“Say, “O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship. Nor are you worshippers of what I worship. Nor will I be a worshipper of what you worship. Nor will you be worshippers of what I worship. For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.”
(Surah Al-Kafirun)
Respected readers, last week we talked about the surah Al-Kafirun and we said that this is one of the chapters in which Allah Almighty asks from the Prophet (PBUH) to address the nonbelievers, but also address those who cover the truth / haqiqa of faith and haqiqa even in our daily life. Kafr or nonbelief is related to three important elements. The first one is covering the truth of faith in which instead of believing in Allah one chooses to believe in something else. The second element is orthopractic kafr, instead of exalting Allah Almighty, to exalt something else. And the third element is kafr of akhlaq or ethics, which means, focusing behavior or purpose on something else but Allah Almighty. Regarding nonbelief, from the aspect of not believing in Allah Almighty we all here understand that it means not to believe in the existence, the oneness of Allah Almighty. However, being a “kafir” nonbeliever, from the aspect of religious practice, it means that at time of turning to God and exalting Him, one chooses to replace Him with something else. This type of shield of truth, we mostly find it amid those who believe than those who don’t. Muslims mainly are found under the second category of covering the truth by religious orthopraxy. For example, when its time for namaz, fasting, ibadah, acts of service both religiously and socially, all of these deeds are replaced with regressive acts within human society. This is a type of blasphemy from the perspective of exaltation, the religious orthopraxy. When we speak about oneness of God (you might recall we said this before), tawhid doesn’t only seek from us to believe in the oneness of God only through the aspect of individuality of God, but also from the perspective of ibadah (ma’bud).
The representation of a substantive project or an essential network for human life, as a whole, is essential in order for his basis to be focused on the ontological and orthopractic dimension.
Focusing on a specific source shall enable formulation of system of values for an individual or as part of a group. As a result, giving people only biological value, purely material, turned people into undefined beings, since the strive for understanding the beyond material-physical world, that was continuously felt and experienced, was lost. Such a pursue brought man to a minimized form, he turned into a fly that sought to enter anywhere, just to live the remaining hours of his existence.
Man is not a being thrown into the existential area, on the contrary, he is a transformer who has rationalized and made simple the undefined and perplex conditions. As a result, man has made the world comprehensive. Hence, with the end of man in this world, life on earth perishes as well. Humans must be the the elements of representation and giving meaning to the Universe, so there could be a reason to talk about existence in general. If we were to express this in the language of Islamic theosophy (Irfan, marifa), we would have said that man is a being that with himself and in itself has crystalized the unity of the concept and shape of the world.
Man, and his longitude and latitude history, in other words the vertical descend from God and his expansion on the existential sphere, is a representative reflection of that which exists outside of himself. By his existence, man brings a voice to the silence existence in the Universe, but at the same time brings voice to the existence of God. Meaning that the reason for creation of humans, is the devotion and strive of acquainting the Creating and Educating Power of the Universe within the scope of utilizing the delivered abundances.
The renewed Muslim Kalamist, Imam Maturidi, argues: “the Universe is consisted of elements which contradict and differentiate one from another. Man, that has been named as a microcosm, united those that need to be united and separates those that need separation from his being”. According to him, man has been valued as a being that gives shape to a meaningful world, despite the differences and contradictions. Through this, Maturidi, has conceptualized in one place the immense various defining elements given to man by various scholars. Humans are the mere beings that are capable of thinking, and through language this thought can be shared or transferred to others. As a result, man can also limit, and this too is an element conducted by humans. Such a defining thought in the history of Islamic thought, had began to take place since the day the sacred knowledge was represented in the identity of Adam (PBUH). In the moment when he, in the prehistoric era, by God’s decree, went in front of the angels and named the first concepts, he brought meaning to the given objects in front of him. As a result, we can say that man, given that he has ability to acquaint or know the names, “concepts” , has ability to define matters and devote himself to knowing their realities thus he has been named as halifa (replacement) of God on the surface of earth. Both Islam and the Qur’an in this pursue, connect the essence of man to strong roots that arise from the Creating Power, but simultaneously, this makes him the foundation for acquainting and having knowledge on the concepts and matters of existence. When the Qur’an speaks of this matter it says:
“And
[mention, O Muhammad]
, when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.” They said, “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?” Allah said, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 30)
“And He taught Adam the names – all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, “Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 31)
“They said, “Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse: 32).
