Lessons To Be Taken And Warnings To Be Made

 

 

 

LESSONS TO BE TAKEN AND WARNINGS TO BE MADE

 

Muslims! Please for God’s Sake wake up! Firstly remember and internalise and assimilate what Islam means and what does Islamic faith impose on you if you are prepared to bear its happy but apparently inconveniencing burdens (inconveniencing the ego-whore in us).
Islam means submission to Allah Who is ‘al Salaam’- Peace, Security and Immunity all in the most absolute and ultimate sense. Do you or do you not want to attain, in your own person, the certainty and realisation as well as the actual enjoyment of inner peace, a sense of security no matter what and a state of immunity against all temptations causing your diminishment or destruction and then project all these joys to all around you and save many souls after saving yours? Submission to Allah is only as real as our abandonment of our ego by rebelling against it and sentencing it to life imprisonment with no provision for reprieve or parole! If you can do that you will discover something you could not imagine in a thousand years: Your ego will begin to serve you with flat-out obedience. It will be the servant and you will be the lord, so-to-speak.

 

Ego-slavery is the gravest of all diseases; it is worse than all diseases medicine catalogues and describes. Contrarily ego-mastery is the highest state of health where spiritual immune system ensures a state of feeling fabulously well with all the peace of mind which innocence begets. Let us support the veracity of these two contrasting states of mind from Allah’s Book:
“As regards those who disbelieve, it is the same for them whether you warn them or you warn them not- they will not believe. Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing and before their eyes is a veil ….  There is a disease in their hearts and Allah aggravated their disease…” (2: 7-10).

 

Here we see in what state an unbeliever’s heart is. Heart here means a man’s psychology and his heart being diseased amounts to infection with greeds, lusts, suspicions, delusions, pride, jealousy, hostility and mulish obstinacy. He is resentful and too ready to misunderstand a compliment as an insult and hit out at others on slightest pretexts.  He is especially angry with God Whom he either sarcastically denies or bitterly accuses of many wrongs against himself or the creation in general. In brief he is like a string of landmines each ready to explode when irritated by any foot setting over the ground it is buried. Their problem is their untamed egos, tame the ego and they are angels! This however is easier said than done.  There are millions of ‘Muslims’ and even ‘Sufis’ who are trapped by their egos and as a result must be feared to commit any abomination under the heaven if opportunity beckons and temptation knocks!  Let us make some sort of a list of sins people with diseased hearts may fall into:

 

Seeing fellow believers as rivals in worldly gains and promotions and subverting them
Seeing a visible promotion in the ranks of the religious community, like an actual nomination or promotion by the leader or at least being taken for a future leader as irresistible sensual prospects. They so excite him that if any other than himself becomes the beneficiary of the prize he becomes sick with envy and mad with vindictiveness.  In fact this is ‘the Original Sin’ in Islamic theology and the Original Sinner was the Iblis Satan. As such, among spiritually ambitious Muslims Iblis Satans are only too plentiful
Being prone to temptation in the matter of material gains, chiefly money, and manipulating every possibility and opportunity to lay hands on as much cash crossing the coffers of the group as he can.

 

This is done in various forms which chiefly are: (a)- Being gifted a wad of cash for whatever reason  (b)- Being put in charge of a project where cash will be spent. In this case he will make sure he gets a cut from the flow of cash in any direction, like inflating any bills either in collusion with the ultimate receiver of the cash (like a supplier of good and services) or by false documentation and accounting tricks, and even by inventing false expenses. He explains to himself that he is underpaid and/or ‘all are doing it’ and tries to make sure that his conscience does not bite. This item is the single biggest enrichment method among the members of a funded religious community. Allah promises to expose and ruin such embezzlers in various ways they cannot prevent. Allah’s vengeance ranges from terrible illnesses for the culprit or his loved ones to exposition and punishment in this word or being robbed by others even more atrociously. In the worst case the culprit may lose his any amount of faith and take the path of sin, addiction and scandal until he becomes a hated figure both among the religious and the irreligious.

 

Seeks sexual conquests made possible by manipulating the faith or similar sexual hunger of the vulnerable members of the group, like a husbandless woman or a too young or a too naïve female (like a new convert already used to or steeped in the tradition of free sex) who can be cultivated for an eventual sexual seduction. Using “Islamic nikah” is sometimes necessary to supposedly legitimise the adultery. Not that Islamic nikah is wrong. In the wrongful case it is no nikah at all since a marriage dowry, permission of the woman’s guardians, honourable and responsible witnesses, proper publicisation, stable cohabitation, dutiful maintenance etc. are often lacking. At best the agreement amounts to ‘Muta’ nikah which is illegal in the Sunni tradition. Many Muslim brothers love to bed convert girls or women this way but they should know that they are committing zina.

 

Realising how powerful is religious belief in controlling and manipulating people with weak or stereotyped (literal and dogmatic) minds the religious crook may opt for a political agenda. In a Muslim country seizing political power to implement a supposedly puritanical Islamic ideology and in a non-Muslim country working towards and enjoying the traumas he can inflict on the host society become his obsessions despite both all the mortal dangers he will face and the moral degradation he will undergo.

 

In this last case the concept of Jehad is misunderstood and misapplied. By the agreement of all reputable jurists jehad can only be waged by established Muslim governments against non-Muslim enemies and not by the Muslim subjects of a government run by a Muslim cadre whatever their spiritual credentials otherwise. One cannot form an armed gang and go about attacking other Muslims or non-Muslims and call this jehad and claim that if such mujahids are killed they go to paradise. This is the belief of the notorious Kharijites who were fighting both against Muawiya and Ali (Radiyallahu anhuma) and who then made their habit to fight against all subsequent Muslim governments, Umayyad, Abbasid, Seljouk, Mamluk, Ottoman and what have you. No government Muslim or otherwise and no ruler can be perfect and if we go around fighting each and every government because it is imperfect in our opinion then no peace, no order, no safety, no prosperity and no civilisation will ever be possible as they could be.

