|
|
Adab al-Suluk: A Treatise on Spiritual Wayfaring
Shaykh Najm al-Din Kubra
Persian Translation by Husayn Muhyi al-Din Qumshehi
English Translation from Persian Translation by Ali Baqirshahi
Published by: al Tawhid Islamic Journal (vol VIII, No. 4)
Table of Contents
The
Persian Translator's Introduction
Adab al-Suluk
Chapter 1
Regarding the Spiritual Journey
Towards the Glorious Lord and the Significance of This Journey.
The
First Stage
The
Second Stage
The
Third Stage
The
Fourth Stage
Chapter 2
On the Outward Principles of This
Journey
The First Principle
The Second Principle
The Third Principle
The Fourth Principle
The
Fifth Principle
The
Sixth Principle
The Seventh Principle
The Eight Principle
The Ninth Principle
The Tenth Principle
Chapter 3
On the Inward Rules of This
Journey
The First Inward Rule
The Second Inward
Rule
The
Third Inward Rule
The Fourth Inward Rule
The
Fifth Inward Rule
The
Sixth Inward Rule
The Seventh Inward Rule
The
Eight Inward Rule
The
Ninth Inward Rule
The
Tenth Inward Rule
The Persian Translator's Introduction
Shaykh Najm al‑Din Kubra is one of the leading shaykhs of the Sufi path (Tariqah).
His name is Ahmad, his title is "al‑Tammat al-Kubra" and his birthplace was
Khwarazm. His fruitful life lasted nearly seventy‑eight years. It is said that
he died in 618/1221.
In his youth he set out for travelling. In Egypt he joined the circle of Shaykh
Ruzbahan Misri and attended his lectures and sermons. The teacher, impressed by
the intelligence and purity of heart of his disciple, loved him as his own son
and later married his daughter to him. After some time the young farer of the
Sufi path (salik) resumed his journey and benefited from the leading shaykh of
every city. When he returned to Egypt, Ruzbahan found that he had become a
perfect man who knew the secret of spiritual wayfaring (suluk) and had learned
the rules and ways of the various stages of love (Ishq)and that he was capable
of teaching and guiding others. Therefore, he advised him to return to his
native place, Khiyuk, situated in Khwarazm, and engage in guiding the seekers of
the path and disseminate Sufi teachings.
Shaykh Najm al‑Din left for Khwarazm along with his wife and children and set up
a hospice (khaniqah)and founded the Dhahabiyyah and Qurbaniyyah and other Sufi
orders. He trained many disciples who themselves later became saints (wali)and
teachers (murshid), like Majd al‑Din Baghdadi, Shaykh `Attar, Sa’d al‑Din Hamawi
and Najm al‑Din Razi. As to the date of his death, his biographers are unanimous
that the Shaykh was martyred, along with his disciples, on the tenth of Jamadi
al‑'Awwal 618/1221, while defending his city against the attack of the Mongols.
Among the eight works attributed to him by historians, there is one exegesis of
the Qur'an, of which not even a single copy has been found. Another is a small
treatise in Persian under the title of Fi adab al‑salikin ("The Rules of the
Wayfarers") which exists in the Asian Museum. The present tract is the
translation of one of the Shaykh's treatises in Arabic entitled Adab al‑suluk
ila Hadrat Malik al‑Muluk, which consists of two sections. One is a spiritual
journey towards God (Haqq)through removal of the veils of negligence and the
veils of distance and darkness. The other is a physical journey in the vast
earth of God. Out of these two journeys, here we have translated the one related
to esoteric wayfaring, on the basis of a manuscript in the. Central Library of
the Tehran University. I dedicate this work to those steeped in mysticism and
intoxicated by the wine of Tawhid.
It is hoped that this brief work will invoke interest among researchers so that
they are inspired to translate other works of the great Shaykh as well as to do
research on his life.
Husayn Muhyi al‑Din Qumshehi
Adab al-Suluk
He is the Truth.
