Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Ramadn 5th Late Night Majlis Kashf alMahjb On Poverty 05312017
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AI: Transcript ©
So for tonight's,
I wanted to actually continue reading from the.
The intention for the is that it should
be not so much of a thirst, but
a light
discussion that has a type of spirituality
and is imbibed with the Nur of Ramadan
and the Salat of Tawawi and
provide some
type of,
I guess, a break from the focus of
thikr and and salat,
for those who need it. Definitely, if you
don't, please continue your thikr and your salat
and your,
and your duas and make me make dua
for me as well.
So the point of it was not necessarily
just to read from a book, but I
I received a lot of,
I think positive feedback from the book because
the content of it
kinda reflects a type of seriousness
from
a different age, a seriousness about Islam, and
a spirit seriousness about spirituality,
and a seriousness about deen
that that, a number of people shared with
me that they found refreshing. So I thought
maybe, you know, we could read a little
bit more from it and maybe, later in
the in the month talk about other things
as well.
So,
one of the the the most beautiful chapters,
and I think it's a chapter that's
very poignant
for the people, the age, and the time,
and the place that we live in,
because this seems to be,
the most materialistic
age,
perhaps known to man. And we live, in
the markets of materialism,
for those of us who are living in
America.
A place where the dunya, which has been
spent and tired out in the old world,
seems to be fresh and anew,
although with waning levels of enthusiasm
due to the increasing amount of
indignant of the people of that of that
wealth,
as well as the,
increasing,
increasingly cynical nature of the age,
which is making the new world just as
tired as the old.
So I wanted to, you know, in light
of that,
read about poverty.
And and the chapter regarding poverty
is something that is a complete, like, a
face to
or a and a complete, I should say,
affront to
the the kind of protestant,
mindset
that dominates
that dominates,
a modern discourse
and especially dominates the culture of America. The
idea that somehow
prosperity
and wealth
are some things that go hand in hand.
Definitely,
nobody can live without eating and nobody can
live you know, nobody will be,
protected from the elements without a house and
nobody will get from point a to point
b without any means of,
conveyance,
or transportation,
even if those be their own legs. But,
at the same time,
there's a a type of spiritual,
quality that wealth takes,
and not everything spiritual is good. Shaitan is
a very spiritual being, but the spirituality is
one of complete evil.
So the idea that poverty is a virtue,
it's something completely alien to the protestant,
to the protestant work ethic into the the
protestant mindset. Not to say that all protestants
believe the same thing, but the dominant protestant
mindset, which has an effect even on secular,
people in America and what's quote, unquote called
the west. I don't like calling it the
West because Mauritania is further west than, you
know,
than than France and Germany. But the
the the you know, what most people refer
to as the west. And
poverty has to do with patience,
and patience is what Ramadan is all about.
It is the theme of Ramadan.
So, with that, I wanted to just read
some insights from,
Sheikh Saeed Ali Hajwari, Data Ganj Bash,
Inshallah.
And, again, like I said from before, this
is one of the first books written properly
on the topic of Sufism. It's written in
the same era as the Risale Qusharia,
and,
it is because it's written in the Persian
language, it has its own kind of quality
that the of
of of of the Persianate,
eastern lands of the the the Muslim empire
have.
And, there's a type of freshness in it
as well.
And even though it it is it is
written in Persian, it is a a very
accurate reflection of a a certain school of
interpretation of the Quran and Sunnah, and you'll
see, like you saw from yesterday, that it's
it's very, deeply rooted in the and the
text of the the the the dean of
Islam as well as the or the the
the the creed of the Muslims. So,
he starts,
on poverty.
Know that poverty has a high rank in
the way of truth and the tariqa of
the haqq,
and that the poor are greatly esteemed.
For Allah ta'ala said,
give alms unto the poor who are kept
fighting in God's cause and cannot go to
and fro on in the earth, Whom the
ignorant deem rich for as much as they
refrain from begging.
And again, he says most high, their sides
are lifted from their beds while they call
on their lord in fear and in hope.
Moreover, the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam chose poverty and said,
oh Allah, make me live
like a lowly one, meaning a miskeen.
Make me live as a lowly one as
an indigent,
and poor person,
and make me die like a
and raise me up amongst the Mesakine.
And he said
on the day of judgment, god will say,
bring you my loved ones nigh unto me.
And the angels will say, who are your
loved ones? And god will answer them saying,
the poor and the destitute.
There are many verses of the Quran and
the Hadith to the same effect which on
account of their celebrity need not mention need
not be mentioned here.
Amongst the refugees, the Muhajirun,
in the messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's
time were poor men,
who sat in his mosque and devoted themselves
to the worship of Allah and firmly believed
that Allah would give them their daily bread
and they put their trust or the Tawakkul
in him.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was enjoined
to consort with them and take due care
of them for Allah ta'ala says, do not
repulse those who call on their lord in
the morning and in the evening desiring his
favor.
