77.975
düzenleme
("The keys and means of this journeying of the heart and spiritual progress are remembrance of God and reflective thought. Their virtues are too numerous to be described. Apart from uncountable benefits in the hereafter and human attainments and perfections, a minor benefit pertaining to this tumultuous worldly life is as follows:" içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu) |
("====The Ninth====" içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu) |
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(Aynı kullanıcının aradaki diğer 45 değişikliği gösterilmiyor) | |||
939. satır: | 939. satır: | ||
For such a person, true solace, intimacy, and sweet pleasure are to be found in addressing his own heart in those distant places and desolate mountains and distressing valleys, in working it through remembrance of God and reflection. Calling on God Almighty, he may become intimate with Him in his heart, and by virtue of that intimacy think of the things around him, which were regarding him savagely, as smiling on him familiarly. He will say: “My Creator, whom I am recollecting, has innumerable servants here in my place of solitude, just as He has everywhere. I am not alone; loneliness has no meaning.” Thanks to his faith, he receives pleasure from that sense of familiarity. He grasps the meaning of life’s happiness, and he offers thanks to God. | For such a person, true solace, intimacy, and sweet pleasure are to be found in addressing his own heart in those distant places and desolate mountains and distressing valleys, in working it through remembrance of God and reflection. Calling on God Almighty, he may become intimate with Him in his heart, and by virtue of that intimacy think of the things around him, which were regarding him savagely, as smiling on him familiarly. He will say: “My Creator, whom I am recollecting, has innumerable servants here in my place of solitude, just as He has everywhere. I am not alone; loneliness has no meaning.” Thanks to his faith, he receives pleasure from that sense of familiarity. He grasps the meaning of life’s happiness, and he offers thanks to God. | ||
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=== | ===Third Allusion=== | ||
Sainthood is a proof of divine messengership; the Sufi path is a proof of the Shari‘a. For the truths of belief which messengership preaches, sainthood sees and confirms with a sort of direct vision with the heart and tasting with the spirit at the degree of the vision of certainty. Its confirmation is a certain proof of the veracity of messengership. Through the experiential knowledge of the Sufi path and its unveilings, and through its benefits and effulgences, it is a clear proof of the truths and the matters which the Shari‘a teaches; it demonstrates that they are the truth and that they come from the truth. | |||
Yes, just as sainthood and the Sufi path are evidence and proof of divine messengership and the Shari‘a, so they are a perfection of Islam and a means of attaining to its lights, and through Islam, a source of humanity’s progress and moral enlightenment. | |||
Although this vast mystery holds such importance, certain deviant sects have tended to deny it. They have been deprived of those lights and they have caused others to be deprived. | |||
The most regretable thing is that making a pretext of abuses and faults they have seen committed by the followers of the Sufi path, some literalist Sunni scholars and some neglectful politicians who are also Sunnis are trying to close up that supreme treasury, indeed, to destroy it, and to dry up that source of Kawthar which distributes a sort of water of life. | |||
However, there are few things and ways and paths that are without fault and are good in every respect. They are bound to contain some faults and abuses. For if the uninitiated embark on something, they are sure to misuse it. But as with the accounting of deeds in the hereafter, Almighty God demonstrates His dominical justice through the weighing up of good deeds and bad deeds. That is to say, if good deeds preponderate and weigh heavier, He accepts them and grants reward; whereas if evil deeds preponderate, he punishes for them and rejects them. The balancing of good and evil deeds looks to quality rather than quantity. It sometimes happens that a single good deed will weigh heavier than a thousand evils, and cause them to be forgiven. | |||
Divine justice judges thus and reality too considers it right. Thus, the evidence that the good deeds of the Sufi path – that is, paths within the bounds of the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices – definitely preponderate over their evils is that those who follow them preserve their belief when attacked by the people of misguidance. A sincere ordinary follower of the Sufi path preserves himself better than a superficial, apparent Muslim with a modern, scientific background. Through the illumination of the Sufi path and the love of the saints, he saves his faith. If he commits grievous sins, he becomes a sinner but not an unbeliever; he is not easily drawn into atheism. No power at all can refute the chain of shaikhs he accepts, with a strong love and firm belief, to be spiritual poles.And because no power can refute it, his confidence in them cannot be shaken. And so long as his confidence is not shaken, he will not accept atheism. In the face of the atheists’ stratagems at the present time, it has become difficult for a person unconnected with the Sufi path, whose heart has not been brought to action, to preserve himself completely, even if he is a learned scholar. | |||
There is another thing; the Sufi path should not be condemned because of the evils of some orders that have adopted practices outside the bounds of taqwa, and even of Islam, and have wrongfully called themselves Sufi paths. | |||
Quite apart from the elevated religious and spiritual fruits of the Sufi path and those that look to the hereafter, Sufi orders were the first, and most effective and ardent, means of spreading and strengthening brotherhood, the sacred bond of the Islamic world. They were also one of the three unassailable strongholds of Islam, which held out against the awesome attacks of the world of unbelief and the politics of Christendom. | |||
What preserved Istanbul, the centre of the Caliphate for five hundred and fifty years against the whole Christian world, were the lights of belief that poured out of five hundred places in Istanbul and the powerful faith of those who recited “Allah! Allah!” in the tekkes behind the big mosques, which were a firm source of support for the people of belief in that centre of Islam, and their spiritual love arising from knowledge of God, and their fervent murmurings. | |||
O you unreasoning pseudo-patriots and false nationalists! What evils are there in the Sufi paths that can negate all this good in the life of your society? You say! | |||
