The most desirable thing in Islam is the purification of the individual. In other words, the intellectual or spiritual development of the individual is in accordance with God’s creation plan. Understanding and following the Quran and Hadith are the means for such intellectual or spiritual development. The more one contemplates these sources, the stronger one’s intellectual foundations for inner spiritual purification become. We must remember a ‘psychological aspect’ of purification or intellectual development. The Prophet said that every child is born according to nature. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1292) Then he gets conditioned in the environment he lives in. There are different kinds of pressures in the environment which influence his personality. In modern terms, this influence is called conditioning. In time, this conditioning can be so intense as to suppress a man’s true personality. He then deviates from the original nature that he is born with. However, man possesses willpower. His independent willpower is a part of his personality even after superficial conditioning. That is why it is always possible for a man to de-condition and return to the original nature he was born with. The Quran uses the word Tazkiyah, purification of the self, to refer to this process of intellectual and spiritual development. One removes the superficial conditioning to reveal man’s true nature through tazkiyah, purification. The Quran gives the good news that “Paradise is for those who purify themselves”. (20:76)
A common question in the minds of people is regarding how can they receive divine inspiration. In Islam two terms are used to convey this: Wahi and Ilham or Ilqa. While Wahi means revelation, Ilham or Ilqa mean inspiration from God. Revelation can be received only by prophets whereas Divine inspiration is for all. Since inspiration is for everybody, we need to think as to how to receive it as inspiration is the highest form of realisation or marefat.
Very recently MWK had an experience. A man had come to meet MWK; he told him that he had just returned from Nigeria after six months. There are various movements in which people travel around the world, earlier they confined themselves to India but now they even go abroad. MWK asked him about the amount he spent in the expedition. He replied saying that he had spent Rs. 60,000. MWK responded to this by saying: “you have committed 60,000 sins.” Then he told him that he had spent his money at the wrong place; there is a lot of dawah work to be done here in India among many people therefore, he should have focused himself here rather than spending money there. Two of MWK’s companions: Maulana Zakwan Nadvi and Maulana Naseem Ahmed Nadvi were also there. After vehemently speaking against his spending of that huge amount of money, MWK went away. The other two companions stayed behind and pacified the man who had come to meet MWK. Later, Maulana Naseem went to the place where the man lived and asked for forgiveness on behalf of MWK; they both started crying and the man was pacified.
For the next three days, MWK observed that he, unusually, did not receive inspiration from God. MWK receives inspiration everyday. He started to ponder over the reason behind this. Also he was continuously praying for that man as he discovered that he was wrong in speaking to that man so vehemently. He realised that nobody has the right to speak rudely to anybody; even if our stand is correct. We have no right to speak rudely as the other person also carries respect. Subsequently, MWK also wrote a letter of forgiveness to that man. Consequently, he discovered the reason for his not receiving inspirations:
If you turn your back to man, then God turns His back to you.
MWK got inspiration after the three days, which went without inspiration. He realized that though when Adam ate the fruit of the forbidden tree God became angry with him, but His blessings continued on him.
MWK was sitting on his balcony and was asking for forgiveness from God. There he observed the shadow of the tree falling on the ground. Shadow is common phenomenon which goes unnoticed. The shadow made MWK remember the following verse:
Quran: “Do you not see how God lengthens the shadow? If He wished, He could have caused it to standstill.” (25:45)
The shadow of any object faces eastward when the sun rises, but as the sun sets, the shadow turns towards the west. During the interval when the sun rises and then sets, the shadow keeps lengthening in size. This is a very common experience, but it made MWK discover the greatness of God. The phenomenon of shadow can be understood through the universal activities. Firstly, it is a property of light that it cannot pass through any opaque object; therefore whenever an opaque object stands between the earth and the sun (the source of light), then that object fails to be illuminated; therefore a shadow of that object is formed on the earth. Secondly, it is a unique quality of the planet earth that it revolves round the sun and also rotates on its own axis. The rotation of the earth on its axis leads to the lengthening of the shadow as the day passes; also this rotation causes the shadow to be formed on the east when sun rises and in the west when sun sets. These universal activities, happening on a very gigantic scale cause the shadow, as told in the Quran, to lengthen.
The solar system has sun in the middle with all other planets revolving around it. The span of this system is so great that no telescope has been able to focus the whole of it; we can only see parts of the solar system at a time. This scale of objects and activities in the universe help us discover the greatness of God who is managing or controlling the entire universe without the slightest of defects. This realisation to MWK happened as an inspiration from God.
What is Divine Inspiration?
To be able to discover the unknown in known is what happens through divine inspiration. MWK was able to discover from a much known phenomenon, as shadow, the greatness of God.
While on the balcony, he observed an ant crawling on the railing. He thought that there are so many objects; almost a whole world around the ant but it is unaware of it. For example, the ant is unaware of the existence of the great Himalayan Mountains. The ratio between man and God is much greater than the ratio between Himalayan Mountains and an ant. Thus, man can discover God only in a partial sense.