 

Had such jehad been legitimate, the toppling and slaughter of our master Uthman RA the third caliph, the wars of Kharijites against our master Ali RA the fourth caliph could also be seen legitimate. By the agreement of all respected ulema they were not legitimate. Had it it been so Ali RA himself would fight against Uthman RA and topple and replace him if possible. Instead he bore with all the apparent wrongs of Uthman RA. Instructively not a single such misguided jehad movements went right but ended in grief after some sporadic successes. Mainstream governments always prevailed in the end. At the root of such misguided zeals lies a diseased mind made euphoric by compounded ignorance masquerading as learning: a cursory reading of the Qur’an and Hadith and an ignorance of the rulings (fatwas) of the greatest savants of Islam and in fact a particular dislike of the latter paves the way for such mad and ignorant heroics and inflicts inordinately great damage to all concerned, the aggressors, the aggressed against and the innocent public caught in the crossfire. It is difficult to imagine a more Satanic scenario deludedly enacted in the name of God.

 

We must take all the lessons takeable from the above which by no means constitute a full list. We must see the Iblis Satan standing behind and directing the whole dirty show, standing hoof, horn and hair and maliciously enjoying himself. After all, if fighting by any means against a ruler seen unjust by a subject of his then the Iblis is the first mujahid out to fight against Allah and Allah’s (according to Iblis) undeserving choice Man. How come Allah could promote that most sin-prone upstart Adam, protested Iblis, who was additionally made from that most base of material the dust of the earth over the glorious Iblis made of blazing, brilliant, vibrant fire (which is in fact the source of light among other benefits), Iblis who had been worshipping Allah for innumerable aeons and endowed with such knowledge that even the angels had to sit at his feet and learn from him? If Iblis is right then self-styled and self-appointed jehadists are also right. 

 

The warnings to be made can boil down to the following:

 

Things we take as good or bad are not necessarily good or bad in the view of Allah and therefore we should be careful before we play prosecution, judge and jury and then the executioner. He Almighty says “It may be that you loathe a thing but it is good for you and it may be that you like a thing but it is bad for you. Allah knows and you know not” (2: 216). There are two sides to many things which look unjust or evil to us. It often is the case that we lack the necessary knowledge and understanding for judging a situation and therefore need advice from people far superior to us in both. If, after asking as many superior people as possible we are persuaded that something is bad, it still may not be right for us to try to put that thing right. We should have not only the knowledge and judgment but also an authority as well as the power to put that thing right. For example, if the great powers and authorities who can change things refuse to change them and even protect them then we can only speak out and if that is certain to land us in too much trouble then we will have to oppose it in private and even only in ourselves. A too strong power to resist which keeps the bad-looking thing in place is too strong only because Allah has some good reason to keep it that way.  In such a case it is Allah alone Who can deal with it and He will deal with it at a time that is right for Him (and us as well). He All-Wise postpones His vengeance for very good reasons and we better avoid interfering.  He Almighty says “Let not those who disbelieve think that Our giving them time is good for them.  Never, it is bad for them. We just give them time so that they accumulate more liabilities. For them is a painful punishment” (3: 179)

 

We must begin our charity with ourselves: We must do our best to learn and practice Islam so that we ourselves can avoid committing wrongs and evils. Because we forget about and fail in our duty to ourselves to a large extent we find ourselves as well as each other in acts and behaviours unbecoming of a sincere, responsible Muslim. As shopkeepers we may overcharge our customers, as earners we may avoid paying our taxes, when given funds to run an organisation we cannot resist to line our pockets as much as we think we will get away with, as borrowers we may delay repaying our debts and even default deliberately, we may lie in order to gain mean benefits, we may offend others by looking down on them or insulting them, we may do things to others which we would not like done to us etc. When we thus fail to begin doing charity to ourselves and to attain our spiritual potential appropriate to our age and gifts our heart’s eyes remain blind to spiritual secrets running the world. Only those who keep striving at their own self-correction and self-advancement in spirituality are given more light to see more secrets and be intimates of Allah.  Read if you wish: “Indeed those who strive towards Us We will indeed guide them to our pathways. No doubt Allah is with those who conduct themselves beauteously” (29: 69). Which means Allah is not with others however excellent Muslims they think they are.

 

We may be envious of those we think have been more fortunate than us and out of envy try to bring them down and if possible or applicable replace them in the recipientship of the coveted prizes. All this catalogue of defects in Muslims and many more have been with them since even the Prophet’s own time and could only increase and get worse as his memory receded more and more into the past while also suffering some distortions.
Perhaps the greatest of all sources of sins is conquest hunger. Many religious persons and organisations they found think that their mission is converting the whole Islamdom and even the whole world to their brand of Islam. They simply look down on all who do not agree with them that their brand of Islam is the only fully correct one; each such movement is driven by a conquest hunger and can follow any model of conquest in order to gain ascendancy and spread most widely. Some resort to armed conquest and this was the case with the Wahhabi movement and is the case with some new movements who at the present enjoy only a ‘terrorist organisation’ status. Others are more subtle and follow a peaceful path using massive fundraising and massive organisation, asset and facility building to spread their tentacles first in their own country and then globally. To help their global drive they cultivate good relations with non-Muslims while in order to keep their rival Muslim movements down they treat them with cold contempt and compete with them in the spiritual marketplace.