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=== | ===Fourth Allusion=== | ||
Together with being very easy, the way of sainthood is very difficult. Together with being very short, it is very long. In addition to being most valuable, it is very dangerous. And together with being very broad, it is very narrow. | |||
It is because of these points that some of those who take the path drown, others become harmful, and yet others return and lead other people astray. | |||
'''In Short:'''There are two ways on the Sufi path, known by the terms of inner journeying and outer journeying. | |||
The Inner Way starts from the self, and drawing the eyes away from the outer world, looks to the heart. It pierces egotism, opens up a way from the heart, and finds reality. Then it enters the outer world. The outer world then looks luminous. The journey is completed quickly on this way. The reality seen in the inner world, is seen on a large scale in the outer world. Most of the paths that practise silent recollection take this way. Its essential principles are breaking the ego, renouncing the desires of the flesh, and killing the evil-commanding soul. | |||
The Second Way starts from the outer world; it gazes on the reflections of the divine names and attributes in their places of manifestation in the greater sphere, then it enters the inner world. It observes their lights on a small scale in the sphere of the heart and opens up the shortest way within them. It sees that the heart is a mirror to the Eternally Besoughted One, and is united with the goal it is seeking. | |||
If people who travel the first way are unsuccessful in killing the evil- commanding soul, and if they cannot give up the desires of the flesh and break the ego, they fall from the rank of thanks to that of pride, then descend from pride to conceit. If such a person feels the captivation of love and becomes intoxicated by it, he will make high-flown claims far exceeding his mark, called ecstatic utterances. This is harmful both for himself and for others. | |||
For example, if a lieutenant becomes conceited out of pleasure at his position of command, he will suppose himself to be a field marshal and will confuse his small sphere with the universal one. He will confuse a sun that appears in a small mirror with the sun whose manifestation appears in all its splendour on the surface of the sea, due to their similarity in one respect.In just the same way, there are many people of sainthood who, resembling the difference between a fly and a peacock, see themselves as greater than those who in reality are greater than them to the same degree; that is how they see it and they think they are right. | |||
I myself even saw someone whose heart had just been awakened and had faintly perceived in himself the mystery of sainthood; he supposed himself to be the supreme spiritual pole and assumed airs accordingly. I said to him: “My brother, just as the law of sovereignty has particular and universal manifestations from the office of Prime Minister down to that of District Officer, so sainthood and the rank of spiritual pole have varying spheres and manifestations. Each station has many shades and shadows. You have evidently seen the manifestation of the rank of supreme spiritual pole, the equivalent of Prime Minister, in your own sphere, which is like that of a District Officer, and you have been deceived. What you saw was right, but your judgement of it was wrong. To a fly, a cup of water is a small sea.” The person came to his senses, God willing, as a result of this answer of mine, and was saved from the abyss. | |||
I have also seen many people who thought themselves to be Mahdis of a sort, and they proclaimed their Mahdiship. Such people are not liars and deceivers, they are deceived. They suppose what they see to be reality. As the divine names have manifestations from the sphere of the Sublime Throne down to an atom, and their places of manifestation differ to the same degree; so the degrees of sainthood, which consist of manifesting the names, differ in the same way. The most important reason for the confusion is this: | |||
In some of the stations of the saints, the characteristics of the Mahdi’s function may be observed, or a special relation may be formed with the Supreme Spiritual Pole, or with Khidr; certain stations are connected with certain famous persons. In fact, the stations are called the station of Khidr, the station of Uwais, or the station of the Mahdi. | |||
Because of this, people who attain to these stations or to minor samples or shadows of them, suppose themselves to be the famous persons connected with them. They suppose themselves to be Khidr, or the Mahdi, or the Supreme Spiritual Pole. | |||
If such a person’s ego does not seek rank and position, he is not condemned to the state. His excessively high-flown claims are deemed ecstatic utterances for which he is probably not responsible. | |||
But if his ego is secretly set on acquiring rank and position, and if he defeated by it and leaves off thanks and becomes proud, from there he will gradually fall into arrogance, or descend to the depths of madness, or deviate from the path of truth. For he reckons the great saints to be like himself and his good opinion of them is spoiled, for however arrogant a soul is, it still perceives its own faults. Comparing those great saints with himself, he imagines them to be at fault. His respect towards the prophets diminishes, even. | |||
Those suffering from this should hold fast to the balance of the Shari‘a, and adopt the rules of the scholars of the principles of religion, and take as their guides the instructions of such authoritative scholars from among the saints as Imam Ghazali and Imam-i Rabbani. They should constantly accuse their own souls, and attribute nothing to themselves other than fault, impotence, and want. | |||
Ecstatic utterances made by followers of this way arise from love of self, for love-filled eyes see no faults. Because of his self-love, such a person supposes a faulty, unworthy fragment of glass to be a brilliant or a diamond. | |||
The most dangerous of all these faults is that he imagines the partial meanings which occur to his heart in the form of inspiration to be “God’s Word,” and he calls them “verses (âyât).” This infers disrespect towards divine revelation, which is at the most holy and exalted degree. Yes, all inspirations from the inspirations of bees and animals to those of ordinary people and the elite among men, and from the inspirations of ordinary angels to those of the sublime cherubim, are divine words of a sort. But they are dominical speech in conformity with the capacity of the places of manifestation and their stations; they are the varying manifestations of dominical address shining through seventy thousand veils. | |||
