Gleams

***

…

Fourth is لَمْ يَلِدْ1 . Tawhîd pertaining to His Jalâl is concealed in it; it rejects every kind of shirk and refutes kufr in a doubtless way.

That is, one who is subject to change, transformation, or decomposition, or who is born, can surely be neither Khâliq, nor Qayyûm, nor Ilah.

لَمْ2 refutes the idea of offspring and the kufr of being born and rejects them at once. The majority of mankind has gone astray due to this kind of shirk…

Such that, from time to time, the shirk of being born, such as ‘Îsâ (‘Alayhissalâm) or ‘Uzayr or the malâikah or the intelligences3, emerges in mankind.

The Fifth: وَلَمْ يُولَدْ 4 is an indication of an everlasting tawhîd; it is as follows: The One Whose existence is not wâjib5, qadîm6, or azalî cannot be Ilah.

That is, surely, one who is not eternal but created in time and is subject to change in time, or born of physical matter, or descended from a progenitor cannot be the universe's protector.

The nature worship, idol worship, star worship and causes worship are the varieties of shirk and a pitfall of dhalâlah.

…

***

Nasrâniyyah7 Will Submit To Islam

Nasrâniyyah will either be extinguished or purified. It will surrender to Islam and lay down its arms.

It was torn repeatedly so that it came to Protestantism; in Protestantism, it did not find any means that will reform it.

The veil was again torn; it fell into absolute dhalâlah. But, a part of it approached the Tawhîd; in that, it will find salvation.

It is already prepared; {Note: It points to the situation that resulted from the terrifying First World War, rather, reports exactly about the Second World War.} it has started to tear. If it will not extinguish, it will be purified and will be Islam’s.

It is a great mystery which Fakhr ar-Rasûl8 alluded and indicated, he said: "‘Îsâ will act upon my Sharî’ah; he will be of my ummah."

***

Undigested ‘Ilm Should Not Be Inculcated

The real ‘âlim guide (Murshid) is a sheep, not a bird; he gives his ‘ilm for the sake of Allah.

The sheep gives its lamb its digested, purified milk.

The bird gives its chick its vomit soiled with saliva.

***

…

Its enticing service is to encourage, facilitate and satisfy the desires, appetites and wants of the nafs, which are the source of dissipation (safahat).

The necessary consequence of the desires and appetites of the nafs is always this: they cause man to be metamorphosed and change his morals; they turn him into a beast (maskh) in a ma’nawî manner; humanity transforms.

If you turn most of these civilised people inside out, you will see foremost monkeys and foxes, snakes, bears and pigs. Their morals become their form.

Their imaginations appear before you, as do their pelts and hair! Here, the product of civilisation is seen through these.

…

***

Weakness encourages the enemy. Allah tests his ‘abd. ‘Abd cannot test his Allah

O fearful and weak one! Your fear and weakness are futile and also against you; they encourage external influences and attract them.

O you having wahm and waswasa! A certain benefit cannot be sacrificed for an imaginary harm. What is necessary for you is to act; the result belongs to Allah.

His work cannot be interfered with. Allah puts His ‘abd into the arena of trial and says, "If you do that, I'll do this."

But an ‘abd can never test his Allah. If he says, "My Rabb should help, then I'll do this," he transgresses his limits.

Shaytan said to ‘Îsâ (as), "Since He does everything, and qadar is one and does not change, throw yourself off the mountain, and let's see what He will do to you."

‘Îsâ (as) said, "O you cursed! An ‘abd cannot test his Rabb!"

***

Both الحق يعلو 9 and Its Consequences Are Intended

O friend! One time, a questioner asked: "Since الحق يعلو is haqq, why is the kâfir prevailed over the Muslims and power over the haqq?"

I replied: Consider these four points! Your difficulty will be resolved. The first point is this: Every means of every haqq is not always haqq.

So every means of every bâtil is not always bâtil. This result emerges: a means that is haqq, prevails over a bâtil means. Therefore, a haqq is defeated by a bâtil. It occurs temporarily due to the means; not essentially or permanently.

However, in the end, victory always belongs to haqq. Power possesses a right (haqq); there is a mystery in its creation. The second point is this:

While it is wâjib that all attributes of all Muslims should be Muslim, outwardly, it is not always thus.

