Tafrid (individuality) means seclusion from society or going into retreat to devote all one’s time to worshipping God. More particularly, it denotes that even when initiates have attained states or stations that others cannot, they never see themselves as such, because of their conviction that whatever attainment they have is, in fact, a gift from the Ultimate Truth, submitting themselves wholly to Him, and always being in His company. The verse (24:25), Surely God is He Who is the manifest Truth, contains an implicit indication of this rank.

Although resembling each other in coloring, individuality and isolation express different ranks and states of pleasure. Isolation is the state of cutting off relations with everything else save the All-Beloved and of always being with Him, while individuality is being favored with total self-negation with the needle of conscience pointing to Him exclusively. Isolation is marked by the zeal and pleasure of devoted servanthood to God, while individuality is the consciousness of being a servant bound to worship Him. The depth of this consciousness is in proportion to one’s capacity and varies in degrees with respect to the things initiates feel during their spiritual journey.

Those in the initial stages of the way to individuality—which is called individuality on the way to the Ultimate Truth— are constantly in quest of Him, trying to feel Him and making strenuous efforts to find and see Him. While doing this, they never consider what being in constant quest of Him denotes nor what kinds of things are used as means to reach this goal. Even if they make use of these means in a natural way, they are concentrated on the goal with the whole of mind and heart, and are always thinking of it. They use all their abilities of thinking and contemplation on the way to making contact with Him, and endeavor to reach Him, thus spending their whole life in the climate of this sweet dream.

Travelers dedicated to reaching the goal to such degree always feel the gifts or radiations of individuality coming from their turning to God, from their love of Him, and from their visions during the journey. They also feel the pleasure of seeking only Him Who is the One and concentrating all their love on Him alone. Being freed from wasting their faculties of loving, feeling, and seeking, they sip the sweet water of unity in multiplicity. They feel a great zeal and thirst when they are journeying through the step of advancing toward Him as their sole goal, find themselves in waves of annihilation while they are burning with His love, and are in privacy with Him freed from all others than Him when they reach the peak of the vision of Him.

When halfway on the road to individuality—summarized as individuality in the company of the Ultimate Truth—they feel that they are being favored with abundant gifts from the All-Holy One. However, they should not feel vain on account of these gifts; rather, they should be ever conscious that it is not themselves who are the origin of such gifts, but they have come purely from the All-Holy One. With this consciousness, they remain full of thanks and praises for Him. Those reaching this rank of being perfected or of becoming universal human beings and the most polished mirrors to the All-Holy, Ultimate Truth, cannot help but express that this is purely His favor. The following couplet of Hassan ibn Thabit, a famous poet during the Prophet’s time, is an excellent example of this:

I have not praised Muhammad with my words;
rather, I have praised my words with Muhammad. [1]

He means that his words are praiseworthy because they are about Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. Such a favor should be proclaimed in attribution to God as declared in the verse (93:11), As for the grace of your Lord, proclaim it. Some sayings of the Prophet, such as, “I am the lord of the children of Adam, and the first to be resurrected on Judgment Day, and I am the one who will first intercede (with God on behalf of human beings) and whose intercession will be accepted; but there is no pride,” [2] and comparable utterances of some of his Companions about themselves belong to this category. They do not express self-pride, but rather proclaim God’s favors and are overflowing with the feelings of thanking and praising Him. Such a favor can be regarded as a threshold to the perfect knowledge of God that is for the heroes of knowledge, love of God, and spiritual pleasures. The (third) rank of individuality beyond this threshold marks a different depth of their knowledge of God and suggests an unimaginable attainment.

This third rank, which is called individuality on the way from the Ultimate Truth, and which is supported by God’s unique and most comprehensive appreciations of those who have attained it, is the rank where travelers are favored with the constant company of God due to their perfect expansion, knowledge of God, and feeling of awe and reverence beyond all measure. The heroes of this rank feel in their inner worlds that the whole universe has been annihilated in God, they feel His constant company even when among people, and convey to the creation what they have received from the Creator, opening the door for people in order that they may be enabled to meet with the Ultimate Truth. The main characteristics of such people are that, because of their modesty, they are like other human beings in appearance, they always pursue God’s good pleasure and approval in all their acts and dealings, they live in this world by concentrating on the next one, they always feel the exhilarating company of God, they convey to others what they hear, see and feel, they take an interest in everything other than Him only because of Him, and they see every other thing as a shadow of the light of His Existence.

Those who are in the first rank of individuality are dedicated to reaching the goal of their journey. Those who have attained the second rank voice, as a proclamation of the Divine favor, the fact that they have been favored with the rays of His “Facial” Light and the lights of His Existence that they feel in the hills of their hearts. They constantly thank and praise God. As for others who have attained the peak of this journey, which is in fact beyond all ranks, and who share the indescribable depth of those of the second rank, we can approach them only with respect to their missions and their consciousness of these missions. They receive messages from the Ultimate Truth and convey these to people, calling them to meet with God, trying to remove the obstacles between people and God. They put up with living only for the life of others, and if they cannot do anything for the life of others, they experience life as an unbearable suffering. These are perfect guides and conveyors of the Divine messages. Their first or greatest rank is composed of the Messengers and the Prophets, and their true successors constitute the second rank.

The initial-rank travelers to individuality are the heroes of belief and knowledge of God who are in constant pursuit and who hasten to sincerity and purity of intention. Those of the second rank are the loyal ones filled with a knowledge and love of God, who have fully displayed their faithfulness and sincerity. As for the others, whom we try to know by their tasks and missions, they are the guides and conveyors of God’s messages, those who try to make the Ultimate Truth known to people and to rouse the spirits to meet with Him. Since the heroes of this final rank also have the attributes that are shared by those of the first two ranks, they can also be called the leaders of the heroes of knowledge of God. As for the first and foremost among them, he is our master Muhammad u Ahmad u Mahmud u Mustafa, who is the master of creation and the unique one of all time and space, upon him be the best and most perfect of blessings and peace. There are many other great persons near to his sacred sphere, especially including the other great Messengers, upon them be peace. Each of them has been honored with special favors according to his rank. However, it is Prophet Muhammad, the leader of the holiest of humankind, who was constantly being honored with such favors. Others have been ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of one moment of his relation or togetherness with the Light of Lights. All the beauties and lights with which the others have been honored are mere reflections of the Divine manifestations that he received.

