Islam and Real Money

A couple of years ago when computer science was still in its infancy there was a term which was used for the more sophisticated word processing programmes which pretended to show on the screen what would appear in the final printout and that term was WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get. In many ways that is a term which is certainly applicable to Islam. What you see is what you get. In Islam there is no hidden agenda; there is no spookiness: no mysterious rites, no sacramental ceremonies, no magical observances. Everything is straightforward, up front. What you see is what you get. The form of the prayer, for example, in Islam is entirely self explicit. You can see by looking at it exactly what is going on. It is clearly and unambiguously an act of worship. What you see is what you get. That does not indicate any lack of profundity; on the contrary, it means that the actions of Islam gain their inner meaning and depth not through external obfuscation but by means of true sincerity of intention and inward awareness of the Divine Presence which lies behind, and gives life to, all outward phenomena.

For this reason one of the most important human qualities, the need for which is emphasised in many places in the Qur'an, is something known in Arabic as sidq. Sidq is a comprehensive word which means sincerity, integrity, truthfulness, trueness, that something or someone is the same inside and out, that there is consistency right the way through. As is the case with all human virtues this quality of sidq was most perfectly exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. If he felt anger or pleasure, they were clearly visible in his face. People knew exactly where they stood with him. When he spoke to someone he would turn his whole body towards them. His absolute sincerity was tangible. He was always true to his word. And he hated the opposite qualities of deception and hypocrisy.

Once when he was walking through the market in Madina he passed a grain merchant who was sitting beside a heap of grain which he was selling. The Prophet put his hand into it and felt some dampness with his fingers. He asked the man about that and he replied, "The rain caught it, Messenger of Allah." The Prophet reprimanded the man saying, "Why did you not put it on top of the heap so that the people could see it! Anyone who cheats us is not one of us." So he was in effect saying that cheating and hypocrisy put a person outside the pale of Islam; that this quality of sidq is an essential component of a Muslim man or woman. In fact it is clear from the Qur'an and many other sayings of the Prophet that hypocrisy, which is to give the appearance of being something whereas in reality being something quite different, is one of the worst characteristics that it is possible to possess, worse even than outright unbelief.

Now what has all of this got to do with the subject of this talk: Islam and real money. The answer is: a great deal. Because the fact is that the pesetas in your pocket are very definitely not what they appear to be. What they claim to be is a simple medium of exchange; you hand over five hundred pesetas and get a big bag of potatoes in return. Their reality, however, is something very different to this. What they really are is not so much a medium of exchange as a means of control. In order to understand this it is necessary to go back in history a bit and see how the pieces of paper we now know as money came into existence.

Originally, and almost universally, money took the form of gold and silver coinage. People who had large quantities of gold and silver used frequently to hand it over for safekeeping to goldsmiths who, due to the nature of their trade in precious metals and bullion, usually had secure strong-rooms. In return the goldsmith would issue them with a receipt for what they had deposited. After a time some people started to use these receipts instead of the gold itself, transferring the receipt to someone else's name when paying a large debt. The goldsmith would make a charge for storage and for any services of this kind he performed. In this way, privately-issued notes did begin to make their appearance as a medium of exchange, but they were still exactly equivalent to the gold in the goldsmith's possession and their total volume was very small in comparison with the normal cash transactions that generally took place.

After a while, however, the goldsmiths realised that the deposits they held on behalf on other people tended to remain at a more or less constant level and so they started to issue extra receipts for given amounts of gold, over and above those they had already given out, which people could come and cash in with them if they wanted. These they used both to pay for things for themselves and increasingly, as circumstances permitted, as loans which people would repay with interest, thus enabling them to increase their stocks of gold without paying out anything at all. The people who took the notes would also use them in place of the gold and silver they claimed to represent. This, properly speaking, constituted the origin of the paper notes that are today all the money we know. The important thing to realise is that a large proportion of these notes issued by the goldsmiths were entirely fictitious and not backed-up by any gold at all. Money had been conjured out of thin air. This transaction, which was then, and still is, quite frankly fraudulent, mirrors exactly the way the pesetas in your pocket come into existence.

It soon became obvious that this activity of literally creating money out of nothing was extremely profitable and the goldsmiths involved soon gave up their honourable craft of turning gold into objects of beauty. They added to the issuing of paper money two other complementary transactions – the processing of bills of exchange and the negotiation of loans – and invented the new and enormously powerful business of banking. This process did not happen overnight and evolved gradually between the mid 16th and mid 17th centuries, when it suddenly emerged as the force to be reckoned with. In England the Earl of Clarendon, a senior figure in the government of the time, wrote in the 1660's: 'Bankers were a tribe that had risen and grown up in Cromwell's time and never even heard of before the late troubles, (referring to the English Civil War) till when the whole trade of money had passed through the hands of the scriveners (the people who wrote contracts and negotiated loans); they were for the most part goldsmiths.'

There was, however, one recently introduced element on which the whole edifice of banking depended and that element was usury in its most prevalent formof charging interest on money loaned. Without this, banking would not have been possible. Nowadays the interest rate and its fluctuations and the open and hidden effects of that on us is so much part of our lives that it is difficult to imagine the world without it. We entirely forget that up until the 16th C. it was totally forbidden and that this prohibition not only stemmed from categoric Divine decrees both in the Bible and the Qur'an but also from its universal condemnation and rejection by the whole Graeco-Roman philosophical corpus. On this matter religious and secular tradition spoke with one voice, knowing the potentially catastrophic effect of usury once it is introduced into human affairs.

However, putting themselves above this combined consensus of Divine injunction and inherited human wisdom, some leaders of the Reformation, notable among them Calvin in Geneva, – undoubtedly under pressure from powerful contemporary business interests – decided that they knew better and legitimised the charging of interest on loans. This opened the floodgates to a torrent which within a very short time had changed the whole political and economic landscape of Europe and which has now engulfed the entire globe.

This is not the time to trace the development of all the changes which took place but suffice it to say that the worst fears of our ancestors were realised and power became rapidly concentrated into the hands of fewer and fewer financiers who controlled political affairs from behind the scenes, holding no social responsibility whatsoever for the millions of human beings who in ever greater numbers fell under their control. One of the great studies of this process was written by the english historian R.H. Tawney. Its title is Religion and the Rise of Capitalism and it is indispensable reading for anyone interested in this subject. He says on p. 88, speaking of the new financial power brokers who had no political loyalties, funded protestants and catholics alike, and frequently financed both sides in a single conflict, that they:

    Érepresented in the economic sphere the morality typified in that of politics by Machiavelli's Prince. Compared with these financial dynasties, the Habsburgs, Valois, and Tudors (in other words the great ruling houses of Europe) were puppets dancing on wires held by a money-power to which political struggles were irrelevant except as an opportunity for gain.

