How to be Free from Sin — Page 22
22 say that there is a great difference between belief and true awareness. I do not say that everyone who believes is able to refrain from sin, I say that only he who truly recognizes God can safeguard himself against it, for he has experi- enced Divine fear as well as Divine love. It may also be asked, "Why does Satan disobey God while he possesses true awareness?" The answer is that Satan does not possess the kind of awareness that is bestowed upon those who truly deserve it. Man, by his very nature, is affected by knowledge, and keeps away from the path of destruction when it reveals its hideous countenance. Belief only means accepting something in good faith, but true awareness means to actually experience that belief. It is impossible for true awareness— Ma‘rifat —and sin to dwell in one heart, just as it is impossible for it to be day and night at the same time. Our everyday experience shows that we are at once drawn towards things that are useful, and shun those we are afraid of. For instance, if you do not know that the thing you are holding in your hand is arsenic, and you imagine that it is only bamboo sugar or some other useful medi- cine, you will not hesitate to consume ten or even twenty grams of it; but if you know it to be a deadly poison which will kill you instantly, you will never dare to take even a gram of it. Similarly, when man truly realizes that God exists and that every sin is punishable in His eyes, he refrains from every sin, whether it is theft, bloodshed, fornication, cruelty, breach of trust, associating partners with Allah, falsehood, bearing false witness, arrogance,