Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I Discover God
Food and sleep are the two most basic requirements of every human being. At nightfall, a person feels tired and goes to sleep. At certain times during the day, he feels hungry and has something to eat. These are experiences common to every individual, irrespective of his or her position in life. But everyone has also experienced, at times of shock and distress, a curtailment of these normal bodily functions. Night comes, but one cannot sleep. Mealtimes come and go without one feeling any urge to have something to eat.
Modern research has shown that all this has to do with the mind. On the outside, man’s body is made up of various different systems. Yet all of these have one thing in common: they all operate under the command of the mind. Whether it is eating or sleeping, or any other activity, a person performs these actions when the mind tells him to. When the mind is disturbed, it ceases to issue its normal commands to the rest of the body, with the result that the body ceases to function normally. This is something that happens on a small scale, within the tiny confines of the human frame, but is a sign of events that take place on a far grander scale. The way the mind functions in the body helps us to see how God Himself functions in the universe.
The relationship between the mind and the body is the very same as the relationship between God and the universe at large. On the outside, the universe appears complete in itself, an intricate structure of causes and effects. But all this is controlled by the Supreme Mind that is God. Nothing happens in the world without God giving the command. The alternation of night and day, the growing of crops in the earth, the falling of rain from the sky, the vital interplay of the forces of life and death–all these events occur at the instigation of the Universal Mind. In the words of the Quran, He says to a thing: “Be: and it is.” (2: 117) Until He has given the word, nothing can come to pass.
That is how things have been created in this world. Here, events in the physical world are symbolic; they show us the nature of metaphysical realities. So it is with the relationship between the mind and the body; it shows us the nature of the relationship between God and the universe. If a person really wants to become acquainted with God, he need look no further than his own self. But all the signs in the world will fail to show him the way if he does not possess the will to learn.