June 2014
June
2014 Webcasting on the world’s first real-time Islamic service at www.virtualmosque.co.uk Editors: Shahid Aziz Mustaq Ali Contents: The Call of the Messiah Environmental Protection By Prof. Henry Francis (Abdil Ghaffar) Espiritu So What was Rumi talking about? By Mohamed Ghilan
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ن ْحالرَّ ْ ی م حم ْ ْس م ْ ٰ ِباہللْالرَّ م The Call of the Messiah by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi The Scriptural Sign There is yet another point of resemblance. With regard to the last Khilafat of the Mosaic dispensation, it was written in the Torah that the system would come to a close and terminate with the appearance of the Messiah who had been promised to the Jews that his advent would take place at the head of the fourteenth century towards the close of the system, and that the sign of his appearance was that the kingdom and rule of the Jews would, at the time, cease to exit. Turn over Genesis, (49:10) and read: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” The significance of this verse obviously was that the kingdom of the
Jews who would disobey and displease God, would continue anyhow up to the Messiah’s appearance, and the sceptre of their kingdom would not break until the coming of their Messiah, Jesus the Christ, and that when he had come, the sceptre would break into pieces, and their kingdom or rule would be left nowhere in the world. In the same way, the Messiah of the Islamic system has been said in Bukhari to be a sign of the end of Christianity and the beginning of its decline and decay. The statement signifies that the progress of the Christian faith would not be hindered or impedited, nor its onward march slackened or shortened until the Messiah of Islam had made his appearance on the stage. He it is who will break the Cross into pieces, and kill the swine. The time when he will make his appearance, will be the time of decline of the Religion of the Cross; and even though he may not annihilate the dajjal, i.e. demolish and destroy delusive and sceptical ideas with the weapon of his argument, still it will be such a time that all those ideas will, of themselves, vanish away and disappear, and the Religion of the Cross, at the time of his advent, will reach the point of its decline and fall, so that his coming will be the sign of disintegration and decay of that religion; that is to say, such a wind begin to blow, with his appearance, which will draw and pull the minds and brains against the Religion of the Cross. And thousands of arguments will crop up for the falsification and refutation of that faith, and there will be, excepting intellectual and heavenly signs, no other fight for religion, and the age itself will desire and demand that change. Even if the Promised Messiah had not come, even then the new wind of the time would have caused the perverting progress of dajjal to melt away an disap-
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2 pear in nothingness. But this honour will be conferred on him, although it will all be the work of God Himself. Nations will not be destroyed, but the new change coming over the minds will deal a blow to and destroy falsehood. This is, in fact, the significance of the terms یَ ْکسِ ُر . ال َّصلِی َْب َو ی َ َضعَ الْ َحرْبIt is merely wrong and incorrect to say that Jihad will take place. The meaning of the hadith is that with the Promised Messiah will descend a heavenly weapon; that is to say, the two factors, namely, the heavenly sign and the new wind, will make away with and destroy he cult of dajjal; and the Truth of Divine unity and faith will make progress and flourish; and ill -will an animosity will vanish away yielding place to the days of peacefulness and tranquility and then will the end of the world; and it is for this reason that we have given to this book the title The Age of Reconciliation.
