Existence is
One. All things in the Universe interact with, and depend on, other things.
Human beings are part of it. They have the need and power to know and to adjust
to existence. As their welfare and fate depends on it, they need correct
knowledge of facts, meanings and values, correct motivations and the
appropriate abilities for correct action. For this they must know the nature of
Existence A, their own nature M and their relationship with Existence
R. These three are inter-dependent.
This relationship is given in the Quran as follows:-
"And when thy Lord said unto the angels: I
am about to place a Vicegerent in the earth…" 2:30
"And I have not created the jinn and
mankind except to worship (serve) Me." 51:56
"Allah, Who made good everything that He
has created, and He began the creation of man from dust. Then He made his
progeny of an extract, of a fluid held in low esteem. Then He fashioned him and
breathed into him of His spirit, and made for you the faculties of hearing, and
sight and hearts (feeling); little is it that you give thanks." 32:7-9
"They will ask thee about the Spirit. Say:
The Spirit is by the command of my Lord, and ye are given but a little
knowledge thereof." 17:85
“And certainly We created man, and We know what
his soul suggests to him, and We are nearer to him than his life-artery.” 50:16
Man arose
because he has a function in the Cosmos. He was made as a servant or slave (Abd) of Allah. He contains the Spirit
of Allah. It is this that produces consciousness in him. Consciousness in man
is, therefore, a proof of Allah. The Spirit is that which arises from the
Command of Allah, by which the Universe U
is also created. And man is a representative of Allah in the earth. This may be
represented as:-
A > R < > (U < >R< >M). (the arrows denote direction of action).
It is not the
case that man should know the relationship R2 between M and A-M (Existence
without man), or between M and U-M (universe minus man), or any other possible
combinations. This is where Religion differs from classical science. Man
consists of the materials, forces and laws that operate in the Universe and
have arisen in progressive adjustment to the World.
"Then set your purpose for
religion as a man upright by nature - the nature made by Allah in which He has
made men; there is no altering (the laws of) Allah's creation; that is the
right religion, but most people do not know -" 30:30
"Verily, I have turned my face to Him who
originated the heaven and the earth, as a 'Hanif' (as one who is by nature
upright), and I am not of the idolaters." 6:80
"Say: As for me, my Lord has guided me
unto the Straight Way, a right religion, the faith of Abraham, the upright, for
he was not of the idolaters. Say: Verily, my worship and my sacrifice, and my
living and my dying belong to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds." 6:162-163 See
also 10:106 and 16:123
But man, though
he was created perfect for his function, fell from this state of innocence and
inner integrity into one of self contradiction, inner conflict and sub-consciousness
owing to temptations and attachments, except for a few. He has to climb back
again and can do so under the guidance of these few who are still conscious and
in contact with their real nature, the spirit within and, therefore, with
Allah.
“Surely, We have created man in the best of
moulds. Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low; except those who believe
and act righteously; for theirs is a reward unfailing.” 95:4-6
“And the soul and Who fashioned it, and
enlightened it with what is wrong and right for it! He indeed is successful who
causes it to grow (or purifies it)! And he indeed is a failure who corrupts
it!” 91:7-10
“But Satan made them backslide therefrom and
drove them out from what they were in, and We said, "Go down, one of you
the enemy of the other, and in the earth there is an abode and a provision for
a time. And Adam obtained certain words (revelations) from his Lord, and He
relented towards him, for He is the Relenting, the Compassionate. We said: Go
down therefrom (Paradise) altogether and haply
there may come from Me a Guidance, and whoso follows My Guidance, no fear is
theirs, nor shall they grieve. But those who misbelieve, and call Our signs
lies, they are the fellows of the Fire, they shall dwell therein for ever."
2:36-39
“O ye who believe! Respond unto Allah and His
Messenger when He calls you to that which quickens you; and know that Allah
comes in between a man and his own heart; and that He it is unto Whom ye shall
be gathered.” 8:24
“When My servants ask thee concerning Me, then,
verily, I am near; I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when ever he calls
to Me. So let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and let them believe
in Me; haply they may be directed aright.” 2:186
The result of
the Fall (or expulsion from Paradise) will be
dealt with in another article. Here we are concerned with the potentialities
built-into man.
