DESIRE TO SEEK GOD
WHEN the Russian astronaut Andriyan Nikolayev returned to Earth after a journey in space, he addressed a press conference in Moscow and said:
When I arrived back on Earth, I wanted to kiss the ground. For human beings, there is nothing like the Earth — fi lled as it is with unlimited favourable conditions—anywhere else in the entire known universe. When this Russian astronaut went away from the Earth and far into space, he found that there was nothing in outer space that was suitable for human life to exist. In the vastness of space, there was nothing that could provide peace and comfort for mankind.
The difference between a believer and one who does not believe is that the latter is besotted by creation, while a believer rises above creation and discovers his Creator.
After this experience, when he returned to Earth he was able to truly appreciate the value of the Earth, just as a severely thirsty person realizes the value of water when he fi nally gets some to drink. The Earth, along with its wonderful life support system, appeared so precious to Nikolayev that he wanted to embrace it and express his love for it. This is what is called false attribution in the language of the shariah. People are unable to see the Creator, and so they take created beings as their deities, devoting all their emotions to them.
The true believer is one, who can see beyond the visible to comprehend the invisible; who realizes that whatever he sees is all bestowed by Someone Else; that everything in this world has been created by a Superior Being. Observing the creation, he acknowledges the Creator, and takes the Creator as his sole concern. He surrenders all his lofty emotions to God.
The sort of emotions which the Russian astronaut experienced on his return to earth are also felt in a much more intense form by the one who discovers God. A true believer is one who, when he sees the sun, finds in its light the light of God. In the vast expanses of the heavens he appreciates the infi nite power of God. In the scent of a fl ower he fi nds the fragrance of God. In the fl ow of water he sees God’s bounty.
The true believer is one who can see beyond the visible to comprehend the invisible.
The difference between a believer and one who does not believe is that the latter is besotted by creation, while a believer rises above creation and discovers his Creator. The one who does not believe thinks that the beauty of created things is actually intrinsic to these things, and so he gets obsessed with them.
On the other hand, a true believer sees the beauty of the Creator in the beauty of creation and surrenders himself to their Maker. The one who does not realize this prostrates before created things, while the one who realizes the truth prostrates before the Creator of all things.
There is no doubting the fact
that failure in life usually results
from the quest for immediate success.
The word 'short-cut”'may be applicable
to the world of roads and footpaths, but
there are no short cuts in the struggles of life.
Such is the order of nature.
In this world just as ease
always follows hardship,
so fruitful results come only from
arduous, painstaking processes.