Self Realization: Its Meaning and Need

 Self Realization:

Its Meaning and Need

A. K. Faizuddin Ahmed

“Verily We proposed to the Heavens and to the Earth and to the mountains to receive the trust, but they refused the burden and they feared to receive it. Man alone undertook to bear it, but both proved unjust, senseless.” —The Quran.

THE creation of man is objective. The object is clearly understood from the Qur’anic verse referred to above. So man was created with the object of a divine trust reposed in him. Allah created man with clay and He also created Jinn from “Smokeless fire”. He created man with greater potentialities than other creations, because man is to carry the divine trust. Man has been given the wisdom and power of reasoning to differentiate right from wrong. This is the whole theme around which all actions and omissions of man must move.

How can man carry the trust unless he appreciates the will behind the trust '2 I-low can a man discharge the duties of a trustee unless he realizes the purpose of the trust? So the first and foremost thing required of man is to understand Allah and the scope of the trust he is to carry. To understand or realize the power of Allah, man first of all is to realize himself. He must realize himself, his position and relation with Allah and the universe if he desires to realize Allah. Allah is always in man and it is therefore easy for man to realize Allah in Absolute Reality if man can only understand himself by unbiased reflection and comprehension about the universe in all its embodiments.

Allah created the rest of His creations (Makhluqat) for man and subservient to man. The sun, the moon, the air and the rain, the sea and the earth and all in-between, have been created for the benefit of man both in spiritual and material aspects of his life. That does not however mean that the man should be a despot in his conduct. As Iqbal has put it: “ Man is related to Nature and this relation, in view of its possibility as a means of controlling Her forces, must be exploited in the interests, not of unrighteous desire for domination, but in the interest of free upward movement of spiritual life.” So, the relation of man with the universe is the corner stone for the guidance of man in carrying out the trust which he received. The whole behaviour of man in his natural conduct is to emanate and work out of the fountain-spring of his relation with the universe.

As man accepted the trust which was refused by the heavens and the earth and the mountains, he did so with a full sense of responsibilities. Responsibility carries with it all duties. Without duties, there can be no responsibilities. So, man, to carry the trust, must pick up his duties with success. Here man is confronted and he is to enquire of the scope and the will behind the trust. The will behind the trust is simple. It is to establish the laws of God on the earth during the probation ship of man and to falsify the fear expressed by the Angels that man “will do ill and shed blood” and will not celebrate God’s praises and extol His holiness.

Man is therefore bound to worship Allah and celebrate His praises by establishing regular prayer. Prayer is a mode of remembrance (Dhikr) of Allah with the sole object of establishing a communion with Allah and attaining Absolute Reality. When a man is in prayer, his desire must be to have a view of the countenance (sight) of God by approaching so close to Him. This position cannot be attained by anybody by dint of merits of his prayer, but it is a kind gift of God to whom He pleases. This prayer does not mean perpetual and formal prayer in isolation. Such prayer is to be fixed and established by man in the turmoil of other spheres of pure lives. To attain perfection in prayer, absolute devotion is called for. For absolute devotion isolation is the prime need. But that isolation is not the isolation which some people seek to attain by renouncing the worldly affairs by engaging themselves in deep thoughts about the power (Hikmat) of Allah. He is most likened unto Allah who passes night in calling Him by standing and prostrating (Qur’an). It is by prayer and prayer alone that man is raised high in his position. Best of such prayer is the prayer in the later part of the night (Taliajjud Prayer) when man can have complete isolation.

Man by being the favoured creation and having the gift of sense and knowledge is obliged to express his gratitude to Allah by directing his gifted power and energy in the way of Allah to establish the Laws of Allah by humbly and usually seeking the favour of God in every action and aspiration. It is desired by God that man should direct his natural energies in establishing social order wherein the supreme and immutable laws will be respected, followed and obeyed. For such a purpose, man is to mould and form his inner self and develop a dictating and commanding capacity in such a way as to raise a wall of hindrance against any inroad of evil desire that is also active in man. Man is in a perpetual struggle with the evil forces of nature in him, and it is to conquest these forces of the desires for attaining perfection and salvation. If a man renounces the worldly affairs and social spheres of human life with a view to conquer the evil, he does not conquer it, but avoids it in a selfish mode of life and thereby neglects the active aspect of human life by keeping his eyes closed against the movement and swim of Nature.

