SECOND PART OF THE BOOK
FIRST CHAPTER
The ethics of Islam is studied by dividing into three categories. However, in order to understand
these three, it is necessary to study the sub-branches of these categories. We will divide the
subject into an introduction and three categories and then explain only the first category in this
book.
PREFACE
One must desire to learn the knowledge of ethics. One cannot be forced to learn it. Every
optional (Ihtiyari) action can be achieved by learning two of its prerequisites. First, one should
understand the essence of the matter. Secondly, one should have a first-hand knowledge of what
will be gained by doing it. In addition, it is a widely accepted method by learned man that one
should learn the sub-branches of the subject in order to understand the main (basic) knowledge
easily. We will also follow this method and explain the three branches of the subject in the
preface. Furthermore, we will add two additional sections.
FIRST TOPIC: ethics of Islam will be divided into three categories,
1. The knowledge of ethics, (Ilm al-akhlaq) teaches us the actions of a person, whether they are
good or evil, while he is alone (and not thinking others.) When a person is alone, he regulates his
conduct according to his nature. For example, a person who has a gentle nature, who is generous
and who has a sense of shame has these qualities whether he is alone or he is in the presence of
others. The knowledge of ethics informs us these type of actions which do not change by being
alone or in the presence of others.
2. The second category of ethics examines a person’s behavioir towards his family members in
his home. This is called manners of family management (Tadbir al-manzil).
3. The third category of knowledge of ethics covers duties and behavioir of a person and how he
could be useful to everyone in society. This is called social manners (Siyasat al-madina). It is
written in Akhlaq an-nasiri by Nasiruddin-i Muhammad Tusi that when a human being does
something, whether it is good or evil, it is for a reason. This reason is either due to his nature or
to his obedience to laws and orders. The things he do due to his nature are the things he do
according to his intellect, thought and experience. This type of things do not change by time or
the influence of society. When the reason is due to his obedience to laws and orders, his actions
can change in time because laws change with time. Sometimes, these laws are established by thecollective consciousness of a community or a society. They are called customs (Rusum). Other
times, these laws are established by a famed scholar or by an experienced, authoritarian person
such as prophets, friends (Saints) of Allahu ta’ala, kings and dictators. The laws sent by Allahu
ta’ala and taught by prophets, friends of Allahu ta’ala and scholars are three kinds. The first kind
is the law that must be obeyed by every person individually; they are called laws (Ahkam) or
worships (Ibadats). The second kind are the laws that must be obeyed mutually by the members
of a society. They are marriage laws (Munakahat) and business laws (Muamalat). The third
kind are the laws that involve countries and societies. They are called matters which pertain to
laws and politics (Hudud). All of the three kinds of laws are called "Knowledge of Fiqh." The
"Knowledge of Fiqh" and the laws which make up this knowledge can change from one country
to another, from one nation to another, and from one time to another but they can only be
changed through the information given by Allahu ta’ala. The religious laws (Shari’ats) that were
canceled or changed were this kind. For example, during the time of Adam, peace be upon him,
multiplication of the human race was a necessity; so it was permissible for a man to marry his
sister; but when the human race multiplied, it was no longer a necessity. Consequently, this
permission was canceled and it became forbidden (Haram).
SECOND TOPIC: in this section we will explain the usefulness and application of the
knowledge of ethics.
When a person studies his environment, such as the earth and the skies, or contemplates the
balance and order in the universe, that is, how billions of stars in space continue to move in their
orbits without colliding with each other for centuries, or how the construction, movement and
amount of atmospheric pressure, temperature, air and water are delicately balanced to allow life
to flourish on earth, or when he observes the delicate order in the construction of human beings,
animals, plants, inanimate objects, atoms, cells or, in short, the numerous creatures which are
studied in the science courses taught in high schools and universities, he will feel compelled to
believe in the existence of an all-powerful and all-knowledgeable creator, who creates all the
orderly systems and creatures. A person with intelligence will understand and appreciate this
great, delicate balance and order in the universe and will readily believe in the existence of
Allahu ta’ala and become Muslim. When a philosophy professor from Switzerland who
converted to Islam in 1966 was asked by a newsman about his conversion, he replied: "By
studying Islamic books I understood the true (Haqq) way and the greatness of Islamic scholars. If
Islamic religion would be exposed in a correct manner, everyone in the entire world who has
intelligence would accept it by lovingly and willingly."
When a person becomes Muslim by studying nature and himself and then studies the books
written by Islaimic scholars and learns the life story and beautiful moral conduct of Muhammad,
peace be upon him, his belief will strengthen. Furthermore, by studying the knowledge of ethics
he will understand good and ill temperaments, useful and harmful matters. By doing good deeds,
he will become a mature and valuable human being in the world. His worldly affairs will be
orderly and they will materialize easily. He will live in comfort and peace. Everyone will love
him. Allahu ta’ala will be content with him here. Also, He will treat him compassionately and
give him many rewards in the hereafter. We would again like to emphasize that a person needs
two things in order to attain happiness. The first of these two is that one should possess the
correct knowledge and belief which can be acquired through learning scientific knowledge and
reading the life story and moral conduct of Muhammad, peace be upon him. The second one is
that one should be a gentle-natured human being with good behavior. These things can be
acquired by learning the knowledge of "Fiqh" and "Ethics" and by practicing them. Whoeveracquires these two things will attain the consent and love of Allahu ta’ala because Allahu ta’ala
knows everything with His infinite knowledge. He gave much knowledge to angels and prophets.
The angels and prophets do not possess anything shameful, faulty or ugly. In contrast, human
beings have very little knowledge and their beliefs are either smeared with corrupt habits or
stained by ill conduct. For this reason, human beings are very distant from Allahu ta’ala, angels
and prophets. They are deprived of honor of joining their presence. If a human being does not
attain the real belief by avoiding studying scientific knowledge and observing nature; and if he
does not strengthen his belief by knowing Muhammad, peace be upon him, in the properly
prescribed manner, he will be the one who stays in infinite wickedness and distress. Alternately,
if he obtains the real belief and refuses to follow his soul (Nafs), and follows the orders of
Allahu ta’ala by abstaining from prohibitions set by Him, he will not be deprived of receiving the
mercy and forgiveness of Allahu ta’ala. He will not be deprived from attaining happiness. He
will be punished only for his wrong doings; he will burn in hell and it will be difficult for him to
receive the mercy of Allahu ta’ala. Eventually, because of his belief he will obtain the mercy of
Allahu ta’ala. Hell fire will cleanse the dirt of his evil deeds and will purify him so that he will
be suitable to enter heaven.
It is apparent that the most important of all the blessings and comforts is to possess perfect belief.
Everyone should strive to cleanse his heart from wrong beliefs and doubts. If one obtains the
correct belief and has a good character and does good deeds, one will resemble supreme spirits
such as Prophets, friends (Saints) of Allahu ta’ala, and angels. He will get close to them and be
attracted by them toward higher ranks in a manner similar to the law of gravitational force. They
will attract him towards higher highs similar to a small pin’s attraction by a high electromagnetic
force generated by a huge electromagnet or a small pin’s attraction by a huge magnet as big as a
mountain. Then, one will pass the "Sirat-Bridge" with lightening-speed and will be one of those
who are comforted eternally in the Gardens of Paradise with blessings which are appropriate for
his spiritual heart and spirit.
Couplet :
Scholars who practice what they know, will not suffer grievous punishment,
Attain the blessings of Jannat, that is the supreme success!
The knowledge of ethics is the knowledge of cleanliness of spiritual heart (Qalb) and spirit
(Ruh). It is similar to the knowledge of medicine’s being the science of preventive health for the
body. Vices are diseases of the spiritual heart and spirit. Evil deeds are symptoms and signs of
these diseases. The knowledge of ethics is a much honored, valuable and necessary knowledge.
Evil qualities of the spiritual heart and spirit can only be cleansed with this knowledge. The
health and strengthening of the spiritual heart and spirit could only be possible through this
knowledge. Also, strong spiritual hearts and spirits will become good-natured ones through the
help of the knowledge of ethics. The good and pure hearts and spirits will also improve their
purity and maintain this state with the help of this knowledge.
[Spiritual heart and spirit are two different things although they look very much alike. In this
book, when the spirit is mentioned alone it should be understood that we mean both of them.]
Does one's character change? Is it possible for a human being to give up his character and
acquire another one? There are several differing opinions but they can mainly be categorized into
three groups:
1. The character (Habits) never changes because it is an entity a human being is not capable of
changing.2. Character is of two kinds: the first one is created at birth and cannot be changed "innate,
inherent with the self." The second one is acquired later through repetition and is "habit." This
acquired character can be altered or changed.
3. The whole character (Habits) is acquired after birth and can be changed by external influences.
The majority of Islamic scholars accept the third notion. Divine laws (Shari’ats) which prophets
brought prove that this third notion is correct. The student-training methods instituted by
religious scholars and Sufi masters function under the light of the third notion.
According to which suitable nature human beings come into this world? This is also an
unresolved question up to now. The opinion of the majority of scholars is that human beings are
born suitable for goodness and to make progress. Later, evil desires of the soul, not learning
good morals and associating with evil friends forms evil character. Rasulullah, peace be upon
him, said, "Everybody was born suitable to accept Islam. Later, their mothers and fathers
make them Christian, Jews or disbelievers."
Couplet:
You are corrupting yourself with your own hand
Whereas, the Creator created you beautifully.
According to some scholars, the spirit of human being came to this world as an impure entity.
The spirit itself was clean but when it was united with the body, it became corrupt due to the
necessities of the body. However, those whom Allahu ta’ala chooses to save and decrees
goodness will not remain impure as they were born but will return to goodness.
Some other scholars said that the spirit is neither good nor evil from birth. It is in a neutral state.
It could turn either way. A person who learns goodness will attain happiness and maturity. They
said that a person who associates with evil people and learns vices and ugly things will be a
wretched and evil person.
Galen, a Greek physician and writer of medicine and philosophy, 130-200 A.D., said, "The
spirits of human beings are of three types. The first are the ones which were created good; the
second are the ones which were created evil; and the third is neither of the first two types but
afterwards can be either one of them. There are very few people who have a good nature, but
there are more people who have evil qualities from birth and who want to do evil things
constantly. The number of persons who can become evil when associated with evil ones, and
who can become good when associated with good ones are somewhere in between the first two
types." According to this, the nature of some people can be changed, while the nature of many
people cannot be changed. [Since the Greek philosophers were not aware of the spiritual heart,
they only mentioned the spirit. Most of those Muslim authors who have written books about
ethics followed them in that respect.]
According to the majority of scholars, everyone's nature can change. No one's nature will stay
the way it was created. If natures would’t change, the religions communicated by prophets would
be futile and unnecessary. The training and punishment methods established unanimously by the
scholars would be absurd. All scholars taught knowledge and manners to their children and it has
always been known that education and training provided useful results. For these reasons, it is
obvious as the shining sun that the nature of human beings changes. However, some habits are
established very intensely and became a quality of the spirit. Changing and annihilating these
type of habits would be very difficult. They mostly exist in ignorant and mean people. Changing
these habits requires undertaking intensive "Riyazat" and "Mujahadat". One's struggle with
himself in order not to fulfill the evil desires of his soul is called "Riyazat". "Mujahadat" is doing
things one's soul do not like. Ignorant people do not practice "Riyazat" and "Mujahadat",thinking that one's nature will never change. They do not cleanse their vices. If we accept their
argument and let everybody follow desires (Hawa) of their souls and do not punish the guilty,
humanity will be pushed toward immorality. For this reason, Allahu ta’ala through pity for His
human creatures sent prophets to train the people and teach them good and evil natures. He chose
His beloved Muhammad, peace be upon him, as the greatest among all the teachers. He changed
all the previous divine laws with his divine law (Shari’at, religion), i.e., "Shari’at al-
Muhammad." His religion became the final religion. Thus, his shining religion included all of
the goodness and methods of training. Those who have wisdom and can distinguish good from
evil should read the books of ethics which are derived from this religion and learn it. They
should plan their business accordingly so that they may reach comfort, peace of mind, happiness
and salvation of this and the next worlds and contribute to the order of family and social life.
This is the most important duty of a human being. Everyone should read and learn this book,
which we named Ethics of Islam attentively because, with the help of Allahu ta’ala, we have
gathered the information which pertains to the aforementioned topics.
THIRD TOPIC: we had divided "Ethics of Islam" into three parts. In order to understand them
clearly, we will explain supplementary information. Every knowledge and science has many
branches. Sometimes all the branches unite on some points. At these points, all the branches of
that science become one. This one point is the subject of that science. For example, the science
of medicine has many branches but every branch unites at the study of illnesses and health of the
body and this is the subject of medicine. In order to learn a science easily, first, we must
understand its subject. The subject of the knowledge of ethics is the human spirit. It teaches how
to cleanse the evil qualities of the spirit and how to fill it with virtues. First, we should learn
about the spirit and then the evil and virtues. Imam ash-Shafi’i said the following couplet:
I learned vices, not to become an evil one,
Who does not know what is vice, will fall into it, know for sure!
We will explain the knowledge in three steps in order to recognize the heart and spirit as much as
possible and explain its apparent and hidden forces, as well as the things that cause its happiness
and destruction.
