Texbook Of Salvation
TEXTBOOK OF SALVATION
1. OUR WAY IS KEEPING ALLAH IN MIND, ALWAYS
BismillahirRahmanirRaheem. All praises belong to Allah and salvation belong to those who love and fear Allah. All blessings and peace of Allah be upon our master Muhammad the Prophet and Messenger of Allah and on his household, his companions and all who follow in their footsteps to the Last Day. Amen.
Brothers and sisters and all sincere enquirers please hear what I am with permission and help of Allah and tha baraka of His friends shall be disclosing in this series of very brief articles as and when inspiration cames. They may make all the difference to mine and your salvation. You know I am the first recipient and disciple of these teachings to come. May Allah grant us purity of intention and keenness of perception and balance of understanding and depth of insight and all other saving qualities fit for a mu'min's heart. Amen.
The first thing to realize is that intentions are start buttons of our future. What is more, although we are the initiators of our intentions we are not always fully aware of what they are and how pure are they. So let us always pray that Allah help us begin everything with the right pure intention of pleasing Him Almighty and All-Gracious. This is almost guaranteed when we begin anything HALAL (which includes married relations) with the consciously meant formula:
"Audhu billahi min ash-shaitanir Rajeem, bismillahirRahmanirRaheem". This key to every good and means "I take refuge in Allah from the banished Satan and begin in the Name of Allah the Most Kind, the Most Forgiving". For most occasions the part "BismillahirRahmanirRaheem" is enough and it is called the 'Basmala'
Never say or do anything without uttering or at least thinking of this formula and never do anything before which it will be inappropriate for you to use it- that thing is a sin. We cannot for example say it before backbiting and therefore we should not backbite. The only exception is visiting the toilet. Before entering you say this "Audhu billahi min hamazaatish- shayateen, audhu bika rabbi an yahduroon" (I take refuge in Allah from the provocations of the devils, I take refuge o Lord lest they accompany me".
Now you may care to note that these formulas are zikrs (rememberances) of Allah. And it is in the zikr of Allah taht salvation is based like a plant is based in wet, nutritious soil. Remove the soil and the plant dies. Stop remembering/keeping in mind Allah and faith is interrupted and the Satan and his equally evil paramour the mere ego takes over at no time!
Of course sufis have their regular daily and weekly zikr sessions but believe me these are not so much the actual zikrs but drills intended to create in us the real, uninterrupted state of keeping the company of Allah always and eveywhere. Formal zikrs are like army drills with which soldiers are conditioned to fight an enemy when one is met. Which means the drills are not an aim in themselves but a MEANS to an aim. This aim is building up the automated skill of constant, uninterrupted remembrance of Allah WHICH THE SAME AS KEEPING THE COMPANY OF ALLAH 24 hours a day 365/366 days a year until death comes! THIS AND ONLY THIS IS THE AIM AND THIS AND ONLY THIS GUARANTEES SALVATION AND THIS AND ONLY THIS CAN CHECK US SINNING TOO BADLY AND THIS AND ONLY THIS CAN GIVE
So stick to your ritual zikrs of which the daily prescribed salat prayers are the most indispensable part. Allah azza wa jalla said "Aqimus salata li dhikree"= Moses! It is I and even I Allah, there is not god but I and therefore worsipfully serve Me and stand to perform salat for and as My remembrance" (25 Ta Ha 14).
We must also keep the extra zikrs our sheikh gave us all of which are effective drills (if we let them) to catapult us over the hell-prison walls of the ego into the eternal garden of of the Company of Allah where we land with the qualities and powers of angels about whom He Almighty, All-Gracious says "Day and night they keep glorifying Him without tiring- and they do not disobey Him but do as they are bidden" (21 al Anbiya 20 and 66 al Tahrim 6).
