“It is
not fitting for a man that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration, or
from behind a veil, or by the sending of a messenger to reveal, with Allah's
permission, what Allah wills: for He is Most High, Most Wise” Surah Asy Syuura,
51
“The inspiration you seek is already within you. Be silent and listen” Rumi
“Whatever message We abrogate or cause it to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or one like it” Surah Al Baqarah, 106
We raise to degrees of wisdom whom We please: but over all endued with knowledge there is other over him more knowing - Surah Yusuf: 76
There are two kinds of knowledge, one is the knowledge
of the physical existence which is acquired through reading books from the
greatest continents. This is the lower knowledge of grammar, ceremonial etc; and
the other is the knowledge of the spiritual existence which is acquired via the
gift of inspiration and some of which has already been inscribed in your soul.
This is higher knowledge by which the unknown is made known, of which being
made known, all else will become known.
“Worldly
senses are the ladder of the earth. Spiritual senses are the ladder of heaven”
Rumi said that there are two kinds of intelligence: one acquired, as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts from books and from what the teacher says, collecting information from the traditional sciences as well as from the new sciences.
“Islam initiated as something strange, and it would revert to its (old position) of being strange. So, good tidings for the stranger” Sahīḥ Muslim 145
One day a man came to the Holy Prophet Muhammad saw and said: teach me some of the strange things of knowledge. He asked him, what have you done with the beginning of knowledge? The man said: what is the beginning of knowledge? The Prophet replied: have you known God? He said: Yes, He asked: what have you learnt about this truth? He said: what God willed. The Prophet said: have you known death? He said: yes. He said: how have you prepared for it? He said: what God willed. The Prophet said: go and gain experience of these things first and then I shall teach you some of the strange things of knowledge.
Abu Huraira is reported to have said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: Verily, Allah will raise up in this nation at the beginning of every century someone who will renew their religion - Sunan Abi Dawud >4291 Sahih.
Ibn Umar reported: the Messenger of
Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: Be in this world as if you were a
stranger or a traveler along a path - Sahih al-Bukharī 6053.
The Holy Quran : A Gift of Knowledge
“And before thee also the apostles We sent were but men, to whom We granted inspiration: if ye realise this not, ask the ahlul dhikr Who possess the Message” Surah An Nahl, 43
Rumi said about high value knowledge, “with such intelligence you rise in the world. You get ranked ahead or behind others in regard to your competence in retaining information. You stroll with this intelligence in and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more marks on your preserving tablets. There is another kind of tablet, one already completed and preserved inside you. A spring overflowing its spring box. A freshness in the center of the chest. This other intelligence does not turn yellow or stagnate. It’s fluid, and it doesn’t move from outside to inside through conduits of plumbing-learning. This second knowing is a fountainhead from within you, moving out.”
Sayings of the sages: Hazrat Ali said to Kamil: O Kamil, knowledge is better than wealth. Knowledge guards you but you are guarding wealth. Knowledge dispenses justice, while wealth seeks justice. Wealth decreases with expense while knowledge increase with expense. He said: A learned man is better than one who prays and fights in the way of God. When a learned man dies, such a calamity befalls on Islam which cannot be removed except by his successor. Hazrat Ali said in a poem about the learned: “Glory is due to none other than to the learned. Guided are they and proofs to the seekers of guidance. Everybody is honoured proportionate to his knowledge, but the illiterate are disgraced as enemies of the learned. Acquire knowledge, you will be immortal. All men are dead, only the learned are alive.”
The sage Ibn Aswad said: nothing is more honourable than knowledge. While the kings rule over the people, the learned rule over the kings. Hazrat Ibn Mobarak was asked: Who are men? He replied: The learned, He was again asked: Who are kings? He replied: The ascetics. He was again asked: who are the meanest? He said: Those who exchange religion for the world.