FIRST STEP: WHAT IS SPIRITUAL HEART (Qalb) AND SPIRIT (Ruh)? These two entities
are named "Nafs al-natiqa" or in short soul (Nafs) by the Greek philosophers and their
imitators. [But Imam ar-Rabbani, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased with him, who was a great
scholar and a specialist in the knowledge of "Tasawwuf" and ethics, said that soul, spirit and
spiritual heart were different entities.] In the 85th verse of the chapter of "Isra" of the Qur'an
Allahu ta’ala says, "They ask you about the spirit 'Ruh.' Answer them by saying that the
spirit 'Ruh' is an entity among the other beings that my Lord has created." This verse
prohibits revealing information about the spirit. For this reason, the majority of the Guides
(Masters, Shaikhs) of the Sufi Paths known as "Tariqat al-aliyya" (a specialized Sufi group) and
scholars of Islam abstained from talking about the spirit. It is understood from the Qur'an that
discussion is prohibited about the essence of the spirit but discussion is not prohibited about its
special forces and peculiarities. Majority of scholars informed their students and those who
inquired about the spiritual heart and spirit that the spiritual heart and spirit are not matter
(substance) but rather they are "Jawhar al-Basit" (will be explained later). It is the spiritual
heart and spirit which understand the information grasped by the intellect, receive the sensations
coming from the sense organs to the brain and govern all the forces and the movements of the
body. The great leaders of the Sufi paths and the scholars of "knowledge of faith" told us about
the spiritual heart and spirit in the above-mentioned manner. [Those who wish to obtain detailedinformation about the spiritual heart and spirit should read the books Awarif al-ma'arif and
Maktubat. Awarif al-Ma'arif was written by Shaikh Shihabuddin Umar Shuhrawardi, may Allahu
ta’ala be pleased with him. He was a scholar who followed the "Shafi'i" school of thought
(Madhhab). He was born 539 Hijri Qamari, [1145 A.D.] and died 632 Hijri, [1234 A.D.] in
Baghdad. He received spiritual enlightenment from Shaikh Abdulqadir al-Geilani, may Allahu
ta’ala be well pleased with him The book Maktubat was written by Imam ar-Rabbani, may
Allahu ta’ala be well pleased with him. He was born 971 Hijri Qamari [1563 A.D.] in
Sarhand/India and died at his birth place in 1034 Hijri, [1624 A.D.] Abdulqadir al-Geilani, may
Allahu ta’ala be well please with him, passed away 561 Hijri Qamari at Baghdad.]
We will now expand and explain the above-mentioned description of the spiritual heart and spirit
in six sections.
1. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT EXIST: the existence of the spirit is obvious. There is
no need for proving something obvious. The most obvious and evident thing for a human being
is his existence. A human being does not forget himself for a fraction of a second. Spirit never
forgets itself even while it is sleeping or drunk. There is no reason for trying to prove that
whether or not a human being recognizes his own existence. But it is permissible to prove
whether the spirit is material or not, or whether it exists by itself or along with something else
and some other special attributes similar to these. Many of them are obvious but reviewing them
at this point would be beneficial. Thus we will write them in five steps.
2. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT ARE SUBSTANCE: this means they exist. Ruh is
called as "Djan" in the Persian. When an animal dies, we say its "Djan" departed from it. It
means its spirit separated from its body. Every created being is either substance (Jawhar) or
attribute (Araz). If something is substance, it does not need anyone else's help for its existence. It
stays in existence by itself. If something is an attribute (Sifat, Araz), it can’t stay in existence by
itself. It would need the help of something else for its existence. Matter and objects are
substances. Their colors, smell and shapes are their attributes. Color exists in an object. If there is
no object, the color cannot exist. There are two types of substance. The first one is non matter
being (Mujarrat). It does not have weight, shape or color and it doesn’t affect the sense organs.
The second one is matter. The non matter substance cannot be perceived through sense organs
and cannot be divided. Intellect (Aql) and spirit are examples of this group. In contrast to this,
matter that is the second type of substance can be perceived through sense organs and can be
divided. When matter takes a certain shape, it is called an object (Jism). It has been proven by
many different ways that spirit is a non matter substance. The simplest way of proving is the
following: attributes exist in a substance. Substance possesses the attribute. Everything which is
sensed or thought is carried out by spirit. Therefore, spiritual heart and spirit are substance. They
are not attributes. Some people reject this type of proving by saying that sometimes an attribute
can exist with an attribute such as velocity which is an attribute exists with motion which is also
an attribute.
3. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT ARE SIMPLE:something which cannot be divided
into parts is called simple. The opposite of simple is composite or compound. According to this
definition, the elements in chemistry which are called simple are really compounds because they
can be divided into their atoms or into their molecules. The matter of spirit's being simple can be
logically understood in the following manner. Spirit can understand something which is simple.
If spiritual heart and spirit were compounds and could be divided into parts, something which is
simple could not stay with it. If spirit could be divided, the simple thing which stays with itshould be divided. But the thing which is simple cannot be divided, therefore the spirit cannot be
compound or composite. Thus, it is simple.
4. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT ARE NOT OBJECTS: a substance which has
dimensions such as height, depth and length is an object. It is also defined as matter which has
shape or form. The thing which exits through objects (Jisms) are
called corporal (Jismani) or
materialistic or related to object. Since attributes exist in objects, therefore it is called "related to
objects."
5. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT UNDERSTAND AND GOVERN: they know
themselves. They also know that they know themselves. They comprehend colors through eyes
and sounds through ears. They run the nervous system and move the muscles thus they utilize the
body to perform certain actions. These types of actions are voluntary actions.
6. SPIRIT CANNOT BE PERCEIVED THROUGH SENSE ORGANS: materials and things
made of materials can be sensed. Since spirit is not an object or related to an object, it cannot be
sensed.
SECOND STEP: what happens to the spirit when a person dies? When a person dies and his
body rots, his spiritual heart and spirit will not be destroyed. Death parts them from the body.
When they leave their body, they go back to a non matter world. They will not be annihilated
[until the Doomsday (Qiyamat) ]. Religious personages, philosophers and men of science who
are not fanatics share this view. Only a few of the naturalists departed from this unanimity and
slipped from the right path. They likened human beings to grass which grows in the desert. They
said that human being, like grass, comes into existence, grows and disappears; his spirit does not
stay in existence forever. For that reason, this group of naturalists are called "Hashashi" or
"Grassers." Philosophers and religious scholars refuted their corrupt philosophy with various
proofs.
[Allahu ta’ala created many elements, 105 of which have so far been discovered each having
different and special characteristics. Every element comes into being through atoms. He made
every atom, like a micro generator, a great source of energy. He created molecules and ion
configurations by bringing atoms together. Then He created organic and inorganic compounds,
cells, various tissues and systems. Each of them has such fine subtleties, natural laws and
harmony in their creation that the mind falls into wonderment. For example, the cell which can
only be observed under the microscope is like a giant factory which has many departments. The
human mind so far has only seen a few of the machinery that exists in this giant factory.
Functioning of millions of cells which make up a human body requires existence of thousands of
proper conditions inside and outside the body. If one of these thousands of conditions and
harmony breaks down, the body of a human being cannot function and will come to a halt.
Allahu ta’ala, who is most powerful and knowing runs the body machine automatically by
creating limitless order and harmony. The spiritual heart and spirit are like the electric power of
this machine. When there is a small failure in a generator, the electric power goes out. Likewise,
if there is a failure in the order and harmony which exist inside and outside the body, the spirit
departs from the body and thus the human being dies. No motor or machine in the world can
function indefinitely. They all wear out in time and are discarded. This is a general law of nature.
The body also wears out in time and decays. When the body of a human being decays in the
grave, none of the cells or elements become nonexistent. Decaying of the body means organic
molecules which make up the body are decomposed into smaller molecules, like carbon dioxide,
ammonia, water and free nitrogen with the influence of earth and inaerobic microbes (aerobicinaerobic
is similar in form to organic-inorganic). This decomposition is a physical and chemicalreaction. Today, it is known with certainty that the matter is not annihilated during chemical and
physical reactions. The French chemist Lavoisier who lived in the 16th century proved through
experimentation that the matter is neither annihilated nor created out of nothingness during the
chemical reactions. He supposed that everything can only happen through chemical reactions and
by chemical laws and thus stated, "In nature, nothing is created and nothing can be annihilated."
Today, newly discovered information about nucleus and nuclear reactions show that matter
converts into energy and disappears, thus proving Lavoisier was wrong. Today, scientists clearly
see that further advancement in science, new discoveries, and inventions add new strength to
Islamic religion and refute the slanders of enemies of Islam and destroy and disgrace the atheists
who worship materialism. Unfortunately, there are individuals who have graduated from college
but do not understand the real scientific principles. Yet they pretend to be men of science and try
to attack Islam on the basis of their pseudo-scientific understanding. Their lack of religious
knowledge and their pseudo scientific understanding cause them to say that Islam caused us to
lag the modern world. These kafirs with diplomas try to deceive pure youngesters by saying such
lies, e.g., "Islam is backwardness. It prevents progress. Christians are progressing. They are
inventing all sorts of scientific and technological vehicles. Their new inventions in the area of
medicine, defense, and communication are dazzling our eyes. Muslims are not aware of any of
these advancements in science and technology. We have to follow Christians." They encourage
youngesters to depart from their beautiful Islamic morals and Muslim brotherhood and follow
the Europeans and Americans. They say that following them is progression. They try to make
youngesters irreligious and enemy of Islam like themselves and thus try to lead them to disasters.
In reality, Islam orders us to progress in science and technology. Christians and all other
disbelievers do what they have learned from their forefathers and masters. They add small
modifications to the things they learned from their fathers and do them again. If their forefathers
didn’t do any of these, today’s generation wouldn’t be able to do anything. The saying, "Takmil
al-sana’at is through talahuk-i afkar" has been said centuries earlier. This phrase states that
perfection of technology (sana’at) is accomplished by adding and combining thoughts. History
shows that new things in science and technology are all done by Muslims. They advanced the
science and technology to the level of last century. This was accomplished through the Islamis
religion and through the governments and states who implemented orders of Islamic religion.
Christians saw that they could not destroy Islamic states through the crusades. They
accomplished their aim internally through political intrigues, lies, and cheating. They formed
governments through secular and masonic (irreligious) persons in their lands. But they cannot
destroy Islam. These secular and masonic people are tring to get credit for today’s advancement.
But all they did was to add small modifications to the earlier technological advancement done by
Muslims. Since Islam exposes baseness of the actions of those who only think their own
advantages and pleasures, they in turn attack Islam by saying that Islam prevents progress.
Whereas Islam orders to be progressive and work for the advancement of science and
technology. Everyone around the world including Christians, Jews, and even idol worshippers
believe in heaven and hell. Churches and Synagogues are full to capacity and even over-crawded
with their congregations. It is apparent that since they are not calling these believers as backward
and retrogressive, that comes to mean that they are not calling science and technology as
advancement instead they are calling their pleasure driven life style and immorality as
advancement and progress. This type of undeserved attacks to Islam first designed and generated
by British. Please read the book, Confessions of a British Spy published by our Hakikat Kitabevi.
At this point of history it is necessary for Muslims to unite and attach themselves to the religiousand scientific knowledge ordered by Islam and establish a huge industry in order to produce new
inventions and in order to serve humanity and provide humanity with happiness better than the
Christians do.
The matter which is contained in the constitution of the human body comes from earth, water
and air. Living beings are in need of these three sources. When the body rots after death, it
decomposes into these three sources again. Life after death will be possible by the composition
of these three groups of matter or composition of some materials which are similar to these three
groups.
Neither the spiritual heart and spirit nor the angels can progress or attain higher grades. They
stay in the same state as they were created. When spiritual heart and spirit join with the body,
they acquire attributes through which it becomes possible to make progress, or to become a
disbeliever or a sinner so that they descend to the lowest of the low.
Every object in the material domain is known by its qualitative attributes. Every object is a
composition of elements and molecules. Elements change from one molecule to another and
therefore, objects lose their homogenous composition and deteriorate and turn into other objects
with different qualitative attributes. Even though matter does not become annihilated in these
types of changes, the objects change over time. They become nonexistent and other types of
objects replace their existence. In the early ages matter was called "Hayula". The matter which
take a shape was called figure (Surat).
Since the spiritual heart and spirit cannot be dissolved into pieces and are not made up of parts
(Incorporeal), therefore they never change, deteriorate or disappear from existence. In physical
events, objects do change their shapes or forms. For example, when water receives extra heat, it
changes to vapor. It turns from liquid to gaseous form. Liquid form of water disappears and
gaseous form of water comes into existence. In chemical reactions, the composition or
constitution of the object changes. The matter which makes up an object becomes nonexistent
while another object with different composition or matter-structure comes into existence. In
physical phenomenons, objects change their forms or shapes but the matter which makes up that
composition or constitution does not change. In chemical reactions, an object in one form
becomes nonexistent then existent in another form. Therefore, matter changes but it does not
become nonexistent permanently. Alternately, in nuclear reactions, matter also becomes
nonexistent and turns into energy.]
THIRD STATE: the spiritual heart and spirit have powers. These powers are not like the powers
of plants or animals. Plants and animals also have spirits which are proper for their constitution.
Spiritual heart only exists in human beings. Every living creature has plant-spirit. This type of
spirit performs such functions like birth, growth, feeding, getting rid of harmful deposits,
reproduction and death. These functions are carried out in human beings, animals as well as
plants. Details of these functions and how they are carried out are taught in biology. The growth
in these living beings is not continuous throughout their life spans. It stops after reaching a
predetermined level. This level in humans on average is twenty four years. Becoming obese is
not growth. The function of feeding is continuous throughout the life span. Because life cannot
be sustained without getting necessary nutrition.
In addition to plant-spirit, humans and animals also have animal-spirit. Its location is the chest.