True Significance of hadith In short, the statement (what goes here?) in the hadith points to the fact that Christianity, until the advent of the Promised Messiah, will make much progress, and spread in all directions, and achieve great power and dignity, so that it will be considered as one of the great religions. But when the Promised Messiah will make his appearance, that day will be the day of decline and decay of the Christian faith, and the host High God will blow such a wind, and create such wisdom and understanding in the minds that fair-hearted persons will come to realize that it is a mistake to raise mortal man to the dignity of Godhood, and a folly to seek real salvation through some one's hanging on the gallows. And the truth of this statement has been established and proved in this age. Prominent clergymen have issued posters to the effect that in this age the Christian faith has, all at once, fallen into decline and
decay. It is a truth that notwithstanding the fact that they are spending billions of rupees against Islam. Islam is taking forward strides day after day, so that the enlightened people of Europe are becoming disgusted with the Religion of the Cross, and for this reason the Christian minister had to turn their attention to the educationally and financially disadvantaged of this country. And what is written in the hadith that the Promised Messiah will break the Cross, does not mean that he will do so in the physical sense, but the significance is that he will adduce such strong arguments which will lay bare and exposed the errors of the doctrine of Cross so that sane people will come to believe in the falseness of this religion. The hadith points clearly to the fact that the time of the Promised Messiah will be such a time when the falsehood of the Religion of Cross will itself come to light and be disclosed day after day, and the minds of people, of themselves, will incline to the thought that the Religion of Trinity is devoid of truth. To assert and say that there will be fighting with the Christians at that time, is to murder truth. Islam and the Holy Quran has not permitted anywhere or at any time that the people who propagate their faith only with the help of the words of their mouths and money, and wage no war for the sake of religion, should be fought against and killed. Such ideas are uncompromisingly against the Quranic teaching. May the Most High God be merciful unto the condition of our ulema. They are in manifest error. The significance on the other hand, is that during the Messiah’s time, Islam will make progress merely by means of its spiritual power, and remove all poisonous matter with its remedial and healing power; and that with the advent of the Promised Messiah such angels will come from heaven who will inspire truth into human minds, and change their thoughts; and it is, therefore, written that the Promised Messiah will descend resting his hands on the shoulders of two angels, its significance being that with his ap-
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3 pearance will commence the influence and sway of the angels, and people will gradually wake up from their sleep of indifference and apathy. Since all these things will begin with the advent of the Promised Messiah, the whole work of the breaking of the cross will be attributed to him; and whatever good and excellent knowledge will he expounded by any person against heresy and unbelief, all that knowledge will be on account of the Promised Messiah, and will be attributed to him; for, he it is with whom the angels have descended, and he it is who, taking into consideration the spiritual lights, has descended from heaven, and he it is who has come to sweep down, like a falcon, upon the Trinity of Damascus, but not with violence and inclemency, but with peacefulness and amity. The Most High God is the most merciful of all, and showers His mercy on his slaves in a much greater measure than will, do even their own parents. It can never be possible that in regard to His weak and indifferent people, He will ever adopt this attitude that even t h o u gh finding them groping in the darkness of indifference for 1300 years, guide them not aright by clear arguments, and satisfy them not by heavenly signs, but, on the other hand depute some one to kill and destroy the indifferent people. This thing is repugnant to His attributes which have been taught in the holy Quran. In the Book of God a promise has been held out that in the time of mischief and danger, the Host High God will guard against and protect Islam. He says: لَ َحا ِفظُوْ نَ لَہُ َواِنَّا ال ِّذ ْک َرا نَ َّزلَنَا نَحْ نُ اِنَّاsurely we have revealed the Quran, and surely we are its guardian (15:9). So in accordance with his promise, the Most
