The Effects and Indications of Invocation (Dhikr)
As it was explained earlier that
invocation (dhikr), witnessing (shahood), and countenance (laqa),
are esoteric positions; and are genuine spiritual perfections, whereby a
wayfarer really attains an exalted rank of existence which was not accomplished
by him earlier. If it is said: the position of witnessing is real and
similarly, if it is said: the position of love, the position of compliance, the
position of desire, the position of union, and the positions of countenance are
not metaphorical, rather are real positions; it means that the relevant
position represents a rank and degree of a real existence, which naturally
should be accompanied with new effects and indications, so that the existence
of that perfection could be identified through them. Here, we would describe
the details of the following effects:
18.1. Commitment for God's
Obedience
When some one attains a position
whereby in his esoteric essence witnesses God's Beauty and sees himself in His
presence, without any doubt will obey His commands absolutely. Whatever, he
has been commanded to do will be performed by him and will refrain himself
from things made forbidden for him. If, a human being wants to know whether he
has attained that position or not, he must evaluate his commitments towards
Divine positive and negative commands and in accordance to his performance may
determine his relative rank. It is not possible that a human being would have
attained the exalted position of love and witnessing and would not have a total
commitment towards Divine commands. Imam al-Sadiq has defined the invocation (dhikr)
as follows:
"Invocation is meant that when some one encounters
an act which has been made mandatory by God-Almighty he performs it and if it
is forbidden, he refrains from it." -Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 93. p-155.
Imam al Hussein (A) in his
prayer of Arafeh said:
"Oh God-Almighty! Thou are the One Who has poured
the sweetness of Your love inside your friend's mouths so that they should
stand in prayer in front of You and must adore You with humility. Oh Thou are
the One Who has dressed your saints with the robe of fear so that they should
stand and repent in front of you."
-Iqbal
al-Amal-Prayer of Arafeh.
God-Almighty said in Holy Quran
"Say: If you do love God follow me: God will love
you." -the Holy- Quran (3:31)
Imam al Sadiq (A) said:
"Whoever becomes a sincere invocator of
God-Almighty, will also become truly obedient to Him, and whoever is negligent,
will be a sinner." -Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 93, p-158.
18.2. Humility
Whoever witnesses the Power and
Majesty of God-Almighty would naturally humiliate himself in front of him, and
will continuously lower his head in regret while realizing his omissions and
negligence.
Imam al-Sadiq (A) had narrated
in a tradition:
"Your enlightenment because of your being paid
attention by God-Almighty will result in your becoming humble, modest and
prudent." -Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 93, p-158.
18.3. Excitement for
Worshipping
One of the indication of
attaining the position of witnessing is the strong liking for worshipping and
feeling intense pleasure during its performance, because, some one who has
witnessed the Majesty and Splendor of the Lord of the Worlds and considers
himself in the presence of God-Almighty -the Fountainhead of All Magnanimity
and Perfection –would prefer the pleasure of hymns and humming communications
with Him over any other enjoyment. Those who are deprived of spiritual
pleasures keep themselves amused with transient worldly amusements which in
reality are no more than a pain killer, but those who have tasted the real
pleasure of worshipping and hymns of the Lord of the Worlds would never
exchange their pleasant state and beauty with any other enjoyment.
These are the purest God's
servant who worship him only for the sake of his worthiness to be worshipped
and not for the sake of any reward and punishment. In this regard, you must
have heard about the melting and burning worshipping and intimate humming
communications of the Holy Prophet (S) Imam' Ali (A) Imam al-Sajjad and other
Imams of Prophets (Ahlul Bayt) with their Lord.
18.4. Tranquility and
Assurance
The world is a place of pains,
sorrows, and sufferings, which can be classified into the following three
categories:
i.
First type: Tragedies like sickness of self or relatives
death of self or next of kills, oppression, prejudices, injustice, discard, and
interference etc.
ii.
Second type: Regret and annoyance for lack of worldly
things which are beyond one's reach.
iii.
Third type: Fear of loosing whatever have been
accumulated, fear of theft or loss of wealth, fear of loosing children because
of accidents, and fear of getting sick and possibility of death.
All of the above most probably
takes away ease and comfort from a human being, whose roots could be traced to
strong attachments to world and avoidance of God's remembrance. The
God-Almighty said in the Holy Quran:
“But he who turneth away from remembrance of me, his will
be a narrow life.” -the Holy- Quran (20:124)
But God's sincere servants who
have reached the Source of all Blessings and Perfection, have witnessed the
Absolute Beauty and Splendor, are contented because of God's Remembrance and Affection.
They are free from all sort of worries and sorrows, because of their having
God-Almighty, they possess every thing. They do not become annoyed or it
worried for lack of worldly things because they do not have any inclinations
towards them, instead, they have attached themselves to the Fountainhead of all
Blessings and Perfection, which lacks nothing. Imam al-Hussain (A) in his
prayer of Arafeh had said:
"Oh Lord! Thou are the
one who has removed the love of others from the hearts of your favorite saints,
so that they are not attached to any body except You, and do not seek any other
shelter except You. While encountering terrible calamities they seek refuge in
You. If Your Enlightenment and Nearness have been achieved by them -it was only
because of Your-Guidance.”
“Whosoever does not find You what else there remains to
be found? And whoever has found You what else would he be lacking? How much
looser is the one who chooses other than You and how unfortunate is the one who
deviates from You. How can a human being expect thing from others while Your
Favors never get cut off from him? How could one pray for his need before
others, while knowing that Your Generosity and Benevolence surround him."
-Iqbal
al-Amal, Prayer of Arafah.
