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Back You are here: Home Library God Fundamentals of Knowing God Section Three: Divine Theology Chapter One: Obstacles and Stimulations of Submission

Chapter One: Obstacles and Stimulations of Submission

Chapter One: Obstacles and Stimulations of Submission

In verses and traditions much has been spoken about the obstacles of guidance and its manifold conditions and stimulation. Throughout Quran and the heavenly books the matter of moral vices and sensual habits have been propounded as the basis of belief and disbelief.

On the other hand, what can be insignificantly seen in the human gnostics is the effects of such kind of matters in theology and basically in every kind of Ma'refat and recognition. The source of these two viewpoints should each be looked for in the logic of theology.

After this, we shall strive to discuss the essential differences between these two viewpoints and explain them commensurate with our discussion and as per our ability.

1-Will Power and Driving Force[40]

Considering that man is having the means and the power to choose, he is therefore able to select each of the ways, which are opened before him. In instances when the behaviour of man has become endowed with goodness and evilness and reward and punishment are derived from them, free will and authority play a special and decisive role. Although, various internal and external factors too are having an effect on the behaviour of man, yet the free will of man, due to its special cause has reigned over the other factors and conditions and plays a basic and fundamental role.

The basic and fundamental point is that from the viewpoint of divine religions the driving forces and the different ground words like spiritual conditions, companionship and social relations, merely encourage and call man towards fulfillment or abandonment of an affair. These incentives will be effective in the emanation of action only when man himself selects through free will, one of them and pursues it.

In reality, the internal incompatible stimulation and the environment of man with its diversified conditions opens various ways before man and invites him to traverse them. However, selection will be fulfilled when man chooses through his will power one of the many ways and becomes determined in fulfilling it. In more precise terms, the strength of will-power is placed at the top of motives and stimulation and reigns over them and not that it is the effect and decree of the external conditions or according to some the very same conditions and desires. (In continuation, we shall have another reference of the discussion of free will and authority).

2-Relation of Ethics and Will-Power with Belief and Deed

Just as it was pointed out, the role of ethical virtues and vices in faith and deed and similarly the underlining on the matter of free-will and sovereignty of human-will upon the realm of faith and deed is among the outstanding points and criterions of divine Ma'aref. One of the matters which at times has been referred to in verses and traditions and which can be said to be from the indisputables of revelation and the certainties of religion is these very two matters. Incidentally this matter is reckoned to be one of the pivots of differences between the logic of confirmation of Greece and the innate logic of religions. For clarifying the matter, we have to discuss a little more about it.

Submission or denial occurs in places and degrees when man has traversed from the two stages of 'definition' and 'reminding', has witnessed God in the light of 'Fitrat' (innate disposition) and the divine argumentation has reached its perfect manifestation. As mentioned before, the innate Ma'refat is so intense in its lucidity and powerful in manifestation that it has been referred in Quran and traditions under such titles and names as 'heartly vision' and 'observation'. Similarly the Glorious Quran reckons the reminding and the innate proofs to be the 'clear signs' and illuminatory and indubitable reminders. Therefore, from the viewpoint of Islamic Ma'aref after man becomes reminded and conscientiously perceives the reality of the Exalted God, his soul and life gets cleansed from doubt and uncertainty and finds his Creator with His perfect and glorious Attributes just as He Himself has introduced.[41]

Here man's duty begins and it is here that the role of man in faith and disbelief becomes clear and this question arises that what is the reason of the disbelief of the disbeliever? In reply it should be said that even though free-will and authority is the actual reason and the fundamental factor in giving direction to man, yet other determinant factors are having an opening in this regard and prepare the ground of evil free-will and or good free-will without negating it. What are these determinants?

From the viewpoint of Quran, these driving forces are moral feebleness and heartly indignation since a gloomy heart never accepts light and is weary of it.

