Page 33 - Chapter
Three: "Like the Kalam experts and unlike the philosophers, the Sufis gave
pride of place to the Qur’an and the Hadith, but they also held that the only way to
understand the revelatory message was to purify the heart so that it would be worthy of
being taught by God Himself. They liked to quote the Koranic verse, ‘Be wary of God,
and God will teach you.’ (2:282) Since ‘being wary of God (taqwa) is
designated by the Koran itself (49:13) as the highest human attribute in God’s eyes,
this verse was a powerful scriptural support for their position."
Commentary: The
Quranic ayat to which the author alludes in the foregoing - but for which no text is
included - does not say that ‘taqwa’ is "the highest human attribute in
God’s eyes. The text says that: "surely, the most honorable of you in God’s
eyes is the one among you most careful (of his duty)." (49:13)
On the one hand, this
verse is a direct reference to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) since he is,
without any doubt, the ‘one’ among those to whom the Qur’an
is being disclosed, that is most careful of his duty to God and, therefore, the one who
has the highest position of honor in God’s eyes among human beings. On the other
hand, the aforementioned verse also establishes a general principle in the sense that any
individual who conducts her or his life in accordance with ‘taqwa’ toward God -
that is, having a humble, respectful, modest, receptive, sincere, co-operative,
appreciative, observant regard for all that comes from Divinity - will be considered to be
most honorable in the sight of God.
Notwithstanding the
importance of ‘taqwa’ as noted above, the purpose of life is not to achieve
honor. The goal of life is to realize the fullness of one’s spiritual capacity so that
one may come to know, if God wishes, the Hidden Treasure which led to Creation being
brought forth, and, thereby, worship God in a way which is His right.
One needs to have
‘taqwa’ in order to achieve life’s purpose because God has indicated that
the presence of such a quality is a necessary prerequisite for being taught by Divinity.
However, this clearly indicates that taqwa is not the destination but an important
way-station en route to a further spiritual goal.
In addition to
‘taqwa’, the seeker, with God’s help, also must develop qualities of
repentance, patience, trust, gratitude, longing, sincerity, constancy, dependence,
sacrifice, courage, tolerance, forgiveness, generosity, kindness, and love. Of course, if
one does not have ‘taqwa’, then, acquiring these other qualities will be very
difficult, if not impossible.
In other words, unless an
individual deeply feels that he or she has an essential ‘duty of care’ with
respect to the Divine Purpose - and this kind of deep-rooted commitment is at the heart of
taqwa - then, a person is unlikely to struggle toward developing and acquiring those
qualities which will help advance the Divine Purpose. Consequently, taqwa is of
fundamental importance because it serves as both the doorway to further travel on the
mystical Path, as well as a staging area for organizing, directing, and helping to
underwrite a wide array of spiritual activities.
Nevertheless, the
‘highest human attribute" is ‘fitra’ - our primordial spiritual
capacity. While taqwa is an important expression of this capacity and while taqwa plays a
key role in the process of struggling toward realization of the potential inherent in this
spiritual capacity, the latter cannot be reduced to the former.
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