In the Mystic Footsteps of Saints, VOLUME 2 (Shaykh Nazim, 115 pages, 4/7)
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and told him of his dream. After hearing the dream the interpreter said, “Your Majesty, among your relatives you will be the one to enjoy the longest life of all.” The king was very pleased and ordered that the dream interpreter be rewarded with one hundred gold coins for his services.
Look, the same dream, and, in reality, the same interpretation; but one interpreter left the palace in disgrace with one hundred stripes on his back, while the other left with honor and a purse bulging with one hundred new coins. The second man was clever, he knew how to address a king, but the first one was foolish, even though he understood dreams just as well as the second.
Likewise, in your position, as a psychiatrist, every word must be weighted for its effect. One well directed word can bring more peace to the heart of a patient suffering from depression than a whole book that misses the point.
The main cause of depression is lack of faith, believing in nothing. The important element in treating depressives is to make them believe, for if they go on believing in no one and nothing, there is nothing you can do for them. At least you must get them to believe in you: that is the strongest means and the essential key for physical and spiritual healing.
Only if the patient believes in you, can you help him: only if he is willing to take from you, can you effectively give him anything. If he believes in you he will be open, and so you will be able to work on changing the ideas and attitudes that are part of his depression. Yes, you must use your wisdom to get him to believe in you. That is the foundation of any cure. To build that strong base is essential, but it is a matter of spiritual power, not something one can learn in school.
That power calls for spiritual authorization, and we have granted you that, so that now you will find that you can do your job effectively through your inspiration. The authorization that comes to us through our grandshaykh will increase your understanding of people’s situations and make you better able to address them.
Wa min Allah at Taufiq.
Depression and Sleep
A person in a healthy mental state finds that “sleep resides beneath the pillow”. When bedtime has arrived he falls asleep quickly and easily. But depressed people often suffer from insomnia. Such people should seek to engage themselves in strenuous physical labor so that their bodies are tired and will fall asleep despite their mental state.
For depressed people sleep is like a bird that alights on a branch of a tree, then quickly takes flight. Therefore, whenever they may feel sleepy or physically exhausted they should immediately leave whatever they are doing and go to bed or take a nap wherever they may find a quiet corner.
There is however one time of day, when nobody should fall asleep under any circumstances short of severe illness, and most particularly this applies to depressive people: the time between Asr and Maghrib from two hours before sunset until the sun has set. If a person falls asleep when it’s light and wakes up in dusk or darkness, he will find himself face to face with depression. If a depressed person sleeps at this time he will be offering himself up to madness. The Holy Prophet said, “Whoever sleeps in the late afternoon should blame only himself for whatever calamities befall him.”
That is a terrible time in which to sleep. If you find yourself being overcome by sleep at that time of day you must try to ward it off, washing your face with cold water, drinking tea or coffee, working in the garden or kitchen, taking a walk or looking after the children.
No one should use sleeping pills to induce sleep, as they are not only habit forming but destroy the whole nervous system. Indeed it is better not to sleep than to take those pills. One may use such natural sedatives as yogurt, aniseed herbal preparations, etc.
Also, sleeping on one’s belly causes depression. Satan sleeps on his belly; and none of the prophets and saints ever slept like this. For adults, sleeping more than eight hours is a cause of depression. Not to mention people who oversleep to extremes, there are so many people who are in the habit of sleeping nine hours. That extra hour is no good; it causes listlessness and bad memory. Particularly people seeking to follow Sufi ways must be careful not to oversleep.
Wa min Allah at Taufiq.
Advice on Childrearing
Most of the Western people I have met don’t know how to look after their children properly. Somehow, the misguided notion that they should leave children to do whatever they like has taken hold of them. To say that they leave them free like wild beasts would not be quite accurate, for even animals educate their young. If even animals can be trained by their elders to behave in a way befitting their nature, then what about the most highly honored descendants of Adam, who have been granted such high potential by their Lord?
You must look after your children. If they do something laudable you must be sure to praise and reward them, so that they may be pleased with your attention and do such good actions more often. But when they misbehave you must at least point it out to them: don’t ever let your children’s misbehavior just pass without drawing their attention to your disapproval.
You must say, “Don’t do that; it is no good to do that; it harms people.” And sometimes, if it seems that the message is not getting across, you may pull their ears or spank them. Yes, the pillars of education are the hope of reward and the fear of reprimand or punishment. Western people have demolished these two pillars and leave their children to grow wild—that is their mistake.
Some of our brothers used to bring their children with them when they came to see Grandshaykh. Instead of keeping their children quiet during the meeting, some would let the children run around and cause disruption, neither controlling them nor taking them away from the meeting. Grandshaykh would tell them, “Oh my son, just you wait: those children will grow to blatantly disrespect you.”
