Spiritual Journey

Spiritual Journey

Everybody who comes into the world has to make sense of it for their own security and peace of mind. The Universe is a very big place, and it’s easy to get lost. I was no different. The Universe consists of billions of galaxies and each galaxy has an uncountable number of stars. This alone should be enough for us to ponder. Yet in addition to the vast expanding heavens, we observe the radiance of the earth and its kaleidoscope of creatures, colors and ecological patterns, in harmony with the motions of the sun and moon. As we look more deeply at the scale of things above and below us - seas, mountains and the grandeur of the heavenly skies – we are forced to question our own existence. Because we have minds and the ability to question, certainly everybody has sufficient reason to ask themselves what it all means?

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In recent decades physicists, in their pursuit of scientific truths, have unearthed a hidden order in nature; some have called it the Cosmic Code. Based on this order, scientists aim to uncover a grand unifying Theory of Everything. If ever this order is decoded, it is envisioned by some that all fields of knowledge could be linked together. In view of this astounding possibility, world renowned physicists have commented: "If we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason- for then we would truly know the mind of God." 1

1 (Stephen W. Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 1988)

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Many scientist have concluded that, according to the laws of nature and the unimaginable number of coincidences which must have united together connecting an infinite amount of molecules and unique elements to generate and form what we call ‘life’, everything seems to point one way. Their conclusion proves one thing: how impossible the existence of this immeasurable universe would be without certain constants. It is precisely because of the vital existence of these ‘constants’ or universal laws that everything in the cosmos balances and holds together. To summarize this in simple terms, without an overall singular design - supported by universal constants, there would be nothing to see, no one to see it - let alone sit around and talk about it. The centrality of this original source is observed by the uniformity in the workings of these forces of nature all through the universe; the common origin of everything in the universe and the blueprint of life all across the species. Combine this with the generally accepted theory of the Big Bang, that mysterious moment in non-time when the universe started to exist, and we end up talking about singularity – or

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oneness. It now becomes necessary to analyse the implication of this information. Do not the deniers see that the heavens and the earth were [once] one single unity, which We then ripped apart? And that We made out of water every living thing? 2 What such realities signify to people of faith is acceptance, in scientific terms, of the presence of Intelligent Design: in other words – GOD (Allah).

2 The Holy Qur’an, Al-Anbia (The Prophets) 21:30

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Although some rational minds may choose to reject the implications of a Divine Design, the evidence of life starting from a point of unity (oneness) is undeniable. Yet an alternative answer to life’s puzzle has never been agreed between them. Therefore it is left up to a person’s conscience to choose what he prefers to believe. The conscience itself is probably the most vital characteristic of being human. We often refer to this aspect as ‘morality’ or ‘spirituality’. And it is the amazing spiritual nature of humanity, which makes us unique - and also makes us accountable. It is the inner discussion with the self, which distinguishes the human being from the animals.

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Regardless of where a person’s conscience asks him or her to look - if guided - a seeker of truth will inevitably find a mysterious door leading to God. Even the greatest scientists repeatedly confirmed their ultimate wish to know the ‘Mind of God’. Their journey towards unravelling the mysteries of the universe is usually sparked by a common desire: to know what lies behind the unseen and makes it work. As the renowned scientist and father of the atomic age is reported to have said, "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details." 3 If a person reaches the gate of knowledge to the unseen, he or she will discover the ultimate purpose of existence, and thus fulfil the need to worship by knowing Him and obeying the Divine Inspiration sent by Him. This is basically the meaning of Islam: surrender to the One sole Originator and Sustainer of the Universe (Allah).

3 Albert Einstein

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The journey to the Truth is not something that can be easily achieved without Divine assistance. There are too many pitfalls and multitudes of diversions. How can every individual – six billion in number - have direct access to God’s Presence and knowledge and still hold onto the precious rope of Oneness? What if a person confuses his own subjective desires with that of the universal Will? This is where the dangers of multiplicity and the emergence of differences and separation are sure to begin if we don’t all have uniform laws and methods of understanding, which is why we need people who are authorised to receive and deliver the message of God and selflessly distribute it evenly, without bias or distortion. So mankind has been blessed with chosen Guides and Messengers, sent by God to enlighten us and lead us on the path of truth and understanding. And the first message which every true Prophet and Messenger began with is the perfect call, to dismiss all concepts of false deities and gods and accept the existence of the One and Only Source of life and salvation – God, Who is without partners or peers.

