The Secret of the Purity of Clothing

Know that the Salat is the state of ascension to the state of Proximity and being present in "the Presence of Intimacy" [nahdar-i uns], and the salik has to observe the disciplines of being present in the Holy Presence of the King of kings. As from the lowest of the degrees and stages of the appearance of the soul which is most superficial (the crust of the crust) and is its formal and visible body to the highest of its stages and realities -which is the innermost and the secret state of the heart -all are present in the Sacred Presence of Allah, likewise the salik must prepare himself to display all the internal and external soldiers of the overt and covert kingdoms in the Presence of Allah, the Exalted and Most High, and to return back to His Holy Presence all the trusts which His Sanctified Essence has bestowed upon him with complete purity, clarity, without the intrusion of any being, and with His hand of Power, Beauty and Majesty. He has to return the deposits as they have been given to him out of Kindness.

Therefore, there are many dangers in the discipline [adab] of the Presence, which the salik must take care not to neglect. He is to take the purity of the clothes -which cover the crust, or rather, the crust of the crust -as a means for the purity of the internal clothes, and to know that as these formal clothes cover the visible body, the body itself covers the isthmus body, which is actually existent, but is hidden within the curtains of the corporeal body which covers it. The isthmus body is the cover, the clothes and the veil of the soul, which covers the heart, and the heart is the cover of spirit, and the spirit is the cover of the secret, which covers the hidden latifah (the real essence), and other stages. Each low stage is the cover of its higher stage, and though all these stages are existing in the most pure people of Allah, and the others are void of them, yet only some of these stages are mentioned because all people have them.

So, it must be noted that as the external form of the salat is not proved to be correct without the purity of the clothes and the body, and as impurities - which are of Satan's vile acts and cause repellence from the Presence of the Beneficent [rahman] -block the way of attending the Presence, the musalli with clothes and body polluted with Satan's vileness is expelled from the divine Presence and prevented from attending the station of familiarity [maqam-i uns]. Similar is the vileness of disobeying Allah, which is also of Satan's practices and of the filths of that foul creature. It also prevents one from entering the Presence [mahdar]. So, the red-handed disobedient one, with an impure cover of the isthmus body, cannot be admitted to Allah's Presence [mahdar]. Purifying this cover is of the conditions of the realization and correctness of the internal salat. As long as man is in the veil of this world, he cannot know about the invisible body, the purity and filth of its clothes and the condition of its being pure and without filth. The day he comes out of this veil, and the sovereignty of the interior and of the day of gathering [yaumul jam] twists aside the extensive disunion of the exterior, and the sun of truth rises out of the dark mundane veils, and the eye of the invisible interior opens, and the eye of the visible animality closes, thereupon, with the eye of insight, he will understand that his salat , had been, till the end of life, void of purity and surrounded by thousands of obstacles, each one of which was an independent cause for expelling one from the Holy Presence of Allah. Alas! A thousand alas! For on that day there will be no way for indemnity and there will be no cure. There will be nothing but regret and remorse -endless regrets and continuous remorses: "And warm them of the day of anguish when the matter shall have been decided ... " [140]

After that the clothes of the interior body became pure, it would be necessary for the very invisible body to be purified from Satan's filths, that is, purification from the filths of the dispraised characters, as each one of them is apt to pollute the interior and to expel man from the Presence [mahdar] and prevent him from the Proximity. Such characters are of the filths of Satan, who is deprived of (Allah's) mercy. The origins of all the dispraised acts are self-conceit, selfishness, ostentation and obstinacy, each of which is the origin of many dispraised characters, and is at the head of many sins

Having completed this purification, and purified the clothes of taqwa with the water of sincere repentance and lawful austerity, the salik will have to busy himself with the purification of the heart, which is the real concealer [satir] and into which Satan's intrusion is greater, and its impurities spread to other clothes and concealers. So, without purifying the heart other purifications will not be easy. The purification of the heart passes through several stages, some of which will be referred to in these pages.

