** - Islam: A Deen of Action

 

 

 Islam: A Deen of Action

It is the purpose of man to share in the deeper aspirations of the universe around him and to shape his own destiny as well as that of the universe, now by adjusting himself to its forces, now by putting the whole of his energy to mold its forces to his own ends and purposes. And in this process of progressive change God becomes a co-worker with him, provided man takes the initiative:

 

‘Verily God will not change the condition of men, till they change what is in themselves’ (13:11).

 

If human does not take the initiative, if he does not evolve the inner richness of his being, if he ceases to feel the inward push of advancing life, then the spirit within him hardens into stone and he is reduced to the level of dead matter. But his life and the onward march of his spirit depend on the establishment of connections with the reality that confronts him. It is knowledge that establishes these connections, and knowledge is sense-perception elaborated by understanding.

 

Allah SWT says in Surah A-An'am Ayah 135:

 

قُلْ يَا قَوْمِ اعْمَلُوا عَلَىٰ مَكَانَتِكُمْ إِنِّي عَامِلٌ ۖ فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ مَن تَكُونُ لَهُ عَاقِبَةُ الدَّارِ ۗ إِنَّهُ لَا يُفْلِحُ الظَّالِمُونَ

 

Say, "O my people, work according to your position; [for] indeed, I am working. And you are going to know who will have succession in the home. Indeed, the wrongdoers will not succeed.

 

 

 

*** 

The Reward of Man

 

The ‘unceasing reward’ of man in Qur'an consists in his gradual growth in self-possession, in uniqueness, and intensity of his activity in controlling all that comes to him to divert him away from the right path.

 

Even the scene of ‘Universal Destruction’ immediately preceding the Day of Judgement cannot affect the perfect calm of a full-grown ego:

‘And there shall be a blast on the trumpet, and all who are in the heavens and all who are in the earth shall faint away, save those in whose case God wills otherwise’ (39:68).

 

Who can be the subject of this exception but those in whom the ego has reached the very highest point of intensity?The ‘unceasing reward’ of man in Qur'an consists in his gradual growth in self-possession, in uniqueness, and intensity of his activity in controlling all that comes to him to divert him away from the right path.

 

Even the scene of ‘Universal Destruction’ immediately preceding the Day of Judgement cannot affect the perfect calm of a full-grown ego:

 

‘And there shall be a blast on the trumpet, and all who are in the heavens and all who are in the earth shall faint away, save those in whose case God wills otherwise’ (39:68).

 

Who can be the subject of this exception but those in whom the ego has reached the very highest point of intensity?

 

***

 

On Revelation

 

Dr. Allama Iqbal, poet and philosopher was once asked by Professor Lucas, Principal of a local college, in a private discourse, whether, despite his vast learning, he too subscribed to belief in verbal revelation, Allama Iqbal immediately replied that it was not a matter of belief with him but a veritable personal experience for it was thus, he added, he composed his poems under the spells of poetic inspiration - surely, Prophetic revelations are far more exalted.

 

***