We did not send any messenger before you except with the inspiration: "There is

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no god except Me; you shall [know and] worship Me ALONE." 4

Therefore we find the names of the great teachers and advocates of the one path, united in their mission to convey the message of Oneness, such as Moses, Abraham, Jesus, David and enumerated in the Bible and Qur’an. Look at some verses of the Divine code given to Moses, the Ten Commandments, and you will see one, two and three are solely concerned with that one single point. 1- You shall have no other gods before me; 2- You shall not make for yourself an idol nor bow down or worship them; 3- You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.

4 The Holy Qur’an, Al-Anbia (The Prophets) 21:25

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Again, look at the clear message delivered by Jesus, Son of Mary, when asked what the greatest commandment is: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, this is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 5 From this we understand the message of Monotheism (Tawhid) and the straight path which unites the roads of all truer teachers of the Truth. As we read min the very first chapter of the Qur’an revealed to the Last Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):

In the name of God, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the universe; Most Gracious, Most Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgment. You [alone] do we worship, and You [alone] we seek for help. Guide us on the straight path; The path of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, those who do not deserve Your anger; nor those who go astray. 10

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The world is a place of transition, full of examples. Be pilgrims therein, and take warning from the traces of those that have gone before. 6 To understand the Road, we must know first of all where we come from and where we're going. The straightest path will be literally the clearest and the most direct way with the least danger. The answer to this has been explained in the Qur'an: Verily! We all come from God, and to Him we are returning. 7 This is the journey - the journey of life. It is our past, present and the future. PAST What is the past for us? The past is that God began our history with Adam our forefather, the first man created. God Almighty then ordered all those Angels and Spirits (genii) who were present to bow before Adam. Iblis, who was a devoted spirit (jinn) - not an angel - refused to bow. So he was expelled from God’s presence. Iblis then became the Shaytan (Satan), which literally means "to be cast out”. So Shaytan became the clear enemy to man from the first day. In the Garden in which God then placed Adam and Hawwa' (Eve), Shaytan tempted man to

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disobey. This was the first sin. Then Adam fell from grace because of that incident and this was to be a lesson for all humanity. This is our past. PRESENT Ever since the fall from the Garden, Satan has been permanently trying to mislead man. This is our present. FUTURE What is the future? The future is that everyone will finally be judged. There will be a Day of Account for everyone, and no one will be absent from that final day, from Adam, peace be upon him, to the last man, everyone will be gathered. And then they will either return to the Jannah (The Garden), or they will go to Jahannam, to the Fire. Those are the two ends awaiting after Judgement by God.

6 Jesus Christ 7 The Holy Qur’an: Al-Baqarah (The Heifer) 2

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FUTURE This is what the Qur’an says about the pre-destined event Behold, thy Lord said to the angels, "I am about to create man from sounding clay, from mud moulded. When I have fashioned him in due proportion and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down [bowing] before him." So the angels bowed themselves, all of them together. Not so Iblis. He refused to be among those who prostrated. God said, "O Iblis! What is your reason for not being among those who prostrated?" Iblis said, "I am not one to prostrate myself to man whom Thou didst create from sounding clay, from mud moulded." God said, "Then get ye out from here for Thou art rejected, accursed.

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And the Curse shall be on thee until the Day of Judgement." Iblis said, "O my Lord, give me respite then until the day the dead are raised." God said, "Respite is granted theeUntil the day of the time appointed." Iblis said, "O my Lord, because Thou hast put me in the wrong, I will make wrong fair-seeming to them on the earth. I will put them all in the wrong Except Thy servants among them, sincere and devoted." God said, "This way of My sincere servants is indeed a way that leads straight to Me. For over My servants no authority shalt thou have except as such as put themselves in the wrong and follow thee." 8

8 The Holy Qur’an: Al-Hijr,15:28-42

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So the lesson which we learn from this is that Shaytan is continuously trying to divert us; to stop us from arriving safely back to the Garden. The Straight Path back is clear. It is, in fact, to follow God's guidance and not to veer away from it. Today people say, "Oh, the rules of religion are too many, there are too many things you can't do. So much we have to give up." But essentially, it's just as simple as the first command which was given to Adam which is - listen to God and don’t listen to Shaytan. In another verse in the Qur'an, it makes it even simpler; it explains what the Straight Path in essence is.

