Bismillah.
The people (of the Lord) put into practice what they heard, so their practice brings them near to the Lord of Truth, for whose sake they make the effort. They hear His admonitions without intermediary, with the ears of their hearts. This happens when they are in a state of absence (ghaiba) and sleep in relation to creatures but of wakefulness with the Creator. When your heart is truly sound, you will always be in a state of absence and sleep in relation to creatures but of wakefulness with the Creator, for it will not be distracted from its privacy even when you are in a public situation. Thus you will never lose the intimations (mawarid) of the Lord of Truth and His wise advice (hikam) will reach you through the innermost being (sirr). The innermost being will inform the heart, the heart will inform the tranquil self (nafs mutmainna), the self will inform the tongue and the tongue will inform the people. One should either speak to the people in this manner or not speak at all.
The people (of the Lord) put into practice what they heard, so their practice brings them near to the Lord of Truth, for whose sake they make the effort. They hear His admonitions without intermediary, with the ears of their hearts. This happens when they are in a state of absence (ghaiba) and sleep in relation to creatures but of wakefulness with the Creator. When your heart is truly sound, you will always be in a state of absence and sleep in relation to creatures but of wakefulness with the Creator, for it will not be distracted from its privacy even when you are in a public situation. Thus you will never lose the intimations (mawarid) of the Lord of Truth and His wise advice (hikam) will reach you through the innermost being (sirr). The innermost being will inform the heart, the heart will inform the tranquil self (nafs mutmainna), the self will inform the tongue and the tongue will inform the people. One should either speak to the people in this manner or not speak at all.
Your seclusion (khalwa) is not genuine because seclusion means being detached as far as your heart is concerned from all things. Your inner (bathin) becomes so detached that it is stripped naked, left with neither this world nor the hereafter and with nothing whatsoever apart from the Lord of Truth. This is the highroad of our predecessors, the Prophets (anbiya), the Messengers (mursalun), the saints (awliya) and the righteous (salihun). To command what is right and proper and forbid what is wrong and improper (al-amru bil ma'ruf wan-nahyu 'anil munkar) is dearer to me than a thousand hermits in their cells. The gaze of the lower self must be lowered, curtailed and averted so that it does not become a cause of your destruction unless the self becomes subservient to the heart and the innermost being (sirr) along with its own servants. It must not go off to follow its own whim but be united with them both (the heart and the innermost being) so that there is no difference between it and them. It must command what they command, forbid what they forbid and prefer what they prefer. Then it will come to be a tranquil self (nafs mutmainna) and so they will agree on one single pursuit and one single goal. When the self reaches this condition, it deserves a respite from the struggle against it.
Note: Extracts from lectures given by Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani in Ramadhan 545 A.H. Reference: The Sublime Revelation (Al-fath ar-Rabbani) Translated from the Arabic by Muhtar Holland.
No comments:
Post a Comment