On the other hand, when he falls to a lower level he feels that he has
been flung into Hell.
The Qur’an opens out a vast vista of development to man. No
term has been set to his progress. Man’s destiny is marked out for
him in symbols. To understand the symbols, however, we need true
insight. When we can catch a glimpse of the higher level, then only
does the symbol which represents it become intelligible. It is futile
to discuss a symbol when we have no inkling of the stage to which it
refers. The Qur’an when studied intelligently, provides us with the
insight to understand the true meanings of these symbols.
- The self has the capacity for value-experience. It is sensitive to
the higher qualities of its experience and appreciates their value.
Value-experience is non-existent at the sub-human level. It
becomes possible only when the self has emerged. Value-
experience may be of a low or high order. The higher in the scale an
experience is, the more satisfying it is found to be. When the self is
fit to rise to a higher plane, it craves for a value-experience higher
than that with which it had been content hitherto. An experience of
high value enriches and elevates the self. - The self develops mainly through its own efforts. It rises or
falls through its moral or immoral actions. Says the Qur’an: “The
self (nafs) owns only that which it earns” (74:38) and it changes
through what it assimilates, good or bad. The self is subject to the
law of requital. Its a’maal-ul-hasanah enhance its worth and a’maal-us-
sayyi’ah degrade it. God never does wrong to the self. The Qur’an is
explicit on this point. If the self is degraded, it is its own doing.
External forces cannot touch the self and God never deals with it
unjustly. So the self is affected by nothing except the results of its
own actions. Suffering is the fruit of a’maal-us-sayyi’ah (mis-deeds). - Finally, the self partakes of Reality and mirrors the Divine
attributes. “I breathed My Ruh – Divine Energy – into him (man),”
says the Qur’an (15:29). The Nabi said, “Cultivate in yourselves
those qualities which reflect the Divine attributes.” By cultivating
those qualities, the self develops and draws, so to say, closer to God.
Through a’maal-us-sayyi’ah, it gets further away from God and Reality.
A’maal-ul-hasanah (good deeds), as has already been observed,
strengthen the self and a’maal-us-sayyi’ah weaken it. The distance
between God and the human self is increased by the latter and is
The Function of Deen 63