And that was just the beginning of the story.

It is important at this point to remember that I have not gone off into some kind of abstruse historical excursion. By referring to these things I am still talking specifically about the pesetas in your pocket: about what they represent and how they come to be there. It was precisely their ability to conjure money out of nothing by issuing paper which pretended to be gold but was in fact backed by nothing at all – just like your pesetas – that gave these people the power they held over others.

As long as there was at least a nominal connection with gold, the credit bubbles created by the financiers and their phoney money were at least tethered to the earth and eventually burst leaving many thousands impoverished at different times and in different places as it became clear that the paper was worth in reality no more than the ink it was printed with. But when, in 1972, President Nixon severed the link between the dollar and gold, a new situation came into existence. There was now no restraint whatsoever on the creation of credit or "banker's money". It was the financier's dream come true but has rapidly become a nightmare scenario for all but tiny percentage of the world's population, even if very few people are aware of it. Egged on by world-wide electronic communication and markets which have proliferated on an unprecedented scale the credit bubble has now expanded to what can only be described as insane dimensions.

The money which has now come into existence and which for the most part only exists as electronic signals winging their way through cyber space from one computer to another can no longer even be counted. To give you some idea of the crazy stage which things have now reached, it has been calculated that the amount of money which changes hands daily on just the international currency exchange market, which is merely one among hundreds of other markets, is in the trillions of dollars and equivalent to the total annual turnover of world trade in real goods. There would not be enough paper to make so much money even if all the timber on the planet was used to do it and if the notes to make such a sum were placed one on top of the other the pile would reach beyond the moon! It would seem like some kind of mad joke were the effects not so desperately serious for individual human beings and nations and indeed the planet as a whole.

There is no person on the earth who does not now live and die in debt whether they know it or not and an ever increasing number know it only too well as their personal debts to banks and credit agencies mount and mount, causing terrible anxiety and stress and not infrequently leading to crime and sometimes suicide. The situation of national debt is notorious. Even the lands wealthiest in terms of natural resources are hopelessly in debt to supranational finance and the total national income of many poorer countries does not even cover the interest payments on the money they owe, much of which has been borrowed to finance vast megaprojects whose incalculable environmental damage to the earth's increasingly fragile ecostructure is becoming more and more evident day by day. Fadlun Khalid, who is here today, has done a lot of work in this field and would I am sure be able to make this general allegation far more specific, if anyone is interested in finding in more detail how the financial system is destroying the very fabric of the earth we inhabit. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the detrimental effects of the world financial system. And it is all so that an infinitesimal percentage of the world's population, who are virtually unknown but who know how to manipulate the situation, can skim billions off the top of the money mountain, and wield wealth and power to an extent never conceived of before in the whole of human history.

Our shaykh, Shaykh Abdalqadir As-Sufi, graphically sums up the present situation in his recent book, Technique of the Coup de Banque:

    We are tyrannised, enslaved, and endebted to an entirely unelected elite whose names we do not even know. With hereditary titles abolished and with hereditary wealth made impossible for the masses through powerful taxation, the case of this elite remains an anomaly. Their wealth and their lands spiral up into almost incalculable statistics, beyond the dreams of Alexander.

    They have no racial loyalty. They have no class loyalty. They certainly have no national loyalty. Upholding humanism, it could be said that they have no human loyalty. Insisting on their compassion they uphold the Rights of Man, sure in the certainty that the upholding of that empty rhetoric will distract you from ever attempting to refrain from their monetary system and live without banking. They are an oligarchy. This is not to say they are oligarchic in the platonic sense, for it is in the nature of the modern social nexus that there is a dysjunction between them and the human species rather than that they are at the summit of human society as in the primitive model. All the crimes of all the criminals in the world added together do not amount to the enormity of this crime that they daily commit through their continued application of the usury system. The pollution of the ocean is their achievement. The poisoning of the earth is the result of their programmes. The toxic air of the world's megacities is the direct result of their existence. The millions of dead caused by the sporadic uprising across the globe of the poor driven from their land, who in abject misery turn on their neighbours, the world's poor scavenging on rubbish tips are to them an unfortunate side-effect of their monetary policies.

We cannot sit here and act as if this appalling situation has nothing to do with us. The pesetas in our pockets are not the medium of exchange they pretend to be; they are precisely the financial instrument which has enabled the present situation to come about and which allow it to continue to proliferate. Our willing participation in the process is what keeps it going. We are nothing but usury fodder, actively conniving in the destruction of the planet on which we live.

"But there's nothing we can do about it," I hear people say, "we have no other alternative." That is no longer true. We do have a choice. There is something that we can do but that something can only be found within the parameters of a functioning Muslim community. Islam alone is now able to uphold the authority of divinely revealed law and provide the means for cutting through the magical deception of the usurers all-enveloping web. The divinely revealed legal framework for a commercial environment totally free of the machinations of the usurers is still entirely in place and is just waiting to be re implemented; but our chief weapon is our money itself. The gold dinar and the silver dirham are exactly what they say they are: nothing more nor less than 4.3 grammes of solid gold and 3 grammes of solid silver respectively; they truly are simply a legitimate, divinely sanctioned, medium of exchange. This and this alone can restore balance and justice to the day to day commercial transactions which are the life blood of any normally functioning human society and which play such an important and vital part in the life of every human being.

Just as the staff of Musa, peace be upon him, cut through the sophisticated sorcery of the magicians of Pharaoh and showed it to be the baseless illusion it was, so the dinar of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, will cut through the equally magical deception of the usurer's monetary system and show it up for what it really is: worthless scraps of paper and evanescent numbers in cyberspace with no real value whatsoever. The gold dinar will put economic power back into the hands of ordinary men and women where it belongs. This is Islam. This is Divine guidance in action. What you see is what you get.

________________________

Source :
http://bewley.virtualave.net/

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FAQR AND GHINA (POVERTY AND RICHNESS)

For Sufis, poverty means that an initiate claims possession of nothing and is freed from all kinds of attachment toward worldly things, and that one feels total neediness and destitution before God in one’s relationship with Him, which is based on servanthood and God being the Sole Object of Worship. It is not poverty as understood by ordinary people, nor does it mean begging from people by displaying one’s privations.

The Sufi way of poverty involves severing relationships with all that is other than the Eternally Besought-of-All, and depending only on Him to meet one’s needs. For this reason, the more detached one is from whatever is worldly and temporary and the more annihilated one is in depending on Divine Attributes and Essence, the more one has attained poverty and can repeat the saying of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings: Poverty is my pride.

