On Vivacity and Cheerfulness

Of other cordial disciplines of the salat and other worships ,one, which has good results, or rather it opens some doors and uncovers some secrets of worships, is that the salik is to try to worship with vivacity, cheerfulness of heart and gaiety of mind, and to avoid laziness and reluctance in performing worships. He is to choose for worship a time in which he is quite prepared to perform it with animation and freshness, feeling no tiredness or lassitude. Should one force oneself to worship in times of laziness and tiredness, it would probably bring about bad consequences, such as feeling tired of worshipping and of taking the trouble and bearing difficulty. Then, gradually, one may feel disgusted with worshipping. Furthermore, it may possibly turn man completely away from remembering Allah, and give pains to the spirit from the state of servitude, which is the source of all happiness. Such worship will bring no luminosity to the heart, and the inside of the soul will not have any reaction, and the image of servitude will not become the image of the inner heart. It has already been said that the aim of worship is that the inner soul should become the image of servitude.

We now say that one of the secrets and results of worships and austerities is that the will of the soul becomes operative on the realm of the body, and its authority is overcome by the majesty of the soul and is annihilated, and the forces and soldiers spread in the kingdom of the body can no longer revolt, disobey and be obstinate and selfish. They actually surrender to the inner kingdom of the heart, or rather those forces gradually dissolve in the invisible heavenly domain, and its command is effective on the visible dominion. The will of the soul gets stronger and takes the reins of the kingdom from Satan and the commanding soul, and the soldiers of the soul are driven to submission, from submission to contentment, and from contentment to annihilation. In this situation the soul will get to discover some secrets of worship and some actual manifestations will appear. But all these cannot be implemented unless the worships are performed cheerfully and actively, away from every sort of laziness and carelessness, so that a mood of affection and love towards remembering Allah, the Exalted, and the state of servitude, with familiarity and consistency, happen. Loving Allah and remembering Him is one of the great affairs which is very much cared for by the people of knowledge, and is a subject of competition among the people of suluk. Physicians believe that if food is eaten with cheerfulness and gaiety, it will be digested much easier. Similarly, psychiatrists stress that if the spiritual nutrition is taken cheerfully and enthusiastically, and with avoiding laziness and affectedness, its effect will appear very quickly in the heart and the inner heart will be purified more quickly, too.

This discipline is referred to in the Glorious Divine Book, the upright Lordly pages, as it, in defiance of the disbelievers and the hypocrites, says:" ... And they do not come to the salat unless they are sluggish, and they do not spend unless they are reluctant ... ", [41] and the noble ayah: "O you who believe! do not approach the salat when you are drunk ... ", [42] The word "drunkenness" is explained in a hadith to mean "sluggishness". Some narratives refer to this discipline. By relating some of them we shall give pride to these papers.

Muhammad ibn Ya'qub, quoted Abu 'Abdullah (Imam as Sadiq) (AS) as to have said: "Do not force yourselves to worship." [43]

Abu 'Abdullah (as Sadiq) (AS) is (also) quoted to have said: " The Messenger of Allah (SA) said: 'O 'Ali, this religion is firm, get into it mildly, and do not cause yourself to hate worshipping your Lord." [44]

Imam al-' Askari (AS) is quoted to have said: "when the hearts are active, confide in them; and when they are reluctant, bid them farewell". This is a general instruction to deposit in your hearts any information you may when they are lively and gay, and leave them alone when they are restive. So, in acquiring knowledge [ma'arif] and sciences this discipline must also be applied , and the hearts must not be forced when they are irresponsive.

It can be gathered from this and other hadiths that there is another discipline which is also an important chapter of asceticism. This discipline is "considerateness" [mura'at], that is, the salik, in whatever stage he is, in scholarly or in spiritual and practical austerities and strifes, must consider his conditions, treat his soul with kindness and care, and avoid burdening himself with more than it can bear, especially the young people and the inexperienced, to whom this discipline is quite important. If the young people do not treat themselves considerately and kindly, and if they do not meet the needs of (their) nature through lawful ways, they will be subject to a great danger which cannot be compensated. The danger is that when one is too severe with his self and pulls the reins too hard, they will break off, and then the will gets out of control, and the accumulated natural needs and the sharp fires of desire, under unlimited pressure of austerity, burn out the whole kingdom. If a salik's reins break off -God forbid! -or an ascetic person becomes unable to control himself, he will fall so deep in a precipice that he can never see the face of rescue, nor can he ever return to the road of happiness and righteousness. Thus, a salik, like a clever physician, has to feel his own pulse during his progress on the journey and to treat his self according to the requirements of the conditions of the journey. when the flames of desire, which are the vanity of youthfulness, blaze high, one is not to completely prevent his nature from getting satisfaction, but one has to resort to lawful ways to put out the flames of his desire, as gratifying the desire, according to the divine command, is a complete help along the journey to Allah. So, he is to marry, as it is one of the great divine laws, which, besides being the base of the survival of the species, has a great effect on the journey to the Hereafter, too. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (SA) said "He who marries will keep half of his religion." [46] Another hadith says: "He who desires to meet Allah pure, let him meet Him with a wife." [47] The Messenger of Allah (SA) is quoted to have said: "Most of the people of Hell are the singles". [48] A hadith from Amirul Mu'minin ('Ali) (AS.) says: "A group of the companions abstained from women (their wives), and from eating in daytime and sleeping at night. The Messenger of Allah (SA) was informed about them by Umme Salamah (his wife). He came to them and asked them: 'Do you reject women (your wives)? I do go into women (my wives), eat in daytime and sleep at night. Whoever disregards my tradition is not of me. Allah, the Exalted, has revealed: "O you who believe! do not forbid the good things which Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress. Surely Allah does not love the transgressors, And eat of what Allah has provided you as lawful and good, and fear Allah in Whom you believe," [49]

Generally speaking, the traveler along the road to the Hereafter is to be considerate with respect to the ups and downs of the soul. And, while he is never to curb the needs (of his nature) which, otherwise, would cause big mischiefs, he is also not to be severe nor to exert pressure upon himself with respect to worship and practical austerities, especially during his youth and on starting the journey, as otherwise this will also cause the soul to feel exasperated and bolt away, and, perhaps, lead him to abandoning remembering Allah.

This point is frequently referred to in the noble hadiths. The noble Al-Kafi, quoting Imam as Sadiq (AS), says: "During my youth I was seriously and earnestly doing my worshipping. My father told me: 'My son, act less on that, as when Allah, the Exalted, loves someone, He will accept his little"'. [50]

Another hadith goes almost the same. [51]

The same course relates another hadith to the effect that Abu Ja'far (Imam al-Baqir) (AS), quoting the Messenger of Allah (SA), said: "Surely this religion is firm, so go deep in it with mildness, and do not cause Allah's servants to hate worshipping Him; otherwise, you will be like the one whose mount was too tired to go on, so he neither finished the journey nor preserved the mount". [52] Another hadith says: "Do not cause yourselves to hate worshipping Allah." [53]

However, the criterion for being "considerate" is that one should be observant of his soul's conditions and act according to its strength and weakness. When one's soul is strong and able to perform worships and bear hardship with good endurance, he should, then, try to perform the acts of worship. As to those who have crossed the prime of life, and the fires of their desires have subsided to some extent, it is suitable for them to increase their ascetic austerity, and to set foot on the road of self-discipline with manly vigilance and industry. The more they accustom themselves to ascetic practices, the more doors will be opened to them, until the soul gradually overcomes the forces of (their) nature, which will be subjugated to them under the majesty of the soul.

Concerning the noble hadiths which urge the people to strive earnestly in worshipping and praise the people who do so with reference to the worships and austerities of the Imams of (the Islamic) guidance (AS), as well as the noble hadiths which recommend economy in worshipping and praise it, both categories are based on the different people of suluk and the ranks and conditions of the soul. The general criterion is the vivacity and the strength of the soul or its weakness and aversion.

Notes:

[41]. Surah at Taubah: 54.

[42]. Surah an-Nisa': 43.

[43]. 'Usul ul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 129, "Book of Belief and Disbelief', ch. on "Equality (moderateness) of Acting and Continuing it", hadith 3.

[44]. Ibid., p. 138, ch. on "Economy in Worshipping", hadith 6.

[45]. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 75, p. 377, "Book of ar-Raudah", ch. 29, hadith 3.

[46]. Ibid., vol. 100, p. 220, "Book of al-'Uqud wal-'Iqa'at" (Contracts and Agreements), chs. on "Marriage", ch. 1, hadith 14, quoted from Amali by Shaykh al Tusi, vol. 2, p. 132.

[47]. Ibid, hadiths 18 and 35, quoting Raudatul Wa'izin, p. 373, and Nawadir ar-Rawandi, p. 12.

[48]. Wasa'ilush-Shi'ah, p. 15, "Book of Marriage", ch. 2, hadith 6.

[49]. Surah al-Ma'idah: 87-88. Ibid., hadith 8,

[50]. 'Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p. "Book of Faith and Disbelief', ch. on "Economy in Worshipping", hadith 5.

[51]. Ibid., hadith 4.

[52]. Ibid., hadith 1.

[53]. Ibid., hadith 2.

On Vivacity and Cheerfulness

Muhammad ibn Ya'qub, quoted Abu 'Abdullah (Imam as Sadiq) (AS) as to have said: "Do not force yourselves to worship." [43]

Another hadith goes almost the same. [51]

Notes:

[41]. Surah at Taubah: 54.

[42]. Surah an-Nisa': 43.

[43]. 'Usul ul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 129, "Book of Belief and Disbelief', ch. on "Equality (moderateness) of Acting and Continuing it", hadith 3.

[44]. Ibid., p. 138, ch. on "Economy in Worshipping", hadith 6.

[45]. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 75, p. 377, "Book of ar-Raudah", ch. 29, hadith 3.

[46]. Ibid., vol. 100, p. 220, "Book of al-'Uqud wal-'Iqa'at" (Contracts and Agreements), chs. on "Marriage", ch. 1, hadith 14, quoted from Amali by Shaykh al Tusi, vol. 2, p. 132.

[47]. Ibid, hadiths 18 and 35, quoting Raudatul Wa'izin, p. 373, and Nawadir ar-Rawandi, p. 12.

[48]. Wasa'ilush-Shi'ah, p. 15, "Book of Marriage", ch. 2, hadith 6.

[49]. Surah al-Ma'idah: 87-88. Ibid., hadith 8,

[50]. 'Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p. "Book of Faith and Disbelief', ch. on "Economy in Worshipping", hadith 5.

[51]. Ibid., hadith 4.

[52]. Ibid., hadith 1. On the Presence of Heart

One of the important cordial disciplines, which many other disciplines may be its preliminaries, and worship without it would be lifeless, and it is the key to the lock of perfections and the door of the doors of blisses, and the noble hadiths seldom attach so much importance to a discipline other than that, is the "presence of heart". Although we have sufficiently explained this topic, together with its ranks and degrees in the thesis The Secret of the Salat [62] and in Forty hadiths, [63] nevertheless, we shall allude to it once again, to complete the benefit, and to avoid reference.

It has already been explained that worships, ceremonies, invocations and benedictions can have their results only when they become the inner image of the heart, and the interior of the essence of man is mixed with them, and his heart takes the form of servitude, renouncing disobedience and obstinacy. It has also been noted that one of the secrets and advantages of worship is that one's will gets stronger, the soul overcomes (one's) nature, the forces of the nature become subjugated to the soul's power and sovereignty and the will of the invisible soul overrules the visible body, such that the forces turn like the angels with regard to Allah, the Exalted, i.e. " ... they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them, and do as they are commanded." [64]

Now we add that one of the important secrets and advantages of worship, to which everything is a preliminary, is that the entire inside and outside kingdom becomes subjugated to Allah's will and moves at Allah's command, and the soul's visible and invisible forces become of Allah's soldiers, and all of them get the post of being Allah's angels. This is regarded as one of the low degrees of the annihilation of the forces and wills in Allah's will. Then, gradually, big consequences appear, the physical man becomes divine, and the soul practices servitude to Allah. The soldiers of Iblis will totally be defeated and abolished, and the heart and its powers surrender to Allah, and in it appear some inner stages of Islam. The result of this submitting of the will to Allah in the Hereafter will be that Allah, the Exalted, will enforce (make effective) the will of such a servant in the invisible worlds and make him His "sublime similitude" [mathali a'la]. And, like His Sacred Self when at His mere Will everything He wants is created, He makes this servant's will like His; as some of the people of knowledge, quoting the Messenger of Allah (SA), concerning the people of Paradise, say that an angel comes to them, and, after asking permission from them, he enters and after conveying Allah's greeting to them he delivers a letter from Allah, the Exalted. The letter says to whomsoever it is addressed: "From the Everliving, the Everlasting, Who never dies, to the everliving, the everlasting, who never dies. Now then, I tell a thing: Be! and it is. I made you tell a thing: Be! and it is." The Messenger of Allah (SA) said: "Hence, no one of the people of Paradise says to something: 'Be!' unless it will be". [65] This is the divine sovereignty bestowed upon the servant, because of his forsaking his own will and his desires' sovereignty, and because of his disobeying Iblis and his soldiers. None of the said results may take place except with the complete "presence of heart". If the heart was negligent and forgetful during the salat, his worship would not be real, but more like a play and sporting. Such a worship, as a matter of fact, will have no effect whatsoever on the soul, and the worship will never sublime from its outer form to the inside and the invisible world [malakut]. This fact is referred to by many narratives. The powers of the soul would not surrender, through such worship, to the soul itself, nor can the sovereignty of the soul be seen on them. Similarly, the outward and inward powers will not surrender to Allah's will , and the kingdom will not be subdued to Allah's Majesty, as is quite clear. That is why you can see no effect from forty or fifty years of worship on us. On the contrary, the darkness of the heart and the obstinacy of the powers increase day after day, since our longing for nature, our obedience to our desires and to the Satanic whispers, increase, too. These mean nothing but that our worships are empty and their interior and exterior disciplines are not observed. Otherwise, the Qur'anic text denotes that: " ... the salat forbids lewdness and vice." [66] Naturally, this forbidding is not something superficial. A torch should be lighted in the heart, and a light must shine in one's interior so as to guide him to the invisible world, and there appears a divine preventer which prevents man from disobedience.

