hamid_al-murid
22nd April 2006, 15:08
بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم
Yielding and Submission to Allah
Submission to Allah is lowliness, brokenness, yielding to, and being in need of the Sustaining Lord Most Exalted. So the slave witnesses his every atom, both outer and inner, to be in complete necessity and poverty towards its Lord and Patron in Whose hands is its soundness, success, guidance, and felicity. The state which results in his heart is unlike anything else; he sees himself like an empty useless unwanted container crushed under foot. It can only be made useful again by its Maker repairing it. In this witnessing, he sees the good that comes from his Lord to him as great, and sees himself as being unworthy of the great or small. So whatever good comes to him from Allah, he sees as greater than his worth, and that it is only the mercy of his Lord which caused Him to recall him and attend to him. And he sees obedient acts coming from him to his Lord as slight, even if they equal all of the obedient acts of the humans and jinn, for his Lord always deserves more from him. He also sees his few sins and rebellions as great in magnitude and number.
All of the above is a result of the brokenness of his heart, and of how imminent it is that this broken heart will be mended! And of how close the mercy and provision is to him! And of how beneficial this station is to him! One atom and one breath from someone like this is more beloved to Allah than the obedient acts of all the spoiled ones who are impressed with their own good acts and knowledge and states!
Know that the most beloved of hearts to Allah is the one that is firmly rooted in lowliness and submission, so that he is yielding before Allah, not raising his head before Him out of modesty and shyness of Him. One of the gnostics was asked, "Does the heart ever prostrate?" He answered, "Yes, it prostrates such a prostration that it never rises from it until the Day of Meeting." Such is the prostration of the heart, and a heart that lacks this yielding and submission has not prostrated the prostration which is desired from it. When the heart prostrates to Allah in this greater prostration which comprises submissiveness and complete yielding, then all the limbs and organs prostrate with it, and the face (as a symbol of the essence of the person) submits with truthfulness and sincerity before the Living Eternal One; the voice is lowered and limbs are humbled. And at that moment, the slave comes truly to yield and surrender and place his cheek on the doorstep of servitude, beholding his Lord and Master with his heart, with the beholding which the submissive one (muslim) has towards the Mighty and Merciful.
He is seen casting himself before his Lord, submissive to Him, seeking His special kindness and good-pleasure and contentment and mercy, constantly seeking attainment to Him. The perfect lover similarly seeks love from his Beloved, for he is His possession, and has himself no wealth or felicity except in His proximity and contentment with him and love of him. So he says, "How can I be distraught on account of my life when I am in the contentment [of Allah]? And how could I find a substitute for my happiness and felicity and success in His proximity and remembrance?" The person occupying this station sees himself as a slave in the shelter and embrace of his Master, Who gives him the best of what he wants and raises him in the gradations of perfection, which are the Divine values (i.e., established norms) which he seeks to live by because it leads to eternal life and perpetual bliss.
If the slave flees to Him and escapes from his enemy to Him and casts himself at His door saying, "My Lord, have mercy on one who has no one to have mercy upon him save You, for You are my shelter;" if he does this and submits, this submission being firmly grounded in his heart, and he yields to his Master, then he comes to taste the sweetness of attainment (wusul) and ascends to the Goal which those who walk the path seeking Him have strived to attain.
This station is the scene of servitude and love and yearning for His meeting and happiness through Him, all by which he finds the delight of his eyes and the tranquil repose of his heart, and his limbs are at peace in [working for] Him, and invocation of Him comes to dominate the tongue and heart of this lover. So thoughts of love come to replace thoughts of rebellion, and intentions of striving for His proximity and pleasure replace intentions of disobeying Him and falling in His anger, and the movements of the tongue and limbs in obedient acts replace their movements in disobedience. His heart is filled with His love and his tongue is devoted to His invocation (dhikr) and his limbs are compliant in His obedience.
Indeed, this special submission has a unique effect in love which cannot be sufficiently expressed. It is narrated that one of the gnostics said, “I attempted to enter into [the presence of] Allah from all of the doors of obedient acts, but I would not come to a door without finding it overflowing and packed; so I could not enter in. That was my state until I came to the door of lowliness, humility, submission, and indigence, and I found it to be the closest and widest door to Him, with no crowding and no obstacle; and no sooner had I placed my foot in the threshold did He Most High take me by the hand and enter me into His presence.” Therefore, whoever wishes to achieve eternal felicity, let him cling to the threshold of servitude, yielding, submission, and poverty. For there is no path closer to Allah than servitude, and no veil thicker than pretension and arrogance and egotism. Furthermore, no obstacle that prevents one from attaining to Him in general can harm one if he is firmly settled in lowliness and humility and submission and poverty, since they themselves cause one to enter into Allah’s presence, and cast him on the path of love, opening a special door to him, which is not opened except in and through this path, even though the paths of other obedient acts can open doors of love to the student. And the one who treads this path is unique among the people, as if they are in one valley and he is in another.
