Foreword

Literally, maarifah means realization. In religious terms,  maarifah means man’s realization of God, his Creator. He awakens in him the profound conscious discovery of the reality of the creature and the Creator, the servant and the Lord.

Realization of God (maarifah) is the essence of religion. The position of maarifah in God’s religion is that of the seed. Just as a seed grows gradually into a full tree, similarly maarifah shapes the entire personality of a person. Without maarifah, religion is reduced to a spiritless form. With maarifah, religion is like a lush green tree and without it, religion becomes like a dried up tree. If religion is the body, maarifah is its spirit.

Maarifah of God means that man discovers God by deep pondering upon and contemplation of His signs rather than by rumination upon His being. The source of the realization of God is, in the words of the Quran, reflection (tafakkur and tadabbur) (3:191). The attainment of God-realization by contemplation is entirely a function of the mind. In the human body, the act of thinking is done only by the brain. What is achieved by this process of thinking has been defined as God-realization.

Wahiduddin Khan

January 20, 2021
New Delhi