Freestyle education has brought a great calamity down upon Western civilization, so great that statesmen ask, “What can we do to maintain the peace in our society? How can we stem the tide of violence? What can we do with these wild people?” And people ask, “What can we do about these rulers who are oppressing us?”
What we are witnessing in our time is a fulfillment of a prophecy of the Holy Prophet, in which he says, “There will come a time when statesmen will curse the populace and the populace with curse statesmen.”
How shall adult people be brought under control, when their parents could not exercise any influence over them when they were small? There is a saying, “Who grows up in a certain way will end up that way.” This is the reason why trees growing crooked are bent into shape when they are yet small and supple. Once their trunks are thick, who can bend them? Therefore, education must begin in infancy.
A very important part of good education is to try to teach your children patience by not giving them everything they demand immediately. You must tell them, “You don’t get it now, but I will give it to you in five minutes, (or in half an hour, or tomorrow, or if you do well in school).” Or you may say, “I won’t give it to you until you stop bothering me, so just forget about it and I may give it to you.”
Grandshaykh used to say that the major cause of depression in rich people is that they immediately got everything they wanted when they were young. Later as adults, when they find something desired to be unattainable, they taste bitter frustration, and not having learned to handle that experience, they fall into depression.
Another point is, we must train our children to respect and honor their parents, especially as family ties have so deteriorated in the West. You must not allow your children to eat of any sweets they are given until they offer them first to their mother. That way, inshaAllah, as adults they will think to bring their mother a share of their earnings.
Teach your children to kiss your hands and cheeks when they wake up in the morning and before they go to bed at night. This will instill in them affection and respect for their parents.
Wa min Allah at Taufiq.
Purity of Heart: To Forgive, Forget, and Be Immune to Vainglory
Once the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, was sitting with his companions, when, sighting from afar a man approaching, he said, “Oh my companions, if you want to behold one of the inhabitants of Paradise, look at that man who is now approaching.” The man presently arrived and took his place among the congregation. The next day, and yet the next day after that, the Prophet delivered his companions the good tidings of that man’s eternal felicity (without saying anything, however, to the man himself).
So often I have heard people lay claim to possessing pure hearts. Especially people who reject religion and mystical practices out of hand love to make such claims. We don’t lay any such claims, but we believe that our way is the way of purification, and that our efforts should set us in the right direction. Anyone who thinks of himself as a pure hearted person should pay heed to this account and re examine his claim in light of it.
This account has reached our time through Abdullah, the son of Umar, the second Khalifa of Islam. When Abdullah heard the Prophet laud that person three times, he decided to follow him to his house and seek both his blessings and knowledge of exactly what means had led to his attaining such a high station of perfection in this life.
When Abdullah arrived at the man’s home he knocked on his door and was welcomed in. The man asked him, “May I inquire as to the purpose of your visit?” Then Ibn Umar related to the man what the Holy Prophet had said about him each of the three preceding
days. The man said, “I know.” Abdullah Ibn Umar continued, “Oh my brother, I would also like to be one of those fortunate people to have secured a place in Paradise while still living in this world. What exactly have you done to attain such distinction in the Divine Presence? What kind of ascetic austerities have you undergone? What kinds of supererogatory acts of devotion have you performed?”
“Oh Abdullah, I don’t worship more than you or anyone else. My being given those good tidings is not a result either of my austerity or my devotions. There are, however, three attributes that I have cultivated and which I prize very much, as one would cherish rare pearls in his possession.
“First of all, every night as I lay in bed before sleeping I say to my Lord, ‘Oh my Lord, if any of Your servants has harmed me today, either with his hand or with his tongue, I have forgiven him with complete forgiveness, and will never raise a complaint against him to anyone nor to You, neither now nor on the Day of Judgment. You are my witness that I have forgiven them all, now and forever, here and hereafter.’ ”
I must ask all people who claim to be pure of heart: can you forgive in such a manner? Or do you run to court over sixpence, reciprocate for a single word of abuse with a shower? When slapped do you turn the other cheek, or answer it with ten blows? Do you hold grudges over a long period of time? If you react in this manner to provocation you must know that you are cultivating filth and disease, not purity. Don’t hold grudges, for their fruit is hatred and enmity. Where then is your purity?
Then Abdullah Ibn Umar said, “Hmmm... that is a very difficult attribute to emulate. Tell me the second attribute—that, perhaps, may be easier to aspire to.”
The man said, “Look, if I were given the whole world and its treasures, and if the people were to make obeisance to me, saying. ‘We are making you our king and putting a huge royal treasury at your disposal. Please take your place now on the imperial throne and order us to do what you like, your wish is our command’, I would not be happy or gratified at all. And what is the sign that I really feel this way? That is the third attribute, and it confirms the second, is proof that I care nothing for wealth and power. For, if those same people were to come the next day, abuse me and kick me off the throne, saying, ‘Go away! We don’t accept such a foolish king who is not even happy at being crowned king nor pleased at having sovereignty over the whole world bestowed upon him, nor with vast wealth and treasures’, I would not be sorry in the least, but greatly relieved.”
