When you see what Allah has given, just by addressing us with compassion in the midst of His Greatness, wouldn’t you humble yourself to see Him? This is so profound that He has made humility the only way for us to find Him.
When you see what Allah has given, just by addressing us with compassion in the midst of His Greatness, wouldn’t you humble yourself to see Him? This is so profound that He has made humility the only way for us to find Him.
“You want to throw stones at a mirror. I am the mirror and here are the stones.” This saying is a perfect summary of the predicament of many of us, albeit to different extents. Let me digress before I explain what the saying means.
Please note that I have avoided reporting the author of this wonderful saying because there is a disease widespread in the Muslim community where people ‘accept’ a truth because of the virtues of the personality who it is attributed to, and I outright reject such a practice.
A truth is a truth because it carries with it the fragrance of the Ultimate Truth, Allah. We should look at what is being said rather than who is saying it. It is through this practice that a person awakens the inner truth within. Whereas through accepting truths because of the speaker we only become servants of another other than Allah. The choice is between accepting ‘Allah for Allah’ or accepting ‘Allah for other than Him’.
If you find this hard to accept, it is because you may have already become a servant of another other than Allah, you accept ‘Allah for other than Him’. Please understand, I am not saying that you are not among the people of heaven, I know you probably do this with good intentions. I am just saying it is less than Allah and you deserve.
Back to the saying.
The mirror in this saying is everything we experience, for now, let’s limit this to everything we experience with our bodily senses. Throwing stones at the mirror means to be reactive, not composed, and not productive, it means to seek other than Allah through what you experience with your senses. It means to be so entangled in emotion that you cannot possibly maximise your benefit from your involvement in the external world.
A digression.
Muslims are extremely blessed because Islam encourages all-out involvement with Allah, the Exalted. This generates humility in front of Allah and in front of His creation by virtue of their association with Him. This humility is extremely important. I have seen practitioners of the soul who have followers in the many millions, who while having attained depth in spirituality, haven’t attained the necessary humility in front of Allah. May Allah protect us from gaining knowledge without increasing in humility.
Let me tell you something about Allah that you may not have heard. Allah is the most ‘Humble’. Let me explain, He is the Creator of an infinite universe, a Giant, the King of kings. But with all of this Greatness, He talks to you and me and we are not worth even a mention in relation to the universe; and when He talks to us He is Pure and Honest and Transparent and Sincere….Can you see why we have to be humble?
It is because with our low insignificant positions, if we cannot curtail our pride, our feeling of greatness, then we are not worthy of Him….after He has spoken to us in such a gentle way. When you see what Allah has given, just by addressing us with compassion in the midst of His Greatness, wouldn’t you humble yourself to see Him? This is so profound that He has made humility the only way for us to find Him.
Back to the saying.
The second part of the saying, I am the mirror, implies that Allah is everything you sense in as far as He guides you through these things. It also implies that if you want to be reactive then Allah will allow this, because through this behaviour the disbelievers within are distinguished from the believers within, so that you may eventually, once you have gathered your strength, oppose the obvious evil inside and find goodness.
Now for a final digression.
It is through humility that we find love of Allah’s creation; a person becomes gentle and compassionate to the smallest of creatures and then even inanimate objects. It is not like a believer to kill an insect intentionally, either out of fear or otherwise. These are acts of disbelievers. You can identify who you are through your association with Allah’s creatures. If you fear a creature, maybe through a bad experience, or maybe through a lack of knowledge or even fear of the unknown, it doesn’t give you the right to kill a creature of Allah. If you are scared of spiders, ask someone else to take them outside, but don’t pick up a slipper out of evil. The evil is with you, not that blessed creature.
I have tried to pack a lot of benefit into this article, because you, my brothers and sisters, are all deserving of it.
Allah bless you.
