In this section, we will explain
what it means for the soul to make progress toward upper heights or to sink to
lower depths.
We have explained earlier in the
text the causes of the soul’s rising and falling. In this section, we will
expand and elaborate on these matters. Every substance has certain characteristics
which are common in other substances. Weight and volume are of this kind. In
addition to these common characteristics, every substance has specific
characteristics peculiar to it and whereby it is distinguished from others. For
example, every substance has a certain density, while liquids differ from one
another in respect of their boiling and freezing temperatures, different solids
melt in different temperatures, and rays vary as to their wave lengths. By the
same token, living beings differ in that each and every one of them has
specific properties, qualities and attributes. For instance, the foxglove,
digitali spurpurea in botanical terms, is known for its effect on the heart.
The horse is distinguished on account of its sense of comliance with its rider
and its impulse towards running, which is a characteristic deterring its being
used specifically as a pack animal like a donkey.
Human beings are similar to animals in many
respects and similar to vegetation and inanimate objects in other respects. In
addition,
we have many human attributes that distinguish us from them. The honor of being
a human comes from these attributes. The most important one of these attributes
is the power of comprehension, understanding or thought (nutq).
“Nutq” also means power of speech, but we shall not dwell on that meaning in
this subject. A person without a tongue cannot speak but he is still human
because he possesses understanding and comprehension and can think. Parrots can
talk but they are not humans because they don’t have understanding,
comprehension, thinking ability or wisdom. It is this power of nutq, alone,
which benefits in the unique gift of distinguishing good habits and deeds from
their evil counterparts. Allâhu ta’âlâ gave this
faculty to human beings so that they could recognize their Creator. The
spiritual heart and soul, by using this power studies the universe, earth,
skies, [as well as laws of physics, chemistry, and other activities pertaining
to human life], and thus recognizes the existence of Allâhu
ta’âlâ and His superior Attributes. Thus, by following the commandments
and avoiding the acts which Islam prohibits, the owner of the spiritual heart
and soul attains happiness in this world and the next, and protects himself
from disasters. The fifty-sixth âyat of Sûra Zâriyât purports: “I have only created
jinns and men that they may worship Me.” The word ‘worship’ used
in this âyat-i-kerîma should be construed as ‘know’. As a matter of fact, we
have been created to know and believe our Creator Allâhu
ta’âlâ.
The animal attributes of human beings, e.g.,
appetite and rage which make them resemble animals are due to their animal
soul. These animal attributes are of no value for the human soul. Animals also
possess these powers; in fact, they are stronger in animals than in humans. For
example, cows and donkeys eat and drink more than humans. Pigs and birds have
much more sexual vigour. Lions, water buffaloes, and elephants are more
powerful. Wolves and tigers are better and fiercer fighters. Rats, dogs and
cats can see in the dark and smell from a distance. All these properties cannot
be an honor for humans. If these properties were causes of honor, the
aforementioned animals would be deemed as more honorable and superior to
humans. The honors of human beings are due to the two powers of their souls,
namely, the spiritual heart and the soul. The spiritual heart and the soul
will, by using the power of nutq,
recognize
virtues and sublime values, hold fast to them by using the practical power, and
for that matter, avoid iniquities.
Belief in Allâhu ta’âlâ and a ma’rifat (closer
knowledge) of Him is something easier said than done. It can be accomplished by
believing the meaning of the six fundamental principles of belief (âmantu). The
fifth one of these principles is believing in Doomsday and Rising after death.
