Man was marvelously created, not in jest or at random, but for some great end. Although he is not from everlasting, he lives for ever, and though his body is mean and earthly, his spirit is lofty and divine. When in the crucible of abstinence he is purified from carnal passions which he attains at the highest, and in place of being a slave to lust and anger he becomes gifted with angelic qualities. Attaining that state he finds his real happiness in the contemplation of Eternal Beauty and no longer in sexual delights. The spiritual medicine which heals from earthly passions is not to be brought with gold or money. It is to be sought in the hearts of prophets; its methods of operation are explained to people by instructions given and practical life led by the messengers of God. The loving Creator has sent various messengers to teach men the prescription of this cure and how to purify their hearts from baser qualities in the crucible of abstinence. In fact, men will find free treasures of happiness open before them once they turn away from the word of God, and it is to help them to do so that Islam has formed itself also into a moral science.
The constituents of the Islamic medicine are numerous, but they can be reduced to six exponents, namely:
1- The knowledge of self.
2- The knowledge of God.
3- The knowledge of this world.
4- The knowledge of the next world.
5- The stages of man’s development.
6- Self-examination, the recollection and love of God.
We shall now proceed to explain these exponents hereinafter as briefly as possible.
1- The knowledge of self.
Nothing is nearer to man than himself, and if he knows not himself he cannot know anything else. Knowledge of self is the key to the knowledge of God: the Prophet says: “He who knows himself well knows God.” In the Koran we read:
“God will show men His signs in the world and in themselves that the truth may be manifest to them” (XLI-53)
Now if one says “I know my self” meaning his outward shape, body, face, limbs and so forth, such knowledge can never be a key to the knowledge of God or the truth. Nor if man’s knowledge as that which is within only extends so far that when he is angry he attacks, will he progress any further in this path, for the beasts are his partners in this capacity.
Real self-Knowledge consists in solving the following problems: What is man in himself and from whence he is come? Whether is he going, and for what purpose has he come to tarry here a while, and in what does his real happiness and misery consist?
Some of man’s attributes are those of animals, some devils, and some of angles, and he has to find out which of these attributes are accidental and which are essential. Till he knows this, he cannot come to a real knowledge of himself.
The occupation of animals is eating, sleeping and fighting. Therefore, if man is an animal, let him busy himself in these things. Devils are busy in stirring up mischief, and in guile and deceit; if he belongs to their species let him do their work. Angles contemplate the beauty of God, and are entirely free from animal qualities; if he is of angelic nature , then let him strive towards his own origin, that he may know and contemplate God, and he delivered from the animal thralldom of passion and anger. He should also discover why he has been created with these two animal instincts. Whether they should subdue him and lend him captive or whether he should subdue them, and in his upward progress, make of one his steed and of the other his weapon.
The first step of man’s knowledge is to know that he is composed of an outward shape, called the body and inward entity called the heart, or soul. By “heart” is not meant the piece of flesh resting at the left of our bodies, but that which uses all other faculties as its instruments and servants. In truth, it does not belong to the visible world as a traveler who visits a foreign country for the sake of trade and will presently return to his native land. The knowledge of his entity and its attributes is the keynote to the knowledge of God. To this the Holy Koran says:
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“ We (God) have not created Jinn and Men but that they should serve Me” (and obey His Messenger) (LI-56)
The Reality of the Heart
Some idea of the reality of the heart or spirit may be obtained by a man closing his eyes and forgetting everything around except his individuality. He will thus obtain a glimpse of the unending nature of that individuality. An exact philosophical knowledge of the heart or spirt is not necessary preliminary to striving in the path of God, but comes rather as the result of self-discipline, and perseverance in that path, as it is taught in the Koran:
“Those who struggled themselves for God’s sake, We will surely guide them to Us, They having been righteous and Allah loves the righteous” (XXIX-69)
Thus, much is known of the heart that it is an indivisible essence belonging to the word of decree, and that it is not from everlasting, but a created spiritual entity.
For the carrying on of this spiritual struggle by which the knowledge of oneself is to be obtained, the body may by figured as a kingdom, the soul as its king, and the different senses and faculties as the king’s army. Reason may be called the minister, passion the revenue-collector, and anger the police –officer. Under the pretext of collecting revenue , passion is continually prone to plunder on its own account, while anger, the police-officer is always inclined to harshness and extreme sverity. Both of these two the revenue –collector and the police officer, have to be kept in due subordination to the king, but not killed or expelled, as they have their own proper functions to perform. But if passion predominates reason, the ruin of the soul insubitably ensues.
Man’s Highest Faculty.
A soul which allows its lower faculties to master the higher is as one who should commit one’s wealth to the custody of the thieves, or his only son to the care of base, wicked servants. The aim of Islamic discipline is but to purify the heart from the lust of passion and resentment, till as clear as a mirror, it reflects the light of God.
It is questionable that man has been created with animal and demoniac qualities as well as angelic, but it is this latter which constitutes his real essence, while the former are merely accidental and transitory. The essence of each creature is to be sought in that which is highest in and peculiar to it.
For instance, the horse and the ass are both burden bearing animals, but the superiority of the horse to the ass consists in its being adapted for use in battle. If it fails in this, it is degraded to the rank of burden-bearing animals. Similarly with man: The highest faculty in him is reason, which fits him to the contemplation of God. If this faculty predominates in him when he dies, he leaves behind him all tendencies to passion and resentment, and becomes capable of association with angels. As regards his mere animal qualities, man is inferior to many animals, but reason makes him superior to them. However, if man’s lower tenancies have bee triumphant, after death he will ever be looking toward the earth and longing for worldly delights.