This animal-spirit is the source of voluntary-movements. In human beings, it does this through
the order of the spiritual heart.
Humans additionally have another spirit. When we refer to spirit in humans, it is automatically
understood that reference is made to spiritual heart and spirit together. This spirit does things likereasoning, thinking, and laughing. It does these things through the spiritual heart. Animal-spirit
has two types of power. The power of comprehension and the power of movement. The power of
comprehension is a force which understands things. This understanding manifests itself in two
ways. The first is comprehension through physical sense organs. The second is comprehension
through unseen organs or inward faculties. There are five physical sense organs. The first
physical sense organ is skin. Through skin, warmth, coldness, wetness, dryness, softness and
hardness are understood. When an object touches the skin, the animal spirit understands whether
this object is warm or not. This type of sensing is stronger on the inside of the hand (palm). The
second sense organ is smell, done through the nose. The third is the organ for taste,
accomplished through the nerve system on the tongue. The fourth is the organ for hearing, which
is done through the nerves in the ears, and lastly, the fifth is the organ for seeing, and it is done
through the nerves in the eyes.
There are also five unseen internal sense organs:
1. Common sense (Hiss al-mushtarak): it is located in front of the brain. The external
sensations, coming from sense organs to their respective parts of the brain are gathered in this
part.
2. Imagination (Hayal): its location is the front of the first space of the brain. Sensations that are
perceived and comprehended are stored in imagination. When one looks at an object, that object
causes sensation in the common sense part of the brain, when the object is removed from the eye
sight. The sensation stops at the common sense but its image is transported to imagination and
continues to exist for a long time. If imagination did not exist, everybody would forget each
other and no one would recognize anyone.
3. Perception (Vahema): it is the mental process by which sensory stimuli are given meaning by
us, e.g., nonverbal communication. Perception is mentally organizing impressions and labeling
them. Animosity or truthfulness cannot be sensed through a sense organ but a person who is an
enemy or a friend can be sensed or can be seen with an inner power. This inner power is called
perception (Vahema). If perception did not exist, a sheep could not understand that the wolf is its
enemy and would not run away from it, leaving its lamb unprotected.
4. Memory (Hafiza): it stores what is understood through perception.
5. (Mutasarrefa): it is a faculty of the mind which compares the received sensations and
perceptions and arrives at new conclusions. For example, it can think of an emerald mountain.
This faculty is very well developed in poets.
The power of movement which is the second power of the animal spirit is also two types. The
first one is appetite or carnal power (Shahawi). Human beings and animals through this power
desire things they need or crave. This power is also called animal instinct or bestial (Bahemi).
The second type is called wrath, anger or rage (Ghadabi). Through this power, they defend
themselves against things that present danger to them. These two types of power are also called
"beastly powers."
The power that causes movements needs the power of comprehension. Things should be sensed
first through sense organs so that they can be judged good or evil, then according to this
perception, they could either be desired or repulsed. All of these sensing and movements are
carried out by the central nervous system. Spiritual heart and spirit exist only in human beings.
This spirit also has two powers. Human beings are differentiated from animals through these
powers. The first one of these powers is the knowing power, i.e., the mind or intellect (Quwwat
al-alema and Mudrika). The second is the power that has an effect upon application, or the
force that does or performs things (Quwwat al-amela). [There is not a corresponding word inEnglish language. Let us call this "causative power."] The mind or intellect is also called reason
(Aql, Nutq). This power has two types. The first one is theoretical knowledge (Hikmat al-
Nazari). It is good for obtainig scientific knowledge. The second is practical knowledge
(Hikmat al-amali). This power is used for possessing the knowledge of ethics. Theoretical
knowledge which obtains scientific knowledge is useful for understanding the reality or essence
of the material world. On the other hand, the practical knowledge, which possesses the
knowledge of ethics, discriminates virtues and deeds from vices and vices.
The spirit's power, which we will call "Causative power", accomplishes things that are useful to
humans. It achieves accomplishments according to the information obtained by the mind or
reason. As we have mentioned, the power that causes movements in the animal spirit is used for
desiring or rejecting things according to its perception of good or evil. In humans, causative
power follows the faculty of reasoning. If it comprehends things through reasoning as good or
useful, it performs them. If it reasons that the final result would not be beneficial to itself, it does
not perform them or even repulses them. Human spirit, in addition, also manages the carnal and
wrath forces of the animal spirit through the spiritual heart.
Most people carry out the majority of their affairs through the forces of their animal spirits or
souls (Nafs). In other words, they do them through "Wahm" and "Hayal."
Imam Muhammad Al-Ghazali, may Allahu ta’ala be pleaed with him, and some of the renowned
Sufi masters, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased with them, said, "Those forces of the spirit are angels.
Allahu ta’ala, by pitying us, gave some of the angels to the command of the spirit. They will be
under the charge of the spirit until the person dies and his spirit departs from his body. There are
also some signs to this effect in some of the hadiths. For example, sometimes wonderful things
materializes through some people who do not possess a quality to produce wonderful things.
Therefore, this is proof for their argument." Human beings realize maturity through these two
powers of the spirit.
FIRST SUPPLEMENT TO PREFACE
In this section we will explain the superiority of human beings over other creatures: all objects
are similar with respect to their constitution, i.e., they are all made out of material and possess
weight and volume. Human beings and animals are also equal to inanimate objects in this
respect. But objects are differentiated from each other according to their specific attributes.
[Every object is made out of atoms. A speck of dust is a collection of millions of atoms. Some
specific numbers of atoms combine together to form molecules. There are two types of objects,
pure objects and mixtures. Objects which possess specific qualities are called pure objects. For
example, copper wire or rain water are pure objects because they possess the same quality all the
time, no matter where they are on earth. Their boiling and melting temperatures are known and
they never change. Objects that do not possess specific qualities are called mixtures. Milk, wood,
gasoline, sea water are mixtures. They may possess different qualities depending on the state
they are in. They do not possess specific boiling and melting temperatures. For example, cow's
milk is different from sheep's while the water of the Black Sea is different from the water of the
Mediterranean Sea. The waters of the Black Sea are less salty than the water of the
Mediterranean Sea.
Pure objects are also categorized in two ways. They are called elements if they cannot be divided
further into other parts which have different characteristics. Gold, sulphur, iodine, and oxygen
are elements. We know 105 elements today. Pure objects which can be divided into parts which
have different characteristics are called composite objects. For example, sugar, rain water and
alcohol are composite objects. If sugar is exposed to fire, it will decompose into carbon, waterand some other parts. Furthermore, water can be divided into hydrogen and oxygen gases when it
is exposed to electrical energy in a known manner. Today we know millions of composite
objects. Composite objects are constructed by combining the atoms of two or more elements.
The same object can possess three states (i.e., solid, liquid and gaseous forms.) For example,
water is in its solid state when it is frozen; liquid state when it is water; and gaseous state when it
is vaporous. Gaseous state means it is like air and does not have a known volume or shape.
Simple objects or elements are divided into three groups:
1. Real minerals (also called metals.)
2. Non-minerals (also called ametals.)
3. Half minerals.
There are seventy-eight real minerals. Seventy-seven of them are in solid form at room
temperature. Only mercury is in liquid form at room temperature. Its boiling temperature is 357.3
degree Celsius and it becomes solid at -39.4 degree Celsius. When solid real minerals are
pounded by a hammer, they take sheet-metal form. They do not separate into dust-like pieces.
When atoms of metals combine with other atoms, they carry a positive electric charge. They
cannot carry negative electric charges. Therefore, two metals cannot combine with each other
because two metals which have positive charges do not attract each other. On the contrary, they
repel each other.
There are seventeen ametals. One of them is in liquid form; five of them are in solid form and
eleven of them are in gaseous form. When solid ametals are pounded by a hammer in a mortar,
they take a dust-like form. They do not take sheet-metal form. Pure charcoal is an ametal and is
called carbon in chemistry. When ametal atoms take the composite form by combining with
others, they can either be in positively charged form or negatively charged form. Therefore, a
few ametal atoms can combine together to form a molecule.
Composite objects are divided into two groups. Those which possess carbon and hydrogen atoms
simultaneously in their constitution are called organic materials. They can burn and are formed
in living beings. Recently, some of these materials were synthesized in laboratories and plants.
Fat, sugar, acetone, quinine are some of the examples for organic substances. Objects which do
not contain carbon and hydrogen simultaneously (namely hydrocarbons) in their constitution are
called inorganic objects. They exist on the shell of the earth and in the sea in a dissolved form.
Salt that is used in cooking, water, limestone, silica and sand are of this type.
All of these inanimate objects are mixed and combined in a special manner to form the basic
building block of living cells. Cells are a living thing. Animal cells differ from plant cells but
human cells are similar to animal cells. Living cells combine to form tissues while different
kinds of tissues combine to form organs. Various organs combine together to form systems. The
chain of cells-tissues-organs-systems as a whole combine together to form plants, animals, and
the physical body of human beings.]
All the existing things in the material domain are classified in three groups: inanimate objects,
plants, and animals. Among the animals, the human race is the most precious and honored
species of all. Among the different species of every class, there is an order of superiority. In
other words, one of the species is superior to others. The most superior species of a class shows
similarities to the lowest species of a higher class. Moreover, most of their attributes will be
identical. For example, coral looks similar to a stone which is an inanimate object but it
multiplies and grows like living creatures. Date palms and fly-catcher (Dionaea muscicapa) act
and sense like an animal. Some date palms are male and others are female. Male trees bend over
toward the females. Unless some matter passes from the male date palm to the female, shecannot produce her fruits. Even though all the plants have reproductive means and fecundation
takes place, it is more pronounced in date palms and looks like similar to what is in animals.
Moreover, there is a white section on the top of the date palm that functions like the heart of the
animal. If this white section is injured or is immersed under water for a while, the date palm dies.
In one hadith, it is reported that Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said, "Pay respect to your aunt,
date palm! Because, the first date palm was created from the clay that was left over from
the clay of Adam, peace be upon him." This may be an indication from the prophet that this
tree is the most supreme of the plant species.
The lowest species of the animal race is the sponge. They have a white color and live in the sea.
They have conscious movements. There are thousands of primitive animals who live in the
water. Among all creatures, there exists a better, more developed species over the primitive one.
The order of superiority among them is explained in biology books. Every species has different
feeding and self defense organs. For example, some of them have arrows to defend themselves,
others have teeth, claws, horns or wings. Some of them depend on their speed and some others
depend on cunning (fox). Every species with its peculiarities are protected. Numerous things that
bewilder human mind are given to them as abilities for survival. For example, bees like expert
engineers make octagonal honeycombs. If they were making their honeycomb in cylindrical
shape, there would be an extra space between each honeycomb which would be a waste. There is
no space waste in the shape of an octagonal prism. If it were in the shape of a rectangle, their
volume and space would be smaller. The octagonal-shaped honeycomb is the most efficient
object to work for the bees. Human beings can understand these things through education and
analytical mind. Those who are not educated in these matters cannot understand and appreciate
the intricate art demonstrated by these bees. Who instructed these bees? No doubt, Allahu ta’ala
is inspiring them. These days, this inspiration is called inner drive!
If we consider animals having various levels of superiority to one another, then the most superior
ones which are closest to human beings are horses, monkeys, elephants and parrots. Monkeys
and elephants have intelligence levels which are not much below from many human beings.
[Darwin, a geneticist, classified the various species of animals with respect to their superiorities
to one another and noted monkeys were the most superior of all the species. Some of the enemies
of Islam who pass themselves as progressive and enlightened men are in reality thick headed
science fanatics who assert Darwin said animals mutated from one species to another through
selective process until man evolved. They assert these types of absurdities to deny the creation of
Adam, peace be upon him, from clay and to deceive the Muslim youth. In reality, Darwin never
said that one animal species transforms to another. He did say there is an order of superiority in
the creation of animals. He writes that the ones in the lower level of creation become a foodstock
for the higher ones. This fact was observed and understood previously by Islamic scholars
and was recorded in their books. For example, Ali bin Amrullah, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased
with him, wrote in his book, the order of superiorities of animals with respect to each other. He
was born centuries before Darwin (916) and died in 979 Hijri [1570 A.D.]. It is apparent that
Darwin [1809-1890] read and culled his ideas from Islamic books.
Above the animals there exists the lowest levels of human beings. People who live in deserts,
jungles are of this kind. The most superior human beings live in cities located between the 23-66
latitutes.]
Furthermore, there are differences among human beings with respect to material and moral
standards, beyond and above the order of superiorities of creation. Some human beings put their
efforts and intelligence in the advancement of technology, thereby inventing new tools andmachinery. Others, in addition to technology, made progress in knowledge of reason and logic as
well as science and technology. The highest human beings made progress in science and
technology as well as in morals and ethics. They have reached the highest grade or level human
beings can attain. This grade is called "the grade of approaching Allahu ta’ala and establishing
closeness to Him." People who reach the highest grade strive to enlighten those who are in the
lower lavels in order to raise them to higher levels. The highest of all of these people are the
prophets, peace be upon them. They are honored by receiving messages and orders from Allahu
ta’ala through the archangel Gabriel. The messages and orders which came through the archangel
Gabriel are called revelation. The prophets showed human beings the way of progress and raised
their level of humanity by conveying the received revelations to them. This path of progress
shown by the prophets is called religion. The high grades which can be attained by human beings
who make progress in religion are higher than the grades of the angels.
