Adab as-Salat The Disciplines of the Prayer Second Revised Edition
BOOK ID
Author (s): Ayatullah Sayyid Imam Ruhallah al-Musawi al-Khomeini
Translator (s): Muhammad Jafar Khalili
Publisher (s): The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeinis Works
Category: Salaat (Ritual Prayer) Ethics Spirituality
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A detailed explanation of the strict disciplines and moral secrets of prayer, written by Imam Khomeini for the general public.
From The Publisher
In His Most Exalted Name
The Disciplines of Salat (The Islamic Prayer) , which was finished on Monday, the 2nd of Rabī' ath-Thānī, 1361 L. H. (Lunar Hijrī Year) [30th of Farvardīn, 1321 S. H. (Solar Hijrī year) ], is a detailed explanation of the Salat's strict disciplines and moral secrets. Three years before the writing of this work, the Imām (s) [salāmullāhi 'alayh = may Allah's peace be upon him] had written a book under the title: The Secret of the Salat, which contained the same concepts, but it was concise and in the terms of the elect gnostics. [1] Nevertheless, the late Imām, believing that more people should benefit from the subjects of the book, set upon writing this book in a simpler language. He says:
Before this, I prepared a paper in which I wrote on the secrets of the Salat as much as was feasible. But as it was not suitable for the common people, I decided to write parts of the cordial disciplines of this spiritual ascension, so that my brothers in faith may have a remembrance, and my hard heart may be affected by it.
Formerly, the folds [matāwī] of the book Ādāb
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as-Salat, with explanations and revisions, had been published under the title: Flying in the Heavenly Kingdom. Then the book itself was published. The former editions, however, were not agreeable, for some reasons. One of the reasons might probably have been the lack of a manuscript. Therefore, The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeinī's Works set forth to publish this work, with complete precision, faithfulness, and reference to the available copies, and collating them with the original MS (manuscript) copy which is within the reach of this Institute.
The book includes two prefaces, which the Imām wrote in 1363 S. H. , dedicating this work to his respected son, Hujjatul-Islām wal-Muslimīn, Hāj Sayyid Ahmad Khomeinī, and to Mrs. Fātimah Tabātabā'ī (wife of Hāj Sayyid Ahmad Khomeinī).
This edition is accompanied by footnotes and explanations, in which the sources and the references of the Hadiths and statements are stated, and the Arabic texts are translated. All these marginations except a few which the Imām himself had written down and are marked by an asterisk (*) (in the Persian copy) as well as the different indexes of the book, have been prepared and arranged by this Institute. [1]
Certain Islamic and gnostic terms have been printed in italics or in bold (beside the titles of the books). Some of these terms have been explained in English in the GLOSSARY at the end of the book.
A thousand copies of the first edition of the book (in Persian) are accompanied with the photostatic
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copy of the complete MS (manuscript) to be sent to the libraries and those interested in keeping specimens of the Imām's handwritten works. Other copies include only a printed sample of the MS.
We cordially thank the management and the staff of The Scientific and Educational Publishing Company for the help they accorded us.
Sending our greetings to the late Imām, we pray Allah, the Great, to bestow upon us His help to be more serviceable to Islam.
The Institute for Compilation and Publication
of Imām Khomeinī's Works
(International Affairs Department)
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[1]: The complete and revised text of The Secret of the Salat, including its Photostatic copy, comments and different indexes, has already been published by this Institute.
[1]: The numbers on the (left) side of the printed pages (of the Persian text) represent the numbers of the MS (manuscript) pages, which are the same as those of the printed pages. We draw the attention of the respected readers of the Persian text to the fact that the Imām, by oversight, had repeated the two page-numbers 172 and 278, and next to the number 263 he had written 267. We could have renumbered them correctly on the printed pages (of the Persian text) , but as this would have made it a bit difficult to find the MS's page numbers, besides the fact that the readers might, during their reading of the book, forget this warning and get lost in finding out a particular page of the MS, therefore, we had but to retain the same numbering on the printed pages (of the Persian text) as are on the Imām's hand-written pages. That is, the numbers 172 and 178 were repeated, and after the number 263 comes number 267.
Foreword
In His Most Exalted Name
Surely the greatest characteristic of Imām Khomeinī is that he was a God-centered and a Faith-pivoted man a characteristic, which has its roots in his religious ideology. From the positive gnostic point of view [1] Allah, the Great, is the Ruler over the heavens and the earth, and men are to perform their duties, and to bow, in respect, their heads before the Divine Will. They are not to worship other than Him, and not to put foot on any path except on His, as this world is just a transit station, while the permanent abode of the servants is in the neighborhood of Allah, the Glorified.
Man, in this world of matter, is to sow what he wants to harvest in the Hereafter. So, he should deservedly carry out what is incumbent upon him, and not to enter upon a course forbidden to him, so that he may prosper.
The
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Imām started his course in life with such an outlook, and when he rose, he was prompted only by the idea that it was his duty to rise, and when he issued his orders to wage the defensive war and to be steadfast; he issued them because he believed that to fight and be steadfast were religious duties. On the day when he decreed to the astonishment of everybody that Salmān Rushdie was to be executed, it was only because it is the very judgment of Islam against such an apostate.
Consequently, the thinkers of the world and the well-versed politicians admit that (Imām) Khomeinī was more of a religious leader than a politician, and he was engaged more in carrying out Allah's verdicts than in ruling on the basis of politics.
Only from this angle one may be able to cast a glance at the world-enlightening sun of the Revolution and get acquainted with his personality, and only with such a view in mind one may comprehend the depth of this expression in his will, where he says: “…With a calm soul, a confident heart, a cheerful spirit and a conscience full of hope in Allah's favor, I take leave from my sisters and brothers to travel to the eternal abode…” Peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he dies and the day he shall be raised up alive.
The book which is before you covers a part of Imām
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Khomeinī's looks into the valley of theoretical Gnosticism. It is dedicated by that godly man to his efficient and gnostic son, the late Hujjatul-Islām wal-Muslimīn Hāj Sayyid Ahmad Khomeinī, who, with a clear heart and a pure soul, spent his life walking along practical gnosticism, and who tried hard to carry out all the moral instructions of the Imām. It is dedicated to his daughter-in-law, too.
Now that the pen has inscribed the names of such great men, I feel ashamed of having my feeble fingers scribble an introduction to such a great book by such a great man. I request the people of knowledge, research and readings to pardon me, and extend their helping hands to me, who am lost on the road, trembling upon myself like the leaves of a willow!
At the end, I regard it necessary to offer my thanks to the respected Director of the International Affairs Department of the Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeinī's Works, his colleagues and the honorable translators who have translated this and other books of the Imām. I request all the translators in the country and those familiar with translating the gnostic works to assist this Institute in bettering such translations, since such an important question cannot be handled without their cooperation and heart-felt sympathy.
Sayyid Hasan Khomeinī
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[1]: The term “positive gnosticism” as against “negative gnosticism”, means that the Gnostic would not break with the creatures of Allah nor would he take to live in seclusion and isolation, rather he prefers to live among the people and with them. He even believes that it is his duty to guide the people to the straight and true path.
As regards the negative gnostic person, he breaks with the people, lives in seclusion, dislikes attending meetings, and spends his life in an isolated place, engaging himself in worshipping Allah.
Dedication
In The Name Of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful
I dedicate Ādāb as-Salat the book from which I had no benefit except regret because of my failure and negligence of
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the days on which I could have made myself, and except contrition and remorse during old age, being empty-handed, with a heavy burden, and a long way to go, with a lame leg, while the call of departure is ever resounding in my ears to my dear son, Ahmad. He is in the prime of life, and thus, he may, inshā' Allāhu Ta'āla (if Allah, the Exalted, wills) , avail himself of its contents, which are taken from the Glorious Book, the Noble Sunnah (The Prophet's traditions) and the statements of the distinguished.
Haply he will succeed in finding his way to the real ascension through the guidance of “the people of knowledge” [ahl-i ma'rifat], and tear off his heart from this dark dungeon, and head for the original destination of humanity, along the road on which the great prophets, the noble “holy men” [awliyā'] may Allah's blessing and peace be upon them all and the “people of Allah” [ahlullāh] trod, and to which they invited the others.
O my son! Hasten to comprehend yourself, which is fermented in “the divine disposition” [fitratullāh]. Save yourself from the ruining whirlpool of the formidable waves of self-conceit and selfishness. Get on board Noah's Ark, which is the light of “Allah's guardianship” [wilāyatullāh], because: “Whoever got on board it was safe, and whoever stayed behind it perished. ”
O my son! Try hard to be moving along the Straight Path which is the path of Allah even with a limping leg. Try to
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tinge the movements and the stillness of your heart and body with the divine spiritual tint, and to serve the creatures (just) because of their being Allah's creatures. The great prophets and the close “friends” [awliyā'] of Allah, despite their daily works like others, were never on good terms with the world, because they worked with Allah and for Allah.
The Last Messenger may Allah bless him and his household and give them peace is quoted to have said: “My heart is sometimes covered (as if with unmindfulness) , so I ask forgiveness from Allah seventy times every day. ” [1] He probably regarded discerning Allah in multiplicity as opacity [with respect to Allah].
O my son! Prepare yourself, after me, to face unkindness from those who will burden you with the worries they had on my part. If you settle your accounts with Allah and take refuge in remembering Him, you need not fear any creature, as the reckoning of creatures is transitory, while the reckoning before Allah is eternal.
My son! After me you may receive an offer for service. If you intend to serve the Islamic Republic and dear Islam, then do not refuse it. But if your intention is Allah forbid! To serve your sensual desires or to satisfy your passions, eschew it, for the worldly positions are too trivial to deserve perishing yourself for their sake.
O Allah! Make Ahmad, his offspring and family, who are of your servants and of the offspring of the
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Holy Messenger, happy in this world and in the Hereafter, and cut off the hands of the accursed Satan, so that he may not hurt them!
O Allah! We are weak, unable and lagging behind the caravan of the devotees on the road to you. O Allah! You yourself help us. O Allah! Treat us with your grace and do not treat us with your justice. Peace be upon the righteous servants of Allah.
Rūhullāh al-Mūsāwī al-Khomeinī
23 Rabī' al-Awwal 1405/ 25 Āzar 1363 S. H.
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[1]: Mustadrak al-Wasā'il, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “Invocations,” ch. 22, hadīth 1.
Author’s Preface
In His Most Exalted NameIn His Most Exalted Name
Alas! My life has passed in vain,
Loaded with sins, with no devotional gain;
Tomorrow when I am brought to the Scene of Judgment,
They will say that repentance chance did not remain.
The book Ādāb as-Salat, which I present to my dear daughter [-in-law], Fātī [Fātimah Tabātabā'ī, wife of Hujjatul-Islām wal-Muslimīn Hāj Sayyid Ahmad Khomeinī], whom may Allah make one of the musallīn (Salat performers) , was finished more than forty years ago. A few years before that, I had completed the book of Asrār as-Salat (The Secrets of the Salat). From that time till now more than forty years have elapsed, while I have neither perceived the secrets of the Salat nor applied its disciplines, for “perceiving” is other than “conceiving”, and “forming” is different from “performing”.
These books are as a proof [hujjat] from the Lord on this poor servant. I take refuge in Allah from being among those referred to by these back-breaking noble
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āyahs (Qur'anic verses):
“O you who believe, why do you say what you do not do? It is most detested in the sight of Allah that you say what you do not do” (Sūrah 61: 2-3).
I have no refuge but His vast mercy.
O my daughter, I hope you will be successful in applying the disciplines of this grand divine ascension, and be guided by this divine Burāq (the Prophet's heavenly horse) through a migration from the dark room of the self to Allah. I entrust you to Allah's custody lest reading these papers should increase your sensual longings, or make you like the writer a plaything in Satan's hands.
Dear daughter, although I found in you, thank Allah, such a spiritual fineness that I hope you will be guided by Allah, the Glorified and High, favored with His patronage, and be saved from nature's deep pit to the straight path of humanity, yet do not be heedless of the deceit of Satan, and of that of your own soul, which is even more dangerous. Take refuge in Allah, the Great, for He has mercy upon His servants.
My daughter, if there was no result from reading these pages Allah forbid! Except self-conceit, pretence and intrusion, it would be better to forgo reading them, or rather beware of them, so that you may not, like me, be subject to remorse and regret. But if you Allah willing prepare yourself to be benefited by the subject- matters of this book, which
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have been taken from the Book, the Sunnah, the hadīth of the infallible Ahl al-Bayt (The Prophet's progeny) and the statements of the people of knowledge, and to make use of your delicate God-given talent, then here you are!
Here is the ball and here is the ground! I hope you will, by this human ascent and divine mixture, empty your heart from others, rinse it with the water of life, say four takbīrs (Allāhu Akbar = Allah is Greater! ) and release yourself from selfness in order to reach the Friend:
“And whoever leaves his home migrating to Allah and His Messenger, and then death overtakes him, his reward is indeed with Allah” (Sūrah 4: 100).
O Allah! Make us of the immigrants to You and to Your Messenger, and take us to “annihilation” [fanā']. Grant Fātī [Fātimah] and Ahmad Your assistance to serve (Your servants) , and let them attain happiness.
Was-Salām.
Rūhullāh al-Mūsawī al-Khomeinī
2nd of Safar al-Muzaffar 1405 A. H.
Introduction
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send blessing onto Muhammad and his pure progeny, and may His curse be upon all their enemies, from now till the rise of the Day of Judgment.
O Allah! Our steps of traveling are too short to reach Your Sacred Court, and our demanding hand is unable to touch Your Skirt of Intimacy. The veils of desire and negligence have blocked our insight from Your Most Beautiful Beauty, and the heavy curtains of loving
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this world and devilry have secluded our hearts from attending to the Glory of Your Majesty.
The road to the Hereafter is narrow, and the path of humanity is tortuous, while we, the helpless, like the spiders, think of the jerked meat. We, like the silkworms, are perplexed, tying ourselves with the chains of desires and hopes, completely closing our eyes against the unseen world and the sociable gathering, except for the divine brightness with which You may light our hearts, and for Your unseen firebrand with which You may take us into rapture.
O Allah! Grant me to be exclusively dedicated to You. Light the eyes of our hearts with the light of looking at You, until the eyes of the hearts penetrate through the partitions of light so as to reach the origin of greatness, and our souls become hanging onto the glory of Your Sanctity. [1]
Now then, some years ago, I prepared a paper [2] in which I inserted as much as was possible of the secrets of the Salat. But as it was not suitable for the common people, I decided to write parts of the cordial disciplines of this spiritual mi'rāj, so that my brethren in faith may have a remembrance and my hard heart may be affected by it. I take refuge with Allah, the Blessed and Most High, from Satan's conduct and from failure, for He is a powerful guardian. I have arranged in this book a preface, a few discourses and
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a conclusion.
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[1]: “Munājāt-i Sha'bāniyyah,” Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 91, p. 99.
[2]: He refers to the book Sirr as-Salat (Mi'rāj as-Sālikīn wa Salat al-'Ārifīn). The author (may Allah sanctify his honorable tomb, at its beginning, after praising (Allah) , sending blessings (to the Prophet) and invoking, has written: “Now then, I, the bewildered in the valley of perplexity and ignorance, and tied to the wishes of I-ness and egoism, indulged in the intoxicating selfness and egotism, knowing nothing of the spiritual stations and the kingdom of existence, have sincerely decided to write about some of the spiritual stations of the great guardians in this spiritual sulūk (spiritual travel) and mi'rāj (ascension) of faith …” He has finished the said honorable book on the 21st of Rabī' ath-Thānī 1358 L. H. (19 Khordād, 1318 S. H. ).
Preface
Know that for the Salat, beside its form, there is a meaning, and apart from its exterior it has an interior; and as the exterior has its disciplines, neglecting which would render the outer form of the Salat invalid or incomplete, likewise its interior has cordial spiritual disciplines, neglecting which would render the spiritual Salat invalid or incomplete; whereas observing them would inspire the Salat with a heavenly spirit.
It would be possible that after paying attention to and observing the cordial inner disciplines, the musallī would have a share of the divine secret of the Salat of the “people of knowledge and of hearts” the Salat which is the delight of the people of sulūk [1] and the reality of the mi'rāj (ascension) to the proximity of the Beloved. [2]
Besides what was just said about the Salat's interior and unseen divine images, and in addition to its being in conformity with a kind of proof and the observations of the people of sulūk and asceticism, there are many āyahs and narratives, in general and particular, which denote that, too, and we shall bless the following pages by relating some of them.
Among them is the saying of Allah, the Most High:
“On the day when every soul shall find present what it has done of good and what it has done of evil, it shall wish that there were a long duration of time between it and that [day]…” [3]
This noble āyah says that everybody
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will see his good and bad deeds present and he will discern their unseen inner images. In another āyah He says:
“… and they shall find present what they have done,” [1]
And
“So, he who has done an atom's weight of good shall see it…,” [2]
Which means that the soul shall see its deeds.
As regards the noble Hadiths in this respect, they are too many to be contained in these pages. So, it suffices to state a few of them.
Among them, in the Wasā'il, quoting Imām as-Sādiq ('a) , it is said: “Whoever performed the obligatory Salats at the beginning of their times and observed their restrictions, the angel would raise them, white and pure, to heaven, and the Salat would say (to the performer): “May Allah preserve you as you preserved me and entrusted me to a generous angel. ”
But whoever performed them after their times, with no excuse, and did not observe their restrictions, the angel would raise them, black and dark, while the Salat shouting at the performer: “You have lost me, may Allah lose you, and may He not care for you as you did not care for me”. [3]
It denotes that the Salat is raised by Allah's angels to heaven, white and pure, when it is performed at the start of its time and its disciplines are observed. In this case it invokes good for the musallī; or it will be dark and black if it is delayed, without a
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reasonable cause, and its disciplines are neglected, in which case it will curse him.
This hadīth, besides denoting the fact that there are heavenly unseen images, it also denotes that they are alive, as evidenced by āyahs and narratives. Allah, the Most High, says:
“… and the next abode, most surely, is the life…” [1]
There are many Hadiths to the same effect, relating which would lengthen the subject.
Imām as-Sādiq ('a) is quoted to have said: “When a believing servant is put into his grave, the Salat stands on his right and the zakāt on his left, his good deeds stand shadowing over him and forbearance stands aside. When the two angels in charge of interrogation enter the grave, forbearance tells the Salat, the zakāt and good deeds: “You have to help your friend. If you felt unable, I would be with him”. [2]
This noble hadīth is related in the noble al-Kāfī through two channels. Shaykh as-Sadūq (may Allah have mercy upon him) has related this hadīth in Thawāb al- A'māl. It speaks clearly of the unseen images of the barzakh, and their life and common sense. The Hadiths about the heavenly images of the Qur'an and the Salat are numerous.
With regard to what has been said that the Salat and other forms of worship have, besides their outward disciplines, other inward disciplines without which the Salat would be incomplete or even unacceptable to Allah, the following pages will numerate and state those cordial (inward) disciplines, inshā' Allāh (if
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Allah wills).
What one should know, however, in this stage, is that to satisfy oneself with the appearance and outer form of the Salat, and to be deprived of its blessings and inner perfections which bring about eternal happiness, or rather, bring one to the proximity of the Lord of Might, and set up the ladder of ascent to the stage of meeting the Absolute Beloved the Ultimate Goal of the godly men and the Final Hope of the people of knowledge and those who have “hearts”, or rather, the Beloved of the Master of the Messengers (s) [1] is one of the heavier losses, as it will be after leaving this world and entering the reckoning (day) of Allah the cause of so great regrets that our minds are incapable of comprehending them.
As long as we are enwrapped in the veils of this world, and live in the covers of nature, we cannot have knowledge of the other world, and cannot keep warm by a remote fire. What regret, remorse and loss can be greater than that after forty or fifty years of toiling for the sake of attaining a thing which is the means of man's perfection and happiness, and the remedy for the pains of the cordial deficiencies, and it is, in fact, the image of the human perfection, we cannot be spiritually benefited by it, and rather, it becomes the cause of tarnishing the heart and brings dark veils, and what is the pleasure of the Messenger
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(s) causes the weakness of our insight:
“…Alas for me, for what I fell short of my duty to Allah…” [1]
So, dear, tuck up the skirt of aspiration, extend the hand of demand, bear every labor and hardship in order to reform your affairs and acquire the spiritual conditions of the Salat of the people of knowledge, and make use of this divine mixture [ma'jūn], which is prepared with the complete understanding [kashf] of Muhammad (s) for the sake of soothing all the pains and deficiencies of the souls.
Since it is still not too late, try to break camp and leave this dungeon of darkness, regret and remorse, this deep pit, which is far away from the holy presence of the Lord, the Exalted and Most High. Release yourself and try to reach the ascension [mi'rāj] of union [wisāl] and the proximity of perfection. Beware! If this means were lost, other means would fit: “If it was accepted, other deeds would be accepted, and if it was rejected, other deeds would be rejected, too. ” [2]
We shall explain, as much as possible and necessary, the inner disciplines of this spiritual sulūk, so that someone of the people of faith may have a share of it. This might as well be a cause for the divine mercy and the unseen care to be bestowed upon me, lagging as I am in the way to happiness and humanity, and chained in the prison of nature and selfishness. Surely Allah
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is the Patron of generosity and care.
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[1]: It hints at some narratives, including one from the Messenger of Allah (s) saying, “My delight has been placed in the Salat. ” Furū‛ al-Kāfī, vol 5, “Book of Marriage”, ch. on “Loving Women”, hadīth no. 7, p. 321.
[2]: It refers to a narrative from the Messenger of Allah (s) saying, “The Salat is the mi'rāj of the believer. ” 'Allāmah al-Majlisī, I'tiqādāt, p. 29.
[3]: Sūrah Āl-i 'Imrān 3: 30
[1]: Sūrah al-Kahf 18: 49
[2]: Sūrah Zilzāl 99: 7
[3]: Wasā'il ash-Shī‛ah, vol. 3, Kitāb as-Salat, sec. on “Times” ch. 3, hadīth 17, p. 90 (with a slight difference).
[1]: Sūrah al-'Ankabūt 29: 64
[2]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 3, “Book of Belief and Disbelief,” ch. on “Forbearance,” hadīth 8, p. 143; Thawāb al-A'māl, “Thawāb as-Salat waz-Zakāt wal-Birr was-Sabr,” hadīth 1, p. 203.
[1]: Refer to footnote 7.
[1]: Sūrah az-Zumar 39: 56.
[2]: Falāh as-Sā'il, p. 127, quoting Man Lā Yahduruh al-Faqīh, in which the text is: “The first thing about which the servant is questioned is the Salat, if it was accepted his other (devotional) acts would be accepted, and if it was returned to him, his other acts would be returned to him (too). ” vol. 1. “The Merit of the Salat,” ch. 30, hadīth 5.
Discourse One
Concerning the Disciplines which are necessary in all states of the Salat, or rather in all worships and rituals. Discussed in Twelve Chapters.
Chapter 1: Cordial Disciplines
One of the cordial disciplines of the worships and the spiritual duties of the traveler along the path to the Hereafter is paying attention to the Might of the Lord and to the humility of servitude. It is one of the important stages for the sālik (traveler). The strength of everybody's sulūk (journey) is in proportion to the strength of this attention, or rather the perfection or the imperfection of humanity is connected to the perfection or imperfection of this matter.
