Dr Muhammad Maroof Shah

Is there an atheist in the sense that he denies not a particular model of the divine but the Sacred as such? No. No sane and intelligent man has ever been one.  An atheist denies God as the Ground of Being or Power to be, as Creativity and as Beauty. Let us try to understand one of the aspects of the Sacred as Beauty that no atheist can afford to deny.  There are degrees of tawhid and the atheist may well be in a lower rung but a degree he does possess. This is what easily follows from comprehending the traditional metaphysical doctrine of God as Reality. Ibn Arabi argued for it. Let us explore less abstruse ways of appreciating impossibility of being an atheist in the sense of denial of Sacred embodied in the Mystery, Wonder and Beauty and especially focus on the last mentioned.       Mircea Eliade, one of the most distinguished scholars of religion, has explained how man is a worshipping animal or Homo sapiens is Homo religiosus: …“sacred” is an element ...

“Man can live without science, he can live without bread, but without beauty, he could no longer live because there would no longer be anything to do to the world. The whole secret is here, the whole of history is here.” (Dostoevsky)  Laotze’s and Kant’s respective remarks about beauty as “the usefulness of the useless,” and “purposiveness without purpose” are recalled in Martha Nasubaum’s choice of the title of her work “ Nor for Profit: Why Democracy Needs Humanities .”       Given the modern penchant for utility and commodification that reserves only a small corner for arts in museums and seeks profit by organising art exhibitions, and impoverished modern souls not ready to live and die for beauty, the twentieth century has been the ugliest as Ananda Coomaraswamy noted. Our standard references to immortal works of art and architecture usually go to ancient or medieval times against traditional cultures that glorified God by cultivating beauty within and witho...

The Problem in Understanding Islam minus its great legacy of arts in the Curriculum of Universities and Seminaries. Almost everything that has to do with celebration of beauty and regard for many art forms is suspect today in the name of Islam. Aesthetic dimension of life/Islam has not been given due consideration by Madrassahs, Universities or other educational institutions and it is no wonder that our lives, our surroundings, our cities and other living spaces are largely bereft of beauty. Few know that cultivating beauty in every act is the fulfillment of Islam.       The Islamicate world has been a cultured world  with much emphasis on beauty, on poetry, on arts, on higher intellectual pursuits and so many applied/traditional sciences. Any  talk about study of Islam or revival of Islam bypasses  more than three fourth of Islamic legacy. It is law and some dose of theology and passing, often dismissive references to philosophy and esoteri...

Finding Beauty is finding the Meaning of Life. What is the meaning of a game, say cricket? What else if not the play itself? When one plays well, one doesn’t worry about the point of it. What is the meaning of love? For lovers this question can’t be entertained. Love itself is the meaning, sufficient unto itself. Those who have given their hearts to beauty and the game of love have nothing more to ask for. contemplating or wondering about “Ye parī-chehra log kaise haiñ/Ghamza o ishva o adā kyā hai” their heart itch or the pain of existence has been cured or transformed into something that is like the pain of love, beautiful.        Life is the meaning of Life. When life is truly – soulfully, aesthetically, intensely, ecstatically – lived, we don’t debate the meaning of life. Life pinches sometimes and we begin to worry about its meaning. But if we are truly creative, truly worshipful, truly open to love, we are celebrating or participating in the higher ...

The quest for wisdom never ends; every experience, every great artist/philosopher has something to teach us. Teach us to care and not to care/ Teach us to sit still.  (Eliot) The purpose of life is to seek happiness, declare Chinese and many other sages from the world, including those from the Muslim world. And fortunately, all of us can find happiness: “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.” And it depends upon our choice: “No man is happy who does not think himself so.” Tolstoy reported that he found the happiest people among Russian peasants. To master the art and science of happiness one needs to understand a few points noted especially by Stoic philosophers. And one can finish reading the masterpieces of Stoic philosophy – The Art of Living by Epictetus and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius in a day or two. And reflecting on gems there is enough insurance for life against all that may make us unhappy. Let us measure ...

To seek or not to Seek Pir Do we need to seek a Master? Shah Waliullah, one of the greatest Sufis of the subcontinent, in his last testament, surprisingly and shockingly, advised against seeking Shaykhs and advised to read Awariful Maarif  by Suharwardi as that is a safer guide. He grants the possibility that one may get to meet some Shaykh and says that we shouldn’t worry as God arranges for it. Anyway it is working an implication of the logic of grace. Grace comes – “The Spirit bloweth where it listeh.”   We can’t invite grace by our effort; Grace finds us and drops us in the lap of God. Even against our will which would otherwise resist baptism by fire – the gift of suffering. Who doesn’t suffer in some way? And that could well be, unknown to us, gift from the Master. The best wazeefa could well be the “curse” – “Khoda tchinney doad” (May God send you some problem, some pain, some calamity).  How thankful we should be to those who send us such curses. Perhaps ...

Today we discuss how taking art seriously means we are taking life seriously. How do we lesser mortals who are no saints find God in a world where traditional Gurus or Sufi Shaykhs are either hard to come across or there is an instinctive distrust in them? How do those who have fought hard to get back their lost religious faith keep living? How do we, regardless of our religious or philosophical positions, find some convergent point to launch our  boat in turbulent waters? God in his infinite graciousness has made ample arrangements of our return to our homeland, Heaven or Himself. One powerful and universally accessible mechanism is art. Today we discuss how taking art seriously means we are taking life seriously and this helps us in reaching our ultimate destination in the embrace of God.        Art is a form of faith that is available to even a secular man and it is through art that religious impulse survives in the deserts of modernity. Artists...

Science will die when it fails to wonder. Socrates was declared the wisest Greek because he knew it is all Mystery and he knows nothing. Islam declared regarding the First Principle or Godhead – the Essence, the Truth or Zaat - that none knows it and we better acknowledge our bewilderment. Sufi’s journey ends in bewilderment – and therefore it never ends because one can’t cease experiencing revelations of Being, of which Heidegger, echoing mystics, talks. Love never ceases to entice, to devastate egos, to lead to greater and higher joys. Science will die when it fails to wonder or concludes it knows anything in all its depths and nuances. An artist keeps seeking more and more perfect embodiment of Infinite Beauty he elusively perceives or worships. Who can claim he knows infinite subtlety of dance of subatomic particles culminating in you and me who ask questions, zillions of possible neural connections, beauty and softness of moss on hard, dark rocks, healing power and otherwor...

Wisdom of Prophet Muhammad, Peace be Upon Him, according to Ibn Arabi Is it possible to discover a point of view that comprehends the truth in all points of view? Is it possible to state one’s “worldview” or vision that could resist any conceivable criticism or deconstruction? To these questions there is a positive answer. And that is a vision that unconditionally submits to Truth or totality of all truths, a vision of radical innocence that is open to all experience, a humility to qualify all one’s assertions or claims of access regarding anything including such ideals as Beauty, Truth, Justice and Goodness or revelations of Being or pursuit of Perfection and thus not claim absoluteness for any immanent thing or idea. And one who embodies the great Station that is not a particular station or ideological viewpoint and thus embraces the reality or truth of all stations,  is Muhammad (SAW). This is how “the Greatest Master” – as he is called by a vast majority of Ulama and Sai...