The rank of prophethood has four degrees. The first one is the degree of "Nabi." Prophets at this
level are not given divinely revealed laws and commandments (Shari’at) but they implement the
prevailing divine laws (Shari’ats). The second degree is the degree of "Rasul." Prophets of this
degree are given new Divine Laws and commandments which are appropriate for the changing
times. The third degree is the degree of "Ulul'azm" prophets. Prophets at this level come at a new
epoch when times are desperate, the prevailing given divine law is forgotten and people are in
dire need of a new revelation. Prophets of this degree are Adam, Noah (Nuh), Abraham
(Ibrahim), Moses (Musa), Jesus (Isa), and Muhammad, peace be upon them. The fourth one is
the degree of "Seal of the Prophets" or the final prophet (Hatam al-Anbiya). This highest degree
is spared only for Hadrat Muhammad, peace be upon him. With the Divine address, "If it was
not you, if it was not you, I would not have created anything!" He was honored and praised
and this proves that the degrees of human beings are higher than the degrees of angels.
Degrees of human beings are exactly at the middle of the creation, i.e., angels, human beings and
animals. One who follows the commandments of Islam progresses and becomes higher than the
angels. The one who is deceived by his own soul and corrupt friends and separated from Islam
sinks to the lower levels. Because, as we have communicated earlier, the spirit is incorporeal and
the physical body is made up of matters which are substantially different in specific construction.
Human beings are similar to angels with respect to their spirit and similar to animals with respect
to construction of their physical bodies. Those who strengthen their spirit become higher than the
angels. Because, while their physical body draws them away from angels and pulls them toward
the animals, they resist this draw and temptation. Therefore, they make progress. Angels do not
have a construction which draws them to the animalhood. Their goodness comes from the
attribute of angelhood which they are created with.
People who choose to strengthen the physical body thus strengthen the soul sink lower levels
than the animals. Allahu ta’ala pointed out the evil nature of these types of persons in the 178th
verse of the chapter of "A'raf", and 44th verse of the chapter of "Furqan" of the Qur'an.
"Moreover, they are lower than the animals." Because, animals neither have intellect nor a
spirit like angels. Therefore, their draw for appetite would not be a guilt. Human beings are given
the light of wisdom. If they prefer to follow the desires of their soul, they become deviated and
lowly beings.
Mixtures, that is what the sons of Adam,
Made up from Angelhood and animalhood.
One who follows his angel,
Becomes higher than his angThose who become animal natured,
Become lower than all creatures!
The necessities of life such as air, food, water, clothing, shelter and mates are all created readily
for the survival of the animals.
[Among these necessities, the most immediate one is the air. They can't survive more than a few
minutes without it. They will die right away. If air was something which could be found by
searching, they could not live long enough to find it. Something that is this much of necessity is
created by Allahu ta’ala abundantly everywhere so they could fill their lungs instinctively and
naturally. Water is not as immediate a necessity as air for their survival. Human beings and
animals can survive without it for a period long enough to search for it. Thus, it becomes
necessary for them to strive to find it. Since animals do not have wisdom and do not cooperate
with each other, they neither prepare food nor clothing for themselves, nor do they cook their
food. Consequently, they either eat grass or carcass. They keep warm through their feathers,
down and hair. Tools of survival are created for them as part of their bodies. Therefore; they do
not need each other.
Human beings have to think about all those things and strive to obtain them. Unless they grind
seed, harvest it and make bread out of it, they cannot satisfy their hunger. Unless they spin
thread, weave and tailor, they cannot clothe themselves. Furthermore, they have to develop their
intelligence, learn scientific knowledge and establish industries and utilize technology in order to
protect themselves. Every animal possesses a superior quality above others. Human beings are
given in their construction all those superior qualities. They must work hard and use their
intelligence and wisdom to bring out these hidden superior qualities given to them. They hold the
keys to the happiness or disaster, depending on the use of their will power for good or evil. If
they use their intelligence and wisdom to find the path of happiness and strive on this path, the
innate hidden goodness will become apparent and will cause them to make progress toward
sublimity, rise from horizon to horizon and become co-mingled with angels to reach the consent
and love of Allahu ta’ala. Alternately, if they follow the desires of their soul, they will stay as
they were created, in the lower levels of animals. And, their fortune will turn around and they
will sink to the level lower than animals and finally go to hell.
Human beings are created with two capabilities. They need a master to teach them to recognize
their innate capacity and strive to strengthen this in order to rise high and make progress. Some
children are taught easily by advice, soft talk and gifts while others are taught by harsh treatment
and punishment. The master has to be good and understand the nature of the child and treat him
accordingly, either by soft or harsh talk in order to raise him properly. Unless there is a
competent master, the child cannot gain knowledge and morals to make progress. The master
who provides knowledge and morals saves the child from calamities and makes him a happy
person.]
SECOND SUPPLEMENT TO THE PREFACE
In this section, we will communicate the meaning of how the spirit makes progress toward higher
highs and sinks to the lower depths. Earlier, we have communicated things that cause the spirit to
rise or sink into the lower depths. In this section, we will expand and elaborate on these matters.
Every matter or substance has certain characteristics which are common to the other matters or
substances. The weight and volume are of this kind. In addition to these common characteristics,
every substance has specific characteristics peculiar unto itself in order to distinguish it from
others. For example, density, freezing and boiling temperatures are different for each matter. The
wave- length of light determines its color and so on. Similarly, living beings possess attributesqualities and characteristics specific to them. An example: the plant foxglove (in botanic, digitali
spurpurea) is recognized for its effect on the heart. It is well known that horses have specific
senses. They recognize their jockey and race for them. If horses didn't have this quality, they
would be used only for hauling loads like donkeys.
Human beings are similar to animals in many respects and similar to vegetation and inanimate
objects in some respects. However, we have many humanly 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 cannot associate our meaning with that concept here. 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. Thus, power of understanding
differentiates good nature from the disagreeable or good deeds from evil. Allahu ta’ala gave this
power to human beings so that they could recognize their creator. Spiritual heart and spirit, by
using this power studies the universe, earth, skies, [as well as laws of physics, chemistry, and
other activities pertaining to the human life], and thus comes to recognize the existence of Allahu
ta’ala and His superior attributes. Thus, by following the commandments and not performing the
prohibited actions in Islam, obtain the happiness of this and the next world and save his self from
disasters. The translation of the fifty-sixth verse of chapter "Zariyat" of the Qur'an is, "I created
human beings and jinns to worship me." The meaning of the phrase "to worship" is "to know
me." We are created to know and believe in our creator Allahu ta’ala.
The animal attributes of human beings, e.g., appetite and rage which make them resemble to
animals are due to their animal spirit. These animal attributes are unworthy of the human spirit.
These powers are stronger in animals than in humans. For example, cows and donkeys eat and
drink more than the humans. Pigs and birds have much more sexual power. Wolves and tigers
can fight and devour more than humans. Rats, dogs and cats can see in the dark and smell from a
distance. All these qualities cannot be an honor for the humans. If these qualities 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 spirits, namely, spiritual heart
and spirit. Humans through the power of knowledge and comprehension will understand real
superiorities and virtues and will practice these and protect themselves from evil.
Belief in Allahu ta’ala and knowing Him cannot be accomplished by means of superficial belief.
It could be accomplished by believing the meaning of six fundamental principles of belief
(Amantu). The fifth one of these principles is believing in doomsday and resurrection after death.
The unenlightened say, (It has been communicated that the blessings of the heaven are birds
meat, fruits, milk, pure honey, villas, virgins of heaven and similar things that give pleasure to
the physical body. These things satisfy appetite and animal desires. Since the happiness of the
spirit depends on the knowledge of Allahu ta’ala and things that are approved by the wisdom,
these things will be forgotten and the animal pleasures will supersede the pleasures of the spirit.
Therefore, doesn't this aforementioned view of things show that the highly-esteemed people of
the world like prophets, saints, and scholars will sink into the lowest levels like the animals?
Moreover, everything appears more glorified with its opposite. In order for the physical body to
enjoy the pleasures of heaven, it should suffer first. The physical body does not require anything
unless it is in desperate need. For example, when there are no pangs of hunger, 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 heaven, the physical bodypossibly enjoy those pleasures.) Avicenna, a famous philosopher raised in Muslim
culture, in his books Shifa and Najat, explained the Day of Judgement but in another book of his
named Muad communicated the opposite. Another scholar Nasiruddin al-Tusi, in his book Tajred
wrote about resurrection but in other parts he also contradicted what he had written earlier.
All believers unanimously communicated that the physical body will exist on the day of
judgement. But it is incorrect to assume that the blessings of heaven are only for the body. A
spirit in the world which starts to make progress will continue to progress even after it leaves the
body until the Day of Judgement. In heaven, the construction of the body will be appropriate for
the eternal life and will be different from the one on earth. It will accommodate eternal living.
Life after death will start with the rejoining of the spirit with that physical body created for
eternity. The spirit and the body will have different pleasures there. Those who made progress in
the world will give more priority to the pleasures of the spirit. The pleasures of the spirit will be
much more than the pleasures of the body. Among the blessings of heaven, the pleasure of seeing
Allahu ta’ala will be the ultimate pleasure for the spirit. It has been written that it is permissible
for some of the elect people like gnostics to enter the spirit'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 while we are on earth. The pleasures of heaven are different from
pleasures of the earth. They are unlike the worldly pleasures. Allahu ta’ala created some
pleasures on earth which look like the pleasures of heaven in order for us to get a taste or feel of
heavenly pleasures through comparison. Then, He ordered us to work and strive to obtain those
pleasures. Getting pleasures in the heaven do not require enduring troubles in the world. The
construction of the body in heaven 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 heaven will have a construction
which will last forever. The similarity between the two is like the similarity of a man and his
reflection in the mirror. The human mind cannot understand existent constructions of the things
in the heaven. The mind can only comprehend things that could be understood through its
sensory organs or the like. One will be led astray and into disaster if he tries to compare and
liken the affairs and pleasures of heaven to worldly ones and start to debate about these matters
through logic. It is absurd and invalid to derive judgement for an unknown phenomenon by
comparing them to known phenomenon.
Some of the Sufi masters and many scholars say that in the material domain there exists a third
world called world of likeness (Alam al-misal). This third world is not made of material objects
as we know it {It is not made out of atoms.} It is not like the spiritual world either,e.g. it is not
made out of non-material things. It is somewhere in between. The creatures in that world
resemble the creatures of this world with respect to their constitution being made up of things
that can be divided into smaller things. They do not resemble to this world because they do not
have weight and they do not occupy space. All material things and meanings existing in this
world have likeness in that world. Water's likeness is the same as the water there. Knowledge in
this world has the likeness of milk in that world. good temperament and good deeds have the
likeness of tasteful things such as watermelon, flowers and other fruit. 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 leading Sufi masters, that world is also further divided into two divisions. If
these masters enter into 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 imaginationor through other internal sense organs but occurs naturally, it is called "the absolute world of
likeness" [Maktubat of Imam ar-Rabbani, second volume, 58th letter has a lengthy discussion
about world of likeness. Translation of this long letter can be found in the Turkish book Se’adat-i
Ebediyye, first section, 39th article.] Some of the Sufi masters communicated that they have
entered into that world through implementing self-disciplinary actions and reported their vision
of that world. Religious scholars also confirmed the existence of this third world and
communicated some of its secrets. Abdullah Ibn al-Abbas, may Allahu ta’ala be well pleased
with him, said, "There exists another world beside this world we know. Everything in this world
has likeness in that world. Even there is another Abbas like me in that world."
Some leading Sufi specialists say that when death occurs, the spirit leaves the body. The good
deeds done by a person while 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 spirit who does good deeds and has a good nature prepares those pleasures he will
enjoy in heaven and takes them there. Disbelievers and sinners prepare the fire and the
punishments of hell and take them there. The spirit, while living in this world cannot
comprehend the load that he is carrying. His attachment to the physical body and also his
involvement with the worldly affairs hold him back from reaching that understanding. However,
when the spirit leaves the body, these reasons do not hold him back any longer. He starts to see
the true nature of things, like the good and bad loads that he was carrying and their true
manifestations. The human life on earth looks like the state of a drunk man. death is the sobering
up of a drunk man. While a man is drunk, people who love him tell him things or give him
presents or possibly evil things happen to him. He does not feel any of these things because of
his state of mind. But, once he sobers up, he understands everything. This situation is similar to
the states of the world of likenesses. Sa'daddin-i Taftazani, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased with
him, in his book Sharh al-Makasid, after explaining the world of likenesses, says that since these
things cannot be proven, the real scholars did not pay much attention to them. He refers the real
scholars with the meaning that those who have the capacity to comprehend things that could be
understood through reasoning. He should have understood that, since he follows so much
reasoning, he should not refuse things on the basis of the probability of being possible or
impossible. Furthermore, Avicenna, who is a leading authority in logical reasoning said, "One
should not say something is not possible if one cannot prove that it cannot be done. Because,
claiming something as 'not possible' without proving it, looks like the shameful act of one's not
believing in things which he cannot understand."
Shihabud-din al-Shuhrawardi, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased with him, said, "Astronomers say
that millions of stars come together and form a system. Every system moves in space without
any disruption. Their saying is accepted by the people without seeing it. Similarly, the words of
the Sufi masters regarding the world of likenesses and the spirits should also be accepted without
seeing it." It is correct to believe in the teachings of the people who communicate and inform us
(e.g., such as Sufi masters who inform about the third world.) But it is wrong to believe in the
teachings of people who deny the existence of the third world.
[A man who posseses reason and scientific knowledge immediately understands and can prove
existence and oneness of Allahu ta’ala. Believing in the next world (Akhirat) is not similar. We
believe in the next world because it has been communicated to us by Allahu ta’ala.]
