On Turning The Soul Away From The World

So, O seeker of the truth and traveller to Allah, as you have tamed the bird of imagination, chained the Satan of fancy, given up the love of wife, children and other worldly affairs, got familiar with the attraction of the fire of the natural divine love and said: "Lo! I see a fire [afar off]", [95] seen yourself with no barriers in the way and prepared the requirements of the journey, get up, then, leave this dark room of nature and the narrow passage of the world, break off the chains of time, save yourself from this prison and let the bird of sanctity fly to " the meeting place of intimacy." [mahfil-I uns].

I wonder what keeps you into this place of traps! [96]

So, be resolute and strengthen your will, since the first condition of suluk is resolution ['azm] , without which no distance can be covered and no perfection can be reached. The great Shaykh, Shahabadi, [97] (may my soul be his ransom) called that to be the core of humanity. It can also be said that one of the great points of fearing Allah, avoiding the desires of the appetitive soul, the lawful austerities, and the divine worship and rituals, is strengthening the resolution and defying the worldly powers under the sovereignty of the soul, as has already been mentioned. We now close this discourse with praising and glorifying the Sacred Essence of Allah, the Exalted, and with praising the attributes of the Chosen Master, the elected Prophet, and his pure offspring (AS). We ask the help of the holy souls of those sacred personalities in our spiritual journey and faithful ascension.

On Purification in General

As it has already been said, besides the outer appearance of the salat, it has a reality, and apart from its exterior it has an interior. And, as its outer form has its formal disciplines and conditions, its interior has its disciplines and conditions, too, which are to be observed by the salik. Thus, purification has also its outer form and formal disciplines, the explanation of which is out of the scope of these pages. The faqihs (jurists) of the Ja'fari sect (may Allah make high their words and raise their ranks) have explained them. As regards the inner disciplines and purifications, they shall be explained in general:

It should be noted that the reality of the salat is ascension to the Proximity, and reaching to the Presence, of Allah, the Almighty and Most high. Thus, to attain to this great objective and ultimate goal, one should practice certain purifications which are other than the outer purifications. The thorns of this road and the obstacles in the way of this ascension are such impurities that if the salik was marked by one of them, he would be incapable of ascending to the peak and completing the ascension. Such impurities are the hinderances in the way of the salat and the plagues of Satan. But what is a help to the salik in his journey and is a discipline of the Presence is the condition of this reality. The traveller to Allah has first to remove the obstacles and impurities so that he may be purified and attain to purity which belongs to the world of light. Unless all the impurities, outer and inner, open and hidden, are purified, the salik will have no chance of attending the Presence (of Allah).

Thus, the first kind of impurities is that of the outer instruments and powers of the soul which may be polluted with obstinacies and acts of disobedience to "the Benefactor" [waliyun ni'am] This is an apparent snare of Iblis. As long as man is trapped in this snare, he is deprived of being in Allah's Presence and attaining to His Proximity. No one may have the notion that without purifying the outside of his kingdom he can reach the state of the truth of humanity, or he can purify his inner heart, as this will be a Satanic vanity and of Iblis 's big tricks. This is because the heart's impurity and darkness will be increased by disobediences, which mark the triumph [ghalabah] of nature over spirituality. Unless the salik conquers the kingdom of the outside, he will remain deprived of inner conquests, which are the big objective, and no way will be opened for him to happiness. Thus, one of the big obstacles of this suluk is the impurities of the acts of disobedience, which must be purged and purified with the water of sincere repentance.

