Being human is being “of Adam.” In terms of the Universal Spirit (al-ruh al-kull), “being of Adam” is a kernel from the truth of the Praised One, Ahmad (meant to bear fruit as the perfected human). In terms of the realm of Divine Might and Majesty (al-alam al-jabarut), being of Adam is a blessed effulgent seed, germination, and bloom. In terms of the visible realm and corporeal existence, it refers to the father of humanity, to the distilled servant of God. On account of this blessed bond, people are alternatively referred to as “Children of Adam.”

The word “Adam” marks a beginning and origin for comprehensive truths; the essence of which we believe should be referred to Divine knowledge and wisdom, so we would rather go into the conditions of “being of Adam” in relation to the minimal capacity of human willpower and inclinations that exist as basic conditions. Having the inner human endowments and inclinations—that can be directed to good or evil—and being apt to fluctuate between the “highest of the high” and “lowest of the low,” and sometimes displaying behaviors admirable to angels and sometimes committing atrocities repulsive to devils, the human is a multi-dimensional being with a unique anatomy among beings of the earth and heavens. Human beings sometimes journey in the shade of the blessed light God created firstly—and in that of Adam, the distilled one regarded as a blessed seed of that great truth—and thus reveal a nobleness to be compared with angels. Sometimes they abandon themselves to conditions to be derided by devils with impulses of their nature which are prone to error and oblivion and which is a potential whirlpool of different negativities.

Sometimes they are admirable with a true attitude of Adam; and sometimes “being of Adam” solely remains in superficial form and they assume a completely different state. While they can be a companion to celestial beings in an atmosphere of consciousness of, and love for, God on the one hand, they might stagger to be dominated by fancies of their carnal soul and become no different than a devil on the other. Sometimes they reject worldliness and all it offers and make an envious leap to adopt the state of those in the loftiest circle, transcend themselves and reach the horizons of the pioneers and thus become one of the children of Adam closest to God, and there comes a time when they fall headlong into the trail of the lowest of the low…

The Prophets are also fruits of the “tree of Adam” with their innocence and being under absolute Divine protection against misguidance. Thanks to their endowments in alignment with their missions and being blessed with special graces, their sights and insights were always oriented to the Sun of suns with their shadows falling behind them. They walked to their eternal sanctuary without the slightest lapse. With reference to this quality of theirs they were mentioned as being truly Adamic and “of Prophet Adam”; they presented a fabulous “spiritual texture” with respect to their distinguished origin as blessed fruits of “the first Intellect” or the “first blessed light.”

Those distinguished and lofty personages who followed a dazzling course on the Prophetic path of Adam and who effected transcendental rhythms in hearts were firstly followed by their perfectly loyal companions, and then by heroes blessed with extra graces and attained closeness to God behind them. Afterwards, saintly servants followed them, who had oriented themselves to that illustrious circle. Only God knows their true number and nature, and what falls to us is to be reverent towards those known to us.

Thirsty for having insight into, and savoring everything with their actual nature, these paragons of Adamic humanity are always in pursuit of Divine breezes and are distinguished with letting hearts feel and love God. Their nights are permeated with yearning for, and dreams of, reunion with God. Every attitude and behavior of theirs is like a polished mirror that reflects the Divine. Their tongues are dominated by their hearts, and constantly keep spelling the Eternal Beloved. Their hearts shake like a leaf with a concern against leading those behind to deviation. They see the fact that they gain forgiveness to be closely related to being among their road companions. They see reaching beyond in the furthest sense as conditional to serving their adherents with utter self-effacement and humility. In response to waves of extra graces and inspirational blessings, they always keep serious with concerns of the deceptive lull before Divine retribution (istidraj). Their heads are held humbly down while waiting at God’s door, with a constant excitement in the most profound sense to make their hearts nearly stop, they keep entreating Him as, “O Lord, please do not expel me from Your door, although I am deserving of that.”

Despite being blessed with faith vast like mountains, good deeds, deep recognition of and love for God, as well as exclusive spiritual delights, they view these blessings with shudders of caution, for they fear that they may be alluring elements of a lull before Divine retribution. Together with not failing to praise God in response to the greatest attainments and Divine gifts they were honored with, they just dismiss those at a half-glance and never overestimate them. Although hundreds of hearts remember God and become ecstatic upon seeing them, these souls turn a blind eye to all of such interest on them and think about the so-called “errors” within the horizons of those closest to God and say,

If the All-Merciful One weighs my sins as they are,
the scales of the Judgment Day will break under them, I fear!

and they are troubled with this concern. When they receive appreciation from those around them, they dismiss it as the latter’s positive assumptions, and respond as,

May God not let you face disappointment because of me!
May He bless me with clinging to the Prophetic Tradition with both hands!

Thus, they dispelled the thought and always continued their lives as humbly bent before God.

As those on top always walked on Adam’s path of Prophethood, those behind ceaselessly followed them as doves of “annihilation in God” (fanafillah) and “permanence with God” (baqabillah). They walked on in complete humility towards their eternal sanctuary. They lowered their own voices before the pioneers; to those who gently walked from formality to spirituality in their footsteps and who displayed ability to walk, they sounded off the most moving melodies, whose lyrics belong to the pioneers; and they enchanted those who turned towards them. They saluted the sublimity of the destination with purity of heart, with an ambition and perseverance to breathe the same things with those over the top, they said in the highest pitch what needed to be said; by showing a performance to share the inspirations and graces granted to the pioneers with phrases of contemplation, deliberation, and reflection, they constantly walked towards being human in the Adamic sense. They walked on and while they outwardly appeared to be among us, they were in a constant endeavor to keep upon the path of those in the loftiest circle.

The examples and mission of the eminent Prophets were effulgent manifestations of the true likeness of Adam. This manifestation took the form of a brilliant moon in the Last Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). As for his companions who excelled in loyalty, they would become the center of attention thanks to the quality and profundity of being in that lofty circle. Although there were occasional eclipses in those who came after them, there was no issue as a never-ending eclipse. And thanks to the ampleness of Divine Mercy, there will be no such thing until the end of the world. And then the gates of wisdom will be closed for good, whereas gates of Divine Power and providence will open wide. Those who lead their life in the course of Adamic humanity will be blessed with rewards incomparably greater than the transient things they had lost, so much so that they will never regret for this loss.

As for those solely Adamic in the animal sense or outward form, despite their being fruits of the same seed, they underwent a hard-to-repair deformation under dominance of the carnal soul. They appear to be human in terms of their physical anatomy and form, and they have a mechanism of conscience and systems of the heart, spirit, and sir (secret inner faculty), they opt for a lifestyle much below the course of “the best of stature” they are supposed to follow with an utter disregard for their spiritual anatomy. Since they experience concentric deformations within their spiritual worlds, they drift with currents of character corruption, darken their Adamic humanity, and fall below the course of true humanity and thus virtually turn into animals in a spiritual sense. They fail to realize the purpose of creation and the requirements of being blessed with the best pattern of creation, which is emphasized in the Divine decree, “I have not created human and jinn but to worship Me” (Dhariyat 51:56). Running after their fancies, they were caught in Satan’s hook; although they retained their outer human form, they ruined their spiritual anatomy, knowingly preferring the material world over the realms beyond. And in spite of so many favorable dynamics of success, they went through the disgrace of having successions of disappointment. Moreover, as most of them fell to the level of beings which spend their lives by eating, drinking, and ruminating, they rather presented a mood as described in the Divine verse, “They are like cattle, or even more astray (A’raf 7:179).

Ignorant ones with diplomas who failed to crown knowledge with good deeds, good deeds with recognition of God, that with love for God, and that with a yearning for reunion with God, rather drifted to the lowest of the low, with an attitude of sheer ignorance as expressed in, “like donkeys burdened with books” (Jumu’ah 62:5) while they were supposed to target the highest levels of perfection. As for others who suffered from a different deformation, who kiss others’ feet when they are weak and who become tyrants when they come to power and keep biting those they apprehend as opponents by considering that “might is right,” the immaculate statements of the Qur’an portray them as dogs panting with their tongues lolling out whether you chase it away or leave it (A’râf, 7/176). They are mentioned as some separate category of unfortunate ones who are not aware of the blessing of being a mirror to the Eternally-Besought-of-All.

Different examples by both Divine verses, and sayings of the noble Prophet, mention such deformed types, and it is possible to see so many such people everywhere today. Because when people deviate from the course of faith, belief, sincerity, perfect goodness, loyalty, uprightness, and become oblivious of recognition of God (marifa), love for God (muhabba), and intense yearning for reunion with Him (liqa’ullah), it becomes inevitable for their spiritual world to be contaminated, their heart to die, and the person’s coming under the dominance of the carnal soul and Satan.

The manifold ignorant ones of our era, who do not know the Divine, do not recognize the Prophets, who interpret religion as they fancy, who do not know what needs to be known as it requires, who do not even know their state of not knowing but consider themselves to be insightful and enlightened, harmed real religious thought even more than pharaohs did. And if they also drifted with masses devoid of consciousness under the guise of religious arguments, then such a destruction even goes beyond the destruction of Antichrist. It appears that such ones are not likely at all to cease their humanity in the animal sense and adopt humanity in the real sense, the saintly sense they are supposed to be.

O God guide us to the Straight Path, to the path of those whom You favored,
from the Prophets, truthful ones, martyrs, and the righteous.
And peace be upon the noble Prophet, his family, Companions, all of those pure ones.

Self-concealment means that the perfected servants of God who attribute to God whatever good or virtues that they may have, try to be known as ordinary people by constantly keeping secret the special blessings and extraordinary attainments with which the Eternally All-Generous favors them, as well as the blessed times when they come. But such an attitude is by no means false pretense or deception. It is usually felt during the tides between seeing everything annihilated in God and distinguishing the Existence of the Truly Existent One and the relative existence of others. Those who are seeking self-concealment are in constant pursuit of sincerity and frequently question themselves to ensure that they are really preserving their devotion and loyalty to God. They do their best to keep God’s special favors to them that come in different forms as sacred secrets between themselves and their Bestower, out of respect for Him, and they consider whatever comes from Him as a secret gift. Whatever good or blessing has been attributed to them, they always draw attention back to the Almighty and, if there is not anything to make them absolutely obliged to display their blessings, they will always try to find ways to conceal them, as in the allusions of Prophet Abraham, who said, I am sick (37:89) when he was invited to the religious festival of his people, and, Rather, (some doer) must have done it—that is their biggest (21:63), when he was asked whether he had smashed the idols [1]. They shy away from becoming a person who is sought after in the same way as others shy away from snakes and other vermin.