The more one is overwhelmed by egoism, egotism, self-conceit and selfishness, the farther he will be from the human perfection and from the nearness of the presence of Allah. The veil of self-conceit and egotism is thicker and darker than all other veils. To tear open this veil is more difficult than tearing all other veils, and tearing it is a preparatory step to tearing other veils. In fact, tearing off this veil is the master key for the invisible, the visible and the great door of the ascent to the perfect spirituality.
As long as man has his eyes on his own self, his imagined beauty and perfection, he will be veiled and discarded from the absolute beauty and pure perfection. The first condition for traveling to Allah is to leave this house. Actually, it is the
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criterion for the struggle between right and wrong. So, every sālik, who travels with the steps of selfishness and self-conceit, and is wrapped in the veils of egotism, his sufferings would be in vain and his journey would not be to Allah, it would rather be to his self: “The mother of the idols is the idol of your self. ” [1]
Allah, the Most High, says:
“And whoever leaves his house migrating to Allah and His Messenger, and then death overtakes him, his reward is, indeed, with Allah. ” [2]
The formal migration, or the form of migration, is the corporeal migration from the formal house to the ka'bah or to the shrines of the holy men [awliyā'] ('a) , but the spiritual migration is the going out of the house of the soul and the house of this world to Allah and His Messenger. To migrate to the Messenger and the guardian [walī] is also a migration to Allah.
As long as one's soul has an inclination to oneself and to egotism, it is not journeying. And so long as there are residues of Oneness in the sālik's eyes, and as long as the walls of his own town and the adhān announcing selfishness have not yet disappeared, he is regarded as a staying one, not a traveler or an emigrant.
It is stated in Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah that Imām as-Sādiq ('a) said: “Servitude is a gem whose core is Lordship [rubūbiyyat]. Whatever is lost of servitude is found in the Lordship, and whatever
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is hidden of Lordship is obtained by servitude. ” [1]
The one who travels on the foot of servitude, and burns his forehead with the brand of the humility of serfdom, will reach the Glory of (His) Lordship. The way of attaining to the facts of Lordship is journeying along the footsteps of servitude, and what is lost of servitude because of egoism and egotism, can be recovered under the shadow of the Lordship's patronage, until he reaches a stage in which the Haqq (Allah) , the Most High, will become his ears (hearing) , eyes (seeing) , hands and legs, as is stated in the true and well-known hadīth accepted by the two sects. [2]
When the sālik forsook his conducts [tasarrufāt] and completely submitted the kingdom of his existence to Allah, leaving the house to its Owner, and perishing in the Glory of (His) Lordship, the Owner of the house would Himself manage the affairs. Thus his conducts [tasarrufāt] would become divine, and his eyes would be divine and he would see with the Haqq's (Allah's) eyes, his ears would become divine and he would hear with the Haqq's (Allah's) ears.
The more complete the lordship of the soul and the more its glory be cherished, the more, in the same proportion, the Glory of the (divine) Lordship decreases and becomes incomplete (in the sālik's kingdom of existence) , because these two stand face to face: “This world and the next are like the two wives of a man. ” [3]
Thus,
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the sālik to Allah has to recognize his state of humility, and to place the humility of servitude and the Glory of the Lordship before his eyes. The stronger this viewpoint, the more spiritual his worship and the stronger the spirit of his worship, until, if, with the help of Allah and the perfect holy men [awliyā'] ('a) , he reaches the truth of servitude and its core; he will catch a glimpse of the secret of worship.
In all the worships especially (in) the Salat which has a position of comprehensiveness [jāmi'īyyat], and is, among the worships, like the Perfect Man, and like the Greatest Name (of Allah) , or rather it is the very Greatest Name these two positions, i. e. the position of the Glory of Lordship, which is a fact, and the position of the humility of servitude, which accompanies it, are occult. Among the recommended acts the qunūt, and among the obligatory acts the sujūd, have particular peculiarities to which we shall refer later inshā' Allāh.
It should be noted, however, that absolute servitude is of the highest degrees of perfection and of the loftiest positions of humanity, of which no one has any share except the most perfect of the creatures of Allah, Muhammad (s) at the top, followed by the perfect walīs (the Guardians). The others are limping in servitude, and their worshipping and servitude are endued with causes, only with the steps of servitude one can reach the real absolute mi'rāj.
That is why the noble āyah
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says:
“Glorified is He who carried his servant by night…” [1]
It was the step of servitude and the attraction of (His) Lordship that carried that holy person to the mi'rāj of proximity [qurb] and union [wusūl]. In the tashahhud of the Salat which is a return from an absolute “annihilation” [fanā'] that was achieved in the sujūd there is once again a tendency to servitude, before paying attention to the Messengership. It may also be a reference to the position of Messengership as a result of the essence of servitude. This is a lengthy subject, which is out of the scope of these papers.
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[1]: “The Mother of the idols is your self's idol,
As those are snakes, and this is a dragon-idol! ”
Mawlāwī
[2]: Sūrah an-Nisā' 4: 100
[1]: Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, “On the Reality of Servitude,” ch. 100.
[2]: This is a reference to a narrative about “The Approximation by Nawāfil”, which reads: ”…He (Allah's servant) keeps trying to get closer to Me by means of the nāfilah until I love him. Loving him, I will become his ears with which he hears, his eyes with which he sees, his tongue with which he speaks and his hand with which he strikes. When he asks Me I answer him, and if he demands from Me I will give him…” Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 4, “Book of Faith and Infidelity,” ch. on “One who Hurts and Despises the Muslims,” hadīths 7-8, p. 53.
[3]: 'Awāliy ul-La'ālī, vol. 1, p. 277 and vol. 4, p. 115; Nahj al-Balāghah, edited by Fayd al-Islām, maxim 100.
[1]: Sūrah al-Isrā' 17: 1.
Chapter 2: The Stages Of The Stations Of The People Of Sulūk
Know that there are for the people of sulūk, in this station (i. e. , paying attention to the humility of servitude and the Glory of His Lordship) and other stations, countless stages and degrees, only to a few of which we can generally refer, since comprehensively knowing all their aspects and counting all the stages are beyond the capacity of this humble creature: “The ways to Allah are as numerous as the breaths of the creatures. ” [2]
One of those stages is the stage of Knowledge ['ilm], which is such that it proves, by scientific conduct [sulūk] and philosophic argument, the humility of servitude and the Glory of (His) Lordship. This is a pure sort of knowledge, since it is clearly proved in the high sciences and supreme philosophy that the entire House of Realization [dār-i tahaqquq] and the complete circle of existence are mere relation
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and attachment and nothing but poverty.
The Glory, Kingdom and Sovereignty belong to His Sanctified Essence of Majesty. No one can have any share of Glory and Majesty, while the humility of servitude and poverty is engraved on the forehead of everybody, and is registered in the innermost part of their truth.
The truth of gnosis and vision [shuhūd], and the result of suffering and sulūk, are in lifting the veil off the face of the truth, and discerning the humility of servitude and the origin of poverty and lowliness in oneself and in all the creatures. The invocation ascribed to the master of all beings (the Prophet of Islam) (s): “O Allah, show me the things as they are,” [1] may be a reference to this stage, i. e. wishing to see the humility of servitude which requires discerning the Glory of the Lordship.
Therefore, if the sālik on the road of the truth, the traveler in the way of servitude, covers this distance with the steps of scientific sulūk and the mount of intellectual advance, he will fall in the veils of knowledge and attain the first station of humanity. But this veil is a thick one, as it is said: “Knowledge is the greatest veil. ” The sālik should not stay behind this veil. He is to tear it, since, should he be contented with this stage and keep his heart chained by it; he would fall into istidrāj (being engaged in other than the Haqq).
Istidrāj in this stage, means becoming
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engaged in the numerous secondary branches of knowledge, presenting many arguments justifying his intellectual roamings in that field, and depriving himself of the other stages, because his heart is attached to this stage only, neglecting the wanted result, which is attaining annihilation in Allah.
He, thus, would spend his life in the veil of argument [burhān] and its branches. The more these branches are, the thicker the veil and the greater the distance from the truth. The sālik, therefore, should not be deceived, in this stage, by Satan, secluding himself from the truth and reality, and stopping his journey to the goal on the pretext of being a great scholar, a very learned person and a powerful man of argument. He must set to work briskly, be serious in his quest for the real demand, and take himself to the next stage, which is the second stage.
And that is such that he should write what (his) reason has understood through irrefutable proof and scientific conduct, with the pen of intellect on the tablet of the heart, to convey the truth of the humility of servitude and the Glory of Lordship to the heart and free himself from the chains and the veils of knowledge. We shall refer to this stage presently, inshā' Allāh. So, the result of the second stage is acquiring belief in the facts.
The third stage is that of “tranquility and calmness of the soul,” which is, in fact, the perfect stage of faith. Allah, the Exalted, said to
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his “friend” [khalīl] Ibrāhīm:
“Have you not believed [yet]? ” He said: “I have, but just to have a calm heart. ” [1]
A reference to this stage may come later.
The fourth stage is that of “vision” [mushāhadah], which is a divine light and a divine manifestation, as a consequence of the manifestations of the Names and the Attributes appearing in the secret of the sālik, and lightening his complete heart with the visionary light. This stage comprises many degrees that are out of the capacity of these pages. In this stage an example of the effect of the nāfilahs: (I would be his hearing, sight and hand) [2] will appear, and the sālik will see himself drowned in limitless ocean, beyond which there is another very deep ocean, in which the secrets of “fate” are partly disclosed.
Each one of these stages has its special istidrāj (being engaged in other than the Haqq) through which the sālik is exposed to great perishing [halākat]. So, he will have to rid himself, in all stages, of egoism and I-ness. He should not be self-conceited or egotistic, both of which are the sources of most of evils, especially for the sālik. However, we shall have another reference to this subject presently inshā' Allāh [Allah willing].
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[2]: This hadīth is ascribed to the Prophet (s) in Jāmi' al-Asrār wa Manba' al-Anwār by Sayyid Haydar Āmulī, pp. 8, 95 and 121. Also in the Lāhījī's Commentary on Gulshān-i Rāz, p. 153; Naqd an-Nusūs, p. 185; Minhāj at-Tālibīn, p. 221; Al-Usūl al- 'Asharah, p. 31.
[1]: In 'Awāliy ul-La'ālī, vol. 4, p. 132, it is stated: “Oh Allah, show us the facts as they are. ” Commenting on the same, quoting at-Tafsīr al-Kabīr by al-Fakhr ar-Rāzī, vol. 6, p. 26, and in Mirsād al-'Ibād, p. 309, it is stated as follows: “Show us the things as they are. ”
[1]: Sūrah al-Baqarah 2: 260.
[2]: Refer to footnote 21
Chapter 3: Concerning Submissiveness [Khushū‘]
One of the things necessary for the sālik in all his worships, especially in the Salat, which is at the head of all worships and has a position of comprehensiveness [jāmi'iyyat], is submissiveness [khushū']. It is, in fact, a complete
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submission [khudū'] mixed with love or fear. It is the result of comprehending the Greatness, Power and Majesty of Beauty and Glory. The detail of this generality is that the hearts of the people of sulūk are different according to their disposition and nature:
Some of the hearts are amorous and of the manifestations of Beauty [jamāl] and, driven by their nature, they are attracted to the Beauty of the Beloved. When, in the sulūk, they comprehend the shadow of the Beautiful, or witness the origin of the Beauty, the Greatness hidden in the secret of the Beauty effaces them, and they go into rapture, for in every beauty there is a hidden glory, and in every glory there is a covered beauty.
There is probably an allusion to this point in his saying when the guardian of the gnostics and of the sāliks, Amīr al-Mu'minīn (Commander of the Faithful) , may Allah bless him and all his offspring, says: “Glory be to the One whose compassion is vast for His friends despite His severe revenge, and whose revenge is severe for His enemies despite His vast compassion,” [1]
Thus, the Majesty, Greatness and Power of Beauty envelop them and they fall into a state of submission [khushū'] before the Beauty of the Beloved. This state, at the beginning, causes agitation to the heart and engenders anxiety. Then, after submission [tamkīn], it changes to a state of familiarity, and the agitation and anxiety, caused by the Greatness and Power, turn into familiarity
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and peace, and there happens a state of tranquility, as was the state of the heart of khalīl ar-Rahmān (Allah's Friend = Ibrāhīm) ('a).
Some other hearts are “fearing” and they are of the manifestations of Glory [jalāl]. They are in continual understanding of the Greatness, Grandeur and Glory. Their submission is of fright, and the Subjugative and Majestic Names are manifested to their hearts, as was the state of Prophet Yahyā (may Allah's peace be upon him and our Prophet and his progeny). So, submission is sometimes mixed with love, and sometimes with fear and fright, though in every love there is fear, and in every fear there is love.
The degrees of submission are according to the degrees of understanding the Greatness, Majesty and Beauty. Now as we, in our case, are deprived of the light of visions, we have but to indulge in acquiring submission by means of knowledge and faith [īmān]. Allah, the Exalted, says:
“Successful, indeed, are the believers who are submissive in their Salats. ” [1]
Submission in the Salat is regarded as a sign of faith [īmān]. So, whoever is not submissive in his Salat, will, according to Allah's saying, be excluded from the faithful [ahl-i īmān]. Our Salats which are not accompanied by submission are caused by a deficiency of faith or by lacking it. Belief [i'tiqād] and knowledge are other than faith, our knowledge of Allah, His Names and Attributes and of other divine knowledge [ma'ārif], is other than faith.
Satan according
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to the testimony of Allah, has information about the Beginning and the Resurrection, yet, he is a disbeliever. He said:
“You have created me of fire, while You created him of dust,” [1]
So, he believes in Allah and in His being the Creator; and he says: “Respite me until the day they are resurrected. ” [2] So, he believes in the Day of Resurrection, too. He knows about the Books, the Messengers and the angels. Nevertheless, Allah addresses him as a disbeliever, excluding him from the group of the believers [mu'minīn].
Thus, the people of knowledge are distinct from those of faith. Not every man of knowledge is a man of faith. Therefore, after acquiring knowledge, one has to join the believers, and to convey the Greatness, Majesty, Brightness and Beauty of Allah, the Most Exalted and High, to his heart, so that it may become submissive, since mere knowledge does not result in submission. You can realize it in yourself: although you do believe in the Beginning and the Resurrection and in Allah's Majesty and Glory, your heart is not submissive.
As to Allah's saying:
“Has not the time yet come for those who believe that their hearts should be submissive when remembering Allah and what has come down of the truth,” [3]
it may be that it is the formal faith the very belief in what the Prophet (s) has brought which is intended here, for the true faith is accompanied by a degree of submission; or the submission in the
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noble āyah may refer to a submission at its complete degree, as sometimes they apply the word, ‛ālim (erudite) to the one whose knowledge has reached the limit of faith.
In the noble āyah:
“…verily only the erudite among Allah's servants fear Him,” [1]
The reference may be to them. In the terms of the Book and the Sunnah, knowledge, faith and Islam refer to different degrees, the explanation of which is out of the scope of these papers.
Generally speaking, the sālik on the way to the Hereafter specially if with the mi‛rāj (ascending) step of the Salat will have to make his heart submissive by the light of knowledge and faith, so as to strengthen, as much as he can, this divine gift and the beneficent gleam, in his heart, trying to keep this state during the whole length of the Salat. This state of consolidation and stability, though a bit difficult at the beginning for people like us, it becomes quite possible by practice and by exercising the heart.
My dear, acquiring perfection and the provision for the Hereafter requires demand and seriousness, and the greater the demand, the more it deserves being serious about it. Certainly, with such a state of weakness, laxity and carelessness, one cannot ascend to the divine proximity and to be in a place neighboring the Lord of Might.
One has to manly set forth in order to reach what one wants. Since you do believe in the Hereafter, and find no way of
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comparability between that world and this whether regarding their happiness and perfection, or their sufferings and calamities, as that world is eternal, with no death and perishing, where the happy live in comfort and dignity and in everlasting bliss, a comfort which has no like in this world, a divine glory and sovereignty, the like of which cannot be found in this life, and a bliss which never occurs in anybody's imagination, and similarly regarding the sufferings of that world, its pains, torments and evils can have no match in this world you should know that the way to happiness runs through obeying Allah, the Lord of Might.
None of the acts of worship and obedience can be on the same footing as that of the Salat, which is a comprehensive [jāmi'] divine mixture [ma‛jūn] undertaking the happiness of humanity. If it is accepted, all other acts (of worship) will be accepted. So, you are to exert utmost seriousness in obtaining it, never to feel tired in the quest, and to bear whatever hardship there may be, though there will be none.
Actually if you continued it for a while and got cordially familiar with it, you would get, in this very world, so much pleasure out of your talk with Allah a pleasure which cannot be compared with anyone of this world's pleasures. This will be quite obvious if we study the states of the people supplicating to Allah.
In general, to sum up our discussions in this chapter, we
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may say that, having comprehended the Greatness, the Beauty, and the Majesty of Allah, either by means of reasoning and proofs, or through the explanations of the prophets ('a) , one must remind his heart of it, and then, by gradual remindings, cordial attention and continual remembering Allah's Greatness and Majesty, he has to bring about the state of submission in his heart, so as to attain the required result.
At any rate, the sālik should not suffice himself with his present station, as any station which we may obtain is not worth a farthing in the market of the people of knowledge, nor is it worth a grain of mustard in the bazaar of “the people of heart”. The sālik must, in all situations, remember his own faults and deficiencies, so that he may find, through this, a way to his happiness. And praise be to Allah.
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[1]: Nahj al-Balaghāh, sermon 90.
[1]: Sūrah al-Mu'minūn 23: 1-2.
[1]: Sūrah al-A'rāf 7: 12.
[2]: Ibid. , 7: 14.
[3]: Sūrah al-Hadīd 57: 16.
[1]: Sūrah Fātir 35: 28
Chapter 4: Tranquility
Of the important cordial disciplines of worships, especially the invoking worships, one is tranquility [tuma'nīnah], which is not the same tranquility as demanded by the jurisprudents (may Allah be pleased with them) in the Salat. It is that the sālik should perform his worship with a quietude of the heart and a tranquility of the mind, because if the worship was performed in a state of anxiety and with shaky heart, the heart would not have any reaction, and no effects of worship would appear in the dominion of the heart, and the reality of the worship would not become an inner
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image of the heart.
One of the significances of the repetition of worships and the increase of supplications and invocations is that the heart is affected by them and there will be an emotion until, gradually, the reality of worship and supplication forms the innermost part of the sālik, and his heart unites with the spirit of worship. Should the heart lack tranquility [itmīnān], quietude and serenity, there would be no effect of the supplications and the rituals on it, and they would not pass from the outer appearance and limits of the body to the dominion of the inner soul, and the cordial parts of the truth of worship would not be effected.
This is one of the clear matters that need no explanation, as it could be understood by a little contemplation. If a worship was such that the heart could have no information whatsoever about it, and there was no effect at all in the interior, it would not be kept in other dominions, nor would it ascend from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of the heavens. And it may be that at the time of the throes of death and its horrible agonies, and the terrors and calamities of after death, the image of such a worship may completely be effaced God forbid! From the plane of the heart, and that man may stand at the sacred presence of Allah empty- handed.
For example, if one recites the noble supplication: Lā ilāha
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illallāh, Muhammadun Rasūlullāh (There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) with a calm and tranquil heart and teaches his heart to repeat it, the tongue of the heart will gradually become talking, and the outer tongue will be a follower of the heart's tongue, and then the heart will supplicate first, and the tongue will follow it.
This is referred to by Imām as-Sādiq ('a) as is stated in Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah (the Torch of the Islamic Law). He said: “Let your heart be your tongue's qiblah, and do not move it except by the heart's order, the reason's assent and the faith's consent. ” [1]
At the beginning, before the tongue learns talking, the sālik on the way to the Hereafter is to teach it and to instruct it, in tranquility and quietude, with the supplications. As soon as the heart finds its tongue, it becomes the qiblah (the focus of attraction) of the mouth's tongue and of the other organs of the body. When it starts supplication, the whole kingdom of the human existence becomes supplicant.
But if the noble supplication is recited without the tranquility and calmness of the heart, but with haste, trouble, and unbalanced senses, it will have no effect on the heart, and will not pass the limits of the animal tongue and ear of the outer body to the interior and the human hearing, and its truth will not be implemented in the core of the heart, nor will it become a
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perfect and non-transitory image of the heart. Thus, when there are terrors and difficulties, especially the terrors of the agonies of death and the difficulties of the throes of the last breaths, one completely forgets supplication and it will be erased from the plane of the heart.
Even the name of Allah the Exalted, the Seal of the Prophets (s) , the noble religion of Islam, the divine sacred Book, the Imāms of guidance ('a) and other knowledge [ma'ārif] which have not been conveyed to the heart, will be forgotten, and when he is questioned in the grave, he cannot answer, and the talqīn will be of no avail, because he does not find in himself any trace of the truth of Lordship, prophethood or other knowledge [ma'ārif], and that what he used to chatter about, and had no image of in his heart, vanishes from his memory, and thus he will have no share of testifying the Lordship, prophethood and other knowledge [ma'ārif].
It is stated in a hadīth that a group of the people [ummah] of the Messenger of Allah (s) , on being entered into Hell, forget the name of the Prophet because of the fearfulness of the Hell-keeper, despite the fact that the same hadīth states that they are of the believers and their hearts and features glitter brightly because of the light of faith. [1]
The great narrator, the late Majlisī, in Mir'āt al-'Uqūl explaining the expression: “I will be his hearing and his seeing,” says: “One who
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does not dedicate his eyes, ears and other organs to the way of obeying Allah, will not obtain spiritual eyes and ears, as his corporeal eyes and ears will not go to the other world, and so he will be without ears and eyes in the worlds of the grave and the Resurrection, whereas the criterion for the questionings of the grave is those spiritual organs (the end of the sum of his translation). ” [1]
In short, the noble Hadiths about this kind of tranquility and its effects are many. The Glorious Qur'an orders that it (the Qur'an) should be recited in tartīl, and it is stated in the noble Hadiths: “Whoever forgets a sūrah from the Qur'an, it will appear before him in Paradise in a most beautiful image. When he looks at it he says: “What are you? How wonderful you are! I wish you were mine. ” It will reply: “Do you not know me? I am so-and-so sūrah. If you had not forgotten me, I would have lifted you to this high rank”. [2]
In another hadīth it is stated: “Whoever learns the Qur'an as a young man, it will mix with his flesh and blood. ” This is because the heart of a young man is less engaged and less tarnished, and so, it is affected quicker and easier, and the effect remains longer.
There are many Hadiths in this respect, to which we shall refer when we discuss “recitation,” inshā' Allāh. In a noble hadīth it
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is said: “Nothing is more loved by Allah than a deed which is done persistently, no matter how small the deed may be. ” [1] Its important point may be that such a deed becomes the inner image of the heart, as it has already been noted.
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[1]: Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, ch. 5, “On Supplication”; Mustadrak al-Wasā'il, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “Supplication,” ch. on “Rarities,” hadīth 2.
[1]: 'Ilm al-Yaqīn, vol. 2, p. 1039.
[1]: Mir'āt al-'Uqūl, vol. 10, p. 392.
[2]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 4, p. 410, “Book of the Merit of the Qur'an,” ch. “One who Learnt the Qur'an then Forgot it,” hadīth no. 2.
[1]: Ibid. , vol. 3, p. 137, “Book of Faith and Infidelity,” ch. “Economy in Worshipping,” hadīth 2.