FIRST CHAPTER
The ethics of Islam is studied by dividing into three categories. However, in order to understand
these three, it is necessary to study the sub-branches of these categories. We will divide the
subject into an introduction and three categories and then explain only the first category in this
book.
PREFACE
One must desire to learn the knowledge of ethics. One cannot be forced to learn it. Every
optional (Ihtiyari) action can be achieved by learning two of its prerequisites. First, one should
understand the essence of the matter. Secondly, one should have a first-hand knowledge of what
will be gained by doing it. In addition, it is a widely accepted method by learned man that one
should learn the sub-branches of the subject in order to understand the main (basic) knowledge
easily. We will also follow this method and explain the three branches of the subject in the
preface. Furthermore, we will add two additional sections.
FIRST TOPIC: ethics of Islam will be divided into three categories,
1. The knowledge of ethics, (Ilm al-akhlaq) teaches us the actions of a person, whether they are
good or evil, while he is alone (and not thinking others.) When a person is alone, he regulates his
conduct according to his nature. For example, a person who has a gentle nature, who is generous
and who has a sense of shame has these qualities whether he is alone or he is in the presence of
others. The knowledge of ethics informs us these type of actions which do not change by being
alone or in the presence of others.
2. The second category of ethics examines a person’s behavioir towards his family members in
his home. This is called manners of family management (Tadbir al-manzil).
3. The third category of knowledge of ethics covers duties and behavioir of a person and how he
could be useful to everyone in society. This is called social manners (Siyasat al-madina). It is
written in Akhlaq an-nasiri by Nasiruddin-i Muhammad Tusi that when a human being does
something, whether it is good or evil, it is for a reason. This reason is either due to his nature or
to his obedience to laws and orders. The things he do due to his nature are the things he do
according to his intellect, thought and experience. This type of things do not change by time or
the influence of society. When the reason is due to his obedience to laws and orders, his actions
can change in time because laws change with time. Sometimes, these laws are established by thecollective consciousness of a community or a society. They are called customs (Rusum). Other
times, these laws are established by a famed scholar or by an experienced, authoritarian person
such as prophets, friends (Saints) of Allahu ta’ala, kings and dictators. The laws sent by Allahu
ta’ala and taught by prophets, friends of Allahu ta’ala and scholars are three kinds. The first kind
is the law that must be obeyed by every person individually; they are called laws (Ahkam) or
worships (Ibadats). The second kind are the laws that must be obeyed mutually by the members
of a society. They are marriage laws (Munakahat) and business laws (Muamalat). The third
kind are the laws that involve countries and societies. They are called matters which pertain to
laws and politics (Hudud). All of the three kinds of laws are called "Knowledge of Fiqh." The
"Knowledge of Fiqh" and the laws which make up this knowledge can change from one country
to another, from one nation to another, and from one time to another but they can only be
changed through the information given by Allahu ta’ala. The religious laws (Shari’ats) that were
canceled or changed were this kind. For example, during the time of Adam, peace be upon him,
multiplication of the human race was a necessity; so it was permissible for a man to marry his
sister; but when the human race multiplied, it was no longer a necessity. Consequently, this
permission was canceled and it became forbidden (Haram).
SECOND TOPIC: in this section we will explain the usefulness and application of the
knowledge of ethics.
When a person studies his environment, such as the earth and the skies, or contemplates the
balance and order in the universe, that is, how billions of stars in space continue to move in their
orbits without colliding with each other for centuries, or how the construction, movement and
amount of atmospheric pressure, temperature, air and water are delicately balanced to allow life
to flourish on earth, or when he observes the delicate order in the construction of human beings,
animals, plants, inanimate objects, atoms, cells or, in short, the numerous creatures which are
studied in the science courses taught in high schools and universities, he will feel compelled to
believe in the existence of an all-powerful and all-knowledgeable creator, who creates all the
orderly systems and creatures. A person with intelligence will understand and appreciate this
great, delicate balance and order in the universe and will readily believe in the existence of
Allahu ta’ala and become Muslim. When a philosophy professor from Switzerland who
converted to Islam in 1966 was asked by a newsman about his conversion, he replied: "By
studying Islamic books I understood the true (Haqq) way and the greatness of Islamic scholars. If
Islamic religion would be exposed in a correct manner, everyone in the entire world who has
intelligence would accept it by lovingly and willingly."
When a person becomes Muslim by studying nature and himself and then studies the books
written by Islaimic scholars and learns the life story and beautiful moral conduct of Muhammad,
peace be upon him, his belief will strengthen. Furthermore, by studying the knowledge of ethics
he will understand good and ill temperaments, useful and harmful matters. By doing good deeds,
he will become a mature and valuable human being in the world. His worldly affairs will be
orderly and they will materialize easily. He will live in comfort and peace. Everyone will love
him. Allahu ta’ala will be content with him here. Also, He will treat him compassionately and
give him many rewards in the hereafter. We would again like to emphasize that a person needs
two things in order to attain happiness. The first of these two is that one should possess the
correct knowledge and belief which can be acquired through learning scientific knowledge and
reading the life story and moral conduct of Muhammad, peace be upon him. The second one is
that one should be a gentle-natured human being with good behavior. These things can be
acquired by learning the knowledge of "Fiqh" and "Ethics" and by practicing them. Whoeveracquires these two things will attain the consent and love of Allahu ta’ala because Allahu ta’ala
knows everything with His infinite knowledge. He gave much knowledge to angels and prophets.
The angels and prophets do not possess anything shameful, faulty or ugly. In contrast, human
beings have very little knowledge and their beliefs are either smeared with corrupt habits or
stained by ill conduct. For this reason, human beings are very distant from Allahu ta’ala, angels
and prophets. They are deprived of honor of joining their presence. If a human being does not
attain the real belief by avoiding studying scientific knowledge and observing nature; and if he
does not strengthen his belief by knowing Muhammad, peace be upon him, in the properly
prescribed manner, he will be the one who stays in infinite wickedness and distress. Alternately,
if he obtains the real belief and refuses to follow his soul (Nafs), and follows the orders of
Allahu ta’ala by abstaining from prohibitions set by Him, he will not be deprived of receiving the
mercy and forgiveness of Allahu ta’ala. He will not be deprived from attaining happiness. He
will be punished only for his wrong doings; he will burn in hell and it will be difficult for him to
receive the mercy of Allahu ta’ala. Eventually, because of his belief he will obtain the mercy of
Allahu ta’ala. Hell fire will cleanse the dirt of his evil deeds and will purify him so that he will
be suitable to enter heaven.
It is apparent that the most important of all the blessings and comforts is to possess perfect belief.
Everyone should strive to cleanse his heart from wrong beliefs and doubts. If one obtains the
correct belief and has a good character and does good deeds, one will resemble supreme spirits
such as Prophets, friends (Saints) of Allahu ta’ala, and angels. He will get close to them and be
attracted by them toward higher ranks in a manner similar to the law of gravitational force. They
will attract him towards higher highs similar to a small pin’s attraction by a high electromagnetic
force generated by a huge electromagnet or a small pin’s attraction by a huge magnet as big as a
mountain. Then, one will pass the "Sirat-Bridge" with lightening-speed and will be one of those
who are comforted eternally in the Gardens of Paradise with blessings which are appropriate for
his spiritual heart and spirit.
Couplet :
Scholars who practice what they know, will not suffer grievous punishment,
Attain the blessings of Jannat, that is the supreme success!
The knowledge of ethics is the knowledge of cleanliness of spiritual heart (Qalb) and spirit
(Ruh). It is similar to the knowledge of medicine’s being the science of preventive health for the
body. Vices are diseases of the spiritual heart and spirit. Evil deeds are symptoms and signs of
these diseases. The knowledge of ethics is a much honored, valuable and necessary knowledge.
Evil qualities of the spiritual heart and spirit can only be cleansed with this knowledge. The
health and strengthening of the spiritual heart and spirit could only be possible through this
knowledge. Also, strong spiritual hearts and spirits will become good-natured ones through the
help of the knowledge of ethics. The good and pure hearts and spirits will also improve their
purity and maintain this state with the help of this knowledge.
[Spiritual heart and spirit are two different things although they look very much alike. In this
book, when the spirit is mentioned alone it should be understood that we mean both of them.]
Does one's character change? Is it possible for a human being to give up his character and
acquire another one? There are several differing opinions but they can mainly be categorized into
three groups:
1. The character (Habits) never changes because it is an entity a human being is not capable of
changing.2. Character is of two kinds: the first one is created at birth and cannot be changed "innate,
inherent with the self." The second one is acquired later through repetition and is "habit." This
acquired character can be altered or changed.
3. The whole character (Habits) is acquired after birth and can be changed by external influences.
The majority of Islamic scholars accept the third notion. Divine laws (Shari’ats) which prophets
brought prove that this third notion is correct. The student-training methods instituted by
religious scholars and Sufi masters function under the light of the third notion.
According to which suitable nature human beings come into this world? This is also an
unresolved question up to now. The opinion of the majority of scholars is that human beings are
born suitable for goodness and to make progress. Later, evil desires of the soul, not learning
good morals and associating with evil friends forms evil character. Rasulullah, peace be upon
him, said, "Everybody was born suitable to accept Islam. Later, their mothers and fathers
make them Christian, Jews or disbelievers."
Couplet:
You are corrupting yourself with your own hand
Whereas, the Creator created you beautifully.
According to some scholars, the spirit of human being came to this world as an impure entity.
The spirit itself was clean but when it was united with the body, it became corrupt due to the
necessities of the body. However, those whom Allahu ta’ala chooses to save and decrees
goodness will not remain impure as they were born but will return to goodness.
Some other scholars said that the spirit is neither good nor evil from birth. It is in a neutral state.
It could turn either way. A person who learns goodness will attain happiness and maturity. They
said that a person who associates with evil people and learns vices and ugly things will be a
wretched and evil person.
Galen, a Greek physician and writer of medicine and philosophy, 130-200 A.D., said, "The
spirits of human beings are of three types. The first are the ones which were created good; the
second are the ones which were created evil; and the third is neither of the first two types but
afterwards can be either one of them. There are very few people who have a good nature, but
there are more people who have evil qualities from birth and who want to do evil things
constantly. The number of persons who can become evil when associated with evil ones, and
who can become good when associated with good ones are somewhere in between the first two
types." According to this, the nature of some people can be changed, while the nature of many
people cannot be changed. [Since the Greek philosophers were not aware of the spiritual heart,
they only mentioned the spirit. Most of those Muslim authors who have written books about
ethics followed them in that respect.]
According to the majority of scholars, everyone's nature can change. No one's nature will stay
the way it was created. If natures would’t change, the religions communicated by prophets would
be futile and unnecessary. The training and punishment methods established unanimously by the
scholars would be absurd. All scholars taught knowledge and manners to their children and it has
always been known that education and training provided useful results. For these reasons, it is
obvious as the shining sun that the nature of human beings changes. However, some habits are
established very intensely and became a quality of the spirit. Changing and annihilating these
type of habits would be very difficult. They mostly exist in ignorant and mean people. Changing
these habits requires undertaking intensive "Riyazat" and "Mujahadat". One's struggle with
himself in order not to fulfill the evil desires of his soul is called "Riyazat". "Mujahadat" is doing
things one's soul do not like. Ignorant people do not practice "Riyazat" and "Mujahadat",thinking that one's nature will never change. They do not cleanse their vices. If we accept their
argument and let everybody follow desires (Hawa) of their souls and do not punish the guilty,
humanity will be pushed toward immorality. For this reason, Allahu ta’ala through pity for His
human creatures sent prophets to train the people and teach them good and evil natures. He chose
His beloved Muhammad, peace be upon him, as the greatest among all the teachers. He changed
all the previous divine laws with his divine law (Shari’at, religion), i.e., "Shari’at al-
Muhammad." His religion became the final religion. Thus, his shining religion included all of
the goodness and methods of training. Those who have wisdom and can distinguish good from
evil should read the books of ethics which are derived from this religion and learn it. They
should plan their business accordingly so that they may reach comfort, peace of mind, happiness
and salvation of this and the next worlds and contribute to the order of family and social life.
This is the most important duty of a human being. Everyone should read and learn this book,
which we named Ethics of Islam attentively because, with the help of Allahu ta’ala, we have
gathered the information which pertains to the aforementioned topics.
THIRD TOPIC: we had divided "Ethics of Islam" into three parts. In order to understand them
clearly, we will explain supplementary information. Every knowledge and science has many
branches. Sometimes all the branches unite on some points. At these points, all the branches of
that science become one. This one point is the subject of that science. For example, the science
of medicine has many branches but every branch unites at the study of illnesses and health of the
body and this is the subject of medicine. In order to learn a science easily, first, we must
understand its subject. The subject of the knowledge of ethics is the human spirit. It teaches how
to cleanse the evil qualities of the spirit and how to fill it with virtues. First, we should learn
about the spirit and then the evil and virtues. Imam ash-Shafi’i said the following couplet:
I learned vices, not to become an evil one,
Who does not know what is vice, will fall into it, know for sure!
We will explain the knowledge in three steps in order to recognize the heart and spirit as much as
possible and explain its apparent and hidden forces, as well as the things that cause its happiness
and destruction.