Perfected persons of self-concealment are extremely careful not to display any inward riches and spiritual profundity. Even if they should sometimes feel they are really profound in spirituality, they try to persuade themselves of their essential insignificance. However, in trying to impress on others that they do not have any extraordinary virtues, they avoid causing Islam to be criticized for being a religion that brings dishonor and ignominy to its followers. Without saying or doing anything to suggest that they have been specially favored by God, they are always deeply devoted and loyal to Him. They regard attributing to themselves whatever good or spiritual attainment that others may discern in them as usurpation. Even if at times they are in the center of the Divine favors, they always act with good manners and modesty, saying to themselves: “You are neither the source nor the owner of these favors. These gifts which sometimes appear to you and then disappear can in no wise belong to you. As you can clearly see that it is not you who has brought them about, nor is it you who takes them away, you must see that you cannot own them. Your position with respect to them is that you are essentially a dark mirror; therefore you must attribute these gifts to the Eternally All-Generous and draw attention to Him.” When Divine gifts and favors do not come in abundance, they think: “You must conceal the Divine secrets and His treatment of you. You must be able to do so in order that His transactions with you may continue, and so that these gifts, which are beyond your capacity, may not lead you to gradually perish because you think that you own them.” Such people are quite ordinary among people; they are extremely careful to keep their inner world pure and they are very sincere in their exclusive devotion to God and attributing to Him whatever virtue they have.

Heroes of self-concealment follow a secure way to verification and always pursue God’s approval and good pleasure. They never think of others’ approval or appreciation and they expect nothing from others. They try to make their feelings and devotion deeper and to rise higher and higher without stopping; they are in a state of continuous self-supervision. They always control themselves so that they can be with God even while mixing with other people. They try to direct others to the way of the light, which is the way of knowledge and love of God and a source of spiritual pleasures, although those pleasures should not be sought. They show the way to Paradise to those who linger at the crossroads between Paradise and Hell, and they try to inculcate lofty ideals in the hearts of those who are living aimlessly. They can establish good relations with all, be they from any segment of society, without any difficulty or ceremony.

Heroes of self-concealment are always in self-negation and self-denial and try to attract the attention to the Almighty in everything they do. But some scholars, like Harawi [2] and Ibn Qayyim [3], went to extremes in evaluating this virtue; the former asserted that it is the Almighty, not the servant, Who conceals His servant from others, while the latter denied this state altogether. For this reason, I would like to remind the reader once more that self-concealment denotes that travelers to the Ultimate Truth, who have attained spiritual purity by carefully performing their obligatory religious duties, have become deeper in their attachment to supererogatory acts of worship in order to be favored with God’s company and have become polished mirrors reflecting His manifestations of Majesty and Grace. The All- Generous becomes the eyes and ears of His servants who have reached this point; they see and hear with Him, and He never leaves them to suffer loneliness and helplessness without anyone to claim them. By means of the criteria which He inspires in them so that they view life, things and events appropriately, He causes them to reach the best results in both this world and the Hereafter. He causes them to see things that others cannot see and to hear things that others cannot hear, and he employs them to carry out His will in the human realm and to convey to people the things which He is pleased with and the things He wills others to do.

The Qur’anic statements, When you threw, it was not you who threw, but God threw (8:17), and Those who swear allegiance to you (O Muhammad), swear allegiance only to God. God’s Hand (of aid) is over their hands (48:10), refer to this point, in that those who have reached this rank are absolutely convinced of Divine Unity, but sometimes they see everything annihilated in God and sometimes they are able to distinguish the absolute (Divine) Existence and the relative existence (of other beings) from each other. Although the rank indicated by the verses belongs primarily to the Prophets, who are the purest of all and incomparably superior in self-concealment, as in all other virtues, other heroes of self-concealment have a share in it. However, the self-concealment experienced by travelers on the way to God is concerned with the Divine Attributes, not the Divine Being, and the unchangeable rules of the Shari‘a determine its limits and nature. The throwing and hitting, seeing and speaking, and exalting by participating in allegiance, which are mentioned in the verses just cited, signify that the Ultimate Truth manifests His Attributes of Majesty and Perfection, not His Divine Being, on the chosen, matchless being, upon him be peace and blessings.

This consideration is expressed in the following words of Jalalu’d-Din Rumi, although they also suggest to some extent annihilation in God and subsistence by Him:

Noah said: O people leading rebellion to God, I am not myself;
I am dead with respect to my soul, but alive to the Beloved.
I died and was annihilated with respect to some senses of Adam, the father of humanity,
And the Ultimate Truth has become (a means of) hearing, seeing and perceiving for me.

From the very beginning, the people of truth have stressed that existence arises from self-annihilation and that the assertion of self-existence ends in annihilation. The best and most appropriate approach in this respect is that travelers to the Ultimate Truth annihilate themselves with respect to their carnal souls and ego and that they find a new life in spirit and 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 (Munificent) Bestower. And bestow blessings and peace on our master Muhammad and on his Family and Companions to the fullness of the earth and heavens.

Notes

1. “Rather, (some doer) must have done it—that is their biggest,” in a manner to cause the people to understand that the biggest one had done it, although he did not say so. (Tr.)
2. Abu Ismail ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Harawi (1005–1089) was born in Herat in Afghanistan. He was a Hanbali devoted to the Qur’an and Sunna. He was also well-versed in Sufism. Kitabu Manazili’s-Sairin is his most well-known work on Sufism. (Tr.)
3. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziya Shamsu’d-Din ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr (1292–1350) is the most famous pupil of Ibn Taymiya (1292–1350), one of Islam’s strictest religious scholars. He lived in Damascus. He followed the Hanbali School in Islam. Kitabu Fawaidi’l-Musawwiqa ila ‘Ulumi’l-Qur’an wa ‘Ilmi’l-Bayan is among his well-known books. (Tr.)

(Circle3: On the touchy implorations by Imam Zeynel Abidin, continued)

Together with all of the fears and worries that this saintly person voices at his entreaties, he does not neglect to petition God with reference to divine beneficence and his heart changes rhythm with the excitement of hope. By behaving in this way, he presents an attitude that calls to mind the act of straightening up after bowing to God. For those who continue to struggle spiritually, he thus points to the ampleness of Divine Mercy with reference to the fact that “God’s mercy takes precedence over His wrath” [1]. One cannot help but remember the following words of a poet at this point:

“What would happen even if my sins were like the mount Qaf, O Majestic One,
Compared to Your sea of Mercy, it is surely a little thing”

He acts in accordance with this poetic idiom and spits in the face of sins and faults by imploring, “Please hold my hand to guidance, O God!” He places his head down on the doorstep of hope and petitions God once more by saying, “Mercy, mercy!” then he enters a mood as if he were sipping fresh oxygen and sighs on. Here are a few droplets from those breaths:

“O the One who responds with mercy as soon as His servants turn to Him, who never leaves their hopes unanswered, who saves them from the grief of falling apart from Him with the extra ways and disciplines that make them closer to Him, who covers up the defects of those polluted with sins and vices! O my most exalted Lord! As you never turned down those who turned to your door with hope and placed their head on Your doorstep empty handed, do not abandon this humble servant of Yours to despair either!”

With these cries, he makes petitions with a tone of fear and hope and thus gives the successors of his path signals for turning to that door with the feeling of hope. With a call to prayer, he lets the vastness of Divine Mercy be heard, even by unfortunate ones who have lost their sense of prayer direction. He calls to them to share his experiences and to hopefully inspire them to find their way. By presenting them with the most vivid messages woven out of hope and fear, he shows the ways towards a fresh revival with lyrics of resurrection after death; afterwards, like the archangel’s breath to initiate the resurrection, he blows life into them and turns them to the direction of the Divine they lost.

There are so many points I omitted from this profound session. With apologies to him and to readers, I would like to conclude with these diamond-like considerations. With other imploring groans special to his spiritual anatomy with heavenly riches, I would like to refer to some other life-giving points that sound like angelic melodies which he makes while his tears stream on. His tongue is guided by the heart, his thoughts beyond metaphysical realms, his sir (secret faculty) in citadels beyond and beyond, surpassing our comprehension. Here are a few droplets around the same theme as examples of those considerations, which deserve to be called a “legend of spirituality”:

“My God! Though I am without provisions, my reliance and submission to You is complete. In spite of this, when I think that my transgressions are boundless, I shake and fear from being subjected to Your punishment. On the other hand, when the ampleness of Your mercy comes to my view, my heart overflows with a feeling of optimism. So, when I am in that mood, although my sins make me groan with fear about perdition, my hope about Your pardoning gives signals of possible forgiveness to my soul.” What a balanced approach, which is found in those closest to God! What a profound blend of hope and fear! He continues to say, “Even though I came to Your sublime presence empty-handed, the consideration of the ampleness of Your bountifulness reinvigorates this servant of Yours and my eyes start shining brightly with Your beneficence’s promise of benisons. So much so that at the same moment when I am brimful with transgressions, my heart begins to experience changes of rhythm one after the other, with extra surprises of Your pardoning and breezes of proximity. Here I am at Your presence, O God! I let myself to the waterfalls of Your mercy and get away from myself as far as I can and turn to You with the entirety of my being!”

With a feeling of fear and insight of expectancy, he has an attitude of admitting failure to give his position its due. Then this great personage from those closest to God changes his orbit of prayer; virtually, with the idea that “worship is a result of blessings already enjoyed,” he once more takes into consideration the shower of Divine blessings that he has already received and begins to resonate with thankfulness by touching his face onto the doorstep of gratitude. He responds to God’s blessings beyond count and measure with thankful praises by giving his tongue and lips under the command of his spiritual intellect:

“My God! I do not know what to say before your immense blessings that come showering on the horizons of my perception consecutively. Before the Divine favors out of Your grace and generosity I remain spellbound and lost for words. When I consider Your very special blessings that come flowing like waterfalls and much beyond my deserts under the light of “Were you to attempt to count God’s blessings, you could not reckon them” (Ibrahim 14:34). Helpless to say anything, I double over with this feeling. Before those special bestowals of Yours, I feel manifold humility of indebtedness: My revival to life in the real sense with faith. Turning to Your door via Islam, with the honor and sense of duty of being sworn to worship only You, my head is down on the doorstep of munificence and grace, my hand on the knob of beneficence and bestowals, upon which I say “all of these are from You” and feel revitalized with thankfulness. Actually, even this feeling of thankfulness is from You. Whenever I offer thanks to You, given that thankfulness is another blessing of Yours – with such a virtuous cycle of thankfulness, I will never be able to offer due praise and thanks to You.”

