A salik (initiate) is a traveler who follows a way to a goal and makes efforts to meet with God. The way of traveling differs according to the capacity, abilities and gifts with which each individual has been favored. Some are extraordinarily attracted and taken by God Himself to the ranks of loving and being loved by God and being pleased with Him and His being pleased with them, without having to observe some of the rules that must be observed during journeying. Such are mentioned as those who are attracted by God. They can reach, through the blessings of the Prophet’s Ascension, in a few minutes, hours or days the states and stations that others can reach after many periods of suffering, and become purified of carnal dirt. Their hearts are refined in the shortest way possible and, reaching their Beloved and Desired One at a speed that is not possible through other efforts, they are able to feel all the spiritual pleasures of being favored with His company. They have reached the horizon of “a perfect human being,” which is regarded as the point where the outward and inward have been united.

These perfect ones, who are attracted by God toward Him, are the hidden treasures of the Divine mysteries, the centers on which the lights of the Divine Knowledge and Existence are focused, and those who offer the water of life to believers for the health of their spiritual life, a water with which they will quench their thirst for eternity. They revive dead hearts with their speeches, open blind eyes with their glance and attentions, and cure the spiritual wounds of those who are in their aura. They live intoxicated with ever new gifts and favors, and cause those around them to experience the most dazzling of observations. With their seeing directed by their insight, and their speaking dependent on their hearts, they are enraptured with the colors and lines which pertain to Him, and which they see in every- thing they look at, and they scatter pearls and coral whenever they open their mouths to speak. Since they are dazzled and enchanted by even a half-seeing of Him, those who do not know them think that they are insane or intoxicated. Ruhi of Baghdad [1] describes their state very well:

Do not think that we are intoxicated with the wine of the grape; we are among the intoxicated from eternity in the past.

If some temporarily go into ecstasies with the initial signs of Him, they immediately come to their senses because of their nature, and they take refuge in wakefulness and self-possession, continuing on their way to meeting God in wakefulness. There is nothing in their feelings, thoughts or acts which causes people confusion; nor are there utterances of pride incompatible with the rules of Shari‘a, nor any affectations, nor relaxed behavior. They advance toward being pleased with Him and His being pleased with them in reliance on Him in the atmosphere of The eye did not swerve, nor did it stray (53:17).

Some others complete their spiritual journey by observing its heavenly rules, reaching the horizon of attraction toward God with the support of Divine help and feeling as if their will-power has been connected to a sacred center of attraction. They con- tinue their future life connected to that center in the manner of those who have let themselves go in the current. You can find in such people, who have taken off toward nothingness and carnal non-existence, neither anxieties, worries, nor grief. They are occupied with the Eternal Friend, they feel His intimacy, and live free from uneasiness and troubles because of the peace they find in His presence. The following verses of Niyazi Misri [2] indicate this horizon in one respect:

Having renounced the worldly worries, and
taken off to carnal non-existence; zealously
flying without ceasing,
I call, “O Friend, O Friend!”

There are still some others who constantly make an effort, from the beginning to the end, and, without expecting any return, sincerely fulfill their duties of servanthood. They neither feel attraction nor are attracted toward God, nor do they display any affectations, nor have any superiority or inferiority complexes or fancies and fantasies. They show great will-power and patience, observing even the least important rules of devotion without any show and being extraordinarily steadfast on His way. They prefer living an Islamic life over wonder-working and pleasures, and never adopt Paradise and what lies beyond it as a goal of their devotion. Regarding believing and devotion as the greatest blessing of the Lord, they live in thankfulness for such gifts in utmost humility and modesty. With his particular style, Mawlana Jalalu’d-Din Rumi describes being favored with this blessing as follows:

Happiness has come and held us by the skirt,
and set up our tent in the heaven.
Yesterday the Beloved asked me: “How do you do with this unfaithful world?”
I answered: “How can one be who, has seen the fortune of the fortunate state?
Thanks that I have found in the bottom of my teeth the sugar that Egypt cannot see even in her dreams.”

The first thing an initiate must do is to turn to God in repentance and contrition, in determination to emigrate to what God is pleased with from what He is not, to what He asks us to do from what He does not, and to a life in the heart and the spirit from a carnal life. So long as their efforts are supported by such a high degree of purification of the carnal soul, refinement of the heart, and good morals, initiates feel that they change both inwardly and outwardly while their horizons become gradually enlightened. To the extent of their sincerity and purity of intention, they begin to present an example of straightforwardness in acting, with the mechanism of their consciousness becoming gradually radiant. With belief developing into conviction, and conviction deepening with increasing knowledge of God, and knowledge of God being transformed into love, and love growing into burning passion, and passion ending in constant wonder, a human being, who has been created of dust, of wet clay, becomes the focus of attention for the inhabitants of the heavens. Those dwelling in the pure realm of the Divine dominion regard it an honor to follow the example of such humans. Whoever turns to them for guidance is guided to the truth, and whoever holds fast to them has grasped a strong rope.

