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The Innate Nature
According to the Quran, the creation began with the divine command, Be!
Within that command is contained the entire book of Reality.
From the Sufi point of view, every 'heart' contains a blueprint of truth. Most people know what happiness and unhappiness are, what contentment and discontentment are. How do they know this? How do I know that I am not content? How do I know that I am now disturbed? My body may be completely out of balance, and yet I will still know what balance and tranquility are, and what discord and imbalance are. There is something within the core of everyone which reveals the truth. That something does not change, for it is primal and sub-genetic. Physically, everyone appears to be different, but that which is ingrained sub-genetically in man is his innate nature, as we mentioned earlier. The word in Arabic for innate nature is Fitra. The original blueprint of divine laws is preserved in this innate nature of man. If that blueprint is not tarnished or obscured, then it is easier for a man to recognize and acknowledge the messengers and Reality. In other words, if a person is brought up in a clean, natural and healthy environment, then his chance of discovering the truth and the way to freedom is better than that of others who are caught up within adverse environmental, racial or cultural constraints.
The Sufis always say that if you follow your 'heart', you will be all right. God also says in the Quran that the 'heart' never lies. How does one distinguish between guidance coming from the 'heart', and that which is coming from one's emotions, desires, fears and imagination? How does one distinguish one's original innate nature from one's imagination? The innate nature in each one of us has been tarnished to varying degrees, due to family and other influences during our early life. In order to return to our original state of innate nature, we need again the guidance of the outer code of divine law. This is why original Islam is much more easily followed by people who have not been educated or trained to analyze, doubt and debate.
In olden times, in China, India and the Middle East, we find that there were many prophets and saints. They all reflected the primal truth, which is that we have come from one Reality and our physical existence is not a permanent reality but only a shadow which we have to learn to transcend and, by so doing, discover within us that which is timeless and permanent. The early simple folk of tribes and villages in olden times could more easily reflect the ultimate truth behind creation. The great Sufi master, Ibn Arabi, says that the first group of people who will be submitted to the Garden of Paradise after death will be the simple folk.
Our innate nature is something with which every human being is endowed. It is like a spring of fresh, clear, cool water, or a well of sweet water. During a person's upbringing, however, and because of the intellectual clutter and culture which is gradually accumulated, the well begins to fill up with rubbish, and the time comes when it is found that there is no more fresh water flowing, because the well of his innate nature has been filled with debris. Many of those who live in crowded modern cities or in urban, industrialized societies have to do a lot of digging and archaeological work before reaching the original foundation and the source of the spring in the well. These people need more discipline and hard work, such as meditation, reflection and intellectual de-brainwashing, than people who live in simple rural settings open to nature where material needs and competition are less, and whose innate nature is preserved so that part of the original blueprint of divine laws is still readable.
The difference between the wise simple folk who still have access to their innate nature and the prophets is that the latter receive the divine teaching through revealed ways, whereas the former receive understanding through witnessing, reflection and insight. Many others also are endowed with inspiration whenever there is a crack in their veil, the veil being nothing other than the lower self, and once it is removed, there are strange and wondrous glimpses of reality.
We have seen that Islam, the original divinely intended way of conduct which, if adhered to, leads a person towards his Creator, is not a religion that came into existence some 1,400 years ago, but rather, is the Adamic way, molded on the first creation from the beginning of humanity. With the rise of Adamic consciousness, there arose parallel to it an inner crack, or innate knowledge or understanding, regarding how to behave in this existence so as to avoid being confused.
The way of Islam is the Adamic way of behavior. Every prophet, every man of awakening and freedom, has been in submission and is therefore a Muslim. Every thinker, philosopher and wise man has been a Muslim to varying degrees of clarity and consciousness. All human beings in fact are born in submission to natural reality and therefore in Islam. It is the society and the parents who often then corrupt that innate Islamic state. There are people all over the world who discover Islam in themselves during some period of their lives, and not as a result of having come across the conventional religion Islam. Rather, it is an echo of something far deeper and pre-creational which is centered in the hearts of all human beings. However the conventions, both behavioral and conceptual, which society, community and personal habit impose upon a person, veil recognition of this reality. Hence we need divine laws to guide us to lead a life which is unified and which leads to knowledge of unity.
Original Islam has existed right from the beginning of humanity and it was revealed in different degrees until the totality of it was revealed through the Prophet Muhammad in such a way that God promised to people that it would be preserved forever. Accordingly, no one has any excuse if they try to distort or change it. The differences that exist between the various Muslim schools of law on matters of Islamic Law are minor and insignificant. However if people want to see differences, then they see great differences, and this often happens to those who do not have access to their innate nature.
Like most aspects of the religion of Islam which became recorded and took on a formal aspect after the deaths of the Prophet Muhammad and the first four Muslim rulers, the different sciences related to the way of Islam also began to develop and grow in sophistication, such as the science of the Quran, the science of the recorded actions and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, the science of Islamic jurisprudence and all the other sciences concerned with theological studies. None of these sciences existed in any formal or structured manner in the early years of Islam, although the knowledge and wisdom on which they were based did exist.
The same trend of growth and complexification seems to have been repeated in the science of Sufism. From about a hundred years after Muhammad's death onwards, when people began to discriminate more and more between original Islam and pseudo-Islam, between spiritual Muslims and Muslims who supported dynastic monarchy, the various concepts of Sufism dealing with the purification of the self and the 'heart' began to manifest more prominently. This does not mean that these concepts and the practices which accompanied them did not exist in the first century of Islam. They were there, but they were far less structured, formulated or discussed. The early Muslims knew the meaning and reality of inner purity, reliance upon God, yearning and the actions based on that reliance and yearning which resulted in that purity, as well as the other basic Sufi concepts, but it was only later on that these concepts were discussed and recorded in a more structured way, in order to help the seeker on the path of knowledge, until he reached the point where he experienced subjectively what he had at first only learned about and accepted intellectually.