All praise and gratitude is due to God, the Wise and the Merciful; the God Who
enables His slaves to travel through the horizons (afaq)so that they may observe
the wonders of His Might and Wisdom and discover the proofs of His Majesty, as
well as the signs of His Grace and Mercy in all directions and corners of the
world; the God Who makes the (satanic) selves of ‑ the wayfarers to die and
makes manifest the hidden secret of their inner selves, and brings what is
concealed to light through the hardships of journey, the taking of risks, and
the separation from home and children and the avoidance of association with
others (than Allah) and shunning all except Allah, the Master of the Kingdom (Malik
al‑Mulk). May God's peace and praise be upon the chief of mankind and the
noblest of the human species, Muhammad al‑Mustafa, his pure Family, his
Companions and his Ummah. Therefore, surrender yourself totally to Hadrat‑e Haqq
(The Truth, i.e. God).
O slave of Allah! Know that you are a wayfarer (salik)seeking your Lord and
ultimately one day you would meet Him, as said in a tradition: Whoever hopes to
meet God should know that the time of the meeting will come. And you should know
that God, the Exalted, by leis perfect Might and Wisdom has destined two
journeys for the Children of Adam. One of them is involuntary (qahri), and the
other one is voluntary (ikhtiyari).
As to the involuntary journey, the starting point is the father's loins (sulb);
the second stage is the mother's womb; the third stage is the physical world;
and the fourth stage is that of the grave, which is either a garden out of the
gardens of paradise or is a pit out of the pits of hell. The fifth stage is the
Day of Resurrection, which is equal to fifty thousand years of this world. After
that stage you will reach your eternal home and attain the real abode ‑ that is,
the abode of peace (dar al‑salam)and the paradise of security and peace, in case
you are among the felicitous and the friends of the Haqq; or your home will be
the abode of fire and torture, if, God forbid, you should be among the wretched
and the enemies of the Haqq, as Allah has said: "On the Day of Resurrection a
group will be in paradise and a group in hell." Every breath that you take is a
step towards the stage of death. Every day of your life is equal to a parsang.
Each month is like a stage (marhalah)and each year like a station (manzil). Your
journey is like the movement of the sun and the moon ‑ yet you are oblivious of
this journey and movement ‑ and in your ignorance and forgetfulness you have
failed to make ready and equip yourself properly for the station (manzil)of the
grave and the onward journey to the station of the Day of Resurrection and your
eternal and real home.
But the voluntary journey is of two kinds: one is the journey of the souls and
the hearts toward the Almighty and All‑powerful King of the world. The second is
a physical journey (safar jismani)in the earth of God. We will devote a separate
chapter to each one of these two journeys, so that you receive the required
guidance for attaining their goals and are guided in preparing the means, in
opening the gates, and in learning the principles (adab), which will be your
companion and assistant in matters relating to every good and piety, and so that
it assists the people of love (`ishq)and yearning during their journey, and
serve insha' Allah ta’ala, for the compiler as a provision for the Day of
Resurrection vis‑a‑vis his Lord (Mawla).
O Lord, open the gates of Your grace and mercy to us! O Lord, Who art Bounteous
and Magnanimous!
Chapter 1
Regarding the Spiritual
Journey Towards the Glorious Lord and the Significance of This Journey.
O slave of God, know that God, the Exalted,
created man only in order to enable his heart or spirit to make the journey
towards Him and to attain communion with Him, and to observe His Glory and
Beauty, which is the ultimate end of all purposes and goals and the end of all
bounties and gifts. The world and whatsoever in it, as well as the other world
and whatsoever is in it, have been created for the same purpose. The advent of
the prophets and messengers and the revelation of the Qur'an and the other
scriptures ‑ all are meant to fulfil the same purpose. As God says:
And I did not create the jinn and the human kind except that they should serve
(or worship)Me. (51:56)
Ibn `Abbas (May God be pleased with him) said that here li ya'budun (that they
may serve Me) means li ya`rifun (that they may know Me). That is, all have been
created in order to know Me. According to a sacred tradition (hadith qudsi),
God has said:
I was a hidden treasure; then I wished to become known. Then I created the
creation, so that I may be known.