However, it is absolutely wrong to use the proper nouns “revelation” and “divine speech” for such inspirations, and the word “verse,” which is a noun proper to the stars of the Qur’an – the most evident exemplification of God’s Word. As is explained and proved in the Twelfth, Twenty-Fifth, and Thirty-First Words, the relation between the inspiration in the hearts of those making the above claims and the verses of the sun of the Qur’an, which is divine speech directly, resembles the relation between the tiny, dim, obscure image of the sun appearing in the coloured mirror in your hand and the sun in the sky. Yes, if it is said that the sun’s reflected images appearing in all mirrors are the sun’s and are related to it, it would be right, but the globe of the earth cannot be attached to the suns in those tiny mirrors, nor be bound by their attraction. | |||
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=== | ===Fifth Allusion=== | ||
An extremely important way within Sufism is the Unity of Witnessing, which is another name for the Unity of Existence. This restricts the gaze to the existence of the Necessarily Existent, and sees other beings to be so weak and shadow-like in relation to Him that it declares that they do not deserve the name of existence. It envelops them in veils of imagination, and in the station of abandoning all things other than God, counts them as nothing. It even imagines them to be non-existent, and goes so far as to belittle the manifestations of the divine names, saying they are mere imaginary mirrors. | |||
A significant fact about this way is that due to the powerful faith it inculcates and the elevated sainthood of those on it advancing to the degree of absolute certainty, the existence of contingent beings is so diminished that nothing remains in its view other than imagination and non-existence; it is as though it denies the universe on account of the Necessarily Existent One. | |||
But this way holds dangers, the first of which is this: there are six pillars of faith, and such pillars as belief in the Last Day and belief in God require the existence of contingent beings. These firmly-founded pillars of belief cannot be constructed on imagination! For this reason, when a person following this way re-enters the world of sobriety from the worlds of ecstasy and intoxication, he should not bring them with him, nor should he act in accordance with them. | |||
Furthermore, he should not convert this way, which pertains to the heart and to illuminations and certain states, into a form that pertains to the reason, knowledge, and words. For the laws and principles related to reason, knowledge, and speech, which proceed from the Qur’an and the practices of the Prophet (UWBP), cannot sustain that way and are inapplicable to it. For this reason, the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and the leading authorities and interpreters of the law, and the authorities of the first generations of Islam were not seen to practise it. | |||
This means that it is not the most elevated way. It may be elevated, but it is also deficient. It is very important, but it is also very perilous and difficult. Yet, it is still very pleasurable. Those who embark on it for the pleasure, do not want to leave it, and because of their self-centredness, they suppose it to be the highest degree. | |||
We have explained the basis and nature of this way to an extent in the treatise called Nokta Risalesi, and in some of the Words and Letters, and shall suffice with them. Here, we shall describe one of the serious hazards on that important way. It is as follows: | |||
For the highest of the elite, who pass beyond the sphere of causes and renouncing everything other than God, sever their attachment to contingent beings and enter a state of complete absorption in God, this way is a righteous way. But, to present it in terms of intellectual knowledge to those who are submerged in causes, are enamoured of the world, and are plunged into materialist philosophy and nature, will drown them in nature and materiality and distance them from the reality of Islam. | |||
For those who love the world and are attached to the sphere of causes want to ascribe a sort of permanence to this transitory world. They do not want to lose their beloved. On the pretext of the Unity of Existence, they imagine it to have permanent existence. On account of the world, their beloved, and by ascribing permanence and eternity to it, they make it an object of worship; and, I seek refuge with God, this paves the way to the abyss of denying God. | |||
This century, materialism is so widespread, materiality is thought to be the source of everything. If in such an age, the elite believers consider materiality to be so unimportant as to be non-existent, thus furthering the way of the Unity of Existence, the materialists will lay claim to it, saying: “We say the same thing.” Whereas, among all the ways in the world, the one furthest from that of the materialists and nature- worshippers, is the way of the Unity of Existence. For the followers of the Unity of Existence attach such importance, due to their belief, to the divine existence that they deny the universe and beings. Whereas the materialists attach so much importance to beings that on account of the universe they deny God. How can the two come together or be compared? | |||
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=== | ===Sixth Allusion=== | ||
This consists of three points. | |||
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==== | ====First Point:==== | ||
Among the ways of sainthood, the finest, straightest, richest, and most brilliant is following the practices (Sunna) of the Prophet (UWBP). That is, to think of the practices in one’s actions and deeds, and to follow and imitate them. In conduct and dealings with others, it is to think of the rulings of the Shari‘a and take them as one’s guide. | |||
When followed in this way, daily conduct, dealings, and habitual acts become worship, and thinking of the practices and Shari‘a in one’s actions, recalls the injunctions of the Shari‘a. This causes a person to think of the Shari‘a’s owner. By thinking of him, it brings to mind Almighty God, and that induces a sort of sense of His presence. This may transform all the moments of the person’s life into worship in the divine presence. This great highway is the highway of the Companions and the righteous of the first generations of Islam, who received the legacy of prophethood, the greater sainthood. | |||
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==== | ====Second Point:==== | ||
