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As far as goodness and evil are concerned, no action in this
world is good or evil. In reality, it is the act of giving meaning to an action
that constitutes goodness or evil. The act of giving meaning refers to the
intention that is behind the action. It is the intention of the person, before
carrying out the action, which is good or evil.
The job of fire is to burn. If a person uses fire to cook food
for the welfare of people, this act constitutes goodness. If the same person
uses that fire to burn down people's houses, that act constitutes evil.
If we carefully study the way of thinking of the nation’s we
find impressive, or the nations that dominate us, one thing that becomes clear
as daylight is that all the scientific progress focuses on the goal that one
nation should become all-powerful, and that the rest of humankind should become
its slaves, or that so many material benefits should be earned through
inventions that a particular nation or a particular country should become
wealthy while humanity should suffer at the hands of poverty and deprivation—it
is so, because this progress does not contain the underlying intent of human
welfare according to Allah's thinking. It is because of this reason that all
this progress has become a hardship and affliction for humanity, as well as for
those nations themselves that have produced inventions upon inventions after so
much struggle and effort. This hardship and affliction will one day become the
misfortune and downfall lot humanity], turning this earth into hell.
As long as the conviction remains in a person that the life and
death of things is from Allah, the mind is able to focus, and when this
certainty weakens and breaks apart, the person gets caught up in such beliefs
and superstitions that result in mental chaos, worries, grief and fear, even
though it can clearly be seen that every act of man, every action and every
movement is under the control of a being who cannot he seen—the dwelling of the
infant within the mother's belly, the provision of nourishment for nine months
of growth and development, the balanced growth of the baby through the
nourishment of milk, the growth of a small child into a man seven feet tall,
the demands of adulthood, the creation of resources in fulfilment of these
demands, and the presence of resources before they are provided. If Allah
stopped the earth from producing crops, it would become impossible to acquire
sustenance on earth. [Also among the signs of the invisible force behind human
actions is] the presence of the desire in [men and women] that, after marriage,
there should be someone to remember them, and the occurrence of his desire with
such an intensity that it results in them becoming parents. Parents' love for
their children is not peculiar to ho human heart; this emotion is common among
all of Allah's creatures. And supported by this love, parents raise their
children, look after them, and provide them resources.
Generally the impression that is present is that acquisition of
resources is not possible without struggle and hard WO whereas we see that the
resources that we struggle and we to acquire are already present according to a
preset law a principle. When a farmer toils and sows seeds in the ear the
growth and development of that seed provides a variety of nourishment for human
needs. All of his is possible when the resources are already present, for
instance, the presence of seeds, die presence of land, the ability of the earth
to grow and develop the seed, the presence of water for the growth and
development of the seed, the presence of moonlight, the presence of air, and
the presence of hot and cold environment according to season. If seeds are not
present, or the earth lacks the ability to provide growth and development to
the seed, or if water or air are not present, then every effort of man will be
wasted.
It is an attribute of Allah that, when He creates a thing,
billions upon billions of creatures come into being through that creation. In
present times, we have before us the example of electricity. One of Allah's
auxiliary creations is electricity. Through this electricity, thousands of
inventions have come before our eyes, and will continue to arise. In light of
this situation, the secret that is revealed to us is that Allah has created
resources for the purpose that humankind should find the hidden powers within
these resources and should benefit from them, and when a nation busies itself
in finding those hidden abilities, Allah bestows upon [such a nation] so many
revelations, and in the light of those revelations, when that [nation] reflects
upon those revelations, new inventions come into existence. Qalander conscious
guides us to see that everything in the universe is established in two
different aspects. One aspect of creation is the apparent and visible aspect,
while the other aspect is the inner and hidden aspect. Water is a liquid
object. This is its apparent and visible aspect. But when the hidden abilities
of water are searched, we witness before us an innumerable number of such
abilities. Similarly, there is the example of iron. Apparently, iron is a
metal. When a person is able to find the hidden properties within the particles
of iron, new inventions continue to come into existence through his intentions,
and under his command.
When we look for the attributes of Allah within a thing, it is
revealed to be that the entire universe is present. Everything that has boon
made in the universe and everything that is present on earth has been created
for man.
Istaghnaa ['lack of concern for resources/
contentment' I does not merely mean that a person becomes unconcerned with
wealth and money, as no person can become completely independent of wealth and
desires—to fulfil the requirements of life and to provide for one's relations
is a necessary act and it deals with huqooq-ul-ibaad ['the rights of people on
a person] —istaghnaa means that everything a person does should have Allah's
approval along with that action; that the way of thinking or action should not
harm Allah's creation in any way; and that each person should himself remain happy
and not become a hardship or cause for grief for humanity. It is essential that
it must be instilled within a person's mind that it is Allah who is the
complete and ultimate owner of everything in the universe. It is Allah who has
granted the earth the ability that a seed may change into a tree and that the
earth raise it within its embrace, that water should run like blood through the
veins of the tree, that the air should become light and make up for the
shortcomings of the colours that work within the tree, that sunshine should
become attached to the tree according to a continuous relationship and
principle to ripen the premature fruits, that moonlight should produce sweetness within the fruits, and that the earth
should be assigned the duty that it nourish those trees that fulfil the needs
of man. It is the responsibility of the trees to grow such leaves and fruits
that will fulfil the needs of the creatures according to the season.
(Excerpt taken from the book "Qalander Sha'oor"
['Qalander Conscious'])
KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DEEN AZEEMI
Science has made immense progress, yet many believe that, even with all of the modern tools at our disposal, human beings function at no more than 10% of their mental capacity. This leads to the question of what exactly it is that comprises the remaining 90%. Yet another question that arises is this: If it has taken man four and a half billion years to be able to apply only 10% of his ability, how long will it take for him to make use of the remaining 90%?