But as to the meaning of this journey, know that man's heart is confronted with
veils, obstacles and great distances (of separation from God).
There are also for it degrees, stages and stations of proximity to God. If one
does not overcome the hurdles of the path, one cannot attain any degree of
proximity to God.
The Sacred Lord (Hadrat al‑Quds)will not be revealed until and unless he tears
away the veils of the self (hujubal‑nafs). So the first veil, which is the cause
of separation from the Almighty Lord (Hadrat al‑`Izzah)is ignorance regarding
Him, ascribing of partners to the One (shirk), and doubt in His attributes of
Glory and Perfection. All this amounts to the negation (kufr)to God, the
Exalted, which is the greatest and the darkest of all veils, as God has said:
Surely Allah does not forgive that partners should be ascribed to Him. (4: 48,
116)
Se it is essential for the seeker of God to change the darkness of ignorance of
his heart into illumination by means of the light of knowledge, to attain the
light of certainty (yaqin)by removing the darkness of doubt, to reach Tawhid by
coming out of the darkness of polytheism, and to attain the light of faith by
freeing himself from the perplexity of negation. Otherwise his body and soul
will remain in eternal darkness and damnation in the lowest levels of hell,
which God has ordained for the unbelievers, infidels and the enemies of God.
The second stage on the path of attaining proximity to God is that of obedience
(ta'ah)and servitude (`ubudiyyah)to Him, for God has commanded: O mankind,
worship your' God! Moreover, the Prophet (S) has narrated from the Exalted
Authority that He has said:
Those who seek nearness to Me do not succeed in attaining their goal except in
proportion to their fulfilment of all that I have made obligatory for them. My
servant always seeks nearness to Me by means of the nawafil (supererogatory
acts of worship) until he attains to My love for him.
Hence, whoever really knows his Master (Mawla)must obey Him, and whoever has
discovered his Lord must worship Him; otherwise he will remain in the darkness
of sins at the levels of blasphemy, for sin is one of the stages of remoteness (bu`d)from
God and obedience is a means to His nearness.
The third of the stages of nearness is good conduct. Therefore, it is for the
seeker of Haqq to transform his unworthy conduct into a praiseworthy one,
because every praiseworthy conduct is considered to be a means of nearness to
the Lord. As every moral vice is a step in the direction away from Him and which
incites His displeasure, the true seeker is obliged to turn himself from the
darkness of pride to the light of humility, from the meanness of jealousy to the
virtue of affection and compassion, from the baseness of stinginess to the
loftiness of magnanimity, from the dark abyss of ingratitude to the bright
heights of gratitude, from the darkness of hypocrisy to the light of sincerity,
from the desert of attachment to superficial beauty and riches of the corporeal
world to the garden of love and reliance upon the Lord of the heavens and the
earth, from the darkness of (false sense of) security (and unawareness) to the
light of the fear of God, from the obscurity of despair (and distrust) to the
light of hope and trust, from the shadows of wrath and anger to the light of
patience and tolerance, from the darkness of impatience and anxiety while facing
adversity and calamity to the light of patience and unconditional surrender to
the bitterness of fate, from the darkness of negligence to the light of
awareness and remembrance, from the darkness of perplexity and waywardness to
the light of resignation and humility, from the darkness of dependence on
worldly means to the light of submission to the will of the Lord of all lords,
and from the darkness of slavery of lust and sensuality to the light of
obedience to the exalted Creator. Thus, this journey is one of the most
important journeys, and it is obligatory for all the seekers of Divine nearness,
and the seekers of the. highest felicity and the eternal abode in the Hereafter,
to perform this journey.
The fourth stage of the spiritual journey is that of the journey through the
Beautiful Names (al‑'asma' al‑husna)and the Exalted Attributes (sifat)of Haqq.
