WednesdayApr 24, 2024
Quotes: 53419 Authors: 9969
If a tablet is not wiped clean of it's figures, nothing can be written upon it. A single heart cannot serve as the place for two things, let alone for several things. If the heart is filled with the forms of sensory perceptions, it is rare that it would perceive the meaning of Allah, even if one were to say Allah a thousand times. When the heart is empty of all that is other-than-God, if one uttered Allah only once, one would find such bliss that the tongue could not describe.
Invoking brings the heart closer to the hereafter and keeps the world away from the heart, even though the world is around it. Invoking warns the heedless heart to abandon its pleasures and deceptions.
When the heart becomes empty, the mimbar of the Divine Oneness is placed therein and the sultan of gnosis sits upon it.
It is impossible that this gnosis resulting in the heart should be achieved by man for any other purpose than to obey God, love Him, and worship Him. This gnosis should be sought for the sake of God, not for any other reason whatsoever, unlike the remaining external acts of devotion, which can be performed for other worldly interests, such as hypocrisy, praise, and commendation.
The covenant of your servanthood is that you be a servant to God, not to someone else, and that you know that everything except God is a servant to God, as He Most High has said, 'There is none in the heaven and the earth but cometh unto the Compassionate as a servant.'
Whenever there remains any support for the ego within, even if it be only an atom's weight, then you are pretentious and have a devil who leads you astray.
Imam al-Ghazali: God is much too great for the senses to reach Him or for reason and logic to plumb the depths of His Majesty. Indeed, He is much too great for anyone but Himself to plumb the depths of His Majesty or for anyone but Himself to know Him. Verily, no one knows God but God. The highest degree of gnosis that His servants can attain is the realization that true gnostic knowledge of Him is impossible for them. Furthermore, no one can know that in its totality except a Prophet of a righteous saint (siddiq). As for the Prophet, he has clearly expressed this by saying, 'I cannot enumerate the ways of praising Thee; Thou art as Thou has praised Thyself.' As for the righteous saint, he says, 'The incapacity to attain realization is a realization.'
Among their attributes: renouncing both worlds from their hearts, and preferring their brethren among God's creatures to what they possess; relying upon God Most High in all their affairs; being content with everything that happens to them which the ego detests; and bearing patiently sufferings and separation from one's homeland. They dissociate themselves from creatures without believing that there is evil in them, but rather out of preference for the Creator over creatures. They sever relationships, surmount obstacles, and strive in fulfilling the needs of people after emptying themselves: for whosoever strives to do that before emptying himself is actually seeking leadership and a good reputation.
Know that the science of unveiling has no end to it, for it consists in the journey of the intellect in the stations of Majesty, Beauty, Sublimeness, Grandeur, and Holiness.... He to whom the mysteries of La ilaha illa'llah are revealed draws near to God, and his worship of God becomes sincere. He does not turn to anyone but to Him, nor does he have hope in or fear other than Him, nor does he see harm or benefit except as coming from Him. He abandons whosoever is not He and rids himself of inward and outward associationism (shirk).
Encompass with your mercy and compassion all animals and creatures. Do not say, 'this is inanimate and has no awareness.' Indeed, it does; it is you yourself who have no awareness! So let existence be as it is, and be merciful towards it with the mercifulness of the Creator in the midst of His creation.
Ibn `Abbas said, 'La ilaha ill'llah means there is no benefactor, no harmer, no exalter, no debaser, no giver, and no preventer except God.'
Paraphrased: The way of al-Junayd includes among other things abstaining constantly from resisting God Most High in whatever happens to one, whether good or bad....
The signs of the soundness of the servant's love for his Lord are three: absence of self-willing; pleasure in every event which takes place through divine decree; and seeing the perfection of the Beloved in everything and being content with Him in everything through submission to Him in all things.
God Most High says, '... if he approaches Me a span, I approach him a cubit; if he approaches Me a cubit, I approach him a fathom; and if he comes to Me walking, I come to him running.
As for those who are firmly established and are at the end of the path, invocation occupies their hearts at all times.
