In the language of Sufism, sakr (intoxication) means that an initiate is enraptured by the rays of the manifestations of God’s “Facial” Light. His or her returning to his or her former, normal state is sahw (sobriety). These two terms are usually used together as sahw u sakr.

There is a relation between intoxication and absence. If the inner world of seekers after the Ultimate Truth who feel intoxication is not satisfied with the Divine gifts, then they lack something in intoxication, and suffer irregular tides with respect to the state of absence. It is coloring, rather than self-possession, which is witnessed in their actions. For this reason, such seekers should be regarded as those who have perhaps feigned intoxication rather than being actually intoxicated. However, it sometimes occurs that the gifts come in showers and invade the whole being, with the result that then they do become fully intoxicated.

Intoxication sometimes arises from a strong belief, a considerable knowledge of God, and feeling fear and awe in a balanced way, making itself felt in a broader sense. As for the degree of intoxication which is felt by those who have advanced further on the way and who have approached nearer to God, whenever such travelers are honored with the manifestation of the Divine “Facial” Light or with the vision of the “Face” beyond all concepts of modality, they immediately become intoxicated. The spirit overflows with zeal and joy and the heart feels excessive excitement. This is particular to people of ecstasy.

Sobriety means that the intoxicated ones return to their former, normal state. Like intoxication, sobriety is also an undeniable part of the journeying toward the Almighty. Whenever the eternal King of truth invades the very being of the intoxicated lovers of the Ultimate Truth, who spend their lives immersed in spiritual pleasures in the valleys of absence, they feel as if they have immediately fallen into an ocean and have vanished like a drop into the world of feelings, or that they have been burnt away like a dried, flammable object and that their nature has changed. Furthermore, their ways and bridges of sensing are demolished one after another and He alone can be felt everywhere and in everything. There are many who see a relation between such a state and what is meant in the verse (7:143): The moment His Lord manifested His glorious majesty to the mountain, He made it crumble to dust, and Moses fell down in a faint. Just as the mountain was rendered dust, despite its immensity, and just as Prophet Moses, upon him be peace, fell down in a swoon, despite his being one of the five greatest Messengers of God, people of ecstasy feel as if they have changed their nature, they take up different attitudes, act as if intoxicated and utter words that suggest intoxication:

O cup-bearer, pour wine into the cup, it is time to break the fast;
Restore this ruin; it is time to display the favor we receive.
(M. Lutfi)

This day Nasimi is intoxicated with the grace of the cup-bearer;
I have always seen Mustafa in the wine which intoxicates me.
(Nasimi[1])

There are many other words uttered concerning intoxication, but it is beyond the scope of this book to cite them all. Only consider that the famous Hafiz ash-Shirazi begins his Diwan with the verse, Beware, O cup-bearer, bring a cup and pass it around!

Intoxication is a state in which one is enraptured with pleasures; of sobriety the main characteristics are knowledge and self-possession. A traveler is in waves of unintended, unpremeditated joy and pleasures in the state of intoxication, while in sobriety, he or she is conscious, self-possessed, and makes deliberate efforts to feel the All-Holy, Ultimate Truth.

Some consider intoxication to be when a heart boils with extraordinary joy and excitement in the moment when the person feels deeply the All-Beloved. We may interpret this state as the human self being immersed in joy and pleasures in the face of the gifts coming from the Unseen World or as an initiate losing him or herself, being overpowered by love. If the human self gets intoxicated because of immersion in joy and pleasures, this is regarded as a natural state of intoxication which an initiate gets into. If love drives the person into intoxication, this is the state of intoxication into which God Himself draws him or her. However, whatever the reason for intoxication, the traveler to the Ultimate Truth lives wonder-struck and acts in tides of zeal and joy. As seekers deepen in intoxication, they begin to wander in the valleys of wonder and astonishment. Sometimes their will-power may even break down, with the result that they begin to feel as if they were a shadow of the Light of His Existence. Those who have reached this point are called the “willed ones.” Their finite attributes are replaced by the manifestations of the Attributes of the All-Permanent, and they become a polished mirror of the fact that he sees by Me.[2]

Indicating this highest point, it is said in Thamaratu’l-Fuad (“The Fruits of the Heart”):

My voice, which sings like a nightingale,
has been made to speak by Him;
My eyes, which see, see by Him,
and I have heard speech from Him.
He has favored me with speech, with which
He has brought mysteries to light.
By the all-brilliant Light of God, my heart
has been made extremely bright,
And by the light of Muhammad,
I have become one with a pleasant heart.