Are such attributes so easy to attain that everyone should go around claiming to have purity of heart? If someone were to give us an ordinary house—forget about palaces—we would be happy, and certainly if they came the next day and claimed it back we would be sorry. So what about having the whole world at our command? Such renunciation is a sign that the topmost point of faith has been reached.
The Lord has declared, “This world is of less value to Me than the wing of a mosquito.” That man had attained certainty of this and had taken this wisdom to heart and stopped coveting this world. The true believer will say, “Oh my Lord, as much as the material world is worth in Your sight, so let it be in mine.”
The Water of Life
Everything pertaining to this world is impermanent, constantly in a state of transition. Therefore, it is only natural that I am here addressing you today and elsewhere tomorrow. Don’t let this condition sadden you, for, in reality, transition is God’s Mercy to man. Don’t wish even for good times to last forever, for you wouldn’t be able to bear permanence—you would just get fed up.
Know that the discontinuation of any desirable state or condition is the catalyst for gaining an even deeper appreciation of what is good. Longing for the attainment of the spiritual realities of which you have caught a glimpse is the means to their attainment. Is there any morsel tastier than that upon which the fast is broken?
This is the reason that Allah Almighty created the world as it is. The signs of the heavens take their turns inspiring our souls. The rising sun brightens our day, but just when we would start to get fed up with it, lo and behold, it bows out and the soft light of the moon enchants us with its many forms, appearing first as a delicate crescent, then waxing gradually to its full and waning. If it never waned no one would be able to appreciate the awe inspiring immensity of the starlit heavens.
The threadbare pilgrim may cross snowy mountain passes and sun scorched deserts barefoot, or even on his hands and knees in order to reach Mecca. When he finally arrives he is struck dumb by the awesome majesty of the Holy Kaba. Tears stream down his face as he clings to its door, pouring out his heart and soul to his Lord—and the Lord fulfills his heart’s innermost desire
in accordance with the longing that drove him to suffer freezing wind and scorching sun.
Longing brought him to the house of the Lord, but the pilgrim’s dedication to his Lord will not be served by his staying in Mecca on and on, but by returning to his country with the cherished memories of his pilgrimage inspiring his faith. Should he choose to remain in Mecca he runs the risks of gradually becoming callous and hardened to the sight of the Kaba like the inhabitants, who never had a Mecca as their distant sought after goal, who crossed no deserts to attain it, but who may, rather, cross through the Holy Mosque as a shortcut to get from one part of the market to another, barely casting a glance at the magnificent Kaba.
Once a murid used to attend his shaykh’s discourses only occasionally, although he lived in the vicinity of the shaykh’s dargah (Sufi school). The shaykh asked him, “Why do you attend so infrequently?” The clever murid answered, “Because I don’t like being asked to attend less frequently.”
The sun, the moon, the stars, the Holy Kaba, the beauty of the nature of architecture, or the face of a beloved person: all these sights may inspire us, may remind us of a great truth that is alive in our hearts, but of which we are yet heedless. But don’t become enamored of the signs to such an extent that they become ends in themselves, and you cease to follow the directions they seek to impart to you. The object is not a heavenly body that will set, a symbol which may become commonplace nor a face that will age or turn away from you.
When Abraham was yet a seeker of truth, at a stage of bewilderment on his road to truth, he became
enamored of the sun, moon and stars, but as each set he said, “My love is not for those that disappear.”
Love is eternal, and the transitory nature of all things pertaining to this world is a sign of truth, a sign that shows us by means of contrast. Real spiritual love love of God and love of mankind for the sake of God is the only truth, the only thing in this world that is permanently and constantly sweet.
Physical separation from someone you love, in accordance with the rule that pertains to the physical, may create a longing that will cause love to increase, may augment the bliss of reunion. But on the spiritual level that love is constant, is never interrupted by distance nor by time. Your beloved may be on the moon and you may be in bliss at the thought of reunion, but if love is unrequited, that is not sweet separation but a bitter pill. The extinction of love is pitch darkness. You may regard the sunset as beautiful, but how would you feel if it were setting forever?
Love is the water of life. God created Adam from clay and water. If it were not for water the clay would hold no shape. Divine love is what binds our souls together. That is why people become so miserable when they feel unloved. It is a feeling that something essential is missing from one’s life, that life itself is incomplete, and in the face of this ache people set out in search of love with the desperation of a man dying of thirst.