For when a seeker purifies his inner being (batin)of the causes of distance
(from God) and refines and polishes his heart with the etiquettes of nearness,
he will be worthy of proceeding towards the Master of the Kingdom, the effect of
God's love and His grace having manifested itself in him. At this stage, there
is a difference in the ranks of the awliya' and asfiya' (the elect). Abu `Abd
Allah Muhammad ibn `Ali al‑Tirmidhi said: "God, Exalted and Glorious, taught His
Names to His slaves, and every Name pertains to a particular (spiritual) domain
(iqlim)and for every domain there is an authority (sultan). And every domain has
its assembly, discourse, gifts and rewards that are bestowed upon the people of
that iqlim. And He has assigned special stations to the hearts of the elect. It
may happen that a wali stays in the first iqlim, for out of God's Names he knows
only the name pertaining to that iqlim. It often happens that one of the awliya'
has a station in the second, third, and fourth iqlim at the same time. Hence,
whenever he turns towards a particular iqlim, the Name of that iqlim is
conferred upon him, so that he reaches the stage of the wali who partakes of
all the Names. He is the one who is benefited by all the Names and he is the
chief of the awliya’."Al‑Tirmidhi says further: "That which the common people
partake of the Divine Names is their faith in these Names. As to those who are
in the Middle position (ashab al‑yamin), as well as the common awliya’, their
share of the Divine Names depends on the opening of their hearts (sharh‑e
sadr)to these Names and the light that shines in them by means of the knowledge
(ma`rifah) of the Divine Attributes. Everybody enjoys according to his capacity
and the measure of spiritual light that his heart possesses. But the benefit
that the elect among the awliya’ ‑ who are totally ridden of the garb of earthly
attachments and clad in a new spiritual attire ‑ enjoy, comprises of direct
observation of Divine Attributes, and reception of their light within their
hearts. From what our Shaykh (God's mercy be upon him) has mentioned, it appears
that every wali enjoys a station specially assigned to him, which he does not
surpass, and this station is accorded to him by God in accordance with his
ability and capacity and the degree decreed for him by God. Hence when his heart
attains to that known station, his mystical wayfaring reaches its destination
and his journey culminates. In this journey there is no question of moving from
one place to another; neither does it refer to a wayfarer's movement in space
nor that of the destination sought. For God, the Exalted, is closer to a person
than his own jugular vein. Here, by `journey' is meant the removal of the veils
that obstruct the vision of the heart and the light of Divine Attributes from
shining in the wayfarer's heart. This is the same journey for which man has been
created.
Chapter 2
On the Outward
Principles of This Journey
You should know that this journey of the heart towards God requires
observance of certain rules (adab), some of which are related to the outward (zahir)and
certain others to the inward (batin).
The first principle relating to the outward is that the wayfarer should give up
material possessions and means and detach himself from worldly engagements. He
should not have any engagement except the service of his Master and obedience to
Him and His remembrance. [1] God, the Exalted, has said:
Remember the Name of thy Lord, and devote thyself unto Him very devotedly.
(73:8)
The second principle consists of seclusion and detachment from people,
especially from everyone who hinders one from approaching God. And God has said
to the Prophet (S): "Keep away from them and avoid those who call upon
everything other than God."
The third principle is that the wayfarer (salik) should protect the seven organs
of his body from what is abominable to his Master, God. They are as follows: The
eyes should be shut from looking at what is prohibited and is not beneficial for
one; the ears should not listen to slander, vilification and obscene words, and
the like; the tongue is to be protected from the same kind of errors and the
lips should be sealed from speaking what is devoid of benefit. And some `urafa'
have said, one's speech should be in remembrance of God, one's silence should be
an effort to contemplate, one's looking at things should be for deriving a
lesson. The salikshould also protect his belly from unlawful and suspect things,
and in the case of lawful things also he should not consume greedily, lustfully
in a state of being oblivious of God; rather, while eating food he should be
awake and aware of God's presence. In the same way, he should protect his feet
and hands as well as his sexual organs from what is unlawful and abominable.