Chapter 5: Protecting The Worships From Satan’s Intrusion
One of the important cordial disciplines of the Salat and other worships which is of the chief cordial disciplines, and to implement it is one of the great affairs and minute problems, is protecting the worships against the intrusion of Satan. The noble āyah:
“And those who keep guard on their Salats” [2]
Probably refers to all degrees of keeping guard, a degree of which, or rather the most important one of them, is to guard against Satan's intrusion.
To go into details, we say that it is quite explicit to the people of knowledge and the men of heart that as bodies require material food for nourishment, and that the food should be suitable for their disposition so that they may be brought up corporeally and have vegetable growth, similarly the hearts and the souls require a particular food to suit them both, so that they may be educated with it, and feed on it to grow up spiritually and progress inwardly.
The nutrition suitable for the growth [nash'ah] of the souls is the divine knowledge [ma'ārif] from the beginning of existence till the ultimate end of the system of existence. It is expressed in defining philosophy by the great experts that: “It is man's
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development into a mental world matching the material world in its form and perfection. ” [1] This is an indication of the said spiritual nutrition, as the hearts feed on spiritual merits and divine rites.
It must be noted that each one of these foods, if kept away from Satan's intrusion and prepared by the hands of the guardianship of the Seal of the Prophets and Allah's great friend (s) , the soul and the heart would be nourished by them and would attain the perfection becoming of humanity and ascend to the proximity of Allah.
Getting rid of Satan's intrusion, which is a preliminary step to sincerity, cannot really be brought about, unless the sālik is in quest of Allah in his sulūk, and tread upon his selfishness and self-conceit, which are the origin of all evils and the inner diseases. This, in its full meaning, is not possible except by the Perfect Man, or, rather, by the sincere holy men [awliyā'] ('a).
But the sālik must not despair of the inner kindness of Allah, because to despair of Allah's mercy is the beginning of all coldnesses and weaknesses, and it is one of the great sins. That which is possible for the common people, too, is the delight of eyes of “the people of knowledge” [ahl-i ma‛rifat].
So, it is a must for the sālik on the road to the other world to act very seriously to rid his knowledge [ma‛ārif] and rites [manāsik] of the intrusion of Satan and the
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commanding soul [nafs-i ammārah], and to go deep into his doings, quests and desires, with strictness and examination, so as to find out the ultimate objective of his journey, learning the principles of his inner activities and spiritual nutrition.
He is not to neglect the tricks of the soul and Satan, as well as the snares of the commanding soul and Iblīs. He is always to distrust his self in all his doings and activities, and never to let it go willfully. It is quite possible that, with a little negligence, it may overcome man, knock him down and drive him to perdition and annihilation. If the spiritual foods were not free from Satan's intrusion, and if he shared in preparing them, the souls and hearts would not be educated with them nor can they reach their becoming perfection, let alone the irreparable insufficiency that would befall them.
Such foods may probably cause man to join the group of Satans or the quadruped and beasts of prey. Then whatever is the capital of happiness, the source of the human perfection and the means of attaining to high ranks, results in the opposite, and drives man to the dark abyss of misfortune. Actually we did come across some of the so called gnostics who had been led astray because of their deep indulgence in the gnostic terminology, such that their hearts became inverted and their interiors were darkened.
Their gnostic practices strengthened their selfishness and Oneness, and they uttered improper allegations and abnormal
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expressions. Similarly, among the ascetics and the devotees there were persons who practiced asceticism and self-purification, yet their exercises only aggravated their hearts' impurity and their interiors' darkness. This is because they did not keep on their divine spiritual journey and migration to Allah, and their scholarly and ascetic sulūk (journey) was subject to the intrusion of Satan and the self's desire, and so, it was to Satan and self.
We also noted that among the students of religious sciences there were some who had badly been affected by their studies, which increased their moral corruption; and knowledge, which should have guided them to success and salvation, had driven them to annihilation and led them to ignorance, hypocrisy, arrogance and deception.
Likewise, it is seen that among the people of worship and ceremonies, who persist in observing disciplines and traditions, there were those whose worship and sacrifices which are the source of reforming the conditions and souls had affected their hearts with impurity and darkness, causing them to be conceited, egotistic, arrogant, pampered, slanderous, ill-tempered and distrusting the servants of Allah. These are also caused by neglecting to observe those divine mixtures [ma‛ājīn].
Naturally, the mixture [ma‛jūn] prepared by Satan's filthy hand and the meddling of the obstinate self can give birth to nothing but Satanic character, and since the heart gets its nourishment from them, in any case, and they become the inner image of the soul, after a while of man's continuing so, he becomes an offspring of
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Satan, and will be brought up under his patronage. And when the visible eye of such a man is closed and his invisible eye is opened, he will see himself among the Satans. Thus, the result will be nothing but a loss, and his regret and repent will avail him to nothing.
Consequently, the traveler on the road to the Hereafter, notwithstanding his religious branch or divine method, has, firstly to be on the alert, like a kind doctor or a compassionate nurse, to take full care of his moods, looking for the faults of his conduct with strictness, and secondly, as he does so, he is not to neglect seeking refuge in the Sacred Essence of Allah, the Glorified and Most High, in his privacy, and supplicating in the presence of His Sanctity and Majesty.
O Lord! You do know our weakness and helplessness. You do know that without your helping hand we cannot find our way out of the hands of such a powerful enemy who covets the great prophets and the perfect and high holy men. Without Your spark of kindness and mercy, this strong-handed enemy will knock us down on the ground of annihilation and hurl us into the pit of darkness and wretchedness.
We adjure you by your distinguished favorites and intimate confidants to extend Your helping hand to us, the bewildered in the valley of error and the fallen down in the desert of seduction. Purge our hearts of rancor, deceit, polytheism and doubt. Surely
you are the Patron of Guidance!
--------------------
[2]: Sūrah al-Ma'ārij 70: 34; Sūrah al-Mu'minūn 23: 9.
[1]: Mullā Sadrā and his disciples used this expression to define philosophy, to which some added the phrase: “in its image and perfection. ”
Chapter 6: On Vivacity and Cheerfulness
Of other cordial disciplines of the Salat and other worships, one, which has good results, or rather it opens some doors and uncovers some secrets of worships, is that the sālik is to try to worship with vivacity, cheerfulness of heart and gaiety of mind, and to avoid laziness and reluctance in performing worships. He is to choose for worship a time in which he is quite prepared to perform it with animation and freshness, feeling no tiredness or lassitude.
Should one force oneself to worship in times of laziness and tiredness, it would probably bring about bad consequences, such as feeling tired of worshipping and of taking the trouble and bearing difficulty. Then, gradually, one may feel disgusted with worshipping. Furthermore, it may possibly turn man completely away from remembering Allah, and give pains to the spirit from the state of servitude, which is the source of all happiness.
Such worship will bring no luminosity to the heart, and the inside of the soul will not have any reaction, and the image of servitude will not become the image of the inner heart. It has already been said that the aim of worship is that the inner soul should become the image of servitude.
We now say that one of the secrets and results of worships and austerities is that the will of the soul becomes operative on the realm of the body, and its authority is overcome by the majesty of the
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soul and is annihilated, and the forces and soldiers spread in the kingdom of the body can no longer revolt, disobey and be obstinate and selfish. They actually surrender to the inner kingdom of the heart, or rather those forces gradually dissolve in the invisible heavenly domain, and its command is effective on the visible dominion.
The will of the soul gets stronger and takes the reins of the kingdom from Satan and the commanding soul, and the soldiers of the soul are driven to submission, from submission to contentment, and from contentment to annihilation. In this situation the soul will get to discover some secrets of worship and some actual manifestations will appear.
But all these cannot be implemented unless the worships are performed cheerfully and actively, away from every sort of laziness and carelessness, so that a mood of affection and love towards remembering Allah, the Exalted, and the state of servitude, with familiarity and consistency, happen. Loving Allah and remembering Him is one of the great affairs, which is very much cared for by the people of knowledge, and is a subject of competition among the people of sulūk.
Physicians believe that if food is eaten with cheerfulness and gaiety, it will be digested much easier. Similarly, psychiatrists stress that if the spiritual nutrition is taken cheerfully and enthusiastically, and with avoiding laziness and affectedness, its effect will appear very quickly in the heart and the inner heart will be purified more quickly, too.
This discipline is referred
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to in the Glorious Divine Book, the upright Lordly pages, as it, in defiance of the disbelievers and the hypocrites, says:
“…And they do not come to the Salat unless they are sluggish, and they do not spend unless they are reluctant…” [1]
And the noble āyah:
“O you who believe! Do not approach the Salat when you are drunk…” [2]
The word “drunkenness” is explained in a hadīth to mean “sluggishness”. Some narratives refer to this discipline. By relating some of them we shall give pride to these papers.
Muhammad ibn Ya'qūb quoted Abū 'Abdullāh (Imām as-Sādiq) ('a) to have said: “Do not force yourselves to worship. ” [3]
Abū 'Abdullāh (as-Sādiq) ('a) is (also) quoted to have said: “The Messenger of Allah (s) said: “O 'Alī, this religion is firm, get into it mildly, and do not cause yourself to hate worshipping your Lord. ” [4]
Imām al-'Askarī ('a) is quoted to have said: “When the hearts are active, confide in them, and when they are reluctant, bid them farewell. ” [5] This is a general instruction to deposit in your hearts any information you may when they are lively and gay, and leave them alone when they are restive. So, in acquiring knowledge [ma'ārif] and sciences this discipline must also be applied, and the hearts must not be forced when they are irresponsive.
It can be deduced from this and other Hadiths that there is another discipline, which is also an important chapter of asceticism. This discipline is “considerateness” [murā‛āt]; that is, the
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sālik, in whatever stage he is, in scholarly or in spiritual and practical austerities and strivings, must consider his conditions, treat his soul with kindness and care, and avoid burdening himself with more than it can bear, especially the young people and the inexperienced, to whom this discipline is quite important.
If the young people do not treat themselves considerately and kindly, and if they do not meet the needs of (their) nature through lawful ways, they will be subject to a great danger, which cannot be compensated. The danger is that when one is too severe with his self and pulls the reins too hard, they will break off, and then the will gets out of control, and the accumulated natural needs and the sharp fires of desire, under unlimited pressure of austerity, burn out the whole kingdom.
If a sālik's reins break off God forbid! Or an ascetic person becomes unable to control himself, he will fall so deep in a precipice that he can never see the face of rescue, nor can he ever return to the road of happiness and righteousness.
Thus, a sālik, like a clever physician, has to feel his own pulse during his progress on the journey and to treat his self according to the requirements of the conditions of the journey. When the flames of desire, which are the vanity of youthfulness, blaze high, one is not to completely prevent his nature from getting satisfaction, but one has to resort to lawful ways to put
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out the flames of his desire, as gratifying the desire, according to the divine command, is a complete help along the journey to Allah.
So, he is to marry, as it is one of the great divine laws, which, besides being the base of the survival of the species, has a great effect on the journey to the Hereafter, too. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (s) said: “He who marries will keep half of his religion. ” [1] Another hadīth says: “He who desires to meet Allah pure, let him meet Him with a wife. ” [2] The Messenger of Allah (s) is quoted to have said: “Most of the people of Hell are singles. ” [3]
A hadīth from Amīr al-Mu'minīn ('Alī) ('a) says: “A group of the companions abstained from women (their wives) , and from eating in daytime and sleeping at night. The Messenger of Allah (s) was informed about them by Umm us-Salāmah (his wife). He came to them and asked them: “Do you reject women (your wives)? I do go into women (my wives) , eat in daytime and sleep at night. Whoever disregards my tradition is not of me.
Allah, the Exalted, has revealed:
“O you who believe! Do not forbid the good things which Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress. Surely Allah does not love the transgressors. And eat of what Allah has provided you as lawful and good, and fear Allah in whom you believe. ” [4]
Generally speaking, the
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traveler along the road to the Hereafter is to be considerate with respect to the ups and downs of the soul. And, while he is never to curb the needs (of his nature) which, otherwise, would cause big mischief, he is also not to be severe nor to exert pressure upon himself with respect to worship and practical austerities, especially during his youth and on starting the journey, as otherwise this will also cause the soul to feel exasperated and bolt away, and perhaps, lead him to abandoning remembering Allah.
This point is frequently referred to in the noble Hadiths. The noble Al-Kāfī, quoting Imām as-Sādiq ('a) , says: “During my youth I was seriously and earnestly doing my worshipping. My father told me: “My son, act less on that, as when Allah, the Exalted, loves someone, He will accept his little. ” [1] Another hadīth goes almost the same. [2]
The same course relates another hadīth to the effect that Abū Ja'far (Imām al-Bāqir) ('a) , quoting the Messenger of Allah (s) , said: “Surely this religion is firm, so go deep in it with mildness, and do not cause Allah's servants to hate worshipping Him; otherwise, you will be like the one whose mount was too tired to go on, so he neither finished the journey nor preserved the mount. ” [3] Another hadīth says: “Do not cause yourselves to hate worshipping Allah. ” [4]
However, the criterion for being “considerate” is that one should be observant of his soul's conditions and
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act according to its strength and weakness. When one's soul is strong and able to perform worships and bear hardship with good endurance, he should, then, try to perform the acts of worship.
As to those who have crossed the prime of life, and the fires of their desires have subsided to some extent, it is suitable for them to increase their ascetic austerity, and to set foot on the road of self-discipline with manly vigilance and industry. The more they accustom themselves to ascetic practices, the more doors will be opened to them, until the soul gradually overcomes the forces of (their) nature, which will be subjugated to them under the majesty of the soul.
Concerning the noble Hadiths which urge the people to strive earnestly in worshipping and praise the people who do so with reference to the worships and austerities of the Imāms of (the Islamic) guidance ('a) , as well as the noble Hadiths which recommend economy in worshipping and praise it, both categories are based on the different people of sulūk and the ranks and conditions of the soul. The general criterion is the vivacity and the strength of the soul or its weakness and aversion.
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[1]: Sūrah at-Tawbah 9: 54.
[2]: Sūrah an-Nisā' 4: 43.
[3]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 3, “Book of Belief and Disbelief,” ch. on “Equality (moderateness) in Acting and its Persistence,” hadīth 3, p. 129.
[4]: Ibid. , ch. on “Economy in Worshipping,” hadīth 6, p. 138.
[5]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 75, “Book of ar-Rawdah,” ch. 29, hadīth 3, p. 377.
[1]: Ibid. , vol. 100, p. 220, “Book of al-'Uqūd wal-Īqā'āt (Contracts and Agreements) ,” sec. on “Marriage,” ch. 1, hadīth 14, p. 220, as quoted from Amālī by Shaykh at-Tūsī, vol. 2, p. 132.
[2]: Ibid. , hadīths 18 and 35, quoting Rawdat ul-Wā‛izīn, p. 373, and Nawādir ar-Rāwandī, p. 12.
[3]: Wasā'il ash-Shī‛ah, “Book of Marriage,” ch. 2, hadīth 6, p. 15.
[4]: Sūrah al-Mā'idah 5: 87-88; Ibid. , hadīth 8.
[1]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 3, “Book of Faith and Disbelief,” ch. on “Economy in Worshipping,” hadīth 5.
[2]: Ibid. , hadīth 4.
[3]: Ibid. , hadīth 1.
[4]: Ibid. , hadīth 2.
Chapter 7: On Informing The Heart
A cordial discipline of worship, especially the invoking worship, is “informing” [tafhīm]. It is to take the heart, at the beginning, as a child not yet able to speak, and is wanted to be taught. So, each of the invocations, recitations, facts and secrets of worship is to be taught to
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the heart with strict accuracy and effort, and whatever the degree of perfection, one has to teach to the heart the facts which he has so far recognized.
Even if one was unable to understand the meanings of the Qur'an and the invocations, and had no share of the secrets of worship, he, nevertheless, would have to teach his heart the very general meanings, such as telling it that the Qur'an is the words of Allah, that the invocations are remembrance of Allah, and that worship is obeying the Creator. He has to teach his heart such general information.
Should he be of those who understand the apparent meanings of the Qur'an and the invocations, such as the promises, warnings, biddings and forbiddings, as well as the information about the Source [mabda'] and Resurrection [ma'ād], he must inform his heart of whatever has been understood from them by him. Should a fact of knowledge or a secret of worship be exposed to him, he is to inform it to his heart carefully and strictly.
The result of such information is that after a period of perseverance the tongue of the heart will open to speaking and will become an invoker and a reminder. At the beginning the heart is a learner and the tongue a teacher. Whenever the tongue invokes, the heart also becomes an invoker, and so the heart is a follower of the tongue.
But after that the heart's tongue learns to speak, the contrary happens: the heart
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becomes invoker and the tongue follows it in invocation and in movement. Rather, sometimes it happens that even when man is sleeping, his tongue starts invocating in pursuit of his heart's invocation, as the heart's invocation is not confined to the state of wakefulness, and when the heart remembers, the tongue, having become its follower, starts invocating after it, and it leaks out from the dominion of the heart:
“Say: Every one acts according to his own manner…” [1]
In short, at the beginning man must observe this discipline, that is, “informing,” so that the tongue of the heart starts speaking, which is the real objective. The sign denoting that the heart's tongue has been released is that the tiredness and the hardship of the invocation are removed and replaced by animation and pleasure.
It is like a baby, who has not yet started talking, its tutor feels tired and bored before it speaks. No sooner the baby starts prattling than his tutor's fatigue goes away and the teacher follows up the child's utterances without tiredness or trouble. Similar is the heart. It is a mere infant at the start, knowing not how to speak. It is to be taught, and the invocations and the recitations are to be placed on its tongue. Then, as it begins talking, man begins to be its follower, and there will remain neither pain of teaching nor any tiredness of invocating. This discipline is quite necessary for the beginners.
It must be noted that one of the
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secrets of repeating the invocations and benedictions and continuing the remembrance and worshipping is that the heart's tongue gets untied, and the heart becomes an invoking devotee. Without observing this discipline the tongue of the heart would remain tied up.
Some noble Hadiths refer to this. The noble al-Kāfī, quoting Imām as-Sādiq ('a) , who quoted Imām 'Alī ('a) who, referring to some disciplines of recitation, said: ”…But strike with it (the Qur'an) your hardened hearts, and do not be eager to get to the end of the sūrah. ” [1]
In another hadīth in al-Kāfī, Imām as-Sādiq ('a) told Abū Usāmah: “O Abū Usāmah, call your hearts [qulūb] to remember Allah, and avoid what displeases Him. ” [2]
Even the most perfect godly men ('a) used to observe this discipline. A hadīth relates that Imām as-Sādiq ('a) (once) was subject to a fit during the Salat and fainted. When he came to his senses and he was asked about the reason, he said: “I kept repeating this āyah to my heart until I heard it from the one who spoke it, and so, my body could not bear to see His power. ” [3]
Abū Dharr is quoted to have said that the Messenger of Allah (s) was one night repeating this Qur'anic verse:
“If you should torment them, then they are, indeed, your servants, and if you should forgive them, then you are, indeed, the Mighty, the Wise. ” [4]
In short, the reality of invocation and remembrance is the invocation of the heart,
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without which the invocation of the tongue will be futile and worthless. This is referred to in a number of Hadiths. The Messenger of Allah (s) informed Abū Dharr: “O Abū Dharr, two rak'ats of Salat in contemplation are better than spending the whole night with an inattentive (or forgetful) heart. ” [1]
The Messenger of Allah (s) is also quoted to have said: “Allah, the Exalted, would not look at your faces, but at your hearts. ” [2]
In the Hadiths concerning the presence of heart it is stated that the more the presence of heart in the Salat, the better it is accepted, and the more the negligence of the heart, the less it is acceptable. As long as the said discipline is not observed, no cordial invocation will happen, and the heart will not come out of its being inattentive and negligent.
It is narrated that Imām as-Sādiq ('a) said: “Make your heart a qiblah to your tongue and do not move it except by a sign from the heart. ” [3] But the heart would not become a qiblah nor would the tongue and the other organs follow it unless the said discipline was observed. Should it happen without the observance of this discipline, it would be a rarity, and one must not take pride in it.
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[1]: Sūrah al-Isrā' 17: 84.
[1]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 4, Book on “The Merit of the Qur'an,” ch. on “Reciting the Qur'an in a Melodious Voice,” hadīth 1, p. 418.
[2]: Al-Kāfī, (Rawdah) , vol. 8, p. 167; Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 67, Book on “Faith and Disbelief,” ch. 44, hadīth, 38, p. 59.
[3]: Al-Mahajjat ul-Baydā', vol. 1, Book on “The Secrets of the Salat,” ch. on “The Merit of Submission and its Meaning,” p. 352.
[4]: Sūrah al-Mā'idah 4: 118. Rūh ul-Ma'āni fī Tafsīr al-Qur'ān by 'Allāmah al-Ālūsī vol. 7, p. 70, quoted from the Sunans of an-Nasā'ī and al-Bayhaqī.
[1]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 74, Book of ”Ar-Rawdah” ch. on “The Prophet's Admonitions,” hadīth 2, p. 82, quoted from Makārim al-Akhlāq, p. 465.
[2]: Ibid. ; Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 67, p. 248, quoted from Jāmi' al-Akhbār, p. 117 (with a slight addition).
[3]: Refer to footnote 34.
Chapter 8: On The Presence Of Heart
One of the important cordial disciplines, which many other disciplines may be its preliminaries, and worship without it would be lifeless, and it is the key to the
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lock of perfections and the door of the doors of felicities, and the noble Hadiths seldom attach so much importance to a discipline other than that, is the “presence of heart. ” Although we have sufficiently explained this topic, together with its ranks and degrees in the thesis The Secret of the Salat [1] and in Forty Hadiths, [2] nevertheless, we shall allude to it once again, to complete the benefit, and to avoid reference.
It has already been explained that worships, ceremonies, invocations and benedictions can have their results only when they become the inner image of the heart, and the interior of the essence of man is mixed with them, and his heart takes the form of servitude, renouncing disobedience and obstinacy. It has also been noted that one of the secrets and advantages of worship is that one's will gets stronger, the soul overcomes (one's) nature, the forces of nature become subjugated by the soul's power and sovereignty, and the will of the invisible soul overrules the visible body, such that the forces turn like the angels with regard to Allah, the Exalted, i. e.
“…they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them, and do as they are commanded. ” [3]
Now we add that one of the important secrets and advantages of worship, to which everything is a preliminary, is that the entire inside and outside kingdom becomes subservient to Allah's will and moves at Allah's command, and the soul's visible and invisible forces become Allah's soldiers, and
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all of them get the post of being Allah's angels. This is regarded as one of the low degrees of the annihilation of the forces and wills in Allah's will.
Then, gradually, big consequences appear, the physical man becomes divine, and the soul practices servitude to Allah. The soldiers of Iblīs will totally be defeated and abolished, and the heart and its powers surrender to Allah and in it appear some inner stages of Islam. The result of this submitting of the will to Allah in the Hereafter will be that Allah, the Exalted, will enforce (make effective) the will of such a servant in the invisible worlds and make him His “sublime similitude” [mathal-i a'lā].
And, like His Sacred Self when at His mere Will everything He wants is created, He makes this servant's will like His; as some of the people of knowledge, quoting the Messenger of Allah (s) , concerning the people of Paradise, say that an angel comes to them, and, after asking permission from them, he enters and after conveying Allah's greeting to them he delivers a letter from Allah, the Exalted.