If only we could continue our lives always on this course with awareness of these bestowals! Although we are not capable of thorough comprehension, I wish we could take what He has given as a sign of what He will give and thus take up the path to eternal bliss. It is especially important to remember this considering that this world is often compared to a carcass, without letting our hearts fall for this transient world. If only we could turn our backs to worldly status, fame, glory, wealth, corporeal desires, and thus always walk to the sun of suns without faltering. Alas! We fell for the attractions of this transitory world! With delusions of immortality, we were entangled with long-term worldly ambitions and suffered such losses on what could otherwise be a suitable ground for winning. Bediuzzaman put it so beautifully: “Alas! We have been deceived. We thought that this worldly life is constant, and thus utterly wasted everything. Indeed, this passing life is but a sleep that passed like a dream. This life, having no foundation, flows away like a brook.”

It is such a bitter fact that we fell for this deception, and at the expense of losing eternity. We were captivated by the passing attractions of these faithless desires and thus totally condemned the eternal realms to oblivion and thus darkened our futures. So much so that we were neither properly give the due of Divine bestowals and benisons nor were we able to comprehend them. To put this in the breaths of Ziya Pasha:

“We are the losers of this game once again;
For the loss is obvious, but I don’t know if we won anything at all.”

Actually, it was not possible for us to win. Because we led a carefree life as if we would never die and rendered this world—an arable field for the Afterlife—into a wasteland. By destroying the bridges extending to eternity on our course in the world one by one, we ceased the thoughts of the realms beyond and belief. We did not manage to come to our senses to see our miserable condition and turn to God.

Note

1. Bukhari, Tawhid 22; Muslim, Tawba 15.

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In the language of Sufism, tahqiq (verification) means that not only does an initiate who has almost come to the final step of the journey know the Unique, Eternally Besought One with His Existence and Perfect Attributes in accordance with the Qur’anic presentation of Him, but also that the truth of Divinity is felt beyond all concepts of modality and His special manifestations in the individual’s consciousness and other spiritual faculties. Those who have found the truth and reached this level continue their journey in the horizon of journeying in God or journeying from God, according to their capacity, without suffering doubts or hesitations any more. They are no longer exposed to any feelings of being eclipsed by God’s permission, for they see by God’s Seeing, hear by His Hearing, and feel everything in the light of His Attributes. In other words, such heroes of verification are always on the way to God and live for His sake and feel His constant company. This is a rank which is regarded as the rank of being loved by God and implies a special favor of the All-Beloved. One who has attained this rank is loved by the Almighty and, as a reflection of this love, by the inhabitants of heaven and by people with sincere hearts on the earth. The visible sign of this invisible Divine love is attachment to the performance of supererogatory acts of worship in addition to faultless performance of the obligatory acts.

Lovers of truth who perform the obligatory acts of worship perfectly and punctually, later making up those which they were not able to perform at the correct time with a serious, sincere feeling of remorse, and who feel great, heartfelt concern for the supererogatory acts, always feel the Ultimate Truth, always “see” Him, walk toward Him, and uphold truth in life. It is inconceivable that anything else save Him can find a way into such persons’ hearts and anything or anyone that is lovable from the heart can catch their eyes. Even if sometimes a mist may appear on their horizon, it comes and goes like the mists of spring, indicating new expansions of spirit. Such people always advance, whether they are in distress or whether they are rejoicing.

Ismail Haqqi Bursawi depicts such heroes of verification as follows:

The people of truth have clearly found in their souls,
that the Light of the Ultimate Truth is extremely near to the creation.
The Ultimate Truth declared: He hears by Me and sees by Me, for one that was created from water and dust has found His Light.
If that one of water and dust had not found that Pure Light,
the form of the meaning would not have been manifested so clearly.
Those people of the heart who have found the Light
belonging to neither east nor west
have become the lamp of this Light.
The people of truth have found Unity in multiplicity,
they are safe and secure, and in prosperity.
O Haqqi, submit to the Ultimate Truth and commit your affairs to Him,
then you can find the One Who does whatever He wills,
how excellent a Helper He is.

From another perspective, verification denotes that initiates deepen their belief with the knowledge of God and their knowledge of God with the love of Him, and pursues only God’s approval and good pleasure in all the stations that they call at according to the horizon of each station. This exalted truth is felt differently at each step of the spiritual journey. For the belief, knowledge, love and yearning of each traveler is in direct proportion with the individual’s certainty and gradations in belief, knowledge and love of God, and the spiritual pleasures are the results of gradations in verification. Belief based on theoretical knowledge, no matter how strong, cannot be, as stated in the saying, Hearing something is not like seeing it, like certainty based on the vision and spiritual discovery of the unseen object of belief and certainty with its signs. Such certainty cannot, likewise, be the same as a perfect conviction that has been deeply ingrained in the heart and become a part of human nature. Theoretical knowledge can only be “a capital of scant worth” (12:88) even though it is expected that Divine grace may come to its help on the way to verification. It is possible to bring certainty based on vision and spiritual discovery to fruition with the munificence of the All-Munificent One, despite such certainty being relative. As for perfect conviction, it is the pure fruit, even the juice, that the rays of His Existence have first annihilated and then given a new existence to with different characteristics. There is reference to the beginning of verification in Prophet Abraham’s appeal, “My Lord, show me how You will restore life to the dead,” and to its perfection in his expression of the reason why he made such an appeal, “So that my heart may be at rest” (2:260). We should point out here that it is not possible for us to understand either the certainty of this noble, great Messenger that came from his knowledge, or his certainty that came from his observations and seeing, or his certainty that came from his experience. We can only cite him as an example in order to offer a point of comparison and a perspective that will enable us to explain the subject matter. Our Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, stresses this fact by declaring, We are more liable to such a doubt than Abraham [1]; lest doubts appear in people’s hearts concerning the certainty of Abraham in particular, and the certainty of all the Prophets in general. Everyone has a relative horizon and final point of certainty particular to their individual capacity, and everyone needs rest and contentment according to their individual horizon. The smallest degree of certainty of a Prophet is much greater and stronger than the greatest degree of the most spiritually advanced of all other people.

The heroes of verification turn to and concentrate on the Divine Being alone with their belief, love, yearning, zeal, and spiritual pleasure. Accepting His approval and good pleasure as their sole aim, they never consider the blows of Majesty as a cause of suffering nor the breezes of Grace as a means of joy. In their view, whatever comes from Him, be it retribution or favor, is the same.

They consider all His treatment of them as a necessity of being on the way to Him and, without becoming entangled therein, regard everything apart from the true goal to which they have been dedicated, as a transient shadow, and are resolved to reach Him.

Heroes of verification bear all suffering, resist all carnal impulses and meticulously observe the religious orders and prohibitions. They rise without stopping toward heaven with “He” as their sole goal. They feel that they are welcomed with a new contentment at every turn and with a different manifestation of Divine approval at every station. They feel the following melodies echoing in their outer and inner senses:

A call has come to me from the Ultimate Truth:
“Come, O lover, you have intimacy with Us!
This is the station of intimacy;
I have found you a faithful one!”
(Nasimi)

This is truly such a rank that one who has reached it feels that his or her belief comes from Him, just as his or her knowledge, love and zeal also come from Him. What confirms these feelings is the impressive acknowledgment (2:32), All-Glorified are You, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us, and the sole truth felt in consciousness is, He is the All-Permanent, the Eternal, the Perpetual. Many diverse things catch the eyes and ears until they reach this rank. However, when the steps end here and the state is transformed into a station, human nature melts away voicing (40:16), All the commandment belongs to Him Who is the One, the All-Overwhelming, and the truth (55:27), There remains forever the “Face” of your Lord, the One of Majesty and Munificence, echoes from all sides. The human logic which has divided time into the past, the present and the future, becomes lost in the truth, You are the First, there is nothing preceding You; You are the Last, there is nothing to succeed You [2]. It even occurs that the consciousness makes the initiates’ relative existence sink into oblivion and allows them to feel deeply the meaning of “There was God without there being anything that existed with Him” [3]. They whisper, “Neither union nor incarnation is true; the true existence belongs to You only, and all else is a shadow of Your Light,” and feel honored by being attributed to Him. In their modesty, humility and feeling of nothingness, they taste in their spirit the virtues of being favored with being the best pattern of creation.

O God! I ask You for Your forgiveness, health, and Your approval, regard, breezes of favor, and friendship, and Your love and company! And bestow blessings and peace on our master Muhammad, Your servant and Messenger, and on his Companions who loved You and whom You made near to You.

Notes

1. al-Bukhari, “Tafsir Suratu’l-Baqara,” 2; Muslim, “Iman,” 238.
2. Muslim, “Dhikr,” 61; Abu Dawud, “Adab,” 98.
3. al-Bukhari, “Tawhid,” 1; Ibn Hanbal, al–Musnad, 4:431.

Question: “Those who are not preoccupied with elevated goals will be consumed by lowly troubles.” What needs to be understood from this statement?

Answer: If a person is to be burdened by troubles, they should be burdened with elevated or sublime problems.             One such trouble we should burden ourselves with is our nearness to God. Are we responding to the countless blessings God has bestowed upon us the way we should? Are we able to use the Prophetic teachings as guidelines for that proper response?

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi said:

“The Worship of God is not an act through which to demand a Divine reward in the future, but rather the necessary result of a past Divine favor.”

“Worship is not for future rewards; it is offered for blessings that have already been given.”

Essentially, everything is given to us as Divine favors. While this is a fact, would it not be disrespectful to God to claim we have deserved even more, for we think we have fulfilled everything? Some have even considered the usage of pronouns such as “I, you, we,” as overstepping our territory vis-à-vis God Almighty. Get rid of the self so that He, God Almighty, may manifest within your heart. Take yourself out of the equation. For even our existence is only a matter of contingency, whereas the existence of the One Who is the Ultimate Truth and Ever-Constant one is absolute. We are not more than the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of His Existence.

In this sense we have no right to claim anything since He has given, and gives, everything.

No matter how long we live, even if we were to live 950 years like Prophet Noah did, peace be upon him, our sole duty should still be servanthood to God.

Even if we lived as long as he did and spent the entirety of our years in servitude to God in full sincerity, we would still not be able to express full gratitude for the bounties bestowed upon us by God.

We should do our best to occupy ourselves with this concern.

This should be the goal of all people who have chosen the path of the Prophets, strive to deliver God’s message, and make Him known to all of humanity. Making the hearts of others beat with His love and with excitement should be the grand purpose of life.

If one does not assume such lofty goals, lowly troubles will consequently befall them and plague their minds. One becomes occupied with pursuits such as living in extravagant houses, getting the best job with the highest pay, driving the nicest cars, or other worldly pleasures. The heart becomes obsessed with these fleeting desires, causing the person to unknowingly walk down the path of Satan.

The following saying, while being slightly changed, belongs to the Muslim jurist Imam Shafi:

“If you do not occupy yourself with the truth, falsehood occupies you.”

May God protect us from this truth!