The fourth principle is that salikshould oppose his carnal self (nafs), that is,
fight against its urges in desiring good food, good drink, good clothing,
sensuous acts, and possessing a good mount for riding, etc. This is the jihad
akbar (the higher struggle) about which the Prophet (S), the supreme leader of
mankind, said: "You have returned from jihad asghar (the minor jihad)to the
jihad akbar (the major jihad)."
And this jihad is more important and its fruits are more comprehensive than
fighting against infidels (kuffar), for infidels, in war, seek wealth and are
subject to the urges of their carnal self (nafs)which lead them to their
everlasting perdition and eternal privation. According to the `urafa',
subordination to the nafs is just like throwing firewood into flames, and the
seeker (talib)and the salik, in order to get rid of his nafs, should extinguish
that fire in himself.
The fifth principle is that the salikshould seek out an aware, perfect and wise
shaykh in order to guide him on the path of attaining perfection so that he may
attain to Haqq; for the seeker is like a patient who is surrounded by various
maladies and evils and afflicted by numerous diseases and ailments. The salikis
unaware of them, and even if he is aware, he does not know how to cure his nafs.
So he has no option but to seek out a compassionate and friendly physician who
can diagnose his diseases and help him to recover and overcome his maladies. In
other words, the salik is like a traveller in a perilous and dreadful desert,
who has no choice but to find a guide in order to be led to his destination.
The sixth principle is that the salikshould not busy himself with a medley of
supplications, remembrances (adhkar, pl. of dhikr)supererogatory prayers (nawafil)and
different kinds of practices, but should devote to a single form of dhikr and
perform all the obligatory prayers and prescribed forms of worships (fara'id wa
sunan). Only then he should immerse himself into the remembrance of God. It is
said that dhikr is the key to the hidden world (`alam al‑ghayb)and the lamp of
the inner world. Without a key one cannot enter a house and without a lamp a
dark house is not illuminated. Hence the salikshould remember God in the way a
lover remembers his beloved, and the remembrance must never leave him. Then he
must so much persevere in dhikr that dhikr gets attached to him, not leaving his
heart empty of dhikr even for a moment. When he continues in this dhikr, it is
transformed from human dhikr into celestial and holy (qudsi) dhikr. `Human dhikr'
is that which is done with the help of sounds, letters and numbers, while the
dhikr qudsi is that which is free from numbers, letters and sounds. After this
stage, the dhakir (doer of dhikr)loses his identity and is submerged within the
object dhikr. He becomes unaware of his dhikr as well as his own being. There
are many degrees of dhikr, some which are superior to the others, which are hard
to begin; but gradually hardship and labour disappears and dhikr becomes the
nature and habit of the salik.
The seventh principle is to keep constant fast, for this act signifies
opposition to and suppression of the carnal self, which is the root cause of all
veils, the ground of separation and remoteness from Haqq. If a salikreduces his
food gradually, it is permissible. This is the way which has been followed by
some Sufi masters (mashayikh). It is also proper if one adopts a middle path,
i.e. observes moderation. Muhammad (S) said: "Keep your self (nafs)in a sound
state, because it is what carries you about (markub); you should be kind to it
and take care of it." The Prophet (S) further said: "Whoever makes his faith
extremely austere for himself, his nafs overwhelms him and subordinates him." If
it happens that the salikhas to break his non‑obligatory (mustahabb)fast in
order to please his guest or at the signal of his spiritual guide (murad), he
should not let the self enjoy to its full, but take food in minimum quantity and
eat lesser than he is used to eat on the days when he keeps fast, so that he may
deprive his nafs from two pleasures (one is the breaking of fast and the other
is the pleasure of taking food to the heart's satisfaction). Moreover, he should
not always take bread along with stew (but be content with bread only), for this
practice is considered abominable by Sufi masters (mashayikh), particularly if
stew is prepared with meat.