One of them is purging the heart from loving this world, which is at the head of all sins and it is the origin of all corruptions. As long as man has this love in his heart, it will not be possible for him to be admitted to the Presence of Allah; and divine affection, which is the mother of purities, is not accomplished with this impurity. Perhaps in the Book of Allah and in the advices of the prophets and holy men (AS), particularly Amirul Muiminin (Ali) (AS), importance is the least given to other than abandoning this world, neglecting it and avoiding it, all of which are of the realities of taqwa. This stage of purification is not achieved except by useful knowledge, strong cordial austerities, concentrating one's thoughts on the beginning [mabda'] and the return (to Allah) [ma'ad], engaging the heart in taking lessons from the decay and the destruction of the world, and the excellence and happiness of the invisible worlds: "May Allah have mercy upon one who knows where he has come from, where he is and where he is going." [141]

Another purification is to be purged from dependence on the creatures, which is a concealed polytheism; yet, to the people of knowledge, it is a manifest polytheism. This purification is accomplished through (the belief in) Allah's Unity of Acts, which is the source of all cordial purifications. It must be noted that mere demonstrative knowledge and contemplative step concerning the Unity of Acts do not have the required result. It sometimes happens that too much indulgence in the experimental sciences brings darkness and displeasure to the heart, and hinders man from attaining to the higher objective. In this respect it is said: "Knowledge is the greatest veil." The writer believes that all sciences, even the science of tauhid (monotheism), are functional [practical = 'amali] Perhaps the grammatical etymology of the word "tauhid", which is "taf'il", proves that, as according to its etymological function it means advancing from multiplicity to oneness, and annihilating and abolishing the aspects of the multiplicity in "the Essence of Union" ['ain-i jam]. This idea cannot be proved with evidence, as with cordial austerity and instinctive inclination towards the Owner of the hearts, the heart is to be informed about what proofs say, so that the truth of tauhid can be understood. Yes, proof tells us that "There is no effecter [mu'aththir] in the (world of) existence except Allah" [142], which is one of the meanings of "There is no God but Allah." By the blessing of this proof we cut short the intruding hands of beings from the realm of the Majesty of existence, and return the invisible and visible worlds to their Owner, and display the truth of: "His is what is in the heavens and the earth", [143] "And in His hand is the Kingdom of everything," [144] and "He it is Who in the heaven is God and in the earth God." [145] But unless this proved subject reaches the heart and becomes an internal form [surat] of the heart, we will not cross the limit [hadd] of knowledge to the limit of faith; and of the light of faith, which illuminates the kingdom of the interior and the exterior, we shall have no share and no profit. This is the reason that although we have the proof supporting this divine, lofty subject, we are still in multiplicity and know little of tauhid which is the pleasure of the eyes of the people of Allah -we do ring the bell of: "There is no effecter [mu'aththir] in the (world of) existence except Allah", yet we look with the eye of greed, and extend the hand of demand to everybody:

The legs of the inferentialists are wooden, Legs will be very much infirm, if wooden. [146]

This purification is of the great stations of the wayfarers to Allah. There are, however, further stations, which are beyond our limit, though probably we may refer to some of them within these papers, when the occasion arises, insha' allah (Allah willing).

Concerning Cordial Considerations of Covering the Nakedness

The traveller to Allah finds himself present in the Holy Presence [mahdar] of Allah, the Almighty and Most High, or rather, he sees that his interior and exterior, his covertness and overtness are the very presence [hudur], as it is narrated in al-Kafi and at-Tauhid that Imam as-Sadiq (AS) said: "The spirit of a believer is more connected to the spirit of Allah than the connection of the sunbeam to the sun." [147] Yet, strong evidential arguments in the high sciences stress that the entire circle of existence, from the highest invisible stages to the lowest visible ones, is the very connection and mere dependence and want (poverty) in its relation to the Absolute Self-Existent, the Glorified and Most High. It is probable that the reference is to this in the ayah: "O men! it is you who are in need of Allah, and it is Allah Who is the Self-Sufficient, the Praised One."! [148] because if a being among the beings, in a state of states, in a moment of the moments and in an aspect of the aspects, had no connection to the Might of the Holy Lord, it would be out of the spot of self-potentiality and poverty, and into the sanctuary of Self-Necessity and Self-Sufficiency. The one who knows Allah and is journeying to Him will have to engrave this true evidential subject, this divine gnostic delicacy, by way of cordial austerities, disregarding the limits of reason and argument, on the face of the heart, in order to bring it to the borders of gnosis ['irfan], so that the truth of faith and its light become manifest in his heart. The people of heart and of Allah step past the limit of faith onto the stage of revelation [kashf] and vision [shuhud]. This would be possible through intense self-mortification [mujahadah], privacy with Allah and loving Him. It is stated in Misbahush Shari'ah that Imam as Sadiq (AS) said:

"The informed one (the gnostic), his person is with the people and his heart is with Allah. Should his heart be inattentive of Allah for a twinkle of an eye, he would have died of craving for Him.

