Wonders of the heart ghazali pdf

In addition to. Making Peace with the Universe. Following episodes of harrowing personal crisis, including addictions, periods of anxiety and panic, and reminders of mortality, these accounts then also describe pathways to consolation and resolution.

In Making Peace with the Universe, Michael. Fons Vitae is proud to offer the complete text to the general public and specialists alike. Home Marvels of the Heart. Genre : Juvenile Fiction Get Book. Popular Books. But if the heart is negligellt maD rill raU to reach Him. Cbapter Five.

The demon urges on both pig aDd dog to their natural evil desires. If the iatellect as master sets anger aDd appeteDce over against each other, Justice is established, aDd lordly and Doble qualities appear in the heart. But it the intellect tails in this it ls enslaved to their service. Such servitude causes a de. Tbe beart is a mirror which is polished by praiseworthy action, especially the devotional practice at remembraDce, 10 that the dlviDl will is clearly reflected therein; bat it is tarnished aDd rusted by blameworthy action so that good is not perceived.

Chapter Size Tbe beart, or intellect, as the seat of k6o. The form which 1s retlscted corresponds to the iDtelligible, or the thing Enam, while its actual reflection in the mirror is lite intelligence. Acts of obedieDce correspondinglY cleaDle aDd polish it. A IIIlll'S eye can see the back of his neck by the ot two mirrors. Similarly the heart can percebe the truth by the proper correlation of two items of kDowledge from which a third is derived as in the syllogism. The purpose of obedieDce is the purification ot the heart so that it l The kno"ledge ot the heart il of t.

Intellectual Icience8 are like foods. BUt food alone will not giTe health to the loul, and 80 religiou8 Iciencel, which are like medicines, are allo needed. Some people haT. There i8, hanTer, an iDller baJ"lllony between them. It 18 wery seldom that ine indiridQal can combine a thorough understanding ot intellectQal and re11gioul kllowledge ill hi. So it is not ftIidfIDr Cbapter Eight. The ii. While in a solitary place of devotion the!

OYD Tolition, but he must then wait tor the gitt ot Allah who reveal. T8S up tilling the adl to hullt tor hidden treasure. Chapter RiDe. The heart can gather blodedge through the outer door of the senses even as a pond may be tilled with water from streams whose channels are turned into it. There are four degrees ot existence in the world: lnv.

YaD is a microcosm and is capable therefore ot understanding the macrocosm. The heart and its mystical knowledge are both iDllllortal. This kno. He who has a large endowment of it i8 rich in this world aDd in the next, even though he may be ignorant of philosophical speculations and theories. Chapter Ten.

Tbe experisntial knowledge ot the mystics ie given only lxv. It is directly given diTine kno. Such tno. Denal and iatenal, aDd tempted through them. There are two classes of involuntary 8uggestions, 1 inspiration from the angel which leads to good, 2 evil prompting from the demon which leads to evil.

The heart is prepared by divine succor to receive the formen and by desertion to accept the latter. The heart is between the angel aDd the demon, and Allah causes both of them to illfluence it. To follOY desire is to give the demon his opportunity; but to strive against it is to BtreDgthen the angel IS illfluence. Evil prompting is removed by the remembrance of Allah. It is obligatory,. Chapter TnlTe. Dt in apparel, furnishiDgs, and house; this aloDe is sufficient to preoccupy a man throughout his whole lite.

Ti1 of MUslims, which leads to false accusations against which all should be on guard. Satan's attacks can be warded off if these. When this is dODe he still passe. Similarly there are hosts of angela, and each one has his OVD specific good work to do.

For the most part the spirit-being, whether angel or demon, appears to Mrstics by uaTetling to them an image of his being, rather than his true tOI'lL The de.

Chapter Thirteen. It is Dot easy to know to what extent man i. There are Qur1aDic texts and also traditions which appear to affirm accountability, and wthers which see. Rer" the matter of 1ntelltion plays an 1m- portant part. The stage. Uan is held accountable only for voluutary thoughts, intentions and acta. Tradition says, "Vy people are pardoned the sugse. Man is always held accountable for his decision to evil, unless, after making it, he, through tear of Allah, gives it up again. Such change of decision would be accounted to him as a good aeed.

It tyO UusliJllS tight, both slayer ud slain will be in the tire, because each one desired.. Allah could hold man responsible tor involuntary thoughts, but bas giTen the a. Chapter Fourteen. Can the nil promptings ot Satan be cut off entirely by devotional exercises?