The eighth principle is taking care of bodily cleanness, for such cleanness is
the weapon of a believer and it evokes inner enlightenment. The Prophet (S)
said: Wudu’ (ablution) performed on wudu’ shall be as light upon light on the
Judgement's Day."
The ninth principle is to keep vigil in nights. This practice is considered to
be one of the most important acts of the salik. In the praise of the virtuous (abrar),
God, the Exalted, says:
They used to sleep but little of night ....(51:17)
It means that they sleep little at night, and the night is the time of
supplication for the awliya’and the pure.
The tenth principle for the salik is that he should strive his best to get
lawful (halal)means of livelihood. God, the Exalted, has said:
Eat of the good things We have provided you... (2:172)
And the Prophet (S) said: "After the obligatory duties, it is obligatory to seek
lawful livelihood"; that is, after the duty of faith it is the most obligatory
of one's obligations. The lawful earning makes the inner being (batin)illuminated,
and unlawful earning darkens the heart. The `urafa' have said: Whoever is
nourished by lawfully earned things for forty days, God will illuminate his
heart. In case the absolutely lawful is not available due to the prevailing
dubious character of that which is earned, he should eat that which is less
susceptible to doubt, and that too is to be taken according to one's minimum
necessity and not to one's need and satiation. If the seeker acts with
negligence in this regard, he will not be in a position to benefit from the
fruits of the tree of `irfan. The author of the treatise (may God have mercy
upon him) says, a disciple (murid) should not, even in the days of hardship and
need, take even a grain of sesame that is doubtful, to say nothing of taking
such a thing during normal and easier circumstances. The root cause of
corruption of the world's people is their carelessness regarding this matter, as
well as their lack of abstinence from unlawful and doubtful food. The Messenger
of God (S) said: "The criteria of religion are piety and fear of God, and faith
is corrupted because of greediness."
Here end the outward rules prescribed for the salik. There are also many inward
rules followed by the people of the spiritual path (tariqah ).
Chapter 3
On the Inward Rules of This
Journey.
First is keeping watch over the self (nafs).
That is, the salikshould always keep vigil over his heart. He should not neglect
it even for a moment; for otherwise he would succumb to his carnal desires and
Satanic temptations. He should consider himself as being watched by God, as He
has said:
...Surely Allah has been a watcher over you (4:1).
The Prophet (S) said:
God watches your heart and acts
not your apparent behaviour and worldly belongings.
Second is the expression of humility, poverty and abasement before the Lord of
the world. Ba Yazid (may Allah hallow his mighty soul) said that a voice (sarush)called
me from within and said: "O Ba Yazid! There are many servants in Our service. So
if you seek Us, bring humility and neediness." Ba Yazid further said: "You know
for certain that you are in a crying need of your Lord at every hour on many
counts; so you are needful of His guiding light as well as His merciful glance,
guidance and His sustenance at every moment. And, also, you are in need of Him
at the time of death so that the light of Islam and its knowledge are kept
intact in your heart. In the grave, too, you are in need of Him so that you
successfully answer the questions asked by Nakir and Munkar (names of two
angels). It is He Who will be your friend in the terrors of the grave. The
greatest of all of your needs is your dependence on Him in the Day of Judgement,
the day of regret and remorse, so that God, the Exalted, may make your face
luminous, conceal your blemishes (with His mercy) and enhance the weight and
worth of your good works in His balance (mizan), that He may facilitate the
clearance of your account and put the book of your deeds in your right hand,
that He may keep you firm on the Path (shat)and save you from hell‑fire and lead
you towards paradise. His highest generosity and the most excellent favour is to
bless you with His beatific vision." These are your essential needs with regard
to your Master in this world and the other world. Hence your expression of
poverty and humility before God should be according to your real poverty and
need.
