Revert Help Team

The existence of God is too evident to need any arguments. Some saintly scholars have even stated that God is the most manifest being, but that those lacking insight cannot see Him. Others have said that His Self-manifestation's intensity conceals Him from direct perception.

However, the massive influence of positivism and materialism on science and on all people of recent centuries makes it necessary to discuss such arguments. As this now-prevalent "scientific" worldview reduces existence to what can be perceived directly, it blinds itself to the far vaster invisible dimensions of existence. To remove the resulting veil, we will review briefly several traditional demonstrations of God's necessary existence.

Before doing so, let's reflect on one simple historical fact: Since the beginning of human life, the overwhelming majority of humanity has believed that God exists. This belief alone is enough to establish God's existence. Unbelievers cannot claim to be smarter than believers. Some of the most innovative scientists, scholars, researchers have been-and are-believers, as are the field's experts: all Prophets and saints.

In addition, people usually confuse the non-acceptance of something's existence with the acceptance of its non-existence. While the former is only a negation or a rejection, the latter is a judgment that requires proof. No one has ever proven God's non-existence, for to do so is impossible, whereas countless arguments prove His existence. This point may be clarified through the following comparison.

To conclude: When attributed to Almighty God, all things become as easy as one thing; when attributed to causes, one thing becomes as difficult as all things. As a result, the extraordinary cheapness and ease observed in the universe, as well as the endless abundance, display the stamp of Unity. If these abundant and cheap fruits were not owned by the One of Unity, we could not purchase them even if we gave the whole world. How could we pay for the purposeful and conscious cooperation of soil and air, water and sunlight, the sun's heat and the seed, and many other things that make a pomegranate's existence possible? All of these factors are unconscious and controlled by a Single Maker, Who is Almighty God. The cost of a single pomegranate or any other fruit is the whole universe.

Life, which manifests Divine Grace, is an argument and proof for Divine Unity, as well as a sort of manifestation of It. Death, which manifests Divine Majesty, is an argument and proof for Divine Oneness.

For example, bubbles on a river's surface show the sun's image, light, and reflection, as do all transparent objects. These facts testify to the sun's existence. Despite the bubbles' occasional disappearance (e.g., when they pass under a bridge), the splendid continuation of the sun's manifestations and its light's uninterrupted display on successive bubbles proves that the sun's images (which appear, disappear, and are then renewed) come from one enduring, perpetual sun manifesting itself from on high. Therefore, the appearance of these sparkling bubbles demonstrate the sun's existence, and their disappearance displays its continuation and unity.

In the same way, beings in continuous flux testify through their existence and life to the necessary existence and Oneness of the Necessarily Existent Being. They testify to His Unity, eternity, and permanence through their decay and death. Beautiful, delicate creatures that are renewed and recruited, along with the alternation of day and night, as well as seasons, and the passage of time show the existence, Unity, and permanence of an elevated, everlasting One with a continuous display of beauty. Their decay and death, together with the apparent causes for their lives, demonstrates that the (material or natural) causes are only veils. This decisively proves that these arts, inscriptions, and manifestations are the constantly renewed arts, changing inscriptions, and moving mirrors of an All-Beautiful One of Majesty.

Obviously, the perfect design and adornment of a perfect palace indicate a master builder's perfect acts. This starts the following series of relationships: Perfect acts show the builder's perfect titles (which specify his or her rank), which shows the builder's perfect attributes (the origin of his or her art), which show master's perfect abilities and essential capacity, which show the perfection of the master's essential nature.

By obeying Acting this rule of mutual assistance, which is in force throughout the universe-from the sun and moon, night and day, winter and summer, to plants helping needy and hungry animals, animals helping humanity, nutritious substances helping infants, and fruits and food particles helping the body's cells-they demonstrate that they are acting through the power of a single, Most Munificent Upbringer, and at the command of a single, Most Wise Administrator.

The universal providence and favor of this universal wisdom are clearly apparent in everything's purposeful creation. This, along with providence's comprehensive mercy and the universal sustenance required by that mercy to provide all living beings with food, form a seal of Divine Unity so brilliant that anyone can see and understand it.

All beings, especially those that are alive, must satisfy their demands and needs to remain alive. This is true whether the being in question is universal or particular, an individual or a species. But they cannot fulfill even their smallest need. Rather, all their requirements are met in an unexpected way and from an unexpected place, with perfect order and timing, in a suitable fashion, and with perfect wisdom. All of this shows the existence of an All-Wise Nurturer of Majesty, an All-Compassionate Provider of Grace.

Consider the sun. From planets to drops of water, glass fragments, and sparkling snowflakes, a radiant effect particular to the sun is apparent. If you do not agree that the tiny suns seen in these innumerable things are only reflections, you must accept the existence of a sun in each drop of water, glass fragment and transparent object facing the sunlight. Is this not absurd?

If such images or reflections are not attributed to the sun, you must accept the existence of innumerable suns in place of the one sun. Is this logical? Similarly, if everything is not attributed to One God, the Absolutely All-Powerful One, you must accept that there are as many deities as there are particles in the universe. How can you believe such a thing?

During spring and summer, God raises to life countless plant and animal species, each member of which is unique. The process is so ordered that there is no confusion despite infinite intermingling. He "inscribes" on the Earth's face individual members of countless species without fault or forgetfulness, mistake or deficiency. Everything is done in a most well-balanced well-proportioned, well-ordered, and perfect fashion. This points to One of Majesty, an All-Powerful One of Perfection, an All-Wise One of Grace and Beauty, One who has infinite Power, all-encompassing Knowledge, and a Will able to govern the universe.

Consider what happens during spring and summer. The amount of Divine activity during those seasons is absolutely miraculous in terms of extent, speed, and liberality, as well as in terms of generosity and order, beauty and creation. Only One with an infinite knowledge and boundless power could own such a "seal." That seal certainly belongs to One Who is everywhere although He is nowhere, all-present and all-seeing. Nothing is hidden or difficult for Him, and particles and stars are equal to His Power.

• Seeds sown in a field show that both the field and the seeds belong to their owner. Likewise, the fundamental elements of life (e.g., air, water, and soil) are universal and present everywhere despite their simplicity and same nature. Plants and animals are found everywhere, despite their essentially similar nature vis-à-vis the diverse conditions of life.

All of these are controlled by a single miracle-displaying Maker. Every flower, fruit, and animal is a stamp, a seal, or a signature of that Maker. Wherever they are found, each proclaims in the tongue of its being: "The One Whose stamp I bear made this location. The One Whose seal I carry owns this place. The One Whose signature I indicate wove this land." In other words, only the one who holds all elements in His Power can own and sustain the least of creatures. Anyone can see that only One Who exercises Lordship over all plants and animals can own, sustain, and govern the simplest of them.

Truly, in the tongue of similarity to other individuals, each individual being says: "Only one who owns my species can own me." In the tongue of spreading over the planet with other species, each species says: "Only one who owns the planet can own us." In the tongue of being bound to the sun and of its mutual relationships with the heavens, the Earth and the other planets say: "Only one who owns all these can own me." If apples were conscious and someone said to one of them: "You are my work of art," that apple would retort: "Be quiet! If you can form all apples, rather if you can dispose freely of all fruit-bearing trees on this planet and all gifts of the All-Merciful One coming from the treasury of Mercy in shiploads, only then can you claim to own me."