Yesterday I noticed a bumper sticker that read, “God is Love.” That is a statement that accords with a common level of understanding; in reality such a description can never do justice to the Almighty. Never can a single word or emotion, nor even all words and all emotions come close to describing His splendor what to speak of “being” Him. However, the saying “God is Love” can be
recognized as a common wisdom, as the intention is to accord the highest degree of veneration and devotion to love, which is correct. But to associate God as “Love” is an oversimplification.
Love is an attribute of God Almighty which binds His servants to Him eternally. If God were to hate mankind it would be so easy for Him to bring about an abrupt and terrible end to our follies—but He loves us and therefore shows us so much tolerance.
If you are a parent, consider your love for your children. If your son grew up to be a criminal, would you not love him still? Would you not maintain that despite his bad actions (which you would perhaps readily condemn) he was still basically at heart a good boy? Would you not find excuses for his bad behavior and have faith that he would turn away again from those bad actions?
We all know the story of Noah (“Nuh” in Arabic). He invited his people to the truth over an astounding period of time 950 years! Over such a long period he showed so much patience with their continual abuse, every day they used to beat him unconscious. Finally, realizing that those people were unreformable, and that each generation was even more rotten than the one before it, he asked Allah to destroy them all, to purify the face of the earth from the likes of them. Then Allah caused it to rain for forty days and nights so that, except for the few believers who had taken refuge with him on the ark, all of the human race was destroyed.
After the flood abated God ordered Noah to make forty clay jugs, and to devote extra care and attention to making them perfectly. When Noah had finished making them the Lord ordered him to smash them to bits. Noah obeyed, but he wasn’t happy with the order, it seemed
wanton to him to destroy what he had spent so much effort in making. Then the Lord addressed Noah, saying, “Oh Noah, you made forty clay jugs, and it was odious to you to break them. Do you think that it was a pleasure for Me to kill all of My servants, even though they were unbelievers?” Then Noah began to cry and wail. So proverbial was his wailing that “Nuh” came to mean “wail” in Arabic.
Do you know the story of Moses and Korah? Among the Children of Israel at the time of the exodus from Egypt, Korah was the richest man. Korah carried a large part of that wealth into the Sinai with him, and with that wealth a great deal of influence over the Children of Israel. Unfortunately for Korah he used his influence to stir up rebellion and discontent with the leadership of Moses.
In order to discredit Moses once and for all, Korah bribed a dishonorable woman to claim that Moses had committed adultery with her and that the child in her womb was his. As he was of course innocent, Moses was livid with rage, as he could only deny the accusation but could do nothing to prove it false. How could he lead the Children of Israel when they would hold doubts in their hearts regarding his morals and veracity?
So Moses turned to his Lord, saying, “Oh my Lord, vindicate me!” The Lord replied, “I have granted you the power to command the earth. You may use it to vindicate yourself and prove your innocence to the Children of Israel.” Then Moses announced to all the people, “All who are with me come to my side and those who adhere to Korah stay by his side.” Then Moses said, “Oh earth, catch him and swallow him up!” Responding to this command the earth caught Korah, laying firm hold of his feet and ankles. Korah cried, “Oh my dear cousin Moses, for the sake of our kinship please forgive me!” But
Moses was very angry and determined to punish Korah for all of his crimes, “Oh earth, swallow him!”
Then the earth grabbed a little more of his legs, and he again cried out to Moses for forgiveness—and so it went on, a full seventy times, Korah asking for pardon and Moses refusing and demanding retribution. Finally the earth had completely swallowed Korah. Then the Lord addressed Moses, “Korah begged you for forgiveness seventy times, but you had no mercy for him in your heart. I swear by My Might and Glory, had he even once addressed himself to Me, saying, ‘Oh my Lord, I repent, please forgive me’, I would have rescued him. You had no mercy for him because you didn’t create him. I am the Creator and I have boundless mercy for My repentant servants.”
The Lord created us and loves us; that is why everyone loves love. No one complains of love or wants it to be taken from him, but all want to be loved more. Where are you seeking love? Are you taking pure water from the gushing source, or muddy, slimy water from the ditch? You love people, but they will die. Perhaps your love will be unrequited, or because of a small error or indiscretion on your part that person’s heart will harden to you and love will be no more.
You say that you love him or her, but do you love him or her unconditionally? Is your love permanent— love for the real immaculate divine essence living in that person or temporary, as a result of some desirable attributes: beauty, youth, wealth, station or wit? When that beautiful, young, wealthy, clever, amiable socialite becomes an ugly, old, penniless, senile, grumpy outcast will you still love her? Is your love of the spirit or of the world?