We do regard ourselves among the musallin, and we have been engaged in this great worship for decades, without seeing such a light, nor discerning such a preventer in our interior. So woe to us on the day when the images of our deeds and the list of our acts are handed to us in that world and we are told to check our own accounts. [67] See if such deeds can be accepted by His Majesty, and whether such a salat, in such a deformed and darkened form, can bring one nearer to His Presence. Is it right to treat this great divine trust and the advice of the prophets and wasis (executors of the prophets' wills) in such a way, and to let the treacherous hand of the cursed Satan, the enemy of Allah, meddle in it? The salat, which is the mi'raj of the believer and the means of proximity of the pious, [68] why should it keep you away from the sacred proximity to the divine Presence? What would be our share on that day except regret, remorse, helplessness, wretchedness, shame and disgrace? -a regret and a remorse which have no equal in this world, and a shame and disgrace which cannot be imagined. This world's regrets, are, at any rate, mixed with a thousand kinds of hope, and the shamelessness here is transitory, while there is nothing there except regret and remorse day after day. Allah, the Exalted, says: "And warn them of the day of regret, when the matter shall have been decided." [69] What has passed cannot be returned and the life which has been wasted cannot be restored. "0 woe to me! for what I fell short of my duty to Allah ... " [70]

My dear, this day is the day of a grace period for actions. The prophets came and brought Books, and they proclaimed their calls, with a lot of celebrities, enduring pains and hardships, in order to wake us up from the sleep of negligence and to sober us from the nature's intoxication, and to take us to the world of light and the source of joy and pleasure, and to introduce us to the eternal life, the everlasting bliss and the unlimited delights, and to deliver us from annihilation, misery, fire, darkness, regret and remorse. All these are for our own benefit, without there being any profit for them, as those sacred personalities are in no need of our faith and deeds. Despite all that, they had not the least effect on us, as Satan was so firmly closing the ears of our heart, and exerted so a strong control over our inside and outside that none of their admonitions could ever have an effect on us, nor could any of the ayahs and hadiths pierce the ears of our hearts, going to no farther than our outer animal ears.

In short, O respected reader who read these papers, do not be, like the writer, void of all lights, and empty-handed of all good deeds, entangled in the sensual desires. Have mercy on yourself, and get a fruit from your life. Carefully look into the lives of the prophets and the perfect godly men [awliya], and cast away the false desires and Satan's promises. Do not be deceived by Satan's fraud, nor by the deceptions of the commanding soul, as their trickery is very clever, and they are able to dress every wrong as right in the eyes of man in order to deceive him. Sometimes they fool man by making him think that he will repent at the end of his life, and thus, drag him into wretchedness, despite the fact that repenting at the end of life, after the accumulation of the darkness of sins, and the numerous acts of injustice against the people and against Allah's right, is a very difficult task. Now, when man is still strong and in the prime of life, and the tree of sin is still frail and the influence of Satan has not yet become widespread in the soul, and the soul is still new to the invisible world and very near the God-given disposition, and the conditions for an acceptable repentance are easy, they do not let man repent and uproot this frail tree and overthrow the dependent kingdom. They suggest old age, when, on the contrary, the will is weak, the powers have given way, the trees of different sins are strong and deep rooted, the kingdom of Iblis, inwardly and outwardly, is independent and firm, the familiarity with nature is strong, the distance from the invisible world is great, the light of innate disposition is extinguished, and the situation for repentance is difficult and bitter. This is nothing but delusion.

In another instance the promise of the intercession of the intercessors (AS) drives man out of their sacred realm and deprives him of their intercession, because indulgence in disobedience gradually darkens and upsets the heart and drags man to a bad end. Satan's aim is to rob man's faith, and he makes committing sins a preliminary step to that aim so as to attain to it. If a man covetously thinks of intercession, he must try hard in this world to keep his connection with his intercessors, and think of the status of those who will intercede on the Day of Resurrection to see how their state of worship and devotion was. Suppose that you died a faithful man, but if the load of the sins and injustices was heavy, it is possible that concerning the different pains and tortures in the barzakh there would be no intercession for you, as Imam as Sadiq was quoted to have said: "Your barzakh is with yourselves". [71] The tortures of the barzakh cannot be compared with the tortures of this world, and the length of the period of the barzakh is unknown except to Allah. It will probably last for millions and millions of years. It is possible that, in the Hereafter and after long periods of diverse and unbearable kinds of torture, we get the intercession, as it is also related in the hadiths. [72]

Thus, the Satanic deception stops man from good deeds, and causes him to leave this world either faithless or loaded with heavy burdens, afflicting him with wretchedness and misfortune. In some instances, Satan, by giving man hope in the vast mercy of the Most Merciful, cuts his hand off the skirt of mercy, while he is careless of the fact that raising up so many prophets, revealing the Books, descending the angels, and the revelations and inspirations to the prophets, and their showing the right path, are all of the mercy of the Most Merciful. The whole world is enveloped in the vast mercy of Allah, while we, at the fringe of the spring of life, die of thirst.

The greatest of the divine mercies is the Qur'an. If you are looking greedily for the mercy of the Most Merciful, hoping for His vast mercy, do benefit from the Qur'an, the vast mercy. It has opened to you the way to happiness, and has distinguished for you the pit from the paved road. But you fall over into the pit by yourself, because you deviate from the right path. So, what has mercy to do with that? Had it been possible to show the road of good and happiness to the people in a different way ,it would have been done, according to the vastness of the mercy. Had it been possible to force the people into happiness, it would have been done. But alas! How far it is! The road to the Hereafter is a road which cannot be trodden except at one's free will. Happiness cannot be attained forcibly. Piety and righteous deeds are not so if not done voluntarily. This is probably the very meaning of the noble ayah: "There is no compulsion in religion" (2:256).

Yes, what can be made compulsory and forcible is the appearance of the divine religion, not its reality. The prophets (AS) were enjoined to impose the appearance, in any possible way, on the people, so that the appearance of the world might become the appearance of the divine justice, and to guide the people to the interior, so that they themselves might march on their own feet towards happiness.

In short, this is also a Satanic delusion which cuts, by coveting mercy, man's hand short from mercy.

Notes:

[62]. Refer to footnote No.6.

[63]. Forty hadiths is one of Imam Khomeini's works, which he finished in the month of Muharram, 1358 H. In its preface, after praising, blessing and invocation, he says: " ... I, a poor and weak servant, have, for sometime, been thinking to collect forty hadiths of the hadiths of the infallible and pure Ahlul Bayt (AS) out of the reliable books of the Companions and Ulama (may Allah be pleased with them), and to explain each in a way suitable for the common people. I, thus, wrote it in Persian so that the Persian-speaking people may benefit from it, and, insha'allah (Allah willing), I may be covered by the noble hadith of the Seal of the Prophets (SA), who said: 'Whoever preserved for my Ummah forty hadith that may benefit them, Allah would resurrect him on the Day of Resurrection a learned jurist.' I was, thanks to God, successful, with Allah's good help, in starting it. I ask Allah, the Exalted, to help me in finishing it. Surely He is the Giver of success!"

[64]. Surah at Tahrim: 6.

[65]. Ilmul Yaqin, vol. 2, p. 1061 (with a slight difference).

[66]. Surah ' Ankabut: 45.

[67]. It refers to the ayah: "Read your book; your soul suffices as a reckoner against you this day." Surah al-Isra': 14.

[68]. I'tiqadat, p. 29. by the late Majlisi. Furul 'ul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 265, "Book of as salat," ch. on "The Merit of as salat", hadith 6.

[69]. Surah Maryam: 39.

[70]. Surah az-Zumar: 56.

[71]. This concept is understood from the narrative of 'Amr ibn Yazid in Furul 'ul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 242, and in Ilmul Yaqin, vol. 2, p. 1051.

[72]. As in Biharul Anwar, vol. 8, p. 362, "Book of Justice and Resurrection", ch. 12, hadiths 35 and 36.

Hadiths Concerning the Presence of Heart

There are many hadiths from the infallible and pure Ahlul Bayt (AS) concerning urging the "presence of heart". It suffices to translate some texts of those narratives:

The Messenger of Allah (SA) is quoted to have said: "Worship Allah as if you see Him. If you do not see Him, He does see you." [73]

From this noble hadith two of the degrees of the presence of heart can be realized:

The first is that the salik discerns the Beauty of the Beautiful, and is absorbed in the manifestations of the Beloved [hadrat i mahbub] such that all the ears of his heart will be closed to all other creatures, while the eye of his insight opens to the pure Beauty of the Lord of Majesty, discerning nothing else. That is, he is engaged in the Present [hadir], neglecting the presence [hudur] and company [mahdar].

The second degree, which is lower in rank, is that the salik sees himself present in His Presence [mahdar] and observes the discipline of the Presence [hudur] and Company [mahdar]. The Messenger of Allah (SA) says: "If you can be of those who are in the first degree, then worship Allah accordingly, or else, do not neglect the fact that you are in the Presence [mahdar] of the Lord." Naturally, there is a discipline for being in the Presence [mahdar] of Allah which should not be neglected in respect of the state of servitude. In a hadith, Abu Hamzah ath-Thamali narrates: "I saw Ali ibn al-Husayn (AS) performing his salat. His cloak slipped off his shoulders, but he did not try to rearrange it until he finished the salat. When I asked him about that, he said: 'Woe unto you! Do you know at whose service I was?'" [74]

The Messenger of Allah (SA) was quoted to have said: "Two of my Ummah stand for the salat, and, although their ruku' and sujud are the same, the difference between the two salats is like that which is between the earth and the sky." [75]

He also said: "Is the person who turns his face in the salat not afraid that it may turn into the face of an ass?" [76]

He further said: "Whoever performs a 2-rak'at salat without paying attention to any worldly matter, Allah, the Exalted, will forgive him his sins. [77]

In another hadith he said: "A salat, half of it may be accepted, or one-third, or a quarter, or one-fifth, or even one-tenth. Another salat may be folded, like an old dress, and be thrown back at the face of its owner". "No part of the salat is yours except that part which you perform with an attentive heart." [78]

Imam al-Baqir (AS) has quoted the Messenger of Allah (SA) as saying: "When a believing servant stands for the salat, Allah, the Exalted, looks at him (or he said: He turns to him) until he finishes, and mercy shadows over his head, the angels surround him from all sides up to the horizon of the heaven, and Allah assigns an angel to stand at his head, saying: '0 musalli, if you know who is looking at you, and to whom you are supplicating, you will look to nowhere, nor will you leave your position.'" [79]

Imam as Sadiq (AS) is quoted to have said: "Eagerness and fear will not get together in a heart unless Paradise is his. So, when you perform your salat, turn with your heart to Allah, the Glorified, the Almighty, because there would be no believing servant who would turn with his heart to Allah, the Exalted, during the salat and invocation, unless Allah would turn to him the hearts of the believers, and with their love He would back him and lead him to Paradise." [80]

It is narrated that Imams al-Baqir and as Sadiq (AS) said: "Nothing of your salat is yours except that which you did with an attentive heart. So, if one performed it completely mistaken, or neglected its disciplines, it would be folded and thrown back at its owner's face." [81]

Imam Baqirul 'Ulum ( the cleaver of knowledge) (AS) is quoted to have said: "of a servant's salat ascends half, one-third, one-fourth or one-fifth to his account. That is, of his salat will not ascend except that part which is performed with an attentive heart. We have been commanded to perform the nafilah so as to make up for the shortcomings of the obligatory salats." [82]

Imam as Sadiq (AS) is quoted to have said: " when you wear the ihram for the salat (i.e. when you prepared for the salat), pay attention to it, because when you pay attention to it, Allah will pay attention to you. If you do not care for it, Allah will not care for you. So, sometimes, does not ascend of the salat except one-third, one-fourth or one-sixth, according to the amount of attention the musalli pays to it. Allah grants nothing to the negligent." [83]

The Messenger of Allah (SA) is quoted to have said to Abu Dharr: "Two moderate rak'ats of salat with contemplation are better than worshipping a whole night with a negligent heart." [84] The hadiths on this are many, but those which have been related are enough for those whose hearts are awake and attentive.

Notes:

[73]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 74, p. 74, "Book of Ar-Raudah". ch. 4, hadith 3. Makarimul Akhlaq, p. 459.