The letter says to whomsoever it is addressed:
“From the Ever-Living, the Everlasting, Who never dies, to the ever-living, everlasting, who never dies. Now then, I tell a thing: Be! And it is. I made you tell a thing: Be! And it is. ” The Messenger of Allah (s) said: “Hence, no one of the people of Paradise says to something: “Be! ” unless it will be. ” [1]
This is
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the divine sovereignty bestowed upon the servant, because of his forsaking his own will and his desires' sovereignty, and because of his disobeying Iblīs and his soldiers. None of the said results may take place except with the complete “presence of heart. ” If the heart were negligent and forgetful during the Salat, his worship would not be real, but more like a play and sporting. Such worship, as a matter of fact, will have no effect whatsoever on the soul and the worship will never sublime from its outer form to the inside and the invisible world [malakūt].
This fact is referred to by many narratives. The powers of the soul would not surrender, through such worship, to the soul itself, nor can the sovereignty of the soul be seen on them. Similarly, the outward and inward powers will not surrender to Allah's will, and the kingdom will not be subdued to Allah's Majesty, as is quite clear. That is why you can see no effect from forty or fifty years of worship on us.
On the contrary, the darkness of the heart and the obstinacy of the powers increase day after day, since our longing for nature, our obedience to our desires and to the satanic whispers, increase, too. These mean nothing but that our worships are empty and their interior and exterior disciplines are not observed. Otherwise, the Qur'anic text denotes that:
“…the Salat forbids lewdness and vice. ” [1]
Naturally, this forbidding is not something superficial. A torch
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should be lighted in the heart, and a light must shine in one's interior so as to guide him to the invisible world, and there appears a divine preventer, which prevents man from disobedience.
We do regard ourselves among the musallīn, and we have been engaged in this great worship for decades, without seeing such a light, nor discerning such a preventer in our interior. So, woe to us on the day when the images of our deeds and the list of our acts are handed to us in that world and we are told to check our own accounts. [1]
See if such deeds can be accepted by His Majesty, and whether such a Salat, in such a deformed and darkened form, can bring one nearer to His Presence. Is it right to treat this great divine trust and the advice of the prophets and awsiyā' (executors of the prophets' wills) in such a way, and to let the treacherous hand of the accursed Satan, the enemy of Allah, meddle in it?
The Salat, which is the mi'rāj of the believer and the means of proximity of the pious [2] , why should it keep you away from the sacred proximity to the Divine Presence? What would be our share on that day except regret, remorse, helplessness, wretchedness, shame and disgrace regret and a remorse which have no equal in this world, and a shame and disgrace which cannot be imagined? This world's regrets are, at any rate, mixed
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with a thousand kinds of hope, and the shamelessness here is transitory, while there is nothing there except regret and remorse day after day.
Allah, the Exalted, says:
“And warn them of the day of regret, when the matter shall have been decided. ” [1]
What has passed cannot be returned and the life which has been wasted cannot be restored.
“O woe to me! For what I fell short of my duty to Allah…” [2]
My dear, this day is the day of opportunities and the grace period for actions. The prophets came and brought Books, and they proclaimed their calls, with a lot of celebrities, enduring pains and hardships, in order to wake us up from the sleep of negligence and to sober us from the nature's intoxication, and to take us to the world of light and the source of joy and pleasure, and to introduce us to the eternal life, the everlasting bliss and the unlimited delights, and to deliver us from annihilation, misery, fire, darkness, regret and remorse.
All these are for our own benefit, without there being any profit for them, as those sacred personalities are in no need of our faith and deeds. Despite all that, they had not the least effect on us, as Satan was so firmly closing the ears of our heart, and exerted such a strong control over our inside and outside that none of their admonitions could ever have an effect on us, nor could any of the āyahs and
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Hadiths pierce the ears of our hearts, going to no farther than our outer animal ears.
In short, O respected reader who read these papers; do not be, like the writer, void of all lights, and empty-handed of all good deeds, entangled in the sensual desires. Have mercy on yourself, and get a fruit from your life. Carefully look into the lives of the prophets and the perfect godly men [awliyā'], and cast away the false desires and Satan's promises. Do not be deceived by Satan's fraud, nor by the deceptions of the commanding soul, as their trickery is very clever, and they are able to dress every wrong as right in the eyes of man in order to deceive him.
Sometimes they fool man by making him think that he will repent at the end of his life, and thus, drag him into wretchedness, despite the fact that repenting at the end of life, after the accumulation of the darkness of sins, and the numerous acts of injustice against the people and against Allah's right, is a very difficult task.
Now, when man is still strong and in the prime of life, and the tree of sin is still frail and the influence of Satan has not yet become widespread in the soul, and the soul is still new to the invisible world and very near the God-given disposition, and the conditions for an acceptable repentance are easy, they do not let man repent and uproot this frail tree
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and overthrow the dependent kingdom.
They suggest old age, when, on the contrary, the will is weak, the powers have given way, the trees of different sins are strong and deep rooted, the kingdom of Iblīs, inwardly and outwardly, is independent and firm, the familiarity with nature is strong, the distance from the invisible world is great, the light of innate disposition is extinguished, and the situation for repentance is difficult and bitter. This is nothing but delusion.
In another instance the promise of the intercession of the intercessors ('a) drives man out of their sacred realm and deprives him of their intercession, because indulgence in disobedience gradually darkens and upsets the heart and drags man to a bad end. Satan's aim is to rob man's faith, and he makes committing sins a preliminary step to that aim so as to attain it.
If a man covetously thinks of intercession, he must try hard in this world to keep his connection with his intercessors, and think of the status of those who will intercede on the Day of Resurrection to see how their state of worship and devotion was. Suppose that you died a faithful man, but if the load of the sins and injustices was heavy, it is possible that concerning the different pains and tortures in the barzakh there would be no intercession for you, as Imām as-Sādiq was quoted to have said: “Your barzakh is with yourselves. ” [1]
The tortures of the barzakh cannot be compared with
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the tortures of this world, and the length of the period of the barzakh is unknown except to Allah. It will probably last for millions and millions of years. It is possible that in the Hereafter and after long periods of diverse and unbearable kinds of torture, we get the intercession, as it is also related in the Hadiths. [1]
Thus, the satanic deception stops man from good deeds, and causes him to leave this world either faithless or loaded with heavy burdens, afflicting him with wretchedness and misfortune. In some instances, Satan, by giving man hope in the vast mercy of the Most Merciful, cuts his hand off the skirt of mercy, while he is careless of the fact that raising up so many prophets, revealing the Books, descending the angels, and the revelations and inspirations to the prophets, and their showing the right path, are all of the mercy of the Most Merciful. The whole world is enveloped in the vast mercy of Allah, while we, at the fringe of the spring of life, die of thirst.
The greatest of the divine mercies is the Qur'an. If you are looking greedily for the mercy of the Most Merciful, hoping for His vast mercy, do benefit from the Qur'an, the vast mercy. It has opened to you the way to happiness, and has distinguished for you the pit from the paved road. But you fall over into the pit by yourself, because you deviate from the
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right path. So, what has mercy to do with that?
Had it been possible to show the road of good and happiness to the people in a different way, it would have been done, according to the vastness of the mercy. Had it been possible to force the people into happiness, it would have been done. But alas! How far it is! The road to the Hereafter is a road, which cannot be trodden except at one's free will. Happiness cannot be attained forcibly. Piety and righteous deeds are not so if not done voluntarily. This is probably the very meaning of the noble āyah:
“There is no compulsion in religion” (Surah al-Baqarah, 2: 256).
Yes, what can be made compulsory and forcible is the appearance of the divine religion, not its reality. The prophets ('a) were enjoined to impose the appearance, in any possible way, on the people, so that the appearance of the world might become the appearance of the divine justice, and to guide the people to the interior, so that they themselves might march on their own feet towards happiness.
In short, this is also a satanic delusion, which cuts, by coveting mercy, man's hand short from mercy.
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[1]: Refer to footnote 6.
[2]: Forty Hadīths is one of Imām Khomeinī's works, which he finished in the month of Muharram 1358 L. H. In its preface, after praising, blessing and invocation, he says: ”…I, a poor and weak servant, have, for sometime, been thinking to collect forty hadīths of the hadīths of the infallible and pure Ahl al-Bayt ('a) out of the reliable books of the Companions and 'Ulamā' (may Allah be pleased with them) , and to explain each in a way suitable for the common people. I, thus, wrote it in Persian so that the Persian-speaking people may benefit from it, and, inshā' Allāh (Allah willing) , I may be covered by the noble hadīth of the Seal of the Prophets (s) who said: “Whoever preserved for my Ummah forty hadīths that may benefit them, Allah would resurrect him on the Day of Resurrection as a learned jurist. ” I was, thanks to God, successful, with Allah's good help, in starting it. I ask Allah, the Exalted, to help me in finishing it. Surely He is the Giver of success! ”
[3]: Sūrah at-Tahrīm 66: 6.
[1]: 'Ilm ul-Yaqīn, vol. 2, p. 1061 (with a slight difference).
[1]: Sūrah al-'Ankabūt 69: 45.
[1]: It refers to the āyah: “Read your book; your soul suffices as a reckoner against you this day. ” Sūrah al-Isrā' 17: 14.
[2]: I'tiqādāt, p. 29. by the late Majlisī; Furū' al-Kāfī, vol. 3, “Book of as-Salat,” ch. on “The Merit of as-Salat,” hadīth 6, p. 265.
[1]: Sūrah Maryam 19: 39.
[2]: Sūrah az-Zumar 39: 56.
[1]: This concept is understood from the narrative of 'Amr ibn Yazīd in Furū' al-Kāfī, vol. 3, p. 242, and in 'Ilm ul-Yaqīn, vol. 2, p. 1051.
[1]: As in Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 8, “Book of Justice and Resurrection,” ch. 12, hadīths 35 and 36, p. 362.
Chapter 9: Hadiths Concerning The Presence Of Heart
There are many Hadiths from the infallible and pure Ahl al-Bayt ('a) concerning urging the “presence of heart”. It suffices to translate some texts of those narratives:
The Messenger of Allah (s) is quoted to have said: “Worship Allah as if you see
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Him. If you do not see Him, He does see you. ” [1]
From this noble hadīth two of the degrees of the presence of heart can be realized:
The first is that the sālik discerns the Beauty of the Beautiful, and is absorbed in the manifestations of the Beloved [hadrat-i mahbūb] such that all the ears of his heart will be closed to all other creatures, while the eye of his insight opens to the pure Beauty of the Lord of Majesty, discerning nothing else. That is, he is engaged in the Present [hādir], neglecting the presence [hudūr] and company [mahdar].
The second degree, which is lower in rank, is that the sālik sees himself present in His Presence [mahdar] and observes the discipline of the Presence [hudūr] and Company [mahdar]. The Messenger of Allah (s) says: “If you can be of those who are in the first degree, then worship Allah accordingly, or else, do not neglect the fact that you are in the Presence [mahdar] of the Lord. ” Naturally, there is a discipline for being in the Presence [mahdar] of Allah, which should not be neglected in respect of the state of servitude.
In a hadīth, Abū Hamzah ath-Thamālī narrates: “I saw 'Alī ibn al-Husayn ('a) performing his Salat. His cloak slipped off his shoulders, but he did not try to rearrange it until he finished the Salat. When I asked him about that, he said: “Woe unto you! Do you know at whose service I was? ” [2]
The Messenger
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of Allah (s) was quoted to have said: “Two of my Ummah stand for the Salat, and, although their rukū' and sujūd are the same, the difference between the two Salats is like that which is between the earth and the sky. ” [1]
He also said: “Is the person who turns his face in the Salat not afraid that it may turn into the face of an ass? ” [2]
He further said: “Whoever performs a two-rak'at Salat without paying attention to any worldly matter, Allah, the Exalted, will forgive him his sins. [3]
In another hadīth he said: “A Salat, half of it may be accepted, or one-third, or a quarter, or one-fifth, or even one-tenth. Another Salat may be folded, like an old dress, and be thrown back at the face of its owner. ”
“No part of the Salat is yours except that part which you perform with an attentive heart. ” [4]
Imām al-Bāqir ('a) has quoted the Messenger of Allah (s) as saying: “When a believing servant stands for the Salat, Allah, the Exalted, looks at him (or he said: He turns to him) until he finishes, and mercy shadows over his head, the angels surround him from all sides up to the horizon of the heaven, and Allah assigns an angel to stand at his head, saying: “O musallī, if you know who is looking at you, and to whom you are supplicating, you will look to nowhere, nor will you leave your position. ” [5]
Imām as-Sādiq ('a)
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is quoted to have said: “Eagerness and fear will not get together in a heart unless Paradise is his. So, when you perform your Salat, turn with your heart to Allah, the Glorified, the Almighty, because there would be no believing servant who would turn with his heart to Allah, the Exalted, during the Salat and invocation, unless Allah would turn to him the hearts of the believers, and with their love He would back him and lead him to Paradise. ” [1]
It is narrated that Imāms al-Bāqir and as-Sādiq ('a) said: “Nothing of your Salat is yours except that which you did with an attentive heart. So, if one performed it completely mistaken, or neglected its disciplines, it would be folded and thrown back at its owner's face. ” [2]
Imām Bāqir al-'Ulūm (the cleaver of knowledge) ('a) is quoted to have said: “Of a servant's Salat ascends half, one-third, one-fourth or one-fifth to his account. That is, of his Salat will not ascend except that part which is performed with an attentive heart. We have been commanded to perform the nāfilah so as to make up for the shortcomings of the obligatory Salats. ” [3]
Imām as-Sādiq ('a) is quoted to have said: “When you wear the ihrām for the Salat (i. e. , when you prepared for the Salat) , pay attention to it, because when you pay attention to it, Allah will pay attention to you. If you do not care for it, Allah will not care for you. So, sometimes,
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does not ascend of the Salat except one-third, one-fourth or one-sixth, according to the amount of attention the musallī pays to it. Allah grants nothing to the negligent. ” [1]
The Messenger of Allah (s) is quoted to have said to Abū Dharr: “Two moderate rak'ats of Salat with contemplation are better than worshipping a whole night with a negligent heart. ” [2] The Hadiths on this are many, but those which have been related are enough for those whose hearts are awake and attentive.
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[1]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 74, “Book of ar-Rawdah, ch. 4, hadīth 3, p. 74; Makārim al-Akhlāq, p. 459.
[2]: Wasā'il ash-Shī'ah, vol. 4, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “The Acts of as-Salat,” ch. 3, hadīth 6, p. 688.
[1]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 81, “Book of as-Salat,” ch. 16, hadīth 41, p. 249.
[2]: Mustadrak al-Wasā'il, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “The Acts of the Salat,” ch. 2, hadīth 20.
[3]: Ibid. , hadīth 13.
[4]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 81, “Book of as-Salat,” ch. 16, hadīth 59, p. 260.
[5]: Mustadrak al-Wasā'il, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “The Acts of the Salat,” ch. 2, hadīth 22.
[1]: Wasā'il ash-Shī'ah, vol. 4, “Book of as-Salat”, sec. on “The Acts of the Salat,”ch. 3,hadīth 3,p. 678.
[2]: Ibid. , hadīth 1.
[3]: 'Ilal ash-Sharā'i', vol. 2, ch. 22, hadīth 2, p. 327.
[1]: Mustadrak al-Wasā'il, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “The Acts of the Salat,” ch. 3, hadīth 7.
[2]: Refer to footnote 59.
Chapter 10: On Calling To Acquiring The Presence Of Heart
Now that you have understood the rational and traditional merits and characteristics of the presence of heart, as well as the disadvantages of neglecting it, (you should know that) understanding alone is not enough, though it strengthens the evidence. So, use all your endeavors and try to acquire what you have understood, and turn your understanding into practice in order to be benefited by it and get its advantage.
Think a little, as, according to narratives from the infallible Ahl al-Bayt ('a) who are the sources of revelation, and all their knowledge and utterances are of divine inspirations and Muhammadan intuition [kashf] the acceptance of the Salat (by Allah) is the condition for the acceptance of other acts of worship. If the Salat is rejected, they will not pay attention to the other acts at all. [3] The acceptance of the Salat is conditioned by the presence of heart.
Without the presence of heart in the Salat it would be worthless and not becoming of being in the Presence
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of Allah and cannot be accepted, as had been explained by formerly mentioned Hadiths. Thus, the key to the treasury [ganjīnah] of deeds and the entrance to the doors of all kinds of happiness is the presence of heart, with which the door of happiness is opened to man, and without it all worships are degraded and worthless.
Now, with a look of regard, contemplate a little, and with the eye of insight look at the importance and the greatness of the situation, and carry it out with complete seriousness. The key to the door of happiness and the doors of Paradise, as well as the key to the door of wretchedness and the doors of Hell are in this world, in your own pocket. You can open the doors of Paradise and happiness to yourself and you can do the contrary.
The reigns are in your hands. Allah, the Exalted, has completed the evidence for you, showed you the roads to happiness and wretchedness, and has offered you the outward and the inward successes. What was needed on the part of Allah and His friends [awliyā'], has been done. Now it is our turn for action. They are the guides and we are the treaders. They did their work as best as possible without the least negligence, such that there remained no excuse whatsoever.
So, you, too, wake up from your sleep of negligence and tread upon the road to happiness and make use of your years and powers, since, if
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you waste your cash of years and youth, and your treasure of power and ability, no compensation can make up for them. If you are young, do not let yourself reach old age, because old age has its particular shortcomings, which are known to the elderly people, and you do not know.
To reform oneself in old age and in weakness is quite difficult. If you are old, do not let the rest of your years be waste, because, at any rate, as long as you are alive, you still have a way to happiness, and a door of happiness is open to you God forbid its being closed and the road being blocked, as in that case you lose your free will and there remains nothing but regret, remorse and repentance of the past, of which you have no portion.
So, my dear, if you believe in what has been said, which is the sayings of the prophets ('a) , and if you prepare yourself for attaining happiness and for the journey to the Hereafter, and find it necessary to obtain the presence of heart, which is the key to the treasure of happiness, the way to obtain it is to remove, first, the obstacles which prevent the presence of heart and to uproot the thorns from the road of the journey, and then to practice it.
The obstacles, which prevent the presence of heart in worship, are the dispersion of the mind and too many engagements of the heart. They happen
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most frequently from outside and through the outer senses, such as the ear hearing some sound during worship and the mind is, thus, distracted, stirring the imagination and inner thoughts, which fall under the effect of fancy, flying from one branch to another. Or a person's eye may see something, which disturbs the mind and distracts the thoughts. Likewise, other senses may be attracted, causing imaginative transitions.
Regarding the doing away with these obstacles, they have said that it is done by removing the causes, such as standing in a dark place, or in a privacy, when performing the Salat, and closing the eyes during the Salat, and refraining from performing it in places causing mental distraction. The late prosperous martyr (the Second Martyr) (may Allah be pleased with him) , quotes some devotees to have said that they used to worship and perform their Salats in a small dark room barely large enough for worshipping. [1]
Yet, it is obvious that this would not remove the obstacle, nor would it uproot the cause, because the principal hindrance is the imagination, which, with even a little motive, does its job. It may sometimes happen that in a very small, dark and private room, the activities of imagination and fancy become greater, and they cause more (mental) plays, and jests. So, uprooting the whole matter is done by reforming one's imagination and fancy.
Later on we shall return to this point. However, this type of treatment is sometimes effective and helpful in some souls,
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but we are looking for a decisive cure and uprooting the real cause, and it cannot be done that way.
Sometimes the disturbance of mind and absence of heart are caused by inner matters, which, generally speaking, are originated by two big causes to which return most of the matters:
One is the dissoluteness and volatility of the bird of imagination. Imagination is, indeed, an extremely slippery power. It flies from one branch to another and from one peak to another. This is not connected to loving the world or paying attention to worldly matters, wealth or position. Actually, the volatility of imagination is, in itself, a calamity that afflicts even the ascetics. Acquiring calmness of mind, peace of soul and repose of imagination are of the important affairs, which, if acquired, can bring about the final remedy. This shall be referred to later on.
The other cause is the love of the world and the attraction of mind to mundane matters. This cause is at the top of the sins and it is the mother of the inner diseases, the thorn of the road of the people of sulūk and the source of disasters. As long as the heart loves this world and is indulged in it, the way to reforming the heart is closed and the door of all happiness is shut in the face of man. We shall, within two chapters, refer to these two big origins and strong obstacles, if Allah wills.
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[3]: Refer to footnote 17.
[1]: At-Tanbihāt ul-'Īlliyyah 'alā Wazā'if is-Salat il-Qalbiyyah, p. 110 (printed within a collection of the statements of the Second Martyr, lithographed in 1313 L. H. by the handwriting of Muhammad Hasan Jarfādaqānī).
Chapter 11: On Curing The Wandering Imagination
Concerning Showing an
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Effective Cure for the Treatment of the Wandering and Escaping Imagination that Brings about the Presence of Heart
Know that each one of the inner and outer powers of the soul can be educated and taught by way of practicing a particular austerity. For example, human eye is unable to gaze at a point or at an intense light, such as the disk of the sun, for a long time, without blinking. But if a man educates his eye, such as that which is done by some of the people of false asceticism for certain purposes, he can look into the sun for several hours without blinking or getting tired.
Similarly, he can gaze at a certain point for hours without any movement. This is also true of the other faculties, like stopping breathing, which, as they say, is seen among the people of false asceticism, as there are some who can stop breathing for an extraordinary period.
Of the faculties that can be educated are the faculties of imagination and fancy. Before educating them, they are like two ever-jumpy and restless birds flying from a branch to another, and from one thing to another. If one tries to watch them for a single minute, he will see their many successive movements of very slight and far-fetched connections.
Many think that to control the bird of imagination and tame it is out of the limits of possibilities, and falls within the realm of the common impossibilities. But, as a matter
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of fact, it is not so. With hardship, practice and time-taking education, it can be tamed, and the bird of imagination can be put under one's control and will be such that it can be confined for several hours and for a certain purpose, according to one's will.
The principal way of taming it is to act to its contrary. That is, at the time of the Salat one is to prepare himself to control the imagination during the Salat and confine it to action, and, as soon as it tries to slip out of his hand, to recapture it. One should carefully watch it in all the actions, recitations, invocations, etc. of the Salat, observing it so as not to be obstinate. At the beginning, this seems to be a difficult task.
But after a while of strict practice and treatment, it will certainly become tame and obedient. You should not, of course, expect yourself, at the beginning, to be able to control the bird of imagination along the Salat completely. Actually, this is impossible. Perhaps those who stressed this impossibility had such expectations. The situation requires deliberateness, careful patience and gradual training.
It is possible that you can first control your imagination during only one-tenth of the Salat or even less than that, in which you can have the presence of heart. Then, if one pays more attention, and if he feels himself in need of that, he can attain a better result, and can gradually overcome the Satan
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of fancy and the bird of imagination, such that they come under his control in most of the Salat. However, you should never despair, as despair is the origin of all weaknesses and inabilities, whereas the flash of hope guides man to his complete happiness.
The important thing in this respect, however, is to feel being in need a mood that is little felt by us. Our heart does not believe that the source of the happiness in the Hereafter, and the means of a long-lasting life, is the Salat. We take the Salat to be an additional burden on our lives. We think it an imposition and an obligation. The love of a thing is seen from understanding its consequences. We understood its consequence and the heart believes in it, and, therefore, we are not in need of any advice or admonition in acquiring it.
Those who think that the message of the Seal of the Prophets, the Hāshimite Messenger (s) , has two dimensions: one belonging to this world and the other to the Hereafter, and take this to be a pride of the bringer of the Sharī'ah and the perfection of prophethood, know nothing of the religion and are unaware of the message and far from understanding the purpose of the prophethood.