This “greatest copy and pattern of creation”, who has become a source of radiance in the inner depth of his or her self, turns into a center of Divine gifts and a storeroom of favors, becomes a blessed one who offers everyone the water of life. Each of the different mansions which such a traveler passes through during the journey upward is called a “state,” and the relatively stable point to which his or her abilities develop, and which we may describe as the “arch of perfections” of a traveler, is called a “station.” “The gifts and radiance of everyone is in proportion to his or her capacity.”

Every traveler to the Ultimate Truth ends the journey at a certain peak and observes all the worlds, materially and spiritually, from this summit or pinnacle. The final point which every traveler reaches according to his or her capacity is the peak particular to that individual, and therefore each peak is of a relative height. The highest, the only real peak, which separates the mortal from the Eternal or the contingent from the absolutely necessary, which is mentioned in the Qur’an as “or even nearer” in the statement the distance between the strings of two bows (adjacent to or facing each other), or even nearer (53:9), which describes the nearness of God’s Messenger to God, is the one belonging to the master of creation, upon him be the most perfect of blessings. All other heights are defined, in comparison with one another, with such expressions as “lower” or higher” or “greater” or “less” and belong to the godly and those near-stationed to God are relative and in proportion to the capacity-capital of everyone and the Divine gifts with which they are favored.

When the initiates step on their individual horizon of perfection and make their heart into a polished mirror to the sacred Divine gifts, that heart becomes familiar with the Divine look and the breezes of Divine inspiration, and they begin to feel and view creation differently, according to the individual’s level. They burn with the excitement of demonstrating to others what each sees and feels.

Those initiates always think of Him and mention Him as “The One ever-worshipped is He—God”, breathing the truth of “The One ever-sought is He—God”, pondering their inner world and the outer world, respiring with “The One ever-known is He—God” and relating everything to the truth of the Divine Being or Essence around the axis of Names and Attributes, developing their belief, first based on acceptance without seeing what is believed in, into a conviction based on a seeing by the heart, supported by a state of spiritual pleasures. They experience verbal and physical devotion with such delight that it is as if they have entered Paradise and been favored with a vision of God. Haqani [3] says:

What behooves an initiate is to proclaim: We worship but God alone.

They hold back from everything which they think is not approvable in His sight, and think of Him only. They reflect deeply on a profound understanding of the fields that He allows.

Initiates who have come to the end of their journey think only of Him, consider Him, know and concentrate on Him with the title of “He.” They consider and concentrate on Him because of Him and because they must do so, and they consider all else than Him—whether relating to this world or the next—only in accordance with and in proportion to His permission. For one who has focused on Him only and considers all else save Him because of Him, the only thing to be sought and desired is He and His good pleasure. Let us listen to Rumi once more:

O you who are seeking the world; you are like a day laborer in this world; and you, lover of Paradise, are also far distant from truth.
O you, who are unaware of the truth and pleased with the two worlds,
You are excused, for you have not felt
the pleasure of suffering for the Beloved’s sake.

In short, initiates who have determined their goal well and who are aware of the horizon where they are, leave both their bodies and souls, with which others are most concerned, on the bench where corpses are washed for burial, and scatter all their capital of being before the door of their heart. Freed from all concerns of everything save Him that may keep them from their way, they turn to their heart and try to understand its voice. They put their eyes and ears under the command of their insight, they plunge into the pure world of metaphysical considerations. It sometimes occurs that they can transcend space in one attempt, and make their voices heard by the inhabitants of heavens in another.

This point, where the heart turns completely to the invisible speaker in it, is like a launch pad from which initiates can rise to the door of eternity in one leap. A step forward, with their head and feet having met at the same point, the heroes of ascension (to God) and descent (to return to being amidst the people) become like a ring. In such state, where the “bird of petition” should be sent to God, lips and voice fall silent, and only the warm sounds of the heart are heard. The head bends itself down to lean ever increasingly on the heart, and whispers to itself: Worship your Lord until certainty, which is bound to come, comes to you (15:99).

O God! I ask You for Your love and the love for him who loves You, and for the deeds which will cause me to get near to love of You. O God, bestow blessings and peace on Your beloved one and the Messenger, the pure, chosen one, and on his Family and Companions, esteemed, appreciative and faithful.

Notes

1. Ruhi of Baghdad (d. 1605) was one of the important figures in the Ottoman-Turkish classical literature, who usually wrote about moral issues. (Tr.)
2. Mehmed Niyazi Misri (d. 1694) was a Sufi poet who was born in Malatya (Turkey), educated in Egypt and lived in Istanbul and Edirne. (Tr.)
3. Haqani Mehmet Bey (d., 1606) was an Ottoman Turkish poet. He spent his whole life in Hilya (“The Portrait”) and Miftah-i Futuhat (“The Key to Conquests”) are his well-known works. (Tr.)

