Essence of All Essences

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The angels are created from light. They are pure beings incapable of doing any wrong. Each created with specific purpose and diligently executes it to perfection. Iblis, the father of jins was created from fire and hence hold a higher station than Adam as, father of men, who was created from clay. Outwardly, men assumed to be the most inferior of the three. Yet, Allah swt describes men as beings capable of transcending the angels and jins. On what criterion has Allah swt measures their stations and by what means do men achieve this zenith?  

Allah swt created time and space, and sprinkles His greatness and His Omni-attributes on each and every of His creations, big and small. From the galactic synchronous orbital motions of the planets, the moon and the earth to the complex inter-cellular links in the body, therein contain His signs. Love, just, mercy, forgiving, beneficent, true, trust, giving, pure and beauty are among the essences of His Greatness. In order to develop a relationship with Him, men have to recognize, embrace and nurture these essences and reflect them through their actions towards Him and towards their fellow creations (Hablu minAllah Habl minAnnas). Establishing such a relationship is the one and only purpose of men’s creation and existence. A divine slave-master relationship in the form of ubudiyah -  to believe, to totally submit, to remember, to worship, to obey, to love, to be close to and to die for. Not to recognize His attributes and to turn our back on them is an act of injustice (Zulum) of the highest order; not to Allah swt but to their own souls.

The essence of all essences is love (Hubb).

Allah swt frequently chose love to describe His relationship with man.

Allah says, 'Say if you verily love Allah, then follow me (Muhammad). Allah will love you and forgive your sins. And Allah is the Most Forgiving and Most Merciful’. 

However, love needs chemistry. It is a requisite of love for A to love B, and B to love A back. For true love to exist there must be a free flow of this essence between the two - mutual and sharing. If B turns to C instead, the equilibrium is shattered. The affair between A and B has become merely physics. That is why associating partners has become severely offensive to Him that he is willing to forgive all other sins but this.

Allah swt bestowed upon the human beings, three inner essentials namely intellect, choice and ability to endure hardship. Choice is not granted to the angels. As for the jinn, Allah swt gave them choice and hardship but little in the way of intellect.

So, how can these three elements executes themselves within man to make them hold superiority above the angels and jinn?

Intellect is capacity to think and acquire knowledge. When Allah intended to create Adam (as), the angels were worried. They asked. 'Why do you want to create another species that would cause bloodshed and corruption, as was in the case of jinn before? Allah swt replied, 'Verily I know what you know not'. Allah swt then taught Adam names. When Adam spoke in front of the angels, they realized that Adam was bestowed with the intellect and knowledge that were not granted to them. Adam thinks and capable of acquiring knowledge.

Emotions emanate from deep thoughts. One has to think to love. Love may blind a person but love is not blind. A man cannot truly love his newlywed wife if he does not think of her. During moments of temporary separation, his mind will ponder over her essence. Her smiles, her laughter, and the joy she brings into his life. If there are no such thoughts towards her companion, then how can there be love? (Of course, this romance does not last forever. This only confirms the temporary nature of life in this world.) On the other hand, the angels do not think like men. In spite of them worshiping Allah in such an incredible manners by way of sajda and ruku' and continuously for thousands of years, they lack the element of thoughts. They are great servants of Allah swt but Allah swt desires a deeper relationship. Allah swt wants a species whose heart and mind are totally engrossed in His essence and desiring to be close to Him. Such degree of love can only come from this highly emotional creature called man and not from the angels.

             Allah says, 'Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. They said, 'Our Lord! Thou hast not created this in vain! Glory be to Thee, save us then from the chastisement of the fire'.  

Secondly, it is choice. When a man wants to get married he would want a woman who chose him in spite of having other options. If she had no choice but to marry him then the marriage would not be rated highly in the scale of romance. The angels have no choice. They have been created with specific purpose and carries out the task diligently but with no emotions. Allah loves them and they love Allah. But again, He wants a deeper relationship. Allah wants love by choice. When man loves Allah it is by choice. He is given to choose otherwise. And Allah persuades man to choose Him.

              Allah says, 'There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing.'

Thirdly, it is the ability to endure hardship. Human beings are born into hardship. A new born cries when he comes out of his mother's womb, and loudly too. A scholar once said that when a baby pops out from the womb, he cries because he sees hardship facing him in this new life. So much time and effort are needed just to learn the fundamentals of survivals. Human baby has to be caressed and breastfed while a blind kitten independently crawls towards its mother's teats. A new born calf could stand and walk the very same day. Human baby wet himself and need others to get him washed and dried. He feels cold and need others to cloth him. Without these helps he cannot survive. When he grows up and requires lesser care from the parents, his dependency does not reduce but rather switches towards the society around him. Man finds difficulties to survive alone. That is why they moved away from the jungle and flooded the cities, in spite of the latter proving to be a more hostile place. When you are born with nothing, and every single thing you need has to be acquired, that is hardship. Whatever you seek in life have to come through great self-determination and hard work. It is through these hardships that man develops noble qualities and transcends all other creations, including the angels.

And so it follows that true love, too, cannot come without hardship. When the mother gives birth to a child, her love and attachment to the child are more than the father's. This is because the mother went through great amount of pains and hardships from the moment the she began her pregnancy until her delivery. The delivery itself is the pinnacle of all worries and pain. But the entire hardships are traded with ultimate love and joy of the moment she behold the sight of her new born.

The father hardly faces any of these hardships except for the worry of the hospital bills (even then, some mothers get their aid from the local council).

So hardship is a prerequisite of real love.  If man channel his energy towards Allah swt and undergoes hardships and suppressing their desires all for His sake, his love towards Him shall transcend all other loves.

Allah says, ' Those who strive in our path we surely guides them towards our ways'

The angels do not face hardships. They are as they were from the moment of their creation. They have been bestowed with the selective qualities and made no effort to achieve them. By virtue of man attainment of relationships via hardships, it makes their relationships truer.

 Summarily, in His infinite wisdom, granting of these essentials to man - intellect, choice and hardship - is part of the divine plan for men to generate an apex of true and divine relationship with his Creator. A relationship far exceeds that of the angels. Allah swt has showered the sky, the land and sea with His divine essence of love, just, mercy, forgiving, beneficent, true, trust, giving, pure and beauty. These essences are embraced and nurtured by virtuous man who chose Allah as his friends and, in turn, reflects these essences to all other creations in the universe (Khalifah). These men have served their purpose of existence. For them shall be gardens underneath which rivers flow - streams of milk, honey, pure wine and water. Damsels await them, whose beauties no eyes have seen, no ears have heard and no hearts have ever imagined. They have fulfilled the purpose of their existence and they longed for the Face of their Allah while waiting for the life hereafter.

Allah swt says, 'And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit there from, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally.'

Let us think and ponder for what purpose do we walk the earth. Let us think and make a choice. Then let us work hard on the path we chose.

May Allah accept all of us to be among the blessed people who have made the right choice in the way they lived their lives. The life that bought them the pleasure and love of Allah swt. Ameen.

 Allah swt says, ' Verily Allah has purchased from the believers their life and their wealth in lieu of Jannah'.