[74. Wasa 'il ush-Shi'ah, vol. 4, p. 688, "Book of as salat", chs. on "The Acts of as salat", ch. 3, hadith 6.

[75]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 81, p. 249, "Book of as Salat", ch. 16, hadith 41.

[76]. Mustadrakul Wasail, "Book of as Salat", chs. on "The Acts of the salat", ch. 2, hadith 20.

[77]. Ibid. hadith 13.

[78]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 81, p. 260, "Book of as Salat", ch. 16, hadith 59.

[79]. Mustadrakul Wasa'il, "Book of as Salat," chs. on "The Acts of the Salat", ch. 2, hadith 22.

[80]. Wasa'ilush-Shi'ah, vol. 4, p. 687, "Book of as Salat", chs. on "The Acts of the Salat", ch. 3, hadith 3.

[81]. Ibid., hadith 1.

[82]. 'Ilalush-Shara'i', vol. 2, p. 327, ch. 22, hadith 2.

[83]. Mustadrakul Wasa'il, "Book of as Salat", chs. on "The Acts of the Salat", ch. 3, hadith 7.

[84]. See footnote No.59.

On Curing the Wandering Imagination

Concerning Showing an Effective Cure for the Treatment of the Wandering and Escaping Imagination, that Brings about the Presence of Heart.

Know that each one of the inner and outer powers of the soul can be educated and taught by way of practicing a particular austerity. For example, human eye is unable to gaze at a point or at an intense light, such as the disk of the sun, for a long time, without blinking. But if a man educates his eye, such as that which is done by some of the people of false asceticism for certain purposes, he can look into the sun for several hours without blinking or getting tired. Similarly, he can gaze at a certain point for hours without any movement. This is also true of the other faculties, like stopping breathing, which, as they say, is seen among the people of false asceticism, as there are some who can stop breathing for an extraordinary period.

Of the faculties which can be educated are the faculties of imagination and fancy. Before educating them, they are like two ever-jumpy and restless birds flying from a branch to another, and from one thing to another. If one tries to watch them for a single minute, he will see their many successive movements of very slight and far-fetched connections. Many think that to control the bird of imagination and tame it is out of the limits of possibilities, and falls within the realm of the common impossibilities. But, as a matter of fact, it is not so. With hardship, practice and time-taking education, it can be tamed, and the bird of imagination can be put under one's control and will be such that it can be confined for several hours and for a certain purpose, according to one's will.

The principal way of taming it is to act to its contrary. That is, at the time of the salat one is to prepare himself to control the imagination during the salat and confine it to action, and, as soon as it tries to slip out of his hand, to recapture it. One should carefully watch it in all the actions, recitings, invocations, etc. of the salat, observing it so as not to be obstinate. At the beginning, this seems to be a difficult task. But after a while of strict practice and treatment, it will certainly become tame and obedient. You should not, of course, expect yourself, at the beginning, to be able to control the bird of imagination along the salat completely. Actually, this is impossible. Perhaps those who stressed this impossibility had such expectations. The situation requires deliberateness, careful patience and gradual training. It is possible that you can first control your imagination during only one-tenth of the salat or even less than that, in which you can have the presence of heart. Then, if one pays more attention, and if he feels himself in need of that, he can attain to a better result, and can gradually overcome the Satan of fancy and the bird of imagination, such that they come under his control in most of the salat. However, you should never despair, as despair is the origin of all weaknesses and inabilities, whereas the flash of hope guides man to his complete happiness.

The important thing in this respect, however, is to feel being in need - a mood which is little felt by us. Our heart is not believing that the source of the happiness in the Hereafter, and the means of a long-lasting life, is the salat. We take the salat to be an additional burden on our lives. We think it an imposition and an obligation. The love of a thing is understanding its consequences. We understood its consequence and the heart believes in it, and, therefore, we are not in need of any advice or admonition in acquiring it.

Those who think that the message of the Seal of the Prophets, the Hashimite Messenger (SA), has two dimensions: one belonging to this world and the other to the Hereafter, and take this to be a pride of the bringer of the Shari'ah and the perfection of prophethood, know nothing of the religion and are unaware of the message and far from understanding the purpose of the prophethood. Inviting to worldly things is quite alien to the objectives of the great prophets, since desire, sense of anger and the interior and exterior Satans, are sufficient for such an invitation and it does not need the sending of messengers. The administration of desire and anger is in no need of a Qur'an. The love of a thing is seen from love the world because we have or a prophet. The prophets, actually, have come to keep people back from this world to curb the release of the desire and anger, and to limit the sources of worldly interests. An ignorant person thinks that they invited the people to this world. They say: "Do not acquire wealth by whatever means. Do not satisfy your desire in whatever way available there should be marriage, and there should be (lawful) trade, industry and agriculture though the door of the centre of desire and anger is opened by letting them free." So, the prophets demand them to be chained, not to be set free, and they do not invite to worldly things. They ask for a lawful business so as to prohibit the unlawful ones. They call to marriage in order to curb the nature and prevent debauchery and releasing the power of desire [shahwat]. As a matter of fact, they are not absolutely against them, because it would be against the perfect system.

In short, as we feel we need this world, regarding it to be the capital of life and the source of pleasure, we get ready to attend to it and to acquire it.

But if we believe in the Hereafter-life and feel we are in need of that life, and regard worship, especially the salat, to be the capital for living there, and the source of happiness in that world, we, naturally, will try .to do our best to acquire it, and we will not feel any difficulty and fatigue in ourselves; or rather, we will hurry to acquire it with complete eagerness and craving, and endure every hardship and undergo all circumstances for that purpose.

Now, this coldness and weakness, which are manifest in us, are caused by the coldness of the radiance of our faith and the weakness of its foundation. Had all the news of the prophets and holy men [auliyll'] (AS) and the (may Allah be pleased with them) arguments of the elite and learned men created "sufferance" [ihtimal] in us, we could have done better in our attempts and acquirements. So, we have to regret a thousand times for letting Satan overcome our inside and conquer the whole of our heart and the hearings of our interior, preventing us from hearing the sayings of Allah and His Messengers, and those of the scholars, as well as the admonitions of the divine Books. Such being the case, our ears are changed to those of worldly animals, and the divine admonitions would not go beyond the apparent and the animal ear to the inside "Most surely there is a reminder in this for him who has a heart or he gives ear and is a witness. "(50:37)

One of the great duties of the traveler to Allah and the striver for the sake of Allah is to completely give up self-reliance during the striving and suluk, and, by nature, to pay attention to the Cause of the causes, and by disposition, to belong to the Origin of the origins, asking from His Sacred Existence protection and immunity from sin, and depending on the help of His Sacred Essence. In his privacy he is to implore Him and very seriously request Him to improve his condition, for there is no refuge save Him. And praise be to Allah !

Explaining that Loving this World Causes Distraction of the Mind

A Reference to that Loving this World is the Origin of the Distraction of the Imagination and Prevents the Presence of Heart, and Explaining its Remedy as Much as Possible

It must be noted that the heart, according to its nature and disposition, looks at what it loves and is inclined to that beloved to have it as its qiblah. If an affair distracted the heart from thinking of the beauty of its cherished beloved, no sooner the engagement slackens and the distraction stops than the heart flies towards its beloved and clings to his skirt. Should the people of knowledge and the divinely attracted enjoy strength of heart and be firm in absorption and love, they would recognize the Beauty of the Beloved in every mirror, and would discern the wanted perfection in every being: "I discerned nothing unless I recognized Allah in it and with it" [87], and if their leader (the Prophet (SA)) Says: "Sometimes my heart is enveloped by a cover of dust, and I ask Allah's forgiveness seventy times every day", [88] it is because to see the Beauty of the Beloved -especially in an impure mirror like the Abu Jahl mirror is in itself a sort of impurity with respect to the perfect ones. If their hearts are not strong enough, and their engagement in multiplicity prevents the presence (of heart), no sooner the engagement lessens than their hearts' birds fly back to their sacred nests and cling to the Beauty of the Beautiful.

As to those who look for other than Allah -who, in the eyes of the people of knowledge, all seek for this world they are also attracted to their want and cling to it. If they, too, are extremely in love with their quest, and the love of this world has completely possessed their hearts, they will never relax in their attraction towards it, and, whatever the situation, they remain beside the beauty of their beloved. Should their love be less, their hearts would return, in their leisure time, to their beloved. Those who cherish in their hearts the love of wealth, rule and position, dream of them in their sleep, too, and, in their wakefulness, they live thinking of their beloved. As long as they are engaged in worldly matters, they live hugging their beloved, and when the time of the salat arrives, the heart feels a kind of vacancy and sticks to its beloved, as if the takbiratul ihram ( the first Allahu akbar uttered aloud at the start of the salat ) is the key to the shop, or the remover of the curtain between it and its beloved. So, he comes to himself only when he has just uttered the taslim (the finishing words of the salat), whereas he had paid no attention to the salat itself, and during it he had been engaged in thinking of this world. That is why our salats for forty or fifty years have no result whatsoever in our hearts except darkness and impurity, and what should have been a cause for ascension to the proximity of Allah's presence and a means of becoming familiar with His sanctity, has, on the contrary, driven us out of His proximity and taken us miles away from ascending to be familiar with His presence. Had our salat had a smell of servitude, its result would have been modesty and humility, not self- conceitedness, ostentation, arrogance and pride, each one of which can possibly be a separate cause of man's misfortune and perdition.

In short, when one's heart becomes mixed with the love of this world, with no objective or aim except building it up and developing it, this love will inevitably prevent the heart from being vacant and present in the presence of Allah. This deadly disease and ruinous corruption can be cured by useful knowledge and good deed.

The useful knowledge suitable for this ailment is to think of the fruits and outcomes of curing it, and compare them with the harmful and destructive consequences resulting from it. In my commentaries on The Forty hadiths in this respect I have explained this topic in details as was possible. Here I will suffice myself with explaining some hadiths of the infallible Ahlul Bayt (AS): al Kafi, quoting abu 'Abdullah (as Sadiq) (AS), says: " The origin of every sin is the love of this world." [89] Other hadiths on this subject, though in different wordings, are plenty. [90]

Yet, this noble hadith is quite enough for the wakeful man, and it is enough for this big and pernicious sin to be the source of all sins and the root and basement of all corruptions. By a little contemplation it can be realized that almost all moral and practical corruptions are the fruits of this vile tree. No false religion was established in the world, and no corruption has ever happened, unless it stemmed from this grave sin. Murders, plunders, injustice and transgressions are of the offspring of this sin. Debauchery, atrocities, theft and other crimes are the outcomes of this germ of corruption. The man who is afflicted with this love is void of all moral virtues. Courage, chastity, generosity and equity, which are the origin of all the spiritual virtues, are not compatible with the love of this world. Divine knowledge [ma'arif], unity of Names, Attributes, Actions and Essence, truth-seeking and truth-discerning are contrary to the love of this world. Tranquility of the soul, calmness of the mind and repose of the heart, which are the spirit of happiness in both worlds, cannot come along with loving this world. Richness of the heart, greatness, self-respect, freedom and manliness are of the requisites of ignoring this world, whereas poverty, humility, covetousness, greed, servitude and flattery are of the requisites of loving this world. Kindness, mercy , observing kinship relations, affection and amity are not in harmony with the love of this world. Hatred, rancour , despotism, severing kinship relations, hypocrisy and other evil characters are of the progeny of this "mother of diseases".

as Sadiq (AS), as stated in Misbahush-Shari'ah, said: "This world is like a portrait: its head is arrogance, its eye is greed, its ear is covetousness, its tongue is pretence, its hand is desire, its leg is conceit, its heart is negligence, its being is perishing and its destiny is decline. Whoever loves it, it gives him arrogance, whoever approves of it, it grants him greed, whoever demands it, it drives him to covetousness, whoever praises it, it clothes him with pretence, whoever wants it, it offers him conceit, whoever trusts it, it neglects him, whoever admires its properties, it ruins him, and whoever accumulates it and does not spend it, it turns him down to its dwelling place, the Fire". [91]

Daylami, in Irshadul Qulub, quoting Amirul mu'minin ('Ali) (AS), says that the Messenger of Allah (SA) said "on the night of the mi'raj, Allah, the Exalted, said: '0 Ahmad, if a servant performs the salat as much as that of the people of the earth and the heaven, and fasts as much as that of the people of the earth and the heaven, and refrains, like the angels, from food, and wears the apparel of a devotee, then I see in his heart a bit of love for this world or for worldly reputation, leadership, celebrity and ornaments, he will not be in an abode in My neighbourhood and I will drive My love out of his heart and make it dark until he forgets Me. I will not let him taste the sweetness of My love.'" [92] It is quite clear that loving this world and loving Allah cannot meet together. In this respect there are too many hadiths to be contained in these pages.

Now as it has become clear that the love of this world is the origin of all evils, it becomes incumbent on a man of reason, who cherishes his happiness, to uproot this tree from his heart. The practical way to treat it is to do the contrary, i.e., if he has a longing for wealth and position, he can get rid of it by way of being open-handed and spending obligatory and recommended alms and charities. By the way, one of the characteristics of alms-giving is lessening the love of this world. That is why it is recommended to give charity out of what you love most, as is in the Gloriours Qur'an: "You shall not attain goodness until you spend out of what you love".(3:92) If he desires pride, priority, authority and power, he is to act against that, to turn the nose of the evil-commanding soul into the dust to reform it.

