Hajj according to the People of Shariah, Tariqah and Haqiqah

i) According to the people of shari`ah
According to the people of this group, the word hajj refers to the journey towards the actual goal of the hajj itself. According to the law of the shari`ah, it specifically refers to the journey toآ­wards the House of Allah, the Haram, in order to perform the prescribed rites at the prescribed time; and there are two legal divisions to the term: the obligatory and the recommended.
The obligatory is of two types, the absolute and the restricted. As for the absolute, it is the pilgrimage of Islam, which is obligatآ­ory when eight conditions are fulfilled: that the person has reached puberty, is of perfectly sound mind, is a free man, is healthy, that the provision (for the journey) is available, that the means of conveyance to and from the place of pilgrimage exist together with adequate funds or means of support from one's own industry or profession, the absence of obstacles on the route and the possibility of travel. When any of these conditions is not fulfilled, then the hajj is no longer obligatory, although the judgment of the hajj as a recommended or desirable act of worship remains in force.
Among the things which make for the perfection of the conditions is that it is obligatory to perform it at least once in a lifetime; any more than this is desirable, and this obligation demands that it be performed as soon as the conditions are fulfilled. As for the restricted type of hajj it becomes obligatory for specific reasons. Thus it becomes an obligation after the making of a vow or a contract with Allah, and it should be undertaken in accordance with the number of vows made. Thus if once, then one pilgrimage is made and if many, then many; two pilgrimages which have become obligatory may not be exchanged when one, for example, seems more important, so that if two are to be performed then the performance of one does not do for the other as well. It has, however, been narrated that if a person performs the pilgrimage with the intention of fulfilling a vow, then this may be counted as the Islamic hajj (or the main hajj, obligatory once in a lifetime); the first of these judgments is surer as a precautionary measure. A vow should not be made except by a free person of perfectly sound mind; the rest of the conditions, however, need not be fulfilled.
There are three kinds of hajj: tamattu; qiran and ifrad. The hajj tamattu` is obligatory on whoever has no family resident in the proximity of the Haram Mosque. The ifrad and qiran pilgrimage are an obligation on persons residing in the proximity of the Haram: the prescribed distance is twelve miles between the perآ­son's residence and the Haram Mosque, extending in all four directions from the House; this is equivalent to four farasikh, each farsakh (parasang) being four thousand cubits and each cubit being of twenty‑four inches.
There are two types of action undertaken during the hajj, those which are obligatory and those which are sunnah ‑ after the example of the Prophet. There are two divisions to what is obآ­ligatory: that which is a pillar and that which is not, and they apply to all these above‑mentioned kinds of hajj. The pillars of the tamattu` hajj are ten in number, four of them being for the `umrah ( or minor hajj ) and six for the hajj itself. As for those belonging to the `umrah, they are the intention, the donning of the ihram (two pieces of seamless white cloth) at the prescribed limits and the prescribed times, the tawaf (the circumambulation of the Ka'bah) of the `umrah and the running between Safa and Marwah. As for those belonging to the hajj, they are the intention, the standing at 'Arafat, the standing at the place of the rites and sacrifice, the tawaf of hay, and the running between Safa and Marwah.
The things which are not pillars are eight in number: the pronouncing of the talbiyah: `Here I am at your service' four times when possible, or doing whatever takes its place when one is incapable of the above; the two cycles of prayer for the tawaf of `umrah; the cutting of hair after running between Safa and Marwah; the pronouncing of the talbiyah when donning the ihram for the hajj, or when donning whatever may take its place; the sacrifice of an animal, or whatever takes it place (that is the fast) if one is unable to slaughter; the two cycles of prayer for the tawaf of hajj; the tawaf of the women and the accompanying two cycles of prayer. As for the pillars of the qiran and the ifrad pilgrimages they are six in number: the intention, the donning of the ihram, the standing at the places of the rites and sacrifice, the tawaf of the visit (to the Ka'bah) and that of running between Safa and Marwah.
The things other than the pillars with respect to these two types of hajj are four in number: the talbiyah or whatever takes its place ‑ when the animal is garlanded at the prescribed rites and sacrifice ‑ and the two cycles of prayer for the tawaf of the visit and the tawaf of the women together with its accompanyآ­ing two cycles of prayer. The qiran hajj is distinguished from the ifrad by the driving of the sacrificial animal. It is desirable in both these kinds of hay to renew the talbiyah while beginning each tawaf. The things which are sunnah are many in number and may be learned from the appropriate books; and may peace be on those who follow the guidance. Herewith we conclude the section the hajj of the people of shari`ah according to the manner of the Shiahs.

