Maarifah: The Goal of Mankind

Maarifah: The Goal of Mankind Maarifah literally means realization of something in the perfect sense. Maarifah, in other words, may be called intellectual discovery. This discovery does not relate to any short-lived familiarity with the truth but is rather another name for a long journey. The God that man is supposed to realize has such attributes as are alluded to in the Quran: “If all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea [were] ink, with seven [more] seas added to it, the words of God would not be exhausted: for, truly, God is Almighty and Wise.” (The Quran, 31:27) The discovery of God who is so perfect, cannot be done in a short period of time. It is without doubt a journey which begins at a fixed point in time, but which is ultimately unending. The maarifah of God does not mean that with the help of meditation we shall have glimpses of God’s being in the world of imagination. Moreover, maarifah is not ecstasy. Maarifah is an enhanced state of consciousness which can be achieved solely by contemplation of the divine creation. According to the Quran, maarifah can be defined as a servant of God discovering God, the Lord of the worlds in all His Majesty and Glory to the extent that He becomes a centre of his love (The Quran, 2:165). And all his feelings of fear are associated with Him (The Quran, 9:18). Love and fear are interconnected. When a servant of God engages in contemplation and discovers the Creator of the Universe in all His glory, in his heart he comes to acknowledge God to a limitless extent. Moreover, when he discovers the reality that the giver is God and that no one else can give anything to him, his