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Five Senses & the
Five Pillars of Islâm In a Hadith Qudsi, Allah
says that if His servant tries to come closer to Him, by voluntary good
actions, He will love him and if He loves Him, He will become the sight by
which he sees, the hearing by which he hears and the hand by which he
dares and forces and the legs by which he walks, and if the servant seeks
His refuge, He will answer and if he asks Him, He will respond. "Shahâdah" is
our inner spiritual sense of seeing. Through the ayât (signs)
in the Universe, we can witness Allah's ability, compassion, power, might,
strength, etc. We can witness Allah's Attributes within everything. If our
sense of Shahâdah/seeing of Allah increases, we can sense that He is
watching us wherever we are, and we behave accordingly to that Watchful
Eye. We can also witness His signs "ayât/clues" within
ourselves that serves as guidance to us. To demonstrate this level of
seeing, I like to mention this story about al Ghazâlî, the author of
"Ihya' Ulûm ad deen/Reviving the Sciences of Religion". After
he wrote thousands of pages trying to explain the mystery of Allah, life
and the world, he was full of the sense of self-accomplishment. As he was
sitting on the board of a river, a bird came and dropped from its beak a
water drop that she picked from the river, and put on one of his pages. As
the bird repeated this act, Al Ghazâlî realized in it a direct message
for him from Allah. He realized that Allah was telling him: that the
knowledge that He gave him was only like a drop from the ocean of Divine
knowledge. This brought Al Ghazâlî to humbleness. This story
illustrates to us how being God-conscious makes us see or witness the ayât
of Allah in the Universe. They see Allah beyond everything, and that is
the depth and meaning of the Shahâdah: to be always on alert and
attentive to Allah's Presence, Message and Guidance. To be able to see
with our inner most hearts, as the Qur'an speaks of real seeing and
comprehension. This is the depth of the saying of the Hadith Qudsî:
"When Allah loves His servant, He becomes the sight by which He
sees". Prayer is our inner spiritual sense of hearing. It shows that we hear the
call of Allah's Wish or Command for us. Then, by reciting the Qur'an we
hear the Divine Words, message and Guidance. As our sense of spiritual
hearing evolve, we become true slaves and servants of Allah, who submit to
His Command. We become the tool, through which Allah answers the prayers
of others. We hear humanity cry, and the cry of those in need and we
respond as God's representatives. The visions of those true believers are
what left after and is part of Prophethood. `Umar Ibn al Khattab could
actually internally see the danger of the trap that was facing the Muslim
army when he warned them "Ya Sariyatul Aljabal, irj`i irji`i":
(O people who are walking by the mountain, return, return). Because there
were people among that group whose spiritual sense of seeing was evolved,
they could sense his warning and return upon his advise. This is the depth
of the saying of the Hadith Qudsî: "When Allah loves His servant, He
becomes the hearing by which He hears". Fasting is our inner spiritual sense of "Tasting". Through fasting, we taste
the suffering and the pain of the hungry, homeless, lost and the poor. We
also taste the sense of our spirits that don't eat or drink or get in
intimate physical relations, but in a more refined and meaningful ways. We
taste the spiritual food. Giving Alms and Charity is our inner and spiritual sense of "touching". By giving food, water, a
smile, care, help, respect, etc. we in fact are touching others
spiritually with justice, compassion and love. These beautiful qualities
are our very sense of touching. We touch the Hand of Allah through given
our pledge to Him to give charity, and doing voluntary acts to show our
Love to Him. People can touch Allah's Hand through touching the hands of
His representatives, like when they gave their pledge to the prophet and
the caliphs after him. What an honor that can be! This is the depth of the
saying of the Hadith Qudsî: "When Allah loves His servant, He
becomes the hand by which he dares (or force) with". When one gives
in charity his whole being and life, then it will be Allah's Hands that
throws the arrow, and Allah's Hands that make plants grow, through one's
prayers and charitable giving. Hajj is our inner spiritual most subtle sense of smell! Our five senses are not
complete unless we go in the journey to the House of Allah, even once in
our lifetime. When we die we return to Allah, to our Eternal Abode of
Grace "Jannah" and so Hajj means we have to die before we die
(as the hadith says). We have to detach ourselves from the temporary
world, and get attached to the Eternal World, like we do in Hajj. We have
to practice the Hajj internally all the time. We have to be in continuous
repentance (returning) to the world where the hidden essence of our
reality and state will manifest and live. Our physical five senses are limited and are just low reflections or shadows of our eternal spiritual real five senses. Our spirits have inner eyes, ears, skin, tongue and nose. These organs are the intention and qualities of our behaviors. If we use or depend only on our physical five senses, then we are missing our full potential. This limitation that people put upon themselves will degrade their spiritual experience. After their lives in the bodies end, and the physical senses are lost and buried, their spiritual senses become concealed and they continue to live in the environment their deeds, emotions and thoughts made for them. Because they caused atrophy to their spiritual senses, they will live in regret and suffering. They will say to Allah: "Why did you resurrect me blind and I used to have my sense of seeing in the lower life"", and Allah will reply to them: "So our signs used to come to you, but you chose not to see it". But, if we become aware of our inner spiritual five senses, use and depend on them more and more, then our physical five senses, will follow and become a reflection to more subtle and beautiful limitless senses. Then, when we leave our bodies, we are aware of our subtle spiritual senses, and we can continue to enjoy the sense of witnessing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling in another formless non matter status. After resurrection, these non matter essences will dwell in our bodies, giving it an everlasting youth, beauty and health, and we will live in the Abode of Grace for Eternity, being able to witness Allah's Beautiful Face, hearing His speech, touching His Hand, tasting His fruits and smelling the essence of His Gardens. Author: NfrTt@aol.com |