Appendix 2: An Introduction to Akhlaq (7)

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III. Self — The Soil of Akhlaq

Growth Factors

The flower of humanity is akhlaq, as was mentioned earlier, and most of what we need for moral growth comes from Heaven. Good character requires Truth (sunlight), Life (water), and GOD’s Personality or Spirit (air).

One more essential element, however, is generally found below, on Earth. The food of almost all plants is found in soil, in the darkness of dirt. This element, to my way of thinking, corresponds to what is dirtiest in us, namely our own selves. Our bodies are made from the dirt of the world, and our souls, likewise, have the base habit of starting off by saying “I”.

The Four Elements

The ancients have long believed the basic constituents of the material universe to be four: fire, water, air, and earth. Good health requires that these four be in balance with one another, and that each of them be supplied in moderation. A deficiency or excess of any can be fatal; lack of warmth is as dangerous as too much water, and poisonous air stifles growth as surely as poor soil conditions.

Sunlight, for example, is analogous to the Light of Truth. If we fail to absorb it or be warmed by it in this world, when it is comfortably distant, we will encounter the Truth up close as a raging, consuming Fire in the Everafter, or at least as a searing, swollen sun on the Day when no shade remains but that of GOD.

Praise be to GOD, then, that He has given us all four necessities — Truth, Life, Spirit, and Material Support –in moderate, manageable quantities. Yet see how good can be converted into evil by excess:

Cultivating Our Souls

Just as dirt is food for plants, so are our selfish traits given to us that they may be worked on, improved, and converted into food. Just as what we eat must be chewed and broken down by enzymes before it can be digested, and just as rocks must be removed or pulverized if land is to be farmed, so must the large, hard aspects of our selves be shattered before productive growth can start. One such before-and-after scenario in the Qur’an (Q2:264-265) relates to charity.

The fruits here, of course, are acts of charity that are rooted in fine character and grow up in search of GOD’s good pleasure. Notice that the garden is described as being on a hill. Much of the mercy the cultivated personality receives from GOD (in the form of rain) flows downhill to others; he is in a position of greater exposure to GOD’s Truth (light) and Spirit (breezes), and is in less danger of being flooded by the self-indulgence typical of valley dwellers. It is the fineness of his soil that allows him to extract maximum benefit from whatever moisture he receives.

This fineness is generally not something handed out for free; it has to be worked for, or ploughed into existence. The purpose of ploughing is to overturn the soil – to abase what was high and raise the low, in a manner similar to the Judgement of AL-LAH on the Final Day. Doing this work on oneself can be a crushing, humiliating, and exhilarating experience; it is at this time that we feel the entry of GOD’s Power into our souls and His having His Way with us. The Queen of Saba’ describes how it feels (similar, perhaps, to a pregnant woman’s ‘morning sickness’) in Q27:34:

After ploughing, the ground is broken into smaller pieces by detailed action. (On modern farms, a multi-pronged cultivator is dragged behind the tractor to loosen the ground by the action of the prongs as they vibrate.) In this way, the soil is levelled, evened out, and aerated. Only then is it ready for planting.

Notice how in this verse you with all your senses and faculties turn up once the work of cultivating is completed with the breath of GOD’s Personality.

Our own work of self-cultivation must proceed according to similar stages. We have first to recognize where in our hearts lie the rocks (for they may be many), lest we permanently identify ourselves with what is hardest in us and thus make no real changes in our lives. There follows the long, hard work of breaking down our resistance to GOD’s Mercy, converting our rocks into soft, fine, fertile soil. Then a “new world order” comes into being, and we receive, with the Spirit of GOD, new ways of looking, listening, and thinking, based in gratitude and growing to Heaven.

The Three Types of Soul

The above three stages in self-cultivation correspond to the traditional three soul-types mentioned in the Qur’an. Some Muslim thinkers have managed to identify other, mostly higher categories besides these three, but for our purposes the simpler classification is sufficient.

AL-LAH gives a particular label to the soul at three places in the Qur’an:

1. The demanding soul                 12:53
2. The censorious soul                  75:2
3. The tranquil soul                      89:27

Let us look at each of these in turn.

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