FIRST STEP: WHAT IS SPIRITUAL HEART (Qalb) AND SPIRIT (Ruh)? These two entities
are named "Nafs al-natiqa" or in short soul (Nafs) by the Greek philosophers and their
imitators. [But Imam ar-Rabbani, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased with him, who was a great
scholar and a specialist in the knowledge of "Tasawwuf" and ethics, said that soul, spirit and
spiritual heart were different entities.] In the 85th verse of the chapter of "Isra" of the Qur'an
Allahu ta’ala says, "They ask you about the spirit 'Ruh.' Answer them by saying that the
spirit 'Ruh' is an entity among the other beings that my Lord has created." This verse
prohibits revealing information about the spirit. For this reason, the majority of the Guides
(Masters, Shaikhs) of the Sufi Paths known as "Tariqat al-aliyya" (a specialized Sufi group) and
scholars of Islam abstained from talking about the spirit. It is understood from the Qur'an that
discussion is prohibited about the essence of the spirit but discussion is not prohibited about its
special forces and peculiarities. Majority of scholars informed their students and those who
inquired about the spiritual heart and spirit that the spiritual heart and spirit are not matter
(substance) but rather they are "Jawhar al-Basit" (will be explained later). It is the spiritual
heart and spirit which understand the information grasped by the intellect, receive the sensations
coming from the sense organs to the brain and govern all the forces and the movements of the
body. The great leaders of the Sufi paths and the scholars of "knowledge of faith" told us about
the spiritual heart and spirit in the above-mentioned manner. [Those who wish to obtain detailedinformation about the spiritual heart and spirit should read the books Awarif al-ma'arif and
Maktubat. Awarif al-Ma'arif was written by Shaikh Shihabuddin Umar Shuhrawardi, may Allahu
ta’ala be pleased with him. He was a scholar who followed the "Shafi'i" school of thought
(Madhhab). He was born 539 Hijri Qamari, [1145 A.D.] and died 632 Hijri, [1234 A.D.] in
Baghdad. He received spiritual enlightenment from Shaikh Abdulqadir al-Geilani, may Allahu
ta’ala be well pleased with him The book Maktubat was written by Imam ar-Rabbani, may
Allahu ta’ala be well pleased with him. He was born 971 Hijri Qamari [1563 A.D.] in
Sarhand/India and died at his birth place in 1034 Hijri, [1624 A.D.] Abdulqadir al-Geilani, may
Allahu ta’ala be well please with him, passed away 561 Hijri Qamari at Baghdad.]
We will now expand and explain the above-mentioned description of the spiritual heart and spirit
in six sections.
1. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT EXIST: the existence of the spirit is obvious. There is
no need for proving something obvious. The most obvious and evident thing for a human being
is his existence. A human being does not forget himself for a fraction of a second. Spirit never
forgets itself even while it is sleeping or drunk. There is no reason for trying to prove that
whether or not a human being recognizes his own existence. But it is permissible to prove
whether the spirit is material or not, or whether it exists by itself or along with something else
and some other special attributes similar to these. Many of them are obvious but reviewing them
at this point would be beneficial. Thus we will write them in five steps.
2. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT ARE SUBSTANCE: this means they exist. Ruh is
called as "Djan" in the Persian. When an animal dies, we say its "Djan" departed from it. It
means its spirit separated from its body. Every created being is either substance (Jawhar) or
attribute (Araz). If something is substance, it does not need anyone else's help for its existence. It
stays in existence by itself. If something is an attribute (Sifat, Araz), it can’t stay in existence by
itself. It would need the help of something else for its existence. Matter and objects are
substances. Their colors, smell and shapes are their attributes. Color exists in an object. If there is
no object, the color cannot exist. There are two types of substance. The first one is non matter
being (Mujarrat). It does not have weight, shape or color and it doesn’t affect the sense organs.
The second one is matter. The non matter substance cannot be perceived through sense organs
and cannot be divided. Intellect (Aql) and spirit are examples of this group. In contrast to this,
matter that is the second type of substance can be perceived through sense organs and can be
divided. When matter takes a certain shape, it is called an object (Jism). It has been proven by
many different ways that spirit is a non matter substance. The simplest way of proving is the
following: attributes exist in a substance. Substance possesses the attribute. Everything which is
sensed or thought is carried out by spirit. Therefore, spiritual heart and spirit are substance. They
are not attributes. Some people reject this type of proving by saying that sometimes an attribute
can exist with an attribute such as velocity which is an attribute exists with motion which is also
an attribute.
3. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT ARE SIMPLE:something which cannot be divided
into parts is called simple. The opposite of simple is composite or compound. According to this
definition, the elements in chemistry which are called simple are really compounds because they
can be divided into their atoms or into their molecules. The matter of spirit's being simple can be
logically understood in the following manner. Spirit can understand something which is simple.
If spiritual heart and spirit were compounds and could be divided into parts, something which is
simple could not stay with it. If spirit could be divided, the simple thing which stays with itshould be divided. But the thing which is simple cannot be divided, therefore the spirit cannot be
compound or composite. Thus, it is simple.
4. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT ARE NOT OBJECTS: a substance which has
dimensions such as height, depth and length is an object. It is also defined as matter which has
shape or form. The thing which exits through objects (Jisms) are
called corporal (Jismani) or
materialistic or related to object. Since attributes exist in objects, therefore it is called "related to
objects."
5. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT UNDERSTAND AND GOVERN: they know
themselves. They also know that they know themselves. They comprehend colors through eyes
and sounds through ears. They run the nervous system and move the muscles thus they utilize the
body to perform certain actions. These types of actions are voluntary actions.
6. SPIRIT CANNOT BE PERCEIVED THROUGH SENSE ORGANS: materials and things
made of materials can be sensed. Since spirit is not an object or related to an object, it cannot be
sensed.
SECOND STEP: what happens to the spirit when a person dies? When a person dies and his
body rots, his spiritual heart and spirit will not be destroyed. Death parts them from the body.
When they leave their body, they go back to a non matter world. They will not be annihilated
[until the Doomsday (Qiyamat) ]. Religious personages, philosophers and men of science who
are not fanatics share this view. Only a few of the naturalists departed from this unanimity and
slipped from the right path. They likened human beings to grass which grows in the desert. They
said that human being, like grass, comes into existence, grows and disappears; his spirit does not
stay in existence forever. For that reason, this group of naturalists are called "Hashashi" or
"Grassers." Philosophers and religious scholars refuted their corrupt philosophy with various
proofs.
[Allahu ta’ala created many elements, 105 of which have so far been discovered each having
different and special characteristics. Every element comes into being through atoms. He made
every atom, like a micro generator, a great source of energy. He created molecules and ion
configurations by bringing atoms together. Then He created organic and inorganic compounds,
cells, various tissues and systems. Each of them has such fine subtleties, natural laws and
harmony in their creation that the mind falls into wonderment. For example, the cell which can
only be observed under the microscope is like a giant factory which has many departments. The
human mind so far has only seen a few of the machinery that exists in this giant factory.
Functioning of millions of cells which make up a human body requires existence of thousands of
proper conditions inside and outside the body. If one of these thousands of conditions and
harmony breaks down, the body of a human being cannot function and will come to a halt.
Allahu ta’ala, who is most powerful and knowing runs the body machine automatically by
creating limitless order and harmony. The spiritual heart and spirit are like the electric power of
this machine. When there is a small failure in a generator, the electric power goes out. Likewise,
if there is a failure in the order and harmony which exist inside and outside the body, the spirit
departs from the body and thus the human being dies. No motor or machine in the world can
function indefinitely. They all wear out in time and are discarded. This is a general law of nature.
The body also wears out in time and decays. When the body of a human being decays in the
grave, none of the cells or elements become nonexistent. Decaying of the body means organic
molecules which make up the body are decomposed into smaller molecules, like carbon dioxide,
ammonia, water and free nitrogen with the influence of earth and inaerobic microbes (aerobicinaerobic
is similar in form to organic-inorganic). This decomposition is a physical and chemicalreaction. Today, it is known with certainty that the matter is not annihilated during chemical and
physical reactions. The French chemist Lavoisier who lived in the 16th century proved through
experimentation that the matter is neither annihilated nor created out of nothingness during the
chemical reactions. He supposed that everything can only happen through chemical reactions and
by chemical laws and thus stated, "In nature, nothing is created and nothing can be annihilated."
Today, newly discovered information about nucleus and nuclear reactions show that matter
converts into energy and disappears, thus proving Lavoisier was wrong. Today, scientists clearly
see that further advancement in science, new discoveries, and inventions add new strength to
Islamic religion and refute the slanders of enemies of Islam and destroy and disgrace the atheists
who worship materialism. Unfortunately, there are individuals who have graduated from college
but do not understand the real scientific principles. Yet they pretend to be men of science and try
to attack Islam on the basis of their pseudo-scientific understanding. Their lack of religious
knowledge and their pseudo scientific understanding cause them to say that Islam caused us to
lag the modern world. These kafirs with diplomas try to deceive pure youngesters by saying such
lies, e.g., "Islam is backwardness. It prevents progress. Christians are progressing. They are
inventing all sorts of scientific and technological vehicles. Their new inventions in the area of
medicine, defense, and communication are dazzling our eyes. Muslims are not aware of any of
these advancements in science and technology. We have to follow Christians." They encourage
youngesters to depart from their beautiful Islamic morals and Muslim brotherhood and follow
the Europeans and Americans. They say that following them is progression. They try to make
youngesters irreligious and enemy of Islam like themselves and thus try to lead them to disasters.
In reality, Islam orders us to progress in science and technology. Christians and all other
disbelievers do what they have learned from their forefathers and masters. They add small
modifications to the things they learned from their fathers and do them again. If their forefathers
didn’t do any of these, today’s generation wouldn’t be able to do anything. The saying, "Takmil
al-sana’at is through talahuk-i afkar" has been said centuries earlier. This phrase states that
perfection of technology (sana’at) is accomplished by adding and combining thoughts. History
shows that new things in science and technology are all done by Muslims. They advanced the
science and technology to the level of last century. This was accomplished through the Islamis
religion and through the governments and states who implemented orders of Islamic religion.
Christians saw that they could not destroy Islamic states through the crusades. They
accomplished their aim internally through political intrigues, lies, and cheating. They formed
governments through secular and masonic (irreligious) persons in their lands. But they cannot
destroy Islam. These secular and masonic people are tring to get credit for today’s advancement.
But all they did was to add small modifications to the earlier technological advancement done by
Muslims. Since Islam exposes baseness of the actions of those who only think their own
advantages and pleasures, they in turn attack Islam by saying that Islam prevents progress.
Whereas Islam orders to be progressive and work for the advancement of science and
technology. Everyone around the world including Christians, Jews, and even idol worshippers
believe in heaven and hell. Churches and Synagogues are full to capacity and even over-crawded
with their congregations. It is apparent that since they are not calling these believers as backward
and retrogressive, that comes to mean that they are not calling science and technology as
advancement instead they are calling their pleasure driven life style and immorality as
advancement and progress. This type of undeserved attacks to Islam first designed and generated
by British. Please read the book, Confessions of a British Spy published by our Hakikat Kitabevi.
At this point of history it is necessary for Muslims to unite and attach themselves to the religiousand scientific knowledge ordered by Islam and establish a huge industry in order to produce new
inventions and in order to serve humanity and provide humanity with happiness better than the
Christians do.
The matter which is contained in the constitution of the human body comes from earth, water
and air. Living beings are in need of these three sources. When the body rots after death, it
decomposes into these three sources again. Life after death will be possible by the composition
of these three groups of matter or composition of some materials which are similar to these three
groups.
Neither the spiritual heart and spirit nor the angels can progress or attain higher grades. They
stay in the same state as they were created. When spiritual heart and spirit join with the body,
they acquire attributes through which it becomes possible to make progress, or to become a
disbeliever or a sinner so that they descend to the lowest of the low.
Every object in the material domain is known by its qualitative attributes. Every object is a
composition of elements and molecules. Elements change from one molecule to another and
therefore, objects lose their homogenous composition and deteriorate and turn into other objects
with different qualitative attributes. Even though matter does not become annihilated in these
types of changes, the objects change over time. They become nonexistent and other types of
objects replace their existence. In the early ages matter was called "Hayula". The matter which
take a shape was called figure (Surat).
Since the spiritual heart and spirit cannot be dissolved into pieces and are not made up of parts
(Incorporeal), therefore they never change, deteriorate or disappear from existence. In physical
events, objects do change their shapes or forms. For example, when water receives extra heat, it
changes to vapor. It turns from liquid to gaseous form. Liquid form of water disappears and
gaseous form of water comes into existence. In chemical reactions, the composition or
constitution of the object changes. The matter which makes up an object becomes nonexistent
while another object with different composition or matter-structure comes into existence. In
physical phenomenons, objects change their forms or shapes but the matter which makes up that
composition or constitution does not change. In chemical reactions, an object in one form
becomes nonexistent then existent in another form. Therefore, matter changes but it does not
become nonexistent permanently. Alternately, in nuclear reactions, matter also becomes
nonexistent and turns into energy.]
THIRD STATE: the spiritual heart and spirit have powers. These powers are not like the powers
of plants or animals. Plants and animals also have spirits which are proper for their constitution.
Spiritual heart only exists in human beings. Every living creature has plant-spirit. This type of
spirit performs such functions like birth, growth, feeding, getting rid of harmful deposits,
reproduction and death. These functions are carried out in human beings, animals as well as
plants. Details of these functions and how they are carried out are taught in biology. The growth
in these living beings is not continuous throughout their life spans. It stops after reaching a
predetermined level. This level in humans on average is twenty four years. Becoming obese is
not growth. The function of feeding is continuous throughout the life span. Because life cannot
be sustained without getting necessary nutrition.
In addition to plant-spirit, humans and animals also have animal-spirit. Its location is the chest.
This animal-spirit is the source of voluntary-movements. In human beings, it does this through
the order of the spiritual heart.