Since each fruit depends on one law of growth from one center, it is equally easy and cheap to produce one or many fruits. In other words, for multiple centers to produce one fruit would be as hard and expensive as equipping the tree, and to produce the equipment necessary for one soldier would require all the factories needed to supply an army. The point is clear: When a single result related to numerous individuals depends on multiple centers, there are as many difficulties as there are individuals involved. Thus, the extraordinary ease seen in all species arises from unity.

Arguments For Divine Unity

Everything that exists displays God's Unity. For example, of the innumerable arguments for His existence and Unity, consider life: He makes everything out of one thing and makes one thing out of many things. He makes an animal's countless bodily members and systems out of a fertilizing sperm-bearing fluid and water. One who can do this must be an Absolutely All-Powerful One. One Who transforms with perfect orderliness all substances contained in innumerable types of vegetable or animal foods into particular bodies and bodily parts, weaving from them a unique skin for each, is surely an All-Powerful and Absolutely All-Knowing One.

Air displays His Unity. A marvelous conductor, it conducts innumerable sounds, voices, images, and many other things simultaneously, without confusion, and without one hindering the other. This shows that there is One, without partner, Who created, controls, and administers all things according to His Wisdom.

The universe resembles a tree that has grown from a seed containing a comprehensive program for its life cycle. Everything is closely interrelated. For example, a particle in the eye's pupil has relationships with and duties toward the eye, as well as with the head; the powers of reproduction, attraction, and repulsion; veins and arteries; motor and sensory nerves that circulate the blood and operate the body; and with the rest of the body. This clearly shows that the whole body, including every particle, is the work of an Eternal, All-Powerful One, and operates under His command.

An air molecule may visit any flower or fruit and work within it. If this wandering molecule were not subjugated and obedient to the Absolutely All-Powerful One's command, it would have to know all the systems and structures of all flowers and fruits, and how they are formed, right down to their peripheral lines. Thus, this air molecule displays Divine Unity like a sun, as do its counterparts in light, soil, and water. And, as we know, science says that the building blocks of everything are hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen.

The seeds of all flowering and fruit-bearing plants are composed of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. They only differ due to the program deposited in them by Divine Destiny. If we put several kinds of seeds in a flowerpot filled with soil, which has its own particular elements, each plant will assume its unique wonderful form and shape. If their particles were not subjugated to and directed by One Who knows each thing's features, structures, life cycles, and conditions of its life; One Who endows everything with what is suitable and necessary for it; and to Whose Power everything is subjected without resistance, there would be quite a problem.

Put simply, without God's activity, each soil particle would have to contain "immaterial factories" determining all plants' future lives. It also would need to have as many workshops as there are flowering and fruit-bearing plants, so that each could bring each unique item into being. Or, each plant would have an all-encompassing knowledge and power so that it could create itself. Thus, in the absence of One God, there would have to be as many deities as there are soil particles. Such a belief is untenable.

Each particle contains two further true witnesses to the Maker's necessary existence and Unity. First, a particle can perform many significant activities, although it is absolutely powerlessness. Second, by acting in conformity with the universal order, each particle displays a universal consciousness although it has no life. Each particle testifies through its own impotence to the necessary existence of the Absolutely All-Powerful One, and by acting in conformity with the universal order to His Unity.

Each person is a miniature universe, a fruit of the tree of creation or the universe, and a seed of this world, for each of us contains samples of most living species. It is as if each person were a drop distilled from the universe, having the most subtle and sensitive balance. To create such a living being and to be its Lord requires having total control of the universe.

Given this, we understand that the following things represent stamps unique to the Creator of all things, the All-Majestic Lord of the universe: making a honeybee a small index of most things; inscribing most of the universe's features in humans; including the program for a fig tree's life cycle in a tiny fig seed; exhibiting the works of all Divine Names manifested throughout the universe in the human heart; and recording in our memory, located in a lentilsized place, enough information to fill a library, as well as a detailed index of all events in the universe.

All life is a symphony of mutual helping. Just like a living body's members and organs, systems and cells, all parts of the universe support and help each other. For example, air and water, soil and the sun, work together so that a single apple can come into existence. Like a factory's components or a palace's building blocks, creatures support and aid each other, and cooperate to meet each other's needs in perfect orderliness. Joining efforts, they serve living beings. Elements in the soil aid plants by helping them come into existence and survive. Most animals live on plants, and people live on plants and animals. Thus, elements form the basic foundation of a living being's physical constitution.

Innumerable human beings have lived since Adam and Eve were created. Despite their common origin-a sperm and ovum, formed from the same foods consumed by parents-and their being composed of the same structures or elements or organisms, every person has a unique countenance. Science cannot explain this miraculous uniqueness. It cannot be explained by DNA or chromosomes, since this difference dates back to the first differentiation of individuals in the world. Moreover, this difference is not only in countenances; all human beings are unique in character, desire, ambition, and ability, and so on. While members of animal species are almost the same and display no difference in behavior, each human individual is like a different species that has his or her own world within the larger world of humanity. This obviously shows one with an absolutely free choice and all-encompassing knowledge: God.

We need about 15 years to direct our lives and to understand what is good and bad. But many animals have such knowledge very soon after they are born. For example, ducklings can swim as soon as they hatch, and ants start digging nests in the ground when they leave their cocoons. Bees and spiders quickly learn how to make their honeycombs and webs, respectively, which are marvels of handiwork that we cannot reproduce. Who teaches young eels born in the waters of Europe to find their way to their home in the Pacific? Is the migration of birds not still a mystery? How can you explain such astounding facts other than by attributing them to the teaching or directing of one who knows everything, and has arranged the universe and its inhabitants in a way that every creature can direct its life?

Despite enormous scientific advances, we still cannot explain life. Life is the gift of the Ever-Living One, Who "breathes" a spirit into each embryo. We know little about the spirit's nature and relation with the body, but our ignorance does not mean that the spirit does not exist. The spirit is sent here to be perfected and to acquire a state appropriate for the other life.

Our conscience is the center of our inclinations toward right and wrong. Everybody feels this conscience occasionally, and most people are inclined to turn to God on certain occasions. For us, this inclination and belief in Him are intrinsic. Even if we consciously deny God, our unconscious belief in Him occasionally shows itself. The Qur'an mentions this in several verses:

It is He Who enables you to travel on the land and the sea; and when you are in the ship, and the ships run with a favorable wind and they rejoice in it, there comes upon them a strong wind, and waves come on them from every side and they think that they are encompassed. Then they cry unto God, making their faith pure for Him only, (saying): "If you deliver us from this, we truly will be thankful." (10:22)

Then [Abraham] broke them [the idols] into pieces, all except the large one, so that they might turn to Him. [When they returned and saw this] they said: "Who has done this to our gods? Surely it must be some evildoer." They said: "We have heard a youth talk of them; he is called Abraham." They said: "Then [at once] bring him before the eyes of the people, so that they may testify." [When Abraham was there] they said: "Is it you who has done this to our gods, O Abraham?" He said: "Nay, their chief has done it, so ask them, if they can speak." At once they turned to themselves and said: "You, you are the wrongdoers." Then they were utterly confounded, and said: "O Abraham! You know that these do not speak." Abraham said: "Do you then worship, besides God, those things that cannot profit in anything at all, nor harm you? Woe unto you, and all that you worship instead of God! Do you not use your intelligence?" They said: "Burn him (immediately) and protect your gods, if you are doing anything." (21:58-68)

So, the human spirit and conscience are a strong argument for the existence of One God.

