The spectrum of the human soul [95:4-5]

Our reflection for today is from Sura Teen [Chapter 95 of the Quran] where Allah [swt] says: 

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ 

[95:4] truly We created man in the most beautiful stature,

ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ 

[95:5] then We cast him to the lowest of the low,

Scholars explain that these verses refer to the human condition which originated as the most exalted creation AND it can also fall to the lowest of the low when human beings fail to live in accordance with their true nature, the fitrah, upon which Allah [swt] created them. 

The word that the Quran uses here, Taqwīm [translated as stature], is a verbal noun from the verb qawwama, which means “to raise, shape, form, or arrange.” Scholars explain that Taqwim is used to indicate “something that has become what it truly ought to be by achieving harmony and balance” in other words Ahsanu Taqwim [the best or most beautiful stature] implies the beautiful stature that can be achieved when the potential within the human beings is fulfilled. 

Scholars also explain that the most beautiful stature refers both to the human physical form as well as a symbol of “inner comportment,” as human beings are “the best of God’s creation both outwardly and inwardly”. To put it very very simply, Allah [swt] created the Human Being with outward beauty and [the potential for] inward beauty. 

The next verse talks about the other extreme of the human condition – while the human being is created with a beautiful stature, he can also fall to the lowest of the low. 

Physically, this verse can be seen as a reference to old age when we slowly lose our faculties and become a shadow of our strong youthful selves, when the beauty of youth slowly transforms to wrinkly skin and a receding hair line! 

With regard to the inner reality of the human being, the descent into “asfalas safileen” is not time bound or naturally occurring. Human beings can and may fall into being the lowest of the low by failing to fulfill the requirements of being created in the most beautiful stature. 

We will talk more about this in the coming days. For today, we just need to note and reflect on this spectrum of inner reality that is available to us as human beings. God intended and created us to be “Ahsanu Taqwim” and provided us with all that we need in order to be such. We also have within us, the possibility of falling into “asfalas safileen” by failing to live in alignment with our creational design. 

On a practical level, few of us have fully realised the beautiful potential that we have been created with. Thankfully few of us have also fallen to the depths of decline that this verse refers to. In other words, we toggle on the spectrum of our finer and base selves every single day, rather from moment to moment. 

This verse is both immensely inspiring and deeply humbling. It is humbling and in fact terrifying to recognize the depths to which we as human beings can fall and we need to be constantly watchful of the potential descent. The good news and hope in this: we can also choose to live in accordance with our higher selves in every moment of every day. We can turn back. We can begin again in the very next moment. Let us remind ourselves that Ahsanu Taqwim, the most beautiful stature is not achieved in grand gestures. Rather it is shaped — qawwama — through small, consistent alignments. Achieving our full potential is not a one time project. It is practiced every day in every moment. 

So let us pause and ask ourselves:

• In what areas of my life am I closer to living in alignment with my “most beautiful stature”?
• Where do I feel slightly (or majorly) misaligned with “Ahsanu Taqweem”?
• What small habits are elevating me?
• What small habits are lowering me?
• What baby steps can I choose today to live in accordance with Ahsanu Taqweem

No better time than this month to start, friends!