In his famous Qasidatu’l-Bur’a (Eulogy of al-Bur’a), [3] Busiri expresses this highest grace as follows:

All the miracles that the other great Messengers worked by God’s leave,
were caused by the light that reached them from the light of Muhammad.
What we all know concerning him is that he is mortal human being;
but he is the best and greatest of all that God has created.
If the miracles he worked had been in proportion to his greatness,
the rotted bones would be revived when one prays, mentioning his holy name.

O God, bestow Your blessings and peace on him whom You sent as a mercy for all the worlds, and on his brothers among the Prophets and Messengers, and on the angels near-stationed to You, and on Your righteous servants among the inhabitants of the heavens and earth, may God be pleased with all of them.

Notes

1. Ibnu’l-Athir, Mathalu’s-Sair, 2: 357; Imam Rabbani, al-Maktubat, 1:58.
2. Muslim, “Fada’il,” 3; Abu Dawud, “Sunna,” 13.
3. The Bur’a by Al-Busiri is arguably the greatest classical poem in the Arabic language in praise of the character and exalted rank of Prophet Muhammad. Composed by Imam Al-Busiri in the 13th century in Mamluke Egypt, it has been recited ever since throughout the Muslim lands. (Tr.)

In an era when many parts of the world were defeated by darkness, our horizon was everywhere emblazoned with colors, and the festivals of dawn came one after another. At breakneck speed were the heralds of light, with brightest torches in their hands, calling the people to revival in every land. Those to whom they drew near found new life, as though having felt the breath of the Messiah, and the lands through which they passed turned green, as though Al-Khidr had stopped by. With one eye on this world and one fixed upon the Hereafter, these entrancing countenances were turned to Divine whilst amongst the people. Their minds and hearts were joined hand in hand in this worldly adventure. With those magical travels sometimes here and sometimes beyond, they experienced a separate festival each day.

The firmaments were interwoven and converged with this world. Our cities and villages were like the layers of the heavens. We imagined journeying across these heavenly layers as if on land, from continent to continent. We were like children as our days and nights passed with the sweetest of dreams. We felt our existence anew with each dawn and sunrise, and we returned to life all over once more. Breezes of Paradise forever blew in our horizon of thought, and it was as though we heard the flutter of angelic spirits above us. We lived an entire past intertwined with this day, and this day with the near and distant future. At a time when our contemporaries writhed in different crises due to the narrowness of the present, we perpetually breathed an air of tranquility and joy, as though strolling across the spacious and relief-laden slopes of Paradise.

Once upon a time, our magical world was like the wellspring of life of the earth and the heart of the heavens.

In this world forever agleam with lights from eternity were our villages and cities dazzling with their celestial profundities and our glistening homes resembling a bridal chamber. In this world, the rose was reconciled with the thorn, the cat side by side with the pigeon, the nightingale friends with the magpie; everything oscillated so deeply while singing the song of eternity. In everything we saw and heard we straightened ourselves and rose up once again: as if having received the sound of the Trumpet of Resurrection, took to walking toward the Divine at an even greater pace, and felt as though our roads reached all the way to the heavens. Especially for the luminous souls who have attained the happiness of walking along the trajectory of a life of the heart and spirit, living in this world was a privilege, so to speak.

With the sounds of the call to prayer, a call to eternity at each dawn, we experienced a new resurrection and felt the faith with the freshness of the day it was first revealed from the heavens, feelings refreshed, hearts wakeful to the utmost, and our spirits neck and neck with the angels. It was as if we could see the smiling countenance of the Infinite Light, peace be upon him, just a few steps ahead and stood dazed with reverence. Our thoughts were as profound as to project to the beyond, evaluated life with the gravity of the angels, and spent every moment like hearts familiar with God.

Our magical world back then was like the wellspring of life of the earth and the heart of the heavens; this heart constantly proclaimed the Almighty with its rhythmic beating, and with its living and inanimate accessories it offered us unimaginable surprises reminiscent of the beauties of Paradise. Everywhere was aglow; looking to our surrounds, we felt the dazzling magnificence of the world beyond in the face of existence and creation.

Our nights always passed with the luminosity of a “daybreak” while our days were as bright as the slopes of the highest level in Paradise. The atmosphere hanging over us and the natural landscape it encircled were refulgent, as was spring, summer, autumn, winter, and indeed all creation. In this colorful climate, we always asked for that which surpassed our will by means of our supplication and entreaties and incessantly mumbled utterances that would please Him. With feelings alive and our hearts quivering like the lowest note struck, we always presented to Him melodies with a different tune each time! The lamentations breaking loose from our hearts from time to time and rising from our bosoms ascended like the heartfelt cries of Prophet Jacob, and the winds blew with the fragrance from the shirt of Prophet Joseph, peace be upon them. All around, the sugar-sweet words were woven with pure feelings, and accompanied with deeds of righteousness. These “good words” (Qur’an 14:24) rose to the best of their “dew points,” and then poured back upon us as another form of Divine favor.  Those days were the days promised to the believers, those places were places from the Ka’ba and Mount Sinai, and we were the auspicious inheritors of the earth.

Then, the day came when the ruthless assaults of the enemies combined with the disloyalty of friends, and we were no longer able to stand where we once stood. We experienced tremors one after another and thus toppled over suddenly. Who knows, perhaps if we had not been subjected to all those betrayals, this world would have continued to bedazzle until the end of time with its own particular beauty.

