STAND AWE
If you are in awe of creation, how can you not love God?
A discerning eye recognises that everything in nature serves the Creator by fulfilling its creative purposes. It is only those with limited agency who doubt Him.
The word awe and its earliest variations meant having reverence for the Creator. Now, we use the word and its derivatives for anything that tickles our fancy. Because we’ve come to associate ‘awe’ with the trivial and inconsequential, it has lost its true meaning on us.
The observable universe, near and distant, its creation, and the design of ourselves, directs to a Power separate from it. A Source in Absolute Unity is responsible for its instantiation and harmonisation. The total integration of the system is proof thereof. The universe’s subtlety, precision and absolute balance alone should arouse an ovation to the Only One worthy of awe.
Our lack of awe is another reason for the disunity within us and the world.
When we see ourselves as separate, we view creation purely as resources for our gain. This disconnectedness is a direct cause of the ecological catastrophe gripping humanity and the grave levels of unnaturalness permeating our lives. This fracturing also severs us from God.
Without creation, we lose the singular most influential reference to God.
The Quran is replete with verses that call us to reflect on His creation as a means to faith and stewardship: ‘Glorify the name of thy Guardian-Lord Most High. Who hath created, and further, given order and proportion. Who determined their destinies and guided them’ [87:1-3] and,
‘Those who stand in awe of God will heed the reminder‘ [87:10].
‘It is God who created you from dust and later from a drop of fluid; then He made you into two sexes. The two bodies of water are not alike–one is palatable, sweet, and pleasant to drink, the other salty and bitter–yet from each, you eat fresh fish and extract ornaments to wear, and in each, you see the ships ploughing their course so that you may seek God’s bounty and be grateful. He makes the night merge into the day and the day into the night; He has subjected the sun and the moon–each runs for an appointed term. Such is God your Lord: all control belongs to Him. Those you invoke besides Him do not even control the skin of a date stone’ [35:11-13] and,
‘Do you not see that Allah sends down rain from the sky with which We bring forth fruits of different colours? And in the mountains are streaks of varying shades of white, red, and raven black, just as people, living beings, and cattle are of various colours as well. Of all of Allah’s servants, only the knowledgeable are in awe of Him‘ [35:27-28].
Nature and creation is a dominant Quranic feature. The few verses referenced above and the copious uncited on the subject indicate that God deems it fundamental to faith.
Our mandate is to renew our covenant and accept who we are, Khalifah fil-ard—earth’s vicegerents.
THE MOMENT
Living life focused on the moment is crucial for attaining taqwa—God-consciousness. How can we become mindful of God if we are oblivious to the time we occupy in space? The moment is the door to God because when we are alive to it, we have the agency to connect and be with Him. God thus becomes the Partner in all our affairs.
When we neglect the moment, we invariably suffer by inviting into our minds the unchangeable past and the uncontrollable future.
I believe that the axiom, God does not burden a soul with more than it can bear, also relates to the moment. When I add my regrettable past and anxious future to the present, I cannot cope. But when I stay in the present, I can.
Wandering from our occupation has another drawback: the quality of the moment’s potential and output falls.
The highest form of taqwa and accountability is to live by the iḥsān—excellence maxim: ‘to worship God as if you see Him. Even though you can’t see God, know that God sees you.’ [Bukhariy 43]
Al Raqīb, The All-Aware, is one of God’s names and attributes. Hence, to align with God, we must strive for murāqaba, the state of perpetual self-awareness.
A Muslim’s entire life should be an act of ‘ibadah-worship. When we adorn our worship with iḥsān and murāqaba, we enter the state of a muḥsin (a doer of what is beautiful). Muḥsin is the highest grade in piety and consciousness and was the way of the Prophet Muhammad (s).
Living by this standard is demanding. My advocacy for it is only theoretical, not experiential. My attention keeps slipping, and I become distracted by the call of the world all too frequently. But keep practising, I must. My title of Muslim, a submitter to God’s Will, demands it.
The month of the Quran has bid us farewell, but the Quran remains.
Ramadan is a teacher and taught us that we can relinquish our proclivities and practice a higher form of existence, one informed by the Book of God.
During the pedagogic month, the most fantastic night exists.
It’s the most awesome because it’s the night the Quran was born, and the God-given command to read revealed. God told us that through reading His Revelation, He would teach us that which we knew not.
Thus, to stay the course, we must become sincere students of the Book.
Why would we not want to if its Teacher is none other than God?
Until next week, InshaAllah
Zaahied Sallie
Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme
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