Good evening,
:There are two things in my mind that control both faith and action,these are the intelligence of the heart and that of the intellect, let me please draw your attention to to these two verses of the Quran from surah AR Rahman where the pedagogy of Ar Rabb (the educator) is quite interesting to Analise when revealing the message to his servant s a w.
الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ
55:5 The sun and the moon (run their appointed courses) according to a (perfectly computed) mathematical design (in conformance with a prescribed regulation and order)
وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ
55:6 And the stars (or small sprouts, bushes or shrubs growing close to the earth with little or no stalks) as well as the trees (with big trunks) are humbly bowed
From the first one you can see that Allah swt is appealing for our intellect to witness his majesty in creation, that the sun and the moon are set in perfect calculation through his command is something we can witness and comprehend trough the intelligence of our minds.
Whilst in the second verse that says that the tress and the stars prostrate is something we comprehend trough the faith which is in our heart as to them obeying the commands of god in his design,here Allah swt is calling for the intelligence of our hearts to confirm and harmonize with that which our intellect witnessed before.It is not something we could understand through the intellect.
Albert Einstein shortly before his death is quoted to have said "I have a great regret of having signed the letter to Roosevelt recommending that the atom bomb be made" We can not say that einstein lacked the intelligence of the mind what he lacked was that of the heart at that moment. When you see the tress ,the birds and the whole creation prostern to the will of allah swt as grateful creatures in your heart and you understand them as such ,you learn to respect that tree and the environment it is surrounded by and not harm it, your faith gives you the opportunity and the obligation to serve humanity protecting it from the potential unilateralism of your intellect ,that could resolve in wrong action (Thus have We made of you a nation justly balanced, that you may be witnesses over the people and the Messenger a witness over yourselves Quraan al karim 91-Verse 143).In other words allah swt tells us here is the knowledge about everything( He taught Adam the names of everything...Qur'an 2:31)you need to know in the creation, for your mind to comprehend and Analise, and here is how you prevent yourself from being autodistructive making use of the right approach by principle before your comprehension materializes into action,Altough Allah swt is most forgiving,and he doesn t miss to remind us of that over and over again as well whilst we are going through this process down here switching from one foot to the other between hell and heaven....Retribution is something we all wait for as humans when giving as much as we pretend not to,we are all somehow like little children in our innocence.We do expect something in return we say we don t but we do!and that is how we have been consciously created.The sense of accountability regulates this desire for retribution.(Read imam An Nawawi)
And this goes for everything and for everybody you dont really have to be Einstein to regret of not having made it your own at your death bed and to understand that prevention is better than cure.
Faith and action need to have the same timing within us first, for us to create a better relation and harmony among human beings and in respect to the creation we benefit altogether from.This relation teaches us how to benefit ourselves without harming others,how to be content with what we have and make it fruitful to ourselves and others without envying what others have been given,how to make live and let live more than a slogan even trough hardship and troubled times.
I must admit that it is quite different from the generosity concept of the current market economy we know
may allah swt help us in achieving that.
But by realizing that god created us good and pure in nature it becomes easier for us to hope and to think of it as the norm and not the exception.Because nowhere in the Quran will you find the ancient Greek concept of considering the soul as good while the body is meant to be bad,both are potentially good , in a permanent tension with one another and relative to what you do of them.Too much emphasis on the soul would lead one towards arrogance, whilst to much on the body can reduce man to his animal state.The humility to recognize that ,depicts the essence of humanity in each and everyone of us, it is driven by faith and materialized through the dynamic of the action.Islam is the natural religion.
"And he has created death and life, so He may test you which of you is best in deeds"(Holy Quran 82:6-9,this implies action through trial not simple faith of comprehending the trials as destiny an accepting it as such with laziness).There is a very dynamic relation in there between both faith and action which eliminates any fatalistic approach towards life.
hope this helps a bit
respectfully
jameel
