Page 12 -
Chapter One: "The Sufi view of reality derives from the Koran and the Hadith, but
it has been amplified and adapted by generations of Sufi teachers and sages. It provides a
map of the cosmos that allows people to understand their situation in respect to God. It
sets down a practice that can lead people from their actual situation to the final goal of
human life, or from imperfection to perfection.
"The first Shahadah
- ‘(There is) no god but God’ - discerns between the Real and the unreal, or
between the Absolute and the relative, or between God and ‘everything other than
God,’ which is the universe. Traditionally, the Shahadah is said to be divided into
two halves, the negation (‘no god’) and the affirmation (‘but God’.
The first half denies the inherent reality of the world and the self. The second half
affirms the ultimacy of the divine reality. The Shahadah means that there is ‘no
creator but God,’ ‘none merciful but God,’ ‘none knowing but
God.’ In sum, it means that there is ‘no reality but God’ and that all the
so-called realities of our experience are secondary and derivative.
"Numerous Koranic
verses and Hadiths reiterate the basic discernment contained in the Shahadah and explain
its ramifications. One of the most often cited in Sufi texts is the verse,
‘Everything is perishing but His face (28:88)."
Commentary: The
author’s foregoing claim that "the Sufi view of reality derives from the Koran
and the Hadith" stands in need of expansion and qualification. Sufi understanding is
drawn from direct experience of various dimensions of the ‘Real’, although, to
be sure, one’s spiritual experience may be initiated through engagement of the
Qur’an and/or the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
One cannot drink from the
Qur’an or appreciate the Sunnah of the Prophet, until one is ready to receive, to
whatever degree, the Truth to which both the Qur’an and the Sunnah give expression.
As the Qur’an notes: "Be in the condition of taqwa (i.e., have the niyat or
intention of a servant of Divinity), and God will teach you." (2:282)
Before Omar (may Allah be
pleased with him) became Muslim, he was an enemy of the Prophet. In fact, on the day he
accepted Islam, he was on his way to the house of his sister to kill the Prophet whom he
had heard was present there and who was, in the opinion of Omar (may Allah be pleased with
him) - at least at that juncture in time - leading people, including his sister, astray
from the traditions of the Arabs which had prevailed prior to the advent of the
Prophet’s mission.
Just prior to entering
the house of his sister, Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) heard parts of a few brief
verses of the Qur’an being recited. Upon entering, he demanded to hear, again, what
was being recited and to know what it was.
He was informed by his
sister that before he could hear the recitation again or touch the Qur’an, he would
have to undergo wudu, or the prescribed manner of washing up in order to be prepared to
engage in spiritual activities - such as reading or listening to the recitation of the
Qur’an. Rather unexpectedly, to say the least, Omar (may Allah be please with him)
complied with this directive, despite the fact he had just entered a house in order to
slay the Prophet and ‘straighten out’ his sister.
This process of
compliance was an act of taqwa - even though Omar (May Allah be pleased with him)
probably did not consciously understand why he was observing the requirements of wudu and
some of the etiquette associated with the Qur’an. With taqwa, came an openness, or
receptivity, toward being taught by Divinity (as God promises in the Qur’an), and
when he heard the Qur’an being recited after he had performed wudu, his whole
spiritual orientation began to change - from being an enemy of the Prophet to a seeker
after the truth which was being transmitted through the Qur’an and the life of the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Sufi shaykhs teach taqwa.
They teach seekers how to prepare and condition themselves spiritually in order to be
‘ready’ to receive whatever Divinity chooses to teach them.
In a condition of taqwa,
the individual is open to that which is being referred to when the Qur’an says:
"We shall show them Our signs upon the horizons and in themselves until it is clear
to them that He is the Real". (41:53) The Qur’an and the Sunnah are among the
Divine signs which are being shown ‘upon the horizons’, and direct spiritual
experiences are the Divine signs that are shown within an individual.
A person, by himself or
herself, cannot read the Qur’an or learn about the Sunnah (actions) of the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) and, thereby, "derive" an understanding of the Sufi
Path. An individual, on her or his own, cannot travel the Sufi Path.
The Qur’an indicates
one should ‘enter houses by their doors’ (2:189). The door of the Qur’an is the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) - not only because he was the one through whom the
Divine Revelation was transmitted to the rest of humanity, but also because he is the one
whom God invested with the most knowledge concerning the different levels of significance
and meaning inherent in the Qur’an.
The door to the Prophet
is love. In fact, the Prophet, himself, has said that ‘no one can complete one’s
faith until the Prophet becomes dearer to an individual than that persons’s family
and all of mankind’.
In order to learn about
loving the Prophet, one must have association with either the Prophet or with someone who
knows what loving the Prophet entails. In other words, one must have association with
someone who reflects, among other things, qualities of kindness, humility, sincerity,
generosity, integrity, thoughtfulness, insight, forgiveness, forbearance, patience,
courage, friendship, steadfastness, nobility, and gratitude - that is, someone who is dyed
with the colors of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and has become dyed in this
way through loving the Prophet.
The door to loving
someone who loves the Prophet is ‘nisbath’. Nisbath is the bond of spiritual
resonance which inclines a seeker to learn from a given servant of God, while
simultaneously inclining that servant of God to teach the seeker who manifests signs of
such nisbath.
The door to nisbath is
adab or spiritual etiquette. Nisbath has its conditions and requirements, and those
conditions and requirements must be honored, if nisbath is to have fertile ground in which
to take root and flourish.
The door to adab is
initiation into a silsilah or ‘lineage of spiritual transmission’ at the hands
of a living locus of manifestation through which such transmission is given expression. In
short, one needs spiritual assistance in order to constructively approach, as well as -
God willing - gain maximum benefit from, the Guidance which is inherent in the Qur’an
and the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Initiation, silsilah,
adab, nisbath, the spiritual guide, love, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the
Qur’an, and God are all brought together in the valley of taqwa. One must be
spiritually ready to learn and receive. One must have respect for, and humility toward,
the process through which learning flows.
What one can derive, in
relation to the Sufi Path, from the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet is extremely
limited if, among other things, nisbath, adab, love, and taqwa are not present. To the
extent these qualities are present, then, God willing, one can travel as far as one’s
spiritual capacity will take one with respect to what is to be learned through the
Qur’an and the Prophet.
|