Belief generally begins with a possibility or a hypothesis. It can also be simply blind faith. Then comes the stage of experimentation. For example, in believing that death is not the end of life, one needs to assume that the story of life cannot be entirely physical. So an aspect of belief is that there is something else behind our physical existence. This very simple and ordinary starting point can become subjectively confirmed when it is personally experienced that the origin and source of life is beyond time and space, and that the body is a vehicle to reach higher consciousness. Belief is a force which drives one to progress along the spiritual path. In reality everyone is a believer, even if he calls himself a non-believer, because non-believing is in itself a state of belief. A person may believe that there is no other world, or experience after death. Such a belief too is a point from which a person is driven to derive maximum pleasure or happiness out of this life. In other words, everybody is a believer in something, and it is this belief which is a driving force along a path of fulfillment.
It is said in a tradition, 'The awakened one is a reflector of he who is on the path of awakening.' The basic concept which underlies the Sufi movement is the intention to bring about the development of the whole person, and not a fragment of a person, through correct belief, which some people have realized through enlightenment, based on practice and discipline. Thus the allegation that the Sufis are esotericists is incorrect. If some Sufis have emphasized esoteric teachings, it is because they judged that the priority need at the time was the science of understanding the self and inward purification. The real Sufi is not ignorant about the other dimensions of man, such as his role in society and in politics and in all matters pertaining to life in general. For man, according to the teachings of Sufism, is a microcosm of the totality of existence.
Sufism is none other than reliving the Muhammadan way of life. The early Shias had an advantage in having for 250 years qualified and recognized spiritual leaders from among the descendants of the Prophet to guide them in the Muhammadan way of life, in spite of their being persecuted by the Ummaya and Abbasi rulers. However, most Shias concentrated more on learning the formal and ritualistic aspects of this lifestyle from these spiritual leaders, rather than its higher spiritual elements. Accordingly emphasis was placed on the jurisprudence, and a relative neglect of philosophy and the science of the self is evident in any study of Muslim social history. However the way in which these spiritual leaders lived and the flexibility that they had as awakened Muslims are enough for us to see how real spiritual masters live. One such spiritual leader was brought near to the ruling caliph of the day. He was Imam Musa Reza. Another, who was imprisoned by the caliph, was Imam Musa Kazim. Another spiritual leader Imam Zainalabedeen, was given the opportunity to invite people to the way of Islam by means of his prayers and supplications. Yet another, Imam Jafar al Sadiq was surrounded by people who wanted to learn from him, so he began to give structure to the sciences of jurisprudence and theology. These spiritual leaders were like different lamps giving off the same light, different representatives of the One God.
The Sufi is an enlightened being following the outer Islamic Law while his heart is encompassed by the inner Reality. However one cannot say much about God's ways for they are so numerous and some of them are strange (to us). We find that some Sufis lean towards being recluses. Now God says through the Prophet Muhammad that those who are loved most by God are those who serve the creatures of God. We also observe that not every person who is enlightened can teach, just as not every person who is a scholars can be a great orator. Sometimes we find the reverse of the situation to be true in that a great religious orator has little real knowledge. Such people make a far greater impact on society than great scholars who do not have the gift of eloquence or the charisma. So a lack of communication from a quiet dervish or a Sufi does not reflect the extent of his knowledge or his true station.
We often find that spirituality oriented people need periods of meditation, prayer and seclusion. No prophet has ever attained prophethood without months or years of seclusion, often in caves. In the same way, the Sufis have followed in the footsteps of the prophets. They need periods of seclusion, periods of reducing the impact of the outer world on them in order to develop the inner. For example, one great spiritual master, called Shaykh Abu Madyan al-Maghribi (d. 1199), who eventually taught thousands of people, did not do so until he had spent some time in seclusion. It is said that he remained in his room for a year and did not go out except for the Friday prayer. People gathered at the door of his house and asked him to speak to them. When they pressed him, he went out. He saw some sparrows on a lotus tree. When the birds saw him they fled, and so he said. 'Had I been fit to speak to you, the birds would not have fled from me.' Then he returned and sat in his room for another year. The people came to him again. He went out and the birds did not flee from him, so he spoke to them and began to teach. If a person is spiritually evolved and is of an appropriate age with appropriate health and in an appropriate environment, then his wholeness is reflected wherever he is. He begins to teach as he lives his life fully, inwardly and outwardly, in a balanced way.
Sufism is primarily concerned with the 'heart' that reflects the truth which exists within it, beyond time and in time. The Sufi is the whole human being. He recognizes that his reality is beyond time and space, and yet he understands that he himself is caught in his body in order to experience the duality of time and space in this world. The Sufi is the one who realizes the courtesy due to the prison of his body which has been given to him on loan for a few years. He is aware of the fact that he is returning to the abode of infinite bliss from which he originally emerged. Sufism is an art of beingness through the attainment of divine knowledge. It is not an intellectual exercise for scholarly investigations and postgraduate studies.
As far as original Sufi works are concerned, they were not written in order to establish yet another school of Islamic law, like the Maliki, the Shafi and the Jafari schools of Islamic law for example, but they were written in order to help those who were already following the Sufi path. Studying the map and staying put is not the same as making the journey and using the map as you go along. The Sufi writings are helpful to the practitioners of the Sufi path, but the written word is a secondary experience compared to the direct benefits and transmission of knowledge which occur when the seeker keeps the actual company of a spiritual master. Writing is only useful as an aid, a memoir or a reminder for the practitioner. When such writings are discovered and taken and studied out of context, then confusion arises.