Oh people, seek real love, a love that cannot go astray. That love is the love of God and the love of His creatures for the sake of His love for them. That love emanation may bind all receptive hearts. There is a common saying, “The friend of a friend is a friend”, so love people if you love God, for you
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and told him of his dream. After hearing the dream the interpreter said, “Your Majesty, among your relatives you will be the one to enjoy the longest life of all.” The king was very pleased and ordered that the dream interpreter be rewarded with one hundred gold coins for his services.
Look, the same dream, and, in reality, the same interpretation; but one interpreter left the palace in disgrace with one hundred stripes on his back, while the other left with honor and a purse bulging with one hundred new coins. The second man was clever, he knew how to address a king, but the first one was foolish, even though he understood dreams just as well as the second.
Likewise, in your position, as a psychiatrist, every word must be weighted for its effect. One well directed word can bring more peace to the heart of a patient suffering from depression than a whole book that misses the point.
The main cause of depression is lack of faith, believing in nothing. The important element in treating depressives is to make them believe, for if they go on believing in no one and nothing, there is nothing you can do for them. At least you must get them to believe in you: that is the strongest means and the essential key for physical and spiritual healing.
Only if the patient believes in you, can you help him: only if he is willing to take from you, can you effectively give him anything. If he believes in you he will be open, and so you will be able to work on changing the ideas and attitudes that are part of his depression. Yes, you must use your wisdom to get him to believe in you. That is the foundation of any cure. To build that strong base is essential, but it is a matter of spiritual power, not something one can learn in school.
That power calls for spiritual authorization, and we have granted you that, so that now you will find that you can do your job effectively through your inspiration. The authorization that comes to us through our grandshaykh will increase your understanding of people’s situations and make you better able to address them.
Wa min Allah at Taufiq.
Depression and Sleep
A person in a healthy mental state finds that “sleep resides beneath the pillow”. When bedtime has arrived he falls asleep quickly and easily. But depressed people often suffer from insomnia. Such people should seek to engage themselves in strenuous physical labor so that their bodies are tired and will fall asleep despite their mental state.
For depressed people sleep is like a bird that alights on a branch of a tree, then quickly takes flight. Therefore, whenever they may feel sleepy or physically exhausted they should immediately leave whatever they are doing and go to bed or take a nap wherever they may find a quiet corner.
There is however one time of day, when nobody should fall asleep under any circumstances short of severe illness, and most particularly this applies to depressive people: the time between Asr and Maghrib from two hours before sunset until the sun has set. If a person falls asleep when it’s light and wakes up in dusk or darkness, he will find himself face to face with depression. If a depressed person sleeps at this time he will be offering himself up to madness. The Holy Prophet said, “Whoever sleeps in the late afternoon should blame only himself for whatever calamities befall him.”
That is a terrible time in which to sleep. If you find yourself being overcome by sleep at that time of day you must try to ward it off, washing your face with cold water, drinking tea or coffee, working in the garden or kitchen, taking a walk or looking after the children.
No one should use sleeping pills to induce sleep, as they are not only habit forming but destroy the whole nervous system. Indeed it is better not to sleep than to take those pills. One may use such natural sedatives as yogurt, aniseed herbal preparations, etc.
Also, sleeping on one’s belly causes depression. Satan sleeps on his belly; and none of the prophets and saints ever slept like this. For adults, sleeping more than eight hours is a cause of depression. Not to mention people who oversleep to extremes, there are so many people who are in the habit of sleeping nine hours. That extra hour is no good; it causes listlessness and bad memory. Particularly people seeking to follow Sufi ways must be careful not to oversleep.
Wa min Allah at Taufiq.
Advice on Childrearing
Most of the Western people I have met don’t know how to look after their children properly. Somehow, the misguided notion that they should leave children to do whatever they like has taken hold of them. To say that they leave them free like wild beasts would not be quite accurate, for even animals educate their young. If even animals can be trained by their elders to behave in a way befitting their nature, then what about the most highly honored descendants of Adam, who have been granted such high potential by their Lord?
You must look after your children. If they do something laudable you must be sure to praise and reward them, so that they may be pleased with your attention and do such good actions more often. But when they misbehave you must at least point it out to them: don’t ever let your children’s misbehavior just pass without drawing their attention to your disapproval.
You must say, “Don’t do that; it is no good to do that; it harms people.” And sometimes, if it seems that the message is not getting across, you may pull their ears or spank them. Yes, the pillars of education are the hope of reward and the fear of reprimand or punishment. Western people have demolished these two pillars and leave their children to grow wild—that is their mistake.
Some of our brothers used to bring their children with them when they came to see Grandshaykh. Instead of keeping their children quiet during the meeting, some would let the children run around and cause disruption, neither controlling them nor taking them away from the meeting. Grandshaykh would tell them, “Oh my son, just you wait: those children will grow to blatantly disrespect you.”
