Returning Home [89:27-30]

We began this series thirty days ago exploring the question of the human nafs and its journey towards the Divine.  

We looked at the full spectrum of who we are, a noble creature that the angels bowed before (38:72), and the creature of weakness who forgets (4:28). We discussed the fitrah which is hardwired to align towards goodness, the inner compass of conscience that Allah gifted to us. We explored the Nafs al-ammarah that commands toward desire and tempts us to submit to our desires and the Nafs al-lawwamah that makes us uncomfortable when we give in to these temptations. We discussed the journey of returning to Allah [swt] through the practice of tawbah and then we discovered how to make things right with our horizontal relationships by both seeking and offering forgiveness. Along the way we asked some hard questions about what it means to correct each other, to receive correction, and to stay in community rather than retreating into isolation.

Now, in the final hours of the month of Ramadan, we need to look at our aspiration after all this inner work. 

In the final verses of Sura Fajr, Allah [swt] addresses the soul directly: 

يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ 

[89:27] O soul that art at rest!

ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً  

[89:28] Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with him), well-pleasing (Him),

فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي 

[89:29] So enter among My servants,

وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي 

[89:30] And enter into My garden.

This is the only place in the entire Quran where Allah addresses the soul directly. Not humanity at large or the believers as a community. The soul, singular, in the second person: you. It is intimate beyond anything else we have encountered. Allah is calling by name, the soul that has achieved the final felicity. 

What are the qualities of this soul?

Allama Tabataba'i, in Tafsir al-Mizan, draws out five qualities of the nafs al-mutmainnah by reading the verse against its own contrast. The verses before describe those attached to this world who were, transgressing, corrupting, ungrateful. The soul at peace [in Arabic the nafs is feminine and therefore I have used “her” in this reflection], by contrast, is one who:

1. Finds peace with her Lord.
2. Is satisfied with what Allah is satisfied with.
3. Sees herself as a servant who is not the source of her own good, evil, benefit or loss as it all belongs to Him.
4. Views this world as a temporary passage, not a permanent home.
5. Understands that everything in this life including wealth, poverty, gain and loss is Divine test.

Such a soul, says Allama Tabatabai, is not led into arrogance at times of abundance, nor into ungratefulness at times of hardship. She is firmly established in servitude and does not veer to either extreme regardless of circumstances. 

Pleased and Pleasing

This soul is described by two qualities that belong together: rāḍiya and marḍiyya, pleased, and pleasing. Rāḍiya: she is pleased. The Arabic root “riḍa” carries the sense of contentment with what has been decreed, the releasing of the need for things to have gone differently. In other words, accepting our reality as it, with no wish for it to be different. 

Al-Mizan distinguishes two dimensions of this pleasure: being pleased with Allah's existential decrees meaning being okay with whatever occurs in our life, and being pleased with His legislative decrees, so that we are not unsettled by the temptation to sin. Meaning we understand the guardrails in our lives and have no desire to go beyond them. Both forms of peace are present in this nafs.

And then: marḍiyya. She is pleasing to Allah. Al-Mizan notes that once the servant is pleased with her Lord, her Lord will be pleased with her in return, because what dissatisfies Allah is transgressing the limits of servitude. When a servant stays on that path, His pleasure follows. That is why the two words appear in this sequence. Let us remind ourselves to continuously set and refine our intentions to act for His pleasure and to pray that our efforts are accepted so that we can be pleasing to Him. 

And then: "Enter among My servants. Enter My Garden." Al-Mizan notes that this is the only verse in the Quran where Allah calls it My Garden “jannatī” a uniquely personal honour and moment of closeness to the Divine.

The journey to itminan:

Scholars describe the Divine address of this verse as being delivered throughout the entire return home to Him, from the moment of death until the soul enters paradise. 

But they also note that the meaning of the verse is broad. Meaning that this invitation is not only for the moment we leave the world. It is for right now. Every salah is a rehearsal. Every act of istighfar is a step forward. Every pure intention we set can be a step in the direction towards our aspiration. Every night of Ramadan we have spent in dhikr, in reflection, in asking, all of it has been, in some small way, practicing this arrival.

A hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (as), talks about the moment when the angel of death approaches the believer and the believer shows restlessness. The angel says: "O Lover of Allah, be not upset I am more sympathetic to you than a kind father. Look carefully." He looks and sees the Prophet [saw] and the holy AhlulBayt. "These are your companions." And then a caller from Allah beckons: "O tranquil soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing. Enter among My servants. Enter My Garden." At that moment, says the Imam [as], there is nothing more beloved than that the soul moves toward its Lord.

How beautiful is this return and how it makes all the effort necessary so worth it! 

Alhamdullilah and we are at the end of this blessed month and let us pray that our efforts are accepted by Him and useful to His creation. Let us pray that our sins are forgiven, the barriers to Divinity removed and that we all hear the call of this verse when we are returning Home inshallah. 

Our reflection for today is to take a moment to review the journey we have been on this month. What has stood out for you? What has stayed? What are you committing to practicing going forward beyond the blessed month of Ramadan? 

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