Discovering God: Submitting Before the Divine Power
By
Mushtaq ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam
3 August
2023
Surrendering
to GOD: Understanding Islam in the Modern Age
By
Eren Tatari
USA,
Tughra Books
Pp
166. ISBN: 9781597842709
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God is the
biggest reality of this world. To believe in this transcendental reality, make
it the primary focus of one’s life and ultimately surrender to the divine will,
certainly will give a new positive meaning to life. The lives of many people
get revolutionized after they surrender themselves to God. They feel new
vigour, energy and meaning of life. This rediscovery of God becomes the biggest
achievement of their personalities. They discover new realities, new avenues
and unique ventures, that directs their lives on an altogether different track
than it was before this great discovery. Everything changes for them, but this
change isn’t devastative or destructive for them but constructive and creative.
The focus of their lives instead of materialism, hedonism and cut throat
competition is now God, and they try to inculcate his values of love, peace,
tranquillity and mercy in their personalities.
The current
book under review invites its readers for undergoing such a process that would
lead to discovery of God. In this process the personal journey of the young
author Eren Tatari is a beacon light for others to discover and then surrender
to God. Through the pages of the book Eren guides the readers on a path that
ultimately leads to the God. Clare Corado in the Foreword of the book very well
observes, “In many ways, reading this book is like sitting down to have a cup
of tea with Eren. The work is in a category all its own; it is neither an
academic survey of Islamic theology nor an attempt to seek converts. Instead,
Eren patiently shares precious jewels of wisdom gleaned from the Islamic
tradition to readers of all backgrounds. It is my hope that readers will not
focus on the theological differences they may find between their own beliefs
and Islam, but instead open their hearts to the book’s universal message to
love and submit to God”.
The book is
divided into three parts. The First part deals with the Introduction. Eren
states that her book, “Is a compilation of faith-based articles written for
various journals, blogs, lectures and sermons. It reflects my understanding of
Islamic principles so it is not an authoritative book on Islam” (P-6). Despite
the bold acknowledgement of Eren about her book not being a credible
authoritative source on Islam, she very well makes the reader ponder about the
purpose of life that the materialistic culture in no way allows any soul the
privilege of pondering over such an important question. Death always lurks at
us, but we seem least concerned about this existential question. She
acknowledges the exploitation and abuse that is happening in the name of
religion but that in no way devalues the need for having a religion and
adhering to its principles. She writes about the denial of God and rebellion
against his commandments by people as Ego trap, “In all the Divine scriptures,
God warns against this ego trap and advises us to discipline our egos with
humility. Just because we are given the limited capacity to reason, we deceive
ourselves into thinking that we know better than God. This mentality is a grave
mistake that leads us to rebel against God’s guidance” (P-22). Eren wants
people to submit to God but with reason and humility.
Part 2nd of
the book deals with the Faith/Affirmation by Mind and Heart. It describes the
fundamentals of Muslim belief and their essence. It further demonstrates the
weakness of positivist-empirical science in helping us reach to the truth. Eren
makes the readers to understand Tawhid (monotheism) differently. “Where is
Tawhid in our understanding of death? God does not say in the Quran that we
will return to Him one day; we are returning to Him continuously. For instance,
where is my yesterday, where is my past year? Every moment has returned to Him.
When we die at 80, it is only that moment that is returning to Him. All the
past has already died and returned to Him. In a sense, this life and the next
are parallel. It is not linear (life followed by afterlife). (P-41-42). This part also deals with other fundamentals
associated with Muslim belief like Belief in Messengers, Scriptures, Angels,
Destiny, Afterlife and Judgment Day.
The Part 3rd
deals with Worship/Confirmation by Action. It describes the purpose of
creation, ways leading towards God, essence of following the fundamentals of
Islam, and avoiding the pitfalls of paganism and pantheism while remaining
loyal to monotheism. “We have been given limited knowledge so that we can
comprehend what it means for God to be the All Knower. Yet thinking that His
knowledge is the ocean and ours is a drop from the ocean is wrong. This would
wrongfully mean that we are a part of God (and even part of divine is divine;
hence this would be saying we are God). Ours is not a drop from the ocean. Ours
is a measurement which measures the quality of water, rather than of the same
kind of water” (P-128). Eren then writes
about belief and responsibility, “Belief is not a claim, but a dynamic
phenomenon. The most important aspect of Islam is the absence of institutions.
From one aspect, the lack of institutions gives the believer freedom, yet from
another aspect it gives greater responsibility since believers have a personal
relationship with their Creator without an intermediary” (P-132).
Eren then
deals with the satanic whisperings and how they try to distract the believers
from the Sirat al Mustaqeem. She further writes about the Ramadan and the
spiritual bliss that accompanies it. She further states about the relationship
between modest dress and spiritual states and piety. The real spirit of the
fundamentals of Islam and following them has been brought forth by Eren in this
book. The book also attains autobiographical overtures at times, as Eren
relates about her own personal journey to spiritual bliss and discovering path
towards Allah. Though the book has nothing new to offer but the way Eren
interprets the fundamentals of Islam makes the reader to remain glued with the
book. The book reads like a novel instead of a boring theological text mired
with difficult terms and concepts. At times the reader attains a state of
ecstasy while going through the pages of the book and can experience the
spiritual bliss through the words that describes the path of the journey
towards submission. Overall, the book is a nice read, but it has a few
grammatical and editing errors that can be corrected in the next edition. It is
indeed a welcome contribution by Eren, and I look forward for more from her
enlightening pen that writes beautiful prose.
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M.H.A. Sikander is Writer-Activist based in
Srinagar, Kashmir
URL: https://newageislam.com/books-documents/discovering-god-divine-power/d/130365
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