“He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: in it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the Book: others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part there of that is allegorical seeking discord and searching for its hidden meanings but no one knows its hidden meanings except God and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: “We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord”; and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding” Surah Āl-i-‘Imrān, 7
The Holy Qur’an possesses not only exoteric meanings but contain within itself esoteric significance as well. My teachings renounces exoteric meaning of the Qur’an so we may be able to perceive its esoteric meaning which, in mystical interpretation and spiritual knowledge, goes beyond the exoteric thinking of the verses so as to grasp its mysteries and intelligence. The Holy Quran is God-intelligence and anything less than that is not Allah swt. Therefore, the interpretation of the Holy Quran cannot be confined to just one creed alone or else, all of its rubies and diamonds will be buried as a lost treasure. Such a loss is beyond comprehension.
The Prophet said: read the Quran and search for its unknown matters. Whosoever opposes the Quran among the transgressors, Allah swt punishes him. Whosoever search learning other than the Quran, Allah swt misguides him as the Quran is the firmest tie, open light and benefiting medicine. If anybody holds it firm, it protects him. If one follows it, it gives him salvation. Regarding the external meaning of the Quran, there are innumerable sayings of the Prophet. The Prophet said: he who interprets the Quran according to his own opinion should seek his abode in Hell. Thus, he prohibited individual interpretation according to his own opinion. Saidina Abu Bakr said: if I interpret the Quran according to my opinion what world will give me protection and what sky will give me shade?”
Imam Ghaazali said that the prohibition has got two objects. The first object
is to limit it in Hadith and Tafsir, not to discover new meanings and to give
up independent thinking.
The second object is other than that. If its object is
that a man cannot interpret the Quran except according to the standard Tafsirs,
it is void for the reasons given below:
1. One condition of interpretation is that it should rest upon the interpretation of the Prophet. If it is accepted. Tafsirs of Ibn Abbas and Ibn Masud cannot be accepted as they had their opinion also therein.
2. There are different opinions regarding the interpretation of some verses among the companions. It was not possible for them to be unanimous. Everybody did not interpret it after hearing it from the Prophet, then their own opinions are fit to be rejected. It is well known that the interpreters extracted many meanings by applying their intellect. Even they had seven interpretations of the abbreviated words at the beginning of a chapter. So how can it be said that they interpreted them by hearing every thing from the Prophet?
3. The Prophet prayed for Ibn Abbas by saying: “O Allah, give him knowledge in theology and give him learning of interpretation.” What is then the meaning of his special prayer for him if interpretation cannot come except from his saying?
4. “Those who discover meaning by their intellect know it certainly”- in this verse, to discover meanings by exercise of intellect by the learned men has been spoken of. To discover open meanings is different from what is heard. The tradition regarding the interpretation of the Quran is opposed to this verse. So it appears that it is incorrect to impose condition of Tafsir only in all interpretations and it is lawful to discover the meaning of the Quran according to the limit of one's own intelligence.
- Extract from the “Revival of Religious Learning” Ihya Ulumuddin Vol. 1 by Imam Ghazali translated by Fazl-ul-Karim.
Study the Quran as it should be Studied
If you “study the Quran as it should be studied” (Surah Al Baqarah, 121), you will find treasures of diamonds, pearls and rubies that is hidden in its allegory rendition, similitude, signs and symbols. The Holy Quran is not just about grammar and commandments, it possesses the greatest science of life: who am I, what the purpose of my existence is and to where am I going. You recite the Holy Quran with the most beautiful measured rhythmic tone and perfect in tajwid, but you know not its meaning is like the story they tell of a certain king, said Rumi. “This king entrusted his son to a team of learned scholars. In due course, they taught him the sciences of astrology, geomancy, and the interpretation of signs, until he became a complete master, despite his utter stupidity and dullness of wit. One day the king took a ring in his fist and put his son to the test. “Come, tell me what I am holding in my fist”
“What you are holding is round, yellow, inscribed and hollow,” the prince answered. “You have given all the signs correctly,” the king said. “Now say what it is.” “It must be a sieve” the prince replied. “What?” cried the King, “you know all the minute details, which would baffle the minds of anyone, how is it that out of all your powerful learning and knowledge, the small point has escaped you that a sieve will not fit in a fist?”