The unenlightened say, “It has
been communicated that the blessings of Paradise are birds meat, fruits, milk,
pure honey, villas, virgins of Paradise and similar things that give pleasure
to the physical body. These things satisfy appetite and animal desires. Since
the happiness of the soul depends on the knowledge of Allâhu ta’âlâ and things that are approved by
wisdom, the pleasures of the soul will fade away, being trumped with the animal
pleasures. Therefore, would not this axiomatic syllogism inevitably lead to the
conclusion that the highly-esteemed people of the world like prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawât-ü-wa-t-taslîmât’,
Awliyâ, and scholars ‘rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ’ would, in the Hereafter, be
leading a life worthy of the lowliest people, to spare them the more hurtful
term ‘bestial’? Moreover, in order for the physical body to enjoy the pleasures
of Paradise, it should suffer first. The physical body does not require
anything unless it is in desperate need. For example, unless hunger is felt the
pleasures of eating and drinking cannot be appreciated. Without being tired or
sleepy, one cannot appreciate the comfort and pleasure of sleep. Since there is
no discomfort in Paradise, the physical body cannot possibly enjoy those
pleasures.” Avicenna, a famous philosopher raised in Muslim culture, in his
books Shifâ and Najât, professed his belief in the
Day of Judgement but in another book of his entitled Muâd he recanted. Another scholar, Nasîruddin al-Tûsî, in some parts
of his book Tejrîd, wrote about Rising after
death; but in other parts he also contradicted what he had written earlier.
All Believers unanimously state
that the physical body will be present on the Day of Judgement. What is wrong,
however, is to assume that the blessings of Paradise are only for the body.
Once a soul starts making progress in the world, it will carry on its progress
even after it leaves the body and also until the Day of Judgement. In Paradise,
the body will be reconstructed so as to lead an eternal life and will be
different from the one on earth.
Life after death will start with the reunion of the soul and that
physical body modified for eternity. The pleasures and enjoyments which the
soul will relish will differ from those which will be presented to the body to
entertain itself with in the Hereafter. People with loftier spiritual acumen
will give priority to the pleasures of the soul. The pleasures of the soul will
be incomparably superior to the enjoyments of the body. Among the blessings of
Paradise, the pleasure of seeing Allâhu ta’âlâ will be the ultimate and sweetest pleasure for the soul.
According to some Islamic scholars, it is possible for some of the elect
people, e.g. (those who have attained a spiritual grade which enables them to
know Allâhu ta’âlâ in the best
manner possible for a human, and who therefore are called,) ’ârifs, to enter
the soul’s heaven and taste some of the pleasures of heaven while they are
alive on the earth here. There cannot be any heavenly pleasure for the physical
body as long as we live in this world. Pleasures in Paradise are different from
pleasures of the earth. They are unlike worldly pleasures. Allâhu ta’âlâ created some pleasures on earth
which sound like the pleasures of heaven in order for us to get a taste or an
idea of heavenly pleasures by way of analogy. So He commanded us to work and
strive to obtain those pleasures. Relishing the pleasures in Paradise does not
necessarily require having undergone troubles beforehand. The construction of
the body in Paradise will not be like the construction of the earthly physical
body. The earthly body is created with a construction which is good for a
temporary life. It can last approximately one hundred years. The body we will
have in Paradise will have a construction which will last forever. The
similarity between the two is like the similarity of a man to his reflection in
the mirror. The human mind cannot visualize the creatures in the Hereafter.
Mind can comprehend only the things which it perceives through the sensory
organs and can visualize only things which are similar to them. It would be
tragically misleading to pass judgement on the pleasures and flavours of
Paradise, which we do not know at all, by comparing them to worldly pleasures,
which are what we know in the name of enjoyment.
According to some great leaders of Tasawwuf
and most Islamic scholars ‘rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ’, in this world of ours there
exists a third world called the world of likeness (’âlam-i-
mithâl).
Unlike this material world, it is not made of matter. Nor is
it elementary like the spiritual world. In other words, it is
not quite immaterial, either. It is something between the two. The creatures in
that world resemble the creatures of this world in that their constitution is
made up of things that can be divided into smaller things. And what makes them
dissimilar is that they do not have weight and they do not occupy space. All
material things and meanings existing in this world have likenesses in that
world. Water’s likeness there is the same as the water here. Knowledge in this
world is represented with milk in that world. Good habits and good deeds in
this world appear in the guise of water-melons, flowers, and delicious fruits
in the world of likeness. Disagreeable nature and evil deeds in this world have
the corresponding likeness of darkness, snakes, scorpions and things that give
trouble and stress to human beings. The dreams seen by people are from that
world. According to great leaders of Tasawwuf ‘rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ’, that
world is also further divided into two different worlds. If these great leaders
of tasawwuf penetrate that world through the faculty of imagination, it is
called “The world of likeness which depends on imagination.”
