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As the qalander ['saintly free thinker'] conscious awakened, It
met a 'knower of secrets' in the realm of the unseen and unnipresence of God
[ghaib-o-shahood] Though this 'knower of 'secrets' was not composed of a body
consisting of a bony skeleton covered by flesh and blood, yet in his
transcendental body he appeared solid, and as the hands composed of flesh mid
blood shook the transcendental hands that had no flesh, no discernable change
was felt in their touch. As mind became compatible with the solid
transcendental body, consciousness became familiar with that 'knower of secrets'.
The question was asked: Who is Allah the Exalted, how is He,
What does He do, and where does He live?
Lashes that were covering the half open, dazed eyes of the
knower of secrets' moved, and the smile on his lips as well as the look of
knowledge and inspiration upon his face deepened. Upon my question, that 'man
of knowledge and awareness' itill4ed a question: "Allah is He who after
raising the heavens has established balance between them. The question is, 'do
you know yourself?'"
Obviously I did not have an answer to that question.
The knower of the secrets' said, 'Look at the Earth from the
elevation of the sky!”
I saw that a tiny seed was placed upon the earth. The earth,
impulsive with maternal instincts, secured the seed within her belly and transferred
her creative abilities within that seed. I saw that a tiny seedling sprouted,
or one can say that two fine layers of the seed arose as two delicate leaves.
The roots were so weak that they were not able to get their nutrition directly
from the earth. This tiny plant was obtaining its nutrition from the two tiny
leaves that had come out of the seed. Gradually the roots grew strong enough to
obtain nutrition directly from the earth. As soon as this ability developed,
the two tiny leaves that had come out of the seed fell to the ground. Now the
plant began to obtain its sustenance directly from the earth. The process over
days, months, and years, hi tied those tiny roots into a large and strong
tree—a tree that woo able to obtain its nutrition from the earth, and to draw
vital sustenance from the surrounding light.
When a human being was transferred to the belly of mother, the
same creative factors appeared in the pm of his birth. Within the mother's
belly the human found neither bread, nor fruit, and no conveniences of a
kitchen. The digestive organs were so weak that the human found afford to
partake of such food. The creative ability within and mother filled the
mother's breasts with a pure, digestible, delicate nutrition—milk—and as the
baby was born, springs of milk gushed out, and when milk was no longer needed
springs dried up.
This is a system that has been going on from eternity and one
that will continue to go on forever. The man, the 'knower of secrets,' focused
his dark intoxicated eyes upon me. I saw that waves were coming out of his eyes
and entering into my mind. As the absorbed waves filled the mind entirely, they
overflowed outwards. These waves had the appearance of a liquid. Upon
reflection, it became clear that these waves were water. The 'knower of
secrets,' placed the index finger of his right hand between the two nostrils at
the base of the nose. It was shocking beyond belief to see that the base of
everything in the present world is water that flows through a pipe between
ascent ['sa'ood] and descent ['nuzool']. It is the same water, which in the
belly of the mother, changes form and becomes nutrition for the baby through a
tube. Then the same water turns into milk; and on a mango tree it turns into a
mango; on a berry tree it turns into a berry; on an apple tree, on apple; and
on a banana tree it becomes a banana. That is, it is the same matter that on
different trees manifests itself in different forms. The same water at times
becomes a flower of a single colour, and at other times becomes many colours
within a single flower.
It says in the Holy Quran:
And it is that holy and blessed
being that sends
water from the heavens, and from it creates so
many varieties of fruits, and so many types of species.
[Holy Quran ch7:v57, ch50:v7]
The same water makes a shell beautiful by giving it beautiful
features, and the same water makes a shell unsightly. Even this limited aspect
of the activity of water is so deep and complex that to understand it, is in
fact, to gain insight into the system of the universe.
Those who ponder this system of creation come to realize that
the universal creative program is bound up in a single relationship. The
difference is that only two species from the present world, man and jinn, have
the ability to understand this system. Other species lack the capacity to
understand this system because they had refused to carry the weight of the
trust tiered by Allah, whereas, man has the ability to understand this complex
system because he had accepted the offer to keep Allah’s trust. The Holy Quran
explains this as follows:
And we offered our trust to the
heavens, and
the earth, and the mountains, but they all
announced that, 'we do not have the capacity
to carry the weight of this trust,' and man took
upon this trust unthinkingly. Indeed he is
unjust and ignorant.
[Holy Quran ch33:v72]
Ignorance and injustice lies in the fact that man has in his
possession that trust of Allah from which the entire universe is deprived.
Allah the Exalted states in chapter Al-e-Imran:
That day shall arrive when some
faces will
become illumined and some will turn dark. Say
to those whose inside is dark that you rejected
the commands of Allah after you had believed
in Him; now suffer the punishment of this evil
doing. And those who after accepting the trust
of Allah the Exalted, kept Allah's approval
above everything else, their faces will be
illumined and on them will shower the eternal
blessings of Allah.
[Holy Quran ch3:v106-107]
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%?