As it is stated in a blessed saying, when poverty becomes a dimension of faith and submission, one no longer depends on the help, will, and power of that which is not God. Even if such a person has enough wealth to fill the whole world, since it is subject to decay and exhaustion, one does not depend upon it, but rather turns to God with all of one’s strength and feeling, conscious of his or her essential poverty and helplessness. How beautiful is the following couplet of Nabi, a seventeenth-century ce Ottoman poet:

        Do not despise poverty, O Nabi!
        Poverty is the mirror where the independence of others is reflected.

Rumi made another fine observation about poverty:

        Poverty is the essence and all else is form;
        Poverty is a remedy and all else the disease.
        The whole world consists in vanity and conceit;
        But poverty is the real core and meaning of existence.

Even if a person cannot discern his or her essential weakness and poverty with the light of belief, it is a reality that he or she is weak, poor, and needy. God Almighty declares: O mankind! You are poor in your relation with God, while God is He Who is the All-Wealthy and Worthy of Praise Who returns abundantly whatever is done for Him (35:15). As everybody absolutely needs His act of choice, will, and decree to come into existence, His Self-Subsistent and All-Subsisting Existence is also needed at every moment to survive.

An individual’s poverty and neediness before the Almighty is not a means of humiliation; rather, one’s increased awareness of one’s poverty engenders higher degrees of dignity, for such awareness before the Absolutely Wealthy One is richness itself. The believer becomes aware of his or her non-dependence on others, and acquires the consciousness of independence to the extent that one feels in his or her conscience that God is the sole source of power and wealth. His help is sought, and it is there-fore to Him that one turns. Even if such a person is materially poor, he or she feels no need for anything or somebody else.

The believer is convinced that whatever or whoever exists, including himself or herself, essentially belongs to the Almighty, for all elements of creation are only shadows of the shadow of His absolutely independent existence. This degree of conviction of God’s Unity is called annihilation in God, two steps ahead of which is subsistence with God. Concerning this, Hayali says:

        Hayali, cover your naked body with the shawl of poverty;
        This is their pride, they know not of satin or silk.

Poverty is the goal of saints, the (natural) state of purified scholars, and the most manifest sign of love of God. The Almighty has placed poverty in the hearts of His friends so that those hearts may prosper through it. Poverty is a key of light to open the eye of the heart to the inexhaustible treasuries of God. One who has this key is the richest person in the world, for poverty is the door to richness. Those who pass through this door reach (in their conscience) the infinite treasuries of the Owner of All Property and discover that poverty is identical with richness. For this reason we can say, as Junayd al-Baghdadi did: Richness is no more than the final, perfect degree of poverty.

When one is perfectly conscious of one’s essential poverty before God and one’s absolute dependence on Him, one is absolutely rich, for such a person no longer feels any need. This is what must be meant by the famous saying: The real richness is the richness of the heart. When one has attained this degree of richness, it is as if he or she has found a credit card that is valid everywhere. One who has such mysterious capital can be considered neither poor nor powerless. This is what is described in the following lines:

        His is power, by which we are powerful.
        We are well-known by His Name or fame.
        We go beyond peaks and continue our way;
        We overcome all difficulties with ease.
        We possess nothing worldly but are absolutely rich,
        And are dignified and respectable by His Dignity.
        We follow the way of contemplation, so
        Whatever exists is a source of knowledge of God for us.

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DAHSHA AND HAYRA (UTMOST ASTONISHMENT AND AMAZEMENT)

   

Every traveler journeying in valleys of love and zeal some-times burns with the fire of love, and sometimes overflows with joy owing to the “wine of immortality” offered by the Beloved. While burning, the lover sighs: O Cup-bearer, I have burned away. Give me some water! While looking attentively through the door of the Beloved left ajar, the lover entreats: I have dipped my finger into the honey of love. Give me some water!

Until the traveler is saved from worldly anxiety and considerations of distance or, in other words, until the traveler passes beyond the spheres of the manifestations of Names and Attri-butes and is honored with the manifestation of Divine Essence, he or she continues to travel between burning and entreating, and receiving his or her lot from the pure drink the Lord offers (76:21).

The lover pursues more and more knowledge of God, for every new Divine gift increases his or her desire. As this desire increases, new gifts pour into the lover’s heart. He or she embroiders the acquired knowledge of God with the feelings and thoughts traveling between his or her heart and things. Like a honeybee collecting nectar from flowers and thereby causing flowers to be the source of honey, the lover collects the nectar of knowledge of God from the manifestations of Divine Names and Attributes that open like flowers in the garden of the universe. He or she distills the collected nectar through the filter of his or her appreciative, grateful conscience, and feels as if his or her sight has reached the rays of the Attributes themselves. Then the dream of reaching the Divine Being comes, and the lover is stricken with the utmost astonishment.

The writer of Gülistan (The Rose Garden) expresses the traveler’s feelings of astonishment and amazement while burning and drinking:

        At times You show Your Beautiful Face,
        But It is veiled without being completely seen,
        Thus You incite us to compete to be able to see You
        And increase our fire.
        When I see unveiled the Beloved
        With Whom I have fallen in love,
        Something occurs to me
        And I am bewildered on my way.
        The Beloved lights a fire in my breast
        And then puts it out with a drizzle.
        That is why you find me burnt away
        And drowned in an ocean.

Bursawi presents travelers as incessantly intoxicated:

        All saintly ones are intoxicated
        with the pure water their Lord offers them (76:21);
        Seven, five, and four are intoxicated
        With His Beautiful Face.

If the traveler has not prepared his or her heart according to the requirements of the spiritual journey and the commandments of the Shari‘a (that is, if one does not think and reason in the light of Prophethood while one’s feelings fly in the boundless realm of the achieved spiritual state), he or she will inevitably fall, be confused and bewildered, and speak and act contrary to the spirit of Shari‘a.

Mulla Jami‘ expresses astonishment and amazement in his vivid language:

        The women of Egypt were astounded and cut their hands when they saw the beauty of Joseph. O Master! If they had seen your beauty, they would have thrust the daggers in their hands into their breasts. Speaking of Joseph’s beauty, where Your beauty is mentioned means no more than telling tales.

In other words, if transient, worldly beauty and perfection that only reflect the Infinitely Perfect and Beautiful One through many veils can seduce us, how great will be our inability to perceive the dazzling awe and amazement produced by beholding and gazing upon that Beauty.

