Tooba Khokhar, Cambridge
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils…
I still remember encountering this poem for the first time, as many of us will have done, in an age its poet deems “apparelled in celestial light, the glory and freshness of a dream”, that is to say, childhood. Nature, the unchanging backdrop to the rituals of life, is where so many of our greatest loves and desires are often played out.
In the Persian tradition too, the lover is symbolised by a nightingale and the beloved a rose. But such an affection is tinged in sadness for the rose’s beauty is as quick to fade as it is to bloom. The nightingale whose sweet melody resounds joyfully in Spring is despondent in Winter. The question that arises then is this: is beauty that fades beauty at all? What comfort can we attain from an object that will pass and in a moment be no more?
The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) has an answer to this cosmic riddle. There is a lot of comfort to be attained, he counsels, for the attraction we feel for forms of beauty is really an attraction towards the Divine. Such love is “a reflection of that very love”[1].
Thus, any experience of beauty, momentary though it may be, is always a source of peace. Indeed, it is in this connection the Holy Qur’an states that
He it is Who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of the believers that they might add faith to their faith — and to Allah belong the hosts of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is All-knowing, Wise —[2]
Many are the ways in which God causes our hearts to blossom and be at ease. Whether in the rose or daffodil, the burst of a cool, gentle breeze, or the multifarious other ways we experience Divine comfort.
This comfort and tranquillity comes from the Divine Attribute of Al Salam, the Bestower of Peace. All true peace stems from God, therefore the seeds for such peace must be planted deep within the human soul, in a relationship with its Maker.
In the Holy Qur’an we read that “Allah calls to the abode of peace” (10:26). God as the Source of Peace, “wishes security for His Creation”[3]. And in all the verses of His revealed book, He sets out a blueprint for achieving this peace in the domain of the home, society and the world at large.
It has been said of religion that it is the “opium of the masses”. Indeed, outwardly devotion not to mention corrupt institutions may well be likened to a drug that gives momentary pleasure and lasting decay. However, could true connection with the qualities of mercy, generosity and godliness give cause to anything but lasting peace?
Indeed, they are if anything the true enablers of peace. Until we reach that stage however, we can make sweet our time by seeking peace in the glimpse afforded by the rose and daffodil into the shoreless ocean of the beauty of the Divine.
[1] The Essence of Islam, Vol I, p. 137. URL: https://www.alislam.org/books/Essence-1.pdf
[2] The Holy Qur’an 48:5. URL: https://www.alislam.org/quran/48:5
[3] Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (aba) in his Friday Sermon dated 11/12/2015. URL: https://www.alislam.org/archives/sermons/summary/FSD20151211-EN.pdf
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