This letter, written for
Hadrat Muhammad Sa’îd ‘quddisa sirruh’, (1005-1070 [1660 A.D.],) his valuable
(second) son, provides information on the secrets of the true essence of the
Kâ’ba-i-muazzama and on the subtleties of the iner natures of namâz and the
Kalima-i-tawhîd:
Hamd be to Allâhu ta’âlâ for having shown us
the right path. Who ever would have been able to find the right path if He had
not so magnanimously shown it to us? We believe in the Prophets :’alahim-us-salawât-u-wa-t-teslîmât’ of our Rabb (Allâhu ta’âlâ). It was a nűr, alone, that occupied the highest rank. [This nűr (light) is a nűr which is not known
how.] As I have
written earlier, I have found that rank as the true essence of the Kâ’ba. There is
yet another rank which is even higher, above that rank; which is true essence
of the Qur’ân
al-kerîm.
It is owing to the Qur’â al-kerîm that the Kâ’ba-i-mu’azzama has becoe the
Qibla[1] for all, which in turn
has made it the honourable place towards which prostrations (sajdas) are made,
now and for evermore.
The imâm (guide,
leader) is the Qur’ân al-kerîm. And it is the Kâ’ba that is directly ahead. This rank is the
starting point for the vvus’at (vastness, wideness) of Allâhu ta’âlâ, which is not known how. It is the grade where the ’âlam beyond comprehension differs. Wus’at (vastness, wideness) at this high level does not
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[1] Direction towards which
Muslims stand when they perform (the prayer
called) namâz (or salât). Please see the ninth chapter of the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss for Qibla.
Also, visit the websites www.namazvakti.com and www.turktakvim.com
increase with length or width. Such measurable wus’at is for
creatures, which in turn is a symptom of imperfection and deficiency. It is
such a grade as cannot be understood by someone who has not attained and tasted
it. By the same token, difference at that level is not difference between two
things that we know or that which takes place because they are dissimilar, for
it involves a partition and scattering, which in turn characterize material
substances.
Allâhu ta’âlâ is not a substance. One thing or two different things cannot be
considered at that level. For, difference or duality does not exist there. Nor
can thinking take place. Two Persian couplets translated into English:
There’s a bird, but how should I describe it to you?
For, phoenix is the bird it always lives next
to.
Everyone’s heard of phoenix, though no one’s seen it;
Yet this one
is such as no one has heard of it.
Although nothing can
be thought of there, supposing something were thought of and that thing
(thought of) were studied, nothing at that rank exceptionally peculiar to that
thing and which were non-existent in other things would come out. Besides,
studying something is out of the question there. However, there would be
difference between the two things considered. The two things would differ from
each other. Oh my Allah, Who has left no access open between Himself and Man,
with the exception of the channel leading to inability to know and understand!
You are quite far beyond the human cognition! And failure to understand Him,
and to realize the fact that He cannot be understood, is a blessing that falls
to the lot of the greatest Awliyâ. Not to understand is different from
inability to understand. For instance, it is ‘not to understand’ the difference
at that rank to say that no difference exists at that holy rank and to find all
the kamâlât (perfections) of the Dhât-i-ilâhî the same as one another and to
say that (His) Power is the same as (His) Will. On the other hand, it is
‘inability to understand’ the difference at that rank to acknowledge that there
are differences at that rank and to admit being unable to comprehend the
(nature of the) differences at that rank. Whereas ‘not to understand’ is ignorance,
‘inability to understand’, or ‘to be unable to understand’, is knowledge.