Those who prefer to serve Islam and the Qur’an at this point in time should not aim at all the pleasures, whether bodily or spiritual. Rather, they should continue their service aided by God in awe of and with amazement at the extent to which God comes to their aid and makes them successful. They should never conceive of anything other than serving Islam. This is a special gift of amazement to the army of light from God’s special treasury of: We make the distribution among them (43:32).

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‘ASHQ (PASSION OR INTENSE, ECSTATIC LOVE)

‘Ashq means intense love of and fondness for perfection, beauty, or physical charm. Sufis usually call this sort of love figurative or metaphorical love, such as love for the opposite sex. Real love, the love of the Eternal Monarch, is felt for His Grace and Beauty manifested within His Majesty, and for His Majesty manifested within His Grace and Beauty. The real, intense love felt for God is a wing of light granted to us by Him so that people can use it to reach Him. Feeling such love can be described as the spirit being like a moth drawn toward the Light, the essence of existence. This intense love is the most basic and mysterious cause of the universe’s creation. God has created the universe in order to be known and loved, and so that those souls awakened to truth would feel and manifest a deep interest in His Essence, Attributes, and Names.

‘Ashq, which the spirit feels without the intervention of free will, cannot be controlled by the person so affected, for its real source is God, Who loves Himself in a way special to His Sacred Essence and is essentially independent of the created. In addition, it is essentially different from the love felt by the created for the created or the Creator. This sacred, essential love of God for Himself, including His Attributes and Names, is the reason why He created the universe and why He caused humanity to appear in the world. It is also this love that manifests itself in human beings as love of God, as the most essential center of humanity’s relationship with God.

‘Ashq is the final step leading to God, and a lover who has reached it has no further steps to take. God manifested Himself first as this sacred, essential love required by His being God. This love must not be confused with the love a person feels for either the created or the Creator Himself. As there is no other word more appropriate to express it, I feel obliged to use “love.”

Some tend to describe Knowledge as this first manifestation of God, which is regarded as God’s condescension to be known. This condescension is called “Knowledge,” being God’s manifestation of His Knowledge; “Sacred Love,” being God’s loving to observe and to be “observed;” “the Tablet,” comprehending or containing all of existence; and “the Pen,” handling all things in existence in all their details. Jabarut (the highest, immaterial empyrean) and the Truth of Ahmad (the Prophet’s Name mentioned in the original copy of the Gospels and in the heavens) are other titles of this condescension or God’s first manifestation.

Sacred Love is a mystery special to the Divine Essence. Other Attributes of His are appended to or dependent on this love. It is for this reason that those who fly with the wings of ‘ashq reach directly to the Divine Essence and attain to amazement, whereas others have to pass through the intermediate realms of the worlds of things and Names.

* * *

The ways leading to God are almost beyond number. Sufism, the science of truth, contains the food, light, and other necessities travelers need for the journey, and the (spiritual) orders (tariqas) are the ports from which they set out, or the schools in which the principles of the journey are taught.

The ways to the Truth can be divided into two main groups. The first is the way in which the wayfarer is offered or taught such principles as eating less, drinking less, sleeping less, increasing contemplation, and refraining from unnecessary social intercourse. Almost all Sufi orders are based on these practices. The main invocations recited by followers of this way are the Seven Names: There is no god but God, God, He, the Truth, the All-Living, the Self-Subsistent, the All-Overwhelming. By reciting these Names, one seeks to pass through the carnal soul’s seven steps: the Evil-Commanding Soul, the Self-Condemning Soul, the Soul Having Inspiration, the Soul at Rest, the Soul Well-Pleased (with however God treats it), the Soul Pleasing (to God), and the Purified or Innocent Soul. To these seven Names, some add such Names of Majesty as the All-Powerful, the All-Strong, the All-Compelling, the Master, and the All-Loving; others add such Names of Grace as the Unique, the One, the Peerlessly All-Single, and the Eternally Besought-of-All.

The second way is based on strict adherence to the Qur’an and the Sunna, and the encouragement of certain recitations. Those who follow this way strive to comply with the Sunna in whatever they do. Rather than reciting certain Names, they follow the methods used by God’s Messenger to worship, invoke, and pray; meditate on His acts and creatures; and mention Him with all of His Names. Joining these activities with a meticulous following of the commandments of Shari‘a, they are firmly attached to their guides or teachers and abandon themselves to the tides of ‘ashq and (spiritual) attraction toward God.

Once they have attained ‘ashq and attraction, existence with its outer dimension vanishes from their sight. They annihilate their selves and begin to feel and observe the absolute Divine Unity. At this point, they immediately come to their senses with-out being confused and going to extremes in the relationship between the Creator and the created. In such a manner do they complete their journey.

The basic principles of this second way are regular worship, love, spiritual attraction toward God, regular recitation, and the companionship of one’s guide or teacher. In this context reci-tation, in addition to mentioning God with all of His Names, involves study or attending classes in whatever leads one to God. This is what the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, meant when he described those with whom God is pleased: They study together.

At times, a lover finds himself or herself in the stream of joyful zeal and yearning, which can be regarded as another dimension of ‘ashq.

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ZUHD (ASCETICISM)

Asceticism, which literally means renouncing worldly pleasures and resisting carnal desires, is defined by Sufis as indifference to worldly appetites, living an austere life, choosing to refrain from sin in fear of God, and despising the world’s carnal and material aspects. Asceticism is also described as renouncing this world’s temporary ease and comfort for the sake of eternal happiness in the Hereafter. The first step in asceticism is the intention to avoid what has been forbidden and to engage only in what has been allowed. The second and final step is being extremely careful even when engaging in what is allowed.

An ascetic is steadfast in fulfilling his or her responsibilities, is not defeated by misfortune, and who avoids the traps of sin and evil encountered during the journey. With the exception of unbelief and misguidance, an ascetic is pleased with how the Creator decides to treat him or her, seeks to attain God’s pleasure and the eternal abode through the blessings and bounties the He bestows, and directs others to the absolute Truth. In the ear of his or her heart, the Divine announcement is echoed: Say: The enjoyment of this world is short; and the Hereafter is better for him who obeys God’s commandments in fear of Him (4:77). The command: Seek the abode of the Hereafter in that which God has given you, and forget not your portion of the world (28:77) radiates itself through all the cells of his or her brain. The Divine warning: This life of the world is but a pastime and a game, but the home of the Hereafter, that is Life if they but knew (29:64) penetrates his or her innermost senses.

Some have described asceticism as observing the rules of Shari‘a even in moments of depression and especially during financial difficulties, and living for others or considering their well-being and happiness while enjoying well-being and comfort. Others have defined it as thankfulness for God’s bounties and fulfilling the obligations that these bounties bring with them, and as refraining from hoarding money and goods (except for the intention to serve, exalt, and promote Islam).

