William Chittick
Unless and until we understand that dhikr is a practice of God Himself, and along with Him, that of all the creation, we will not be able to grasp our human condition or to take advantage of it while we have it.
Anyone familiar with the Quran knows that it speaks of God by detailing His names and attributes. It goes extraordinary lengths to emphasize that it is God's book, revelation, speech, and words. It maintains that all revelation is God's speech, and that God speaks to the Prophets so as to clarify the nature of things and to explain the appropriate human response.
Just as the Quran and the other scriptures are collections of God's signs or ayaat, so also the whole universe is a vast collection of God's signs and ayaat.
In effect, God creates the whole universe by revealing three books - 1) the Universe 2) the Human Self 3) the Scripture. In each, He reveals His signs and writes out His words.
Once we understand that reality is configured by speech, we shall also see that human task is to see and understand what has been written. Then we can follow the instructions laid out in the text of scripture, the world, and the soul.
The interpretation of the Quran - which is the foundation and fruit of all Islamic sciences - has always entailed the simultaneous interpretation of universe and the soul. Every Muslim, by accepting the Quran as God's word, has accpeted the responsibility of understanding what the Word means. The fruit of this understanding rebounds on the soul.
Every soul will answer for its own reading, not only of the Quran but also of the other two books, the universe and the soul. And given the fact that it is the soul itself that reads and understands, the book of the soul is the all-important determinant of our destiny. This helps explain why, in recounting the events that will take place on the day of Resurrection, the Quran tells us that every human being will be addressed by the words, 'Read your book; your own self is sufficient as a reckoner against you this day.' [17:14]
The crux of knowledge, then, is to read and know one's soul. The whole trajectory of the voluntary return to God is to learn how to interpret oneself through understanding the wisdom present in both revelations and the cosmos. The return reaches its fruition on the Day of Resurrection.
What we as human beings should want to learn is who we are now and who we will be when we arrive back at the meeting with God. All knowledge should serve the goal of this knowledge. As Rumi puts it,'The spirit of all the sciences is this, only this:
that you may know who you will be on the Day of Resurrection'
In order to know who one is and who one will be, one must know one's relation with God, who created man in His own image. It is clear that the Divine speech creates the world and reveals the scriptures. It is this same speech that appears as the distinguishing feature of reminder, guidance, and prayer whereby man is able to remember his Source and undertake the return journey. And it is also this same speech that will be written plainly in the book of the soul on the Day of Resurrection.
The human condition, then, demands knowing that everything we understand, speak, do, and embody is being written and recorded in our own selves.
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