Satan has made it his mission to drive us astray from the path of God and to fill our minds with falsehoods so that the truth may escape our grasp. He has had a burning hatred and contempt towards humankind from the very beginning. The only way to stand upright against Satan is to stand in front of God in devoted servanthood, bowing down, prostrating, and spilling your heart out in front of Him. This is based upon having a strong connection with Him. A weak connection will not last in the face of such temptations         

Bediuzzaman said, “A lie is a word of unbelief.” Everyone that lies does not become an unbeliever, but from the perspective of a believer, it is a characteristic that is associated with denying the biggest truth, God’s existence. God’s Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, lists the three traits of a hypocrite. These and many more can be seen within an unbeliever:          

The first: he lies when he speaks.   

The second: he does not deliver on his promise.

And lastly: he betrays trust when entrusted with something.

Sometimes, a fourth attribute is mentioned:

“When he makes a promise, he wrongs you and breaches it.”          

The first trait is rooted in deceit; a hypocrite’s attribute is an unbeliever’s attribute. Lying is mentioned; however, slandering also falls into that category. It is even worse to have a slander that supports such a lie. This is because lying primarily concerns one’s self, whereas slandering questions others’ dignity and reputation. In order to save oneself from oppression, if people are defaming and ostracizing others, they need to know that this is wrong and it falls under the first category of lying, for what they are attributing to others is false.

There is always hope that repentance can allow us to turn back to God and be cleansed. Even major sins, such as these, can be removed with enough sincere repentance.

There are many steps that must be taken if one wishes to become closer to God, distance themselves from loving material goods, stay away from sin, and avoid spreading falsehoods.

Repentance (istighfar) comes first, as it is required to clean the slate and start anew. Following that, one must turn to God completely (tawba). Then, one must try to do it wholeheartedly (inaba). Another step in this journey is awba, which for those who are nearest to God Almighty is “turning to God in contrition.”

If one of these people that had turned to God in contrition glanced at something forbidden, 60 years later when he remembers it, he says, “I repent a million times! How could I have fallen into doing such a thing, my Lord!’”

The Glorious Prophet also praised those who repented much: “Glad tidings to the person whose record is filled with repentance.”

Abu Hurayra is known to have spent his time in remembrance and glorifications of God – as many as twelve thousand times daily, including supplications of the Prophet:

“O God Who is beyond any faults, I seek refuge from everything that doesn’t please You. I am seeking Your mercy and for the forgiveness of my sins. Dear Lord, increase me in knowledge and grant me salvation, and keep my heart steadfast; bestow blessings unto me; without doubt you are gracious, the Giver.”

Again, Abu Hurayra repeated such prayers twelve thousand times every day. It may seem strange that he repented so much. When asked about it he said, “I will repeat [prayers] as many times as the sins I have.” I wonder what sin he might have committed, when he was only among the poorest students of Ashab al-Suffa in Medina. How could he ever do any sin when he never abandoned the Prophet and lived a humble life in hunger? His is an example of awba, turning to God in contrition.

If you look at the prayers of Prophet Muhammad, Moses, Jesus, Jacob, and Joseph, peace be upon them all, you might assume that they did nothing but sin. They considered even an innocent word or faintest thought that crossed their imagination as sin, and developed an attitude accordingly, as if they committed murder. By the way, we have to acknowledge that these great souls never committed a sin as we understand what a sin is.

May God Almighty grant us success in knowing them!

“I commanded you the good but I haven’t taken it on board myself!
I haven’t been on the straight path
Be on the straight path! was my word to you.”
Busiri

Fana (annihilation), which is the opposite of permanence, has connections with some of the other concepts in Sufism. For example, sincere repentance requires annihilating one’s resistance to acknowledging sin, asceticism requires annihilating carnal pleasures, the highest point of loyalty and love is the annihilation of the expectation for a pleasing life in both this and the other world, and absence (ghayba) as a result of intoxication is apparent annihilation. Each of these is an attitude, a feeling and state of pleasure for a traveler on the way to God, while being at the same time, with respect to the Divine Being, Attributes and Names, manifestations of the lights of the Divine Oneness in the sphere of contingent things and beings. Initiates live in tides of existence and non-existence due to these manifestations. This life is known as devastation (sahq). Their melting away before the Existence of the Ultimate Truth is known as destruction (mahq), and their feeling that their deeds are mere shadows of the Acts of the One Who does whatever He wills is known as effacement (tams). Devastation, destruction, and effacement are dimensions of annihilation. They remind one of the fact that everything other than He is a shadow of the True Existence and Knowledge, having no essential value inherent to itself. These states also function as a bridge between the relativity of truth and human perception, feeling and understanding.

The absolute truth never changes; it is always what it essentially is. Neither the assumptions of union or incarnation on the part of the Divine Being nor human absolute annihilation in God bear anything of the truth. Things and events are created by God. Human beings are His created servants, and He possesses absolute Existence and Knowledge. Every existent thing is a ray of the manifestation of His Existence and Knowledge, and humanity feels, witnesses, and interprets these manifestations. But humans can make mistakes, which should be corrected. Humankind are like the conductors of choirs singing the praises of the Creator. They interpret what constantly pours into their horizon or is presented to their view, reviewing it, and adding new melodies taken from the depth of their emotions and sensations. These melodies are sometimes in accord with the truth being played, but sometimes it happens that the states, pleasures, perceptions, and feelings of individuals are in discord with the truth in existence with the result that the accord and harmony in existence is spoilt in their mirrors of perception and consciousness. This gives rise to a confusion of views of Divinity, the Divine Oneness and multiplicity in contingent existence. Utterances such as “I am the Truth” (attributed to Hallaj al-Mansur), or “I am a denier if I pray, and an unbeliever if I do not” (attributed to ash-Shibli), and “The Lord is the servant, and the servant is the Lord, so I wish I knew who is responsible for God’s commandments” (attributed to Muhyi’d-Din ibnu’l-‘Arabi), and “Who is the criminal, and what is the punishment?” (attributed to Yunus Emre), are all examples of this confusion.

God knows the true intention and purpose behind such utterances. However, as far as I understand, while preparing for the Prayer, ash-Shibli was surrounded by multiplicity. When the lights of the Divine Oneness surrounded him during the Prayer, he, as an obedient servant who is seeking God but has been enveloped by the lights of Divine Oneness and has felt annihilated in the One sought and obeyed, he might have voiced his feelings of wonder and astonishment with the phrase mentioned above. The utterance of Ibn u’l-‘Arabi, which is apparently incompatible with the Shari‘a, must have been an expression of the pleasure of a similar state. Some common people among the Sufis, who are closed to such states of spiritual pleasure and the manifestations of the Divine “Facial” Light and who take such utterances as literal truth, without considering the state in which they are uttered, might suppose that people, after they have reached a certain level of spiritual awareness, are no longer answerable according to the Divine commandments. This view is nothing but a deviation from the true path. It is also wrong that certain people have accused of heresy and unbelief the great saints who made such utterances, which are the product of being lost in a state of spiritual bliss and which accordingly need to be interpreted.

If such words are the expressions of a mood of self-devastation and destruction that is beyond love and is identified with the pleasures of annihilation in God—and I believe that to be the case—the persons mentioned above who uttered such phrases should not be held to account for such words; these words must be interpreted. Those heroes of intense love should be viewed and perceived from the perspective of their care in practicing the religion. It was reported that Hallaj al-Mansur used to perform a hundred rak‘as of Prayer every night, and that the others were also deeply devoted to the Almighty. Their words, which are apparently incompatible with the rules of the Shari‘a, should be interpreted according to the basic principles of the Qur’an and the Sunna, and if they have uttered anything that cannot be reconciled with those principles, then a Muslim must, obviously, follow the guiding words of the Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings. However, these great persons are excusable because of the states that they were in when uttering such words; others who willfully imitate them, without sharing the same mood and spiritual state, will be held accountable. The author of the Lujja says:

If you are not together with the good ones in all your deeds, what use will it be to you that you bear the same name as them.
One of the two Messiahs restores the eyes of the blind while the other is one-eyed. [1]

Doing as the Prophets did in one’s manners and acts is the way of saints, while blind imitation and following those who lead the way to the precipice is bound to end in spiritual death.

Jalalu’d-Din Rumi expresses the same thought as follows:

Do not compare pure, virtuous characters to yourself;
though the words milk and lion are composed of the same letters (shir), they are not at all the same.
If a perfected one holds dust in his hand, it turns to gold;
while if another, defective one holds gold in his hand, it becomes ashes.

Self-annihilation in God has been dealt with in the following categories by the Sufi scholars:

• Annihilation in God’s Acts: Travelers to the Ultimate Truth who have reached this horizon feel in every act that there is no true agent other than God. On the face of all their moments or conditions of poverty, weakness, helplessness, and need, they discern the traces of His Power and Wealth. They hear constantly the voice of the points of reliance and seeking help ingrained in the depth of their
• Annihilation in God’s Attributes: Initiates who have reached this point feel that all lives, all knowledge and power, all speech, will, hearing and sight are rays of His Attributes of Glory and reflections of their Seeing themselves without any innate power or strength, they are greatly astonished by the lights of the All-Holy One called by the All-Beautiful Names, and experience extreme wonder at feeling the All-Sacred One having All-Sacred Attributes, and always aspire to meet with Him beyond all concepts of modality.
• Annihilation in the Divine Being: A person of truth who has reached the point of attaining a new existence in which all the directions are united into one direction falls into such a state that he or she cannot help but utter, “There is no really existent one save ” Those who have attained this state see all space and time as having existence in His Knowledge and proceeding from His Knowledge and perceive all existing things as manifestations of the lights of His Existence. Enraptured with the spiritual pleasures, they utter with every breath that everything is from Him, and regard annihilation in the light of His Existence as the price of being favored with existence.

Thus, as declared in the verse (37:96), God has created you and all that you do, travelers to the Ultimate Truth receive the first signal of annihilation with respect to the realm of acts. Saying, “Everything is from You, and You are the True Agent,” they advance toward self-possession. Then, as pronounced in the Divine declaration (8:17), When you threw, it was not you who threw but God who threw, they perceive their nothingness, melt away in the shadow of His Attributes and become mirrors reflecting them. Some even rise to the point where people and jinn begin to turn around them. If they are able to go further, they will go on as far as the realms beyond, as stated in, “There was God without there being anything that existed with Him. Now He is as He was before” [2]. They feel themselves to be in an indescribable and all but unattainable state of pleasure, wherein their existence is transient and where they have wholly annihilated themselves on the way to permanence. Such a feeling is akin to that where a drop admits what its origin, capacity and end really is with respect to the ocean. It also denotes that everything subsists by His being the Self-Subsisting by Whom all subsist and that nothing can come into existence or maintain its existence without being dependent on Him. So, transience and decay are essential to human nature—a fact of which everybody should be aware, while Permanence is necessary to the Self-Subsisting. When the journey comes to the end where the servants perceive this essential part of their nature and existence, the All-Holy Sovereign and Owner rewards them with permanence. In the language of Sufism, this favor is called “annihilation in God” and “subsistence by God with or in the company God.”