High God protected his Word in four ways: firstly, He protected and preserved its words and their arrangement by means of those persons who have learnt the whole Quran by heart, and created in every age millions of such people who preserve the sacred text so perfectly in their memories that if you should ask them one word, they would reproduce and recite it with all its context. In this way, the holy Quran has been in every age guarded against literal corruption. Secondly, by means of such great Imams and divines who, in every century having been endowed with a correct and true understanding of the Holy Quran, have expounded and explained the compendious and concise portions of the Book with the help of the Holy Prophet's traditions, and saved, in this way, the Holy Quran and its sacred teaching from interpretive contamination and explicatory errors. Thirdly, by means of those persons spoken to by God, who, reconciling the Quranic teaching with intellect and reason have protected the sacred word of God from the sneer and vilification of short-sighted and indiscreet philosophers. Fourthly, by means of persons favoured with spiritual gifts, which have saved and protected the Holy Word of God, in every age, from the attacks of the deniers of miracles and Divine knowledge. Footnotes: * The only difference in the two prophecies is that in the first prophecy, the sign of the advent of the Promised Messiah was said to be the decline and fall of the Jewish kingdom, whereas in the second prophecy the sign of his coming was said to be the decay and deterioration of the Religion of the Cross. The second prophecy had nothing to do with the kingdom just as the first prophecy had nothing to do with religion. ** The only difference in the two prophecies is that in the first prophecy, the sign of the advent of the Promised Messiah was said to be the decline and fall of the Jewish kingdom, whereas in the second prophecy the sign of his coming was said to be the decay and deterioration of the Religion of the Cross. The second prophecy had nothing to do with the kingdom just as the first prophecy had nothing to do with religion. The only difference in the two prophecies is that in the first prophecy, the sign of the advent of the Promised Messiah was said to be the decline and fall of the Jewish kingdom, whereas in the second prophecy the sign of his coming was said to be the decay and deterioration of the Relig-
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4 ion of the Cross. The second prophecy had nothing to do with the kingdom just as the first prophecy had nothing
to do with religion.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION PERSPECTIVES FROM THE QUR’AN AND THE SUNNAH By: Prof. Henry Francis B. Espiritu One of the ninety-nine Names of Allah is “AlQuddus”. This particular attribute of Almighty Allah has the following meanings: The Holy One, the Pure One, and the Immaculate One. This Divine Name of Allah as “Al-Quddus” is manifested in ecology by the environment’s capacity to purify itself naturally. For instance, the bodies of animals that die upon the earth and the putrefying remains of vegetation are subjected to chemical transformation; and in time, they are naturally deposited into the depths of the earth thereby preserving the purity of the earth’s surface. Likewise, rains regularly drench the earth, the sun lights upon the earth, and the wind continually sweeps all impurities on the earth’s surface. In like manner, a true Muslim must endeavor to take lessons and benefit from Allah’s Divine Name of “Al-Quddus” by seeing to it that his life and his environment are both pure and clean. Muslims can only maintain the pristine purity of the environment if they make it their spiritual duty to actively protect the environment from all types of manmade ecological de-
struction. Islam teaches that humans are stewards of Allah’s creation. Declares the Holy Qur’an: “He brought you forth from the earth and made you dwell in it” (Hud:61). On the basis of the Islamic concept of khilafah (stewardship), humans are tasked by Almighty Allah to be protectors of their environment. The Holy Qur’an further exhorts Muslims to protect the ecology and everything that comprise it by these profound words: “The seven heavens and the earth, and those in them declare His glory. And there is not a single thing but glorifies Him with His praise” (Bani Isra’il:44). Since the whole universe is the outward expression of Allah’s greatness, no Muslim should cause destruction to the environment nor engage in activities that destroy ecological balance and sustainability. Islam invites all human beings in general and Muslims in particular to be always on guard and mindful of ecology’s welfare, by seeking to protect it from all harms, destruction, and impurities. Allah has generously allowed humans to benefit from the creatures and fruits of the earth for as long as they are lawful and clean (halalan wa tayyiban). As humans benefit from Allah’s creatures, they have a spiritual duty to take care of their environment and an ethical obligation not to offset nature’s equilibrium and to ensure that future inhabitants of the earth will continue to have access to these bounties of Allah. In many passages of the Holy Qur’an, Allah warns us that wastage of natural resources is a grave sin, and destroying the balance of the earth through wanton and indiscriminate use by greedy exploiters deserves punishment in the Hereafter (See; Araf:31 and Bani Isra’il:26-27). Almighty Allah, the Eternal Lawgiver of the cosmos has provided us with sound environmental principles as well as spiritual laws governing ecological spirituality so that we, His servants will be able to live our lives upon this earth as His trustees and vicegerents in caring for and protecting His creation. According to the Holy Qur’an, the earth, and in truth, the whole universe were created by Allah in the most beautiful and perfect manner, since Almighty Allah made the cosmos and everything in it, humans included, in perfect and beautiful balance (See, Tin:4). Humans were tasked by Allah the
