Pages 35 and 36 -
Chapter Three: "The two higher stages of this tripartite scheme - that is,
‘intoxication’ and ‘sobriety after intoxication’ - correlate with the
famous expressions fana’ and baqa’, or ‘annihilation’
and ‘subsistence.’ Through the journey of self-purification and devotion to God,
the travelers reach a stage where they become fully open to the divine light, and the
brilliance of this light annihilates all the human limitations that had held them back
from seeing their true selves and their Lord. The annihilation of obstacles and
impediments allows them to see that they themselves had been nothing and still are nothing
because God alone has true reality. Instead of themselves, who had never had any reality
to speak of, they now see what subsists after the annihilation of idols and false
selfhood. What remains is precisely God in His glory, and this glory demands the shining
of His light. According to Rumi’s interpretation of Hallaj’s scandalous
utterance, this is the agent which he said, ‘I am the Real.’
"The terms annihilation
and subsistence are derived from the Koranic passage, ‘Everything upon the
earth is undergoing annihilation, but there subsists the face of your Lord, Possessor of
Majesty and Generous Giving." (55:26-27) The specific divine name with which this
verse ends - "Possessor of Majesty and Generous Giving" - is especially
appropriate in the context of the spiritual journey, because it alludes to the two-sided
perception of things that needs to be achieved. God is the ‘Possessor of
Majesty.’ because He is Great, Distant, Wrathful, Vengeful, King, and Transcendent.
His majesty and splendor are such that they annihilate the reality and existence of
everything else. Only He is truly worthy to exist. But God is also ‘Possessor of
Generous Giving’ because He is Loving, Merciful, Compassionate, Gentle, Clement,
Kind, and Nurturing, and He does nothing but give generously to His creatures. Although
His majestic Reality annihilates the creatures, His generous bestowal gives them a new
reality and true subsistence."
Commentary:
Contrary to the contention of the author, "The two higher stages of this tripartite
scheme - that is, ‘intoxication’ and ‘sobriety after
intoxication’" do not correlate with fana’ and baqa’
- that is, ‘annihilation’ and ‘subsistence.’ As pointed out in a
previous Commentary, there are many varieties of spiritual intoxication, and
not all of them are indicative of the condition of fana’.
In fact, there need not
be any intoxication associated with fana’ at all. This latter condition is
marked by the Presence of Divinity, as well as by the eclipse of self-consciousness, and,
consequently, depending on how the spiritual capacity of the individual is engaged by that
Presence, there may be no condition of intoxication which arises out of that engagement.
An overwhelming
astonishment, wonder, awe, humility, perplexity, and/or an intense sense of sacredness
might be felt rather than intoxication. Or, the individual might be so lost in the Divine
Presence that there is no specific, concomitant feeling, emotion, or thought - there is
just Presence.
In the last Commentary
mention was made of those times when the spiritual condition of the Prophet was such that
he had no awareness of who his wife ‘Ayesha was, or who his close friend and
Companion, Abu Bakr Siddiq, was, or who even he, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was. While
one cannot automatically assume the Prophet was in a condition of fana’ at
such times, nevertheless, these kinds of occurrence do indicate there are spiritual
conditions of nearness to Divinity in which even though one’s sense of personal
identity may be extinguished, along with one’s capacity to recognize near and dear
ones, the individual is not necessarily in an intoxicated state.
The available
descriptions do not indicate the Prophet was in a state of ecstasy during such occasions.
Moreover, at such times he was able to use language in a rational way because when
addressed in certain ways by ‘Ayesha, he would ask: "Who is ‘Ayesha?, or
"Who is Muhammad ?" (Peace be upon him).
Just as there are many
conditions of intoxication which do not necessarily indicate the Presence of fana’,
so, too, there are many instances of so-called ‘sobriety after intoxication’
which do not entail baqa. As indicated in several previous Commentaries,
sobriety refers, in part, to the adab or spiritual etiquette concerning outward
comportment during times of spiritual intoxication or in relation to hiding any secrets of
Truth which may have arisen during a condition of intoxication, and, therefore, the
condition of baqa constitutes, at most, a very special case of sobriety.
According to the author
of Sufism - A Short Introduction: "Through the journey of
self-purification and devotion to God, the travelers reach a stage where they become fully
open to the divine light, and the brilliance of this light annihilates all the human
limitations that had held them back from seeing their true selves and their Lord."
This perspective contains a variety of errors.
As spiritually elevated
as the condition of fana’ may be, it does not mark the end of the Path, and,
therefore, one cannot say, as the author has in the foregoing quote, that fana’ represents
a stage where an individual has become "fully open to the divine light." Beyond fana’
is baqa, and until the potential of an individual’s ‘fitra’, or
primordial spiritual capacity, has been fully realized, a person cannot be said to be
fully open to the light of Divinity - or, at least, as open as is humanly possible for a
given spiritual capacity.
Secondly, "the
journey of self-purification and devotion to God" is not the cause of fana’. The
journey is, at most, a necessary prerequisite - although Divinity can, if so desired,
dispense with even this necessity.
Self-purification and
devotion are the activities of a field worker who takes as given that, among other things,
a seed already has been planted, as well as that a variety of processes involving
fertilization, cultivation, sustenance, and crop management already have been, or are
being, performed through the agency of the shaykh. The field worker’s job is to pull
the weeds, ward off potentially destructive infestations, and be of service in whatever
ways may be indicated by the overseer of the fields.