Human beings are innately disposed to good and beauty, virtue and moral values, and are adverse to evil and ugliness. Therefore, unless corrupted by external factors and conditions, we naturally seek universal good and moral values. These turn out to be the same virtues and morality promulgated by all Divine revealed religions. As history witnesses, humanity always has had some kind of religion. Just as no other system has superseded religion in human life, the Prophets and religious people always influenced us the most and have left indelible marks on us. This is another irrefutable proof for the existence of One God.

We feel many intuitions and emotions that are messages from immaterial realms. Among them, the intuition of eternity arouses in us a desire for eternity, which we strive to realize in various ways. However, this desire can be realized only through belief in and worship of the Eternal One Who inspired it. True human happiness lies in satisfying this desire for eternity.

If a few liars come to us several times and tell us the same things, we may, in the absence of reliable information, believe them. But when tens of thousands of Prophets who never lied, hundreds of thousands of saints, and millions of believers, all of whom have adopted truthfulness as a most essential pillar of belief, and then agree on God's existence, is it reasonable to reject their testimony and accept the individual reports of a few liars?

Everything is contingent, for it is equally possible that they will exist or not exist. Anything can exist any time and anywhere, in any form, and with any character. Nothing or no one has a role in determining the way, time, and place of its coming into existence, or its character and features. So, there must be a power that chooses between a thing's existence and non-existence, and that gives it unique characteristics. This power must be infinite, have absolute will and all-comprehensive knowledge. Necessarily, it is God.

Everything is contingent, for it is equally possible that they will exist or not exist. Anything can exist any time and anywhere, in any form, and with any character. Nothing or no one has a role in determining the way, time, and place of its coming into existence, or its character and features. So, there must be a power that chooses between a thing's existence and non-existence, and that gives it unique characteristics. This power must be infinite, have absolute will and all-comprehensive knowledge. Necessarily, it is God.

Everything changes. Therefore it is contained in time and space, meaning that it begins and ends. That which has a beginning needs a beginningless one to bring it into existence, for it cannot originate itself, as this would require an infinite regression of originators. As reason cannot accept such a situation, an originator who is infinitely self-existent, self-subsistent, and immune to change is needed. This original originator is God.

Life is a riddle (scientists cannot explain it with material causes or discover its origin) and transparent (it displays a creative power). Given this, life declares: "God created me."

Everything that exists, and the universe as a whole, display a magnificent harmony and order in themselves and in their interrelationships. The existence of one part necessitates the existence of the whole, and the whole requires the existence of all parts for its own existence. For example, a deformed cell may destroy an entire body. Similarly, a pomegranate requires the collaborative and cooperative existence of air, water, soil, and the sun, as well as their mutual and well-balanced cooperation, for its existence. This harmony and cooperation point to a creator of order, who knows the relationships and characteristics of everything, and who can order everything. The creator of order is God.

All of creation exhibits an overwhelming artistry of dazzling worth. Yet it is brought into being, as we see it, with great ease and speed. Furthermore, creation is divided into countless families, genera, species, and even smaller groups, each of which exists in great abundance. Despite this, we see nothing but order, art, and ease in creation. This shows the existence of one with an absolute power and knowledge, who is God.

Whatever has been created has a purpose. Take the example of ecology. Everything, no matter how apparently insignificant, has a significant role and purpose. The chain of creation up to humanity, its last link, is clearly directed to a final purpose. A fruit-bearing tree's purpose is to yield fruit, and its whole life is directed toward that goal. Similarly, the "tree of creation" yields humanity as its final and most comprehensive fruit. Nothing is in vain; rather, every item, activity, and event has many purposes. This requires a wise one who pursues certain purposes in creation. Since only humanity can understand those purposes, the wisdom and purposiveness in creation necessarily point to God.

All living and non-living beings cannot meet almost none of their own needs on their own. For example, the universe can operate and maintain itself only by such universal laws as growth and reproduction, gravitation and repulsion. But these so-called "natural laws" have no actual external, visible, or material existence; they are nominal. How can something nominal, completely devoid of knowledge and consciousness, be responsible for such a miraculous creation that requires absolute power and absolute knowledge, wisdom, choice, and preference? So, one who has all of these attributes has established these "natural laws" and uses them as veils to cover His operations for a certain purpose.

Plants need air and water, as well as heat and light, to survive. Can they fulfill their own needs? Humanity's needs are infinite. Fortunately, all of our essential needs, from our beginning in the womb to death, are met by someone who is able to meet them and chooses to do so. When we enter this world, we find everything prepared to meet all the needs of our senses and intellectual and spiritual faculties. This clearly shows that one who is infinitely merciful and knowledgeable provides for all created beings in the most extraordinary way, and causes all things to collaborate to that end.

All things in the universe, regardless of distance, help each other. This mutual helping is so comprehensive that, for example, almost all things, among them air and water, fire and soil, the sun and the sky, help us in an extraordinarily prearranged manner. Our bodily cells, members, and systems work together to keep us alive. Soil and air, water and heat, and bacteria cooperate with each other to benefit plants. Such activities, which display knowledge and conscious purpose, by unconscious beings show the existence of a miraculous arranger. That one is God.

Question: What should an appropriate attitude be towards those who envy us and cannot stomach our achievements?

First of all, it needs to be known that not being able to stomach others’ merits is a serious spiritual illness. The example of Satan’s attitude towards Adam and his later going completely astray is the most striking example of just that. Considering the words of Satan in different verses of the Qur’an, it is seen that he is a creature that knows God. But in spite of that, he refused to prostrate himself before Adam for the sole reason of his jealousy and not being able to stomach God’s honoring Adam. While mentioning Satan’s disobedience to the Divine command, the Qur’an uses the word “aba” (refused), which denotes insistent refusal. That is, he was insistent at his haughty refusal to prostrate himself before Adam. Since he was full of grudge and hatred, this prevented him from seeing goodness and thinking positively. Had it been easy to overcome jealousy and inability to stomach others’ merits, Satan’s end would probably not be so pitiful. Perhaps, realizing Adam’s relation with the Almighty Creator and the angels’ respect for him would bring Satan to his senses. However, that poor victim of jealousy fell headlong and is still falling. It is narrated in a parable that Satan once asked God Almighty, “You forgive so many people, should my punishment and suffering not be over?” God Almighty reminded him of the first test that he failed, “Go and prostrate yourself before the grave of Adam. Then I will forgive you.” However, Satan was totally seized by his jealousy and inability to stomach Adam’s merits once again that he continued his refusal and denial. Jealousy has such a compact potential for evil that Satan threw himself headfirst into disbelief.

From jealousy to fratricide

On the other hand, God Almighty relates the parable of Adam’s two sons in the chapter Al-Maedah (5:27–31), in order to show where jealously and inability to stomach others’ merits can destroy a person. Although the names of the two sons are not specified in the Qur’an and the Tradition of the noble Prophet, earlier scriptures refer to them as Cain and Abel. They were born into a family blessed with Divine revelations, which was also a nucleus for the final Prophet. One of these two sons, whose father was mentioned as “the Pure Servant of God,” was an unfortunate one who could not stomach the merits of his brother and turned so furious as to kill him in the end.