The Nature in
which man is made is a model or blue print known as Fitra. This also refers to the original impulse that created the
Universe. It can probably be regarded as part of the Preserved Tablet, the Blue Print on which the Universe is based.
There is, therefore, an intimate connection between man and the Universe. The
fact is that the universe we see and describe cannot be independent of the
nature of the mind through which it is seen, nor can that mind be independent
of the materials of which the Universe is made.
The Fitra is the
same for all human beings, though the forms are different:-
"O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your
Lord, who created you from one person, and created there from its mate, and
scattered from the twain a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty
towards Allah, in whose name ye claim rights of one another, and the wombs that
bore you; verily, Allah is Watcher over you." 4:1
But people have forgotten or repressed their
Natural Self and formed a crust or Veil
around it instead because of attachments to worldly matters in submission to
temptations. This may be called the Persona, an Artificial Self whose centre or
motivating force is the Ego, an idea or illusion of self, the Nafs Ammara.. The
purpose of Life is the realization of one's Fitra and behaving accordingly.
This is also known as Vicegerency (2:30).
Man is a unity,
the combination of three aspects:-
(a) They are
composed of matter, and have a physical
body. But this matter is constantly passing through them. It is originally
created in the stars and now cycles through people, other creatures and the
earth, making a single system. The physical body has mechanisms for sensation,
processing (instincts, reflexes) and reaction.
(b) They are spirit (Ruh) in so far as they have
consciousness, conscience and will. It is the source of values. This gives each
person a certain autonomy and yet it is the same in all. The faculty bestowed
by the Spirit is known as heart (Qalb), not to be confused with intellect. It
refers to the abilities for insight and understanding (bassira), Gnosis
(ma'rifa) and unveiling of mysteries (kashf). As a result of the activity of
these we are motivated by Loyalty or Fidelity (Birr) to Allah and one's own
Fitra which leads to Righteousness as in 2:177 and to Witnessing due to
Awareness (Shahadah) as in 3:53.
" And every soul shall come, with it a
Driver and a Witness. Certainly you were heedless of it, but now We have
removed from you your veil, and piercing is your sight this day. "
50:21-22
(c) They have
Minds or Souls (Nafs). This may be
regarded as organized Spirit because of physical existence. The organization
makes each Soul unique. The Soul could be identified with the Mind which may be
regarded as arising from the interaction between spirit and body, capable of
affecting both and a mediator between the two, but is sometimes identified only
with Intellect (Aql). The soul can be said to have the following features:- (i)
Intellect (Aql), (ii) Heart (Qalb), sometimes regarded as a spiritual faculty,
(iii) A Driver (Raqib) which provides motives of two kinds, attraction (desire)
and repulsion (abhorrence). It is these which may mislead us causing us to form
attachments, fixations or obsessions on some things and antipathies, phobias
towards others. Three main urges can be described as the Self-preservative, the
Reproductive (or Socio-sexual) and the Self-expansive. These have their own
proper function but become corrupted when attachments occur. The
self-preservative, for instance, is necessary to maintain life, but fixations
cause greed which is desire greater than required by needs and often leads to
actions which harm the individual by over-indulgence or sacrifice of social and
spiritual necessities. The reproductive, which is connected with founding
families and social networks can become mere sensuality negating its purpose.
The self-expansive should lead to seeking knowledge and self-improvement but
may simply become a desire for wealth, power and prestige. (iv) a Witness (Qarin) which records
everything a person does or happens to him. See 50:21-22 above.
