Proprieties
An individual had a variety of questions concerning the issue of how one should feel about those individuals who assist a so-called shaykh to perpetrate spiritually abusive behavior. Among these questions were the following: should one pray for them? Should one hold out hope for them to change? Should one consider them to be as much a victim of spiritual abuse as the ones the former individuals help a shaykh to abuse? Couldn’t the great spiritual knowledge of these wayward individuals eventually be used for the good of others? In addition, this individual alluded to an ayat of the Qur'an in which the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was allegedly instructed not to pray for the forgiveness of hypocrites.
It is possible that the portion of the Qur’an to which this person refers is from Surah Tauba, when God says: “Ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them; even if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah will not forgive them; this is because they disbelieve in Allah and His Apostle, and Allah does not guide the transgressing people.” (9.80)
It is reported the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, at some point, in relation to the foregoing, that if Allah would not forgive such people even if the Prophet (peace be upon him) were to seek forgiveness for them seventy times, then, he would ask for forgiveness in relation to these people seventy-one times. However, such a response needs to be put into perspective.
First of all, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was not playing a game of one-upmanship with Allah, nor was he acting in defiance of Divine wishes. The section of the ayat from Surah Tauba indicates Allah already had acknowledged that the Prophet (peace be upon him) could, if he wished, ask forgiveness for such people, but whether, or not, the Prophet (peace be upon him) did so, this would make no difference because those people would not be forgiven.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) was being given degrees of freedom here, which had not been extended to, for example, Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) when Allah said in the Surah of The Examined One: “Indeed, there is for you a good example in Ibrahim and those with him when they said to their people: Surely we are clear of you and of what you serve besides Allah; we declare ourselves to be clear of you, and enmity and hatred have appeared between us and you forever until you believe in Allah alone -- but not in what Ibrahim said to his father: I would certainly ask forgiveness for you, and I do not control for you aught from Allah -- Our Lord! on Thee do we rely, and to Thee do we turn, and to Thee is the eventual coming.” (60.4)
Moreover, we might recall that Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him) was reprimanded by Allah for seeking to ask forgiveness and leniency for his son who was not among those who believed in the direction and guidance which had come from God to the people of Nuh (peace be upon him). In addition, the Qur’an says in the Surah of ‘The Hypocrites: “And when it is said to them: Come, the Apostle of Allah will ask forgiveness for you, they turn back their heads and you may see them turning away while they are big with pride.” (63.5) Consequently, even when the Prophet (peace be upon him) is prepared to ask forgiveness for certain people, these individuals are filled with themselves and do not believe they are in need of forgiveness –– although the facts indicate otherwise.
Secondly, in saying that he would pray for such people seventy-one times -- if seventy times would not be sufficient to secure the forgiveness of the people in question -- the Prophet (peace be upon him) was merely demonstrating the qualities which Allah had placed in the Prophet (peace be upon him) and that is born witness to in many places by the Qur’an –– for instance, “We have not sent you (Muhammad) except as a mercy to all of the worlds,” (21:107) The Prophet (peace be upon him), in being willing to ask forgiveness for someone seventy-one times in the hope that such a prayer might be answered when praying seventy times would not –– and Allah had clearly stated that it would not –– was giving expression to one of the qualities with which God had shaped and made him.
The spiritual capacity of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is one thing. Our spiritual capacity is quite another thing.
What is incumbent upon the Prophet (peace be upon him) as a mercy to all the worlds and as the one to whom rights of intercession have been given, is not necessarily incumbent on the rest of us. In fact, in some cases it is arrogant of us to suppose that we have the same responsibilities as a Prophet of God or that we have a similar sort of spiritual capacity to try to do that which, even for some of the Prophets, was a struggle.
Tauba is the only surah in the Qur’an which does not begin with: “In the Name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful.” If one looks at some of the themes of this surah one sees that idolatry, hypocrisy, transgression , the breaking of oaths, and unbelief play prominent roles. Although there may be many reasons why ‘Bismillah ir-Rahman, ir-Rahim’ is missing from this Surah, perhaps, the emphasis which is given to the foregoing themes is relevant here.