The heroes that follow the way of the people of the Sunna wa’l-Jama‘a and who are able to base all their views, words and manners on God’s absolute Oneness and Uniqueness, have always viewed annihilation in the endless ocean of Divine Knowledge and Existence according to the above considerations. They have meticulously observed the rules that issue from the Sphere of Divine Lordship, and the manners required by self-possession and wakefulness, even in states of intoxication and absence. Any extreme words or manners contrary to self-possession are not seen in their words and acts, even though they are under the overpowering influence of the state and spiritual pleasure in their acts. One of them says:

The moving tunes that come from the wooden instrument and which the singer plays come in fact from Him.

This means that that hero of annihilation and self-possession sees that all things other than He are but drops from the endless ocean of the Divine Existence, although he cannot distinguish the drop from the ocean, a particle from the sun, a mirror from what is reflected in it because he is deeply immersed in God’s Existence. As was once said,

O beloved, you have become a river ending in this ocean; how difficult it is to distinguish between the ocean and the river!

he becomes lost in the ocean or in the heaven of the Divine Oneness or Unity into which he has been immersed. Overpowered by the irresistible waves of the ocean or the depths of the heaven, he can neither see the shore nor find in himself the power nor consciousness to come ashore.

Another one among those intoxicated ones, those who reached the horizon of annihilation in God and was favored with the gift of a new existence by the Lord, saw all existence like a mirror in which he was looking upon himself and in which he was intoxicated, said:

Sometimes He has condescended to appear arrayed like Layla, and sometimes He has honored us in the form of Majnun.
When the Beloved has stepped out of the privacy of the meeting room,
The decoration and ornament of the interior has become most apparent.

The heroes of immersion who have reached this highest point express their sensation of Divine Existence and Oneness, joy and pleasure, they express the favor of God’s company, and the excitement of feeling Him by sometimes crying or screaming, sometimes by losing themselves and fainting, and sometimes by going into ecstasies and dancing. All of these happen during the spiritual journey on the hills of the heart. One of those who dove deeply into this ocean expressed himself in the flood of the ecstasies of his heart as follows:

I am such a falcon of love that
I have no place in either world.
I am such a phoenix of secrets that
I no longer display any trace of my essence.
I hunted the two worlds in a pleasant way with my eyebrows.
Look and know that
I have neither an arrow nor a bow.
I have become a voice to speak
and an ear to hear every language,
and an ear to listen.
But how strange it is,
for I have no ears nor a tongue.

The leading Sufi scholars have also dealt with annihilation in the following four categories:

• Annihilation in renunciation of people: an initiate is saved from fear of people and from having expectations of them.
• Annihilation with respect to the desires: this is the renunciation of selfishness and all worldly desires, aspirations, and bodily
• Annihilation of will-power: total submission to God’s
• Annihilation of reason: this is reason’s submission to God in the face of the manifestations of the This annihilation comes along with the astonishment and amazement which initiates feel, due to which they are unable to observe the criteria of thinking, judging, and acting that are valid in the sphere of causality. They usually cannot help but voice this astonishment and amazement.

For example, Junayd al-Baghdadi says: “For a certain time, the inhabitants of the earth and heaven wept for my amazement, and sometimes it occurred that I wept for their amazement. Now I am in such a state that I am aware of neither myself nor of them.”

The amazement or wonder of Gedai is also worth noting:

I did not know myself as I see me now, I wonder whether He is me or I am Him?
This is the point where lovers lose themselves; I have burnt away, so give me water!
The words of the author of al-Minhaj demonstrate a deeper aura of love and amazement:
I do not know whether I am myself or Him.I am in bewilderment, but I am sure I am not myself.
Am I a lover or the one loved or love itself?
I am intoxicated from the cup of Oneness, and I am not myself.
What am I? Am I a phoenix with no fame or mark? I am away from my home, and I am not myself.
I am transient in soul but permanent by the Beloved.
I am flying high, and I am not myself.

If we consider what annihilation is, these words are natural for a hero of annihilation. Annihilation means that travelers to God see, according to their level, none save God and set their hearts on Him alone. When they advance to the point where their inner and outer worlds, perception, and consciousness are illuminated with the knowledge of truth, then they begin to see clearly Who holds the reins of everything, and they always turn to Him in Whose Hand lie their existence and subsistence. Then, while they become more deeply immersed in truth by concentrating all of their thoughts on Him and endeavoring to reach Him, then they perceive that all existence is a manifestation of the light of His Existence. They reach the horizon of viewing all things and events differently with the consideration of Unity, and they are favored with being able to feel and interpret everything with their essential characteristics that the veil of corporeality hides.

Travelers on the way to the Ultimate Truth take a further step and are able to perceive with the certainty of conviction that all the events in the universe, including human acts and endeavors, depend absolutely on God’s Names and Attributes, and that everything has come into existence and has blossomed in the heart of these Sources. They also perceive that whatever happens happens by His Power and Strength and see more clearly the limits of their willpower in all of their deeds. Abandoning all shadowy existence, they take shelter in the protection and ownership of the Truly Existent One, and gain a new existence by Him.

If the traveler can take a further step, then he or she can feel with some certainty, a certainty that comes from experience, that all things and/or beings with their being, attributes and characteristics are transferred from their existence in God’s Knowledge and clothed in external existence by His Power as a manifestation of His Existence. Becoming more profound in their feelings, the travelers are immersed in the vision of the truth that everything exists and subsists by Him. They perceive in their consciousness that the truth of (55:26), All that is on the earth (and heavens) is perishable (except He), undulates throughout the universe like a flag, and everything created is bound to decay, and is maintained by the manifestation of God’s being the Self-Subsisting by Whom all subsist. They also feel in their consciousness that if a being suffers a moment’s interruption of this manifestation, it will perish, and they reach a further horizon of perception of the Divine Oneness.

The first step belongs to the verifying scholars, the second to those traveling on the way to the Ultimate Truth who have strong, inflexible willpower, and the third to those who have true knowledge of God and vision.

Those who are at the first step are annihilated to the extent of the depth of their consciousness of God and enter the way to “a revival after death.” Those who have left this step behind experience absence and immersion with respect to their inner world by means of a spiritual vision and discovery; they find seclusion in crowds and silence in noise and uproar. Others, who have reached the third step, renounce all human desires and aspirations, and wherever they look are immersed in the manifestations of the Divine Knowledge and Existence; they feel fully surrounded by His signs, as stated in (2:115), To whatever direction you turn, there is the “Face” of God. Whatever they see, they feel awe when enveloped by His rays, and whatever they observe they feel astonished at the burning manifestations of His “Facial” Light and they mention Him with many allegories.

When travelers to the Ultimate Truth have gone beyond all these steps and have become heroes of annihilation in God, the colors of subsistence by God begin to appear to them from all horizons. At every moment during their journey they go beyond one dimension of “there is no deity” (i.e., no one truly existent, no one truly witnessed, no creator, no provider, etc.) Every new dimension they go beyond confronts them with a new dimension of “but God.” Due to their taking larger steps and due to the uninterrupted shower of Divine favors, the universal Lordship and complete Subsistence begin to manifest themselves on their horizon. A time comes and they feel that His Throne has embraced the whole universe, and rising by the stairs of repentance, penitence and contrition, which comprise the way of turning to Him completely, they are immersed in the lights of His Divinity. They drown in the extraordinary pleasures of feeling awe and fear of Him in their acts of worship. They take a great pleasure in listening to the Divine Speech—the Qur’an. Finding themselves sometimes in the clime of self-possession that is embedded in fear, and sometimes on the hills of alertness that are embedded in awe, and sometimes in the oceans of mercy, they experience fear and hope or expectation, sadness and rejoicing, all together at the same time, and try not to fall away from His door. Unburdening themselves to Him in every thought, concept, utterance and breath, they become heroes of following the Divine commandment (15:99), Worship your Lord until certainty, which is bound to come, comes to you, and without being content with their worshipping, they advance further and further. They know that when they stop, both the way and the journey will come to an end, and they can no longer have the ambition of reaching their destination. For the journey is toward the Infinite One, and unending endeavor in this world is reflected as endless favors from the realms beyond.

O God! Guide us to the Straight Way, the way of those whom You have favored, not of those who have incurred (Your) wrath (punishment and condemnation), nor of those who are astray. And bestow blessings and peace on our master Muhammad, and on his Family and Companions, all of them.

Notes

1. The poet refers to Jesus the Messiah, and the Dajjal who will appear before the end of time as a fierce opponent of Islam. The fact that he has one eye is usually interpreted to mean that he is blind to religion and the Hereafter. (Tr.)
2. al-Bukhari, “Tawhid,” 1; Ibn Hanbal, al-Musnad, 4:431.

The real, profound worth of life is revealed when one’s life is dedicated to the well-being of humanity. It thus gains an otherworldly dimension and attains a quality comparable to that of the dwellers of heaven. Centering life around such an ideal renders one’s life many times more fruitful. Those awakened souls experience such a state of rapture that it cannot be contained in a single lifetime. Then they begin to feel this cramped world as if it were but one of the spacious relieving climes of the eternal realms. Such individuals aspire to breathe life into everybody. With every revival they inspire, their hearts overflow with exuberance, as if they too are experiencing a resurrection on the path of being a life for other souls. Saving a single person is akin to saving all of humanity, says the Divine word, and this message constantly rings in the ears of their hearts.

Given that even a single human life in this transient world bears this much importance, it isn’t an exaggeration to say that an endeavor for a worldwide revival is likely to break the scales of good deeds on the Day of Judgment. With a zest for blowing life into others, a champion of revival is ever-conscious of the fact that humanity has been blessed with the best pattern of creation amongst all living creatures. These champions feel that the consciences of those who are spiritually paralyzed resemble a grim autumn scene. They are so compelled by their mission that ceasing it would qualify as a sinful act. They compose melodies of revival from the tongues of their hearts for those in spiritual death throes; they run to help these lost ones, as if running from one intensive care unit to the next.

This exhausting run is nothing to be overstated in their eyes. They spur their free will on toward the horizons of lofty ideals as being truly human necessitates. They serve as guides on this path of idealism for those who do not know the way, blow energy into those weary of walking, and become compasses for the masses who are without navigation. To those who have their backs to the sun and so keep following only their own shadow, they inspire them always to return to the source of light. These people become a support and prop for those who are weak and prone to stumble, and provide guardianship for those who are left crawling in misery from the impact of various calamities. They try to soothe sobs echoing on all sides, share the troubles of the wearied ones, forbear various separations with the resolve to keep company with the needy, and come between the growls of oppressors and groans of the oppressed. They keep running like firemen to extinguish one fire after another. As this sense of revival is preserved deep in their consciences, they strive to fulfill this spiritual endeavor in sincerity and only for Divine approval.

