The Wrappings of Gratitude

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

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

Tonight, this still evening, I wish to converse with you, would you permit me? Last night about this time I was writing about the extraordinary creation of God, and if we found His creation so compellingly beautiful, so enchanting, so breathtaking and so awe-inspiring then how extraordinarily beautiful must we appear to the rest of His creation. To the stars, to the moon, to the radiant sunsets, to the glowing galaxies. How must they view us in comparison to themselves and how jealous must they feel that it was us and not they that had been granted something as precious and beautiful as we have been given by Allah. Yesterday I wrote:

“Then what of true beauty is ordinary? True beauy has always been so extraordinary that it has astounded people. The truest of true beauty is a beautiful spirit, for in the human being there is nothing more beautiful than his spirit, when that spirit submits to its Lord and reflects the light of Divine Guidance. This is true beauty and this beauty is extraordinary, with the power to bring light where there is darkness”.

Truth and beauty go hand-in-hand, they are in seperable and intimate companions, one cannot exist without the other, because beauty needs truth to tell it that she is beautiful and all the truest reasons why she is so. And truth needs beauty to reflect back to him the beauty of his truthful words. These are the similies that God has given us to understand those precious qualities that reside within us all which require the reflection of others to show us the light they can see in us, to remind us of who we really are, to affirm the truth of our existence, to bear witness to both our beauty and theirs, our truth and theirs. And in doing so, it is more than just bearing witness to the God-given qualities we see in each other, to do so is also to testify to the existence of the One that placed them there.

I had been pondering this question, the question of what true beauty really was, and just as I mentioned last night, the answer to this question had also been inside for a long while, but like a silent secret it remained there hidden. Like a beautiful flower or a wonderous scent, its mysterious secret was wrapped within its beauty, and that beauty was itself shouded in mystery. And like all things beautiful they only become apparent and manifest only when God intends to reveal these hidden meanings, and again only to the extent the servant is able to understand, only according to his desire to want to learn, only to the extent of his humility and only according to the purity of his heart. So what you ask, was that secret? What gives beauty its beauty? What do we find beautiful and why? What is it within people that we find so utterly beautiful, so compelling? The answer is, it is the spirit. And it is so because the Ruh (soul) is of Allah, it is His spirit that He breathed into man, into each and everyone of us, that is what makes us so extraordinary. And it is so extraordinary becase whilst we may share our bodies with God’s creation, we do not share the Ruh with anything else.

It is the Ruh that shines, whose light shines forth. A face that is enlightened. That is aware. That knows. That knows it knows. That is what we find truly beautiful. That is what pure hearts are attracted to. This is the meaning of true beauty.

يَوْمَ تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَسْعَى نُورُهُم بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِأَيْمَانِهِم بُشْرَاكُمُ الْيَوْمَ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ

“On the day when thou (Muhammad) wilt see the believers, men and women, their light shining forth before them and on their right hands, (and wilt hear it said unto them): Glad news for you this day: Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein ye are immortal. That is the supreme triumph”. (Quran, al-Hadid 57:12)

But how, you ask, does the spirit shine? How does its light run forth? The answer to this question is again given to us, its the person that possesses a heart, not just any heart, but a sound heart.

إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ

“But only he (will prosper) that brings to Allah a sound heart”

(Quran, al-Shuara 26:89)

And a sound heart is one which desires to want to learn

هُوَ الَّذِي يُنَزِّلُ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ آيَاتٍ بَيِّنَاتٍ لِيُخْرِجَكُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُمْ لَرَؤُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ

“He is the One Who sends to His Servant Manifest Signs, that He may lead you from the depths of Darkness into the Light and verily Allah is to you most kind and Merciful”. (Quran, al-Hadid 57:09)

Its a generous heart that desires to commit itself to Allah

مَن ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَاعِفَهُ لَهُ وَلَهُ أَجْرٌ كَرِيمٌ

“Who is he that will lend unto Allah a goodly loan, that He may double it for him and his may be a rich reward”? (Quran, al-Hadid 57:11)

Its a humble heart that desires the closeness of its Lord

أَلَمْ يَأْنِ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَن تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ وَلَا يَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلُ فَطَالَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَمَدُ فَقَسَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ

“Has not the Time arrived for the Believers that their hearts in all humility should engage in the remembrance of Allah and of the Truth which has been revealed (to them), and that they should not become like those to whom was given Revelation aforetime, but long ages passed over them and their hearts grew hard? For many among them are rebellious transgressors”. (Quran, al-Hadid 57:16)

·02 Rabi-al-Thani 1429·