Inviting to worldly things is quite alien to the objectives of the great prophets, since desire, sense of anger and the interior and exterior Satans are sufficient for such an invitation and it does not need the
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sending of messengers. The administration of desire and anger is in no need of a Qur'an or a prophet. The prophets, actually, have come to keep people back from this world to curb the release of the desire and anger, and to limit the sources of worldly interests.
An ignorant person thinks that they invited the people to this world. They say: “Do not acquire wealth by whatever means. Do not satisfy your desire in whatever way available there should be marriage, and there should be (lawful) trade, industry and agriculture though the door of the center of desire and anger is opened by letting them free. ”
So, the prophets demand them to be chained, not to be set free, and they do not invite to worldly things. They ask for a lawful business so as to prohibit the unlawful ones. They call to marriage in order to curb the nature and prevent debauchery and releasing the power of desire [shahwat]. As a matter of fact, they are not absolutely against them, because it would be against the perfect system.
In short, as we feel we need this world, regarding it to be the capital of life and the source of pleasure, we get ready to attend to it and to acquire it. But if we believe in the Hereafter-life and feel we are in need of that life, and regard worship, especially the Salat, to be the capital for living there, and the source of happiness in that world, we, naturally,
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will try to do our best to acquire it, and we will not feel any difficulty and fatigue in ourselves; or rather, we will hurry to acquire it with complete eagerness and craving, and endure every hardship and undergo all circumstances for that purpose.
Now, this coldness and weakness, which are manifest in us, are caused by the coldness of the radiance of our faith and the weakness of its foundation. Had all the news of the prophets and holy men [awliyā'] ('a) and the arguments of the elite and learned men (may Allah be pleased with them) created “sufferance” [ihtimāl] in us, we could have done better in our attempts and acquirements.
So, we have to regret a thousand times for letting Satan overcome our inside and conquer the whole of our heart and the hearings of our interior, preventing us from hearing the sayings of Allah and His Messengers, and those of the scholars, as well as the admonitions of the divine Books. Such being the case, our ears are changed to those of worldly animals, and the divine admonitions would not go beyond the apparent and the animal ear to the inside
“Most surely there is a reminder in this for him who has a heart or he gives ear and is a witness. ” (Surah al-Qaaf, 50: 37)
One of the great duties of the traveler to Allah and the striver for the sake of Allah is to completely give up self-reliance during the striving and sulūk,
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and, by nature, to pay attention to the Cause of the causes, and by disposition, to belong to the Origin of the origins, asking from His Sacred Existence protection and immunity from sin, and depending on the help of His Sacred Essence. In his privacy he is to implore Him and very seriously request Him to improve his condition, for there is no refuge save Him. And praise be to Allah!
Chapter 12: Explaining That Loving This World Causes Distraction Of The Mind
A Reference to that Loving this World is the Origin of the Distraction of the Imagination and Prevents the Presence of Heart, and Explaining its Remedy as Much as Possible
It must be noted that the heart, according to its nature and disposition, looks at what it loves and is inclined to that beloved to have it as its qiblah. If an affair distracted the heart from thinking of the beauty of its cherished beloved, no sooner the engagement slackens and the distraction stops than the heart flies towards its beloved and clings to his skirt.
Should the people of knowledge and the divinely attracted enjoy strength of heart and be firm in absorption and love, they would recognize the Beauty of the Beloved in every mirror, and would discern the wanted perfection in every being: “I discerned nothing unless I recognized Allah in it and with it,” [1] and if their leader [the Prophet (s) ] says: “Sometimes my heart is enveloped by a cover of dust, and I ask Allah's forgiveness seventy times every day,” [2] it is because to
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see the Beauty of the Beloved especially in an impure mirror like the Abu Jahl mirror is in itself a sort of impurity with respect to the perfect ones.
If their hearts are not strong enough, and their engagement in multiplicity prevents the presence (of heart) , no sooner the engagement lessens than their hearts' birds fly back to their sacred nests and cling to the Beauty of the Beautiful.
As to those who look for other than Allah who, in the eyes of the people of knowledge, all seek for this world they are also attracted to their want and cling to it. If they, too, are extremely in love with their quest, and the love of this world has completely possessed their hearts, they will never relax in their attraction towards it, and, whatever the situation, they remain beside the beauty of their beloved.
Should their love be less, their hearts would return, in their leisure time, to their beloved. Those who cherish in their hearts the love of wealth, rule and position, dream of them in their sleep, too, and, in their wakefulness, they live thinking of their beloved. As long as they are engaged in worldly matters, they live hugging their beloved, and when the time of the Salat arrives, the heart feels a kind of vacancy and sticks to its beloved, as if the takbīrat ul-ihrām (the first Allāhu akbar uttered aloud at the start of the Salat) is the key to the shop, or
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the remover of the curtain between it and its beloved.
So, he comes to himself only when he has just uttered the taslīm (the finishing words of the Salat) , whereas he had paid no attention to the Salat itself, and during it he had been engaged in thinking of this world. That is why our Salats for forty or fifty years have no result whatsoever in our hearts except darkness and impurity, and what should have been a cause for ascension to the proximity of Allah's presence and a means of becoming familiar with His sanctity, has, on the contrary, driven us out of His proximity and taken us miles away from ascending to be familiar with His presence.
Had our Salat a smell of servitude, its result would have been modesty and humility, not self-conceitedness, ostentation, arrogance and pride, each one of which can possibly be a separate cause of man's misfortune and perdition.
In short, when one's heart becomes mixed with the love of this world, with no objective or aim except building it up and developing it, this love will inevitably prevent the heart from being vacant and present in the presence of Allah. This deadly disease and ruinous corruption can be cured by useful knowledge and good deed.
The useful knowledge suitable for this ailment is to think of the fruits and outcomes of curing it, and compare them with the harmful and destructive consequences resulting from it. In my commentaries on the Forty Hadiths in
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this respect I have explained this topic in details as was possible. Here I will suffice myself with explaining some Hadiths of the infallible Ahl al-Bayt ('a):
In Al-Kāfī, Abū 'Abdullāh (as-Sādiq) ('a) is quoted to have said: “The origin of every sin is the love of this world. ” [1] Other Hadiths on this subject, though in different wordings, are plenty. [2]
Yet, this noble hadīth is quite enough for the wakeful man, and it is enough for this big and pernicious sin to be the source of all sins and the root and basement of all corruptions. By a little contemplation it can be realized that almost all moral and practical corruptions are the fruits of this vile tree. No false religion was established in the world, and no corruption has ever happened, unless it stemmed from this grave sin.
Murders, plunders, injustice and transgressions are of the offspring of this sin. Debauchery, atrocities, theft and other crimes are the outcomes of this germ of corruption. The man who is afflicted with this love is void of all moral virtues. Courage, chastity, generosity and equity, which are the origin of all the spiritual virtues, are not compatible with the love of this world. Divine knowledge [ma'ārif], unity of Names, Attributes, Actions and Essence, truth-seeking and truth- discerning are contrary to the love of this world.
Tranquility of the soul, calmness of the mind and repose of the heart, which are the spirit of happiness in both worlds, cannot come along with loving this world.
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Richness of the heart, greatness, self-respect, freedom, and manliness are of the requisites of ignoring this world, whereas poverty, humility, covetousness, greed, servitude and flattery are of the requisites of loving this world. Kindness, mercy, observing kinship relations, affection and amity are not in harmony with the love of this world. Hatred, rancor, despotism, severing kinship relations, hypocrisy and other evil characters are of the progeny of this “mother of diseases”.
As-Sādiq ('a) , as stated in Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, said: “This world is like a portrait: its head is arrogance, its eye is greed, its ear is covetousness, its tongue is pretence, its hand is desire, its leg is conceit, its heart is negligence, its being is perishing and its destiny is decline. Whoever loves it, it gives him arrogance, whoever approves of it, it grants him greed, whoever demands it, it drives him to covetousness, whoever praises it, it clothes him with pretence, whoever wants it, it offers him conceit, whoever trusts it, it neglects him, whoever admires its properties, it ruins him, and whoever accumulates it and does not spend it, it turns him down to its dwelling place, the Fire. ” [1]
Daylamī, in Irshād al-Qulūb, quoting Amīr al-Mu'minīn ('Alī) ('a) , says that the Messenger of Allah (s) said: “On the night of the mi'rāj, Allah, the Exalted, said: “O Ahmad, if a servant performs the Salat as much as that of the people of the earth and the heaven, and fasts as much as that of the people of the
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earth and the heaven, and refrains, like the angels, from food, and wears the apparel of a devotee, then I see in his heart a bit of love for this world or for worldly reputation, leadership, celebrity and ornaments, he will not be in an abode in My neighborhood and I will drive My love out of his heart and make it dark until he forgets Me. I will not let him taste the sweetness of my love. ” [1]
It is quite clear that loving this world and loving Allah cannot meet together. In this respect there are too many Hadiths to be contained in these pages.
Now as it has become clear that the love of this world is the origin of all evils, it becomes incumbent on a man of reason, who cherishes his happiness, to uproot this tree from his heart. The practical way to treat it is to do the contrary, i. e. , if he has a longing for wealth and position, he can get rid of it by way of being open- handed and spending obligatory and recommended alms and charities.
By the way, one of the characteristics of alms-giving is lessening the love of this world. That is why it is recommended to give charity out of what you love most, as stated in the Glorious Qur'an:
“You shall not attain goodness until you spend out of what you love” (Surah aal-Imraan, 3: 92).
If he desires pride, priority, authority and power, he is to act against that, to
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turn the nose of the evil-commanding soul into the dust to reform it.
Man should know that the world is such that the more one is attached to it and in pursuit of it, the more his affection to it and the more his regret for parting company with it. It seems as if one is in quest of something, which is not in his possession. Man thinks he is in need of a certain portion of the world, which he pursues, no matter what difficulties and risks he will have to endure to attain his goal, and, as soon as he obtains it, it loses its attraction and becomes an ordinary matter, and his love and attachment turn into something else more sublime than the previous one, and he starts his toil and endeavors anew.
In this way his anxiety will never be subdued. Actually, his love gets ever stronger, and his hardships ever increase. This natural disposition never stops. The people of knowledge use this inborn nature to prove a lot of disciplines, which are out of the scope of these papers to explain. This subject is referred to by some noble Hadiths, such as that which is stated in the noble al-Kāfī, quoting. Imām al-Bāqir ('a) who said: “The parable of a man greedy of this world is the parable of the silk worm: the more it winds the thread round itself the farther it becomes from salvation, until it dies of grief. ” [1]
Imām as-Sādiq ('a) is quoted to
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have said: “This world is like sea-water; the more a thirsty man drinks from it the thirstier he gets, until it kills him. ” [1]
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[1]: A quotation from Amīr al-Mu'minīn ['Alī] ('a) in 'Ilm al-Yaqīn, vol. 1, p. 49.
[2]: Mustadrak al-Wasā'il, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “Invocations,” ch. 22, hadīth 1.
[1]: Usūl al-Kāfī, “Book of Faith and Infidelity,” ch. on “Loving this World and Being Attached to it,” hadīth 1.
[2]: Ibid. , hadīths 1-17.
[1]: Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, ch. 32 “On This World's Attribute (s) ”.
[1]: Irshād al-Qulūb, vol. 1, p. 206
[1]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 3, “Book of Faith and Infidelity,” ch. on “Dispraising this World and Neglecting it,” hadīth 20, and ch. on “Loving this World and being Greedy of it,” hadīth 7, p. 202.
[1]: Ibid, hadīth 24.
Completion: On Turning The Soul Away From The World
So, O seeker of the truth and traveler to Allah, as you have tamed the bird of imagination, chained the Satan of fancy, given up the love of wife, children and other worldly affairs, got familiar with the attraction of the fire of the natural divine love and said: “Lo! I see a fire [afar off],” [2] seen yourself with no barriers in the way and prepared the requirements of the journey, get up, then, leave this dark room of nature and the narrow passage of the world, break off the chains of time, save yourself from this prison and let the bird of sanctity fly to “the meeting place of intimacy. ” [mahfil-i 'uns].
A whistle is calling you from the turret of the 'Arsh, I wonder what keeps you into this place of traps! [3]
So, be resolute and strengthen your will, since the first condition of sulūk is resolution ['azm], without which no distance can be covered and no perfection can be reached. The great Shaykh, Shāhābādī [4] (may my soul be his ransom) called it as the core of humanity. It can also be said that one of the great points of fearing Allah, avoiding the desires of the appetitive soul, the lawful austerities, and the divine worship and rituals, is strengthening the resolution and defying the worldly powers under the sovereignty of
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the soul, as has already been mentioned.
We now close this discourse with praising and glorifying the Sacred Essence of Allah, the Exalted, and with praising the attributes of the Chosen Master, the elected Prophet, and his pure offspring ('a). We ask the help of the holy souls of those sacred personalities in our spiritual journey and faithful ascension.
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[2]: A part of Moses' conversation with his people. “When he saw a fire, he said to his people: “Stay here! Lo! I see a fire [afar off]. ” ” Sūrah Tā-Hā 20: 10 and Sūrah an-Naml 27: 7.
[3]: A poem by Hāfiz Shīrāzī.
[4]: The late Āyatullāh Mīrzā Muhammad-'Alī Isfahānī Shāhābādī, a jurist, methodist, gnostic and prominent philosopher, son of the late Āyatullāh Mīrzā Muhammad Jawād Husaynābādī Isfahānī, was born in Isfahan in 1292 L. H. After finishing his preliminary learning in Isfahan and Tehran, he traveled to study in the theological circles of Najaf al-Ashraf and Sāmirrā' (in Iraq). There his tutors were great scholars, such as the late writer of Al-Jawāhir, Ākhūnd Khurāsānī and Sharī'at Isfahānī. He soon attained the degree of ijtihād. He reached a high position in fiqh, philosophy and gnosticism, and he taught these branches of knowledge. His class was one of the most powerful scholarly circles in Sāmirrā'. After returning from Iraq, he settled first in Tehran, and then he moved to the sacred town of Qum, where he dwelt for seven years. During his stay in Qum, Imām Khomeinī (may Allah be pleased with him and send peace upon him) benefited so much from his lessons on ethics and gnosticism. The Imām of the nation, in many places in this book and in his other books and writings, refers to his great teacher with utmost respect and esteem, and relates his scholarly emissions. Besides teaching different branches of knowledge and educating his distinguished disciples, the late Shāhābādī wrote many books in different fields. At the age of seventy-seven, that man of knowledge and action died in 1369 L. H. in Tehran, and was buried in the neighborhood of the shrine of 'Abd al-'Azīm al-Hasanī, in the graveyard of the late Shaykh Abū 'l-Futūh ar-Rāzī. May Allah resurrect him together with the Prophet Muhammad and his pure progeny.
Discourse Two
On the Preliminaries of the Salat and Some of its Cordial Disciplines
Discussed in Five Objectives
Objective One: Purification
Explained in Seven Chapters
Chapter 1: On Purification In General
As it has already been said, besides the outer appearance of the Salat, it has a reality, and apart from its exterior it has an interior. And as its outer form has its formal disciplines and conditions, its interior has its disciplines and conditions, too, which are to be observed by the sālik. Thus, purification has also its outer form and formal disciplines, the explanation of which is out of the scope of these pages.
The faqīhs (jurists) of the Ja'farī school (may Allah make high their words and raise their ranks) have explained them. As regards the inner disciplines and purifications, they shall be explained in general:
It should be noted that the reality of the Salat is ascension to the Proximity, and reaching the Presence of Allah, the Almighty and Most High. Thus, to attain this great objective and ultimate goal, one should practice certain purifications, which are other than the outer purifications. The thorns of this road and the obstacles in the way of this ascension are such impurities
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that if the sālik were marked by one of them, he would be incapable of ascending to the peak and completing the ascension.
Such impurities are the hindrances in the way of the Salat and the plagues of Satan. But what is a help to the sālik in his journey and is a discipline of the Presence is the condition of this reality. The traveler to Allah has first to remove the obstacles and impurities so that he may be purified and attain purity which belongs to the world of light. Unless all the impurities, outer and inner, open and hidden, are purified, the sālik will have no chance of attending the Presence (of Allah).
Thus, the first kind of impurities is that of the outer instruments and powers of the soul which may be polluted with obstinacies and acts of disobedience to “the Benefactor” [waliyy un-ni'am] this is an apparent snare of Iblīs. As long as man is trapped in this snare, he is deprived of being in Allah's Presence and attaining His Proximity. No one may have the notion that without purifying the outside of his kingdom he can reach the state of the truth of humanity, or he can purify his inner heart, as this will be a Satanic vanity and of Iblīs' big tricks.
This is because the heart's impurity and darkness will be increased by disobediences, which mark the triumph [ghalabah] of nature over spirituality. Unless the sālik conquers the kingdom of the outside, he
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will remain deprived of inner conquests, which are the big objective, and no way will be opened for him to happiness. Thus, one of the big obstacles of this sulūk is the impurities of the acts of disobedience, which must be purged and purified with the water of sincere repentance.
It should also be noted that all the external and internal powers which Allah, the Exalted, has bestowed upon us from the invisible world are divine deposits free from all impurities and are purged and purified, and even illuminated with the light of the God-given disposition, and excluded from Satan's dark and impure influence.
Yet, since they have descended in the dark abode of the world of nature, and the influential hands of the devil of imagination and fancy have reached them, they have deviated from the original purity and primary disposition, and got polluted with diverse Satanic filths and impurities. So, if the sālik to Allah could, by adhering to the care of Allah's Walī, repel Satan's influence, purge the kingdom of the outside and return the divine trusts as they had been given to him with no treason, he would be forgiven and protected, and, as far as the outside is concerned, he need not worry, and then he would turn to the inside to purge it from the impurities of corrupt moralities.
This is the second kind of impurity, which is more corrupt and more difficult to cure, and thus, it is more important to the people of
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austerity, because as long as the inner moralities of the soul are corrupt and encircled by spiritual impurities, it will not deserve the state of holiness and “the private place of intimacy” [khalwat-i uns], as the origin of the corruption of the exterior kingdom of the soul is its corrupt morals and its vile habits.
And, unless the sālik changes his vile habits to good ones, he will not be safe from the evil acts. If he is successful in repentance (while still having vile habits) , its stability which is a matter of grave importance cannot be achieved. So, the outer purification depends on the inner purification, besides the fact that the interior impurities cause deprivation of happiness, and originate the Hell of morals, which, as the people of knowledge say, is worse and more intense in burning than the Hell of deeds. This question has frequently been mentioned in the Hadiths of the infallible Ahl al-Bayt ('a).
Therefore, it is a must for the sālik to Allah to carry out this purgation. After he has cleansed his soul of the corrupting impurities of the morals with the pure water of useful knowledge and lawful, good austerity, he will have to set upon purifying the heart, the capital which, if reformed, all kingdoms will be reformed, and if it is corrupt, all will be corrupt. The impurities of the world of the heart are the origin of all impurities, such as being attached to other than Allah, to oneself and to
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this world.
This is originated by the love of this world, which is at the head of all sins, and by self-love, which is the mother of all diseases. As long as the roots of this love are still deep in the heart of the sālik, he will see no marks of the love of Allah in it, and he will find no way to his destination and objective. So, as long as there are remnants of this love in the heart, his journey will not be to Allah, but to the self, to the world, and to Satan. So, being purged of the love of self and of the world is the first stage of purifying the journey to Allah in reality, because before this purgation the journey would not be to Allah, and it would be a sort of carelessness to refer to sālik and sulūk in this instance.
After this stage there are other stages, after which there will appear a model of 'Attār's Seven Cities of Love, the reciter of which, as a sālik, could see himself at the bend of a lane, while we remain behind walls and thick veils, and think that those “cities” and “kings” are nothing but of the weavings of our presumption. I have nothing to do with Shaykh 'Attār or Maytham at-Tammār, but I do not deny the original (gnostic) stations, and I cordially love their owners, and, by this love, I hope to be relieved. You yourself be whom
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you may, and bind yourself to whom you like.
The pretender wanted to come to look at the Beloved [Friend], The hand of the invisible came and pushed off the stranger. [1]
But I do not approve of disloyalty by brethren in faith and by spiritual friends to the gnostic friends, and I will not refrain from offering advice, which is the right of the believers to one another.
At the top of the spiritual impurities, which cannot be purged even with the seven seas, and which caused despair to the great prophets ('a) , is the impurity of “the compound ignorance” [jahl-i murakkab], which is the origin of the incurable disease of denying the stations of the people of Allah and of knowledge, and is the source of doubting the people of the heart.
As long as man is polluted with such impurities, he will not take a step towards knowledge [ma'ārif], or rather, this impurity so often extinguishes the inborn light [nūr] of disposition, which is the light [chirāgh] for the road of guidance, and puts out the fire of love, which is the heavenly horse [burāq] for ascending to high stations, causing man to eternally stick to the earth of nature.
Therefore, it is necessary for man, through thinking about the status of the prophets and the perfect holy men [awliyā'] ('a) , and by contemplating their stations, to wash those impurities away from his heart, and not to be satisfied with the status he is in, because this satisfaction with the
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knowledge [ma'ārif] one has, and remaining stagnant, are of the great tricks of Iblīs and the evil-commanding soul. We take refuge in Allah from them. Now, as this thesis is written according to the taste of the common people, I refrain from the three purifications of the holy men [awliyā']. And praise be to Allah.
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[1]: A poem by Hāfiz. In the printed copies it is stated: ”…to come to the show place of the Secret. ”
Chapter 2: Concerning The Stages Of Purification
Know that as long as man is in the world of nature and in the abode of the primary [hayūlānī] matter, he is under the rule of the divine soldiers and the satanic soldiers. The divine soldiers are the soldiers of mercy, safety, happiness, light, purity, and perfection. The soldiers of Iblīs are on the opposite side. But as the divine aspects have mastery over the satanic aspects, at the beginning, man's disposition possesses natural divine light, safety and happiness, as is openly stated in the noble Hadiths and hinted at in the noble divine Book. [1]
As long as man is in this world, he can, on his own free will, put himself at the disposal of either of the two. So, if from the beginning of the God-given disposition till the end, Satan had no way of intruding, man would be divine, luminous from head to foot with purity and happiness, his heart being the light of Allah, observing nothing but Allah.
His inward and outward powers would be luminous and pure, and no one would use them but Allah, and Satan would have no share in them, nor would his soldiers be
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able to control him. Such an honorable being is absolute purity and pure light, and his past faults and the future ones are forgiven. [1]
He is an absolute conqueror, enjoying the station of original “great infallibility” ['ismat-i kubrā], and the other infallibles have the same station as the followers of that sacred essence. He is the Seal of the Prophets and possesses the station of absolute perfection. His vicegerents, though of separate substance, join him in disposition and completely follow him in absolute infallibility.
As to some of the infallible prophets and holy men [awliyā'] ('a) , they have no absolute infallibility and are not protected against Satan's intrusion, such as Adam's act with respect to the “tree,” which was one of the intrusions of the great Iblīs, the chief of the Iblīses, and despite the fact that the “tree” was a paradisiac divine tree, yet it was marked by a multiplicity of names, which is contrary to the state of complete humanity. This is one of the meanings, or of the ranks, of “the forbidden tree”.
