Contemplation

Volume 4: Things That Save

Tafakkur (contemplation) is not merely a mental activity; it is a comprehensive spiritual discipline that unites knowledge, inner state, and action. According to the source text, "one hour of contemplation is more beneficial than a year of worship." This process is the bringing together of two pieces of knowledge already present in the heart to produce a third, new knowledge. The document treats contemplation along two main axes: reflecting upon one's own soul and character (the science of dealings) and reflecting upon the wonders of Allah's created beings and the universe (knowledge of God). The ultimate aim of contemplation is to deliver a person from heedlessness, guard him from sins, and illuminate the heart with the light of "marifet" (deep spiritual knowledge) by grasping Allah's majesty.

Summary

Tafakkur (contemplation) is not merely a mental activity; it is a comprehensive spiritual discipline that unites knowledge, inner state, and action.

Sections

Human Anatomy: The Microcosm

The human being is the greatest miracle, created from an impure drop of water (semen).

Skeletal Structure: The human body contains 248 bones, each appointed with a specific shape and measure, and joints that connect these bones to one another.
Muscular System: 529 muscles (sinews) composed of flesh, nerves, and ligaments have been created to enable the body's movement.
Functional Organization of Organs: The seven layers of the eye, the arrangement of teeth according to cutting and grinding functions, and the processes by which the stomach and lungs process food have been ordered with a wisdom beyond coincidence.
Protection in the Womb: The child's growth in three darknesses, milk coming from the breasts at the most suitable consistency at birth, and compassion placed in the parents' hearts are works of divine mercy.

The Realm of Nature and Animals

The Spider: Weaving its web with geometric order, lying in wait for its prey, and knotting its threads is a superior example of engineering inspired in it.
The Seas: The ratio of land to sea is like that of a stable to the earth's surface. The diversity of life in the sea and treasures such as pearls and coral display the Creator's richness.
Air and Wind: The unseen air's holding great ships upon the water and carrying clouds to bring down rain drop by drop (without colliding and with a specific provision appointed) are deep fields of contemplation.

The Dominion of the Heavens: The Macrocosm

Stars and Planets: The fact that the smallest star is 8 times the size of the earth and the sun more than 160 times larger proves the grandeur of the heavens.
Speed: According to Gabriel's expression, the sun traversing a distance of 500 years in the brief interval between the words "No" and "Yes" shows the speed of the divine order.

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The Reality and Mechanism of Contemplation

Contemplation is not a random chain of thoughts but a scholarly process based on a specific methodology.

The Definition of Contemplation and Its Difference from Remembrance

The Five-Stage Process of Transformation

Contemplation sparks a "marifet-flash" and initiates a radical change in action: 1. Tadhakkur: Bringing two fundamental pieces of knowledge into the heart. 2. Tafakkur: Demanding a third result from these pieces of knowledge. 3. Illumination: The birth in the heart of the new marifet sought as a light. 4. Change of State: The heart's turning from love of the world to desire for the Hereafter under the effect of the light. 5. Action: The limbs beginning to serve according to this new state in the heart.

The Fundamental Fields of Contemplation

The process of contemplation is carried out in two main fields: the servant's own qualities and the Creator's works.

A. Contemplation upon One's Own Soul

This field pertains to the "science of dealings" and is grouped into four categories:

Sins: Inspecting the faults committed or capable of being committed by the seven limbs (tongue, ear, stomach, etc.).
Acts of Worship: Planning how obligatory and supererogatory acts may be performed with greater sincerity.
Ruinous Traits (Muhlikāt): Identifying heart-corrupting diseases such as miserliness, arrogance, self-admiration, ostentation, and envy.
Delivering Traits (Munjiyāt): Acquiring states such as repentance, patience, gratitude, fear, hope, asceticism, and sincerity.

B. Contemplation upon Allah's Created Beings

This is not for understanding Allah's essence directly, but for grasping His majesty through His works. The text forbids thinking about Allah's essence; for the human mind cannot bear this magnitude.

> Metaphor: The human mind's looking upon Allah's majesty is like a bat's looking at the sun; direct gaze leads to blindness. Yet one may infer the Agent through the works (as light reflected upon the earth).

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Action-Oriented Insights: How Is Contemplation Practiced?