Man should know that the world is such that the more one is attached to it and in pursuit of it, the more his affection to it and the more his regret for parting company with it. It seems as if one is in quest of something which is not in his possession. Man thinks he is in need of a certain portion of the world, which he pursues, no matter what difficulties and risks he will have to endure to attain to his goal, and, as soon as he obtains it, it loses its attraction and becomes an ordinary matter, and his love and attachment turn off to something else more sublime than the previous one, and he starts his toil and endeavours anew. In this way his anxiety will never be subdued. Actually, his love gets ever stronger, and his hardships ever increase. This natural disposition never stops. The people of knowledge use this inborn nature to prove a lot of disciplines, which are out of the scope of these papers to explain. This subject is referred to by some noble hadiths, such as that which is stated in the noble al Kafi, quoting. Imam al-Baqir (AS), who said: "The parable of a man greedy of this world is the parable of the silk worm: the more it winds the thread round itself the farther it becomes from salvation, until it dies of grief." [93]

Imam as Sadiq (AS) is quoted to have said: "This world is like sea-water; the more a thirsty man drinks from it the thirstier he gets, until it kills him" [94]

Notes:

[87]. A quotation from Amirul Mu'minin ['Ali] (AS), 'Ilmul Yaqin, Vol. 1, p. 49.

[88]. Mustadrakul Wasa'il, "Book of the Salat", chs. on "Invocations", ch. 22, hadith 1.

[89]. Usulul Kafi, "Book of Faith and Infidelity", ch. on "Loving This World and Being Attached to it", hadith 1.

[90]. Ibid, hadiths 1 to 17.

[91]. Misbahush Shar'iah, ch. 32 "On This World's Attribute(s)".

[92]. Irshadul Qulub, vol. 1, p. 206.

[93]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 202, "Book of Faith and Infidelity", ch. on "Dispraising This World and Neglecting it", hadith 20, and ch. on "Loving This World and Being Greedy of it", hadith 7.

[94]. Ibid., hadith 24.

On Turning The Soul Away From The World

So, O seeker of the truth and traveller to Allah, as you have tamed the bird of imagination, chained the Satan of fancy, given up the love of wife, children and other worldly affairs, got familiar with the attraction of the fire of the natural divine love and said: "Lo! I see a fire [afar off]", [95] seen yourself with no barriers in the way and prepared the requirements of the journey, get up, then, leave this dark room of nature and the narrow passage of the world, break off the chains of time, save yourself from this prison and let the bird of sanctity fly to " the meeting place of intimacy." [mahfil-I uns].

A whistle is calling you from the turret of the' Arsh,

I wonder what keeps you into this place of traps! [96]

So, be resolute and strengthen your will, since the first condition of suluk is resolution ['azm] , without which no distance can be covered and no perfection can be reached. The great Shaykh, Shahabadi, [97] (may my soul be his ransom) called that to be the core of humanity. It can also be said that one of the great points of fearing Allah, avoiding the desires of the appetitive soul, the lawful austerities, and the divine worship and rituals, is strengthening the resolution and defying the worldly powers under the sovereignty of the soul, as has already been mentioned. We now close this discourse with praising and glorifying the Sacred Essence of Allah, the Exalted, and with praising the attributes of the Chosen Master, the elected Prophet, and his pure offspring (AS). We ask the help of the holy souls of those sacred personalities in our spiritual journey and faithful ascension.

Notes:

[95]. A part of Moses conversation with his people. "When he saw a fire, he said to his people: 'Stay here! Lo! I see a fire [afar off]."' Surah Ta Ha: 10, and surah an-Naml: 7.

[96]. A poem by Hafiz Shirazi.

[97]. The late Ayatullah Mirza Muhammad Ali Isfahani Shahabadi, a jurist, methodist, gnostic and prominent philosopher, son of the late Ayatullah Mirza Muhammad Jawad Husayn-abadi Isfahani, was born in Isfahan in 1292 L.H. After finishing his preliminary learning in Isfahan and Tehran, he traveled to study in the theological circles of Najaf Ashraf and Samarra' (in Iraq). There his tutors were great scholars, such as the late writer of al-Jawahir, the Akhund Khurasai and Shari'at Isfahani. He soon attained to the degree of ijtihad. He reached a high position of fiqh, philosophy and gnosticism, and he taught these branches of knowledge. His class was one of the most powerful scholarly circles in Samarra'. After returning from Iraq, he settled first in Tehran, then he moved to the sacred town of Qum, where he dwelt for seven years. During his stay in Qum, Imam Khomeini (may Allah be pleased with him and send peace upon him) benefitted so much from his lessons on ethics and gnosticism. The Imam of the nation in many places in this book and in his other books and writings refers to his great teacher with utmost respect and esteem, and relates his scholarly, emissions. Besides teaching different branches of knowledge and educating his distinguished disciples, the late Shahabadi wrote many books in different fields. At the age of seventy-seven years, that man of knowledge and action died in the year of 1369 L.H. in Tehran, and was buried in the neighbourhood of the shrine of 'Abdul 'Azim al Hasani, in the graveyard of the late Shaykh Abul Futuh ar-Razi. May Allah resurrect him together with the Prophet Muhammad and his pure progeny.

Discourse Two

Objective One

Chapter One

On Purification in General

As it has already been said, besides the outer appearance of the salat, it has a reality, and apart from its exterior it has an interior. And, as its outer form has its formal disciplines and conditions, its interior has its disciplines and conditions, too, which are to be observed by the salik. Thus, purification has also its outer form and formal disciplines, the explanation of which is out of the scope of these pages. The faqihs (jurists) of the Ja'fari sect (may Allah make high their words and raise their ranks) have explained them. As regards the inner disciplines and purifications, they shall be explained in general:

It should be noted that the reality of the salat is ascension to the Proximity, and reaching to the Presence, of Allah, the Almighty and Most high. Thus, to attain to this great objective and ultimate goal, one should practice certain purifications which are other than the outer purifications. The thorns of this road and the obstacles in the way of this ascension are such impurities that if the salik was marked by one of them, he would be incapable of ascending to the peak and completing the ascension. Such impurities are the hinderances in the way of the salat and the plagues of Satan. But what is a help to the salik in his journey and is a discipline of the Presence is the condition of this reality. The traveller to Allah has first to remove the obstacles and impurities so that he may be purified and attain to purity which belongs to the world of light. Unless all the impurities, outer and inner, open and hidden, are purified, the salik will have no chance of attending the Presence (of Allah).

Thus, the first kind of impurities is that of the outer instruments and powers of the soul which may be polluted with obstinacies and acts of disobedience to "the Benefactor" [waliyun ni'am] This is an apparent snare of Iblis. As long as man is trapped in this snare, he is deprived of being in Allah's Presence and attaining to His Proximity. No one may have the notion that without purifying the outside of his kingdom he can reach the state of the truth of humanity, or he can purify his inner heart, as this will be a Satanic vanity and of Iblis 's big tricks. This is because the heart's impurity and darkness will be increased by disobediences, which mark the triumph [ghalabah] of nature over spirituality. Unless the salik conquers the kingdom of the outside, he will remain deprived of inner conquests, which are the big objective, and no way will be opened for him to happiness. Thus, one of the big obstacles of this suluk is the impurities of the acts of disobedience, which must be purged and purified with the water of sincere repentance.

It should also be noted that all the external and internal powers which Allah, the Exalted, has bestowed upon us from the invisible world are divine deposits free from all impurities and are purged and purified, and even illuminated with the light of the God-given disposition, and excluded from Satan's dark and impure influence. Yet, since they have descended in the dark abode of the world of nature, and the influential hands of the devil of imagination and fancy have reached them, they have deviated from the original purity and primary disposition, and got polluted with diverse Satanic filths and impurities. So, if the salik to Allah could, by adhering to the care of Allah's wall, repel Satan's influence, purge the kingdom of the outside and return the divine trusts as they had been given to him with no treason, he would be forgiven and protected, and, as far as the outside is concerned, he need not worry, and then he would turn to the inside to purge it from the impurities of corrupt moralities. This is the second kind of impurity, which is more corrupt and more difficult to cure, and thus, it is more important to the people of austerity, because as long as the inner moralities of the soul are corrupt and encircled by spiritual impurities, it will not deserve the state of holiness and "the private place of intimacy" [khalwat-i uns], as the origin of the corruption of the exterior kingdom of the soul is its corrupt morals and its vile habits. And, unless the salik changes his vile habits to good ones, he will not be safe from the evil acts. If he is successful in repentance (while still having vile habits), its stability - which is a matter of grave importance cannot be achieved. So, the outer purification depends on the inner purification, besides the fact that the interior impurities cause deprivation from happiness, and originate the Hell of morals, which, as the people of knowledge say, is worse and more intense in burning than the Hell of deeds. This question has frequently been mentioned in the hadiths of the infallible Ahlul Bayt (AS).

Therefore, it is a must for the salik to Allah to carry out this purgation. After he has cleansed his soul of the corrupting impurities of the morals with the pure water of useful knowledge and lawful, good austerity, he will have to set upon purifying the heart, the capital which, if reformed, all kingdoms will be reformed, and if it is corrupt, all will be corrupt. The impurities of the world of the heart are the origin of all impurities, such as being attached to other than Allah, to oneself and to this world. This is originated by the love of this world, which is at the head of all sins, and by self-love, which is the mother of all diseases. As long as the roots of this love are still deep in the heart of the salik, he will see no marks of the love of Allah in it, and he will find no way to his destination and objective. So, as long as there are remnants of this love in the heart, his journey will not be to Allah, but to the self, to the world, and to Satan. So, being purged of the love of self and of the world is the first stage of purifying the journey to Allah in reality, because before this purgation the journey would not be to Allah, and it would be a sort of carelessness to refer to salik and suluk in this instance.

After this stage there are other stages, after which there will appear a model of. Attar's Seven Cities of Love, the sayer of which, as a salik, could see himself at the bend of a lane, while we remain behind walls and thick veils, and think that those "cities" and "kings" are nothing but of the weavings of our presumption. I have nothing to do with Shaykh Attar or Mitham at Tammar, but I do not deny the original (gnostic) stations, and I cordially love their owners, and, by this love, I hope to be relieved. You yourself be whom you may, and bind yourself to whom you like.

The pretender wanted to come to look at the Beloved [Friend],

The hand of the invisible came and pushed off the stranger. [98]

But I do not approve of disloyalty by brethren in faith and by spiritual friends to the gnostic friends, and I will not refrain from offering advice, which is the right of the believers to one another.

At the top of the spiritual impurities, which cannot be purged even with seven seas, and which caused despair to the great prophets (AS), is the impurity of "the compound ignorance" [jahl-i murakkab], which is the origin of the incurable disease of denying the stations of the people of Allah and of knowledge, and is the source of doubting the people of the heart. As long as man is polluted with such impurities, he will not take a step towards knowledge [ma'arif], or rather, this impurity so often extinguishes the inborn light [nur] of disposition, which is the light [chiragh] for the road of guidance, and puts out the fire of love, which is the heavenly horse [buraq] for ascending to high stations, causing man to eternally stick to the earth of nature.

Therefore, it is necessary for man, through thinking about the status of the prophets and the perfect holy men [auliya] (SA) , and by contemplating their stations, to wash those impurities away from his heart, and not to be satisfied with the status he is in, because this satisfaction with the knowledge [ma'rif] one has, and remaining stagnant, are of the great tricks of Iblis and the evil-commanding soul. We take refuge from them with Allah. Now as this thesis is written according to the taste of the common people, I refrain from the three purifications of the holy men [auliya]. And praise be to Allah.

Notes:

[98]. A poem by Hafiz In the printed copies it is stated: "... the show place of the Secret".

Concerning the Stages of Purification

Know that as long as man is in the world of nature and in the abode of the primary [hayulani] matter, he is under the rule of the divine soldiers and the Satanic soldiers. The divine soldiers are the soldiers of mercy, safety, happiness, light, purity and perfection. The soldiers of Iblis are on the opposite side. But as the divine aspects have mastery over the Satanic aspects, at the beginning, man's disposition possesses natural divine light, safety and happiness, as is openly stated in the noble hadiths and hinted at in the noble divine Book. [99] As long as man is in this world, he can, on his own free will, put himself at the disposal of either of the two. So, if from the beginning of the God-given disposition till the end, Satan had no way of intruding, man would be divine, luminous from head to foot with purity and happiness, his heart being the light of Allah, observing nothing but Allah. His inward and outward powers would be luminous and pure, and no one would use them but Allah, and Satan would have no share in them, nor would his soldiers be able to control him. Such an honourable being is absolute purity and pure light, and his past faults and the future ones are forgiven. [100] He is an absolute conquerer, enjoying the station of original "great infallibility" [ismat-i kubra], and the other infallibles have the same station as the followers of that sacred essence. He is the Seal of the Prophets and possesses the station of absolute perfection. His vicegerents, though of separate substance, join him in disposition and completely follow him in absolute infallibility. As to some of the infallible prophets and holy men [auliya] (AS), they have no absolute infallibility and are not protected against Satan's intrusion, such as Adam's act with respect to the "tree", which was one of the intrusions of the big Iblis, the Head of the Iblises, and despite the fact that the "tree" was a paradisiac divine tree, yet it was marked by a multiplicity of names, which is contrary to the state of complete humanity. This is one of the meanings, or of the ranks, of "the forbidden tree".

