Exploring Self-Identity and Divine Action

The body of divine instruction in Islam comes not only from the Qur’an but also from the hadīth. The hadīth are the sayings of the Prophet, but in addition there are also the stories of what the Prophet did in certain circumstances. In other words how the Prophet acted. There is a story of the man who was asked why he went to see the great shaikh. And his response was, “I went to see how he puts his shirt on.” The point being he wanted to see how somebody at that status acted.

Knowledge is the first level of understanding, however if knowledge doesn’t turn into action then nothing much has been accomplished. Many people don’t know how to turn knowledge into action. They don’t know how to do. They know how to talk but they don’t know how to do. They can talk about the path, they can talk about everything that they have learned on the path. And that’s not hard. If you take a discourse of a wise man and you memorize it, you can talk. And you can even talk in a sensible way. However, if action isn’t combined with that knowledge then something is missing.

Now, when people go on this path they expect all kinds of different things. Part of the problem is based right in that expectation. Because since they don’t know what they are venturing into, to begin expecting things is a form of hallucination. In other words a predetermination of what’s going to occur later, when you have no idea what’s going to occur later. And since you set up a predetermined image when the real thing comes along you don’t recognize it. Which has a lot to do with the story about the Khidr Nabī, the Eternal Prophet who walked the earth. A man had decided he wanted to meet him, so he sat and meditated on him for weeks. And then finally it came to him, what this prophet looked like and he drew a picture of him on a piece of paper and put it in his pocket and then he went searching for him. For years he went door to door, village to village, town to town, country to country, trying to find him, never getting any response.

Finally, ten years into his journey somebody said, “He’s in the next village.” He went to the next village and he said, “I’ve heard the Khidr Nabī is here can you tell me where he is?” And they said, “Yes he’s in that house right now giving a talk.” And he walked in there and he asked the man during the break, “Are you the Khidr Nabī?” He said, “Yes.” He pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket with the picture on it, looked at it and said, “No you’re not,” and left.

We can create these kinds of situations for ourselves by pre-imagining what’s going to occur. Now, action is without pre-imagination. Because if we sit and imagine what’s going to occur, it also stops us from action. What’s interesting is that the kind of action that is required to put you on this path is considered incredibly mundane by some people. It’s too simple. This can’t be the elevated state of the righteous path. It’s too simple to be nice to people. It’s too simple to be courteous. It’s too simple to have appropriate behavior in the presence of others. It must be something loftier.

What we fail to realize that what is loftier than being appropriate, what is loftier than helping our fellow man. What is loftier than doing your work as an assist to God’s work? What is God’s work? He is the creator, the sustainer and the nourisher. And if we help with the sustenance and the nourishment of others, we are doing His work. So we have to find a kind of peace and exaltation within that work.