CHAPTER III: THE PEN AND THE PRESERVED TABLET (LAWH AL-MAHFUZ)

It has been possible to conceive of the existence of the Seven Heavens and Paradise and Hell all written on a small "Preserved Tablet" or a small piece of paper and preserved in a minute part of the heart and seen with a part of the eyeball, not exceeding the size of a lentil seed, without the Heavens and Earth, Paradise and Hell actually existing in the eyeball or the heart or the tablet or the paper. It is not necessary that the pen and the tablet should be the same, as we know, for they are formless and only God can know what they really are. In spite of our selfless efforts, we miserably fail to imagine the feature of God's fingers with which He writes on the "Preserved Tablet". We also fail to understand how the tablet receives impressions like a hard and broad body upon which writing is inscribed, as children write upon a slate. For the multiplicity of this writing requires something extended on which to write. And if the writing is infinite, the material bearing it will be likewise infinite. Apparently, infinite body and infinite lines on a single body are inconceivable. It is also possible to conceive of the speech of God as being read with tongues preserved in the hearts and written in books without the actual existence of that speech in these things. For if the very speech of God should actually exist on the leaves of a book, God Himself, through the writing of His name on these leaves, would exist actually thereon. Similarly, the very fire of Hell, through the writing of His name on the leaves, would exist actually thereon and the leaves would be consumed. In like manner God is seated upon the throne in the sense which He willed by that state of equilibrium - a state which is not inconsistent with the quality of grandeur to which the symptoms of origination and annihilation do not permeate. If these things cannot be explained in terms of the power of a powerful being, how then can they be explained at all? It is essential, therefore, that we should believe in them in accordance with religion. As a result of the deep search into the problem of essence and attributes, it has been found that God is the only reality; we are but phenomenal. Human attributes are only impressions and ephemeral mirroring faintly God's attributes which are eternal. Whatever the mind conceives is definite in so far as it is limited by place and time, but God is not a space-filling body and His life is timeless. The difference between God's knowledge and power and human knowledge and power is greater than the difference between any two things, for He is not composed of bodies within whose limits powers are diffused. His power and will and knowledge are one and the same as His essence. His life is not like ours, which needs for its completion the two different powers which are manifested through our knowledge and action. On the contrary, His life is identical with His essence. If His attributes are attributed to us, we would not understand them. Death is the separation of soul from the body, which is reunited at the command of God on the Day of Resurrection.

The individual souls ar part of the Universal Soul to which they will return. Thus the individual's death is a minor return and that of the Universal Soul is the major return towards the Creator. The separation of spirit from matter is a mystery and the union of spirit with matter is a mystery also. As it is, we always misunderstand ourselves and rarely understand others. This is the end of our discourse on the mysteries of the human soul. The Prophet said: "..." [As soon as one dies, Doomsday begins for him]. Here the word qiyamah does not mean the Resurrection of bodies, which is a permanent entity to which existence will return after death. Here the word qiyamah means the particular Doomsday - a subject which we have discussed in detail in the opening chapter entitled "Patience" included in our book called Ihya `Ulum al-Din ("Revivification of Knowledge"). The general Resurrection of bodies will include all human beings and not a particular man. The time of Resurrection is known only to God, and He has not divulged this secret even to His Prophets and saints. It seems that the appointed time of the Day of Resurrection was not foretold for the welfare of men and for fear of the harm which might ensue. Though all times are equal by nature, there are certain times which are different from others in so far as the strange things created in them are concerned. According to Mutakallimun (Scholastic theologians), the creation of strange creatures depends upon the will of the Creator in any form He wills. Even philosophers do not deny the possibility of the resurrection of bodies, as they are unanimously of opinion that all created things originate from the revolution of the heavenly bodies, which are living beings composed of bodies and souls and that the higher and lower beings differ from one another in their attributes and functions. They also believe that bodies are governed by the heavens, the heavens by the souls, the souls by the various orders of the angels, and the angels by the "Light of Lights," who has dominion over the whole universe. It is not necessary that every preceding revolution of the heavenly bodies should resemble the one following it. They believe that it is possible that such a revolution might take place, as has no parallel in the history of the heavenly revolutions. This is the reason why such strange animals have been created in extraordinary times as have no resemblance whatsoever with others in the Animal Kingdom. It is also possible that the revolutions of the heavenly bodies may be suitable, but the beings which they create may be unexpectedly different. For instance, if we throw a stone in water, a circular wave is produced. If we throw another stone immediately after the first one, it is not necessary that the same form of the wave would follow, since we threw the first stone in the standing water, and the second in the moving water. Decidedly the second form would be different from the first. In this case, the cause is the same, but the effect is different, because some of the properties of the standing water mixed with those of the moving water. Therefore, it can be safely inferred that a time may come which is different from all other times which have passed. So we can easily comprehend what Resurrection really means. Religion teaches us to believe in it which will be accompanied by the resurrection of life. You should, therefore, believe in the resurrection of the dead and the Day of Judgment, both of which have been mentioned in the traditions. They are real and belief in them is obligatory, because, according to reason, they are possible. They signify restoration to life after death, which, like the first act of creation, is within the power of God.