 

As such they more look like peaceful fascist organisations in which cut and dry ideology and leader-worship support each other. The openness to all of the Prophet’s Islam is not there; each organisation keeps to itself, looks after its own and will be happy to steal more souls than the other. As such they look like Western Christian fundamentalist sects and churches and in fact ape many of their dubious and sometimes also imbecile methods. Even their publications and artistic productions like TV series are full of plagiarised elements, plagiarised with such blind emulation that many elements look more Christian or Western mediumistic lore than Islamic belief.

 

For example dead people have experiences totally unlike what the Qur’an and the Hadith describe but very much like alleged Western ‘near-death and after-death experience scenarios. Again like the Christian missionary arm of the Western Imperialism these West-aping organisations travel to the poor parts of the world where they set up missionary schools like the French and Italian Catholics and the English and American Protestant denominations did in the heyday of imperialism; alongside a few poor bright promising children they draw their clients mainly from the well-to-to families of the area because the schools are not free but fee-charging private colleges for the elites, The education is not in the native or an international language like English or French but in the native language of the missionary Muslim organisation. What is even worse, the schools do not only inculcate their brand of Islam and make the pupils become the worshippers of the cult’s leader but like the French and the English missionaries they impose themselves as the representatives of a superior race whose language, culture and cultish worship the native students must acquire. They may even practice their pupils in their own foreign national anthem. 

 

In fact history shows that the more narrow-minded, selfish and secretly worldly a sect is the greater and more skilful efforts it exerts to spread and duplicate itself all over the world, a spread and duplication much like a bacterial, fungal or other parasitical spread and duplication. It grows at the expense of others which it wants to smother and absorbs wealth, influence and members which members when ready for adult membership, feel and act like Masonic brothers; they are encouraged to want to infiltrate and dominate all influential and power-holding positions and hopefully attain, one day, a monopoly status when all mankind becomes their members which of course, unbeknown to them is a pipe dream Allah will never allow. Read if you wish “Had thy Lord willed He could make all mankind of one nation; instead they will never cease to remain divided except whom thy Lord showed mercy to (and guide him into the righteous group) (11: 118- 119).

 

The three Semitic/monotheistic religions have been breeding grounds for such ambitious and often fascistic sectarianism to the irritation of both the Almighty and His Messenger sws.  Allah said “Hold fast on to the rope of Allah and do not break into conflicting sects” (3: 103) while the Prophet sws said “My ummah (religious community) will break into seventy something sects of which only one will be saved: that is those who follow my Sunna and the Sunna of my rightly guided successors”. By sects we mean warring and not mutually respectful legal opinion-based sects like Hanafi and Hanbali; nor do we mean mutually loving Sufi orders like Naqshibandi and Qadiri but selfish, haughty and cynically exploitative, conspiratorial, acquistive and invasive sects which have almost been and remain innumerable. We can only deplore this sorry fractionation and factionalism among the ummah and pray that we remain true to Allah’s and His Messenger’s (sws)  Islam. Amen

 

       
THE EVOLUTION AND NATURE OF TASAWWUF (SUFISM)

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Perhaps the most controversial subject among Muslims as well as the most interesting one to the non-Muslim students of Islam has been tasawwuf.

 

The controversy among the Muslims has been caused by two main styles of self-expression among the Sufis, one correct, the other misguided.

 

Non-Muslim interest in tasawwuf has been mainly positive, i.e., appreciative but again a split of attitudes have been displayed. We will insha Allah study all these in their turn and draw our conclusions and define the lessons to be taken.

 

The reason why we are taking up this subject is that Islam is rendered a service or a disservice by the students of its spiritual expression tasawwuf and we ourselves being on the side of Islam’s servants need to clarify our position and reasons on the one hand while identifying and pointing out the errors of any critics in any camp on the other.

 

 

THE LITERAL AND SPIRITUAL READINGS OF RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS

 

All learned students of religion are aware that a lot of the statements found in holy writings of each and every major religion are not so much meant literally but metaphorically and allegorically. Both the universe we find ourselves in and our own natures are too profound and complicated realities which even the most advanced science failed so far to describe and explain anywhere fully so far- it is highly unlikely that it will ever succeed in doing so.
Poor science is not only hampered and baffled by the vastness and complexity of the universe: it is also faced with the circular situation in the sense that the scientist being a human being is trying to analyse and explain himself both in physical and subjective (psychological) terms. That is not an enviable position; it is like an ear trying to hear and an eye trying to see itself in its entirety. It is like seeing a microscope or telescope through itself. Even that most exact of sciences could not be sure of itself eventually. Austrian American mathematician Kurt Godel has proved to the satisfaction of all mathematicians that, to put it simply, mathematics cannot prove its own consistency or correctness. This finding has been named Godel’s Proof or Godel’s Incompeteness Theorem. In mathematics a theorem means a conclusive proof of some quantitative relationship.

 

When man cannot understand his universe and even more so himself it must be admitted that he is far less likely to penetrate and understand any more ultimate reality or realities behind creation. Yet being part of the existence he is studying he must have some intelligent and emotional connection to both the universe and its any secret originator. His intelligence helps him to throw light on the sensible structure and mechanical workings of some parts of the universe while his emotional side finds in it many aspects influencing his emotions positively or negatively. For example, while he can worshipfully admire the glories of the star-studded sky of a clear night he can also abhor the sight of a ferocious animal tearing to pieces another who will be in obvious great pain. Because man is a moral animal he will be baffled by the apparently ruthless savagery of some phenomena in the world and yet will also see that there are very many noble acts which one creature does for the benefit of another, like the care of a mother for her child or a friend for another friend or a total stranger to another stranger. Because man’s own prospects depend so much on the phenomena of the nature (rain, good crops, floods, earthquakes etc.) he will always have things to fear from or hope for: as a result he will often need more reassurance than his scientific knowledge is capable of giving. Here moves in religious faith; at least the majority of people need one kind or another of it and that explains how religions were born.