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5 duty of protecting the environment’s wellbeing since it is the human beings who are the best of creatures and are gifted by Allah with rational discernment and freewill to carry-out His command in protecting the earth and the whole of nature. However, there are many times when humans show their ungratefulness and denial of the covenant made with their Lord that they started to behave despicably, as if they are “the lowest of the low” by beginning to pollute their environment and by greedily exploiting natural resources simply to satisfy their lust, selfishness and caprice (Tin:5). In the words of the Holy Qur’an: “Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea on account of that which men’s hands have wrought, that He [Allah] may make them taste a part of that which they have done, so that they may return [back to Him]” (Rum:41). No wonder, that in our present milieu, many calamities emanating from the environment befall humankind. These environmental catastrophes are reminders for us to repent from our irresponsible ways and unsustainable manner of treating our ecology, and to return back to Allah’s instructions and guidance in the manner of caring for our environment and natural resources. Time and again, the Holy Qur’an reminded all the peoples of the world, Muslims and nonMuslims alike, to take seriously this divine mandate of khalifat-ul-ardh (stewardship of the earth) by seeing to it that no wastage and exploitation of the earth’s resources are being done by fellow humans. All of us should be mindful that the satisfaction of our basic necessities must not be done in a wasteful or prodigal manner at the expense of the future generations following us (See Surah Araf:31). We, Muslims who are the direct inheritors of the commands of Allah as found in the Holy Qur’an, should all the more follow His directives in caring for and protecting our environment. We must fully adhere to the Qur’anic commands against wasting our natural resources and against exploiting and polluting our ecology. By following the examples of environmental protection undertaken by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and His Blessed Companions, we will be able to preserve our ecological resources for the years to come.
Prophet Muhammad was a great exemplar to all Muslims in respect to environmental management and ecological protection. The Holy Prophet participated in the city planning of Medina as an urban area with environmental sustainability in mind. He forbade the cutting down of trees, killing of wild animals and hunting birds not just in Medina, but also in the city of Mecca and the oasis surrounding Taif. The Prophet declared that the distance of 1,000 square meter circumferential radius around Mecca must be designated as conservation areas. Within these areas, he strongly prohibited the cutting down of trees, hunting and killing of insects and birds, and even breaking palm branches (Sunan Ibn Majah, pp.113). He likewise forbade Muslims from wasting water while performing their ablution, even if they are living near streams or riverbanks. These prohibitions show that indeed, the Holy Prophet is very concerned with environmental protection and that he wanted all Muslims to do likewise (Sunan Abu Dawud, pp 43) The Prophet saw that Medina was a verdant oasis where date palms grew in abundance and many cattle fed upon its fertile grasslands. In Medina, he commanded that for every palm tree that is cut, another must be planted in its stead. The people of Taif sent a delegation to establish alliance with Medina; and as one of the framers of the terms of agreement, the Holy Prophet added provisions declaring that the valleys of Taif must be environmentally conserved, so that destroying farms and hunting wild animals in the region were forbidden and that all tribal elders of Taif must strictly implement this provision. Also, upon his peaceful conquest of the city, the Prophet enjoined the Muslims of Mecca to plant trees and date palms along the grassland
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6 peripheries a n d n e a r wells so that un-
shah Siddiqah, would make their surroundings clean by sweeping the floor of their own house, courtyard, and backyard even as far as the adjacent lot next to the Prophet’s mosque (Sunan Tirmidhi, pp.11– 13)
derground aquifers will not dry-up and grasses will not be scorched by the desert heat. Again, the Prophet prohibited the cutting of old giant trees which were used by wayfarers and beasts of burden for resting and shelter (Sunan Abu, 83 - 87)
The Sahabah-ul-Kiram (Holy Companions of the Prophet), who themselves were ideal examples of holiness, followed the Prophet’s guidance with respect to ecological protection. For instance, the first Caliph of Islam, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq warned the armies who were defending the borders of Islam: “Do not burn farmlands, nor uproot and cut down fruit-bearing trees. Do not slaughter cattle or sheep that are not yours”. It is narrated that one fine day, Hazrat Abu Bakr was planting trees by the roadside, a Bedouin passerby thought that for the Caliph to plant trees with his own hands is beyond the dignity of his office, he therefore frankly told Hazrat Abu Bakr his opinion. Upon hearing it, Hazrat Abu Bakr replied: “The Prophet said that if a person plants a tree, the fruits eaten by any humans or any of God’s creatures, or even those eaten by travellers will be recorded as charity for the one who planted it. This is why I am planting trees by the roadside.” (The Virtues of Sayyidina Abubakr as-Siddiq, pp.78).
