Doctrine — Miracle — Simple Elements — Compound Things

مذہب — معجزہ — بسائط — مرکبات

Doctrine (Madhhab / Mazhab): The purpose of religion is to understand the secrets of the Divine Power — and to achieve the perfection of the human being without formal instruction. Allah Most High gave the intellect to understand material and sensory things; for understanding what is beyond the material and sensory, He sends a teacher — the Prophet or Messenger — whose natural constitution is of an extraordinary kind, connected to both the sensory and the suprasensory. The Prophet receives the suprasensory and delivers it to the sensory; the intellect, by itself, reaches the limits of the sensory — but Wahi (Revelation) and Ilhām (inspiration) guide it beyond.

Religion and the intellect are not in conflict — they are at different levels. A small aircraft cannot carry a large load; we need a level surface to collide and prevent disaster. Some religious people say they are fighting or wrestling with science — this is our folly. God is our means of salvation through the Prophet; if we turn toward the world, thousands of arguments await — but how can any of them explain to our conscience what we truly feel? We are feeling.

Miracle (Mu'jiza): A miracle is an event that goes beyond the laws of nature — the laws that Allah established in creation. A miracle is not merely going beyond material causes; it may also go beyond spiritual causes (arwāh) or the influences of plants or celestial bodies. Think carefully — our scientists know more than 92 elements or so, or more. Their effort in analyzing these is of the utmost — but the people of gnosis have at their fingertips all the names and attributes of the Divine, on which everything depends.

Simple Elements (Basā'it): The ancient philosophers had four elements — water, fire, air, and earth. Modern science has identified more than 92 (or 118) — oxygen, carbon, sodium, potassium, silver, gold, cobalt, and so on. The effort of analysis in this regard is of the utmost, but the people of gnosis have at their fingertips all the Divine Names and Attributes on which these elements depend for their existence and properties.

Compound Things (Murakkabāt): The Divine Essence and pure attributes are never manifested as compound things — because a compound thing is a notionally composite created being and is subject to multiple attributes, including contingent accidents. The pure attributes cannot be composite because the composite thing manifests as created and is contingent, and it cannot be simple — further detail on the manifestation of attributes will follow.