Some have disapproved the use of the word intoxication for a spiritual state as it celebrates a concept that is scorned by both reason and the Shari‘a. But intoxication, which we can describe as the state of losing oneself due to the depth of love and ecstasy, is a metaphor used to express being exposed to or being favored with the rays or gifts of the Almighty which enrapture. Initiates enraptured by these gifts or rays cannot distinguish anything because of the depth of the waves of joy and pleasure in which they are drowning. In a hadith concerning repentance, God’s Messenger, who is the most advanced in reasoning and sensibility, tells us that a man of the desert expresses the excessive joy he feels with the words coming from his mouth unintentionally: “O God! You are my servant and I am Your Lord.”[3] This may be a good example of what may happen within the ecstasies that one experiences due to being favored by the Almighty’s stream of gifts.

There have been numerous people overpowered by this state, who burn with love and yearning. With his words, “O singer, play the instrument, for tonight I am intoxicated!”, Muhammed Lutfi Efendi, taking advantage of the permissibility of metaphors, declares nothing more than the joy and zeal of a lover.

As it has been to date, many travelers to the Ultimate Truth will from now on murmur the same things each in their own style in the face of the Divine lights, colors and forms that they observe everywhere. In fact, when a heart falls in love with the Eternally Beloved One and is invaded by ecstasies, and in its conscience feels His company, only those who have Prophetic insight and resolution can save themselves from confusion. Other faithful lovers, who dive deep into the cataracts of love, (or who flow abundantly like a river swelling with rains,) will sometimes overflow their limits; they will let themselves into the huge waves of love due to the rejoicing originating in feeling in His company, and always live in wonder, uttering “He!”

The feeling of absence that a traveler to the Ultimate Truth has during intoxication is expressed by “He!” Although some suggest confusion, the following verses are beautiful in expressing this:

The lights of my eyes are He, and the direction for my reason is He;
my tongue always utters He, and I sigh and groan with He.
My heart goes on an excursion in He, the love of my soul is He.
Those who are lovers and intoxicated are always with He.
My soul has sacrificed itself in the way of its Beloved,
its union is with He, its parting is with He;
and its cure, as well as its afflictions, is He.

Sobriety is the condition when one favored with knowledge of God comes to after having gone into an absence of feelings and consciousness, or, as with the Prophets, when one spends a lifetime in wakefulness and consciousness. It is the opposite of intoxication. The following couplet of Tokadizade Şekip[4] is worth quoting in this respect:

The people of peace intoxicated with intimacy in Your Presence,
do not want to exchange their rapture with sobriety.

Intoxication is a state, while sobriety is a station and is more objective, secure, and straightforward when compared to intoxication. While intoxication comes from a subjective consideration of the Ultimate Truth, sobriety is based on the consideration of the All-Exalted, Majestic Being known by His Names and outlined by His Attributes and Whose Essence cannot be perceived. From another perspective, an initiate is out of his or her senses when in a state of intoxication, but is sensible in sobriety. Intoxication suggests “self-annihilation in God,” but sobriety implies “subsistence by God,” which is subsistence by His Subsistence and is defined as “subsistence by God and being in His company.”

Some prefer intoxication to sobriety, yet this is the view of the intoxicated when overpowered by the state or induced by traveling through the valleys of coloring. There is absence in intoxication and in sobriety there is peace and rest. Sobriety is a few steps higher than intoxication. Intoxication means being overpowered by state; it is accompanied by coloring, and is the way of some saints, while sobriety depends on consciousness, is accompanied by self-possession, and is the way of the Prophets and the purified scholars. The Qur’an declares (15:99): Worship your Lord until certainty, which is bound to come, comes to you. An approach to this Qur’anic declaration is: “Continue on the way to God until you are fully awakened by death to the truth of the belief’s pillars, for traveling toward the Infinite One is endless.”

In addition, sobriety is closely connected with the consideration of life and requires strong will-power. While in intoxication, the considerations of one’s feeling annihilated in (God’s) Existence and one’s feeling annihilated in the Witnessed or in His manifestations sometimes keep the will-power under pressure, there is in sobriety special assistance and protection that come from the company of God, such as that which is expressed in: He hears through Me, and sees through Me, and holds through Me, and walks through Me.[5]

Our Lord! Grant us from Your Presence a special mercy and arrange for us in our affairs what is right and for our good! And bestow peace and blessings on our master Muhammad and his Family forever.

Footnotes

[1] Imaduddin Nasimi (1369–1417), Azerbaijan’s outstanding poet of the 15th century, wrote in Azerbaijan along with Arabic and Persian. He was very successful in lyric poems. (Tr.)

[2] al-Bukhari, “Riqaq,” 38.

[3] Muslim, “Tawba,” 7.