Then, the day came when the ruthless assaults of the enemies combined with the disloyalty of friends, and we were no longer able to stand where we once stood. 

It is a great pity that in an inauspicious age, all the lights of this luminous world were ravaged, the hands holding the torches broken, the mouths speaking the truth gagged, and a group of monstrous souls sat upon our life springs. The sun no longer rose with its own color. In the shadow of the stains upon its countenance, the moon was like a poor creature, and the earth had taken on the form of an arena of savagery where malicious demons ran wild. The damage had been done and no longer were the roses with which we were familiar blossoming, nor the flowers diffusing their fragrance to their surrounds, nor the nightingales singing. Replacing the people showering smiles upon their surroundings with serenity and jubilation were dark-spirited night demons who were overwhelmed by hatred, rancor, and enmity, and dejected souls growling with wrath. It seemed as though all people of heart and spirit had dissolved into thin air, along with that luminous era. Villages and towns were abandoned and our minds were as empty of spirit, meaning, and respect for our own values, as were the plains and prairies of life.

The masses were dead on their feet as though subjected to an illusion, those holding the reins in their hands were in pursuit of a different fantasy each day, people scattering helter-skelter away from their own values, and disorder on the societal scale was experienced. There was no respect left for the family tree, nor regard for its fruit; axes hacked away at the tree’s roots and our thousand-year legacy was cast away to the scrapheap just to spite our forebears. Hypocrisy was popularized and dissension reverberated in all quarters. Deception was considered prowess and subterfuge, in the hands of its professionals, witnessed its golden age in favor of besmirching the believers. Deviators were wilier and quicker than ever before; on the contrary, many of the believers were worship-weary, service-spent, and addicts of rewards, and matters requiring patience, determination, sacrifice, and resolve had of course been entrusted to extraordinary occurrences. As a matter of fact, how many people believing in extraordinary manifestations had actually remained, God knows!

Considering our recent history, was it at all possible for us to get back up on our feet and pull ourselves together as a society facing such a degree of disarray? Were we going to be able to stand on our own feet once more as ourselves? It was very difficult to say anything positive with respect to the apparent causes; however, for believing hearts, causes were not everything. After all, what could not happen when God manifested His Favor! How many times humanity had encountered surprise springs until the present day, at the very moment when they fell defeated to sleet and snow. How many times they had witnessed “coolness and peace” (Qur’an 21:69) in the bosom of the most formidable infernos. Each and every time humanity turned to the door to which they needed to turn with faithfulness, confided and expounded their troubles to Him, the death pits in which they found themselves were transformed into ramps of elevation and at a stretch, in the very same breath, reached peaks that had hitherto appeared unattainable. Why could it not happen once more!

Indeed, no one who had turned to Him sincerely until now had ever come away empty-handed, and there were none amongst those remaining independent of Him who had been delivered. Thus, with all these considerations at the present time, our faces are darkened, but our hearts tremble. Fixing our hopes on the vastness of His mercy, confiding our inadequacy, inconsistency, and of course our helplessness to Him, we ask that He enable us to reach a fresh phase of revival with a brand-new celestial calendar and entrust our hopes and aspirations to His favor.

Divine favors that are granted out of God’s will refer to favors that are not dependent upon human willpower and choice. In this respect, everything that we possess may be and should be considered divine favors. That we come into existence from non-existence, that we exist as humans rather than as animals or plants, that we are born into believing families and communities, that we are given a healthy body, etcetera – you can extend the list as long as you want. All these are favors granted to us in return for nothing.

As for its diverse dimensions, we have to consider belief in God Almighty the foremost favor. Belief is a Divine favor. For while there are those who cannot benefit from the most convenient contexts of belief, there are other people in the most unlikely contexts who happen to meet belief and embrace it sincerely. Many examples around us prove that belief or faith is a blessing that comes through as divine grace. Many smart people with brilliant minds live without a compass and without a purpose, for they cannot free themselves from the past baggage of misguided perspectives. It is even harder for those who are in a position to lead their communities, for now they have to speak to their people to tell them that the path they took so far was wrong.

Another dimension of Divine favor is to grow up in a community where one isn’t profiled for their associations or beliefs. If we happen to be in a community where individuals are welcomed regardless of their racial, cultural, or religious identities, where no one is discriminated against because of his family relations or social allegiances, then this is a manifest Divine favor as well. In such a community, other groups are not defamed for their way of life, but on the contrary they are praised for their respective methods of public service and engagement. The opposite would be to narrow down and shrink the otherwise expansive nature of faith that welcomes all and which does not segregate those who are different. Such exclusivist attitudes lead to misunderstandings and raise concerns about religious thought which by definition should be inclusive.

One more favor that is significant and must be mentioned is the feeling of contentment as opposed to seeking benefits and self-interest. Future conflicts that may possibly arise at times of new worldly opportunities can only be prevented when people take a step back in an altruistic spirit, just as in the example of Hasan, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

Hasan (d. 669) had an opportunity to seek political leadership, and though he had an enormous amount of popular support, he did not wish to risk people’s lives or threaten social stability, and thus did not accept this opportunity. It is important to follow in his track and refuse any worldly gain when others are competing for such gains, and instead be prepared to even retreat into a cave, if this would be to the benefit of the community.

This attitude, which we may call contentment or abstinence, is a priceless virtue for a community. When, during a conflict, one party raises their hand to hit, they will not find a material form before them, for the contented party will already have vanished, avoiding any sort of fight whatsoever. The one who starts a fight is wrong, even if he is absolutely on the right side of the issue.