A person with this depth of feeling and thought brings to mind the notion of the “journey from God”; they are in a constant state of metaphysical vigilance. Their groans are their pain at how to bring happiness to others instead of themselves. They seek to effect peace in the hearts of others instead of self-indulging in the pleasures of this world. They view life always from a perspective of the sufferings and joys of others and build torches along the path of those who try to make their way through darkness. Reaching success is dependent on making others succeed; they regard indifference to laments as akin to being a mute devil and see remaining lively as conditional to blowing life into others; walkers on the path of Divine guides are their inheritors.

These actions by champions of revival yield such surprise fruits when the due time comes; they are like a kernel in the soil that flourishes into some 20-30 ears. It gives messages of being modest to hundreds of thousands of people and encourages smiles all around as hundreds of new ones have begun walking as one.

Ma’rifa is a special knowledge that is acquired through reflective thought, sincere endeavor, using one’s conscience and inquiring into one’s inner world. It is different from (scientific) knowledge (‘ilm). (Scientific) knowledge is acquisition reached through study, investigation, analysis, and synthesis, while ma’rifa is the substance of knowledge attained through reflection, intuition, and inner perception. The opposite of (scientific) knowledge is ignorance, while the opposite of ma’rifa is denial.

Knowledge means comprehending or encompassing something thoroughly, while ma‘rifa means familiarity with or recognition of something—that something may be the Divine Being—in some of its aspects. For this reason, the One of Unity is called the All-Knowing (‘Alim), but He has never been called the One having familiarity with something (‘Arif). In addition, the exacting scholars of truth view ma‘rifa, which also means information, talent, and skill, as the culture acquired by conscience or one’s conscious nature. It has other meanings such as the ability to feel something with the spiritual faculty that humanity has been endowed with, the image of something known in the mind, and the knowledge kept in the memory which gains strength through repetition. From another perspective, it is consciousness, perception, and sufficient information which helps distinguish one thing from another. Ma‘rifa can be summed up as having concise knowledge about something or someone through their acts or works and attributes—knowledge which can be developed and detailed.

In order that one can be among those who have knowledge of God and who are regarded by God as being one of such people, one should have certain theoretical knowledge about God and the ways that lead to Him, recognizing the obstacles on the way, and knowing how to overcome these obstacles. One should also have enough willpower to apply what one knows. One who has true knowledge of God is a perfect human being who knows the Unique One, Who is the Eternally Besought, with His Acts, Names and Attributes, and is a person in whose everyday life this knowledge shows itself. He or she is also one who always keeps the heart purified and pursues sincerity and purity of intention, who can remain free of negative or evil moral qualities as far as possible, overcoming whatever dark emerges from the spirit and threatens to darken one’s horizon, and thereby demonstrating loyalty to the All-Watchful Guardian. Such a one can bear everything that befalls on God’s way to obtain His approval, and invites others to the way of the Prophets, which shows itself through God’s confirmation in every step, and whose lights he or she always feels with pleasure.

There is another approach to ma‘rifa that ma‘rifa is the ability to perceive something as exactly what it is in itself, in its true nature and identity, and based on the thing itself. According to this approach, knowledge of God is knowing the Divine Being with His Essential and Affirmative Attributes beyond all conceptions of modality. This is different from comprehending, perceiving and establishing other things, and is based on perception and knowing by conscience. This knowledge and perception should not be confused with modern intuitionism. The Divine Being is beyond all concepts and cannot be comprehended, perceived or scientifically known, although a certain knowledge or familiarity can be acquired of Him through His Acts, Names and Attributes.

The acknowledgment that The inability to perceive Him is the true perception, excellently expresses the inability of anything limited to perceive Him and the imperceptibility of the One Who is Infinite. The same meaning is exquisitely expressed in the saying, We have not been able to know You as knowing You requires, O the One Known.

It is only God Whose existence is absolute, and the greatest truth is acknowledging His Existence and Oneness. The first step in acquiring knowledge of Him is the attainment of belief, being a Muslim, and excellence—worshipping Him as if seeing Him. In realizing such a blessed aim, one should continue one’s traveling to the True Source of all gifts and blessings without turning to anything else as a source. One should be able to feel a new joy of reunion in every gift and blessing with which one is favored, and as the final point, gain familiarity with the mysteries of His Names and Attributes, and, if possible, of His Being.

This consideration is expressed as follows in Lutfiya by Wahbi:

Try your hardest and be one who has ma’rifa of Him,
One favored with knowledge of Him!
For the All-Loving declared, “so that I may be known;” [1]
Knowing God is the ultimate cause for the creation of the two worlds;
and knowing God is the adornment of humanity.
Those devoid of knowledge of Him are low in rank.
Knowing Him is a spiritual kingdom,
and Knowing Him is a Divine gift and blessing.
….
When you, O moving spirit, receive this gift and blessing;
the two worlds will be yours.

The following words, which are narrated in books concerning Sufism as a hadith qudsi—a saying, the meaning of which is from God and the wording of which was inspired in the Messenger—are the gist or kernel of all explanations concerning knowledge of God:

O humankind! One who knows his self also knows Me; one who knows Me seeks Me, and one who seeks Me certainly finds Me. One who finds Me attains all his aspirations and expectations, and prefers none over Me. O humankind! Be humble that you can have knowledge of Me; accustom yourself to hunger so that you can see Me; be sincere in your devotion to Me so that you can reach Me. O humankind! I am the Lord; one who knows his self also knows Me; one who renounces his self finds Me. In order to know Me, renounce your own self. A heart which has not flourished and been perfected through knowledge of Me is blind.

Knowledge of God sometimes becomes a source of wonder and astonishment for initiates, as has been said, “One who knows the Ultimate Truth becomes dumbfounded and tongue-tied.” But it sometimes becomes a means of expression for them, as has been said, “One who knows the Ultimate Truth finds his voice.” The voice finds its overflowing expression in one’s excitement and speech and echoes in many other ears. Although opposites, both the saying of Muhammad Parisa, [2] “There is none who knows the Divine Being other than Himself,” and the saying, “I know none else save God,” are true each in its own context.

There is none other than Him who has a true, substantial existence, and there are no true acts other than those done by Him. Other beings have a relative existence when compared with Him, and other acts, which take place in the cycle of causality, is of a relative nature. For this reason, knowledge of God is when an initiate melts away in the light of the Ultimate Truth and gains a new, “true” existence. This may be viewed as self-annihilation in God and subsistence by Him. I think the author of al-Minhaj stresses this fact in these verses:

If you can see with the lights of certainty,
then do not see one who knows and the One Known differently.

Fuduli [3] expresses this depth of knowledge of God as follows:

One who knows God is not one who knows
the wisdom of the world with what is in it.
One who knows God is he who does not know
what the world is with what is in it.

Sufis have made other descriptions concerning knowledge of God. According to these descriptions, knowledge of God is knowing the truths of the Divine Names and Attributes, grasping the phenomenon of the manifestations in existence and the discovery of the existential mystery, deeply perceiving the truth of existence with its originality and shadows, and understanding and representing in life the truth of religion according to the Will of the All-Desired One, Who is the final goal of those who set out to reach Him. Each of these descriptions requires a voluminous work to explain and is therefore beyond the scope of this study. We will only cite here some verses from Diyaiya (“The Book of Light”) which point to some dimensions of the subject matter:

The third chapter is about knowledge of God, O valiant young one;
to describe it the wheel of speech is unable to work.
….
There is no scribe nor a pen to write about it;
one cannot get his tongue around it to express it.
….
The mirror of reason is veiled from understanding it;
the ability of perception has nothing to say in it.
Only the bird of imagination can fly toward it;
there is no example that we can coin to explain it.
….
Here the gift comes only from God;
this is a light-diffusing, sacred rank.
….
The whole of creation is immersed in this realm,
which is more spacious than all the worlds.
….
There is no true existent save He Who is the One,
perceiving this is the real vision.
Do not interpret this vision in another way, or else,
it will mean unbelief and heresy, O one with body of light.
It is not the eyes in the head which have this vision;
The All-Loving One is all-free from vision by these eyes.
The innermost faculty—secret—discerns this truth,
when you find this faculty in you, you can understand it.
Human scientific knowledge and perception have nothing to say;
the merit is in wonder and helplessness in this field.
Perception of one’s helplessness is perception of the Ultimate Truth;
listen to what Abu Bakr, the truthful one, says concerning it. [4]

The rank of knowledge of God (ma‘rifa) is a rank of wonder, utter astonishment, and awe. It is possible to see this in almost all the reflections of the scholars of Sufism on knowledge of God. Some of them see it in direct proportion to the excess of the feeling of awe and have concluded that the deeper one is in knowledge of God, the deeper one’s feeling of awe is. Others regard knowledge of God as being the base of serenity and peacefulness and emphasize that inner peace and self-possession increase in proportion to the depth of knowledge of God. Still others consider knowledge of God as the heart’s attainment of friendship with God and the initiate’s following a way to nearness to God.

The approach of ash-Shibli opens new windows on the knowledge of God. According to him, it means that an initiate has an essential relation with none save God, making no complaints when burning with His love, is a sincere, obedient and faithful servant of God who avoids any claims of superiority, and one who worries about his or her end. A person with true knowledge of God and who has a strong connection with the sources of this knowledge, one who has taken refuge in the guidance of the spirit and meaning of Prophethood, and who has built sound relations with the truths that lie beyond human horizons, cannot feel any essential interest in transitory things nor does lower him or herself to feel attachment to others than the Lord. The Qur’an alludes to this highest point in (35:28), Of all His servants, only those possessed of true knowledge stand in awe of God, reminding the traveler of the relation between knowledge and awe or reverence of God. The greatest of those who have knowledge of God, upon him be peace and blessings, said concerning the same point: I am greater than you in knowledge of God, and more intense in fearing Him.[5]

In the books on Sufism, in which the intellect guided by Revelation is operative, and which contain numerous gems of wisdom concerning the “garment of piety” of those who have true knowledge of God, with Whom their hearts are deeply connected, we can find many gems concerning knowledge of God. The following are only a few of them:

• In the view of one favored with knowledge of God, the world with its material aspect becomes so small that it seems no greater than a cup.
• The souls that have gained profundity in knowledge of God expand to the extent that it is as if they have no
• Those who taste the pleasure of knowledge of God, which is regarded as the sweetest of all honey, pursue no other wealth than nearness to the Ultimate
• The richness of the honeycomb of knowledge of God in the heart is one of the most essential sources of love and An initiate burns with the zeal of reunion in proportion to how much this source overflows its banks, which he or she sees as the price of the favors received.

