Let’s start the book with the name of
Allah!
Name of
Allah is the best refuge,
His blessings can never be measured nor calculated,
He is the Lord most compassionate and forgiving
Allâhu ta’âlâ pities all human beings in the world. He creates and sends
everyone the blessings they need. He also teaches them how to use these
blessings to attain happiness of this world and the next. Imâm ar-Rabbânî
‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ, in his 259th letter informs us that those disbelievers
who never heard of Islam will not be punished in Hell. They will be annihilated
along with the animals after their Judgement. People who hear about Islam and
ponder about it, and then accept it will be blessed with Paradise. He gave a
lifelong time-span for pondering. He forgives those who become believers after
lapsing into disbelief and deviation, which are mostly consequent upon
self-deceit, which in turn is exacerbated by evil company, seditious books and
subversive radio (and television) broadcasts. He saves them from eternal
disasters. He does not show the path of salvation to tyrants, wicked and
depraved people. He lets them stay in the pit of denial that they have fallen
into and which they like and desire. In the next world, He will forgive whom He
wishes among the Believers who deserve to go to Hell, and will send them to
Paradise after they are punished in Hell for their sins. He is the only One who
creates all living beings, keeps them in existence every moment, and protects
them against fear and horror.
If anyone thanks and praises
anyone else at any time and at any place for any reason, these thanks and
praise thus paid belongs to Allâhu ta’âlâ by rights, for He is the only One who creates and sends all kinds
of blessings and goodness. If He would not remind, create, and give strength,
no one could ever do any goodness or harm to anyone else. Only what He wills,
comes into existence. No one can do anything against His Will.
May our prayers for and greetings be to His
beloved Prophet Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa
sallam,’ who is the most beautiful and highest of all human beings in all
respects, be
also
upon all of his progeny, relatives, and companions ‘ridwânullâhi ta’âlâ
’alaihim ajma’în,’ who radiate good morals and knowledge.
Muslims are required to learn
“Islamic Knowledge.” It is divided into two branches, “Religious knowledge” and
“Scientific knowledge.” The scientific knowledge is called “Wisdom” (Hikmat). Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ said, “Wisdom is the lost
property of a Muslim. He should pick it up wherever he may find it.” This hadîth commands us to learn scientific knowledge. “Religious
knowledge” is made up of twenty sub-branches, eight of which contain teachings
of a higher level and the remaining twelve consist of teachings of a subsidiary
nature. One of the teachings of a higher level deals with ethics.
[A Muslim who has good morals
and is advanced in the scientific knowledge of his time is called a civil or a
progressive Muslim. Alternately, a person who is advanced in scientific
knowledge and has established basic industries, and yet who has poor morals is
called a tyrant, a regressive person, a bandit, or a dictator. Those who are
lagging behind in the scientific knowledge and arts and have poor morals are
called savages or vulgar people. Civilization means building cities and serving
human beings. This can be accomplished through scientific knowledge, arts, and
beautiful morals. In short, when the scientific knowledge and arts are
accompanied with beautiful morals, it is called civilization. A civilized
person uses scientific knowledge and arts for serving humanity. Alternately,
tyrants use them for torturing. We can see that a true Muslim is a progressive
person. Unbelievers are retrogressive, and miserable people. It is apparent
that civilization means constructing buildings and developing cities. This is
only possible through science and technology. Advancement in technology is due
to addition of new ideas to the ideas of the previous generations. People’s
living in peace and comfort is only possible through ethics of Islam.]
Learning Islamic knowledge as much as
necessary is an obligatory duty (fard) for every Muslim.