The informed one (the gnostic) is the entrusted with Allah's trusts. He is the treasure of His secrets, the source of His light, the evidence of His mercy on His creatures, the mount of His knowledge, and the criterion of His favour and justice. He is not dependent on the people, nor is he in need of them for his wants and the world. He feels intimate only with Allah, and gives no utterance, makes no gesture and draws no breath except by Allah, for Allah, from Allah and with Allah." [149]

In short, when the salik finds himself, in all aspects (affairs, states = shu'un), being the very Presence [hudur], he covers all his internal and external kinds of nakedness ['aurat] in order to observe the Presence and the discipline of Presence. He realizes that the exposure of the internal nakedness in the Presence of Allah is much more hideous and disgracing than the exposure of the external nakedness, as in the hadith: "Allah does not look at your forms, but He looks into your hearts." [150] The internal kinds of nakedness ['aurat] are the dispraised characters, vile customs and immoralities, which deprive man of being worthy of the Presence [mahdar] and of the discipline of Presence [hudur]. This is the first stage of violating the covers and the exposure of the nakedness ['aurat].

It must be noted that if one does not cover himself with Allah's veiling and forgiveness, and if he does not put himself under the Names of "The Concealer" and "the Forgiver", demanding concealment and forgiveness, it frequently happens that when the visible curtain is rolled up, and the worldly veil is removed, they cause his exposure in the presence of the favourable angels and the appointed prophets (AS). Allah alone knows how much the exposed internal nakedness is ugly, disgraceful, stinking and scandalous.

O dear, do not compare the conditions of the Hereafter with this world, as this world can never have the capacity of the appearance of a single blessing or punishment of that world. This world, with all its vast heavens and kingdoms ['awalim] , cannot take in the appearance of a low invisible world such as the world of the grave, let alone the high kingdom of heaven, of which the Resurrection World is a sample. In a detailed hadith narrated by the Shaykh ash-Shahid ath Thani (may Allah be pleased with him) in Munyatul Murid quoting Fatimah, the Siddiqah (AS), who, quoting the Messenger of Allah (SA), said: "The Messenger of Allah (SA) said: 'The scholars of our followers will be resurrected wearing coats of honour according to their knowledge and to their efficiency in guiding the servants of Allah, such that some of them are given a thousand thousand coats of light'. Then he added: 'Some of those gifts are better than the best thing on which the sun may shine, by a thousand thousand times."' [151] So much for its blessings. As to its punishments, Fayd (may Allah have mercy upon him), in 'Ilmul Yaqin, has quoted a hadith from the late as Saduq, on his authority, quoting Imam as Sadiq (AS) who said that in a hadith Gabriel said to the Messenger of Allah (SA): " If a single link of the chain, whose length is seventy cubits, is placed on the world, the world will melt by its heat. Or if a drop of the Zaqqum and Dari' (repulsive stinking drink) is dropped into the waters of this world, the people will die of its bad smell." [152] We take refuge with Allah from the wrath of ar Rahman

Therefore, the traveller to Allah has to replace his bad characters and evil habits with the prefect ones, and to vanish them in the stormy and endless sea of Allah's perfect attributes, and to change the dark Satanic land of (his) nature [tab'iat] to a white and bright land, and to find out in himself: "And the earth shines with the light of its Lord", [153] and to bring about the state of the names of Beauty and Majesty of the Holy Essence in the kingdom of his existence. In this state he will be under the shelter of Beauty and Majesty, and will acquire the divine moralities; and the vices of "personal individuations" [ta'ayyunat-i nafsiyah] and the darkness of fancy will be completely concealed. Having attained to this state, he will be favoured with the special care of Allah, the Most High, Who will help him with His special secret protection (kindness) [lutf], and conceal him under the cover of His Majesty such that no one, except Himself will know him, and he will know none but Allah: "My friends are under My qibab (domes), no one knows them except Me." [154] The sacred Book of Allah has many references to this point for those worthy of it, such as: "Allah is the Protector of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light ... " [155] The people of knowledge and of past good records know that all the creational individuations [ta 'ayyunat-i khalqiyah] and the essential multiplicities [katharat-i 'ainiyah] are darkness [zulumat], and the absolute light cannot happen except by discarding the annexations and breaking the individuations which are the idols in the way of the salik. When the darkness of the actual and participial multiplicities is effaced and vanished in "the Essence of Union" ['ain-I jam], all the nakedness will be covered, and the absolute presence and the complete attainment will take place, and the musalli, being concealed by the Haqq (Allah), will be performing the Haqq's (Allah's) salat. The ascending salat of the Seal of the Messengers (SA) was probably of this type, in its particular states and stages. Allah knows better .