It is absurd to think that it is impossible for the soul to exist after the death of body. Those who deny resurrection or attachment of soul to dead bodies in their graves are the ones who are confounded and go astray from His path. In serious discussions no importance can be attached to such persons, and no notice ought to be taken of them. Death of the body does not cause the death of the soul, because the latter does not subsist in body. Rather the attachment of soul to body (during its lifetime) is astonishing indeed, for the soul is not in the body, just as accidents are not in a substance. The soul is not an accident. It is a self-subsisting substance which recognizes its Creator and His attributes through itself and its attributes unaided by senses, for the things it knows are not felt. To call it an intelligence means that it is a non-material body. Every such being is an intelligence, i.e. it has self-knowledge and self-consciousness, and knows what is other than itself. It is so decreed that all the angels know all the intelligibles, without a single exception, because they also are pure intelligences not-in-matter. Man during his lifetime is capable of complete detachment from worldly desires. The soul abstains from carnal desires, turns away from the world and betakes itself to the struggle for the attainment of piety. If these conditions are satisfied, then, while it is yet in the world, its connection with worldly things is cut off, whereas the connection with things of the Hereafter grows stronger. In his initial stages, the mystic, by constantly remembering God and concentrating on the perfect, eternal and absolute reality, loses even his self-consciousness. He gets empty of feelings - and even of ideas. He even ignores himself, as being now inside the Divine Presence and living together with it and having communication with it. His physical being continues, but his individuality has departed, though for his fellow-men he still has his physical body and appearance. This is a type of ecstatic state, of contemplation, inspiration and illumination, which is most glorious attainment and very wear the goal of life - a state of concentration, at unification, of liberation, of discovery, of heightened and intensified powers and withal a burst of joy, of rapture and of radiance. lt is a point within ourselves, which, as the mystic holds, is equally God's central reality and ours, where spirit with spirit meets. One who gets rid of his senses, in order to meditate over Divine Reality does not stand in need of his body or mind for spiritual subsistence, for it is the body which functions as the source of the diverting influences or preoccupations. When you begin to reflect over the intelligibles, the effect of all these diverting things on you will remain in abeyance. A dedicated Sufi believes that there is no reality but God. His only recognizable desire is to pass his life in such a manner that his exiled soul is enabled to return and lose itself in its Creator, his only recognizable sorrow lies in the difficulties and distractions that delay the achievement of fana' (annihilation) - the passing away of soul's consciousness in the absolute goodness and beauty of God. Those who know the true nature of the human soul, which corresponds to the plane of the angels from where it derives real cognitions, do not believe in the soul's inability to separate itself from body. On the contrary, they are of opinion that it is really surprising how a soul gets itself connected with body. Know that attachment implies governance of body and its functions. When man intends to write, he holds the pen and moves his fingers in the required direction. He knows that the intention is not in his fingers, but in his mind. Undoubtedly, if the mere appearance of the form of a line or a letter in our soul were sufficient for the production of that form, our knowledge too would be identical with power and, therefore, with will. But actually this is not so, because the faculty of writing is placed under the control of our bodies, and our power is with the principle which moves the muscles. So it is not impossible for the Creator of matter and soul to cause resurrection of the dead, since restoration to life is nothing but a second act of creation, like the first one. Some of the philosophers who think that the infinity of the soul and the finitude of matter make resurrection impossible can only babble and show their perplexity and are so bewildered that they cannot explain.

Again, belief in the Balance of the Day of Judgment, which is real is also obligatory. Man should believe that God's judgment of the body and soul is just and in accordance with His will. On the Day of Resurrection, God will weigh on His judgment seat each act, each thought, each motive, great or small, with perfect justice. Our deeds will be weighed, and happy are those whose good weighs more in the scale than ill. If we do exist now, we cannot think of our annihilation or destruction; destruction in the sense of annihilation, especially in respect of soul, is impossible in this world of reality. We believe in the existence of soul as a thing independent from the body, that it will continue to exist after death, and that when it sees its essence, it sees all and comprehends all things. At the time of death realities of all intelligibles are laid bare unto man. So God says: "..." [Now We have removed from thee thy covering and piercing is thy sight this day (al-Qur'an, 1. 22)]. The beginning, the ending and the continuing are the conception of human minds that depend upon our conception of time, but we all know that time has no absolute existence. It is only a form of our knowledge, of our nature, as related to the experience of nature outside. This conception vanishes at the time of death. The manner in which our deeds will be weighed is that God causes to exist in the balance sheets of man's works a weight in proportion to the value of these works in His sight. Consequently, the value of the works of men becomes known to them, so that the justice of God in punishment, His grace in forgiveness and generosity in reward might become evident. The balance is a kind of instrument with which greater or lesser things are weighed or measured. There are various kinds of balances in this vast world of phenomena - the popular scale for weighing valuable and heavy things - the astrolabe for taking the altitude of heavenly bodies - the ruler for measuring straight lines - science of prosody or laws of versification for composing poems - the knowledge of music or art of combining sounds to give them a pleasing effect, in which there is a system of notation, expressing the relative duration as well as the pitch of the notes. God has power to make an intellectual or physical balance out of any material and of any form or shape. He wills in order to weigh our deeds. What is there to prevent one from consenting to the belief in the spiritual or physical balance in the Hereafter, when the existence of this thing can be safely inferred from the verses of the Qur'an. One should also believe that God will take into account all our good and evil deeds. This is why He maintains the proper record of our deeds, for it is inconceivable to think of an individual who lacks the power of doing beneficial or harmful deeds. He rewards His believing servants for their acts at obedience in the spirit of generosity and encouragement rather than according to their merit and desert and He punishes those who do not stand one instant in contemplation of God and retain their interest in the causes of worldly pleasures.