The Wrappings of Gratitude

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
ِIn the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

And the stars and the trees prostrate in adoration. (Qur’an, Rahman 55:6)

Allah draws many analogies, great and small, from the stars to the smallest of creatures, in order to teach us through means we are able to comprehend. One such analogy is that of the tree mentioned in Surah Ibrahim which perfectly illustrates, aptly compares, the human being to the tree. The prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, once said, ‘The believer is like a date-palm whose roots are shallow and which keeps giving’. One may think that a date-palm that provides so much fruit for so many centuries would require deep roots to draw its nutrients, but this is not the case, for Allah is showing that it is possible for the tree to be established, strong and firm and yet be generous in its fruit without being deeply attached to the world. Thus the believers are shown that it is possible to draw from the world easily without embedding oneself in it. Just as one would lower a bucket into a well to draw water, the sensible person would not dive in to do so, in the same way, like the roots of the tree being described, we only need to take from the world what we need, and for that, we do not need to dive into well of dunya to do so.

أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ اللّهُ مَثَلاً كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاء

تُؤْتِي أُكُلَهَا كُلَّ حِينٍ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا وَيَضْرِبُ اللّهُ الأَمْثَالَ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ

وَمَثلُ كَلِمَةٍ خَبِيثَةٍ كَشَجَرَةٍ خَبِيثَةٍ اجْتُثَّتْ مِن فَوْقِ الأَرْضِ مَا لَهَا مِن قَرَارٍ

يُثَبِّتُ اللّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ بِالْقَوْلِ الثَّابِتِ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الآخِرَةِ وَيُضِلُّ اللّهُ الظَّالِمِينَ وَيَفْعَلُ اللّهُ مَا يَشَاء

Seest thou not how Allah sets forth a parable? – A goodly word like a goodly tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches (reach) to the heavens,- of its Lord. So Allah sets forth parables for men, in order that they may receive admonition. It brings forth its fruit at all times, by the leave of its Lord. So Allah sets forth parables for men, in order that they may receive admonition. And the parable of an evil Word is that of an evil tree: It is torn up by the root from the surface of the earth: it has no stability. Allah will establish in strength those who believe, with the word that stands firm, in this world and in the Hereafter; but Allah will leave, to stray, those who do wrong: Allah doeth what He willeth. (Ibrahim 14:24-27)

Stars are the ornaments of the heavens and trees, as described in Surah Rahman, are the ‘ornaments of the earth’ . We can see why, for they are not only immensely pleasing to the eye but the benefits they provide are endless. They provide shelter from the wind and rain, shade from the heat of the sun. Their wood provides fuel for heating and cooking, from which can also be made furniture and all manner of utensils and useful tools. From their trunks we may carve boats, and build our houses. They enable us to make paper. They support an immense array of fauna. Whole eco-systems rely entirely on them. They keep us alive by breathing copious amounts of oxygen into the atmosphere, providing us with the air we need to sustain ourselves and they soak up equal amounts of carbon dioxide, without which that air would be unbreathable. Their leaves may be used to add flavour to our food, or used to weave baskets, ornaments, and even clothing. From them we draw resin with which to make rubber. Some hold water for the thirsty traveller. Many hold important remedies for ailments. They carry fruit in abundance throughout the year, feeding all the guests that choose to dine at their feet. They never refuse to do so. A dazzling array of fruits of vary colours and shapes, of textures and tastes. Their roots provide stability to the ground, their leaves nourishment. Trees possess virtues, for they never complain, are always patient no matter what they suffer. A goodly tree like good words stand firm, especially in the face of danger. Always remain united and seek the company of others, grow wiser as they grow older, and never fear death. We are commanded never to cut them down without due necessity, those especially that bear fruit, for they, like all trees are blessed. One of them lowered its branches over the noble messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, to shade him as he walked through the desert. One of them wept when it realised that the noble prophet (s) would no longer stand next to it to give his sermons. Their leaves fed the faithful and the prophet when they were exiled in the outskirts of Mecca by the Quraysh. They provided an abundance of dates to the believers of Medina when all other foods were scarse. Blessed by Allah are they, numerous are the blessings contained in the goodly tree. Protect and care for them and they will protect and care for us. This is the story of the goodly tree.