Such renowned Sufi leaders as Sufyan al-Thawri regarded asceticism as the action of a heart set up according to God’s approval and pleasure and closed to worldly ambitions, rather than as being content with simple food and clothes. According to these Sufis, there are three signs of a true ascetic: feeling no joy at worldly things acquired or grief over worldly things missed, feeling no pleasure when praised or displeasure when criticized or blamed, and preferring to serve God over every other thing.

Like fear and hope, asceticism is an action of the heart; however, asceticism differs in that it affects one’s acts and is displayed through them. Whether consciously or unconsciously, a true ascetic tries to follow the rules of asceticism in all acts, such as eating and drinking, going to bed and getting up, talking and keeping silent, and remaining in retreat or with people. An ascetic shows no inclination toward worldly attractions. Rumi expresses this in the following apt words:

What is the world? It is heedlessness of God;

Not clothes, nor silver coin, nor children, nor women.

If you have worldly possessions in the name of God,

Then the Messenger said: How fine is the property a righteous man has!

The water in a ship causes it to sink,

While the water under it causes it to float.

Having worldly means or wealth are not contrary to asceti-cism—if those who possess them can control them and are not overpowered by them. Nevertheless, the glory of humanity, upon him be peace and blessings, the truest ascetic in all respects, chose to live as the poorest of his people, for he had to set the most excellent example for his community—especially for those charged with propagating and promoting the truth. Thus, he would not lead others to think that the sacred mission of Prophethood could be abused to earn worldly advantage.

He also had to follow his predecessors, who proclaimed: My reward is only due from God (10:72; 11:29), and to set an example for those future scholars who would convey his Message. For these and similar other reasons, he led an austere life. How beautiful are the following couplets by Busayri, which express how the Prophet preserved his innocence and indifference even at the time of absolute need and poverty:

Not to feel hunger, he wound a girdle around his belly

Over the stones pressing upon his blessed stomach.

Huge mountains wishing themselves gold offered themselves to him,

But he—that noble man—remained indifferent to them.

His urgent needs decisively showed his asceticism,

For those needs were not able to impair his innocence.

How could needs have been able to invite to the world the one

But for whom the world would not have come into being out of non-existence?

There are many beautiful sayings on asceticism. The following, with which we conclude this topic, belongs to ‘Ali, the fourth Caliph and cousin of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings:

The soul weeps in desire of the world despite the fact that

It knows that salvation lies in renouncing it and what is in it.

A man will have no abode to dwell in after his death

Except that which he builds before he dies.

Our goods—we hoard them to bequeath to heirs;

Our houses—we build them to be ruined by time.

There are many towns built and then ruined;

Their builders—death has come upon them.

Every soul—even if it somehow fears death,

It cherishes ambitions to strengthen its desire to live.

Man exhibits his ambitions but time obliterates them;

Man’s soul multiplies them but death puts an end to them.

O God! Show us truth as true and enable us to follow it. Show us falsehood as false, and provide us with the means to refrain from it. Amen, O Most Compassionate of the Compassionate.

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YAQIN (CERTAINTY)

Yaqin (certainty) means having no doubt about the truth of a matter and arriving at accurate, doubt-free knowledge through exact verification. Used also to mean verification, seeking certainty, examining, and exerting strenuous effort to arrive at certainty, certainty is a spiritual station that a traveler on the path has reached and experienced. It is obtained only by those who have an innate capability to progress and develop inwardly. This term is not used for God’s Knowledge, which is infinite and therefore neither increases nor decreases. God does not have a Name by which he is known as “One having certainty or giving certainty.” In addition, certainty is a degree reached through study and verification of something previously doubted. The Divine Being neither doubts nor needs verification.

According to truth-seeking scholars, yaqin means certainty or conviction of the truth expressed in the essentials of faith, including primarily one’s doubt-free belief in God’s Existence and Unity. It is also defined as reaching that conviction through observing or experiencing the originals or truths of those essentials in which regular people believe, and discerning or penetrating the realms beyond this material one.

Certainty may also be regarded as a point, final in one respect and initial in another, reached by using all sources of knowledge and ways of observation and discernment. A traveler who has reached this point frequently sails for what is eternal, realizing ascension in his or her heart and reaching the horizon of: His sight swerved not, nor did it go wrong (53:17). He or she travels amidst Divine manifestations in the material and immaterial realms, and is favored with a tongue to speak, eyes to see, and ears to hear (the truths contained in) the Supreme Sign. That is, repeated observation and study of the book of the universe, of the things and events contained in it, allows the traveler to eternity to perceive the meanings of the inimitable seals on things and events special to God.

By repeatedly observing and reflecting on the scenes presented for study in the outer world as well as in his or her inner world, truths beyond the visible realm are unveiled to the traveler. Also, by living in the brilliant, mysterious climate of Divine Revelation, namely the Qur’an and the Sunna, one feels the manifestation of the Hidden Treasure in his or her heart. The believer becomes aware of and experiences the tokens and signs issuing from the prism of his or her conscience, which reflects the rays of Divine gifts coming from the outer world, his or her inner world, and the Divine Revelation, and sends them to his or her senses and faculties. Certainty, in this meaning and degree, is a gift with which God favors those near to Him.

Even in its least degree, certainty is so strong that it fills the heart with light, removes the mist of doubt from the mind, and causes breezes of joy, satisfaction, and exhilaration to blow in one’s inner world. As pointed out by Dhu al-Nun al-Misri, certainty causes the heart to overflow with the desire to reach eternity. This engenders the desire to live an austere life, for asceticism allows one to think and speak with wisdom. One who takes the wing of asceticism and flies to the realm of wisdom never forgets what the end will be, always thinks of the afterlife, and always feels God’s company, even when with other people.
In the early steps of certainty, the veil between the material and immaterial sides of existence begins to be removed and, a few steps further, the traveler discerns the realm beyond this material world. With his or her heart filled with Divine manifestations, which result in the attainment of peace and satisfaction, the believer is freed absolutely from all doubt about the truths of faith. Like ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him, some who have attained this degree of certainty have declared: Even if the veil between the seen and the Unseen were to lift, my certainty would not increase. A few steps further on is the station where one journeys in the pure realm of Divine gifts, of which eyes have never seen, ears have never heard, or minds have never conceived.

To gain certainty, an initiate beginning the journey must try to do what is necessary to reach it. However, one can only reach this station when God bestows it as a blessing and gift. Without acquiring due knowledge of God, one cannot reach certainty. Knowledge of God is acquired through a correct view of and perspective on things and events; the ability to think in a correct and balanced manner; purity of intention; study of the signs of God’s Existence and Unity; and reflection on His acts and the manifestations of His Names and Attributes. Knowledge of God is a light illuminating the initiate’s inner and outer worlds, a light shining from all corners of existence. Under the rays of this light, the initiate sees everything as it really is and, being freed from the confines of multiplicity (of things and events), discerns Divine Unity and is enraptured with indescribable spiritual pleasure.

Although an initiate may feel uneasy during the early steps of the way to certainty, he or she will be lost in inconceivable pleasure and peace at the end of it. Those who cannot distinguish between what is felt in the beginning and what is experienced at the end wrongly conclude that certainty is risky; however, those who constantly feel God’s company and the resulting spiritual delight enjoy peace and security from all spiritual trouble and possible deviation. Uneasiness and trouble are felt only in the beginning. As for certainty being risky, all stations confront the traveler with some degree of risk. The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, declared: Even I would not be able to be saved (from Hellfire or God’s punishment through my own actions), if God did not embrace me in His mercy. As for being secure from trouble and deviation and gaining peace, these are fresh fruits that God causes certainty to yield.

As referred to in some verses of the Qur’an, Sufis classify certainty in the three categories:

    1. Certainty coming from knowledge: Having a strong, firm belief in or conviction of all the essentials of faith, primarily God’s Existence and Unity, acquired through correct observation and study of the relevant signs and evidence.
    2. Certainty coming from direct observation or seeing: Having an indescribable degree of certainty and knowledge of God acquired through unveiling and observing the immaterial truths invisible to ordinary believers and on which the essentials of belief are based.
    3. Certainty coming from direct experience: Being favored with God’s constant company, without any veils and in a way that only the one receiving this favor can perceive. Some have interpreted it as self-annihilation in God and gaining subsistence by Him.

These three degrees of certainty can be summed up in the following example: A person’s knowledge of death (before he or she dies) that is acquired by observing or studying the body in a biological context can be an example of certainty coming from knowledge. Witnessing some metaphysical phenomena, such as seeing the angel who has come to remove one’s soul and catching glimpses of the intermediate world of the grave, may be regarded as a kind of certainty coming from direct observation. The certainty gained by actually experiencing death is a certainty coming from direct experience.

Certainty about abstract truths, such as the nature of God’s Names and Attributes coming from direct observation, for example, pertains to one’s personal experience. It is therefore beyond my ability to explain.

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WARA’ (ABSTINENCE)

Wara’ is defined as holding oneself back from unbecoming, unnecessary things47; as strictly refraining from what is unlawful and forbidden; or abstaining from all doubtful things lest one should commit a forbidden act. The Islamic principle: Abandon what you doubt and prefer what you have no doubt about,48 and the Prophetic saying: What is lawful is evident and what is forbidden is also evident, explain the basis of wara’.

Some Sufis define wara’ as the conviction of the truth of Islamic tenets, being straightforward in one’s beliefs and acts, being steadfast in observing Islamic commandments, and being very careful in one’s relations with God Almighty. Others define it as not being heedless of God even for the period of the twinkling of an eye, and others as permanently closing them-selves to all that is not Him, as not lowering oneself before anyone except Him (for the fulfillment of one’s needs or other reasons), and as advancing until reaching God without getting stuck with one’s ego, carnal self and desires, and the world.

Always refrain from begging from people,

Beg only from your Lord Who is the All-Munificent.

Renounce the pomp and luxuries of the world

Which will certainly go as they have come.

We can also interpret wara’ as basing one’s life on engaging in what is necessary and useful, as acting in consciousness of the real nature of useless, fleeting, and transient things. This is stated in the Tradition: It is the beauty of a man’s being a good Muslim that he abandons what is of no use to him.

The writer of the Pandname, Farid al-Din al-Attar, explains this principle in a very beautiful way:

Wara’ gives rise to fear of God,

One without wara’ is subject to humiliation.

Whoever uprightly follows the way of wara’,

Whatever he does is for the sake of God.

One who desires love and friendship of God,

Without wara’, he is false in his claim of love.

Wara’ relates to both the inner and outer aspects of a believer’s life and conduct. A traveler on the path of wara’ must have reached the peaks of taqwa; his or her life must reflect a strict observance of the Shari‘a’s commands and prohibitions; his or her actions must be for the sake of God; his or her heart and feelings must be purged of whatever is other than God; and he or she always must feel the company of the “Hidden Treasure.”

In other words, the traveler abandons those thoughts and conceptions that do not lead to Him, keeps aloof from those scenes that do not remind one of Him, does not listen to speeches that are not about Him, and is not occupied with that which does not please Him. Such degree of wara’ leads one directly and quickly to God Almighty, Who declared to Prophet Moses: Those who desire to get near to Me have not been able to find a way better than wara’ and zuhd (asceticism).

The abstinence known by humanity during the Age of Happiness50 was perfectly observed by the blessed generations following the Companions, and became an objective to reach for almost every believer. It was during this period that Bishr al-Khafi’s sister asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal:

O Imam, I usually spin (wool) on the roof of my house at night. At that time, some officials pass by with torches in their hands, and I happen to benefit, even unwillingly, from the light of their torches. Does this mean that I mix into my earnings something gained through a religiously unlawful way? The great Imam wept bitterly at this question and replied: Something doubtful even to such a minute degree must not find a way into the house of Bishr al-Khafi.

It was also during this period that people shed tears for the rest of their lives because they had cast a single glance at something forbidden, and people who vomited a piece of unlawful food that they had swallowed in ignorance wept for days. As related by ‘Abdullah ibn Mubarak, a great traditionist and ascetic, a man traveled from Merv (Afghanistan) to Makka in order to return to its owner an item that he had put in his pocket by mistake. There were many who gave life-long service to those to whom they thought they owed something, such as Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad. Biographies of saints, such as Hilyat al-Awliya’ (The Necklace of Saints) by Abu Nu‘aym al-Isfahani, and al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (The Greatest Compendium) by Imam al-Sharani, are full of the accounts of such heroes of abstinence.

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TAWAKKUL, TASLIM, TAFWIZ, AND THIQA (RELIANCE, SURRENDER, COMMITMENT, AND CONFIDENCE)

   


Reliance, surrender, commitment, and confidence are the four steps or stations of a spiritual journey beginning with reliance on (or trust in) God, continuing in full awareness of one’s helplessness and destitution before God, and ending in entrusting all of one’s affairs to God Almighty in order to attain absolute peace and tranquillity of heart. Reliance (tawakkul) means total confidence in God, and feeling troubled or uneasy when it occurs to one that there may be other sources of power (that one can resort to). Without such a degree of confidence, it is wrong to talk about reliance. Moreover, one cannot attain reliance so long as the doors of the heart remain open to others.