Sincerity is the basis of the ways of sainthood and of the branches of the Sufi path, for through sincerity a person may be saved from implicitly associating partners with God. One who does not obtain sincerity cannot travel those ways. The most powerful force of those ways is love. Yes, love does not seek pretexts for its beloved and does not wish to see the beloved’s faults. It looks on frail signs of its beloved’s perfection as powerful proofs, and always takes the part of its beloved. | |||
It is because of this that those who are turned towards knowledge of God with the feet of love, do not give ear to doubts and objections; they are easily saved. Even a thousand satans can not negate a hint of their true beloved’s perfection. If they do not possess such love, they would struggle desperately in the face of their souls and Satan and the objections of the outside devils. They would have to have heroic fortitude and strength of belief and an attentive gaze in order to save themselves. | |||
It is because of this that in all the degrees of sainthood, the chief leaven and elixir is the love arising from knowledge of God. But love leads to an abyss, which is this: it jumps from beseeching and self-effacement, which are the essence of worship, to complaint and claims and to imbalanced actions. When regarding things other than God, a person ceases to see how they point to their Maker and starts to see them as signifying themselves alone, so while being the cure, love becomes poison. That is to say, although when loving things other than God, the person should fix his heart on them for God’s sake and in His name and because they are mirrors reflecting His names, sometimes he loves them for themselves and on account of their personal perfections and own beauty. He loves them with no thought for God and His Messenger (UWBP). Such love does not lead to love of God; it obscures it. Whereas if the person loves those things as signifying their Maker, it leads to love of God; indeed, such love may be said to be its manifestation. | |||
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==== | ====Third Point:==== | ||
This world is the realm of wisdom, the realm of service; it is not the realm of reward and recompense. The wage for deeds and acts of service here is given in the Intermediate Realm and the hereafter. Acts here produce fruits there. This being the truth of the matter, the results of actions that look to the hereafter should not be sought in this world. If they are given, they should be received not gratefully, but regretfully. For in Paradise, the more fruits are picked the more they grow. So it is hardly sensible to consume in this world in fleeting fashion the fruits of actions that pertain to the hereafter, which are lasting. It is like exchanging a permanent lamp for one that will last a minute and then flicker out. | |||
It is because of this that the people of sainthood look on service, difficulty, misfortune, and hardship as agreeable. They do not complain and lament, but say: “All praise be to God for all situations!” | |||
When illuminations and wonders, unfoldings and lights are bestowed on them, they accept them as divine favours, and try to conceal them. They do not become proud, but offer more thanks and worship. Many of them have wanted those states to be concealed or to cease, lest they spoil the sincerity of their actions. | |||
Yes, the highest divine favour for an acceptable person is not to make him realize the favour, so that he does not give up beseeching and offering thanks, or become complacent and start complaining. | |||
It is because of this truth that if those who seek sainthood and follow the Sufi path do so for illuminations and wonders, which are some of the emanations of sainthood, and they are turned towards those and receive pleasure from them, they as though consume in transient fashion in this transient world the enduring fruits of the hereafter. This too opens up the way to loss of sincerity, the leaven of sainthood, and to sainthood eluding them. | |||
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=== | ===Seventh Allusion=== | ||
This consists of four points. | |||
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==== | ====First Point:==== | ||
The Shari‘a is directly, without shadow or veil, the result of the divine address, through the mystery of divine oneness in respect of absolute dominicalitY. The highest degrees of the Sufi path and of reality are like parts of the Shari‘a. Or they are always like its means, introduction, and servant. Their results are the incontrovertible matters of the Shari‘a. | |||
That is to say, the ways of the Sufi orders and of reality are like means, servants, and steps for reaching the truths of the Shari‘a, till at the highest level they are transformed into the meaning of reality and essence of the Sufi way, which are at the heart of the Shari‘a. So then they become parts of the Greater Shari‘a. | |||
It is not right to think of the Shari‘a as an outer shell and reality as its inner part and result and aim, as some Sufis do. | |||
Yes, the Shari‘a unfolds according to the levels of men. It is wrong to suppose that what the mass of people imagine is the external aspect of the Shari‘a is its reality, and to give the names of reality and Sufi path to the degrees of the Shari‘a that are disclosed to the elite. The Shari‘a has degrees which look to all classes. | |||
It is in consequence of this that the further the Sufis and those who seek reality advance, their longing for the truths of the Shari‘a increases, as does their captivation by them and their following them. They consider the most minor aspect of the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices to be their greatest aim, and strive to follow them and imitate them. For however higher divine revelation is than inspiration, the conduct of the Shari‘a, which is the fruit of revelation, is higher to the same degree than the conduct of the Sufi path, the fruit of inspiration. Therefore, following the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices is the basis and principal element of the Sufi path. | |||
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==== | ====Second Point:==== | ||
The Sufi path and way of reality should not exceed being means. If they are made the ultimate aim, the incontrovertible teachings and actions of the Shari‘a and following the practices of the Prophet (UWBP) become merely a matter of form, while the heart looks beyond them. That is to say, such a person thinks of his circle for the remembrance of God rather than the obligatory prayers; he is drawn more to his recitations and supplications than to his religious obligations; he is more concerned with avoiding offending against his order’s rules of behaviour than with avoiding grievous sins. Whereas the recitations of the Sufi path cannot be the equivalent of the obligatory acts that constitute the incontestible matters of the Shari‘a; they cannot take their place. | |||
