The
behaviour of the human and his behaviour in relation to satisfying his hungers
and fulfilling his wants is the sign that indicates his elevation or his low
level and decline. He can either rise to a high level and be better than the
angels or he can fall down and become more astray than the animals. They are
not except live-stock, rather indeed they are even further astray from the path
(Al -Furqaan 44). For this reason it is essential to know the thoughts and the
concepts in a manner that makes us capable of distinguishing the sound correct
thoughts from those that are incorrect and to know the elevated thoughts and
distinguish them from the declined thoughts, and to distinguish between the
shallow thought, the deep thought and the enlightened thought. All of this is
so that the concepts of the human and his thoughts are elevated correct
concepts that he has taken with awareness and in an enlightened manner so that
he can be elevated by them to the level that Allah has wanted for him to ascend
to. In other words that he is elevated to the level of a human being.
A
close examination to distinguish between the thoughts and concepts in regards
to being elevated or declined requires for there to be a principle or
principles to act as a basis by which these thoughts and concepts can be
judged. Built upon this principle or principles the thoughts can be classified
and in order to distinguish between the wheat and the chaff (i.e. good from the
waste) and the correct from the incorrect. So we must utilise the precise
criteria when making judgement in relation to understanding every thought and
every concept. Otherwise the colours will become blurred and the vision will
become fuzzy and the human will be puzzled between the righteous and wicked,
the good and the bad, and the pretty and ugly. So what then is this principle,
criteria and measurement that we are required to use to pass judgement and
which will then be used to establish that which is elevated and what is
declined? The answer is as follows: Our subject area is the human being who
lives in this existence in this life and who seeks revival, elevation and to
proceed on the path of completeness. Will he be able to achieve this without
knowing the meaning of his existence in life and the meaning of this temporal
life that he must spend time in?
This
is particularly the case as he can see himself as just one individual from
amongst the humans who lives with a collection of people along with other
living creatures upon this earth which lies within a vast universe!! There is a
vast difference between the human looking at himself as being Zaid or ‘Amr and
between looking at himself as a human. This vast difference would be revealed
with absolute clarity if we were to follow some of the steps in regards to it.
As such the furthest point of decline is represented in his adoption of that
individualistic self- centred view, that view which is a reaction to the
survival instinct and the manifestations of the survival instinct are indeed
many. His individualistic view could expand and widen a little and expand beyond
himself so that he sees that he is the son of so and so and that he has
brothers and sisters, and that he is member of a family that he loves.
And
he likes to be the master of it which is another manifestation of the survival
instinct which means that he is still behaving according to the instinctive
reaction. This view could then extend further to include his wider family,
tribe, village or town that he lives in and the result of this can be seen very
clearly amongst those who link the name of their town or village to a certain
name like Zaid Al-Khaleeli or ‘Amr Al-Baghdaadi. This view could widen even
further to become nationalistic (Wataniyan) belonging to the soil and earth so
he is then called Misry (Egyptian), or Shaami (From the Levant), or Hindi
(Indian) amongst other namings. His horizons and vision could widen even more
to include the Qawm (a people i.e. Arabs) that he belongs to and as such he
becomes Qawmi (A wider Nationalist).
Download the book An-Nahdah (Revival) from here
or here