·24 Rabi-al-Thani 1429·

Angkor Wat, Buddhist Temple, Angkor, Cambodia (c.1113)

This post is a slight departure from recent topics, but I was compelled to post it because of the number of recent articles, and the press attention that China has recieved over the Olympics, vis-a-vis its human rights record. Many people, upon hearing about China and human rights immediately think the worst, and in many cases they may well have cause to do so. However, I am not here to defend China, nor criticise the Western press, but instead I want to draw your attention the idea of ‘Mental Complexes’ as aptly stated in the title. Below is an article that typically illustrates the Eurocentric, self-orientated attitude that seems to endlessly flow from any country that has gained far too much wealth and power. At this moment in history its the West, which is of course better than the rest, or so they would have us believe. However, despite what may be said of China’s domestic human rights record, it’s only a drop in the ocean of the suffering caused by Western States on a scale never ever imaginable before in human history. Its media tend not to like to talk about such things because it may tarnish the global image of the West, as though it couldn’t be tarnished anymore. However, when one begins to place the human rights situation into context and compares the levels of abuse and denial of human rights occuring, there is only one set of States and governments that come out on top. And they are the same governments that are currently presiding over and wilfully neglecting the deaths of some 18 million of our fellow human beings every year as a result of severe poverty, and poverty-related causes, of these, almost 11million are children under the age of five. To truly place this into context almost all of these gloabl deaths can be prevented and almost all of them are caused by global economic policies dictated by Western governments and/or financial intitutions. The mental complexes referred to in the article was the term that caught my eye and hence prompted me to share it with you because it is precisely this selective memory, and selective consciousness that affects those that only want to see what is easy and palatable. Hence people talk about China, Tibet, Burma, North Korea, and so on, but rarely begin to mention global poverty. I think if we truly want to be people of conscience then we must address injustice in its proper context, not for ourselves but for the people whose cries go unanswered, for we will all be held to account one day, one dreadful day.

By Dr. Qiu Zhenhai, commentator for Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV

Translated By Mark Klingman

March 22. 2008

China – Wen Wei Po – Original Article (Chinese)

Tibet’s largest riot in 20 years has aroused international concern. Although over the past few days Chinese officials have released some news, they have yet to allow foreign reporters to interview the locals and the rumors are flying. Particularly European countries are of the belief that information from the Chinese government is wholly unreliable. This statement sounds harsh, but the Western world’s inherent thinking and feeling on the issue of Tibet is a reflection of this. If we carefully study the mentality behind this thinking and improve China’s international public-relations skills, we can try to overcome the limitations of the West’s political culture.

The Olympic Games in Beijing are still four and a half months away. Although this is a moment of crisis, the crisis may also offer opportunities.

Tibet is a complicated issue. There does need to be a deeper, more respectful, civilized dialogue and an improvement in relations between Han Chinese and Tibetans. But long-term delays and the way the Tibetan running-dogs have acted in their own political interests have resulted in the growing complication of Tibetan affairs. But looked at in isolation, it’s clear that the disturbances, rioting, vandalism and heinous disorder are being dealt with according to the law. If any incident of this kind took place in a Western country, regardless of the “complexity” of the surrounding issues, the local government would carry out effective programs to clamp down and maintain peace. The 1992 riots in Los Angeles as well as the 2005 riots in Paris are perfect examples.

Only on the Tibet issue do Western media and intelligentsia diverge from their usual thinking. In the past, Western intellectuals have almost unanimously condemned the Chinese government over Tibet. In regard to the current turmoil, they have condemned the use of force and demanded official Chinese restraint, regardless of the facts surrounding the riots. But the West’s criticism is in stark contrast to its long history of intellectual and empirical rigor, because it is fully aware that the question of Tibet is a deep and complex one. Therefore we must take the first step: We must study the Western position on the question of Tibet, along with the international public relations measures utilized by Western intellectuals.