The following points which differentiate those who have a sound knowledge of God from others are important. The former have no selfish expectations from whatever good they do, never think of competition for either material or spiritual ranks nor feel jealous of anybody. They do not see themselves as being greater than anyone else, nor do they moan because of missed opportunities, anymore than they feel arrogant because of their accomplishments. Even if they were granted the kingdom of the Prophet Solomon, they would only seek God’s company, regarding it as futile to turn to other things. They feel no relation with beings other than the Almighty with respect to their worldly existence and corporeal selves, and know that one moment of God’s friendship is worth the entire world. They consider being with God among people as a victory that has been granted to their willpower, and see the Divine Will reflected in the face of their determination, recognizing the help of the Lord in the result of their endeavor, alongside many other instances of wisdom and God’s extraordinary gifts. They observe the manifestations of the Divine Oneness in the multiplicity of the creation, and thereby they grasp how a drop is transformed into an ocean, and a particle into the sun. They witness in their conscience how nothingness or non-existence is a fertile land, to be planted with existence and live drowned in ecstasies and intoxication.

Self-possession, steadfastness, seriousness, profundity, and resolution are the clearest and most important signs of perfect knowledge of God. Those who have this degree of knowledge live under the shower of the manifestations of God’s friendship and company. No sign of any flaws can be seen in their inner or outer world, nor is any laxity witnessed in their behaviors. They never show impertinence or conceit, even when favored with the most abundant gifts. On the contrary, they always act in a self-possessed manner, trying to lead a self-disciplined, spiritual life.

Obviously, everyone cannot have the same degree of knowledge of God. Some travel on the horizon of perceiving the Attributes essential to the Divine Being and the favors that accompany His Acts. They observe and avail themselves of His proofs that are found within themselves and in the outer world, with the result that their love of truth and their relation with the Greatest of Truths are witnessed in their manners. They travel between the Divine Acts, Names and Attributes and are thrilled with the different melodies of belief, knowledge of God, love, attraction and the feeling of being attracted by God to Himself. They feel in their conscience the reflections of the Divine Acts or operations in the universe and pursue more and more the pleasure entailed in observing ever new colors and aspects. This is a way bequeathed by the Prophets and it is a way that can be followed by everyone. One who travels along this way of objective truth travels toward the Ultimate Truth under the arches of His regard and compliments.

On this path there are others who feel all the dimensions in existence ending in one dimension, who feel that everything is annihilated in God. It is as if they have reached a point where the lights and manifestations of the Divine Being and Attributes come together from the perspective of humanity and annihilate their very being in the Divine Being, attaining a new existence with the Self-Subsistence of Him Who is the All-Knowing and the Ever-Existent.

While those belonging to the former group travel in the realm of the Divine Attributes and Qualities, others have already directed themselves to the Source of these Attributes and Qualities. Therefore, their observations and sensations are not aimed at either the Attributes exclusively in such a way as to veil the Being in their minds or spirits, nor at the Being exclusively in such a way as to suggest the denial of the Attributes. For this reason, such an approach has been regarded as the way of the perfected and most advanced, and the main path that is followed by those who travel to the greatest nearness to God.

The Book, the Sunna, reason, and the Divine system in creation and human primordial nature bear witness to the truth of this way along which God’s works of Art show themselves brightly. Initiates who have firmly established their feet on this path witness at every step that God witnesses His Existence and Oneness, and they cannot help but utter, God bears witness that surely there is no deity but He (3:18). They hear in their conscience the confirmations of angels and those possessed of knowledge as a reflection of God’s Own witnessing, and continue to utter: and the angels and those possessed of knowledge (also bear witness to the same truth) (3:18). Then, they see that all means and causes that are not essential to His Being having vanished, and they are able to be at perfect rest and to find perfect peace.

There are others who have such abundant knowledge of God that proofs of God are no longer needed in their world; all the things that witness Him are humbled in the face of their being in the Presence of the True Witness; all the means tremble with the shame of making distant whatever is near, and all the heralds are silent and busy with correcting the words that they have uttered. At this point, where everything is seen by the conscious nature as witnessing Him beyond all concepts of modality, the eyes are dazzled by the brightest manifestations of the “Divine Facial Light,” and all other identities save His are lost. Those who have reached this point see that the True Source of existence and knowledge surrounds everything from all sides, tasting the pleasure of perceiving every being’s perception of Him according to their level, and feeling that everything is annihilated in Him. They sense the way in which the manifestations of the Divine Names are combined with those of the Being, Attributes and Acts. The conscience is saved from any feeling of dependence on causality and reaches the horizon of Surely we belong to God (as His creatures and servants), and surely to Him we are bound to return (2:156). But this never means, as some have assumed, “absolute annihilation” or “union with God.”

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 blessings and peace on our master Muhammad, by whom the mysteries came to light and the lights shone brightly, and on his pure Family and Companions.

Notes

1. Here there is a reference to the Qur’anic verse, I have not created the jinn and humanity but to worship Me (51:56). To worship Me has usually been interpreted as “so that I may be known and worshipped.” (Tr.)
2. Muhammad Parisa (d., 822/1419) was a great scholar and saint from Bukhara. He passed away in Madina. Among his books al-Fusulu’s-Sitta (Six Chapters) is famous. (Tr.)
3. Mehmed Fuduli (1490-1556). The greatest poet of the Turkish classical literature. He lived in Iraq. His Diwan, (“Collection of Poems”), Layla wu Majnun (“Layla and Majnun”), and Hadiqatu’s-Su‘ada (“The Garden of the Holy Ones”) are some of his other well-known books. (Tr.)
4. The writer refers to Abu Bakr’s saying: “The inability to perceive Him is the true perception.” (Tr.)
5. 5. as-Sahawi, al-Maqasidu’l-Hasana, 21.

There is anticipation in the air. People from all walks of life are vigilant, waiting for a ray of light to shine upon them. Their eyes are fixed on the horizon, expecting the rise of a “true dawn,” and their hopes are spurred at each trace of light in the east. When they cannot see what they were expecting, they groan with disappointment, yet turn again to their horizon of hope and wonder, “when is the sunrise?” They lower their heads and set sail to another broken dream. Remembering the glorious days of old and seeing the fearful images of today, they sing songs of sorrow and drift in the high and low tides of hope and despair.

Horrific scenes of disintegration are seen on all sides as we witness more than ever before defiled feelings, darkened spirits floundering in the pus, hopes knocked down over and over, dead hearts that do not see and cannot understand, paralyzed souls, trashed consciences that have no horizons and are blind to what lies beyond. Ears are deaf to heavenly voices; eyes – persistently denying their nature – misread and misunderstand laws of creation; minds are intoxicated with positivism, naturalism, materialism, and all that nonsense that don’t fit within the framework of reason. Thus buried are the brightest truths in the darkest of the dark and with the darkest of souls. It is like a long gloomy night blackened by pitch-black thoughts of pharaohs.

On the other end of the spectrum, those who can fathom the mysteries and truths of humankind are but a few. Still, as whips lash above their heads, their mouths are zipped up, and their hands are cuffed, all they can do is wait for an extraordinary Divine help. Those who keep their hopes alive move on, saying, “God is enough; the rest is a passing desire.” Sometimes, they breathe by uttering the words of the poet:

Let the world come with all its causes of suffering,
Call me a traitor if I turn back on my struggle for the people. (N. Kemal)

Problems have reached the furthest boundaries; brute force is rampant; persecution and violence are blindingly daring; every corner is filled with helpless masses that moan and grieve. The sovereigns whose hearts have been captured by the devil and the elite who are somewhat lettered but whose eminence is but on the surface do not hear these groans. Even if they hear, they do not care; on the contrary they applaud the tyranny, praise the tyrant, and strive to become like the vizier Haman [1] to the Pharaohs. What is left for the victims, is to suffer.

God gave humankind reason and heart so we can discover and understand the inner truths of existence. Failing to use these to discern the developments around us and what they stand for will cause us to fail to maintain the quality of “the perfect pattern of creation” [2]; we may not even be aware of this failure. For those who fell from this status, life has been wasted in a vicious cycle of diversions and slips; they confuse the white with the black, the flower with the thorn. For them, the beauty of a rose becomes unfathomable; the songs of nightingale are the caws of a crow. Saving themselves from these crooked thoughts is rare, leading them to err one after another, and to become lower than their level of creation. While their feet are stuck in pitch-dark thoughts, their spirits drift aimlessly in all directions, and their hearts deform at all levels. They are headed to disintegration and to an inevitable naught.

As a matter of fact, there is a crystal-clear path, a way to be released from these deviations, a path that those who lead a life in the orbit of their carnality are unable to see. Everything points to the direction of this path in every possible language and style. The way out is to know and believe in the All-Glorious One as He is; to look into existence and events with the lens of such a Divine knowledge and make analyses accordingly; to explore the natural phenomena with what lies beyond their material being; to study the mysteries that underlie the essence of humankind; to apply mathematical decoding to all the known universe; to evaluate the Earth and all that is found here; and to continue all this work without a break.

Such firm persistence will lead to exploration of human nature, with its physical and metaphysical dimensions. It will turn the human into a projector that will show how to read the book of the universe, for a person is but a comprehensive index of the universe. Reading the book of the universe accurately is a vital prescription for us humans who can reason. This is how humans can gather themselves together, be protected from all kinds of deviations, and will reconquer themselves. This is how we will be saved from being dragged by whims, will be guided by knowledge, and we will cherish the relief and reassurance of turning to the One, will love Him, and will sing songs of love and reunion.

Unless there is a special Divine grace, it is not possible for the unfortunate ones who are unable to read and discover their profound nature to know and love the Unique Faithful Beloved; to surpass their physical and carnal aspects and move forward in accordance with the purpose of their creation, to overcome all humanly errors and soar for a reunion with Him.

The path to attaining knowledge of the Unique Truth and to be guided to Him require engaging in serious contemplation and deep thinking, and thereby reaching accurate assessments about one’s self. Such a frame of mind becomes a means for the gifts of faith and Divine knowledge, which all together will be of service to the person, allowing them to fathom their reason for existing, what they are expected to do with this life, and the content of the Divine message that has been blown into our souls with the breaths of Prophets. Then they start becoming aware of their status vis-à-vis all of existence, turning their faces gradually in the right direction. Having grasped their purpose, they let themselves flow with the current leading to the Ultimate Purpose. The journey becomes paths of discovery, as the person realizes all material and spiritual depths are the keys to the mystery of existence. They start hearing invitations from deeper realities at each departure from the shore towards the endless horizons, turning their back on all those that are destined to disappear. They build greenhouses against disintegration and hold themselves to account on how to live and behave. As they strain further in their spiritual struggle, they appear as role models and awaken those who are asleep with the hymns of the dawn. They guide to God those who can purify themselves from arrogance, vanity, and narcissism.