“He said, “O Adam, inform them of their names.” And when he had informed them of their names, He said, “Did I not tell you that I know the unseen
[aspects]
of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you have concealed.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 33).
In the above scripture, both Allah Almighty and the process of creation are set on a linear straight line. As a result of this, knowledge and wisdom (ilm and hikma) are two paths through which man can experience himself at the center of existence and only through these paths does he gain the ability to comprehend the true meaning of kneeling down to the Creating Power. This is held to be true since the name of Allah and the representatives of the Creating Power open the doors to knowledge and wisdom, and in each passing moment remind us that both knowledge and wisdom are rooted in the sacred attribute. Precisely to this, the right answer to what is the purpose of creation of humans, is devotion to Allah, acceptance of the Eternal Reality, experience of His existence, emotional experience in acquainting Him…
Such a level of consciousness and acceptance, from one end, keeps the human self close to Allah, whereas on the other hand it enables him to recognize the relative scope of beingness of humans. In this frame, the creature experiences the Creator much more closely than his own individual existence. He feels that the Absolute Oneness in a straightforward manner takes part in his being. It is this personal experience without distance, but with a clear distinguish between the creature and Creator. Or said in the language of the Qur’an: “And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein” (Surah Qaf, verse 16).
Through this verse, Allah Almighty defines the worldly reality and its merging with acquainting the Absolute Being. The matter of reality is closely related with the matter of acquaintance of being and vice versa, since acquaintance of the being automatically involves the problems of the realities of the being. Or as Ibn Arabi Says, the reality of the being cannot be conceived neither proven if the point where the reality of the being shines is not surpassed, this light that enlightens every reason and each relative being, if by the act of thinking not every detail related to being is included.
When Ibn Arabi speaks about logos (kalima) of Adam (PBUH) in his Fususu’l-hikem, he says that this represents the humankind: (Abdullah Bosnawi in the interpretation of this book also claims): “in the pearl of logos of Adam two meaningful representations arise: the first one, the sacred wisdom pearl that in the logos of Adam has managed to penetrate the heart of Adam, as a spot for the sacred wisdom to dwell and be carved, since the perfect man in the spiritual platform is the seal, while his heart is the pearl of this seal”. Ibn Arabi refers to logos to make a point that the heart is the place of dwelling of this wisdom. “The second meaning is fixed on the fact that Adam (PBUH), or man, represents the object in which the sacred pearl of wisdom was carved. As a result, Adam (PBUH) in the spiritual scope is in the position of the pearl while the Universe is in the spiritual scope of the seal, and precisely to this, the Universe is sealed with the human existence. Adam (PBUH) for the world, is like the pearl for the seal. According to this, man is the only being which in a specific context, is the essence of the given reality; he is capable of discovering the roots of this reality. However, for his existence to be permitted and validated, as he truly is, we ought to focus on what he really is, instead of what we want him to be”. Ibn Arabi, but also the Qur’anic conception on reality and its seek and revelation by humans, wishes to highlight the unity of the reality and the being, and not its partion and its differences in acquaintance. The reality and the being, for Ibn Arabi, walk side by side, they are inseparable; there is no reality if there is no being.
The constitutive tradition of Islamic Tasawwuf considers man the sole object of primary eternal intelligible reflection and representation. While the rest of Islamic disciplines are mainly corresponsive in the book of Universe, in other words, in the macrocosm and the written perennial tradition, either of veiled sacredness or in the constitutive religious messages of the Prophet (PBUH). Islamic Tasawwuf has been mainly focused on man and his physical and metaphysical development, as a receiver and transformer of the veiled and the Universe. Man, in the perennial tradition of Tasawwuf is a microcosm and the reveal of the unknown for man is a success on the path hither the Creator and the only true real Existence.