If the light of the divine disposition was polluted with the formal and spiritual impurities, it would be at a distance from the court of the Proximity and “the Presence of Love” [hadrat-i uns] in proportion to its pollution, until the light of disposition completely goes out, and the kingdom becomes altogether Satanic, and its inside and outside, secret and open, are put at the disposal of Satan.
Thus, Satan becomes its
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heart, ear (hearing) , eye (seeing) , hand, and leg, and all his other organs become Satanic. If somebody reaches this stage take refuge in Allah from it he becomes absolutely wretched and will never see the face of happiness. Between these two limits there are so many stages which only Allah, the Exalted, knows. Whoever is nearer to the horizon of prophethood, is of “those on the right hand” [ashāb-i yamīn], and whoever is nearer to the satanic horizon, is of “those on the left hand” [ashāb-i yasār].
It should be noted, however, that even after the pollution of the inborn disposition, it is possible to purify it. As long as man is still in this world he can get out of Satan's domain and can easily join the party of Allah's angels, who are the soldiers of the divine mercy.
The reality of jihād-i nafs [self-struggle] which, according to the Messenger of Allah (s) , is more meritorious than struggling against the enemies of the religion, and is the greater jihād [1] is this getting out of Satan's domain and entering the domain of Allah's soldiers.
So, the first stage of purity is the observance of divine laws and the obedience to Allah's commands.
The second stage is to be adorned with virtuous morals and faculties.
The third stage is the purity of the heart, which means submitting the heart to Allah, after which the heart becomes luminous, or rather it becomes of the world of light and a degree of divine
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light. The luminosity of the heart flows to other organs and inner powers, and the whole kingdom turns into light, and light upon light, till the heart becomes divine and godly and the Divinity [hadrat-i lāhūt] manifests in all the inner and outer stages.
In this case, servitude completely vanishes and is annihilated, and Lordship explicitly appears, in which case, the heart of the sālik is overcome by a state of tranquility and familiarity, and he loves the whole world, and experiences divine trances, and the sins and faults become forgivable to him, and will be covered by the shelter of “love manifestations” [tajalliyāt-i hubbī, and primary holiness [wilāyat] begins to appear in him, and he becomes worthy of attending “the Presence of Intimacy” [mahdar-i uns]. Then, there are other stages, mentioning which does not suit these papers.
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[1]: For example, the noble verse: “So set your face to the religion, as a man of pure faith Allah's nature upon which He originated mankind. ” (Sūrah ar-Rūm 30: 30). See the hadīths in Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 3, p. 276; vol. 64, p. 130, and in At-Tawhīd, ch. 53, p. 321.
[1]: A hint at the noble verse: “…That Allah may forgive your past faults and those to come. ” (Sūrah al-Fath 48: 2).
[1]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 67, p. 65; vol. 19, p. 182.
Chapter 3: The Cordial Disciplines Of The Sālik When Coming To Water For Purification
In this chapter we translate a noble hadīth from Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah so that the pure hearts of the people of faith may get from it some lumination.
It is stated in Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah that Imām as-Sādiq ('a) said: “When you intend purification and Wudu' [ritual ablution], proceed to the water as you proceed to Allah's mercy, because Allah has made water the key to His proximity and supplication, and a guide to the court of His service. And, as Allah's mercy purifies the sins of the servants, similarly the outer filths are purified by water and by nothing else. Allah, the Exalted, says:
“And He it is Who sends the winds
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as good news heralding His mercy, and We send down purifying water from the sky” (Sūrah al-Furqān 25: 48).
He also says:
“And we made every living thing of water. Will they not then believe? ” (Sūrah al-Anbiyā' 21: 30).
So, as He has given life with water to everything of the blessings of this world, likewise, He has made obedience the life of the hearts, out of His mercy and grace. Think of the clarity, softness, purity and blessing of water and of its tender mixing with everything. Use it to purge the organs that Allah has ordered you to purify, and observe their disciplines in His obligations and advantages. So, if you use them respectfully, the springs of the advantages will burst out for you presently.
Then, mix with the creatures (servants) of Allah like the mixture of water with things: It gives to everything its due without any change in its own meaning. And learn a lesson from the Messenger of Allah (s) (who said): “A sincere believer is like water. ” Let your clearness with Allah, the Most High, be like the clearness of water as He sent it down from the sky and called it “purifier” [tahūr]. Purify your heart with fear of Allah [taqwā] and certitude [yaqīn] as you cleanse your organs with water. ” [1]
In this noble hadīth there are delicate points and facts, which enliven the hearts of the people of knowledge, and bestow animation on the clear souls of “the people of heart” [ashāb-i qulūb].
Describing water, in this
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hadīth, as Allah's mercy, or interpreting it to be so, denotes that water is one of the great manifestations of Allah's mercy, which He sent down to the world of nature, and made it the source of life for the beings. Rather, the vast divine mercy, which descended from the high heaven of His Names and Attributes, and with which the lands of the individual entities [ta'ayyunāt-i a'yān] were revived, is called “water” by the people of knowledge.
And as the vast divine mercy is more obvious in the apparent substance of water than in other things, Allah, the Exalted, has assigned to it the task of purifying the outer filths, and made it the key to the door of His proximity and of the supplications to Him, and the guide to the court of His service, which is the door of the doors of the inner mercies.
Actually, the water of Allah's mercy descends and appears in every growth [nash'ah] of existence and in every visible and invisible scene to purify the sins of Allah's servants according to that growth [nash'ah] and suitable to that world. So, the invisible sins of the individual entities are purified with the water of mercy which descends from the heaven of His Oneness [ahadiyyat], and the sins of the non-existence of “the outer quiddities” [māhiyyāt-i khārijiyyah] are purged with the water of the vast mercy descending from the heaven of His Unity [wāhidiyyat] in every stage of existence according to that stage.
In the
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stages of human growths [nasha'āt], too, the water of mercy has different manifestations, as with the water descending from His Essence onto “the purgatorial collective individuations” [ta'ayyunāt-i jam'iyyat-i barzakhiyyah] the sins of the “existential secret” [sirr-i wujūdī] are purified: “Your existence is a sin incomparable with any other sin. ” With the water descending from His Names and Attributes and the manifestation of Act, the vision of the attribute and the act is purged.
With the water descending from the sky of His “Decree of Justice” [hukm-i 'adl] the inner moral impurities are purified. With the water descending from the sky of His Forgiveness the sins of the servants are purged. And with the water descending from the sky of “the kingdom of heaven” [malakūt] the formal impurities are purged. So, it is clear that Allah, the Exalted has made water the key to His proximity and the guide to His court of mercy.
Then, in the noble hadīth there is another instruction, which opens another way to the people of sulūk and of observance. It says: ”…Think of the clarity, softness, purity and blessing of water and of its tenderly mixing with everything. Use it to purge the organs, which Allah has ordered you to purify, and observe their disciplines in His obligations and traditions, as under each one there are many advantages. So, if you use them respectfully, the springs of the advantages will burst out for you presently. ”
This noble hadīth refers to the degrees of purity in general and
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puts it in four general degrees, of which one is that which is mentioned so far in the noble hadīth, i. e. purifying the organs. It also notes that the people of observance and the sāliks to Allah should not stop at the apparent form of the things. They have to regard the appearance as a mirror reflecting the inside, to detect the facts from the forms and not to be satisfied with formal purification, which is a satanic snare.
So, in the purity of water they discover the purity of the organs, which they have to purge and clarify by way of performing the obligatory duties and the divine laws, whose fineness is to be used to make fine the organs and to take them out of the coarseness of disobedience, and to let purity and blessing flow into all the organs.
And, from the tenderly mixing of water with things, they realize how the divine heavenly powers are mixed with the world of nature, preventing the impurities of nature from affecting them. When the organs are clothed with the divine obligations and laws and their disciplines, the inner advantages gradually appear, the springs of the divine secrets burst out and a part of the secrets of servitude and purity uncover themselves for the sālik.
After explaining the first stage of purification and its instruction, the hadīth gives the secondary instruction, saying: “…then mix with the creatures (servants) of Allah like the mixture of water with things: It gives to
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everything its due without any change in its own meaning. And learn a lesson from the Messenger of Allah (s) (who said): “A sincere believer is like water. ”
The first instruction concerns the sālik's managing his organs and inner powers. The second instruction mentioned in this noble hadīth concerns man's relation with Allah's creatures. This is a comprehensive instruction telling how the sālik's behavior with the creatures should be, which is also an implication of the reality of privacy [khalwat]; that is, the traveler to Allah, while treating each group of the people with kindness, giving them their natural dues, and dealing with anyone of them according to his disposition, is to strictly observe the divine rights, and never to lose his own meaning, which is servitude and attending to Allah.
At the same time of being in multiplicity [kathrat], he is to be in privacy [khalwat], and his heart which is the lodging of the Beloved is to be free from others and empty of all designs and paintings. Then the hadīth refers to the third instruction, which concerns the sālik's connection with Allah, the Exalted. It says: “Let your clearness with Allah, the Most High, be like the clearness of water when He sent it down from the sky and called it 'purifier' [tahūr]. ”
That is, the traveler to Allah should be free from the intrusion of nature, and its impurity and darkness should not be allowed into his heart, and all his acts of worship should be free from
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all external and internal polytheism. As the water is pure when descending from the sky, and the hands of impurity have not extended to it, the heart of the sālik, which has descended pure from the heaven of the invisible, is to be protected against the intrusion of Satan and nature, and to be prevented from being polluted with the impurities.
After this instruction, the hadīth comes to the last and the comprehensive instruction for the people of austerity and of sulūk. It says: “Purify your heart with fear of Allah and certitude as you cleanse your organs with water. ”
Here is a reference to two lofty stations of the people of knowledge: one is “God-fearing,” which is perfected by abandoning everything other than Allah. The other is certitude, which is perfected by discerning the Presence of the Beloved.
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[1]: Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, ch. 10, on “Purification”.
Chapter 4: Concerning The Purifier
The “purifier” is either water which is, in this respect, basic or “earth”.
Know that the traveler to Allah, generally speaking, has two ways to take him to the loftiest goal, the station of proximity to the Divinity: The first of them, which is the principal and original one, is the journey to Allah by turning towards the Absolute Mercy, especially the compassionate mercy, which is the compassion that takes every being to its appropriate perfection. It is of this kind of compassionate mercy that the prophets ('a) were sent to lead on the roads and to help those lagging behind.
To the people of knowledge and the people of heart, the
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House of Realization is the form of divine mercy. The creatures are perpetually and completely drowned in the oceans of Allah's mercy, yet they do not make use of it.
The Great Divine Book which has descended from the divine invisible world and the proximity of the Lord, and has appeared in the form of words and speech so that we, the deserted, the prisoners in the jail of nature and put in the fetters of the crooked chains of the soul's desires and whims, make use of it and rescue ourselves is one of the greatest manifestations of the absolute divine mercy, of which, we, the blind and deaf, have in no way made use.
The Messenger the Seal of the prophets, the honorable absolute guardian, who came from the Sacred Presence of the Lord and the company of the divine proximity and familiarity to this abode of estrangement and dread, where he had to keep company with the people like Abū Jahl (the Prophet's uncle and his bitter enemy) or even worse, and whose sigh: ”…My heart is enveloped by a cover of dust…” [1] has burnt the hearts of the people of knowledge and friendship is Allah's vast mercy and the divine absolute generosity, who had come into his (worldly) body as an all-embracing mercy for the dwellers of this lower world, in order to take them out of this abode of terror and estrangement, like a “ring-dove” [2] which throws itself into the net of blight to save its flock.
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The traveler to Allah should take the purification with the water of mercy as a form of using the descending divine mercy, and to make use of it as long as it is possible for him to do so. Should his hand become short of it, because of inertia or negligence, and be bereaved of the water of mercy, he would have but to pay attention to his own humility, indigence, poverty and destitution.
When he has in full view of his humility of servitude and is aware of his need, his poverty and his own potentiality, and discards his haughtiness, conceit and selfishness, a door of mercy opens to him, and the earth of (his) nature changes into the white earth of mercy, and becomes the dust which is one of the “two purifiers” [1] , and becomes the object of Allah's mercy and kindness. The stronger this state in man, i. e. , his awareness of his humility, the more he receives of mercy.
Should he decide to depend on himself and on his action in his journey, he would perish, since there might be no one to extend help to him, like an infant which boldly starts walking alone, taking pride in its own steps, and depending on its own ability, without its father offering it any help, rather leaving it to itself. But when it recognizes its inability and inefficiency, it turns to its affectionate father, distrusting its own power, and entrusts itself to the care of its father, who offers
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his help, hugs it and guides it step by step to walking.
So, it is better for the traveler to Allah to break the leg of his journey and completely renounce his self-confidence, austerity and action, and abolish himself, his power and ability. He should always remember his mortality and dependence in order to become an object of Allah's care, and to cover a hundred-year distant road in a single night by the attraction of the Lord, and the tongue of his inside and his state say, in the Presence of the Lord's Sanctity, imploringly and helplessly:
“Oh, who responds to the distressed, when he calls unto Him, and removes the evil…? ” [1]
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[1]: Refer to footnote 88.
[2]: See Kalīlah wa Dimnah, ch. “Ring-Dove. ”
[1]: It refers to a narrative related by the late Ākhūnd Khurasānī (may Allah sanctify his soul) in Kifāyat al-Usūl, vol. 1, p. 130, to the effect that: “Dust is one of the two purifiers, and is enough for you for ten years. ”
[1]: Sūrah an-Naml 27: 62.
Chapter 5: Some Disciplines Of The Wudu’ (Ritual Ablution) In Respect Of The Interior And The Heart
Imām ar-Ridā ('a) is quoted to have said: “The servant has been commanded to perform the Wudu' (ritual ablution) so as to be pure when standing before the All- Powerful and supplicating, and by obeying Him, to be purged from filth and impurity, beside his removing laziness, expelling sleep and purifying the heart to stand in the Presence of the All-Powerful.
Confining it (the Wudu') only to the face, the two hands, the head and the two feet, was because when the servant stands before the All-Powerful, the parts which are exposed are those which are ordered to be washed in the Wudu': as with his face he performs the sujūd (prostration) , with his hands he requests, desires, dreads and supplicates, with his head he inclines to Him in his rukū' (bowing down) and his sujūd, and with
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his legs he stands and sits…” [1]
Up to here he explained the principal point in the Wudu', informing the people of knowledge and sulūk that to stand in the holy Presence of Allah, the Glorified and Most High, and to offer supplication to the Provider of Needs, require certain disciplines which should be observed. One must not appear in His Presence even with the external filths and impurities and with a sleepy eye, let alone with a heart, which is filled with dirts, and it is afflicted with spiritual impurities, which are the origin of all impurities.
Despite the fact that a narrative says: “Allah, the Exalted, does not look at your faces, but He looks at your hearts,” [2] and despite the fact that the means with which man attends to Allah, the Exalted, and what is, in the worlds of creation, worthy of looking at His Majesty, Greatness and Glory, is the heart, while the other organs have no share in it, yet, they did not neglect the outer cleanliness. So, they decided the external purification for cleaning man's exterior, and the inner purification for cleaning his interior.
In this noble hadīth, it is clear from assigning the purification of the heart to be a result of the Wudu' that the Wudu' has an interior with which man's interior is purified, and meanwhile it appears that there is a connection between the exterior and the interior, the visible and the invisible. Similarly, it becomes clear that the outer cleanliness, the outside
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Wudu', is the act of worship, and of obeying the Lord.
Therefore, the purification of the outside results in the purification of the inside, and purging the exterior leads to the purity of the interior. Generally, the traveler to Allah must, at the time of Wudu' be aware of his being about to stand in the Presence of Allah, the Almighty, as with such states of heart as he has, he does not deserve to be in His Presence, or he may even be dismissed from the Presence of the Lord, the Most High.
Thus, he must get ready to have his outer purification transferred to his interior, and to purify his heart which is the object of Allah's attention, or, actually, is the lodging of His Sanctity from all that is other than Allah, and to take out from his head any notion of arrogance and Oneness, which is the origin of the origins of the impurities, so as to become worthy of His Presence.
After that, Imām ar-Ridā ('a) explains the reason for specifying certain organs to Wudu'. He says:
“Confining it only to the face, the two hands, the head and the two feet, was because when the servant stands before the All-Powerful, the parts which are exposed are those which are ordered to be washed in the Wudu': as with his face he performs the sujūd (prostration) , with his hands he requests, desires, dreads and supplicates, with his head he inclines to Him in his rukū' (bowing down)
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and his sujūd, and with his legs he stands and sits…”
The gist of his discourse is that these organs take part in worshipping Allah, and it is through these organs that worship is manifested. Consequently, it is necessary to purify them.
Then he refers to those acts of worship which appear from them, opening the way of their being valid and useful to the deserving people, and making the people of knowledge familiar with these secrets that the organs on which servitude appears in Allah's Blessed Presence, should be clean and purified, as the outer limbs and organs of the body, which have a deficient share of those meanings, would not be worthy of that station without purification.
Although submission is not, actually, a character of the face, and none of requesting, desiring, dreading, supplicating and facing the qiblah belongs to any of the tangible organs, yet, as these organs are the manifestations of those meanings, they must be purified. Therefore, purifying the heart, which is the real place of servitude, and the actual center of those meanings, is more necessary. Without its purification, the external organs will never be purified even if they are washed in the seven seas, and it (the heart) will not deserve being in the Presence of Allah. Actually, Satan will have a hand in it, and it will be dismissed from His Glorious Presence.
Connection: In an authorized narrative in 'Ilal ash-Sharā'i' it is thus related: “A group of Jews came to the Messenger
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of Allah (s) and asked him questions. Among their questions they asked: “Tell us, O Muhammad, why are these four organs given the Wudu', while they are the cleanest parts of the body? ” The Messenger of Allah (s) said: “When Satan whispered to Adam ('a) and he came near the 'tree' and looked at it, he lost face. He stood up and walked to it the first step taken towards sinning.
He took with his hand some of what was on it and ate it. Off his body flew what were on him of jewelry and apparel. He put his hand on the top of his head and wept. Allah accepted his repentance, but made it incumbent upon him and his offspring to purify those four organs. So, Allah ordered the face to be washed, because it looked at the 'tree'. He ordered the hands to be washed to the elbows, because he took with them (the fruit of the tree). He ordered the head to be wiped (with the hand wet with water) , as he put his hand on the top of his head, and He ordered the feet to be wiped because with them he walked to sin. ” [1]
Concerning the reason for imposing fasting, there is also a noble hadīth to the effect that the Jews asked him: “What caused Allah to impose on your people to fast for thirty days? ” He said: “It was Adam ('a) , because what he had eaten from that 'tree' remained in his stomach
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for thirty days. So Allah made it incumbent upon him and his offspring to endure hunger and thirst for thirty days, and He allowed them, out of His kindness, to eat and drink at the nights. ” [1]
These noble Hadiths give the people of allusion and the people of heart to understand many points: Although Adam's sin was not like the sins of the others, as it might have been a natural one, or a sin of being inclined to multiplicity, the tree of nature, or of attending to multiplicity of names after the attraction [jādhibah] of self-annihilation [fanā'-i dhātī], yet it was not expected from one like Adam ('a) who was Allah's chosen one [safiyy] and distinguished by proximity [qurb] and self-annihilation.
Therefore, according to the love-zeal [ghayrat-i hubbī] of His Sanctified Essence, He announced his disobedience and going astray to all the worlds and on the tongues of all the prophets ('a). He, the Exalted, said:
“And Adam disobeyed his Lord, so he went astray. ” [2]
Thus, so much cleaning and purification were needed for him (Adam) and his offspring who were hidden in his loin and (so) participated in the sin, though they did participate (in it) after coming out of the loin, too.
Therefore, the sin committed by Adam and his offspring has many degrees and manifestations. The first of those degrees is paying attention to multiplicity of names, and the last of those manifestations is eating from the forbidden tree, the invisible [malakūtī] form of which
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is a tree that carries diverse sorts of fruits.
And its visible [mulkī] form is its nature and affairs, and the love of this world and the self, as seen now in his offspring, is of the affairs of the same inclination to that tree and eating from it. Similarly, for their cleaning, purifying, cleansing, Salat and fasting for the redemption of the father's sin, which is the origin there are many degrees in proportion to the degrees of the sin.
From this explanation it is understood that all kinds of disobedience of the children of Adam are related to eating from the 'tree', and are purified in a certain way. All their sins of the heart are also related to that tree, and are purified in a certain way. Then, all kinds of spiritual sins are related to it, too, and are purified in a certain way.
Purifying the external organs is the 'shadow' [zill] of the purity of the heart and spirit for the perfect. It is an order, and a 'means' to them, for the people of sulūk. As long as man is within the veil of the individuation [ta'ayyun] of the organs and their purification, and he lingers there, he cannot be of the people of the sulūk, and is still in the sin.
But if he engaged himself in passing through the stages of external and internal purifications, and used the formal and outer purifications as a means of purifying the spirit and the heart, and
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in all the acts of worship and rites he observed their spiritual aspects and was benefited by them, or better, if he gave more importance to the internal aspects and regarded them to be the highest objective, he would be admitted through the door of the sulūk along the road of humanity, as is referred to in a noble hadīth in Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah: “.. And purify your heart with taqwā (fear of Allah) and yaqīn (certitude) when you cleanse your organs with water. ” [1]
So, a sālik man needs first a scientific sulūk so as to distinguish, with the blessings of “the people of remembrance” [ahl-i dhikr] ('a) , the stages of servitude, and regard the formal worship inferior to the spiritual and inner worship. Then the practical sulūk, which is the reality of the sulūk has started. The aim of this sulūk is to free the soul from other than Allah, and adorn it with the manifestations of His Names and Essence.
Getting to this stage, the sālik would be at the end of his journey, attaining the goal of his progress to perfection, and acquiring the secrets of austerity and worship, as well as the delicacies of sulūk. Those are the manifestations of Majesty, which are the secrets of purity, and the manifestations of Beauty, which are the objective of other worships. To give the details is beyond the capacity of these pages.
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[1]: 'Uyūnu Akhbār ar-Ridā, vol. 2, ch. 34, hadīth 1, p. 104.
[2]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 67, p. 241, quoting Jāmi' al-Akhbār, p. 117 (with a slight difference).
[1]: 'Ilal ash-Sharā'i', vol. I, ch. 191, hadīth 1, p. 280.
[1]: Ibid. , vol. 2, ch. 109, hadīth 1, p. 378.
[2]: Sūrah Tā-Hā 20: 121.
[1]: Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, ch. 10 on “Purity”.
Chapter 6: Concerning The Ghusl And Its Cordial Disciplines
“The people of knowledge” [ahl-i ma'rifat] say that the (state of) janābah (major ritual impurity) is getting
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out of the homeland of servitude and entering exile [ghurbat]. It is “declaring lordship” [izhār-i rubūbiyyat] and claiming I-ness and entering within the frame [hudūd] of the Patron [mawlā] and acquiring the quality of mastery [siyādat]. The ghusl (ritually washing the whole body) is a purification of this filth and a confession of the shortcoming. One of the religious personalities has enumerated one hundred and fifty states, in ten chapters, saying that the sālik should purify himself from them during his practicing the ghusl. Most of them, or rather all of them, stem from might ['izzat], power [jabarūt] and haughtiness of the soul, selfishness, and self-conceit. [1]
The writer says that the (state of) janābah is vanishing [fanā'] in nature and neglecting spirituality. It is the ultimate end of the complete sovereignty of animality and bestiality, and falling down to the lowest of the low. The ghusl is purging from this sin, turning away from the rule of nature, and attaining the divine authority and power. This is brought about by cleansing the whole kingdom of the soul, which has vanished in nature and been afflicted with Satan's conceit.
