Selamat Hari Raya

By Dr Amir Farid Isahak, "Healing the world" - The Malaysian Star - Malaysia
Sunday, October 5, 2008

In such testing times, we need to let our inner light shine through and offer hope to all

Muslims have just completed one month of fasting in Ramadhan, and are now celebrating the Eid al-Fitrah (Hari Raya Idil Fitri in Malay), marking their success in undergoing the tests of Ramadhan. Malaysians of all religions are enjoying the delicacies offered at Buka Puasa feasts and bazaars, and now at the numerous open house feasts during this month-long Raya celebration.

Fasting involves restraining the body (from food, drinks and sensual pleasures); disciplining the mind (from bad thoughts that may lead to unkind words and deeds); cleansing the soul (through the above practices, plus performing obligatory and optional religious duties, including prayers, remembrance of god, charity and helping others) and thus empowering the spirit to manifest its godly nature.

The soul and the spirit
I have explained about the soul before (see/www.superqigong.com/articles.asp?year=2007). Today I will elaborate further. There are of course differences in the understanding of the soul (self/psyche/ego) and the spirit in the teachings of the different religions; and we also differ in what happens at death, and thereafter.

Even among Muslims there are differences in the understanding. The Sufi understanding is that while the soul is the created entity that makes us who we are, our spirit is in fact a drop of god’s infinite spirit or essence. This is similar to the teachings of many other spiritual paths.

While the soul sees itself as a separate person, the spirit knows it is one with the others, and one with god. It is of divine essence and therefore has divine attributes. The spirit that is in each and every one of us is the same. We are one. We are all creations of god by virtue of our physical body, mind and soul. But we are part of him by virtue of our spirit. This differentiates us from all the other creations.

Our divine nature
Just as a drop taken out of the ocean has all the physical and chemical properties of its vast source, so does our spirit have all the attributes of its magnificient source. However, the drop is not the ocean anymore, nor does it have its immense power. But it is of the same composition, and once returned to the ocean, it merges and become indistinguishable from the rest of the ocean.

Likewise, we are not god, but we all have some godly attributes in us, only to a much lesser extent. For example, while god is most loving to all, the best among us are very loving to all, not just to our immediate family.

The drop of divine spirit in us is clothed by our soul and our mind, and both are encased by our physical body. That divine spirit is reflected in our character by some of the divine attributes we eschew and practise. God is most gracious, merciful, compassionate, just, forgiving, peaceful, loving and so on. So how much you live by these attributes will tell how much you have allowed your spirit to shine through that is, by how loving, compassionate, forgiving, helpful, generous, selfless and peace-loving you are, and how much you value truth, justice and peace.

If your self/psyche is dominant, it will mask the presence of the divine spirit in you, and you will show a minimum of these traits. God is in all of us. Only our selfish desires, ego and disobedience make that fact hazy.

Saints and miracles
Many Sufi saints have been persecuted, crucified or beheaded because they declared that their souls have completely surrendered to the Almighty, and what manifested through them was the divine spirit. They were often accused of blasphemy. Most famous among them was Mansur al-Hallaj. He uttered “I am the Truth”, implying that the divine spirit in him was totally in command of his self/soul. He was promptly charged with blasphemy, jailed and crucified.

While in jail, he would “disappear” at every prayer time to pray at home, because the jailers did not provide him with a proper place to do so. He also released all the fellow prisoners who were wrongly incarcerated, but did not release those who were guilty.
When he was crucified, he was further tortured and his skin was peeled away part by part because he refused to retract his proclamation.

He bled until he became so pale, but retained full consciousness and faith in god’s severe test on his belief and understanding. Never did he regret his actions nor complain, but remained steadfast in his love and faith in god, and was continually praising god. He forgave his executioners.

Finally he beseeched god to take his life away, not because he couldn’t withstand the suffering, but because he didn’t want the weaker ones among his disciples to think that he was indeed being punished by god for blasphemy. The wiser ones knew that their Master was only being tested on his faith about the Truth, and how far he was willing to defend it. He was executed in 922 CE.

