Emotional Attachment with God

made the claim of being the greatest Lord. (The Quran, 79:24) In the same way, there were living or dead saints who appeared great to man. So man placed them on high pedestals. In ancient times, there were many such things which appeared great to man. It is this deceptive greatness which has been thus deplored in the Quran: “My Lord, they have led so many men astray!” (14:36). In ancient times there were many such different objects of greatness which dominated man’s mind. This being so, in spite of believing in God, people could not discover the greatest and the noblest being in the form of God. Man demonstrated his belief in God ritualistically, but he had never attained any high level of realization of God. That is why we find that the believers in God failed to make God their sole concern. They were unable to establish that superior connection with God’s being which may be described as emotional attachment. In this matter there is no exception in Muslim history. This is why for the last thousand years, Muslim writers have written a large number of books without— according to my knowledge—having produced any worthwhile book on the subject of the high level of realization of God and the majesty of God. This story has been brought to an end for the first time by modern science. What modern science did for the first time was to place all human or non-human greatness in a non-divine perspective. In this way modern science has already travelled the initial half of the journey of maarifah. Now it is possible that man, by his reflection and deep thinking, may complete the final half of the