Page 11 - Quranic Wisdom - New.indd

Quranic Wisdom

from being the victim of negative experiences. Simple living and
high thinking are a sine qua non of the spiritual culture.
Positive spirituality is mentioned as follows in the Quran:
“You are on the sublime character.” (68:4). Sublime character is
that character which is based on high thinking.

If you read the Quran, you will find that it lays great emphasis
on sabr (39:10), sulh (4:128), forgiveness (42:40), avoidance
(7:199), contentment, and so on. Why all these teachings? These
teachings apparently seem to advocate passivity. But that is not
so, for they embody great wisdom. The Quran tries to build that
kind of mind which is able to manage all the affairs of life on
the basis of spirituality. It is not passivity that is advocated but
skill in the proper management of life’s problems. The purpose
of this formula—indeed, it is the Quran’s greatest concern—is to
concentrate on high goals and one who wants to achieve high
goals has no option but to foster the aforementioned qualities.
He has to try to effectively manage all undesirable situations.
Otherwise, he will become preoccupied by trivial issues and will
fail to continue his journey towards higher goals.

In the chapter Al-Shams (The Sun) of the Quran, you will
find these verses: “He who purifies it will indeed be successful,
and he who corrupts it is sure to fail.” (91:9-10). These Quranic
verses refer to the importance of personality development, laying
emphasis not on its physical but on its spiritual aspects. It is no
exaggeration to say that this is the main theme of the Quran,
personality development being its basic goal.
What is purification of the soul? It is to purify your mind
of all kinds of bias and negativity. In other words, it is to de-
condition your conditioning. This is the mind the Quran tries to
build. One who fails in this de-conditioning process will become
a corrupt or an unwanted personality in the divine scheme of
things.

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