The Prophet gave clear orders regarding environmental sanitation. He was very concerned about the health of cattle, camels and horses as well as the cleanliness of their grazing sites. He also gave orders that mosques should be cleansed and perfumed regularly with aromatic herbs and wood resins, that the frontyards and backyards of a Muslim’s house should be thoroughly cleaned, and that no one should urinate nor defecate near bodies of waters nor human waste be thrown near sources of running water (Tirmidhi, pp.64-66 and Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Wudhu, pp.103). Similarly, this statement from the Holy Prophet illustrates well the principle of sustainable land use: “If someone revives an infertile piece of land by planting trees and by farming on it, such person will be rewarded by God for this righteous deed. If any living creature benefits from this land or from its produce, it will be recorded as charity for the one who cultivates it” (Bayhaqi, pp.20-22). On a personal level, the Prophet himself was a practical model to others in terms of environmental sanitation. He, alongside his beloved wife Ai-
For my final point, allow me once again to quote from the Holy Qur’an: “Oh children of Adam, attend to your adornment at every time of prayer, and eat and drink and be not prodigal; surely He loves not the prodigals” (Araf:31). We, Muslims must endeavor to comply with this directive of ecological sustainability given by Almighty Allah to us and strive to teach this to our fellow believers. In order to be true disciples of our Prophet Muhammad and to be truly obedient worshippers of Almighty Allah, we Muslims must therefore strive to live in accordance with nature, cease from wasting resources from our environment, endeavor to protect our environment from man-made degradation, and pro-actively promote ecological sustainability measures. Furthermore, we should always be aware of our responsibility to manifest God’s divine character of “Al-Quddus” (The Most Pure) in our lives, by our constancy in guarding our surrounding, making it pure and clean always. Above all, we must constantly remember that Allah has entrusted us to be His stewards in taking care of the earth and all of His creatures. By the grace of Allah, we will be faithful trustees of the environment which Allah
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7 has entrusted upon us to care for, cherish and protect. In this way, we will, Insha’Allah, be able to bequeath a cleaner, more habitable and more livable world for the incoming future generations to come. Ameen.(Prof. Henry Francis B. Espiritu is an Assistant Professor VII in Philosophy at the University of the Philippines-Cebu Campus. He is a candidate in PhD-Philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila University. He is a convert to Islam, and a fervent student of the mystical writings of the Punjabi mujaddid (renewer of the faith) saint, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib. His Islamic name is Abdil Ghaffar. Reactions, queries, and comments can be sent to him t h ro u g h em a i l: e s p i r i t uh e n r y f ran cis@yahoo.com.)
What was Rumi talking about? Sufi poetry has been largely misunderstood by modern pop culture. Mohamed Ghilan (Mohamed Ghilan is a neuroscience PhD candidate at the University of Victoria, Canada, and a student of Islamic jurisprudence.) Sorry to ruin this, but when you read poetry by Jalal al-Din Rumi or any other Sufi figure's poems, the wine is not literal, and Layla is not actually a woman. It is quite a depressing realisation to witness great Sufis such as Rumi become reduced to drunkards raving about their current love partners or unable to get over losing their past ones. This is precisely what modern pop culture's misappropriation of Sufi poetry about love has done. The reason we love poetry so much is because it is a venue where we let our imaginations soar. The best poets are ones that most people can identify with in some way. Poems that speak to universal meanings can be flexible in their applications to different contexts, thus becoming a place of solace for the readers. However, this activity becomes disingenuous when the poet and the context in which he or she wrote are manipulated to suit one's own projections. For example, Rumi's poetry can be sum-