All the really important
work of bringing a seed to fruition is done by someone else. In fact, even in the case of
the few tasks which are assigned to a field worker, the latter must be trained to do these
tasks properly.
Just because someone
works the fields, there is no guarantee that a seed which has been planted will yield fana’.
This requires great good fortune.
Moreover, irrespective of
whether this spiritual condition arises, the job of a spiritual worker is to tend the
fields and leave the rest to Allah. Therefore, a worker does not so much reach
a certain stage, as much as work of different kinds is done and, if God wishes, certain
potentials inherent in the work are brought to fruition.
Thirdly, the author is
incorrect when he maintains that: "the brilliance of this light annihilates all the
human limitations that had held them back from seeing their true selves and their
Lord." More specifically, contrary to the implication of the author’s assertion,
fana’ does not involve an individual’s seeing her or his ‘true’
self. Fana’ is about the rising of the luminous Presence of Divinity and the
eclipse of awareness concerning anything else - including the self, whether authentic or
false.
The true nature of the
‘self’ is realized through the spiritual condition of baqa. Indeed, that
which subsists in baqa is, by the Grace of God, the individuality of the
person’s true, essential Self.
The subsistence of this
sense of individuality is one of the great gifts of Divine generosity. This gift gives
expression to the realization of the Divine Intention - namely, for something of the
Hidden Treasure to be known through the instrumentality of a fully developed, harmoniously
operating, and Self-aware ‘fitra’.
In addition, the Divine
Presence which appears in the spiritual condition of fana’ does not annihilate
human limitations through the brilliance of Its light. Instead, when Divinity unveils its
Presence, the latter renders human limitations and obstacles irrelevant. The Presence is -
in spite of those limitations and obstacles, not because the latter have been eliminated.
Divine Presence takes
away the breath of our sense of self-awareness. All attention and awareness is preoccupied
with Divine Presence - not because the individual no longer exists, but because one loses
interest in a ‘self’ of limitations and obstacles while in the unveiled Presence
of Divinity Who is without limitations or obstacles.
The author of Sufism
- A Short Introduction contends that: "The annihilation of obstacles and
impediments allows them to see that they themselves had been nothing and still are nothing
because God alone has true reality." Like the quoted passage which precedes the above
quotation, there are a number of fundamental problems contained in, and entailed by, the
author’s perspective.
The Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) is reported to have said: "Every child is born according to
primordial nature (fitra), then, the child’s parents make that person a Jew, a
Christian, or a Zoroastrian." Contrary to the assertion of the author in the
foregoing quote, whatever the nature of ‘fitra’ is, that to which the Prophet
alluded in the cited Hadith, is not "nothing".
Of course, given that
Allah, alone, has reality and existence, we are faced with problems of language and
conceptual systems trying to get a hold on just where ‘fitra’ fits in. In order
to address this issue, people sometimes speak in the conceptual language of
‘possibility’, ‘potentiality’, ‘non-existent fixed forms,’
and so on.
The label which one puts
on ‘fitra’ is far, far less important than the ‘place’ which
‘fitra’ holds within Divine Intention and Purpose. For, whatever the essential
nature of that ‘place’ may be, it is not nothing - rather, ‘fitra’ is
that which has tremendous importance within the context of the reason for Creation -
namely, the knowing of the Hidden Treasure.
Dhat, or Divine Essence,
already knew the Hidden Treasure. However, through a Desire or Wish of Essence, this
Hidden Treasure was, within limits of Divine discretion, to become known by that - i.e.,
Creation - which was to be brought forth and from which the Treasure would remain hidden
except when some dimension of that Treasure was given expression through manifestation.
Divinity bears witness
that ‘fitra’ is not "nothing". For example, consider the following
verses of the Qur’an.
"We created not the
heavens and the earth and all that is between them in play." (44:38) "Lo! We
have placed all that is on earth as an ornament thereof, that We may try them - which of
them is best in conduct." (18:7) "The life of the world is but a pastime and a
game. Lo! The home of the Hereafter - that is life, if they but knew. (29:64) "And We
test you by evil and good by way of trial." (21:35) "And surely We shall test
you with some fear and hunger and loss of wealth and lives and crops, but give glad
tidings to the steadfast - who say when misfortune strikes them: Surely, to Allah we
belong and to Allah is our returning." (2:155-156)
Everything has been
created for a Purpose, and the nature of that Purpose is not an idle, frivolous one. All
that has been placed on earth is a trial through which the quality of conduct is tested.
The life of this world is
but a prelude to the true life of the Hereafter. The good or evil through which we are
tested in this life are signs that we belong to God, and to Divinity, we are returning.
Nowhere in the
Qur’an does one find verses indicating that Creation or humankind is
"nothing". Nowhere in the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
does one find evidence suggesting that Creation or humankind is "nothing".
To be sure, human beings
are caught up in a variety of illusions and delusions which incline them to treat life as
a game and something for which they will not be held responsible with respect to the
manner in which they conduct themselves. As the Qur’an indicates, all too many people
"know but the outer part of the present life, and of the Hereafter, they are
heedless. (30:7)
Yet, Creation, the life
of this world, trials, tests, the Hereafter, and the returning, all operate in accordance
with a Purpose which does not exist as a game, or sport, or in jest, or as play. In short,
Creation is not for "nothing" , nor does the potential role for which humankind
is destined constitute "nothing".
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