It fact, it is double
knowledge ‘to be unable to understand’: One of the pairs making it double is
‘to know something’. The second one is ‘to know that you cannot understand its
inner nature on account of its infinite greatness’. We might as well call it
‘triple
knowledge’ since it incorporates also knowledge of one’s inability and imperfection showing that one is only a qul, (i.e. a created slave of
Allâhu ta’âlâ.) We have said that it is ignorance not to know. Sometimes this ignorance exacerbates itself into jahl-i-murakkab (vulgar ignorance, ignorance
masquarading as wisdom); a person down with it thinks that he knows although he does not know at all, i.e. he does not know that he does not know. ‘Inability to
know’, on the other hand, does not carry this illness. In fact, it cannot carry it. For, the unable person acknowledges his incapacity. If ‘not to know’ and
‘not to be able to know’ were the same, then all the ignorant people would be ’ârifs, and their ignorance would be the cause of their perfection and
superiority. In fact, the worse a person’s ignorance the higher would his status be in ma’rifat at that rank. For, at that rank ma’rifat is not to know. On the
other hand, what we have said so far applies to ‘inability to know’. For, a better ’ârif is one who is better in inability to know. ‘Inability to know’ is a
praise in disguise of a disapproval, a perfection resembling a defect. ‘Not to know’, in contrast, is an out-and-out disapproval that does not receive a share
of smell from praisal. Yâ Rabbî (Oh our Rabb, Allah)! Increase the greatness of our incapacity to know You, that is, our realization of the greatness of our
inability to know You! If Muhyiddîn-i-’Arabî ‘quddisa sirruh’, (560 [1165 A.D.], Mursî, Andalusia - 638 [1240], Damascus,) had considered this difference, which
has been shown to this faqîr, he would not have said, ‘ignorance’, about ‘incapacity in ma’rifat’, that is, about ‘inability to know’; nor would he have said,
“Both the one who knows and the ignorant one who says that to be unable to know that one understands means to understand, are with us.” Thereafter he imparted
knowledge from the first group, i.e. knowledge possessed by the ‘ones who knew’, taking pride in it. He asserted that the final link in the chain of Awliyâ,
[i.e. he himself,] was the source of those pieces from whom even the final Prophet
‘’alaihim-us-salawât-u-wa-t-teslîmât’ had been receiving a share, thus claiming
to be the last of the Awliyâ. Many people dislike him on account of his
statements of that sort. People who loved him, especially the ones who wrote
commentaries to his book entitled Fusűs, had great difficulty supplying proper meanings for those
statements of his. I, the faqîr, can say that those statements made by the
Shaikh-i-ekber (Muhyiddîn ’Arabî), which reflected his knowledge of the matter,
were many times as low again as the so-called incapacity. Perhaps, it has
nothing to do with that incapacity. For, his knowledge pertains to the fancies
and
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images, whereas the incapacity relates to
the origin. Subhân-Allah! It is Abű Bakr as-Siddîq ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ who
acknowledged that incapacity and who was blessed with the honour of that
incapacity, in the face of the fact that he was (and has been) the guide of all
’ârifs and the leader of all siddîqs. How could any teaching ahead of that
incapacity ever be of any value? How could any capacity ever surpass that
incapacity? However, since the aforesaid assertion has already been made about
that Siddîq’s ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ master ‘’alaihi wa ’alâ
âlihis-salât-u-wa-s-salâm’, what can be said if he makes the same assertion
about him? So strange to say, I still see the Shaikh-i-ekber ‘quddisa sirruh’ among the fortunate
people who have been accepted and loved, with all such statements he made and
the impermissible teachings he cherished. He is one of the Awliyâ. A Persian
line in English:
Kerîms will make all
things easy to do.
Yes. Some people take exception to a person who pronounces a blessing, while others smile at one who
vituperates and castigates. A person who rejects the Shaikh-i-ekber (Muhyiddîn-i-’Arabî) stands in peril (by doing so). Equally dangerous is to accept him
together with his statements. He must be accepted. Yet his statements disagreeable with Islam must be rejected. It is this moderate way, which is between
accepting him and rejecting him, that this faqîr prefers and recommends. Allâhu ta’âlâ, alone, knows the true essence of everything.
Let us again come back
to the subject we have been dealing with. This holy grade, which we have called
the true essence of the Qur’ân al-kerîm, cannot be said to be a ‘nűr’, either. A ‘nűr’ cannot approach
to this grade, as it cannot approach to any of the other kamâlât (perfections)
of the Dhât-i-ilâhî (Divine Person). Nothing can exist at this grade, with the
exception of a wus’at (wideness, vastness) that cannot be known and differences
that cannot be comprehended.
