Author: Sayyed Muslih ad-din
Prayer and Its Significance in Islam (Part Two)
Man is a Mysterious and Contradictory Creature
In the heavenly books, there are expressions and references that science and experience have testified to their accuracy. They describe this creature, the nature on which it was created, and the contradictory and finite aspects that compose its essence. Despite the many creatures that exist, there is no creature more precise, profound, surprising, mysterious, and contradictory in terms of creation than man.
Man is weak; yet he loves power and dominance. He is poor and needy; yet he craves wealth and property. He has submitted to the inevitability of death and destruction, yet he seeks immortality and survival. He is exposed to diseases and threats, while simultaneously being captivated by health and fitness. He is hasty and impatient, but also greedy and ambitious. He harbors many needs, petty desires, and deep thoughts; yet he is far-sighted and aspirational. He is insatiable; but he abhors the old and worn-out and seeks excess and modernity. He feels disinterest in what exists and is provided for, while chasing after things that do not yet exist. His needs and desires surpass the number of his breaths, extend beyond his lifespan, and exceed what this world can contain.
In this extraordinary contradiction and arduous battle of ambition, greed, avarice, and excess lies the secret of his honor, dignity, choice, and caliphate. For this reason, he was entrusted with the trust that the heavens, the earth, and the mountains refused to accept. Allah the Almighty says: «فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ» Translation: “So they refused to carry it, and feared it, so man carried it.”
Because of this, he was deemed worthy of caliphate and succession on earth, attaining a high position that even the closest angel’s envy.
Man is a Familiar and Affectionate Creature
Human nature is imbued with friendship and affection. In addition to the five senses, he possesses a sixth sense: the sense of friendship and affection. This sense can be diminished and hidden at times, and at other times it can be heightened and revealed. No human being is completely deprived of it unless he has deviated from his innate nature and been reduced to the status of inanimate objects. Thus, man is a loving creature, with strong and sensitive emotions. He naturally tends to beauty and perfection—an inclination rarely seen in other creatures, whether animals or inanimate objects.
He devotes his soul, affection, feelings, friendship, and self-sacrifice to this characteristic more than to any other. This claim is supported by the stories of lovers, absent from no era or society, and by the lives of mystics and romantics whose tales have been told in the histories of the prophets and captured in the poetry and literature of the world, overflowing with emotion and feeling.
Human Nature is Built on Humility
Just as humans possess innate instincts, they also exhibit characteristics of humility, submission, and subservience, evident throughout all historical periods and social classes. In earlier stages, people bowed down to stones and trees (and traces of this still exist in many societies), worshipping fire, the sun, the moon, and the stars. They submitted to the natural manifestations and phenomena of existence and to the temple servants, priests, religious scholars, monks, jinn, and spirits. Man often submits to everything that is difficult for him to comprehend—knowledge that is precise and hidden.
Even today, despite advancements in culture, rationality, and countless revolutions, man remains submissive and humble before rulers, kings, party leaders, heads of states, and ideologies manufactured by man. In this era of genius and civilization, man gazes with greed, fascination, and reverence at innovators, geniuses, poets, writers, artists, and many thinkers, legislators, capitalists, and powerful figures. Therefore, by nature, man is a being who is fascinated, loving, and humble.
The Need for a Supreme Example
Man needs a supreme example in beauty, perfection, power, dignity, wonder, prominence, and influence to satisfy his innate instincts and fulfill his desires and ambitions.
A Moderate and Reasonable Relationship Between Man and Allah Almighty
If man reflects on the attributes of Allah, such as ability and power, knowledge and awareness, mercy and kindness, generosity, responsiveness, nearness, and all the exalted attributes and beautiful names of Allah as stated in the Quran, he should also contemplate his own attributes as a created human being.
He should examine his weaknesses and needs while recognizing his loftiness and ambition—qualities unmatched by any other creature. As he considers his insatiable greed for material and spiritual acquisitions—a longing not observed in any other being—and acknowledges his unique, diverse, delicate needs and endless desires, he must confront the instinct of friendship, kindness, and humility that lies within him. This introspection brings about a compelling question: Shouldn’t such a person (with these qualities) always be in a state of humility, bowing, prostrating, and praying endlessly, humble and submissive before the Lord, who is the true and absolute God? The Lord who has granted him everything he has asked for in both the present and the future, as stated in the Holy Quran: «وَآتَاكُم مِّن كُلِّ مَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُ وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَتَ اللهِ لا تُحْصُوهَا» Translation: “And He has given you of all that you ask of Him; and if you wish to count the blessings of Allah, you will not be able to count them.”
Allah is aware of subtle and hidden thoughts and feelings, cognizant of the aspirations and dreams that man may have forgotten or despaired of fulfilling—those aspirations that reside in the heart, which the intellect does not comprehend: «وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ» Translation: “Know that Allah stands between a person and his heart.”
«يَعْلَمُ خَائِنَةَ الْأَعْيُنِ وَمَا تُخْفِي الصُّدُورُ» Translation: “And He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the hearts hide.”
«وَإِن تَجْهَرْ بِالْقَوْلِ فَإِنَّهُ يَعْلَمُ السِّرَّ وَأَخْفَى» Translation: “And if you reveal a word, then indeed He knows the hidden and more hidden secret.”
He is the answering and listening Lord, closer to man than anything else: «وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا لِي وَلْيُؤْمِنُوا بِي لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ» Translation: “And when My servants ask you about Me, indeed I am near; I answer the request of the supplicant whenever he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me. Perhaps they will be guided.”
«وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ» Translation: “Indeed, We created man and know what tempts his soul; and We are closer to him than his jugular vein.”
«وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنكُمْ وَلَكِن لَّا تُبْصِرُونَ» Translation: “And We are closer to him (the deceased) than you, but you do not perceive.”
He is the One who loves a servant who persistently asks of Him and supplicates to Him more than the arrogant, selfish person who feels needy yet remains silent: «وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِي سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ» Translation: “And your Lord says, ‘Call upon Me; I will respond to you.’ Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell, rendered contemptible.”
«ادْعُواْ رَبَّكُمْ تَضَرُّعًا وَخُفْيَةً إِنَّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ» Translation: “Call upon your Lord in supplication and in secret, for He does not love the transgressors.”
The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) also said: “Whoever does not ask from Allah, then His anger will be upon him.”
Continues…
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