SPIRIT OF ISLAM MAY 2O18

24 Spirit of Islam Issue 65 May 2018 FROM THE SPIRITUAL TREE There is a tree beside my house. I call it the 'Spiritual Tree'. I derive spiritual inspiration from it. A tree is an ever- growing being that was initially a seed possessing the potential of becoming a full-grown tree. A seed takes food from the universe around it and then grows into a tree. The same is true with spirituality, the desire for which is intrinsic to, and an integral part of, the very nature of every human being. To realize this spirituality, Man must derive spiritual food from the universe around him. A tree converts carbon-dioxide into oxygen; a spiritual person is one who can take positive lessons from negative situations. From this perspective, a tree is an embodiment of a spiritual personality. — Maulana Wahiduddin Khan THE PRICE OF REALIZATION A HIGH level of God-realization is actually the greatest asset a person can have. It is, in fact, high realization which makes it possible for man to be different from other creatures. Achieving a high level of realization is just as possible as achieving anything else. The only condition is that one should pay its price. Without paying the necessary price, no one gets anything in this world and the same applies to realization. What is the price of a high level of realization? It is simply to make it the primary concern in your life and regard all other things as secondary. Those who are not ready to pay this price will not be able to reach a level of high realization regardless of how many good deeds they do. Man finds himself torn between two demands; the demands of faith and the demands of the world. On such occasions, if man ignores the demands of faith and bows to worldly pressures, even if he does this only once, such an attitude becomes the cause for his ruin. In this way, Satan gets the chance to stop man’s journey of realization and push him backwards. This is the reality which has been mentioned thus in the Quran: