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Careful reflection over these words will show that the worship of the first two groups is not real worship, because their worship is not of God and for the sake of God but derives from their egoism and self‑worship. In reality they have worshipped themselves, not God, the Exalted, for the motives behind their worship are their self‑seeking appetites and attachments. And since self‑worship is not consistent with the worship of God, therefore, at first sight, this group are unbelievers in God and His Divinity. However, as the Noble Qur'an explicitly describes God‑worship as being innate to the human being, it has negated any kind of change and alteration in creation: [So set your face toward religion as a man of pure faith (hand; that is theoriginal creation of God wherewith He originated mankind. There is nochanging the creation of God. That is the right religion, but most people donot know it.] (30:30)
Accordingly, this is not a deviation of man from the path of God‑worship but from the path of tawhid, as they do not consider God to be One in His Act and Attribute and so make others His partners. Accordingly, the Qur'an, throughout, has stood up to affirm the Unity of God and to negate any partner in relation to Him. On this basis, the first two groups consider God as a sharer in their purpose, and while they worship God they do not leave off worshiping themselves, and carry out their acts of worship with a dual purpose and this is shirk (polytheism). In reality these two groups are mushrik (polytheist) in respect of God, the Exalted, which is unforgivable in accordance With express Qur'anic texts: [Verily, God does not forgive that anyone should assign partners to Him, yet He forgives anything besides that for anyone He wills.] (4:48)
Accordingly, their worship will never be fruitful or bring them close to God, the Exalted.
As to the third group of persons, who worship God for their love of Him, that is the worship of freemen, and it is mentioned in some traditions that: [That is the worship of the noble ones.]
This is the real and correct kind of worship which is not attained by anyone except the pure ones of the Divine Threshold: [This is the hidden station, untouched by anyone except the pure ones.]
Love consists of attraction, that is one's being gravitated towards some thing or towards some reality. The third group consists of those who have based their worship on the foundation of love and attraction towards God, and they have no purpose in. view except being drawn towards Him and coming closer to Him. It is the sole attraction towards the Beloved that they feel in themselves which is the motive that drives them towards the Beloved and impels their journey towards His sanctity.
It is mentioned in some traditions that we should worship God, the Exalted, because He is worthy of worship. Obviously, this worthiness does not derive from the Divine Attributes but from the station of His Sacred Being, glorious is His Majesty and great is His station. Accordingly, it means that we must worship God because He is God.
[My God, I did not worship You for the fear of Your hell, nor in the hope of Your paradise. Rather, I found You worthy of worship and so I worshipped You.]
[You have guided me to Yourself and have summoned me to Yourself andwere it not for You I would never have known what You are!]
The wayfarer of God's way begins his wayfaring with the feet of love, but after covering some stages and attaining to a certain degree of perfection he will notice that love is something other than the beloved. Therefore, he tries to leave behind the love that had been a means for his wayfaring and his Godward ascent. He finds it as having been an effective means up to this point and but thereafter he considers it harmful. Accordingly, from this point the wayfarer keeps solely the beloved in his view and worships Him as the Beloved.
But when he goes further and covers further stages he finds that this kind of worship too is not free of the taints of shirk, because in this worship he has considered himself as the lover, and God as the beloved, and that his egohood is other than the love of the Beloved. Accordingly, viewing the Beloved as a lover involves otherness and is contrary to the worship of God's Sacred Being. Therefore, at this point he tries to forget love and the beloved so as to totally overcome otherness and pass beyond plurality to lay his feet in the world of Unity. At this time the wayfarer becomes devoid of all intention (niyyat) because there is no more an ego or personality from which intention may arise.
Until before this stage the wayfarer had sought gnostic visions and disclosures (shuhud, kashf wa mukashafah), but at this station he consigns them all totally to oblivion, for he has no more any will or intention to have any sought object in view. At this stage, the wayfarer's eyes and heart have renounced vision as well as the absence of vision, attainment and the absence of it, knowledge and the absence of it. Hafiz Shirazi says: [Don't brag of miraculous deeds before the tavern haunters, Every continent has an occasion and every point a place.]
It is related of by Yazid Bistami that he said, "I renounced the world on the first day, and the Hereafter on the second; the third day I renounced everything other than God, and on the fourth I was asked, `What do you want?'
I said, `I want not to want anything!' "
And in this there is a hint about what some sages have said in defining the fourfold stages: "First, renouncing the world; second, renouncing the Hereafter third, renouncing the Master (mawla); fourth, renouncing renunciation." Reflect over these words. And it is this stage which is meant by the expression `renunciation of yearning' (qat‑e tam`) used by the wayfarers, and this is a stage which is very great, as it is a valley most difficult to traverse and passing through which is a most formidable task. For, the wayfarer, after much introspection and study fords that in all the phases of journey at this stage he has not been free from intention and purpose; rather there was a purpose and end that he cherished in some corner of his heart, even though that purpose should have been to transcend the stages of deficiency and weakness and to attain perfection and excellence. And should the wayfarer, by the means of denuding his mind and stripping away his thoughts, make repeated attempts and exert himself to the utmost so as to get across this valley and to liberate and denude himself of these purposes and notions, he will not make any success. That is because the very effort to obtain this denudation (tajrid) implies the absence of denudation, for the wayfarer's effort at denuding himself of purpose has behind it a motive to attain an end, and this very motive and having an end in view is an indication of absence of denudation.
One day I mentioned this mystery to my teacher marhum Aqa Hajj Mirza Ali Aqa Qadi, may God be pleased with him, and I requested him to suggest a remedy. He said, "This problem can be solved through the means of the method of incineration. That method is that the wayfarer must perceive the truth that God, the Exalted, has made him a covetous being. However much he may want to overcome his desire, as his covetousness lies in his innate nature it would not produce any result, for the very desire to eradicate desire implies the presence of desire and all that he has done is to overcome a lower desire by the means of a higher one. Accordingly when he fords himself impotent to eradicate desire and fords himself defeated, naturally he would entrust his affair to God abandoning the intention to eradicate desire. This admission of impotence and helplessness burns down the very roots of desire, purging and purifying him."
However, it should be known that the attainment of this matter is not something possible through discursive thought, and discursive thought does not yield any result in this regard. Rather its true perception requires gnosis and spirituality. Should one be able to perceive this matter once through gnosis, he will ford that the attainment of all the world's‑pleasures does not equal [the delight of perceiving] this truth.
The reason for calling this method `incineration' is that it burns down the entire harvest of existents, intentions, frustrations and difficulties, destroying their very roots, not leaving any of their traces to remain in the wayfarer's being.
The method of incineration (ihraq) has been referred to in certain cases in the Noble Qur'an. Should anyone use this method for the attainment of the goal and move on this path, in a short time he would cover distances which would otherwise take several years. One of the cases in which it has been employed in the Glorious Qur'an is the utterance of istirja`: [Verily we belong to God and to Him do we return].(2:156)
Because at times of adversity and affliction man can console himself in several ways, for instance by recalling that everyone is bound to die and everybody has to face misfortunes and in this way he can gradually pacify himself. But God has shortened the way, solving the problem once and for all through the means of the method of incineration by suggesting the formula of istirj `. Because when one remembers that he himself and all that belongs to him and pertains to him belongs to God, which had been given to him one day and is taken away from him another day and that no one has a right to interfere in the matter, when one perceive clearly that he was not their owner from the very first day and that his ownership was something metaphorical and that he had. baselessly imagined himself to be its owner, he would of course not be affected by its loss. Attention to this point suddenly makes things easy for him to bear.