On the other hand, there are those unwise souls who think looking is the same as seeing. They are unable to hear the humming of all that exists in all corners of the universe in their unique languages of disposition; they cannot comprehend their precious status in the midst of everything. They keep their ears closed to sounds and tunes from what lies beyond the physical realms. Theirs is the life of the blind and the deaf. While every letter of the universe cries out for the One, they are far from understanding it. Deprived of senses and enthusiasm, these unfortunate souls live like moving corpses who regret the inner pains of their contradictions.

The discovery of phenomena occurs via one’s self-discovery. The human mind, spirit, and all other faculties become lenses to see even deeper, spurring feelings that ask for even more. It is without doubt that such a constant search does not go unrewarded. Then, the truth of this heavenly word is revealed: “Those who know themselves begin looking for Me; those who look for Me will surely find Me” [3]. This search is what being in the “perfect pattern of creation” entails.

But the humans unaware of their status vis-à-vis the Divine constantly trip; their lives are no different than those of life forms that eat, drink, and sleep, indifferent to the outer world. They are plagued with the pressing fears of eventual ruin. They try to avoid these fears and run away from themselves by seeking fun, drunkenness, and various forms of hypnosis. Theirs becomes a life wasted, and when the time comes, the candle of life is blown out, leaving them in the hands of the inescapable end they have always feared.

Today, there are so many who are navigated not by their reason but the devil, enslaved by their carnal desires, and who have set sail to waters of rebellion. They act in opposition to what their hearts and spirits call them to; their thoughts are paralyzed, and the qualities that make them human have fallen apart.

Good character has disappeared, indecency is everywhere
How many ugly faces
were covered by that thin veil of morals!
Loyalty, honoring covenants, and trust
are nowhere to be found.
Lies, betrayals are all around, and truth is unknown.
O Lord! No strand of hair shudders of this scene,
How disastrous a revolution this has been.
Religion and faith are no more;
religion is destroyed, faith is a mirage
Let all the pride go and hearts turn mute
Freedom is no more
when this moral decay is underway! (M. Akif)

It is useless to expect anything from those whose knowledge of themselves is the least. Falsehood is disguised as truth and has set its throne in so many hearts. Those who masquerade as the elite whose job is otherwise to convey the true message and the raw souls who are merchants of religion act as “mute devils” – turn their faces away from atrocities and say nothing to prevent them, inviting even more trouble. Conspiracies are staged as truth and masses are manipulated so deceitfully that even the devils are ashamed.

All of these negativities started at a time when societies lost their true identities; call it our luck, or rather bad luck, that our times have witnessed their flourishing to unprecedented heights. We do not wish this, but it looks like they will continue to shape our future until we patch up the wear and tear of the last few centuries and reach days of revival.

The first step of such a blessed revival would be to establish our connection with the Divine as His servants and the place He has ordained for us in the universe. When the fog clears, and we can finally see the true Ka‘ba, we will turn in the same direction and seek opportunities of harmony and unity. As we will offer our unity as a call for help and success from the Divine, we will and should aspire to attain our true human status.

Among the major principles of this revival would be to think systematically, look comprehensively, question the authenticity of our current knowledge, be freed from the disease of imitation, and trample the filth of arrogance, conceit, and egotism under our feet. Those who put themselves first and are chained to their ego are in fact humiliating themselves.

You are unaware of yourself, so it seems
O humankind, you think you are a lowly being
If only you knew
Your essence is precious, even more so than angels
Hidden in you are the worlds, wrapped are the universes.

Those who become aware of their value leave behind their ego and move on so their remoteness to the One is shortened. As they are welcomed by heavenly beings into unreachable horizons, they abandon all worldly recognition and glory and cherish the discovery of their own nature. Then, not only the deceiving beauties of the world, but even the pleasures of the heavens, become invisible to their eyes. They live calling on the One with the words of Yunus: “I need You and You only.” Those who call on the world and are trapped in the beauties of this false life are fooled by assumptions and aspirations of an eternal life here and tend to ignore an eternal life there. Their minds and hearts are mortgaged by luxurious mansions and fleets of ships they own. I do not want to defile my language for them, and leave them with their fate to be recorded in history books, for this is not what the cavalries of light are expecting; with torches in their hands these cavalries are hunting for light and striving to attain whatever God wills for them.

God renders evils into goodness,
Don’t think He does otherwise. 
The wise will wait and behold His works;
What God will do, let’s wait and see 
Surely beautiful it will be.

Notes

1. While Haman in the Hebrew Bible is a vizier in the Persian Empire under King Ahasuerus, the Qur’an refers to this name in 40:36 as the vizier of the Pharaoh in the time of Moses, peace be upon him: “The Pharaoh said: ‘O Haman! Build me a lofty tower so that I may attain the ways, the ways of (peering into) the skies, and that I may have a look at the God of Moses, though I surely think that he is a liar.’”
2. Qur’an 95:4.
3. This quote is narrated in books concerning Sufism as a hadith qutsi – a saying, the meaning of which is from God and the wording of which was inspired in the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. This saying is considered to be the gist or kernel of all explanations concerning knowledge of God.

In the language of Sufism, fasl (parting) denotes renunciation of the world and the Hereafter with respect to their own being in themselves, but not to their aspects that indicate the Creator. It also denotes that in order not to become entangled in self-pride and vanity, one must also renounce thinking that one has renounced the world and the Hereafter and indeed renounce the idea of renunciation.

Parting begins with resisting the domination of the carnal soul over one’s life and letting the faculties of true humanity prevail. Parting continues with the heart severing its relations with all else other than the Truly Desired One by mentioning Him and by being occupied by Him in proportion to the heart’s relation with Him. Parting continues by an initiate abandoning all types of love other than love for the Divine Being—loving other things because of Him is another way of loving Him—by being saved from all types of fear and worries by taking refuge in the clime of fear and awe of Him, by turning to Him alone in one’s expectations, by seeing, knowing, and mentioning Him alone, and by annihilating oneself in Him.

So, the first step in parting is to turn to God with deliberate intention and be saved from all worries that concern the world and the Hereafter. The steps that follow are to completely forget that one has turned to God wholeheartedly; for, if one were to remember, vanity might arise, be it ever so faintly. One must also never be heedless of the reality that there is no power and strength save with God. The final step in parting is to be free from all considerations of duality with respect to the true existence and creativity. One becomes annihilated in considerations of Him, and by feeling that will-power and its results are the reflections of the Attributes of the All-Glorified One, one lives immersed in the lights of Unity. People of certain temperaments who have attained this rank tend to confuse what is universal with what is particular, and the original with the shadow. Although they speak about the Unity of Being, what they feel and experience can only be the pleasure that comes from witnessing Him throughout creation.

Wasl (Reunion) has been interpreted as the meeting of an initiate with the Ultimate Truth through knowledge that comes from witnessing Him in His signs. It never means that a servant is united with the Creator or that the Creator becomes one with a servant. The Eternal One cannot be and is not the same as any- one who comes into existence within time and who perishes within it. Nor can one contained in time provide any means for the Eternal One. Since such conceptions as union or reunion can cause some misinterpretations, some exacting scholars emphasize that the True Being does not admit union and parting and such scholars have interpreted the Qur’anic expression (57:4), He is with you wherever you are, as saying that the Divine Being is present everywhere, but without being contained in space and time; that is, that He has nothing to do with matter, place or time. They regard reunion as a feeling that arises in the conscience of a seeker of the Ultimate Truth as a result of the dark veils being removed from the insight, and the eyes of the heart gaining familiarity with the mysteries and lights of Divine company. Such company and nearness to God cannot be reconciled with the concepts of combination (ittisal) in the sense that a created being is combined or unified with the Creator to form a single entity, and separation (infisal), in the sense that any part from the Creator separates and forms a new entity. For seekers are in a continuous process of becoming and driven by the Divine Will and Power even though while they act with their free will within a limited field appointed for them. For this reason, they are recipients, acted upon, affected, like a mirror that reflects, not one that has creativity or is a source. Jalalu’d-Din Rumi says in this respect:

If we come with ignorance, ignorance is a prison of Him;
If we come with knowledge, knowledge is His garden.
If we come in a stupor, we are intoxicated with Him.
If we smile, then we are His lightning.
If we come with rage and struggle,
then this is the reflection of His retribution;
If we come with peace and excuses, this is the property He grants.
Being doubled in this world, what are we worth that we can claim existence next to Him?
We are like an alif[1] which has no value worthy of consideration.

Reunion has degrees:

The first degree is reunion accompanied by holding fast (to God), which also has connotations of reliance, asking for help, commitment and seeking refuge. It is connected with ranks of belief and submission and is based on verses, such as: Whoever holds fast to God, he has certainly been guided to a straight path (3:101); Hold fast altogether to God’s rope (3:103); and Hold fast to God (22:78).

Reunion that is accompanied by witnessing God in His signs is the second degree. This denotes the attainment of salvation through action and sincerity, and is independent of such reasoning processes as deduction and induction because one has attained certainty, and one has been saved from wavering on the way by setting one’s heart on the only, true goal. This is related to the rank of perfect goodness or excellence—worshipping God as if one sees Him or aware that God sees us.

Reunion in existence, which is the third degree, is when the lights of an indescribable nearness to God embrace the seekers from all sides. Love is transformed into an intense love or passion, and the passion takes on the form of a brightly burning fire, with the result that the breezes that come from God’s company pervade the soul, and the inner world overpowers the outer one. Those who cannot attain this degree can neither feel nor comprehend it. When the way comes to this point, the travelers find themselves in poverty of thought, and inability of perception, and lacking in words. They can only utter, “There is no power save with Him;” and cannot help but say, “One who does not taste does not know.” They travel in the world of their feelings resembling the Garden of Eden, and if they can find any power to form speech at all, they speak like Mawlana Jalalu’d-Din Rumi:

If you would like to see this meaning become wholly manifest,
come and strike the sword of No! on the head of all else save Him.
After negating the created, affirm the Creator.
If you are able to do that, then you will drown
in the ocean of the manifestation of the Being of the Ultimate Truth.
Then “I” and “we” no longer exist, and one poor in oneself becomes rich and like a king by His help.
When the realm of Unity becomes manifest to you, you will believe in all that we say.
The words of him who has knowledge of God are not based on conjuncture and imitation,
but they are verified and confirmed and are based on certainty.

O God! We ask You for Your forgiveness, health, and approval; and bestow peace and blessings on our master Muhammad, and on his Family and Companions, all of them.

[1] Alif is a short vertical stroke, the form of the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, by which Jalalu’d-Din Rumi implies the “nothingness” of the created.