Author: Obaidullah Nimruzi
The Biography of Abu Hamed Imam Mohammad al-Ghazali [MABH] (Part 25)
Ambitiousness and the reasons for its popularity
Imam Ghazali in his Ihya Ulum al-Din, in a topic entitled “Explaining why position is naturally beloved, so that no heart is free of it except through intense struggle.” discusses this issue and writes:
“Know that the same reasons that make money, gold, and other possessions beloved also make position and status beloved; in fact, just as gold is more beloved than money, position is also more valuable than possessions. Dirhams and dinars do not have any attractiveness or spirituality in themselves; because they are neither food nor drink, nor are they used in marriage. Rather, their popularity is simply because they are a means of achieving desires and beloved things”.
Position also has the same characteristic, because position means conquering hearts. Just as the possession of wealth and property gives a person the power to achieve his goals, conquering the hearts of Allah’s servants is also a means to achieve goals. Therefore, every human being naturally loves wealth and position.
However, despite the fact that they share popularity, position is superior to wealth in several ways:
1. Position is an easier way to acquire wealth;
A person who has a position and popularity in the hearts of people, if he wants to use this position, can easily accumulate wealth and property; because people’s assets are subject to their hearts, and when their hearts are in the possession of a person, their property will also be under his control. In contrast, a person who merely has wealth but is deprived of social status, even if he acquires huge wealth, cannot achieve social status and prestige.
2. Wealth is subject to decay, but position remains preserved;
Wealth is always in danger of being lost, usurped, stolen, or confiscated by tyrannical rulers, and needs to be guarded and protected. But the possession of the hearts of others has none of these dangers. Although the degree of interest and devotion of people to a person may decrease, it is very difficult to destroy this interest.
3. Fame, unlike wealth, is constantly growing.
Financial possession is limited and fixed; each person owns as much as he has, and to increase it one must endure great effort and hardship. But fame, especially when it is based on knowledge or action, grows by itself. When a person finds a place in the hearts of people, his name spreads from mouth to mouth, his fame reaches other cities and countries, and new people are attracted to him. For this reason, man is naturally fascinated by fame.
As a result, a person who achieves position and fame, finds wealth worthless. These three aspects are among the most important reasons that give position superiority over wealth; and if one reflects on this subject further, numerous other reasons will also emerge.
The endless motives of love of position
A person does not stop at a limit in his love of position, but rather this interest takes on an intense and life-threatening state. As stated in the hadith: «لَوْ كانَ لِابْنِ آدَمَ وادِيانِ مِن مالٍ لابْتَغى ثالِثًا، ولا يَمْلَأُ جَوْفَ ابْنِ آدَمَ إلّا التُّرابُ، ويَتُوبُ اللَّهُ على مَن تابَ.» Translation: “If the son of Adam had two valleys of wealth, he would seek a third, and the belly of the son of Adam would not be filled with anything but dust, and Allah accepts the repentance of whoever turns back.” Similarly, a person in pursuit of position always thinks of greater superiority and advancement and wishes that his fame and glory would spread from city to country and from country to world.
The strange thing is that such a person is sure that he will never have the opportunity to travel to all the countries of the world and will not be able to meet the people of those regions. He cannot directly enjoy their respect and reverence, or benefit from their wealth, or have his services and needs fulfilled by them; but despite this, he is still happy and enjoys his worldly fame. Apparently, this seems like a kind of foolishness, because such a wish is of no benefit in this world or the Hereafter.
But the answer is that the love of position is a general and natural quality in the human soul that cannot be eliminated. This has two causes:
1. obvious reason: lack of self-satisfaction and fear of losing power.
Man is inherently suspicious of his beloved and is always thinking of defending him; just as love is accompanied by thousands of suspicions. In the matter of wealth, if a person provides his means of livelihood, he is still worried that they may disappear; therefore, he is never satisfied with a certain amount, and is always in search of more wealth.
This concern arises from the fact that he considers life to be long and imagines that new needs will arise for him in the future, and that it may involve dangers and threats. So, in order to counter these threats, he tries to acquire wealth that, if he suffers any loss on the one hand, will compensate for it on the other. This thought prevents him from being content and even creates in him the desire to conquer the whole world.
As the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) says: «مَنْهومانِ لا يَشْبَعانِ: مَنْهومٌ في عِلْمٍ لا يَشْبَعُ، ومَنْهومٌ في دُنْيا لا يَشْبَعُ» Translation: “Two greedy people are never satisfied: one is greedy for knowledge, who is never satisfied, and the other is greedy for the world, who is never satisfied.”
Exactly the same reason exists in the love of position. A person who is obsessed with position is thinking about the future and its possible dangers. He imagines that one day he may be forced to leave his country; therefore, it is necessary for him to gain prestige in another land. It is also possible that people from other countries may come to his country and he may need them. Although these possibilities seem unlikely, since they are not impossible, they compel his soul to strive for world fame, so that he may be loved and respected wherever possible.
2. Hidden reason: The soul’s tendency towards lordship and perfection.
This reason is one of the secrets of the sciences of divine revelation, and only those with insight can understand it.
Allah says in the Holy Quran: «وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي.» The soul is a divine matter and is considered one of the secrets of creation. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) also refrained from stating its truth. But it should be known to the extent that is needed to understand this discussion, that there are several tendencies hidden in the human being:
Tendency to animal traits such as eating, drinking and sexual instinct;
Tendency to predatory traits such as killing, beating and torturing;
Tendency to satanic traits such as cunning and deceit;
Tendency to divine traits such as arrogance, greatness, dignity, coercion, superiority and uniqueness.
The human heart is composed of various elements and principles, and one of them is the tendency towards Lordship. But what is Lordship?
“Oneness and independence in perfection, such that a person does not need the favor of others.”
Perfection is one of the divine attributes and man inherently tends towards perfection. However, true perfection lies in uniqueness; Because partnership is considered a kind of imperfection. Just as the sun reaches perfection in its oneness, and if there were another sun, its dignity and perfection would be diminished.
But the truth is that absolute oneness and perfection are only for Allah Almighty. Because there is no other true being before Him. All beings in the world are only a ray and grace of Allah’s power and have no independence of their own. Therefore, the truth of Lordship lies in the oneness of existence, and perfection is also summarized in this sense.
But man, due to his inherent tendency towards perfection, is always striving to be in the perfection of oneness. Some Sufi elders have said that within every human being, the same statement that Pharaoh openly uttered is hidden: «أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الْأَعْلَى» But the difference is that ordinary people never reach this position and only seek this oneness in their imagination.
Continues…
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