One of the renewed Sufi poets during the Osman time, Niyazi Misri, has presented this scope of existential understanding and its acquaintance very neatly through the transformation of word and events, in other words man. This is how he expressed this reality:
I was seeking a cure for my trouble;
My trouble became my cure.
I was seeking a proof of my origin;
My origin became my proof.
I was looking to the right and the left
So that I could see the face of the Beloved.
I was searching outside,
But the Soul was within that very soul.
The true seek of human metaphysics by the individual himself, acquaints man with his roots and through the roots with God, in other words it bonds him to the eternal and never ceasing reality. This energy, of will and love towards the Creator, carried through individual human metaphysics is certainly very powerful and captivating until it reaches God, who is standing beyond time and space; this can only be achieved through this strive. This existential emotion, a climax of consciousness and bridging of intelligence, represented in the eternity and essence of existence, through man, fills both time and space. Or in other words, everything in this world takes shape and receives meaning around man.
If man wishes to insert his self and autonomy, he then must awaken his soul, which in the physical dimension is in danger of elimination. That’s why humans need to start from reason towards love, from the physical to the meaning, from limited science towards metaphysical poetry. As a result of this, humans can enable the united harmony of both visible and spiritual realities.
Precisely to this, ibadah represents the true spirituality of man and builds his authentic gene on this world. The only being to whom we ought to prostrate and devote ourselves to is Allah Almighty. In the moment when we need to devote ourselves to Him, we turn to something else and this automatically is considered a blasphemy of ibadah; this is when heretic traits appear in the religious orthopraxy. This doesn’t only include namaz. There are other cases (I’ll give an example that we often forget about), we might be thinking that we are speaking the truth and yet again lie; contemporary man doesn’t consider lying as a big sin. In our contemporary understanding, this is even considered an ability, sometimes they even call it diplomacy. Or for example some earn in halal manner others in haram, and some don’t even care if their earning is halal or haram; this is heretic ibadah, from the religious practical aspect part of our everyday life. Maybe neither of us can escape some haram calculations in earnings, but simply considering haram as acceptable is very dangerous. The third element of behavior depends on what is our own behavior towards others focused on; an adherent ought to still keep his attitude and behavior towards others focused on Allah Almighty. Fakir here needs to treat others politely and nicely because of God, the elderly have a saying (for God’s sake), not because of anything else, regardless what that may be. Sufis have even said that married couples ought to love one another for God’s sake; it has been the love for Allah Almighty that has kept Islamic families protected throughout history. If love is only human, then we have a lot of divorces arising. Even in more intimate matters, Allah Almighty is the only authority in which we ought to focus our devotion and behavior to. Or for example, how brothers would be attached in childhood and would do anything for one another, and then when they grow up and its time to divide the inheritance then would be even able to kill each other; in other words being blood related doesn’t keep one connected for life; if they love one another for God’s sake, then nothing of this world can separate them and drive them apart. This element here drives us away from ethical limit / akhlaq, from covering haqiqa from the aspect of akhlaq. Ethical philosophy has inferred the matter of good and evil. What is the sense of being “good” in reality? It has been said that the essential good is the one with no counter value (nothing is asked in return for it), whereas in order to conclude what is good we will take another example, because not everyone of us judges matters the same way on what is good and evil. For example, maybe for someone drinking a glass of whiskey from time to time is okay. How shall we judge if something is good to do? The adherent defines his judgement and behavior from Allah Almighty. The matters which Allah Almighty has stated as negative are found in the Revelation. An act of a person is perceived as negative when Allah Almighty has defined it in the Revelation and the Prophet (PBUH) has defined it his hadeeth, and if still the person acts in contradiction to it then this automatically covers a haqiqa of behavior, covers one haqiqa of akhlaq. As a result, surah Al-Kafirun ought to be analyzed from this domain as well and we ought to keep in mind all dimensions of our behavior, within or outside the scope of devotion towards God. Thank you!