So, its cordial disciplines are that the traveler to Allah, at the time of ghusl, should not stop at the outer purification and washing the body, as it is a low superficial crust and belongs to this world. His paying attention to the janābah of the inside of the heart and the secret of the spirit and purifying them from that impurity should be
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more important to him.
Therefore, he must avoid letting his bestial soul and animal concern [sha'n] overpower the human soul and the divine concerns [shu'ūn-i rahmānī], and to repent of Satanic impurity and arrogance, and to purify the inside of the spirit which is a divine blow breathed in him by “the Breath of the Compassionate” [nafas-i rahmānī], from Satanic tastes, which mean paying attention to other than Allah, being the root of the forbidden tree, so that he may deserve his father Adam's Paradise.
He must also know that eating of this tree of nature, desiring this world and attending to multiplicity are the origins of janābah, and, unless he purifies himself from this janābah by immersion in, or by complete purification with, the water of Allah's mercy, which flows from the pillar [sāq] of the Divine 'Arsh and is free from Satan's intrusion, he will not be fit for the Salat, which is the reality of ascension to (Allah's) proximity, as there can be no Salat without purification. [1]
This is referred to in the noble hadīth in al-Wasā'il, quoting Shaykh as-Sadūq (may Allah be pleased with him) , who said with authorities:
“A group of Jews came to the Messenger of Allah (s). The most learned among them asked him some questions. Among his questions was: “What for did Allah command that one should perform ghusl because of the janābah, but He did not command it after relieving oneself from feces and urine? The Messenger of Allah (s) said:
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“When Adam ('a) ate from the (forbidden) tree, it crept into his veins, hair and skin. ” During sexual intercourse water would come out of every vein and hair in his body. So, Allah made it incumbent upon his offspring to perform the ghusl of the janābah till the Day of Resurrection…” [1] as the narrative goes.
In another narrative, Imām ar-Ridā ('a) said: “They were ordered to perform the ghusl because of the janābah, but they were not ordered to do it after the khalā' (relieving oneself from feces and urine) , though it is filthier than the janābah, because the janābah pertains to the soul of man, and what comes out is something from the whole body, while the khalā' does not pertain to the soul of man, and what comes out is the food that goes in through an inlet and comes out from an outlet. ” [2]
The appearance of these Hadiths to “the people of the appearance” [ashāb-i zāhir] denotes that as the semen is from the whole body, the whole body needs the ghusl, and this coincides with the opinion of a number of physicians and natural philosophers. But giving it the cause of eating from the tree, as in the first hadīth, and ascribing the janābah to the soul, as in the second hadīth, open a way to information for the people of knowledge and allusion, because the question of the 'tree' and Adam's eating of it are of the secrets of the sciences of the Qur'an and
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the infallible Ahl al-Bayt ('a) , in which many sciences are occult.
For this reason in the noble Hadiths the causes of legislating many rituals are ascribed to the said case of the 'tree' and Adam's eating of it, such as the Wudu', Salat, ghusl, fasting during the month of Ramadān and its being thirty days, and many of the hajj rituals. The writer has for many years been thinking of writing a thesis on this subject, but other engagements have prevented that. I ask Allah, the Exalted, success and happiness.
Generally speaking, you are an offspring of Adam, a seed for meeting (Allah) and created for knowing (Him). Allah, the Exalted, has chosen you for Himself and has shaped you with His two hands of Beauty and Majesty, and told the angels to fall down bowing to you, and caused Iblīs to envy you.
So if you want to get out of the state of the janābah of your father, who is your origin, and to be worthy to meet the Beloved [hadrat-i mahbūb] and to become ready to attain “the state of familiarity” [maqām-i uns] and “the Presence of the Divine Sanctity” [hadrat-i quds], you are to ritually wash the interior of your heart with the water of mercy, and to repent from attending to this world, which is of the manifestations [mazāhir] of the forbidden tree, and to completely wash your heart, which is the meeting place of the Beautiful and the Beauty of the Majestic, from loving the
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world and its evil affairs, which are Satanic impurities, for the paradise of meeting the Haqq (Allah) is a place for the pure: “No one enters Paradise except the pure. ” [1]
“Wash yourself, then walk to the tavern. ” [2]
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[1]: He refers to Shaykh Muhyi 'd-Dīn ibn al-'Arabī in his al-Futuhāt al-Makkiyyah, vol. 1, p. 363.
[1]: Wasā'il ash-Shī'ah, vol. 1, “Book of Purification,” sec. on ”Wudū',” ch. 4, hadīth 1, p. 261.
[1]: Ibid. , sec. on ”Janabah,” ch. 2, hadīth 2, p. 466, quoted from Man lā Yahduruh al-Faqīh, vol. 1, p. 22; Al-Majālis, p. 115; Al-'Ilal, p. 104.
[2]: Ibid. , hadīth 4, quoted from al-'Ilal, vol. 1, p. 281 and 'Uyūnu Akhbār ar-Ridā, p. 291.
[1]: “Paradise is not entered except by the good. ” Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 3, “Book on Faith and Disbelief,” sec. on “Sins,” hadīth 7, p. 371.
[2]: Wash yourself, then walk to the tavern,
That this ruined convent may not be polluted by you.
Hāfiz Shīrāzī
Chapter7: Some Cordial Disciplines For Removing Filth And Purifying Impurities
point
Be aware that removing the hadath (impurity) , as already stated, is getting out of I-ness and selfishness and parting with carnality [nafsiyyat] or rather it is complete separation from the house of the soul, since, as long as there are remnants of a servant's self, he will be polluted with al-hadath al-akbar (the major impurity) and the worshipper and the worshipped in him are Satan and the soul. If the stages of the journey of the people of the Road and sulūk were for getting ranks and ascension to high degrees, they would not be out of the intrusion of Satan and the soul, and the journey and sulūk are justified [mu'allal].
Thus, the sulūk is within the stages of the self, and the journey in the very inside of the house. Such a sālik is not a sālik, not a wayfarer, nor is he an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger, and he has not yet been purged from the major impurity, which is “the servant himself” ['ayn-i 'abd]. Should he become completely purified from this hadath, the worshipper and the worshipped would be the Haqq [Allah], and “I would be his ear (hearing) and his eye (seeing) ,” [3] which is the result of the proximity by the nāfilah (supererogatory act of worship) ,
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would take place.
Therefore, as far as purification from the hadath is concerned, the ghusl of the whole body is necessary, because as long as “the very servant” ['ayn-i 'abd] is still there in a way, the hadath is not yet removed, as “under each hair there is a janābah. ” [1]
So, purification from the hadath is purification from the hudūth [novelty] and perishing in the sea of ancientness [qidām]. Its perfection is in getting out of the multiplicity of names, which is the interior of the 'tree'. By this getting out he will get out of Adam's infectious sin, which is the origin [asl] of the offspring.
So, the hadath is of the spiritual impurities, and its purification is of the inner invisible affairs and is a light. Wudu' is a limited light, while the ghusl is an absolute light. “Which Wudu' is purer than the ghusl? ” [2]
But removing the external filth and impurities has no such position, because it is a superficial cleaning and an external purification. Its cordial discipline is that the wayfarer servant, who wants to be present in the Presence of Allah, is to know that with Satanic filth and impurity one cannot find his way there, and unless he comes out from the big moral dispraised acts, which are the source of the corruption of the human utopia, and the origin of the external and internal sins, he will have no way to the wanted goal.
Satan, who was in the neighborhood of the world of
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sanctity and was regarded of the cherubim, yet, at last, because of evil inclinations, he was dismissed from the position of the favorites, and was cursed by:
“Then get out of it, for surely you are accursed. ” (Sūrah Sād 38: 77 and Sūrah al-Hijr 15: 34).
So, we, the survivors of the caravan of the invisible world, the sinking ones in the deep pit of nature, and the returned to the lowest of the low, how can we, with our Satanic, evil inclinations, deserve being in the Presence of His Sanctity and in the neighborhood of the godly and the companions of the favorites?
Satan became self-conceited, recognized his being of fire, then said:
“I am better than him…” [1]
This self-admiration led to self-worship and arrogance, which drove him to despise and insult Adam ('a) , and said:
“…and him you created of dust,”
And made a false analogy. He did not see Adam's goodness or his perfect spirituality. He looked only at Adam's appearance, his being of clay and of dust, while of himself he looked at his being of fire, disregarding his polytheism of egoism and egotism. Self-love prevented him from discerning his shortcomings and hid his faults from his eyes. This selfishness and self-conceit led him to self-love, arrogance, ostentation, hypocrisy, obstinacy, and disobedience, driving him from the sacred ascension down to the desert of the abode of darkness of nature.
So, it is on the wayfarer to Allah, as he cleans himself from external filth, to purify himself from the origins
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of vileness and internal Satanic impurities, and thoroughly cleanse, with the divine water of mercy and lawful austerity, his utopia, his virtuous city, and purify his heart, the place of divine manifestation, and to take off the shoes of ambition and loving pomposity, so as to become worthy of entering the sacred valley of ayman and of being a place for the Lord's manifestation.
Unless he is cleaned from evil filths, purification from impurities [ahdāth] cannot take place, as purifying the exterior is a preliminary step to the purification of the interior. Unless a complete, mundane and visible taqwā according to the instructions of the pure sharī'ah happens, no cordial taqwā will take place; and unless the cordial taqwā is brought about by the already named affairs, no real, secret and spiritual taqwā can happen. All the stages of taqwā are preliminaries to this stage, which is neglecting everything other than Allah.
As long as there are in the sālik remnants of selfishness, his heart will not discern Allah's manifestation. It is, however, possible that sometimes, owing to the precedence of (Allah's) mercy and the prevalence of the “near-to-Allah” [yalillāhī] aspect, invisible help is extended to the sālik such that the remnants of his I- ness are burnt out by the Divine firebrand [jadhwah].
It is probable that in the way Allah manifested His glory to the mountain, crushing it to pieces and in the falling down of Moses senseless, there are references to what has been said; and there is
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a similar difference between the sālik-i majdhūb (the sālik attracted by Divine Grace) , and the majdhūb-i sālik (the attracted one who is traveling to Allah). The people of truth understand from this an important point worthy of knowing, since knowing nothing about it would be the cause of many errors, goings astray and deviations from the right path. No one of those who are in quest of truth is to ignore it or be unaware of it.
It is this: The sālik who is in quest of truth must declare himself innocent from the extremities of some ignorant Sūfis and some negligent phenomenalists, so that it may become possible for him to travel to Allah. As a matter of fact, some sects of the first group believe that the external knowledge and act are formal, and stuffed moulds, intended for the ignorant and the common people, and that those who are the people of the secret, heart and truth, and are of good background, need not practice such acts, and that the external acts are required for the purpose of acquiring cordial truths and attaining the looked-for destination, and so, when the sālik reaches his destination, practicing those preliminaries will be departing, and engaging in the multiplicities will be a veil.
The second group, on the other hand, rose to face the first group and went to the other end of extremity by denying all the spiritual stages and divine secrets, and rejected all affairs, except the mere external appearance and
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the superficial form, alleging that everything else is nothing but imagination and fancy. These two groups are still in dispute and argument, each one accusing the other of being against the sharī'ah. In fact, both groups have somewhat exceeded the limits and they have gone to the extremes. In my Sirr as-Salat I have referred to this point, and I show, here, a moderate and middle way, which is the straight path.
It should be noted that the formal rituals and the external worships are not only for acquiring perfect spiritual characters and cordial truths, but that is actually one of their fruits. To the people of knowledge and of heart, all worships transfer the divine knowledge from the inside to the outside and from the secret to the public.
And as the blessing of mercy of the Beneficent [ar-rahmān], or rather of the Compassionate [ar-rahīm], covers all human cordial and formal growths [nasha'āt] and each one of these stages has a share of the general divine blessings, each has to do a part of praising Allah, and thanking Him for the beneficent and merciful favors of His Absolute Necessary Being. As long as the soul has a share of the formal mundane growth [nasha'āt] as well as of the visible life, the carpet of multiplicity will not be completely rolled away, and the shares of nature will not be done with.
As the traveler to Allah must not engage his heart with other than Allah, he is also not
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to make use of his bosom, imagination and nature in other than Allah's way, so that his tawhīd (monotheism) and glorification may become firm in all the growths [nasha'āt]. And if the spiritual attraction has any result other than serving Allah and submission to Him, it will indicate that there are still some remnants of selfishness, and the sālik's journey is inside the house of the soul, and not to Allah.
The goal of the journey of the people of Allah is to color the nature and the kingdom of the body with Allah's color. There is a noble hadīth in which Allah, the Great and Almighty, says: “I am Allah! I am ar-Rahmān (the Beneficent)! I created rahīm (the womb, relationship) and derived its name from mine. So, whoever observed it (i. e. , observed kinship relations) , I would observe him, and whoever severed it, I would sever him. ” [1]
One of the interior concepts of this hadīth is, perhaps, this severing the nature, which is the mother of the spirits, off the original homeland, and observing (connecting) it is its austerity and returning it to its homeland of servitude. Abū 'Abdullāh (as-Sādiq) ('a) is quoted to have said: “I advise you to take care of your aunt, the date-palm, as it was created of Adam's clay. ” [2] This noble hadīth refers to that kinship relations mentioned before.
In short, taking out the kingdom of the exterior from the homeland of servitude, and leaving it to itself, is a deep ignorance of the
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stations of the people of knowledge, and is of the temptations of the accursed Satan who deviates each group from Allah, the Exalted, in a particular way. At the same time, denying the stations and blocking the way to knowledge, which is the delight of the eye of the holy men [awliyā'] ('a) , and confining the divine laws to the exterior, which is the world's share.
The kingdom of the self and the animal state, and disregarding the inner secrets and disciplines of worship which result in purifying the inside, reforming the heart and developing the interior are utmost ignorance and negligence. Both of these two groups are far away from the way of happiness and the straight path of humanity, and both are cut off from the stations of the people of knowledge.
The one, who is aware of Allah and knows the stations, must observe all the inner and outer rights and help everyone who has a right to get it. He must purify himself of exaggeration, fault and going to the extremes, remove the filth of denying the outside of the sharī'ah, which is, in fact, limitation, and remove the filth of denying the inside of the sharī'ah, which is restriction, and both of which are of the temptations of Satan and his treacheries, so that the road of traveling to Allah and attaining the spiritual stations become easy for him.
Thus, one of the stages of removing filth is removing the filths of the false fancies,
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which prevent Allah's proximity, and the ascension of the believers. One of the concepts and positions of the universality of the ultimate prophethood, or rather, of the proofs of the finality of the prophethood, is that he (the Last Prophet) attained, in all the spiritual states to all their rights and shares as regards all the affairs of the sharī'ah. As in the knowledge of the affairs of the Lordship, the Glorified, He is known in the highest height and in the nearest nearness to the state of universality:
“He is the First and the Last and the Manifest and the Hidden,” [1]
“Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth…,” [2]
“If you are lowered down with a rope to the lowest of the earth, you will come down onto Allah,” [3] and
“…Wherever you turn, there is Allah's Face…,” [4]
Through which the knower of the divine knowledge, attracted by the divine attractions, feels invisible delight and divine ecstasy. Similarly the practical-cordial monotheism is permeated into the last stage of the horizon of the nature and the corporeal body, and no being is deprived of a share of knowing Allah.
In short, the people of Sufism unknowingly speak of 'Īsā's (Jesus') wisdom, while the phenomenalists speak of the wisdom of Moses. The Muhammadans, however, are, by limitation, innocent of both of them. To expand on this brief is out of the question and does not suit these pages.
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[3]: Refer to footnote 21.
[1]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 78,“Book of Purification,”sec. on “The Incumbency of the Ghusl of Janabah,” hadīth 23, p. 51.
[2]: Jāmi' Ahādīth ash-Shī'ah,“Book of Purification,”sec. on “The Ghusl and its Regulations,” ch. 12.
[1]: “I am better than him. You have created me of fire, and him You created of dust. ” (Sūrah Sād 38: 76).
[1]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 71, p. 95, quoted from Ma'āniy al-Akhbār, p. 302.
[2]: Ibid. , vol. 66, p. 129, quoted from al-Mahāsin, p. 528.
[1]: Sūrah al-Hadīd 57: 3.
[2]: Sūrah an-Nūr 24: 35.
[3]: 'Ilm al-Yaqīn, vol. 1, p. 54.
[4]: Sūrah al-Baqarah 2: 115.
Connection
Quoting Imām as-Sādiq ('a) it is narrated in Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, thus: “The
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mustarāh (washing closet or toilet where one relieves oneself) is called so because the people are relieved there from the weights of the filths, and they clear out there the dirts and impurities. The believer learns from this that the pure of the ephemeral things of this world (i. e. , food) will finally have such an (impure) end. Then, he will be relieved by abandoning this world and turning away from it. He empties his soul and his heart from being engaged with it, and disdains collecting and possessing it, as he disdains the impurities, the feces and filth. He thinks, of himself, how he is honored in an instance and feels humiliated in another.
He then realizes that adhering to contentedness and taqwā' gives him relief in both worlds, that comfort is in neglecting this world, in refraining from enjoying it and in removing the impurity of (wanting) the unlawful and the doubtful, and so, he closes the door of arrogance to himself after knowing it, runs away from sins, opens the door of modesty, remorse and shyness, strives to carry out His commands and to refrain from the forbidden, hoping for a good return and a delightful proximity. He imprisons himself in the prison of fear, patience and abstinence from (satisfying) the desires until he arrives, with Allah's custody, in the eternal abode, and tastes His pleasure, as this is what is reliable (counted) , and everything else is nothing. ” [1] This is the end of his noble speech.
In this
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noble speech there is a comprehensive order for the people of knowledge and sulūk, and it is that a conscious person, on his journey to the Last Abode, must, in whatever state he may be, demand all the spiritual pleasures, and not neglect, in any condition, to remember his ultimate goal and return. That is why the wise men have said: “The Prophet serves the (divine) decree [qadā'] as the physician serves the body. ”
As the great prophets and holy men [awliyā'] ('a) have no care whatsoever except for Allah's decree [qadā'] and the “near-to-Allah” [yalillāhī] aspect, and the heavenly Kingdom [malakūt] of the divine decree governs their hearts, they believe that the management of all affairs is in the hands of Allah's angels, who are the divine soldiers, while the physical physician, being far from this stage and discarded from this valley, ascribes the running of the affairs of nature to the natural powers.
In brief, a sālik should, in all conditions, make use of all the aspects of his sulūk. So, as he sees that the trivial matters and the pleasures of the visible world are destined to annihilation and change, and realizes that their fate is corruption and vanishing, he will easily have his heart turn away from them and free his heart from thinking of them and being engaged with them, and he will be disgusted with them as he is with filths. The inside of the world of nature is filthy. Filth and dirt seen
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in a dream which is a door of revelation [mukāshafah] are interpreted to mean worldly positions and wealth, and, according to the revelations [mukāshafah] of 'Alī ('a) , this world is but a carrion. [1]
So, as the believer empties himself from the loads and excretions of nature and relieves the natural town from their harm, he is also to relieve his heart from being attached to it (nature) and getting engaged with it. He is to remove from his heart the burden of loving the world and position, and empty the spiritual utopia and relieve it from those impurities. Let him think how being engaged in the world will, after few hours, humiliate the honorable soul and force it to undergo the worst and most disgraceful state.
Let him know that to busy the heart with the world, after a while, when the curtain of visibility is drawn up and the veil of nature is pushed aside, will humiliate man and bring him to the reckoning and punishment. He is to know that adherence to taqwā' and contentment brings comfort in both worlds a comfort which is a result of neglecting the world, by slighting it and rejecting its pleasures and entertainments. Having purged himself of the formal filths, he is also to purify himself from the impurities of the harām (the unlawful) and the doubtful cases.
Having understood himself and recognized the humility of his need, he has to close to himself the door of arrogance and haughtiness, to run away
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from recalcitrance and sin, and to open to himself the door of modesty, remorse and shyness. He is to strive to obey Allah and refrain from disobedience, so as to return to Allah good and well, and to attain Allah's proximity with purity and serenity of the soul.
He is to imprison himself in the prison of fear and patience and curb his soul of its desires, so as to be saved from the prison of Allah's punishment, and to join Allah's custody in the eternal abode, and, thus, to taste Allah's contentment. This is the ultimate hope of the people of sulūk, and everything else is nought.
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[1]: Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, ch. 9, on “Privy”.
[1]: Nahj al-Balāghah, edited by Fayd al-Islām, sermon 108: “They fell upon a carrion by eating of which they were exposed. ” Or as in sermon 151: “They are falling upon an easy carrion. ”
Objective Two: Some Disciplines Concerning the Clothes
point
Covered under Two Stations
Station 1: General Disciplines For The Clothes
Know that man's rational soul is a reality which at the same time of its unity and perfect simplicity has diverse aspects (growths = nasha'āt) , the principal ones of which are, generally, three:
The first aspect (growth = nash'ah) is the external mundane visible aspect, displayed in the apparent senses, and its lowest surface is the body.
The second is the aspect [nash'ah] of the barzakh world (the Isthmus, or the intermediate, world) displayed in the internal senses, the barzakhian (intermediate) body and “the mould of the ideal” [qālib-i mithālī].
The third is the invisible internal aspect [nash'ah], displayed in the heart and in its affairs.
The relation of each of these aspects to the other is that of the external to the internal, and of the manifestation to the manifested. This is the reason for
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the effects, the characteristics and the reactions of each of these aspects to permeate into the other aspects. For example, if the sense of seeing discerns something, it will have an effect on the barzakhian sense of seeing according to its aspect [nash'ah].
Then the effect is transmitted to the internal seeing sense of the heart according to its aspect [nash'ah]. In the same way the effects of the cordial aspect appear in the other two aspects. This, besides being proved by a strong and firm evidence, coincides with the conscience, too. Consequently, all the formal disciplines of the Shar' have their effect, or effects on the interior; and each of the good characters which belong to the barzakhian status of the soul also has its effects on the exterior and interior.
All the divine knowledge [ma'ārif] and the true beliefs also have their effects on the two barzakhian and external aspects. For example, this belief that to have control over the kingdom of existence as well as the invisible and visible worlds belongs to Allah, and no other being has any control over them, except that permitted shadowy control, brings about so many spiritual perfections and good human moralities, such as depending on Allah and trusting Him, and pinning no hope on any creature.
This is the mother of perfections and the cause of so many good deeds and commendable acts, and prevents one from committing evil practices. Likewise other sorts of knowledge, which are so numerous that these
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pages, as well as the broken pen of the writer, have no patience to count them nor to relate the effects of each one of them, since it needs writing a huge book which can be expected only from the powerful pen of the people of knowledge, or from a warm soul of “the people of ecstasy” [ahl-i hāl]: “My hand is short, while the dates are (high) on the date-palms. ” [1]
Similar is, for example, contentment [ridā'] as a character, which is one of the human moral perfections. It is effective in purifying and polishing the soul, rendering the heart a place for special divine manifestations, elevating faith to a perfect faith, the perfect faith to tranquility [tuma'nīnah], tranquility to its perfection, its perfection to vision [mushāhadah], the vision to a perfect vision, its perfection to “reciprocal love” [mu'āshaqah] (with the Beloved) , the reciprocal love to its perfection, its perfection to courting [murāwadah], the courting to its perfection, its perfection to union [muwāsalah], the union to its perfection, and to what neither you nor I can imagine.