The etiquette of the Sufi path and its invocations should be a solace and a way of obtaining true pleasure from the obligatory acts; they should not themselves be the source. That is, the tekke should lead a person to perform the five daily prayers assiduously in the mosque. If he performs them there hurriedly as a formality, thinking that he will find true pleasure and perfection in the tekke, he is drawing away from reality. | |||
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==== | ====Third Point:==== | ||
It is sometimes asked: “Can there be any Sufi path outside the practices of the Prophet (UWBP) and matters of the Shari‘a?” | |||
'''The Answer:'''There are some such paths, and there are not. There are, because some of the highest saints were executed by the sword of the Shari‘a. And there are not, because the authoritative scholars among the saints have agreed on this rule of Sa‘di-i Shirazi: | |||
''' | |||
“It is impossible, Sa‘di, to be victorious on the way of felicity, except by following the Chosen One.” | |||
That is, it is impossible for one outside the highway of God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who does not follow him, to attain the true lights of reality. The meaning of this is as follows: | |||
God’s Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) was the Seal of the Prophets and the addressee of God in the name of all mankind; mankind, therefore, cannot advance outside his highway; it is essential to be under his banner. | |||
But since ecstatics and those immersed in divine contemplation are not responsible for their opposition; and since man possesses certain subtle faculties that are not held accountable, and when such faculties dominate a person, he cannot be held responsible for opposing the obligations of the Shari‘a; and since man possesses subtle faculties that just as they are not accountable, so they are not under the jurisdiction of the will and cannot be controlled by the mind, for they do not heed the heart or the mind; certainly, when those faculties dominate in a person, – but only at that time – he does not fall from the rank of sainthood by opposing the Shari‘a, he is held excused. On condition, however, that he does not deny or insult the truths of the Shari‘a and rules of belief, or display contempt towards them. Even if he does not carry out the injunctions, he has to acknowledge that they are right. But if he is overcome by that state and assumes a position, I seek refuge with God, which infers denial and giving the lie to those incontestible truths, it is the sign that he has deviated from the path! | |||
'''In Short:'''There are two groups that follow the Sufi path outside the bounds of the Shari‘a. | |||
''' | |||
'''One group:'''As described above, these people are either overwhelmed by their mental state, immersion, or ecstasy or intoxication, or they are dominated by some of their subtle faculties that do not heed the injunctions of religion nor listen to the will; they therefore transgress the bounds of the Shari‘a. | |||
''' | |||
But this is not due to their disliking its rulings or not wanting to follow them; they are rather compelled to, involuntarily. Among this group are people of sainthood some of whom have even been temporary saints of high rank. But the authoritative scholars from among the saints have ruled that of these some have been not only outside the bounds of the Shari‘a, but outside the bounds of Islam. But they are considered to be people of sainthood on condition they have not denied any of the injunctions brought by Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him). It is that they do not think of them, or cannot keep them in view, or are not aware of them. They cannot not accept them if they are aware of them. | |||
'''As for the Second Group,'''they are carried away by the brilliant pleasures of the Sufi path and way of reality, and since they cannot attain to the pleasures of the truths of the Shari‘a, which are far more elevated, they suppose them to be dull formalities and are indifferent towards them. They gradually accept the idea that the Shari‘a is an external shell, and that the reality they have found is the essential goal. They say: “I have found it; it is enough for me,” and act in a way contrary to the injunctions of the Shari‘a. Any in this group who are in their right minds are responsible; they stray from the path, indeed, become the playthings of Satan to an extent. | |||
''' | |||
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==== | ====Fourth Point:==== | ||
Some persons who belong to the divisions of the people of misguidance and innovation are found acceptable by the Muslim community, while others, just like them and not apparently different, are rejected. I always used to wonder about this. | |||
For example, although someone like Zamakhshari was one of the most bigoted members of the Mu‘tazilite sect, the authoritative Sunni scholars did not pronounce him an unbeliever or misguided, despite his severe objections; they rather searched for a way to exonerate him. But then they held that Mu‘tazilite authorities like Abu ‘Ali Jubba’i, who was far less bigoted than Zamakhshari, should be rejected and refuted. | |||
I was curious about this for a long time. Then through divine grace I understood that Zamakhshari’s objections about the Sunnis arose from his love of his way, which he looked on as right.That is to say, for example, in his view God could be truly declared free of all fault and defect by saying that animals create their own actions. It was out of love for declaring God free of all fault that he did not accept the Sunnis’ principles concerning the creation of actions. Whereas the other Mu‘tazilite authorities were rejected because their inadequate intelligences could not aspire to the elevated principles of the Sunnis and they could not fit the Sunnis’ extensive laws within their own narrow ideas, and so denied them. | |||
In the same way that the Mu‘tazilites opposed the Sunnis in theology, so the opposition of some followers of the Sufi path outside the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices is of two kinds: | |||
'''The first:'''Like Zamakhshari, out of love for their way or state, they remain somewhat indifferent towards the conduct of the Shari‘a, because through it they cannot obtain the same degree of pleasure. | |||
''' | |||
'''As for the other kind:'''God forbid! They think the conduct of the Shari‘a is unimportant relatively to the principles of the Sufi path. For their narrow understandings cannot comprehend those broad pleasures, and their short stations cannot attain to that elevated conduct. | |||
''' | |||
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=== | ===Eighth Allusion=== | ||
This describes eight abysses. | |||
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==== | ====The First:==== | ||
