CONDITIONS
In the preceding paragraph (post) mention has
been made of stages and degrees pertaining to the several conditions of success
and salvation. A point of crucial importance as it is, a few brief remarks
about them are in order here. Each of the three articles of belief, righteous
deeds and mutual exhor-tation of truth admits of degrees and ranks.
Taking
belief first, even the ordinary believer who accepts faith, that is who
believes in the tenets of Islam and does good deeds, becomes a member of a
great and beautiful spiritual fraternity — a company which lives perpetually in
the sunshine of God’s grace.
Within itself however ‘Iman’ has a glorious
hierarchy, of which two grades are specified by the Quran: the highest grade is
that of the prophets, who get plenary inspiration from Allah (SWT) and who
teach mankind by example and precept and that of the ‘Siddiqeen’, the most
sincere lovers of truth, who support the truth with their person, their means,
their influence, and all that is theirs. This second rank was held by the
closest companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), such as Hazrat Abu Bakr
Siddique (RAA).
Similarly the category of righteous deed
(amal-i-saleh) applies to a wide variety of actions, beginning from the very
ordinary moral acts of kindness like removing a stone from a road on which men
walk. In its higher reaches it is attributable to thorough obedience to Quranic
injunctions covering all aspects of a Muslim’s life, including even the minor
details of his personal life. It means more than just conformity to an external
code of law. At its highest level it permeates all actions to attain a state of
moral excellence which the Quran calls ‘ihsan’ and ‘taqwa’.
In a like manner ‘twasi bil-haqq’ has several
grades. Its lowest stage is exhorting one another to perform acts of kindness
and compassion, ‘twasi bil-marhama’, on occasions which arise fairly commonly
in every day life. A sense of kindness and compassion has been ingrained in the
nature of human beings and only the most wicked one lacks it. According to a
Quranic verse, those who discourage or forbid others from feeding the poor have
touched the nadir of moral depravity.
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