Part 16

I live in the house of calamity; Warding off disasters with other disasters.

If you consider eating, drinking, clothing, intercourse, relaxation and all the other pleasures of life you will notice that a human being uses them to ward off their counterparts of suffering and calamities. Do you not see that you ward off the pangs of hunger with eating, the pain of thirst with drinking, the pain of cold and heat with clothing, and so on? It is on this account that some sages have said: the pleasures of this world are for us a staving off of pains and nothing more; real pleasures may be enjoyed in another world and another state. Therefore, those sufferings and pleasures that are unavoidably intertwined in this life are a proof of the hereafter. They prove that the will that decreed the mingling of suffering and pleasure here has beyond doubt willed the existence of another existence where there will be two separate dwellings, one of pure pleasure, unadulterated without any suffering, and one of pure torture, unmitigated without any pleasure, the former being Paradise, and the latter being Hell. Indeed, the pleasure and suffering of this world should lead the human, endowed with innate nature, to ascertain the necessity of Paradise and Hell. Do you not see how you experience proofs and illustrations of them in your own life, and so vividly that you seem to see them with your own eyes? Consider, then, how both actual experience and sense perceptions indicate the sound judgement of the Lord, and the truth of what His Messengers have reported about Paradise and Hell. Observe how, by a consideration of the wisdom of the Almighty, He guides the minds and the innate nature to believe in the truthfulness of the apostles and the soundness of their report of things that the intellect can perceive in general, while the apostles report in detail. This is a far cry from the one whose knowledge leads him to

claim the existence of a contradiction between what the messengers have taught and the dictates and evidence of the intellect. But the ‘intellects’ of such people have been left by the Lord to drift aimlessly and to grope about on their own, and so they were beset with distractions on every side. Reflect on this! It is such sound reasoning and precious enlightenment that not many books will attempt.

The driving forces of the body’s organs

Have a fresh look now at yourself, and think of the natural actions that have been bestowed on man, the benefits and wisdom they represent, and the driving force and dynamism of each action' . Hunger evokes eating and necessitates it, on account of its being the basis for the nourishment of the body and its life; sleepiness evokes

" Ton Al-Qayyem, may Allah give him mercy, speaks here of the driving forces and dynamos. Such forces have been diligently investigated by modern science; but while some have been unveiled, most are still a mystery. The endocrine system and the hormones have been put forward to account for such forces: they control various functions in the body, as other systems control other functions. Every system performs its specific role to organise the activities of the body’s organs, activating them and alerting them to any hazard and protecting them. The nerves are the major system among these, and the glands are next in importance. Glands are like micro-factories that produce chemicals which they secrete to the body, as for instance they secrete the hormones that run in the body with the circulation of the blood.

The main glands of the body are:

In_ the head: the lachrymal (tear) glands, the salivary glands, the pineal gland, the pituitary gland (in the neck), the thyroid gland, the parathyroid gland.

In the chest: the thymus, the mammary gland (of women).

In the abdomen: the adrenal glands, the liver, the pancreas, the intestine glands, the ovaries (of women).

In the posterior (of man): the penis glands, the testes.

Each of the above glands have one or more functions, some of which we still do not know, or we do not know their manner of operation, or their effect on the body.

sleep and brings it on, on account of its necessity for the relaxation of the body and the organs and the recovery of abilities and reviving them to their vigour; lust evokes intercourse, which is the means for reproduction, the fulfilment of desire and the gratification of pleasure. These driving forces incite a human. to seek the corresponding actions, and they arouse those stimuli involuntarily. This is as it should be, because if a human were given control of those drives, activating them at will, he would often be deflected from them for a while on account of various distractions, and the result would be that his body would grow frail and weak and start to decay without his being aware of it. Likewise, if his body is in need of any medicine or attention but the individual procrastinates and ignores it, the result will be that disease will take hold and lead to the human’s_ perishing. Therefore, it was the mercy of the Gentle, the Knower, that willed that driving forces and stimuli spur him on and constantly remind him to undertake that which ensures his well-being, survival and welfare. Such stimuli come to him without any summoning or signaling on his part. Each action has its own drive which emerges spontaneously, urging him and spurring him on. Observe, too, what various capacities adapted for survival a human has been supplied with: the stimulating force that provokes the seeking of food, perceives what food it requires and gets it, and then passes it on to organs in amounts adapted to their capacity. There are forces that hold food, until such time that it is processed by nature and prepare it adequately for distribution, and then it is dispatched to the right recipients. There is the digestive force that processes the food in the body and metabolises it as it leaves the stomach. There is the excreting force that ejects the useless residue of food, dismissing it and excreting it from the body, lest it should harm the body and destroy it. Consider then, Who provided you with those forces when you badly