ii) According to the people of tariqah
The hajj of this group occurs after the establishment of the aboveآ­mentioned hajj, this hajj refers to journeying towards the real House of Allah and the inner Ka'bah by means of spiritual wayfaring. According to this group, the House of Allah has difآ­ferent dimensions: there is that of the cosmos and that of the individual souls. As for the cosmic Ka'bah, it refers to the heart of the Great Man, also known as the Universal Soul and the Bayt al‑Ma`mur (the House in heaven above the Ka'bah) or the Guarded Tablet; as for that of the individuals souls, it refers to the heart of man as the microcosm, also known, for example, as the rational individual soul. The first is related to the people of haqiqah since it is their qiblah; the second is related to the people of tariqah, for it is also their qiblah (We shall consider the journey of the people of haqiqah after our present discussion).
To understand the manner of journeying towards the qiblah of the people of tariqah, which is their journeying towards their own heart, a preliminary: introduction is necessary. It has been narrated that the first house to extend over the water and to appear on the surface was the Ka'bah and this happened before the earth and all centres of civilisation. This is affirmed in the words of the Prophet: `The Ka'bah was the first house to appear on the surface of the water during the creation of the heavens. Allah created it a thousand years before the earth. It was like a white foam on the surface of the watery and the earth was laid out beneath it.' The following words of Allah also bear witness to the truth of these words: `Most surely the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah, blessed and a guidance for the nations. In it are clear signs, the standing place of Abraham and whoever enters it shall be secure, and pilgrimage to the House is incumbent upon men for the sake of Allah, (upon) everyone who is able to undertake the journey to it; and whoever disbeآ­lieves, then surely Allah is Self‑Sufficient, above any need of the worlds.' Our intention in quoting the saying of the Prophet and the Qur'anic ayah is to demonstrate to the reader that there exists a Ka'bah of the phenomenal realm and a Ka'bah of the noumenal realm.
Moreover, each may be classified in two ways: as for the former it may be divided firstly into the phenomenal mosque, also known as the House of Allah or the Haram, and secondly, the phenomenal heart, also known as the House of Allah, or the Haram. As for the latter, on the one hand it is the heart of the Great Man, also known as the Universal Soul and, on the other, the heart of man as the microcosm, also known as the rational individual soul. Just as the saying of the Prophet and the ayah apply to the first two divisions, so they also apply to the latter two divisions ‑ since the first reality which appeared within the world of the soul from the soul of the Great Man was his true heart (which is also known as the Universal Soul) and is referred to in Allah's words, `O people! Be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a single being.' Likewise the first form to appear in the world of corporeality, also known as the earth, was the outer form of Bakkah; this is referred to in Allah's words, `Most surely the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah, blessed and a guidance.' The first reality to appear in the world of the soul from the soul of the lesser man or micآ­rocosm ‑ referred to by Allah in His words: `So when I made him complete and breathed into hire of My spirit' ‑ was his true heart in accordance with Allah's words, `Nothing in the earth and the heavens contains Me but the heart of the believing slave (contains Me)'.
The first form to appear in the world of corporeality, that is the body of man, was the form of the heart, referred to by Allah as the breast: `Have We not expanded for you your breast?' Just as one demonstrates the existence of the noumenal Ka'bah, that is the heart of the Great Man, by the phenomenal Ka'bah, so one may demonstrate the noumenal Ka'bah within the heart of the lesser man. This is affirmed in Allah's words: `We will soon show them Our signs in the Universe and in their own souls until it will become quite clear to them that it is the truth.' Up to this point we have been considering the matter in a general way: we shall now look at it in more detail.
The Universal Soul, which is known as the Greater House of Allah, occupies a position above that of all other things. Allah's words, `And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods and His throne (dominion) extends on the water' also demonstrate that the Throne (`arsh) occupied a position above the spiritual spheres of the intelligences and souls, before the creation of the heavens and the earth in the corporeal realm ‑ assuming that the throne is understood to refer to the noumenal Throne, the First Intellect. If, however, what is meant by the throne is the phenomenal Throne, which is the greater sphere of the Atlas, the ninth sphere, then what is meant by water is the phenomenal water, according to one of the commenآ­tators, namely Nasir al‑Din Baydawi; this, he says, is because since there is no obstacle between the throne and the water, it is possible to say that it is above or on it.