And all attributes of all kâfirs are not always kâfir and do not arise from their kufr.

All the attributes of all fâsiq are not always fâsiq and do not arise from their fisq.

That is to say, a kâfir's Muslim attribute prevails over a Muslim's attribute that does not conform to the Sharî’ah. That kâfir prevails over him by the means.

Furthermore, in this world, the right (haqq) of life is general and all-embracing. It is a meaningful manifestation of universal Rahmah; it has a mystery of hikmah, which kufr does not impede.

The third point is this: two manifestations pertaining to the Sharî’ah arising from two of the Zuljalâl One’s attributes of perfection; the determining through His will arising from the attribute of Irâdah, and that is the Takwînî Sharî’ah;

And the well-known Sharî’ah arising from the attribute of Kalâm.

Just as there are obedience and rebellion to the commands of the Sharî’ah, so there is obedience and rebellion to the Takwînî commands.

The sawâb and punishment for the former are received mostly in the âkhirah, while the rewards and punishment of the latter are suffered mostly in the realm of this world.

For example, the reward of patience is victory. The punishment of laziness is poverty; the reward of endeavour is wealth.

The reward of steadfastness is victory. The punishment of poison is illness; the reward of its antidote is health.

Sometimes, the commands of both Sharî’ahs are included in a single thing; it has faces looking to both.

That is to say, obedience to the Takwînî command is a haqq. Obedience prevails over rebellion to that command, which is a bâtil.

If a haqq has been the means to a bâtil, it prevails over a bâtil means that was the means to a haqq. A haqq is defeated by a bâtil due to the means but not essentially.

That is to say, الحق يعلو means: “The haqq essentially prevails.” Also, the consequence is intended, and its essence changes according to the point of view.

The fourth point is this: a haqq remained as an unfolded capacity, or powerless, or mixed and adulterated. It is necessary to unfold it or give fresh strength to it.

In order to improve and gild it, bâtil temporarily attacks it so that the ingot of haqq could emerge pure and unadulterated as much as needed.

Even if, at the beginning, bâtil prevails in this world, it cannot win the war. " العاقبة للمتقين "10 strikes to it a blow!

So bâtil is defeated. The mystery of الحق يعلو inflicts punishment on it; thus haqq prevails

***

Women Left Their Homes and Led Mankind Astray, They Must Return To Their Homes

اِذَا تَاَنَّثَ الرِّجَالُ السُّفَهَاءُ بِالْهَوَسَاتِ ٭ اِذًا تَرَجَّلَ النِّسَاءُ النَّاشِزَاتُ بِالْوَقَاحَاتِ11

{*This is the basis of Risale on Tasattur. Twenty years later, a court of law that made that risale the cause of its author's conviction eternally shamed and convicted itself and its judges.}

Vile civilization made womankind fly from their homes; it destroyed their blessedness and respect towards them and made them common goods.

As a rahmah, the Sharî’ah of Islam invites them to their previous homes. It is there, they are respected, their comfort is in their homes, in family life.

Cleanliness is their adornment; goodness of character is their splendour; innocence is their grace and beauty; compassion is their perfection’s beauty; their children are their amusement.

Despite so many causes of corruption, she has to be as strong and firm as steel so that she can withstand them.

When a beautiful woman enters a gathering of brothers, riyâ, rivalry, envy and selfishness stir the veins. Sleeping desires of the nafs suddenly awaken.

Increased freedom of womankind has caused a sudden unfolding of bad morality in mankind.

Little corpses, the smiling deads, which are called images, have played a great role in the violent-tempered rûh of civilised mankind. {**Just as to look lustfully at a dead woman shows extreme despicability of nafs, in the same way, to look with carnal desires at a beautiful picture of a helpless female corpse needy of compassion extinguishes the elevated feelings of the rûh.}

The statues and images prohibited by the Sharî’ah are either dhulm transformed into stones, embodied riyâ, or frozen desires of the nafs. Or it is a talisman attracting those evil rûhs.

***

Malâikah is an Ummah; Charged with the Sharî’ah of Fitrah

There are two Sharî’ah of Allah that arose from two attributes; two humans are both addressed by them and bound to comply with them. The takwînî Sharî’ah arising from the attribute of Irâdah.