It is stated in Misbahush-Shari'ah that Imam as Sadiq (AS) said: "The most decorative clothing for the believer is the clothing of taqwa, and the finest one is faith. Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, said: 'and the clothing of taqwa, that is the best.' As to the exterior clothing, it is a blessing from Allah, as it covers the nakedness of the children of Adam. lt is a grace granted by Allah to His servants, the children of Adam (AS), which He did not grant to other than them. To the believers, it is a means to perform the duties imposed by Allah upon them. The best of your clothing is that which does not distract you from Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, rather it brings you nearer to thanking, remembering and obeying Him, and it does not bear you to conceit, hypocrisy, decoration, taking pride and boasting, as these are among the pests of the religion and bring cruelty to the heart. When you put on your dress, remember Allah, the concealer of your sins by His mercy. Clothe your interior with truthfulness, as you dressed your exterior with your dress. Let your interior be under the protection of fear, and your exterior under the protection of obedience. Take a lesson from the favour of Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, as He created the means for making clothes to conceal the apparent nakedness, and He opened the doors of repentance and imploring in order to cover the internal sins and evil characters. Do not uncover anyone's faults, as Allah has covered your greater faults. Attend to your own faults, and forgive that whose state and affair do not concern you. Beware of perishing your life for the action of others, letting the others trade with your capital, while you destroy yourself. Forgetting the sins is of the gravest punishments from Allah in this world, and of the most effective causes for the punishments in the Hereafter. As long as the servant is engaged in his obedience to Allah, the Exalted, in recognizing his own defects and abandoning what is disgraceful in the religion of Allah, he will be isolated from the plagues, plunging in the sea of the mercy of Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, and will win the gems of the advantages of wisdom and expression. But as long as he is forgetting his sins, unfamiliar with his defects, resorting to his own might and force, he will never be successful." [156]

About Knowing the Place

Know that the wayfarer to Allah has, according to his existential growths [nasha'at-i wujudiyah], certain places, each of which has its particular disciplines. The salik will have to know them before he attains to the Salat of the people of knowledge.

The first is the natural growth and the apparent mundane stage, and its place is the earth of nature. The Messenger of Allah (SA) said: "The earth is made for me a place for prostration and a purifier." [157] The salik's discipline [adab] at this stage is to make his heart understand that his descending from the invisible growth [nash'ah] and the coming down of the soul from its high and lofty place to the lowest earth of nature and his being reduced from "the best stature" [ahsan-i taqwim] to the lowest of the low are for the voluntary journey to Allah and the ascension to the mi'raj of Proximity and reaching the Court of Allah and the Threshold of His Lordship, which is the objective of creation and the final end of the people of Allah. "May Allah have mercy upon one who knows where he has come from, where he is and where he is going." [158]

The salik must realize that he has come from the house of Allah's munificence [karamat], and is now in the house of worshipping Allah, and will go to the house of Allah's recompense. The gnositc says: "From Allah, in Allah and to Allah." So, the salik must tell himself, and his spirit, that the house of nature is a mosque for worshipping Allah, and that he has been brought to this world for this purpose, as Allah, the Almighty and Glorified, says: "And I have not created the jinn and the ins [mankind] except that they should worship Me." [159] After realizing that the house of nature is the mosque for worship, and finding himself in seclusion [mu'takif] in it, he is to observe the relevant disciplines and abstain from remembering other than Allah. He is not to leave the mosque of worship, unless there be a need, such as for relieving himself, and then to return, and not to be familiar except with Allah, nor to have any affiliation with others, as these are contrary to the disciplines of cleaving to the door of Allah. In this stage the knower of Allah will have certain moods [halat] which cannot be written down, and as the writer is out of "the innate disposition of humanity" [fitrat-i insaniyat] , indulging in the overflowing darkened sea of nature, void of truth and reality, as well as of all the stations of the saliks and of the gnostics, the best thing for him is not to disgrace himself in the Presence of Allah, the Almighty, and his close friends, but to go past this stage and take his complaint against the evil-commanding soul to the Sacred Threshold of the Lord of Majesty, as perhaps He would extend to him a helping hand out of His general kindness and all-embracing mercy, and thus he would compensate during the rest of his life for what has passed: "Our Lord! We have been unjust to ourselves, and if You forgive us not and have not mercy on us, we shall certainly be of the losers." [160]