The verses of Quran reckons the reason for disbelief of the disbeliever and polytheism of the polytheists and their not being guided as “haughtiness and arrogance”, “injustice and jealousy”, “hatred and cruelty”, “lust and seeking superiority” and “debauchery and denial.” (These verses will come later on). Such kind of terms and concepts which can be seen throughout Quran indicates on the one hand that from the view-point of Quran, man in his actions possesses will and power of selection and the most important basis for unworthy choice is the ethical feebleness and spiritual vices which has grown from the past evil choices. On the other hand it reveals this meaning that the condition for reaching the path of guidance and religious belief is keeping pure the substance ('Teenat') and safeguarding the purity of heart and soul.

This matter relates the firm relation of the realm of ethics and beliefs from divine viewpoint and this relation is the same thing which the Greek philosophy was unable to explain and even explicitly rejected it.

“Relation between Ma'refat and virtue is the distinctive ethics of Socrates. According to him, Ma'refat and virtue are one, meaning that a learned man who knows what is the truth, also acts upon it. In other words, no person knowingly and intentionally will commit an evil act.” (Fredrik Kapilstan “History of Philosophy”; vol. 1; Pg. 155)

The analysis of Aristotle from the ethical viewpoint of Socrates too shows the same point. “According to some, when someone is possessing knowledge it is impossible and rather surprising that he gets influenced by some other power and like a curtain gets pulled towards any direction. This is the view of Socrates.” (Aristotle: Good Morals)

Therefore, Aristotle has severely overrun this view and said: “However, this Socratic view is clearly discordant with the reality.”[42]

Plato too took away this view exactly from his master. “Plato accepted Socrates view that virtue and Ma'refat are one.” (History of Kapilstan's philosophy; vol. 1; Pg. 298)

“He has been loyal to this thought that virtue is Ma'refat and that virtue is capable of being learnt just as he believed that nobody knowingly and intentionally performs an evil act.” (History of Kapilstan's philosophy; Pg. 299)

On the basis of ethical views of Socrates and Plato, there exists a necessary and indispensable relation between Ma'refat and action and the only motive and driving force of man's behaviour is his acquaintance and knowledge.

These two philosophers have reckoned knowledge to be the factor which gives shape to action and they have not considered any role for the spiritual instigation and internal desires in knowledge and Ma'refat. Moreover, they do not even take note of the free will and the created freedom of man. Basically, free will in its true sense is vague and indipictable in Greek philosophy. (In this connection, more will be said later on).

Because of the fact that the ethics of Socrates does not consider any role for 'desire', 'lust' and 'anger' in the behaviour of man, Aristotle has strongly condemned it and considers it to be far from truth. He recognizes the two factors of 'intellection' and 'desire' as the mechanism in man's behaviour and action and names both of them collectively as 'selection'.

“As such, the basis of ethical deed is free selection and the basis of selection is desire and an order which pays attention to ultimateness.” (Morals of Nikumakhs; Vol. 2; Pg. 5)

“As such we can say that selection of the determinant is an intellection based on desire and or a desire founded on reason” (Morals Nikumakhs; vol. 2; Pg. 5)

In accordance with what was said, Aristotle goes one step ahead than his predecessors. In addition to recognition and intellection, he refers to inclination and enthusiasm as an effective factor in ethical deed. This very point made Aristotle efficient enough to re-introduce the role of ethical feebleness and carnal desires. In spite of all these, he too like his predecessors was unable to depict and make clear free will, freedom and man's power and ability in action and inaction.

In spite of the fact that Aristotle had severely strived to explain free-will and selection in the Greek philosophy and has discussed about it in various chapters of his book of ethics,[43] yet in the fine analysis he reckons the 'act of free-will' to arise from desire (lust and anger) (Morals of Nikamakhs; vol. 1; Pg. 63) I and introduces 'selection' as 'desire' based upon 'reason'. (Same reference; vol. 2; Pg. 5 and vol. 1; Pg. 67)

As such, Aristotle does not believe in an independent identification for free-will separate from notion, confirmation and enthusiasm. The identification which makes man efficient (despite his inner desire) in relation to a special deed and the best knowledge, is resorting to the abandonment of that work and seeing his recognition as insignificant. In other words, the Greek philosophers have not depicted free will as being instrumental in man's sovereignty over his desire and Ma'refat. Rather they were adjudging man's free will to his own knowledge (in Socrates ethics) or to his rational desire (in Aristotle's ethics).