Freestyle education has brought a great calamity down upon Western civilization, so great that statesmen ask, “What can we do to maintain the peace in our society? How can we stem the tide of violence? What can we do with these wild people?” And people ask, “What can we do about these rulers who are oppressing us?”
What we are witnessing in our time is a fulfillment of a prophecy of the Holy Prophet, in which he says, “There will come a time when statesmen will curse the populace and the populace with curse statesmen.”
How shall adult people be brought under control, when their parents could not exercise any influence over them when they were small? There is a saying, “Who grows up in a certain way will end up that way.” This is the reason why trees growing crooked are bent into shape when they are yet small and supple. Once their trunks are thick, who can bend them? Therefore, education must begin in infancy.
A very important part of good education is to try to teach your children patience by not giving them everything they demand immediately. You must tell them, “You don’t get it now, but I will give it to you in five minutes, (or in half an hour, or tomorrow, or if you do well in school).” Or you may say, “I won’t give it to you until you stop bothering me, so just forget about it and I may give it to you.”
Grandshaykh used to say that the major cause of depression in rich people is that they immediately got everything they wanted when they were young. Later as adults, when they find something desired to be unattainable, they taste bitter frustration, and not having learned to handle that experience, they fall into depression.
Another point is, we must train our children to respect and honor their parents, especially as family ties have so deteriorated in the West. You must not allow your children to eat of any sweets they are given until they offer them first to their mother. That way, inshaAllah, as adults they will think to bring their mother a share of their earnings.
Teach your children to kiss your hands and cheeks when they wake up in the morning and before they go to bed at night. This will instill in them affection and respect for their parents.
Wa min Allah at Taufiq.
Purity of Heart: To Forgive, Forget, and Be Immune to Vainglory
Once the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, was sitting with his companions, when, sighting from afar a man approaching, he said, “Oh my companions, if you want to behold one of the inhabitants of Paradise, look at that man who is now approaching.” The man presently arrived and took his place among the congregation. The next day, and yet the next day after that, the Prophet delivered his companions the good tidings of that man’s eternal felicity (without saying anything, however, to the man himself).
So often I have heard people lay claim to possessing pure hearts. Especially people who reject religion and mystical practices out of hand love to make such claims. We don’t lay any such claims, but we believe that our way is the way of purification, and that our efforts should set us in the right direction. Anyone who thinks of himself as a pure hearted person should pay heed to this account and re examine his claim in light of it.
This account has reached our time through Abdullah, the son of Umar, the second Khalifa of Islam. When Abdullah heard the Prophet laud that person three times, he decided to follow him to his house and seek both his blessings and knowledge of exactly what means had led to his attaining such a high station of perfection in this life.
When Abdullah arrived at the man’s home he knocked on his door and was welcomed in. The man asked him, “May I inquire as to the purpose of your visit?” Then Ibn Umar related to the man what the Holy Prophet had said about him each of the three preceding
days. The man said, “I know.” Abdullah Ibn Umar continued, “Oh my brother, I would also like to be one of those fortunate people to have secured a place in Paradise while still living in this world. What exactly have you done to attain such distinction in the Divine Presence? What kind of ascetic austerities have you undergone? What kinds of supererogatory acts of devotion have you performed?”
“Oh Abdullah, I don’t worship more than you or anyone else. My being given those good tidings is not a result either of my austerity or my devotions. There are, however, three attributes that I have cultivated and which I prize very much, as one would cherish rare pearls in his possession.
“First of all, every night as I lay in bed before sleeping I say to my Lord, ‘Oh my Lord, if any of Your servants has harmed me today, either with his hand or with his tongue, I have forgiven him with complete forgiveness, and will never raise a complaint against him to anyone nor to You, neither now nor on the Day of Judgment. You are my witness that I have forgiven them all, now and forever, here and hereafter.’ ”
I must ask all people who claim to be pure of heart: can you forgive in such a manner? Or do you run to court over sixpence, reciprocate for a single word of abuse with a shower? When slapped do you turn the other cheek, or answer it with ten blows? Do you hold grudges over a long period of time? If you react in this manner to provocation you must know that you are cultivating filth and disease, not purity. Don’t hold grudges, for their fruit is hatred and enmity. Where then is your purity?
Then Abdullah Ibn Umar said, “Hmmm... that is a very difficult attribute to emulate. Tell me the second attribute—that, perhaps, may be easier to aspire to.”
The man said, “Look, if I were given the whole world and its treasures, and if the people were to make obeisance to me, saying. ‘We are making you our king and putting a huge royal treasury at your disposal. Please take your place now on the imperial throne and order us to do what you like, your wish is our command’, I would not be happy or gratified at all. And what is the sign that I really feel this way? That is the third attribute, and it confirms the second, is proof that I care nothing for wealth and power. For, if those same people were to come the next day, abuse me and kick me off the throne, saying, ‘Go away! We don’t accept such a foolish king who is not even happy at being crowned king nor pleased at having sovereignty over the whole world bestowed upon him, nor with vast wealth and treasures’, I would not be sorry in the least, but greatly relieved.”