When we review history, we come across many examples of this kind. The lesson to extract from these is that jealousy caused many people to fall. Grudge and jealousy even caused some people to be antagonistic toward the Pride of Humanity, who would not hurt anybody in the slightest degree. At one instant, Abu Jahl confessed this truth with the following words, “All that he conveys is true. He does not lie; we have never witnessed that. However, his tribesmen (Banu Abdul Muttalib) already said, ‘We have the honorable duties of giving Zamzam water to pilgrims, keeping custody of the keys of the Ka’ba, and offering food to pilgrims.’ If they say now, ‘The Prophet has appeared from among us,’ I cannot stand that!” Until the day he met his end at the Battle of Badr, that unfortunate one spent all of his days in enmity towards the Messenger of God, and then drifted to eternal perdition in the vice of his jealous grudge. He could perhaps be granted Divine forgiveness if he had said even as late as a few minutes before his death, “Until this moment, I have always been trying to destroy what you built up. But now, I am asking for forgiveness,” and then accept faith. However, he was absorbed in a jealous grudge, arrogance and envy even during his death throes. Let us give it a thought; his inability to stomach others’ value was like an inauspicious iceberg not melting even in the significant atmosphere of the Messenger of God.

Stomaching the inability to stomach

In sum, we need to take into consideration that such negative attitudes are always present. Not only those hostile to faith, but even those who supposedly share the same feelings, thoughts and teachings with the volunteers, will present their jealousy and inability to stomach the achievements from time to time. The becoming response for us is to stomach these as an outcome of human nature and embrace everyone despite this factor. Ideal believers are described in the Qur’an (Al Imran 3:134) as ones who are ever-restraining their rage (even when provoked and able to retaliate), and pardoning people their offenses. Accordingly, you should swallow your anger, forgive people, and even if you meet some evil, you should leave this evil one sided by not responding in the same way. If a vehicle crashes into a stationary one, the damage will be halved. However, when two vehicles crash into one another with speed, both will be compressed into a heap of metal. In the same way, you can halve the damage by leaving vice on its own; you must condemn the jealousy and intolerance of the adversaries to melt the vices away.

Keeping up the initial sincere intention

There is another reason for an intention being better than the deed: a person can be sincere with respect to their initial intention. However, when the deed is being put to practice, other considerations such as showing off to others and taking sanctimonious pride can spoil sincerity. As for intention, it does not face such a degree of risk as the deed does. Since it is a will in the heart, it is not possible for others to see it. For example, one man can say, “I gladly accept it even if God takes my life a thousand times, if only the blessed name of the Messenger of God was honored in these lands.” Even his closest friends cannot exactly know the feeling and the excitement in his heart. Seeing the entire world dark without him, believing that everywhere will gain light with him, feeling agony with this concern, suffering with shame for failing to be true to him, and living with a troubled conscience with this concern—such feelings and considerations enveloped by sincerity in one’s heart have great value in the sight of God, for they cannot be spoiled by sanctimonious concerns of showing off to others. In this respect, it can be said that as these feelings and thoughts inside are not exposed to the destructive effect of negative considerations, God Almighty accepts them as if they were actions carried out, counts them as compensation for the gaps one’s deeds fail to fill, and grants that person eternal bliss in return for them.

People can erase their wrongs and sins through repentance and penitence. However, even if sins are removed, there will be certain gaps in one’s record of deeds. The mysterious capital to fill up those gaps is a person’s sincere intentions, orienting oneself heavenwards, and their intents and wills bound to put into practice. We hope that God Almighty accepts them as if they were actual deeds and fill the gaps in the record of deeds with them, and thus will not let His servant in shame on the day of reckoning. In this respect, great guides gave much importance to intention.

One of the most eloquent invitations for divine providence

As intention is an invitation for Divine help in order to realize the intent, then one should never refrain from making it. In the face of loads of work to do, one should make an intention and begin working, do as much as she can do, which is an invitation of great significance in the name of asking from God Almighty to make it possible to complete the task, instead of waiting idly in hopelessness. Then it is not right for a person to neglect this petty task they are responsible for in terms of apparent causes. People should target great ideals and keep their standards high, at least in terms of their intention. Besides that, when they cannot realize all that they desired to, they should not give in to disappointment, be respectful to how Divine Justice operates, and after having done what they were supposed to, they should wait for the right time to do what remains undone.

Intentions that surpass the available means

Those who fail to do what they planned to do owing to valid excuses beyond their power will be treated in accordance with their intentions. For example, the Qur’an praises the ones who felt sad since they could not find the means for making a contribution to the Tabuk Campaign: “…they returned, their eyes overflowing with tears in sorrow that they could not find anything to spend” (at-Tawbah 9:92). As those who donated for the campaign were praised for their deed, the ones who could not were appreciated for the purity of their intention, depth of their heart, and immensity of their feelings. Referring to those who could not join the army for a valid excuse, who could not find a mount or who had relatives they had to look after, the noble Messenger of God stated, “There are some men in Medina who are with you (on account of their intention) wherever you march and whichever valley you cross…” and gave the glad tidings that they would also have their share of the Divine reward like others. In other words, the noble Prophet meant to say that if they had the same means and conditions as others, they would also join them, practically make the same efforts, and therefore receive the same reward. In one case, the Pride of Humanity even spared a share from war-gains for Uthman ibn Affan, who was unable to join the Battle of Badr for a certain reason, and that distinguished Companion was also counted among the blessed souls who attended the Battle of Badr.

The connection between pure intention and deeds

We need to expound on what we mean by “what the heart truly wills,” the phrase we used while defining intention. “What the heart truly wills” does not denote something passing a person’s mind or heart. On the contrary, it denotes being resolved at one’s intention and making a serious effort to put that intention to practice. In other words, as orienting oneself to God is the theoretical side of intention, attempting to do this is the practical side. In this respect, one needs to be resolved at putting the intention into practice by achieving such concentration. In other words, although intention is an issue to be considered within religious commandments, its realization depends on an individual’s religious practices. Seriousness of intention reveals itself in having the theory and practice together. This is not only limited to essential acts of worship such as fasting and Prayers, but applicable for all acts of goodness. The practical value of intention can be understood from the following statement: “The intention to be humble spoils humility, the intention to be great provokes contempt…” Lowering one’s wings of humility down to the ground is an important virtue in Islamic morality, but the thought “Let me appear a tad humble,” eliminates it; because it is an indication of running after one’s desires and fancies. It may turn out that the speaker’s intent is not being humble, but being appreciated, applauded, and becoming a person recognized by others. Similarly, attempting to appear great provokes contempt in others, the exact opposite of the intended purpose. Or, for instance, assuming a proud attitude toward a proud person is not an indication of being proud, since there is a different intent. In sum, an intention finds its value in practice, the real motive is revealed through its practical dimension.

The reward that corresponds to the intention

As the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, once stated in the name of stressing the importance of intention, a man’s intention is better than his deed. At another instance, he stated that a person who intends to do something bad but then desists from it, and a person who intends to do something good but does not find the chance to do it will also gain rewards. Accordingly, if someone who intends to do an evil act and is determined to do it desists from that act for the sake of God, this will be recorded as one good deed. In the same way, someone who cannot find the chance to do and intended an act of goodness will be rewarded for this intention.

To give an example, the volunteers disperse to the four corners of the world for the sake of humanity to share their values and spiritual heritage, and they act sincerely. Their devotion reaches such a degree that when they think about it, their eyes fill with tears and they cry their hearts out. At the same time, they make use of every opportunity for the sake of their sublime ideals. However, they cannot realize their intent owing to adverse conditions. So the glad tidings of the noble Prophet are true for believers in this situation; their intention is more valuable than their deed, and they will be rewarded as if they realized that deed, according to their intention.

Question: What does “perfect intention” mean? What are the properties of an intention, which is stated as being better than one’s deeds?

Scholars of both Islamic Jurisprudence and discipline of Hadith defined intention as “what the heart truly wills.” As for what is meant by perfect intention, as the true will of the heart, it can be defined as a person solely turning toward God, who is the Absolute One to be worshipped and the True Desired One, and seeking His approval in all their deeds. As it is known, the most famous saying of the noble Prophet about intention is the first one Imam Bukhari included in his classic work.

“Actions are judged by intentions, and a person will get a reward according to the intention. So, whoever emigrated for God and His Messenger, his emigration will be for God and His Messenger; and whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration would be for what he emigrated for.”

According to this hadith, if somebody observes the Prayers to deceive people by attempting to appear pious, they find no reward in the Afterlife for such deeds; since their heart was not oriented to God but to appreciation by people. Actually, such an attitude is the character of hypocrites. They do not believe in making ablution, observing Prayers, guiding others, and serving their people and humanity with altruistic attitude. By stating that actions are judged by intentions, the hadith lets us know that actions which do not seek God’s good pleasure bear no value.

Varying degrees of intention

On the other hand, we need to admit that not everybody is on the same level. A person’s purity of intention is directly proportional with their horizons of knowledge of God. Their intention will vary in accordance with how sound their faith is, how immersed they are in knowledge of God, and how the consciousness of omnipresence of God flourishes in their hearts. For this reason, those with broad horizons in regards to knowledge of God need to aim higher with their intentions, which can be seen as the starting point of worship. One who makes a sound intention, which we can call the basmala of worship, can offer acts of worship—such as the Prayers, fasting, and Zakah (prescribed purifying alms)—with due awareness and consciousness.

Question: What is the Islamic perspective on suicide, which has become a social disaster in our time? What are the underlying reasons that lead a person to suicide?

Even though no explicit statement is found in the Qur’an, we can say that the prohibition against taking life is also true for a person’s taking his or her own life. Killing oneself is murder in the same way killing another person is murder. God Almighty considers taking one life equal to killing all of humanity: “He who kills a soul unless it be (in legal punishment) for murder or for causing disorder and corruption on the earth will be as if he had killed all mankind” (al-Maedah 5:32). Indeed, human life is among the five essentials people are responsible for protecting. It can even be said—as Shatibi systematically expounds on in his Muwafaqat—all of Islamic law is based upon these five essentials of protecting a person’s life, religion, property, mental health, and offspring. Protection of life is the foremost among these essentials. It is so important to protect one’s life that somebody under assault is allowed to harm the assailant in self-defense.

Breaching the trust

Human life is an important trust from God. In other words, just as faith is a God-granted trust in the name of serving the religion, the blessing of life, which makes all of these possible, is such a trust as well. For this reason, a person’s taking his or her own life willfully means ruining this Divine bestowal through which people are commissioned to fulfill certain responsibilities.

People come to this world like recruits to an army, to undertake a responsibility. What is required of people is waiting patiently until the appointed time when they will be summoned to the Divine presence. Just as a soldier that leaves his regiment without a leave signed by his commander is considered a fugitive, a person who leaves the duty of life without a Divine command is similarly considered a fugitive deserving punishment. All of the good actions a person did in their lifetime will be wasted. In fact, even wishing that God would end one’s life due to certain sufferings is a sin; making such a wish means rebelling against the fate ordained by God Almighty. For this reason, somebody who utters such words of rebellion by mistake needs to seek Divine forgiveness in prostration as if they committed a grave sin. Given that such wishes—much less severe in comparison to taking one’s life—is so wrong, then it is a much worse disrespect toward God Almighty to commit suicide, because it is an attempt to interfere with the time of dismissal from duty without waiting for the command of God, the rightful authority. Just as He is the one who sends people into the world, He must also be the one to send them to the next world. No human is given the right for self-decided intervention.

A person can even die in the lawful defense of their life, religion, or property. Even though there may seem to be an outward human intervention, this is actually a form of passing to the next world within the command of God Almighty. The Messenger of God stated that one who is killed in defense of their property, religion, life, or family is a martyr. Therefore, dying in such situations is a form of taking leave from service with Divine permission. Some scholars of Islamic jurisprudence made the judgment that a person who commits suicide is like a person who renounced faith and therefore is not eligible for an Islamic Funeral Prayer. However, there is also the consideration that a person might commit suicide during a temporary state of insanity. Since people in such a state are not responsible for their actions, it is possible to carry out a Funeral Prayer with this consideration.

Sometimes, intolerable sufferings might lead one to suicide. Indeed, such an incident took place during the time of the blessed Prophet. A person named Quzman was wounded during the Battle of Uhud. To end his suffering, he committed suicide by leaning his body weight on the tip of his sword. Seeing this, the Messenger of God stated that the man is a dweller of Hellfire. Imagine that he fought near the beloved Prophet for the defense of Medina and received a fatal wound that would make him a martyr, but this unfortunate man became a loser in a zone of winning for not being patient with the suffering. Without waiting for the Divine decree, he made the judgment for himself and thus became deserving to be a dweller of Hellfire. What befalls a believer, however, is showing patience during such times of trouble. A person is supposed to remain patient against all odds, until they are summoned by the Divine will. In other words, one must seek what God wills even while dying.

The commandment “O you who believe! Keep from disobedience to God in reverent piety, with all the reverence that is due to Him, and see that you do not die save as Muslims (submitted to Him exclusively)” (Al Imran 3:102) also implies that people should not end their own life. However, suicide is a consequence of not submitting to God and is contrary to this commandment. In addition, just as killing oneself means ruining an entire past, suicide means ending one’s life in a very ominous way.

A multiple murder: Suicide attacks

There is another form of suicide called a “suicide attack” that started in the West first and then, unfortunately, became present in some Muslim countries as well. Those who commit this act try to justify it by asserting that it is a meaningful suicide. In other words, with these attacks they undergo for the sake of their ideologies, they are pretending to ascribe a positive meaning and value to suicide as if it were possible to protect their religion with it. However, when we look into the truth of the matter, we see that such suicide bombings are no different than the suicide we previously mentioned.

Suicide attacks can even be seen as a form of murder, because just as those heedless murderers who have nothing to do with humanity and who have no idea about the true spirit of Islam go to Hell headfirst by killing themselves, they kill so many innocent people as well. Therefore, just as they will be called to account on the Day of Judgment for taking their own lives, they will have the same trouble for the people they killed—for every child, woman, man, Muslim, and non-Muslim victim one by one.

