Sight through the heart

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

Today we will look at a message that Allah has given us in the Qur’an and it is taken from Surah An`am;

 

There has come to you enlightenment from your Lord.  So whoever will see does so for [the benefit of] his soul, and whoever is blind [does harm] against it. And [say], "I am not a guardian over you”.  (6:104)

 

Metaphorically it is as if the rain is falling and you put a container to collect its water; you will derive benefit.  If not you will lose out.  This is basically what Allah is trying to teach us.  One of the meanings of enlightenment is to get knowledge or to be guided.  And Allah is the Giver of knowledge and guidance.  Therefore if you utilize the blessings He has been gracious to bestow upon you you will benefit.  If you don’t utilise it properly you will definitely lose out in the long run.  What we have to do is strike a healthy balance by paying ample attention to our worldly responsibilities and spiritual cultivation.

 

If we cultivate our personalities we will benefit; just as the torchlight benefits in the times of darkness.  We have a choice and this is what makes humans special.  We can choose consciously to enlighten ourselves or choose consciously to remain in the dark.  Our choice won’t do good or harm to Allah; it is for our own benefit.

 

Allah says: for indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts.  22:46

 

Allah is telling us that we can decorate our bodies as much as we want; if we don’t decorate the heart we would have wasted our blessings.  For example, Pharaoh had unimaginable wealth and look at how history remembers him.  And that is the message of life; how do you manage your time to benefit yourself.  Are we only taken up with the material?

 

Allah says about Himself that ‘no vision can grasp Him’.

 

If you have to weld metal you have to wear a special apparatus.  So too, in order to experience the Greatness of Allah you have to prepare yourself.  If I want to look at my Lord, it is like looking at the sun with the naked eye multiplied many times over.

 

And this is something we should strive to achieve.  The mission of life is to prepare yourself to see your Lord.  Why and How?  When the Prophet Muhammad (pboh) went up into the heavens on the night of the Mir’aj he was blessed with a very special vision.  And this was the climax of realisation.  About it Allah says ‘and He revealed to His Servant what he revealed and his heart did not lie [about] what it saw’.

 

It is said that those who will enter paradise; after they would have gotten everything, then they will have vision of Allah, which is described as the greatest of all blessings.  And remarkably there are those who are able to achieve this right here in this life.

 

It may sound fanciful, but take for example our Book of Deeds; is it existing or not?  Every moment we are adding to it, so therefore it is existing; so why can’t we read it?  It is possible to see it and read it.  But how? 

 

Do you think you can give a vagrant the Qur’an to read?  Most likely not, because he is not clean and prepared, etc.  The same rule applies with all of us.  We need to cultivate our personalities to achieve “religious experiences”.  That is why Prophet (pboh) told his Companions “I have returned from the small Jihad (Jihad Asghar) to the big Jihad (Jihad Akbar)”.  The Sahabas enquired “what is the big Jihad?”  Prophet (pboh) said “the Jihad al nafs (jihad against the inner desires)”.

 

We need to prepare our bodies to accommodate the soul and not taint it with dark spots.  And this is one of the reasons why we do zikir; to open our eyes through the light of the heart.  And when this is achieved you will really experience the beauty of the Lord. 

 

Sadly, people project Allah as a strict Being waiting to punish us for our mistakes.  But Allah is so beautiful, loving kind and tender; that if you can understand that you will never want to leave Him.  You will want to stay with Him all the time because He is so Merciful and Generous.

 

Dear friends, let us make it a resolution to culture our personalities to experience the Beauty and Greatness of our Lord.  Begin by culturing the light of your soul and through that light you continue to grow.  Brighten your spiritual sight so that you will benefit in this world and the next.

 

 

Transcript of discourse delivered by

Maulana Dr. Waffie Mohammed