Visiting of Shrines

                              

We have seen in article “Aulia Allah” that ‘Aulia Allah’ are those blessed people who succeed in attaining a certain levels of spiritual elevations. Some of them are given responsibility to manage world affairs; it is just like recruiting/selecting civil officers to manage government’s affairs. Like civil officers function within the limits of laws/rules, ‘Aulia’ function within limits as contained in Quran and elaborated in sunnah. The minimum qualification for ‘Aulia’ is to be ‘saleh’/pious. 

We have also seen in article “Patterns of Spiritual Elevations”, that various virtues have been mentioned in Quran and sunnah; some virtues are  apparent e.g. virtues pertaining to Aabid, Zahid, Aalim, Zakir, munfiq, muttaqi, khasheh; some virtues are hidden e.g. virtues pertaining to mumin, sabir, mutahhir, muhsin, mutawakkil. 

The first level of spiritual elevation is pertaining to ‘saleheen’. When a person has attained a certain degree of apparent and hidden virtues, as contained in Quran and sunnah, he is graced with first level of spiritual elevation i.e. level of saleheen. Saleheen are those people who do their deeds for Allah’s sake (following Nabi (saw).  

The second level of spiritual elevation is relating to ‘shaheed’. A shaheed is always a ‘saleh’ as well, and has attained apparent and hidden virtues which are qualification for a saleh. But a shaheed is different from saleh in the sense that a shaheed always does the job of ‘ amr bilmaroof wa nahi anel munkar’- he always commands for good things and forbids from bad things. When a ‘saleh’ attains a certain degree in the job of commanding for the good and forbidding from the bad, he is graced with the level of ‘shahadat’.

The third level of spiritual elevation is associated with ‘siddique’. A ‘siddique’ is always a saleh and shaheed as well and has attained apparent and hidden virtues which are qualifications for a saleh or shaheed. A siddique is different from ‘saleh’ and ‘shaheed’ in the sense that a ‘siddique’ testifies intellectually what is mentioned in the revealed knowledge (Quran and Sunnah). When a shaheed obtains a certain degree in the job of testifying the revealed knowledge intellectually, he is bestowed with level of ‘siddiqiat’.

We have also seen in article “ Concept of Life and Death in Quran” that when a Muslim acts upon directions of Allah and His Messenger (saw), he shows his capability to obey Allah and His Messenger (saw); and such capability is called ‘life’. The more a person acts upon the directions of Allah and His Messenger (saw), the greater ‘life’ he owns. Similarly more a person violates directions of Allah and His Messenger (saw), the lesser ‘life’ he owns. If a person continues violating directions of Allah and His Messenger (saw), ultimately he becomes totally devoid of capability of obeying Allah and His Messenger (saw) and ultimately he becomes ‘dead’ (not physically dead).

 

Some People remain alive even after physical death. Quran says: “And do not say about those who are killed in the way of Allah , "They are dead." Rather, they are alive, but you perceive [it] not (al-baqra-154).  It does not mean physical death does not occur to ‘shuhuda’; it does occur to them, but despite physical death they are blessed with capability of obeying Allah and His Messenger (saw); that is why they are called ‘alive’. In the ranking of blessed people ‘shuhuda’ come after ‘siddiqueen’ (al-nisa-69); it means all of them are alive even after passing through this apparent earthly life.   Quran says about such people: " It is Allah that takes the souls  at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep. Those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (forward for second life) for a term appointed verily in this are Signs for those who reflect (al-zumar-42).

  This verse describes that Allah takes souls of all persons who die. He also takes souls of those who do not die during their sleep. He withholds (from second life) souls of those who have been decreed as dead; and those who have not been decreed as dead are sent (forward for second life).   It may be noted that after earthly life, human soul is moved into 'uqba' (for details plz see my article ' Journey of Human Soul'); all souls in 'uqba'  live according to natural laws existing in the world of 'uqba'. Some souls in 'uqba' are declared alive and others are declared as dead. Out of such souls which are declared alive, some souls are allowed to interact with this earthly world. But all alive souls in 'uqba' are not allowed to interact with this earthly life/world.  Such alive souls out of 'uqba world' which are allowed to interact with this apparent earthly life/world are called 'Aulia Allah'; these are souls of 'saleheen', 'shuhuda', 'siddiqueen'.  (for details plz see my article ' Aulia Allah').

In short, ‘saleheen’, ‘shuhuda’ and ‘siddiqueen’ (which all are Aulia) are alive. Some of these 'aulia' are entrusted with/managing world’s affairs. The  fact that ‘Aulia’ are entrusted with world’s affairs is testified by sufi scholars of the status no lesser than hazrat Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) and hazrat Data sahib (ra).