One of the
consequences of the Spirit being in man is that as long as the spirit is
separate from Allah, it has unending desires that can only be satisfied by
re-union with the infinitude of Allah. All other desires may be regarded as
arising from this or are misinterpretations of it. The satisfaction of any one
of these desires also causes another one to arise. The desires for wealth,
power or attention and prestige are, therefore, unending and can never be
satisfied. When the true nature of desires is misinterpreted then the pursuit
of them wastes energy and creates frustration because the true desire is not
fulfilled. This frustration lead to an increase in the effort to fulfil the
desire with the same effect. Many malfunctions arise because of this
frustration and the waste of resources.
Aql refers to the faculties for thinking,
motivation and action. According to some systems there are five faculties:- (i)
the combination of the senses provide data (al-hiss al-mushtarak). (ii) memory
or recall (hafidha) (iii) the ability to form images (khyal) (iv) the ability
to evaluate and make judgments (wahima) (v) ability to think and reflect
(fikr).
These three,
Body, Mind, Spirit, should be regarded as three levels of Reality. It is a
common mistake to confuse the mind or soul with the spirit. It is perfectly
possible to think and act without being conscious. All three perform a function
and require nutrition and exercise. The mind forms communities, is dependent on
the community, and is the means by which human beings interact with one
another.
The soul can
grow and become more alive by absorbing more of the spirit through the heart.
Or it can deteriorate by losing its vital force, becoming relatively dead and
inert
Human beings
collectively can be regarded as being parts of a Collective Soul. ("…your Lord, who created you from one
soul.." Quran 4:1). This could be regarded as part of a Universal Soul.
There is a
correspondence between the above three aspects of man and the three aspects of
the Cosmos - (i) heaven - the higher invisible world of causes, (ii) the
intermediate world of human social interactions, (iii) earth - the lower world
of visible forms - and also the three aspects of Religion - (i) Haqiqat, truth,
(ii) Tariqat, the way or method and (iii) Shariat, the religious law, form or
discipline. Thus the significance of the Shariat lies in this that it refers to
the kind of laws and behaviour which all created things follow because they
obey their own nature. The religious Shariat, though referring to the earth, may
be regarded as a vessel which contains the spirit and preserves it, but is not
itself the purpose or goal of life.
We may,
therefore, consider the whole of human history (and that of the entire Cosmos
as well) as an interaction between three forces:- (a) the psychological, P (b)
the social, S and (c) the material (or environmental), M. Each of these could
be active, mediating or passive with respect to the others, or in a state of
unity. This gives us 7 possibilities:-
X1, PSM, PMS, SPM, SMP, MPS, MSP, X2
X represents a
unified state at the beginning and end of the series. The three factors
differentiate out from X1, their relationship changes and degenerates and X2 is
a reflection of X1 at a lower level. PSM implies that the Psychological or Spiritual State of the people determines the
Social conditions and through this determine the state of the material
environment. This is the order envisaged by Religion. But the reverse of this
is shown as MSP where the Material conditions determine the social conditions
and through them determine the psychological or social conditions. This is what
a secular system does. The interpretation of the other possibilities is left to
the reader. Clearly the two central triads which also form a pair of opposites
in that the role of P and M are reversed, imply a dominant role for the Social
factor.
The function of
P deteriorates, becomes more passive the further right we go, or improves and
becomes active the further left we go. There are 7 levels. The degree of
consciousness determines what we perceive. There are, therefore, correspondingly
7 different levels of World. We have to distinguish between the Absolute World, as it is (as seen by
Allah), the Experienced or Relative Worlds, as seen by different
states of consciousness, the Described
Worlds which depend on conceptual systems such as those of science, and the
Illusory World, as seen through
minds affected by fixations, prejudices, fantasies.
The significant
thing about human beings as distinct from animals is that they interact and
communicate and, collectively, form a culture. This is a world of concepts,
ideas, attitudes, and motives. Although this culture has material aspects (e.g.
ideas are recorded in books), this is not what is significant. The significant
thing is the meaning, the interpretation of these things in the mind. This
world is completely inaccessible to animals. They may see a book or see
something happening on a television screen but cannot understand it. The world
of meaning is the result of imposing values on facts. It is an intermediate
state between Spirit and Matter and partakes of both.