Islamic scholars have written numerous books on this subject. The following
books on the subject of ethics are well known: Akhlâq-i-Nâsirî by
Nasîruddîn-i Muhammad Tûsî, Akhlâq-i-Jalâlî by Jalâladdîn-i-Muhammad
Dawânî, and Akhlâq-i-Muhsînî by Husayn Wâiz-i
Kâshifî
of Hirat. We translated the first chapter of this (last) book from the book Berîka
written by Abû Sa’îd Muhammad Hâdimî ‘rahima hullâhu ta’âlâ’. In the first
chapter of this book we will deal with unacceptable poor morals rejected by
Islam and their prescribed cures. Poor morals are due to maladies of the
spiritual heart. They cause infinite death and destruction of the heart (qalb)
and the soul (rûh). In the second chapter of this book, we
will describe the meaning of ethics (akhlâq) and its varieties,
borrowing from the beginning chapters of the book Akhlâq-i-Alâî
written in Turkish by Alî bin Amrullah ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ,’ who passed away in
979 Hijrî, 1572 A.D. in Edirne / Turkey.
The uncorrupt youngsters who
read this book will understand and realize that their ancestors were healthy
people with good morals. They were also industrious, civilized, and progressive
people. By learning the truth about their ancestors they will not be misguided
by the lies and slanders of their enemies.
The name of the author of the
book Akhlâq an-Nâsirî was Nasîruddîn-i Muhammad Tûsî. He was born in Hijrî 597
in the city of Tus (Mashhad) and passed away in Hijrî 672 [1273 A.D.] in
Baghdad. He belonged to the Shi’ite sect of Muslims. He was one of the people
who were instrumental in Hulagu’s destruction of Baghdad and carnage of
hundreds of thousands of Muslims. He became the prime minister of Hulagu. He
founded a new library with the capacity of 400,000 books and a planetarium and
an Academy. He wrote many books.
Jalâladdîn-i Muhammad Dawânî
‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ,’ was born in 829 Hijrî and passed away 908 Hijrî [1503
A.D.] in Shiraz. He is one of the most profound among the Islamic scholars. He
wrote many books. His book Akhlâq-i-Jalâlî is in
Persian. Its eighth printing was accomplished in 1304 Hijrî, 1882 A.D. in
India. It has been translated into English.
Husayn Wâiz-i Kâshifî
‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’, was a preacher in the city of Hirat. He passed away in
Hijrî 910, 1505 A.D. in Hirat.
O you, virtuous youngsters! O you, noble and
dear children of those martyrs who spent their lives for learning and spreading
beautiful moral teachings of Islam and also sacrificed their lives for
spreading the religion of Allah to all human
beings!
Do learn the Islamic religion and its beautiful ethics, which our honourable
ancestors brought and entrusted in its pristine completeness and correctness to
your protection. Protect this holy object of care (amânat)
with all your might and power against the attacks of our enemies, that is,
those who attack our lives, properties, religion, and ethics, and who are
eyeing our beautiful country with rapacity! Strive hard to spread this correct
religion everywhere and thereby to save all human beings from infinite
disasters. Let it be known that our religion orders us to have beautiful
morals, mutual love for each other, respect for the elders and compassion for
younger people, and to be kind to everyone irrespective of their religious
opinions. Pay everyone’s due rights and wages! Do not violate laws of the land
and do not oppose orders of the government! Pay your taxes on their due times!
Never forget that Allâhu ta’âlâ is the helper of
the righteous people! Let us love and help each other so that Allâhu ta’âlâ in turn will help us.
Islamic scholars say: “Allâhu ta’âlâ created three things in humans:
wisdom (’aql), spiritual heart (qalb), and nafs[1] We can see none of them. We can
understand their existence by observing their effects or the things they do, or
we know them because our religion teaches them to us. Wisdom and nafs are
located in our brain and the spiritual heart is found over the biological
heart, which is in the left side of our chest. They are not made of matter and
do not occupy space. Their existence in these places is similar to the
existence of electricity in a light bulb or that of the magnetic power in an
induction bobbin. Wisdom tries to understand Islamic knowledge. It understands
Islamic knowledge and its good and useful as well as evil and harmful
variations or portions. The good and evil are discriminated in accordance with
the divine law. Wisdom, which recognizes the divine law (Sharî’at) and wants to obey it, is called “correctly thinking wisdom,” (’aql-i-salîm). People who have little wisdom and always make mistakes are
called idiots or fools. People who have no wisdom are called crazy. Correctly
thinking wisdom conveys good things taught by the divine law to the spiritual
heart. The spiritual heart decides to do
---------------------------------
[1] A
malignant being created in the human nature. All its desires run counter to Allâhu ta’âlâ’s commandments. Its the only property
whose desires and activities are harmful to itself and to its owner.
these
good things. It uses the action nerves, which come out of the brain and go to
the organs, to give orders to the organs so that they carry out these good
things. Assimilation of the desire of doing good or evil things into the
spiritual heart is called ethics or morals (akhlâq).