Let us consider, for example, the debate concerning the Unity of Being. Intellectuals question whether or not this concept is acceptable within the teachings of Islam and ask questions such as, 'What did Ibn Arabi Mean by this term?' and 'Do other Sufis agree with him or not?' Such questions and the arguments which ensue are pitfalls and hindrances along the path of the true seeker, as well as being confusing for the general collective understanding of the spiritual process. I feel that there is no point in imitating and regurgitating the concepts or the statements that have come from other Sufi masters unless, that is, they are taken in their entire context and as an aid to the transmission of knowledge and wisdom. If Ibn Arabi has been of benefit to me in showing me the light that dazzled him, and obliterated his ego, and cleared away his doubts about Reality which had appeared to be clothed in duality, then I should be able to express such ideas in the language of my own time, because I am the product of a time which is different to that of Ibn Arabi. The blind utilization of specific terminologies which were originally coined as part of a total ecosystem of Ibn Arabi or of other Sufis can only be done by those who have not attained their spiritual state or station, in which they simply described what they saw. Such people regurgitate what has already been digested by others.
Ibn Arabi's unfoldment, for example, could serve our own unfoldment, as long as we are on the path of unfoldment. Each one of us has a unique set of fingerprints although all fingers perform the same functions. Taking certain Sufi terminology out of a special ecosystem is like stealing someone else' set of fingerprints. Besides which, those who are only engaged in discussing Sufism are not the same as those who are actually following the path of self-knowledge. Those who analyze and write about Sufism are not equal to those who are burning and yearning to receive divine nourishment. Generally speaking, most of the works written on Sufism by non-Sufis are hardly usable by practicing seekers. There is a vast difference between these works and the work written by the Sufi masters themselves. A real Sufi can recognize the former work and knows that such work has come from the hand that does not produce nourishment.
Ibn Arabi says in his treatise on The Limitlessness of the Reality that 'No two things can happen twice in creation. If exactly the same pattern were to happen twice, then that would imply that God is limited.' Also, purely as a matter of commonsense and personal observation, we notice that there is no exact repetition in creation. Even if nothing else appears to have changed, the time has changed. If something happens which is very similar to what happened 200 years ago, it still cannot be exactly the same happening. Although the issue or the setting may be the same, the weather, the environment and the people are not the same. Never is any instant, or any blink of an eye, like the one before it. It is all fresh, each moment. So by simply regurgitating what a particular Sufi has said or done in the past, one will not produce the same effect or result. However, one Sufi 'composer' may tune in to the music of another Sufi 'composer', for both have been able to produce their own music.
There are people who spend years trying to discover the structure and the system of the Sufi path of Rumi, or of Imam Ali, by analyzing their writings or recorded actions and sayings, without ever actually taking one step along that path. However for a real Sufi what matters is to be able to gain access to the actual state and station of the spiritual master. Some read about another's experience, and others have that experience.
As Imam Jafar al Sadiq has said, 'Do not expect your children to do what you did, because they belong to a different age.' One of the meanings of this is that although the meaning remains the same, the form, the system, the language and the behavior will differ. Every Sufi is different to any other Sufi and yet he is not different. He is different in his being in a different state or station or in a different culture to the others. He is not different in that, like the others, he is seeking the truth and is striving towards total awareness of Reality. So it is not Islamic philosophy or Sufi philosophy as such that is important for him, but what is pragmatic and practically usable. He longs to know the Absolute and he yearns for eternal love. He wants to know the unchanging state within himself by not being distracted or obsessed by the constantly changing situation outside. To be in such a station he needs a helping hand, a physician of the soul. The greatest physician for him is the blessed Prophet Muhammad. By having the Prophet as a model in his awareness, he then tries to find a living person who embodies the prophetic wisdom, both outwardly and inwardly, and who has more experience than himself of the Sufi path, to guide him. Sufi philosophical treatises are useful in discussions and debates, but in themselves they do not lead a person far along the divine path. Such a person needs a qualified guide.
According to the way of the Sufis, a person who has attained the state of outer and inner awareness, and who has managed to reach a point of balance and centrality, is in a position to assist others and to reflect to them their own state of progress. Accordingly we find that throughout the ages the Sufis have kept close together. Spiritual masters accompany their close followers during all the stages of progress.
We need to distinguish between the two terms: state and station. It is the difference between how it is and where it's at. State means something which one can feel or taste. One can sometimes feel an inner state of incredible generosity or great upliftment. However this state may not be lasting. What is really desired by the seeker is to attain a station which cannot occur unless it is properly founded and secure. A station is not temporary and can always be relied upon and recalled. Most of the wayfarers on the path of God will taste different states to varying degrees of lasting without any permanence in them, which is unsatisfactory and insufficient. It is for this reason that a guiding hand is needed to ensure that a seeker becomes established in a desirable station. So the companionship and relating to people who are on the path is an essential factor in a seeker's progress. Another important reason for having the right companionship is that we are always a product of the last moment, and since this moment is born from the previous moment and that from the one before it, and so on, there is continuity. A person on his own cannot realize how much he has deviated from the path of self-knowledge or self-realization. Thus a seeker needs a companion to reflect to him, like a mirror, his state and station.