TIBET: A WESTERN BLIND SPOT AND MENTAL COMPLEX

On the question of Tibet, Western intellectuals have multiple overlaid and intertwined complexes. So when they speak with the appearance of “rationality” on the issue of Tibet, they merely give vent to their own confusion and demonstrate the vicious circle that they’ve gotten themselves into.

COMPLEX NUMBER ONE: The long-standing, traditional liberalism and idealism of the West, which is concerned primarily with civil liberties, human rights, self-determination, and confidence in basic government, arose out of the Renaissance and the bourgeois [industrial] revolution. These ideas are the precious spiritual wealth of the West. The trouble is that for a variety of reasons, when this spiritual wealth encounters the Tibet issue, it gets twisted and perverted.

COMPLEX NUMBER TWO: Over the past few centuries because of the success of modernization, there has been a “tilting” process toward the West. The West has become a model for the world in human rights, democracy, freedom, civil law, and the self-determination of peoples. These have become so-called natural, mainstream values, and therefore in the exchanges between the West and China, the West has had a commanding position. China is not and should not reject these ideals due to their Western origins. Rather, China should take part in these universal values of freedom, democracy, and human rights, and should remain “inclined” toward dialog with the West.

COMPLEX NUMBER THREE: Along with the rapid development of the West and shift of the East-West balance toward the West (especially the major European countries), there has also come an odd spread of primitive “hippie” culture – those in search of novelty and interested in “finding themselves” – as well as religious fanaticism, the leading representatives of this being Africa and Tibet.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

The Beautiful Alhambra Palace, Granada

What can we describe to you is Al-Andalus and its extraordinary spirit, history, character and its immense contribution to the development of modern civilisation?  Al-Andalus or Spanish Islam represented an idea, a period, an epoc of great cultural sophistication, intellectual, scientific, civil and religious achievement, for over eight centuries, by the Muslims of Al-Andalus. It represented a golden age, not only in the history of Islam, but is described by a Spanish Christian historian, as no less than “a goldern age of humanity”. Although almost entirely absent from Western academia, this eight hundred year period of Islamic rule and nine hundred year presence in Spain, their knowledge and achievements, lead directly to the Renaissance and Enlightenment in Europe, and directly contributed to the achievements of modern Europe as we recognise it today. We cannot begin to underestimate the influence and impact Spanish Islam had on Western civilisation, which before the knowledge of the Muslims, was described as the ‘dark ages’. A period characterised by one-thousand years of ethnic and religious intolerance and persecution, as Shaykh Hamza Yusuf describes, was a period when:

“Christianity ruled Europe with its iron hand, knowledge was not promoted and when it was it was only promoted amongst the priestly class, common people were not allowed to learn. The standard of living was never promoted, the early Christians in Europe believed that, among other things, taking a bath was ungodly, that it was better to be an ascetic” (900 years: Reviving the Spirit of Andalusia (2006))

As Shaykh Hamza goes on to say further, “whilst Al-Andalus was flourishing econmically, culturally and intellectually, Europe was gripped by such religious persecution that even other Catholic and Christian doctrines that did not accord with the Church were, not only not tolerated, but eliminated altogether”. However, this was not the situation for eight centuries of Islamic rule in Spain, which gave rise to, amongst other great ideas, the idea of La Convivencia, or Conviviality, which means ‘living together’, but denotes much more to include tolerance and acceptance of the values and views of others, whose views may well have differed and even contradicted that of the Muslims, but were respected and given autonomy with regards of governing themselves according to their own laws within the Islamic State. This is something that cannot be conceived in modern Europe today in allowing minority groups to operate under their own legal system within the overal system, and yet this idea was common practice by the ruling Muslims. It was this spirit and understanding that came directly traceable from Andalusia into Europe and gave birth to modern European standards through the encouragement of the compatibility between faith and reason, between religion and sciencific learning, and between groups of religious and ethnic diversity. And yet given that for such a long period of European history such an open and tolerent society flourished in Islamic Spain, after the end of Islamic rule Europe regressed considerably to the point of giving rise to two catestrophic world wars that claimed millions of lives, the use of the atom bomb and several cenuries of the persecution and slaughter of minority groups. Even as speak, and although Europe has progressed considerably there still exists an uneasy truce with regards to the status of minority groups in Europe. This is in contrast to the period of several centuries where Islam had shown that there was no contradiction in the existence of different faiths existing in harmony, based on respect and understanding, living alongside each other and governing their communities under their own religious laws.

