The Allegory of the Pen
by
Imam Ghazzali (R.A)
A
certain devotee who was on the way to illumination saw a piece of paper with
lines written on it.
“WHY” said
the devotee “Have you blackened your bright face?”
“It is not fair to take me to task,” replied the PAPER,
“I have done nothing! ask the INK
why
she has sallied from the inkstand, where she was quite at ease, and forcibly
blackened me.”
“You are right,” said the devotee, who then turned to the ink and enquired
of her.
“Why do you ask me?” she said.
“I was sitting still in the inkstand and had no mind to come out, but
this truculent PEN rushed at me,
drew me out and scattered me over the page.
There you see me lying helpless, go to the pen and ask him.”
The devotee turned to the pen and interrogated him about his high handedness
“Why do you trouble me?” answered the pen,
“Look, what am I ? …An insignificant reed. I was growing by the banks, off
silvery streams
amidst shady green trees, when Lo, a hand stretched at me. It held knife which
uprooted me, flayed me
and separated my joint, hewed me, cleaved my head then chopped it off.
I was sent headlong towards the ink and have to serve abjectly.
Do not add insult to my injuries, go to the HAND
and ask him.”
The devoted
looked at the hand and said “Is it true? Are you so cruel?”
“Do not be angry sir,” replied the hand.
“I am a bundle of flesh, bones and blood. Have you ever seen a piece of flesh
exerting Power?
Can a body move of itself? I am a vehicle used by one called VITALITY,
he rides on me and
forces me round and round. You see a dead man has hands but can not use them
because
vitality has left them. Why should I, a mere vehicle be blamed?
go to vitality and ask him why he makes use of me.”
“You are
right” said devote and then questioned vitality.
“Do not find fault with me” answered vitality.
“Many time a censurer himself is reproved while the censured itself found
faultless.
How do you know that I have forced the hand?
I was already there before he moved and had no idea of the motion.
I was unconscious and the onlookers were also unaware of me.
Suddenly an agent came and stirred me. I had neither strength enough to disobey
nor
willingness to obey him.
The action for which you are taking me to task, I had to do according to his
wish.
I do not know who this agent is, he is called WILL
and I know him by name only.
Had the matter been left to me I think I should have done nothing.
"All
right" continued the devotee.
"I shall put the question to Will and ask him why he has forcibly
employed Vitality, which of its own accord, would have done nothing."
"Do not be in too great a hurry,” exclaimed Will.
"Perchance I may give you sufficient reason, His majesty the MIND
sent
an ambassador named KNOWLEDGE, who
delivered his message
to me through REASON saying: “
Rise up, stir Vitality."
I
was forced to do so because I have to obey knowledge and reason but I know not
why.
As long as I receive no order I am happy, but the moment an order is delivered,
I dare not disobey.
Whatever my monarch might be, a just ruler or a tyrant, I must obey him.
On my oath, as long as the King hesitates or ponders over the matter I stand
quite ready to serve,
but the moment his order is passed, my sense of obedience, which is innate,
forces me to stir up Vitality.
So you should not blame me. Go to Knowledge and get information there.”
“You
are right," consented the devotee and proceeding, asked mind and its
ambassadors:
Knowledge and Reason for an explanation.
Reason excused
himself by saying he was a lamp only but knew not who had lit him.
Mind pleaded his innocence by calling himself a mere tabula
rasa [a
clean slate].
Knowledge maintained that it was simply an inscription on the tabula
rasa, inscribed
after
the lamp of reason had been lit. Thus he could not be considered to be the
author of the inscription,
which may have been the work of some INVISIBLE
PEN.
The
devotee was puzzled by the reply, but collecting himself, he spoke thus to
Knowledge.
"I am
wondering in the path of my inquiry, to whomsoever I go and ask the reason, I am
referred to another. Nevertheless, there is pleasure in my quest, for I find
that everyone
gives me a plausible reason. But pardon me, sir, if I say that your reply,
Knowledge, fails to satisfy me.
You say that you are a mere inscription recorded by the pen. I have seen pen,
ink and tablet. They are
of reed, a black mixture and of wood and iron respectively.
And I have seen lamps lit with fire, but here I do not see any of these things
and yet
you talked of the tablet, the lamp, the pen and the inscription. Surely you are
not trifling with me!
"Certainly
not" returned knowledge, "I spoke in right earnest. But I see your
difficulty. Your means are scanty your horse is jaded and your journey is long
and dangerous. Give up this enterprise, as I fear you cannot succeed. If,
however you are prepared to run the risks then listen:
--The first is the terrestrial world,
its objects--pen, ink, paper, hand, and so forth, are just
what you have seen them to be.