In Islam, laws and disciplines explicitly define the acts that are permissible during peace and wartime. Nobody can declare a war or decide to kill another person by himself, and nobody has the right to kill children, women, or the elderly on the opposite side during battle. This being the case, suicide attacks or other similar acts of terrorism can never be compatible with Islam. To shed light on the issue, we take the statement of the noble Prophet that a person does not commit adultery as a believer, does not drink wine as a believer, does not steal as a believer, and does not commit murder as a believer. We understand from this hadith that a murderer is not a believer while committing murder. In other words, a person committing these sins cannot be called a Muslim in terms of their state, intents and plans while committing them. When you study their character during these moments, what appears before you is not the portrait of a Muslim; indeed, such character cannot fit within the Islamic frame. For this reason, let us emphasize once more that a person who acts as a suicide bomber and kills innocent people, no matter what country or religious group they are from, the murder they commit has absolutely nothing to do with being a Muslim. A person taking so many lives cannot be saved in the next world. Of course, it is always possible for a person who commits those grave sins to repent and ask forgiveness from God, and the Almighty One can forgive their sins. In this case, God knows how they will be treated in the Hereafter.

On the other hand, it is a reality that such murders smear the beautiful face of Islam. The crimes, which are committed by those appearing to be Muslim and pretending to commit murder for the sake of religion, are attributed to Islam in the sight of people who do not know the original teachings of Islam. Therefore, it becomes exceedingly difficult for believers to change this mistaken image. Clearing people’s minds of this negative image will take intensive effort for many years. For this reason, no matter who commits those suicide attacks, they can be defined as twice as bad, or rather a manifold worse form of murder. A few people who were not very knowledgeable about the genuine teachings of Islam asked me once, “Is it the love of going to Paradise that leads Muslims to become suicide bombers?” I answered them saying, “If those people are acting on such a motive, then they hold a mistaken consideration, for a person who makes such an attempt does not go to Paradise but goes headfirst into Hellfire.”

Dizziness that comes along with glory

Let us consider the lesson to be drawn from this historical event, as expressed in the initial question. Just as the blessed Companions of the noble Prophet had Divine providence and support behind them, today’s Muslims can be granted different Divine favors and blessings as well. What really matters is to keep one’s inner purity at such times by acknowledging Him as the only one who really makes things happen. Even in the face of the greatest achievements that seemingly depend on our free will and efforts, we need to shatter the veil of causality and see the Causer of causes beyond and say, “Everything is from You.”

From a worldly perspective, success and achievements can be seen as good things to sing praises about, but such things must never make a believer feel dizzy or forget their position of servitude for God. No matter how great the accomplishments we make, we always need to see ourselves as loyal slaves at His door. In fact, if we can achieve to see ourselves as His slaves, we will be freed from being slaves to everything else. This, at the same time, means freedom from different systems of manipulation and abuse. Those who do not become slaves to God Almighty become slaves to different things—some to lust, bohemianism, worldly benefits, and fame, while others become slaves to power and commit different forms of oppression thinking that might set everything right. You can view all of these people as captives. I can even say that if you swear they are being captives, you will not have made a false statement, because, some of those people bear two, five, or even ten shackles of captivity around their necks. Ones devoid of wisdom might ascribe good things being achieved to certain individuals and groups on stage and extol them. Those with character flaws and a weakness for fame and praise might grow arrogant and insolent in the face of such applause. They might have claims on what does not belong to them. In truth, it is a downfall to make such claims by forgetting that their achievements are blessings granted by God Almighty. For example, if a preacher sees that the audience is deeply moved and are listening to him in tears, he will corrupt what he did if he takes any personal pride and sees it as a consequence of his powerful oratory; in reality, people’s hearts are in God’s hand of power. Being granted oratory skills is both a blessing and a test. Making a claim of such things is a form of usurpation. Let us not forget that a love and desire for fame is such a trouble that one with such a character flaw can make claims on what belongs to God, the noble Prophet, and the Qur’an when they keep being extolled. May God protect us from such a disaster!

Question: What are the messages that can be drawn from the verse (translated as): “God has already helped you on many fields, and on the day of Hunayn, when your multitude was pleasing to you, but it availed you nothing, and the earth, for all its vastness, was too narrow for you, and you turned back, retreating” (at-Tawbah 9:25).

After the conquest of Mecca, the tribes of Thaqif and Hawazin were allied with other tribes and prepared to attack the Muslims. In addition to being an excellent head of state, the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, was a unique commander. Upon receiving the news, he immediately took action to launch a preemptive strike. Thus, he aimed to win without much bloodshed and not to give way to much rancor. As a matter of fact, so many people from those tribes became Muslim later on. As a matter of fact, the noble Prophet utilized the same practice and strategy during the process that started with the Treaty of Hudaybiya and resulted in the conquest of Mecca. Imagine that the Messenger of God, a person who is held in high esteem beyond the heavens, accepted the articles of the treaty although they asserted demands seemingly disadvantageous to the Muslims for the sake of gaining the hearts of those people. Later on, the Meccans themselves breached the treaty. Upon this, the Pride of Humanity gathered an army and camped outside Mecca. During that time, he could easily have said “Might is right,” and charged at them. However, that noble soul never did and would not do such a thing, because, had he entered Mecca through bloodshed, it would have hurt the people’s pride and possibly given way to long-standing bitter feelings.

Hunayn: A hard test

Getting back to our main subject, 2,000 new Muslims from Mecca were added to the 10,000 Companions who conquered Mecca and an army of 12,000 marched toward Hunayn. Therefore, those the army was compiled of mostly young soldiers who were dizzy from the conquest of Mecca and people who had newly embraced Islam. In this state, such a thought may have occurred: “Nobody can stand before this army. Just as we have conquered Mecca by God’s grace, we are going to defeat Thaqif and Hawazin as well.”

At this point, let me note that I always have a spirit of showing respect toward the Companions, seeing them as pure souls, and choosing carefully selected words when talking about them so much so that I take heed not to use the slightest expression of questioning where the Companions are concerned. However, in this incident, some of the blessed Companions may not have adhered to the refined state God Almighty expected of them that was becoming of their distinguished position. Consequently, they may have received a Divine warning, so that they gave the due of their elevated status. However, this is a matter between God Almighty and them. Our making off-handed remarks regarding this issue will be impertinence and a transgression.

The tripod

The knowledge obtained from other sources by one who understands the essential sources well can elevate one to a different kind of richness. Until the fifth century of the Islamic Calendar, and even until the 11th and 12th centuries in way, Muslims took what they could from other sources, benefited from them, and experienced no serious problems with regards to this issue. They filtered things they took, revised them, and determined very well what to take and what to leave out. If we can realize this same methodology today, then we can attain a serious wealth of knowledge.

On the other hand, in order to benefit from our invaluable essential sources efficiently, we need to have a magnanimity of conscience that allows us to journey through the horizons of the heart and spirit and enables us to identify what we need to know; in addition, we should also possess a perspective that draws the correct meanings while reading the universe like a book in order to benefit from those sources of knowledge and interpret them correctly. I doubt many people with such horizons and understanding can be found in our time. For a long time, we have been deprived of the establishments that raise individuals with a holistic approach and appeal to all of their material and spiritual aspects—their heart, spirit, reason, and thinking altogether. Unfortunately, the madrasas (traditional Islamic schools), that were once the centers of knowledge and wisdom and where so many great personalities were raised, lost their progressive qualities. They just began to repeat what had previously been said. Since they could not keep pace with their time, eventually they were far behind and, as a result, unable to meet the needs of their society. Sufi lodges, which had flourished within the Islamic tradition, similarly lost their progressive quality. Since they did not take the principles of Islamic theology and the methodology of jurisprudence into consideration, they interpreted religion according to certain personal feelings and experiences. As the understanding of religion was built upon certain subjective considerations, it was pushed into the frame of mysticism. When this became the case, the reactionary movements against them totally ended up in naturalism and materialism. Therefore, the schools and Sufi lodges, which were supposed to support another, fell into serious conflict. Imitating the West, some even took it to the extreme of completely separating the fields of science and religion.