The character of contentment has a surprising effect on the kingdom of the body and on the formal marks and acts, which are leaves and branches. It changes hearing, seeing and other powers and organs into divine ones, and the secret of “I will be his hearing and seeing” [2] is somewhat manifested.
As those stages have an effect, or rather, effects, on the appearance, they are also affected so surprisingly by the outer shape,
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all the ordinary and extraordinary movements and pauses, and all the acts and abstentions, so that it sometimes happens that a scornful glance by a sālik at a servant of Allah causes the sālik to fall from his high status to the lowest of the low, and this will need him years to make up for it.
Now, as our helpless hearts are weak and shaky, like the weeping willows, losing their stillness, by every gentle breeze, it would be, therefore, necessary, even in ordinary situations one of which is the instance of choosing one's clothes to observe the conditions of the heart and to take care of it. As the soul and Satan have quite firm snares and clever delusions which we are unable to understand, we have to do our best, as much as we can and is in our capacity, to resist them, and to ask, in all cases, Allah's help and support for success.
So, we say that as it has become clear that the exterior and the interior have reciprocal effects, the seeker for the truth and spiritual elevation has to avoid choosing such clothes and models which have bad effects on the spirit, deviate the heart from perseverance and remembering Allah, and turn the soul's direction to worldly matters.
Do not think that Satan's delusions and the tricks of the evil-commanding soul are confined only to expensive and nice clothes and luxurious articles. Actually even by old and worthless clothes they may disgrace a man.
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Therefore, one should avoid seeking fame through clothes; or rather he should avoid all conducts contrary to the normal and the customary. He is to abstain from wearing highly luxurious clothes made of expensive materials and attractively and notoriously tailored, because our hearts are very weak and inconstant, and they slip by slightest distinction and deviate from moderation.
It may often happen that a wretched, helpless man, devoid of all degrees of honor, humanity, dignity and perfection, just because of a few meters of silk or woolen cloth, well tailored in a foreign style, and which might have been obtained through shameful and dishonorable bargains, looks down upon the servants of Allah with scorn, arrogance and haughtiness, devaluating the people. This is caused only by a completely powerless soul with so small a capacity that it takes the spit of a worm or the apparel of a sheep to be a cause of honor and dignity for itself.
O helpless man! How wretched and indigent you are! You should be the pride of the world of possibility, and the gist of space and place. You are the offspring of Adam, and you should teach the names and the attributes. You are the child of (Allah's) vicegerent; so, you should be of the brilliant signs (of Allah). “A whistle calls you from the turret of the 'Arsh. [1] You, unfortunate degenerate! You have usurped a handful of remnants and apparels of helpless animals, by which you take pride. This pride of yours is
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that of a silk worm, a sheep, a camel, a squirrel or a fox. Why do you feel proud of others' clothes, and show arrogance by others' pride?
In short, as the quality, the value and the decoration of the clothes have their effects on the souls, Amīr al-Mu'minīn ('a) , as quoted by the late Qutb al-Rāwandī, said: “Whoever wears luxurious clothes, he will be, inevitably, arrogant, and the Fire is inevitably for the arrogant. ” [1] There are effects in their fashion and tailoring.
It sometimes happens that the one, who wears the clothes cut similar to those of the foreigners, gets a feeling of ignorant attachment to them, and thus, he repulses and abominates the friends of Allah and His Messenger, and loves their enemies. In this respect, Imām as-Sādiq ('a) is quoted to have said: “Allah, the Exalted and Most High, inspired one of the prophets, commanding him: “Tell the believers not to wear the clothes of My enemies, not to eat like My enemies, and not to walk like My enemies, so as not to be My enemies as they are My enemies. ” [2]
As the too luxurious clothes affect the souls, similarly, low and shabby clothes, both in material and quality, also affect them. It is most probable that this is more corruptive, by many degrees, than the exquisite clothes, as the soul can have quite crafty plots. When one sees himself distinguished from others by wearing rough, denim clothes, while others wear fine, soft clothes, he tries,
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as he loves himself, to neglect his defects, regarding this accidental and irrelevant affair as a matter of pride.
He may probably get to admire himself and look down at the servants of Allah, alleging that the others are out of Allah's holy sanctum, thinking himself to be among the most sincere and favorite servants of Allah. It is also most probable that he will be afflicted with hypocrisy and other big corruptions. So wretched he is that, out of all the degrees of knowledge, taqwā and spiritual perfections, he suffices himself with rough, shabby wears, unaware of thousands of his big faults, the biggest of which is this very bad effect resulting from these clothes.
He thinks himself, who is of Satan's friends, of the people of Allah, regarding the servants of Allah as nothing and worthless. It also happens that the style and the way he wears his clothes throw him into many mischiefs, such as wearing them in such an arrangement as to make him famous as an ascetic and a holy man.
In short, to wear clothes for distinction, on either side of the extremities, is a matter that shakes the weak hearts, and deprives them of good moralities, and causes conceit, hypocrisy, arrogance and pride, each one of which is a mother of spiritual vileness. They further lead to being attached to this world and loving it, which is the head of all sins and the source of all evils. Many Hadiths also refer to many
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of the said affairs, as is stated in the noble al-Kāfī quoting Imām as-Sādiq ('a) saying: “Allah, the Exalted, becomes angry with one's getting famous through clothes. ” [1]
He is also quoted to have said: “The famous, good or bad, is in the Fire. ” [2]
He is further quoted to have said: “Allah becomes angry with two fames: the fame of clothes and the fame of the Salat. ” [3]
A hadīth is quoted from the Messenger of Allah (s) , saying: “Whoever wears an apparel of fame, Allah will make him wear, in the Hereafter, an apparel of humility. ” [4]
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[1]: My leg is lame, while the destination is so far,
My hand is short, while the dates are (high) on the date-palms.
Hāfiz Shīrāzī
[2]: Refer to footnote 21.
[1]: Refer to footnote 96.
[1]: Mustadrak al-Wasā'il, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “The Rules on the Clothes,” ch. 16, hadīth 5, quoted from Qutb al-Rāwandī, Lubb al-Albāb.
[2]: Al-Jawāhir as-Saniyyah, ch. on “Abū 'Abdullāh Ja'far ibn Muhammad as-Sādiq,” hadīth 60.
[1]: Wasā'il ash-Shī'ah, vol. 3, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “Rules Concerning the Clothes,” ch. 12, hadīth 1, p. 354.
[2]: Ibid. , hadīth 3
[3]: Mustadrak al-Wasā'il, “Book of as-Salat,” sec. on “The Rules on the Clothes,” ch. 8, hadīth 2.
[4]: Ibid. , hadīth 1.
Station 2: Some Disciplines Concerning The Musallī’s Clothing
Explained in Two Chapters.
Chapter 1: The Secret Of The Purity Of Clothing
Know that the Salat is the state of ascension to the state of Proximity and being present in “the Presence of Intimacy” [mahdar-i uns], and the sālik has to observe the disciplines of being present in the Holy Presence of the King of kings.
As from the lowest of the degrees and stages of the appearance of the soul which is most superficial (the crust of the crust) and is its formal and visible body to the highest of its stages and realities which is the innermost and the secret state of the heart all are present in the Sacred Presence of Allah, likewise the sālik must prepare himself to display all the internal and external soldiers of the overt and covert kingdoms in the Presence of Allah, the Exalted and Most High, and to return back to His Holy Presence all the trusts which His Sanctified Essence has bestowed
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upon him with complete purity, clarity, without the intrusion of any being, and with His hand of Power, Beauty and Majesty. He has to return the deposits as they have been given to him out of Kindness.
Therefore, there are many dangers in the discipline [adab] of the Presence, which the sālik must take care not to neglect. He is to take the purity of the clothes which cover the crust, or rather, the crust of the crust as a means for the purity of the internal clothes, and to know that as these formal clothes cover the visible body, the body itself covers the isthmus body, which is actually existent, but is hidden within the curtains of the corporeal body which covers it.
The isthmus body is the cover, the clothes and the veil of the soul, which covers the heart, and the heart is the cover of spirit, and the spirit is the cover of the secret, which covers the hidden latīfah (the real essence) , and other stages. Each low stage is the cover of its higher stage, and though all these stages exist in the most pure people of Allah, and the others are void of them, yet only some of these stages are mentioned because all people have them.
So, it must be noted that as the external form of the Salat is not proved to be correct without the purity of the clothes and the body, and as impurities which are of Satan's vile acts
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and cause repellence from the Presence of the Beneficent [ar-rahmān] block the way of attending the Presence, the musallī with clothes and body polluted with Satan's vileness is expelled from the divine Presence and prevented from attending the station of familiarity [maqām-i uns].
Similar is the vileness of disobeying Allah, which is also of Satan's practices and of the filths of that foul creature. It also prevents one from entering the Presence [mahdar]. So, the red-handed disobedient one, with an impure cover of the isthmus body, cannot be admitted to Allah's Presence [mahdar]. Purifying this cover is among the conditions for the realization and correctness of the internal Salat. As long as man is in the veil of this world, he cannot know about the invisible body, the purity and filth of its clothes and the condition of its being pure and without filth.
The day he comes out of this veil, and the sovereignty of the interior and of the day of gathering [yawm al-jam'] twists aside the extensive disunion of the exterior, and the sun of truth rises out of the dark mundane veils, and the eye of the invisible interior opens, and the eye of the visible animality closes, thereupon, with the eye of insight, he will understand that his Salat, had been, till the end of life, void of purity and surrounded by thousands of obstacles, each one of which was an independent cause for expelling one from the Holy Presence of Allah.
Alas! A thousand
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alas! For on that day there will be no way for indemnity and there will be no cure. There will be nothing but regret and remorse endless regrets and continuous remorse:
“And warn them of the day of anguish when the matter shall have been decided…” [1]
After that the clothes of the interior body became pure, it would be necessary for the very invisible body to be purified from Satan's filths, that is, purification from the filths of the dispraised characters, as each one of them is apt to pollute the interior and to expel man from the Presence [mahdar] and prevent him from the Proximity. Such characters are of the filths of Satan who is deprived of (Allah's) mercy. The origins of all the dispraised acts are self-conceit, selfishness, ostentation, and obstinacy, each of which is the origin of many dispraised characters, and is at the head of many sins.
Having completed this purification, and purified the clothes of taqwā with the water of sincere repentance and lawful austerity, the sālik will have to busy himself with the purification of the heart, which is the real concealer [sātir] and into which Satan's intrusion is greater, and its impurities spread to other clothes and concealers. So, without purifying the heart other purifications will not be easy. The purification of the heart passes through several stages, some of which will be referred to in these pages.
One of them is purging the heart from loving this world, which is at
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the head of all sins and it is the origin of all corruptions. As long as man has this love in his heart, it will not be possible for him to be admitted to the Presence of Allah; and divine affection, which is the mother of purities, is not accomplished with this impurity. Perhaps in the Book of Allah and in the advices of the prophets and holy men ('a) , particularly Amīr al-Mu'minīn ['Alī] ('a) , importance is the least given to other than abandoning this world, neglecting it and avoiding it, all of which are of the realities of taqwā.
This stage of purification is not achieved except by useful knowledge, strong cordial austerities, concentrating one's thoughts on the beginning [mabda'] and the return (to Allah) [ma'ād], engaging the heart in taking lessons from the decay and the destruction of the world, and the excellence and happiness of the invisible worlds: “May Allah have mercy upon the one who knows where he has come from, where he is and where he is going. ” [1]
Another purification is to be purged from dependence on the creatures, which is a concealed polytheism; yet, to the people of knowledge, it is a manifest polytheism. This purification is accomplished through (the belief in) Allah's Unity of Acts, which is the source of all cordial purifications. It must be noted that mere demonstrative knowledge and contemplative step concerning the Unity of Acts do not have the required result.
It sometimes happens that too much indulgence in
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the experimental sciences brings darkness and displeasure to the heart, and hinders man from attaining the higher objective. In this respect it is said: “Knowledge is the greatest veil. ” The writer believes that all sciences, even the science of tawhīd (monotheism) , are functional [practical = 'amalī]. Perhaps the grammatical etymology of the word tawhīd, which is taf'īl, proves that, as according to its etymological function it means advancing from multiplicity to oneness, and annihilating and abolishing the aspects of the multiplicity in “the Essence of Union” ['ayn-i jam'].
This idea cannot be proved with evidence, as with cordial austerity and instinctive inclination towards the Owner of the hearts, the heart is to be informed about what proofs say, so that the truth of tawhīd can be understood. Yes, proof tells us: “There is no effecter [mu'aththir] in the (world of) existence except Allah,” [1] which is one of the meanings of “There is no God but Allah. ”
By the blessing of this proof we cut short the intruding hands of beings from the realm of the Majesty of existence, and return the invisible and visible worlds to their Owner, and display the truth of
“His is what is in the heavens and the earth,” [2]
“And in His Hand is the Kingdom of everything,” [3]
and
“He it is who in the heaven and in the earth is God. ” [4]
But unless this proved subject reaches the heart and becomes an internal form [sūrat] of the heart, we will not cross the limit [hadd] of
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knowledge to the limit of faith; and of the light of faith, which illuminates the kingdom of the interior and the exterior, we shall have no share and no profit. This is the reason that although we have the proof supporting this divine, lofty subject, we are still in multiplicity and know little of tawhīd which is the pleasure of the eyes of the people of Allah we do ring the bell of “There is no effecter [mu'aththir] in the (world of) existence except Allah,” yet we look with the eye of greed, and extend the hand of demand to everybody:
The legs of the inferentialists are wooden,
Legs will be very much infirm, if wooden. [1]
This purification is of the great stations of the wayfarers to Allah. There are, however, further stations, which are beyond our limit, though probably we may refer to some of them within these papers, when the occasion arises, inshā' Allāh (Allah willing).
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[1]: Surah Maryam 19: 39.
[1]: Mullā Sadrā, Mafātīh al-Ghayb, ed. Khājawī, p. 50.
[1]: It is ascribed to the theologian philosophers, as is related by Mīrzā Abū 'l-Hasan Sha'rānī in the Preface of his The Secrets of the Maxims, p. 32.
[2]: Sūrah an-Nahl 16: 52.
[3]: Sūrah Yā-Sīn 36: 83.
[4]: Sūrah az-Zukhruf 43: 84
[1]: A poem by Mawlawī
Chapter 2: Concerning Cordial Considerations Of Covering The Nakedness
point
The traveler to Allah finds himself present in the Holy Presence [mahdar] of Allah, the Almighty and Most High, or rather, he sees that his interior and exterior, his covertness and overtness are the very presence [hudūr], as it is narrated in al-Kāfī and at-Tawhīd that Imām as-Sādiq ('a) said: “The spirit of a believer is more connected to the spirit of Allah than the connection of the sunbeam to the sun. ” [2]
Yet, strong evidential arguments in the high sciences stress that the entire circle of existence, from the highest invisible stages
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to the lowest visible ones, is the very connection and mere dependence and want (poverty) in its relation to the Absolute Self-Existent, the Glorified and Most High. It is probable that the reference is to this in the āyah:
“O men! It is you who are in need of Allah, and it is Allah Who is the Self-Sufficient, the Praised One. ” [1]
because if a being among the beings, in a state of states, in a moment of the moments and in an aspect of the aspects, had no connection to the Might of the Holy Lord, it would be out of the spot of self-potentiality and poverty, and into the sanctuary of Self-Necessity and Self-Sufficiency.
The one who knows Allah and is journeying to Him will have to engrave this true evidential subject, this divine gnostic delicacy, by way of cordial austerities, disregarding the limits of reason and argument, on the face of the heart, in order to bring it to the borders of gnosis ['irfān], so that the truth of faith and its light become manifest in his heart. The people of heart and of Allah step past the limit of faith onto the stage of revelation [kashf] and vision [shuhūd]. This would be possible through intense self-mortification [mujāhadah], privacy with Allah and loving Him.
It is stated in Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah that Imām as-Sādiq ('a) said:
“The informed one (the gnostic) , his person is with the people and his heart is with Allah. Should his heart be inattentive of Allah for
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a twinkle of an eye, he would have died of craving for Him.
“The informed one (the gnostic) is the entrusted with Allah's trusts. He is the treasure of His secrets, the source of His light, the evidence of His mercy on His creatures, the mount of His knowledge, and the criterion of His favor and justice. He is not dependent on the people, nor is he in need of them for his wants and the world. He feels intimate only with Allah, and gives no utterance, makes no gesture and draws no breath except by Allah, for Allah, from Allah and with Allah. ” [1]
In short, when the sālik finds himself, in all aspects (affairs, states = shu'ūn) , being the very Presence [hudūr], he covers all his internal and external kinds of nakedness ['awrāt] in order to observe the Presence and the discipline of Presence. He realizes that the exposure of the internal nakedness in the Presence of Allah is much more hideous and disgracing than the exposure of the external nakedness, as in the hadīth: “Allah does not look at your forms, but He looks into your hearts. ” [2]
The internal kinds of nakedness ['awrāt] are the dispraised characters, vile customs and immoralities, which deprive man of being worthy of the Presence [mahdar] and of the discipline of Presence [hudūr]. This is the first stage of violating the covers and the exposure of the nakedness ['awrāt].
It must be noted that if one does not cover himself with
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Allah's veiling and forgiveness, and if he does not put himself under the Names of “the Concealer” and “the Forgiver,” demanding concealment and forgiveness, it frequently happens that when the visible curtain is rolled up, and the worldly veil is removed, they cause his exposure in the presence of the favorable angels and the appointed prophets ('a). Allah alone knows how much the exposed internal nakedness is ugly, disgraceful, stinking and scandalous.
O dear, do not compare the conditions of the Hereafter with this world, as this world can never have the capacity of the appearance of a single blessing or punishment of that world. This world, with all its vast heavens and kingdoms ['awālim], cannot take in the appearance of a low invisible world such as the world of the grave, let alone the high kingdom of heaven, of which the resurrection world is a sample.
In a detailed hadīth narrated by the Shaykh ash-Shahīd ath-Thānī (may Allah be pleased with him) in Munyat al-Murīd quoting Fātimah as-Siddīqah ('a) , who, quoting the Messenger of Allah (s) , said: “The Messenger of Allah (s) said: “The scholars of our followers will be resurrected wearing coats of honor according to their knowledge and to their efficiency in guiding the servants of Allah, such that some of them are given thousands of coats of light. ”
Then he added: “Some of those gifts are better than the best thing on which the sun may shine, by thousands of times”. [1] So much for its blessings. As to
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its punishments, Fayd (may Allah have mercy upon him) , in 'Ilm al-Yaqīn, has quoted a hadīth from the late as-Sadūq, on his authority, quoting Imām as-Sādiq ('a) who said that in a hadīth Gabriel said to the Messenger of Allah (s): “If a single link of the chain, whose length is seventy cubits, is placed on the world, the world will melt by its heat. Or if a drop of the Zaqqūm and Darī' (repulsive stinking drink) is dropped into the waters of this world, the people will die of its bad smell. ” [1] We take refuge with Allah from the wrath of ar-Rahmān.
Therefore, the traveler to Allah has to replace his bad characters and evil habits with the perfect ones, and to vanish them in the stormy and endless sea of Allah's perfect attributes, and to change the dark Satanic land of (his) nature [tabī'at] to a white and bright land, and to find out in himself:
“And the earth shines with the light of its Lord,” [2]
and to bring about the state of the names of Beauty and Majesty of the Holy Essence in the kingdom of his existence. In this state he will be under the shelter of Beauty and Majesty, and will acquire the divine moralities; and the vices of “personal individuations” [ta'ayyunāt-i nafsiyyah] and the darkness of fancy will be completely concealed.
Having attained this state, he will be favored with the special care of Allah, the Most High, Who will help him with His special
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secret protection (kindness) [lutf], and conceal him under the cover of His Majesty such that no one, except Himself will know him, and he will know none but Allah: “My friends are under My qibāb (domes) ; no one knows them except Me. ” [1]
The sacred Book of Allah has many references to this point for those worthy of it, such as:
“Allah is the Protector of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light…” [2]
The people of knowledge and of past good records know that all the creational individuations [ta'ayyunāt-i khalqiyyah] and the essential multiplicities [kathurāt- i 'ayniyyah] are darkness [zulumāt], and the absolute light cannot happen except by discarding the annexations and breaking the individuations which are the idols in the way of the sālik.
When the darkness of the actual and participial multiplicities is effaced and vanished in “the Essence of Union” ['ayn-i jam'], all the nakedness will be covered, and the absolute presence and the complete attainment will take place, and the musallī, being concealed by the Haqq (Allah) , will be performing the Haqq's (Allah's) Salat. The ascending Salat of the Seal of the Messengers (s) was probably of this type, in its particular states and stages. Allah knows better.
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[2]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 3, “Book of Faith and Infidelity,” ch. on “The Believers' Brotherhood to One Another,” hadīth 4, p. 242.
[1]: Sūrah Fātir 35: 15.
[1]: Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, ch. 95, on “Knowledge”.
[2]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 67, p. 248, quoting Jāmi' al-Akhbār, p. 117 (with a slight addition).
[1]: Munyat al-Murīd, p. 24.
[1]: 'Ilm al-Yaqīn, vol. 2, p. 1033.
[2]: Sūrah az-Zumar 39: 69.
[1]: A hadīth al-qudsī (divine saying) in Ihyā' 'Ulūm ud-dīn, vol. 4, p. 256. In the MS (manuscript) both the words qibābī and qibā'ī are stated.
[2]: Sūrah al-Baqarah 2: 257.
Connection
It is stated in Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah that Imām as-Sādiq ('a) said: “The most decorative clothing for the believer is the clothing of taqwā, and the finest one is faith. Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, said: “And the clothing of taqwā, that is the best. ”
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As to the exterior clothing, it is a blessing from Allah, as it covers the nakedness of the children of Adam ('a). It is a grace granted by Allah to His servants, the children of Adam, which He did not grant to other than them.
To the believers, it is a means to perform the duties imposed by Allah upon them. The best of your clothing is that which does not distract you from Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, rather it brings you nearer to thanking, remembering and obeying Him, and it does not bear you to conceit, hypocrisy, decoration, taking pride and boasting, as these are among the pests of the religion and bring cruelty to the heart.
When you put on your dress, remember Allah, the concealer of your sins by His mercy. Clothe your interior with truthfulness, as you dressed your exterior with your dress. Let your interior be under the protection of fear, and your exterior under the protection of obedience. Take a lesson from the favor of Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, as He created the means for making clothes to conceal the apparent nakedness, and He opened the doors of repentance and imploring in order to cover the internal sins and evil characters.
Do not uncover anyone's faults, as Allah has covered your greater faults. Attend to your own faults, and forgive that whose state and affair do not concern you. Beware of perishing your life for the action of others, letting the others trade
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with your capital, while you destroy yourself. Forgetting the sins is of the gravest punishments from Allah in this world, and of the most effective causes for the punishments in the Hereafter.
As long as the servant is engaged in his obedience to Allah, the Exalted, in recognizing his own defects and abandoning what is disgraceful in the religion of Allah, he will be isolated from the plagues, plunging in the sea of the mercy of Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, and will win the gems of the advantages of wisdom and expression. But as long as he is forgetting his sins, unfamiliar with his defects, resorting to his own might and force, he will never be successful. ” [1]
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[1]: Misbāh ash-Sharī'ah, sec. 7, on “Clothing”.