Power is a significant word. Here, power means it is that very power which cannot be seen, but it has a strong attraction, as we say ‘Knowledge is power’; here knowledge attracts people with its power or when a person acquires and imbibes knowledge, others are attracted to that person because he possesses knowledge. So there is attraction in power. Now we will see what we mean by Gravitational pull or power or rather we should say Gravitational potential energy and Spiritual power.

The discoverer of Gravitational pull was Newton, a great scientist and it is just historical information. So, the question arises, ‘Had not this power existed before Newton discovered it?’ Gravitational potential energy was also existent and effective before Newton, but people did not have idea where and how it was effective, or how its existence works.

Once, beholding an apple falling to the ground by Newton, the idea of ​​ Gravitational power or pull was generated in his mind. Then it was understood that the planet earth has an attraction and it is that if an object is released from above or dropped from above, it will fall straight to the ground. This attraction is a kind of pull, on account of which the object comes down from above to the earth; this pull is called Gravitational force or potential energy. Therefore, what we understand by Gravitational force has a relationship between the attraction of the earth and an object.

Human creation is actually mysterious. We need to know about this creation. After the formation of the human body in the mother’s womb, the Almighty Allah blows His breath or passes an Order of His, which we call ‘Ruh’, a kind of spirit. This spirit is a kind of command of Allah or a luminous entity. As soon as the spirit enters the body, the baby comes to life in the mother’s womb. This luminous spirit enters the dark body, but since it is the command of Allah, it must have an attraction towards Allah. Now, it is clearly understood that the human body comes into existence in a special process under the Gravitational force on earth i. e. in the world of creation (Alm-e Khalq). Although the body remains on earth, the soul (Ruh) is attracted towards Allah the Almighty. Those who can strengthen this attraction and draw his/her self closer  and closer to Allah through acquiring Knowledge on or about Allah and transforming his or her own being into the Entity of Allah, what we call “Fanafillah”, are able to gain Spiritual power. We often call Spiritual power ‘the power of soul’. The soul needs its improvement, sitting on the earth and Spiritual power is born as a result of this spiritual improvement. Therefore, the pull or force is towards the earth and the pull of Spiritual power is upward i. e. towards Allah the Almighty.

The body is gross and is composed of matter wiich is destructible; it is a combination of heterogeneous elements, the earth was also created in the same way. Therefore, the body is completely under the force of Gravitational pull. This body again embodies ‘instinct’ or ‘Nafs’. There is the death of this ‘Nafs’ i. e. body, but there is no death of ‘Ruh’ or soul. Therefore, it is said in the Holy Quran, ‘Kullu Nafsin Zaikatul Maut’—that every ‘Nafs’ or body must succumb to death, or must have the taste of death.  But there is no death of ‘Ruh’ or soul, because it is the direct Order or Command of Allah.

In fact, when the soul leaves the body and goes either to Illin or Sijjin, this state is considered the death of the body. That is, when the Command or Blow of Allah is taken away or goes out of the body, the body becomes useless; the body grows inactive. The soul is everything in the body—the power and the driver. The complete human body remains effective and completely active when the union of this soul or the Supreme Soul and the body or the individual soul merges into each other, only then the gross body remains active and that can gain Spiritual power through various austere practices.

The body or ‘Nafs’ is worldly, while the soul or ‘Ruh’ is a tiny particle of noor-like light which is lustrous. One is visible; the other is an entity of the invisible world. The power of the world attracts the body while the power of Allah attracts the soul. Just as the body has an attachment to the world, the soul has to create an attachment to Allah. In the holy Hadith-e Qudsi, it is said, “You obey the commandments of Allah, and become One with Allah, then you also say, ‘Be,’ and behold, it is done.” These rules and commandments are from the Holy Quran and the Sunnah. If you follow and obey the Holy Quran and Sunnah and act according to the instructions of the Messenger of Allah, and if your heart invokes ‘Dhikr’ (in silence) ‘Allah’ ‘Allah’, your heart will grow luminous and when the name of Allah will be established in your heart through ‘Dhikr’, it will be lightened and enlightened as well. Therefore, the real source of Spiritual power is the Quran and the Sunnah. In the Holy Quran, Surah ‘Ra’d, verse 28 states, “Allajin amanu wa tatmainu qulubuhum bizikrillah; Ala bi zikrillahi tatmainul qulub” meaning they are all those people who have believed and their hearts are satisfied with the invoking or ‘Dhikr’ of Allah and understand well that peace is achieved in the remembrance of the name of Allah. The Gravitational force that Allah has given in space and in earth does not have to be acquired, but Spiritual power has to be acquired in this way, i.e. by remembering or silently invoking ‘Allah’ by heart or what we call ‘Kalb.’.In Sura Bani Israil, Ayat-110, Allah says, “Kulid Ullaha Aouid-ur Rahman, Aieammah tadou Falahul Asma-ul Husna.”, means ‘you say that you invoke either Allah or Rahman, or invoke any of His names, because He has so many beautiful names.’ So, it is the Order of Allah that He orders His bondsmen to invoke any of His beautiful names. By doing this, we can gain Spiritual power.

After acquiring this Spiritual power, a person can travel to different places on this earth. He can make his soul travel to different places on the earth and the universe, to different worlds and places as he wishes. Therefore, it is the activity of the Spiritual power acquired by human Kal’b. In the world, it is evident that people form whatever idea/ideas which is/are true and proven must exist in any form/forms.