In the end, Muslims were the ones to pay the price. As the madrasas and Sufi lodges were closed to the world, the spiritual and scholarly life of Islam became separated from one another. As these two were devoid of the support of “time,” an important interpreter, they condemned themselves to narrowness of ideas. Consequently, the religion was shattered into pieces and it lost its true identity. In this respect, without striking a balance between the madrasa and the Sufi lodge—or between reason and spirit—and then completing this into a tripod of discipline, it is impossible for Muslims to become themselves again or to think like themselves and analyze matters related to their true identity.

Question: It is stated that a true disciple of the Qur’an should benefit from Islamic sources directly and from other sources by filtering them. What are the points of consideration for benefiting from Islamic sources in the most efficient manner?

Before directing people to the essential sources, evoking a feeling of curiosity and an ardor for learning is necessary. In other words, love for the truth must be evoked in the conscience of society and then a thirst for knowledge and exploration in order to reach that truth must be present to such a degree that people become ardent seekers of knowledge who study phenomena tirelessly. If such ardor can be evoked, then a wish for studying the sources that constitute the identity of Muslims will begin to form in the hearts of the people. When hearts are seized by a passionate desire for learning, people will turn to their own sources and wish to drink abundantly from that fountain of knowledge.

You cannot direct stagnant water anywhere

I would like to give an example from another issue. The volunteers who wish to revive their own thought or realize a revival within their own line of thinking must possess enthusiasm to the degree of madness; this excited state makes them unable to contain themselves to stay where they are. It is very difficult to save people from inertia, languor, and weariness without such an excitement. As for a person full of enthusiasm, although they might go to excesses in some respects, it is easier to moderate them within the disciplines of the religion they respect. For example, you can tell them, “You are so enthusiastic, but going to extremes will bring more destruction than progress, and this contradicts the values you cherish and the essentials of your religion. Instead, let us use your enthusiasm in a constructive way. Perhaps, your enthusiasm will be a seed of active patience for a few centuries and an example of remaining steadfast on this path. Even if it takes centuries, let us exert our brains to come up with beautiful projects.”

This may help channel their enthusiasm to constructive projects. The same fact is true for deepening one’s knowledge and reading more. In other words, it is very difficult to direct people toward reading certain sources without evoking in them a passion for knowledge, truth and exploration. No matter how much you try to encourage people who are devoid of such enthusiasm to read certain sources, they will remain sufficed with a single reference book. A passion for knowledge must be stimulated first, and then it must be channeled to a productive course; it is not possible to channel stagnant water anywhere.

The essentials should be known first

The second point of consideration here is to determine our priorities with respect to our own world of thinking. In other words, what should our priorities be with regards to learning and establishing a base and criteria to follow? What are the essentials that serve as our standard to test the new things we learn and where are they found? The answers to these questions lie in the essential sources of religion which consists of the major evidences of Islamic Law —the Qur’an, Sunnah, ijma (consensus of Muslim jurisprudents), and qiyas (logical deduction by analogy in Islamic jurisprudence)—and the minor evidences of Islamic Law (i.e. taking decent customs and the public interest into consideration, choosing the better option, etc.).

Reading different sources without understanding the primary sources and learning the established principles set forth in them confuses minds most of the time. An example of such confusion happened with the Ottomans, with the process that began with the Tanzimat Period and continued later on. Their failure to show fidelity to a methodology is evidenced by their accepting everything they found to be true without testing whether they were right or wrong. Thus, they ran after different fantasies leading to a period of confusion. For example, it is a reality that much discussion has been made concerning issues of self-improvement nowadays. However, if we do not refer to the invaluable statements of the noble Prophet regarding this important matter and only read self-improvement theories devoid of metaphysics, so many aspects of the issue will remain deficient. If we cannot guide people toward becoming heroes of spirit that glorify God in a universally comprehensive sense within the essentials taught by the Perfect Guide, the Messenger of God, then it resembles—God forbid—seeing the system he brought as a deficient one, as if the Qur’an left many things incomplete, or as if the great scholars of the classic period did not understand Islam at all. All of these are examples of obvious deviation. Then why should Muslims follow other ways? What others wrote or said may have a point within their own discourse, terminology, and system, but Muslims are supposed to evaluate matters from the perspective of their own values and essential sources so that they do not conflict or contradict the essentials of faith while making a statement about pedagogy, psychology or other sciences.

Question: People have an innate inclination towards self-appreciation and seeking recognition. What is the suitable attitude for a believer to have to counter such urges?

One can sometimes realize good things with the help and support of God Almighty. However, we cannot always be sure that we did everything in the best way possible. Perhaps it was possible to do something better with the means available. For this reason, even in the face of seemingly great accomplishments, believers must reflect on their actions by questioning themselves and their deeds thinking, “I wonder whether I was efficient in using the means granted to me. Have I given a satisfactory performance and did I really do my best?”

If this self-examination is done, I think even in the face of one’s greatest accomplishments, one will realize that they were not able to carry out their actions properly and failed to act in a way that complied with the intent of God Almighty; one will not be satisfied with her or his efforts. Thus, let alone taking pride in their actions, they will even begin to blame themselves and find avenues for improvement through this process of self-evaluation.

Do not reduce the reward for good acts into the expectation of appreciation from people

It is very important for a believer to aspire to make others love God and His Messenger with an insatiable ambition. However, even if a man succeeds in becoming a means for making all hearts feel and appreciate the true spirit of the noble Prophet, he should see what he did as insufficient; he should not reduce the value of those good acts by seeking recognition in return for them. Even others’ appreciative remarks should not change his feelings and opinion with regards to this issue. Those who seek an opportunity to talk about their achievements and live with this feeling will not find the opportunity or time to detail what they really should. However, our care and concern should be only for God and His Messenger. We should see this as the greatest ideal and act upon it all the time. It is the right of God Almighty to be loved by people, whereas its realization is a duty and responsibility for the believers. One of the most dangerous factors for those who try to serve for this sake is trying to express and prove oneself by mentioning certain things one achieved. In fact, if others heedlessly praise a person’s ideas, suggestions, projects, and organizational or communicative skills, then the situation is more dangerous. When we cherish a worldly goal such as recognition by others, although it is possible to realize in this world, it reduces the reward and will bring a disappointment beyond description in the next one. For this reason, a true believer should see the issue from the perspective of the immensity of Divine Mercy, always seek God’s good pleasure, and never render their actions worthless by attaching them to simple expectations.

It is not a virtue for a person to memorize personal achievements and acts of goodness. There is a proverb that reflects this meaning: “Do a good deed and let it into sea; even if the fish do not appreciate it, the Creator will.”