Don't don't turn them don't turn them away.
And don't turn your your avert your gaze
from them. Don't ignore the poor people because
of a a a desire for the life
of this material world.
Hence, whenever the messenger of Allah
saw one of them, he used to say,
may my father and mother be your sacrifice
since it was for your sakes that god
reproached me.
Allah, therefore, has exalted poverty and has made
it a special distinction of the poor who
have renounced all things external and internal,
and have turned entirely to the creator whose
poverty has become their pride so that they
lamented its going and rejoiced that it's coming
and embraced it and deemed it, deemed all
other than it contemptible.
So he's gonna talk about poverty, and he's
gonna differentiate between
just the the the state of being broke,
which in itself doesn't have any sort of
virtue to it.
And he's going to,
differentiate that between the spiritual Maqam of poverty
and describe what they, what what the differences
are.
Now poverty has a form, a rasem, and
an essence, a.
Its form is destitution and indigence, but its
essence its essence is fortune and free choice.
He who regards the form rests in the
form and failing to attain his object flees
from the essence.
But he who has found the essence averts
his gaze from all created things and in
complete annihilation, seeing only the, the the the
seeing only the one
and the only he hastens toward the fullness
of eternal life.
So he says what? He says, he who
regards
the form
rests in the form
and failing failing to attain his object flees
from the essence. Meaning the person who has
the outward poverty
and only thinks about the outward poverty
when he is too poor to be able
to get what he wants,
he flees from he flees from both the
outward poverty and the inward power poverty, the
inward poverty being a good state.
However,
he who has found the essence averts his
gaze from all created things and in complete
annihilation,
seeing only
the, the one,
he hastens toward the fullness of eternal life.
The poor man, Faqir, has nothing and can
suffer no loss.
He does not become rich by having anything
nor indigent by having nothing.
Both these conditions are alike to him in
respect to his poverty.
It is permitted that he should be more
joyful when he has nothing.
For the sheikhs have said, the more straightened
one is in circumstances,
the more expansive, cheerful, and happy is one's
spiritual state,
Because it's unlucky for a Darvesh to have
poverty.
If he imprisons anything that banned Kunad for
his own use, he himself is imprisoned in
the same proportion.
The friends of Allah live by means of
his secret bounties.
Worldly wealth holds them back from the path
of quietism or rida, that they should be
pleased with Allah
and that Allah should be pleased with them.
Sheykh mentioned the story,
A Darvesh met a king.
The king said,
ask a fortune from me. The Darvesh replied,
I will not ask a fortune from 1
of my slaves.
How is that? The king said. The Daresh
said, I have 2 slaves who are your
masters,
covetousness and expectation,
Meaning, the person who is pleased with their
poverty
and is unhinged from from,
from this world
neither wants or expects anything. He says that
that want, that covetousness, the need to have
something,
and the expectation to get something from your
deeds,
These two things, these are the masters of
the people of the dunya. So the Darvesh,
when the king said, ask me something. Ask
me a treasure so I can give it
to you. Out of respect for,
the perfection of that Durgesh state, the Durgesh
said, how am I gonna ask you for
anything? You are the slave of the 2
things that are my slave, the two things
being covetousness and desire. I neither covet nothing,
nor do I nor do I have any
expectation for anything. And those things 2 things
have become your masters,
as you're the king. So how can I
ask anything from you when you're the slave
of my 2 slaves?
The messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said, poverty is glorious to those who are
worthy of it. Glory consists in this, that
the poor man's body is divinely preserved from
base and sinful acts
and his heart from evil and contaminating thoughts.
Because his outward parts are absorbed in the
contemplation of the manifest blessings of Allah, while
his inward parts are protected by the invisible
grace so that his body is spiritual and
in nature and his heart is divine,
in nature.
Then no relation subsists between him and mankind.
This world and the next weigh less than
a knot's wing in the scales of his
poverty. He's not contained in the 2 worlds
for a single moment.
This idea is what? Is that a person
their poverty is in front of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala such that they're unhinged from
expectation on either side. The person who is
that tied to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the
reward with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is very
high.
Section. The shayfs of
the differ in opinion as to whether poverty
or wealth is superior both being regarded as
human attributes.
For true wealth
or belongs to Allah
who is perfect in all his attributes.
And Harith al Muhasibi,
Abil Abbas bin Ata Arruaim,
Abil and Abil Hassan, a similar amongst the
moderns, and grand sheikh Abu Sa'id Fadullah bin
Mohammed Al Meghani
all hold the view that wealth is superior
to poverty.
They argue that wealth is an attribute of
Allah whereas poverty cannot be ascribed to him.
Therefore, an attribute common to god and man
is superior to one that is not applicable
to to god.
I answer,
this community of designation is merely nominal and
has no existence in reality.
When it says community, meaning the the the
the the similarity between the wealth of a
human being and the wealth of of Allah.
Real community involves mutual resemblance, but the divine
attributes are eternal and the human attributes are
created, hence, your proof is false.
I, Ali bin Uthman Aljulabi, declare that wealth
is a term that may be fitly applied
to god, but one which man has no
right to. While poverty is a term that
may be properly applied to man but not
to god. Metaphorically,
a man is called rich, but he is
not really so.
Meaning, what is dependent on Allah
He's not truly rich in and of himself.
Metaphorically, a man is called rich, but he
is not really so.
Again, to give a clearer proof, human wealth
is an effect due to various causes,
whereas the wealth of god who himself is
the author of all causes is not due
to any god and and not due to
any cause.
Therefore, there is no community in regard to
this attribute.
It is not allowable to associate anything with
god either in essence, attribute, or name.
The wealth of god consists in his independence
of anyone else and his power to do
whatever he wills, such that he always has
been and such that he shall forever be.
Man's wealth, on the other hand, is, for
example, a means of livelihood
or the presence of joy or the being
saved from sin or the solace of contemplation,
which are all, which things are all,
a phenomenal nature and subject to change.
Furthermore, some of the vulgar prefer the rich
man to the poor on the grounds that
god has made the former blessed in both
worlds and has bestowed the benefit of riches
on him. This is very important because we
have this kind of magical,
myth that we look up to that, you
know, we would like to have, everything. We'd
like to be the handsome, wonderful doctor who
goes on vacation every, you know, like, 6
months
and,
at the same time as the Hafiz of
Quran and and,
you know,
super pious and whatnot. And, undoubtedly, such people
do exist.
However,
the thing that we should be seeking is
the piety.
The other thing is something that happens by
the wayside. If a man is pious,
as a blessing, the wealth is insignificant in
front of his piety to the point where
you cannot compare the the pious man who
is wealthy and the pious man who is
poor because both of them, their piety completely
eclipses whether,
they're rich or poor or not. It as
a blessing eclipses that. So he he talks
about that a little bit here. He says,
furthermore,
some of the vulgar prefer the rich man.
And one might say, well, how come you
gotta hate on that anyway? You know? And
the reason I'm hating on it is what?
Is that,
you know, we oftentimes try to balance 2
things that are not equal in worth.
Wealth is nowhere near a a blessing,
from Allah Ta'ala as piety is. And so
sometimes in trying to equate the 2 of
them, people give up a little bit of
piety for a little bit of wealth, and
those people neither know what the true high
value of piety is or what the true
pittance,
material wealth is, and they end up, you
know, confusing their own path,
their own spiritual path on the way to
god, their own saluk as salikin.
Furthermore, some of the vulgar prefer the rich
man to the poor on the grounds that
god has made the former blessed in both
worlds
and has bestowed the benefit of riches on
him. Here, they mean by quote, unquote wealth,
abundance of worldly goods, and enjoyment of pleasures,
and pursuit of lusts.
They argue that god has commanded us to
be thankful for wealth and patient in poverty,
I e patient in adversity and thankful in
prosperity,
and that prosperity is essentially better than adversity.
To this I reply that when God commanded
us to be thankful for prosperity, he made
thankfulness the means of increasing our prosperity. But
when he commanded us to be patient in
adversity,
he made patience the means of drying nigh
unto himself. And he said, verily, if you
return thanks, I will give you an increase.
And he also said, god is with the
patient.
Meaning what? He said that if the the
the
the reward for,
for for
shukr, for thankfulness is what? That you get
a little bit more blessing.
But the reward of sabr is what? That
Allah is with you.
Being with Allah ta'ala is a,
a much greater blessing than
a small increase in,
what Allah
has given you. And this is the point
that he's trying to make.
And this is this is this is a
point that that a lot of people, I
guess, they they kind of miss out on.
The sheiks who prefer wealth to poverty do
not use the term quote, unquote wealth in
its popular sense.
What they intend is not the acquisition of
a benefit, but the acquisition of the benefactor.
So he says even those shayiks who talk
about the path of shukr of thankfulness,
they're not talking about this being a path
of, like, having a lot of stuff.
They're not talking about wealth as the acquisition
of a benefit,
rather wealth as the acquisition of the benefactor
with the capital b meaning Allah
who gives the benefit.
To gain union with god is a different
thing from gaining forgetfulness of god. The sheikh
Abu Sa'id, may Allah have mercy on him,
said,
poverty is wealth in Allah.
Poverty is wealth in god. That your poverty
in front of Allah is a wealth in
him.