“They know the outward of this world’s life, but of the Hereafter, they are heedless” Surah Ar Ruum, 7
Rumi goes on to say, "in this same way, the great scholars of the age split hairs on details of all matters said Rumi. They know perfectly and completely those sciences that do not concern the soul. But as for what is truly of importance and touches us more closely than anything else, namely our own Self, this your great scholars do not know. They make statements about everything, saying, “this is true and that is not true. This is right and that is wrong.” Yet, they do not know their own Self, whether it is true or false, pure or impure. Now being hollow and yellow, inscribed and circular, these features are accidental; cast the ring into the fire and none of them will remain. It becomes its essential self, purified of all appearances. So it is with the knowledge of scholars; what they know has no connection with the essential reality that alone exists when all these “signs” are gone. They speak wisely, expound at great length, and finally pronounce that what the king has in his hand is a sieve. They have no knowledge about the root of the matter: life’s purpose."
"I am a bird. I am a nightingale. If they say to me, “make some other kind of sound,” I cannot. My tongue is what it is. I cannot speak otherwise. However, those who learn the song of birds are not birds themselves—on the contrary, they are the enemies of birds and their captors. They sing and whistle so others will take them for birds. Ask them to produce a different sound and they can do so, because that sound is merely assumed by them. It is not truly their own. Like the scholars, they are able to sing other songs because they have learned to rob those songs, and to show off a different tune stolen from every breast.”
Therefore, seek knowledge from a learned man. They are an intermediary between Allah swt and men. The learned men are the lights of the ages. Each is a light in his own time giving light to the people of his time, so I have learned from the wise.
“This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah” Surah Al Baqarah, 2
“Follow (O men!) The revelation given unto you from your Lord, and follow not, as friends or protectors, other than Him. Little it is ye remember of admonition” Surah Al Ar’aaf, 3
Rumi states about the importance of knowing the meaning of the Holy Quran, “someone said: “Ibn Muqri recites the Koran correctly.” Rumi said: Yes, he recites the form of the Koran correctly, but he has no knowledge of its meaning. This is proven by the fact that when he is questioned for its meaning, he cannot answer. He recites blindly. He is like a man who holds an old, tattered sable in his hand; he is offered a newer, finer sable, but he refuses it. So we can see that he doesn’t know what sable really is. Someone told him that this is sable, and he blindly accepted it. It is like children playing with walnuts. Offer them the nut itself, or the oil of the walnut, and they will refuse it, saying, “the walnut is what we spin on the table. This doesn’t spin.” God’s treasuries are many, and God’s sciences are many. If he recites this Koran with knowledge, why does he reject the eternal Koran?” – The Discourse of Rumi, translated by AJ Arberry.
“We did not acquire the knowledge of tassawuf just by talking about it, but rather we acquire it through spending the nights awake in prayer, hunger from fasting the days and going against our worldly desire” Imam Junaid
“Though it is no blame to thee if he grow not (in spiritual understanding)” Surah Al Abasa, 3 &’ 7
In order to attain spiritual knowledge, one must be free from the desire of the flesh and desire only Allah swt. While others are eating, one uphold fasting as a way of life and while others are asleep, one is awake to the night prayer, while others possesses the desire of all worldly gains and affairs one becomes a fakir and wants nothing but Allah swt. Tassawuf (spiritual knowledge) is obtained not through talking about it with mere words and exchange of views or opinion but by slaying your self, giving up the worldly desire, hunger, prostration during the night, submission to Him alone and engages his every state in His remembrance.