The nafs is excessively fond of worldly pleasures. It does not think whether
these are good or evil, useful or harmful. Its desires are not compatible with
the divine law. Doing things that are forbidden by the divine law strengthens
the nafs. It tries to convince the spiritual heart to commit the worst things.
It deceives the spiritual heart by showing the evil and harmful things as good
things. It strives to attain its pleasures by convincing the spiritual heart to
satisfy its desires. It is necessary to strengthen the spiritual heart and to
weaken the nafs so that the nafs will not be able to deceive the spiritual
heart and that the spiritual heart will not develop an evil nature. As wisdom
is strengthened by reading and learning Islamic knowledge, likewise the heart
is strengthened, or purified, by obeying the Sharî’at. Formation of ikhlâs in
the heart can only be accomplished by the spiritual heart’s mentioning the name
of Allâhu ta’âlâ often (making Dhikr of Allah
through the qalb). Accomplishing “Dhikr of qalb” is possible only by learning
it from a perfect Sufi master (Murshîd al-Kâmil-the Perfect Guide). It is also
necessary to empty the spiritual heart from all worldly thoughts formed in the
brain due to the sensory information coming via the organs. Once the heart is
free from all sorts of worldly thoughts, it starts to do “Dhikr of Allah”
automatically. It is similar to emptying the water from a bottle. When you pour
the water out, the air automatically enters the bottle. Protecting the
spiritual heart from worldly thoughts can be accomplished by the spiritual
heart’s benefiting (receiving “Fayd” (Nur [light]) from the spiritual heart of
the perfect Sufi master. The spiritual luminance (Fayd) flows
from one spiritual heart to another by way of love. Death of the perfect
spiritual guide or his being in a distant country does not stop the flow of
spiritual luminance (Fayd). The perfect spiritual guide (Murshîd al-kâmîl) is
an “Ahl as-sunnat” scholar (’âlim) who knows Islamic knowledge in
depth and does all of his actions sincerely (with ikhlâs) in accordance with
this knowledge. Obeying the Sharî’at and receiving spiritual luminance (Fayd)
from the perfect guide (Murshîd al-kâmîl) strengthens the spiritual heart and
conversely weakens the
nafs.
It is for this reason that the nafs does not want the spiritual heart’s obeying
the divine law (Sharî’at) or communing (Sohbat) with the perfect
spiritual guide (Murshîd al-kâmîl) or reading the books written by the perfect
spiritual guide. It wants spiritual heart to be irreligious and beliefless.
Therefore, those who do not follow their wisdom and instead follow their
beliefless nafs, become irreligious. The nafs does not die but when it is
weakened, it cannot deceive the spiritual heart any longer.
Mîlâdî Hijrî Shamsî Hijrî Qamarî
2001 1380 1422
Make thy heart a Garden of Paradise with the fountain of tawhîd[1],
And thy soul’s garden, render a rosary with the bud of tawhîd!
Both without place and without time will experts of heart,
Traverse endless distances with the power of tawhîd.
Shameful as thou mayest feel on account of thy wrongdoings,
The end will certainly be good with the rapture of tawhîd.
O you, supplicant! The ’Ârif-i-billâh[2] will free the heart from
Seventy thousand curtains with one flash of tawhîd.
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[1] Oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ. The statement of and the belief in His oneness.
[2] A blessed person who has attained a
state wherein he knows Allâhu ta’âlâ
(as well as a slave could know his Creator).