The third principle is repentance (tawbah)and penitence (inabah)before God, in
all conditions of hardship and affluence, comfort and calamity. Referring to the
Prophet Sulayman (A), God said: "He was a good servant, because he was
penitent." God said the same thing about the Prophet Ayyub (A), for Sulayman (A)
saw his Benefactor in His bounties (ni'mah)and Ayyub (A) saw the One who tries
in His trials. Neither did the bounties enjoyed by the former blur his vision of
the Provider, nor the hardship and tribulations of the latter veil his sight
from seeing the hand of their Sender. In both the cases, they attributed all
that happened to the Lord.
The fourth principle is surrender (taslim)to the command of God, the Exalted.
Taslim means to surrender to God both with the heart and the body, both of which
are under His ownership. To surrender a property to its owner is an essential
condition (of submission). The owner has the right to control his property and
dispose it in any way He deems proper. It is up to Him whether He honours or
disgraces His slave, breathes life in him or kills him, causes sickness or
bestows health on him, makes him rich or poor. Hence it is required of a
saliknot to raise any objection against His will. He should not complain overtly
or covertly, for the protest against the real owner is absurd and violation of
all norms. Complaint against the lord by someone who claims to be his slave and
lover is a shortcoming in one's love, servitude and devotion.
The fifth principle is rida (acquiescence), i.e. accepting Divine dispensations
without questioning though they be bitter. The common believers take recourse in
patience (sabr)when a calamity befalls. But the state of the elect in a similar
situation is that of rida. The difference between sabr and rida is that the
patient person (sabir), by virtue of his faith, faces calamity with forbearance;
his faith remains unshaken and he does not get disturbed in times of calamity;
he will not deviate from the path of servitude, howsoever great and unbearable
the calamity should be but his heart resents the calamity. But the acquiescent
person (radi) is the one whose heart is always in the state of acquiescence and
happiness. Calamity and affluence do not affect him, for whatever he receives
(from God), he considers it as a gift from a friend. He enjoys hardships
inflicted upon him by his Beloved and Friend with the same pleasure as others
enjoy favours. [2]
The sixth principle is permanent grief (huzn). The Prophet (S) said: "God loves
every grieving heart." Regarding the Prophet's attributes it is said that he
was always in the state of contemplation and grief. According to the `urafa',
every heart which is devoid of grief is nothing but clay. How can a believer
manage to be cheerful while he does not know what was written by the pen of
pre‑eternity about his fate, whether it is felicity or wretchedness. Also, he is
unaware of his end, for he does not know what he will earn tomorrow (in the way
of virtue or vice). He does not know whether his obedience will be accepted by
God or not, and whether his sins will be pardoned or not. Shaykh Abu al‑Hasan
al‑Kharqani was among the people of grief. One day he was asked the reason of
the grief of the great mystics. He replied that the reason is that they want to
knot/ God as He deserves to be known. But that is impossible. For no one can
know God as He deserves to be known.
The seventh principle is to have :good faith (husn al‑zann)in God, the Exalted.
And He said in a sacred tradition (hadith qudsi):
I treat My servant in accordance with his opinion of Me,
so let him have whatever opinion he has.
Therefore, it is necessary for a servant of God to have good faith in God or a
favourable opinion of Him. This state is reached as a result of discerning the
Attributes of Beauty of God, comprising generosity, mercifulness, magnanimity,
and the vastness of His forgiveness. Whoever mistrusts God or has an
unfavourable opinion of his Lord and loses hope in His mercy. He considers his
vices and sins bigger than the capacity of God's generosity and mercy. This
amounts to ascribing defect and shortcoming to God.
The eighth rule is that one should not consider oneself out of reach of God's
devising (makr). As God has said:
Are they then secure from Allah's scheme? None deem himself secure from Allah's
scheme save the losers. (7:99)
Further He has said:
The erudite among His bondmen only fear Allah .... (35:28)
This fear and awe is produced in one who contemplates God's attributes of
magnificence and wrath. For, in the same way as God is attributed with the
qualities of generosity and mercifulness, He is attributed with wrathfulness and
power as well. God, the Exalted, has said:
Surely I shall fill the hell with the firm and mankind together. (11:119)
It is said in a tradition that God, the Exalted, will say to Adam (A): "Arise
and throw them into the hell‑fire!" Adam will ask: "How many?" The reply would
be: "Nine‑hundred‑and‑ninety out of every thousand". Then how can a slave with
his burden of sins avoid being fearsome of Divine wrath and might after having
been aware of it?
