1976-June-4

Bilalian News

The Moral Nature Of Man

Imam W.D. Muhammad

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39. And among His Signs in this: thou seest the earth barren and desolate; but when We send down rain to it, it is stirred to life and yields increase. Truly, He Who gives life to the (dead) earth can surely give life to (men) who are dead. For He has power over all things.

Holy Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation - Sura 41, Verse 39
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In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; Peace and Blessings upon His Servant and His Messenger, Muhammad, forever. Amen.
There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah

My dear brothers and sisters,

Let us think for a few minutes on the human nature or the human form. We find that many people among us have the ability to reach great heights in physical strength or great heights in wisdom that others cannot seem to reach. But if any one of us would take a serious interest in our moral nature we can develop it and become the equal of anyone else. Morally speaking we all can be equal. The best of us is the one who is best in his or her conduct. To be best in your conduct you have to be best in faith. The ancient wise people saw water as a good symbol to represent the nature of the human being. The nature that is first and essential in the human makeup is the moral nature. They saw that water covers most of the land and that the earth is three-fourths covered with water.

They saw that water is a heavy liquid that seeks its own level. Also it sinks into the ground and it fills the space in the earth. Water is also of such a nature that it can rise up in the form of a fine mist and ascend high in the atmosphere; in so doing, it leaves all the impurities that were in it and it rains back down on the earth in a pure form. Water can be heated or cooled but if it is left alone, it will take the temperature of the surrounding area and then fall just below that temperature. Water, unlike other liquids, expands in volume when it is frozen. That peculiarity of water is like the moral nature of the human being. When the human being's morals "Freeze" and he becomes cold hearted and cruel, he is usually seen as "Bigger" in material body. Warm-natured people are usually seen as being small in physical body.

There are many things about the water that compare with the moral nature of the human being. If there is any room to expand water will remain in motion, but if there is no room to expand, water will become peaceful and take the shape of its container. We find that the rivers flow until they find rest, they do not choose the direction in which they will go. Rivers will flow in the good man's land and they will also flow in the bad man's land. Likewise the moral nature of human beings will go in any direction, it will go into the community of good and it will go into the community of the bad. If it is left unattended and without movement, it will become corrupt, stagnant, and polluted just like water. The best of as are the ones who keep moving and who keep attending to our moral nature. They are the ones who run like rivers not staying in one place, but giving their goodness to other lands that need it.

If we as a moral body of people move about in the community and share our moral goodness with others we are seen as active like the river. Water is a sign of the charity and the moral nature of the human being. When it is lifted up in the winds as clouds (mist), the winds may push it from one continent to another continent. It may leave a very fertile land and distill its water out on a very dry and arid land starving for the life that the water can give to it. If we think of ourselves as moral beings first we will stay in the right mind and we will keep the right image of ourselves. But if we think of ourselves as physical beings we are thinking of ourselves as no more than animals.

If we think of ourselves as intellectual beings we might become like Satan and get proud of ourselves because of our intellectual superiority. We might begin to think that we are better than anybody else and we might begin to talk like the devil formed mind: "All of my accomplishments are because of my gift of intelligence." If you do not want to fall into that trap, learn to see yourself in your real superiority which is your moral nature. So when we think of all the comparisons that we can draw, when we see the moral nature of the human being with water, we cannot help but admit that there are certainly signs in the creation that suggest a superior being who is superior over all creation.