This special path is known as the “path of flight,” such that when the voyager on this path sleeps in his bed, he attains to such heights of felicity and precedes everyone else in cutting through the distance of the path. Such is the result of the effects of Allah’s love of him, and His joy at the repentance of His slave; for He loves the repentant and is joyous at their repentance with the greatest and most complete joy. Whenever a servant approaches his Lord with repentance, his Lord does not turn him away empty-handed, but blesses him abundantly with His forbearance and beneficence. And when He does this to him, his heart is stirred with love of Him and yearning towards His meeting. For hearts are naturally predisposed to love those who act with beneficence toward them. And what beneficence is greater than the beneficence of the One who is openly disobeyed by His servant and yet He still sustains him with His graces and deals with him tenderly and covers over his faults and protects him from his enemies and reverts their attacks from him and comes between them and him?
Know that it has been narrated that the Prophet صل الله عليه و سلام said, “Never a day passes by without the ocean seeking permission from its Lord to drown the children of Adam, and the angels request Him to speed His punishment to them and destroy them, but the Lord Most High responds by saying, “Leave my slave, for I know the most about him, seeing that I have formed him from the earth. If he is your slave, then his affair is in your hands, and if he is My slave, then he goes from Me to Me. By my honor and might, if he approaches Me in the night, I will embrace him, and if he approaches Me in the day I will accept him, and if he comes closer to Me by the measure of a hand-span, I come closer to him the measure of a cubit, and if he comes closer to Me by the measure of a cubit, I come closer to him the measure of a fathom, and if he walks to Me I rush to him. If he asks My forgiveness, I forgive him, and if he asks of Me something, I respond to him, and if he repents to me I relent to him. Who is greater than Me in My munificence and generosity, while I am the Generous and Munificent? My slaves spend the night openly transgressing against Me with enormous sins, and I preserve them in their beds and protect them. Whoever approaches Me, I accept him though he be far away. And whoever leaves sins for My sake, I give him more than he imagines. And whoever acts by my power and ability, I soften the iron for him. And whoever desires what I desire, I desire what he desires. The people of My invocation are the people of My court, and the people of My gratitude are the people of My special increase, and the people of My obedience are the people of My nobility. And as for the people of My disobedience, I will not cause them to despair from My mercy if they repent to Me, for I am their lover when they repent to Me, and I am their healer when they do not repent to Me. I try them with hardships to purify them of their faults.”
O Allah! Cause us to share in his (the Prophet’s) nobility, and do not deprive us of his contentment so that when we meet him he is pleased with us, O Generous One!
from How the Arrival is Realized, O People of Hearts and Souls and Intellects by Shaykh Muhammad Sa‘id al-Jamal ar-Rifa‘i ash-Shadhuli, pp. 168-172.
Yielding and Submission to Allah
Submission to Allah is lowliness, brokenness, yielding to, and being in need of the Sustaining Lord Most Exalted. So the slave witnesses his every atom, both outer and inner, to be in complete necessity and poverty towards its Lord and Patron in Whose hands is its soundness, success, guidance, and felicity. The state which results in his heart is unlike anything else; he sees himself like an empty useless unwanted container crushed under foot. It can only be made useful again by its Maker repairing it. In this witnessing, he sees the good that comes from his Lord to him as great, and sees himself as being unworthy of the great or small. So whatever good comes to him from Allah, he sees as greater than his worth, and that it is only the mercy of his Lord which caused Him to recall him and attend to him. And he sees obedient acts coming from him to his Lord as slight, even if they equal all of the obedient acts of the humans and jinn, for his Lord always deserves more from him. He also sees his few sins and rebellions as great in magnitude and number.
All of the above is a result of the brokenness of his heart, and of how imminent it is that this broken heart will be mended! And of how close the mercy and provision is to him! And of how beneficial this station is to him! One atom and one breath from someone like this is more beloved to Allah than the obedient acts of all the spoiled ones who are impressed with their own good acts and knowledge and states!
Know that the most beloved of hearts to Allah is the one that is firmly rooted in lowliness and submission, so that he is yielding before Allah, not raising his head before Him out of modesty and shyness of Him. One of the gnostics was asked, "Does the heart ever prostrate?" He answered, "Yes, it prostrates such a prostration that it never rises from it until the Day of Meeting." Such is the prostration of the heart, and a heart that lacks this yielding and submission has not prostrated the prostration which is desired from it. When the heart prostrates to Allah in this greater prostration which comprises submissiveness and complete yielding, then all the limbs and organs prostrate with it, and the face (as a symbol of the essence of the person) submits with truthfulness and sincerity before the Living Eternal One; the voice is lowered and limbs are humbled. And at that moment, the slave comes truly to yield and surrender and place his cheek on the doorstep of servitude, beholding his Lord and Master with his heart, with the beholding which the submissive one (muslim) has towards the Mighty and Merciful.
He is seen casting himself before his Lord, submissive to Him, seeking His special kindness and good-pleasure and contentment and mercy, constantly seeking attainment to Him. The perfect lover similarly seeks love from his Beloved, for he is His possession, and has himself no wealth or felicity except in His proximity and contentment with him and love of him. So he says, "How can I be distraught on account of my life when I am in the contentment [of Allah]? And how could I find a substitute for my happiness and felicity and success in His proximity and remembrance?" The person occupying this station sees himself as a slave in the shelter and embrace of his Master, Who gives him the best of what he wants and raises him in the gradations of perfection, which are the Divine values (i.e., established norms) which he seeks to live by because it leads to eternal life and perpetual bliss.