Some people who embark on spiritual journeying do not conform completely to the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices, and fall into the abyss of preferring sainthood to prophethood. | |||
It is proved in the Twenty-Fourth and Thirty-First Words how elevated is prophethood, and how dull sainthood is in relation to it. | |||
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==== | ====The Second:==== | ||
Some of followers of the Sufi path fall into the abyss of preferring extremist saints to the Prophet’s (UWBP) Companions and even of believing those saints to be prophets. | |||
It is proved decisively in the Twelfth and Twenty-Seventh Words and in the Addendum on the Companions, that the Companions acquired such qualities through conversation with the Prophet (UWBP) that cannot be attained through sainthood, and that the Companions cannot be surpassed, and that the saints can never reach the degree of the Companions. | |||
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==== | ====The Third:==== | ||
Some of those who are excessively bigoted concerning the Sufi path oppose the practices of the Prophet (UWBP) and give them up because of their preference for the customs, conduct, and recitations of the Sufi way, which they never give up. In this way, they become slack in practising the conduct of the Shari‘a, and fall into that abyss. | |||
As is proved in many of the Words, and as veracious authorities of the Sufi path like Imam Ghazali and Imam-i Rabbani said: “The degree of acceptance gained by following a single of the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices cannot be won through a hundred personal practices and supererogatory acts of worship. And just as a single obligatory act is superior to a thousand acts taken from the Prophet’s practices, so a single of those practices is superior to a thousand practices of Sufism.” | |||
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==== | ====The Fourth:==== | ||
Some extremist Sufis suppose inspiration to be like divine revelation and of similar kind to revelation, and fall into an abyss. | |||
It has been proved most definitely in the Twelfth Word and in the Twenty-Fifth Word about the miraculousness of the Qur’an, how elevated, universal, and sacred is divine revelation, and how insignificant and dull inspirations are in comparison. | |||
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==== | ====The Fifth:==== | ||
Some Sufis who do not understand the essence of the Sufi path, in order to strengthen the weak, encourage the slack, and to lighten the hardships and weariness arising from strenuous service, find the lights, illuminations, and wonders, which are not sought but given, to be pleasurable, and they become captivated by them and fall into the abyss of preferring them to worship, acts of service, and recitation of supplications. | |||
It is mentioned briefly in the Third Point of the Sixth Allusion in the present treatise and proved decisively in others of the Words that this world is the realm of service and not the realm of reward. People who seek their recompense here, both transform enduring, perpetual fruits into a transitory, temporary form, and find permanence in this world pleasing, so they do not yearn for the Intermediate Realm. Quite simply, they love the life of this world in one respect, since they find a sort of hereafter within it. | |||
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==== | ====The Sixth:==== | ||
Some of those who embark on spiritual journeying fall into an abyss by confusing the shades and shadows and partial samples of the stations of sainthood with its fundamental, universal stations. | |||
As is proved clearly in the Second Branch of the Twenty-Fourth Word and in others of the Words, the sun becomes numerous by means of mirrors and thousands of its similitudes possess light and heat like the sun itself, despite their paltriness in relation to the actual sun. In exactly the same way, the stations of the prophets and the great saints possess shades and shadows. Those who journey with the spirit enter these, and see themselves as greater than those great saints, or even to have advanced further than the prophets, and so fall into an abyss. | |||
However, the way to avoid this is to always take the principles of belief and fundamentals of the Shari‘a as one’s basis and guide, and to look on one’s illuminations and visions as opposed to them. | |||
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==== | ====The Seventh:==== | ||
Some of the people of illumination and ecstasy fall into an abyss in their spiritual journeyings by preferring pride, complaint, ecstatic utterances, public regard, and being referred to, to offering thanks and supplication, beseeching Almighty God, and self-sufficiency. | |||
Whereas the highest degree is Muhammadan worship, which is termed “belovedness.” The basis and essence of worship is to manifest the perfection of that reality b y supplicating and beseeching Almighty God, showing deep humility before Him, offering thanks, and through impotence and want, and by displaying self-sufficiency in the face of others. Some of the great saints have involuntarily and temporarily become proud and made complaints and ecstatic utterances, but they should not be followed voluntarily on such points; they are rightly-guided but not the guide; their way may not be taken! | |||
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==== | ====The Eighth Abyss:==== | ||
Some of those who journey spiritually are self-centred and precipitate and want to consume in this world the fruits of sainthood, which will be given in the hereafter; they fall into an abyss by seeking them on their spiritual journeyings. | |||
But, as such verses as,“The life of this world is but goods and chattels”(3:185)proclaim, and as is proved decisively in many of the Words, a single fruit in the realm of eternity is superior to a thousand gardens in this fleeting world. For this reason, those blessed fruits should not be consumed here. If without being sought they are given to eat here, they should be thanked for, and deemed divine favours bestowed, not as reward, but for encouragement. | |||
< | <span id="Dokuzuncu_Telvih"></span> | ||
=== | ===Ninth Allusion=== | ||
Here we shall describe briefly nine out of the truly numerous fruits and benefits of the Sufi path. | |||
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==== | ====The First==== | ||
is the unfolding and clarification, by means of the Sufi paths that are on the straight way, of the truths of faith, which are the keys, sources, and springs of the eternal treasuries of everlasting happiness; it is their manifestation at the degree of the vision of certainty. | |||
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==== | ====The Second:==== | ||