"Who is he that will loan to Allah a beautiful loan, which Allah will double unto his credit and multiply many times? It is Allah that giveth (you) want or plenty, and to Him shall be your return" Surah Al-Baqarah, 245
When desire of the world dwells
in the heart ceases, then you can hear hundred messages echoing inside you. The
truth is, the slaying of one self to the worldly desire is the most beautiful
loan one can loan to Allah swt and when performed faithfully, one not only will
gain entrance to divine knowledge but one also knows his Lord within his
consciousness, the path that leads to the salvation of the
soul.
“To become spiritual, you must die to self and become alive in the Lord. Only then will the mysteries of God fall from your lips. To die to self through self discipline causes sufferings but brings you everlasting life” Rumi
"I left myself to behold the Beloved" Sallina Ismail
In my struggling years of life’s turmoil, I left
myself in order to behold the Beloved. Fana is free will and baqa is divine
will. Therefore, one must struggle within oneself to be fana, free from the
bondage of nafs and ego so as to attain higher stages of baqa which is a gift
from Allah swt proceeding from His love and mercy. It’s a very hard strive even
my heart is refusing me and I struggled within my soul and at war with the
desires of my naf.
But through spiritual discipline, I am now devoid of all and
vanish everything worldly including discarding the gods that exist within and
outside of me. I am now peaceful, serene, and happy and feel fulfilled with the
unity of Allah swt and nothing else matters. There is no god but Allah is now
embedded within my soul, consciousness, being-ness and awareness.
“God has servants who cloak themselves in a wisdom, knowingness and grace invisible to others” Rumi
"For my Protector is Allah, Who revealed the Book (from time to time), and He will choose and befriend the righteous” Surah Al A’raaf, 196
“Say: "If ye do love Allah, Follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins: For Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful" Surah Al-Imraan, 31
It was reported by one of Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, a Sufi mystic and a Sunni Muslim murid, that when his master was asked by someone what he had received from Allah swt of Truth (Glorious and Exalted He is), he replied, “adab and knowledge (Ilm’).”
Through spiritual discipline, one not only expand in spiritual knowledge but is cloaked with His favors, blessings and a beautiful pattern of conduct. He is fakir and happy only with his Lord and is always in unity with Him and he is empty of existence and only aware of His face. He is sincere in his purpose of existence and his soul enter the vastness of divine nearness in pious reverence. He has indeed arrived at the threshold of light and receives the robe of honor from his Lord and he is now a friend of Allah swt.
Allah swt, ever Exalted is He says, “whoever treats a friend of Mine as an enemy, on him I declare war. My servant draws near to Me by nothing dearer to Me than that which I have established as a duty for him. And My servants does not cease to reproach Me through supererogatory acts until I love Him. And when I love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps and his foot with which he walks. And if he asks Me (for something) I give it to him. If he seeks refuge with Me, I place him under My protection. In nothing do I hesitate so much as I hesitate (to take) the soul of a believer. He has a horror of death and I have a horror of harming him” – Al Bukhari according to Abu Huraira.
Allah swt the All Mighty and Majestic is He, says, “amongst My friends, the one to be envied the most, in My eyes, is the believer who has but little means and whose fortune is prayer, who worships his Lord in the best modes, obeying Him in secret and in public. He is unnoticed amongst men and they do not point him out with their fingers. His livelihood is just sufficient and he accepts that with patience.” Then the Holy Prophet Muhammad saw snapped his fingers and said: “his death is hastened, his mourners few, his estate of little worth.”
Reaching this state is the greatest gift because whosoever demeans one of His friends has declared war with Allah swt. Ahhh! Such unconditional love is rare and what a beautiful friendship we have missed. We are being fed with hearsays that we are unable to have a friendship relation with Allah swt, what more of being a lover of Allah swt and this is the worst crime against our ummah.
“Nothing
have We omitted from the Book” Surah Al An’am, 38
Punishment for Heedless Recitation. Abu Solaiman Darani said: the angels of Hell will arrest those who commit the Quran to memory but become disobedient to Allah swt. Prophet Muhammad saw said: he who knows the unlawful things of the Quran as lawful does not believe in the Quran. Ibn Masud said: the Quran was revealed to you for doing actions. So translate your recitation into action. There are men among you who recite the Quran from first to last and do not omit a single word therefrom but they do not translate it into action.