Perhaps the most important of all Divine favors is the consciousness that these gifts are divinely granted and that our willpower has nothing to do with them. Human willpower is a basic condition that is required for all matters, even for the most important ones. Yet, in the context of divine favors as described above, it is almost impossible to claim the intervention of human willpower. We have been created as human, the most honorable and superior of all creation in the universe. We are born into a world where we are given all opportunities to reveal our full potential to become “the perfect human” (al-insan al-kamil). In this life, we are given a whole infrastructure and the necessary dynamics to reach the horizons of being fully human as the giants of human history did. And these are no doubt “given” to us without us being involved.

What falls on our side is not to treat these favors as if we accidentally bumped into them, but as the most precious property entrusted to us and do our best to deserve their continuous bestowal. Each individual honored with these blessings should take all measures to keep them safe and to offer wholehearted thanks to the One in appreciation for all His favors.

While general nearness, meaning God’s nearness to creation, encompasses everything and every person, particular nearness depends on belief and can be acquired by doing whatever God has decreed as good and right. This nearness to the Almighty is possessed by those who have discovered the way of nearness and, having entered the corridor leading to eternity, reach every morning and evening with a new, deep dimension of belief. Such people are included in the verse: “God is with those who keep from evil in reverence for God, and are doers of good” (16:128). Those who have obtained this rank recite: “Surely my Lord accompanies me and will guide me” (26:62) while inhaling, and: “Surely God is with us” (9:40) while exhaling.

In particular nearness, consciousness of belief and perfect goodness have the same worth and significance as light to seeing and soul to body. Performing obligatory and supererogatory religious duties with this consciousness are like wings of light that carry one toward the “skies” of infinitude. The safest, most acceptable, and direct way of nearness to God is performing obligatory religious duties; however, performing supererogatory religious duties, which have no limit and show loyalty and devotion to God, results in true nearness and the rank of being loved by God Almighty.

A traveler to God enters new corridors leading to eternity on the wings of supererogatory duties, and feels rewarded with new Divine gifts, which engender an even greater desire to perform obligatory and supererogatory duties. One awakened to this truth feels in his or her conscience the love of God in direct proportion to his or her love of God. As stated in the hadith qudsi¹:

“My servant cannot get near to Me through anything else more lovable to Me than doing the obligatory religious duties. However, by doing supererogatory duties he gets nearer to Me, and when he becomes near to Me, I shall be his eyes to see with, his ears to hear with, his hands to grasp with, and his legs to walk on.”

In short, such a believer is directed to act by the Divine Will.

Nearness acquired through performing obligatory duties is another title of the rank of one’s being loved by God, and is included among those loved by God. As for nearness acquired through performing supererogatory duties, this is the rank of all one’s acts being ascribed to God. It is a particular Divine bestowal and honoring, as pronounced in: “You (Believers) slew them not, but God slew them. And you (Muhammad) did not throw when you threw, but God threw” (8:17).

Nearness, a particular gift of God, cannot be credited to one’s actions without considering its Divine origin. Nearness to Him originates in His Greatness and Mercy, and remoteness from Him is one of the weaknesses and “dark pits” of our character or nature. The writer of Gülistan (The Rose Garden) aptly expresses the origin of nearness and remoteness:

The Friend is nearer to me than myself;
How strange it is that I am remote from Him.
What can I say and what can I do, that
While He is with me, I am distant from Him.

Remoteness means being distant from God and perishing. According to Sufis, the first indication of remoteness is the cessation of Divine gifts, and the final indication is that if a particular Divine help does not come, the person seeking it is completely lost and perishes. Just as degrees of nearness are based on whether one is an ordinary believer, a saint, a good and righteous person, or one brought near to God, remoteness also has its degrees in a line descending to Satan, who occupies the lowest point of perishing.

Nearness to God is a Divine favor, and remoteness from him is a deprivation. However, one cannot always feel his or her personal nearness to or remoteness from Him. The greatest favor of God is that He does not allow one to feel His (special) favor (e.g., being a saint or near to Him), lest the believer so honored should feel pride and thus lose such favor. As a result, those nearest to God are usually unaware of their nearness. However, one’s unawareness of his or her personal remoteness from God is a Divine reprisal. There are still others who, intoxicated with the love of God and making no distinction between nearness and remoteness, neither show desire for nearness nor worry over remoteness. The following couplet expresses the thoughts of such intoxicated souls:

Jami, worry yourself about neither nearness nor remoteness;
There is neither nearness nor remoteness, nor union nor parting.

It is an acknowledged fact that remoteness denotes horror and deprivation. However, some shiver because of the winds of awe blowing from nearness and feel themselves caught in the clutches of Divine wrath and destruction. Nearness to the King is a burning fire may express this mood. Nevertheless, if nearness may be likened to the slopes of Paradise that open to breezes of Divine familiarity and friendship, remoteness should be regarded as the pits of deprivation and loss.

¹ A Prophetic Tradition whose meaning belongs directly to God and the wording to the Prophet.

We sit for tests of all sorts throughout our lives, tests in varying scopes and levels of difficulty. Tests to enroll a school, to pass a class, to graduate, the test a son happens to endure with his father or the other way around, and many more tests. An exceptionally difficult and humiliating test is being disqualified, pushed aside, and stripped of civil rights due to one’s humanistic thoughts and lofty ideals.

The most unbearable test, however, is the one that comes with the hands of disloyal friends, particularly when one is already suffering from the words and actions of relentless and merciless foes. Although, regardless of however inhumane and short of dignity a foe may be, his or her enmity can still be reconciled by an antagonistic logic. One may rationalize—using the same logic—that the more differences in thought, worldview, and values increase, so does enmity. Nevertheless, it is unreasonable and irrational when those striving on the same line of fate, those who cherish the same feelings and ideas, betray one another because of jealousy and competition. This is no way reconcilable with human dignity.