Any how, the most important
effect of one's attaining the position of invocation, witnessing, and love is
the attainment of heart's peace and tranquility, because, in principle, nothing
can rescue the heart's boat inside the stormy oceans of the life except God’s
Remembrance. God-Almighty said in Holy Quran:
"Who have believed and whose hearts have rest in the
remembrance of God. Verily in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest!"
-the Holy- Quran (13:28)
The stronger will be the belief
of a person the greater will be his heart's degree of assurance and
tranquility.
18.5. God's Attention towards
the Servant
When a God's servant remembers
God-Almighty, reciprocally He too bestows special favor and blessing upon His
servant. This matter has been mentioned in the following verses and traditions,
God-Almighty said in Holy Quran:
"Therefore, remember me, I will remember you." -the Holy- Quran (2:152)
Imam al-Sadiq {A,S,) said:
"God-Almighty had said: 'Oh son of Adam! Remember me
in your self so that I would remember you in My Self;. Oh son of Adam! Remember
me in solitude so that I may remember you in solitude; Oh son of Adam! Remember
me in congregation so that I remember you in a congregation much better than
yours," and said: 'Every servant who remembers God-Almighty among the
human beings, God-Almighty remember him among the angels."
-Wasail
al-Shi’a, vol 4, p-1185.
God's attention and special
blessings towards a servant is not a metaphorical thing, rather is a reality
whose reasons may be explained as follows:
I. First Reason
When a servants remembers
God-Almighty and with this means makes himself readied for acceptance of His
special favors, God-Almighty increases the level of his perfection and elevates
him into higher spiritual positions.
II. Second Reason
When a servant recites God’s
invocations and spiritually migrates towards Him, he is blessed with God's
attention and special favors, whereby He bestows upon him exalted spiritual
positions and takes over the control of his heart, The Holy Prophet (S) said:
"God Almighty said: 'When I find a servant sincerely
engaged in my invocation -makes him further interested into hymns and
worshipping, and if occasionally negligence dominates over him, I prevent such
occurrence, These are my real saints and heroes, If I want to annihilate all
the earthly creations, it is because of their distinguished existence that My
punishment does not descend towards earth." -Bihar al-Anwar, vol, 93, p-162.
18.6. God's Love towards the
Servant
One of the effect of invocation
is the God's love towards the servant. It has been inferred from various
Quranic verses and traditions that when a person engages himself in God's
remembrance and obeys His commandments, He too reciprocates and starts loving
that person, The Holy Quran said:
"If you love God, follow me, God will love
you." -the Holy- Quran (3:31)
Imam al-Sadiq had narrated from
the Holy Prophet (S)
"Whoever offers lots of God's invocation will
achieve God's affection towards him, whoever continuously remembers
God-Almighty will have two letters written for him letter of immunity from
Hells' fire, and letter of immunity from discard."
-Wasail
al-Shi’a, vol. 4, p-181.
God's affection towards a
servant is neither a ceremonial act nor it could be compared to the meanings of
love as related to human beings. In case of human beings love is meant as
heart's attachments and inclinations towards a desirable object, but for God
such interpretation of love is not correct.
Love of God must be interpreted
as His special favors and graces which further enhance a servants sincerity,
attention, and worshipping, towards Him, and through these means attracts him
towards the higher stages of perfection and nearness. Because, He loves the
servant and likes hearing his humming hymns -bestows upon him the special favor
of motivating further towards prayer, invocation, worshipping, and
supplications. Since, He likes servant's nearness, accordingly provides the
required means for his perfection, and in nutshell because of His affection
towards the servant -takes over his heart's control, thus, providing him the
opportunities for better and speedy ascent towards His nearness.
18.7. The Most Important
Effects
At this stage the wayfarer is
blessed with most special benefits and privileges whose explanation is not
possible through the pen and tongue of strangers, and except the recipient of
these positions no one knows any thing about these affairs. Because, of the
effects of self-purification, esoteric cleansing, worshipping, asceticism,
thinking, and continuous recital of invocation, the wayfarer attains on exalted
spiritual rank where, by means of his esoteric eyes and ears is able to see and
hear the most sublime realities which can not be seen and heard by the apparent
eyes and ears. Sometimes he hears the praise and hymns of other creatures
including angels and joins them.
While he lives in this world and
socialize with its people but in his esoteric essence looks towards upper
horizons living in an another world as though he does not belong to this world.
In that World he witnesses the Hell and Paradise and keeps in touch with angels
and spirits of God's righteous saints. He is familiar with other World, and
utilizes its blessings but does not want to speak about it, because such
persons prefers seclusion and strictly sustain themselves from fame and
popularity.
The higher Divine learning are
descended upon the gnostics heart, and mystical-sciences which are not
customary with conventional learning are witnessed by him. The wayfarer
ultimately achieves an exalted spiritual position whereby he forgets everything
including his self and does not pays attention towards anything except the Holy
Names and Characteristics of God-Almighty. He sees the Lord of the Universe as
Over seer of every thing and every where, Who had said:
"I am the first, the last, the hidden and the
apparent."
He sees the world as a
manifestation of God's characteristics and considers every perfection and
beauty from God-Almighty. The depravity of essence of all creatures, the
absolute richness of the Self Existent (Wajib al-Wajood) becomes
apparent for him and in witnessing the Supreme Source of Absolute Beauty and
Perfection feels fascinated and absorbed.
Here it should be pointed out
that the position of annihilation (fana) in itself consists of various
degrees and ranks, and it would be appropriate if this deprived servant should
better refrain himself from entering into these privileged positions.