In the Torah: Allah swt says, “O My servant, are you not ashamed of Me? If a letter from your friend comes to you in your journey, you at once come to a side of the road and read with an attentive mind every word and sentence of it and you do not omit anything from it, but I sent My Book to you and I am seeing with what attentive mind you are reading it and how you have followed its commands and prohibitions. But you have turned your face from it. O’ My servants, have you considered it meaner than your friend's letter? I am present to you. I am speaking with you but you have turned your mind from Me. Have I become meaner to you than your friend?”
Pleasant indeed are those who study and engages his thought, mind and consciousness in the teachings of the Holy Quran and the sunnatullah. What is more beautiful and lovely than committing oneself to acquire knowledge of His qalam and uphold it in his/her daily life? But most men follow what their ancestors do rather than upholding the Quran in Truth.
“The eye of the needle of passion is narrow; know for a certainty that it will not admit any thread when it perceives it to be of double strand” Rumi
In my years of dakwah, bringing the ummah to witness the Miracles of the Holy Quran and Science in Islamic Sufism perspective paralleled to Quantum Mechanics, Cognitive Science, Biophysics, Neuroscience, Scientific Metaphysics and Astrophysics, almost 80% of them refuses to believe. Even I have showed them proofs and signs of the greatness of Ellah’s Qalam and His intelligent scheme and plan that is in the horizon which is within their own soul, they did not believe. They are looking at their own self through a needle’s eye and when I wish to show them the vast universe that exists within their own subtle body, they turned away. Such sadness I could not contained.
“We know best why it is they listen, when they listen to thee; and when they meet in private conference, behold, the wicked say, "Ye follow none other than a man bewitched!" Surah Al-Israa, 47
"Or (Why) has not a treasure been bestowed on him, or why has he (not) a garden for enjoyment?" The wicked say: "Ye follow none other than a man bewitched" Surah Al Furqaan, 8
“They said: "Thou art only one of those bewitched!” Surah Ash-Shu'araa, 153 & 185
“We knows best why it is they listen, when they listen to thee; and when they meet in private conference, behold, the wicked say, "Ye follow none other than a man bewitched!" Surah Al Israa, 47
Do not listen to Maryam, she is none other than a woman bewitched. A phrase I used to hear every time I give talks about the miracles of the Holy Quran, Science and Tassawuf (Spiritual Knowledge). These are the debaters, on WhatsApp, whisperings, YouTube and gatherings in the mosque to discredit people of truth. There will always be enemies amongst us. These two traits of consciousness will forever exist: the believers and the non-believers. But look yet again to those minds who lived before and look at those minds that lived in the 21st century, like seed decays and again it is reborn. Look yet again!
“Surely they are an enemy to me, but not so the Lord of the Worlds who is the only Friend” QS 27 : 77
However, a conversation between Ertugrul and Ibn Arabi in the movie Resurrection: Ertugrul healed my sorrowful heart.
Ertugrul: “There is always an enemy.”
“Fear Allah, and Allah will teach you” Surah Al-Baqarah, 282
Allah has protected me from my enemies, the jealous, the debaters, the evil and those who might plot against me. He has made everything convenient for my teachings of the science of Allah swt and sent me students from everywhere. He gave me good knowledge of many things in “an atom’s weight” understanding, the ability to teach and authoring books. Such a gift is beyond measure and is beyond the wealth of this world.
“Naught but love itself can explain love and lovers! None but the sun can display the sun” Rumi
Debaters do not fear Allah swt. They also blatantly called some friends of Allah swt as “way out of path.” Oh my darlings, how can you know what you know not of which you think you know it all? To understand the words of Sufis and Saints, because of the nature of its subtlety, you have to experience it within your own soul to be able to grasp its meaning and this is a gift beyond measure. IT is said that, “like attracts like.” We are unable to interpret the meaning of their words as it is more subtle than the subtler and is beyond ordinary senses and its physical understanding.