Indeed, it hurts—as much as it is worrying—when one ends up with betrayal and pain while expecting faithfulness. What else one can do other than enduring it, as tests of this nature are rampant in a world in which deceit is considered equal to being smart, obsession is equal to to loyalty, and bigotry means conservatism. Yes, as individuals, families, and community as a whole, we have no other option than to endure and say:

A reprimand from Your Majesty
or a favor from Your Grace;
Both are a pleasure for my soul;
How pleasant is Your grace
How pleasant is Your wrath

A community or a nation may have suffered from the greatest and most painful of all tribulations and betrayals from foes, some of who were in the disguise of friends. The entire world might have advanced upon them and brought them under siege from all corners, leading some to a vain belief of their complete annihilation. Yet, they were able to survive all these tests of life-or-death, nullifying all the destructive plans. It is highly probable for similar tests to come up along the way through hills of flames and oceans of blood, all of which will in fact help them with renewal and with metaphysical regeneration. Each of these tests will be a means of awareness for them to identify who is who, for self-empowerment through learning how to recollect and get back on their feet after being knocked down by them. A human being is purified through tests and gets hold of his or her inner essence, thus their life is saved from stagnancy and becomes colorful. Our spirit matures in the face of tests and becomes prepared for bigger challenges, as the bigger the tests and harder the questions are, the more entitled the human is to pass the class and to rise higher in the school of human values and perfection.

Refinement of the individual and empowerment of the society cannot take place without tests. Only souls who have been burdened and pressured by tests can coil like a spring, thrust like an arrow, and reach their target with the blink of an eye. Worries that haunt them all day, hunger and thirst, harm and damage, troubles of all kinds that befell their properties or lives, and being trodden under the metal tracks of unexpected events will all make them as strong as steel and prepare them for the future.

Deadened hearts and raw spirits that have not been tested whatsoever cannot rise to their human potential, nor are they of any use to the community. Distinguishing the diamond-like souls from coal-like ones is only possible by way of testing, at the lack of which gold cannot be distinguished from soil, or diamond from coal. If it was not for testing, the most inauspicious ones would be confused with the highest soaring souls, for it is through testing that angel-like ones can be told apart from the evil souls and ascend to their predestined zeniths.

For those who are appreciative of this truth, each test is one added feather to a wing that will enable him or her to take off to the realms beyond the heavens, and each difficulty faced during a test is an elixir of strength and vigor. For these lofty spirits, being cast into fire is the greatest leap into a friendship with the Creator, and being nailed on the cross is an exalted means of ascension to Him.

For a heart directed towards the highest of ideals, a test is a whip lashed on his or her perseverance, a spell that makes their willpower rear up, and a ray of light that shines on the dial of heart. After each test they crystallize even more, tighten like a bow, and soar high up to the Gardens they already built in their hearts.

Let not the muffled hearts with no refinement to welcome both His reprimand and favor fathom even a grain of this phenomenon; the idealist souls that have devoted themselves to this truth will never recognize anything more pleasant than the pains suffered in this cause. They will never lament and complain to others, even though they burn like a furnace inside. Unfaithfulness of friends and ruthlessness of foes will never take them aback from serving people and their country, for they have given oath as in the words of the poet:

Let the world come at me with all possible reasons for trouble
I am a traitor if I give up any conviction in the service of my nation. (Namık Kemal)

I think we all are aware that God has taken each of us-while we were wandering here and there-and made contact at a particular point with His holy grace and favor. This is an undeniable fact, and that we have existed under this blessing should be well comprehended. Throughout the past, certain groups of people have assumed services of education, charity, and relief with profound sincerity. Now, the task that falls on our shoulders is to proceed with carrying the flag inherited from them with the same good intentions. It may be useful to state the following points so that the favor pouring down upon us will not cease:

1. We have to persuade ourselves that we have had no role to claim within these services. It must be accepted that all takes place because of God’s holy grace, benediction and favor; due to this, we must not claim partnership with Him and commit a grave sin, and must stay away from the egotistical delusions perpetrated by our carnal self.

2. We should conceive that if we were not involved in these good works, it probably would be done by far better people, and much further distances would have been covered than those covered so far. And we should say, “God’s holy favor does not reflect the service as it comes from its fountain, instead it hits the evils of our egotism and corporeality and is fractured; because of this, our acts of service stay far behind the point they should have reached.” Long ago, our elders used to say, when someone comes to a devotee of truth: “So, my friend, how many souls have you killed?”that is, “How many people have been nipped by you and could not find the truth?” Today’s devotees, too, should bear this concern in their souls, so that God’s holy favor might not cease.

3. Our spiritual meekness and worship should multiply as much as our worldly activities and success, so that we do not become overwhelmed by our own egos. Imam Rabbani does not show himself even the deference of a dog; moreover, he even states that he doesn’t have the worth of a donkey. This consideration should be fastened to our souls, become our everyday state. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, used to say, during his day-and-night prayers with his forehead on the ground in repentance: “O! The All-Living! The Self-Subsisting! I beg for Your grace! Please do amend all my states, and do not leave me alone with my carnal self, for even as long as a blink!” We, too, must repeat this prayer often, and should strive to leave behind the brutality of our carnal selves.

4. We should attribute any sort of deficiency to ourselves, see our egos as an obstacle to service, and attribute every single success as a divine favor. Korah attributed the blessings bestowed upon him to himself and said, “All this has been given to me only by virtue of a certain knowledge that I have” (Qur’an 28:78). All kinds of Korahs and Pharaohs have said such things. In contrast, all saints and Prophets have said, “I can neither bring benefit to, nor avert harm from, even myself” (Qur’an 7:188). Thus, the thought “I have known/ I have done/ I have held/ I have constructed” is the arrogant thought of Pharaohs. The account of the Qur’an on this issue is crystal clear: “It is God Who has created you and all that you do” (37:96). So, what is our share in goodness? Only our inability and poverty. If we turn to His might through our helplessness, to His wealth through our neediness, we are further motivated with gratitude, and serve with enthusiasm, divine blessings will progress ever after.

