FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY
75
similitude between you and that pen". "Then it seems you have forgotten the tradition: Verily God created Adam in his own image". "No, Sir", interrupted the devotee, "I know it by heart", "And you have forgotten also that passage in the Quran: "And the heavens rolled up in his right hand."[1] "Certainly not", exclaimed the devotee, "I can repeat the whole of the Quran by rote". "Yes, I know, and as you are now treading the sacred precincts of the celestial world I think I can now safely tell you that you have simply learnt the meaning of these passages from a negative point of view. But they have a positive value, and should be utilised as constructive at this stage.[2]
- ↑ Quran XXXIX 97. The full text runs: And they have not honoured Allah with the honour due to him: and the whole earth shall be in his grip on the day of resurrection and the heavens rolled up in his right hand; glory be to him and may he be exalted above what they associate with him.
- ↑ Ghazzali has dealt with the question fully in his work entitled 'Iljamal awam'. He says that every object has four stages of existence. To use a figure; "Fire" is (1) written
