Sufi Graces

 

 

 

15.  VARIETIES OF SUFI GRACES (KARAMAT)


A true Sufi, who is the very same as a true Muslim, is like a mirror to Divine Grace. By ‘grace’, for the purposes of this article, we mean its Arabic synonym ‘karam’.
One of the cliché epithets used in mentioning the Rasulullah (S) is ‘Kareem’ which alludes to the great graces of his personality and conduct. These are exactly what a Sufi is required to reproduce in himself or herself. To see the graces our incomparable prophet (S) bore and demonstrated effortlessly let us enumerate some:


1.
To begin with he could never forget Allah or contemplate to disobey him in the least. What this amounts to in psychological terms? Why, it amounts to valuing highest moral values available under the sun as nothing else: the prophet was determined to stick to highest and noblest sentiments and conduct possible under such sentiments at all times as modified and rationed by wisdom and circumstances. For example, if the issue under consideration, was pardoning a wrongdoer who basically deserved to be punished, the Prophet (S) would let him off the hook if he saw that the person was really sorry and a true potential for being of some great use to Allah’s cause. In other words, his dispensation of justice was not a blind egalitarianism but an insightful deal geared to the maximum possible benefit to the community of Allah’s good servants. We can be sure that the Prophet (S) exercised this kind of discretion at all times when it was the more profitable option and that reflected very well on him and satisfied all his wise observers as excellent examples of good and sagacious conduct.
A good example of this grace are his dealings with his Meccan captives on the occasion of the conquest of Mecca: He nominated a few for execution on sight: they were guilty of extraordinary blasphemy or inhuman conduct in their battles against Islam.  Some of these the Prophet (S) allowed to be executed on capture (all had fled) while others he pardoned when they or their friends asked for pardon with ample promises of good conduct including, but not always, embracing Islam. So, Wahshi the assassin of the Prophet’s dearest uncle who was also one of the greatest fighters of Islam, namely Hamza (r) was nominated for execution on sight; he fled but showed signs of regret on top of fear and the Prophet (S), apparently considering his slave’s status in the hands of his Quraishite masters as an alleviating factor felt that he also deserved some leniency and sent news to him that he needed not to fear too much but could come to him in repentance which he eventually did.


Two great merits instantly accrued to Wahshi who now became a sahaba or companion of the Prophet (S); the second merit was his saving Islam at a critical moment of mortal danger when he shot the false prophet Musailima dead by throwing a javelin at him at the great battle which took place between his fanatically zealous forces and that of first caliph Abu Bakr (R). In this example we see the Prophet’s far sight and wisdom to the effect that when Allah’s cause is at stake true justice and not virtual or literal justice need be implemented. Another example of his allowing some yet unconverted Meccan leaders to continue as idolaters for a few months more until such time that they make up their minds; in the end they could either join in with Islam or have to leave the lands of Islam altogether. All ended up Muslims and became assets to Islam one way or another. The overall lesson from above for the Sufi is this: he judges from the point of view of possible better service to Allah’s Cause and not the instinctive urge to take revenge or make a show of uncompromising simplistic justice. In other words being diplomatic and far-sighted in the interests of Allah’s cause is one of the pillars of Sufi graces.

 


2.
Perhaps an extension of this is the Prophet’s (and therefore the Sufi’s- for the Sufi is a very ambitious emulator of the Prophet) being extra complimenting and often also extra generous towards specially talented people or people with especially important potential benefit to Allah’s Cause or else when a person’s harm to Allah’s Cause was realistically feared. He would simply buy them to his side or else pay them off to turn their evil attentions elsewhere. Incidentally and surprisingly, it was Muawiya’s born talent in this respect and Ali’s lack of it which decided the fate of their battle over caliphate: Although Muawia was a born diplomat and his tactics were not so much motivated by piety but  political ambition, he still won against Ali despite Ali’s far greater piety and generalship. This demonstrates that being only highly pious and spiritual is not full Sufism but adding to them diplomacy, even with some straining, is. So be like that.

 


3.
We put the above two graces first despite their possible containing of some artful and crafty elements; in good hands moved by good hearts these diplomatic, manipulative tactics certainly become pious; now we may look at other graces which need no such apparently clever ingredients. The first grace to consider should be generosity in a general sense and also in its special departments.