It seems that the unacceptable depiction of free will and authority by the Greek philosophers was having a root in their study of 'psychology' and 'humanities'. Aristotle who is the most eminent representative of Greek reflection believes in three outstanding powers for the soul.

“Soul is having three outstanding powers which are indicative of the truth as well as the basis for action.

They are sensation, intellection and desire”. (Same reference; vol. 2; Pg. 4)

When the sensual powers are confined to these three powers, the other human powers and qualities are described in such manner that they return back to these three powers. As such, free-will is not set forth as one of the primary qualities and characteristics of the soul and it is for this reason that in the analysis of behaviour, the free-will and selection returns back to the same intrinsic qualities and primity of soul i.e. intellection and desire.

Undoubtedly any philosopher who has not brought 'free-will' as one of the 'primary qualities of the sour' in his study of humanities and does not consider it to be derived from 'definition of man' and does not set or rather make it dominant over the other powers, will not be able to specifically describe free-will. Consequently compulsion and determinism will put on the garb of freedom and authority and it is obvious that such a philosophy will be entangled in all the necessities and effects of compulsion and coercion.

As against the Greek philosophical schools, the divine religions while emphasizing knowledge and awareness to be the effective factors, introduce carnal and sensual desires as the most important factor of man's turning away from the truth and stress upon the created freedom, ability and authority of man in his destiny. From the viewpoint of religions, after passing the two stages of 'definition' and 'reminding' man succeeds in conscientious comprehension and lofty recognition of God. As such, the only reason why man does not submit before God is the evil free will and following of desires by utilizing the voluntary and created power.

In other words, the recognition of God is a heartly Ma'refat (gnosis), not a mental and imaginary feature and this Ma'refat is the gift of God, not the discovery of man. Similarly, the real Ma'refat is manifested by reminding (and the argumentation is completed) and not by philosophical proof and confirmation. Therefore, the reason of disbelief of the disbeliever is evil morals and their evil free will, not mistake in imagination and error in the method of confirmation.

Undoubtedly, the successive stipulations and emphasizes of Quran regarding moral virtues and vices and their role in belief and disbelief is not capable of perception and explanation except from this viewpoint. Some of the Orientalist and some of the thinkers who are not acquainted with the logic of Quran in the matters of belief, when coming across such verses and traditions, depict religion merely in ethical and exhortative manner. According to the logic and ways of monotheistic religions in the matter of theology, ethics is one of the important basis of achieving the truth and not merely in the meaning of advice and exhortation. From the viewpoint of Quran and traditions, moral vices and the darkness resulting from it are counted to be one of the barriers of recognition and prepare the ground for the evil free will of man. In contrast, the moral virtues prepares the soul and the self of man in receiving the divine Ma'refat and the light of guidance.

Unfortunately, the religious sources and evidences have been less scrutinized and analyzed from this aspect. The result of such inattention is that the logic of theology of revelation is intermixed with the alien elements and most of the truths of Quran has been vaguely hidden behind the curtain. It should be known that most of the objections of the westerners and the deviators in religion are in reality in these very non-religious elements which in the course of time have become inter-mixed with Ma'aref and revelation in an unsuitable and un-matchable manner. The bedecking of religion from the non-religious elements (whether those elements be correct or incorrect) is one of the pressing duties of the Theological Centers in the field of Islamic research and one should look for the process of reforms in Islamic reflection in this area.

Now we shall discuss in brief, the veils and obstacles of submission from the viewpoint of Quran.

3-Obstacles of Submission in Quran

In general, the afore-said obstacles in Quran return back to two internal and external factors and each of these two also consist of two set of factors which are as follows:

A) Moral vices and sensual attachments

B) Abomination and committing of sins

C) Satan of Jinns

D) Satan of men

Each of the above titles in its turn is possessing numerous meanings, which we shall refer to some of them and in each of the cases usually one verse will be sufficient and for some others references will be produced in the end.