Just as in the case of the physical or natural sciences where one would obviously tend to follow someone who has greater experience and qualifications in these sciences, so the same principle applies to the sciences of the self. On the physical level, we are constantly striving towards harmony and right action, and we follow those who have expertise in this field. In the same way, for inner harmony, the best qualified person is a real Sufi spiritual master. However, there is a difference between the outer and the inner sciences. In the outer sciences, the blemishes and imperfections are easily detectable. This is not the case with the inner sciences where, for example, a person can put a grin on his face whereas in reality he is very displeased within. Knowledge of the inner sciences require a subtler specialization. What is needed is a medicine for the 'heart', which is not easy to obtain or administer whereas physical healing is prescriptive, descriptive, analytical and logical, and therefore is easier to achieve.
Now to the question of whether it is best to follow only one spiritual master or many. Among the greatest men whom I have read about and met have been some who have followed many spiritual masters. Yet in reality the true follower of the path of enlightenment sees one spiritual master. The spiritual masters may differ in their exterior form and nature, but their inner reality is one and the same. One spiritual master may be very old and very quiet. Another may be young and dynamic. One may have taken on a politically active role, while another may have done so. One may be economically productive and working on a farm. Another may be a scholar. One may be sociable, while another may shun society and be more of a recluse, and so on. Their outer appearances and tendencies, like fingerprints, vary from one person to another, but a sincere seeker is not concerned with the outer. A seeker who has kept within the limits decreed by the outer laws is concerned most with inner development. The inner reality is to do with essence and source. When it comes to the source, there is oneness. When one moves further away from the source of light, one discriminates and sees different shadows and different colors and profiles. The closer one comes to the source of light, the less one sees the differences, until one is blinded and taken in and engulfed by the light itself. In other words, if a person has taken on a real spiritual master truly then he has in reality taken on all of the spiritual masters. It is a fallacy to think that one can discard one spiritual master and go to another, unless the first is not accomplished or is an imposter.
As the seeker evolves and moves forward, he can see himself being watched by his spiritual master and by those spiritual masters whom he meets through the courtesy of his own spiritual master. The intelligent seeker will always live and behave as though all of the spiritual masters whom he has met are watching over him, are actually with him and are his guides, warners and friends.
A major question that arises is how does a seeker find a real spiritual master? Or how can he be sure of the spiritual master's quality? The followers of the esoteric and inner traditions believe that God's mercy permeates and encompasses every situation and everything. The right teacher turns up at the right time if a person has sincerity and the right courtesy. The correct courtesy is patience and recognition of the need. And it is by divine mercy that the right answer comes at the right time for the seeker.
A true spiritual teacher must have the proper basic qualities, just as a physician is supposed to have fulfilled primary basic requirements before he can practice medicine. To begin with, a spiritual guide, that is a Sufi master, must be knowledgeable about all the outer aspects of the original way of Islam and its way of life. He must be fully conversant with the knowledge and practice of the way of Islam. He should apply what is in the Quran and the prophetic way of life to himself. If he has not practiced the outer laws, how can he have practiced the inner aspects of this way of life, let alone recommend others to practice them? So the true spiritual master must himself live the outer and inner codes of Islam fully.
Another condition of a spiritual master being a true teacher is that he must have achieved real enlightenment by arriving at complete knowledge of the self. The spiritual master must know the extraordinary vast horizon of the self. Whoever knows his self, truly knows his Lord.
A true spiritual master must also have been given the express permission to start out and guide others on the path of self-knowledge, by another enlightened and experienced teacher who himself had been given permission to teach, and so on, back to the Prophet Muhammad. For there are people who keep within the outer limits of the Islamic Law, others who have achieved self-knowledge, and still others who have attained gnosis as well as the knowledge of the self, and yet they are unable to guide others. Just as it is not enough for a physician to have only studied and passed examinations, and observed and assisted other physicians in their work, before he himself can begin to practice medicine in his own right. He must also be given the permission or license to practice medicine by a qualified physician who is satisfied with his ability to do so.
Another prerequisite is that there should be a seeker to receive knowledge from the spiritual master, just as there has to be a patient before a physician can practice his medicine. Finally, just as it is of no use for a physician to attend to a sick person if he is unable or unwilling to accept the remedy for his illness, so there is no need of a spiritual master if the seeker is not keen to follow him.
Now we come to the relationship between the seeker and the teacher. The extent to which a sick person benefits from the physician depends upon the extent of his trust in the prescribed medication and his diligence in following the prescription. The same principle, only magnified, applies to the science of self-knowledge and Sufism. Ultimately it is fineness and subtlety of understanding between the spiritual master and the close follower that matters. The extent of their real connection dictates the speed at which the seeker takes in and absorbs the color and meaning of the spiritual master. The teacher is like a tuning fork, and if the close follower allows himself totally to vibrate in resonance with him, that is to follow his teacher completely, then he will soon sing the same song as his spiritual master. This does not happen immediately. It can develop and evolve by questioning, testing and adjusting, until the seeker trusts the teacher completely. A time comes when total commitment has to be made. The seeker will enter into a contract which is called initiation.
The ceremony of initiation has become quite a significant event in many Sufi Orders. Many pseudo-sufis have also adopted it and have further embellished it and ascribed mystical value to it. One example of this is the secret practices of the Freemasons. In this group, when a member reaches a certain level within the 'order', he is buried alive for a while in a coffin, symbolically implying the personal experience of death while still being in this life. After a while he is released from the coffin and 'brought back' to this existence. The Prophet Muhammad said, 'Die before your Death,' meaning practice detachment and freedom before the final event of leaving your body happens.
The foundation of initiation is a bond or contract that draws the teacher and the taught together. It is an unwritten contract and therefore takes the form of an oath of allegiance. The seeker agrees to obey the teacher, and the teacher agrees to look after the close follower's progress and to guide him.