5. The awareness and comprehension of the fact that all goodness and success come from God shall be exposed by our resolution and vigilance to talk of Him with others. But there are implicit forms of Pharisaism, as well. For instance, people sometimes say, “We have been blessed with this success; God has made us do this, for we are so unable,” with secret sanctimoniousness. Some people slyly talk of their own selves all the time, “We’ve read this and that with many friends, many intellectuals attend our programs.” But we are called to communicate about God Almighty, and must be ever so vigilant on this point. For example, children are greatly loved. When children are mentioned somewhere, we too would like to mention our own kids, and remain on the lookout for the opportunity. Likewise, people sometimes feel that way about the eloquence of their writing or speech. But these kinds of attitudes are surely indecent, perhaps even inconsiderate. We must speak of God at every single opportunity. When fidelity or loyalty among friends is mentioned somewhere, we should say, “is there a friend more loyal than God?” When rights are spoken of, we should say, “if there is someone Whose right has to be given, it is surely God Himself who has raised us from non-existence to existence, then not abandoned there and animated us; then not left alone and raised us up to humanity, then honored us with faith, moreover made us involved in good deeds.” That is, we should feel jealous if someone other than our Lord is given credit somewhere. When someone says something like, “I’ve given a speech, and people were exuberant and offered this and that,” we should feel uneasy enough to become ill, and writhe with pain, thinking, “Have a look at him; he is talking about himself instead of my Lord.”

Yes, if we wish to learn our state with God, we should look at the state of God with ourselves. How much interest do we have for Him, what kind of association do we have with Him? We should ceaselessly remember, and be always on the alert. As a matter of fact, if our contact with Him is firm, we will find a way toward Him, to communicate with others about Him. In consequence, we will see only Him, know only Him, think only about Him, move with Him, blink our eyes only for Him, and close all other considerations except Him.

6. Another major inducement for divine guidance and assistance is sincere cooperation and alliance. To reach this requires to conserve cooperation and alliance, and to avoid disunity and dissociation. If we are unified and together, we may be bestowed favors that exceed the human imagination, and we may become able to carry loads heavier than a mountain. In contrast, if our unions and alliances are destroyed, and we remain alone or with only a few friends, we will have detonated our essential force and caused the discontinuation of divine assistance. No matter how hard we try, it will not mean much, if we are without helpers. To this end, we must use all our resolution and effort to conserve the quality of being as strong as a building made of steel. Indeed, Qur’an decrees “God’s hand is over their hands” (48:10). I believe that the favors bestowed upon a congregation belong to a far-distant dimension, that even some of the holiest individuals, with the aptitude to guide all of humanity, may not be granted.

To be a human being is hard, but servitude is a still harder. The obligation of performing a great mission, in the end times of the world, is perhaps the most difficult one of all. And we have applied for the hardest duties. We have taken a difficulty upon ourselves by assuming the self and willpower that the mountains and heavens have abstained from. Therefore, we will enhance our sense of self and willpower in a transcendent way, by sheltering under God’s divine might and supremacy, in order to overcome those difficulties.

Given that the entire creation bears witness to all this, here I pray:

O King of Kings, whose signs of Lordship we perceive from the collars around our necks! Make us feel and understand our servitude to You fully and execute Your decree on those who make use of Your blessings a means of getting wild and straying into evil ways.

All those endless range of shades and hues of the realm of divine mercy and blessings which are present in human consciousness quiescently and which flow into the heart with heavenly joys on different wavelengths, even before getting into the Heavens-all these endless variety of shades and hues are from the divine grace and favor which are incommensurable with any quality or quantity. Were it not for divine favor and liking for us, what difference would there be between us and the flesh in the butcher shop? He not only livens up the earth with the fluffy clouds, rain falling down to the earth in drops, running rivers, and effervescent seas, but also enlivens our inner world and faculties, opening them into eternity through the inspirations, breezes, and springtides of divine grace.

It is He who has created the soil mixed with rocks and has filled the earth with infinitesimal creatures, turning all the corners of the world into heavenly gardens. It is He who introduces the human being, which He has created with flesh, blood, and bones, to the angels and other celestial beings and has them strive as if in a race toward good works. It is He who has paved the ways from the passageways-which can also spread out to the cesspools-to Paradise and from the seventh heaven to the observation of the divine “countenance” and has shown how coal can turn into diamonds.

O King of Mercy, who restores life to the rocks and soil and with His grace brings those whose spirit is also open to devilry into the realm of angels-furnish us with endowments beyond our capacity and improve us in our endowments! Either show those who are ignorant of You, with souls as black as coal, how to turn into diamond-like souls or condemn them to punishment!

If the pulses of the faithful quicken with hope now, if their hearts beat with the excitement of future bliss, and their minds are enraptured with the beauties of the otherworld, this is because of the divine breezes we feel in our conscience and due to God’s making us aware of the divine presence at every stage. From Him is the light of the heavens and the earth; the openings to the treasuries of both this and the other world are not even like a keyhole to the door of His Kingdom. In comparison with the real worth and virtue in God’s sight, the world that we constantly run after, filled with fancies, has not as much value as even the wing of a fly before God. Even a particle of this world-which is in fact futile in its entirety, but which gains a manifest value in accordance with Divine principles-becomes great enough to pave the way to eternal bliss.

O Mighty King who brings-through His Existence-all existence out of non-existence, who endows a drop of water with the immensity of the sea, and who grants an atom the power to be the sun! Every thing and being, from the animate to inanimate, from human to animals, from the faithful to the nonbeliever, from the conscious to the unconscious, and from the fortunate to the unfortunate, subsist under Your banner-may this divine banner always fly above us and may we continue to live in the shade of Your light which emanates from Your existence! Were it not for Your special Will and turning towards them, nothing would have come into existence, humanity would not exist, faith would be unattainable, Your existence would be imperceptible, and those fortunate souls upon whom You have bestowed an endless depth of thought with faith would not excel themselves.

