Bismillah.
Ghawth Al Azam at many places in 'The Sublime Revelation' reiterated his role. On 17th Ramadhan 545H he said, "My task is to serve those who are seeking the Lord of Truth (Almighty and glorious is He). If your quest is genuinely for the Lord of Truth, then I am employed in your service."
Some people approached us saying they're intrigued about tasawwuf, having read some of the lessons quoted on this space. We are not sure how to respond, so let's hear what Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al Jilani had to say about this path. A few points to note, it's not something we can grasp within several years, it's not something we can study intensively over a short period of time, it is a life long process. From our experience, it takes lots of tears and disgrace. If one is willing to be humiliated, dishonored, weep and come out of it all contented, then one may be a good candidate. If one is willing to fall flat on the face and get up quietly without grumbling, then one may be counted. But we are all unique and therefore our paths would be different, so just bear the pain while Allah cut out our garment for us. And surely one must be willing to listen to the righteous (salihun) and the saints (awliya) and to drop one's own opinion. The shaykh said: "Do you not realize that those who are satisfied with their personal opinions are sure to go astray?"
The honorable shaykh defined the path as follows:
"This path is not traveled in company with the lower self (nafs) and the passions (hawa) but rather with the rule of law (hukm) and the practice thereof, the abandonment of one's own power and strength, patient endurance, the acceptance of submissive obedience (istislam) and resignation, the forsaking of haste and the adoption of steady pace. This is not something you can get in a hurry."
The shaykh is always right.
You know they say, you can't hurry love. We agree with that and would like to say that we can't be hasty in wanting to taste. It is an acquired taste.
Lastly, we'd like to include this piece of advice especially for ourself or rather our lower self:
"You must strive to ensure that you are wholly obedience, for if you do this, you will come to belong to your Lord in your entirety. Disobedience is maintaining the existence (wujud) of the lower self (nafs), while obedience is causing its nonexistence (fuqdan). Satisfying the desires of the flesh (shahawat) is maintaining the existence of the lower self, while refraining from them is causing its nonexistence. You must refrain from the desires of the flesh and not satisfy them, except in compliance with the decree of Allah, not of your own volition and craving."
Credit: Muhtar Holland & Ruslan Moore of Al Baz Publishing
Salam,
ReplyDeleteDengan izin, untuk dikongsi bersama:
Shariat, Tariqat, Haqiqat, Ma’rifat
The sufis say that the phrase “Laa ilaaha illa Allah” is haqiqat, and the phrase “Muhammadur Rasuulullah” is shariat. Now how can you separate the two facts from each other? It is futile to do so. As a matter of fact, shariat is the outer part of haqiqat, and haqiqat is the inner aspect of shariat. It is a pity that the externalists (zahireen) deny what they cannot understand. But by their denial of truth they hurt themselves, not anybody else.
Commentary: What the author (al-Hujwiri) has said can be explained in this way: shariat is the prescription and taking the medicine and thereby regaining health is haqiqat. Or we can say: shariat is the road, and haqiqat is the destination. And destination is a part of the road, or more precisely speaking, haqiqat is the end of the road. So how can the end of the road be separated from the road? The Prophet s.a.w. described the relationship between shariat and haqiqat in the following words:
“Shariat embodies my words (aqwali), tariqat (tasauf) my deed (af’ali), haqiqa my spiritual experience (ahwali), ma’rifat my secret (sirri).”
Consequently, Islam consists of shariat, tariqat, haqiqat and ma’rifat. In other words:
1. Shariat is the road (literally shariat means road),
2. Tariqat is walking the road,
3. Haqiqat is reaching the destination,
4. Ma’rifat is the knowledge of Divine mysteries which the seeker gains on reaching the destination. And the destination is God Himself, or fana-fi-Allah (Union/taqarrub with God).
An-Najmi:
وَأَنَّ إِلَى رَبِّكَ الْمُنتَهَى (53:42
That to thy Lord is the final goal.
The Shaikh (Abu Muhammad Suhail bin Abdullah Tustari) has said, “Every inhabitant of the earth is ignorant unless he holds Allah above his body, above his soul and above all his interests in this world and in the next world.”
This means that if a man is devoted to serving his worldly interest and ignores Allah, he is really ignorant, because the knowledge of Allah can be obtained only when he surrenders himself to Allah and depends on Him in everything. Allah knows best.
Al-Hujwiri:Kashful Mahjub (Page 144-145).
hazbu.
Thanks Hazbu! Useful input from you once again.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this para in Kashful Mahjub. We all need constant reminder. Jazakallah.
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