I e, everlasting revelation of the truth.
I answer to this that revelation mukashafah,
implies the possibility of a hijab, a veil.
Therefore, if the person who enjoys revelation is
veiled from revelation by the attribute of wealth,
He neither becomes in need of revelation nor,
he does not. If he does not, the
conclusion abs is absurd, and if he does,
need is incompatible with wealth,
therefore, the term cannot stand.
Beside, no one has wealth in god until
his attributes are permanent and his object is
invariable.
Wealth cannot coincide with subsistence of an object
or,
with the affirmation of the attributes of human
nature in as much as the essential characteristics
of mortality
and phenomenal being are need and indigence.
He's saying that your own
your own
essential characteristics
are those of what need an indigence thereof
poverty.
One whose attributes still survive is not rich
and one whose attributes are annihilated is not
entitled to any name whatsoever.
Meaning, if you're still you,
you're poor.
And if you've given up and annihilated all
of your attributes, then how can you claim
that you're rich?
Therefore, the rich man is he is enriched
by god.
Because the term rich in god refers to
the agent, the
whereas the term enriched by god denotes the
person acted upon
I e the the
the the
the, the passive.
The former is self subsistent, but the latter
subsist through the agent.
Ali bin
Ali bin Uthman al Julabi, assert that true
wealth is incompatible
with the survival or baqa of any attribute
whatsoever
Since human attributes have already been shown to
be defective
and subject to decay.
Nor again does wealth consist in the annihilation
of these attributes
because a name cannot be given to an
attribute which no longer exists.
And he whose attributes are annihilated cannot be
called either quote, unquote, poor or rich.
Therefore, the attribute of wealth is not transferable
from god to man and the attribute of
poverty is not transferable from man to god.
Now this is all somewhat heavy material. If
you wish to, you can listen to the
the text,
again
another time.
But essentially, he's he you know, what he's
trying to say is that, look,
Allah is Allah and you are you.
He's the one who gives, and we're the
one who receives. He's the one who's independent
of any need, but he loves to give,
and we're the ones who have complete need
and we love to receive.
So the more perfect relationship with Allah
that the slave has is the be constantly
beholden beholden
of their need to Allah
So this idea that we have in the
dunya that if I only work this much
and I only do this much, I will,
be able to amass enough money that, like,
all my needs will be taken care of
and I can live life on autopilot and
then I can go on whatever memorize the
Quran and be a good Muslim and pray
and go to Madrasah and do zikr and,
like, you know, teach my children to become
good people. This is this is running away
from your nature and running away from Allah's
nature because you're constantly in need of him
and you're being beholden to that need constantly
as a spiritual virtue. Of course, this doesn't
mean that everyone in the Ummah should, like,
go and, like,
free themselves from
from any sort of material, needs. Obviously, it's
a farther for a person to fulfill that
their their basic needs and the needs of
their dependents.
But the and and communally, there are certain
things like masjids getting built and madaris getting
built and things like that that need to
happen. And this was one of the the
the, I guess, the enjoyments of the age
in which the author lived is that it
was a sacrifice of the Sahaba
whom the
the sacrifices of the Tabi'in, the Tabi'in, that
the institutions of Deen were were were very
solidly and firmly rooted in in, in the
Muslim lands at that time so that they
didn't need to think about all of those
things whereas we kinda have to think about
them, especially for those of us who live
as minorities here. But the idea is
that that a person shouldn't try to run
away from their from their need because it's
in their very need that they find their
essence and they find the the the route
by which they will,
connect themselves with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And,
it's in effacing their own poverty in the
wealth of Allah Ta'ala that they're going to,
find the divine help from Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
And it's interesting. You may find certain concepts
in this book that are, like, you know,
mirror Ghazali,
Like, for example, when he compares the superiority
of
of patience,
over gratitude.
What's the reason for that? The reason for
it is not that he's, read Ghazali and
he's rehashing it out. Remember, this is, over
a century, if not more than that, before
Ghazali.
In fact, it's very possible that that this
is a book that Imam Ghazali
read and was influenced by. In fact, not
just possible as undoubted undoubted because Ghazali
was a native Persian speaker. The other kind
of quirk in in idiosyncrasy you may have
noticed
that there's 2 times in this chapter where
he refers himself refers to himself by name.
He says, I, Ali bin Uthman,
assert this or assert that.
And in the beginning of the book, he
asked for forgiveness
for doing that from time to time in
the book. He says the reason he did
it is that once he wrote a book
and, he lent the manuscript to somebody,
and that person then, had the copyist copy
of the book and then claimed that he
wrote it himself. So So he said this
is a a a a fail safe against
people,
plagiarizing my work. He said that that person
had,
claimed they wrote it themselves and then started
to interpret it, in a in a improper
and an incorrect way,
and started misguiding people with it. So he
says I need this as a fail safe
so nobody does that to me
again. If nothing else, funny stories like that,
they they they tell us that the the
were real people and they had to deal
with, like, real
issues and, like,
real, like, kinda goofball type people just like
we have to nowadays.