There was thus no contradiction in the Islamic State between faith and learning for one critical reason which was that Islam began with the injunction to gain knowledge as the critical component for understanding the precepts of religion and as a means of increasing in ones faith. What this injunction meant was that it was not enough to simply profess faith in God but that faith had to be supported with knowledge and understanding, the greater the knowledge the greater the understanding of the ideas contained within the Qur’an and the principles God had commanded people to understand and abide by. In contrast one of the primary reasons why cultural, social and scientfic development has entirely ceased under Christian rule in Europe for a thousand years was due to the Church’s inability to accept any challenge to its beliefs about the nature of existence even when those beliefs were found in contradiction to newly discovered knowledge such as the earth orbiting the sun as opposed to the sun orbiting the earth which was the Church’s interpretation of the Bible. The Qur’an on the other hand was explicit to its reader to not take its statements for granted by rather to explore and understand them further through learning and science which gave rise to the development of almost every brach of learning we are familiar with in modern Europe today, including amongst others, mathematics, engineeering, medicine, astronomy, environment, sociology, chemistry, physics, art, literature and architecture. In each one of these subjects Muslims were the pioneers of knowledge, knowledge which directly transferred into Europe and gave rise to modern technological Europe. To give on such example of the extent of the intellectual and scientific advancement of Europe, the Muslim scholar and physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna), his Canon of Medicine was for five centuries, well into the 17th century, the main textbook for medical education in Western universities. In other words it took five centuries of learning and development before the medical knowledge of Ibn Sina could be exceeded.

The Court of Lions inside the Nasiri Palace within the Alhambra

Cordoba: The Ornament of the World

The religious and cultural tolerence of the Andalusians was one aspect of its highly cultured, educated and sophisticated society, which was well known throughout Europe in the middle ages, and  it was for this reason attracted scholars throughout Europe to intellectually flourishing cities such as Cordoba, Seville, Granada and Toledo. If one wanted to flourish as an architect, writer,  engineer, artist, painter, physician, thinker, teacher or almost any other profession would come to Islamic Spain, to Andalusia. Even those that were unable to come were astounded by the possibility for such luminous cities in what was otherwise a dull and ark Europe. One such person was a German Christian nun by the name of Hrosvitha who was part of the diplomatic circle in the court of Otto I in Germany. Hence she would quite often come into contact with emmisaries from the Cordoban Caliphate on behalf of the Caliph Abdul Rahman III and hear accounts of life in Cordoba, which she described as “The Ornament of the World”. This was quite a glowing reference from a nun living in 10th century Europe, and yet it is also an indication of the profound effect Andalusia had on all those that came into contact with her, and all those that were so proud to belong to her. As Hrosvitha wrote, “The brilliant ornament of the world shone in the West, a noble city newly known for the military prowess that its Hispanic colonisers had brought, Cordoba was its name and it was wealthy and famous and known for its pleasures and resplendent in all things, and especially for its seven streams of wisdom [the trivium and quadtrivium] and as much for its constant victories” (Menocal 2002: 32).

This certainly was a glowing account but what was it based on, what did Hrosvitha hear that even as a Christian, compelled her to want to describe this city in such terms to others? Well if we consider the conditions in Europe at that time in terms of cultural and intellectual stagnantion, dogged with endless conflict and persecution, Cordoba was an unimaginable place of beauty, described by Menocal as “an astonishing place” (Menocal 2002:32). Here are some of the facts that indicated the florurishment of the City in 950 .

Cordoba’s population was 600,000, which by medieval standards was extraordinary, enabled by the considerable wealth of the city. What was even more extraordinary was that for a population of this size the city contained some 92,000 shops and trade establishments, which meant that most people were self-employed.