 


3.1.
Generosity in a general sense is that disposition and habit to overlook unhelpable shortcomings in others and accommodating them without shaming or embarrassing them. If there is one respect in which all hearts are sensitive it is self-respect- we should never hurt the feelings of anybody whoever they are; when feelings are hurt you can be sure that the offender has opened a too deep wound in the heart of his victim where Allah begins in the offended while leaving behind the offender.  At that point Allah takes offence and avenges it accordingly. In other words, there is a limit to the amount of criticism any of us can take and once that limit is exceeded the criticism impinges on Allah’s Majesty. Allah’s Majesty for its part is non-negotiable- Allah will and does hit the offender and hit him hard. This is so general and unbreakable a law that even prophets cannot get away with its breakage let alone Sufis. Let this example suffice. In the Qur’an there is a Sura named ‘Abasa’ (he turned away sour-faced). It is about the blind sahaba Ibn Makktum who sneaked himself near the Prophet sws while the Prophet was addressing the greats of the Quraish who wanted a special audience with him unattended by any lowly citizens or slaves whom these supposedly greats saw below their dignity to share the same space. As the blind humble believer came near and saluted, the great fellows showed signs of being upset and of protestestation.  Fearing to lose their ear, the Prophet (S) was similarly if for different reasons embarrassed. He accordingly ignored and cold-shouldered ibn Maktum who was heart-broken and had to slip away. As a result Allah sent down the said Sura which began with the following verses:
“He (Prophet) soured his face and turned away! Who (o Muhammad) made you know what he was up to? (how did you know that his coming was not fortunate and loved by Allah?). In all likelyhood he (ibn Maktum) was about to purify himself more or take advice and the advice would help him. As for one who feels no need for your guidance you are turning to him instead while his reluctance for self-purification is not your responsibility. You are not instead showing interest in one who runs to you with pious desire” (80: 1-10).
From that day on the Prophet had to compliment ibn Maktum with the words “O you for whose sake my Lord reprimanded me”.
If even the prophets risk a Divine reprimand for going too far in criticising somebody who are we to get away with any of our insensitive remarks about or treatment of others?

 


3.2.
Another generous trait is trying to bring the very best out of others when we are dealing with them. By this, in Sufi terms, I mean touching always the tender point where the person and God in him have their interface, where the person feels very motivated to behave his best. This response can be elicited firstly by knowing that God does reside in all men albeit at different depths, and if and when we can dig deep enough that treasure gate shall be reached. Of course not everybody is good enough an ‘archeologist’, if you know what I mean, but this excavation is worth trying in every instance where the subject himself is unable to feel and respond from there. Normally true Sufis almost always reside and act and react from there but like all humans they at times fail and falter even when prophets. The consolation however is still available: Allah overlooks our unhelpable failures and responds to us on the basis of the very best we perform frequently enough. Read if you wish:


“Whoever behaves nice and well, whether male or female, while also a believer, We will then make all such to live good a life and reward them on the basis of the very best they had been doing” (16.97).
Don’t we find here tonnes of tolerance and grace on the part of our Lord All-Gracious, which grace we also should adopt? In other words, if we want to be truly Godly, that is to say men of God as true Sufis have to be, should we not also, like our Lord, treat people on the basis of their best record, in honouring them and showing grace to them? Does not that explain why we Sufis honour and respect our sheikhs who did and keep doing so much for us, even from beyond the grave, and overlook their any shortcomings and occasional mistreatments of us as we see it which may be more apparent than real?  Why don’t we realise that even Allah has a hard time with us with satisfying our tastes as to His standards of behaviour to us? How Kind and Graceful Allah must be to allow us so much liberty in our estimations of Him despite Him being the Perfect Party and us the ridiculously imperfect yet arrogantly self-righteous and difficult to please!  


Then why not emulate Him in our relationships with others, tolerate their gaffes and indiscretions and even occasional treasons and keep cultivating them as patiently and constructively as before so as to keep in contact with the God in them? The rewards and fruits of such a strategy shall be enormous and excellent in each and every instance provided we can wait long enough. A friend of mine  personally suffered many persecutions in the hands of many who unjustly saw in him a rival in some context or other. Allah inspired and helped this Sufi-minded friend ‘to go for their jugular’ so-to-speak, that is to say ignoring their teasings and treasons and instead getting down with his archeological work on them- that of digging through their hearts until he arrived at their  portals to God. Then they, without knowing how and why mellowed to become his friends and quite warm at that!  Let me give just two examples.


He and another young man fell in love with the same girl and the one being the straighter of the two proposed to her through her parents. When the other lover heard this (he had been cultivating this girl for some time then with lukewarm success) he began to threaten this formal suitor whom he found in an advantaged position since he had both a good education and a good job. Seeing the devil in him the honourable suitor hatched a plan. He ignored the rival’s insults and threats and ‘explaining’ that he was not too much interested in the response of the girl’s family he was prepared to extend his hand of friendship to the jealous and anxious lover. The man was totally downed by this unexpected grace: They soon got to walking and talking a lot and soon it transpired that the jealous fellow was in deep trouble about his forthcoming graduation exams. My friend proposed to coach him for the exams which made him extremely grateful. He passed all his outstanding exams and the two ended up not only as best friends but the girl who was their bone of contention strangely stopped being desirable to either. Both later married other girls wondering then what was all the fuss about. What was the secret of my friend? Why, it was going for God in the other fellow. This surely needs a lot of tact and patience and also some sacrifice in certain cases but it is worth every bit of it. It creates long-lasting friendships under God and saves many possible or potential tragedies and disgraces.