You are the source for all the sparkling and fading lights. We come into the world, grow up, and die, whereas You are the Necessarily Existent One beyond any time or space. You call hundreds of thousands into being at every moment, You manifest Your existence through them, You remind us of Your will and knowledge by the divine wisdom in their creation. You draw attention to Your perpetuity by evolving and transforming everything, whispering the secrets that lie behind things and events to those who are on the way to God, and talk confidentially about the glamour of the road. Your Name is the dearest thing in our conscience-may it reside in our heart constantly! Your Essence is the one and only source of light for our spirits. Our hearts, which have been seeking for an eternity on each and every horizon-as if they are programmed for an awareness of eternity-shout out the infinitude of Your Mercy. The earth cringes in servility and submissiveness to Your command and has been on a blessed journey since the very first day it was created: The heights and mounts stand in awe of You, showing their readiness for Your commands. The rivers bow down onto the ground, rapturous with the flood of Your light, flowing with vivacity and calling out Your beautiful name, the All-Living. Gardens and orchards, and birds and chicks are in a cheerful rush everywhere so that they can observe the beauty of the manifestation of Your “face.” The snow and the ice, and hail and storms accompany the composition of Your majesty and grandeur. The spring and the fall, and the night and the day make constant mention of You in their diverse languages, as they change colors, turning green, yellow, white, and black.

It is blindness not to have knowledge of You despite seeing all this, and it is ingratitude not to adore You in servitude while being blessed with Your favors in all places, at all times. It is our duty, as Your servants, to remember You all the time, and it is a need of our spirit to flee to You at every moment in every situation. What is left for us other than displaying our displeasure and taking a stand against those who deny Your mercy. It is the voice of conscience and the very requirement of being a loyal servant at Your door to not mention those people who do not mention You.

O the eternal King, even the dust of Whose doorway is kohl powder to apply in a fine line around our eyes! We are constantly on this journey since the day we achieved-or we supposed we achieved-an awareness of being on Your way, laying our head on Your doorstep. We enthuse our hearts through Your guidance and persevere to be Your guests. Your unceasing favors-which are reference to Your blessings for the future as well-give so much vitality to our hopes that we become distanced to everything and everybody, turning to You only with expectations that cannot fit even into our dreams. With the shackles of Your Messenger on our ankles and the collars from the divine will round our necks, we are zealous, determined, and bound by our oath to not let a stranger touch even one strand of hair on our head.

If we are like much-loved doves in Your private garden, then bless us with an unending breath and a tongue that never tires out in our requital for our existence and everything You have given us! We become enthusiastic only if You enthuse us and experience feelings that only You make us feel. We accept all that which is not from the Divine abode as senseless prattle and seek refuge in You from the tongue that does not mention You.

If all this is nothing but spelling out our state and situation to You, then loose any knot from our tongue, elevate our speech in the shade of Your speech, give our hearts steadfastness, and deepen and bolster our breaths with divine breaths. We cannot have anything if You do not give it to us; we can never drop a word if You do not cause us to speak. How can these poor wings of ours be capable of reaching the horizon of Your pleasure? How can this poor heart open up to the secrets of the treasury of the knowledge of You? How can this poor tongue be adequate to praise You? We are doubled up and ashamed of our withering conduct and grating talk, but at the same time we are relieved from worry due to our turning to Your immense lenience and mercy. Our sins are of the same magnitude as the revolt of those who have been sunk into the earth and our aloofness is within the borders of Your wrath; however, Your forgiveness is so immense that it will exterminate all wrongdoings and faults, and Your proximity is nearer to us than our jugular vein. Admit us not in accordance with our rebellion, but rather in accordance with Your forgiveness; treat us not with our remoteness, but with the warmth of proximity. Make us feel Your being with us, comfort our weak hearts, and foster our spirits with Your favors.

The ways ahead are difficult and steep: many evil spirits are waiting guardedly at every corner for an ostensible motive to attack, always wheeling out words of retrogression, backwardness, theocracy, and fundamentalism in their denunciatory language, holding every means and power in their hands, and a great many intrigues in their mind. O God, if we are against faith, knowledge, science, or progression in any way-as some claim-save us then from going in this wrong direction! If we are not good enough for this, take us then to Yourself and open the ways to those who are pious, refined, erudite, and progressive! If those who claim us to be as such are, however, in the wrong, then favor those among them whose spirits are open to faith and salvation with Your guidance; destroy the unity of those who obstinately persist in their deviance and who continually engage in evil! Bring their schemes to nothing and let them fall into their own traps! Leave them with unalleviated misery and sorrow! Safeguard the loyal servants of Your door and all the believers from the outrages, derision, scorn, and schemes of such evil minded, extremely wicked, and demonic people!

Based on a sensible interpretation of the cosmos and events, we considered the arrival and departure of each existence in this world very normal, a process taking place in a gentle manner; this mysterious journey instilled in us profound spiritual expansion, for it was a means of reunion, each action and replacement was like being discharged of duty and freedom from the burdens of service at the end of which await the realms of divine favors hat is constantly heard, touched and smelt; we, as humans, don’t hear or feel certain things after a certain period of time. In medical terms, this process is called “adaptation to the senses.” If we have to go into a very stinky place, we intensely feel the smell at first, but after a while, we begin to feel it less. Another example can be given about those who wear glasses. They sometimes search for their glasses in different places thinking that they have lost them, even though they still wear them.

Our friend’s adaptation levelwas a little higher than the normal, but considering the disturbance of those who wear glasses would feel on their noses, it is better understood that this adaptation is a great favor of All-Powerful and All-Knowing God.

