Jesus (peace br upon him) and the Crucifixion - Part Two
There was a follow up question concerning the ambiguity surrounding the issue of cruxifixion in the Qur'an. A person wanted to know what really happened.
Response: There are many things which Divinity
does which are left ambiguous and
mysterious. There are many Divine
purposes for arranging the different
dimensions of creation in this manner.
One such purpose is that if everything
were made clear and evident to one
and all, then, as the Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him) is
reported to have said:
"God has seventy thousand veils of light
and darkness; were they to be removed,
the Glories of God's face would burn away
everything perceived by the sight of God's
creatures."
The veiled, layered, multi-dimensional
structural character of Reality serves
Divine purposes. For instance, the Prophet
is reported to have said: "This life is but a
tillage for the next, therefore, do good deeds
here that you may reap benefits there - for,
striving is the ordinance of God, and whatever
God has ordained can be attained only by
striving."
One must strive for knowledge, understanding
and wisdom. One must rigorously explore
life and, if God wishes, then, the truth about
this or that aspect of existence may be
disclosed to some degree - but Allah gives
to whomsoever Divinity pleases ... irrespective
of how much one has striven: "God possesses
the keys of the heaven and the earth." (Qur'an,
42:12), and, as well, "O people, you are the
poor toward god, and God is the Independent,
the Praiseworthy." (Qur'an, 35:15)
All of life is a test - a test of sincerity: “True
believers are only those who have in faith in Allah
and the Messenger of Allah and have left doubt behind,
and who strive hard in Allah’s cause with their
possessions and their lives. They are the one’s who
are sincere.” (Qur’an, 49:15)
Leaving doubt behind does not mean becoming
dogmatic about issues. It means having yaqueen
or spiritual certainty about what is known and accepting
that what is not yet known has been kept from one
for a reason, and despite this, we continue to
strive and struggle to operate in accordance with
God’s Himma, not our own.
The people in Alcoholics Anonymous begin
every meeting with the Serenity Prayer:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the
things I cannot change, the courage to change
the things I can, and the wisdom to know the
difference.”
One of the things which we cannot change
concerns those things which, for whatever
Divine purpose, are kept a secret. We cannot
storm the spiritual counterpart to the Bastille
and demand the release of what we wish to
know.
Faith is not blind belief. Rather, faith is
an acceptance of what has not, yet, been
disclosed on the basis of what has been,
by the Grace of God, already been disclosed,
so that faith in the unseen is rooted in
knowledge of truth - but in accordance with
the extent to which Divinity has apportioned
this knowledge.
One should strive, struggle, seek, rigorously
explore, reflect, contemplate, study, and
question. Yet, there comes a time when one
also has to accept that one has done as much
as one can, and the results must be left to
God for disposition - this includes all facets
of the pursuit of knowledge.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
has been reported to have said: “Knowledge is
the lost property of believers, so every Muslim
is under an obligation to strive for knowledge.”
Or, the Prophet also is reported to have said:
“Seek knowledge, even unto China.”
Our responsibility is to seek and to strive.
How, if, or to what extent such striving is
engaged by Divinity is the business of
Divinity.
A man once went to a Sufi shaykh and spoke
about a litany of problems which were besetting
the man’s life. The man asked the shaykh what
should be done in the face of such problems.
The shaykh said: “Learn to swim.”
There are many waves, currents, dangers,
storms, and mysteries in the Ocean of life.
We can wonder why the Ocean is that way
and, perhaps, take exception with this or
that aspect of the way the Ocean works,
but whatever we do, there is one thing which
no one can avoid doing - we need to learn
to swim irrespective of whether, or not, we
understand the nature of the Ocean.
Knowing the answer to the question which you
are asking is not going to help you learn how
to swim and survive amidst the ambiguities,
puzzles, and mysteries of Ocean life. Learning
how to swim despite these ambiguities is what
is needed.
Everybody has been given a capacity for free
will. The test of life is a function of how we
exercise this capacity while swimming about
the Ocean of Being.
Those who seek to do mischief in conjunction
with life’s mysteries transgress against their own
souls and do injustice to life’s purpose. Work
with what God gives, strive to improve one’s
understanding, knowledge, and wisdom, but leave
what is clearly a mystery alone until God permits
one to do otherwise - and the issue concerning the
crucifixion is clearly a mystery which if God wished
for human beings to know the nature of that mystery
and the underlying Divine purpose for it, then, he
would have disclosed the matter within Revelation
but this was not done, and “to God belongs the
conclusive argument. (Qur’an, 6:149).
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