GOD REALIZATION

than a trillion stars and most of them are incredibly big and much bigger than the sun. Therefore the level of God-realization (marifat) that people of previous times had was less than the realization of the present day people. People are now in a better position to appreciate God’s glory and majesty compared to those of the previous times. Islam is not based on the quantity of rituals we perform, but on the level of realization of God that we could attain in our lifetime. Thus, the age we are living in today gives us the potential to reach a higher level of God-realization (marifat). We now have far greater knowledge about God’s wisdom and intelligent design in His creations than before. A Higher Level of God Realization Every Prophet had a high level of realization of God. This high level of realization was given to prophets because the ‘unseen’ was made evident to them. However, the people of later times, using scientific means have been able to see the unseen world, and they would thus be able to achieve the same level of realization as the prophets. For example, the people of yesteryears only knew that we breathe in and breathe out air. People today know that respiration is a process of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is taken in by plants and trees, and they give out oxygen in return. This scientific fact, which has made evident the munificence of God was not known to people in earlier times. Take another example. We know that the Prophet was taken from Makkah to Jerusalem in a very short time in a journey called miraj. This journey was meant to increase his understanding of God’s bounties. But today we can make a similar journey in an airplane and thereby acknowledge God’s blessings upon us. Such observations take our realization of God to a much higher level. Lure of the Present Day World The people of yesteryear could make Paradise their goal as they did not have many distractions from the path of religion. There were no paradise-like comforts in the world to get enmeshed in—no shopping centres, luxury homes, cars, airplanes, instant communication, etc. People used to bury their money as treasure beneath the ground as Modern day comforts and conveniences are the prototypes of Paradise. These amenities give us an introduction to the far greater comforts that we will enjoy in Paradise.