The Mental World of culture, therefore,
forms another level above the Physical
World. The physical world provides data for the mental world, which
processes it and then causes changes in the physical world. But nothing new
happens in the mental world. The changes are horizontal only - that is, the
same set of things repeat themselves or occur in different combinations,
separate and recombine in various ways giving an illusion of change. In order
to learn something new or invent something conscious effort is required. Once
it is learnt automatism sets in (learning to walk, swim, bicycle etc.). This is
faster and more efficient and releases consciousness for something else. This
is why training is given. But it does not allow adaptation to changing
circumstances. This is done either through pain and pleasure or through
conscious effort. Development is an accumulation, re-arrangement and synthesis
of the results of conscious efforts. The Spiritual
World is, therefore, a third higher layer. There is interaction and
exchange between the Spiritual and Mental Worlds as between the Mental and
Physical Worlds. Each has its own history, which is affected by the other. The
Spiritual World can be thought of as being connected in the same way with the Absolute World.
This culture is
not only formed by human beings collectively, but forms the minds of the new
generation of human beings. Each individual has a modifying affect on the
culture and the culture has a modifying affect on them. In this sense the
succeeding generations can be regarded as reincarnations of the previous
generation. As pointed out above, nothing new happens at this level. It is as
if certain habits, automatisms, Psychons, or "karma deposits" have
been put into human beings which will continue to repeat themselves, combine,
separate and recombine in various ways. Impulses must come from the Conscious
or Spiritual level to produce a vertical change, an ascent. Human beings might
merely react to impulses coming from the environment or from others, who are
also reacting. These reactions simply produce further reactions and within a
system, in so far as it is closed, continue to circulate until changed by other
impulses or gradually leaking out.
Indeed, all
human actions, inner or outer (inner stresses, tensions and efforts) produce
results by the laws of causation and action and reaction, both in the outer
world and within the person. These again have further consequences. Nothing is
therefore, lost. The end result of a process can often be unravelled, even by
scientists to some extent, to reconstruct the past stages. But people differ
widely in the power, quality and nature of the affect they have. Apart from
environmental and cosmic forces, the forces determining human history exist at
this cultural level. They form a system that has, to a large extent, its own
autonomy. There are (a) serial, (b) parallel and (c) cumulative processes. Serial
processes imply that some events cannot take place until others have first
taken place. Parallel processes create a complexity from which both order and
chaos arises. Things interact and there are feed back loops. Changes cannot,
then, be described in a linear manner i.e. one thing A, changes in proportion to another thing B. This is because B is also changing and the result is non-linear.
Certain patterns emerge which were not there before. This is like
crystallization. Accumulation of certain tendencies leads to the growth of
these tendencies. The same process can be continually repeated so that data
passes through a procedure governed by a rule or law, and the result is again
passed through the same procedure. The changes might reach a crisis point where
things collapse, re-arrange and transform. This is like heating ice, causing it
to change into water and then into steam. Accumulation may cause modification
such that similar features reinforce while opposites ones cancel out and
dissimilar ones distort each other.
Three
inter-dependent aspects of the system should be noted:- (a) data which must be
recorded somewhere; (b) patterns or laws into which the data fits which may
become data; (c) processes by which data is manipulated to create results.
These results may become data or patterns. A behaviour tendency or a piece of
knowledge may not exist in any one person's mind, but its parts may exist in
many minds or in none at all. For instance, a great amount of knowledge exists
in libraries, tapes, discs, electronic media or other places that are
accessible to people. Other forms of knowledge are normally hidden but become
accessible only by processing - e.g. analysis, association, synthesis,
calculation.
People are
conscious of only a small part of what exists in the Culture. The Culture can
be regarded as existing in the Collective Mind of the Society, which is part of
the Collective Mind of Humanity. This is not different from the fact that the
brain of the individual consists of many cells, but he nevertheless has a
single mind, which can be regarded as the Collective Mind of these cells.