It should also be noted that all the external and internal powers which Allah, the Exalted, has bestowed upon us from the invisible world are divine deposits free from all impurities and are purged and purified, and even illuminated with the light of the God-given disposition, and excluded from Satan's dark and impure influence. Yet, since they have descended in the dark abode of the world of nature, and the influential hands of the devil of imagination and fancy have reached them, they have deviated from the original purity and primary disposition, and got polluted with diverse Satanic filths and impurities. So, if the salik to Allah could, by adhering to the care of Allah's wall, repel Satan's influence, purge the kingdom of the outside and return the divine trusts as they had been given to him with no treason, he would be forgiven and protected, and, as far as the outside is concerned, he need not worry, and then he would turn to the inside to purge it from the impurities of corrupt moralities. This is the second kind of impurity, which is more corrupt and more difficult to cure, and thus, it is more important to the people of austerity, because as long as the inner moralities of the soul are corrupt and encircled by spiritual impurities, it will not deserve the state of holiness and "the private place of intimacy" [khalwat-i uns], as the origin of the corruption of the exterior kingdom of the soul is its corrupt morals and its vile habits. And, unless the salik changes his vile habits to good ones, he will not be safe from the evil acts. If he is successful in repentance (while still having vile habits), its stability - which is a matter of grave importance cannot be achieved. So, the outer purification depends on the inner purification, besides the fact that the interior impurities cause deprivation from happiness, and originate the Hell of morals, which, as the people of knowledge say, is worse and more intense in burning than the Hell of deeds. This question has frequently been mentioned in the hadiths of the infallible Ahlul Bayt (AS).

Therefore, it is a must for the salik to Allah to carry out this purgation. After he has cleansed his soul of the corrupting impurities of the morals with the pure water of useful knowledge and lawful, good austerity, he will have to set upon purifying the heart, the capital which, if reformed, all kingdoms will be reformed, and if it is corrupt, all will be corrupt. The impurities of the world of the heart are the origin of all impurities, such as being attached to other than Allah, to oneself and to this world. This is originated by the love of this world, which is at the head of all sins, and by self-love, which is the mother of all diseases. As long as the roots of this love are still deep in the heart of the salik, he will see no marks of the love of Allah in it, and he will find no way to his destination and objective. So, as long as there are remnants of this love in the heart, his journey will not be to Allah, but to the self, to the world, and to Satan. So, being purged of the love of self and of the world is the first stage of purifying the journey to Allah in reality, because before this purgation the journey would not be to Allah, and it would be a sort of carelessness to refer to salik and suluk in this instance.

After this stage there are other stages, after which there will appear a model of. Attar's Seven Cities of Love, the sayer of which, as a salik, could see himself at the bend of a lane, while we remain behind walls and thick veils, and think that those "cities" and "kings" are nothing but of the weavings of our presumption. I have nothing to do with Shaykh Attar or Mitham at Tammar, but I do not deny the original (gnostic) stations, and I cordially love their owners, and, by this love, I hope to be relieved. You yourself be whom you may, and bind yourself to whom you like.

The pretender wanted to come to look at the Beloved [Friend],

The hand of the invisible came and pushed off the stranger. [98]

But I do not approve of disloyalty by brethren in faith and by spiritual friends to the gnostic friends, and I will not refrain from offering advice, which is the right of the believers to one another.

At the top of the spiritual impurities, which cannot be purged even with seven seas, and which caused despair to the great prophets (AS), is the impurity of "the compound ignorance" [jahl-i murakkab], which is the origin of the incurable disease of denying the stations of the people of Allah and of knowledge, and is the source of doubting the people of the heart. As long as man is polluted with such impurities, he will not take a step towards knowledge [ma'arif], or rather, this impurity so often extinguishes the inborn light [nur] of disposition, which is the light [chiragh] for the road of guidance, and puts out the fire of love, which is the heavenly horse [buraq] for ascending to high stations, causing man to eternally stick to the earth of nature.

Therefore, it is necessary for man, through thinking about the status of the prophets and the perfect holy men [auliya] (SA) , and by contemplating their stations, to wash those impurities away from his heart, and not to be satisfied with the status he is in, because this satisfaction with the knowledge [ma'rif] one has, and remaining stagnant, are of the great tricks of Iblis and the evil-commanding soul. We take refuge from them with Allah. Now as this thesis is written according to the taste of the common people, I refrain from the three purifications of the holy men [auliya]. And praise be to Allah.