Hazrat Data sahib (ra) has described the ‘Aulia’ entrusted with/managing world’s affairs as “workers imposing Allah’s Will/ “karqunan-e-qaza-o-qadr”. In other words, the ‘Aulia’ which are charged with managing world’s affairs act like angels; like angels play role of implementing Allah’s Will, ‘Aulia’ charged with managing world’s affairs also play the role of implementing Allah’s Will. It does not mean that every act done by a ‘Wali’ is done after receiving Allah’s Will; 'aulia' also do many acts without receiving Allah's Will. The more actions by a ‘wali’ to implement Allah’s Will, the greater ‘wali’ he is. An angel implements Allah’s Will because he is by design created for that purpose; but ‘wali’ implements Allah’s Will by choice. After passing through physical death,   'aulia' implement only Allah's Will; after physical death, they cannot do any act without receiving Allah's Will while interacting with people.

The question arises if ‘Aulia’ are charged with managing world’s affairs, can we pray to them or not? The reply is negative. As we cannot pray to angels, we cannot pray to ‘Aulia’. In fact 'dua'/ praying is only made to an entity who is considered as Deity; an entity who is not considered as deity cannot be prayed to. There are so many  Quranic verses which forbid from praying to any entity other than Allah. Praying/'dua' to an entity other than Allah is not allowed; it is ‘shirk’.

  As ‘aulia’ are the people implementing Allah’s Will, and Muslims do not take them as deities, there is no point of praying to ‘aulia’; aulia’s role is just to receive Allah’s Will and implement it. But as ‘aulia’ are alive, we can request them at their shrines to pray to Allah for our needs; because aulia are alive, they can listen to our request and pray to Allah accordingly.  In other words, in no case we are allowed to pray to ‘aulia’, but we can request them to pray to Allah for us.  

Contraction of Time into Single Moment

              

We have already seen in my article ‘Time Travel’ that Time and space are considered as a twin and interdependent phenomenon. Time may be defined as a distance between two points in space. Simply speaking, if a person moves from point A to point B, the duration required for space travelled/ covered between points A and B may be called Time to reach from A to B. In other words, if space between A and B is expanded, the time to reach from A to B will be expanded; and if the space between A and B is contracted/condensed, time to reach from A to B will be shortened. It means same event (in this case moving from A to B) will require more (expanded) time to happen, if space is expanded; as that event will require lesser time to happen, if space is condensed/ contracted. 

We have also seen in the same article “ Time Travel”  that events happen quicker on 1st sky as we move from 1^st sky to upper skies; it means space starts contracting/ condensing as we move from seventh sky to 1^st sky. In other words, space starts expanding as we move from 1st sky to upper skies. It means both time and space contract more on earth as we move from 1^st sky to upper skies. Therefore we have seen in the same article that al-maarij-3,4 suggest  that by spending a few hours in upper skies, we can see the events happening in future hundreds of years on earth. It means we can draw conclusion that mankind can travel in time by travelling from 1^st sky to upper skies; this is what has been actually done by Hazrat Muhammad (saw) during ‘journey of Meraj’.

We have also seen in the same article that one day at seventh sky is equal to fifty thousand years on earth. In other words, the events occurring in fifty thousand years on earth are seen to be happened in one day/24 hours in seventh sky. In other words, one second spent in the seventh sky would be equal to 211.22 days spent on earth; it means the events which are seen to be happened in one second in seventh sky would happen in 211.22 days on earth.

If events happening in 211.22 days on earth can be seen to be happened in one second in seventh sky, from the same analogy it seems possible that all events happening from beginning to end of this world can happen in a single moment in such a frame of Time and Space which exists separately from the frames of time and space of seven skies. Allah who is not bound to operate keeping within ambits of Time and Space in seven skies. Quran says about process of creation: “For to anything which We have willed, We but say the word, "Be", and it is” (al-nahl-40).  From this verse it is evident that anything which is willed by Allah happens forthwith. It is possible only in such frame of Time and Space which exists separately from the frames of time and space of seven skies.

We can conclude that Time and space may be expanded/contracted to such a  point  where all events happening from beginning to end of this world may happen in a single moment of time.This testifies our Messenger's (saww) saying that Allah is done with process of creation and its allied matters.

Modes of Human Trial and Levels of Consciousness

    

Allah tries every human and group of humans through ‘khaira’/ the good or through ‘sher’/ the bad. If man responds to such trial with ‘hasana’/ pious deed, he is declared successful; if he responds to such trial with sin/ ‘esm’, he is declared failed. Actually it is trial of human soul, which is conducted through human body.