If the light of the divine disposition was polluted with the formal and spiritual impurities, it would be at a distance from the court of the Proximity and "the Presence of Love" [hadrat-i uns] in proportion to its pollution, until the light of disposition completely goes out, and the kingdom becomes altogether Satanic, and its inside and outside, secret and open, are put at the disposal of Satan. Thus Satan becomes its heart, ear (hearing), eye (seeing), hand, and leg, and all his other organs become Satanic. If somebody reaches this stage -Take refuge with Allah from it -he becomes absolutely wretched and will never see the face of happiness. Between these two limits there are so many stages which only Allah, the Exalted, knows. Whoever is nearer to the horizon of prophethood, is of "those on the right hand" [ashab-i yamin], and whoever is nearer to the Satanic horizon, is of "those on the left hand" [ashab-i yasar].

It should be noted, however, that even after the pollution of the inborn disposition, it is possible to purify it. As long as man is still in this world he can get out of Satan's domain and can easily enter into the party of Allah's angels, who are the soldiers of the divine mercy. The reality of jihad-i nafs [self- struggle] -which, according to the Messenger of Allah (SA), is more meritorious than struggling with the enemies of the religion, and is the greater jihad [101] -is this getting out of Satan's domain and entering the domain of Allah's soldiers.

So, the first stage of purity is the observance of divine laws and the obedience to Allah's commands.

The second stage is to be adorned with virtuous morals and faculties.

The third stage is the purity of the heart, which means submitting the heart to Allah, after which the heart becomes luminous, or rather it becomes of the world of light and a degree of divine light. The luminosity of the heart flows to other organs and inner powers, and the whole kingdom turns into light, and light upon light, till the heart becomes divine and godly and the Divinity [hadrat-i lahut] manifests in all the inner and outer stages. In this case, servitude completely vanishes and is annihilated, and Lordship explicitly appears, in which case, the heart of the salik is overcome by a state of tranquillity and familiarity, and he loves the whole world, and experiences divine trances, and the sins and faults become forgive-able to him, and will be covered by the shelter of "love manifestations" [tajalliyat-i hubbi], and primary holiness [wilayat] begins to appear in him, and he becomes worthy of attending "the Presence of Intimacy" [mahdar-i uns]. Then, there are other stages, mentioning which does not suit these papers.

Notes:

[99]. Such as the noble ayah. "So set your face to the religion, as a man of pure faith -Allah's original upon which He originated mankind." (Ar-Rum: 30). Look up the hadiths in Biharul Anwar, vol. 3, p. 276, and vol. 64, p. 130, and in at Tawhid, p. 321, ch. 53.

[100]. A hint at the noble ayah: " ... That Allah may forgive your past faults and those to come". (Fath: 2).

[101]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 67, p. 65, and vol. 19, p. 182.

The Cordial Disciplines of the Salik When Coming to Water for Purification

In this chapter we translate a noble hadith from Misbahush Shari'ah so that the pure hearts of the people of faith may get from it some lumination.

It is stated in Misbahush Shari'ah that Imam as Sadiq (AS) said : "When you intend purification and wudu' [ritual ablution], proceed to the water as you proceed to Allah's mercy, because Allah has made water the key to his proximity and supplication, and a guide to the court of His service. And, as Allah's mercy purifies the sins of the servants, similarly the outer filths are purified by water and by nothing else. Allah, the Exalted, says: 'And He it is Who sends the winds as good news heralding His mercy, and We send down purifying water from the sky.'(Surah al-Furqan: 48). He also says: "And We made every living thing of water. Will they not then believe?' (al-Anbiya ':30). So, as He has given life, with water, to everything of the blessings of this world, likewise, He has made obedience the life of the hearts, out of His mercy and grace. Think of the clarity, softness, purity and blessing of water and of its tender mixing with everything. Use it to purge the organs that Allah has ordered you to purify, and observe their disciplines in His obligations and advantages. So, if you use them respectfully, the springs of he advantages will burst out for you presently. Then, mix with the creatures (servants) of Allah like the mixture of water with things: It gives to everything its due without any change in its own meaning. And learn a lesson from the Messenger of Allah (SA) (who said): 'A sincere believer is like water'. Let your clearness with Allah, the Most High, be like the clearness of water as He sent it down from the sky and called it 'purifier' [tahur]. Purify your heart with fear of Allah [taqwa] and certitude [yaqin] as you cleanse your organs with water." [102]

In this noble hadith there are delicate points and facts which enliven the hearts of the people of knowledge, and bestow animation on the clear souls of "the people of heart" [ashab-i qulub].

Describing water, in this hadith, as to be Allah's mercy, or interpreting it to be so, denotes that water is one of the great manifestations of Allah's mercy which He sent down to the world of nature, and made it the source of life for the beings. Rather, the vast divine mercy , which descended from the high heaven of His Names and Attributes, and with which the lands of the individual entities [ta'ayyunat-i ayan] were revived, is called "water" by the people of knowledge. And as the vast divine mercy is more obvious in the apparent substance of water than in other things, Allah, the Exalted, has assigned to it the task of purifying the outer filths, and made it the key to the door of His proximity and of the supplications to Him ,and the guide to the court of His service, which is the door of the doors of the inner mercies. Actually, the water of Allah's mercy descends and appears in every growth [nash'ah] of existence and in every visible and invisible scene to purify the sins of Allah's servants according to that growth [nash'ah] and suitable to that world. So, the invisible sins of the individual entities are purified with the water of mercy which descends from the heaven of His Oneness [ahadiyat], and the sins of the non-existence of "the outer quiddities" [mahiyat-i kharijiyah] are purged with the water of the vast mercy descending from the heaven of His Unity [wahidiyat] in every stage which Allah has ordered you to purify, and observe their disciplines in His traditions as under each one of them there are many of existence according to that stage. In the stages of human growths [nasha'at], too, the water of mercy has different manifestations, as with the water descending from His Essence onto "the purgatory collective individuations" [ta'ayyunat-i jam'iya barzakhiyah] the sins of the " existential secret " [sirr-i wujudi] are purified: " Your existence is a sin incomparable with any other sin". With the water descending from His Names and Attributes and the manifestation of Act the vision of the attribute and the act is purged. With the water descending from the sky of His Just Judgement" [hukm-i adl] the inner moral impurities are purified. With the water descending from the sky of His Forgiveness the sins of the servants are purged. And with the water descending from the sky of "the kingdom of heaven" [malakut] the formal impurities are purged. So, it is clear that Allah, the Exalted has made water the key to His proximity and the guide to His court of mercy. Then, in the noble hadith there is another instruction, which opens another way to the people of suluk and of observance. It says: " ... think of the clarity, softness, purity and blessing of water and of its tenderly mixing with everything. Use it to purge the organs which Allah has ordered you to purify, and observe their disciplines in His obligations and traditions, as under each one there are many advantages. So, if you use them respectfully, the springs of the advantages will burst out for you presently."

This noble hadith refers to the degrees of purity in general and puts it in four general degrees, of which one is that which is mentioned so far in the noble hadith, i.e. purifying the organs. It also notes that the people of observance and the saliks to Allah should not stop at the apparent form of the things. They are to regard the appearance as a mirror reflecting the inside, to detect the facts from the forms and not to be satisfied with formal purification, which is a Satanic snare. So, in the purity of water they discover the purity of the organs, which they are to purge and clarify by way of performing the obligatory duties and the divine laws, whose fineness is to be used to make fine the organs and to take them out of the coarseness of disobedience, and to let purity and blessing flow into all the organs. And, from the tenderly mixing of water with things, they realize how the divine heavenly powers are mixed with the world of nature, preventing the impurities of nature from affecting them. When the organs are clothed with the divine obligations and laws and their disciplines, the inner advantages gradually appear, the springs of the divine secrets burst out and a part of the secrets of servitude and purity uncover themselves for the salik . After explaining the first stage of purification and its instruction, the hadith gives the secondary instruction, saying:".. then mix with the creatures (servants) of Allah like the mixture of water with things: It gives to everything its due without any change in its own meaning. And learn a lesson from the Messenger of Allah(SA) (who said): 'A sincere believer is like water"'.

The first instruction concerns the salik's managing his organs and inner powers. The second instruction mentioned in this noble hadith concerns man's relation with Allah's creatures. This is a comprehensive instruction telling how the salik's behaviour with the creatures should be, which is also an implication of the reality of privacy [khalwat]; that is, the traveler to Allah, while treating each group of the people with kindness, giving them their natural dues, and dealing with anyone of them according to his disposition, is to strictly observe the divine rights, and never to lose his own meaning, which is servitude and attending to Allah. At the same time of being in multiplicity [kathrat], he is to be in privacy [khalwat], and his heart-which is the lodging of the Beloved is to be free from others and empty of all designs and paintings. Then the hadith refers to the third instruction, which concerns the salik's connection with Allah, the Exalted. It says: "Let your clearness with Allah, the Most High, be like the clearness of water when He sent it down from the sky and called it 'purifier'[tahur]."

That is, the traveller to Allah should be free from the intrusion of nature, and its impurity and darkness should not be allowed into his heart, and all his acts of worship should be free from all external and internal polytheism. As the water is pure when descending from the sky, and the hands of impurity have not extended to it, the heart of the salik, which has descended pure from the heaven of the invisible, is to be protected against the intrusion of Satan and nature, and to be prevented from being polluted with the impurities. After this instruction, the hadith comes to the last and the comprehensive instruction for the people of austerity and of suluk .It says: purify your heart with fear of Allah and certitude as you cleanse your organs with water."

Here is a reference to two lofty stations of the people of knowledge: one is "godfearing" , which is perfected by abandoning everything other than Allah. The other is certitude, which is perfected by discerning the Presence of the Beloved.

Notes:

[102]. Misbahush Shar'iah, ch. 10, on "Purification".

Concerning the Purifier

The "purifier" is either water -which is, in this respect, basic or "earth". Know that the traveller to Allah has, generally speaking, two ways to take him to the loftiest goal, the station of proximity to the Divinity: The first of them, which is the principal and original one, is the journey to Allah by turning towards the Absolute Mercy, especially the compassionate mercy, which is the compassion that takes every being to its appropriate perfection. It is of this kind of compassionate mercy that the prophets (SA) were sent to lead on the roads and to help those lagging behind. To the people of knowledge and the people of heart, the House of Realization is the form of divine mercy. The creatures are perpetually and completely drowned in the oceans of Allah's mercy, yet they do not make use of it. The Great Divine Book -which has descended from the divine invisible world and the proximity of the Lord, and has appeared in the form of words and speech so that we, the deserted, the prisoners in the jail of nature and put in the fetters of the crooked chains of the soul's desires and whims, make use of it and rescue ourselves -is one of the greatest manifestations of the absolute divine mercy, of which, we, the blind and deaf, have in no way made use. The Messenger the Seal of the prophets, the honourable absolute guardian ,who came from the Sacred Presence of the Lord and the company of the divine proximity and familiarity to this abode of estrangement and dread, where he had to keep company with the people like Abu Jahl (the Prophet's uncle and his bitter enemy) or even worse, and whose sigh:" ...my heart is enveloped by a cover of dust... " [103] has burnt the hearts of the people of knowledge and friendship -is Allah's vast mercy and the divine absolute generosity, who had come into his (worldly) body as an all-embracing mercy for the dwellers of this lower world, in order to take them out of this abode of terror and estrangement, like a "ring-dove" [104] which throws itself into the net of blight to save its flock.

The traveller to Allah is to take the purification with the water of mercy as to be a form of using the descending divine mercy, and to make use of it as long as it is possible for him to do so. Should his hand become short of it, because of inertia or negligence, and be bereaved of the water of mercy, he would have but to pay attention to his own humility, indigence, poverty and destitution. When he has in full view his humility of servitude and is aware of his need, his poverty and his own potentiality, and discards his haughtiness, conceit and selfishness, a door of mercy opens to him, and the earth of (his) nature changes into the white earth of mercy, and becomes the dust which is one of the "two purifiers" [105], and becomes the object of Allah's mercy and kindness. The stronger this state in man, i.e., his awareness of his humility, the more he receives of mercy. Should he decide to depend on himself and on his action in his journey, he would perish, since there might be no one to extend help to him, like an infant which boldly starts walking alone, taking pride in its own steps, and depending on its own ability, without its father offering it any help, rather leaving it to itself. But when it recognizes its inability and inefficiency, it turns to its affectionate father, distrusting its own power, and entrusts itself to the care of its father, who offers his help, hugs it and guides it step by step to walking. So, it is better for the traveller to Allah to break the leg of his journey and completely renounce his self-confidence, austerity and action, and abolish himself, his power and ability. He should always remember his mortality and dependence in order to become an object of Allah's care, and to cover a hundred-year distant road in a single night by the attraction of the Lord, and the tongue of his inside and his state say, in the Presence of the Lord's Sanctity, imploringly and helplessly: "Or, Who responds to the distressed, when he calls unto Him, and removes the evil... ?" [106]

Notes:

[103]. Refer to footnote No. 88

[104]. Kalilah wa Dimnah, ch. "The Ring-Dove".

