GHAZALI CATEGORIZES SEVEN TYPICAL TRAITS THAT ARE IN ERROR IN
GOD'S KNOWLEDGE
(FROM THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS)
(BASED
UPON TURKISH
TRANSLATION OF HENERY. A. HOLMES)
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1 THE first class belongs to those who
do not believe in God. And because they could not succeed in understanding
Him, they have referred His acts and governance to the stars, planets, and
nature. This class of people resembles
the man who sees writing, fancies that it was written of itself, and infers
that it was not written by a penman or by a supernatural power; or else that
it is eternal and that no one knows whence it comes. It is impossible to
recover from the path of delusion, persons whose ignorance, error, and
stupidity have reached such a degree as this. They can be termed atheists. |
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2 THE second class
of errorists deny a day of resurrection and reincarnation on the presumptive
ideas that the soul belongs to God and that no evil can happen to it. That is
the denial of the law of Karma, action and reaction, retribution, or
consequences. (The Hindu scriptures and Sikhism strongly endorse the concept
of resurrection in 8.4 million lives. The fifth Sikh Guru mentions (page
1075), "Out of all the 8.4 million species of beings, [1]God
blessed humanity with glory. That human who misses this chance shall suffer
the pains of coming and going in reincarnation. |
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3 THE third-class
believe in God and future life, but whose faith is weak because they do not
understand the Divine Doctrine. They
say that "God can do without our worship. There is neither any profit to God from
our worship nor any injury done by our negligence. If we worship God, how do
we know what advantage and harm it will do in the future world". |
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4 The fourth class wrongly says, "The
law commands us to keep our hearts pure from pride, envy, hatred, anger, and
dishonesty, which is an impossibility.
The soul has been created with these qualities and afflictions, and
human nature cannot be changed. It is impossible to make a black material
white by scraping it. |
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5 The fifth class
of persons in error are those who say that " God is merciful and ready
to pardon, loving and compassionate, and, and therefore he will pardon our
faults and cover our transgressions."
Notwithstanding that God is bounteous and merciful, there are still
multitudes of poor and miserable people in the world subjected to
suffering. That is a mystery known only to God. But it
shows us that though God is disposed to cover and hide sin, still he is an
absolute sovereign and an avenger. |
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6 The sixth class
is exalted with pride and believes they have already attained perfection and
say, " we have reached such a state that transgressions do us no
harm. We are like the sea, which is
not polluted by filth falling into it.''"Like the sea" means to
attain such a degree of calm that no wind can perturb their minds. For them, on the contrary, if an individual
fails to treat them with honor and respect, they bear him a grudge for a long
time and even perhaps attempt to do him an injury. |
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7 The seventh
class's mistakes arise from ignorance and carelessness, while they have never
heard anything mentioned. They merely wear the garments, cap, and quilted
robes of the mystics (Sufis), and after learning some of their words and
phrases, they pretend to have attained saintship and supernatural powers.
They have no evil intentions, yet their course leads them to corrupt
doctrines and errors because they do not respect the holy law adequately and
are lax in devotion. To this class, God declares in his holy word, "We
have covered their hearts with more than one envelope, that they may not
understand the Koran, and we have put deafness upon their ears". |
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