 

Man does not need religion only to soothe his anxieties related to the unpredictable behaviours of his both far and near, physical and social environments. Yes, we are afraid of dangers from afar, like a huge meteor hitting our earth and obliterating a lot of life; it can also be a too big explosion in the sun whose sudden energy release can well terminate us. We also have prospects to fear from nearer home- an earthquake, a hurricane or tsunami can suddenly cause destruction and casualties by the thousands. We also have fear of other people and even ourselves. Robbers, murderers, swindlers, hecklers… all pose threats to us. Even more intriguingly, we pose a threat to ourselves.  In a very dark mood we may commit suicide or in an extraordinarily angry mood kill someone which we thought we adored. How can one explain the atrocities committed by each nation participating in the two world wars of the twentieth century seeing that almost all of these nations boasted of most advanced cultures and civilisations?

 

All such observations and more makes one realise that to mellow and humanise people’s feelings and behaviours some believable and effective moral and spiritual doctrines are necessary. It is a mistake to think that modern man is the only intellectually developed generation; as far back as history goes we find civilisations basically as intelligent and well-organised as ours except for the amount of knowledge. The Babylonian and Egyptian civilisations, for example (which massively contributed to the Hellenistic), left for us surprisingly modern-looking artefacts from philosophical inscriptions to very accurate astronomical tables capable of predicting solar eclipses centuries away. What is equally surprising is the fact that as regards savagery we have hardly improved over theirs: a carpet bombing or a nuclear evaporation of a big city must be even more barbaric than a Babylonian massacre of an enemy city’s population. We therefore need as much moral and spiritual curbs as our ancestors although we admit that such curbs succeed only partially and occasionally. In any case they are far better than nothing. Lastly if some types of personality can consistently display humane behaviour despite professing no religious faith very many others need religious faith to conduct themselves better than otherwise. We also admit that apparent religious faith in a person does not mean that he will not do things which will blush and blanch the Devil himself. What we are saying is that, overall, religious faith did contribute to human humanisation and that is demonstrated by its continuing popularity despite all the modern negating arguments set against it. Religious faith is part of human development; it is in our genes to be religious to one degree or another or rather to nurture and implement a faith; all perceptive observers point out that ‘secular’ ideologies like Nationalism, Socialism and Fascism were religions in a psychological sense and accordingly led to both the cohesion of their adherents and the barbaric behaviour towards their dissenters or rivals, that downside of misunderstood or fundamentally flawed faith.

 

Remaining with religions proper we may now look at the phenomenon of interpreting a religious statement. As Muslims we can take the Qur’an as our sample; it will be enough simply because its statements cover about the same subjects as the Bible and also many other sacred writings like the Hindu. All are about a spiritual cosmology and pious psychology and also some legislation and ritual procedures. As such they cater for personal ennoblement of their believers and the behavioural regulation of their society.

 

Now the Qur’an is explicit and upfront in its admission that very many of its statements are metaphorically meant and also that deciphering these metaphors is normally impossible for humans: only God knows their ultimate meanings and the believers must just believe:
“It is He (God) Who sent down the Book (Qur’an). In it are some verses which are of the nature of literal judgment. They are the matrix (essential foundations) of the Book. The rest are metaphors. Those in whose hearts is an illness pursue what is metaphorical in order to stir trouble (as a result of arguments will be provoked and fly around). None knows their ultimate interpretation but Allah. Those who are profound in knowledge say ‘We believe, all are from our Lord. Our Lord, do not bend our hearts after You have guided us and grant us loving mercy from Yourself; You , yea You are the Great Giver (3: 7- 8)

 

Which means the Qur’an is blocking all troublesome, unresolvable arguments upfront, cutting the unhelpful tendency in the bud. In other words Muslims are not supposed to speculate about materially elusive and logically obscure statements in the Qur’an which statements refer to matters outside our physical concepts; they should be taken on faith and savoured and the spiritual nutrition received from them with thanks and appreciation. No doubt the greatest metaphor in the Qur’an is the concept of God/Allah. If we take some statements about Allah literally we end up conceiving it an infinitely big and perfect man which a heart (nafs), two hands, two feet who however needs no food, drink or sleep, who just creates effortlessly and can destroy irresponsibly. But according to the verses quoted above this is a misconception and in fact a blasphemy. A blasphemy because elsewhere
Allah says “There is nothing like Him” (#).

 

Despite this ruling out of literal understanding of God and the total elusiveness it causes all believers will admit that the concept is overwhelming and compelling in the extreme; believers love this God and fear and adore Him is nobody else. Metaphoricalness does not in any way diminish our zeal. Note the love and enthusiasm caused by fictional characters like the Superman about whose films audiences world over thronged cinemas all over the world in the 1970s. Why was that? Because the superman was a god-like man: he was always both righteous and omnipotent in a way. He always rescued victims and punished the oppressors however powerful they were. This need for a god or more fully a Supreme Deity is very fundamental to morally-motivated man and therefore religious faith providing this all-powerful, all-just and kind rescuer and redeemer which can perfectly and instantly relate to man is necessary for the very sanity and hope for man. Yet the Qur’an and only the Qur’an goes the extra mile and kills in the bud the cynical accusation that God is an empty fiction. Yes, in literal terms God is a fiction but in spiritual terms (which contain greater realities than the physical) He could not be more Real and Effective.  Now we propose to prove that this is so.