The other example is from politics. Again, another friend of mine was raised to the chairmanship of a new party despite the burning ambitions of another long-standing bidder. He began a campaign of undermining against the personally unambitious winner who, as a result began having trouble with his subordinates and supporters at grassroots level all of whom used to be very pro-him. My friend ran from location to location to put out the fires of ‘fitna’ ignited by the saboteur but serious damage was being done. In the end my friend gave up and the other took over. 


His joy neither lasted long nor success came despite his best efforts. The warmth and sparkle had gone out of the movement and it eventually fizzled out like fizzy drink with no gas left in it. The party shut down and believing that he had lost his life’s effort in becoming a big somebody he soon declined in health, especially suffering the criticism of many leading members who kept accusing him for being both inept and too ambitious and in the process wasting a potentially far more able leader. He died begging for his rival to visit him and forgive him but that man was too far away for too long then. He passed  away tearful and unfulfilled till the end. Incidentally, he had failed to respond to the archeological work on him on the part of the former leader. That is the case when a man is too ambitious for his own good. In fact that was squarely the exact case why Iblis Satan lost to Adam; mind you, ‘Iblis’ means a desperate loser, lost for being too ambitious. Look at the genius of Allah’s Book and its language! In the light of this etymology and insight you may check yourself or another person to see whether your of his emotions are too lustful and jealous and with actions too ambitious and desperate for success at whatever cost to the actor and his perceived rivals. Take care not to satanise yourself or watch lest others become satanised  out of too big ambition. Satans always have transitory and illusory victories but never in terms of grace but always in terms of curse, damnation and self-destruction. You take care to remain on the course of grace from the Lord and grace under the Lord through you.

 


3.3.
Generosity also applies to the act of helping others. The true Sufi, that is to say the true Muslim believer, is as hungry for helping others whenever necessary and possible as he is hungry for food whenever his energy fails on the grounds of lack of food. The measure of helping others is stated by Allah the Most Gracious Who Himself is circumspect and circumstantial in His generosity. He All-Gracious says about Himself “Were Allah to expand the provision for His servants they would go to excesses in the land; instead He sends it down as He sees fit. That is because He is Aware and Seeing of His servants” (42: 27).
Likewise we should measure and meter out our any help to others so that we neither give too much or too little lest we starve them in the latter case or spoil them as in the first case.  Both are equally evil. However we often err on the starving side and that needs to be remedied. Within these limits there is hardly anything better than generosity in winning people’s hearts and therefore motivate them towards God for their part. Top priority in giving aid goes to our near relations to the degree of the nearness of each but it never ends there: in ever expanding if abating circular waves of gifting, our generosity should go as far afar as we have the opportunity and the means. Our Prophet won a substantial part of his later converts through both material and emotional generosity towards them and so can we convert enemies or strangers into friends and so should we.

 


4.
Another act of generosity is sympathetic, kind, helpful and if possible, also polite conduct. A true Sufi or Muslim should be the most polite and considerate of men without in the least looking artificial or neglecting well observed or directed humour. The politeness of the Sufi is not a mechanically sculpted monotony of stereotyped mannerisms but an ever living, from moment to moment adapting creative act of kindness which is basically inexhaustible. Surely at times some harsh words and responses may be rightly indicated  but these will not offend. To the perceptive and the wise all deserved punishments are about as heart-winning as well-directed and appropriate compliments because they equally save, they correct, they bless and the recipient knows and will come to know it.  Who in his right mind will not feel grateful to a friend who admonishes or criticises him in obvious, palpably kind concern for him which remarks become vindicated over time if not seen already as obvious at the time of issue? How many times was not each of us at the receiving end of a good friend’s criticism which we later found very kind and helpful?


When you aspire towards the attainment of such graces and increasingly succeed, so does Allah’s grace towards you. His improving treatment of you gradually goes beyond what looks like natural and ordinary good fortune and begins to include supernatural- looking breaks: You begin to be at the right place at the right time or you are visited by the right opportunities at the right time until such lucky breaks assume the aspect of what we usually call miracles which, among Sufis and the Muslim general public are termed ‘karamat’. This is a gradual process and once the karamat stage is reached nothing will be the same for the Sufi again and yet he will understand that the stage is as real and natural as his former states. He is then only delighted and thankful to Allah and surprisingly even more fearful of Him among so much admiration and adoration of Him. That is, at long last, salvation. Amen.