The ignorant and the envious loves to forge controversies the knowledge that was acquired by friends of Allah swt and those who are blessed with ilm' laduni, which is not within their grasp, hence, they debate and judged the knowledge as ‘way out of path.’ Imam Ghazali said that a debater is never free from envy and hatred. Envy is a burning fire. In this regard, Prophet Muhammad saw said, envy consumes good deeds as fire consumes fuels. One who falls in it gets punishments' in the world. Ibn Abbas said “acquire knowledge wherever it is found and don't obey the devils who are prone to disputes.”
The debaters are full of pride because they think they know it all when they should humble down to think that they don’t know it all, only He knows it all. Such pride is prone to the punishment of hell. The Prophet said: a believer cannot have pride in him. In Hadith Qudsi, Allah swt says: "Grandeur is My cloak and pride is My mantle. I destroy one who snatches anything of these two from Me.”
The attributes of evil debaters is written in Revival of Religious Learning by Imam Ghazali. He states that, debaters of knowledge possesses the nature of a rancour: a debater is seldom free from the evil of rancour. The Prophet said: a believer has got no rancour. A debater back-bite their own brothers and sisters which is likened by Allah swt to the eating of carrion (QS 49:12). A debater ascribes to his opponent foolishness, ignorance and stupidity. A debater declares of self-purity. Allah swt says: don't attribute purity of yourself. He knows best who fears Him (QS 53:33). They spy and pry into the secrets of adversary. Allah swt says: pry not (49:12). Debaters turn away from the truth. The most hateful thing to a debater is to reject the truth revealed to his adversary and thus he takes to deception and deceit.
Prophet Muhammad saw prohibited dispute about useless things. He said: if a man gives up disputation in matters of unlawful things, a garden will be built for him in paradise. If a man gives up disputation in matters of truth, a house will be built up for him in the highest paradise. Allah swt says: he is more wrongful than one who devises a lie against Allah and calls the truth a lie when it comes to him (QS 29:68). Allah swt says: who is more wrongful that he who lies against Allah and treats the truth as falsehood (QS 39:33)? Another fault of debate is show and flattering the people in an effort to win their favor and to mislead them. Hypocrisy is the greatest disease with which a debater is attacked and it is a major sin. Deception. Debaters are compelled to deception.
Imam Ghazali said that he who shuns the learning of practice and remains busy in arguments is like a sick man who suffers from many diseases, but when he fears death, he goes to an experienced physician and asks him many questions of the qualities of drugs and complexities of medical profession but he does not ask him about his diseases. This is the height of foolishness.
"Wigner's Friend" Thought Experiment and The Reality of Knowledge.
In February, 2019, a team of physicists from Heriot-Watt University in
Edinburgh led by Massimiliano Proietti recreate a quantum physics thought
experiment “Wigner's Friend” which demonstrate how two observers, under the
right conditions, observing the same events can see two different things happen
and both be correct.
The experiment involves two researchers observing a single photon that can act as either a particle or a wave under different conditions. The photon can exist in one of two states, until an act of measurement determine which state the photon exist called superposition. In the thought experiment, a scientist quietly analyzes the photon and determines its alignment. Another scientist, unaware of the first measurement, is able to confirm that the photon - and thus, the first scientist's measurement - still exists in a quantum superposition of all possible outcomes. As a result, each scientist experienced a different reality. Both are correct and true, although they disagree with each other. “This calls into question the objective status of the facts established by the two observers,” said Proietti and team.
When I sent a hadith saying about Allah swt being a jealous God (Bukhari 2/438 & 439) (Bukhari 9/281) (Muslim 2761 and Tarmizi 1168), a brother provided the interpretation of its meaning in Hadith perspective.