A) Moral Vices:

The point which should be reminded about moral vices is that these vices takes shape by man's free-will and he is in a position to acquire them.

I) Carnal Desires and Extensive Love:

(*)

“Have you then considered him who takes his low desire for his god, and Allah has made him err having knowledge and has set a seal upon his ear and his heart and put a covering upon his eye. Who can then guide him after Allah? Will you not then be mindful?” (Holy Quran: Jaasiyeh:23, Similarly Qasas: 50, Qamar: 3, Mohamrnad: 14 and Baqarah: 87)

According to the above verse, deviation, the sealing of heart, ears and eyes and deprivation from guidance are the effects of man's evil free will and selection of carnal desires as objects of worship.

(*)

“And as to Samood, We showed them the right way.” (Holy Quran: Fusselat: 17)

II) Hard-heartedness:

(*)

“…And He shows you His signs so that you may understand. Then your hearts hardened after that, so that they were like rocks, rather worse in hardness.” (Holy Quran: Baqarah: 72, 73)

According to this verse, the created signs ('Ayaat-e-Takweeni') [which was discussed in the second stage] along with intellection opens the way for the guidance of man. But hard-heartedness and cruelty of a person becomes the cause of not allowing his intellect to attain anything. In such kind of verses and traditions the number of which is not less, intellection and reason have been propounded as the associate of the heart and mind. It should be seen what are the meanings of intellect from the viewpoint of revelation?

In the other heavenly books too much has been spoken about hard-heartedness and cruelty of man and the matter of heart becoming as hard as the stone has been discussed as the factor for turning away from truth and standing against God and His religion. For example in the journey of exodus from Torah it has come that: “Moosa and Haroun came to Firaun and said: “Jehovah the God of Israel has said to set free my nation so that they can observe a festival for me in the desert.” Firaun replied: “who is Jehovah that I should listen to his words and set free the Israelis. I do not know who is Jehovah and I shall not release the Israelis.” (Old Testament (Torah), London 1895 Journey of Exodus; chapter 5; Pg. 89)

Thereafter Prophet Moses displayed numerous miracles before Firaun which each of the time Firaun did not submit due to his heard-heartedness. The sentence “the heart of Firaun became hard” has been repeated for more than ten times in the journey of exodus. (Same reference; Pg. 92-95, 97-100, and 104)

III) Pride and Arrogance

(*)

“Surely (as for) those who dispute about the communications of Allah, without any authority that has come to them, there is naught in their breasts but (a desire) to become great” (Holy Quran: Ghafir: 56)

Thus the divine signs are sufficient for guidance. However a group have disputed and contended against it and this disputation is not due to ignorance of the reality but because of pride and haughtiness.

(*)

“As to those who disbelieved: What! were not my communications recited to you? But you were proud and you were a guilty people.” (Holy Quran: Jaasiyeh: 31; Similarly Baqarah: 17, A'araf: 36, 40, 76, Ahqaaf: 10, and Munafeqeen: 5)

IV) Avarice

(*)

“But when He gave them out of His grace, they became niggardly of it and they turned back and they withdrew so He made hypocrisy to follow as a consequence into their hearts.” (Holy Quran: Tauba: 76)

The effect of avarice is turning away from religion.

V) Seeking Loftiness of Position and Rank. About the denial of the divine signs by Pharoah and his followers, Quran says:

(*)

“And they denied them unjustly and proudly while their soul had been convinced of them; consider, then how was the end of the mischief-makers.” (Holy Quran: Naml: 14)

B) Committing Sings:

I) Injustice:

(*)

“…And none deny Our communications except the unjust” ) (Holy Quran: Ankabut: 49)

(*)

“Surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.” (Holy Quran: An'aam: 144. Similarly Tauba: 109, Baqarah: 86 and 258, Saff: 7, Qasas: 50, Ahqaaf: 10 and Naml: 14)

In the Bible it has come that: “So the reason that He (i.e. God) made Pharoah's heart hard was that he punished our nation and wished to do injustice upon them” (Gospel of Barnabas)

II) Abomination

(*)

“And certainly We have revealed to you clear communications and none disbelieve in them except the transgressors.” (Holy Quran: Baqarah: 99)

In this verse, disbelief is confined to 'Fisq'. Perhaps the reason may be due to the wide meaning of 'Fisq', which includes in it every action, which is evil.