[105]. It refers to a narrative related by the late Akhund Khurasani (may Allah sanctify his spirit) in Kifayatul 'Usul, vol. 1, p. 130, to the effect that: "Dust is one of the two purifiers, and is enough for you for ten years."

[106]. Surah an-Naml: 62.

Some Disciplines of the Wudu' (Ritual Ablution) in Respect of the Interior and the Heart

Imam ar-Rida (AS) is quoted to have said: " The servant has been commanded to perform the wudu' (ritual ablution) so as to be pure when standing before the All-Powerful and supplicating, and by obeying Him, to be purged from filth and impurity, beside his removing laziness, expelling sleep and purifying the heart to stand in the Presence of the All-Powerful. Confining it (the wudu') only to the face, the two hands, the head and the two feet, was because when the servant stands before the All-Powerful, the parts which are exposed are those which are ordered to be washed in the wudu': as with his face he performs the sujud (prostration), with his hands he requests, desires, dreads and supplicates, with his head he inclines to Him in his ruku. ' (bowing down) and his sujud, and with his legs he stands and sits..." [107] etc. Up to here he explained the principal point in the wudu " informing the people of knowledge and suluk that to stand in the holy Presence of Allah, the of worship, and of obeying the Lord. Therefore, the purification of the outside results in the purification of the inside, and purging the exterior leads to the purity of the interior. Generally, the traveler to Allah must, at the time of wudu' be aware of his being about to stand in the Presence of Allah, the Almighty, as with such states of heart as he has, he does not Glorified and Most High, and to offer supplication to the Provider of Needs, require certain disciplines which should be observed. One must not appear in His Presence even with the external filths and impurities and with a sleepy eye, let alone with a heart which is filled with dirts, and it is afflicted with spiritual impurities, which are the origin of all impurities. Despite the fact that a narrative says: "Allah, the Exalted, does not look at your faces, but He looks at your hearts" [108], and despite the fact that the means with which man attends to Allah, the Exalted, and what is, in the worlds of creation, worthy of looking at His Majesty, Greatness and Glory, is the heart, while the other organs have no share in it, yet, they did not neglect the outer cleanliness. So, they decided the external purification for cleaning man's exterior, and the inner purification for cleaning his interior. In this noble hadith , it is clear from assigning the purification of the heart to be a result of the wudu' that the wudu' has an interior with which man's interior is purified, and meanwhile it appears that there is a connection between the exterior and the interior, the visible and the invisible. Similarly it becomes clear that the outer cleanliness, the outside wudu', is of the acts deserve to be in His Presence, or he may even be dismissed from the Presence of the Lord, the Most High. Thus, he has to get ready to have his outer purification transferred to his interior, and to purify his heart -which is the object of Allah's attention, or, actually, is the lodging of His Sanctity -from all that is other than Allah, and to take out from his head any notion of arrogance and I-ness, which is the origin of the origins of the impurities, so as to become worthy of His Presence. After that, Imam ar-Rida (AS) explains the reason for specifying certain organs to wud'u'. He says:

"Confining it only to the face, the two hands, the head and the two feet, was because when the servant stands before the All-Powerful, the parts which are exposed are those which are ordered to be washed in the wudu': as with his face he performs the sujud (prostration), with his hands he requests, desires, dreads and supplicates, with his head he inclines to Him in his ruku' (bowing down) and his sujud, and with his legs he stands and sits..."

The gist of his discourse is that these organs take part in worshipping Allah, and it is through these organs that worship is manifested. Consequently, it is necessary to purify them. Then he refers to those acts of worship which appear from them, opening the way of their being valid and useful to the deserving people, and making the people of knowledge familiar with these secrets that the organs on which servitude appears in Allah's Blessed Presence, should be clean and purified, as the outer limbs and organs of the body, which have a deficient share of those meanings, would not be worthy of that station without purification. Although submission is not, actually, a character of the face, and none of requesting, desiring, dreading, supplicating and facing the qiblah belongs to any of the tangible organs, yet, as these organs are the manifestations of those meanings, they must be purified. Therefore, purifying the heart, which is the real place of servitude, and the actual centre of those meanings, is more necessary. Without its purification, the external organs will never be purified even if they are washed in seven seas, and it (the heart) will not deserve being in the Presence of Allah. Actually, Satan will have a hand in it, and it will be dismissed from His Glorious Presence.

Connection: In an authorized narrative in 'Ilalush-Shara'i' it is related that: "A group of Jews came to the Messenger of Allah (SA) and asked him questions. Among their questions they asked: "Tell us, 0 Muhammad why, are these four organs given the wudu', while they are the cleanest parts of the body'?" The Messenger of Allah (SA) said: 'When Satan whispered to Adam (AS) and he came near the "tree" and looked at it, he lost face. He stood up and walked to it -the first step taken towards sinning. He took with his hand some of what was of it and ate it. Off his body flew what were on him of jewelry and apparel. He put his hand on the top of his head and wept. Allah accepted his repentance, but made it incumbent upon him and his offspring to purify those four organs. So, Allah ordered the face to be washed, because it looked at the "tree". He ordered the hands to be washed to the elbows, because he took with them (the fruit of the tree). He ordered the head to be anointed (with the hand wet with water), as he put his hand on the top of his head, and He ordered the feet to be anointed because with them he walked to sin." [109]

Concerning the reason for imposing fasting, there is also a noble hadith to the effect that the Jews asked him: "What caused Allah to impose on your people to fast for thirty days?" He said: "It was Adam (AS), because that which he had eaten from that "tree" remained in his stomach for thirty days. So Allah made it incumbent upon him and his offspring to endure hunger and thirst for thirty days ,and He allowed them, out of His kindness, to eat and drink at the nights." [110]

These noble hadiths give the people of allusion and the people of heart to understand many points: Although Adam's sin was not like the sins of the others, as it might have been a natural one, or a sin of being inclined to multiplicity, the tree of nature, or of attending to multiplicity of names after the attraction [jadhibah] of self-annihilation [fana'-i dhati], yet it was not expected from one like Adam (AS) who was Allah's chosen one [safiy] and distinguished by proximity [qurb] and self-annihilation. Therefore, according to the love-zeal [ghairat-i hubbi] of His Sanctified Essence, He announced his disobedience and going astray to all the worlds and on the tongues of all the prophets (AS). He, the Exalted, said: "And Adam disobeyed his Lord, so he went astray." [111] Thus, so much cleaning and purification were needed for him (Adam) and his offspring who were hidden in his loin and (so) participated in the sin, though they did participate (in it) after coming out of the loin, too.

Therefore ,the sin committed by Adam and his offspring has many degrees and manifestations. The first of those degrees is paying attention to multiplicity of names, and the last of those manifestations is eating from the forbidden tree, the invisible [malakuti] form of which is a tree that carries diverse sorts of fruits. And its visible [mulki] form is its nature and affairs, and the love of this world and the self, as seen now in his offspring, is of the affairs of the same inclination to that tree and eating from it. Similarly, for their cleaning, purifying, cleansing, salat and fasting for the redemption of the father's sin which is the origin -there are many degrees in proportion to the degrees of the sin. From this explanation it is understood that all kinds of disobedience of the children of Adam are related to eating from the "tree", and are purified in a certain way. All their sins of the heart are also related to that tree, and are purified in a certain way. Then, all kinds of spiritual sins are related to it, too, and are purified in a certain way.

Purifying the external organs is the "shadow" [zill] of the purity of the heart and spirit for the perfect. It is an order, and a "means" to them, for the people of suluk. As long as man is within the veil of the individuation [ta'ayyun] of the organs and their purification, and he lingers there, he cannot be of the people of the suluk, and is still in the sin. But if he engaged himself in passing through the stages of external and internal purifications, and used the formal and outer purifications as a means of purifying the spirit and the heart, and in all the acts of worship and rites he observed their spiritual aspects and was benefited by them, or better, if he gave more importance to the internal aspects and regarded them to be the most high objective, he would be admitted through the door of the suluk along the road of humanity, as is referred to in a noble hadith in Misbahush Shar'iah: "... And purify your heart with taqwa (fear of Allah) and yaqin (certitude) when you cleanse your organs with water." [112]

So, a salik man needs first a scientific suluk so as to distinguish, with the blessings of "the people of remembrance" [ahl-i dhikr] (SA), the stages of servitude, and regard the formal worship inferior to the spiritual and inner worship. Then the practical suluk, which is the reality of the suluk is started. The aim of this suluk is to free the soul from other than Allah, and adorn it with the manifestations of His Names and Essence. Getting to this stage, the salik would be at the end of his journey, attaining to the goal of his progress to perfection, and acquiring the secrets of austerity and worship, as well as the delicacies of suluk. Those are the manifestations of Majesty which are the secrets of purity, and the manifestations of Beauty, which are the objective of other worships. To give the details is out of the capacity of these pages.

Notes:

[107]. Uyunu Akhbarir Rida, vol. 2, p. 104, ch. 34, hadith 1.

[108]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 67, p. 241, quoting Jami'ul Akhbar, p. 117 (with a slight difference).

[109]. Ilalush-Sharai', vol. I, p. 280, ch. 191, hadith 1.

[110]. Ibid, vol. 2, p. 378, ch. 109, hadith 1.

[111]. Surah Ta Ha: 121.

[112]. Misbahush Shari'ah, ch. 10, on "Purity".

Concerning the Ghusl and its Cordial Disciplines

"The people of knowledge" [ahl-i ma'rifat] say that the (state of) janabah (major ritual impurity) is getting out of the homeland of servitude and entering exile [ghurbat]. It is "declaring lordship" [izhar-i rububiyat] and claiming I-ness and entering within the frame [hudud] of the Patron [maula] and acquiring the quality of mastery [siyadat]. The ghusl (ritually washing the whole body) is a purification of this filth and a confession of the shortcoming. One of the religious personalities has numerated one hundred and fifty states, in ten chapters, saying that the salik should purify himself from them during his practicing the ghusl. Most of them, or rather all of them, stem from might ['izzat], power [jabarut] and haughtiness of the soul, selfishness and self-conceit. [113]

The writer says that the (state of) janabah is vanishing [fana'] in nature and neglecting spirituality. It is the ultimate end of the complete sovereignty of animality and bestiality, and falling down to the lowest of the low. The ghusl is purging from this sin, turning away from the rule of nature, and attaining to the divine authority and power. This is brought about by cleansing the whole kingdom of the soul which has vanished in nature and been afflicted with Satan's conceit.

So, its cordial disciplines are that the traveller to Allah, at the time of ghusl, should not stop at the outer purification and washing the body, as it is a low superficial crust and belongs to this world. His paying attention to the janabah of the inside of the heart and the secret of the spirit and purifying them from that impurity should be more important to him. Therefore, he is to avoid letting his bestial soul and animal concern [sha'n] overpower the human soul and the divine concerns [shu'un-i rahmani], and to repent of Satanic impurity and arrogance, and to purify the inside of the spirit which is a divine blow breathed in him by "the Breath of the Compassionate" [nafas-i rahmani], from Satanic tastes, which mean paying attention to other than Allah, being the root of the forbidden tree, so that he may deserve his father's, Adam's, Paradise. He is also to know that eating of this tree of nature, desiring this world and attending to multiplicity are the origins of janabah, and, unless he purifies himself from this janabah by immersion in, or by complete purification with, the water of Allah's mercy, which flows from the pillar [saq] of the Divine Arsh and is free from Satan's intrusion, he will not be fit for the salat , which is the reality of ascension to (Allah's) proximity, as there can be no salat without purification. [114] This is referred to in the noble hadith in al-Wasa'il, quoting Shaykh as Saduq (may Allah be pleased with him), who said, with authorities: "A group of Jews came to the Messenger of Allah (SA). The most learned of them asked him some questions. Among his questions was: 'What for did Allah command that one should perform ghusl because of the janabah, but He did not command it after relieving oneself from feces and urine? The Messenger of Allah (SA) said: 'When Adam (AS) ate from the (forbidden) tree, it crept into his veins, hair and skin'. During sexual intercourse water would come out of every vein and hair in his body. So, Allah made it incumbent upon his offspring to perform the ghusl of the janabah till the Day of Resurrection..." [115], as the narrative goes.

In another narrative, Imam ar-Rida (AS) said: They were ordered to perform the ghusl because of the janabah, but they were not ordered to do it after the khala' (relieving oneself from feces and urine), though it is filthier than the janabah, because the janabah pertains to the soul of man, and that which comes out is something from the whole body, while the khala' does not pertain to the soul of man, and what comes out is the food that goes in through an inlet and comes out from an outlet." [116]

The appearance of these hadiths, to "the people of the appearance" [ashab-i zahir], denotes that as the semen is from the whole body, the whole body needs the ghusl, and this coincides with the opinion of a number of physicians and natural philosophers. But giving it the cause of eating from the tree, as in the first hadith, and ascribing the janabah to the soul, as in the second hadith open a way to information for the people of knowledge and allusion, because the question of the "tree" and Adam's eating of it are of the secrets of the sciences of the Qur'an and the infallible Ahlul Bayt (AS), in which many sciences are occult. For this reason in the noble hadiths the causes of legislating many rituals are ascribed to the said case of the "tree" and Adam's eating of it, such as the wudu', salat, ghusl, fasting during the month of Ramadan and its being thirty days, and many of the hajj rituals. The writer has for many years been thinking of writing a thesis on this subject, but other engagements have prevented that. I ask Allah, the Exalted, success and happiness.