[4] Tokadizade Şekip was one of the Turkish poets and writers who lived in Izmir in the first half of the 20th century. He wrote in favor of political freedom and was one of the founders of the Association of Defending the Basic Rights in Izmir. (Tr.)

[5] al-Hakim at-Tirmidhi, Nawadiru’l-‘Usul, 3:81; Ibn Kathir, Tafsiru’l-Qur’an, 2:580; Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Fathu’l-Bari, 1:13.

Travelers to the Ultimate Truth experiencing absence no lon­ger have any interest in the laws that are in force in the life of existent beings and the conditions in which they find themselves. They have completely freed themselves from the states that belong to the carnal soul under the dazzling shower of the Divine gifts which have come uninterrupted to invade their hearts. In this state they are unaware of how and where they are or even of their own existence. Because of the intensity of the Divine manifesta­tions that they experience, they no longer can see although they look, they can no longer hear although they listen, and they are lost in feelings of wonder while thinking. For them, there is no difference between presence and absence. This can be partly explained by the analogy of the women who, when they saw Prophet Joseph, were so struck by his beauty that they cut their hands. Joseph’s beauty could only be a shadow of the shadow of the Divine Beauty, reflected from beyond many veils. If seeing Joseph’s face caused presence to change into some degree of absence, it does not require much explanation how the burning manifestations of the Divine Beauty can dazzle the eyes and bewilder minds.

Presence and absence change places, one turning into the other, only when initiates separate themselves from everything else other than the lights of His Essence. In this state, they feel and think of Him only and restrict their eyes to observing His manifestations exclusively. By so doing, they feel enveloped in His Presence completely and no longer see or hear whatever takes place and whatever is said. If, under the influence of some attributes of human nature, initiates come to see and hear things and happenings—which is called a “return”—all things other than God come into view and their hearts suffer an eclipse, without receiving light from the real Owner of light. They can free themselves from this eclipse by perfect love of and yearning for Him and by perfect resolution.

Like contraction and expansion, there can be long or short tides between feeling enveloped by God’s Holy Presence and feeling eclipsed from Him. Feeling enveloped by His Presence is sometimes understood as being synonymous with witnessing Him in His manifestations, sometimes as witnessing or vision of Him, and sometimes as watching Him. This station may cause an initiate to slip from the straight path because of the intensity of God’s manifestation of Himself with all His Names through­out the universe (Vahidi) or because of the concentrated manifestation of some of His Names on the initiate him or herself or another indi­vidual thing or being in particular (Ahadi). Therefore, both this station and the manifestations received in it must be viewed in the light of the Prophetic way. Otherwise, initiates who feel pervaded by these manifestations may go so far as to claim that they have seen the Divine Being Himself. Provided that one does not con­fuse the Essence of the Divine Being with His invading manifes­tations and utter words of pride, feeling enveloped by the Presence of the Divine Being means living in the shadow of the Realm of the Holy Presence, and is pure spirituality that has almost nothing to do anymore with the physical or animal dimension of our existence. Hafiz ash-Shirazi (d. 1291) says:

If you, O Hafiz, desire to always feel
enveloped by His Holy Presence;
never be heedless or unmindful of Him.
If you desire meeting with your Beloved,
renounce the world and the worldly people.

These words of Hafiz are also important in expressing our understanding of austerity. “Shaykhu’l-Akbar” Muhyi’d-Din ibnu’l-‘Arabi shares the same consideration: “A heart’s feeling enveloped by God’s Presence depends on its distance from peo­ple.”

The state which is called absence in respect to ourselves and presence in respect to God, the Ultimate Truth, has degrees according to the level of an initiate:

• A lover of God leaves no room in the heart for anybody other than Him; fixes the gaze on Him only and continues normal relations with other things or beings only because of Him; feels, sees, and hears something of Him in whatever is encountered during the spiritual journeying.

• An initiate mindful of the rules of the way feels knowledge and state combined in the depths of his or her spirit. In oth­er words, at the horizon reached, knowledge has become for the person second nature or a state. Having been saved from the error of entanglement in knowledge that is mere information (i.e. has not yet become a state), and from the heedlessness arising from a state not based on knowledge, the initiate is favored with absence from the created and with the presence of the Creator.

• A friend of God who has risen to the station in which everything is seen as annihilated in the Divine Being, not only feels the state and station attained, but is also so immersed in the manifestations of the Essence of the Divine Being that even His Names and Attributes are no longer discerned as such. The person may unburden him or herself with words that sometimes suggest the transcen­dent Unity of Being, sometimes the Unity of the Wit­nessed. Sometimes it may even occur that the uttered words imply a sort of pantheism or monism. It should not be forgotten that this arises from a confusion of the truth with something that is a total experience and that is tasted by the spirit. ‘Abdu’n-Nafi‘ expresses his feelings belong­ing to the station where one can easily fall into wonder and utmost astonishment, as follows:

Look on, what is this amazing state!
I wonder whether it is absence.
Reason cannot perceive this ocean-like state;
It is not possible to resist its waves.

