Proximity and Distance to God
The relationship of Proximity and distance towards God is on equal footings. Proximity is the act of obedience towards God. These are the acts which will make you closer to God; satisfying one’s duties over God as laid down by the law. It is also often put in contrast with distance to God that is described as the stubbornness and refusal to follow God’s teachings and surrender to His obedience. However according to the Quran and various Sufi scholars such as Rumi, it actually it lies in the same dimension as proximity to God.
According to the Holy Quran, where God talks about proximity Himself, as we are nearer to Him than our “Jugular vein” (Quran, 50:16), which shows according to Sufi scholars that our contact to God is beyond awareness of Him. It is a …show more content…
Although there may seem to be a distance but that is abandoned and left in order to be proximate to God since His servants achieve the pure state of closeness as God’s ‘hearing sight and hand’. Ibn Arabi also states that proximity to God comes out naturally even if the acts are evil and wrong mainly because he believes that God’s forgiveness and mercy would not only allow one to repent for the evil deeds but create room for more closeness. Henceforth distance comes along proximity and is in reality the same. (Rustom, ‘Arabi on Proximity And Distance, 2007)
An early Sufi scholar such as Sufi Abu Sa’id al-Kharraz describes how distance is necessary for Human beings. By stating four categories of humans each having different levels of obedience and response to God he says that humans would not be able to sustain the weight of God’s divine nearness, except for the forth class of people selected by God to be prophets. ('Approaches to Proximity and Distance in Early
The relationship of Proximity and distance towards God is on equal footings. Proximity is the act of obedience towards God. These are the acts which will make you closer to God; satisfying one’s duties over God as laid down by the law. It is also often put in contrast with distance to God that is described as the stubbornness and refusal to follow God’s teachings and surrender to His obedience. However according to the Quran and various Sufi scholars such as Rumi, it actually it lies in the same dimension as proximity to God.
According to the Holy Quran, where God talks about proximity Himself, as we are nearer to Him than our “Jugular vein” (Quran, 50:16), which shows according to Sufi scholars that our contact to God is beyond awareness of Him. It is a …show more content…
Although there may seem to be a distance but that is abandoned and left in order to be proximate to God since His servants achieve the pure state of closeness as God’s ‘hearing sight and hand’. Ibn Arabi also states that proximity to God comes out naturally even if the acts are evil and wrong mainly because he believes that God’s forgiveness and mercy would not only allow one to repent for the evil deeds but create room for more closeness. Henceforth distance comes along proximity and is in reality the same. (Rustom, ‘Arabi on Proximity And Distance, 2007)
An early Sufi scholar such as Sufi Abu Sa’id al-Kharraz describes how distance is necessary for Human beings. By stating four categories of humans each having different levels of obedience and response to God he says that humans would not be able to sustain the weight of God’s divine nearness, except for the forth class of people selected by God to be prophets. ('Approaches to Proximity and Distance in Early