DIVINE GENDER

D I V I N E...G E N D E R

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Friday 27th/October/2017

A pronoun is only a function of language. It does not convey or express gender politics. The trouble is, of course, when we choose one pronoun of the English three, some people take it literally. I don't believe God/Allah is female. On the contrary, I think God transcends gender. So the only way to remind myself (and others) of this is to use all of the English pronouns, but especially to use 'She'. We are so comfortable with using 'He' with Allah that we slip into thinking Allah is male, a literal 'He'.

If we take 'He' unquestionably, then we should be able to take 'She' equally unquestionably — but we don't. That's why we need to use 'She' more often. A pronoun is a certain kind of marker in language, not the essence of the divine.

Arabic-speaking people take the gender of "things" literally: they start giving social or anthropological characteristics to inanimate objects. The table is feminine and they start making a social analysis of why it is feminine. Oddly enough, in Arabic, the sun is feminine and the moon is masculine. Think about that for a minute. We tend to think in opposite gender terms about the sun and the moon in English. But it is not literal; it's a metaphor.

It's true the Quran only uses the Arabic masculine (singular) pronoun and not the feminine. But that's not literal either. The Quran uses the first-person singular, 'I' and 'Me' for Allah, and also uses the first-person plural, 'We' and 'Us'. However, no one ever takes that literally, proposing that Allah is more than one! In fact, they make excuses for this occurrence in the sacred text. They give reasons for not taking it literally ("It's the royal we"). However, many people get literal about the pronoun 'He' — they get crazy about it.

The Quran says laysa ka mithlihi shayun: "there is no thing like Him." It also says wa min kulli shayun khalaqnaa zawjayn: "(from) all things We have created (in) pairs." Thus pairedness is a characteristic of that which is created. Here the word shay means "created thing or the thing-ness of creation." But Allah is not created and does not share in this paired reality; either by the dualism of it or even by being one part of a pair, implying the relationship of being in opposition. This is not a characteristic of the Creator. Pretty straightforward if you think about it. But since we as human beings have been affected by patriarchy, then we reflect that onto God/Allah. The divine cannot have gender.

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24th October, 2017

According to the Quran and the prophetic tradition, the default feeling of a believer should not be self-righteousness. This is what the Prophet taught his Companions. Hanzala, one of the Prophet's Companions, had knowledge about the names of the ten hypocrites of Medina who were unknown to the other Companions. Umar b. al-Khattab used to ask Hanzala if his name was among the ten hypocrites! Why did Umar ask Hanzala this question? Clearly, he did this because he did not feel self-righteous at all. In fact, it shows a high level of self-criticism that is rare to find.

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq used to say: "I would not feel safe from God's deep devising even if one of my feet was in Paradise."
 Why did Abu Bakr say this? Because he thought that he does not deserve Paradise as a guaranteed reward from God.
This is Abu Bakr, about whom Umar said: "If the faith of Abu Bakr is put on one side of the scale and the faith of the nation of believers is put on the other side, the side of Abu Bakr will outweigh the other side."

A feeling of self-righteousness is the origin of all sins. If one feels self-righteous and thinks that he has secured an exclusive or special status, surely he will start to feel that he cannot make mistakes. But if you fear God and think that you are the least of the believers, you will avoid committing evil deeds.
The sense of self-righteousness is the origin of every forbidden lust of arrogance, miserliness, greed, extravagance, and so forth.
 If we avoid this feeling, we will keep away from falling into these lusts. This was the practice of the prophets, messengers, and righteous people.

However, the virtue of self-criticism should not turn into self-destruction.
 Self-destruction happens when a person blames himself so harshly that he begins to feel desperate. For example, if a person continues to tell himself that he is no good, he has never done a sincere good deed, and so forth, he will eventually feel hopeless and abandon everything. This course of action is unacceptable. Moderation and balance are virtues that lie between two vices; blaming oneself until one feels desperate and not blaming oneself at all until one becomes conceited. With moderation, our inner self will improve and we will advance in the course of our spiritual journey to God
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PIERCING SIGHT

Piercing Sight
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A believer who is active and has performed some extra acts of worship may feel a certain spiritual awakening. Then, he may think that he is able to feel or see the unseen or have the piercing sight about which the Prophet said: "Beware of the piercing sight of the believer, for he sees with the light of God." [Tabarani] Therefore, Ibn Ata warns us by saying: "Attempting to discover the flaws within you is better than attempting to discover the spiritual worlds hidden from you."

If one thinks that he is free from flaws, then surely there is a problem. Flaws are part of the nature of human beings. Only God has the attributes of perfection, glory to Him. And as much perfection as God has, this is the imperfection we have. God is the Generous, while humans are misers. God is Almighty, while humans are weak creatures. God is always Merciful, while humans can be cruel. God is Most Forbearing, while humans have limited patience. God is All-Forgiving, while humans do not forgive easily. God is All-Wise, while humans are prone to hasty judgments. God is the Knower, while humans have very limited knowledge. God is the Just, while humans are often unjust.

In addition to these imperfections, we should strive to discover specific flaws within ourselves. This is much better than trying to discover the spiritual worlds hidden from us. One cannot have true insight into the spiritual world before purifying himself, in any case. Know that a person can never purify himself completely, but he should do as much as he can. Trying to mend one's inner self eventually helps in realising the quality of humbleness. A certain degree of self-purification and humbleness elevate us and bring about divinely bestowed knowledge and spiritual insights.

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