 

Let us take an animal, say a cat. This cat can only be moved into action when faced with a physical threat it can recognise. If, for example, a dog it is unused to lands in front of it the cat will be alarmed and if the dog issues one bark or seems preparing for an attack the cat will run away with great alarm. Similarly, if some food is offered to it and it is not too full, it will come and at least smell it. Animals apparently have no abstract thinking capacity and no appreciable imagination to extend their awareness far in space and time. But man is different. He has an inner world based on concepts and values which often do not relate to his physical environment although sometimes they do. The medium in which these concepts and values are sustained is imagination and it is imagination which helps us to advance not only in science but in spiritual matters as well. For example, because we can put ourselves in the other man’s shoes as the saying goes (and note that this is a me-ta-phor!) we feel sympathy and responsibility towards our fellow men (if we feel, for some people are habitually very selfish and unscrupulous). 

 

Before we move on further let us pause and consider this last metaphor: when one persons says to another who is unjustly criticising a third person “Put yourself in his shoes” does he mean that the critic should just walk, take the shoes of the person he criticised and wear them? And that will correct his opinion about the now bare-footed man? Unfortunately there are some religious believers who and their sects which take religious statements this literally and both commit silly wrongs and become the laughingstock of others and thus give ammunition to anti-religious people.

 

Among Muslims such sects have existed for ages now and they are called ‘mutashabbiha’ (likeners) or ‘mutajassima’ (corporalisers), those who liken God and all heavenly or spiritual things to visible physical objects. So if the Qur’an and/or the Hadith is saying that believers are after or will look at the Face of Allah they angrily insist that a face is a face and they must expect and eventually look and see a physical face visible to the physical eye. They are not ‘prepared for less’, forgetting that spiritual sight of the Divine Face is not less but MORE, in fact infinitely more than the physical! Consider a cat seeing Einstein compared to a physicist  who reads Einstein’s books. Which of these two perceivers perceived more of Einstein? For the cat Einstein and the cook in the kitchen were just two similar and equal animals. For the physicist who did not see Einstein but read and appreciated his theories Einstein is an incomparable fellow scientist. Same with God. Seeing a big and glorious person effusing lights about whom a voice says ‘This is God’ may be an impressive experience but ‘seeing God’ as the Qur’an asks us to see through His innumerable masterpieces is the far greater seeing and throughout the Qur’an this ability of seeing God through His infinitely big and superb works is the norm and the non-negotiable demand and command. Read if you wish:

 

“Those who contemplate Allah while standing, sitting or lying down and ponder over the creation of the heavens and the earth say ‘Our Lord, You have not created these for nothing, You are high above (such vanity), please protect us from the punishment of Fire” (#)

 

In fact we have a very nice piece of revealing proof that spiritual beings are radically and fundamentally in a category of their own: in response to the unbelievers challenge that an angel should be sent to preach alongside Muhammad (S) so that the unbelievers have an independent proof God says “Had We made put up an angel We would put him up as a man and thereby cause them the same suspicion they fell into” (6: 9). THIS MEANS THAT ALL PHYSICAL BEINGS ARE INCARNATED/CORPORALISED STATEMENTS OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS!

 

Had Allah not ‘blown into’ Adam/man of His Own Spirit (#) could he appear as a moving, thinking and talking physical object? Don’t we see that when the soul departs finally at death the body begins a rapid conversion into inanimate matter? Yes, cells removed quickly from a recent corpse can be kept alive and even used to clone the man but that is now another man and is viable simply because the residue of the Spirit (still working order as programmed and maintained by God). What is more, at the Resurrection the order shall be restored to soil which will revive once more as the former person and face the Last Judgment. If you ask me how I will say “God knows” but I can hazard a cautious guess: this world is an illusion based on a reality far above it and the Illusionist can just try another method and restore the illusion in a form that is simply out of this world, i.e., outside the scope of our present concepts. Don’t you see how true and real some dreams look and how unsuspectingly and matter-of-factly we may go through such dreams which to our waking minds would look simply impossible. Both God and spiritual masters He created testify that the world experience we have is just one of the possible experiences and its consistency is no proof that it has no alternative: don’t we see how a geometrical problem can be solved equally well through Euclidian, analytical, trigonometric… methods or TV pictures can be equally traced back to analogue and digital signals? If man has such luxurious alternatives what about the Creator of man? Yes, as far as applied science is concerned we remain materialists, but when it comes to spirituality we need, can and should employ the very many other modes of our mind’s operational abilities. That renders too good a service and delivers us too exalting and ennobling blessings to ignore and dismiss.

 

Since the Qur’an declares uninvited and upfront the reality that its most verses are metaphorical and impossible for anybody to really decipher except God their Revealer and warns that vain and malicious attempts at deciphering them is indicative or a spiritual illness and is conducive to unblessed strife we should just obey our unanalysed and unanalysable instincts and just believe: Does a child asks for proof or a physiological explanation when offered its mother’s breast? She just follows her instinct and are rewarded with a long life other things going also well. The results of obeying healthy instincts of spirituality will similarly be most exhilaratingly surprising and incomparably rewarding as all saints testify only too enthusiastically and empathically!

 

In conclusion, we need have a discriminating mind: holy texts are in a class of their own, designed to appeal to the spiritual mode of our mind’s operation and spiritual contains all the moral, ethical, aesthetic and graceful considerations of man as well as his highest aspirations and hopes which make life worth living, gracious and charitable social interaction noblest and safest lifestyle and confers dignity on death and promises eternity upon it. Eternity means timelessness and therefore seeing a dead man terminated in time does not mean that he is not living beyond and above time as some biological species begin their lives aquatic and continue as terrestrial. There is more to reality than any of us can ever suspect and because the stakes are too high religious faith is a gamble worth taking, if it is a gamble at all.  That it is no gamble will only be revealed to those who begin the spiritual journey. Then nothing will be the same again. Amen. 