In a Hadith Qudsi, the Prophet related that god had said to him: “When my servants do the obligatory duties and much of the optional ones, and I am pleased with him, then my eyes become his eyes, and my ears become his ears”. Thus those who are close to god by virtue of their faith, understanding and practice will be given wisdom to see the Truth in things; knowledge of the unseen and unheard; and powers to perform miracles. But they can utilise these only to further god’s plan, as they have truly become honourable vicegerents of this universe, under the command of the lord of the universe.

They cannot utilise these for personal gains, not even to alleviate the pain and suffering they themselves have to endure when tested by the lord himself.

Saving the world
The world is now facing many crises. We are fighting among ourselves, as we have been since time immemorial, but now we have weapons of mass destruction that can wipe out all the inhabitants (humans, animals, plants) of this planet. We fight for political power, for land and resources, for our misguided religious beliefs, and often for reasons nobody can understand.

Our rape and destruction of the rivers, oceans and environment have caused a looming pollution and global warming disaster. Our callous attitude has made our foodstuff poisonous. Our lazy lifestyle has resulted in many of us being slowly crippled by chronic lifestyle diseases.
Our economic system, largely based on greed, and political system based on survival of the strongest, will see once powerful and rich countries and empires crumble because systems that do not take good care of the people and the planet will fail. Any system not based on justice and compassion will also fail.

At home in Malaysia, we are also undergoing a difficult period. Politically the situation is tumultuous. Economically, the collapsing US economy will snowball to small countries like ours.
Socially, we have unprecedented levels of crime and immorality. There is also tension between the races and religions. Religiously, although the mosques, temples and churches may be full during the prescribed times of formal worship, are all the worshippers living godly lives worthy of the teachings of their great religions?

As the wise saying goes, we cannot change the world; we can only change ourselves and slowly but surely the world around us will change. Mahatma Ghandi said that we must be the change we want to see happen.

I believe that the solution lies in each and every one of us truly living by the teachings and guidelines of our own religions and traditions, which all teach us to understand, respect, befriend and love one another regardless of colour, race or religion. We have to implement this in our own families, and since families are the units that make the community, then our communities will change.

Next week I will be following Most Venerable Master Chin Kung and the Amitabha Buddhist Society to Lujiang, China, to see how they have successfully changed the entire community there by teaching good values derived from the teachings of Confucius. They are so successful that the UN has asked them to implement it in other cities too. I hope we can enrich the syllabus by incorporating the good values from the other religious and spiritual traditions, and then implement it here. Our society is in dire need to reverse it’s course that’s leading to self-destruction.

Working for peace
There is no dearth of people and organisations working for peace. In Malaysia alone there are Malaysians for Peace (Aman Malaysia), Global Peace Malaysia, Malaysians for World Peace, Partners for Peace, and many more. There are also global peace organisations active here, like Universal Peace Federation, Universal Peace Sanctuary, and others.

Yet peace seems to elude us, here and elsewhere. Recently, we celebrated the United Nations International Day of Peace (September 21), but the participation by Malaysians was minimal compared to the programmes carried out in other countries.

The different religions also realise the urgency to come together and work for peace in the global arena. In the last three years, I have been participating as one of the Trustees of the Global Council of the United Religions Initiative. After China, I leave for Manila to lead our religious leaders at the Asian Conference of Religions for Peace (which is affiliated to the World Conference of Religions for Peace, now known just as Religions for Peace).

Next year, the Parliament of World Religions, which is the oldest of the global interfaith organisations, will have its conference in Melbourne, Australia. As I have just been asked to take over as the regional representative for the World Council of Muslims in Interfaith Relations, I hope to be there too.

My wish is that more Malaysians join me and other peace-makers in this noble work. Let us together heal and save the world. Selamat Hari Raya to my Muslim readers.

Dr Amir Farid Isahak is a medical specialist who practises holistic, aesthetic and anti-ageing medicine. He is a qigong master and founder of SuperQigong.