In the Surah of the Family of Imran, one finds the following: “And those who when they commit an indecency or do injustice to their souls remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their faults -- and who forgives the faults but Allah, and (who) do not knowingly persist in what they have done.” (3.135) And, again, in another portion of the Qur’an, we find: “That is because Allah never changes the Grace which has been bestowed on any people until they first change that which is in their hearts, and that is because Allah is Hearer, Knower.” (8:53)
The people of spiritual abuse often knowingly persist in what they are doing. Although, out of a sense of compassion and concern for the spiritual welfare of other human beings -- because we do appreciate that life is a serious matter and that we only come this way once, we would like to suppose, in relation to such people that, maybe, somehow, they are not really aware of what they are doing.
However, there is a difference between, on the one hand, those people who are exploited, come to realize this –– either quickly or over a period of time, and, then, take steps to remove themselves from a problematic situation, and, on the other hand, those people who are presented with evidence indicating that not everything may be quite right with the camel ride which is transpiring and choose to either ignore such evidence, or, even worse, take active steps to lie, censor, and manipulate a situation in order to hide, bury or misdirect people’s attention away from such evidence. Still worse are those individuals who not only try to spin the evidence in a manner which suggests innocent motives when the evidence indicates otherwise, but who, as well, appear to revel in the opportunity to persist in wrong-doing and/or who are unwilling to let go of a fantasy which seemed to confer upon them a special, unique, elite position of power and influence and which available evidence is bringing into question.
This latter group of people has a responsibility to struggle to change their own condition, and God has indicated, as noted previously, that unless and until these people do change their own condition, then, whether you are someone of the spiritual station of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) or someone of a far inferior spiritual station like the rest of us, then, whether we pray for their forgiveness or do not pray for their forgiveness, the result will be the same. There are spiritual laws which govern the way the universe, on whatever level, operates, and the foregoing is one of them.
If it comforts someone to pray for the forgiveness of these people, then, seek comfort in such a practice, and, insha’ Allah, one may be rewarded by Allah for one’s compassion and sincerity even though such prayers, in light of what Allah has said in the Qur’an, do not appear to be destined to be answered in the way we might like -- and, indeed, “it may happen that you hate a thing which is better for you.” (2:216). However, we should not confuse that which we do for comfort with the idea that, perhaps, we will succeed where even the Prophet (peace be upon him) has been told that compassionate, forbearing, and forgiving though he may be, Allah may decide the matter otherwise.
Submission means to accept and bear witness to however Divinity wishes to arrange the dynamic of good and evil. The Prophet (peace be upon him) was equally ready to pray for someone seventy-one times as well as to accept a Divine decree that may have closed the door on accepting such a prayer on behalf of those who actively turned away from the barakah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) which was offered on their behalf.
As far as the idea is concerned that these people of spiritual abuse may possess great knowledge and that if only it could be used for good -- rather than as a technique for luring and trapping people in a network of spiritual abuse that has been established for the purpose of serving the agenda of the abusers -- then, humankind would be the beneficiary, I am extremely skeptical. And, this is so, for various reasons.
First, the Qur’an indicates: “O people, you are the poor toward God, and God is the Independent and Praiseworthy.” (35:15) Therefore, Divinity has absolutely no need of such people to do good, and the opportunity to do constructive things is a blessing which Allah confers on whomsoever God pleases. “What is with you comes to an end, but what is with God remains,” (16:96) and the people of tasawwuf have always said that what comes to us from Allah is always more important than what goes from us to God.
These people of spiritual abuse have become enamored with the baubles and ornaments of the realm of Nasut, or this material level of existence. Indeed, “Lo! We have placed all that is on earth as an ornament thereof, that We may try them: which is best in conduct.” (18:7) They have been tested thereby, and their ensuing conduct has given clear indication as to the nature of their niyat or intention with respect to life.