--The second is the Celestial world --------
which will begin when you have left me behind,
There you will come across dense forests, deep wide Rivers and high, impassable
mountains,
and I know not how you would be able to proceed.
Between
these two worlds
there is a third intermediary region called the Phenomenal
world.
You have crossed three stages of it---Vitality, Will and Knowledge.
A man who is walking is treading the terrestrial world:
If he is sailing in a boat he enters the phenomenal world:
If he leaves the boat and swims and walks on the waters, he is admitted in the
celestial world.
If you do not know how to swim, go back!, for the watery region of the celestial
world begins now,
when you can see that pen inscribing on
the tablet of the heart.
If you are not of whom it was said:
“O you of little faith wherefore did you
doubt?
Prepare yourself—for by Faith you shall not simply walk on the sea
but fly in the Air”
The
wandering devotee stood speechless for a while then turned to knowledge saying:
"I am in a difficulty. The dangers of the path which you have described
unnerve my heart,
and I know not whether I have sufficient strength to face them and to succeed in
the end."
"There
is a test for your strength” replied knowledge,
"Open your eyes and fix your gaze on
me, if you see the pen that writes on the heart, you will
in my opinion, be able to proceed further on.
He
who crosses the phenomenal world, knocks at the door of the celestial world,
then sights the pen which writes on the Hearts."
The
devotee did as he was advised but failed to see that pen because his notion of a
pen was
that of a pen of reed or wood.
Then Knowledge
drew his attention saying:
“ There is the
rub. Do you not know that the furniture of a palace indicates the status of its
Lord?
Nothing in the universe resembles God,
therefore His attributes are also transcendental.
He is neither body nor is He in space,
His hand is not a bundle of flesh, bone, and
blood.
His pen is not of reed or wood. His
writing is not from ink prepared from vitriol and gall.
cherish a transcendentally pure conception of Him and believe that He is not
only above all
material limitation but even above the limitation of metaphor.
You seem to be
oscillating between this two views, because on the one hand you think of
that God is immaterial, that His words have neither sound nor shape, on the
other hand
you cannot rise to the transcendental conception of His hand, pen and tablet.
Do you think that
the meaning of the tradition:
Verily God created Adam in His own image”
is limited to the visible face of man.?
Certainly not; it is the inward nature of man
seen by the inward sight, which can be called
The image of God.
But listen ! you
are now at the sacred mount, where the invisible voice from the burning bush
speaks:
“Verily I am thy Lord, put off thy shoes”
(Qur'án 20:12)
there appeared working the pen, which writes on the hearts---formless.
"A
thousand blessing on thee, O knowledge, who has saved me from falling into the
abyss of
anthropomorphism (Tashbeeh).
I thank thee from the bottom of my heart, I tarried long, but now, adieu
!”
he asked the same question:
“-----------you know my reply” answered the mysterious pen.
“ you cannot have forgotten the reply given to you by the pen in the
terrestrial world.”
“ yes, I remember,” replied the devotee,
“ but how can it be the same reply, because there is no similitude between you
and that pen?"
" Then it seems you have forgotten the tradition: Verily
God created Adam in his Own image"
“No, Sir” interrupted the devotee “I know it by the heart"
“And you have forgotten the passage in the Quran: and
the heaven rolled up in his right hand
“Certainly not” exclaimed the devotee “ I can repeat the whole of the
Qur’an by the rote”
“ yes I know, and as you are now treading the sacred precincts of the
celestial world, I think
I can now safely tell that you have simply learnt the meaning of these passages
from a negative
point of view, but they have a positive value and should be utilised as
constructive at this stage.
Proceed further and you will understand when I mean."
The
devotee looked and found himself reflecting upon the divine attribute, Omnipotence.
At once he realized the force of the mysterious pen’s argument, but, goaded by
his inquisitive nature, he was about to put the question in the Holy Being, when
a voice like
the deafening sound of thunder, was heard from above, proclaiming :
“He
is NOT questioned for his actions, but they
shall be asked”.
The hand of the divine mercy stretched towards the helpless devotee, into his
ear were
whispered in zephyr tones:
“Holy art Thou, O God Almighty: blessed is thy name, O Lord of the Universe!
Henceforth I shall fear no mortal: I
put my entire trust in Thee: Thy forgiveness is my solace: Thy mercy is my
refuge”.
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Taken from
"Some Moral and religious teachings of AL-GHAZZALI" chapter called
"The Allegory of the Pen"
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