There is a concept among Sufis to see God - Muraqba. According to them, Prophet Muhammad saw God therefore they can also see God. Hazarat Ayesha, Prophet’s wife, who is considered to be wisest of all the Sahabas, has this to say about those who believe that the Prophet had seen God: “They who say that the Prophet saw God are lying…”
Hence, it is ridiculous to say that man can see God, we can only discover or realise God.
Whatever is man’s ‘amal’ [action], it is less to realise God. We cannot realise God at the level of amal; but MWK had always believed that God can nevertheless be realised at the level of discovery or marefat.
According to a Hadith, the Prophet once said:
“O! God we cannot do your worship as is your right to be worshipped.”
The above Hadith implies that we cannot realise God at the level of our amal, however it was MWK’s belief that we can realise God completely at the level of discovery. However, now MWK has discovered that we cannot even realise God at the level of our discovery. The above Hadith includes or can be extended to the case of discovery; that is, we cannot even discover God as is His right.
There is only one thing which is attainable by man and that is to be able to discover your helplessness (Ijz). If man discovers this, he discovers everything.
A top British actress, at the peak of her career, was diagnosed with cancer. When the doctor informed her, she said, “People plan their weddings, I am planning my funeral.”
This is the case of everyone; they plan happiness and ultimately meet with frustration.
The discovery of ‘Kamil Ijz’ and acknowledgement of one’s limitations and helplessness is the certificate to paradise. Man must discover that without attaining this level of discovery, he is like an inflated balloon. When the air is taken out of it, it gets deflated; similarly man is cut to size when he discovers his limitations. God wants man to realise his helplessness. “Man cut to size,” this does away with superiority complex, negative thought, malice and hate. When man is cut to size, then alone he will be able to develop connection with God.
Just in the way wood is a bad conductor of electricity and won’t be able to transmit it; in the same manner, if man is arrogant, he’ll become a bad conductor for divine inspirations. A good conductor for divine inspirations is modesty, which comes when man is cut to size. Those who do not receive divine inspiration are full of confusion and there is no clarity in their thought. Also creativity [not in the conventional sense of referring only to artists, but a broader term incorporating thinkers and philosophers] can arise from inspiration; man is dependent on God for everything, not only for food and water but even for right thinking.
The companions of the Prophet were able to understand things profoundly. This was a result of divine inspiration. A companion once said “You have to accept lesser evil so that you don’t face greater evil.” This saying can be understood from the following example: in yesterday’s newspaper there was a report of a procession. The people involved in it, passed a mosque and, naturally the noise of their yelling the slogans reverberated through the mosque. The Muslims became agitated at this saying that it was an insult to the mosque. Due to this wrong notion of theirs, they entered into a brawl with the rally and this further led to a riot. The Muslims were at fault because accepting the noise and letting the rally pass was lesser evil than engaging into a fight with the rally; which obviously wasted their time and energy.
Hazarat Omar said, “He is not a wise man who knows only good and bad things. A wise man is one knows what is lesser evil and what is greater evil.”
This saying means that man has no option between all good and all bad, but between lesser evil and greater evil. There is a tradition of the companions of the companions:
“Sahabas were not those who were affected by big talks; they laid emphasis on Amal.”
This tradition throws light over the issue that today people run only after ‘talks’. They get all the attention – from leadership to media. However, the contentious issue here is that if man’s intelligence suffices, the why is that all of us not get to know about it and get such inspirations? This explains why the same bunch of people who began to understood and say profound and wise talks after embracing Islam were once into darkness [during the Dark Ages.]
Secret of Getting Divine Inspiration
The secret of receiving the divine inspiration is to realize our helplessness with respect to the all-powerfulness of God. It is this ‘IJZ’ that enables us to get inspiration.
A man from Syria once came to meet Caliph Omar. Caliph Omar lived a very simple lifestyle and an ordinary man. When the Syrian had come to meet him, he was outside searching for a lost camel. Another person directed the Syrian to where Caliph Omar was searching for the camel. When the man found Omar, he asked him what he was doing there. The Caliph replied that he was looking for a camel. Then the man from Syria asked why he did not ask a servant to this task? Caliph Omar replied saying, “Who is a greater servant than me?” This saying indicates that Caliph Omar realised his helplessness in front of God. The inspirations, which the companions received from God led them to understand things of profound importance.
There is always disparity among men for example some are physically strong while others are mentally. Disparity is the killer of the realisation of helplessness; man compares himself with those who have lesser than him and hence develops superiority complex and arrogance. In such a situation, man should compare himself with God and not with man; this comparison would lead to the development of modesty.
Consciously or unconsciously man compares himself with other men. With right comparison there is helplessness and with wrong comparison there is superiority. Therefore, man should rightfully discover himself with respect to God, that’s the right comparison. If you want to live as “man cut to size,” then save yourself from wrong comparison and do right comparison. According to a Hadith, man should compare himself with those who lesser than him rather than those who have more than him. Man should consistently do his introspection or deconditioning. It would yield result only if he does it in an objective way.