But they kept their frustration at bay and
they kept doing their work, and it should
be an inspiration for us as well because
we're not, you know, we're not any better
than they are, and the goofballs we have
to deal with are not any worse than
than those ones.
So the sheikh continues.
Says all the Sufi sheikhs and most of
the vulgar prefer poverty,
to wealth for the reason that the Quran
and Sunnah
expressly declared to be superior,
and here in the majority of Muslims are
agreed.
I find amongst the anecdotes which I have
read that on one occasion, this question was
discussed by,
Imam Junaid and Ibnu Atta.
The latter maintained the superiority of the rich.
He argued that at resurrection, they would be
called to account for their wealth and that
such an account or hisab entails the hearing
of the divine word without any mediation,
in the form of reproach.
And reproach is addressed by the beloved to
the lover.
Junaid
answered, if he will call the rich to
account, he will ask the poor for their
excuse, and asking an excuse is better than
calling to account. This is a very subtle
point.
This talk I mean, these discussions are very
interesting. I it's bears repetition, but these people
used to really think about Yom Kiyama.
They used to think about
in a very intimate way, and it was
something they visualize and went over again and
again in their heads.
I've read on one occasion,
this question was discussed by Imam Junaid and
Ibnu Aqsa.
The latter maintained the superiority of the rich.
He argued that at the resurrection, they would
be called to account for their wealth and
that such an account or hisab entails hearing
the divine word without any mediation
in the form of etab or reproach. And
reproach is addressed by the beloved to the
lover.
Junaid answered,
if he will call the rich to account,
he will ask the poor for their excuse.
And asking an excuse is better than calling
to account. This is a very subtle point.
In true love
in true love, excuses otherness and reproach is
contrary to unity.
Lovers regard both these things as a blemish
because excuses made for some disobedience to a
command
of the beloved and reproach is made on
the same score.
But both are impossible in true love, for
then neither does the beloved require an
from the lover nor does the lover neglect
to perform the will of the beloved.
Every man is poor
even though he is a prince.
Essentially, the wealth of Soleiman Alaihi Salam and
the poverty of Soleiman Alaihi Salam are 1.
God said to say, now, Ayuba Alaihi Salam,
in the extremity of his patience and likewise
to Suleiman in plenitude of his dominion,
good servant that you are.
When God's pleasure was accomplished, it made no
difference between the poverty and the wealth of
Suleiman.
The author says,
I have heard Abu Qasim Qasayri,
may Allah have mercy on him, said, people
have spoken much concerning poverty and wealth and
have chosen 1 or the other for themselves.
But I choose whichever state god chooses for
me and keeps me in. If he keeps
me rich, I will not be forgetful. And
if he wishes me to be poor, I
will not be covetous or rebellious.
Therefore, both wealth and poverty are divine gifts.
Wealth is corrupted by forgetfulness and poverty by
covetousness.
Both conceptions are excellent, but they differ in
practice.
Poverty is the separation of the heart from
all but god, and wealth is the preoccupation
of the heart with that which does not
admit being qualified.
When the heart is cleared of all exceptions
of god, poverty is not better than wealth
nor is wealth better than poverty.
Wealth is abundance of worldly goods and poverty
is lack of them. All goods belong to
god. When the seeker bids farewell to poverty,
the anticipates
disappears and both terms are transcended.
All of the Sufi sheikhs have spoken on
the subject of poverty. I will now cite
many of their sayings as it is possible
to be included in this book.
1 of the moderns says,
modern to his time, one of the moderns
says,
The poor man is not whose hand is
empty of provisions, but he whose nature is
empty of desires.
For example, if god gives him money and
he desires to keep it, then he is
rich. And if he desires to renounce it,
he is rich no less because poverty consists
in seeking to act according to one's own
initiative.
Says, It is a sign of true poverty
that even though one has reached the state
of perfection,
of sainthood, and contemplation, and self annihilation,
one should always be dreading its decline in
its departure.
Meaning what? Just like the people of the
world fear,
fear not having material means, the state of
poverty with Allah is fearing to lose your
spiritual state with Allah ta'ala.
Ruaim said,
It is characteristic of the poor man that
his heart is protected from selfish desires
and his soul is guarded from contaminations,
and did he performs his obligatory duties of
religion.
That is to say his inward meditations do
not interfere with his outward acts nor vice
versa, which is a sign that he has
cast off attributes of mortality.
Bashar al Hafi
said,
The best of stations is a firm resolution
to endure poverty continuously
or until a person enters their grave.