Generally speaking, you are an offspring of Adam, a seed for meeting (Allah) and created for knowing (Him). Allah, the Exalted, has chosen you for Himself and has shaped you with His two hands of Beauty and Majesty, and told the angels to fall down bowing to you, and caused Iblis to envy you. So if you want to get out of the state of the janabah of your father, who is your origin, and to be worthy to meet the Beloved [hadrat-i mahbub] and to become ready to attain to "the state of familiarity" [maqam-i uns] and "the Presence of the Divine Sanctity" [hadrat-i quds], you are to ritually wash the interior of your heart with the water of mercy, and to repent from attending to this world, which is of the manifestations [mazahir] of the forbidden tree, and to completely wash your heart, which is the meeting place of the Beautiful and the Beauty of the Majestic, from loving the world and its evil affairs, which are Satanic impurities, for the paradise of meeting the Haqq (Allah) is a place for the pure: "No one enters Paradise except the pure". [117]

"Wash yourself, then walk to the tavern". [118]

Notes:

[113]. He refers to Shaykh Muhyiddin 'Arabi, al-Futuhat al-Makkiyah, vol. 1, p. 363.

[114]. Wasa'ilush-Shi'ah, vol. 1, p. 261, "Book of Purification", chs. on "Wudu", ch. 4, hadith 1.

[115]. Ibid., p. 466. chs. on "Janabah", ch. 2, hadith 2, quoted from Man la Yahduruhul Faqih, vol. 1, p. 22. Al-Majalis, p. 115. Al-'Ilal, p. 104.

[116]. Ibid., hadith 4, quoted from al-Ilal vol. 1, p. 281, and Uyunu Akhbarir Rida, p. 291.

[117]. "Paradise is not entered except by the good." Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 371, "Book of Faith and Disbelief', ch. on "Sins", hadith 7.

[118]. Wash yourself, then walk to the tavern, That this ruined convent may not be polluted by you. (Hafiz Shirazi)

Some Cordial Disciplines for Removing Filth and Purifying Impurities

Be aware that removing the hadath (impurity), as already stated, is getting out of I-ness and selfishness and parting with carnality [nafsiyat] or rather it is complete separation from the house of the soul, since, as long as there are remnants of a servant's self, he will be polluted with al hadath al akbar (the major impurity) and the worshipper and the worshipped in him are Satan and the soul. If the stages of the journey of the people of the Road and suluk were for getting ranks and ascension to high degrees, they would not be out of the intrusion of Satan and the soul, and the journey and suluk are justified [mu'allal]. Thus, the suluk is within the stages of the self, and the journey in the very inside of the house. Such a salik is not a salik , not a wayfarer, nor is he an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger, and he has not yet been purged from the major impurity, which is "the servant himself' ['ain-i 'abd]. Should he become completely purified from this hadath, the worshipper and the worshipped would be the Haqq [Allah], and "I would be his ear (hearing) and his eye (seeing)", [119] which is the result of the proximity by the nafilah (supererogatory act of worship), would take place. Therefore, as far as purification from the hadath is concerned, the ghusl of the whole body is necessary, because as long as "the very servant" ['ain-i 'abd] is still there in a way, the hadath is not yet removed, as "under each hair there is a janabah". [120]

So, purification from the hadath is purification from the huduth [novelty] and perishing in the sea of ancientness [qidam]. Its perfection is in getting out of the multiplicity of names, which is the interior of the "tree". By this getting out he will get out of Adam's infectious sin, which is the origin [asl] of the offspring.

So, the hadath is of the spiritual impurities, and its purification is of the inner invisible affairs and is a light. Wud'u is a limited light, while the ghusl is an absolute light. "Which Wu'du is purer than the ghusl?" [121]

But removing the external filth and impurities has no such position, because it is a superficial cleaning and an external purification. Its cordial discipline is that the wayfarer servant, who wants to be present in the Presence of Allah, is to know that with Satanic filth and impurity one cannot find his way there, and unless he comes out from the big moral dispraised acts, which are the source of the corruption of the human utopia, and the origin of the external and internal sins, he will have no way to the wanted goal. Satan, who was in the neighbourhood of the world of sanctity and was regarded of the Cherubim, yet, at last, because of evil inclinations, he was dismissed from the position of the favourites, and was cursed by: "Then get out of it, for surely you are accursed." (Surah Sād: 77, and Surah Al-Hijr: 34).

So, we, the survivors of the caravan of the invisible world, the sinking ones in the deep pit of nature, and the returned to the lowest of the low, how can we, with our Satanic, evil inclinations, deserve being in the Presence of His Sanctity and in the neighbourhood of the godly and the companions of the favourites'? Satan became self-conceited, recognized his being of fire, then said:" I am better than him...". [122] This self-admiration led to self-worship and arrogance, which drove him to despise and insult Adam (A.S), and said: " ...and him You created of dust", and made a false comparison. He did not see Adam's goodness, nor his perfect spirituality. He looked only at Adam's appearance, his being of clay and of dust, while of himself he looked at his being of fire, disregarding his polytheism of egoism and egotism. Self-love prevented him from discerning his shortcomings and hid his faults from his eyes. This selfishness and self-conceit led him to self-love, arrogance, ostentation, hypocrisy, obstinacy and disobedience, driving him from the sacred ascension down to the desert of the abode of darkness of nature.

So, it is on the wayfarer to Allah, as he cleans himself from external filth, to purify himself from the origins of vileness and internal Satanic impurities, and thoroughly cleanse, with the divine water of mercy and lawful austerity, his utopia, his virtuous city, and purify his heart ,the place of divine manifestation, and to take off the shoes of ambition and loving pomposity, so as to become worthy of entering the sacred valley of "aiman" and of being a place for the Lord's manifestation. Unless he is cleaned from evil filths, purification from impurities [ahdath] cannot take place, as purifying the exterior is a preliminary step to the purification of the interior. Unless a complete, mundane and visible taqwa according to the instructions of the pure Shari'ah happens, no cordial taqwa will take place; and unless the cordial taqwa is brought about by the already named affairs, no real, secret and spiritual taqwa can happen. All the stages or taqwa are preliminaries to this stage, that is, neglecting everything other than Allah.

As long as there are in the salik remnants of selfishness, his heart will not discern Allah's manifestation. It is, however, possible that sometimes, owing to the precedence of (Allah's) mercy and the prevalence of the "near-to-Allah" [yalillahi] aspect, invisible help is extended to the salik such that the remnants of his I-ness are burnt out by the Divine firebrand [jadhwah]. It is probable that in the way Allah manifested His glory to the mountain, crushing it to pieces and in the falling down of Moses senseless, there are references to what has been said; and there is a similar difference between the salik-i majdhub (the salik attracted by Divine Grace), and the majdhub-i salik (the attracted one who is travelling to Allah). The people of truth understand from this an important point worthy of knowing, since knowing nothing about it would be the cause of many errors, goings astray and deviations from the right path. No one of those who are in quest of truth is to ignore it or be unaware of it. It is this: The salik who is in quest of truth must declare himself innocent from the extremities of some ignorant Sufis and some negligent phenomenalists, so that it may become possible for him to travel to Allah. As a matter of fact, some sects of the first group believe that the external knowledge and act are formal, and stuffed moulds, intended for the ignorant and the common people, and that those who are the people of the secret, heart and truth, and are of good background, need not practice such acts, and that the external acts are required for the purpose of acquiring cordial truths and attaining to the looked-for destination, and so, when the salik reaches his destination, practicing those preliminaries will be departing, and engaging in the multiplicities will be a veil. The second group, on the other hand, rose to face the first group and went to the other end to extremity by denying all the spiritual stages and divine secrets, and rejected all affairs, except the mere external appearance and the superficial form, alleging that everything else is nothing but imagination and fancy. These two groups are still in dispute and argument, each one accusing the other of being against the Shari'ah. In fact, both groups have somewhat exceeded the limits and they have gone to the extremes. In my Sirrus Salat I have referred to this point, and I show, here, a moderate and middle way, which is the straight path.

It should be noted that the formal rituals and the external worships are not only for acquiring perfect spiritual characters and cordial truths, but that is actually one of their fruits. To the people of knowledge and of heart, all worships transfer the divine knowledge from the inside to the outside, and from the secret to the public. And as the blessing of mercy of the Beneficent [rahman], or rather of the Compassionate [rahim], covers all human cordial and formal growths [nasha'at] and each one of these stages has a share of the general divine blessings, each has to do a part of praising Allah, and thanking Him for the beneficent and merciful favours of His Absolute Necessary Being. As long as the soul has a share of the formal mundane growth [nasha'at] as well as of the visible life, the carpet of multiplicity will not be completely rolled away, and the shares of nature will not be done with. As the traveller to Allah must not engage his heart with other than Allah, he is also not to make use of his bosom, imagination and nature in other than Allah's way, so that his tauhid (monotheism) and glorification may become firm in all the growths [nasha 'at]. And if the spiritual attraction has any result other than serving Allah and submission to Him, it will indicate that there are still some remnants of selfishness, and the salik 's journey is inside the house of the soul, and not to Allah .

The goal of the journey of the people of Allah is to color the nature and the kingdom of the body with Allah's color. There is a noble hadith in which Allah, the Great and Almighty, says: "I am Allah! I am ar-Rahman (the Beneficent)! I created 'rahim' (the womb, relationship) and derived its name from Mine. So, whoever observed it (i.e., observed kinship relations), I would observe him, and whoever severed it, I would sever him." [123] One of the interior concepts of this hadith is, perhaps, this severing the nature, which is the mother of the spirits, off the original homeland, and observing (connecting) it is its austerity and returning it to its homeland of servitude. Abu' Abdullah (as Sadiq ) (AS) is quoted to have said:" I advise you to take care of your aunt, the date-palm, as it was created of Adam's clay." [124] This noble hadith refers to that kinship relations mentioned before.

In short, taking out the kingdom of the exterior from the homeland of servitude, and leaving it to itself, is a deep ignorance of the stations of the people of knowledge, and is of the temptations of the accursed Satan, who deviates each group from Allah, the Exalted, in a particular way. At the same time, denying the stations and blocking the way to knowledge, which is the delight of the eye of the holy men [auliya] (AS), and confining the divine laws to the exterior, which is the world's share, the kingdom of the self and the animal state, and disregarding the inner secrets and disciplines worship -which result in purifying the inside, reforming the heart and developing the interior -are utmost ignorance and negligence. Both of these two groups are far away from the way of happiness and the straight path of humanity, and both are cut off from the stations of the people of knowledge.

The one who is aware of Allah and knows the stations, must observe all the inner and outer rights and help everyone who has a right to get it. He must purify himself of exaggeration, fault and going to the extremes, remove the filth of denying the outside of the Shari'ah, which is, in fact, limitation, and remove the filth of denying the inside of the Shari'ah, which is restriction, and both of which are of the temptations of Satan and his treacheries, so that the road of travelling to Allah and attaining to the spiritiual stations become easy for him.

Thus, one of the stages of removing filth is removing the filths of the false fancies which prevent Allah's proximity and the ascension of the believers. One of the concepts and positions of the universality of the ultimate prophethood, or rather, of the proofs of the finality of the prophethood, is that he (the Last Prophet) attained, in all the spiritual states to all their rights and shares as regards all the affairs of the Shari'ah. As in the knowledge of the affairs of the Lordship, the Glorified, He is known in the highest height and in the nearest nearness to the state of universality: "He is the First and the Last and the Outward and the Inward",[125] "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth...", [126] "If you are lowered down with a rope to the lowest of the earth, you will come down onto Allah" [127], and "...Wherever you turn, there is Allah's Face...", [128] etc., through which the knower of the divine knowledge, attracted by the divine attractions, feels invisible delight and divine ecstacy. Similarly the practical-cordial monotheism is permeated into the last stage of the horizon of the of nature and the corporeal body, and no being is deprived of a share of knowing Allah.

In short, the people of Sufism unknowingly speak of Isa's (Jesus's) wisdom, while the phenomenalists speak of the wisdom of Moses. The Muhammadans, however, are, by limitation, innocent of both of them. To expand on this brief is out of the question and does not suit these pages.

Connection

Quoting Imam as Sadiq (AS) Mis'bahush-Shari'ah narrates: "The mustarah (W.C.= washing closet = where one relieves oneself = toilet) is called so because the people are relieved there from the weights of the filths, and they clear out there the dirts and impurities. The believer learns from this that the pure of the ephemeral things of this world (i.e., food) will finally have such an (impure) end. Then, he will be relieved by abandoning this world and turning away from it. He empties his soul and his heart from being engaged with it, and disdains collecting and possessing it, as he disdains the impurities, the feces and filth. He thinks, of himself, how he is honoured in an instance and feels humiliated in another. He then realizes that adhering to contentedness and taqwa gives him relief in both worlds, that comfort is in neglecting this world, in refraining from enjoying it and in removing the impurity of (wanting) the unlawful and the doubtful, and so, he closes the door of arrogance to himself after knowing it, runs away from sins, opens the door of modesty, remorse and shyness, strives to carry out His commands and to refrain from the forbidden, hoping for a good return and a delightful proximity. He imprisons himself in the prison of fear, patience and abstinence from (satisfying) the desires until he arrives, with Allah's custody, in the eternal abode, and tastes His pleasure, as this is what is reliable (counted), and everything else is nothing." [129] This is the end of his noble speech.