The knowledge that from the very first God has made man covetous is like the knowledge that the Absolutely All‑Sufficient Lord had created His servant poor from the very beginning, putting poverty into his very being. Hence the affirmation of poverty and the affirmation of need, which is implied in poverty, do not stand in need of a proof. One cannot find fault with someone who is poor as to why he is a beggar, because poverty presumes begging. Accordingly; if the wayfarer of God's way is covetous during the course of his journey, he must be perceptive that God has fashioned his being from its very origin with covetousness and that he cannot get rid. of desire by any means whatsoever and free himself from it. On the other hand, as annihilation 11 the Essence of the One has been based on the foundations of the worship of freemen, it is not consistent with covetousness and intention. Accordingly; he feels helpless and finds himself in a strange state of anguish and helplessness, and this very state emancipates hi from his egohood with its associated covetousness, and after crossing this stage there remain no ego or egoism with its associated desire. So understand this point and reflect upon it well!
12. Silence (Samt)
Silence is of two kinds:
(1) general and mixed (mudaj), and
(2) special and pure (mutlaq).
The general and mixed silence consists of withholding the tongue from superfluous speech with people. Rather, the wayfarer must confine himself to the minimum that is possible, and this silence is essential at all times and throughout the course of wayfaring. Rather, it may be said that it is unconditionally commendable. And to this refers the statement of the Imam ( `a): [Surely, our shi`ah are the mute ones.]
And so also is that which has been narrated from Hadrat Sadiq (`a) in the Misbah al‑Shari`ah: [Silence is the motto of the lovers, and in it lies the Lord's pleasure, and it is of the etiquette of the prophets and the maxim of the elect.]
And it is mentioned in the tradition narrated by Bazanti, from Hadrat Rida (`a): [Silence is a door from among the doors of wisdom, and it is indeed the guide to all goodness.]
The second kind is special and absolute silence, which consists of withholding the tongue from speech with people while being engaged in exclusive verbal ahikar, and it is not commendable in cases other than that.
13. Hunger (Ju`) and Eating Little
`Hunger' is to be to the extent that it does not lead to weakness and does not make one's state turbulent. Imam Sadiq (`a) said: [Hunger is the condiment of the believer, and the spirit's nourishment, and the heart's food.]
That is because hunger brings lightness and luminosity to the soul, and thought can soar high in the state of hunger. Overeating or eating to one's fill makes the soul heavy, tired, and weary and holds it back from soaring into the skies of gnosis. Fasting is one of the most commendable rites of worship, and in the tradition of the Prophet's celestial ascent (miraj), which is mentioned in detail in Daylami's Irshad al‑qulub and volume fifteen of the Bihar al‑anwar, wherein God's addresses to His beloved, the Messenger of Allah (s), begin with the words "O Ahmad!," there are amazing statements concerning hunger and its advantages in wayfaring which are described in a wonderful manner. Our teacher marhum Qadi, may God be pleased with him, would relate a strange story on the topic of hunger. Its summary is as follows: During the days of the former prophets there were three friends who happened to enter a town where they were strangers. At nightfall they dispersed in different directions for the sake of food and they made an appointment with each other to meet together at a certain place and time the next day. One of them had received an invitation and the other became someone's guest and the third one who had no place to go, said to himself, `I will go to the mosque and be God's guest.' There he went, staying until the morning and remained hungry. In the morning all the three of them met together in the appointed place and each of them described what had befallen him. God, the Exalted, revealed to the prophet of that time, `Tell that guest of Ours, "We accepted the hospitality of this dear guest. We were his host and We desired to offer him the best of foods. But on searching Our stores We did not find any better food for him than hunger." "'
14. Seclusion (Khalwat)
That is of two kinds: general and particular.
General seclusion consists of seclusion and withdrawal, except when demanded by necessity, from those who are not the people of God (ahl Allah), especially from the weak‑minded among the common people, [And leave alone those who have taken their religion as a sport and play and the life of the world has deceived them.] (6:70)
As to the special seclusion, it consists of distancing oneself from all people. Although that is not devoid of excellence during all worship and dhikr, but in a group of verbal adhkar, or rather in all of them, it is considered essential by the masters (mashayikh) of the Way.