It is constant zikr of Allah as above which creates constant, uniterrupted obedience to Him that makes us that grade of believers called al muttaqoon (the God-conscious and fearing) about whom the Most Powerful King of Kings says: "Innal muttaqeena fee jannaatin wa nahar fee maq'adi sidqin 'inda malikin muqtadir"= Indeed the muttaqoon are in gardens and rivers as occupants of seats of truthfulness IN THE COMPANY OF A POWERFUL KING" (54 al Qamar 55)
2. RECOGNIZING THE LORD
Salvation is moving house from the contaminated and unreformed self to the Pure and Pefect Self which is Allah's Spirit blown into man. Now please do not take this as a mystery but learn to see the fact of it. Mysteries are very delicious but only moderately nutritious if they are true mysteries at all. What we mean by the Pure and Perfect Self in us is a largely potential level of perfection of our EXISTING SELF. Our existing selves are like babies who are supposed to grow into infinitely more powerful adults. A baby to grow into a proper adult with most of his potential powers realized needs care, nutrition and education. So do we immature selves. Prophets and saintly guides (awliya) are already realized selves who know the way by firsthand experience and have the ability to help us realize our potential. In reality there is no mystery involved but plain psychological growth, character purification and maturation as demonstrated by effortless higher morals and again effortless graceful good manners of a self-perfected man or woman. That these morals and manners are not hypocritical shows but have become really natural to a man or woman is proven by the ease and grace his or her life in general and in his or her relations with others in particular. The self-perfected person is a mu'min with impeccable credentials and nicest person to have around. He or she only sparingly partakes of the material enjoyments the world offers yet enjoys and thanks for them more than anybody else. Winning hearts is his or her speciality and charity towards all is his or her life mission and trademark. He or she is generous to a fault yet somehow never wasteful.
What do all above mean? It means that we should not waste our precious time by being curious about strange, mystifying and occult things nor by pursuing worldly powers and assets for their sakes; instead and without neglecting our citizenly duties we must channel all our interest and energies into self-study, exploration and purification until we are less and less guilty of 'zulm' (doing wrong to ourselves and others) and more productive of 'khair' (the beneficial). If we do this and persist doing it the Lord of Heavens and Earth makes His Holy Face available to us too look at and draw from Him all the strength and guidance we can ever need in our good life. We shall find that He resides and rules in us as everywhere else and that His Quality is Perfection and His Character is Wisest Charity (ar Rahman ar Rahim). And SO WE BECOME THROUGH HIM- Looking on everything with the eye of total benevolence and finding in us all the power to live a life of charity including charity towards ourselves; no silly ascetism or filthy habits to supposedly humble ourselves. That is the beauty of Islam and the fine balance which Tasawwuf discovers and uses in it. Salvation is nothing but this finding of the Lord the Most Benevolent (ar Rahman) and Most Forgiving (ar Rahim) in yourself which is the prize fruit of the realization of your true and full potential. This brings Heaven to earth and takes earth to Heaven. So anybody who dreams of another form of salvation is only indulging his infantile fancies and anybody who is after mysteries and occult powers instead of humble self-purification is prostituting his times and debasing his aims. Finding the Lord is finding and having everything worthwhile at one stroke and in one package.
Let us then save ourselves by becoming the identifiers with ar-Rahman ar-Rahim and live the Godly life it enables us to live. Only the servant agents of ar-Rahman ar-Rahim are saved and only they can save the world.
3. KNOW YOUR ENEMY
If you know your Friend (Who can only be Allah) then you should also know your enemy who can only be the Devil. The two could not be more different and opposite. Allah describes Himself in
Your enemy is that one who fights against any Light that might be in you and replace it with his stuff- pure, essential Fire. You perhaps remember that we had said that Allah is represented and rules in you through an accurate, intimate and effective image of His. The same Allah allowed to the Devil. He also has his ambassador in you, your inborn satanic part-nature. As its master this is also made of pure fire which translates into your angry, unhust and punishing inclinations. Submit to such inclinations and you become one of the devil Allah calls in His Qur'an "Shayateen al ins"= "Human devils". May Allah grant maulana and sayyidana sheikh Muhammad Nazim al Haqqani His greatest blessings and ranks and rewards for the discourse which appeared today (14 may 2001) on our computer screens. He exactly touches on this point- that we must seek more Light to come nearer Allah and escape from the Devil who wants to drag us deeper into his realm of pure essential fire. Now Maulana at this very moment appreared to me ans imparted me this.
It is the explanattion of the term 'pure, essential fire' ('Narus samoom' as it is named in the Qur'an). It is a fire which is all penetrating and searing heat with no light in it, i.e, total burning darkness. Because modern men are full of this darkness they seek and enjoy inventing and deploying weapons of mass destruction which less and less material and visible elements and more and more immaterial, weightless and invisibe essence- dark radiation.