In the absence of adaptation

If we weren’t endowed with the capacity of adaptation, our brain would be busy with unnecessary information and we would be disturbed by the constant touching in our body. The cells that feel the senses are called “receptors.” There is an amazing adaptation in most parts of the cells that sense the touching in the skin. For instance, when we wear something, we feel the first touch of the garment to our body, but this feeling caused by the garment disappears afterwards. If we were to feel everything touching our skin, life would be very difficult for us. Likewise, in some patients, the adaptation to senses disappears and this makes the things harder for them. Some patients, on the other hand, develops hypersensitivity. They feel pain and suffering even by the slight touching of their garments. It is very hard to cure this illness which is called “neuropathic pain” in medicine. They feel cancer-like severe pain. Scientists are still working on the studies to stop this kind of pain.

How does adaptation occur?

Adaptation happens as a result of a different mechanism for each sense. Touching causes a liquid movement in the cytoplasm of the receptor cells. This movement is sensed by the cell and conveyed to the brain in the form of electric signals. Despite the continuation of touching, the cytoplasm movement in receptor cells is stopped after a while and no signal is sent to the brain. So, no touching is felt. But when touching stops, as a result of a liquid movement in the cytoplasm of the receptor cells, a new signal prompts the brain that “touching is over.” In short, only the beginning and the end of touching is communicated to the brain. Despite the continuation of touching between the beginning and the end, the brain (rather the “soul”) is not bothered by this redundant information. Even though, many types of receptors serve in the process of adaptation to touching, only six of them have been thoroughly studied and named. The adaptation is not the same in all receptors; fast and advanced in some of them, while in some of them it is slow and weak. For example in touching receptors of the skin (Merkel disks), the adaptation is relatively little and there is no adaptation at all in some senses such as feeling the pain. In some receptors (such as Ruffini’s corpuscles) located in dermis (bottom layer of the skin), deep organs and joint capsules, the adaptation is very little. These receptors send the weight and pressure signals required for the absence of adaptation. Weight and pressure receptors located in the joint capsule are responsible for sensing the angle degree of the joint. The brain receives information from them about the angle degree of the joints and it constantly uses it while sending orders of movement to the muscles of the skeleton. We can walk and do the other movements that require balance thanks to these perfect processes happening beyond our consciousness. If the brain didn’t know the information regarding the angle degree of the joints, some jobs that require delicate balance such as the job of construction workers wouldn’t be properly done.

Adaptation in various senses

Adaptation in seeing (accommodation): Adaptation in seeing is different from the one for touching. If we keep looking at an object, we keep seeing it. In this sense, there is no interruption in adaptation and seeing. This is another favor of God among many of His favors. If the adaptation in seeing were to be similar to the one in touching, we wouldn’t be able to do many activities that require walking, reading, sitting, standing and being in balance. All-Merciful God placed different adaptations in our eyes appropriate for the jobs that they do.

Adaptation in seeing near and far: We keep seeing an object no matter how nearer or farther we move it. Despite the change in the distance of the object, our vision doesn’t change. These processes are automatically carried out depending on the distance we look and they are operated under the framework of optical principles such as changing the shape of the eye lens and approaching of the lens to the retina or moving away from it.

Adaptation in seeing in the light and dark: Our eyes detect and adapt to the new surroundings, be it light or dark. During this adaptation process, seeing in the dark and light is made possible by adjusting the degree of vision and increasing and decreasing it one million times. The activities of the photoreceptors (in the shape of rod and cone) are carried out by an amazing knowledge and power.

Adaptation in smelling (olfaction): The smelling receptors of the nose adapt to the bad smell at a rate of 50 % in its first encounter. So, the dense bad smell felt in the first encounter disappears immediately. A minute after this encounter, the sensing of the bad smell is eliminated upon the orders coming from the brain to the nerves of smell. Garbage men or cleaners or the people working in slaughterhouse or sewerage do not get disturbed, as a favor of God, by the bad smell as much as other people do.

Adaptation in tasting: the adaptation happens one minute (at most) after the “tasting.” Yet All-Powerful and All-Knowing God created the adaptation capacity for the bitter materials very low, because most of these materials are a kind of poison for our body. Therefore when the babies unconsciously want to eat something poisonous, they take them out at once and are avoid of being poisoned.

Adaptation in temperature: The temperature receptors are intensely stimulated in sudden temperature changes. The adaptation occurs in 30 seconds or one minute as the intense of stimulation decrease. However there is no 100% adaptation, because the receptors sense both the sudden changes and constant situations. Remember, both extreme hot and cold are harmful for the body. The fact that the adaptation in this sense is limited is another favor of God.

Adaptation in hearing: When we enter a noisy environment, we are disturbed by the extreme noise. But two tiny muscles located in the middle ear contract as a manifestation of His mercy and prevent the sounds from being conveyed to the middle ear by masking all the sounds except for the ones of normal conversation. Workers in a noisy environment keep working as though they do not hear the noise at all.

Adaptation in feeling the pain: There is no adaptation in feeling the pain which is an indication of God’s mercy. If there were any adaptation to the pain, we would lose the patients before diagnosing and curing the illnesses. If a patient bothered by the gastrointestinal bleeding or appendicitis were to have an adaptation to the pain, after a few minutes he would not feel any pain before taken to the hospital and think that his illness is over and does not feel any need for a treatment. But possible inflammation of the appendix might result in the risk of death after a while.

Many of us are not aware of this perfect mechanism of adaptation. All these examples put forward the fact that the mechanisms bestowed upon our senses are very harmonious and adaptive to the working principles of our intellectual and spiritual faculties in the evaluation of various situations that we encounter in our life and they also show that humans were created as a whole. If we were deprived of such a blessing, we wouldn’t be aware of many changes that threaten our life and be bothered by the disturbing environmental conditions.

Omer Arifagaoglu is a professor of medicine. He lives in Turkey.