I made a point in an earlier post that to have knowledge comes with great responsibility. Let me explain this case of mine further. It was told to me on one of the Islamic conferences that knowledge can be split into secular knowledge (like how to operate a washing machine) and religious knowledge (like what happens to our soul after we die). To acquire secular knowledge doesn’t improve one’s faith, whereas to acquire religious knowledge it lifts you to a new spiritual level as testament to these first few days of Ramadan.
I feel the urge to write this blog post not because I see that by writing my views it would convert any of my readers but its another account of another phase in life. I was listening to a lecture today by an American Imam (religious teacher) about the prophet (peace be upon him). He made a point that the life of the prophet (pbuh) had always been an oral tradition. That Islam, and I shall translate it as any eternal knowledge, is ultimately preserved by the people. Therefore, to have knowledge necessitates the responsibility to transfer this knowledge to mankind. I am still in an infant stage of my religious life and there is a big part of me which is too scared to take on more knowledge because of the responsibility which comes with it. Perhaps I am over analysing this point as I often do. However, I feel an uplifting spirituality in these 5 - 6 days of Ramadan which I have not felt in a very long time, and its making me happy.
I do not want to go into discussion of religious matter because I feel that I simply don’t know enough to preach. I am in a stage where I am just listening and taking in all that I can. I am just thinking of what it must be like for Moses (peace be upon him) at the presence of God and the enormity of responsibility with such a truth being presented. I can totally understand why God doesn’t just show up in front of us because its too much for our soul to bare. I know its definitely too much for me to bare.
Lately I have been seeing this life in a different light, and I can just begin to comprehend the tip of an iceberg of what life is about. It is different to feel the certainty of a hereafter, an afterlife. The teleological me would tell me that every action in this life has a consequence in the judgment day. However, this new view presents the world to me as of itself - that this is not all of it. If we can understand this is the whatever happens in this world is merely a second or two in a larger timescale of things, then the significance of everything material in this life becomes insignificant. Therefore, we must seek to hold on to the eternal truths, such as love, knowledge, faith.
Faith increases and decreases with life experience. It was said that the mountains do not want to bare the burden of faith which men is given. I can totally understand why. Sometimes I wished that I was not given the choice to believe, that God made me an angel whereby his commands would be absolute, that His grace would be a sufficient fuel. However, I know that a knife would not be sharp unless sharpened, so our souls need the necessary challenge in order to prove itself worthwhile.
And the fast continues…