Did I not enjoin on you, O ye children of Adam that ye should not serve Shaytan for that he was to you a clear enemy? And that ye should serve Me, for that this is a straight way? 9

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One of the benefits of a well trodden Road is its ability to keep people within its boundaries; to stop people from veering off and keep them guided towards their final destination. The steps along the Straight path are our actions. God has told us what basic steps are necessary, preparing our souls in this transitory world for the life to come and training us in daily life to keep on the straight and narrow, till we reach the end of our voyage. Good deeds are the best provisions for the journey and there are many we can do. Such as prayer, charity, speaking the truth, kindness to parents, being patient, refusing to engage in sex outside of marriage, good neighbourliness, keeping one’s promises and so on. These are the signs of guided, God-conscious souls.

It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards East and West; but righteous is he who believes in God and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets; and gives [of] his wealth, for the love of Him, to family and to the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and those who ask, and [to] set slaves free; and be regular in prayer and giving charity (zakat); and those who keep their promise when they make one and are patient when misfortune and adversity befalls, during times of stress; such are the sincere. Such are the God-conscious (muttaqeen). 10

9 The Holy Qur’an: Yasin, 36:60-61 10 The Holy Qur’an: Al-Baqarah (The Heifer) 2:177

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God has said:

Surely, Satan is your enemy, so take him on as an enemy. Indeed, he invites his party to become the companions of the inferno 11 We know that the Road to the eternal garden of bliss has traps and obstacles been laid by our arch enemy, the unseen entity who we know by the name of Shaytan. To vanquish any enemy, we need to know his strategy so that we can effectively counteract his evil designs. God has given us the necessary means and intelligence to defeat him, but first we must be fully aware. The enemy’s strategy is geared towards accomplishing one objective: Diverting us from the straight path of God. From the beginning of the conflict, Shaytan has been implementing the same tactics to achieve his evil objective - to mislead mankind. Looking back at the story of Adam and his wife is a reminder of the major weakness which affects all humanity gullibility; our susceptibility to lies. Shaytan did not ask Adam and Eve to disobey

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God directly; instead he fabricated a nice-sounding lie to mislead them. Another device Shaytan used to influence Adam and Eve was to bring out their natural inclination to want more than they already had - in other words, Greed. We all have weaknesses and that’s the way human beings are made. But we are in serious danger if we have no counterbalance to those weaknesses; no virtues. Here is a list of the deadly weaknesses, or obstacles, used by the arch deceiver to remove us from the path of Grace and ultimate happiness: Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, which interferes with a person’s appreciation of God’s grace. It has been called the sin from which all others arise and it is why Iblis refused to bow before Adam and became Shaytan. Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation; again it was why Iblis became so infuriated with the creation of Adam. Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury, a tool used by Shaytan to get one human being to try and eliminate or murder another. Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, which leads a person to believe that the blessings of God are limited, so he endeavors to grab as much as he can for himself and forget about others. Laziness is the avoidance of physical or spiritual endeavor or work, making progress towards self improvement, impossible.

11 The Holy Qur’an: 35:6

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For each of these there is a cure or virtue. And we must learn to practice them. Humility (opposite: pride and arrogance) Generosity (opposite: envy and miserliness) Patience (opposite: anger and haste) Charity (opposite: greed and selfishness) Diligence (opposite: laziness and carelessness) These are all antidotes to the weaknesses within us. In order to develop these virtues, we must increase positive personalities, which flow naturally from a heartconsciousness: Faith, Hope, Gratitude and Love Without Faith, a person may not see the need to please anybody but himself and thus he would easily lose his way and fall into the weak, broken cracks on life’s road. Without Hope, a person may not be able to face the trials of life and look beyond his immediate problems to the future, where all things come right through God’s Justice and endless Mercy.

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Without Gratitude, a person cannot worship and thank God, or appreciate the basic purpose of his existence. Without Love, he may consider tasks to be too burdensome, like carrying a heavy rock. Down the road and he may give up because he is not driven by the strongest motivator available in this universe.

