2.) What
do Sufis consider to be the greatest sin an individual can commit?
Rabia' of
Basra once said something to another seeker on the Sufi path which addresses, I feel, the
foregoing question. The person to whom Rabia' directed her remarks had been criticizing
other Muslims for their failure to properly observe prayers, the fasts, the requirements
of hajj, and so on, while simultaneously extolling his own ‘accomplishments' in these
areas. She told the individual: "Thy existence is a sin with which none other can
compare."
One might
also say that failure to be inclined to seek repentance could be a good candidate for what
the Sufi masters consider to be the greatest sin. On the Sufi path, everything begins with
repetence.
If we are
not prepared to acknowledge the many ways in which we transgress against our own souls,
not to mention against the rights of others, as well as against the rights which are due
to our Lord, then one cannot even take the first stumbling step toward the Truth. This
sort of inability is usually rooted in delusions, illusions, assumptions, and biases
concerning our unwarrented beliefs about our lofty place in the scheme of things.
When we
are filled with self-conceit, arrogance, and pride, there is no room for admitting our
short-comings. When we are tied to the appetites of the false self, we have no taste for
the pre-requisite of humility and sincerity - which is repentence.
Satan
prefers to see us perform 1,000 prayers a day with the self-serving belief that our
worship has placed us squarely on the straight path, than to see us offer only one prayer
a day with the sincere belief that we are in need of God's forgiveness for our many
faults. For Satan, the former case is ripe with opportunity for misguiding individuals by
virtue of the self-conceit through which the prayers are offered, but when a person knows
that he or she has been wrong and is in need of God's forgiveness, then Satan finds
dealing with this kind of person very difficult.
The
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was without sin, and, yet, he used to repent to Allah
seventy times a day. The Sufi masters have advised us that, as is the case with so many
other aspects of life, we should follow the example of the Prophet with respect to the
issue of repetence.
Therefore,
a case can be made for claiming that the greatest sin is a failure to repent, or a failure
to be inclined to seek repentence. On the other hand, this failure could be seen as just
one facet of why it is that Rabia' would say that our existence -- that is, our false
sense of self -- is a sin with which none can compare, for surely, the primary reason for
inability to repent is one's submission to the false self rather than to God.
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