To appreciate the position of man in relation to God, which position man is supposed to give expression to through prayer, he should first of all realize the purpose of his prayer. Why is man to glorify Allah by his prayer? Is it for the benefit of Allah that man should pray? Ha/s prayer been commanded by Allah as He is in need of any prayer from man? The answer is: “No”. Allah is not in the need of prayer. Prayer has been commanded for the sole benefit of man. By prayer, man traverses the “straight path” to establish a holy communion with Allah and to attain perfection and a sublime position in this life and in the Hereafter. In this way by prayer and worship, man is to realize that Allah is the “Khaliq” and he is the “MakhIuq” and he is sustained and nourished by Allah. This realization of man is his Imam and it is the spirit of this realization that will actuate man in the discharge of his duties as a trustee which have been reposed on him. With this spirit so realized, man will proceed to establish the Laws of God in the earth for attaining unity of mankind through the doctrine of Tawhid.

This is the first step which man must traverse in the way of his self-realization from which he is to learn that his relation with Allah is that of a Makhluq to Khaliq. He is to return to God and is answerable to Him for his actions; his power and will are limited and those of Allah are unlimited. The next step towards self-realization of man is his appreciation and understanding of his position as a trustee in relation to the universe and the first point that is to be picked up by man in this regard is to find out his position in relation to other men and rest of the creation.

God created man in pairs, which means that man would live in society and in a social order as enjoined by Allah in the Qur'an. It is therefore a prerequisite of such a society that man should be conscious of his duties. It is the duty of a Muslim to “enjoin what is right and to prevent what is wrong” (Qur’an). Man is therefore to realize and see that he is not a party to doing what is wrong and he prevents his fellow-beings from doing any manner of wrong. When man realizes this and accepts this spirit for his day-to-day conduct, perfect equity and justice is sure to reign supreme in the social sphere of man. If man is conscious about his duties in the social orbit and he faithfully discharges his duties as such, then he will have no need of being concerned about his rights, as individual rights in that society would automatically come to be respected and enforced. If none commits any wrong, there can be no infringement of anyb0dy’s rights and no clamour for assertion of individual rights. Such a social order is the ultimate aim of a Qur’anic Society which man has been enjoined to form and organize.

Doubt is harboured in some quarters as to the possibility of a social order where there will be no wrong. To them, it seems, it is not practicable for human beings to live in pure life, free from the clutches of the active forces of evil in them and around them. To them, evil-hood is a part and parcel of human life. But such a conception is basically wrong. Man is created an honest and pure being and it is the world that makes man corrupt and debased. Is it unnatural for man to remain pure and honest? The answer is: ‘No’ Man is naturally pure, otherwise he would not have been chosen to be the Vicegerent of God. Why do some think that purity and honesty is impossible? It is because they have so much debased and deformed their souls by a totally materialistic outlook of life that their souls seem to have been “sealed up.” They do not consider anything in terms of moral value even though moral dictates are dormant in them. They certainly do not desire what is hateful (Munkar) but most unconsciously perpetuate the hateful things in their own affair. When any of them, while passing by, finds that a man is robbing another man of his money in the way, he will certainly have his conscience pricked against it and may even resist it, but when he himself robs off another, his conscience will not prick, only because the motive for gain is then uppermost in him as he has taken up the passion (Hawa) of gain as his deity to be worshipped for the moment. If a man therefore does not desire the hateful in others, why cannot he actuate his same conscience against himself? This is because he has debased his soul by selfish pursuits and does not desire of himself what he desires of others. It is only a question of rational desire to live a pure life according to the standard of a Qur‘anic Society. If it is the urge of a soul from within dictating passions towards moral values of life and pure behaviour for rational exercise of the limited free-will granted to man, it is an urge for desire to maintain the spirit of Tawhid in active movement to establish amity of man in action and in feelings that will inevitably bring in an Islamic social order in its true form and force.