There were also some 300 public baths and 50 hospitals.

Cordoba was truly a city of learning with one university of 20,000 full-time enrolled students which was apart from those people that were allowed to audit courses before deciding which courses to undertake.

In a city that apparently adored books so much there were some “seventy copyists in the bookmarket that worked exclusively on copying the Quran”.

There were also 300 colleges and at least 72 libraries.

The Caliphal library which by one account “contained some four hundred thousand volumes”, was at a time when the “largest library in Christian Europe probably held no more than four hundred manuscripts” (Menocal: 2002:33). Similarly, by another account, ‘”there were more books in the average Cordoban household than there were in the whole of Europe combined”. (Yusuf (900 Years)).

The Muslims had brought paper from China, and in order to fuel the city’s insatiable appetite for learning, a paper factory in Jativa, a town outside the prosperous costal city of Valencia, provided a constant supply of high quality paper. There were also hundreds of public baths, paved and well-lit streets, whose lights could be seen for 40 miles. And later indoor plumbing was introduced.

All of these achievements according to Menocal, qualified Islamic Spain as a “genuine, foundational European cultural movement”, that according to Scott F. Fitzgerald, would be defined as “first-rate”, which according to him, “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time” (Menocal 2002:10-11). Cordoba, the Capital of the Caliphate much like the other cities of Islamic Spain was very much a place that represented acceptance over rejection, of accepting people and ideas no matter who they were or where they were from, of a place that could hold several competing ideas in its mind at the same time without losing any idea of what it was. Its identity was strong and unshakeable precisely because it drew its strenght from knowledge that transcended it beyond colour, religion or race. Hence no matter who you were or whether you were a Muslim from Baghdad or a Christian from London, when you arrived at the shores of Andalusia you became its citizen and were welcomed as part of this glorious land of learning and tolerance.

The Cordoba Mosque

Unique for its double-arches that enabled the Cordoban engineers and architects to create much higher ceilings and spans than had ever been previous built in Europe

There are numerous other achievements of the Andalusian Muslims in the fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, physics, philosophy, sociology, economics, agriculture, engineering, art and architecture which directly entered and influenced Europe, ideas which we continue to benefit from today in Europe. Each one of these fields requires its own detailed attention. But what I want to describe to you is the spirit that gave rise to this most extraordinary period of human history, which besides the high achivements, created a type of person with the most extraordinary character and spirit, imbibed with a sense of place and purpose, of high-learning, sophistication and high-character. This period of history, this place, has captured my own heart and imagination like no other outside of the Hijaz. What is particularly inspiring is the high culture and sophistication of the Andalusian, which included not only the books they read, but the food they ate, the clothes they wore, the buildings they designed, the homes they lived in and so on. Every single aspect of their culture spoke of refinement and sophistication. However, what’s extraodinary is that 500 years after the fall of Granada, that spirit still exists in the environs of Andalusia and amongst its contemporary inhabitants, even if not all of them are aware of where it originated. The regions, the hills and mountains, the trees, winds, the land, all tell their own story and bear witness that something extraordinary happened there, and it happened there for a very long time. Even today it is possible to find remnants of this spirit everywhere in Andalusian society especially in the belief of the difference, uniqueness and specialness of the Andalusians as compared to the rest of Spain. What’s also quite apparent is the strong passion of the people, their romance towards their land, towards each other, of a different type of love not comparable to the cities of Rome or Paris.

When I was in Granada it was easy to detect a distinctly held, unconsciously transmitted belief, of a specialness of the place they lived and hence a specialness they acquired by being part of that place. But this distinctly differs from Rome or Paris in that this belief was understated and modest, it was there, and if you wanted to find it, grasp it, then it encouraged you, invited you to go beneath the surface and do so for yourself. So even after several centuries after the presence of Islam the same spirit that characterised Islamic Spain is still evident today, which was sophistication with modesty, and if any peoples had a right to exult in their culture, it was the Andalusians given that there was no equivalent anywhere in Europe or the World at that time with the exception of the Islamic Abbasid Empire towards the East.

