THE WORD OF GOD

process. A person’s position is one of finding or receiving it, while God is the giver. An individual cannot receive realization without the help of God. All of one’s efforts will remain fruitless unless God comes to his assistance. What kind of supplication should one do to attain this objective? Supplication is not a mere repetition of certain words. It is, in fact, another name for the heart’s tempest. There is no religion without Marifah, and there is no Marifah without true prayer. What is the methodology to attain God-realization? We need to understand from the very outset that God-realization is not akin to ecstasy, and one will not have glimpses of God’s glory in the world of imagination. It is an enhanced state of consciousness that can be achieved solely by the contemplation of the divine creation. How does the Quran describe Marifah? According to the Quran, Marifah 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 (2:165); all his feelings of fear are associated with Him alone. (9:18) Kindly explain how love and fear go together. 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 heart becomes filled with fear that if he is deprived of God’s blessings, nowhere on the earth or in the heavens will he find any other refuge. What other things are bestowed to man to assist him in the journey of God-realization? God has created man in the best of moulds (95:4). Man has been granted all the intellectual capabilities by which he may achieve Marifah of the Lord of the Worlds. Besides this, in the external world, i.e., nature, all those elements are hidden which may assist him in this journey. Now it is man’s task to discover these elements in nature and experience such an elevated level as will enable him to develop a divine personality. o