When someone performs an act of goodness, it is possible to praise God and offer thanks to Him for making it possible for one to perform that good deed. That is a different issue. However, if someone mentions his or her achievements and good deeds in a boastful manner, it will cause them to lose the otherworldly rewards that would have accompanied their good deeds. Believers must act so sensitively with regards to this issue that when someone comes and mentions their good act, they should be able to say that they do not even remember that and not spare any place in their memory for it. If needed, they should make serious efforts to erase it from their memory.

The greatest shortcoming: Not seeing one’s own shortcomings

Someone with sound belief should have a guilty conscience even about a single bad deed and feel remorse as if it was done yesterday, even if they committed it seventy years ago and asked forgiveness for it seventy thousand times. They must kneel in shame and keep asking for forgiveness from God. Perhaps the mistakes that existed in the mind and imagination will never be recorded in a person’s record of deeds; however, if a person commits a mistake even at such a level, he or she must feel ashamed, saying, “My God! How could I even think such unbecoming things before You… How could I allow such things to enter my imagination? What a disrespectful person I am!” In other words, a person should feel ashamed for the wrongs they commit. A person who acts in this manner will not lose anything. On the contrary, one who leads a life in this way will attain the reward of so much repentance by seeking forgiveness. The Messenger of God gave glad tidings to those whose record of deeds is rich in seeking forgiveness (istighfar). In one instance, he stated that he asked forgiveness from God at least seventy times a day, and another time, he said it was a hundred times a day. However, we already know that God Almighty did not let him commit the slightest wrong in his entire lifetime. The beloved Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, was born innocent and always lived innocently. He led his life under the protective shade of Divine revelation. Despite this fact, he still asked for forgiveness seventy or a hundred times a day.

Question: There is a prayer at the end of “The Sixth Word”: “O Lord, forgive our sins and accept us as your servants. Enable us to remain faithful to Your trust until the time of restitution (returning the trust) arrives.” Could you explain what is meant by “the trust?” Is it only the blessing of “life?” Could you also elucidate the term “trust,” with respect to our duties and responsibilities?

Since trusts are the first blessings God Almighty grants human beings, each thing a person gains—through giving freewill its due and making good use of the first blessings—is a trust as well. Actually the real catalyst in what a person gains is God, too. However, there is a general principle of law: “If the real catalyst is not apparent, then an action is ascribed to the closest cause.”Based on this principle, when a man gains something by using his freewill, we accept him as the cause of the act, even though he is not the actual catalyst. Therefore, as the attributes God Almighty grants people are blessings, what people gain through using their freewill should also be considered among the Divine blessings granted to them. If people can acquire this perspective, they will be able to discern that what actually operates behind those blessings, with all of their internal and external dimensions, is the hand of the Almighty Power. Those who possess this perspective will be full of praise and gratitude for the One who grants them those blessings. They will sing praise for God from the bottom of their heart, and feel that blessed phrase resonate through their entire body.

Faith: The greatest trust

As viewed from this perspective, the issue is extensive. For example, just as our life is a Divine trust to us, the seeds of eternal bliss such as faith, constant awareness of God’s omnipresence (ihsan), knowledge of God (marifah), and love of God (muhabbah) are also important blessings. Without faith, people spend a temporary life in this world, like other creatures do; they condemn themselves to non-existence. Attaining eternal bliss depends on faith.

For this reason, exerting oneself to protect an important trust like faith by erecting barriers and using research to bring evidence in support of faith still does not give this important issue its proper due. What befalls on individuals is regarding such a valuable trust is to ask for more all the time and keep on walking in the path of servanthood. Imagine that a box of valuable jewels is given to your custody and you risk losing your head if anything happens to it. That trust will surely be treated with the utmost seriousness. However, the worth of such a box is nothing next to faith. For this reason, believers should build fortifications around their faith, being certain not to leave any gaps that the devil and the carnal soul can sneak through; such behavior stems from remaining faithful to such a great trust. In addition to being steadfast in faith, diligence in observing worship is also a very important part of preserving the trust of faith. A person needs to continuously pray to God for this sake, seeking refuge in His protection and help. As such, the Messenger of God never gave up praying as, “O Turner of hearts! Bind my heart to Your religion!” or “O Turner of hearts, turn our hearts to Your obedience.”

Who is Islam entrusted to?

The Holy Qur’an is also a trust given to believers. It is necessary to preserve it not only in the minds, through memory, but also by being loyal to its meaning and content. If the Qur’an is not understood in meaning and content, its value is not appreciated. It should not be forgotten that we cannot pretend to be faithful to the Qur’an by entrusting its message to vocal performers, and by finding consolation while listening to them. To be truly faithful to this trust, we must keep Qur’anic values alive in society by exerting ourselves to make it the most cherished teaching in the world, and by blowing its spirit to other souls.

If we cannot be faithful to the Qur’an in this way, then we are actually betraying it, even though we might show shallow respect by hanging it in velvet covers on our bedroom walls. The Islamic teaching, with all of its essentials and principles that must be practiced in real life, is a trust to all Muslims from God Almighty and His Messenger. The Pride of Humanity has presented the framework for this teaching and showed the truth of everything explicitly; he showed believers the ways to true happiness in this world and the next. Therefore, the noble Prophet entrusted Islam to his Companions first, and then to generations to follow. With the hopes of making it more practicable in their age, every one of the saintly figures (mujaddid, mujtahid, awliya, asfiya, and abrar) of later centuries brought clarity to certain vague religious points; with their judgments and elucidations, they revealed the fact that Islam can be lived afresh in every era. Thus they fulfilled their duty and entrusted it to the following generations.

The trust that was placed on the shoulders of earlier generations is on our shoulders now; it will be transferred to the next generation tomorrow. It would be terribly irresponsible to transfer that trust to later generations in a deformed condition. If we are not faithful to the trust, protect it as we should, and hand it to our successors in sound condition, we will have betrayed this trust and done a grave disservice to the next generations. Particularly in our time, serving faith and the Qur’an has gained more importance owing to neglect. In the past, people risked their lives for this noble ideal. Under difficult circumstances, they responded in the best way possible; they upheld this trust so it could reach our hands. Now it is our duty to uphold the service of faith as it was entrusted to us, ensuring its message does not lessen during our lives by conveying this message, untainted, to those who need it. If we fail and the trust is tainted, we have betrayed God Almighty, and He will bring us to account in the Hereafter.

Let me state an example: If a volunteer of faith, without working for sixteen hours, says that things are not running smoothly and asks for an assistant, then this person can be seen as giving in to laziness. If a devoted soul works for sixteen hours and still feels that certain things are left undone, then he can ask for a helper. If we really care about not bearing the stigma of betrayal in the sight of God Almighty, we must approach the trust with this mindset, and then seek refuge in Divine Power and Mercy through considerations and prayers such as, “My God! Please send trustworthy people eligible to bear the trust as soon as possible, so that we can transfer these trusts to them untainted.”

Betraying the trust is a characteristic of hypocrites

The noble Prophet stated that anyone who has the following four characteristics is a pure hypocrite; if he has one of them, he possesses some hypocrisy until he gives it up: When he is trusted, he betrays this trust; when he speaks, he lies; when he makes an agreement, he breaks it; and when he becomes hostile he has no limits. Accordingly, neglecting the trust—taking all of the points we mentioned into consideration—can be taken as a sign of hypocrisy. This also means losing one’s trustworthiness, which is among the characteristics of the Prophets. People gain value in so much as much as they adopt characteristics of the Prophets, and vice versa.