If entering that world occurs not through imagination or through other internal
sense organs, in which case it is realized actually, it is called “the absolute world of
likeness” [The subject of ’âlam-i-mithâl is dealt
with in detail in the book Maktûbât, by Imâm Rabbânî ‘quddisa sirruh’, in the
fifty-eighth letter of the second volume. A Turkish version of that long letter
occupies the thirty-ninth chapter of the first part of the Turkish masterpiece
of a book Se’âdet-i-ebediyye. (The letter was also
translated into English and constitutes the thirty-ninth chapter of the first
fascicle of Endless Bliss, one of the publications of Hakîkat
Kitâbevi, Istanbul, Turkey.)] Some of the great leaders of Tasawwuf stated that
they had penetrated that world by implementing self-disciplinary methods termed
riyâzat
and mujâhada
(which we have defined earlier in the text), and reported their impressions of
that world. Religious scholars also confirmed the existence of this third world
and communicated some of its secrets. Abdullah ibn Abbâs ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’
said, “There exists another world beside this world we know. Everything in this
world has a likeness in that world. In fact, there is another Abbas like me in
that world.”
Great specialists of Tasawwuf
‘rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ’ say
that
when a person dies his soul departs from his body. The good deeds which he
performed as he was alive and his good nature transform themselves and manifest
as lights, flowers, virgins of heaven, villas and pearls. His ignorance,
deviation and disagreeable nature transform themselves and manifest as
darkness, scorpions and snakes. A believing soul who does good deeds and has a
good nature prepares those pleasures he will enjoy in Paradise and takes them
there. Disbelievers and sinners prepare the fire and the punishments of Hell
and take them there. The soul, while living in this world cannot comprehend the
load that it is carrying. Its attachment to the physical body and also its
worldly preoccupations prevent it from realizing the situation. No longer will
these barriers exist when the soul parts with the body. Then it will begin to
see the aforesaid representations of its good and evil loads. Human life on
earth looks like the state of a drunk man, and death is the sobering up of the
drunk man. While a man is drunk, people who love him tell him things or give
him presents or possibly bad things happen to him. He would not feel anything
even if scorpions and snakes crept into his undershirt, because of his state of
mind. But, once he sobers up, he realizes everything. This situation is similar
to the states of the world of likenesses. Sa’daddîn-i Taftâzânî ‘rahimahullâhu
ta’âlâ’ in his book Sharh-i-maqâsid, after explaining the world of
likenesses, says that because no evidence is available to prove these things,
true scholars did not pay much attention to them. By ‘true scholars’ he means
scholars who try to make their minds admit things which the human mind is
capable of comprehending. What would befit a follower of mind, however, is not
to deny something abstruse only because it is beyond his reach. As a matter of
fact, Ibni Sînâ (Avicenna), a leading follower of mind, stated, “If something
cannot be proven to be impossible, it should not be said to be so. For, to deny
something without proving its being impossible is, like denying something you
cannot comprehend, a scientific shame.”
Shihâbud-dîn al-Suhrawardî ‘rahimahullâhu
ta’âlâ’ with him said, “Astronomers say that millions of stars come together and
form a system. Every system moves in space without any disruption. People admit
their information although they do not see the event. Likewise, the information
given by great leaders of Tasawwuf concerning the world of likeness and souls
should
be
admitted without seeing, since it is
something which those great spiritual specialists explore through (a method
which they carry on with their purified hearts and which is termed) kashf.” It
would be a wiser predilection to believe people who inform about something,
instead of blindly following the deniers. [A man who posseses reason and
scientific knowledge immediately understands and can prove existence and
Oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Believing in the next
world (âkhirat) is a different matter. We believe in the next world because it
has been communicated to us by Allâhu ta’âlâ.]