needed them? Who put them at your service? Who supplied each force with its functions and had each force perform its particular task, unlike any other? If they were antagonistic to each other, they would have annihilated each other’s effect. So, Who prevented them from doing that? How would you, without the driving force, have sought to preserve the vitality of the body? How, without the holding force, would the food have moved down the channels to settle in the stomach? How, without the digestive force, would the food have been processed until the nutritious part is extracted and forwarded to the various parts of the body and the farthest extremes of it? How, without the driving force, would the obnoxious and lethal residue (if held too long) have been expelled from the body, bit by bit, relieving the body and unburdening it? Observe how these forces were created to take care of you and keep a watch to preserve your welfare. The body is like the residence of a king, with his servants and attendants serving in it: some he has entrusted with maintaining the residence; some with shopping for the residence and bringing its needs; some with collecting the purchased items, and preparing them for use, and then distributing them to the residents in accordance with their needs; some with sweeping the house, dusting it, and dispensing with rubbish and waste. The king in this case is the King, the True and Manifest King, may He be glorified; the residence is your body; the servants and attendants are your organs and limbs; and they are served by the forces described above.

The outlook of the believer versus that of Others

A _naturalist’s or a physician’s perspective of the things we have been discussing above is different from a knowledgeable believer's. The naturalist and physician are

concerned with investigating aspects of preserving good health and averting sickness; a believer, on the other hand, contemplates things with a view to discerning proofs in them of their Creator and Maker; His exceeding wisdom, generous liberality and bounty, which He urges His servants to respond to with remembrance and gratitude.

Consider, then, the wisdom of Almighty Allah in remembering and forgetting, a quality unique to the human species. Reflect on the many services they give, and the benefits that accrue to the human from them. Without the faculty of remembering, bestowed solely on man, there would be a great muddle in all his affairs; he would not distinguish what is due to him from what is his duty; what he received from what he handed out; what he heard from what he saw; what he uttered from what was addressed to him; he would not distinguish his benefactor from his antagonist; he would not recall those who had dealings with him; he would not remember to seek closeness to the one who had done good to him, nor to avoid the one who had done him mischief; he would not find a way that he had tried and found right even after going along it many times; he would not accumulate knowledge in any particular field even if he had devoted all his life to it; he would not benefit from experience, or draw a lesson from what has passed — indeed he would cease to be a member of mankind.

Reflect, then, on the immense blessing of all these benefits. Think of the amount of good each aspect realizes for you, and then how much they represent in their totality! One of the most curious blessings is forgetting: without forgetting a human being would find no consolation for any loss, his grief would be without end;

he could not get over the effect of a disaster; his mourning would be permanent, his malice would be for ever; he would not enjoy any of life’s amusements with his mind full of the memory of catastrophes; he would have no hope of the relenting of an adversary, or the abating of the illfeeling of an envier. Reflect, then, on Allah’s bounty in providing you with the ability to remember and forget, despite their antithesis and opposition; each performing its respective part.

Consider also the trait of “Al-Haya’ ” (modesty, sense of shame in reverence of Allah or of men) which is uniquely human in contrast with all sub-species. “Al-Haya’ ” is one of the best, most remarkable and fruitful moral qualities; it is, in fact, the cardinal human trait —- any human devoid of this moral quality has no more of the human being than the outer appearance and physique; he has no trace of goodness about him. Without this trait, no hospitality would be shown to a guest, no promise would be honoured, no pledge would be fulfilled, no helpless person would be helped; one would not distinguish goodness from evil, holding the former in high esteem and avoiding the latter; a human would not hide his misdeeds or hold back from a sin. It is true of many people that it is only alhaya’ that stimulates them to undertake what they are supposed to do; without it they would not honour anybody’s right, would not observe the rights of kinship and would not respect a parent. The stimulus for all these deeds is either religious, expecting a favourable recompense; or worldly, the doer’s fear of what other poeple will say. It can be said that without al-haya’ (fear of the Creator, or of His creatures) man would cease to do any good.