O the Most Merciful of the Merciful!

You are the One who spreads these vast universes like a book before each of us. You are the One who makes our consciences sense their secrets, and again it is You who makes our consciences a shore to the realm where the otherworldly mysteries rise in waves! We are nothing but servants at Your door. The sparkles that reflect onto our spirits are nothing but the light of Your existence. All that we have in our possession are Your blessings and gifts. I am announcing one more time, with the admission that we are servants to Your door who do not accept emancipation: we want to renew our solemn oath.

For centuries in this old world – whose hair long ago turned gray (a sign of death) and in whose body illnesses have long since made a home – how many generations have opened their eyes to a night that never ends, a night that is the longest of the year. How many times have our necks fell down and our eyes filled with tears at the sight of these generations with their hunched statures, locks of hair in disarray, twisted necks, scowling faces? We have always carried in our bosoms Jacob’s tears together with Zeliha’s love and longing for Joseph, as we have waited for the time when he would be released from prison to come for help. Generations live as if their brains were dried out and their hearts were fed to their stomachs; they could not see anyone around them who would understand their state of being. For, those who ran to them to supposedly ease their pain were really only coming for their own gluttonous desires.

In this longest night of the year, some just saw darkness, their thoughts were pitch-dark; and eventually they were defeated and eliminated by the night. Others ignored the voices they must have listened to and the scenery that they must have seen; instead, they spent their lives among the thorns choosing to listen to the raucous voices of magpies.

The night is, in fact, such a wondrous and mysterious conservatory of time that it is when those who are hurt compose and voice their pains deep from their hearts. Yet, many others were unable to hear its mysterious sound or understand what was happening around them under the cover of night. Actually, nothing else could be expected from their faithless looks, dead intentions, crooked thoughts, and twisted opinions.

As far as we are concerned, we have been lighthearted and worry-free for too long. We have been laughing at our lamentable state and have forgotten to cry throughout history. All we have wished for was to bring an end to our several centuries of lightheartedness and to invite people to cry together so that we could perhaps start composing a musical score of life in the depths of the night. For us, the night is a climate where thousands of beautiful things are scattered in the face of nature by the hands of light, existence, life, and power, and are germinated like seeds in its bosom.

Our wish was to cry for our ignorance. To cry for our unawareness of the things we have lost. To cry for our state of being, which has become like a statue of shortcomings, for our feelings, which have become atrophied, and for our hearts, which have become coarse. To cry for fear of dying in this state and of being resurrected in this state. To cry that in that big trial in the Hereafter we may stand with collars and shackles around us, and that we may not find a place among the glorious ones of the past and the fortunate ones of the future who will pass by in groups in that great parade. To cry for our loneliness like a fruit that has fallen off a tree; for being trampled upon; and for being deprived of mercy. Our wish was to flap our wings and fly as high up as we could like doves and give out such a sigh at the highest point in the sky so that our tears would turn into clouds, and thus into drops of rain that would extinguish our fires. Our wish was to put out the fires of hostility and hatred, and the fires of this world and the next.

O, the Sultan of hearts, the remembrance and contemplation of whom gives peace to our spirits! O, the Exalted Creator, the Most Beautiful of the Beautiful, who brings us into existence and makes our hearts feel the eternal pleasure of existing!

We are in this night – a night with humming waters all around, occasional radiant lamps, and dreams that come scattered in its bosoms with seeds of faith, determination, hope, and beauty, dreams that come over and over to envelop our spirits; a night which gathers all of the elements of poetry and art to become an unforgettable memory. In this realm of secrets where the colors of the sky, the sounds of water, and the humming of birds flow and fill spirits, as life and existence become more paradoxical and profound, we strove to convey what You taught us and instilled into our souls, and then unto those whose hearts are like ours; perished and wrecked. We have sometimes explored things and events; at other times we have looked into our souls so as to discern out of all of these happenings the windows that show Your existence and the pathways that will elevate us to Your presence.

When setting out on this path, we set the eyes of our hearts to a golden slice of time to come, in which human values would have prospered and deepened, feelings have become entirely otherworldly, the body has started sampling the same values with the spirit; a time of marvels which would be formed by pieces of the “lost paradise”; marvels so delicate that they would have surpassed our imaginations, the paradise we have sought for a long time in our world of feelings. As we watched this slice of time in our soul, we also felt its inspirations would come our way again and again and flow into our fantasies and dreams. In our imaginations, those fortunate people of the future would pursue their lives in the most enchanted atmosphere of spiritual pleasures and delights thanks to their immense faith, genuine reliance on God (tawakkul), and sincere submission. We imagined them to be sole possessors of this vast pleasure and delight, their hearts always beating with goodness and beauty, their eyes opening and closing with tolerance and leniency, they would live and sense the world just like heaven, and almost always they would hear from all souls – and in fact from all the creation – the most colorful poetry. We shared their utmost joy at the high ebb of our hopes, and we poured out smiles on the good fortune of this generation to come.