There are several things that are to be observed this regard: seclusion and withdrawal from crowded places and clamour, and refraining from hearing any kind of disturbing sound. The other is the lawfulness of the place and its ritual purity (taharah), even that of its roof and walls. It should have room for not more than one person and one must take care that there is nothing of worldly embellishments in it, because the smallness of the prayer cell and absence of furnishings in it result in concentrating one's senses.
A man asked Salman, may God be pleased with him, to permit him to build a house for him, as he had not built a house for himself until that time. Salman would not permit him to do that. He said, "I know why you do not permit me." Salman said, "Tell me, what could be the reason?" The man replied, "The reason is that you would like me to build a house whose length and breadth is to the extent of your body, and such a house is not practicable." Salman said, "Yes, you are right." Then that man received the permission to build such a house for him, whereupon he built it.
15. Morning Wakefulness (Sahar)
This means being awake at dawns to the extent permitted by the wayfarer's constitution. This statement of God, the Exalted, refers to the reprehensibility of sleeping at daybreak and the praiseworthiness of being awake during that time: [Little of the night they would slumber, and in the mornings they would ask for forgiveness.] (6:70)
16. Perpetual Observance of Taharah
That consists of always being with wudu', performing the wajib baths, the Friday bath, and all other mustahabb baths to the extent possible.
17. Outpouring Humility (Tadarru')
This consists of expressing lowliness and humility; making entreaty and lamentation.
18. Refraining from Pleasures
This consists of refraining from pleasures and appetites to the extent of one's capacity; confining oneself to that which is necessary for the body and for survival.
19. Secrecy
This is one of the most important of the requirements of wayfaring, and the sages attached much importance to it and gave significant advices to their disciples, exhorting them in the extreme, whether tile matter was one that pertained to the acts of worship, awrad or adhkar, or to spiritual experiences, disclosures, and states. Even in instances where secrecy (taqiyyah) is impossible and the disclosure of secrets becomes immanent they have considered concealment as being part of the essentials and binding instructions, and if the concealing of secret entails even the abandonment of an act or wird, it should be left off. [Seek help concerning your needs through concealment and secrecy.]
The result of taqiyyah and secrecy is to bring about a considerable reduction in one's difficulties and hardships, and the neglect of tagiyyah leads the wayfarer to face many ordeals and afflictions. Moreover, when difficulties do arise one must advance on the path with forbearance and fortitude and achieve success. [Seek help through patience and prayer (salat), and surely it is hard except for the humble.] (2:45)
The meaning of salat in this blessed verse is its literal sense of attending to the Great Lord. Accordingly, fortitude and forbearance along with the remembrance of God and patiently bearing one's afflictions diminishes the severity of adversities and afflictions and is an important factor of victor: Hence it is seen that the same people who moan from palls if a hand is injured at home have no fear if their hands suffer wounds and other members receive injuries in the battlefield and while confronting the infidels, and they do not find any weakness and fear in themselves. In accordance with this rule, all the Immaculate Imams, may God benedictions and Peace be upon all of them, have made profuse recommendations and amazing exhortations concerning the guarding of secrets, even considering the abandonment of taqiyyah as a major sin.
One day Abu Basir asked Hadrat Sadiq (`a), "Can one see God on the day of Resurrection?" (That is because the Ash`arites believe that on the Day of Resurrection and in the next life all people will see God physically‑exalted is God greatly over what the wrongdoers say! ) The Hadrat said, "One can see Him in this world too, in the same way that you yourself are seeing God in this sitting." Abu Basic said, "O son of the Apostle of Allah, do you permit me to narrate this for other people?" The Hadrat said, "Don't do that, because the people cannot understand its meaning and therefore they will be misled."