It is the Sharî’ah that orders the states and actions of the ‘âlam, which is the large human being; following it is not voluntary. It is the will of Ar-Rabb and is also wrongly termed nature.

The Sharî’ah arising from the attribute of Kalâm is the Sharî’ah that orders the actions of man, which is the small ‘âlam; following it is voluntary.

The two Sharî’ahs sometimes come together in the same place. The malâikah of Allah are a vast ummah, an army of As-Subhân.

They are obedient bearers and representative officials of the first Sharî’ah. Some of them are ‘abds performing tasbîh. Some of them are the muqarrabun12 of the ‘arsh in the state of istighraq13.

***

…

The heart is the seat of îmân; the mind is where the nûr of îmân is reflected.

Sometimes, it is a mujâhid; sometimes, it is a sweeper. If the waswasas and various possibilities in the mind do not enter the heart, îmân and conscience will not be shaken.

For if, as some people suppose, îmân is in the mind, numerous possibilities become merciless enemies oppose haqq al-yaqîn, which is the rûh of îmân.

The heart and conscience are the seats of îmân. Hads and ilham are evidence for îmân. They are the sixth sense, a way to îmân. Thought and mind are the guards of îmân.

…

***

All True Pain is in Dhalâlah and All True Pleasure in Îmân

A Mighty Haqiqah Wore the Dress of Imagination

O intelligent companion! O azîz, If you want to see full differences between the luminous way of as-sirât al-mustaqîm and the dark path of مَغْضُوبِ14 and ضَّالِّينَ15

Come, take your wahm into your hand! Mount on the imagination! Together we shall go to the darkness of non-existence. We shall visit that vast grave, that city full of the dead.

An azalî Qadîr took us out of that place of darkness with His hand of qoudrah, mounted us on this existence and sent us to this world; the city without pleasures.

Now, we have come to this ‘âlam of existence, this fearful desert. Our eyes have opened; we have looked in the six directions.

Seeking favours, firstly we look before us, but troubles and pains assault us, like enemies. We take fright at that and draw back.

We look at left and right, to the natural elements; we seek their help, but we see that their hearts are merciless and hard as stone. They sharpen their teeth and glare at us. They hear neither pleas nor cries.

Like desperate men, we despairingly lift our gazes upwards. Seeking help, we look at the lofty planets and see that they terrifyingly threaten us.

As if each has become a cannonball; they have come out of their nests and pass through space very fast, but somehow they do not touch each other.

If accidentally one of them confuses its way, Allah forbid, this ‘âlam ash-shahâdah will die with fear. They are tied to coincidence; no good can come out of them.

In despair, we turned back our gaze from that direction, and we fell into excruciating bewilderment. We bow our heads to our chests and look to our nafs; we study it.

Thus, we hear: the shouts of thousands of needs arise from our wretched nafs. The cries of thousands of kinds of poverty arise. While expecting solace, we take fright.

No good comes out of that either. Seeking refuge, we enter into our conscience (Vijdân16), look into it and seek a remedy. Alas, again, we can find none; we have to help it.

For in the conscience (Vijdân), thousands of hopes appear, boiling desires and feverish emotions that stretch out to the universe. All of them cause us to tremble; we cannot help any of them.

Those hopes are pressured between existence and non-existence; they stretch out to azal on one side and eternity on the other; they have such breadth.

If the conscience (Vijdân) were to swallow the world, it would still not be satisfied.

From wherever we sought help on this excruciating path, we encountered trouble. For the paths of مَغْضُوبِ and ضَّالِّينَ are thus. On that path, the idea of chance and dhalâlah is diffused.

We wore that idea; this is how we fell into our present state. Even now, we temporarily forget the beginning and the end, as well as As-Sâni’ and the rising from the dead and assembling for judgment.

It is worse than Jahannam; it is scorching more than Jahannam; it crushes our rûh. We received this state from those six directions from which we had sought help.

This state that destroys and burns the conscience (Vijdân) consists of the compound of fear and dismay, impotence and trembling, anxiety and terror, orphanhood and despair.

Now, we shall take a front line against each of the directions and try to repulse them. Firstly, we have recourse to our own qoudrah, but alas! We see that it is impotent and weak.