The reverse of initiation, which is casting out, also occurs sometimes when the teacher and the pupil reach a point whereby the bond between the two becomes invalid and the relationship is dead. At times the seeker renounces the teacher and highlights all that appears to be objectionable in the teacher. The anger of the seeker causes him to see all the negative aspects of the relationship and the apparently, to him, needless sacrifices he has made. As far as the real teacher is concerned, the seeker who leaves in anger is another victim of the lower self in man.
The degree of sophistication and the complexities of the rules of initiation seem to depend much upon the disposition of the spiritual master himself, and on his environment. Some spiritual masters are interested in ceremonies, in hierarchies and in giving names to people in accordance with their different stations and capacities, like, for example, the Sanusi spiritual masters of Libya who spiritually, socially, politically and economically led and ruled a very large network of villages and towns for nearly a century. On the other hand, some spiritual masters do not use a formal or ceremonial form of initiation, either due to the nature of their position in society or because they do not consider it necessary. So the socio-cultural environment and the inherent nature of the spiritual masters themselves are two major factors which determine the degree of formality in any particular Sufi Order.
The ultimate aim of the Sufi master is to assist his close follower to discover Truth within the self and to be enlightened about reality. In order to be fulfilled at all times, it is important to discover the causes of unhappiness. The essential cause of all dissatisfaction is rooted in the transgression of limits, waywardness, desires, expectations, fears, anxieties and other aspects like lack of understanding of the nature of Reality. From the Sufi point of view, the basic acts of worship which are defined by the Islamic Law, such as the ritual prayer, fasting in the month of Ramadan, the alms tax, the pilgrimage to Mecca and so on, are, although necessary, not sufficient for most of the people who are sick in this vast hospital called the world. The globe is God's hospital, and the Messengers, the Prophets and the saints or spiritual masters are the physicians of the soul. Since there are different kinds of illness, there are different wards in the hospital. There are clinics where the patients do not stay for very long; there are wards where the patients stay for several weeks or months; and there is a surgical ward where the physician, or Sufi master, is constantly engaged in 'operating' on his patients. We also find that the 'medicines' are prescribed in accordance with the specific requirements of the patient, taking the total environment and all the surrounding circumstances into consideration.
The ultimate function of a Sufi master is to move the seeker gradually, according to his pace, to a level at which he is able to read the primal 'book' that is within his 'heart'. If the seeker learns this art and becomes strong and acts at will, then obviously he is progressing and evolving. The spiritual master's objective is to part with and transmit to others what he has himself already attained. This process, as stated earlier, can be enhanced when the environment as well as the companionship is right, and when the close follower has the intention to learn and the will to act, and acts appropriately. The teacher can do little if the seeker or the close follower does not want to advance. The traveler can give up at any stage of the journey, even when there is only one step left. However, at times, even if the close follower wants to advance, it is not guaranteed that his objective will be fulfilled according to expectations. Shaykh al-Fayturi (d. 1979) says the following about the dilemma of the teacher in one of his odes:
No matter how much the teacher strives,
No matter how much the close follower wants,
No matter how sincere he is, spending days and nights
[in worship],
Ultimately enlightenment is a gift from God.
The teacher's function is to guide the seeker along a disciplined path to the point at which he is able to sit in absolute watchfulness without watching anything. This is the pure, simple, ultimate height of the meditative condition. It is just to be. From there on, it is only Allah Who can help. So the seeker has to complete half the circle himself, but the other half is not in his hands. You go as high as you can climb, and then let go!
According to the experience of the Sufis, the rate of progress along the spiritual path is not linear. In mechanistic studies, such as learning a language, progress is fairly linear. The more time one spends practicing the language, the more one will be proficient in it, because it is something which is programmable and therefore quantifiable, and therefore easier to acquire. The inner sciences, on the other hand, are all qualifiable but difficult to quantify. If one could die completely to all attachments right now, then awakening would immediately be attained. Otherwise one has to go through the drudgery of discipline, constant reminding and constant affliction in order to arrive at complete awareness. Spiritual progress is not measured in the same way that one measures other endeavors. One may spend years without anything noticeable happening, and then suddenly in two years everything happens. One may spend years obeying one's teacher, and feeling that not much progress has been made, when in reality a great deal of spiritual 'rust' may have been removed during that period. It is like removing several inches of rust, and still not being able to discern the metal base beneath it, when in fact the metal may be only under just one more millimeter of rust. We are not able to measure spiritual progress externally, for it is based on the purity of the 'heart' and the willingness to abandon attachments. It depends upon the degree of the seeker's submission to the Divine. At first one submits by using one's reasoning and intellect and by learning all the causal relationships. Later on, spiritual progress takes on its own momentum. Then, simple submission leads to sweeter and more spontaneous submission without any questioning. Until this state is reached, nothing much can happen. Thus the time that it takes for certain openings to occur is not that easily measurable. A proper relationship between seeker and spiritual master is necessary to enable continuous progress. The Sufi master Junayd's closest follower was called Shibli, and Junayd (d. 910) loved him dearly. Once, during a gathering, one of its members started admiring and praising Shibli in his and others' presence. Junayd interrupted and started recounting Shibli's faults and shortcomings. Shibli was embarrassed and quietly dragged himself away from the gathering. When he had gone, Junayd said, 'I protected him with the shield of insult from the poisonous arrows of flattery.' This was because Junayd knew that Shibli was about to reach a spiritual station, and that if the praises had not been curtailed, they would have inflated his ego and created a barrier. The greatest barrier to inner awakening is having an opinion about himself.