The reply depends upon the nature ot the The suggestion that stirs up appetence does not entirely cease, but it is effectively warded off by remembrance when the latter is the heart'e chief concern. Another type is an iDYoluntary thought or recollection, such as thinking of some other subject during the time of prayer. This lillY be warded off Plomentari1y, but it returns at once. Chapter Fifteen.

These eutice it to all eorts of good and evil. It is lxxi. It is constantly aided by angels, aDd SataD tries in 'ftiD to deceive it. It is 'led with saTiDg qualities and has found rest. Another sort or heart is that which is burdened by passion, corrupted by raul actions, and stained by evil characteristics. DemoDS work their evil will therein, but angels are lamld from it. Allah guides aright and leads astray. He has destined sIlme for the Garden, and others tor the i"1re.

He is prepared tor thil knowledge only through his heart, aDd Dot by meaDS of any ot hi. The mem- 2. For it is the heart which is accepted with Allah vhen it is tree trom all save Him, but veiled tram Allah when it becomes wholly occupied with anything other than Him. It is that. It is that also which is dis- obedient and rebellious a! By its darkening and its enlightening there appear the good and evil qualities ot its ezternal. QUr1an, It is that which, it a man knows it not, h.

For "Allah ibterveneth be- tween a man 8. After that we will Launch forth iDto a detailed discussion of the things which destroy and save. So we shall now mention that which can be most readily understood of the exposition of the wonders of the heart by means of examples.

Know that theee are four names which are used in these chapters. But fey of the leading savants have a comprehensive knowledge of these DameS and their different meanings, and of the definitions ot the things Damed.

Most of the lIIis- takes regarding them originate in ignorance of the meaning ot these names, and of the way in which they are applied to dif- ferent objects. Werlll explain as much of the meaning ot these names as pertains to our purpose. One of the.. We do not now propos. Animals and even the dead have this heart ot flesh. WbeDever we use the term 'heart' in this book, we do not mean this sort ot heart, for it is but an impotent bit ot flesh, belonging to the visible material world talam al-mulk ft.

The heart is the part of man which perceives and knOW8 and ex- parlances; it is addressed and beld responsible and rebuked, and it has 1I0me connection with the physical heart.

Its connection there- with resembles the conneetion of accideDts rith substances, of qualities with the things they quality, of the user of a tool with the tool, or ot that which occupies a place with the place. OUr aim then lsthis, 7. Whenever the lamp is brought to any part of the house it is lighted by it. Lite is like the light wbioh falls upon the walls; the spirit is like the lamPI the circulation of the spirit aDd its movement within correspond to the movement of the lamp throughout the house by the moving of him who moves it.

It is not our purpose to explain this usage of the term sine. The purpose of physi- 8. It is the meaning intended by Allah in His statement,"They will aak the.

Says 'the spirit is '1 Lord's affair '". By one is de- Doted that meaning which includes both the taculty ot anger 23 gha9ab and or appetence shahfth in man, which we rill ex- plain later. It is the Q.. But it is described by ditterent descriptives according as its states difter. But it the loul leaves ott its opposition and becomes lubmissive and obedient to the demandl ot the fleshly appati- tes and the iDTitationl ot Satan, it is callid 'the loul that I commands to Ivil' al-oafs al-ammirah bil-sul.

But the soul according to the second detinition is praiseworthy, for it is man's very self, or his essence and real Dature, 25 which knows Allah aDd all other knowable things. Of these two pertain to our purpose. And we know that every knonr has within himselt an eDtity wujud which is a selt-existing principle a,l qalim bi-Datsihi , and knowledge is a quality ,ifah reaiding in it, and the quality is other than the thing qualified. So 'intelligence'. Tradition also re- lates that He said to intelligence, -Dray near", and lt drew near.

Then He said, -Retreat", and it retreatea. So it is noy made clear to you that there exist the following meanings of these DameS, the corporeal heart, the corporeal spirit, the appetent soul, and iDtelligences. These are four me1Dings which are denoted by tour terms.

There i. There are then tive meaniDgs and four terms, and each term is u. Moat ot the learned C'ulamil are contused in dis- tinguishing between these terms, and in regard to their IUC- cessive use. So you find them talking about involuntary sug- 29 gastionl tha. DUOQS 30 substance and the physical heart there is a special connectione For although this subtile teDuous substance 1s conn. It is as though the heart were its s. Therefore Sahl al-TUa- tad has l:1keaed the heart to the throne and the breast to the.