Secondly, we turn to silence the needs of the nafs. But alas! We see that they unceasingly cry out.

Thirdly, we cry out for a saviour and ask for help, yet no one hears or responds.

We suppose everything to be hostile to us; everything is strange. Nothing consoles our hearts, grants security, or gives true pleasure.

Fourthly, the more we look at the lofty planets, the more they display fear and dismay in our view and give a terror that frightens the conscience (Vijdân), destroys the mind and gives wahm.

Thus, o brother! This is the essence of the road of dhalâlah. On it, we saw entirely the darkness within kufr. Now, come my brother, we will turn to that non-existence.

Again, we shall come back. This time our path is as-sirât al-mustaqîm and the way of îmân. Our proof and imam are ‘inâyah and the Qur'an, the Falcon that flies over the centuries.

Thus, when the rahmah and ‘inâyah of the Azalî Sultân willed our existence, His Qoudrah created us and, as kindness, He mounted us on the law of His Will that arranges and completes everything stage after stage.

Now, He brought us here, compassionately clothed us with the honourable dress of existence and bestowed on us the rank of amanah, the mark of which is du’â and salâh.

On our long road, all the centuries and stages are places for beseeching and supplication. To make our road easy, He gave us a written command from Qadar that is on the page of our foreheads.

Wherever we go, whichever group we are guests of, we are welcomed in truly brotherly fashion. We give from our belongings and receive from theirs.

Love born of trade, they nourish us, adorn us with gifts, and accompany us to bid us farewell and send us to our journey. At the end, we have come to the door of the world; we hear a noise.

Look, we have arrived at the earth and stepped our foot in al-‘âlam ash-shahâdah: the festival of Ar-Rahmân, the noisy house of man.

We know nothing at all; our proof and imam is the will of Ar-Rahmân. Our guide is our delicate eyes. We open our eyes and look at the world. Do you remember our first visit?

We were strangers, orphans; our enemies were many, but we did not know our protector. Now, against those enemies, the nûr of îmân is our strong pillar, point of support and protector; it defeats enemies.

It is îmân in Allah that is the light of our rûh, nûr of our lives and rûh of our rûh.

Now our heart is easy; it disregards the enemies, not even recognises them.

On our first journey, when we entered the conscience (Vijdân), we heard thousands of cries, laments and clamours.

Our conscience (Vijdân) made us fall into trouble because our hopes, desires, dispositions and feelings always desire eternity. But we did not know how to obtain eternity. We do not know the way, so it laments and cries.

However, Alhamdulillah, this time, we have found a point of succour that always gives life to our dispositions and hopes; it makes them soar to all eternity.

Our conscience (Vijdân) shows them the way; from that point, our dispositions help us; they drink the water of life and race to their perfection. The conscience (Vijdân), the point of succour; it is an encouraging and supplicating enigma.

The second pole of îmân is the affirmation of the rising from dead and assembling for judgment and eternal happiness. That shell's pearl is îmân; its proof is the Qur'an. The conscience (Vijdân) is a human mystery.

Now raise your head! Look at the universe; speak a word with it! On our former way, it appeared so dismaying. Now it is smiling, laughing on every side, coyly supplicating and calling.

Do you not see? Our eyes have become bees; they fly everywhere. The universe is their garden, flowers everywhere; each flower gives them pleasurable water.

Each also gives a feeling of familiarity, solace and love. Our eyes take and make the honey of testimony. They make honey flow forth from honey, that mysterious falcon.

As our gaze lands on the movements of the planets, the stars, or the suns, they give the hikmah of Khaliq to their hands. Our gaze takes the essence of warning and the manifestation of rahmah, then flies.

As if the sun is speaking with us, saying, "O my brothers! Do not feel frightened or dismayed. You are welcome! It's good you've come! This place is yours; I am but a beautiful candleholder.

I am like you, but a pure, unrebellious and obedient servant. Out of His pure rahmah, the One, Who is Al-Ahad As-Samad, made me an obedient nûr so that I would serve you. Light and heat are from me; salâh and supplication from you!"

Now, look at the moon! The stars and the seas each say with a language particular for them, "You are welcome! It's good you've come! Don't you recognise us?"