Concerning the Stages of Purification

Know that as long as man is in the world of nature and in the abode of the primary [hayulani] matter, he is under the rule of the divine soldiers and the Satanic soldiers. The divine soldiers are the soldiers of mercy, safety, happiness, light, purity and perfection. The soldiers of Iblis are on the opposite side. But as the divine aspects have mastery over the Satanic aspects, at the beginning, man's disposition possesses natural divine light, safety and happiness, as is openly stated in the noble hadiths and hinted at in the noble divine Book. [99] As long as man is in this world, he can, on his own free will, put himself at the disposal of either of the two. So, if from the beginning of the God-given disposition till the end, Satan had no way of intruding, man would be divine, luminous from head to foot with purity and happiness, his heart being the light of Allah, observing nothing but Allah. His inward and outward powers would be luminous and pure, and no one would use them but Allah, and Satan would have no share in them, nor would his soldiers be able to control him. Such an honourable being is absolute purity and pure light, and his past faults and the future ones are forgiven. [100] He is an absolute conquerer, enjoying the station of original "great infallibility" [ismat-i kubra], and the other infallibles have the same station as the followers of that sacred essence. He is the Seal of the Prophets and possesses the station of absolute perfection. His vicegerents, though of separate substance, join him in disposition and completely follow him in absolute infallibility. As to some of the infallible prophets and holy men [auliya] (AS), they have no absolute infallibility and are not protected against Satan's intrusion, such as Adam's act with respect to the "tree", which was one of the intrusions of the big Iblis, the Head of the Iblises, and despite the fact that the "tree" was a paradisiac divine tree, yet it was marked by a multiplicity of names, which is contrary to the state of complete humanity. This is one of the meanings, or of the ranks, of "the forbidden tree".

If the light of the divine disposition was polluted with the formal and spiritual impurities, it would be at a distance from the court of the Proximity and "the Presence of Love" [hadrat-i uns] in proportion to its pollution, until the light of disposition completely goes out, and the kingdom becomes altogether Satanic, and its inside and outside, secret and open, are put at the disposal of Satan. Thus Satan becomes its heart, ear (hearing), eye (seeing), hand, and leg, and all his other organs become Satanic. If somebody reaches this stage -Take refuge with Allah from it -he becomes absolutely wretched and will never see the face of happiness. Between these two limits there are so many stages which only Allah, the Exalted, knows. Whoever is nearer to the horizon of prophethood, is of "those on the right hand" [ashab-i yamin], and whoever is nearer to the Satanic horizon, is of "those on the left hand" [ashab-i yasar].

It should be noted, however, that even after the pollution of the inborn disposition, it is possible to purify it. As long as man is still in this world he can get out of Satan's domain and can easily enter into the party of Allah's angels, who are the soldiers of the divine mercy. The reality of jihad-i nafs [self- struggle] -which, according to the Messenger of Allah (SA), is more meritorious than struggling with the enemies of the religion, and is the greater jihad [101] -is this getting out of Satan's domain and entering the domain of Allah's soldiers.

So, the first stage of purity is the observance of divine laws and the obedience to Allah's commands.

The second stage is to be adorned with virtuous morals and faculties.

The third stage is the purity of the heart, which means submitting the heart to Allah, after which the heart becomes luminous, or rather it becomes of the world of light and a degree of divine light. The luminosity of the heart flows to other organs and inner powers, and the whole kingdom turns into light, and light upon light, till the heart becomes divine and godly and the Divinity [hadrat-i lahut] manifests in all the inner and outer stages. In this case, servitude completely vanishes and is annihilated, and Lordship explicitly appears, in which case, the heart of the salik is overcome by a state of tranquillity and familiarity, and he loves the whole world, and experiences divine trances, and the sins and faults become forgive-able to him, and will be covered by the shelter of "love manifestations" [tajalliyat-i hubbi], and primary holiness [wilayat] begins to appear in him, and he becomes worthy of attending "the Presence of Intimacy" [mahdar-i uns]. Then, there are other stages, mentioning which does not suit these papers.