Material Civilizational Progress and Spiritual Perfection

Material Civilizational Progress and Spiritual Perfection

Human beings were created in order to know God: “I did not create jinn and mankind except to worship Me.”^[127] That is, that they may know Me.

Thus we worship in order to know, and there is no good in worship that does not bring a person closer to God. Through it, one grows in knowledge of God. This means that the human being was created for spiritual perfection and for ascending to the highest degrees of perfection possible for humanity.

Therefore, what matters is the spirit, not the body that is attached to this material physical world. The human being becomes the vicegerent of God in this sense: that he reaches spiritual perfection until he becomes the image of God among His creation, and thus truly becomes His vicegerent.

Some seek to reduce the human being’s role as God’s vicegerent to authority over the physical world alone (matter and living bodies), even though, as reported from God’s Messenger, God has paid no regard to bodies since creating them. These ignorant people try to make material and physical advancement the ultimate goal of human life, indeed, the very purpose for which the human being was created. Yet the Quran explains the relationship between material progress and spiritual perfection in these words: “No! Indeed, man transgresses when he sees himself as self-sufficient.”^[128]

That is, material wealth and material progress can lead to human arrogance and spiritual deviation. That is plainly visible in human life on this earth today, for the earth has never known corruption, injustice, oppression, and tyranny on the scale we see now.

Some people, enamored of this material world, may object, since they see perfection in material progress. Yet if they looked more closely, they would see that this bodily, material world is moving toward extinction. More than that, it is in a constant state of passing away: every day some people die and others live, and a day will come when all will die and no one will remain after them: “Everyone upon it will perish.”^[129]

The enormous material progress that we see today points to the nearness of that disappearance:

Indeed the example of the worldly life is like water which We send down from the sky; the vegetation of the earth mixes with it-what people and livestock eat-until when the earth has taken on its adornment and become beautified, and its people think they have power over it, Our command comes to it by night or by day and We make it as though it had been harvested, as though it had not flourished the day before. Thus We detail the signs for a people who reflect.^[130]

As for the spirits, they endure, and their destination is eternity in Paradise or the Fire, in bliss or torment.

So a person must understand that he came into this material physical world in order to be tested, not to remain in it forever. This entire material bodily world is destined to pass away and perish.

Yes, God urges the believers to achieve material bodily progress so that they may attain independence from the disbelievers and have the power and capacity to face those who fight them.

“Prepare against them whatever force you can, and steeds of war, by which you may terrify the enemy of God and your enemy, and others besides them whom you do not know, but God knows them. Whatever you spend in the path of God will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged.”^[131]

However, this material progress must follow from, and accompany, true faith and the believers’ ongoing journey of spiritual perfection, so that it does not become a distraction from the remembrance of God and obedience to His command. Rather, when it takes that form, it is accompanied by great divine favor: “If the people of the towns had believed and been mindful of God, We would surely have opened for them blessings from Heaven and Earth. But they denied, so We seized them for what they used to earn.”^[132] Thus, when God Almighty reduces fruits and blessings for those whose faith and piety He hopes to bring forth, He is in fact showing them mercy, because He is drawing them toward faith and piety. Weakness and poverty can lead a person back to God.

In the sacred hadith it is said: “O son of Imran, when you see wealth coming your way, say: ‘This is a sin whose punishment has been hastened.’ And when you see poverty coming your way, say: ‘Welcome to the mark of the righteous.’”^[133]

As for when the people of the earth believe and become God-fearing, what would be the purpose of God punishing them? What benefit would there be for Him in diminishing their wealth, the blessings of their land, and their deeds? Rather, it is they themselves who would suffer deprivation: “If only the people of the towns had believed and been God-fearing, We would surely have opened for them blessings from Heaven and Earth.”^[134]

Therefore, a person's striving and progression should be directed toward spiritual perfection and true faith.

As for material and physical advancement, a person should pursue it from the perspective of spiritual perfection; that is, one’s pursuit of material progress should be in obedience to God and in order to realize His will upon this earth through the spread of monotheism, mercy, and justice.

As for the material advancement of the disbelievers, the believer should not imagine that it is a divine granting, a good bestowed upon them, or a sign of their success. Rather, it is an evil for them because it leads them further into tyranny, rebellion, and arrogance against the will of God: “Let not those who disbelieve think that the respite We grant them is good for them. We only grant them respite so that they may increase in sin, and for them is a humiliating punishment.”^[135]

Thus, worldly life and its glitter become the cause of their intoxication and estrangement from God: “By your life, they were blindly staggering in their intoxication.”^[136]

What greater loss is there than for a person to become God’s enemy? And what profit from this world and its adornments could possibly compensate for that loss? “If it were not that mankind would become one community, We would have made for those who disbelieve in the Most Merciful roofs of silver for their houses, and stairways upon which they ascend.”^[137]