(The inexpressible nature of divine love and God’s unchanging gaze)
“Nothing I say can explain to you divine love, yet all of creation cannot seem to stop talking about it.” RUMI
Although your sins can veil your heart from fully witnessing God, nothing you do can change how God sees you. Your sins and scars can never remove God’s presence from your heart, because regardless of who you are or who you have been, God’s mercy will always encompass you. Your value is not defined by worldly labels, because although God created this world for you, He says, “I created you for Myself” (20:41).
“Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean.” THICH NHAT HANH, ZEN MASTER
(The human as microcosm: made from the heavens, free to err and be forgiven)
In essence, God is telling us that everything seen and unseen in existence comes from a single origin. Just as the iron in your blood was made from the fusion of stars and your bones carry the dust of galaxies beyond, you were not only made in Heaven, you were made from the heavens. You are not merely living in the universe, you are living as a part of this universe.
The human being is the microcosm of the macrocosm, the bridge between Heaven and Earth, both with a mortal body and an everlasting spirit, both inclined to goodness and inclined to evil (91:7-10). It is the dual nature of man that allows for him to be the perfect receptacle of God’s qualities, which is why Allah has chosen us to be His representatives of love upon this Earth. Even though the angels are in constant worship and witnessing of God, their perfection and lack of free will prevents them from experiencing the entirety of God’s qualities. After all, how can you experience forgiveness if you never make a mistake? “If you did not sin Allah would replace you with people who would sin and they would seek the forgiveness of Allah and He would forgive them.”1 PROPHET MUHAMMAD
This is why many mystics have said that our goal on Earth is not to summit a metaphysical mountain of spirituality, but rather to return to our original childlike state of fitra and purity. Rumi describes the importance of blossoming our innate faith and manifesting our purpose on Earth through the following metaphor: “One thing must not be forgotten. Forget all else, but remember this, and you’ll have no regrets. Remember and be concerned with everything else, but ignore this one thing, and you’ll have done nothing. It is just as if a king had sent you to another country to carry out a specified task. You go and perform a hundred other tasks, but if you have not performed that particular task, it is as though you have done nothing at all.” RUMI
(The Shaytan’s strategies on the straight path)
that tempts us toward the lower qualities of the ego such as envy, lust, greed, and jealousy, showing us the places we need to polish and purify. It is in experiencing distance from Allah that we begin to see the priceless blessing of divine proximity. Although the Shaytan has his place in creation, it is important to remember that the Shaytan is an evil liar, so we should not take his existence lightly.
Notice how the Shaytan said that he will ambush us on “the straight path.” Just as a thief only robs a house with expensive goods, the Shaytan comes strongest after those who are on the spiritual path and have fostered a sense of faith. Another commentary on the verse suggests that when the Shaytan says he will come from “behind” us it means he will delude us regarding our divine origin, suggesting we are nothing but an accidental creation of a Godless universe. This can also suggest that he will pull us away from the present moment, into a past we cannot change, by fanning the flames of regret and inciting us with feelings of despair. When the Shaytan says he will come from “before” us this implies that he will delude us regarding the Day of Judgment, attempting to convince us that there will be no accountability in the future for our actions, both good and bad.
(Gratitude, the ego, and love as the reason for existence)
Our gratitude does not make God more generous; rather, our gratitude makes us more receptive to receiving all that God continuously gives to us. Being in a state of gratitude is remembering that God loved us before we ever loved Him. When we are grateful we are vibrating at a higher frequency, with more clarity and more awareness of our innate alignment with Allah.
As the Qur’an clearly states, “Man can have nothing but what he strives for” (53:39).
Although the word ego can be seen as an acronym for “Edging God Out,”
We must not forget that love is the reason there is something instead of nothing because we are created by and for the sake of actualizing God’s love. God speaks of this love when He says, “I have not created the invisible beings and humankind except to worship Me” (51:56). At its essence, divine worship is the highest station of love, because you cannot worship something until you love
Our journey on Earth is about unwrapping the gift of divine love that we were given by God. It is not about achieving, earning, or deserving divine love—the shoreless ocean of Allah’s love is already within us.
“How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.” SHAMS TABRIZI, RUMI’S SPIRITUAL GUIDE We know God based on the divine names and qualities that are most vibrantly fostered and reflected within us. Knowing ourselves is vital to loving God, for divine love awakens in our spirits when we begin to really taste how needy and desperate we are for God.
(Trials as gifts, the heart’s polishing, and living in gratitude)
When we shift our perspective from what God is doing to us, to what God is doing for us, we are able to see that although God may not always give us what we want, He will always give us exactly what we need. “It may be that you hate something and it is good for you and it may be that you love something and it is bad for you.” QUR’AN 2:216 God knows what soil your seedling soul needs to blossom.
His love, God lets the world hurt you and break you, not because He wants to destroy you, but because He wants to show you your hidden strengths that can only be manifested in the cocoon of trials. This is one of the reasons the Prophet says, “If Allah wants to do good to somebody He afflicts him with trials.”30 God takes us into the cave of difficulty and pain when there are gems for us to find there. God pushes us to the edge of the cliff when He wants us to learn how to fly. The difficulties we face can act as catalysts for self-discovery and growth.
In fact, it has been said that the distance between our head and our heart is approximately 18 inches, but it is arguably the longest journey we will spiritually ever take.
The heart that is truly polished does not see the creation, but sees only a reflection of Allah’s infinite qualities. This is why when Imam Ali was asked “What is creation?” he profoundly said, “It is like the dust in the air, it only becomes visible when the light of Allah strikes it.”
Do not live your life in reaction to what people have done to you, but live your life in gratitude for all that God has done for you. “The servants of The Most Merciful are they who walk modestly upon the earth, and if the ignorant address them, they say, ‘Peace.’”