Of course we need not employ this ultimate metaphor to understand the dangers coming from the devil in us. Perhaps it may even cause us to miss the point. Therefore please now sit up and listen to this: In each and every one of us there is a resident devil who will not be evicted whatever we do but sit tight waiting for its opportunity. Drop your guard and lose your Light and he will invade and strike at no time with catastrophic results. Why do you think people kill or steal or rape etc on the spur of the moment to regret it forever. But again this nearer explanation may deceive you. You may say "Come on, I am not about to commit such crimes. I am not that sort". If you aren't that sort than the devil in you will not give and pack up and depart. It will try to deceive you in humbler but ultimately no less dangerous ways. He will direct at you an incessant shots of arrows each carrying poisons in its tip, poisons like doubting the truth, resenting the reality, being jealous of others and feeling proud, acting arrogant, pretending and lying, cheating and worse of all, justifying yourself for all of such foolish and devilish acts and thoughts. Each of these may look small and transitoty lapses to you but their cumulative effect may well sink you into devils darkness and shut out from you any Light of Allah you might have stored in you.
So know your enemy and do not belittle even the tiniest spot of darkeness your resident devil inflicts on your heart. "Everytime you commit a sin a dark spot appears on your heart. When you keep sinning the dark spots eventually cover your heart so totally that you can then sin all the time without any remorse" said the Messenger of Allah sws. It means that through those little sins the devil achieved all the effect he could seek through leading you to cardinal sins like murder- a totally blackened heart with no Light in it. A Hell of a heart damned to eternal boiling and burning in its black and poisonous juices. Beware o servant of Allah lest you lose Allah and fall into the bottomless darkness of and burning in Hell.
4. KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS
There can be no living and active faith, perhaps even faith itself, if no commandments are issued and obeyed. True faith is true committment to Truth which has its requirements on a morally wakeful and decent man. Allah as Supreme Reality behind all reality is telling us the Truth when He Almighty is declaring certain few acts as necessary and beneficial to us to and other few acts as harmful. Do we believe Him and appreciate His Kindness in telling us?- that is the whole question.
Unlike other religions' some commandments Islam's commandments can be objectively demonstrated as beneficial. They are purifying, hygienic, objectively charitable and socializing. They are light enough to be endured in the long run and quick enough in their objective benefits which are also permanently sustainable. They satisfy both the standards of good objective morality and justice as well as the dictates of good objective science. Wash and pray and you are refreshed and recharged in the cheapest and fastest way possible and fast and you are on your way to better health. Pay zakat and sadaqa and you have a light conscience and an improved social acceptance and status. There is not a single mysterious or silly commandment (and prohibition, which is another form of commandment) in Islam. All are real and quick winners and savers. Yet many people cannot bring themselves to obey them as fully as they should and think that somehow they can win with Allah. That is totally wrong. It is either as Allah says or no profit accrues to us but only loss.
So it is not a matter of how getting round commandments and have free spiritual meals here and tangible meals in the hereafter. It is a matter of how to persuade yourself to keep them in full. I have a method which in fact is the only workable method in the long run. Additionally it is a method which works in all departments of our personal salvation. IT IS IDENTIFYING WITH ALLAH just like a very loving and loyal servant of a king or tycoon identifies with his or her master. You are Allah's trusted agent, a member of His privileged inner circle with the status of a much appreciated slave. You are a member of the
Therefore try to unlearn all the attitudes and habits of mind and body which have no reference to and bearing on this kingly consciousness- those attitudes and habits which occupy and worry you and wear you down with the thousand temporary and non-consequential lusts and hatreds of this world and its sleeping population. Instead learn to see things from the seventh heaven of understanding and mercy, of sense of duty and responsibility as the trusted and empowered bondman or bondwoman of Allah. Then you will see that your first duty is towards yourself and and that duty begins with keeping all the commandments yourself. These are advice coming from on High and not from low and as much as you can apprecaite them and act on them you attain salvation.
Now you are in possession of secrets never disclosed before or anywhere else nor put so simply and precisely. If you still fail to make it to sainthood as proven by your full obedience to and true repentance for your lapses in Alah's commandments then you have only yourself to blame.