INTERNAL WITNESS

Internal Witness ~ 73 ~ Every person is gifted by birth with a special faculty called al-nafs al-lawwamah, or conscience, which functions freely within him. Uninfluenced by either impulse and reasoning, it tells man what is wrong, and what is right, what should be done and what should not be done. This conscience functions as if it were God’s court. It warns man in advance of his errors. It tells him repeatedly what attitude or behaviour is proper and what is not. Yet in spite of this, man becomes oblivious of God. He leads his life as if, on Doomsday, he were not going to be taken to task for his words and deeds. One who adopts such an attitude denies his own nature. His own inner self gives a warning within him, but he is not ready to listen to it. The truth is that the human conscience proclaims in advance what the divine decree will be on Doomsday. If man were to lend an ear to the voice of conscience, he would learn, prior to death, what is going to confront him in the life after death.