If the slave flees to Him and escapes from his enemy to Him and casts himself at His door saying, "My Lord, have mercy on one who has no one to have mercy upon him save You, for You are my shelter;" if he does this and submits, this submission being firmly grounded in his heart, and he yields to his Master, then he comes to taste the sweetness of attainment (wusul) and ascends to the Goal which those who walk the path seeking Him have strived to attain.
This station is the scene of servitude and love and yearning for His meeting and happiness through Him, all by which he finds the delight of his eyes and the tranquil repose of his heart, and his limbs are at peace in [working for] Him, and invocation of Him comes to dominate the tongue and heart of this lover. So thoughts of love come to replace thoughts of rebellion, and intentions of striving for His proximity and pleasure replace intentions of disobeying Him and falling in His anger, and the movements of the tongue and limbs in obedient acts replace their movements in disobedience. His heart is filled with His love and his tongue is devoted to His invocation (dhikr) and his limbs are compliant in His obedience.
Indeed, this special submission has a unique effect in love which cannot be sufficiently expressed. It is narrated that one of the gnostics said, “I attempted to enter into [the presence of] Allah from all of the doors of obedient acts, but I would not come to a door without finding it overflowing and packed; so I could not enter in. That was my state until I came to the door of lowliness, humility, submission, and indigence, and I found it to be the closest and widest door to Him, with no crowding and no obstacle; and no sooner had I placed my foot in the threshold did He Most High take me by the hand and enter me into His presence.” Therefore, whoever wishes to achieve eternal felicity, let him cling to the threshold of servitude, yielding, submission, and poverty. For there is no path closer to Allah than servitude, and no veil thicker than pretension and arrogance and egotism. Furthermore, no obstacle that prevents one from attaining to Him in general can harm one if he is firmly settled in lowliness and humility and submission and poverty, since they themselves cause one to enter into Allah’s presence, and cast him on the path of love, opening a special door to him, which is not opened except in and through this path, even though the paths of other obedient acts can open doors of love to the student. And the one who treads this path is unique among the people, as if they are in one valley and he is in another.
This special path is known as the “path of flight,” such that when the voyager on this path sleeps in his bed, he attains to such heights of felicity and precedes everyone else in cutting through the distance of the path. Such is the result of the effects of Allah’s love of him, and His joy at the repentance of His slave; for He loves the repentant and is joyous at their repentance with the greatest and most complete joy. Whenever a servant approaches his Lord with repentance, his Lord does not turn him away empty-handed, but blesses him abundantly with His forbearance and beneficence. And when He does this to him, his heart is stirred with love of Him and yearning towards His meeting. For hearts are naturally predisposed to love those who act with beneficence toward them. And what beneficence is greater than the beneficence of the One who is openly disobeyed by His servant and yet He still sustains him with His graces and deals with him tenderly and covers over his faults and protects him from his enemies and reverts their attacks from him and comes between them and him?
Know that it has been narrated that the Prophet صل الله عليه و سلام said, “Never a day passes by without the ocean seeking permission from its Lord to drown the children of Adam, and the angels request Him to speed His punishment to them and destroy them, but the Lord Most High responds by saying, “Leave my slave, for I know the most about him, seeing that I have formed him from the earth. If he is your slave, then his affair is in your hands, and if he is My slave, then he goes from Me to Me. By my honor and might, if he approaches Me in the night, I will embrace him, and if he approaches Me in the day I will accept him, and if he comes closer to Me by the measure of a hand-span, I come closer to him the measure of a cubit, and if he comes closer to Me by the measure of a cubit, I come closer to him the measure of a fathom, and if he walks to Me I rush to him. If he asks My forgiveness, I forgive him, and if he asks of Me something, I respond to him, and if he repents to me I relent to him. Who is greater than Me in My munificence and generosity, while I am the Generous and Munificent? My slaves spend the night openly transgressing against Me with enormous sins, and I preserve them in their beds and protect them. Whoever approaches Me, I accept him though he be far away. And whoever leaves sins for My sake, I give him more than he imagines. And whoever acts by my power and ability, I soften the iron for him. And whoever desires what I desire, I desire what he desires. The people of My invocation are the people of My court, and the people of My gratitude are the people of My special increase, and the people of My obedience are the people of My nobility. And as for the people of My disobedience, I will not cause them to despair from My mercy if they repent to Me, for I am their lover when they repent to Me, and I am their healer when they do not repent to Me. I try them with hardships to purify them of their faults.”
O Allah! Cause us to share in his (the Prophet’s) nobility, and do not deprive us of his contentment so that when we meet him he is pleased with us, O Generous One!
from How the Arrival is Realized, O People of Hearts and Souls and Intellects by Shaykh Muhammad Sa‘id al-Jamal ar-Rifa‘i ash-Shadhuli, pp. 168-172.