The second stage is the state of the external and internal powers, which are the visible and invisible soldiers of the soul, whose place is the ground (earth = ard) of man's nature, i.e. His structure and body. The salik's discipline in this respect is to inform the inmost of the heart that the ground (ard) of his nature is the mosque of divinity and the place for the prostration of the soldiers of the Beneficent [rahman]. Therefore, the mosque should not be smeared with the filths or Iblis's intrusion, and the divine soldiers should not be put under the influence or Iblis, so that the ground [ard] of the nature is illuminated with the Lord's light, and be freed from the darkness and the impurity of being away from the Court of the Lord. So, let him believe that his visible and invisible powers are in seclusion in the mosque of the body, and he is to treat his body as he treats a mosque, and to look at his powers as being in seclusion in the Court of Allah. In this stage, the obligations of the salik are more, because it is his own responsibility to undertake cleaning and purifying the mosque, as he also is to observe the disciplines of seclusion on the part of those (visible and invisible powers) that are in seclusion in this mosque. The third stage is the salik's cordial invisible growth [nash'ah], whose place is the invisible barzakhian body of the soul, which is created and developed by the soul itself. The salik's discipline, in this instance, is to make himself realize that this stage greatly differs from other ones, and to preserve it is of the salik's important duties, because the heart is the leader of those in seclusion in the Court (of Allah), and with its corruption all of them will corrupt: "If the scholar is corrupt, the world will corrupt". [161] The heart of a scholar is a small world, while the scholar is the heart of the big world. In this stage the salik's duties increase, because the building of the mosque is also added to his responsibilities, and it maybe that God forbid! -his mosque will be a mosque of harm [dirar], of disbelief and of disunity of the Muslims. In such a mosque it is not allowed to worship Allah, and it must be pulled down. Having established the divine invisible mosque with the hand of the Beneficent and of the guardianship, and purified it from all impurities and Satanic intrusions, and begun his seclusion therein, the salik is to strive to take himself out of his seclusion in the mosque in order to seclude in the Court of the Owner of the mosque. And, after purging himself from self-love and getting out of his own fetters, he himself will become the house of Allah, or better to say, he will become the mosque of the Lord, and Allah will glorify Himself through Manifestation of Action, then of Names and of Essence in that mosque, and this glorification is the salat of the Lord, saying: subbuhun quddus, rabbul mala 'ikati war ruh [All-Glorious, All-Holy, the Lord of the angels and the spirit). [162]

The traveller to Allah has, in all the stages of the journey, another duty to perform, neglecting which is not permissible at all, for actually it is the core of the cores and the objective of the suluk. This duty is not to forget to remember Allah in any situation or stage, and to seek to know Allah from all rituals and worships, and to see Him in all phenomena, and not to let the blessings and munificence prevent him from the company [suhbat] and privacy, as this is a kind of istidraj (being engaged in other than the Haqq). In short, he is to take the spirit and the interior [batin] of the worships and rituals to be knowing Allah, and to look into them for the Beloved so that the attachment of loving and being loved becomes fixed in his heart, and he may be favoured with hidden graces and secret associations.

It is stated in Misbahush-Shari'ah that Imam as Sadiq (AS) said: "When you arrive at the door of the mosque, know that you have come to the door of a great King. No one may walk into His Courtyard save the purified, and no one is admitted to His Company [mu'anasah] but the truthful. So, attach reverence to your coming to the ground of serving the King, as you would be exposed to a great danger if you were negligent. [163] Know that He is capable of doing what He likes of justice and grace with you and by you. So, if He was kind to you with His mercy and favour, He would accept from you little worship and give you much reward for it. But if He demanded from you a share of truth and sincerity, to be just with you, He would block you and reject your worship, even if it is much. He is the doer of what He wants. Confess to His Presence your inability, shortcoming, humility and poverty, as you have come to Him to worship and to get His Intimacy [mu'anasah]. Expose your secrets to Him, knowing that nothing, covert and overt, of the entire universe, is hidden from Him. Be, before Him, as the poorest of His servants. Empty your heart of all occupants that keep you away from your Lord, as He does not accept except the pure(st) and the sincere(st). Find out in which register your name is recorded. If you tasted the sweetness of supplication and the delight of addressing Him, and drank from the cup of His mercy and generosity out of His good reception of you and response to you, then you would become suitable for His service. So, enter, as you will have permission and protection. Otherwise, stop, like the one whose rope has snapped, and his hope has come short, and time has got the better of him. So, if Allah found in your heart true recourse to Him, He would look at you with the eye of kindness, mercy and leniency, and cause you to be successful in attaining to what He likes and is pleased with, since He is generous and loves generosity for His servants who distressfully resort to Him and burn out at His door for the want of His pleasure. Allah, the Most High, says: 'Or, Who answers the distressed one, when he calls upon Him, and removes the evil ... ?" [164]

I have related the complete text of this noble speech because it is a comprehensive set of instructions for the people of knowledge and the wayfarers to Allah, who, by contemplating them may acquire a different state.