20. The Teacher and the Shaykh
The teacher is of two kinds: the general teacher (ustad‑e `amm) and the special teacher (ustad‑e khass). The general teacher is someone who is not specially appointed to guide others and consulting him belongs to the category of consulting `those who are knowledgeable,' in accordance with the general sense of the verse: [Ask the people of the Remembrance if you do not know.] (16:43)
The necessity of referring to the general teacher is only at the beginning of wayfaring, and when the wayfarer is honoured by visions and revelations (mushahadat wa tajalliyat) of the Attributes and the Essence, his company is not necessary. But as to the special teacher, it is he who has been specially designated to guide, and they are the Apostle of Allah and his true successors. The wayfarer cannot dispense with the company of the special teacher in any circumstance whatsoever, even if he has reached his sought homeland. Of course, that which is meant is the inner company of the Imam with the wayfarer, nor merely their outward company and comradeship. And the reality of the Imam is the same as the station of his luminosity which prevails over the world and its people. As to his physical body, even though it has an excellence over all other bodies, it is the not the source of influence and dispensations in the affairs of the universe.
The explanation of this point is that the source of all that which has concrete existence in ,the world of creation are the Divine Attributes and Names, and the reality of the Imam is the same as the Names and Attributes of God. Hence it is on this basis that the Imams have said, "The wheel of the world of being, the heavens, and the entire universe turns by our means and that which happens takes place with our permission:" [It is through us that God is known and it is through us that God is worshipped.]
Accordingly, the wayfarer, in the state of wayfaring, travels through the planes of the Imam's luminosity and whatever degree he may ascend to and whatever rank he may attain, the Imam ('a) too possess that rank and accompanies the wayfarer at that degree and rank.
Similarly, the Imam's company is necessary after the attainment of the goal (wusul) too, for it is he who must also teach the wayfarer the etiquette of the realm of lahut. Therefore, this company of the Imam in all. conditions is one of the most important conditions of wayfaring or, rather, it is the most important of them. Here there are points very subtle that are inexpressible and the wayfarer himself must find them out by the means of gnosis (dhawq).
Muhy al‑Din Arabi once went to a master and complained about the prevalence of injustice and sinfulness. The teacher said to him, "Pay attention to your God." After some time he went to another teacher and complained about the prevalence of injustice and sinfulness. The teacher said, "Pay attention to your own soul." Thereat Ibn Arabi began to cry. Then he asked the teacher concerning the divergent replies he had received. The teacher said to him, "O apple of my eye! The replies are the same. He invited you to the companion (rajiq), and I invited you to the Way (tariq)."
This story was related for the purpose that it may be known that Godward wayfaring is not inconsistent with journey through the ranks of the Divine Names and Attributes, which are the same as the station of the Imam. In fact they are very close or actually identical, and there is no duality to be found at that plane. Rather, whatever there is, is a single light, the Light of God. At the most that light is referred to by different terms, at times as `Divine Names and Attributes' and at times as `the reality of the Imam's luminosity.' [Our descriptions are various, but Thy beauty is one, And it is to Thy beauty that each of them does refer.
But the general teacher is not recognized except through company and being with him in public and private, until his reality and conviction (yaqin) are known for certain to the wayfarer. One cannot ascertain that someone has obtained ultimate attainment (wusul) on the basis of such things as performance of extraordinary feats, knowledge of hidden things, of private thoughts of persons, passing over fire and water, miraculous journeys over land and in air (tayy al‑ard wa al‑hawa'), knowledge of the future and the past end the like. Because all of them are obtained at the stage of spiritual disclosure (mukashafeh‑ye ruhiyyeh) and there is a very great distance between this point and the frontiers of wusul and perfection. He is .not a teacher so long as the revelations of Divine Essence (tajalliyyat‑e dhatiyyeh ye rabbaniyyeh) are not manifested in him, and one cannot also suffice with the mere revelations of Attributes and Names (tajalliyyat‑e sifa'tiyyeh wa asma'iyyeh) and consider them as a sign of wusul and perfection.
