Real Faith

Real Faith

Maulana Shahiduilah Faridi

Real faith is that which penetrates all a man's feeling and consciousness. Faith is sometimes only rational, sometimes only emotional, and sometimes confined only to action, just as when a person conventionally performs certain ritual observances without his heart being in them. Faith in the true sense means that which infuses our every faculty, so that the reason, the emotions, the desires and consequently behaviour and conduct of affairs are all governed and enlightened by it. The fountainhead of faith is neither the reason nor the emotions, but a faculty which lies in the depths of the heart which is called intuition, used here in the sense of a purely spiritual apperception. This faculty is just as much a part of a man’s soul as his other inner faculties. Thus it is a matter of observation that the real act of faith is not performed by reason, but springs from something supra-rational. Allah has placed in us a spiritual sense whose function is to know Him, which can be described as a point of light. As He says in His Book: “When l fashion him (Hazrat Adam, peace be upon him) and breathe My spirit into him, then (O angels) fall before him in prostration.” (Al-Hijr: 29).

It is this breath or light of Allah within us which knows Him, otherwise, how could we know Him? It is against reason that the limited human heart should by itself be able to apprehend an unlimited being as, Allah is. Those in whom this power of apprehension is dormant or dead, and who deny the existence of Allah, use this very argument, that because human reason is unable to conceive God, we therefore cannot admit His existence.

They only make this assertion because they are not aware of this point of light which Allah has enclosed within every man’s heart. It is by this that he recognizes Him, for it is of Him, and, as the saying goes, like attracts like. The more this faculty is awakened, the greater the apprehension of Allah. A necessary condition of this is that the dirt covering the rest of his faculties should be cleaned, so that this light spread throughout his whole being. This is the light of faith, and this is apprehension (Ma’rifat), for apprehension is a superior form of faith. The fana (passing away} and haqa (enduring) spoken of by the Sufis means that a man perceives that the light within him is in reality the light of Allah, and that his individuality is not separate from it. When he apprehends this, his every thought and deed becomes controlled by this light, and he conceives himself as the dead body which is being washed by the living person, which only moves when the washer moves it. This does not mean that actually he has no will of his own, as some people object, saying that this state means complete passivity and helplessness, and the loss of the power of resolution. This objection only denotes their lack of comprehension. When such terms are used that his will does not remain his own, it means that his will no longer exists as something separate from Allah’s will, and it is evident that Allah’s will is such a mighty one that everything in the universe bows before it, and such a powerful resolution that in the face of it no other resolve has the strength of even a blade of grass. Anyone who has sincerely made the testament of faith: “There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger”, has recognized Allah; but Allah is such a great, unlimited and infinite Being that His recognition too has no bounds. To Whatever extent a man may recognize Him, he is compelled to conceive of Him as something greater. Tasawwuf and Suluk (the spiritual journey) is just this, to recognize Him more and more, though in fact we possess not the strength to recognize Him, it is He Himself who makes Himself recognized, that is to say, reveals Himself. When a person attains to faith, it means that Allah has revealed Himself to him to a limited extent. When someone becomes one of those who know Allah (Arif Billah), it means that Allah has revealed Himself to him to an incalculable extent. This is all part of Allah’s Mercy to whom and to what extent He reveals Himself.