There is much to be gained from learning about Al-Andalus in an age of great cynicism about the possibility and even the existence of noble ideas, noble virtues and high character. The same character and virtues that the Andalusians went to great lengths to preserve so that even now we are still enchanted, inspired and intrigued about what what they left behind for us, what they were trying to tell about what they knew, about who they were. And if we gain even a mere glimpse into the the spirit of Al-Andalus it will transform us from the ordinary citizens we are, of ordinary cities, living ordinary lives, to belong to everything that the Andalucians believed was precious, sacred and extraordinary. For Muslims and non-Muslims alike, today without doubt, Al-Andalus provides a true opportunity to be genuinely inspired by the achievements of Andalusia. And if anyone seriously examines and studies this period, they cannot but have the spirit of Al-Andalus imprinted on their hearts.

Part of what remains at Medinat Az-Zahra, (Cordoba 930-1010)

One thousand years after the the City-Palace was first built by Abdal-Rahman III, one can only imagine what it must have looked like as a functional city with streets paved with white marble, and vast acres of gardens, whose unfortunate demise came, not from the Christians, but from rival Muslim factions

Finally, what we must endevour to remember, lest we repeat the same mistakes of history, is that whilst Allah can bless us with the most extraordinary success, the like of which no other peoples have seen before us, such splendor, success, high-culture, sophistication and so on is not granted for itself, but as a sign of His existence. These achievements do not represent our abilities but His, not our artistry but His, not our glory but His and not our power but His, and if we repeatedly forget our blessings, forget to show true gratitude, He shows us that whilst He is ar-Rahman, the Most-Merciful, and Al-Kareem, Most-Generous, He is also Al-Jabbar, the One, that nothing happens in His Dominion except that which He wills, and what He wills, will happen.

حِيطَ بِثَمَرِهِ فَأَصْبَحَ يُقَلِّبُ كَفَّيْهِ عَلَى مَ ا أَنفَقَ فِيهَا وَهِيَ
خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا وَيَقُولُ يَا لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أُشْرِكْ بِرَبِّي أَحَدًا

“So his fruits (and enjoyment) were encompassed (with ruin), and he remained twisting and turning his hands over what he had spent on his property, which had (now) tumbled to pieces to its very foundations, and he could only say, “Woe is me! Would I had never ascribed partners to my Lord and Cherisher!” (Quran, Al Kahf 18:42)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

ِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

Someone commented after my first post titled “Truly Beautiful”, asking what made me have such beautiful thoughts? Since the comment I had no need to want to follow up that post or the comment, the answer to the question could only be one. Such thoughts were inspired by the One that has created minds to think and hearts to feel. For this I can truthfully take no credit other than my desire to want to speak the best truth to the best of my ability, and then to what extent can I claim credit for the desire to speak the truth, only God knows, for He is Al-Haqq, The Truth. I think in truth I find everything beautiful, speaking the truth, the beauty of God’s creation, beautiful words, good virtues, courage, independence, uniqueness, humility, nobility and much more besides. All this combines to create a beautiful spirit, which is the definition that Islam gives to true beauty. From a beautiful spirit emanate, from God’s inspiration, inspired thoughts. A soul that contains anything less than these good qualities is superficial to varying degrees. So in answer to the question of what inspires me to have such thoughts as those I commit to paper, the answer is that I’m searching for the truth, and in doing so I have had to go through beauty. Beauty is like a most wonderous scent, once you love it, are inspired by it, then it saturates you with its perfume, and you begin to see the entire world through it. Just as if you were to wear a pleasing scent, you would smell its fragance all day, and everytime you caught it you would find it pleasing, soothing. In the same way beauty saturates the entire soul with this scent so that you see everything that is beautiful as beautiful, but you also see beauty where others cannot.

