Latifa-e-Qalb
In addition to the above mentioned faculties of sight, hearing, reasoning, and moral acumen, Almighty Allah (SWT) has also endowed man with the heart (qalb), i.e., the faculty of contemplative intuition and the seat or organ of numinous apprehension. The heart is indeed ablaze with the light of love and gnosis of Almighty Allah (SWT). It reflects within itself all the transcendental truths and the reality of all true existence.
The heart
is, so to say, a microcosmic reality which contains within itself the
reflection of the entire super sensible Macrocosm. Whereas latifa-e-nafs has
been bestowed with the faculties of receiving and interpreting sense data —
which is the foundation of all physical and theoretical sciences —
latifa-e-qalb has been given the power of direct perception of spiritual
verities.
Heart, in Qur’anic epistemology, is the seat of the true self or the repository of soul, of which we may be conscious or ignorant, but which is our true existential and intellectual — and therefore universal — center. Knowledge afforded by the heart is qualitatively different from that which is acquired at the level of latifa-i-nafs through external senses and ordinary channels of ratiocination. The heart is, as it were, immersed in the immutability of Being and is, thus, an organ of ilm-i-ladunni, which is knowledge imparted directly by God through intuition and inner perception.
It is a super sensory organ of cognition in which the knowledge of esoteric truths transpires through tafaqquh, i.e., meditative reflection, where contemplativity is stressed more than the sharpness of intelligence. By bestowing upon man the subtle and luminous cognitive faculty of heart, Almighty Allah (SWT) has conclusively rendered him responsible and accountable for his deeds in the Life-after-death.
Heart, in Qur’anic epistemology, is the seat of the true self or the repository of soul, of which we may be conscious or ignorant, but which is our true existential and intellectual — and therefore universal — center. Knowledge afforded by the heart is qualitatively different from that which is acquired at the level of latifa-i-nafs through external senses and ordinary channels of ratiocination. The heart is, as it were, immersed in the immutability of Being and is, thus, an organ of ilm-i-ladunni, which is knowledge imparted directly by God through intuition and inner perception.
It is a super sensory organ of cognition in which the knowledge of esoteric truths transpires through tafaqquh, i.e., meditative reflection, where contemplativity is stressed more than the sharpness of intelligence. By bestowing upon man the subtle and luminous cognitive faculty of heart, Almighty Allah (SWT) has conclusively rendered him responsible and accountable for his deeds in the Life-after-death.
Muslim
poets in general and the mystic poets of the Indo-Persia in particular have, in
their lyrical compositions, lauded the role of the heart in attaining veridical
knowledge. They have done so quite rightly, and with hardly any fanciful
exaggeration, since the paramount importance of the heart was emphatically
pointed out by the Holy Prophet himself (SAW). For instance, according to one
of his oft-quoted sayings, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said, “Verily, just like
pieces of iron which get rusty if water touches them, hearts also become
rusty.” Thereupon his Companions asked, “We do polish rusty objects, but how
can we polish rusty hearts?” He answered that hearts are polished “through
frequent remembering of death and reading of the Holy Qur’an.”
Men who
do not use their God-given cognitive faculties can only be called worse than
cattle, in as much as animals follow only their instincts and natural urges and
are not conscious of either the possibility or the necessity of higher
knowledge or moral choice. Animals do see physical objects, but they lack the
capacity to perceive them meaningfully as items of articulated and theory-loaded
knowledge. If a human being similarly fails to attain the metaphysical
knowledge of the Really Real — despite possessing all the faculties to do so —
then he is not just like animals, he is worse than them.
… they
have hearts with which they fail to grasp the truth, and eyes with which they
fail to see, and ears with which they fail to hear. They are like cattle; nay,
they are farther astray.
(Al-Aa’raf
7:179)
Though
these people apparently have all the faculties of reason and perception, yet
they have so deadened them that those faculties do not work in the real sense;
as a result they remain misguided throughout their lives and go headlong into
Hell.
To Be Continued ....
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