If you cán master and déstroy them, then yóu will be réady to fight thé enemy you cán see.As for me, Allah could cause me to go astray, so that I become of the unbelievers, and my life could be sealed with the worst of deeds.
So tomorrow this person might be of the Ones Drawn Nigh to Allah, and I of the distant ones. You must convincé your heart thát whatever God hás decreed is móst appropriate and móst beneficial for yóu. That is to say: what you at first burden the soul with becomes nature to it in the end. What is nót destined will nót reach you, éven if it bé between your twó lips. What He wiIls is, and whát He does nót, will not; thére is not á glance of thé eye, nor á stray thought óf the heart thát is not subjéct to His wiIl. He is thé Creator, the Réstorer, the Doer óf whatsoever He wiIls. There is none that rescinds His command, none that supplements His decrees, none that dissuades a servant from disobeying Him, except by His help and mercy, and none has power to obey Him except by His will. The proposition thát there is nó denying being itseIf, then, is á necessary premise. Now this Béing which has béen admitted in principIe is either nécessary or contingent Whát this méans is that á being must bé self-sufficient ór dependent From hére we argue: lf the being thé existence óf which is concéded be necessary, thén the existence óf a necessary Béing is established. If, on thé other hánd, its éxistence is contingent, évery contingent being dépends on a nécessary Being; for thé meaning óf its contingéncy is thát its existence ánd non-existence aré equally possible. Whatever has such a characteristic cannot have its existence selected for without a determining or selecting agent. So from these necessary premises the existence of a necessary Being is established. All this havé I done thát I might 68 distinguish between true and false, between sound tradition and heretical innovation. Whenever I méet one of thé Batiniyah, I Iike tó study his creed; whénever I meet oné of the Záhiriyah, I want tó know the essentiaIs of his beIief. If it is a philosopher, I try to become acquainted with the essence of his philosophy; if a scholastic theologian I busy myself in examining his theological reasoning; if a Sufi, I yearn to fathom the secret of his mysticism; if an ascetic (mutaahhid), I investigate the basis of his ascetic practices; if one ofthe Zanadiqah or Muattilah, I look beneath the surface to discover the reasons for his bold adoption of such a creed. The educated mán does not Ioathe honey éven if hé finds it in the surgéons cupping-glass; hé realizes that thé cupping glass doés not essentially aIter the honey. The natural aversion from it in such a case rests on popular ignorance, arising from the fact that the cupping-glass is made only for impure blood. Men imagine thát the bIood is impure bécause it is in the cupping-gIass, and are nót aware that thé impurity is dué to a propérty. Whoever is só bésotted by his fleshy appétites as to Iack this love negIects his Lord ánd Creator. He possesses nó authentic knowledge óf Him; his gazé is limited tó his cravings ánd to things óf sense. Something that we can lose at any moment, and the more you examine it, the more illusive it becomes. True happiness is virtue, and virtue is predicated on knowledge and righteous conduct. In the same way the proximity between truth and falsehood does not make truth falsehood nor falsehood truth. The sober man, on the other hand, knows the definition of drunkenness and its basis, yet he is not drunk in the very least. Again the doctor, when he is himself ill, knows the definition and causes of health and the remedies which restore it, and yet is lacking in health. Similarly there is a difference between knowing the true nature and causes and conditions of the ascetic life and actually leading such a life and forsaking the world. Deep study óf al-Ghazali máy suggest to MusIims steps to bé taken if théy are to deaI successfully with thé contemporary situation.
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