Hadith: God Most High has said, 'La ilaha illa'llah is My fortress; whosoever enters My fortress is safe from My chastisement.'
Invoking the letters of God's Name without presence of mind is invocation of the tongue; invoking with presence of mind is invocation of the heart; and invoking with an absence of self-awareness because of absorption in the Invoked is the invocation of the Self this is the hidden invocation!
Let your invocation be the all-embracing Name, which is Allah, Allah, Allah, or if you so wish, Huwa, Huwa, Huwa; and do not violate this remembrance. Be careful lest your tongue pronounce it while other-than-He is in your heart. Let your heart be the one who utters, and your ear the one who is attentive to this invocation until the 'speaker' emanates from your Self (sirr). When you feel the emergence of the Speaker within you through the invocation, do not abandon the spiritual condition wherein you find yourself.
The reality of the invocation is when the Invoked takes possession of the heart, and He is One. Separation and multiplicity exist before that for as long as the invoker is in the station of invoking with the tongue or with the heart.
The realization of La ilaha illa'llah ... is one of the states of the heart that can be neither expressed by the tongue nor thought out by the mind.
God Most High has said, 'Is the reward of virtue aught save virtue?' ... Know, O man, that the covenant of servanthood is incumbent upon you, and that the covenant of Lordship is incumbent upon His magnanimity, as He Most High has said, '... and fulfill your covenant, I shall fulfill My covenant.'
The most excellent of those who perform good deeds are those who most often remember God in all situations.
... in everything there is a sign that points to the Oneness of Him.
... persist in that invocation until the unity of the world is subsumed for you in a single sphere, so that with the eye of your heart you will see naught in the two worlds save the One.
For the one who remembers God, invoking unites his dispersed heart and pervades his will and his broken resolve.
He whose wealth or children distract him from remembering God is lost; but the one who remembers God experiences delights sweeter than the pleasure of food and drink.
I seek refuge in Thee from every hope which would distract me.
The remembrance of God in the heart is the sword of the novices with which they combat their enemies and repel the afflictions that befall them.
Invoking removes darkness and brings forth radiant lights.
(Paraphrased: As long as an individual's heart is filled with the tendency towards what is other-than-God Most High, there is no Certitude about God.) When certitude about God Most High does occur in the heart ... the heart becomes tranquil through the Majesty of God; then it abstains from what is other-than-God. So, it stands weak and is compelled to cry out to God for help. Then He who responds to the necessitous when they cry out to Him, responds to it. That radiant light settles into the heart and the darkness of preoccupation with what is other-than-God is extinguished therewith. Then the reality of the Realm (al-Malakut) becomes visible to it, and that is what Harithah meant when he said to the Messenger of God: 'It is as if I see the Throne of my Lord distinctly.' And the Messenger of God said, 'The Light of God Most High is faith in one's heart.'
When the invocation descends into the heart, if there is darkness within, it illuminates it; and if there is already light, the invocation increases the light and intensifies it.
Whosoever perseveres in the invocation will find that lights come to him constantly and that the veils of invisible things are lifted from him.
Extinction is the beginning of the path: it is traveling to God Most High. Guidance comes afterwards. What I mean by guidance is the guidance of God, as described by the Friend of God, Abraham: 'Lo! I am going unto my Lord Who will guide me.'
Whosoever is determined to seek guidance and follow a path of right conduct must search for a shaykh from amongst those who have realization, one who follows a path methodically, who has abandoned his passions, and who has firmly established his feet in the service of his Lord.
He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward and He is the Knower of all things.
The gnosis of God is intermediate between immoderation, which is ascribing human characteristics to God, and negligence, which is denying any attributes to God.... The Truth lies in the balance between the two extremes.
Your Saying 'God is Most Great' does not mean that He is greater than something else, since there is nothing else alongside of Him, so that it could be said that He is greater than it. Rather, the meaning of Allahu Akbar is that He is much too great to be perceived by the senses or for the depths of His Majesty to be reached by reason and logic, and indeed, that He is much too great to be known by an other-than-Him for truly, no one knows God but God.
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