The truth is beauty and everything beautiful speaks the truth which is to testify to the existence of the One that created the same beauty and scattered it absolutely everywhere in the universe. Its easy to take this for granted, but it really is quite overwhelming when you love beauty so much, to see so much beauty in God’s creation and not be overwhelmed. The truth is also that I’m searching for true beauty and I haven’t yet found it. I’m trying to understand what is truly beautiful, because to know the answer to this question will have a profound impact on everything else. Everything of beauty is beautiful, but there must also be some distinguishing factor that places one type of beauty above the rest. Do you know what it is? Your comments please.

One of the central aspects of Islam is tawheed, the belief in Divine Unity, or the Oneness of God. In answer to the question posed by someone as to who God was, Allah revealed surah al-Ikhlas. Unlike most surahs whose name is based on a particualar theme of the Surah such as Ale-Imran, Baqarah, Al-Wakiah, An-Nisa and so on, Al-Ikhlas which means sincerity is not directly the theme of this surah. In answer to who Allah is, Allah says:

قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًاأَحَدٌ

Say: He, Allah, is One,
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute
He begetteth not, nor is He begotten,
And there is none like unto Him.

(Quran, Al-Ikhlas 112:1-4)

Thus in direct answer to who Allah is, He refers to His absolute unity, that there is none comparable to Him, He is above His creation. This part most people understand, but what is even more important is how the idea of Divine Unity is understood because this very powerful idea can permeate through into every aspect of ones existence. In other words to begin to understand Allah as One which is the absolute key to true worship requires sincerity, hence that is why the Surah is entitled Al-Ikhlas. Without sincerity one cannot even begin to know the Oneness of Allah and hence one is unable to worship Him as He has intended us to do so. There is another aspect to this which is the association of Divine Unity – with the Unity of the Ummah – with sincerity. In other words to understand tawheed, the Oneness of Allah, leads to the Oneness of the Ummah. But conversely to be disunited in ones heart, to not understand Divine Unity also leads to disunity in the Ummah. The operative factor here is sincerity, which if corrected, has a direct bearing on the unity and hence success of the Ummah. As Allah says in the Quran:

َّمَّا جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لِرَجُلٍ مِّن قَلْبَيْنِ فِ

“Allah has not made for any man two hearts in his (one) body”

(Quran, Al-Ahzab 33:04)

Here the term “two hearts” denotes disunity, for one each heart has its own desire and hence Allah is asking the retorical question of whether he has placed two hearts or just one in the body? In reality there can only be one heart in one body, that is to say, one a physical heart and one spiritual heart whose desire is only singular. The Ummah is described as a body, and thus if the heart of that body is unified so will its desires and hence its actions. The opposite is also true. But this unity is predicated on sincerity which is what surah al-Ikhlas is dealing with, and without the requisite sincerity coming from the belivers, the desire for Unity amongst each other, and the desire to understand the Oneness of Allah, one will not be granted tawheed. And what, I ask you, is greater in the universe than to be united in the worship of Allah? To be united in love, in our love for Him, when everthing in the universe is set right?

The reason I mentioned Divine Unity is because it is perhaps the highest aspect of true beauty, and this is something a person feels deep in their soul, for when we are united, together, loving, compassionate, giving and caring towards one another, there is nothing more beautiful than this.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
ِ

In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful

How can you distinush between confidence and arrogance, between someone being arrogant, which according to the scholars is, alongside envy, the worst trait to possess, and confidence which is a positive trait? Some people say that there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. That is true but this doesn’t tell us any more and it doesn’t tell us how we distinguish between the two. Someone could be acting with confidence and yet he may be wrongly accused of being arrogant and someone acting arrogantly may be claiming he’s showing confidence, how do we tell who is telling the truth? The determining factor is certainty because arrogance is a mask for a lack of certainty, whereas confidence is a sign of certainty. A person acting arrogantly lacks certainty about what is right and wrong, about what is true and hence he masks his lack of certainty with arrogance, so that what he shows is that he possesses certainty whereas in truth he does not. Allah warns us about such people:

مَا يُجَادِلُ فِي آيَاتِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَلَا يَغْرُرْكَ تَقَلُّبُهُمْ فِي الْبِلَادِ