Now poverty is the annihilation of all stations.
Therefore, the resolution to endure poverty is a
sign of regarding works and actions as imperfect
and aspiring to annihilate
all human attributes.
But in its obvious sense, this saying pronounces
poverty to be superior to wealth and expresses
a determination never to abandon it. Shibli
said, alfaqiru
malayastaghni
bishayindunilah.
The poor man is the one who does
not rest content with anything except for Allah.
Literally, the poor man is the one who
does not find wealth in anything except for
Allah
because he has no other object of desire.
The literal meaning is that you will not
become rich except for through him and that
when you have gained him, you will have
become rich.
Your being then is other than God and
since you cannot gain wealth except for by
renouncing the other, your your youness becomes
a veil between you and wealth. And when
that veil is removed, you become rich.
This saying is very subtle and obscure.
The opinion of advanced spiritualist, the say
that it means,
poverty
consists in what? And never,
being independent of poverty.
This is what the
master, Abdullah Ansari
may Allah be well pleased with him,
meant when he said that our sorrow is
everlasting
and that our aspiration never reaches its goal
and that our sum never becomes nonexistent
in this world and the hereafter.
Because for the fruition of anything,
homogeneity
is necessary,
but god has no congener. God has no
one that can mix with him or be
like him. And for turning away from him,
forgetfulness is necessary, but the Darvesh is not
forgetful.
What an endless task in a difficult road.
By the way, the sheikh Abdullah,
Al Ansari
this Abdul Al Ansari was the Sheikh of
the Hanabila,
in in Afghanistan
in his time. Afghanistan at one time was
a
believe it or
not. And, he's he's a great sheikh of
the and
the,
Moana Tamim, I believe he he,
explained to me that that, his,
Zadul, it's not his, not Zadul, Madarju
Salequin
is essentially
a a a a, commentary in a book
written by this, Abdul Ansari celebrated
mystic of Herat,
and Sheikh of the Hanabula in his time.
He died in 4/81
after Hidra.
The dead or the Fani never becomes living
so as to be united with him. The
living never becomes dead so as to approach
his presence.
All that his lovers do and suffer is
entirely probation.
It's all.
It's all difficulty in test. But in order
to console themselves, they have invented some fine
sounding phraseology
and pronounce quote, unquote, stations and quote, unquote,
stages in a quote, unquote, path.
Their symbolic expressions, however,
begin and end in themselves, and their stations
do not rise
beyond their own genus,
whereas god is exempt from every human attribute
in relationship.
Abu Hassan Nuri Rahimu Wa Ta'ala said,
well, uh-uh,
He also said,
When he gets nothing, he is silent and
when he gets something, he regards another person
as better entitled to it than himself and
therefore gives it away.
The practice enunciated in this saying is of
great importance.
There are two meanings. His liberality,
when he gets something is love because he
is satisfied,
which means accepting the robe of honor. And
the robe of honor is a token of
proximity
where the lover rejects the robe of honor
in as much as it is a token
of severance.
So we'll read that again. This has two
meanings.
His quiescence when he gets nothing
and his liberality when he gets something is
love, Mahaba.
Because satisfied
means accepting the robe of honor.
And the robe of honor is a token
of proximity whereas,
the lover rejects the robe of honor in
as much as it is a token of
severance.
His quiescence when he gets nothing is expectation
of getting something.
And when he has got it, that quote
unquote something is other than god. He cannot
be satisfied with other than god.
Therefore, he rejects
it. Both these meanings are implicit in the
saying of the grand sheikh Abu Qasan Junaid
When the heart is empty of phenomena,
then the person has attained true poverty.
Since the existence of phenomena is other than
god, rejection is the only course that is
possible.
Shibley who is, the the Khalifa of Junaid
says, says poverty is a sea of trouble
and all troubles for Allah's sake are glorious.
Shibli
said, this is so beautiful.
This is such a beautiful saying.
These, you know, these sayings of the they're
like the distillation of the experiences of the
the the Sahaba and the best part of
this Ummah.
Shiblir Rahimu Mata'ala says,
Poverty is like an ocean of trouble.
And all troubles for Allah's
sake are glorious. They're honors. It's an honor.
Every single trouble for the sake of Allah
that you go through is an honor.
Now tell me something,
if every trouble you go through for the
sake of Allah ta'ala is an honor, then
an ocean of trouble is what?
To the imbecile, it's an ocean of trouble
and difficulty.
To the and the people of Allah ta'ala
and the people of true insight, it's an
ocean of honor. It's an ocean of
of of glory with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And isn't that not what the Sahaba went
through? And is that not what every single
one of the and the the the the
the and
the all of them went through this ocean
of difficulty in order to be.
Given this ocean of of of of honor
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The afflicted are plunged in trouble.
