Interpretation of Fortress 102 (An Increase in Worldly Rivalry)
I seek refuge in God from the cursed Satan
In the Name of God, the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful
1. ((The increase in worldly rivalry distracts you.))
2. ((Until you visit your graves))
3. ((No, indeed! You shall come to know (in death),))
4. ((Then no, indeed! You shall come to know (on Doomsday).))
5. ((No, indeed! If you only attain knowledge of certainty,))
6. ((You shall surely see Hell-fire,))
7. ((Then you shall most surely see it with the eye of certainty;))
8. ((Then, on that day, you shall most surely be asked about the pleasures.))
§§§§§
‘Al-Asr’ Fortress has revealed the great importance and value of a person’s life. Following this, ‘At-Takathur’ Fortress warns humanity against wasting their lifetimes pursuing the vanities of the world, and informs us that we will face great accountability.
Therefore, God says:
1. ((The increase in worldly rivalry distracts you,))
That is, your attention has been taken up with getting more money and more children, and you have been distracted by position and authority and the material enjoyments of life, which have diverted you from enjoying the valuable treasure: attaining knowledge of God.
In fact, this life – including the riches and children which it contains – and all the prestige and power that people seek are nothing more than false amusements and transient shelter.
The most important thing and the main purpose behind this life is to lead us to know our Provider and attain a link with Him. If we achieve this, we will really become human, and will win happiness and enjoyment in this life and in the life to come.
The Holy Speech denotes: ((Oh My obedient followers (Ibad), seek Me and you shall find Me. If you find Me, you find everything, and if you miss Me, you miss everything and to you, I am the most beloved of all things)) [3].
However, people have lost this precious treasure and preferred passing enjoyment, false fun and low value to real eternal happiness, and do not feel the loss that is befalling them and coming over them. They remain like this and are immersed in sleep and lack of attention, right until the moment of their death when they will awake. The Prophetic saying is: ((People are sleeping; when they die, they will wake up))
Therefore, the Almighty says:
2. ((Until you visit your graves,))
Each person will see the results of their deeds and their amusement and their great loss when death comes and reality appears.
God has expressed death by saying: ((Until you visit your graves,)) so as to tell humanity that the period spent in the tomb, from the moment of death to the Day of Resurrection, is but a temporary visit, no matter how long it may last. There will be a return to everlasting life after death, where the distress of disbelievers will last for a time without end, while the bliss of the charitable will last forever.
That is what the statement ((Until you visit your graves)) suggests to us.
In this statement, there is a deep lesson that puts an end to our lowly desires.
The Almighty wanted to draw our attention to the knowledge which we will attain at the moment of death, in order to deter us from continuing in our distraction and straying from the right path. He says:
3. ((No, indeed! You shall come to know (in death),))
((No)) is a word which indicates deterrence and inhibition. It deters the addressee from keeping on in their error and inhibits them from persisting in their shunning of God.
((You shall come to know)): that is, at the moment of death, you shall see your error and the loss you have incurred for yourselves by clinging to this life and through your negligence of knowing God.
You shall know that the life in which you now live is not the truly pleasant life, and everything that you do in order to enjoy it will not secure true happiness for you.
You shall see the loss that you incur for yourselves because of your neglect in seeking knowledge of your Provider, for this kind of knowledge is something that can uplift the spirit and render it humane. This will then allow it to lead a happy life.
4. ((Then no, indeed! You shall come to know (on Doomsday).))
The Almighty has uttered the word ((no)) again to indicate further deterrence and inhibition and the word ((then)) comes followed by the words ((you shall come to know)). This is to reveal that another kind of knowledge will come, to follow the first kind of knowledge that is shown at death. This second type of knowledge will be revealed on the Day of Resurrection when Al’lah is calling for just judgment and the emergence from graves.
At that time, those who have neglected to enter into the Presence of the Great God will realize their loss. They will witness that they have brought nothing but great regret upon themselves through all they have attained from this life, and from all of their rivalry with one another in search of greater and greater worldly pleasure.
The Almighty wanted to explain the course that should be followed as well as deterring and inhibiting us from following the incorrect course, and so He informs humanity of the way to avoid such straying from the right path, and demonstrates how we can be led to correct and true guidance.
5. ((No, indeed! If you only attain knowledge of certainty,))
((Certainty)) is the state of being sure of something, and this leads to it settling inside the spirit.
The word ((knowledge)) means the knowledge which is attained through viewing and witnessing.
This viewing is of two kinds:
1. Viewing through which the spirit sees the appearance of things.
2. Viewing through which the spirit witnesses the facts and the realities of things: that is, the good and evil that they contain.
Viewing the appearances of things is accomplished by means of the physical eye, as the spirit sees the image reflected on the cornea. However, the knowledge that comes from this viewing is not the knowledge of certainty.
The viewing of facts is accomplished when the spirit is able – by itself – to perceive the goodness or evil contained in things, whether this perception is based on hearing or vision. This kind of viewing is called the knowledge of certainty.