Humans additionally have another spirit. When we refer to spirit in humans, it is automatically
understood that reference is made to spiritual heart and spirit together. This spirit does things likereasoning, thinking, and laughing. It does these things through the spiritual heart. Animal-spirit
has two types of power. The power of comprehension and the power of movement. The power of
comprehension is a force which understands things. This understanding manifests itself in two
ways. The first is comprehension through physical sense organs. The second is comprehension
through unseen organs or inward faculties. There are five physical sense organs. The first
physical sense organ is skin. Through skin, warmth, coldness, wetness, dryness, softness and
hardness are understood. When an object touches the skin, the animal spirit understands whether
this object is warm or not. This type of sensing is stronger on the inside of the hand (palm). The
second sense organ is smell, done through the nose. The third is the organ for taste,
accomplished through the nerve system on the tongue. The fourth is the organ for hearing, which
is done through the nerves in the ears, and lastly, the fifth is the organ for seeing, and it is done
through the nerves in the eyes.
There are also five unseen internal sense organs:
1. Common sense (Hiss al-mushtarak): it is located in front of the brain. The external
sensations, coming from sense organs to their respective parts of the brain are gathered in this
part.
2. Imagination (Hayal): its location is the front of the first space of the brain. Sensations that are
perceived and comprehended are stored in imagination. When one looks at an object, that object
causes sensation in the common sense part of the brain, when the object is removed from the eye
sight. The sensation stops at the common sense but its image is transported to imagination and
continues to exist for a long time. If imagination did not exist, everybody would forget each
other and no one would recognize anyone.
3. Perception (Vahema): it is the mental process by which sensory stimuli are given meaning by
us, e.g., nonverbal communication. Perception is mentally organizing impressions and labeling
them. Animosity or truthfulness cannot be sensed through a sense organ but a person who is an
enemy or a friend can be sensed or can be seen with an inner power. This inner power is called
perception (Vahema). If perception did not exist, a sheep could not understand that the wolf is its
enemy and would not run away from it, leaving its lamb unprotected.
4. Memory (Hafiza): it stores what is understood through perception.
5. (Mutasarrefa): it is a faculty of the mind which compares the received sensations and
perceptions and arrives at new conclusions. For example, it can think of an emerald mountain.
This faculty is very well developed in poets.
The power of movement which is the second power of the animal spirit is also two types. The
first one is appetite or carnal power (Shahawi). Human beings and animals through this power
desire things they need or crave. This power is also called animal instinct or bestial (Bahemi).
The second type is called wrath, anger or rage (Ghadabi). Through this power, they defend
themselves against things that present danger to them. These two types of power are also called
"beastly powers."
The power that causes movements needs the power of comprehension. Things should be sensed
first through sense organs so that they can be judged good or evil, then according to this
perception, they could either be desired or repulsed. All of these sensing and movements are
carried out by the central nervous system. Spiritual heart and spirit exist only in human beings.
This spirit also has two powers. Human beings are differentiated from animals through these
powers. The first one of these powers is the knowing power, i.e., the mind or intellect (Quwwat
al-alema and Mudrika). The second is the power that has an effect upon application, or the
force that does or performs things (Quwwat al-amela). [There is not a corresponding word inEnglish language. Let us call this "causative power."] The mind or intellect is also called reason
(Aql, Nutq). This power has two types. The first one is theoretical knowledge (Hikmat al-
Nazari). It is good for obtainig scientific knowledge. The second is practical knowledge
(Hikmat al-amali). This power is used for possessing the knowledge of ethics. Theoretical
knowledge which obtains scientific knowledge is useful for understanding the reality or essence
of the material world. On the other hand, the practical knowledge, which possesses the
knowledge of ethics, discriminates virtues and deeds from vices and vices.
The spirit's power, which we will call "Causative power", accomplishes things that are useful to
humans. It achieves accomplishments according to the information obtained by the mind or
reason. As we have mentioned, the power that causes movements in the animal spirit is used for
desiring or rejecting things according to its perception of good or evil. In humans, causative
power follows the faculty of reasoning. If it comprehends things through reasoning as good or
useful, it performs them. If it reasons that the final result would not be beneficial to itself, it does
not perform them or even repulses them. Human spirit, in addition, also manages the carnal and
wrath forces of the animal spirit through the spiritual heart.
Most people carry out the majority of their affairs through the forces of their animal spirits or
souls (Nafs). In other words, they do them through "Wahm" and "Hayal."
Imam Muhammad Al-Ghazali, may Allahu ta’ala be pleaed with him, and some of the renowned
Sufi masters, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased with them, said, "Those forces of the spirit are angels.
Allahu ta’ala, by pitying us, gave some of the angels to the command of the spirit. They will be
under the charge of the spirit until the person dies and his spirit departs from his body. There are
also some signs to this effect in some of the hadiths. For example, sometimes wonderful things
materializes through some people who do not possess a quality to produce wonderful things.
Therefore, this is proof for their argument." Human beings realize maturity through these two
powers of the spirit.
FIRST SUPPLEMENT TO PREFACE
In this section we will explain the superiority of human beings over other creatures: all objects
are similar with respect to their constitution, i.e., they are all made out of material and possess
weight and volume. Human beings and animals are also equal to inanimate objects in this
respect. But objects are differentiated from each other according to their specific attributes.
[Every object is made out of atoms. A speck of dust is a collection of millions of atoms. Some
specific numbers of atoms combine together to form molecules. There are two types of objects,
pure objects and mixtures. Objects which possess specific qualities are called pure objects. For
example, copper wire or rain water are pure objects because they possess the same quality all the
time, no matter where they are on earth. Their boiling and melting temperatures are known and
they never change. Objects that do not possess specific qualities are called mixtures. Milk, wood,
gasoline, sea water are mixtures. They may possess different qualities depending on the state
they are in. They do not possess specific boiling and melting temperatures. For example, cow's
milk is different from sheep's while the water of the Black Sea is different from the water of the
Mediterranean Sea. The waters of the Black Sea are less salty than the water of the
Mediterranean Sea.
Pure objects are also categorized in two ways. They are called elements if they cannot be divided
further into other parts which have different characteristics. Gold, sulphur, iodine, and oxygen
are elements. We know 105 elements today. Pure objects which can be divided into parts which
have different characteristics are called composite objects. For example, sugar, rain water and
alcohol are composite objects. If sugar is exposed to fire, it will decompose into carbon, waterand some other parts. Furthermore, water can be divided into hydrogen and oxygen gases when it
is exposed to electrical energy in a known manner. Today we know millions of composite
objects. Composite objects are constructed by combining the atoms of two or more elements.
The same object can possess three states (i.e., solid, liquid and gaseous forms.) For example,
water is in its solid state when it is frozen; liquid state when it is water; and gaseous state when it
is vaporous. Gaseous state means it is like air and does not have a known volume or shape.
Simple objects or elements are divided into three groups:
1. Real minerals (also called metals.)
2. Non-minerals (also called ametals.)
3. Half minerals.
There are seventy-eight real minerals. Seventy-seven of them are in solid form at room
temperature. Only mercury is in liquid form at room temperature. Its boiling temperature is 357.3
degree Celsius and it becomes solid at -39.4 degree Celsius. When solid real minerals are
pounded by a hammer, they take sheet-metal form. They do not separate into dust-like pieces.
When atoms of metals combine with other atoms, they carry a positive electric charge. They
cannot carry negative electric charges. Therefore, two metals cannot combine with each other
because two metals which have positive charges do not attract each other. On the contrary, they
repel each other.
There are seventeen ametals. One of them is in liquid form; five of them are in solid form and
eleven of them are in gaseous form. When solid ametals are pounded by a hammer in a mortar,
they take a dust-like form. They do not take sheet-metal form. Pure charcoal is an ametal and is
called carbon in chemistry. When ametal atoms take the composite form by combining with
others, they can either be in positively charged form or negatively charged form. Therefore, a
few ametal atoms can combine together to form a molecule.
Composite objects are divided into two groups. Those which possess carbon and hydrogen atoms
simultaneously in their constitution are called organic materials. They can burn and are formed
in living beings. Recently, some of these materials were synthesized in laboratories and plants.
Fat, sugar, acetone, quinine are some of the examples for organic substances. Objects which do
not contain carbon and hydrogen simultaneously (namely hydrocarbons) in their constitution are
called inorganic objects. They exist on the shell of the earth and in the sea in a dissolved form.
Salt that is used in cooking, water, limestone, silica and sand are of this type.
All of these inanimate objects are mixed and combined in a special manner to form the basic
building block of living cells. Cells are a living thing. Animal cells differ from plant cells but
human cells are similar to animal cells. Living cells combine to form tissues while different
kinds of tissues combine to form organs. Various organs combine together to form systems. The
chain of cells-tissues-organs-systems as a whole combine together to form plants, animals, and
the physical body of human beings.]
All the existing things in the material domain are classified in three groups: inanimate objects,
plants, and animals. Among the animals, the human race is the most precious and honored
species of all. Among the different species of every class, there is an order of superiority. In
other words, one of the species is superior to others. The most superior species of a class shows
similarities to the lowest species of a higher class. Moreover, most of their attributes will be
identical. For example, coral looks similar to a stone which is an inanimate object but it
multiplies and grows like living creatures. Date palms and fly-catcher (Dionaea muscicapa) act
and sense like an animal. Some date palms are male and others are female. Male trees bend over
toward the females. Unless some matter passes from the male date palm to the female, shecannot produce her fruits. Even though all the plants have reproductive means and fecundation
takes place, it is more pronounced in date palms and looks like similar to what is in animals.
Moreover, there is a white section on the top of the date palm that functions like the heart of the
animal. If this white section is injured or is immersed under water for a while, the date palm dies.
In one hadith, it is reported that Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said, "Pay respect to your aunt,
date palm! Because, the first date palm was created from the clay that was left over from
the clay of Adam, peace be upon him." This may be an indication from the prophet that this
tree is the most supreme of the plant species.
The lowest species of the animal race is the sponge. They have a white color and live in the sea.
They have conscious movements. There are thousands of primitive animals who live in the
water. Among all creatures, there exists a better, more developed species over the primitive one.
The order of superiority among them is explained in biology books. Every species has different
feeding and self defense organs. For example, some of them have arrows to defend themselves,
others have teeth, claws, horns or wings. Some of them depend on their speed and some others
depend on cunning (fox). Every species with its peculiarities are protected. Numerous things that
bewilder human mind are given to them as abilities for survival. For example, bees like expert
engineers make octagonal honeycombs. If they were making their honeycomb in cylindrical
shape, there would be an extra space between each honeycomb which would be a waste. There is
no space waste in the shape of an octagonal prism. If it were in the shape of a rectangle, their
volume and space would be smaller. The octagonal-shaped honeycomb is the most efficient
object to work for the bees. Human beings can understand these things through education and
analytical mind. Those who are not educated in these matters cannot understand and appreciate
the intricate art demonstrated by these bees. Who instructed these bees? No doubt, Allahu ta’ala
is inspiring them. These days, this inspiration is called inner drive!
If we consider animals having various levels of superiority to one another, then the most superior
ones which are closest to human beings are horses, monkeys, elephants and parrots. Monkeys
and elephants have intelligence levels which are not much below from many human beings.
[Darwin, a geneticist, classified the various species of animals with respect to their superiorities
to one another and noted monkeys were the most superior of all the species. Some of the enemies
of Islam who pass themselves as progressive and enlightened men are in reality thick headed
science fanatics who assert Darwin said animals mutated from one species to another through
selective process until man evolved. They assert these types of absurdities to deny the creation of
Adam, peace be upon him, from clay and to deceive the Muslim youth. In reality, Darwin never
said that one animal species transforms to another. He did say there is an order of superiority in
the creation of animals. He writes that the ones in the lower level of creation become a foodstock
for the higher ones. This fact was observed and understood previously by Islamic scholars
and was recorded in their books. For example, Ali bin Amrullah, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased
with him, wrote in his book, the order of superiorities of animals with respect to each other. He
was born centuries before Darwin (916) and died in 979 Hijri [1570 A.D.]. It is apparent that
Darwin [1809-1890] read and culled his ideas from Islamic books.
Above the animals there exists the lowest levels of human beings. People who live in deserts,
jungles are of this kind. The most superior human beings live in cities located between the 23-66
latitutes.]
Furthermore, there are differences among human beings with respect to material and moral
standards, beyond and above the order of superiorities of creation. Some human beings put their
efforts and intelligence in the advancement of technology, thereby inventing new tools andmachinery. Others, in addition to technology, made progress in knowledge of reason and logic as
well as science and technology. The highest human beings made progress in science and
technology as well as in morals and ethics. They have reached the highest grade or level human
beings can attain. This grade is called "the grade of approaching Allahu ta’ala and establishing
closeness to Him." People who reach the highest grade strive to enlighten those who are in the
lower lavels in order to raise them to higher levels. The highest of all of these people are the
prophets, peace be upon them. They are honored by receiving messages and orders from Allahu
ta’ala through the archangel Gabriel. The messages and orders which came through the archangel
Gabriel are called revelation. The prophets showed human beings the way of progress and raised
their level of humanity by conveying the received revelations to them. This path of progress
shown by the prophets is called religion. The high grades which can be attained by human beings
who make progress in religion are higher than the grades of the angels.