Are such attributes so easy to attain that everyone should go around claiming to have purity of heart? If someone were to give us an ordinary house—forget about palaces—we would be happy, and certainly if they came the next day and claimed it back we would be sorry. So what about having the whole world at our command? Such renunciation is a sign that the topmost point of faith has been reached.
The Lord has declared, “This world is of less value to Me than the wing of a mosquito.” That man had attained certainty of this and had taken this wisdom to heart and stopped coveting this world. The true believer will say, “Oh my Lord, as much as the material world is worth in Your sight, so let it be in mine.”
The Water of Life
Everything pertaining to this world is impermanent, constantly in a state of transition. Therefore, it is only natural that I am here addressing you today and elsewhere tomorrow. Don’t let this condition sadden you, for, in reality, transition is God’s Mercy to man. Don’t wish even for good times to last forever, for you wouldn’t be able to bear permanence—you would just get fed up.
Know that the discontinuation of any desirable state or condition is the catalyst for gaining an even deeper appreciation of what is good. Longing for the attainment of the spiritual realities of which you have caught a glimpse is the means to their attainment. Is there any morsel tastier than that upon which the fast is broken?
This is the reason that Allah Almighty created the world as it is. The signs of the heavens take their turns inspiring our souls. The rising sun brightens our day, but just when we would start to get fed up with it, lo and behold, it bows out and the soft light of the moon enchants us with its many forms, appearing first as a delicate crescent, then waxing gradually to its full and waning. If it never waned no one would be able to appreciate the awe inspiring immensity of the starlit heavens.
The threadbare pilgrim may cross snowy mountain passes and sun scorched deserts barefoot, or even on his hands and knees in order to reach Mecca. When he finally arrives he is struck dumb by the awesome majesty of the Holy Kaba. Tears stream down his face as he clings to its door, pouring out his heart and soul to his Lord—and the Lord fulfills his heart’s innermost desire
in accordance with the longing that drove him to suffer freezing wind and scorching sun.
Longing brought him to the house of the Lord, but the pilgrim’s dedication to his Lord will not be served by his staying in Mecca on and on, but by returning to his country with the cherished memories of his pilgrimage inspiring his faith. Should he choose to remain in Mecca he runs the risks of gradually becoming callous and hardened to the sight of the Kaba like the inhabitants, who never had a Mecca as their distant sought after goal, who crossed no deserts to attain it, but who may, rather, cross through the Holy Mosque as a shortcut to get from one part of the market to another, barely casting a glance at the magnificent Kaba.
Once a murid used to attend his shaykh’s discourses only occasionally, although he lived in the vicinity of the shaykh’s dargah (Sufi school). The shaykh asked him, “Why do you attend so infrequently?” The clever murid answered, “Because I don’t like being asked to attend less frequently.”
The sun, the moon, the stars, the Holy Kaba, the beauty of the nature of architecture, or the face of a beloved person: all these sights may inspire us, may remind us of a great truth that is alive in our hearts, but of which we are yet heedless. But don’t become enamored of the signs to such an extent that they become ends in themselves, and you cease to follow the directions they seek to impart to you. The object is not a heavenly body that will set, a symbol which may become commonplace nor a face that will age or turn away from you.
When Abraham was yet a seeker of truth, at a stage of bewilderment on his road to truth, he became
enamored of the sun, moon and stars, but as each set he said, “My love is not for those that disappear.”
Love is eternal, and the transitory nature of all things pertaining to this world is a sign of truth, a sign that shows us by means of contrast. Real spiritual love love of God and love of mankind for the sake of God is the only truth, the only thing in this world that is permanently and constantly sweet.
Physical separation from someone you love, in accordance with the rule that pertains to the physical, may create a longing that will cause love to increase, may augment the bliss of reunion. But on the spiritual level that love is constant, is never interrupted by distance nor by time. Your beloved may be on the moon and you may be in bliss at the thought of reunion, but if love is unrequited, that is not sweet separation but a bitter pill. The extinction of love is pitch darkness. You may regard the sunset as beautiful, but how would you feel if it were setting forever?
Love is the water of life. God created Adam from clay and water. If it were not for water the clay would hold no shape. Divine love is what binds our souls together. That is why people become so miserable when they feel unloved. It is a feeling that something essential is missing from one’s life, that life itself is incomplete, and in the face of this ache people set out in search of love with the desperation of a man dying of thirst.
