THREE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
For Eternal Success
The people are like mines of metal—gold and silver; the more excellent of them in the 'the days of ignorance' are the more excellent of them in Islam if they attain knowledge and develop understanding—The prophet of Islam.
THIS Hadith refers to the stages of intellectual development in man. The first stage is the nascent stage on which one is born. The second stage is that in which man develops his intellect by dint of his own efforts. The third stage is that of the realization of God (ma’rifat). On reaching the stage of mar’ifat, one arrives at the final destination of one’s intellectual development—that is, the stage that is called ‘Islam’.
Each and every negative experience should teach man a valuable lesson. He should, under no circumstances, become the victim of despair.
In this context, human beings can be likened to metal. Iron is extracted from the ore in the mines. After this, it is smelted in furnaces where the impurities are removed and it is transformed into steel. Finally, after undergoing a number of industrial processes, it is converted into a functioning machine. It thus goes through three stages. The first stage is that of iron ore; the second stage is when it becomes steel; and the third and final stage is when it turns into a machine.
The same is true of man. When man is born, it is as if he comes out of nature’s mine—in a pristine, natural and unrefined state. Then he grows up in the world, and learns to use his powers of reasoning as he receives his education and training. This considerably refines him in intellect and spirit. Then he reaches the age of maturity. After this if he uses his powers of reasoning to the best of his ability, he can arrive at the stage of ma’rifat or realization of the truth. This is the summit of human perfection, or the stage of being a person who has realized God.
These three stages of development may be categorized as follows:
Born personality
Developed personality
Realized personality
The ‘born personality’ is bestowed by God. At the level of the ‘born personality’, every human being is more or less identical with only marginal differences. In terms of capabilities, there are always differences between people. But despite these natural differences, all human beings have the same potential capacity. This fact is indicated in the following Hadith:
A strong believer is better and more pleasing to God than a weak believer, and there is good in everyone. Seek that which is beneficial for you, and ask for help from God and do not lose heart. If you face something unpleasant or unwanted, do not say: “If I had done so and so, I would not have had to face this situation.” But rather say: “This was according to God’s divine plan.” Because saying such things opens the door to Satan. (Sahih Muslim)
Those who engage themselves continuously in self-purification are the ones who, by the grace of God, will succeed in discovering the truth and wholeheartedly accept it.
In this Hadith, it is man who is referred to as the believer. This means that if anyone becomes conscious of some shortcoming, or feels that there is something lacking in him in some respect, he should never despair, for he might possess some particular quality in greater measure than others do. Therefore, man ought to discover that God-given quality with which he is blessed and proceed to construct his life full of hope. In the course of life’s struggle, if he suffers any setbacks, he should feel certain that there is bound to be some positive gain even in that negative experience. Each and every negative experience should teach man a valuable lesson. He should, under no circumstances, become the victim of despair. In this way, he can continuously build his personality. By introspection, he can continue to rid himself of any wrong conditioning and, by awakening his consciousness, he will nurture such a personality as has the capacity to accept the truth—a personality which is fully in consonance with the spirit of a prayer of the Prophet: “O God, show me the truth in the form of the truth, and give me the ability to follow it, and show me falsehood in the form of falsehood and enable me to abstain from it, and O God, show me things as they are.” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ar-Razi)
This sort of person is a ‘developed personality’. Wise is the individual who moulds himself along these lines. So far as the ‘born personality’ is concerned, every man receives this on an equal basis along with others as a gift from the Creator. But developing a personality which is well prepared for life’s contingencies calls for much striving on the part of the individual himself. Ore may be a gift of nature, but the turning of this ore into steel and machinery is carried out in factories set up and operated by human beings.
It is on this act of self-preparation that the next developed stage depends. People must realize their God-given abilities and continue to introspect objectively. Those who make an effort to find out their shortcomings, those who are ready to pay any price for truth and work on converting their “ore” into “steel”, those who sedulously refrain from all negative emotions, such as egoism, arrogance, greed, jealousy, anger and vengefulness—all the things which are dangerous obstacles to the building of one’s personality—in short, those who engage themselves continuously in self-purification are the ones who, by the grace of God, will succeed in discovering the truth and wholeheartedly accept it.
Man should discover that God-given quality with which he is blessed and full of hope he should proceed to construct his life.
Every person imbibes some sort of conditioning from his surroundings. Reflecting his emotional make-up and likes and dislikes, he develops certain habits and a particular mindset in accordance with what he thinks of as his best interests. Often, all these are obstacles to our spiritual progress. To remove these obstacles, we need to become our own guard. We need to identify our own faults and make efforts to rectify them. We need to subject our own selves to a process of merciless deconditioning. This is a necessary condition for purification of the self. Without this, such purification is no purification at all. Without merciless self-reform you cannot be purified, and without purification, you cannot enter Paradise.
One who journeys through these stages of spiritual development mentioned above and arrives at the Truth is referred to in the Quran as ‘an-nafs al-mutmainnah’, or a ‘soul at peace’ (89: 27). These are the people who submitted to God’s Creation Plan. Having moulded themselves in line with this Plan, they have developed the necessary character. It is these people whom God will be pleased with and whom God will bless with a place in the eternal gardens of Paradise.