Allah tests a human being sometimes by presenting something good/ ‘khaira’ to him; and sometimes by presenting something bad/ ‘sher’ to him. In both cases, if human being’s reaction is in the form of pious deed/ ‘hasana’, he is declared successful in his trial; if reaction is in the form of bad deed/sin, he is declared failed.

Human body and human soul exist in pair. Human body contains all the potentialities contained by pairing soul. The greater human body actualizes its potentialities, the more it acts like its pairing soul. Human body does not act on its own; it acts according to dictations of its soul. In fact, human soul acts through human body. (for details plz see my article ‘ Reality of Human Soul’ ). 

According to one scientific notion, all human senses (seeing, hearing, smelling etc) are connected with specific portions of brain. A person cannot see or hear any physical thing, if concerned portions of brain are not functioning properly. It means we cannot see even our own body, if our brain’s concerned portion is not working properly. In other words, a person’s body does not exist, if concerned portion of that person’s brain does not see that body. The question arises if all physical things do not exist permanently and their existence depends upon brain’s proper functioning (brain itself being a physical entity does not exist permanently), then whom human senses belong to. The scientific theory concludes that these human senses actually belong to human soul. In other words, what is presented to human being for purpose of trial is actually presented to human soul. The trial is not meant for human body; it is meant for human soul. Though, of course, this trial is done through human body.

Through this trial of human soul, everything good or bad in a human soul is made apparent to him /her.   Quran describes rationale of this whole creation as “it is so because you could be made apparent to yourself”. In other words, whole system of creation has been created to make human being’s inner goodness or badness known to him/her.

This goodness or badness was created in human being when at ‘youm-e-alst’ Allah asked all human beings whether they accepted Him their Lord. Quran says:

“And when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants, and made them bear witness against their own souls: “Am I not your Lord”? They said: Yes! we bear witness. Lest you should say on the day of resurrection: Surely we were ignorant of this” (al-aaraf-172).

From this above verse it is clear this witness was given by men of blood and bones; it was not given by human souls. It is a misconception this witness was given by human souls. This verse clearly states that human beings made this witness when they had been created from backs of their elders; in other words, witness was made when human beings had been begotten by their parents. It is obvious that souls do not give birth to their children; it is human of blood and bones which gives birth to his/her children.

 Every human being gives witness to Allah’s Lordship when he/she has been created but still is within mother’s womb.

As the witness has been made by all human beings ever born and yet to be born, the question arises how all human beings can make witness together when they are not born together. The answer is that Allah is All Powerful; Allah is not bound by time boundaries. Allah can combine all distant incidents and make all distant incidents happen in a single moment. (plz see for details my article " Contraction of Time into Single Moment).

When Allah made all human beings give witness about His Lordship, all human beings gave witness to that effect. All human beings accepted/ submitted that Allah is their Lord, but the submissions by all human beings to Allah was not at equal levels; this submission to Allah’s Lordship by more pious people was greater than that by lesser pious people.  Similarly every human being submitted to Allah’s Lordship variably in various matters/incidents which he was to face in future life. The objective behind Allah’s question was to know how much they would submit to Allah in their life matters; the reply by the people showed how much they would submit to Allah in various incidents in their life. These various levels of submission shown by individual(s) to Allah’s Lordship in various incidents of life are called intention/‘neyyat’; every individual expresses these intentions when he/she is still within mother’s womb. When child takes birth, he/she forgets about his pledge of submission to Allah or his/her intentions of submission in various life matters. 

In psychological terms, these intentions are called unconscious level of human mind. These intentions or unconscious mind are not part of living memory of individual; these are part of forgotten memory. It is these intentions or unconscious mind which is made apparent to every individual during his/her life span. In other words, the levels of submission shown by individual on ‘youm-e-alst’ to Allah’s Lordship in future life incidents are made apparent to him in his life span. That is why every individual is liable to get punishment or reward for only such deeds which are based on his/her intentions, as our Nabi (saw) states that “ deeds are based on intentions/ ‘neyyat’.

As mentioned above, the intentions of submission to Allah, made on ‘youm-e-alst’, are part of forgotten memory of individual. In psychological terminology, these intentions are unconscious mind of individual; intentions are first level of human consciousness. The Quran has mentioned this first level of human conscious in al-anaam-3 which states “And He is Allah , [the only deity] in the heavens and the earth. He knows what is concealed in you and what is known of you, and He knows that which you earn”.     

In this verse, three things have been mentioned: the concealed from/in the  individual; apparent to the individual; and actions of the individual. The concealed in individual is not only concealed from other people but also concealed from individual himself; it is intention/ ‘neyyat’ which is neither action nor apparent to individual. Another mention about the fact that intentions are primarily hidden and not known to individual has been made in sura al-taghabun-4.