 

 

16.  WA HUM BE AMANATIHIM WA AHDIHIM RA’OON


INTRODUCTION


Our Lord All-Wise describes His good believers severally in His Qur’an in glowing terms and consistently. In fact He sent down one whole Surah in their name: Surat al Mu’minun (No.23), where He refers to them, specifically in verse 1-11.  In there He, among other merits, declares and rules this as well i.e., the title:


“Indeed the believers are saved/those who are awed throughout their prayers/ those who turn away from idle and vain pursuits/ those who purify themselves by practicing zakat (prescribed charitable giving-away from their wealth)/ those who guard their private parts except from their lawful partners about which they are not to be blamed/ Whoever seeks anything beyond that then such are transgressors/Again those who fulfil their trusts and keep their promises/those who are constant in their prayers/they are the inheritors/who inherit the Paradise to remain therein for good”. Note the underlined part, namely verse 8.
From long and painful experience what I learned is the very opposite among most Muslims,  the  Sufi (pretender)s being the worst offenders!

And I ceased to be surprised as I gradually came to see as all concerned people saw and reported before me- that the Satan has an especial interest in religious believers, “having already the unbelievers in his bag” as maulana Sheikh Nazim puts it on many occasions.
For example, you agree with a ‘brother’ to meet at such and such place at such and such time and lo and behold you have a lonely wait until the cows come home. If you ring afterwards you often get a bland answer ‘explaining’ the reason which you find very disappointing as regards to being convincing. Even an apology may be absent let alone a compensatory counter offer. It is as if something is fundamentally wrong with many religious people and especially the Sufi kind and I am afraid it is.


What could that be? I am afraid that there are three kinds of personality which tend to invest in religion if you know what I mean. They are ‘the rare talented and noble soul’, ‘the inadequate and drifting weakling’ and the ‘the special type of crook’ who finds the pursuit of his profession of deceit too hard to conduct in the wide market of greater frauds usually involving also big crime and therefore takes his bet in the soft option of religious life. Let us study each in turn.


THE TALENTED NOBLE SOUL


This personality type remembers himself as far back as he can remember, being extraordinarily morally sensitive so much so that he learned from his long experience that he cannot offend  a single moral rule and go unpunished for long. Apparently an invisible censor and executioner in him has been in him from a very early age and punishing him occasionally for his any wrongs without fail and without much delay. With such consistent inner witness he feels forced to take refuge in religious faith and improving his conduct and to improve within its frame hoping to ensure a more peaceful and contented life. And guess what happens next- he finds that his choice begins to be vindicated in a hundred ways when his prestige soars among his relations and acquaintances with enough good sense, his efficiency in  doing required things in life improves, his relations with others assume a character of pleasant tolerance and accommodation and much needed yet innocent lucky breaks begin to bombard him. All these are what true saintly miracles are basically made of and are great help in one’s life. If everything goes well this budding angel of a man can look to a bright spiritual future and also to an easy if materially humble life, provided he does not interfere too much in the affairs of this world to upset and cross the unholy ambitions and plans of the ‘overly-worldly’.  Sudden Joseph-like promotions may find him though without him expecting or working towards them. All in all his life in this world shall be one of graceful contentment enhanced by even more graceful hopes in the next.

 


THE INADEQUATE AND DRIFTING WEAKLING


Equally innocent but less successful is that personality type who finds the chores of and the competition for this world’s goodies too hard for their powers and feels he has to find a refuge from all that where an easier if far humbler existence will be possible. This type is the potential easy recruit for all sorts of criminal or cultic organisations: against a measured basic livelihood the person will accede to almost anything depending on what’s on offer. From a street begging gang who deploy in, and collect back beggars from the street, to take over their day’s collections and provide for them a meal and a bed, to street drug-peddling  and street robbery gangs with similarly unfair risk-taking-profits sharing ratios the drifting weakling serves as the butter-and-bread vehicle for his exploiters. Another type of legally valid but actually at least semi-criminal organisation exploiting the drifting-weaklings is a cult. With Jesus or a Hindu or a Mayan god as their bait these compete with other exploitative organisation types some of which have been mentioned above in the recruitment of that  cheapest of workers type the drifter weakling. Last but definitely the worst and oldest is prostitution whose bosses and sweat-shoppers the prostitute, are everywhere whether in the open or not.


As far as Sufi orders are concerned drifting weaklings make up a significant part of their population where their lives are far more secure and respectable. In fact it has been a honourable privilege of true Sufi orders to look after the society’s weaklings in settings far more comforting and honourable than all others mentioned above. Such humble souls may not achieve very high scholarly or demonstrable lights and may in fact demonstrate many undesirable traits but they may also hide among their ranks some hidden gems of spiritual refinement and power.

 


 

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