to the ones cursed by Allah, and akin to the beasts possessing lowly characteristics. A person who allows these traits to te his soul is not that commodity in the contract described by Allah the exalted:

Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives.
( Quran 9:111 )

S
uch a commodity (soul) must be refined by faith and purified by repentance and attentiveness in worship. The commodity must also be protected from defects or from being destroyed so as to allow the buyer to accept it.

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Food For Thought

There is no compulsion for man to accept the TRUTH. But it is certainly a shame upon the Human intellect when man is not even interested in finding out as to what is the TRUTH! Islam teaches that God has given man the faculty of reason and therefore expects man to reason things out objectively and systematically for himself/herself. To reflect and to question and to reflect.

Nobody should press you to make a hasty decision to accept any of the teachings of Islam, for Islam teaches that man should be given the freedom to choose. Even when man is faced with the TRUTH, there is no compulsion upon man to embrace it. But before you begin to form an opinion about Islam, ask yourself whether your existing knowledge of is thorough enough. Ask yourself whether that knowledge has been obtained through non-Muslim third party sources; who themselves have probably been exposed to only random glimpses of Islamic writings and have yet to reason on Islam, objectively and systematically themselves.

Is it fair, that one should form an opinion about the taste of a particular dish just by hearsay from others who may themselves not necessarily have tasted the dish yet, or has different tastes from you?

Similarly you should find out for yourself about Islam from reliable sources and not only taste it, but digest it, well before you form an opinion. That would be the intellectual approach to Islam.

It is up to you to make the next move. In making your move Islam continuously reassures you that your rights to freedom of choice and freedom to use that God given faculty of thought and reason will be respected. Every man has that individual will. No one else can take away that will and force you to surrender to the will of God. You have to find out and make that decision yourself.

For all of you who are studying Islam in the quest for Truth and enlightenment-May your intellectual journey towards the TRUTH be a pleasant one.