However, how can the spirit perceive what evil or goodness is in things?!
I say that this discernment is not accomplished unless the spirit draws near to its Provider, and this nearness is not achieved except through communication with God. During this communication, the spirit gives full attention in order to enter into the Presence of its Provider.
This attention and entry allow it to become illuminated by God’s Light, which in turn shows it the realities that are hidden behind external appearances.
Thus, the main basis of this kind of viewing is communication with God, through which a person acquires the knowledge of certainty and avoids all kinds of evil. God says: ((...Communication with God restrains outrageous and unacceptable behavior. Surely remembering Al’lah is greater...)) [4 ]
However, how does spirit focus all of its attention during communication with God? What are the conditions which enable the spirit to draw near to its Provider?
I say that there are two essential conditions:
First: strict adherence to the Orders of God. Without this, communication will not occur, because if the sinful spirit stands to perform communication, it will be ashamed before its Provider, thereby preventing it from approaching Him, the Almighty.
Second: the spirit should be directed towards Al-Ka’aba, that pure House which Satan can never enter because of God’s continuous Manifestation and His Light upon it. This is why, if it stands to perform communication with God in that Sacred House, the spirit will be free from whispers and ready for its entry into God’s Presence.
On the other hand, when the spirit – which is a brand of light – stands at that blessed spot, its full light will gather there without scattering in all directions.
It is like a candle enclosed within a small dark room. In this case, its light will enlighten its surroundings. However, if the same candle was to be kindled in a broad expanse of desert, its light would be useless.
If this spirit – protected from evil whispers and with its full light gathered in Al-Ka’aba – approaches its Provider at this time, its light can illuminate a part of its Provider’s Attributes for it, so that it is able to witness an aspect of the endless Godly Perfection.
Through such witnessing, it will glorify its Creator and will love Him. It will find that its praise and tribute to its Provider during its communication, and the extolment and glorification which it recites with its tongue while reading the Qur’anic Verse s become obvious realities, because it can feel them and taste them by itself.
Through this feeling and tasting, many impressions of the Godly Perfection which it witnesses will be imprinted on its surface, so that when it recites its Provider’s Orders, it will view the goodness they contain, and when it recites the things He has forbidden, it will see the evil that results from them.
The knowledge which the spirit attains in such a case is the knowledge of the realities of things – that is, the evil or goodness which they contain – and that is the real knowledge which the Almighty named the knowledge of certainty.
We now want to give an example to distinguish between the knowledge that depends on appearances, and that which depends on realities. We say:
When a fish sees the piece of meat which the fisherman throws to it, it does not see the fishhook hidden inside it with its physical eye. Had it had an inner vision and a penetrating and keen light, it would be able to see the hook that is folded inside the meat, and this fish would witness the death that is hidden within the bait. Thus it would loathe the piece of meat and would have no appetite.
To give another example: if a dog had this keen vision, it would be able to see the poison that is sometimes put out for it, hidden inside a piece of meat. This dog would know the pain it would suffer from if it ate this poisoned meat, as well as its own certain demise.
Similarly, if humanity was to attain the capacity for full perception – that is, if their spirits were to become illuminated by God’s Light – they would then see the realities of things, and the lowly, worldly desires would no longer tempt them.
They would see the damage contained in these low desires, and would become aware of the fire folded beneath them which would flare up inside the spirit of everyone who engages in them.
The Almighty God has called this fire ((Hell.)) God says:
6. ((You shall surely see Hell-fire.))
That is, if you draw near to God and become illuminated by His Light, so that you attain the knowledge of certainty, you will see the Hell-fire that is hidden behind our worldly desires.
Next, the Almighty has revealed that each of us will undoubtedly witness the reality of this life with the eye of our heart. After death, we will all see the evil that is hidden within our worldly desires, just as those who attain the knowledge of certainty have witnessed this during their lives. God says:
7. ((Then you shall most surely see it with the eye of certainty;))
That is, you shall see the reality of our worldly desires and the evil they contain with the certainty of sight – that is, with the eye of the spirit rather than the eye of the head, using your insight rather than your eyesight.
You shall see the realities that apparent before you, and shall witness the truth of your deeds.
8. ((Then, on that day, you shall most surely be asked about the pleasures.))
The joy and the forbidden delights which are enjoyed in this life by those who are far from God will turn to remorse within them. These pleasures will entail great accountability followed by moans and sighs. Many a momentary pleasure is followed by timeless pain.
Those who render good actions are doing so to their own interest, and those who do evil are doing evil to themselves.
Thus, the main basis for acquiring the knowledge of certainty is performing communication with God, during which the spirit witnesses reality. The spirit can then see evil and the harm that results from disobedience, as well as the advantages that result from obedience.
God says: ((And whoever strives hard, strives for the good of his own spirit only. Surely Allah is Self-Sufficient, and absolutely independent of all the worlds.)) [5]