The document recommends the following steps for a disciple or seeker of truth to make contemplation a way of life:

1. Keeping a Daily Account Book: Every morning and evening, examining one's soul through ten ruinous traits (miserliness, arrogance, ostentation, etc.) and ten delivering traits (repentance, patience, gratitude, etc.). Every bad trait from which one is saved should be crossed out and thanks given to Allah. 2. Reading the Qur'an with Contemplation: Rather than completing a recitation without thinking about its meaning, repeating a verse even a hundred times if necessary to discover the secrets beneath it. "Reading one verse with contemplation is better than a complete recitation read without contemplation." 3. Guarding against the Trial of Scholars: Those who possess knowledge must constantly contemplate whether they have fallen prey to people's praise or ambition for rank. If knowledge leads a person to arrogance, withdrawing into seclusion and reforming the soul is the greatest duty. 4. Seeing the "Divine Pen" in Nature: When looking at any work of art (embroidery or writing), directing the wonder felt for the artist toward Allah as the supreme Artist; becoming aware of the flawless functioning within one's own body and in the heavens. 5. Hereafter-Focused Thought: Knowing that excessive reflection upon worldly affairs will veil the Hereafter; instead, reviving the heart by reflecting upon death, reckoning, the scale, and eternal blessings.

Key concepts

Definition of Contemplation: Bringing together in the heart two pieces of marifet (knowledge) already present there in order to give birth to a third marifet (a new knowledge).
Process Flow: Contemplation is a beginning; contemplation gives birth to knowledge, knowledge changes the heart's state, and the changed heart transforms the deeds of the limbs (actions).
Merit: As stated in the noble hadith: "One hour of contemplation is better than a year of (supererogatory) worship." For contemplation leads a person to abandon sin, attain piety, and reach spiritual witnessing.
Limits: Contemplation upon Allah's created beings and acts is commanded; yet contemplation upon Allah's essence (being) is forbidden, for it exceeds the capacity of the human mind and will cause astonishment and bewilderment.
Marifet: Deep knowledge and recognition attained through contemplation and learning.
Malakūt: The unseen realm beyond the senses; the inner dimension of things and divine governance.
Muhlikāt: Bad moral qualities that drive a person toward spiritual ruin and destruction.
Munjiyāt: Good character traits that deliver a person to salvation in this world and the Hereafter (patience, gratitude, sincerity, etc.).
Naẓar: Looking upon things and events with the aim of taking lesson and gaining knowledge.
Tadabbur: Reflecting upon the outcome of a matter, investigating the wisdom behind something.
Tadhakkur: Recalling what has been forgotten or keeping known knowledge fresh in the heart.
Ucb: A person's admiring and deeming superior his own deeds, knowledge, or existence.
Dhāt al-Ilāhī: Allah Himself; His essence beyond attributes (contemplation upon which is forbidden).

Study questions

What is the fundamental difference between tafakkur and tadhakkur?

Tadhakkur is the repetition of existing knowledge so that it may settle in the heart. Tafakkur is drawing forth knowledge that is not yet present and multiplying learning. Every contemplator is one who remembers, but not every one who remembers is a contemplator.

When contemplating the human body, what fundamental lesson should be drawn from the structure of the bones?

The number of bones (248), their shapes, and the delicate balance of their joints point to a wisdom that cannot be coincidence and to the Creator's majesty. One bone more would be a burden; one less would be a defect.

According to Imām al-Shāfiʿī, what are the four pillars of virtue?

Wisdom (whose pillar is contemplation), chastity (whose pillar is restraining desire), strength (whose pillar is anger), and justice (whose pillar is the balance of the soul's powers).

What is the effect of contemplation upon the "state of the heart"?

When the light of marifet reached through contemplation falls upon the heart, the heart's inclination toward the world turns to asceticism and its greed to contentment.

What are the "ten muhlikāt" (ruinous traits) in the contemplation of disciples?

Miserliness, arrogance, ucb (self-admiration), ostentation, envy, excessive anger, gluttony in food and sexual desire, love of wealth, and love of rank.

Give one of the examples given regarding the magnitude of the heavens and stars.

Attention is drawn to the grandeur of the heavens by stating that the sun is approximately 160 times and the smallest star 8 times larger than the earth.