Look through the mystery of mutual help and listen through the signs of the order! Each says, "We are all servants, mirrors of the Rahmah of Zuljalâl One; do not worry, do not be afraid of us!

Let the outcries of the earthquakes and the cries of events not scare you; let them not give you waswasa! For within them are the reverberates of dhikr, the clamour of tasbîh, the outcries of supplication and beseeching.

Zuljalâl One Who sent us to you holds their reins in His hands. The eye of îmân reads on their faces the âyah of rahmah, each of which is a voice.

O mu’min with an awakened heart! Now, let our eyes rest a little; in their place, we shall hand over our sensitive ears to the blessed hand of îmân and send them to the world to listen to a delightful melody.

Each of the sounds that were imagined to be the universal mourning and lamentations of death on our first way is now, on this way, a solace and salâh, supplication and entreaty, the voice of tasbîh.

Listen! The clamours in the air, the chirping of birds, the nice sound of the rain, the shout of the seas, the crashing of thunders, the knocking of stones are meaningful solaces.

The songs of the air, the outcries of the thunder, the melodies of the waves are dhikr declaring Grandeur. The songs of the rain, the twittering of birds are tasbîh declaring Rahmah, metaphors expressing a haqiqah.

The sounds of things are all sounds of existence: "I too exist," they say. The silent universe suddenly starts to speak: "Do not suppose us to be lifeless, O chattering man!"

The pleasure of a ni’mah or a bestowal of rahmah makes the birds speak. They applaud rahmah with their different and tiny voices, land on ni’mah and fly with shukr.

Allusively they say, "O my brothers in the universe! How fine are our circumstances; we are tenderly nourished and happy with our situation." With their sharp beaks, they scatter voices full of supplication to the sky.

As if the entire universe is a lofty music; the nûr of îmân hears all the dhikr and tasbîh. For the hikmah rejects the existence of coincidence, the order repels the union of the ideas that gives wahm.

O my companion! Now, we leave this ‘âlam al-mithâl, step down from imaginary wahm, stop in the arena of mind, weigh up and measure those ways.

Our first excruciating way, the way of مَغْضُوبِ and ضَّالِّينَ ; it inflicts an excruciating feeling, severe pain, on the conscience (Vijdân), in its deepest place. Consciousness shows this, but we opposed consciousness.

We are desperate and needy to be saved from it.  It must be extinguished or numbed; if not, we cannot endure it. No one can bear the cries and laments.

The way of Islam is healing (Shifa). The way of the desires of the nafs numbs the feelings; it requires diversion; it requires falling into ghaflah; it requires preoccupation; it requires entertainment. Captivating desires.

So it can deceive the conscience (Vijdân) and put the rûh to sleep, so pain would not be felt. Otherwise, that excruciating pain burns the conscience (Vijdân); the laments cannot be endured, and the pain of despair cannot be borne.

That means, however far one deviates from as-sirât al-mustaqîm, to that extent this situation affects him and causes the conscience (Vijdân) to cry out. Within every pleasure is a pain, a taint.

It means that civilisation’s glitter, which is the mixture of fancy, desires of nafs, entertainment and dissipation (safahat), is a deceitful medicine for the devastating trouble arising from dhalâlah, a sleep-inducing poison.

O my azîz friend! On our second way, on that luminous path, we felt a situation in which life becomes a source of pleasure and pains become joys.

Through that, we understood that it imparts a situation to the rûh varying in degree according to the strength of îmân. The body receives pleasure through the rûh; the rûh receives pleasure through the conscience (Vijdân).

An immediate pleasure is contained in the conscience (Vijdân); a ma’nawî Jannah is contained in the heart. To think of it is to open it up; as for consciousness, it is the secret’s mark.

Now, the pleasure increases, however much the heart is aroused, the conscience (Vijdân) is stimulated, and the rûh is caused to feel. Its fire transforms into nûr, its winter into summer.

In the conscience (Vijdân), the doors of Jannahs open up, and the world becomes a Jannah. Within it, our rûhs fly and become beautiful falcons, the wings of which are salâh and supplication.

O my azîz companion! Farewell for now. Let us offer a du’â together, then we shall part to meet again…

اَللّٰهُمَّ اِهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ آمِينَ

* * *