If we now consider the matter from another point of view, then it can be said that water is the divine knowledge on which everything has always been firmly established ‑ and will conآ­tinue likewise forever. It is specifically referred to as the Throne because of its vastness and might. Thus if we assume, with regard to the realm of form, that this water on which the Throne rests is the sperm of the Great Man, as has been determined by the people of Allah, then it refers to the water of form and the sperm from which the whole form of the world came existence. The people of the outer law are in agreement that the world began from water and they base their judgment on the saying of the Prophet, `The first thing created by Allah was matter. He then looked upon it and it melted away in modesty (or because of the force of the gaze, according to a different narration), half of it becoming fire and the other half water. He then created the heavens from the water and the planets from fire, or He created the Garden from water and Hell from fire, or He created the spiritual realities from the water and the corporeal realities from the fire' (the basic meaning is the same, despite the difference of terms). The proof of this is the correspondence between the cosmic world and that of the individual souls. The beginning of the microcosm and its creation in the realm of form was from water, that is the drop of sperm, and the microcosm is a model for the macrocosm in all aspects. Thus it follows that the latter must also have been created from water.
The Prophet's words: `during the creation of the heavens' is an indication of the priority of the spiritual realities over the corporeal realities. His words, `a thousand years before the earth' is an indication that Allah created the Universal Soul, that is, the Ka'bah of the spiritual realm a thousand years before the bodily forms, that is, the earth and all contained therein. Moreover, what is meant by a thousand years is the two complete ages, first that of the Intellect and then that of the Soul ‑ since they both precede the souls and bodily forms by a long period; that is by two cycles of the orbits of the seven planets, since each planet has an orbit particular to itself which lasts for a thousand years, and an orbit which it shares with the others lasting six thousand years. Thus the world of bodily forms was created two complete cycles ‑ in term of the orbits of the seven planets ‑ after the creation of the souls. It has been established that during the period of Saturn's orbit the earth was still a wilderness. It was during the beginning of Jupiter's orbit that it became inhaآ­bited, and it was during the final stage of this orbit that the animals appeared, culminating in the appearance of man.
Thus what is meant by a thousand years is the cycle of these two planets in the manner we have described ‑ or the two ages of the Intellect and the Soul ‑ and in our opinion, this latter notion is closer to the truth. The priority of the souls over the world of bodily forms is so clear and evident that there is no need of any further explanation, especially given the fact that there are ahadith and ayat from the Qur'an which testify to the truth of this matter. The words, `And it was a white foam on the surface of the water' is an indication of the purity of the Universal Soul and its transparency and subtlety in relation to the other realities of the angelic realm (malakut) ‑ which lies beneath it and is referred to as the water. This is so since everyآ­thing which is of a higher position, whether it is spiritual or corporeal, is finer and subtler.
As for the correspondence of the House of Allah to the lesser man in the light of the above‑cited hadith, the appearance of the Ka'bah on the surface of the water may symbolize the attachment of the soul to the sperm in the creation of man, otherwise the words may be interpreted at the literal level. The creation of the Ka'bah `during the creation of the heavens' refers to the creation of the soul of man or the heart, as it is also known, before the animal soul, which is also known as the heavens; `a thousand years before the earth' symbolizes the creation of the soul of the lesser man two complete ages before his body. The words, `white foam' symbolize the purity of its substance and its subtlety before its attachment to the body,that is the earth. The words, `on the surface of the water' symbolize the sperm which is the original matter making up the body and the general form of man. What is meant here is the attachment of the soul when it was created and made manifest in the world of the unseen and the world of the Divine Command. The words, `then the earth was laid beآ­neath it' alludes to the body: what is meant here is that when the soul is directed to the sperm, the body extends in accordance with the judgment and command of the soul until the station of man's form comes into being as a result of the joining of these two.
The bodily limbs and parts all turn in the direction of the heart so that they may attain to their goal and the knowledge appropriate to them. The blessed Bakkah in the above‑cited ayah symbolizes the breast which surrounds the heart in the same way as Makkah encompasses the Mosque and the Ka'bah; this is because the Ka'bah is analogous to the heart, the breast to the mosque, and the body to the Haram or Makkah. The words `blessed' indicates the blessing obtained from the heart in the way of divine gnoses. The words, `and a guidance for the nations' indicate that the House is a guidance to the various groups around it ‑ that is, the twin forces of the spirit and body for example, or the human, animal and vegetative souls. The words, `in it are clear signs, the standing place. of Abraham' are an indication of the presence of the acquiring intellect, that is, the preآ­sence of sanctity and the station of drawing close; this is one of the greatest of Allah's signs and one of the sublimest.