“None can dispute about the Signs of Allah but the Unbelievers. Let not, then, their strutting about through the land deceive thee!” (Quran, Al-Ghafir 40:4)

But remember that when the Quran refers to the unbelievers, it is not only referring to those that explicitly declare their disbelief but also those that display signs of disbelief in their character. So we should always keep in mind that it could be anyone of us at any time, the only way to guard against arrogance is through the constant remembrance of Allah, so that we do not become like the person that needs to lie about his certainty by masking it with arrogance. About arrogance Allah says in the Qur’an:

إِلَهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَالَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالآخِرَةِ قُلُوبُهُم مُّنكِرَةٌ وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُونَ

لاَ جَرَمَ أَنَّ اللّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ إِنَّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ الْمُسْتَكْبِرِينَ

“Your Allah is one Allah: as to those who believe not in the Hereafter, their hearts refuse to know, and they are arrogant. Undoubtedly Allah doth know what they conceal, and what they reveal: verily He loveth not the arrogant”. (An-Nahl 16:22-23)

The verse above presents an interesting link between tawheed, that is the vbelief in the Oneness of Allah, the belief in the hereafter, the desire to know and arrogance. There is a sequential connection these four components, the highest of which is tawheed, begins with the humility, the opposite of arrogance. But the presence of arrogance is also the very thing that becomes the destructive element in a person life because ultimately they forego the possibility of knowing Allah. And Allah can only be known through humility, through the removal of arrogance in the heart, with a desire to confront and know what is true from what is false. Not to coneal what is true, or to create another much more palatable reality, but to see it as it is. Arrogance thus becomes asign of weakness, a refection of a person’s inablility to confront reality because he is not all at certain of what that reality means or expects from him. Conversely, a person with confidence is displaying that he possesses certainty and it is because he possesses certainty about what is right that he is confident. The confident person speaks the truth whereas the arrogant person is untruthful. If a person possesses certainty then he has no need to be arrogant because his certainty is associated with knowledge, and thus both certainty and confidence flow from knowledge. But is this really the case? We know that Imam Al-Ghazali became very arrogant as a result of his knowledge. So what additional factor was missing that gave rise to his arrogance? That factor was obedience to Allah. All certainty comes from not only possessing knowledge about what is right, but applying that knowledge to the best of ones ability which denotes obedience to Allah. As a reward for the dual application of both knowledge and worship Allah rewards His servants with certainty. Furthermore, we know there is only one purpose of existence contained in two acts, knowledge and worship. As Allah says in the Quran:

اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ

“Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth” (Quran, al-Iqra 96:1)

This verse was the very first to be revealed in the Quran, which places the seeking of knowledge as the first priority, but this can only be done, as the Quran states, for the sake of Allah. So we may read this verse as enjoining the principle of knowledge and worship as a combined act. We know of the Sahaba that they never sought to increase in their knowledge of the Quran until they had perfected what they knew, and that perfection came only through applying their knowledge perfectly. Hence they would read and memorise only about ten verses at a time, apply them to perfection and then learn another ten and so on. But what true knowledge, that is to say, knowledge that is combined with obedient worship, engenders is humility. Out of humility, thus, comes certainty. Thus from knowledge and worship comes humility, from humility comes certainty and from certainty comes confidence. The same logic does not apply to someone that possesses arrogance because their knowledge and worship are not sincere and because of a lack of sincerity they are not increased in their certainty. So that is how to distinguish between arrogance and confidence. Confidence is very beneficial, it is a gift from Allah that enhances capabilities. The one that acts out of arrogance thinks his capabilities are being enhanced, but he is actually being diminished in them, his punishment comes from his own hands. Finally, we are to remember the hadith of the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said, “A person will not enter paradise even if they have an atoms worth of arrogance in the heart”.

May Allah increase us in our humility to Him, may He show us how to be more humble, may He show us our true blessings so that we may show our gratitude to Him, may He remove even the slighest arrogance from us and never cause it to root in the heart, and may He bless us with certainty about all that is true and right and just and pure, granting us the ability to act according to what we know. Ameen.