GROWING IN FAITH
Work in Progress
A SCIENTIST once reflected, “Observing nature is my religion, if any day I don’t discover something new in nature, I feel that the day has been wasted.” If this is the state of one who is absorbed in God’s creation, how can the state of one who is absorbed in the Creator Himself be any different? Just as the scientist discovers something new in the world of creation every day, so a believer should always be making new discoveries about his Creator—discoveries that increase him in faith. Any day that he does not find something new is like a day that has been wasted; it is as if he has not established contact with God on that day.
Faith is another word for the discovery of God. God is a never-ending reality; He has no limit. So, discovering Him is also a never-ending event. Faith that does not grow is not really faith at all; it is just a manner of neglecting God.
If one’s mind is constantly directed towards God, one will repeatedly experience novel manifestations of His glory; time and again a new divine light will shine on him. Just as God’s virtues are interminable, so a believer’s search for knowledge of God is a journey that never comes to an end.
If one’s mind is constantly directed towards God, one will repeatedly experience novel manifestations of His glory; time and again a new divine light will shine on him.
This fresh knowledge is sometimes expressed in the form of divine states with which one was so far unacquainted. Sometimes it surges to one’s lips in the form of words of supplication which one had never conceived before. Sometimes a previously concealed secret of God’s wisdom becomes apparent to one. Sometimes one attains hitherto unknown degrees of proximity to God. Sometimes profound new understanding of truths is inspired within one, which all the words one knows are inadequate to express.
A concise way of describing the Islamic way of life is to say that it is a life of self-control. The various controls and the code of discipline that one is expected to observe during Hajj can be seen as a training for such a way of life.