Though each cell or group of cells can be regarded as having its own function,
one could say that it is the mind of the individual, which is operating through
these cells or groups. In fact, we have to distinguish between that which comes
from the Individual Mind itself
(because of inherent tendencies and experiences), that which comes because of
reaction to other people or is put there by suggestion, conditioning,
propaganda etc. from others - this may be called the Reactive Mind, and that which arises from the Collective Mind. We can define the Universal Mind as consisting of all the processes taking place
throughout the Universe.
The Individual
Mind has three parts or possible states, Attentive
Consciousness, Pre-consciousness, Sub-consciousness and Unconsciousness. Normally, when awake, we are in a pre-conscious
state as opposed to the state when we actually direct attention to something.
It is also possible with some effort to concentrate attention and become
conscious of that which is normally in the Subconscious, but not what is in the
Unconscious without special techniques. The reader can establish this by
experiment. This gives rise to three further possibilities, Self-consciousness, Objective Consciousness and Cosmic
Consciousness. These different states of consciousness are symbolized by
the light of the star, moon and sun in Quran 6:76-80 where it describes the
enlightenment of Abraham. Allah is beyond these. He has Absolute Consciousness ("He is Aware of all things."
2:231, 6:102, 9:115 etc.) The different states of consciousness are also
implied in the four levels of the soul, Nafs, described in a previous article
:- Nafs-i-ammara (12:53), the
egotistical soul, Nafs-i-Lawwama (75:2),
a Self-accusing soul which self-consciousness, Nafs-i-Mulhima (34:2), the Inspired Soul, and Nafs-i-Mutmainna (89:27), the Soul at Peace. There are other
intermediate states of consciousness such the differences between concentrated
consciousness, the ordinary waking state, states of reverie and hypnosis. These
differences in Individual Consciousness are reflected in the Collective
Consciousness of which it is part. A large amount of that which exists in the
culture does not exist in the Collective
Consciousness, but in the Collective
Subconsciousness or Collective Unconsciousness.
A large amount of the processes within the body, behaviour and forces coming
from other people, the environment and the Cosmos also affect the Collective
Sub-conscious and Unconscious mind. The distinction between Heaven and Earth in
religion refers, but not exclusively, to the difference between the Collective
Mind and the Individual Mind.
Influences and
Souls may be said to ascend and descend from the Collective Mind to the
Individual Mind, and from the Collective to the Universal and vice versa. The
Individual Mind of a person is part of the Collective Mind, which is part of
the Universal. His actions modify his Soul beneficially or harmfully. It is not
difficult to see that the higher aspects of Reality are, in a sense, within a
person. That is, they are accessible only inwardly. These higher aspects refer
to all the potentialities which human beings have. They can be actualized or
realized only by methods that change a person inwardly.
"Allah changes not the condition of a
people until they change what is in their hearts." 13:11
Heaven is not to
be confused with Paradise - both Paradise (the
states of unity and self-fulfilment) and Hell (the state of disintegration,
conflict and suffering), exist in Heaven. But Hell is sometimes represented as
existing below ground. That is where we find the Fire and it is also the place
of graves where the dead go. The Fire not only burns and destroys rubbish but
also transforms and fuses. In that case earth exists symbolically between Paradise and Hell, and partakes of both. The grave in
which the spiritually dead are is their own body - their individual
consciousness is trapped by attachment to their bodies and is annihilated when
these die. However, this leaves the rest of the Soul within the Collective
Mind, which is, of course, sub- or un-conscious until a general or Collective
Awakening known as the Day of Resurrection. Owing to this unconsciousness, from
the Islamic point of view, a Soul that cannot remember its past life is not a
reincarnated soul. The spiritually regenerated, on the other hand, are said to
be still alive. This may mean that they are conscious in what is normally
sub-conscious, and sub-conscious in what is normally unconscious. There seems
to be a difference of opinion whether they can be reincarnated. Some Souls, it
seems are unless it is merely part of the information within the Collective
Mind which descends into the Individual Mind.