And know nothing of glory until they forget
their trouble and regard the author thereof, the
one who brought them those troubles.
Then their trouble is changed into glory and
their glory into a spiritual state.
And their spiritual state into love and love
into contemplation.
So that finally, the brain of the experiment
becomes a holy, a center of vision through
which the predominance of his imagination
becomes holy, a center of vision through the
predominance of his imagination.
He sees without eye and hears without ear.
Again, it is glorious for a man to
bear the burden of trouble laid upon him
by his beloved with a capital b.
For in truth, misfortune is glory and prosperity
is humiliation.
For in truth, misfortune is glory
and prosperity is humiliation.
Glory is that which makes one present with
Allah and humiliation is that which makes one
absent with Allah. The affliction of poverty is
a sign of presence,
while the delight of riches is a sign
of absence.
Let's re repeat that again. He says, the
glory is that which makes one present with
Allah and humiliation is that which makes one
absent from Allah. The affliction of poverty is
a sign of presence,
while the delight of riches is a sign
of absence.
Therefore, one should cling to the trouble of
any description that involves the contemplation and intimacy
of Allah.
Imam Junayd said,
Oh, you people who, are poor, meaning not
the not the material poor, but spiritually poor.
Oh, you, oh, you wayfarers and poor ones
in front of Allah. You are known through
Allah and our harbor or and are honored
for the sake of Allah. You are known
through Allah and honored for the sake of
Allah. So take heed of how you behave
when you're alone with Allah. I e if
people call you poor and call you a
faqir and call you a darvesh
and recognize your claim, see that you perform
the obligations of the path of poverty.
And if they give you another name inconsistent
with what you profess,
do not accept it but fulfill fulfill your
professions.
This is very important.
This is,
very important because,
I I remember,
you know, our and the Madrasa, they were
the people. They weren't people who used to
pull punches or sugarcoat stuff.
And so,
one of the, one of the principles of
another madrasa came and visited the madrasa,
and it was a very awkward,
scenario because
out of honor, the principle of our madrasa
had the principle of that madrasa give a
talk,
and he gave a talk about the, you
know,
virtues of poverty and bearing misfortune and about
how, you know, so and so student was
sick for so long and they didn't go
and see a doctor and blah blah blah.
And, one of the,
got up and said, look at you. You
just came to the in a in a
Land Cruiser.
How can you how can you, lecture these
children about the virtues of poverty when you
yourself don't practice what you preach?
And and they just handed it to him.
They they really gave it to him. Why?
Because there are still a people in this
ummah,
by the way. Aside from all of the
celebrity
hocus pocus,
you know, $6,000
bands and, like, $100 conference tickets and all
this other stuff, which is wonderful, InshaAllah, whoever
does it, I'm sure their nia is great
and reward
them for it. But there is a higher
path that was chalked out for us by
the Sahaba
and by the
and by people who are still alive to
this day.
They took the advice of Junaid, which is
what? Oh, you who aspire to spiritual poverty,
you're known through
Allah. Meaning people know you and respect you
because of Allah and their love for Allah.
And you are honored for the sake of
Allah. So take heed out how you behave
when you're alone with him. I e if
people call you quote unquote poor and recognize
your claim, see that you perform the obligations
of the path of poverty
And if they give you another name inconsistent
with that which you profess,
do not accept it, but fulfill your professions.
The basest of men is he
who is thought to be devoted to God,
but is really not. And the noblest is
he who is not thought to be devoted
to God, but really is. The former resembles
an ignorant physician who pretends to cure people,
but only makes them worse.
And when he falls ill himself, needs another
physician to prescribe for him. The latter is
like one who is not known to be
a physician
and does not,
concern himself with other folk, but employs his
skill in order to maintain his own health.
One of the moderns has said,
poverty is not being and it has no
existence.
To interpret this saying is impossible because what
is not what is nonexistent does not admit
being explained.
On the surface, it would seem that according
to this dictum,
poverty is nothing,
but such is not the case. The explanations
and consensus of this Aliyah of Allah,
are not founded on a principle that is
essentially non existent.
The meaning here is not the not being
of essence, but the not being of that
which contaminates the essence.
And all human attributes are a source of
contamination.
When that is removed, the result is the
annihilation of the attributes,
which deprives the sufferer of the instrument whereby
he attains or fails to attain his object.
But he's not going to the essence,
seems
to him annihilation of the essence and cast
him into perdition.
I've met with some scholastic philosophers who, failing
to understand the drift of the saying, laughed
at it and declared it to be nonsense,
And also with certain pretenders to Sufism
who made nonsense of it and were firmly
convinced of its truth, although they had no
grasp of the fundamental principle.
Both parties are in the wrong, one ignorantly
denies the truth and the other makes ignorance,
a state of perfection.