 

 

THE PATH TO TAKE IS TASAWWUF (SUFISM)

 

Tasawwuf is a term whose derivation is disputed. It occurs neither in the Qur’an nor in the Hadith but its reality is implicit in both.

 

The most prevalent opinion is that is derived from the noun ‘suf’ which means ‘wool’ and that was because at least the early Sufis wore only woollen garments for that was what they could afford and that was because nomads produced their own wool and woollen textiles while cotton and linen and especially silk were foreign imports and too dear except for the rich and the worldly. If that is the case Sufi means a wool-dressed pious person. Another derivation is made from the Greek word ‘sophos’ which means a wise man and ‘sophia’ which means wisdom. This also is an appealing hypothesis because not all Sufis were dressed in wool but all aimed at, at least ostensibly, attaining at wisdom. What is more, Arabic has no ‘o’ sound but ‘u’ and the the community of Sufis were called ‘Sufia’ which is an exact Arabicisation of the Greek word ‘Sophia’, wisdom. Both claims therefore have a merit.

 

Before we go further I must draw the attention of my dear readers to the fact that not everybody who put on the Sufi garb and ‘ostentated’ (if the coinage will be forgiven) a Sufi lifestyle was a good person. As in everything else this profession also attracted its crooks and madmen and the first to notice, deplore and condemn such bad apples were none other than more sensible and sincere Sufis. Therefore if I criticise some Sufis and their ideas and talks please always remember this caution and interpret accordingly.

 

Another caution I must serve my dear readers is that not everything said and done by even the best Sufis can bee seen as correct. All human beings are fallible to differing extents and even God-sent prophets are not totally immune to human error let alone their followers the Sufis. We need no other holy writ than our Qur’an to establish this fact. Our father Adam who was the first prophet as well erred while still in the Garden of Bliss despite not needing to. Despite God’s direst and most emphatic warnings he could not wait to taste the forbidden tree at the first instigation of the Satan. It is no use to explain this away as God’s special plan simply because all events without exception (which includes the Satans own fall and Abu Jahl’s opposition) were equally providential and predestined. We should be wiser than that and see the facts which God Himself interpreted:

 

“Adam rebelled against His Lord’s Command and lost his way (20: 121)

 

As sons of Adam then, whoever we are, we are always in danger of making errors and we do them to varying extent. The ‘innocence’ (‘ismat’) attributed to the prophets by later theologians (mutakallimin) must mean their devoidness of all malicious intentions and not their inability to make mistakes. Our father had no malicious intention when he forgot Allah’s warning and followed the promptings of the Satan; he was too pure and naïve at the time to suspect the Satan’s villainy. Yet a rebellion was a rebellion and Allah said it. What is more even prophets’ liability to some rare errors is a necessary discriminating element to restate Allah’s exclusive perfection which is inaccessible to any creature either here or hereafter. In the hereafter it will still be we men who will praise and worship Allah and get generous gifts from Him and we can give Him nothing back in all eternity for He needs nothing and will not stop giving more and more and more: Allahu Akbar wa lillahi’l Hamd!

 

What is more the best gift Allah gives His servants is merciful forgiveness and if prophets and saints made no mistakes how and why they should get that highest of gifts? As far as we know nobody offered more numerous and arduous prayers of repentance than our incomparable master Muhammad the Messenger of Allah (S) and he could only be sincere in them and not only teaching us repentance with tongue in cheek. Allah is so great and so impossible to satisfy with our humble devotions that we must apologise not only for our sins or mistakes but for the imperfection of our services to our Lord. None of us is great and powerful enough to pay Him His due. Yet, He is Kind enough to forgive all our sins and mistakes after we take- and He will make us take- our lessons one way or another.

 

Now that is why the first step in Tasawwuf is repentance. But the first repentance remains alone- to the day a true Sufi (and true prophet) dies he is quivering not only his tongue but his whole flesh with expressions of repentance. They feel they simply cannot repent enough and because the word for repentance in Arabic is ‘tauba’ which means ‘turn’ and therefore the more a servant keeps oriented to (turned towards) Allah the more Allah turns towards Him in loving mercy and infinite generosity. What prophet or saint can do without it?

 

In this connection we may remember that our ulema, while declaring prophets innocent felt that they had to make provision for Allah remarking a few errors made by his prophets. To cover this they called prophets’ mistakes not sins (zanb) but slips (zalla). This has been good manners on their part and will be good manners on ours. Yet true insight into spiritual realities like insight into all realities needs realism which in the case of spiritual good manners is also essential. Lastly as many said ‘the errors of the elect would count as goods deeds for the non-elect’. We fully agree. God’s beloved are beloved entirely by Him.


The relevance of these explanations to Sufism is this: Sufism is an all-out attempt to emulate the Messenger of Allah (S) in every possible and spiritually relevant way. One example of he Prophet’s spiritually irrelevant habits could be his food preferences: he liked some foods more than others and he said so and sometimes declined to eat a food item he said he did not fancy. When a host offered him some dishes he would eat of some of them while some others he would decline to eat saying that he did not feel like eating them. Such food preferences are not only natural but healthy. Not every food is suitable for everybody and some health conditions makes us feel unattracted to some foods so long as the health condition continues. What is required of the emulators of the Prophet (S) is learning about his character and conduct and social manners all of which were excellent and then adopt them.