The whole Sufi way of life is about giving up attachments, and the greatest and the worst attachment happens to be knowledge. There is an anecdote from Ghazzali (d. 1111) in this context. When Ghazzali left Baghdad in order to search for Sufi masters, he had acquired all the outer knowledge of the Islamic sciences, but his innermost was not yet awake. He took with him two mules loaded with books. On the way he was stopped by a robber who wanted to take all his books. Ghazzali offered him everything except the books, but the robber only wanted the books, and took them. Seven or eight years later, when Ghazzali had fulfilled his Sufi quest, a man appeared before him in Mecca. Apparently it was the Prophet Khidr, who is called Elijah in the Judaic tradition, who informed Ghazzali that if it had not been for the theft of his books, he would have remained the slave of those books and would not have discovered the real 'Book' of knowledge that is within everyone's heart. Imam Ali says in this context, 'You are the evident [original] "Book".'
Books are needed initially as an aid to inner discovery, but when a person grows stronger with inner knowledge, he needs less external aids. Books are like the push-chair which a child only needs at the beginning of its life. Unfortunately, however, many so-called scholars keep their push-chairs for the rest of their lives. On the other hand, many pseudo-sufis tend to dismiss not only books but also recitations as altogether unnecessary. This simplistic attitude is nothing other than a form of self-elevation, which is a perversion of and a digression from the real spiritual path. Books and recitations are essential aids in assisting inner awakening, and can neither be totally relied on nor totally ignored.
The seeker of knowledge and gnosis has to follow the path under the guidance of a teacher until there comes a point when he has to be left alone. The teacher is like a crutch, on which the seeker no longer has to rely once he can walk. The time comes when the close follower no longer needs a physical master as he is now plugged directly into the original power source. If someone says that he needs an outer teacher all his life, then he has falsely limited the true extent of human potential and divine mercy and generosity. If someone says that he does not need a master at all, then he is arrogant and conceited and will live under the tyranny of the lower self.
However, for every rule there is an exception. There is an exception in the case of those people who do not need an outer master, or who do not appear to have a visible, physical master to direct and guide them. In Sufi tradition, such people are called Uwaysis. This term is derived from the name of a man who was called Owaiskarni, and who lived in Yemen in the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Although he had not met the blessed Prophet physically, he had seen him in his visions. It is said that the blessed Prophet mentioned this great saint by saying, 'The breath of the Merciful comes to me from Yemen.' When people learned of his spiritual rank, Owaiskarni tried to hide behind the ordinariness of being a herder of camels and sheep, and seclusion became his way of life. When he was questioned about this, he would say, 'Making supplication for people in their absence is better than visiting them, for aspects of their egos, such as their dress [cloths] or self-image may distract my attention.' He also used to say, 'Enjoining good did not leave me with one friend,' and 'I asked every hungry man to forgive me, for I have nothing in this creation except whatever is in my stomach.' Owaiskarni became, for the later Sufis, the prototype of the inspired Sufi who does not identify himself with any particular Sufi Order. Such Sufis receive their initiation or their light directly from the Prophet's light, without physical presence and guidance of any living spiritual master.
A few pseudo-sufis who do not follow, nor wish to follow, any genuine spiritual master to guide them on the spiritual path, exploit the situation and falsely call themselves Owaises. This is one of the tricks and deceptions of the lower self which does not wish to be groomed or to submit to Allah. Real genuine Owaises are rare. People genuinely interested in Sufism follow a path of self-improvement, self-awareness and self-awakening, by following the guidance provided by the Sufi master at hand.
The first step for the seeker to achieve is witnessing, which is 'to be'. Witnessing has many levels. A child witnesses physical things that are proximate and close to him, such as his mother's face, his toys and so on. As one grows in maturity, one begins to witness an ever increasing display of natural phenomena, most of which are causal, as well as becoming aware of other laws that govern this existence. This witnessing expands wider and goes deeper as one grows in experience and wisdom.
The acute observer begins to witness the laws of duality everywhere. Ibn Arabi says that the entire existence is suspended between the opposites of what is praiseworthy and blameworthy, or desirable and undesirable. Everything in existence is either what one wants or what one rejects. We want health, and dislike illness. We want wealth, and despise poverty. We want freedom, and resist shackles. The entire creation is hinged upon opposites.
Subtler witnessing relates to the inner aspects of reality such as the self. The process of witnessing goes on until one ends up close to the inner core of unitive reality and pure consciousness. In the beginning one is conscious of duality, but as one's spiritual dimension grows, one begins to see creation from the unitary perspective. Thus witnessing takes place from two different perspectives. One is used to witness outer phenomena, and the other to witness inner phenomena. This witnessing goes on and on. In the beginning, a person is conscious of one thing or another, then he is conscious that he is conscious of this thing or the other, then he is generally conscious of his consciousness, which is a prelude to pure consciousness. No one can describe pure consciousness for it is beyond ordinary experience. It is for that reason that nobody can claim that he is in pure consciousness. The moment he talks, he has entered into an experiential state.
So witnessing is the first step towards self-knowledge. As regards self-knowledge, it is said that he who knows himself knows his Lord. However self-knowledge exists in many degrees. At an ordinary level, it relates to the lower self. To know how weak and dependent one is, is to recognize that one is seeking a Lord who is most mighty and self-sustaining. He who knows how selfish he is, can realize that he is seeking a Lord who is most generous. If he recognizes his limitations, he may have a glimpse of the Limitless. In recognizing how low one is, one may recognize how high God is. All this knowledge of the self is at a basic level. However, knowing oneself ultimately means knowing that the whole creation is encompassed within the self. Imam Ali says, 'You think that you are a small germ, but in you is encompassed the entire creation.'