Reliance means doing all that is necessary to obtain a desired or intended result, and then waiting in expectation for the Eternally-Powerful One to bring about His Will. After this comes surrender (taslim), which many friends of God have described as one’s being before God’s Power and Will like a dead body in the hands of a mortician. Then comes commitment (tafwiz), leaving or committing all things and affairs to God and expecting everything from Him.

Reliance is the start of a journey, surrender is its end, and commitment is its result. Therefore, commitment has a wider meaning and relates to those who have almost completed the journey, rather than to beginners. Commitment comes after surrender, which requires the conviction of one’s helplessness and destitution before God’s Power and Wealth, and the ability to feel in one’s heart the meaning of: There is no power and strength save with God. It also requires the utmost dependence on and the expectation of help from the heavenly treasure of: There is no power and strength save with God. In other words, commitment means that a traveler on the path to God feels warned by the point of reliance and the point of seeking help in his conscience and, in exact awareness of his or her helplessness and destitution, turns to the Unique Source of Power and Will and says: Hold me by the hand, hold me, for I cannot do without You.

If reliance means that one entrusts all worldly and other-worldly affairs to the Lord, commitment means that one is fully aware that it is actually God Who does everything, Who pro-duces every result, and Who creates all things and deeds that many consider to be done by themselves. Reliance means that one relies on God and closes the doors of one’s heart to whatever or whoever is other than Him. It can be regarded as the outer fulfillment all duties of worship and the inner attachment to God, the Lord Who is the sole Sustainer and Administrator of all that exists. This is what Shihab expresses in the following couplets:

Rely on the All-Merciful in all your affairs;

One who relies on Him is never in loss.

Confide in God and be patient with His disposal of you,

For you can obtain only as His favors what you expect from Him.

I think ‘Umar, the second Caliph, may God be pleased with him, drew attention to the same point in a letter he wrote to Abu Musa al-‘Ash‘ari: If you are able to submit to whatever or how-ever God decrees for you [i.e. by not objecting to whatever befalls you], this is wholly good. If you are unable to do so, then endure it with patience.

From another perspective, reliance signifies reliance on and confidence in God. Surrender is the state of those who have been awakened to spiritual life. Commitment, meaning that travelers are not detained by considerations of means and causes, is a station special to those of high spiritual achievement.

Even if travelers possessing commitment seem to attach a certain importance to means and causes, this is due to the fact that they live in the material world, the sphere of means and causes, in which God has made any accomplishment dependent on certain preliminary conditions. If they give priority to means and causes, thereby disregarding the fact that God disposes of everything as He wishes, then they will become like vermin crawling on earth, despite their previous resemblance to birds flying in the highest parts of the heavens. It is related in books on the lives of saints that those saintly people who try to advance but become caught in the over-consideration of means and causes hear these words:

Give up taking precautions,

for involvement in precautions causes perishing;

Commit your affairs to Us,

for We are more thoughtful of you than yourself.

Such a commitment is a heroism that can be achieved only by those who persevere in their relations with God while living among people.

Doing what is necessary to obtain a certain result without attributing any creative effect to them may mean different things to different travelers: reliance for everybody, submission for those awakened to realities beyond the visible dimension, and commitment and confidence for those who have attained true peace or tranquillity of heart. How fine is the following saying of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, which combines exerting effort and reliance and commitment: If you were able to rely on God as true reliance on Him requires, He would provide you as He provides birds that leave their nests hungry in the morning and return full in the evening.

This Prophetic Tradition contains different truths for people of different spiritual ranks. What it means for the typical individual is what Rumi says:

Even if reliance on God is a guide,

Fulfilling preliminaries is a practice of the Prophet.

He told (a Bedouin) loudly (in response to his question):

First fasten your camel and then rely on God.

This meaning is what is pointed out in: On God let the reliant rely (14:12).

Those who lead their lives at the level of pure spirituality understand, in perfect awareness of their helplessness and weakness before God, that they should trust wholly in God’s Power and Strength, and become like a corpse in the hands of a mortician: In God put your trust, if you are true believers (5:23). As for those who fly around the summits of “self-annihilation in God” and “subsistence with God,” they say, like Prophet Abraham, upon him be peace, even while being thrown into fire: God is sufficient for me (39:38) and commit their affairs wholly to Him. It is enough for them that God Almighty knows their condition.

We can also see this greatest degree of commitment in God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings. When the feet of those pursuing him during his emigration to Madina were seen from the cave where he was hiding with his nearest friend Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him, and their pursuers’ voices echoed from the cave’s walls, he relied wholly upon God and told Abu Bakr: Grieve not! Assuredly, God is with us (9:40). This is also alluded to in the verse: Whoever puts his trust in God, He will suffice him (65:3).

Commitment and confidence are the highest degrees of reliance on God. Those who have attained these degrees have entirely submitted their reason, logic, and belief, as well as their outer and inner feelings, to God’s commandments. As a result, they have become “polished mirrors” in which His Names, Attributes, and acts are reflected. Signs of these degrees are under-standing that taking precautions is included in God’s preordainment, and thereby finding peace; seeing their willpower as a dim shadow of the Divine Will, and turning to that Divine Will; and being pleased with God’s treatment, whether it be favorable or not, and agreeing with whatever happens to them.

The author of Minhaj describes this degree of commitment as follows:

I committed all my affairs to the Dear One,

Whether He keeps me alive or makes me die.

The following words of Wasif of Andarun are also most appropriate:

Whatever was destined will certainly happen, so

Commit your affairs to God; neither be grieved nor suffer pains.

One of the most beautiful descriptions of commitment belongs to Ibrahim Haqqi, the initial verses of whose Tafwiznama (Description of Tafwiz) are as follows:

God changes evils into good;

Never think that He does otherwise.

One with knowledge of Him watches

In admiration what He does.

Let us see what our Master does;

He does well whatever He does.

Put your trust in God, the Truth;

And commit to Him your affairs

So that you may find peace.

Be patient and agree (with whatever He does).

Let us see what our Master does;

He does well whatever He does.

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TAWBA (REPENTANCE), INABA (SINCERE PENITENCE), AND AWBA (TURNING TO GOD IN CONTRITION)

Repentance (tawba) means that one feels regret and, filled with remorse for his or her sins, turns to God with the intention to obey Him. According to truth-seeking scholars, repentance signifies a sincere effort to no longer oppose the Divine Essence in one’s feelings, thoughts, intentions, and acts, and to comply sincerely with His commands and prohibitions. Repentance does not mean being disgusted with what is bad or prohibited and thus no longer engaging in it; rather, it means remaining aloof from whatever God hates and prohibits, even if it seems agreeable to sense and reason.