The Qur’an says: “If anyone forsakes the remembrance of the Most Gracious, We appoint for that person a devil, to be an intimate companion and will hinder them from the path. Yet, they think they are being guided in the right direction.” (46: 36-37) The people of spiritual abuse have forsaken the remembrance of Allah –– no matter how much they may use the vocabulary and language of Allah, for the sincerity of remembrance is contained in the niyat of behavior.
As the Prophet (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “There is an organ within the body, if that is good, then, the whole body is good, and if that is corrupt, then the whole body is corrupt, and this is the heart.” Surely, the persistent misconduct of these people provides the data to construct a spiritual counterpart for an MRI concerning the state of their heart.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) has said: “Knowledge is of two kinds: formal knowledge which does not go beyond verbal profession. It is the evidence of God against those people who profess such knowledge, and according to it, God will judge them, and, genuine knowledge, which is deep-rooted in the heart –– this is the knowledge which is most useful.” Behavior which reflects genuine knowledge is very, very different from behavior which reflects formal knowledge, and although the people who spiritually abuse others may have facility with, and command over, the purely formal aspect of knowledge –– which really amounts to knowledge of information and nothing more –– nonetheless, such people have no genuine knowledge ... if they did, their behavior would be other than it is, and the reason their behavior is not different is because they have a disease in their hearts.
It is reported that one day a group of people were gathered in a mosque just outside of Medina and were busily engaged in reading the Qur’an. The Prophet (peace be upon him) came among them and said to these individuals: “Read whatever you like, but unless you put it into action, it is useless.” The people who spiritually abuse others may read, recite, and refer to the word of God as much as they like, but, unless they put it into action, what they do begins at no beginning and works toward no end but, instead, is likely to be scattered to the four winds –– but Allah knows best.
Surah Shams begins: “In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. I swear by the sun (shams) and its brilliance, and the moon when it follows the sun, and the day when it discloses it, and the night when it draws a veil over it, and the heaven and Him Who made it, and the earth and Him Who spread it, and the soul and Him Who made it perfect, then He inspired it with understanding of lewdness and good, the one who purifies the soul will be successful, and the one who corrupts the soul will surely fail.” (91:1-10) The rhetorical style of the Qur’an is such that whenever Allah wishes to direct attention to the significance of something, oaths upon oaths are given.
Nowhere else in the Qur’an are there as many oaths as one finds at the beginning of Surah Shams. Thus, purifying the nafs is one the most important things a human being can undertake.
People who just speak about knowledge and are not busily engaged in rendering the heart a fit place to receive and act upon such knowledge, are not people of knowledge in the deep, genuine, sincere sense mentioned in the earlier Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him). As is disclosed in the Qur’an: “Say: The bad and the good are not equal, though the abundance of the bad may please you; so be careful of (your duty to) Allah, O people of understanding, that you may be successful.” (5:100) And, again: “The likeness of the two parties is as the blind and the deaf and the seeing and the hearing: are they equal in condition? Will you not then mind?” (11:24) And, again, “Or can the darkness and the light be equal?” (13:16)
Iblis knows -- in the formal sense -- more about spirituality than the people of spiritual abuse will ever know. But, this fact does not mean one should hold one’s breath waiting for Iblis to smarten up and begin to use his knowledge in a constructive way.
In fact, it is said that Iblis has discovered a zikr which if recited by an individual at the time of death will save that person from the torments of Hell irrespective of what the rest of their lives have been like. Consequently, Iblis is reciting this zikr every waking moment of day and night in an effort to have the saying of the zikr coincide with whatever his appointed hour of death may be.
Yet, what Iblis does not know, or does not believe if he is in possession of such information, is that at the moment of his demise, he will be made by God to forget the zikr. And, therefore, all his efforts in this regard are in vain.
Like Iblis, the people who spiritually abuse others may believe that they have a special dispensation working for them which enables them to do all manner of fitna and corruption and still be saved in the end by some zikr with which they are engaged, or be saved because they know someone who knows someone, but, like Iblis, on the Day of Judgment they may discover otherwise. As the Prophet (Peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “The hearts of all of the children of Adam (peace be upon him) are like a single heart between two of the fingers of the All-Merciful, and the All-Merciful twists this heart in whichever way is willed.”
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