Brother: [Sahih Bukhari, Book 62, Number 150] Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, “Verily, Allah becomes jealous and His jealousy is provoked when the believers approach what He has made unlawful.”
[Bukhari (4295] and Muslim [2761]. It was narrated that Sa‘d ibn ‘Ubaadah, said, “if I were to see a man with my wife, I would strike him with a sword, and not with the flat side of it.” When Rasulullah heard this, he said: “Are you surprised at Sa‘d's jealousy over his honor? By Allah, I am more jealous over my honor than he is over his, and Allah is more jealous than I am” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
My reply: In Tassawuf perspective, if Allah swt negate you away from persons whom you love and idolize, it means that He wants you to love and yearn Him alone. He is jealous over you. Hence, lovers of Allah swt are always alone. Their love for loneliness in His remembrance is because of the everything-ness they attained, therefore, the world and its adornment means nothing to them. Rumi said "the lover is always alone. Even surrounded by people, like water and oil, he remains apart." He goes on to say, God’s jealousy’s the cause—what can one do! Which heart by His love wasn’t torn in two?”
Both perspectives about Allah’s jealousy is correct although there maybe some disagreement within its construct amongst scholars.
Sami Yusuf, a brilliant artist who composed a song “ONE.” It annihilate me into another level of existence in ecstatic contemplation of Allah’s love when I listen to it. Its poetic rendition transcend my soul in heavenly emotion. Music, poems and songs lead me to the contemplation of Allah swt and it will always be a part of my life. My soul dance to the rhythm of soulful music and I am utterly seized and absorbed in divine yearning, like a mad wanderer and in that moment I fall in love that is beyond this world. Longing Him through songs, poetry and music is all I ever do, day and night. The Holy Prophet Muhammad saw said, “there is wisdom in poetry.”
There can be no movement without rhythm. Rhythm compensates! Rhythm is the Quantum Mechanics of creation. Where there is rhythm there is love and beauty. When you are in love with the One and Only and is absorbed and obliterated in the beauty of LOVE, everything becomes music to your soul. Music can lead you to the ecstatic contemplation of the Divine – love, longing, intimacy, contentment etc. Ahhh! What a beautiful collide I have missed my entire life.
Sami Yusuf wrote in his blog about the meaning of the song “ONE”- “it’s what the lyrics point to: Meister Eckhart and Abu al-Hasan al-Shushtari, each a genius of their respective paths, are speaking in different metaphysical languages of one and the same thing. The goal of ‘ONE’ is to emphasize the separate beauty of each path and at the same time their underlying unity.” The lyrics or poetic rendition of Meister Eckhart and Abu Al Hasan Al Shushtari are as follows,
“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love” Miester Eckhart, a German theologian, philosopher and mystic, born near Gotha in the Landgraviate of Thuringia in the Holy Roman.
“Annihilated, I then emerged, living on, but without I, and who am I, O’ I, but I? I drank from the eternal cup of love that is neither of this world nor of heaven” Abu al-Hasan al-Shushtarian, an Andalusian Sufi poet.
Different paths leads to the ecstatic contemplation of the One and
Only. This is the divine yearning and longing experienced and observed by those
who are righteous, from amongst the people of the Book, prophets, saints, Sufis
and the like. Under the right conditions, they observe
and experience two different realities and both be correct. The right
conditions, exceptional grace, the wholeness of their absolute consistent of
truth, faith and love and observing TAUHID with CERTAINTY which is maintained
that is inclusive to the spiritual experience, is very important and is the
fundamental principle for these two realities to co-exist.
This is to underscore how two observable realities can co-exist even though they produce irreconcilable outcome. And this is also to underscore that no two brains are alike and that ecstasies experienced are not the same. Physical eyes and intellect sees knowledge with a judgmental mind, spiritual eyes and its intelligent senses embraces knowledge with a loving mind through the mechanism of ‘love' and 'knowing-ness.’ That is the reason why in the realm of Free Will, disagreement exists even amongst scholars, the “I am right you are wrong way out of path” kind of attitude is truly a waste of time and energy.