Since the Sufi path is a means of working the heart, the mainspring of the human machine, and of causing it to stir the other subtle faculties into motion, it drives them to fulfil the purposes of their creation and thus makes a person into a true human being. | |||
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==== | ====The Third:==== | ||
On the journey to the Intermediate Realm and the hereafter, it is to join one of the lines of the Sufi orders, and become a member of its luminous caravan on the road to eternity. The person is thus saved from loneliness and finds the friendship of the other members in this world and in the Intermediate Realm; and relying on their consensus and accord in the face of the attacks of doubts and fears, and seeing each of their masters as a powerful support and proof, he repulses through them those doubts and instances of misguidance. | |||
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==== | ====The Fourth==== | ||
is to understand by means of the pure Sufi way the knowledge of God to be found in belief in God, and the pleasure of love of God within the knowledge of God, and by so understanding, to be saved from the desolation of this world and man’s exile in the universe. | |||
We have proved in many of the Words that the happiness of both worlds, and pain-free pleasure, and intimacy untainted by loneliness, and true delight, and untroubled happiness are all to be found in faith and the reality of Islam. As is explained in the Second Word, faith produces the seed of a Tuba-tree of Paradise. It is through the training and nurturing of the Sufi path that the seed grows and develops. | |||
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==== | ====The Fifth==== | ||
is to perceive through an awakening of the heart elicited by the Sufi path and remembrance of God, the subtle truths contained in the obligations of the Shari‘a, and to appreciate them. Then the person obeys and performs his worship, not under compulsion, but with longing. | |||
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==== | ====The Sixth==== | ||
is to rise to the station of reliance on God and the rank of submission to Him and winning His pleasure, which are the means of obtaining true delight, real solace, painfree pleasure, and friendship untainted by loneliness. | |||
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==== | ====The Seventh==== | ||
The Seventh is, through sincerity, which is the essential precondition for travelling the Sufi way and its most valuable result, to be delivered from base qualities like implicitly associating partners with God, hypocrisy, and artificiality. It is also to be saved, through purifying the soul, which is like the surgical operation of the Sufi path, from the dangers of the evil-commanding soul and the perils of egotism. | |||
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==== | ====The Eighth:==== | ||
Through the regard, sense of the divine presence, and powerful intentions of the Sufi path, gained by recalling God with the heart and reflecting on Him with the mind, this is to transform customary actions into worship and make mundane dealings into actions benefiting the hereafter. Utilizing the capital of life, it is to make all its minutes into seeds that will produce the shoots of eternal happiness. | |||
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==== | ====The Ninth==== | ||
is to struggle to be a perfect human being through journeying with the heart and striving with the spirit and spiritual progress; that is to say, to be a true believer and total Muslim; that is, to gain not superficial belief, but the reality of belief and the reality of Islam; that is, to be directly the bondsman of the Glorious Creator of the Universe, in the universe and in one respect as the universe’s representative, and to be His addressee, and friend, and beloved, and to be a mirror to Him; and through showing man to be on the best of patterns, it is to prove man’s superiority to the angels. It is to fly through the lofty stations with the Shari‘a’s wings of faith and works, and to behold eternal happiness in this world, and even to enter upon it. | |||
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!(2:32) | |||
O God! Grant blessings and peace to the Supreme Help in every age and the Sublime Spiritual Pole at all times, our master Muhammad, the magnificence of whose sainthood was manifested in his Ascension, as was the station of his being the beloved of God, and under the shadow of whose Ascension are included all sainthoods, and to all his Family and Companions. Amen. And all praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds. | |||
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== | ==Addendum== | ||
[This short addendum has great importance;] | |||
it is beneficial for everyone. | |||
The ways leading to Almighty God are truly numerous. While all true ways are taken from the Qur’an, some are shorter, safer, and more general than others. Of these ways taken from the Qur’an is that of impotence, poverty, compassion, and reflection, from which, with my defective understanding, I have benefited. | |||
Like ecstatic love, impotence is a path which, by way of worship, leads to winning God’s love; but it is safer. | |||
Poverty too leads to the divine name of All- Merciful. | |||
And, like ecstatic love, compassion leads to the name of All- Compassionate, but it is a swifter and broader path. | |||
Also like ecstatic love, reflection leads to the name of All-Wise, but it is richer, broader, and more brilliant path. | |||
This path consists not of ten steps like the ten subtle faculties of some of the Sufi paths employing silent recollection, nor of seven stages like the seven souls of those practising public recitation, but of four steps. It is reality (hakikat), rather than a Sufi way (tarikat). It is Shari‘a.However, let it not be misunderstood. It means to see one’s impotence, poverty and faults before Almighty God, not to fabricate them or display them to people. | |||
The method of this short path is to follow the practices of the Prophet (UWBP), perform the religious obligations and give up serious sins. It is especially to perform the prescribed prayers correctly and with attention, and following them to say the tesbihat. | |||
The verse, “Therefore, do not justify yourselves,”(53:32) points to the first step. | |||
The verse, “And be not like those who forget God, and He therefore makes them forget their own selves,”(59:19) points to the second step. | |||
The verse, “Whatever good happens to you is from God, but whatever evil befalls you is from yourself,”(4:79) points to the third step. | |||
The verse, “Everything will perish save His countenance,”(28:88) points to the fourth step. | |||
A brief explanation of these four steps is as follows: | |||
< | <span id="Birinci_hatvede"></span> | ||
=== | ===First Step=== | ||
