Precious Treasure - An Excellent Question
An Excellent Question
My very dear al-Wa`iz Saghir al-Din, who is among the devoted lovers of the `Ali (May peace be through him) of the time, is a self-immolating moth of the candle of knowledge and intoxicated with the wine of recognition and to whom God has given many innate abilities. He sometimes writes letters to this humble servant, full of the fragrance of sincerity and love. Sometimes there are questions in these beautiful letters. He has asked an excellent question in a recent letter, which is as follows:
"Finally, I would like to ask a question and hope that you will graciously reply. Question: The moment plants grow from the soil or the minerals they turn their head upwards, whilst in animals the head protrudes forward and in humans the head is upright. What secret of wisdom is hidden in these three different states?"
You can appreciate the depth and grasp of intellect and wisdom with which the question is asked and how clear and comprehensive it is!
Answer: It is true that every plant, whether it is a cypress tree whose head is raised upward or it is the creeper of a water-melon which spreads on the ground, the moment it sprouts its head is turned towards the heaven. This is its natural guidance and recourse towards the system of providence which is availed through the physical heaven and the sun so that it may be nurtured and nourished by heat, light, rain and air. Plants are nurtured not only through their roots but also through their branches. This implies the wisdom-filled divine indication that if someone wants to grow from the earth of religion and have recourse to the heaven of knowledge and the sun of guidance, he can do so with utmost happiness. He may thus be considered a new plant of the garden of God's religion, about whose upbringing in spirit and knowledge, it is said: "If they had observed the Torah and the Gospel and that which was revealed unto them from their Lord, they would surely have been nourished from above them and from beneath their feet" (5:66). That is, there is a stage of spirituality in which the higher particles descend to the spiritual traveller (salik) from the side of the head and the lower particles enter from the side of the feet, so that he the fortunate servant, may be nourished and grow like an ever-green tree as God says about Hazrat-i Maryam (May peace be through her): "And He made her grow a goodly growth" (3:37). If plants and trees had not served as examples of the perfect and complete human, the wise Qur'an would not have mentioned them.
Since the position of an animal is between plants and humankind, there are examples of both progress and regress in it. This means that there are both the positive and negative aspects of ta'wil in the example of animals. Therefore, the holy Qur'an uses animals as parables for the hudud-i din and sometimes as examples of the ignorant people too. The answer to the question: 'Why does the head of the animals protrude forward and why does it bow time and again towards the ground?' can be given in two ways:
- Plants raise their heads towards the heaven. In this state, their face is turned towards the animal who is above their heads. The ta'wil of this is that the hudud-i din rule the subordinate souls, who are taught by them so that they may ascend their ladder and the hudud may attain the rank of perfection, just as in the encounter of plants and animals there is mutual benefit: the plant revives in the form of the animal and the latter progresses in the stages of life.
- The heads of animals point down and their backs are towards the heaven, alludes to those people who have fallen down in the baseness of the carnal soul. That is, as an example animals have turned their faces away from the humans who are their heaven. The ta'wili wisdom in this is that the heads of those who turn their backs towards the Prophets and the Imams (who are the heaven of knowledge and recognition), always remain bowed down towards baseness and meanness, just as the animals' heads remain bowed down towards the grass.
As for the answer to the question: 'Why is the head of humankind upright?' is that those who are human beings in a true sense turn their faces towards the spiritual heaven. The external and the internal senses are [centred] in the head, and they attend to and focus on the light of guidance to attain [spiritual] elevation and eminence.
In the chain of progress and regress, one type of animal precedes humankind and the other follows. The one which precedes may be good or bad, but the one which comes after is extremely bad. Therefore, some of the apes and swine of the remote past were extremely vicious and mean animals that came into being because of the disfiguration of some disobedient people, whether this disfiguration was external or internal. Therefore, Qur'anic wisdom says that some people despite being in a human form become animals, as God says: "Already have We urged unto hell many of the jinn and humankind, having hearts with which they understand not, and having eyes with which they see not, and having ears with which they hear not. These are as cattle - nay, but they are worse! These are the neglectful" (7:179). This shows that the one who is disobedient is ignorant and the one who is ignorant in this way is an animal although outwardly a human being.
In verse (36:67) God says: "And had We willed, We verily could have transformed them in their place, making them powerless to go forward or turn back." By their place is meant the human body, shape and form; by transformation (maskh) is meant the change of the human soul into an animal; not to be able to walk is not to be able to progress and not to be able to return means not to be able to repent. Therefore, the meaning of a person's transformation is that his soul has fallen from the eminence of humanity to the baseness of animality and he can neither progress morally and spiritually nor return to the presence of God.
I humbly pray that may the Lord of the world grant all Muslims and mu'mins success in obeying Him, as He ought to be obeyed! Bi-haqqi Muhammad wa alihi't-tahirin (for the sake of Muhammad (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) and his pure progeny).
London,
20th June 1984.
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