The world is the abode of wisdom (hikmah) and everything expounded by the Rasul of Allah (saw) is based on wisdom. The intellectual is the one who inquires, questions and researches the teachings of Rasulullah (saw) in order to decipher the wisdom in his words.
This is why the Rasul of Allah (saw) says: “Wisdom is the lost property of the believer.”
One who has a discrepancy or a contradiction in their system of thought does not comprehend religion, fails to READ the mechanism and lives only as an imitator of the system in which they live. Religion does not accept imitation!
Imitating a physical action may produce the same outcomes, but one cannot imitate comprehension!
To be ‘faqih’, that is, to be a person of ‘understanding’, is the blessing and favor of Allah, to free a person from imitation.
Faqih does not mean one who memorizes the rules of fiqh (Islamic law)!
The invention of the tape recorder outdated that notion decades ago!
Religion has been disclosed to us as a READable source, such that we recognize the system and order of which we are a part and our place in it, but most importantly, so that we get to know ourselves, discover the treasure within our essence, and eventually know the One whose name is Allah in accordance with the holographic reality!
Those who fail to understand this have obviously failed to read the chapter al-Ikhlas, though they may have repeated it a hundred thousand times!
Let us take heed of Rasulullah’s (saw) words: “Some pray a lot, but their prayer produces nothing other than fatigue, some fast frequently but their fasting yields nothing other than hunger.”
The Rasul of Allah (saw) has conveyed the Quran so that we understand it and contemplate on it. Thereby, taking each step of our lives in congruence with the ‘sunnatullah.’ The Rasul has not come so that we squander our lives bickering and spreading rumors about hair, beards and clothes, and judging people!
What is the true understanding of religion introduced with the creed “There is no God or godhood besides the One denoted by the name Allah (La ilaha illa Allah)”?
If one wastes their life in imitation rather than occupying themself with the answer to this question, the consequence of their failure to read and discover their infinite treasures will be immense suffering and disappointment!
And alas! There is no concept of compensation in the system!
Note: This is my personal understanding and does not bind anyone. Some may wish to share it with others. And some may find it discomforting to their vested interests and forbid my writings because they cause the reader to ‘think and contemplate’…
19 May 2005
Raleigh – NC, USA