Searching for Good

22Aug07

A dear friend and I were chatting on the phone about the usual headlines lately in the news… when our path took a slight turn.

“I don’t know,” he paused. “I used to believe that there was some good inside everybody, but now I’m not so sure.”

This particular part of our talk stayed jumbled up inside of me for the next few days. If there is truly good inside everyone then why is it we don’t just “perform.” Is that where the great will of man comes in — to choose between good and evil?

I kept thinking and then one night in the minutes before the Fajr prayer, on my route to the bathroom to make wudu, I glanced down to my side and felt him. Simba. He is a 10 year old yellow tabby who accompanies me during prayer times. More than often this means him resorting to laying his head on my feet waiting for some love and attention. Simba, with his wide yellow-green eyes, reached out a paw at my feet in an offhand sort of way. I smiled. Not at him, but at an invigorating thought.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from life, people, study circles, conversations, and readings, it is this: Everything (and I mean everything) is an ‘ayah’ or a sign which points back to the Origin and opens up another door to universal knowledge.

The thought was a simple explanation to why cats are considered to be “blessed” animals while dogs are not. Said Nursi explains that while dogs are among the most loyal and noble friends of man, they fall short in one thing: attributing their sustenance to the Origin or the Sustainer. Instead, they become attached to the apparent causes of their happiness and sustenance and remain ritually impure. On the other hand, you may give a cat everything that it asks for and yet it will hardly show you any gratitude. This is so because a cat constantly attributes everything to its Sustainer and so enjoys the status of being a “blessed” animal. Still, this does not mean that the dog is un-loved or in-valuable. To be sure, its mere existence demands it — everything which exists is indeed a beautiful sign.

As I held a handful of water and took it to my face to “purify” myself, I looked in the mirror at a person who was changing right in front of me. A person that was not just washing herself with water in the physical sense, but coming into consciousness of her Creator once again. I couldn’t help but wonder… how many times had I been the dog?

After a bit more contemplation, I took myself back to the basics of this universe. I re-established that everything which exists is truly pure good. I re-established that God has created everything to reflect or proclaim His Siffat (Attributions) as a banquet for us to rejoice in. And I re-established that because God has created or willed everything, including me, to be… then I should expect my Creator’s Mercy and Bounty. (10:58)

But what then of the hardships of this world? There is a narration which follows as:

The Angel of Death complained to God that His servants would complain of him for his taking souls. God answered him: I will put illnesses and misfortunes between you and them so that they will complain of them, not of you.

Nursi explains that if we see the world as one veil between us and our Creator (as a protection) then we can see how many veils are created in between God and us only to protect the Grandeur of God’s Grace. As our egos and worldly complaints multiply, so do the veils which separate us from the One.

But, you see, there is a paradox at work here. While veils are put in place to maintain the immense Grandeur of the One, He indeed uses the same veils as a way of calling us closer. This world serves as a veil which separates us from the true presence of our Creator, while at the same time it serves as a reminder and caller to Him. In every created thing there is His seal, a stamp which proclaims His Majesty. So is true with hardships and difficulties.

You see, God creates but one thing — good. And He calls us through two ways: (1) His clear Mercy or (2) trials (which are a type of Mercy). If a being does not acknowledge His Mercy and the manifestation of His Attributes, then God surely makes him prostrate through what we know as hardships so that we may come to Him. If we still deny Him and do not learn what He is teaching us, then another veil is added until…

… like utter darkness in the deep sea: there covers it a wave above which is another wave, above which is a cloud, (layers of) utter darkness one above another; when he holds out his hand, he is almost unable to see it; and to whomsoever Allah does not give light, he has no light. (24:40)

Going back now to the question of man’s will. So, as will-full creatures, we can do two things inside of the Creator’s Will. (Meaning that we have free will WITHIN the Highest Will of God. Also minding that we cannot create anything as created beings.) We can either (1) acknowledge and accept with consciousness that there is good and we fulfill our purpose when the Siffat manifests itself through us or (2) not acknowledge good and cover what is un-doubtingly there.

Good is not created by us. It’s already there. It is knowing yourself to be the being which God chose to manifest His Names — this is prostrating in every sense of the word. Good is acknowledging that He is creating you, I, we right now. Good is His Omnipresence, His Mercy, His Sustenance, His Authority, His Justice, His Order. And good is trusting that the Maker of good will always present good (Siffat), no matter how often we ignore it.

Nursi, Said. Epitomes of Light.

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