(*)

“Surely Allah does not guide the transgressing people” (Holy Quran: Muafequn: 6, Similarly, Baqarah: 26, Saff: 5, Tauba: 80)

III) Performing Indecent Acts:

(*)

“Then evil was the end of those who did evil, because they rejected the communications of Allah.” (Holy Quran: Rum: 10)

This warning of Quran is very severe and grave that sins do not remain merely within its limits. Rather, because of the reciprocal relation and connection of behaviour with the human heart and soul, any indecent act will have a direct effect on man's heartly position before religion and he will start rejecting it.

IV) Lies and Falsehood

(*)

“Surely Allah does not guide him aright who is a liar, ungrateful.” (Holy Quran: Zumar: 3)

C& D) Satan of Jinn and Men

(*)

“And thus did we make for every prophet an enemy, the Shaitans from among men and jinn.” (Holy Quran: An'aam: 112)

(*)

“Like the Shaitan when he says to man: Disbelieve.” (Holy Quran: Hasher: 16)

(*)

“Surely (as for) those who return on their backs after that guidance has become manifest to them, the Shaitan as made it a light matter to them, and he gives them respite.” (Holy Quran: Mohammad: 25)

(*)

“And the Shaitan desires to lead them astray into a remote error.” (Holy Quran: Nisa: 60; Similarly An'aam: 43, 121. Ar'aaf: 27, Haj: 3 Naml: 24 and Ankabut: 38)

It has come in the Bible that: “Faith never errs because its foundation is God and His words… However [Satan] with all his efforts plans to nullify the faith”. (Gospel of Barnaba: Pg. 211, 212)

With regard to our topic of discussion, many traditions have been narrated which for the sake of brevity we shall refer to only some of them.

(*) (Usul-e-Kafi; vol. 2; Pg. 289; Tradition no. 1)

(*) (Usul-e-Kafi; tradition no. 2; vol. 2; Pg. 289)

The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) said: “The pillars of disbelief are four: Greed in worldly things, fear from its decadence, discontent and anger.”

(*) (Behar al-Anwar; vol. 72; Pg. 116; Tradition no. 15; Similarly Behar al-Anwar; vol. 72; chapter: 99 from Pg. 104 to 123. Traditions 1, 2, 16, 17, 19 and vol. 70; Pg. 53; tradition no. 15 and Pg. 55 tradition no. 24)

To Sum Up

Good and evil free will and moral virtues and vices are having many effects on man's life. Just as it was said in the first chapter of the stage of 'Submission', among its effects one can mention submission or non-submission before God and just as it will come in the second chapter, the result of such submission or non-submission will be enjoyment of 'spirit of faith' or its deprivation and consequently will amount to worship or disobedience. The outcome of submission and worship too (as was mentioned in the stage of 'reminding') is acquisition of 'special guidance', intensification of innate Ma'refat (gnosis) and a more lofty recognition of the Exalted God.

The effects of free will and the moral capacities which have not been discussed in length, is the kind of perception of innate Ma'refat and being reminded of it in the very first stage of guidance (general guidance). Of course, the essence of Ma'refat of God has been manifested to all and the divine argumentation will be completed upon all the human beings (just as it was mentioned in the stage of definition). However the spiritual condition of a person is not ineffective in the kind of manifestation of innate Ma'refat and being reminded of it. Perhaps some of the expressions of Quran like.

(*)

Could also be other than 'special guidance' encompassing and controlling the 'general guidance' and the type of perception of the first stage of guidance. As such, free will and morals will be having a fundamental role in recognition, beliefs, deeds and in reality, in all the aspects of man's life.

 

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