Repentance is usually used with nasuh, literally meaning pure, sincere, reforming, improving, and repairing. Tawba nasuh (sincere and reforming repentance) means a pure, sincere repentance that perfectly reforms and improves the one who feels it. One who feels such a sincere, heartfelt, and true remorse for the sin committed seeks to abandon it, thereby setting a good example for others. The Qur’an points to this when it mentions true repentance: O you who believe! Turn to God in true, sincere repentance (66:8).

There are three categories of repentance:

    The repentance of those who cannot discern Divine truths. Such people are uneasy about their disobedience to God and, conscious of the sinfulness clouding their hearts, turn toward God in repentance saying, for example: I have fallen or committed a sin. Forgive me, or I ask for God's forgiveness.
    Those half-awakened to Divine truths beyond veils of material existence who feel an inward pang of sinfulness and remorse right after thinking or doing anything incompatible with the consciousness of always being in God’s presence, or after every instance of heedlessness enveloping their hearts, and who immediately take refuge with the Mercy and Favor of God. Such people are described in the following Tradition:

    God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, declared: One who sincerely repents of his sin is as if he had never committed it. When God loves one of His servants, his sins do not harm him. Then he recited the verse: Assuredly, God loves the oft-repentant and those who always seek to purify themselves. When asked about the sign of repentance, he declared: It is heartfelt remorse.

    Those who live such a careful life that, as declared in a Tradition: My eyes sleep but my heart does not, their hearts are awake. Such people immediately discard what-ever intervenes between God and their hearts and other innermost faculties, and regain the consciousness of their relation to the Light of Lights. They always manifest the meaning of: How excellent a servant! Truly he was ever turning in contrition (to his Lord) (38:44).

Repentance means regaining one’s essential purity after every spiritual defilement, and engaging in frequent self-renewal. [The stages of] repentance are:

    Feeling sincere remorse and regret
    Being frightened whenever one remembers past sins
    Trying to eradicate injustice and support justice and right
    Reviewing one’s responsibilities and performing obligations previously neglected
    Reforming oneself by removing spiritual defects caused by deviation and error
    Regretting and lamenting the times when one did not mention or remember God, or thank Him and reflect on His works. Such people are always apprehensive and alert so that their thoughts and feelings are not tainted by things that intervene between themselves and God. (This last quality is particular to people distinguished by their nearness to God.)

If one does not feel remorse, regret, and disgust for errors committed, whether great or small; if one is not fearful or apprehensive of falling back into sin at any time; and if one does not take shelter in sincere servanthood to God in order to be freed from deviation and error into which one has fallen by moving away from God, any resulting repentance will be no more than a lie.

On sincere repentance, Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi says:

    I have repented and turned to God so sincerely
    that I will not break [the vow of penitence] until my soul leaves my body.
    In fact, who other than an ass steps toward perdition
    after having suffered so much trouble (on account of his sins)?

Repentance is an oath of virtue, and holding steadfastly to it requires strong willpower. The lord of the penitents, upon him be peace and blessings, says that one who repents sincerely and holds steadfastly to it is has achieved the rank of a martyr, while the repentance of those who cannot free themselves from their sins and deviations, although they repent repeatedly, mocks the door toward which the truly repentant ones turn in utmost sincerity and resolution.

One who continues to sin after proclaiming a fear of Hell, who does not engage in righteous deeds despite self-proclaimed desires for Paradise, and who is indifferent to the Prophet’s way and practices despite assertions of love for the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, cannot be taken seriously. This is also the case with one who claims to be sincere and pure-hearted, but spends his or her life oscillating between sin and repentance.

An initiate’s first station is repentance, while the second is inaba (sincere penitence). In common usage, inaba also refers to the ceremony held when one submits to a spiritual guide (as a murshid). While repentance requires the training of feelings, thoughts, and acts in order to move them from opposition to acceptance and obedience, sincere penitence demands a critique of the authenticity, sincerity, and sufficiency of that acceptance and obedience. Repentance is a progressing or journeying toward God—that is, seeking to do what is pleasing to God and refraining from what is forbidden by Him. Sincere penitence is an ascension through the stations of journeying in God—in other words, striving to live an upright life in self-annihilation and absorption in God so that one may seek His pleasure in all actions and thoughts.

Awba (turning to God in contrition) is an ascension through the stations of journeying from God’s meaning being responsible for guiding others after having embodied the Islamic way of belief, thought, and conduct. In other swords, taking refuge with God in fear of dying as a non-Muslim and deserving eternal punishment is repentance; annihilating one’s self in God in the hope of preserving one’s spiritual rank is sincere penitence; and closing one’s self to any desires, ambitions, or aims other than God’s pleasure is turning to Him in utmost contrition.

The first is the state of all believers, and is expressed in: Repent to God, O believers! (24:31). The second is an attribute of saints and the foremost in belief and good conduct who have been brought near unto God. Its beginning is seen in: Turn to your Lord repentant (39:54), and its end is stated in: He comes with a contrite heart (50:33). The third is for the Prophets and Messengers, all of whom are appreciated and praised by God in the words: How excellent a servant! Truly he was ever turning in contrition (to his Lord) (38:44).

The words of repentance uttered by those who are always conscious of being in the presence of God express the individual’s sincere penitence or turning to God in contrition. This is how the words of the best of creation, upon him be peace and blessings, should be understood when he said: I ask God’s forgiveness seventy (or one hundred, according to another narration or version) times a day.

Repentance is the act or manner of those trying to live an upright life while remaining unaware of God’s constant super-vision of His servants and what nearness to Him really means. Those who live in awareness of God’s nearness regard it as heedlessness to turn to God as ordinary people do, for He directs them as He wishes, constantly supervises them, and is nearer to them than anything else. Their station is not that of the people of the Unity of Being—ecstatic saints who view the creation while living in a state of being completely annihilated in God and therefore accept God as the only truly existent being. Rather, it is the station of the people of the Unity of the Witnessed— scholarly saints who accept that the truly existent one is He Who is witnessed or discerned beyond the creation. More than that, it is the station of those progressing in the light of the Prophet Muhammad’s practice, upon him be peace and blessings.

It is merely an assertion and a groundless claim when those who have not attained this station, and thus live [merely] on the outer surface of their existence, talk of awba and inaba, and especially of the final points of these two stations.

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