People want to see everything, taste everything, and hear everything. However, what bothers me is that when these desires come true, they act as if they never had such a desire. Suddenly, they turn around and walk away from what they wanted to see, hear, or taste. What does it mean?
Human beings have been following their curiosities and driven by them all along. People are mostly curious about seeing things. This is exactly where they are deceived, and they deceive others. This is still going on. The senses of taste, touch, and smell are no less than this. Did Allah the Almighty tell us about the first humans, Prophet Adam and Eve, in vain? Didn’t Satan deceive them with the curiosities by these very senses? He pointed to the forbidden tree and whispered to them. “Your Lord has forbidden this tree to you only to prevent you from becoming angels or immortals.” (A’raf, 7:20) With this tempting delusion, a curiosity took the Prophet Adam and Eve. Their curiosity turned into a passion for seeing and tasting. What happened then? They saw it, tasted it, and lost… Only then did they realize that they were wrong and deceived, but the damage had already been done. They were driven by the desire to see what Satan was showing, that is what Allah called “Satan is your sworn enemy” (A’raf, 7:22). These show that the temporality of the pleasures obtained with the senses is the most striking indicator that tells us the temporality of the world. When we look around, we observe how frequently individuals who pursue their desires with great passion either lose interest once those desires are fulfilled or find themselves deeply disappointed. So, no need to look further to see that the world is a temporary place. It is enough to look at ourselves.
What happened to Prophet Adam and Eve then?
Allah the Almighty is merciful. As He taught them all the names, He also showed them how to get out of the state of being deceived. They did not insist on rebellion as Satan did. They held onto the rope of salvation from Allah and were saved. Those who know themselves know their Lord and reach salvation. They also knew themselves, turned to their Lord and begged with sincere feelings: “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will certainly be losers” (A’raf, 7:23) Allah (swt) accepted their apologies and forgave them immediately. For Allah’s mercy is abundant and His forgiveness is swift. Satan, who did not repent, lost, while the Prophet Adam and Eve, who understood and corrected their mistakes, succeeded. For, as the Messenger of Mercy said, “He who knows his mistake and sincerely apologizes to Allah will be forgiven immediately and will be purified as if he had never sinned” (Ibn Majah, Zuhd, 30). The reason Satan lost was that he looked at fire and earth, which are the materials of creation, instead of thinking about Allah’s command, and made an irrelevant comparison. You see, his superficial and individualistic outlook deceived him. If he combined what he saw with what he heard and weighed it on the scales of his mind, he would see the truth. Such is the fate of one who embarks from a single datum of sense experience and ultimately succumbs to the selfishness of individualism.
Therefore, we have a lot to learn from the stories in the Qur’an. What do we see, what can we not see, or what should we see and how?
As you say, there is a way, method, and manner of seeing. Those who do not know their way will be confused, those who do not use the method will stray away from the target, and those who ignore decency will hit the wall of morality... Allah has given humans five senses and assigned a separate task to each of them. Therefore, each sense has its scope and limits that can be used. Going beyond the limits and not seeing the boundaries leads one astray. What can be understood with the sense of taste cannot be understood with the eyes. If it has been conveyed that Allah the Almighty will not be seen in this world, then aspiring to behold Him here is nothing more than the pursuit of an empty illusion. Pharaoh told his vizier Haman, “O chiefs! I know of no other god for you but myself. So bake bricks out of clay for me, O Hamân, and build a high tower so I may look at the God of Moses ” (Qasas, 28:38). The misguided Pharaoh believed that Allah resided in the sky. However, Prophet Moses did not present him with any information suggesting that God could be seen. He could not recognize the truth in the miracles Moses brought because he did not look attentively, nor did he employ his reasoning. The proof of Allah’s existence came to him, but he tried to look for it in the skies... He left the truth and followed the dream. Amidst the waters of the sea, he realized the truth, yet his recognition came too late.
But the Prophet Moses also wanted to see Allah.
Right. He asked, and Allah the Almighty showed him that it would not happen. It is actually a great lesson for us, but the Jews did not learn from this lesson. They kept saying, “O Moses! We will never believe you until we see Allah with our own eyes” (Baqarah, 2:55) They thought they could put Prophet Moses in a difficult position. So what happened? A big disappointment. Sentenced to wander in the desert for forty years. Is it because of such behavior that the strictest atheists emerge from them? The atheist, who says, “I don’t believe in what I don’t see,” is like a leaf that is caught in the lightness of the devil’s superficial gaze and that is blown away in front of every wind. Most of our knowledge comes from hearing, not seeing. It is the information we receive with our ears that guides and facilitates life. Consider this: if people begin with zero knowledge and seek to acquire understanding solely from what they observe, regardless of the time invested, how much can they truly learn in a single lifetime? Therefore, it is necessary to make use of every sense as required. We need to take our decisions without reducing them to a single sense and without ignoring the mind… So many blessings given by Allah are enough if we can make use of them. Indeed, it is more than enough…