The words, `whoever enters it shall be secure' imply that whoever enters this house, that is the heart, in a fitting manner, will be secure from the Satanic guiles of the soul which commands to evil, from the Satanic guiles of the demon imagination, from seizure by the armies of false conjecture and from the influence of brigand jinn and men. The meaning of the words, `and pilgrimage to the House is incumbent upon men for the sake of Allah, (upon) everyone who is able to undertake the journey to it' is that the pilgrimage to the house is incumbent upon those whom we have mentioned above who should journey to it and circumambulate it so that they may perceive its signs, secrets and realities and so that they may arrive by means of it to Allah, to His Gardens and to His Presence. The meaning of everyone who is able `to undertake the journey to it' is everyone who is able to follow this spiritual path and to persevere in constancy along it, that is. by means of the provision from the realm of reality, through the knowledge of certainty and total annihilation and the death of the will. The above is true, since anyone who does not possess this capacity is no longer obliged to perform this hajj, as has already been determined in the case of the hajj of the shari`ah law. Whoever denies the truth of this hajj and disobeys the comآ­mand of Allah, whoever strays from its path and from fulfillment of its rites, then `surely Allah is Self‑Sufficient, above any need of the worlds'. Anyone who relies solely on Allah in his travelling along this path and who progresses thereon with complete devoآ­tion will be guided to the straight path in the direction of the inner House of Allah.
Up to this point we have been examining the hajj of spiritual travel in relation to the self; we shall now begin on the subject of the hajj of the cosmic realm and the perception of the realities of the angelic realm (malakut) and the realm of Absolute Dominآ­ion (jabarut) and the circumambulation of them. Know that whoآ­ever wishes to undertake this hajj and to travel to this House, then it is incumbent upon him, in the first instance, to don the ihram or invest himself in the state of prohibition. What this means is that the person must forbid himself any indulgence in the sensual desires, be they of a forbidden or permitted nature; that is, he should only permit himself what is absolutely necessary in accordance with Allah's words, `And whoever is driven to necessity, not desiring, nor exceeding the limit'. It also mean that the person refrains from harming any animal or human being, be it through his action or intention, so that he may witness his own state. In this way he may attain to knowledge and gnosis. Moreover, it is incumbent upon him in this state to busy himself with the four talbiyas and their meaning, which is that his Lord has no need of his obedience or his worship, or indeed of the obedience or worship of any person; rather he realizes that every existent being is in need of Him, by reason of their essence, their very existence and their strength.
The person then faces Allah saying the talbiyah `Here I am at your service' in the tongue of the state rather than by actual speech, such that the reality of slavery becomes clear to him. He then enters into the mosque of the breast, that is, the Mosque of the Haram around the heart, which in turn is the Ka'bah of the realm of reality. He than circumambulates it seven times, that is, he examines it seven times so that he may know his own state and so that the veils may be lifted from him. These veils are the blameworthy qualities of behaviour and his base actions, for the seven veils corresponding to the number of the gates of Gehenna, namely conceit, pride, envy, greed, miserliness, anger and excesآ­sive sensual desire. These seven things are removed by the makآ­ing of the seven tawaf, each of the latter being the cause of removal of one of the former. These seven tawaf are also the cause of the heart's taking on the corresponding praiseworthy qualities, namely knowledge, wisdom, chastity, courage, justice, generosity and humility. The person then prays the prayer of gratitude at the station of Abraham in the realm of the intellect and is thereby brought to this station, by the purity of spiritual capacity and the vision which opens to him from his fear ofAllah.
The person then runs between Safa and Marwah, that is, he travels between the world of the outer and that of the inner in order to witness his Beloved in them both and to examine the signs contained in them both, in accordance with Allah's words, `Is it not sufficient as regards your Lord that He is a witness over all things?' Now surely they are in doubt as to the meeting of their Lord; now surely He encompasses all things.'
He then cuts his hair at Marwah, that is, he causes to fall from his head any remaining trace of I‑ness or duality; in doing so, he comes out of the state of ihram (ritual purity) and the actions of the `umrah, (the lesser pilgrimage) which are analogous to the ablution and the prayer, and all things which were previآ­ously forbidden to him then become permitted. This is so since the slave who is in the station of 1‑rless and otherness is not permitted anything according to the way of the gnostics. If he comes out of this station, and becomes annihilated in the haâ€‍Tj and in the state of abiding therein, then everything becomes permissible for him; indeed, he is forbidden or permitted someآ­thing in accordance with his own speech, since he is the caliph and has the authority to command and prohibit.