As the verse, “Therefore, do not justify yourselves” suggests, it is to not purify the soul. For on account of his nature and innate disposition, man loves himself. Indeed, he loves himself before anything else, and only himself. He sacrifices everything other than himself to his own soul. He praises himself in a manner befitting some object worthy of worship. He absolves and exonerates himself from faults in the same way. As far as he possibly can, he does not see faults as being appropriate for him, and does not accept them. He defends himself passionately as though worshipping himself. Even, using on himself the members and faculties given him as part of his nature in order to praise and glorify the True Object of Worship, he displays the meaning of the verse,“Who takes as his god his own desires.”(25:43; 45:23)He considers himself, he relies on himself, he fancies himself. | |||
Thus, his purification and cleansing at this stage, in this step, is to not purify himself; it is not to absolve himself. | |||
< | <span id="İkinci_hatvede"></span> | ||
=== | ===Second Step=== | ||
As the verse, “And be not like those who forget God, and He therefore makes them forget their own selves” teaches, man is oblivious of himself and not aware of himself. If he thinks of death, it is in relation to others. If he sees transience and decline, he does not attribute them to himself. His evil-commanding soul demands that when it comes to inconvenience and service of others, he forgets himself, but when it comes to receiving his recompense, and to benefits and enjoyment, he thinks of himself and takes his own part fervently. | |||
His purification, cleansing, and training at this stage is the reverse of this. That is to say, when oblivious of himself, it is not to be oblivious. That is, to forget himself when it comes to pleasure, and ambition and greed, and to think of himself when it comes to death and service of others. | |||
< | <span id="Üçüncü_hatvede"></span> | ||
=== | ===Third Step=== | ||
As the verse, “Whatever good happens to you is from God, but whatever evil befalls you is from yourself” teaches, the nature of the evil-commanding soul demands that it always considers goodness to be from itself and it becomes vain and conceited. Thus, at this step, a person sees only faults, defects, impotence, and poverty in himself, and understands that all his good qualities and perfections are bounties bestowed on him by the All- Glorious Creator. He gives thanks instead of being conceited, and offers praise instead of boasting. | |||
According to the meaning of the verse,Truly he succeeds who purifies it,(91:9)his purification at this stage is to know his perfection to lie in imperfection, his power in impotence, and his wealth in poverty. | |||
< | <span id="Dördüncü_hatvede"></span> | ||
=== | ===Fourth Step=== | ||
As the verse, “Everything will perish save His countenance” teaches, the evil- commanding soul considers itself to be free and independent and to exist of itself. Because of this, man claims to possess a sort of dominicality. He harbours a hostile rebelliousness towards his True Object of Worship. Thus, through understanding the following fact, he is saved from this. | |||
The fact is this:According to the apparent meaning of things, which looks to each thing itself, everything is transitory, wanting, accidental, non-existent. But according to the meaning that signifies something other than itself and in respect of each thing being a mirror to the All-Glorious Maker’s names and charged with various duties, each is a witness, it is witnessed, and it is existent. | |||
The purification and cleansing of a person at this stage is as follows: In his existence he is non-existent, and in his non-existence he has existence. That is to say, if he values himself and attributes existence to himself, he is in the darkness of non-existence as great as the universe. That is, if he relies on his individual existence and is unmindful of the True Giver of Existence, he has an individual light of existence like that of a fire-fly and is submerged in an endless darkness of non- existence and separation. But if he gives up egotism and sees that he is a mirror of the manifestations of the True Giver of Existence, he gains all beings and an infinite existence. For he who finds the Necessary Existent, the manifestation of whose names all beings manifest, finds everything. | |||
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=== | ===Conclusion=== | ||
The four steps in this way of impotence, poverty, compassion, and reflection have been explained in the twenty-six Words so far written, which are concerned with knowledge of reality, the reality of the Shari‘a, and the wisdom of the Qur’an. So here, we shall allude briefly to only one or two points, as follows: | |||
This path is shorter, because it consists of four steps. When impotence causes a person to give up the soul, it turns him directly to the All-Powerful One of Glory. Whereas when a person on the way of ecstatic love, the swiftest way, gives up the soul, his way directs him to a temporary beloved. Only when he discovers the beloved’s impermanence does he turn to the True Beloved. | |||
Also, this path is much safer, because the ravings and high-flown claims of the soul are not present on it. For apart from impotence, poverty, and defect, the soul possesses nothing so that it oversteps its mark. | |||
Also, this path is much broader and more universal. For in order to attain to a constant awareness of God’s presence, a person is not compelled to imagine the universe to be condemned to non-existence and to declare: “There is no existent but He,” like those who believe in the Unity of Existence, nor to suppose the universe to be condemned to imprisonment in absolute oblivion and to say, “There is nothing witnessed but He,” like those who believe in the Unity of Witnessing. Rather, since the Qur’an has most explicitly pardoned the universe and released it from execution and imprisonment, the person on this path disregards the above, and dismissing beings from working on their own account and employing them on account of the All- Glorious Creator, and in the duty of manifesting the Most Beautiful Names and being mirrors to them, he considers them from the point of view of signifying something other than themselves; and being saved from absolute heedlessness, he enters the divine presence permanently; he finds a way leading to the Almighty God in everything. | |||
'''In Short:'''Dismissing beings from working on account of other beings, this way is to not look at them as signifying themselves. | |||
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<center> [[Yirmi Sekizinci Mektup]] ⇐ | [[Mektubat]] | ⇒ [[ | <center> [[Yirmi Sekizinci Mektup/en|TheTwenty-Eighth Letter]] ⇐ | [[Mektubat/en|The Letters]] | ⇒ [[Hakikat Çekirdekleri/en|Seeds of Reality]] </center> | ||
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