In this noble speech there is a comprehensive order for the people of knowledge and suluk, and it is that a conscious person, on his journey to the Last Abode, must, in whatever state he may be, demand all the spiritual pleasures, and not neglect, in any condition, to remember his ultimate goal and return. That is why the wise men have said: "The Prophet serves the (divine) decree [qada'] as the physician serves the body." As the great prophets and holy men [auliya] (AS) have no care whatsoever except for Allah's decree [qada'] and the "near-to-Allah" [yalillahi] aspect, and the heavenly Kingdom [malakut] of the divine decree governs their hearts, they believe that the management of all affairs is in the hands of Allah's angels, who are the divine soldiers, while the physical physician, being far from this stage and discarded from this valley, ascribes the running of the affairs of nature to the natural powers.

In brief, a salik should, in all conditions, make use of all the aspects of his suluk. So, as he sees that the trivial matters and the pleasures of the visible world are destined to annihilation and change, and realizes that their fate is corruption and vanishing, he will easily have his heart turn away from them and free his heart from thinking of them and being engaged with them, and he will be disgusted with them as he is with filths. The inside of the world of nature is filthy. Filth and dirt seen in a dream -which is a door of revelation [mukashafah] are interpreted to mean worldly positions and wealth, and, according to the revelations [mukashafah] of' Ali (AS), this world is but a carrion. [130] So, as the believer empties himself from the loads and excretions of nature and relieves the natural town from their harm, he is also to relieve his heart from being attached to it (nature) and getting engaged with it. He is to remove from his heart the burden of loving the world and position, and empty the spiritual utopia and relieve it from those impurities. Let him think how being engaged in the world will , after few hours, humiliate the honourable soul and force it to undergo the worst and most disgraceful state. Let him know that to busy the heart with the world, after a while, when the curtain of visibility is drawn up and the veil of nature is pushed aside, will humiliate man and bring him to the reckoning and punishment. He is to know that adherence to taqwa and contentment brings comfort in both worlds -a comfort which is a result of neglecting the world, be-slighting it and rejecting its pleasures and entertainments. Having purged himself of the formal filths , he is also to purify himself from the impurities of the haram (the unlawful) and the doubtful cases.

Having understood himself and recognized the humility of his need, he has to close to himself the door of arrogance and haughtiness, to run away from recalcitrance and sin, and to open to himself the door of modesty, remorse and shyness. He is to strive to obey Allah and refrain from disobedience, so as to return to Allah good and well, and to attain Allah's proximity with purity and serenity of the soul. He is to imprison himself in the prison of fear and patience and curb his soul of its desires, so as to be saved from the prison of Allah's punishment, and to join Allah's custody in the eternal abode, and, thus, to taste Allah's contentment. This is the ultimate hope of the people of suluk, and everything else is nought.

Notes:

[119]. Refer to footnote No. 21.

[120]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 78, p. 51, "Book of Purification", ch. on "The Incumbency of the Ghusl of Janabah", hadith 23.

[121]. Jami' Ahadithish-Shi'ah, "Book of Purification", chs. on "The Ghusl and its Regulations", ch. 12.

[l22]. "I am better than him. You have created me of fire, and him You created of dust." (Surah Sad: 76).

[123]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 71, p. 95, quoted from Ma'aniyul Akhbar, p. 302.

[124]. Ibid., vol. 66, p. 129, quoted from al-Mahasin, p. 528.

[125]. Surah al-Hadid: 3.

[126]. Surah Nur: 35.

[127]. 'Ilmul Yaqin, vol. 1, p. 54.

[128]. Surah al-Baqarah: 115.

[129]. Misbahush-Shari'ah, ch. 9, "Privy = W.C."

[130]. Nahjul Balaghah, edited by Faydul Islam, sermon No.108: "They fell upon a carrion by eating of which they were exposed." Or as in sermon No. 151: "They are falling upon an easy carrion."

Objective Two

General Disciplines for the Clothes

Know that man's rational soul is a reality which, at the same time of its unity and perfect simplicity, has diverse aspects (growths = nasha'at), the principal ones of which are, generally, three:

The first aspect (growth = nash'ah) is the external mundane visible aspect, displayed in the apparent senses, and its lowest surface is the body.

The second is the aspect [nash'ah] of the barzakh world (the Isthmus, or the intermediate, world) displayed in the internal senses, the barzakhian (intermediate) body and "the mould of the ideal" [qalib-i mithali]".

The third is the invisible internal aspect [nash'ah], displayed in the heart and in its affairs.

The relation of each of these aspects to the other is that of the external to the internal, and of the manifestation to the manifested. This is the reason for the effects, the characteristics and the reactions of each of these aspects to permeate into the other aspects. For example, if the sense of seeing discerns something, it will have an effect on the barzakhian sense of seeing according to its aspect [nash'ah]. Then the effect is transmitted to the internal seeing sense of the heart according to its aspect [nash'ah]. In the same way the effects of the cordial aspect appear in the other two aspects. This, besides being proved by a strong and firm evidence, coincides with the conscience, too. Consequently, all the formal disciplines of the Shar' have their effect, or effects on the interior; and each of the good characters -which belong to the barzakhian status of the soul also has its effects on the exterior and interior. All the divine knowledge [ma'arif] and the true beliefs also have their effects on the two barzakhian and external aspects. For example, this belief that to have control over the kingdom of existence as well as the invisible and visible worlds belongs to Allah, and no other being has any control over them, except that permitted shadowy control, brings about so many spiritual perfections and good human moralities, such as depending on Allah and trusting Him, and pinning no hope on any creature. This is the mother of perfections and the cause of so many good deeds and commendable acts, and prevents one from committing evil practices. Likewise other sorts of knowledge, which are so numerous that these pages, as well as the broken pen of the writer, have no patience to count them nor to relate the effects of each one of them, since it needs writing a huge book which can be expected only from the powerful pen of the people of knowledge, or from a warm soul of "the people of ecstasy" [ahl-i hal]: My hand is short, while the dates are (high) on the date-palms". [131]

Similar is, for example, contentment [rida'] as a character, which is one of the human moral perfections. It is effective in purifying and polishing the soul, rendering the heart a place for special divine manifestations, elevating faith to a perfect faith, the perfect faith to tranquillity [tuma'ninah], tranquillity to its perfection, its perfection to vision [mushahadah], the vision to a perfect vision, its perfection to "reciprocal love" [mushahadah] (with the Beloved), the reciprocal love to its perfection, its perfection to courting [murawadah], the courting to its perfection, its perfection to union [murawadah], the union to its perfection, and to what neither I nor you can imagine. The character of contentment has a surprising effect on the kingdom of the body and on the formal marks and acts, which are leaves and branches. It changes hearing, seeing and other powers and organs into divine ones, and the secret of "I will be his hearing and seeing" [132] is somewhat manifested. As those stages have an effect, or rather, effects, on the appearance, they are also affected so surprisingly by the outer shape, all the ordinary and extraordinary movements and pauses, and all the acts and abstentions, so that it sometimes happens that a scornful glance by a salik at a servant of Allah causes the salik to fall from his high status to the lowest of the low, and this will need him years to make up for it.

Now, as our helpless hearts are weak and shaky, like the weeping willows, losing their stillness, by every gentle breeze, it would be, therefore, necessary, even in ordinary situations -one of which is the instance of choosing one's clothes -to observe the conditions of the heart and to take care of it. As the soul and Satan have quite firm snares and clever delusions which we are unable to understand, we have to do our best, as much as we can and is in our capacity, to resist them, and to ask, in all cases, Allah's help and support for success.

So, we say that as it has become clear that the exterior and the interior have reciprocal effects, the seeker for the truth and spiritual elevation has to avoid choosing such clothes and models which have bad effects on the spirit, deviate the heart from perseverance and remembering Allah, and turn the soul's direction to worldly matters. Do not think that Satan's delusions and the tricks of the evil-commanding soul are confined only to expensive and nice clothes and luxurious articles. Actually even by old and worthless clothes they may disgrace a man. Therefore, one should avoid seeking fame through clothes, or rather he should avoid all conducts contrary to the normal and the customary. He is to abstain from wearing highly luxurious clothes made of expensive materials and attractively and notoriously tailored, because our hearts are very weak and inconstant, and they slip by slightest distinction and deviate from moderation. It may often happen that a wretched, helpless man, devoid of all degrees of honour, humanity, dignity and perfection, just because of a few meters of silk or woollen cloth, well tailored in a foreign style, and which might have been obtained through shameful and dishonourable bargains, looks down upon the servants of Allah with scorn, arrogance and haughtiness, devaluating the people. This is caused only by a completely powerless soul with so small a capacity that it takes the spit of a worm or the apparel of a sheep to be a cause of honour and dignity for itself.

O helpless man! How wretched and indigent you are! You should be the pride of the world of possibility, and the gist of space and place. You are the offspring of Adam, and you should teach the names and the attributes. You are the child of the (Allah's) successor; so, you should be of the brilliant signs (of Allah). "A whistle calls you from the turret of the 'Arsh". [133] You, unfortunate degenerate! You have usurped a handful of remnants and apparels of helpless animals, by which you take pride. This pride of yours is that of a silk worm, a sheep, a camel, a squirrel or a fox. Why do you feel proud of others' clothes, and show arrogance by others' pride?

In short, as the quality, the value and the decoration of the clothes have their effects on the souls, Imam Amirul Mu'minin (AS), as quoted by the late Qutb the Rowandi, said: "Whoever wears luxurious clothes, he will be, inevitably, arrogant, and the Fire is inevitably for the arrogant." [134] There are effects in their fashion and tailoring. It sometimes happens that the one who wears the clothes cut similar to those of the foreigners, gets a feeling of ignorant attachment to them, and thus, he repulses and abominates the friends of Allah and His Messenger, and loves their enemies. In this respect, Imam as Sadiq (AS) is quoted to have said: "Allah, the Exalted and Most High, inspired one of the prophets commanding him: 'Tell the believers not to wear the clothes of My enemies, not to eat like My enemies, and not to walk like My enemies, so as not to be My enemies as they are My enemies."' [135]

As the too luxurious clothes affect the souls, similarly, too low and shabby clothes, both in material and quality, also affect them. It is most probably that this is more corruptive, by many degrees, than the exquisite clothes, as the soul can have quite crafty plots. When one sees himself distinguished from others by wearing rough, denim clothes, while others wear fine, soft clothes, he tries, as he loves himself, to neglect his defects, regarding this accidental and irrelevant affair as a matter of pride. He may probably get to admire himself and look down at the servants of Allah, alleging that the others are out of Allah's holy sanctum, thinking himself to be among the most sincere and favourite servants of Allah. It is also most probable that he will be afflicted with hypocrisy and other big corruptions. So wretched he is that, out of all the degrees of knowledge, taqwa and spiritual perfections, he suffices himself with rough, shabby wears, unaware of thousands of his big faults, the biggest of which is this very bad effect resulting from these clothes. He thinks himself, who is of Satan's friends, of the people of Allah, regarding the servants of Allah as nothing and worthless. It also happens that the style and the way he wears his clothes throw him into many mischiefs, such as wearing them in such an arrangement as to make him famous as an ascetic and a holy man.

In short, to wear clothes for distinction, on either side of the extremities, is a matter which shakes the weak hearts, and deprives them from good moralities, and causes conceit, hypocrisy, arrogance and pride, each one of which is a mother of spiritual vileness. They further lead to being attached to this world and loving it, which is the head of all sins and the source of all evils. Many hadiths also refer to many of the said affairs, as is stated in the noble al-Kafi, quoting Imam as Sadiq (AS), saying: "Allah, the Exalted, becomes angry with one's getting famous through clothes". [136]

He is also quoted to have said: "The famous, good or bad, is in the Fire." [137]

He is further quoted to have said: "Allah becomes angry with two fames: the fame of clothes and the fame of the salat." [138]

A hadith is quoted from the Messenger of Allah (SA), saying: "Whoever wears an apparel of fame, Allah will make him wear, in the Hereafter, an apparel of humility." [139]

Notes:

[131]. My leg is lame, while the destination is so far, My hand is short, while the dates are (high) on the date-palms. (by Hafiz Shirazi).

[132]. Refer to footnote No.21.

[133]. Refer to footnote No.96.

[134]. Mustadrakul Wasa'il, "Book of as-Salat", chs. on "The Rules of the Clothes", ch. 16, Hadith 5, quoted from Lubbul Albab, Qutb the Rawandi.

[135]. Al-Jawahirus-Saniyah, ch. on "Abu 'Abdullah Ja'far ibn Muhammad, as Sadiq", Hadith 60.

[136]. Wasa'ilush-Shi'ah, vol. 3, p. 354, "Book of as Salat", chs. on "Rules Concerning the Clothes", ch. 12, Hadith 1.

[137]. Ibid, Hadith 3.

[138]. Mustadrakul Wasa'il, "Book of as Salat", chs. on "The Rules of the Clothes", ch. 8, Hadith 2.

[139]. Ibid., Hadith 1.

source : Adabus Salat The Disciplines of the Prayer by Imam Khomeini

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