The ninth principle is love (mahabbah). In this regard God has said
...He loves them, and they love Him... (5:54)
Love is the essence of all stations (maqamat)and virtues (karamat)by means of
which the slave of God progresses toward the Lord of the heaven and the earth,
and by virtue of which he will attain to the higher degrees of the journey (suluk).
Love is the fruit of the knowledge of the Beautiful Names of God. No one
possesses beauty (which is his own) in the world except God. Whatever beauty and
perfection is seen in the creatures is, in fact, a particle of the sun of His
beauty, a drop from the oceans of His perfection. If you consider beauty and
perfection to be confined to material forms and worldly things, know that you
are imprisoned within the world of (corporeal) form and are deprived of
observing the reality. For, the real beauty and rational perfection are found in
the essence of a being that possesses power and life, has the attributes of
generosity, benevolence, forbearance, and is devoid of any shortcoming and
defect. It is due to this reason that the generous, the noble, and the wise are
loved by all. Similarly, the warrior and the courageous are loved due to their
might, and the learned and the pious are respected due to their honesty and
purity. You know that each one of these attributes of glory and beauty are
inherent in the Divine Essence, which possesses them infinitely and eternally.
But beings other than God possess a beauty and perfection that is limited,
reckonable, accidental, finite and mortal. Even such attributes are borrowed
from the Divine ocean of bounty and beneficence. Hence, none except God
deserves to ‑be loved in the real sense, for every form of beauty (jamal)is
derived from Him. So everyone who loves something other than God is surely blind
to the beauty of God.
The tenth principle is to give up reliance on one's will (mashi'ah)and freedom (ikhtiyar)and
to take up trust in the Omnipotent Lord of the world. God has said:
Allah coins a similitude: (On the one hand) a slave who has control of nothing,
and (on the other hand) one on whom We have bestowed a fair provision from Us,
and he spends them secretly and openly. Are. they equal? .... (16:75)
So a slave has nothing to do with freedom, for freedom suits those who are free.
And the `urafa' have said, if a seeker has a single desire, it means that his
vision is obstructed by veils. They have also said that this (desire) is the
greatest of veils. Hence even the desire of union with God is the darkest of all
veils. So when even the desire of proximity to God is considered to be the
greatest veil, what is to be said about the condition of one who is plunged in
sensual desires and mundane enticements? Thus it is essential for a seeker to
be like the corpse in the hands of the bathers (ghussal), so that he may attain
communion with Haqq. Every desire takes one away from God.
The above‑mentioned principles are most important for inner perfection (batin)with
which a salikshould adorn his self (nafs)in order to be admitted‑into the
proximity of God. Otherwise his sincerity and aspiration will be deemed false;
his love will be merely a false claim; though he may consider himself as a
wayfarer towards God, in reality he is plunged in the dungeons of sensuality.
Endnotes
[1]. It does not mean that the wayfarer should not get
involved in any social activity, but that he should live in such a way
that whatever he does should be for the sake of God, and whatever
pursuit or service he chooses should be a means to attaining Divine
nearness. In this state, all one's acts and pursuits, though they appear
to be worldly are in reality for the Hereafter, that is the world which
is ‑superior to this world.
What is `the world' except the forgetfulness of God.
It is not family, possessions, wife and children.
[2]. Imam `Ali (A), in a famous sermon named Khutbat Hammam, describing the
qualities of the pious says:
...They are as happy in the face of calamity
as others are in the state of comfort.
The original HTML
document is prepared by Ahl Bayt Digital Library Project.
|