In the realm of His love, we have no time for disagreements because we
are absorbed, immersed, preoccupied, consumed, fascinated, engrossed, wrapped
up and annihilated in His love that all we ever utter, speak, say, hear, sense,
think about, bring about, envisage, foresee and observe, contemplate and reflect
and do about is Allah swt – the Most High Most Supreme - and nothing else
matters to us except Him, with Him and to Him alone we yearn and we are
constant in contemplation of divine presence and cast off our thoughts and mind
about the world and its sense-objects and its disagreements, differences,
discords, the “I am right you are wrong” the judging kinda attitude stuff,
thank you very much.
"The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah's Messenger said to the Muslims, "do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them but say, "we believe in Allah and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you" - Sahih Al Bukhari Book 96, Hadith 89
"And cover not TRUTH with FALSEHOOD, nor conceal the TRUTH when ye know what it is" Surah Al Baqarah, 42
The Holy Quran, the Sunnah and Spiritual Knowledge (Tassawuf) or knowledge of Saints and Sufis and from amongst the people of the Book are realities of the same thing. They co-exist and one cannot outstrip the other. As long as the knowledge from amongst the people of the Book does not go against the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet Muhammad saw, embrace them, but if it goes against the teachings of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah, abandon them .... it is as simple as that.
Sufism is one of the Islamic sciences, an intrinsic value to Islamic faith. Imam Malik, one of the four Sunni Imams of Sharia quotes “he who practices Sufism without learning the Sacred Law or Sharia corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law or Sharia without practicing Sufism corrupts himself. Only he who combines the two proves true.” This saying is mentioned and explained in the book of the scholar 'Ali al-Adawi with the explanation of Imam Abil-Hassan, a scholar of Fiqh, vol. 2, p. 195.
In the realm of the physical existence, interpretation about the contemplation of Allah swt and His knowledge in the Holy Quran in its spiritual experience and significance is not reconcilable by many, even amongst scholars. Some even blatantly refuses to acknowledge the knowledge acquired by the Sufis. Rumi said about these scholars in The Discourses of Rumi translated by A J Arberry, “those who are loved by God can hardly be defective. Thus, let us praise those who criticize us, so their friends will think, “it is our friends who are at odds with the Sufis, since the Sufis always speak well to our friends.”
Audaciously I must say that religious establishment should
not silence spiritual knowledge and knowledge of mystic knowers. Rather, spiritual
knowledge (makrifah) and the knowledge of syariat and hakikat (reality) goes
hand in hand and one cannot outstrip the other. It would be lovely if we could
have an intelligent interaction and discussion based on these three knowledge
and one day, in shaaAllah, I hope this will be made possible.
Therefore, I hope that mystical and spiritual knowledge will always have their place in the minds of believers and scientific understanding. We are all so caught up with the knowledge of the physical existence that we disbelief in the rest. Ibn Arabi said about this mindset, "do not praise your own faith exclusively so that you disbelieve all the rest. If you do this you will miss much good. Nay, you will miss the whole truth of the matter. God, the Omniscient and the Omnipresent, cannot be confined to any one creed, for He says in the Quran, wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah. Everybody praises what he knows. His God is his own creature, and in praising it, he praises himself. Which he would not do if he were just, for his dislike, is based on ignorance."
Whosoever thinks that he knows it all, knows it not. The true knowers of truth knows they can never know it all because of the infinitude of His knowledge whilst the ignorant think they know it all and therefore discard the rest as ‘way out of path.’ Ibn Arabi said, “Whoever builds his faith exclusively on demonstrative proofs and deductive arguments, builds a faith on which it it is impossible to rely. For he is affected by the negativities of constant objections. Certainty (haqqul yakin) does not derive from the evidences of the mind but pours out from the depths of the heart.”
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