There is yet another
grade above this grade: the true essence of namâz (or salât). Its image in the
’âlam-i-shehâdat is the namâz performed by the superiors who have attained the
highest and last grade. (Please review the twenty-first chapter for the
’âlam-i-shehâdat.) The wus’at of this grade is very great. It has unknown
differences and variations. For, the true essence of the Kâ’ba is a part from
it. The true essence of the Qur’ân al-kerîm is another part from it. The namâz contains all the kamâlât of
(all) the (other)
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acts of worship as well. It is together
with the origin of the origin, which is the true grade of being worshipped. In
other words, above the grade that is the true essence of the namâz, which in
turn has accumulated all the other acts of worship in itself, is the origin of
all, and all are attached to that origin. Wus’at also is shortness at this
grade, and it does not contain unknown differences, either. Being worshipped
belongs only to this rank by right.
Mature ones of Prophets and the greatest
ones of Awliyâ ‘’alaihim-us-salawât-u-wa-t-teslîmât’ can make progress until
they reach the end of the grade, which is the true essence of the namâz and
which is the end of the grade of the worships performed by worshippers. Above
this grade is the rank of being worshipped. By no means can anyone have a share
from that highest rank. How could trascending it ever be imagined, then!
As it is possible to see with the heart’s eye any grade that is smeared with worship and worshipping;
by the same token, such grades are attainable. The true rank of being worshipped, however, is impossible to attain. Paths of Tasawwuf cannot carry a person to
that rank. But, hamd (praise and gratitude) be to
Allâhu ta’âlâ, they have not deprived (this faqîr, Imâm Rabbânî ‘quddisa sirruh’) of being shown there. They have
let (me see) as much (of that rank) as possible, depending on (my) capabilities and talents. The (unknown) voice that commanded,
“Stop, yâ
Muhammad!” on the night of Mi’râj, was perhaps because above that true
grade is the rank of ‘wujűd (existence)’. It is the rank of tejerrud (or
tajarrud) and tenezzuh (or tanazzuh) for the Dhât-i-ilâhî. There is no way to
that rank. The haqîqat (true essence) of the kalima-i-tayyiba, “Lâ ilâha illâ-Allah,” is at this rank,
which contains the true fact that concocted ma’bűds will not be worshipped. It
is at this rank that the true Ma’bűd is the only Being worthy of being
worshipped, and that there is none else, is truely and actually proved. It is
there that the exactly clear-cut difference between being an ’âbid (worshipper)
and being the ma’bűd (one that is worshipped) becomes manifest, so that the
’âbid becomes definitely distinguished from the ma’bűd. Those who attain the
final grade attain the knowledge expressed in the statement, “Lâ ilâha illâ-Allah (There is no ma’bűd other than
Allâhu ta’âlâ),” which is the true essence of Islam’s teaching. Meanings such as, “There is no mawjűd (existence) other than
Allâhu ta’âlâ,” and “There is no maqsűd (purpose) other than Him,” are for the beginners of the progress and for those who have progressed half
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way. The meaning, “There is no other maqsűd,” is higher than meanings such as, “There is no other mawjűd,” and “There is no other wujűd;” it is
closer to the meaning, “There is no ma’bűd but Allâhu ta’âlâ.”
This should be known
well: Improvement in the power of the heart’s sight is exclusively contingent
on the (prayer termed) namâz. The namâz is the worship continuously performed
by those who have attained the final grade. The other acts of worship are, so
to speak, assistants of the namâz, so that they compensate for the defects in
the performance of the namâz. It may be to this effect that our superiors have
stated: “Beauty of the namâz, like beauty of îmân, is of itself. Beauty of
other kinds of worship is not of themselves.” Wa-s-salâm.
[’Ibâdat (worship) means to do the acts that please
Allâhu ta’âlâ. ’Ubűdat means to know what pleases
Allâhu ta’âlâ. ’Ubaydullah Ahrâr ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, (806), Tashkent - 895 [1490 A.D.], Samarkand,) states as
follows in Rashahât: “’Ibâdat means to do
the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ and to avoid doing what He has prohibited. ’Ubűdiyyat means tawajjuh and iqbâl towards
Allâhu ta’âlâ. In other words, it is heart’s peace and awakeness.”]