The rank of prophethood has four degrees. The first one is the degree of "Nabi." Prophets at this
level are not given divinely revealed laws and commandments (Shari’at) but they implement the
prevailing divine laws (Shari’ats). The second degree is the degree of "Rasul." Prophets of this
degree are given new Divine Laws and commandments which are appropriate for the changing
times. The third degree is the degree of "Ulul'azm" prophets. Prophets at this level come at a new
epoch when times are desperate, the prevailing given divine law is forgotten and people are in
dire need of a new revelation. Prophets of this degree are Adam, Noah (Nuh), Abraham
(Ibrahim), Moses (Musa), Jesus (Isa), and Muhammad, peace be upon them. The fourth one is
the degree of "Seal of the Prophets" or the final prophet (Hatam al-Anbiya). This highest degree
is spared only for Hadrat Muhammad, peace be upon him. With the Divine address, "If it was
not you, if it was not you, I would not have created anything!" He was honored and praised
and this proves that the degrees of human beings are higher than the degrees of angels.
Degrees of human beings are exactly at the middle of the creation, i.e., angels, human beings and
animals. One who follows the commandments of Islam progresses and becomes higher than the
angels. The one who is deceived by his own soul and corrupt friends and separated from Islam
sinks to the lower levels. Because, as we have communicated earlier, the spirit is incorporeal and
the physical body is made up of matters which are substantially different in specific construction.
Human beings are similar to angels with respect to their spirit and similar to animals with respect
to construction of their physical bodies. Those who strengthen their spirit become higher than the
angels. Because, while their physical body draws them away from angels and pulls them toward
the animals, they resist this draw and temptation. Therefore, they make progress. Angels do not
have a construction which draws them to the animalhood. Their goodness comes from the
attribute of angelhood which they are created with.
People who choose to strengthen the physical body thus strengthen the soul sink lower levels
than the animals. Allahu ta’ala pointed out the evil nature of these types of persons in the 178th
verse of the chapter of "A'raf", and 44th verse of the chapter of "Furqan" of the Qur'an.
"Moreover, they are lower than the animals." Because, animals neither have intellect nor a
spirit like angels. Therefore, their draw for appetite would not be a guilt. Human beings are given
the light of wisdom. If they prefer to follow the desires of their soul, they become deviated and
lowly beings.
Mixtures, that is what the sons of Adam,
Made up from Angelhood and animalhood.
One who follows his angel,
Becomes higher than his angThose who become animal natured,
Become lower than all creatures!
The necessities of life such as air, food, water, clothing, shelter and mates are all created readily
for the survival of the animals.
[Among these necessities, the most immediate one is the air. They can't survive more than a few
minutes without it. They will die right away. If air was something which could be found by
searching, they could not live long enough to find it. Something that is this much of necessity is
created by Allahu ta’ala abundantly everywhere so they could fill their lungs instinctively and
naturally. Water is not as immediate a necessity as air for their survival. Human beings and
animals can survive without it for a period long enough to search for it. Thus, it becomes
necessary for them to strive to find it. Since animals do not have wisdom and do not cooperate
with each other, they neither prepare food nor clothing for themselves, nor do they cook their
food. Consequently, they either eat grass or carcass. They keep warm through their feathers,
down and hair. Tools of survival are created for them as part of their bodies. Therefore; they do
not need each other.
Human beings have to think about all those things and strive to obtain them. Unless they grind
seed, harvest it and make bread out of it, they cannot satisfy their hunger. Unless they spin
thread, weave and tailor, they cannot clothe themselves. Furthermore, they have to develop their
intelligence, learn scientific knowledge and establish industries and utilize technology in order to
protect themselves. Every animal possesses a superior quality above others. Human beings are
given in their construction all those superior qualities. They must work hard and use their
intelligence and wisdom to bring out these hidden superior qualities given to them. They hold the
keys to the happiness or disaster, depending on the use of their will power for good or evil. If
they use their intelligence and wisdom to find the path of happiness and strive on this path, the
innate hidden goodness will become apparent and will cause them to make progress toward
sublimity, rise from horizon to horizon and become co-mingled with angels to reach the consent
and love of Allahu ta’ala. Alternately, if they follow the desires of their soul, they will stay as
they were created, in the lower levels of animals. And, their fortune will turn around and they
will sink to the level lower than animals and finally go to hell.
Human beings are created with two capabilities. They need a master to teach them to recognize
their innate capacity and strive to strengthen this in order to rise high and make progress. Some
children are taught easily by advice, soft talk and gifts while others are taught by harsh treatment
and punishment. The master has to be good and understand the nature of the child and treat him
accordingly, either by soft or harsh talk in order to raise him properly. Unless there is a
competent master, the child cannot gain knowledge and morals to make progress. The master
who provides knowledge and morals saves the child from calamities and makes him a happy
person.]
SECOND SUPPLEMENT TO THE PREFACE
In this section, we will communicate the meaning of how the spirit makes progress toward higher
highs and sinks to the lower depths. Earlier, we have communicated things that cause the spirit to
rise or sink into the lower depths. In this section, we will expand and elaborate on these matters.
Every matter or substance has certain characteristics which are common to the other matters or
substances. The weight and volume are of this kind. In addition to these common characteristics,
every substance has specific characteristics peculiar unto itself in order to distinguish it from
others. For example, density, freezing and boiling temperatures are different for each matter. The
wave- length of light determines its color and so on. Similarly, living beings possess attributesqualities and characteristics specific to them. An example: the plant foxglove (in botanic, digitali
spurpurea) is recognized for its effect on the heart. It is well known that horses have specific
senses. They recognize their jockey and race for them. If horses didn't have this quality, they
would be used only for hauling loads like donkeys.
Human beings are similar to animals in many respects and similar to vegetation and inanimate
objects in some respects. However, we have many humanly 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 cannot associate our meaning with that concept here. 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. Thus, power of understanding
differentiates good nature from the disagreeable or good deeds from evil. Allahu ta’ala gave this
power to human beings so that they could recognize their creator. Spiritual heart and spirit, by
using this power studies the universe, earth, skies, [as well as laws of physics, chemistry, and
other activities pertaining to the human life], and thus comes to recognize the existence of Allahu
ta’ala and His superior attributes. Thus, by following the commandments and not performing the
prohibited actions in Islam, obtain the happiness of this and the next world and save his self from
disasters. The translation of the fifty-sixth verse of chapter "Zariyat" of the Qur'an is, "I created
human beings and jinns to worship me." The meaning of the phrase "to worship" is "to know
me." We are created to know and believe in our creator Allahu ta’ala.
The animal attributes of human beings, e.g., appetite and rage which make them resemble to
animals are due to their animal spirit. These animal attributes are unworthy of the human spirit.
These powers are stronger in animals than in humans. For example, cows and donkeys eat and
drink more than the humans. Pigs and birds have much more sexual power. Wolves and tigers
can fight and devour more than humans. Rats, dogs and cats can see in the dark and smell from a
distance. All these qualities cannot be an honor for the humans. If these qualities 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 spirits, namely, spiritual heart
and spirit. Humans through the power of knowledge and comprehension will understand real
superiorities and virtues and will practice these and protect themselves from evil.
Belief in Allahu ta’ala and knowing Him cannot be accomplished by means of superficial belief.
It could be accomplished by believing the meaning of six fundamental principles of belief
(Amantu). The fifth one of these principles is believing in doomsday and resurrection after death.
The unenlightened say, (It has been communicated that the blessings of the heaven are birds
meat, fruits, milk, pure honey, villas, virgins of heaven and similar things that give pleasure to
the physical body. These things satisfy appetite and animal desires. Since the happiness of the
spirit depends on the knowledge of Allahu ta’ala and things that are approved by the wisdom,
these things will be forgotten and the animal pleasures will supersede the pleasures of the spirit.
Therefore, doesn't this aforementioned view of things show that the highly-esteemed people of
the world like prophets, saints, and scholars will sink into the lowest levels like the animals?
Moreover, everything appears more glorified with its opposite. In order for the physical body to
enjoy the pleasures of heaven, it should suffer first. The physical body does not require anything
unless it is in desperate need. For example, when there are no pangs of hunger, 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 heaven, the physical bodypossibly enjoy those pleasures.) Avicenna, a famous philosopher raised in Muslim
culture, in his books Shifa and Najat, explained the Day of Judgement but in another book of his
named Muad communicated the opposite. Another scholar Nasiruddin al-Tusi, in his book Tajred
wrote about resurrection but in other parts he also contradicted what he had written earlier.
All believers unanimously communicated that the physical body will exist on the day of
judgement. But it is incorrect to assume that the blessings of heaven are only for the body. A
spirit in the world which starts to make progress will continue to progress even after it leaves the
body until the Day of Judgement. In heaven, the construction of the body will be appropriate for
the eternal life and will be different from the one on earth. It will accommodate eternal living.
Life after death will start with the rejoining of the spirit with that physical body created for
eternity. The spirit and the body will have different pleasures there. Those who made progress in
the world will give more priority to the pleasures of the spirit. The pleasures of the spirit will be
much more than the pleasures of the body. Among the blessings of heaven, the pleasure of seeing
Allahu ta’ala will be the ultimate pleasure for the spirit. It has been written that it is permissible
for some of the elect people like gnostics to enter the spirit'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 while we are on earth. The pleasures of heaven are different from
pleasures of the earth. They are unlike the worldly pleasures. Allahu ta’ala created some
pleasures on earth which look like the pleasures of heaven in order for us to get a taste or feel of
heavenly pleasures through comparison. Then, He ordered us to work and strive to obtain those
pleasures. Getting pleasures in the heaven do not require enduring troubles in the world. The
construction of the body in heaven 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 heaven will have a construction
which will last forever. The similarity between the two is like the similarity of a man and his
reflection in the mirror. The human mind cannot understand existent constructions of the things
in the heaven. The mind can only comprehend things that could be understood through its
sensory organs or the like. One will be led astray and into disaster if he tries to compare and
liken the affairs and pleasures of heaven to worldly ones and start to debate about these matters
through logic. It is absurd and invalid to derive judgement for an unknown phenomenon by
comparing them to known phenomenon.
Some of the Sufi masters and many scholars say that in the material domain there exists a third
world called world of likeness (Alam al-misal). This third world is not made of material objects
as we know it {It is not made out of atoms.} It is not like the spiritual world either,e.g. it is not
made out of non-material things. It is somewhere in between. The creatures in that world
resemble the creatures of this world with respect to their constitution being made up of things
that can be divided into smaller things. They do not resemble to this world because they do not
have weight and they do not occupy space. All material things and meanings existing in this
world have likeness in that world. Water's likeness is the same as the water there. Knowledge in
this world has the likeness of milk in that world. good temperament and good deeds have the
likeness of tasteful things such as watermelon, flowers and other fruit. 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 leading Sufi masters, that world is also further divided into two divisions. If
these masters enter into 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 imaginationor through other internal sense organs but occurs naturally, it is called "the absolute world of
likeness" [Maktubat of Imam ar-Rabbani, second volume, 58th letter has a lengthy discussion
about world of likeness. Translation of this long letter can be found in the Turkish book Se’adat-i
Ebediyye, first section, 39th article.] Some of the Sufi masters communicated that they have
entered into that world through implementing self-disciplinary actions and reported their vision
of that world. Religious scholars also confirmed the existence of this third world and
communicated some of its secrets. Abdullah Ibn al-Abbas, may Allahu ta’ala be well pleased
with him, said, "There exists another world beside this world we know. Everything in this world
has likeness in that world. Even there is another Abbas like me in that world."
Some leading Sufi specialists say that when death occurs, the spirit leaves the body. The good
deeds done by a person while 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 spirit who does good deeds and has a good nature prepares those pleasures he will
enjoy in heaven and takes them there. Disbelievers and sinners prepare the fire and the
punishments of hell and take them there. The spirit, while living in this world cannot
comprehend the load that he is carrying. His attachment to the physical body and also his
involvement with the worldly affairs hold him back from reaching that understanding. However,
when the spirit leaves the body, these reasons do not hold him back any longer. He starts to see
the true nature of things, like the good and bad loads that he was carrying and their true
manifestations. The human life on earth looks like the state of a drunk man. death is the sobering
up of a drunk man. While a man is drunk, people who love him tell him things or give him
presents or possibly evil things happen to him. He does not feel any of these things because of
his state of mind. But, once he sobers up, he understands everything. This situation is similar to
the states of the world of likenesses. Sa'daddin-i Taftazani, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased with
him, in his book Sharh al-Makasid, after explaining the world of likenesses, says that since these
things cannot be proven, the real scholars did not pay much attention to them. He refers the real
scholars with the meaning that those who have the capacity to comprehend things that could be
understood through reasoning. He should have understood that, since he follows so much
reasoning, he should not refuse things on the basis of the probability of being possible or
impossible. Furthermore, Avicenna, who is a leading authority in logical reasoning said, "One
should not say something is not possible if one cannot prove that it cannot be done. Because,
claiming something as 'not possible' without proving it, looks like the shameful act of one's not
believing in things which he cannot understand."
Shihabud-din al-Shuhrawardi, may Allahu ta’ala be pleased with him, said, "Astronomers say
that millions of stars come together and form a system. Every system moves in space without
any disruption. Their saying is accepted by the people without seeing it. Similarly, the words of
the Sufi masters regarding the world of likenesses and the spirits should also be accepted without
seeing it." It is correct to believe in the teachings of the people who communicate and inform us
(e.g., such as Sufi masters who inform about the third world.) But it is wrong to believe in the
teachings of people who deny the existence of the third world.
[A man who posseses reason and scientific knowledge immediately understands and can prove
existence and oneness of Allahu ta’ala. Believing in the next world (Akhirat) is not similar. We
believe in the next world because it has been communicated to us by Allahu ta’ala.]