Yesterday I noticed a bumper sticker that read, “God is Love.” That is a statement that accords with a common level of understanding; in reality such a description can never do justice to the Almighty. Never can a single word or emotion, nor even all words and all emotions come close to describing His splendor what to speak of “being” Him. However, the saying “God is Love” can be
recognized as a common wisdom, as the intention is to accord the highest degree of veneration and devotion to love, which is correct. But to associate God as “Love” is an oversimplification.
Love is an attribute of God Almighty which binds His servants to Him eternally. If God were to hate mankind it would be so easy for Him to bring about an abrupt and terrible end to our follies—but He loves us and therefore shows us so much tolerance.
If you are a parent, consider your love for your children. If your son grew up to be a criminal, would you not love him still? Would you not maintain that despite his bad actions (which you would perhaps readily condemn) he was still basically at heart a good boy? Would you not find excuses for his bad behavior and have faith that he would turn away again from those bad actions?
We all know the story of Noah (“Nuh” in Arabic). He invited his people to the truth over an astounding period of time 950 years! Over such a long period he showed so much patience with their continual abuse, every day they used to beat him unconscious. Finally, realizing that those people were unreformable, and that each generation was even more rotten than the one before it, he asked Allah to destroy them all, to purify the face of the earth from the likes of them. Then Allah caused it to rain for forty days and nights so that, except for the few believers who had taken refuge with him on the ark, all of the human race was destroyed.
After the flood abated God ordered Noah to make forty clay jugs, and to devote extra care and attention to making them perfectly. When Noah had finished making them the Lord ordered him to smash them to bits. Noah obeyed, but he wasn’t happy with the order, it seemed
wanton to him to destroy what he had spent so much effort in making. Then the Lord addressed Noah, saying, “Oh Noah, you made forty clay jugs, and it was odious to you to break them. Do you think that it was a pleasure for Me to kill all of My servants, even though they were unbelievers?” Then Noah began to cry and wail. So proverbial was his wailing that “Nuh” came to mean “wail” in Arabic.
Do you know the story of Moses and Korah? Among the Children of Israel at the time of the exodus from Egypt, Korah was the richest man. Korah carried a large part of that wealth into the Sinai with him, and with that wealth a great deal of influence over the Children of Israel. Unfortunately for Korah he used his influence to stir up rebellion and discontent with the leadership of Moses.
In order to discredit Moses once and for all, Korah bribed a dishonorable woman to claim that Moses had committed adultery with her and that the child in her womb was his. As he was of course innocent, Moses was livid with rage, as he could only deny the accusation but could do nothing to prove it false. How could he lead the Children of Israel when they would hold doubts in their hearts regarding his morals and veracity?
So Moses turned to his Lord, saying, “Oh my Lord, vindicate me!” The Lord replied, “I have granted you the power to command the earth. You may use it to vindicate yourself and prove your innocence to the Children of Israel.” Then Moses announced to all the people, “All who are with me come to my side and those who adhere to Korah stay by his side.” Then Moses said, “Oh earth, catch him and swallow him up!” Responding to this command the earth caught Korah, laying firm hold of his feet and ankles. Korah cried, “Oh my dear cousin Moses, for the sake of our kinship please forgive me!” But
Moses was very angry and determined to punish Korah for all of his crimes, “Oh earth, swallow him!”
Then the earth grabbed a little more of his legs, and he again cried out to Moses for forgiveness—and so it went on, a full seventy times, Korah asking for pardon and Moses refusing and demanding retribution. Finally the earth had completely swallowed Korah. Then the Lord addressed Moses, “Korah begged you for forgiveness seventy times, but you had no mercy for him in your heart. I swear by My Might and Glory, had he even once addressed himself to Me, saying, ‘Oh my Lord, I repent, please forgive me’, I would have rescued him. You had no mercy for him because you didn’t create him. I am the Creator and I have boundless mercy for My repentant servants.”
The Lord created us and loves us; that is why everyone loves love. No one complains of love or wants it to be taken from him, but all want to be loved more. Where are you seeking love? Are you taking pure water from the gushing source, or muddy, slimy water from the ditch? You love people, but they will die. Perhaps your love will be unrequited, or because of a small error or indiscretion on your part that person’s heart will harden to you and love will be no more.
You say that you love him or her, but do you love him or her unconditionally? Is your love permanent— love for the real immaculate divine essence living in that person or temporary, as a result of some desirable attributes: beauty, youth, wealth, station or wit? When that beautiful, young, wealthy, clever, amiable socialite becomes an ugly, old, penniless, senile, grumpy outcast will you still love her? Is your love of the spirit or of the world?
Oh people, seek real love, a love that cannot go astray. That love is the love of God and the love of His creatures for the sake of His love for them. That love emanation may bind all receptive hearts. There is a common saying, “The friend of a friend is a friend”, so love people if you love God, for you
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