The reader should take great care to understand this point: by it one may obtain gnosis of the station of prophethood and saintliness (wilayah) ‑ since after the Truth, there is no other source of authority but them. He then takes on another ihram (the pilgrim's apparel) from the presence of the intellect which lies beneath the water‑course of the heart. (The intellect is a water‑course in relation to the heart since wisdom flows from the sea of the heart by way of the water‑course of the intellect. Hence the words of the Prophet `Whoever devotes forty mornings to Allah, springs of wisdom will appear from within his heart,' that is, on the tongue of the intellect which is the interpreter of the heart.)
He then makes his way to the `Arafat of the mind and the mountain of gnosis, in order to gaze on the signs, gnoses and realities thereabout; this is so since the mind in relation to the body is sometimes like the mount of Abu Qabis or the Mount of Hira' and sometimes like the Throne of His Majesty or the Throne of the Generous. It is in this station that gnoses descend between the spiritual Adam, which is the soul or spirit, and Eve, the Universal Soul. It is for just this reason that this station is called 'Arafat (from the Arabic root `arafa meaning knowledge); this is affirmed in the words of the Prophet, `Whoever knows himself knows his Lord.'
The person then returns to the place of the rites and sacrifice, that is, he stands in the proximity of his own feelings and sensaآ­tions both in the realm of form and inner meaning, in order to gaze upon the state of each one of them and to cause each to brought under the authority of its Creator and its Lord, in accorآ­dance with the words, `I was his hearing and his sight and his tongue and his hand and his foot...'; this is because as long as the senses are under the authority of the slave then they are obedient to the soul which commands to evil and they follow the rebellious Satan of passion and desire. If they come under the authority of the Lord and are obedient to that which He has ordered, then they become obedient to the tranquil soul and follow the intellect: the intellect then becomes the emir and ruler in the city and region of the senses.
Then the person returns to Mina, to the realm of the breast and the heart, in order to throw the stones of his own blameworآ­thy and base qualities of behaviour at the three jamrat' (places of the devil), that is, the three realms of the mineral, vegetable and animal. This latter is the realm of the compound realities and all that is related to these realities; it is the state of sincerity and the station of great rank and risk, in accordance with the saying of the Prophet, `All men are doomed to perish except those of action; those of action will perish except for the sincere and the sincere are in great risk.'
Thus the person of this station, having discarded his bad qualities of behaviour during the taking on of the ihram, must take care not to return to them when he returns to the station of final perfection, attested to in the words of the people of this science, `The final goal is a return to the beginning;' the reason for this is also evident in the words, `The good actions of the righteous are the bad actions of those who have achieved the station of intimacy.' The person then goes on to cut the hair of his head, that is, to remove the `I‑ness' from the head of his self so that action, power and strength are perآ­ceived as coming from Allah (which is a higher station than the first cutting of the hair). He then continues towards the removal of the veils of the sacrifice of his self once more, such that no name or trace remains of his self.
Then he goes back to the Ka'bah to perform the second tawaf. What this means is that he inspects his heart once again in order to purify it from the impurity of seeing otherness in any way. This is the station contained in the saying of the Prophet, `Surely trouble and vexation come over my heart and surely I seek forgiveness of Allah seventy times every day and night;' this is so since the Prophet is infallible and has none of the faults recognized as punishable by the shari`ah for which he must seek forgiveness of Allah. The only wrong action of the people of this group in their traveling along this spiritual path is the witnesآ­sing of otherness, even if it is only be !for a moment and this occurs when the world of man and the corresponding force of the animal soul overcomes this spiritual station.
Then he goes on to pray two cycles in the station of Abraham, in gratitude for his arrival at the Beloved and at his goal. He then runs once more, that is between the Safa of the world of the soul and the Marwah of the world of corporeality, or we may say between the Safa of the heart and Marwah of the self, in order to witness therein the perfect signs of His manifestations and to witness the signs of His beauty and majesty. He performs the cutting of the hair in the Marwah of the self. By abandoning whatever remains therein of the witnessing of multiplicity in the world. of Oneness.