So the first step for a seeker to take is to witness, pure and simple. It is to be watchful, to be aware, to allow that which is higher in you to enable you to witness what goes on within you. In the state of watchfulness, at the beginning, there is usually a storm of thoughts. With guidance and perseverance, these bubbles of thoughts surface and vanish. This is the stage of emptying out. It is the cleaning of the mind-processor so that no psychological or emotional memories remain to contaminate the mind-computer. Then begins the process of sweetening. In order to achieve the ability to connect with the inner central core of one's self at any time and in any place, one needs to be sweetened. It is a process of displacement. It is like a bucket of muddy water which becomes purified by placing it under a running tap of sweet, clean water, until all the mud in the water has been displaced, and the water in the bucket purified. The speed at which the tap flows depends on the size and capacity of the bucket. This is where a teacher is required to help. If the seeker is ready, the teacher simply pushes him into the ocean of awakening, which is what happened with Shaykh Abu Hasan ash-Shidhili. When he reached his teacher, after having already mastered all the outer knowledges of Islam, he was simply asked to renew his ritual purification through washing. His spiritual master, Shaykh Abd as-Salam ibn Mashis, told him to descend the mountain and renew his ritual purification through washing, and then to return. When Shaykh ash-Shadhili returned, it only took one look from his spiritual master for him to understand the meaning of all that had gone on before and after and the purpose of the meeting between the two of them. The seeker recognized the teacher and the teacher recognized the seeker instantaneously. However, there are those seekers who need continuous sweetening, encouragement and guidance before inward purification can occur.
So sweetening is a process which is followed by purification. In actual life these three processes – emptying out, sweetening and purification – are carried out and take place simultaneously. They are three dimensions of the same process as they reinforce each other, leading towards the desired end result. They all go hand in hand.
As we discovered earlier, there are several dimensions to witnessing and awakening. One witnesses duality and what is behind the veils of experiencing wakefulness, sleep, happiness, displeasure and so on. The one who witnesses understands that inner nature of events and the root of experiencing. Allah says, 'We have sent you as a witness.' So the first step in the Sufi path is to witness. After a person has witnessed the unfathomable Reality, he cannot but give the good news. He gives the good news by his very existence, for that itself is the good news. As the Sufi saying goes, 'You exude what is within you.' If he has witnessed the truth he will sing the truth. He will give the good news of the truth that man's reality is beyond time, and space, that he is of a divine reality and is here temporarily for the training and cultivation of the self, in order to be able to face and understand the meaning of this life and the next stage, after the physical death of the body. The good news is the certainty within one's self that whatever experiences, good or bad, one undergoes in this world, it is all part of a process of purification and preparation for the heart.
Life experiences cannot be static. Lack of advancement is backwardness and not merely being stationary. If we do not progress spiritually, then we are decaying. The Arabic word for decay which is fisq means the bursting of a date from its skin before it is fully ripe. It has transgressed its program for maturation and fulfillment. It is accordingly natural that all the prophets have warned that, in accordance with the prescribed spiritual path, if man does not follow the intention behind creation, then there will be nothing but destruction and misery here in this world. Humankind will never be satisfied or content. Muawiya, the first Muslim king, with all that he possessed – which was in his time the greatest wealth ever – died almost miserably. To this day, nobody knows where he is buried, although it is believed that his grave is beneath what is now the site of a public wash-house in Damascus in Syria. Some historians say that among the relics which he collected was some hair of the Prophet Muhammad, and that at the time of his death he said, 'Put them in my mouth so that they may help me to attain salvation.' Superstition comes in all manner of forms and at all levels!
In the Quran God commands Muhammad – and by extension his close followers – to invite people to the truth of Reality. This can occur only if they themselves have fulfilled the other requirements according to God's natural way. The Sufi way of the prophetic path points towards inviting people to the feast of light within. The light within cannot be kindled unless the lamp which protects it has been purified and made suitable for its radiation. The mirror of the 'heart' will not reflect the Truth if it is covered with layers of dust which have been allowed to accumulate upon it either inadvertently or through carelessness.
Once the seeker himself has seen the Truth, he cannot help but sing its glory; he cannot help but sing what is life's opposite, and he cannot help but try to attract people to it. All this in accordance with the laws and rules in existence, whichever level of existence it may be. A spiritual master cannot invite anyone he desires to the feast, nor can he give knowledge to people who are not ready for it or destined to see that light. However, a spiritual master will continue to sing the pure song of good news, good news and only good news.
Every real Sufi master who has followed in the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad has been tried and tested by God, just as all the prophets were tested, afflicted and denounced by many of their people. A Sufi master once said that a seeker will not reach the final step of real enlightenment unless some 400 people who are considered to be good Muslims have renounced him. Many Sufis have been renounced by their wives, children and relations, but they never lost sight of the prime purpose of life which is arriving at knowledge of the Creator, and then passing on that knowledge to creation. In the Quran God says,
Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, 'We believe', and not be tried? And certainly We tried those before them so that God will certainly know who are the sincere and who are the liars.
Even when a person verbally acknowledges his belief in reality, God's mercy will come upon him to test him. He will also be tried because of his love of knowledge itself, which is one of the last and most difficult veils or barriers to be removed before true awakening takes place.
There are many Sufi anecdotes and sayings in this context. Shaykh Ahmad ibn Atailah al-Iskandari tells of how two people, a pious man and a sinner, went to the mosque to pray. When they came out of the mosque, the pious man was on his way to the eternal Fire of Hell, and the sinner to the everlasting Garden of Paradise. Commenting on this anecdote, Shaykh ibn Zarrukh says,
The learned one was wrapped up in his own self-congratulatory state, for he was an upright person according to his own image of himself, whereas the other man acknowledged that he was sinful and lowly and was ashamed of his ways. When they went to the mosque, each in his state, God's mercy descended upon the one who was wretched and needy of mercy. The sinner's repentance was accepted and God's mercy elevated him, whereas the so-called pious one was weighed down by his own self-praise and pride, so that God lowered him further to where he truly and deservedly belonged. God's attention was for the one whose cry for help was real. So when the two came out of the mosque, the one who was lowly and ashamed of his state and repentant became dear in the sight of his Lord, and he who made himself dear in his own eyes was cast out from his Lord's favors.