marised in one line that was recorded in preIslamic poetry: "Verily, everything other than God is a falsehood." But it seems that today, Rumi quotes are cited in the context of, "Verily, everything other than my girlfriend or boyfriend, including God, is a falsehood." The misuse of Sufi poetry is symptomatic of modern culture's combination of materialism with self-spirituality. The theme that runs through the New Age movement is about experiencing the "Self" because it is the way to experience the "God" or "Goddess" within. As noted by Peter Pels in his 1998 article "Religion, Consumerism and the Modernity of the New Age", the New Age emphasis on self-spirituality is rooted in late nineteenth- or early twentieth-century occultism. It is a de-traditionalised form of faith that internalises religiosity, turning an individual's reliance to be on "inner voices", and in turn rejecting any outside authority. The Self reigns supreme in place of anything external to it. It is therefore ironic that religious Sufi symbolism, which was used to express annihilation of the Self in the presence of the Divine, is now being used to express the elation of the Self in the presence of another's. [A]s many Sufi poets and saints have warned, their poetry begins at the metaphoric level to indicate literal meanings other than what first comes to mind, all of which revolve around the Divine. By worshiping the Self, the New Age movement gave rise to a form of neo-paganism, which survives through appropriation and consumption of religious symbolism. Given the individual nature of the consumption process, ultimate meanings intended from religious symbols are exchanged for relative experiences of Selfworship, which ironically render the symbols ultimately meaningless. Moreover, given the tandem development of the New Age movement in popular culture alongside popular religion, it can be expected that popular misuse of religious symbolism will have an impact upon the religious. As religious symbols are presented outside of contexts they were created to serve within, they begin to lose their significance for the religious in an insidious way that de-sacralises the Sacred and grants
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8 sanctity to the secular. The misappropriation of Sufi poetry can be seen as resulting of unfamiliarity with how Sufis made their indications. For example, the intoxication of wine refers to the loss of one's sense of rational self in the sea of Divine Love. The tavern is the experience of being overwhelmed from being surrounded by Divine Presence. Layla is an Arabic female name that linguistically refers to the darkest night of the month, and in Sufi poetry refers to the hidden realm that lies behind outward appearances of this world. A Sufi line of poetry that talks about becoming intoxicated from a single sip of wine served in the tavern before Layla appearing naked, is not talking about getting drunk and losing one's mind out of love for a woman before proceeding to fulfill lustful desires after her. The abundant use of metaphors and various rhetorical devices in Sufi poetry has polarised Muslim theologians ever since they began. Some of their statements taken literally are in direct contradiction with basic foundational beliefs and practices in Islam. This polarisation was exacerbated with Sufi symbolism that would invariably lead to misinterpretations if one were not familiar with it. Wine, tavern, and Layla are among the recurring symbols that in popular culture are understood at the literal level first before they are taken as metaphors. However, as many Sufi poets and saints have warned, their poetry begins at the metaphoric level to indicate literal meanings other than what first comes to mind, all of which revolve around the Divine. It is interesting to note that out of fear of misappropriating their symbols, various Sufi figures have warned against reading their works without the guide of a teacher.
Sufis talk about except that they fall into explicit error. He also said, "Know that the wonders of the heart are outside of sensory experience." Hence, if one seeks to gain a closer understanding about what Rumand other Sufi poets were talking about, they must suspend their own material and worldly projections and put such poetry in its proper metaphysical context. In a culture of materialism and illusory appearances, Rumi and other Sufi poets' works are meant to serve as indications that there is something more than what we experience with our senses. Their poetry was not about escapism through intoxication or loss of self-awareness for the sake of another material being. Rather, their message was to serve as reminders about the Formless Being by which all forms come into existence. When Rumi speaks about the love of lovers, he refers not only to the love they share between each other, but about the love they both share towards the Being that transcends their beings. In this, the lovers become united as they share a common desire to transcend beyond each other's sense of Self and Self-worship. Unless this is appreciated, the depths of Rumi's words will not be realised, as they should, and we risk the complete loss of their significance. (The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. Source: Al Jazeera) The Antarctic losing 160 billions tons of ice every year, twice as much as at the last time when it was surveyed.
It is not uncommon to find within the Sufi tradition phrases like "We are a people of metaphors, not of literalism," and "Metaphors for us are what literalism is for others." For this reason Al-Ghazali (c. 1056-1111 AD) said that no one has attempted to explain the essence of what
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