He then returns to Mina to stone the devils during the three days following 'Arafat, that is, he returns from the Ka'bah of the heart once more to the Mina of the breast in the ayyam al‑tashriq, which are the different days of divine unity (the tawhid of action, attribute and essence) in order to abandon everything which is other than these, such that nothing remains with him but the Real. In this station he rises up above perception of all creation, such that no trace at all of the existence of its creatures remains with him and existence remains with him; thus he witnesses the Real as the Real, sometimes in the world of His Oneness, stripped of all phenomenal manifestation, some times in the world of multiplicity in the guise of His Names, Attributes, beauty and majesty, and sometimes in the world which combines the two above‑mentioned realms, that is, in the Muhammadi tawhid of gatheredness. It is this that is the goal of the hajj in the realm of meaning according to the masters of tariqah. If this is clear to the reader we shall now begin on a commentary of the hajj of the people of haqiqah.

iii) According to the people of haqiqah
The hajj of the people of this group refers to the spiritual journey in the esoteric realm towards the heart of the Great Man, which is the Greater House of Allah, also known as the Bayt al‑Ma `mur, the Presence of Sanctity and the Universal Soul ‑ just as the hajj of the people of tariqah refers to the journey towards the heart of the lesser man or microcosm. An explanation of this requires some introductory explanation, including the commentary of one of the gnostics with regard to the correspondence between the two worlds.
Know that just as the sultan of the individual soul, the soul of the lesser man, resides only in the brain, so too the sultan of the Universal Soul, the soul of the Great Man ‑ also called the world ‑ resides only in the Throne which is analogous to the brain in relation to us just as its first manifestation in the lesser man is the phenomenal heart, the source of life, so too its first manifestation in the Great Man is the fourth planetary sphere, the sphere of the sun and the source of life in this world.
As for the heart in the realm of reality, it is the Universal Soul, also called the Preserved Tablet, the Clear Book and the Real Adam, referred to in the words of Allah, `O people! Be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a simple being and created its mate in the same (kind) and spread of these two, many men and women.' The soul of the fourth planetآ­ary sphere is analogous to the animal or vital soul which resides in the heart whereby all the bodily limbs receive life; it is the Bayt al‑Ma`mur, recognized in the shari`ah as being in the fourth heaven. It is by this that the revelation of Allah swears in the following ayah: `I swear by the Mountain and the Book written in a fine outstretched parchment and the House (Ka'bah) that is visited and the elevated canopy and the swollen sea'. It is for this reason that the station of Jesus was made that of the Soul of Allah; indeed, among his miracles was the raising of the dead. The `Mountain' referred to in the ayah is the Throne and the `Book' is the Universal Soul, that is, the heart of the world. The words `in fine outstretched parchment' refer to the eighth planetآ­ary sphere, being the manifestation thereof; `the elevated canopy' may be either the Throne or the sky of this world; and `the House (the Ka'bah) that is visited' may be either the fourth sphere or the Universal Soul ‑ for the eighth planetary sphere is also the manifestation of the Universal Soul. `The swollen sea' is the sea of the substance, flowing full of forms; it is possible that it is the world of the first interspace, composed of the worlds of the soul and the body, also called the Absolute Imagination and full of the forms of all existent beings. We shall now begin to explain this matter again in more detail.
The meaning of the hadith `The Ka'bah was the first house...' has already been discussed in the section concerning the hajj of the people of the tariqah, namely that the Ka'bah is the Universal Soul, also known as the Greater House of Allah. The appearance on the surface of the water refers to worlds of the souls which issued from this Universal Soul before the worlds of corporeal realities: anything which is above anything else is of necessity on top of it and thus there is no doubt that the Universal Soul is above the individual souls and so it may also be said to be on top of them. The ayah, `And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods ‑ and His dominion (extends) on the water' also points to this same meaning.
It may be said that the water refers to the universal substance which is analogous to the water in relation to the Universal Soul. It is also possible that it refers to a time before the split took place when things were still in the closed‑up state. This state of being closed, in one entity, comprised the totality of all material things: the Intellect, the Soul, the Throne and the Footstool were one reality and a universal matter. This is referred to in Allah's words: `Do not those who disbelieve see that the heavens and the earth were closed but We have opened them.'
The gnostics have commented upon the meaning of being closed up, saying it comprises the totality of matter in the state of oneness, also known as the greater and absolute element which was closed‑up before the creation of the heavens and the earth. It is also applied to the Presence of Oneness in relation to itself, before its subsequent manifestations, and to the esoteric realities hidden in the Essence of Oneness before separation; there are many examples of this, one among them being the likeness of the tree which is contained as a latent force within the seed.