Thus, We have given each prophet enemies, human and jinn's devils, who inspire to each other fancy sayings to deceive. Had your Lord willed, they would not have done it, so disregard them and what they fabricate 12

12 The Holy Qur’an: Al-An’am 6:112

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Now it is time to discuss the important issue of what lays beyond the end of the Road. The combined understanding of both science and religion tells us that one day the human race shall cease to exist on this planet. What happens after that is what they may dispute. But as for people who have been following the Divine path, they have foreknowledge that on a certain day - hidden by God and known only to Him - every human being will be brought back to life again and required to give an account for what he had done during his lifetime. Every individual will receive on that day a reward or punishment according to his good or bad deeds. Those who do not believe in this Day of Account will always argue:

And they used to say: When we die and become dust and bones, shall we then be raised? Say: The ancients and those of later times will surely be gathered together for the appointed hour of a known day. 13

The concept of the Hereafter is very remote from the area of our human experience. It is not easy to conceive that a person who died physically will continue to live spiritually or that he will live later, long after he died. Science, though not able to

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disprove the possibility of life after death, is not able to give any support to such a concept. Although awareness of the Hereafter is part of the belief in the unseen, therefore beyond the area of our human experience, it is entirely logical. To adopt the scientific theory of ‘constants’ in this universe necessitates, from the macro to the micro, that every single cause or action has an effect. Nothing happens without there being a direct or indirect reaction to it. This leads us to the concept of universal balance: which from a spiritual point of view leads us to the belief in ultimate justice administered from the Divine attribute of a Just God.

13 The Holy Qur’an: 56:47-50

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By the laws of this universally manifest principle, God is not likely to leave a good doer without a reward, nor should we expect Him to leave an oppressor unpunished or unaccountable. Millions and millions of good doers, oppressed and persecuted, lived and died without being compensated. Millions and millions of wrong doers, persecutors, murderers, and tyrants lived and died without being penalized in this world. The Just God, Who is All-Powerful, should not let such wrong doers escape the consequence of their actions; nor should He leave the good doers uncompensated. There must be another dimension where there will be ample time for implementing the heavenly justice.

On that Day, people will come forth as scattered individuals, so that they may be shown their works. So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it. 14

The commonality of faith between all major Monotheistic religions regarding the

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Hereafter is actually one of the strongest things that unite us; no matter which part of the Religious spectrum you come from.

Surely those who believe (and surrender to God in Islam) and those who are Jews, and the Christians . . . whoever believes in God and the Hereafter and does good, they have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them nor shall they grieve. 15

The final destination of every soul Beyond the Day of Judgment is known only to God. But we have been encouraged, no matter how many times we have erred on the path, to seek His forgiveness and limitless Mercy.

14 The Holy Qur’an: Al-Zalzalah (The Earthquake) 99:6-8 15 The Holy Qur’an: Al-Baqarah (The Heifer) 2:62

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No one will have the right to intercede on their behalf without God’s permission. But we know that the Almighty will listen favorably to His chosen messengers on behalf of their followers, and this is why we should not reject any of the Chosen Prophets or make distinction between one and another of them. They came to preach the same message of Unity and brotherhood and this culminated in the sending of the Last Prophet Muhammad, through whom the clear teachings of belief and good deeds delivered by prophets before him have been reaffirmed.

O people of the Book (Torah, Gospel and all Divinely revealed Scriptures) There has come to you our Messenger, revealing to you much that you used to hide in the Scripture, and forgiving much. Now has come unto you light from God and a clear Book; Wherewith God guides all who seek His good pleasure to ways of peace and safety, and leads them out of darkness, by His will, unto the light and guides them unto a straight path. 16

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The ultimate reward is given by God Himself to His servants, the Garden of eternal bliss wherein a soul will be able to enjoy everything he or she wishes for, without diminishment of pleasure; where the after effects of eating or drinking, of companionship and love, will only feel better with no ill consequences. It is a place where everything is exactly as you would want it, and no one is there to endanger or threaten your happiness any longer. In comparison with this world, the Last Prophet gave us a parable: “By God! What is this world in comparison to the next world except the parable of someone who puts his finger in the sea; then let him looks at what [his finger] returns with.” 17 In comparison, the punishment of the Hereafter is something one wishes not to contemplate. The endless disappointment of failing to please God with your deeds or repentance will only infuriate and lead to no respite from the endless anguish of the inferno. The major reason for souls failing to escape such an end is their negligence in understanding life’s message, clearly delivered by all the prophets and messengers of God’s path: “This world is retreating and the next world is advancing, and for each of them are children. So be children of the next world; and not children of this world. For today there are actions but no accounting; but tomorrow there will be accounting but no actions.” 18 Yusuf Islam Ramadan 1427 AH / September 2006 AD

16 The Holy Qur’an:Al-Ma’idah (The Table Spread) 5:15-16 17 The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Sahih Muslim 18 Ali ibn Abi Talib

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