Numerous Sufi masters have given attention to dreams and visions. The dream state has been recognized as an important dimension of life's experience. Dreams are of different types, and often reflect an aspect of the self. In most cases they relate to the material and mental level of the person. For a disciplined seeker, dreams can reflect higher and subtler meanings. The more spiritually refined one is, the more subtle will be the nature and the meaning of the dream. The more spiritually elevated a person is, the greater is the possibility of his receiving true dreams or visions. Sometimes dreams complement and interchange with the dreamer's physical reality. Once I dreamt of being injured in a car crash. Shaykh Bashir Uthman, who was a master of dream interpretation, told me that it is very testing to experience a crash, but this even had been transferred to the world of dreams instead of occurring in the physical world, so that I could experience the test without having to undergo actual physical injury.
A miracle is generally an experience that is uncommon and unexplainable in the ordinary sense. If a seeker is exceptionally alert and sensitive spiritually, he can sometimes see the inter-relationship between the worlds of the seen and the unseen. When, later on, he reflects upon events which span both worlds and talks about them, his audience regards these events as miracles. People who are steeped in the inner realities continually connect between the seen and the unseen, for they do not separate the two, except in an intellectual sense for the purpose of verbal description. They are the people of unity. The greater a person's inner knowledge and awareness is, the less surprised he is about any outer events. In other words, the greater our vista of understanding is, the easier we can see the relationship between cause and effect in all occurrences, both in the seen and in the unseen.
In the history of the rise of man's consciousness, we find that the earlier messengers or prophets performed more miracles than the later ones. The one who especially performed many miraculous acts was Prophet Jesus. One way to attract people's attention or to prove prophethood was to perform supernatural feats. All these events, however, belong to another more subtle natural order which can easily be understood by one who has insight into that dimension. Human consciousness has evolved during the last few thousand years, and has reached a point of alertness and intelligence where it no longer needs the shock treatment of miracles and unexplainable events in order to be convinced about the world of the unseen. The Prophet Muhammad did not profess to perform miracles except that of the Quran which was revealed to him in perfect Arabic through the Angel Gabriel despite his being unable to read or write. That is to say, he was not a conscious performer of miracles. His life and presence reflected the eternal truth which in itself is the greatest miracle.
Sufis throughout the ages have been concerned with unifying and understanding events, both in the seen and in the unseen. A few Sufi Orders have deviated from the original path of Islam and have become concerned with strange or mystical phenomena, often verging on mass hypnosis and mind control. Indonesia and some remote parts of Africa and the Far East have produced mystics who perform feats or illusions which are considered by onlookers to be miracles. As mentioned earlier, some spiritual masters from the Rifai Order are known to pierce their faces and other parts of their bodies with their swords without causing blood to be shed. One wonders how such unusual or mystical powers are attained, if at all! Are such abilities a help or a hindrance to the seeker?
One day an Indian sage with a most unusual talent was brought before Imam Jafar al Sadiq. The spiritual leader was told that the man could see objects which were hidden behind any physical barrier. The spiritual leader put his hand in his pocket and asked the sage to inform him what he held in his hand. The Indian sage answered correctly. Imam Jafar al Sadiq asked the sage how he had obtained this power. The sage replied that his strange vision had been cultivated as a result of his ego-lessness and by his always going against the wishes of his lower self. The spiritual leader acknowledged that the sage had achieved a great station and invited him to embrace Islam. The sage replied that he had an intense dislike for Islam. Imam Jafar al Sadiq responded by pointing out that the sage had just said that he always opposed his ego and that if he hated a thing he would overcome his lower self by doing it. Should he therefore not accept Islam? The sage agreed and accepted the path of Islam, and the spiritual leader gave him the appropriate instructions and teaching. After a few weeks, the sage returned, very disturbed, and told the spiritual leader that throughout all his life he had constantly progressed to increasingly higher stations and had acquired greater and greater spiritual powers. However, since he had embraced Islam, he had now been completely stripped of his abilities and could not 'see' through physical barriers any more. He had been robbed of his powers by embracing Islam. What, he asked, was the explanation behind this? Imam Jafar al Sadiq informed him that the laws of Reality are such, that for every virtue there is a reward. Everything in this existence is in perfect balance. Nothing goes unheeded. His worldly reward for his ego-lessness and his going against his lower self had been the gift of his 'X-ray' vision, but since he had entered the path of Islam, which encompasses both this world and the next, his reward for his high action, and all the high actions which resulted from it, would come in the next life. It is as though his span had been extended into another time zone, and so the Indian sage's station was now higher than it had been before, even though outwardly this did not seem to be the case.
So a great many powers or talents such as the one possessed by the sage can be acquired if a person seeks them and is willing to follow certain prescriptions and teachings. Such prescriptions have many parallels in Sufi practices and states. Many people who follow the Sufi path of self-renunciation or self-denial fall away from the true path when they begin to acquire such powers and consciously exhibit them. They then begin to dabble in practices concerned with the occult and unseen entities and spirits, and even in magic, which are diversions and distractions from the real aim of the true path, which is to arrive at gnosis of God Alone. The sincere seeker who is guided by a genuine spiritual master avoids such diversions and distractions and does not stop until he reaches the true goal, and then goes on! [Elements of Sufism, Haeri.]
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