He said, "The heart ls the throne farsh and the breast is the seat kursl. Tbese then l. For in hearts and spirits and in 33 other worlds Allah has ftarmies levied", whose nature and the details of whose number none know. We vill now refer to some of the armies of the heart such as pertain to our purpose. The heart is aa king, and the armies are as se rTants and helpers, and this is the lIIeaD- ing of 'army' jund.

They were created with an inherent disposition to obey it, and cannot disobey it nor rebel against it. There 1. The heart needs the. For this caus. It is impossible for the creature to reach Allah except by dwelling in the body and passing through this pre- 34 aent world al-dunyi , for the nearest stage must be passed It is called 'nearer' dunyi only beoause it is the Dearer of the two abodes.

The heart must theretore get its supply of provision trom this world. The heart thus needs two armies in order to procure foods an iJ1tenal army which is the appetite, and an erternal which is the hand and the Embers which procure food. So the needed appetites are created in the heart, and the II8mbere ot the body are created which are the instrumeDts of the appe- tites.

This is completed by meaDS of things outside of the body, such as weapons, etc. Then, too, the appetite for food and the means of securing it are or no profit to him who Deeds food as long as he bas no tnowledge ot food. So in order to gain this know- ledge the heart needs two armiesl an interuBl armJ, which is the perception of sight, taste, lmelling, hearing, and touch; and an external, which is the eye, ear, nose, etc.

A detail- ed account ot the need tor these and the wisdoM in them would be very long, and many Tolumes would not contain it. All the armies of the heart are limited to three clas. The second clase is that which mowes the members to the attain-. These are armies which are ditfu. Theae include the power of sight, hearing, smell, taste, etc.

Corresponding to each ot these internal al'lidl8 there are external armies.. Were it not that Allah created the powers of memory, thought, recollection, and imagination, the brain "ould be devoid of them even as is the band and the foot. Such then are the armies of the neart. It "ould take a long time to ezplain this by citing ezamples. This results in destrOying it and cutUng it off from its journey by which it might reach eterual happiness. This is the state ot the majority of people, for their in- tellects have been forced by their appetence to labor at de- Vising stratagems to latisly the appetence, whereas appetence should be forced by their iDtellects to labor at that which the mind hae need of.

The powers and members of the body occupy the place of craftemen and la- borers. The intelligent reflective power is lite the sincere adTtsor and intelligent minieter. Appetence is like an evil slave who brings food and prOVisions to the city. Anger and ardor pmiyyah are like the chief of police. The elave who brings the prOVisions 1s a liar, a deceiver, an impostor, and a malicious persOD who plays the part of a sincere advisor, while beneath his advice there is dreadful evil and deadly poison.

It is his wont and his custom to contend against every plan which the wise minister makee, so that not even for an hour does he cease his contentioD and opposition to his opinions. FollonDg Cairo text; Z. I: ree. US texts. I nes him and brings him under the authority of the minister and causes him to be under his orders, empowering him on his part over this vile slave and his followers and helpers, so that the slave is under authority and not the possessor of it, and so that he is subject to orders and directions and not one who gives orders and directs; then the rule of his state 1s up- The way in which these armies strive, and the way in which some of them are given power over others will be told, if Allah so wills, in the Book of the Discipline of the Soul.

Its members are like tbe people of the city. His body thus becomes as it were a frontier out- post, and hi. But if he losee the froutier aDd neglects bis people, bis deeds will be blamed and vengeance will be taken against him when he meets Allah.

The intellect is like a borseman wbo bas gone bUnting. His appetence is his horse and his anger is his dog. But when he is himself clumsy, his horae UD- governablo, and his dog vicious, then his horse is neither guided under him, nor doee his dog go forth in obedience to bis signs.

The clumsiness of the horseman i8 like the ignorance or a man, his paucity of wisdom, and his dim insight. The restiveness of the borse is 11ke the victory The Tioiousnes8 ot the dog is like the Tictory ot anger and its domination. An Exposition ot the Special Properties of the Heart ot van.

Tbus the sheep. That is an inner perception. We rill now mention that which peculiarly character- iles the heart of man, and because of which he bas been given great honor and is qualified to draw near to Allah. This special characteristic has its basis in Enowledge and rill. By 'knowledge' is meant that knowledge which deals with the I things at this world and the world to come, and with intellec- tual realities pqil1.

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