When intention becomes known to individual, it becomes individual’s  wish. This is the second level of human conscious which is called sub-conscious or preconscious. Allah says:

“And you do not will except that Allah wills. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise” al-insaan-30).

From this verse it is clear that individual’s wish comes into existence, only if Allah wills it so; in other words, without Allah’s permission, individual cannot come to know about his intentions. At sub-conscious level, human first time comes to know about his/her intention; at this level human intention becomes his desire.

When individual acts to actualize its wishes, the third level of human mind operates, which is called conscious. Human action may be physical action (performed through body) or mental action (thinking to act). The difference between sub-conscious and conscious is that at sub-conscious level, human first time comes to know about his intention without his conscious effort; but at the conscious level, human consciously thinks to act as per his desire or actually acts as per his desire. 

We can conclude that there are three levels of human consciousness- intentions; wishes; and actions. Intentions in human being were developed on 'yum-e-alst', when man made witness to Allah's Lordship but in varying degree in various matters to be faced in his future life. In this way man developed his intentions as to what extent he will submit to Allah's Lordship in various life matters. These intentions become hidden from the concerned individual, when he takes birth. When Allah wills it so, He makes the individual known to his intention; when intention becomes known to individual, it becomes his desire/wish. When individual tries to actualize his wishes, he commits actions.  Man is neither punished nor rewarded for his intentions because intentions are hidden from the individual. According to one hadith, individual is rewarded for his good wishes but it is grace of Allah that he is not punished for bad wishes until he acts upon such wishes. Similarly individual is rewarded or punished for his good or bad actions respectively.

Islam-system of moderation

                    

Islam is a ‘deen’/ system of moderation. Islam emphasizes moderation to such an extent that excess is not permitted even in the way of good deeds. In Quranic terminology, word ‘zanb’ (pl. ‘zanoob’) includes two kinds of actions; the first are those excesses which are done in the way of bad deeds; second are those excesses which are done in the way of good deeds (e.g. to bequeath away all property, or to offer prayers whole night without sleeping etc.) The first kind of actions are termed as sins; whereas the second kind of actions are also not permitted in Islamic system.

Quran says:

“Say: O my servants! who have acted excessively (asrafu) against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah; surely Allah forgives the ‘zunoob’ altogether; surely He is the Forgiving the Merciful” (al-zumar-53).

Sins are essentially excesses in the way of bad deeds. But in this verse, the excesses mentioned are not necessarily excesses in the way of bad deeds; these may be also excesses in the way of good deeds. The examples of excesses in the way of good deeds are numerous e.g. to humiliate himself in the way of Allah; not to get married to commit himself fully to good deeds; to borrow money excessively to spend in the way of Allah; to bequeath his property leaving nothing or less to his heirs; to be fasting daily without intervals (other than in Ramadhan); to spend whole nights for prayers without sleeping etc.  all such excesses are not permitted in Islam. 

The criteria to judge whether or not an act is excessive is our Nabi’s (saw) Sunnah; what is permissible in sunnah is not excessive; all the rest is excessive- good or bad excessive. 

Allah has already forgiven our Nabi’s (saw) ‘zunoob’ ( excesses in the way of good deeds) (al-fath-2). That is why, according to one Hadith, on the Day of Judgment, Hazrat Jesus (as) would ask the people to approach our Nabi (saw) to request to Allah for early ‘hisaab’, because our Nabi’s (saw)  ‘zunoob’ (excesses in the way of good deeds) have already been forgiven. To request to Allah for early ‘hisaab’ of people on Judgment Day could be excess in the way of good deed; that is why people would approach our Nabi (saw) for making that request to Allah.

The word ‘zanb’/pl. ‘zunoob’ has also been used in Quran at many places to express excesses in the way of bad deeds (sins). Sometimes both meanings (i.e. excess for the good and excess for the bad) may be inferred.

The Muslims have been called as moderate Ummah. “Thus,  We made of you a balanced/moderate ummah, that you will be witnesses over the nations…” (al-baqra-143).

Because Muslims are moderate ummah in their faith and actions to be done, that is why they will be witnesses over disbelieving people who are not moderate in their faith and actions to be done. It means there is no room in Islam for anything which is not moderate one. This fact must not be picked up to malign Jihad/qattal. Jihad/qattal are essential part of Muslims’ moderate outlook to life and outlook to world. In Islam Jihad/qattal are undertaken to rectify the imbalances created or likely to be created in individual’s life and world at large.