Whoever disbelieves in this hajj, who does not perform it and does not aver its validity, then he is of the mushrikun, the people who associate others with Allah, the people who are veiled ‑ surely Allah has no need of such people, be they man or jinn or from wherever they may be. This is because Allah is Self‑Suffiآ­cient in relation to all the worlds and has no need of their obediآ­ence and worship, since He is He. Indeed, the benefit of obedience and worship is confined to the one whose duty it is to obey and to worship none other than Allah, Who is Self‑Sufficient with respect to the worlds, their obedience and their worship. It is not permissible to say that this implies a completion of His perfection by what is other‑than‑Him because this benefit cannot return to Him.
Moreover, no action on the part of the All‑Wise, the Perfect, is done in jest and any action which issues from an actor without a purpose must be in jest ‑ and jest is impossible of Allah, in accordance with His words, `And We did not create the heavens and the earth and what is between them for sport' and His words, `What! Did you then think that We had created you in vain and that you shall not be returned to Us?' Thus, of necessity, this creation has a specific purpose; since it is imposآ­sible that the benefit be for Him, it must be that it is for the sake of His slaves, and thus we may arrive at a satisfactory conclusion to this argument. It is for this reason that Allah says in various places in the Qur'an, `Whoever does good, it is for his own soul and whoever does evil, it is against it' and His words, `Indeed there have come to you clear proofs from your Lord; whoever will therefore see, it is for his own soul and whoever will be blind, it shall be against himself and I am not a keeper over you.' We shall conclude this particular topic at this point, although there are many other matters which may be taken into consideration. We shall now begin a detailed study of the nature of the pilgrimage, the manner of its performance and the arrival at the goal.
Know that whoever wants to go and visit this house, that is, to arrive therein, it is incumbent upon him in the first instance to take upon himself the ihram, namely the prohibition upon himself against witnessing the world of the sensory or the material forms and all the desires and sensual pleasures connected to them. The person must then go forward towards the world of the souls, that is, the realities which are analogous to the Haram, to Makkah, Bakkah and the other corresponding stations in the phenomenal world ‑ until he actually arrives. On arrival, he must take on the qualities of these realities so that they become part of his own character. The person then goes towards the Ka'bah of the realm of reality, that is the Universal Soul, and circumambulates it twice.
On completion of each tawaf, he attains to a gnosis of each of the seven spheres and the seven Qur'anic gnoses2 indicated in the Prophet's words: `Truly the Qur'an has an outward and an inward dimension and this latter has its own inward dimension ‑ and so on up to seven inward dimensions.' The person then goes to the place of standing of Abraham, that is the station of oneness and the presence of oneness, also known as the First Intellect and the greater soul. The person prays therein two cycles of prayer out of gratitude for his arrival at that presence. These two cycles of prayer are an expression of his annihilation, in the first instance from the outer world and in the second from the inner world and all contained therein, including even himself.
He then goes to the place of running between Safa and Marآ­wah, between the two worlds of the outer and inner, in order to perceive them once more by means of his running and striving; he eliminates any vision of multiplicity by perceiving every thing contained therein as the existence of the One. He then becomes established in the state of gatheredness, which is the true goal, in accordance with the words of the Prophet, `This world is prohibited the people of the next world and the next world is forbidden the people of this world and they are both forbidden to the people of Allah;' the truth of this may be recognized in the division of the people into those of the left, those of the right and those of intimacy, as we have already mentioned above.
The gnostic has also referred to this with his words: `Awareness of these two things (this world and the next) is incumbent upon you; for surely the person who joins them both is the person who attains to true unity (tawhid) and is the one who gathers gatheredآ­ness; he reaches a sublime station and the ultimate goal.' The person does the cutting at Marwah, that is the elimination of the world of the outer and the end of multiplicity by removing from himself any trace of duality and the seeing of otherness. This then is the completion of the actions of the `umrah of tamattu ` within this hajj.
He then makes for the Ka'bah once again in order to witness the Universal Soul and to apprise himself of its realities and to take the ihram of haj, beneath the water‑course of the intellect in the above‑mentioned manner. He then moves to the station of the 'Arafat of the soul and the intellect, at the mountain of truth, which is the Throne of the phenomenal realm, and the manifesآ­tation of the First Intellect. In doing so, he unites with them both by the power of the gnosis obtained from his awareness that all is One. Beyond this presence there is no other, except for that of the Essence, forbidden of access to all; to arrive there and take on the Attributes of the Presence of Oneness with the Essence is impossible. Of this station therefore it has been said, `There is no further village beyond Abadan (forever).'
