Islam's Reformers .pdf

and is one only through the comprehension and admission ofreason and to say that it cannot be comprehended or believedin another way, will mean to deny in prophets, which is likedenying the sun.“Allâhu ta’âlâ is the One who has created men and sendsevery blessing which is necessary for their maintenance inexistence. Everybody knows that he who does favours shouldbe thanked. And again, prophets are necessary for knowinghow to thank for His blessings. Thanks and respect which theyhave not revealed are not worthy of Him. Man cannot know howto thank Him and he may suppose something which isdisrespect towards Him to be thanks and respect. Whilemeaning to thank, he may be disrespectful. It can beunderstood how to thank Allâhu ta’âlâ only by prophets’revelation. The information called ‘inspiration’, which occurs tothe hearts of the Awliyâ’, happens only by following prophets. Ifinspiration happened through reasoning, the ancient Greekphilosophers, who followed only their reason, would not havedeviated from the right path. They would have comprehendedAllâhu ta’âlâ better than anybody did. However, incomprehending Allâhu ta’âlâ’s existence and SupperiorAttributes, these philosophers have proved to be the mostignorant. A few of them mortified their flesh and endeavouredand shined their nafs by subduing it with methods that they hadlearned from prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawât-u-wa-t-taslîmât’ andfrom Muslim men of Tasawwuf, thereby attaining a few facts;they did not know, however, that purifying and shining the nefs,and anything attained in this manner, would be aberration. It isthe heart that must be purified and shined. Purification of thenafs begins after the heart has become purified. The nûrs(spiritual lights) will make their entrance from the heart.Purifying the nafs before the heart has been purified is likeproviding the enemy with a light to support its night attack. Theenemy whom the nafs helps is the devil. Yes happiness andtruth can be attained also by starvation, by denying physicaldesires, by subduing the nafs and by reasoning. But this maybe possible only after having believed in prophets and whatthey have brought from Allâhu ta’âlâ. For, all the statementsmade by prophets were reported by unerring angels. The devilcannot meddle with these teachings. As for those who do notfollow these great persons, they cannot escape the devil’s- 308 -