Body-Soul Conflict
The idea which has influenced most the climate of
philosophical and religious thought is that body and soul are mutually
antagonistic, and can develop only at each other’s expense. For the soul, the
body is a prison and the activities of daily life are the shackles which keep
it in bondage and arrest its growth. This has inevitably led to the universe
being divided into the spiritual and the secular.
Those who chose the secular path were convinced that
they could not meet the demands of spirituality, and thus they led highly
material and hedonistic lives. All spheres of worldly activity, whether social,
political, economic or cultural, were deprived of the light of spirituality;
injustice and tyranny were the result.
Conversely, those who wanted to tread the path of
spiritual excellence came to see themselves as ‘noble outcasts’ from the world.
They believed that it was impossible for spiritual growth to be compatible with
a ‘normal’ life. In their view physical self-denial and mortification of the
flesh were necessary for the development and perfection of the spirit. They
invented spiritual exercises and ascetic practices which killed physical
desires and dulled the body’s senses. They regarded forests, mountains and
other solitary places as ideal for spiritual development because the hustle and
bustle of life would interfere with their meditations. They could not conceive
of spiritual development except through withdrawal from the world.
This conflict of body and soul resulted in the evolution
of two different ideals for the perfection of man. One was that man should be
surrounded by all possible material comforts and regards himself as nothing but
an animal. Men learnt to fly like birds, swim like fish, run like horses and
even terrorize and destroy like wolves but they did not learn how to live like
noble human beings. The other was that the senses should be not only subdued
and conquered but extra-sensory powers awakened and the limitations of the
sensory world done away with. With these new conquests men would be able to
hear distant voices like powerful wireless sets, see remote objects as one does
with a telescope, and develop powers through which the mere touch of their hand
or a passing glance would heal the un-healable.
The Islamic viewpoint differs radically from these
approaches. According to Islam, God has appointed the human soul as His
Khalifah (vicegerent) in this world. He has invested it with a certain
authority, and given it certain responsibilities and obligations for the
fulfillment of which He has endowed it with the best and most suitable physical
frame. The body has been created with the sole object of allowing the soul to
use it in the exercise of its authority and the fulfillment of its duties and
responsibilities. The body is not a prison for the soul, but its workshop or
factory; and if the soul is to grow and develop, it is only through this
workshop. Consequently, this world is not a place of punishment in which the
human soul unfortunately finds itself, but a field in which God has sent it to
work and do its duty towards Him.
Therefore spiritual development should not take the form
of a man turning away from this workshop and retreating into a corner. Rather,
man should live and work in it, and give the best account of himself that he
can. It is in the nature of an examination for him; every aspect and sphere of
life is, as it were, a question paper: the home, the family, the neighborhood,
the society, the market-place, the office, the factory, the school, the law
courts, the police station, the parliament, the peace conference and the
battlefield, all represent question papers which man has been called upon to
answer. If he leaves most of the answer-book blank, he is bound to fail the
examination. Success and development are only possible if man devotes his whole
life to this examination and attempts to answer all the question papers he can.
Islam rejects and condemns the ascetic view of life, and
proposes a set of methods and processes for the spiritual development of man,
not outside this world but inside it. The real place for the growth of the
spirit is in the midst of life and not in solitary places of spiritual
hibernation.
Criterion of Spiritual Development
We shall now discuss how Islam judges the development or
decay of the soul. In his capacity as the vicegerent (Khalifah) of God, man is
answerable to Him for all his activities. It is his duty to use all the powers
which he has been given in accordance with the Divine will. He should utilize
to the fullest extent all the faculties and potentialities bestowed upon him
for seeking God’s approval. In his dealings with other people he should behave
in such a way as to try to please God. In brief, all his energies should be
directed towards regulating the affairs of this world in the way in which God
wants them to be regulated. The better a man does this, with a sense of
responsibility, obedience and humility, and with the object of seeking the
pleasure of the Lord, the nearer will he be to God. In Islam, spiritual
development is synonymous with nearness to God. Similarly, he will not be able
to get near to God if he is lazy and disobedient. And distance from God
signifies, in Islam, the spiritual fall and decay of man.
From the Islamic point of view, therefore, the sphere of
activity of the religious man and the secular man is the same. Not only will
both work in the same spheres; the religious man will work with greater
enthusiasm than the secular man. The man of religion will be as active as the
man of the world indeed, more active in his domestic and social life, which
extends from the confines of the household to the market square, and even to
international conferences.
What will distinguish their actions will be the nature
of their relationship with God and the aims behind their actions. Whatever a
religious man does, will be done with the feeling that he is answerable to God,
that he must try to secure Divine pleasure, that his actions must be in
accordance with God’s laws. A secular person will be indifferent towards God
and will be guided in his actions only by his personal motives. This difference
makes the whole of the material life of a man of religion a totally spiritual
venture, and the whole of the life of a secular person an existence devoid of
the spark of spirituality.
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