Out of the total six Senses, five of them, namely the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin, are related to the Gravitational force, i.e. the earth. And the Sixth sense and the Third eye are related to the spirit, i.e. the Spiritual power. We enjoy and perceive everything in the world with our five senses and we perceive the Divine power with our soul. Divine power is the root and source of Spiritual power. For example, someone listens to a song with his/her senses, while someone else listens to it with his/her soul. The sweetness of the song affects or falls upon the person’s senses because he/she listens to with senses and upon the person’s soul because he/she listens to with soul. The senses, affected by the song or music, are guided by worries, emotions and passions in the world and can even lead the people to evil paths. And the one who perceives this song or music with his soul or listens to it with his soul can move forward towards the Divine path and as a result the person’s Spiritual power can grow stronger.  For example, if a person listens to a love song with his senses, he/she may be inspired by physical love, even of lusty nature, and if someone listens to the same song with his/her soul, the person may be inspired by the love of Allah, the Divine love. Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (may Allah have mercy on him) used to be intoxicated with divine love through music and a kind of dance.

The Holy Quran mentions three types of souls in humans: ‘Nafse Ammara’ which is the Animal soul, ‘Nafse Lawama’ or the Intellectual soul and ‘Nafse Mutmainna’ which is the Peaceful soul. People who possess Nafse Ammara cannot go towards the path of Spiritual power. They are under the influence or within the bound of Gravitational force and they indulge in sins, immoral activities, crimes and wrongdoings in the world. The second soul stays in the middle, if they commit wrongdoings and sins; the soul reproaches and blames itself and tries to move on to the path of honesty or progress, i.e. beyond the Gravitational force. The third peaceful soul possesses Spiritual power and transcends the Gravitational force and rises far above the Spiritual power, diving into the Divine love. These souls will not have to face any Divine judgment. After death, this successful third peaceful soul will straight enter into the heaven by the Order of Allah, which is mentioned in the last three verses of ‘Surah Fajr’ in the Holy Quran.

The body is under the control of Gravitational force, and the soul is under the control of Divine power. The Creator of both Gravitational force and Spiritual power is Allah. Allah is present everywhere, omnipresent. It is mentioned in the Holy Quran that Almighty Allah is closer to the human body than his/her great artery that supplies blood from heart to brain. Therefore, just as the Spiritual power has pulled humans, the power of Almighty Allah surrounds us, that is, all the living beings, objects and forces of the world are within the coverage of the power of Allah. The existence of Allah is everywhere; it is in both the Gravitational force and the Spiritual power. Lalan Fakir rightly said that “He and Lalan live in the same place, with an unbridgeable gap of thousands of miles between them.” Lalan and his neighbour live in the same place, but the distance between them is infinite.

Just as humans and animals are mortal and all things will be destroyed and the earth will also be dissolved on the Day of Judgment. If we think about it from that perspective, the Gravitational force will also be exhausted one day, that is, it will not exist. Therefore, this force is not eternal.

It is mentioned in Surah ‘Ar-Rahman’ in the Holy Quran that everything will perish one day but the existence of the Great and Powerful Allah will remain permanent. Therefore, the earth is perishable and the Gravitational force will not be effective with it, but the soul is immortal; therefore, Spiritual power will not vanish. Only by acquiring Divine power, one can be merged with Allah and it is permanent. The Gravitational force of the earth is not something that humans have to acquire; but Divine power has to be acquired, and to acquire this power, one has to gain knowledge about ‘Ilm-e-Tasawwuf’. In fact, just as there are diseases of the human body, there are diseases of the soul as well. As there is medicine for the diseases of the body and the body is cured with the application of it, similarly, spiritual diseases will be eliminated if one follows and obeys the rules and commandments expounded by Allah.

Therefore, ‘Ilme Tasawuf’ means that the evils, sinful tendencies, pride, jealousy, envy, greed, lust, slothfulness, back-biting etc. that are present in the mind and heart of a person must be removed and then a relationship must be established with The Supreme Being i. e. Allah. Fear of Allah and His love can show the path of Sufism. In a word, Tasawwuf is to be endowed with the qualities of Allah by abandoning the activities of the animalistic, i.e., the self or the beastly qualities. The great Sufi Hasan Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said, ‘A grain of spiritual purity is better than a thousand rakats of voluntary prayers and a thousand voluntary fasts.’ Surah Baqarah mentions, ‘Be coloured with the colour of Allah. Who has more beautiful colour than the colour of Allah?’ Therefore, to gain Spiritual power, a person must be coloured with the colour (Divine Virtues) of Allah, strengthen his faith, engage in good deeds and follow the path of Allah. Every moment should be spent in the remembrance of Allah, only then by the grace of Allah, Divine power can be achieved. In this context, the translation of a ghazal is presented below. The ghazal was written by my maternal uncle Kabir Ahmed in 1938/39. He was a primary school teacher and composed many poems, songs and ghazals. He was a disciple of the famous Auliyya of Gunakarkati under Ashasuni upazila of Satkhira. The Gazal is as follows:

My spiritual guide is a purified soul and thus

He is beloved to Allah and Order-complier to the Prophet (Sm),                                                                          

Sitting in my heart night and day

He teaches me how to invoke Allah,

When I sit in silence, the image of that Guide floats in my heart,

My heart sways by the touch of that love born of that image.

When my heart continues invoking Allah Allah,

The image of my Guide vanishes,

Then my mind discerns the image of the Prophet and Allah

                                                                          in another guise.

Allah, the Messenger and the Guide of mine—

All these three flash in the same form.

Then I do not exist in myself and also forget my own extstence

And starts swimming in the ocean of beauty.

Writer, poet, writer, researcher and educator.