The meaning of revelation of Attributes (tajalli ye sifati) is that the wayfarer observes an Attribute of God in himself and beholds his own knowledge, or power and life as the knowledge, power and life of God. For instance, when he hears something he perceives that God has heard and that He is the Hearing One; when he sees something, he perceives that God has seen and it is He who is the Seer; or he has gnosis of all knowledge in the world as being exclusive to God and witnesses the knowledge of every existent as deriving from His knowledge or as being identical with His knowledge.
The meaning of the revelation of Names (tajalli‑ye asma'i) is that he witnesses within himself the Attributes of God that derive from His Essence such as the Sustainer, Knower, Hearer, Seer, Living, Omnipotent, and the like. For instance, he see that the all‑knowing is one in the world and that is God, the Exalted, and he no longer sees himself as all‑knowing in opposition to God; rather, that his being all‑knowing is identical with God's being all‑knowing. Or he perceives that the living one is one and that is God and that he himself is basically not living, but that it is God who is the Living One, and that's all. And ultimately he perceives that: [The Almighty, the All‑knowing and the Living' One is none but He, Exalted and the Sacred.]
Of course, it is possible that the revelation of Names may take place in respect of only some Divine Names and if one or two Names are revealed in a wayfarer it is not necessary that the remaining Names must also be revealed.
As to the revelation of the Essence, that consists of the Sacred Divine Essence manifesting Itself in the wayfarer. And that is attained when the wayfarer passes beyond all names and descriptions, and, in other words, loses himself totally, seeing no trace of himself in the world of being and consigning his ego and egohood to oblivion once and for all: [There is none here save Allah.]
At this point misguidance and error cannot be conceivable for such a person, because as long as a particle of being remains in the wayfarer Satan is not disappointed about him and has hopes of leading him astray. But when with the power of God, the Exalted and the Blessed, the wayfarer obliterates his ego and personality and puts his foot into the world of lahut and enters the sanctuary of God, wearing the dress of ihram, having been blessed with the revelations of Divine Essence, Satan despairs of misleading him. The general teacher must have attained to this rank of perfection; for otherwise one may not surrender oneself to everyone and anyone and submit and obey him. [A thousand trap lies concealed in this wilderness, Not one out of a million finds deliverance there from.]
Therefore, one must not surrender oneself to everyone that exhibits his merchandise and puts out his wares on display making claims to kashf and shuhud. Yes, in cases where it is excusable or hard to make an inquiry and investigation about the condition of a teacher and shaykh, one must, putting trust in God, evaluate whatever he says or prescribes in the light of the Book of God and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah and the practice of the Immaculate Imams, may God's benedictions and Peace be upon them, and then put it into practice. Otherwise he should not act upon them. Evidently, when such a wayfarer takes his steps with trust in God, Satan will not have domination over him. [Verily, he has no power over those who have believed and who trust theirLord; his power is only over those who take him for their friend and whomake him a partner (in their worship).] (16:99‑100)
21. Wird
Wird consists of verbal adhkar and awrad, and their quality and quantity depends on the prescription of the teacher. For they are like medicines, which are beneficial for some people and harmful for some others. It is often seen that the wayfarer engages in two dhikrs, one which turns his attention toward plurality and the other toward Unity, and as they are said together they neutralize one another without yielding any result. However, the teacher's permission is required for awrad concerning which there is no general permission. But as for those for which a general permission exists, there is no problem.
Wird is of four kinds: outward and inward (khafi), and each of them is either general or exclusive. The outward dhikr is not given much significance by the people of the Way, for outward dhikr consists of verbal chanting without attention to the meaning and is in reality no more than oscillation of the tongue. And since the wayfarer's quest is for meaning, and nothing else, outer dhikr will have no benefit for him.
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