This station is also that in which one knows the Divine Being with Himself, beyond knowing Him with His Names and Attributes. In this station, one knows the Divine Being with Himself, infers His Existence from Himself, and reaches Himself by Himself. One considers Him as the First and the Last, the All-Outward and the All-Inward; not as a spirit or a body, not as an essence or an accident, but rather as being absolutely free from occupy­ing a place, from eating and drinking, being contained by time, changing and transforming, having form and color. In this station, which is one of the highest stations and where one is at risk of lapsing and falling, one considers the All-Holy Being beyond all concepts of modality and hopes to view Him with the wonder-stricken eyes of the heart.

Our Lord, do not let our hearts swerve after You have guid­ed us, and bestow upon us mercy from Your Presence. Sure­ly You, only You, are the All-Bestowing. And bestow bless­ings and peace on our master Muhammad, ever-turning to God in contrition, and on his Family and Companions, the noble, honorable and godly ones.

Unfortunately, most of the time it is too late. Sometimes I try to take a closer interest in the ones we save, trying to find out what solution they expected suicide to provide and the underlying reasons for their attempt.

Being an emergency room doctor and seeing many suicide cases has enabled me to look into this issue’s metaphysical dimension. A healthy society is composed of individuals who are physically and spiritually healthy. The ever-increasing spiritual absence and economic problems faced by our society have a negative influence upon the psychology of both the society and the individual. People are on the verge of explosion, because they have been weakened in their attempt to solve life’s problems. This is especially true for those who have weak personalities, who find no support from their families or environment, and who try to solve everything on their own but cannot do so. Sometimes, the resulting depression leads them to attempt suicide.

Why people commit suicide?

The psychological problems that people cope with are encountered by our society and also comprise a critical issue facing the world as a whole. In 2001, the World Health Organization reported that one-fourth of the world’s population suffers from psychological problems. According to data collected from 185 countries, depressive disorders are regarded as the fourth major cause of disease. The same study reported that every year, 1 million people commit suicide and 10-20 million more attempt suicide.

Research reveals that fatal suicide is more common among single and unemployed men aged between 30-40 and those who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia or depression. On the other hand, suicide attempts are more common among single, unemployed women under 30 and people suffering from depression. Most of these people attempt to commit suicide again, often with fatal results.

There are several apparent reasons for attempting suicide: various disabilities, suffering from a major disease (e.g., cancer, ulcers, cardio-vascular diseases, epilepsy) and such risk factors as tough life-conditions, which engender feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. The underlying factor is accepted to be the absence of faith in fate and the Day of Judgment. Oblivious of the world’s being a place of testing, they panic because of the emerging risk of losing their accustomed comforts and pleasures. They lack such essential knowledge as God being the All-Just and the All-Compassionate, as well as the significance of patience. In addition, they sever all bonds linking them to life. In such cases, the lack of an environment with a rich culture of conscience and heart which provides the best companionship is one of the biggest misfortunes.

The presence of family members who attempted suicide also may generate a tendency toward suicide, though the data on this is not quite clear.

The Journal of the American Medical Association, in its March 2002 issue, pointed out that suicide cases among American young people have increased markedly in recent years. Suicide is said to be the second highest cause of death among college students, the third among people between aged 14-24, and the sixth among children aged 5-14. The same study says that from the 1950s onwards, suicide rates have tripled among males aged 15-24 and more than doubled among women.

Suicidal people often exhibit the following symptoms: altered eating and sleeping habits, aloofness from family and friends, lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities, the use of alcohol and drugs, hopelessness, feelings of guilt, complaints of being tired and uneasy, absentmindedness, failure, and the entrusting of valued objects to others. Those who see such symptoms in others should treat these people carefully, take a close interest in them, and share their worries, for some young people with suicidal tendencies might have treatable disorders (e.g., depression or drug abuse). 

Medicine and children

While there are many ways to commit suicide, the most common seen by emergency personnel is overdosing on a particular medicine or drug. Of course not all such cases are suicide attempts, but overdosing in order to commit suicide figures in a majority of them. This indicates the importance that must be given to this matter.

