FROM THE SPIRITUAL TREE
There is a tree beside my house. I call it the 'Spiritual Tree'. I derive spiritual inspiration from it. A tree is an evergrowing being that was initially a seed possessing the potential of becoming a full-grown tree. A seed takes food from the universe around it and then grows into a tree. The same is true with spirituality, the desire for which is intrinsic to, and an integral part of, the very nature of every human being. To realize this spirituality, man must derive spiritual food from the universe around him. A tree converts carbon-dioxide into oxygen; a spiritual person is one who can take positive lessons from negative situations. From this perspective, a tree is an embodiment of a spiritual personality. —Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF OTHERS—BASIS OF LOVE
IN Islam, acknowledging others for the good they have done to you is considered very important. The Prophet went to the extent of noting: “One who does not acknowledge people, cannot even acknowledge God.” (Ahmad) If you add a pinch of dye to a glass of water, all of the water becomes coloured. Likewise, is the case of love. When a believer has love in his heart for his Creator, at the same time he cannot resist showing his love to his neighbours. And in this electronic age, the whole world is one’s neighbour. Thus one who acknowledges God in prayer regularly, but is not grateful to the people who have benefitted him in life, cannot be regarded as paying sincere thanks to God. This acknowledgment of and gratitude towards others is at the root of developing love for them. Not only does this make us positive for those who are immediately around us and from whom we receive help and support directly, but this also fills our heart with love for humanity at large.
What is the rationale behind the ‘love-all’ formula? It is that every other person is your benefactor. It is lack of awareness of this fact that makes one unable to adopt this love-all culture. We are living in a civilization. Whatever we make use of is a gift of this civilization. What is civilization?
It is an advanced stage of refinement in ethical and material matters resulting from continuous effort on the part of all humankind. For example, when man started his life on the planet earth, human existence was in a primitive state. It then took thousands of years of the joint efforts of humanity to bring civilization into existence. For example, in the beginning, man used to walk on his own two legs. Then he started traveling on horseback. After long experience, the wheel was developed, thanks to which travel by car was made possible. The uses of steam power were later discovered and travel by steamship and rail began. Man then produced airplanes which made air travel possible and further facilitated the means of contact and communication. All this was not the work of any single human being: all of humanity was involved in this process.
When we utilize any of the modern-day amenities that we enjoy, we must ponder over the numerous people who must have put in enormous work and toil that must have gone into making it possible for us to benefit from various facilities. Such realization would lead to an outpouring of feelings of love and thankfulness for the whole of humanity which worked to make life simple and easy for us today.
When a believer has love in his heart for his Creator, at the same time he cannot resist showing his love to his neighbours. And in this electronic age, the whole world is one’s neighbour.
Most of us own cars. Often we only think to the extent that we have bought the car due to the money that we had acquired. But if we think deeply, in truth, the car is a great divine gift. God created human beings, then He provided them with natural vehicles such as horses, camels, mules and others for travel.
This was the first phase of vehicles. God knew that this would not be sufficient for man. So, He kept another thing in potential terms in the natural world. This potential was that of mechanical vehicles. God gave man a mind. By utilizing his mind, man made many discoveries about nature. In this way, he discovered the wheel. Then, after long research he developed wheeled vehicles such as the bicycle and cars.
Modern vehicles are God-given, in terms of potential. And since many countries and their citizens were involved in turning this natural potential into actual, these vehicles are also a gift from humanity. If a person ponders over this entire history, he will first of all acknowledge the Creator. This is known in Islam as shukr, or gratitude, in religious terms. Keeping this entire history into mind, one will realize that a car or a vehicle is God’s great bounty, and in making it reach the commercial level, the entire humanity played an important role. When one thinks this way, one will acknowledge God the most and then acknowledge humanity. One will realize that the money through which one has purchased the car is of indeed very negligible value.
The discovery of this reality about history gives rise to the culture of ‘love all’, while unawareness of this leads to the ‘hate all’ culture.