The emulation of the Messenger of Allah (sws) should cover the following: His moral character traits beginning with strong faith and going through sincerity, goodwill, loving mercy, selfless service to good causes, personal humility, modesty and thrift, generosity towards the needy, truthfulness in all statements and justice in all dealings, grace in all situations which may amount to renouncing one’s own rights in order to help others in the obtainment of their requirements, forgiveness of wrongs done to one and various ways of winning hearts rather than offending them etc. A true Sufi should observe such traits of the Prophet (sws) and accumulate loads of them for his own person. I can swear by Allah that if and when one takes all the graceful, excellent character traits for himself greatest spiritual secrets are opened to him and saintly miracles will rain on and also issue from him. To put it differently, what made Muhammad (sws) dear to Allah will also make us dear to Allah, no doubt about it.

 

In view of this one watches with deep regret and disappointment those would-be Sufis who are only show, pomp and boast but when their characters are put to test are exposed as grudge-bearers, vindictive, envious, miserly, greedy, lustful, deceitful etc.

 


OBJECTIVE SIGNS OF BEING TRUE SUFIS

 

Acting is one of the most deceiving tools of false claimants to every merit. A swindler talks like honey and milks his victims like a milking machine. A sexual seducer plays the role of badly stricken lover whose sufferings must be compassionately ended by the submission of his object of desire. A crafty politician will press all the right emotional buttons of his audience so as to persuade them to vote for him. All such self-seeking unscrupulous crooks have one trick in common: they are very sweet and polite and often also good at humour and witticism. But as soon as they get what they want they cool off and deliver nothing back. Lastly crooks cannot get along well with each other. They are like foxes rather than wolves. The latter live and hunt in groups which are well organised and harmonised while the foxes are loners out to hunt and eat separately.

 

In human groups similar and other patterns are observable. Selfish and insincere people either function separately like one-man businesses or form alliances in the course of whose operations each member tries to get the lion’s share, if not immediately which can be dangerous but at least in the long run. Two professions stand out as the most insincere and wolfish: The first is politics and the other is religious association. Politicians are notorious of their selfish schemings, hypocrisy and flattery towards leaders whom they will not hesitate to stab in the back if and when an opportunity for promotion will require the treason. Priestly classes and organised mystical brotherhoods are similarly prone to scheming, factionalism, flattery to and if necessary treason against the leader and subversion of leadership candidates. Bureaucracy may be cited as a third profession in which similar unkind and dishonest thrive.

 

So, the sign that a group of Sufis are true Sufis is their getting along very well and living humble and thrifty lives with no desire to conquer other groups or spread like a state power within a political state. Sufis aims are personal improvement in spiritual matters and not worldly conquests so as to increase the membership, the income and then buildings and assets. If they spread they spread through the rubbing on of their loving merciful traits on others and to the end they remain unfinanced and unorganised brotherhoods each member living as normal citizens responsible for and active in his own economic profession whatever it may be. They are people fun to be with and honest and charitable to the hilt. They radiate godliness and project the endearing image of the Prophet (sws).

Once we know this we can identify and avoid false Sufi brotherhoods in which false shows of affection overflow but resentments and quarrels are never far away or rare.

 

Another sign of false Sufi brotherhoods is group arrogance and selfishness. It is only their tariqat (mystic order) which is true or the best and religious observances led by their members are worthy of joining and only lectures by their members are worth listening to.
Let this introduction suffice and let us trace in summary the evolution of Sufism.

 

 

EVOLUTION OF SUFISM

 

The real source of true Sufism is the Qur’an and its moral and spiritual commentary and behaviourial embodiment by the Messenger of Allah (S).

 

Sufism evolved to become a doctrine and philosophy in addition to its original scope which was entirely behavioural. Before we understand and explain Sufism at its Qur’anic and Sunni origin we must look at the example of the first and greatest Sufi the Prophet (S). We note the following phenomena, behaviour and responses of the Prophet (S) and the statements of the Qur’an laying at the bottom of them.

 

Firstly the Prophet (S) while yet not a prophet was instinctively (which means by God’s unspoken inspiration) drawn to meditation and prayer in seclusion where he passed days and nights on frugal sustenance and total abstention from the world outside his basic needs. In this he had some objectives incentives which were what he learnt from some few other pious Arabs who were called ‘hanifs’ and claimed to have followed the religion of Abraham. These stood in clear contrast to Jews and Christians whose doctrinal features they rejected; otherwise they could just convert to either faith and not bother with an idea of following Abraham so exclusively. The Prophet (S) had also travelled moderately extensively; we know that he travelled both to Yemen and Syria each hundreds of miles away from Mecca which fact made these journeys to take weeks. Because caravan met caravan, at resting places all sorts of people whether familiar or stranger met and would have certainly discussed all sorts of things. For one thing early biographers of the Prophet (sws) tell us that on his way to Syria in the company of his uncle Abu Talib as a ten year old boy or thereabout Muhammad (sws) was noticed by a monk named Bahira who identified him as the expected last prophet. If that is true he must have learnt early enough that he was going to be that prophet long before he became that. Yet the Book of Allah does not seem to support this, instead Allah assures us to the contrary when He said “You used not to expect this Book being revealed to you; it has only come down as a mercy from your Lord…” (28: 86).

