SPIRITUAL POWER NOT POLITICAL POWER

If political power is not our goal then what is the target which Islam sets before man? The answer in the words of the Quran is: ‘A peaceful soul’ (89: 27). Thus the spiritual goal of Islam is to attain this state of peace in the soul. According to the Quran this is the ultimate stage in a man’s spiritual development. When he reaches this stage of progress, he qualifies to be ushered into Paradise, the perfect and eternal world of the Hereafter. The Quran addresses such souls in these words: ‘O serene soul! Return to your Lord joyful, and pleasing in His sight. Join my servants and enter My Paradise.’ (89: 27-30) In this world man has to lead his life in circumstances in which he experiences various kinds of situations; there are times of gain, times of loss; times of happiness and times of grief. Sometimes he receives good treatment at the hands of others, at other times his fate is quite otherwise. The ideal human being of the Quran is one who undergoes all these experiences without losing his integrity. Under no circumstances is his inner peace disturbed. However untoward the occasion, he maintains his natural balance. Success does not make him proud. Power does not make him haughty. No bad treatment by others drives him to seek vengeance in anger. At all events, he remains serene. It is such a man who is called ‘a peaceful soul’ in the Quran. And it is this man who, according to the Quran, has achieved the highest spiritual state. The realization of God joins man to his Maker. Such communion with the divine brings about a state of spiritual elevation. Having been thus raised to a higher plane of existence, man becomes of a ‘sublime character’(68: 4), as expressed in the Quran. This can be illustrated by an example from the natural world: The process of conversion of a substance from the solid to the gaseous state is called boiling. The boiling point of a liquid varies according to atmospheric pressure. At sea level water boils at 100 degrees centigrade. At a higher altitude, as on a mountain, the atmospheric pressure is less, so the boiling point is lower. This shows that it is the altitude that makes the difference. The status of political power has a secondary rather than a primary position in Islam.