Here the Muhammadi tawhid, the unity of gatheredness, is obtained once again; the difference between the two is that in the first tawhid, creation as a whole is removed from his gaze, in accordance with Allah's words, `Everything is perishable but He', and in the second tawhid, all the attributes are removed, in accordance with the words of the divine gnostic: `The first part of the way is gnosis of Him, and the perfection of gnosis of Him is affirmation of Him, and the perfection of affirmation of Him is recognition of His Oneness, and the perfection of this recognition is sincerity to Him, and the perfection of sincerity 'to Him is the negation of the attributes from Him, by bearing witness on the part of each attribute that it was something without attribute, and the bearing witness on the part of each thing possessing an attribute that it is without attribute. In this station man becomes a (true) man, the perfect man becomes (truly) perfected and the gnostic (truly) gnostic.' It is for this reason that a return to a completion of perfection and the world of multiplicity becomes necessary, in accordance with the words of Allah, `and that they may warn their people when they come back toy them that they may be cautious' and in accordance with the reply of the Shaykh Junayd when asked about the meaning of the end: `It is a return to the beginning.' It is this that is the secret of the return of the one who is performing the hajj from 'Arafat to Mina; indeed there are still more secrets beyond those revealed here.
He then returns to Mina, the world of multiplicity, that is, the world of rites and sacrifice in the realm of the spheres, the planetآ­ary bodies, the elements and the three kingdoms; he perceives them with the perception of Oneness and he witnesses them as divine manifestations contemplating them as created from one aspect and as real from another aspect. He then becomes occupied with the execution of the rites and ceremonies of this station, by performing the stoning, the sacrifice and the cutting; he first of all stones the Jamrat al‑`Aqabah (places of the devil), namely this world and its pleasures, comprising the seven levels of eleآ­mental and natural kingdoms. This stoning is the stoning in the visionary realm, not physical stoning.
Thus when he returns to the above‑mentioned worlds it is incumbent upon him to act with authority and certainty. He then sacrifices his self again, such that he is hardly alive any more with the superficial life of this world; rather he becomes alive with the life of the realm of reality, indicated in Allah's words, `And reckon' not those who are killed in Allah's way are dead; nay, they are alive and are provided sustenance from their Lord' and His words, `Is he who was dead then We raised him to life and made for him a light by which he walked among the people like him whose likeness is that of one in utter darkness, whence he cannot come forth?'
He then shaves the head of his self from love of this world and its pleasures; he shaves it such that he hardly returns to the world at all. The goal is to remove any belief in the reality of this world, since an investigation of this world reveals that it is nothing but pure non‑existence and a figment of the imagination; indeed it is maintained in existence by false conjecture which is mentioned in the saying of the Prophet, `This world is maintained in existence by illusion' and in the words of the Imam, `The destruction of what is imaginary comes with the sobriety of the Known'. Jesus has said: `O seeker of this world, to behave corآ­rectly therein is to abandon it; this is more correct behaviour, this is more correct.'
He then returns from this station to the station of abiding in Allah after the annihilation. He also makes another tawaf of the Ka'bah, that is, he perceives it again from seven directions as demanded by the source of his own soul, that is the seven levels of his coming into being, in accordance with Allah's words, `Indeed He has created you through various grades.' In this way he attains influence in the seven regions of the earth and the seven regions of the spheres, also known as the malakut and the jabarut. He then performs the two cycles of prayer for the two `Id festivals, namely the `Id al‑Adha festivals, and that of al‑Fitr, in the station of Abraham: one for his taking on of the attributes in the annihilation from all existence and one for his abiding in Allah after this annihilation. Moreover, the `Id prayer must be performed in a place specially reserved for this purpose, which is the station of Oneness in the realm of reality. The reader should mark this point well as it is subtle in character.
He then returns to Mina and the world of multiplicity within the three realms of the mineral, vegetable and animal; therein are three divine days for the perfection of higher aspirations: it is station of the final goal and ultimate aim of the spiritually noble. The following ayah refers in particular to this: `This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion.' We ask Allah to grant us arrival to the like of this had by the truth of the Real. Herewith we conclude the commentary on the hay of the people of haqiqah. We shall now begin with subject of jihad; and praise belongs to Allah alone and it is from Him that all help is sought and in Whom the people trust.