S I X T H S E C T I O N

Various kinds of virtues are explained in the sixth chapter of the book Akhlaq-i Alai by Ali bin Amrullah, may Allahu ta'ala be pleased with him. We will only communicate justice among them. Justice is divided into three parts:

The first part is to be an obedient believer to Allahu ta'ala. Blessings and favors of Allahu ta'ala are coming to all creatures all the time. The most valuable one among these blessings is His showing to his human creatures how to attain to eternal blessings. While no creature had a right to demand anything, He created all of them in the best fashion and gave them innumerable eternal blessings. Thanking to such a benefactor Creator for all these blessings by worshiping is a sure necessity for all creatures. Doing justice requires one to do what is required of him by his Creator. It is a must and a debt for each creature to worship to the Creator for all the goodness they receive from Him.

Second part of the justice is the observance of the rights of the human beings. Accomplishing this requires obeying the laws of the land and to those who are in charge and paying respect to scholars and observing the rules of trading and keeping the given promises and being a trustworthy person.

Third part of the justice is the observance of the rights of those who lived and passed away and left us wills to carry out or trusts and foundations to take care. This would be accomplished by doing whatever they had willed, and by taking care of those trusts and foundations.

When one receives a favor from another, if one has the material means, one should respond with an equal favor. If one doesn't have the material means then one should thank him by praying (Dua) for him. If one does not respond to a favor while having the means, he will be mistreated by everybody because it is a duty for a human being to respond to a given favor with an equal favor. While this is the case, not responding to the favors of Allahu ta'ala, who has created us out of nonexistence and gave us best of shapes, has given us necessary organs and powers and made them work coherently with each other thereby provided us with health, has given us intelligence and wisdom, and who continually creates our necessities such as mates, children, housing, clothing, nutrition and all sorts of foods, would be a great fault and deficiency. He has infinite powers. He creates all these blessings without expecting anything in return from us because He does not need anything. Therefore, it is a great fault, great injustice and a great stain in our face not to thank Him. Especially, it is a greater injustice and fault not to believe in His existence or not to believe that all these blessings come from Him, or conversely believe that they come from someone else. Let us suppose that a benefactor provides one's necessity by giving him every month some substantial amounts of money. Wouldn't the recipient of this favor tell this to everyone and praise him and thank him? Wouldn't he try to gain his love and try to protect him from all sorts of troubles and even when and if it necessitates, wouldn't he put himself into danger in order to protect his benefactor? Of course he does! But, let's say if he doesn't do any of these. Wouldn't everybody blame him for his inappropriate behavior and even try to punish him because he does not do his human duty to thank to his benefactor? When this is all true for a benefactor person who does some goodness to others, what about the case for Allahu ta'ala? Wouldn't it be necessary to thank Him who sends us all sorts of blessings all the time? Surely it would be most necessary to thank Him by doing the worships and following His commandments. Because comparing others' favors to His favors would be like the comparison of a drop of water to the sea. Furthermore, all the blessings come from others actually comes from Him.

Who can enumerate the blessings of Allahu ta'ala?

Who can thank for even one millionth of His blessings?

Question of how men should respond "thank" to the favors of Allahu ta'ala answered in many ways by different scholars.

According to some, the most important way of thanking Him is to think and contemplate about His existence.

Masnawi:

Thanks be to Allahu ta'ala who has much blessings,

First, He gave me blessing of existence!

One's power wouldn't be enough to count His blessings,

Power and all kind of superiority is appropriate for Him.

According to others, men can thank Him by understanding that blessings come from Him and by acknowledging this fact through his speech.

According to some others, thanking Him could be done by practicing His commandments and avoiding committing the prohibited actions.

According to some, men should first cleanse himself and then approach Allahu ta'ala.

According to others, men should try to give guidance (Irshad) to others who are in need of finding the correct way of living. He should try to help others so that they may become correct (Salih) persons.

According to some others, there could not be any particular way of thanking Him. Everyone can follow different ways of thanking Him.

According to scholars who came much later than the time of our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, men's duty toward Allahu ta'ala can be summarized in three groups: the first one is the worship he performs by using his body, i.e., "Salat" and fasting; the second one is the duty he performs through his spirit, i.e., having correct faith [Having a belief according to the prescription taught by the Ahl as-sunnat scholars]; and the third one is approaching or getting close to Allahu ta'ala by doing justice among human beings. This could be accomplished by being a trustworthy person and by giving advice to others and by teaching Islam to others.

We could summarize the worships into three groups: correct belief, correct word and correct deed. The commandments which are not clearly communicated in the last two categories could be changed according to the times and places. This change can only be accomplished by Allahu ta'ala through His Prophets. Human beings cannot change worships by themselves according to their own understanding. Prophets and Ahl as-sunnat scholars who are the inheritors of the Prophets communicated in detail the kinds of worships and how they would be performed. Everyone should learn these and practice them.

I would summarize all of the above sayings by saying that in a nutshell a Muslim's duty toward Allahu ta'ala is to have the correct belief, to be a trustworthy person and do good deeds (Amal-i saliha).

Islamic scholars and Sufi leaders communicated that the most necessary thing for a human being is his having belief, performing good deeds (Amal) and doing them with sincerity (Ikhlas). Happiness in this world and the next world can only be accomplished by these three pillars. "Amal" means things that can be accomplished through the spiritual heart, tongue, or body. In other words, things that could be accomplished through the tongue by repeating, or things that could be done by utilizing the body. Things accomplished through the spiritual heart are the ethics or morals. Sincerity (Ikhlas) means doing all the good deeds and worships, for the sake of Allahu ta'ala and for the sake of obtaining His love and consent.