From such a social order man will come into the sphere of his life in the state which is but a combination of socialist group of men in a large area for a common cause. The state in Islam is a machinery to see that the laws of God are abided by the members of the social groups and the sovereignty of God is respected. Every state must have an ideal to be attained and it is the duty of every individual citizen to constitute his might towards the attainment of that ideal according to his means and capacity. If the state happens to lose its ideals, disintegration is sure to set in and bring its ultimate extinction. If the individuals do not cherish to uphold the ideal, the state cannot function rightly as every individual is a limb of the composite state organ. If one limb becomes defective, the whole organ is affected. The individual therefore is to realize himself in reference to his relation to the society and the state to be able to identify himself with the greater cause of the state, for the greater good. This realization is the crux of the state to uphold the balance of justice as enjoined in the Qur‘an. If this realization is achieved, there can be no problem for the state. Every individual then will discharge his duties according to the plan and programme of the state. The educator will educate his pupil to make him a true citizen for shouldering his responsibility according to the spirit and terms of the trust ; the producer will produce commodities according to requirements of the millat and put them in the market with the spirit of service and construction; the worker will go on doing his duties for the good of himself and ultimately of the community accepting work as a joy of life and not as pain; the officer will carry his business with the unbiased spirit of corporate service; the administrator will see that the balance of justice is upheld in every sphere of activities of the state according to the spirit of the trust.

The religion of Islam has regulated and prescribed in a very just and wise manner what are the rights, duties and relationship of man with his fellows in society and in a similar degree to the state. The millat or the community has been made responsible for its members and at the same time the individual has been enjoined to observe and look to the interests and well-being of other members in the same manner as he guards and observes his own interests and welfare. The individuals are therefore answerable for the millet. This is a very nice arrangement as it creates a mutual responsibility between the individual and the community and the administrators of the state. There can be no doubt that such an arrangement is the best way to combating and eradicating social evil and corruption if the principles of moral values are scrupulously observed by the members. This is possible only when the individual and, as a consequence, the whole community, are conscious of their own selves and their potentialities. In other words, man is to be constantly conscious of his duties, as guardian of his own conscience to make him do good and refrain from doing mischief even though no one might be keeping watch on him to detect or control his deeds. The Holy Qur’an and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) have, in a most precise manner, urged for such a conduct and behaviour in every man to enable him to carry the trust which has been reposed on man by God. A millat or a community which is constituted of such individuals as have realized themselves to understand life and human-hood as described before, in a Qur’anic Society and there righteousness will prevail and there will be complete surrender of the self to the will of God and no selfish ambition will have dictating power therein.

What is it to be righteous in individual conduct? The Holy Qur‘an says: “It is not righteousness that you turn your faces to the East and to the West, but righteousness is whatsoever believes in God and the Last Day and the Angels and the Holy Scripture (Qur’an) and the Prophet (ﷺ), and gives wealth for love of God to kindred and to orphans and to poor people and to homeless people and to beggars and to emancipate slaves; and who is constant in prayer and pays the poor-rate (zakat) and those who keep a treaty when they make one and who are patient in disaster and distress and adversity Those are they who are sincere. Those are the God-fearing (Muttaqin) (ii. 177). Righteousness is not a vague admonition of perfection or a blind acceptance of a sentimental creed. It is rather actual doing of right by every man and woman in order to constitute a community that will uphold the balance of justice and righteousness.

None can realize his duties unless he realizes himself with a spiritual bias alongside his material bias having engaged himself in constant fight against evils. For this he must actively believe in Allah and surrender to His will bearing always in mind that his ultimate goal is to Allah, to render account of his deeds. Allah says: “I have established life and death to test which of you are best in deeds” Qur’an.