Surprisingly, in some places children under five comprise nearly half of all overdose victims. The primary reason for this figure is momentary parental neglect. We know that young children are prone to eat unpleasant-tasting things with a rotten smell and appearance. Another factor is the incorrect behavior of adults who take their medicine in front of children, for children just imitate what adults do. The family’s children are fascinated when elderly people spread out their medicine and tell them: “These pink pills are for high blood pressure, these white pills are for rheumatism, and the green ones are for my stomach.” The following answer, given by children who have become ill because of taking such medicines, proves that adults need to be more aware of how their children view medicine. They should think about how to answer such questions as: “My grandparents take the same medicines, so why aren’t you angry with them as well?”

The relation between taking medicine and adult suicide rates

The most frequent cause for adult suicide is overdosing on certain medicines. Mortality rates are 5-8 percent, due to reaching the hospital too late, the lack of antidotes, and being unable to make an early diagnosis.

The troubles arising within both our personal and our natural environments from such overdoses are shaking our society’s basic structure. This situation is an obstacle to solving the problems of people living in spiritual depression.

While we need a world-wide spiritual cooperation to solve this problem, only medical doctors are making any effort in this area, mainly by asking: “Can I at least save this young person who has just been brought in?” The first thing to do in such cases is to provide medical assistance. On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that medical emergency services cannot provide ultimate success. What we really need to do is to eliminate the root causes of why people attempt suicide.

This duty falls upon the shoulders of the government, people of religion, and psychologists. People who are physically and spiritually healthy also can help. For a society to be healthy, everybody must strive to prevent negative and harmful things happening to others. This approach must be based upon brotherhood and sisterhood.

People must be motivated to love and care about each other, listen to others’ worries, and guide each other to healthy thoughts. This way, they will not feel lonely and will be able to find people to support them in times of trouble. As a result of this concern, suicidal people tend to change their minds and have healthy thoughts.

In the Qur’an, God Almighty says: Do not take life, which Allah has made sacred (17:33). Prof. Suat Yildirim comments that “the person himself/herself is also included in the Divine Prohibition against killing.” Therefore, practicing Muslims do not contemplate suicide. However, the regret and shame following such attempts highlight the need to help those who do attempt suicide, instead of just blaming or criticizing them.

If Destiny has given us the duty to help those who come to the emergency room as a result of an overdose, we should try to fulfill this duty in the best way possible. As for those entrusted with educating people and guiding society, they should work hard to make sure that young people, who could be the future, never have to be brought to hospital on a stretcher because of an overdose.

References

– www.un.org.tr/who/who.htm

– www.toxnet.nlm.nih.gov

– Heckman JD, Rosenthal RE, Worsing RA, McFee AS. Zehirlenmeler, sokmalar ve isiriklar (poisonings, stings and bites) .

– Hasta ve Yaralilarin Acil Bakimi ve Nakledilmesi (emergency care for the sick and the injured) Copyright@ 1987 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons – trans. Nasetti Ltd 1991:27;284-301.

– Pirkis J, Burgess P. Suicide and recency of health care contacts. A systematic review. Br J Psychiatry. 1998:173:462-474.

– Murphy GE. Why women are less likely than men to commit suicide. Comp Psychiatry. 1998:39:165-175.

– Hawton K. Assesment of suicide risk. Br J Psychiatry 1987:150:145-153.

– Stevens LM. Ergenlik Caginda Intihar (suicide at adolescence). Ed. Glass RM. JAMA. Mart 2002. 15(3); 146. 

never relieved; it snares the unbeliever in a wild solitude,

wretched in spirit, facing a stride away the blackness

where all his ways come to dead end, where the light

he can bring to bear, his only light, is the torch of ignorance.

In that darkness his imagination is cruelly imprisoned

disabling perception; he discerns neither beginnings nor ends;

nothingness looms monstrously out of bottomless despair;

everything appears confused, ill-proportioned, futile, lost,

a chaos of particles blown by poisonous interstellar winds.

But the believer’s spirit, like his world, is consoled by light

as bright as sunlit sky, a wide-dimensioned space where time

unfolds in purposed direction; and earth displays its beauties

interlinked and opening out like petals; where all paths turn

through infinite, measured variety toward a brighter Paradise.

In that light his imagination is compassionately freed:

enabling vision of eternal spring under glistening clouds,

the spirit can surrender itself to a brief, peaceful sleep,

the heart flies like an arrow to its rest, and shining horizons

beckon to an infinite expanse of light pouring down.

Believing souls traverse that expanse to eternal life

where their dreams are vivid with memories of their past…

their traversing is itself a dream-like journey and surely

they attain their journey’s end, having so earnestly desired it

in the depths of their hearts and in their spirits battled

so mightily against errors of self hood and human arrogance.