The Essence of Peace

Peace is not the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice.
Martin Luther King

The Islamic concept of peace is a spiritual one, namely that we are only truly at peace when we submit to the Truth, to the Eternal, to a Higher Reality, rather than to our own illusory folly.

Infinite Thirst

In one of his verses Rumi says, "What is love?" And he replies to his own question, "Infinite thirst." "So,"he says, "let me explain the water of life." He's trying to explain the water of life in his poetry so that your thirst will increase, so that you'll feel this pull towards water and recognize that you are infinitely thirsty, that it is human nature to be infinitely thirsty. That is what we have to awaken in ourselves. Rumi says, "Don't look for water, look for thirst." It's thirst you have to find; then, if you become thirsty, you'll see water bubbling up everywhere. But it's thirst you have to strive for before you're going to find any water. So don't look for God, endeavor to become thirsty; awaken that thirst in your soul and then you'll find God everywhere.

William Chittick

The Intelligent Heart

The Quran uses the word heart repeatedly, 100 times or so, normally as a noun, except in some stances where other forms of the word are used. The word itself (qalb) is used in the Quran to mean 'heart', and if one reads all the verses in which the heart is mentioned, it becomes very clear that 'heart' is the center of consciousness, the center of human awareness. Qalb is closely associated with intellect or understanding, as it is with all of the functions of the mind. The emotions are also located in the heart, but this is a secondary meaning. A sound heart is the mark of a human being who is in proper relationship with the Divine. And it is illness in the heart that is the cause of human difficulties and human problems.

William Chittick

The Mystery of Truth

Of what can we be certain except this—that we are fertilized by mysterious circumstances? Where is man's truth to be found? Truth is not what can be demonstrated by the air of logic. If orange trees are hardy and rich in fruit in this bit of soil and not that, then this bit of soil is what is truth for orange trees. If a particular religion, or culture, or scale of values, if one form of creativity rather than another, brings self fulfillment to a man, releases the prince within him unknown to himself, then that scale of values, that culture, that form of activity constitutes his truth.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Australia
Wind, Sand and Stars

Life after Death

Nasmah. There exists a subtle vapour in the body of man, which is the creation of the essence of his four humours. Those four humours are: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile, but among them the proportion of blood is large, so much so that it can be said that the subtle vapour is its essence. These four humours are made of four elements, namely, air, earth, water and fire. This vapour is just like a white fog, pervading the whole body and is responsible for its functioning.

Physicians know very well that so long as it is in the body, man is alive, but as soon as it separates from it, he is dead. We call this subtle vapour Nasmah (the spirit). It is in the body, as the rose-water is in the rose, or as the fire is in the charcoal, but this spirit is of inferior type.

Death. At the time of death, it is the Nasmah which separates from the body and its separation becomes the cause of death. The connection of soul, however, remains with it intact. The soul penetrates the Nasmah there as it had penetrated the body here, and as the body was a vehicle for it in this world, similarly the Nasmah would be the vehicle for the soul in the next world.

When man dies, his earthly body decays, but its decay in no way affects the soul, as it maintains its connection with the Nasmah which does not completely disintegrate; and its (Nasmah’s) condition at that time is like that of an expert writer with his fingers cut off, still retaining the faculty of writing. The Nasmah after man’s death retains in its airy essence almost all the faculties of the head and heart.

The actions of the animals, even though optional, leave no abiding impression on their hearts. It is temporary and disappears very soon. The case of man is quite different. Whatever action he performs, if done deliberately, its impression stays on his heart and the heart, in a way, absorbs that impression and makes it as its own. The intention for action, however, first proceeds from his Rational Soul and, after the action is performed, returns to it rather comparatively strong and clings to it and becomes inseparable. Thus, his actions done with the full presence of his mind are preserved in his Nasmah and after death, when his body will decompose, they will appear to him in true colours.

Shah Waliyullah of Delhi

Saying of the Prophet: People are asleep, and when they die, they awaken.