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Names
Let us not turn ourselves away from the names with which God has named us for the names that some people have invented, that they have given, they and their fathers, and for which God never sent down any enabling authority.6
The act of naming has a force all of its own. While it has the power to elevate, it also has the power to debase. Names convey symbolic ideas beyond their meaning. They have the power to set a person upon a path destined for greatness, yet they also have the power to ruin a person, rendering life a misery. As one writer has put it, the power of names is âlike an invisible pressure which intercepts our thoughts and actions, distorts beyond recognition the mirror and makes us vulnerable to the pain of the past and the fear of the future.â7 Such power is usually associated with God alone, and so the intrinsic power of the act of naming is in some way an affront to God, inasmuch as it is a source of power besides Godâit is in some sense a pathway to associationism, shirk, from this particular angle. Naming also draws lines, divides, dichotomises, bifurcates, establishes an âusâ and a âthemâ, and can lead therefore to any number of problematic outcomes. Naming when used for the purposes of categorisation can lead to a better understanding of the worldâto knowledgeâbut it can also bring about ignorance in all of its formsâintolerance, bigotry, prejudice, chauvinism, even despotism. Herein lies the root of the issue highlighted by Shaykh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah. Whereas names invented by man have both the potential for goodness and evil, names that God has chosen for us are purely good. They are a cause for unity rather than division; they are a representation of the reality of things rather than their accidental qualities. Shaykh al-IslÄm warns against the great harm that the act of naming can do to a community, especially in terms of creating division. Baseless names for which God has never sent any enabling authorityânames which are not to be found in Godâs revelation or in the teachings of His final Messenger. When a Muslim is asked who he is, he should not say that he is this or that; he should say that he is a Muslim; this is in adherence to Godâs Book and the Sunnah of His Messenger. Yet at the same time, no one has the right to put to trial those who have chosen for themselves names that are permitted to them, such as may be associated with an imam, or a shaykh or a school of thought. Whether then someone chooses the self-appellation កanafÄ«, ShÄfiÊżÄ«, MÄlikÄ«, JaÊżfarÄ« or កanbalÄ«; or indeed Sunni, ShiÊżi, SĆ«fi or Salafi; or even Traditionalist, Modernist, Feminist or Agnosticâwhatever the name, âthere shall be no friendship on account of these names, nor hostility on the basis thereof. On the contrary, the most noble of creatures in the sight of God is the one among them, of any group whatever, who most fears Him.â8 And God knows best!
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6. Ibn Taymiyya: Against Extremisms, pp. 20-21.
7. M. Beron, The Power of Labels (Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2013), p. ix.
8. Ibn Taymiyya: Against Extremisms, p. 22.
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Paradise
In this world there is a paradise. Whoever does not experience it, will not experience the Paradise of the Hereafter.9
In Paradise there is only peace, prosperity and happiness. For some, the very thought of this will contrast starkly with their experience of this world. Experience of the harsh reality of the world may even make any attempt to conceive such a state very difficult. And while the fundamental nature of the world we inhabit has changed little through timeâinasmuch as good and evil continue to be omnipresentâour engagement with and perception of the world, and our perception of our own place within it, has surely evolved with the onset of modernity. Many of us, despite possessing the means to sustain a largely comfortable existence, compare ourselves to others which can leave us feeling that we are not good enough, do not have enough, are not doing enough, and so on. Anxiety, panic and depression are too often the resultant conditions, and they are on the rise. It is now a fact that one in three of us will at some point in life suffer from one or another mental health issue. In light of this, the words of Shaykh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah take on a new hue of meaning; they are a reminder and encouragement to those of us experiencing a sense of dislocation in the worldâand perhaps seeking an unhealthy sense of longing for another lifeâthat paradise has a place in this world. Ibn Taymiyyah goes further than this, of course, and says that it is only those of us who experience the paradise of this world who can experience the Paradise of the Hereafter. But do not be fooled into thinking that such a state is obtained simply by bowing and prostrating on a prayer mat; or indeed that those experiencing one form or another of melancholy are in a low state of imÄn. Human states, whether spiritual, psychological or emotional are too complex to be facetiously and superficially categorised in this way; there are no simple formulas for bringing about different states of mind and being. However, there is a point to take from the comparison of the Paradise of the Hereafter and the paradisical state which Ibn Taymiyyah believes can be achieved in the life of this world. The Paradise of the Hereafter is a timeless place, in which there is no past and no futureâtherein only the present exists. It is quite possible, therefore, that the experience of peace, prosperity and happiness in the Paradise of the Hereafter is a consequence of living in and embracing the moment. In Paradise, there will be no place for anxiety over what has passed or anxiety of what is yet to pass. And for this very reason, there will be no disruption to the experience of peace, prosperity and happiness. Now, although living in the presentâin the here-and-nowâis no doubt something that requires a certain degree of conscious effort, and probably impossible to sustain for long, it is surely a desideratum to be sought, however and whenever possible, if even to momentarily enjoy ...