Now the expression of not being or Adam
and annihilation Fana,
as they are expressed by the Sufis,
denote the disappearance of a blameworthy instrument
and disapproved attribute in the course of seeking
a praiseworthy attribute.
They do not signify the search for non
reality,
by meaning,
by means of an instrument that exists. Meaning
what? The point of fana and Adam is
not that you actually disappear.
The state of annihilation is not that you
actually disappear and become nothing, rather that the
blameworthy part of you disappears and becomes nothing.
And this is,
Mashal al Sheik calling out the goofy Sufis
of his time as well.
Being a Darvish in all of its meanings
is a metaphorical
poverty.
And amidst all of its subordinate aspects, there
is a transcendent principle.
The divine mysteries come and go over the
darvesh,
so that his affairs are acquired by himself,
his actions attributed to himself, and his ideas
attached to himself.
But when his affairs are freed from the
bond of acquisition,
cusp,
his actions are no more attributed to himself.
Then when he is the way, not the
wayfarer,
ai, the Darvesh is a place,
is a place over which something is passing,
not the wayfarer following his own will.
Accordingly, he neither draws anything to himself nor
puts anything away from himself.
All that leaves any trace upon him belongs
to the essence.
I have seen false Sufis, mere tungsters, Yani
Arbaubul Lisan, people who all they do is
have fancy tongues,
whose imperfect
apprehension of this matter seem to deny the
existence
of the essence of poverty,
while their lack of desire for the reality
of poverty seem to deny the attributes of
its essence.
They called by the name of, quote, unquote,
poverty and, quote, unquote, purity
their failure to seek the truth in reality.
And it looked as if they affirmed their
own fancies but denied all else.
Every one of them was in some degree
veiled from poverty because of the conceit of
Sufism.
Hadith,
betokens perfection of sainthood.
Sorry, of saintship
and the claim to be,
suspected of Sufism,
is the ultimate goal. I e, this claim
only belongs to the state of perfection.
Therefore, the seeker has no choice but to
journey in their path and traverse their stations
and to know their symbolic expressions in order
that he may not be a plebian and
amni amongst the elect.
Those who are ignorant of general principles have
no ground to stand on, whereas those who
are ignorant only as regards to the derivative
branches are
supported by the principles.
I have said all of this to encourage
you to undertake the spiritual journey and occupy
yourself
with due fulfillment of its obligations.
So he says what? He says the faker
path
he says that you're gonna have to pass
through,
you're gonna have to pass through all of
these levels that the people who are the
fakers in the path,
are stuck in.
And he gives
encouragement for people
to,
traverse those states.
Whereas it's a, a a a hallmark of
the the the the goofs,
of the path, the the goofism and the
goofy sufis
to put the sheikh on a pedestal
and then tell, all of the disciples that
this is some sort of, like,
a a fairy tale storybook superhero that you're
never gonna get anywhere close to. So you
may as well just grovel and kiss his
feet, and that's the only way you're gonna
go to Jannah anyway. And this person is
like, you know, his feet don't even touch
the ground.
Whereas the strange thing is there are some
people like that that you'll never reach their
their their station,
but
they never wanted to hold a station over
another person. It's just because that's what they
worked for and that's what Allah gave them.
The hallmark of the is they wanted to
lift up everybody else and bring them to
to a higher state, rather than to keep
them as some sort of serfs or menial,
labor in order to serve their their tariqah
or serve their their fame or whatnot. And
so he says, I've said this to encourage
you to undertake the spiritual journey and occupy
yourself with due fulfillment of its obligations.
Now, in the subsequent chapter on Sufism, I'll
explain some of the principles and allegories and
mystical sayings of the, of the people of
Sufism.
Then I will mention the names, of their
holy men and afterward elucidate on the different
doctrine held by the sheiks of the Tarifa.
In the next place, I will treat the
verities, sciences, and laws of Sufism.
Lastly, I will set forth their rules and
discipline and significance of their stations in order
that the truth of this matter may become
clear to you,
and to all of, the readers of this
book. Allah
give us,
to implement,
whatever we learned and whatever you we understood
and heard from from this chapter.
Again, it you know, this book describes a
type of practice of Islam and seriousness of
Islam that unfortunately, even amongst the people who
claim Sufism,
seem to have jettisoned a long time ago.
I definitely don't,
claim in any way, shape, or form that
I I have any naseeb of it. But
I do find it beautiful and refreshing
to read,
the thoughts and the words and the states
of mind and the states of heart of
those people of the past,
upon whom,
upon whose backs,
Islam was carried
to us,
in order that we can at least have,
their love and maybe see something,
at least a little glimmer or peep of
of the way they used to see things
and maybe be benefited from it, in our
hearts. Allah
give all of us so much