In the youthful and heavenly bright blue days of this new spring rising in our world of hope, expectations, and faith, life would pour unto us so softly, so warmly, and so colorfully that it would be as if we always heard heaven’s unimaginable depths in them. We would embrace all of existence, greet all living things with compassion, hug all people with affection, and say to ourselves, “This must be the Creator’s purpose for creating the realms!” In that world, there would be no coarseness, roughness, worldly ambition, vain hopes, arguing, contention, treachery, lying, wrongdoing, oppression, corruption, or embezzlement. In that world there would be altruism, refinement, determination for revival, love of life, mildness, dialogue, respect for the truth, feelings of trust, the feeling of loyalty, the spirit of truth, and the idea of justice and stability. The people of this world would have excised true hostility, hatred, and conflict from their dictionaries and establish their lives upon love, softness, and human relations. They would accept people around them as they were, and instead of seeing different understandings, interpretations, and behaviors as grounds for fighting, they instead would recognize these differences as opportunities so they could display to others their broad horizon of thought and show them how it would be possible to live humanly in different variations. This rainbow world still fills our dreams.

Yes, while looking at our world of dreams from today’s soot-filled, rusty windows that are surrounded and full of every kind of coarseness, we can still sense that new life has been born again like the sun and that dawn has broken with beauty on all sides. We sense that flowers in red, pink, and yellow are swaying and casting their coquettish glances everywhere, that daises are dancing, and Judas trees are taking flame from the tulip. We still sense that the general mood and atmosphere are inspiring our hearts with the promise of happiness, and that a vast prosperity overflows in our souls with an eternal tone. We sense the emergence of a resurrection as joyous as filled with the bleats of sheep and lambs, the tweeting of birds, the sounds of trees and water, and the rustling of leaves. It is a resurrection that comes into being that is as sweet as the excitement of mothers rejoicing at the sight of their children, as magical and influential as in the faces of loved ones, as full, convincing, delicate, and refined like the excitement of mothers and the joy of children, enchanting and effective as in the hearts of lovers.

Our Lord! We were on a lofty journey that gave hearts seeking divine knowledge the possibility of rising to heavenly realms to the best of their capacity. This journey was made possible after the Chosen One’s heavenly ascension, which is portrayed in Your word and the map of which was drawn to the finest detail. We ask for Your forgiveness and attribute it to our immature spirits that do not know good manners and rules of conduct if on this journey we were too bold as to touch the knob of Your doors of secrets. While wishing to inform needy hearts of that happy day when we will meet You and Your Exaltedness without veils or obstacles, it is probable that we did not remain tied to high truths described in the purest and clearest expressions. While trying to explain certain truths to some immature spirits who could not go past the shell of this life into the reality of this world, and whose hearts had been caught up by its feigned beauties, perhaps we undermined the sacred walls of the metaphysical and instead glorified the physical. Perhaps we are guilty of not presenting the most open truths in their purest essence and instead served our desires and wishes. 

If we are at fault, we did so while coming to You and while trying to show others the way. If we made a mistake, we did it on Your path. A mistake is always a mistake, and a fault is always a fault. With broken hearts, humbled spirits, and chains around our necks, we wait with a thousand souls for the judgment You will give. While saying this, we know that Your mercy, which is infinite, has always come before Your wrath. It is certain that fault does not befit Your door’s servant who are aware of Your blessings, but please allow us to say that forgiveness befits You very much!

Yes, my Sultan! “The royalty befits a Sultan and servitude befits a slave.” In this respect, we beg from You once again: Give tears to our eyes and make us cry! In order for You to be merciful, make us cry for not feeling longing because of our distance from You! Make us cry for our hearts which do not rupture with the pain of separation and longing for reunion. Make us cry so the fire of separation will sear our bosoms and let out from therein a scream which will cause a clamor from the angels and the celestial sphere. Have compassion upon our darkened spirits and make them cry! Make us cry, for even our cries require a cry for themselves! Have mercy on my broken stature, locks in disarray, faint color, twisted neck, and broken heart, and make me cry! At this calmest moment in the minutes when You answer prayers, I turn to You with my head that does not prostrate before anyone other than You. With shaking lips, I beg You not to make us miserable in these deserts and to turn this wilderness into a rose garden with our tears.

My Lord! Give softness to our hearts not in regard to our remoteness from You, but in respect to Your closeness, and make us cry so much that we lose ourselves, pass from shame and dignity on Your path until other people call us “mad.”