 

Incidentally, this problem of almost insoluble discrepancy between what Allah says in the Qur’an about some matters and what manmade sources say on the same matters is disturbingly enough a very frequently met phenomenon. Those many simplistic miraculous occurrences flooding the traditions of all major religions are quite similar. They are irresistibly attractive to the simple-minded while trouble the heart of the more intelligent and realistic people. For example, almost all the ‘miracles’ associated with the birth of the Prophet (S) we find more or less prefigured in the nativity (mauled, milad or wiladat) of the Buddha and Zoroaster for example. Both were taken to heavens as soon as delivered, they toured them and came back to their respective distraught mothers. The advance information received by Mary the mother of Jesus  is, rather unconvincingly, was applied to the case of Muhammad (sws). Even his grandfather Abdul Muttalib is reported to have known what was in store for his grandson. Had these been true the following need be answered:

Why was it then when Muhammad (sws) was a child his uncle who became his foster father did not know about his nephews bright future, was to be told about it Bahira the monk and despite by then knowing never took Muhammad’s (sws) mission and revelations seriously but protected him purely out of familial affection and loyalty? Similarly, since his mother Amina were given both the news and the miraculous signs and portents of the future status of his son how come her husband Abdullah seems to have known nothing about it. Quite reputable hadiths are telling us that the Prophet (sws) would not visit the graves of both his mother and father in Medina (they were buried near there) explaining that they had died in ignorance (i.e. as idolaters). Subsequently permission was given for him to visit his mother’s tomb. In another hadith a man asks the Prophet who was giving a sermon “Where is my dead father now?” to which he (sws) replied “Both my and your father are in Hell”.

 

Please let the dear readers not see these reminders as an effort to disparage and declare harmful the stories of nativity and the spiritual condition of the ancestors of the Prophet. Pious myths are part and parcel of all religions and are essentially necessary and useful in pleasing, supporting and comforting simple-minded, worried and anxious people which make up most of the religious population. They are not ‘lies’ in the ordinary and dirty sense but unhelpable embellishments added in good faith both by the well-meaning uninformed and skilfully comforting wise mentors of the masses. Tasawwuf itself feature such helpful myths and the reason is the same merciful, well-meaning desire to help the yearning souls. The better devised among them may deserve the rank of metaphors which the Qur’an itself so freely and successfully employs. Mere and too rational intellectuals may dislike and may want do discredit and dismiss such spiritual material but they are wrong. Reason alone cannot serve as a basis of faith and piety; the myth-making and emotions-based part of the mind which also is the manufacturers of dreams and hunches and the receiver of inspirations need contribute to the process. A learned believer realises that the better part of popular myths have to be preserved if the less well endowed masses have to love and obey their religion. After all, Allah Himself employed and admitted employing metaphors whose true and ultimate interpretations (ta’wil) are with Him and Him alone. 

 

INTELLECTUALISM, FAITH AND SUFISM

 

INTRODUCTION

 

All praise be to Allah and Allah’s highest blessings and choicest greetings be on our master and guide Muhammad sws the Messenger of Allah and His Mercy to All Creation and on His brothers the prophets (peace be upon them) who came before him and also on his family and companions and all who follow in their footsteps until the Last Day. Amen.

 

I thank Allah the Most Gracious and His good servants the publishers of this publication for giving me the opportunity and broadly indicating the subject for this article which is to follow.  All good which is to follow is from Allah and all error is from my humble self, for Allah makes no errors and I His humble servant can only produce error unless He helps me.

 

And we begin:  Our age is one of two apparently but in fact complementary phenomena:  One the one hand we have almost compulsory intellectualism pushed on people through formal education which is almost entirely rational and utilitarian and hardly has room for the moral or the spiritual.  Citizens, future or present, must only develop and listen to the rationalising and verbalising part of their minds, believed to be headquartered on the left side of their brains (most probably hence the ideological prejudice called ‘leftism’) while any proper or profound use of the right side of their brains (the seat of emotions and inspirations) is neglected and discouraged, its manifestations being dismissed and often also ridiculed as irrationality, superstition, emotionality, unrealism and even plain delusion. “One must always be rational” they say. “One must be scientific in attitude” they add.
This is on the one hand. On the other hand these very top rationalists and ‘scientificists’-  to coin a new term for their pathology- are the most irrational, impulsive, reckless and irresponsible of  men when it comes to judging their life habits and their regular acts outside their professional lives.  Once they are relieved of their chores they rush to commit acts which, rationally studied for utilitarian aims by their own standards, do not stand up to any critical scrutiny at all. 

 

It was only in the other day’s news that of all murders as well as other acts of violence are committed in the U.K seventy percent involved drunkenness while half of all domestic violence was committed while under the effect of alcohol.  But that is not all:  Of all serious traffic accidents (about six thousand people die or are maimed each year because of them in this country alone) two thirds involve at least one person under the influence of alcohol or other mind-bending drug; yet all these ‘rational’, ‘scientifically thinking’, and ‘realist’ people are unable to act rationally, scientifically or realistically!  Instead they cannot stop acting impulsively, thinking irrationally (e.g., “drink cannot effect me”, “accidents cannot happen to me” “AIDS cannot infect me”) or behaving indecently (so many sexual and financial scandals happening).  Indulgence of lusts is the overwhelming culture in this spiritual-blind ‘rational’, ‘scientific’ and ‘realist’ age and soaring crime and epidemic depression and sexual ill health are only three of its negative successes. 

 

Nowadays in the West both teenagers and adults except the too old go out at night to hunt for casual sex and on a recent street interview with them by a TV company showed the following:  To a group of giggling teenage girls apparently ‘high’ with something: “Do you usually carry condoms while out?”.   Answer “Not usually, we’ll be OK”. More giggles. Adult responses were no better.  As a result we have official reports telling us that among other sexual plagues, syphilis, increasingly drug-resistant, has increased a thousand percent during the last decade: Fruits of rational, ‘realistic’ and ‘liberal’ attitudes ‘lovingly’ cultivated by the social farmers and engineers, the intellectual gurus of modernism!
We shall first look into Intellectualsim and then explain its correctors and moderators,  namely faith and its finest form Sufism which combines best mind with best heart.    

 

 

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